Goats, Cheese & Avocados on the Central Coast
Goats, Cheese & Avocados on the Central Coast
A drive down Highway 1 to a 150-year-old ranch where a barn built like an upside-down ship still stands, and the goats outnumber the visitors.
There's a particular kind of quiet that settles in once you turn off Highway 1 and onto the gravel road leading to Stepladder Ranch. The ocean disappears behind you, the hills close in thick with oak trees, and somewhere up ahead, you can already hear goats.
We made the drive down California's Central Coast to Cambria for a culinary field trip with a purpose: it's National Goat Month, and there was no better way to celebrate than spending a day with the animals — and the cheesemakers — who take it seriously every day of the year.
Cambria sits about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, just south of Hearst Castle, and the drive there is half the reason to go. Highway 1 hugs the coastline through this stretch, all cliffs and blue water, before you turn inland along San Simeon Creek and back into the hills.
A Barn Built Like an Upside-Down Ship
The first thing you notice at Stepladder is the barn — a big, weathered red structure that's been standing for more than 110 years. It was raised by Danish shipbuilders, and it shows: inside, the roof trusses curve overhead like the ribs of a ship's hull, flipped upside down. It's the same shipbuilding technique — steam-bent beams, wooden pegs instead of nails — that these craftsmen brought with them from generations of building wooden vessels, simply repurposed to frame a barn instead of a hull. It's no coincidence, either — this is the same wave of Danish immigration, around the turn of the 20th century, that gave us the half-timbered buildings of Solvang a little further down the coast.
The Ribs of a Ship's Hull
The ranch itself goes back even further, to 1870, when it started as a cattle operation and part of the Harmony Valley Creamery Association — a group of local dairies trading butter in San Simeon and shipping it up to San Francisco. The name "Stepladder" comes from the land itself, which climbs like a stepladder toward a 1,700-foot mountain rising behind the property.
Here's the part of the story most visitors don't expect: Stepladder almost wasn't a cheese ranch at all.
When Jack and Beverly Russell bought the property in the early 1980s, they discovered something valuable hiding in the ranch's frost-protected microclimate — a rare pocket of coastal California warm enough to grow avocados. They planted 40 acres of Hass avocados alongside citrus, and for years, that orchard was simply a side crop.
It became something much more important a generation later, when their grandson, Jack Rudolph, left a tech career in Palo Alto to take over the family land. Cattle ranching alone wasn't enough to sustain the property. It was that avocado orchard — planted decades earlier almost as an afterthought — that became the ranch's financial lifeline. While the mature avocado trees quietly paid the bills, Jack spent his nights teaching himself cheesemaking with just two goats and a tiny house on the property. "We say we are like a stepladder as you climb up to the top," he's said of the ranch's philosophy — and in 2014, that hobby became Stepladder Creamery.
A cattle ranch and part of the Harmony Valley Creamery Association.
Jack & Beverly Russell add 40 acres of Hass avocados alongside citrus.
Grandson Jack Rudolph turns a cheesemaking hobby into Stepladder Creamery.
Meeting the Goats
Stepladder raises LaMancha goats — a breed instantly recognizable by ears so short they're almost invisible — and the herd, about 50 strong, has the run of the hillside. We found them climbing over a fallen oak log, play-fighting, and generally ignoring us in the way that only goats can. A few were more sociable, ambling over for a nose-to-nose photo and, we suspect, a hope of snacks.
Farm to table, table to soul — you can watch the whole supply chain happen in front of you, from pasture to plate.
The Goat Parlor & Cheese Room
Twice a Day, Every Day
Goats step up onto a raised platform, gentle rubber inflations do the work, and the milk travels straight into the creamery next door. Watching the process start to finish, from pasture to parlor to cheese room, made it obvious just how short the distance really is between "farm" and "table" here.
The Cheese Room
Equipment like the Airocide air purifier and a packaging line keep the cheese room sanitary as wheels are formed, wrapped, and readied for the aging room, where they'll ripen anywhere from a month to two years depending on the variety.
What We Tasted
No culinary field trip is complete without the tasting, and Stepladder's board did not disappoint. In honor of National Goat Month, we worked our way through:
- Spicy Fromage Blanc — soft, spreadable, and just what it sounds like
- Fresh Chèvre — tangy and bright, the creamery's signature
- Big Sur — named for the coastline just north of here
- Bixby — named for the famous Bixby Creek Bridge on Highway 1, and unanimously voted the group's favorite
- Cabrillo — a Spanish-style goat and cow's milk blend
- Lumberjack & Moonstone — cave-aged and alpine-style cow's milk cheeses
Our chèvre container didn't survive the visit. Neither did most of the crackers.
Make the Tasting Board Yourself
Whipped Chèvre Crostini with Honey & Jam
A tribute to our tasting board at Stepladder — whipped fresh goat chèvre, a drizzle of honey, and a spoonful of jam on toasted baguette.
Ingredients
- 8 oz fresh chèvre (goat cheese)
- 2 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 baguette
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp honey (avocado-citrus blossom, if you can find it)
- 3 tbsp raspberry or blackberry jam
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- Flaky sea salt & cracked pepper
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Slice the baguette into ½-inch rounds, brush with olive oil, and toast until golden, about 8 minutes.
- While the bread toasts, beat the chèvre, cream cheese, and heavy cream together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Spread the whipped chèvre generously onto each crostini. Top half with a small spoonful of jam and the other half with a drizzle of honey.
- Scatter fresh thyme leaves over the top, finish with flaky salt and cracked pepper, and serve right away.
Stepladder at a Farmers Market Near You
You don't have to make the drive to Cambria to bring some home. Stepladder sells cheese, cultured butter, and their own avocado-citrus blossom honey year-round at farmers markets across the Central Coast and the Bay Area.
Central Coast
Bay Area
Hours and locations are set by each market and can change — check stepladdercreamery.com/pages/farmers-markets before you go.
The Crew
There's something genuinely grounding about watching an entire supply chain happen in front of you — goats to milk, milk to cheese, cheese to plate — on the same 750 acres, run by the same family for three generations.
A huge thank-you to our tour guide, Kristen, who made the whole afternoon as fun as it was informative. If you're ever making the drive down Highway 1 toward Hearst Castle, it's worth the detour inland. Just don't expect to leave without a block of Bixby in your bag.