In Cambria, This Couple Has Created A Foodie’s Retreat
By Brook Turner | Photos by Jennifer Olson
As I turn off Highway 1 and onto the backroads that lead to Stepladder Ranch & Creamery, the conversation in my head plays out like this.
‘Wait, have I gone too far?’
‘Okay, yes, I must have passed it. There’s nothing back here.’
‘How is it possible I missed the gate? Should I turn around?’
‘No phone service, great.’
‘Wait, WAIT. I think that’s the gate! Hallelujah!’
Unreal is probably the best way to describe Stepladder. I drive up a long dirt road with naturally spectacular views of the ocean and surrounding mountains. I am greeted by the sight of a big red dairy barn, which I later find out is more than 100 years old, set among rolling hills. I stare out into the expansive yard and see a tire swing, and just a few feet away from there, dozens of LaMancha goats enjoying the day. Looking off into any direction, I could stare at groves of subtropical fruit trees — avocados, passionfruit, cherimoyas. Walking past the barn I check out the heritage pigs, and though I didn’t see them, I’m told there are also 25 beef cattle roaming around the massive property, plus the five dogs and six cats. Up at the top of the expanse is a gorgeous 4,000-square-foot home with an open concept chef’s kitchen, available for vacation and retreat rentals.
The ranch is a largely unspoiled, 740-acre preserve, the perfect place to raise animals like goats and pigs that thrive in the woodlands and chaparral. The landscape is lush and verdant, the buildings are rustic and charming. Birds are chirping, goats are calling, pigs are snorting and dogs are bouncing around, giving the place a natural energy and liveliness.
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Stepladder Ranch was purchased in the early 1980s by Beverly and Jack Russell, who raised beef cattle and planted oranges before eventually adding avocados and investing in the infrastructure of orchards. Both have since passed away, and the ranch is now owned by Jack Russell’s three daughters, Anne, Susan, and Gail, and managed by Anne’s son, Jack Rudolph, and his wife, Michelle, the dream team who have created this little slice of foodie heaven.
Jack Rudolph moved to the property in 2012 after a brief stint in Silicon Valley and started working to revive the struggling avocado business while exploring new opportunities for the land. He began experimenting with subtropical fruits and raising pigs and dairy goats, which led to a hobby interest in cheesemaking.
Through the power of Match.com, Jack met Michelle in 2014. The couple fell in love on their first date at the Harmony Headlands and then Michelle jumped in eagerly, helping on the farm the day she and Jack met, and moved to the ranch just six months later.
They opened the cheese creamery in April 2015 and tied the knot in September 2018.
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I’m most excited to check out the creamery. I’ve tried their cheeses before at various farmers’ markets. Their team doesn’t stop working, servicing 18 different farmers’ markets weekly from around San Luis Obispo County up to the Bay Area and down to Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, as well as selling through retailers such as Whole Foods Market in San Luis Obispo and Lassens, to name a few. They also started offering a quarterly Cheese Club option for cheese enthusiasts who want to get their hands on limited release cheeses directly from the farm.
As I walk the creamery tour (which is also available to the public), I find out that they produce farmstead goat cheese with milk from the small herd of goats living at Stepladder, as well as mixed-milk and cow’s milk cheeses using milk from the student-run dairy program at Cal Poly. I get some hands-on time with the LaMancha goats, am introduced to the milking process, and see how they store their gorgeous cheese rounds. And then it’s cheese eating time, where I sample everything currently made there. The creamery produces nine cheeses: Ragged Point, Paso Vino, Cabrillo, Bob Ross and Moonstone, all of which are available year-round, as well as Big Sur, Chèvre, Marinated Chèvre and Rocky Butte, which are exclusively spring and summer products.
The whole experience is intimate and unique, and even more special knowing that I’ve been invited to Jack and Michelle’s home. Since the ranch is their home, tours are limited and by reservation only, to afford residents privacy to enjoy their space.
There is a diversity and interconnectedness to everything on the ranch. The goats eat the grass and produce the milk that makes the cheese that makes the whey that feeds the pigs. The manure of both animals is returned to and fertilizes the orchards that in turn produce avocados that feed the pigs.
I remember seeing a photo of famed chef Curtis Stone pop up on social media. In it he’s riding a quad through Stepladder Ranch, and he has a big, goofy grin on his face.
I see now why a chef, who has the means to explore and eat anywhere in the world, would choose to be at Stepladder. Visiting Stepladder is getting back to our roots as cooks, diners and inhabitants of our great earth. It’s an opportunity to eat what we grow, raise and make with our hands, and to honor and reconnect with the purity and simplicity of it all.
Recipe courtesy of Stepladder Ranch & Creamery:
The Perfect Cheese Board (serves 6)
Ingredients
- 1 wedge hard cheese, used here is Cabrillo* (nutty goat and cow blend)
- 1 wedge sharp cheese, used here is Paso Vino* (cow’s milk cheese wine-washed with Castoro Cellars’ wine)
- 1 wedge creamy cheese, used here is Bob Ross* (cow’s milk cheese cider-brined with Scar of the Sea cider)
- ½ cup goat cheese, used here is fresh Chèvre* (farmstead goat’s milk cheese)
- ¼ cup fig jam1 sleeve wheat crackers
- ½ pound sliced salami
- ½ cup Marcona almonds
- ½ cup dried apricot
- ¼ cup fresh blueberries
- Passionfruit garnish (optional, pictured here from the farm)
*All cheeses used are from Stepladder Creamery
Preparation
Step 1
Cut all wedges into thin slices of cheese. Place fig jam into a single serving-sized bowl.
Step 2
Lay rows of cheese slices diagonally from the center toward corners of cheese platter. Lay crackers and salami rows next, using the cheese rows as reference. Place bowl of fig jam and goat cheese on opposite sides of the platter. Fill in remaining spaces with almonds, apricots and blueberries. Garnish with passionfruit.
