Working From the Heart: The Legacy of a Point Reyes Farming Family - Edible Marin and Wine Country, Summer 2011 (pp. 18-21, requires Flash player)
Slaughterhouse Vital to ‘Eat Local’ Movement – Petaluma Argus-Courier, May 30, 2011
Petaluma is known for its agriculture and food production history, but many aspects of the agricultural scene have been in flux during the past few years. In particular, the last remaining slaughterhouse in the Bay Area is in Petaluma, and has nearly closed in recent years.
Behold! Prime Cuts from the Best of Butchery – Flaunt Magazine, April 2011
What was the inspiration for Marin Sun Farms and how has it grown in the last few years?
David Evans: The inspiration was multi-layered. One: my desire to continue my family’s legacy in Marin County and to contribute to the cultural heritage of the area and especially to the Point Reyes National Seashore. Two: to contribute to the development of a more local and sustainable food system in the San Francisco Bay Area that positively benefited and enhanced the environment, the community, [and] myself for generations to come.
Slaughterhouse Shortage Stunting Area’s Eat-Local Movement – New York Times, April 7, 2011
One might expect the Bay Area — as the epicenter of the eat-local movement and a region with a long tradition of cattle ranching — to be a mecca for producers of organic and grass-fed beef. But there is a problem: a shortage of slaughterhouses is so acute that it is stunting the growth of this emerging industry.
Rancher Rides Grass-Fed Boom – Capital Press, October 28, 2010
David Evans, founder of Marin Sun Farms, seems to have a knack for anticipating business trends and pouncing at the right time.
Marin Sun Farms Tour – Bay Area Bites, August 1, 2010
“On a cool, foggy morning in July, a group of about 15 of us gathered in a gravel-scattered parking lot in front of the farm buildings for a combination talk and walk across the rolling acres that form the center of Marin Sun’s network of sustainably-managed, pasture-raised livestock operations.”
Marin Sun Farms’ Butcher Shop Debuts in Oakland’s Rockridge Neighborhood – SF Weekly, June 14, 2010
Saturday saw the launch of Marin Sun Farms’ retail butcher shop at Market Hall in Oakland’s Rockridge District. It’s the biggest retail outlet for the West Marin ranch, which has a small retail shop in Point Reyes Station, a weekly stall at the Saturday Ferry Plaza farmers’ market, and a popular CSA.
Hidden Bounty of Marin – Farming in Marin Farm Families in Transition
Growing a New Crop of Farmers By Lisa Hamilton -CivilEats.com, May 15th, 2009
When the Agriculture Department released its 2007 census recently, the news appeared surprisingly good: For the first time since World War II, the United States did not lose farms, it gained them
Slow Food: Revolutionaries by the Bay -The Economist, September 11th, 2008
If America is what it eats, then at least one part of it has changed
“To Eat Local, Kill Local” – SF Magazine, August 2008
With just one slaughterhouse remaining within 80 miles of San Francisco, we stand to lose not only our local beef industry, but our grazing lands as well. Now a thick-skinned herd of ranchers and environmentalists are determined to keep the cows close to home. David Evans, of Marin Sun Farms, sees local slaughterhouses as key to developing a broader strategy among Bay Area ranchers to market environmentally friendly meat. Read entire article
“Organic Erosion” - San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, Sunday January 28, 2007
Marin Sun Farms, in Point Reyes, is a collection of ranches on more than 2,000 acres of rolling, certified organic pasture. All year long, cattle and chickens speckle the hills, free to roam and graze at their leisure. The Hereford and Angus cows, in fact, are never confined. They are grass-fed, except during winter, when they also eat hay and silage. The chickens’ typical diet of plants and insects is supplemented with organic grains….. click here
“Back to the Ranch” – San Francisco Chronicle, Wednesday September 20, 2006
Jeff and Katie Hagan are never stuck wondering what’s for dinner — not with 80 pounds of beef in the freezer.
The San Francisco couple buy a quarter of a pastured steer at a time, frozen and neatly wrapped as roasts, steaks and burgers, plus oddball cuts never seen in an American supermarket — once they’ve learned the hard way whether to give a long braise or a fast sizzle. click here
“Chicken Slaughter: Killing them softly” – The Point Reyes Light, Thursday September 21, 2006
Only five percent of the animals slaughtered in the United States are currently protected by humane slaughtering regulations, leaving 8 billion birds slaughtered yearly unprotected. click here
“TRENDS Grass-Fed for the Greater Good” – San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, Sunday February 8, 2004
Before the first case of mad cow disease was reported in the United States, Marin County rancher David Evans was proclaiming his determination to change the way cattle are raised and sold for beef. From his family’s 2,400-acre ranch in the rolling, verdant hills of Point Reyes, the 32-year-old Evans represents a new generation of ranchers who want to protect the land and improve the quality of beef and the life of farm animals. In Evans’ model, which differs from that of his parents, grandparents and many peers, there are no cages, antibiotics or hormones. There is no feed containing rendered animal protein, the suspected cause of mad cow disease. The land is without pesticide and is sustained by the grazing of animals. To read more click : here
“High Stakes” - San Francisco Chronicle, June 19, 2002
Bay Area at the forefront of the big-bucks battle between proponents of grass-fed beef and traditional cattlemen. Those grass-chomping steers sprawled along the hills of West Marin might look peaceful enough, but they are at the center of a war being waged on your dinner plate. Call it the battle of the beef. For much of the spring, the virtues of beef raised on Northern California pastures have been the talk of the Bay Area’s top chefs. They argue that grass- fed beef is better for your health, easier on the environment and tastes better than what most Americans eat — beef fattened on corn and soy in huge feedlots in the Midwest.
“Grass Roots Revolution” – San Francisco Chronicle, June 19, 2002
Will the new beef put corn-raised cattle out to pasture?
If the Bay Area food scene were a cotillion, grass-fed beef would be its newest debutante. Although Northern California’s history with cows fattened on nothing but local pastures goes back more than a century, it was only this spring that a serious retail alternative to classic American grain-fed beef hit town. So far, suppliers of the new beef can barely keep up with demand. That’s because chefs like Laurence Jossel of Chow and Park Chow find the taste as well as the politics of grass-fed beef appealing — so much so that he decided to use only grass-fed beef in the approximately 100 hamburgers he sells every day at his two restaurants.
