Press
fibershed | jan 10, 2019
by FIBERSHED
“Grazing fiber-producing animals in cropland systems can reduce and eliminate the cost and need for herbicides and synthetic fertilization, provide a less expensive option than mowing all while building soil organic matter and effectively cycling nutrients within our farming ecosystems. When the soil’s organic carbon percentages are increased the soil’s ability to hold water is increased, which provides landscapes a critical buffer to the impacts of drought. Increased water holding also lessens the need for increased irrigation and reduces agricultural use of aquifers and surface water.
Reducing accumulated fuel load from areas that co-evolved with fire can be accomplished by the management of grazing animals into our rangeland and forested systems. Wildland-urban interface zones are areas where fire has been suppressed for decades and in some cases over a century, posing risks that are now being realized through catastrophic fire events. However fuel load can be managed through human shepherded flocks and herds, and this opportunity for prescriptive herbivory has and continues to inspire a new generation of contract grazers who are committed to landscape level restoration………”
down to earth | may 20, 2018
by QUIVIRA COALITION + MARY CHARLOTTE
“Ariel Greenwood and Guido Frosini are first-generation ranchers in northern California. They recently organized the first annual Transhumance Festival (the next one is in May of 2019), which brought sheep to the streets, and celebrated the “culture” in “agriculture.”
In this program they talk about the ways in which good grazing practices can restore biodiversity to grasslands, and the importance of cultivating understanding between urban and rural people in order to support genuinely regenerative agriculture and ranching……”
jefferson center | aug 28, 2017
by LAURA DICK
True Grass Farms is all about food, ecology, and culture, which means developing our relationship to food in order to change our relationship with our landscapes.
Guido Frosini and his family have owned their family ranch since 1867, but it wasn’t until six years ago that True Grass Farms was born. Since then, True Grass Farms has been the recipient of the 2014 Environmental Stewardship Award for the Western Regions with the Cattlemen’s Association and is constantly rethinking their sense of agency in relationship to the regenerative movement.
According to Frosini, “Our growing ecological lexicons and relationship to land will help us communicate to others our deeper need of connection and give us a more clear sense of place and a more loving approach to accepting who we are as individuals and as a community in the world we live in.…….“
farm tO FORK SF | OCT 30, 2016
by THE PERENNIAL
“With a revamped format, our October 30 event was a Sunday afternoon celebration featuring small bites from three talented Bay Area chefs, live music, interactive displays, and the premier of our short film. Through the film and event, we explored how a group of multi-generational ranchers are redefining their roles as ecological land stewards.
We brought along Karen Leibowitz, the restauranteur behind The Perennial (one of the nation's most sustainable restaurants), on a trip to Sonoma County to speak to Guido Frosini of True Grass Farms and Loren Poncia of Stemple Creek Ranch. While large scale cattle ranching is often cited as a major contributing factor to climate change, these family-owned ranches use alternative practices that support healthy soil and the growth of perennial grasses, reducing greenhouse gas emissions while producing some of the country's most sought-after grass-fed beef in the process…..”
farm the future | nov 28, 2016
by TWILIGHT GREENAWAY
“On a windy afternoon in Marin County, California, rancher Guido Frosini reached down into a clump of weeds, pulling back the dry stalks to reveal a sapling so small some might not recognize it as a tree. But Frosini’s voice swelled with pride when he saw the cork oak, still covered in leaves that looked strikingly green against the drought-bleached backdrop of rolling, golden hills.
Like much of the work Frosini is doing at True Grass Farms, this tiny tree, a cork oak, is deceptive. It doesn’t yet shape the landscape in any noticeable way, but it’s one of 75 saplings he has planted around his property this year in hopes of establishing “mother trees” that will make the landscape hospitable to other cork oaks. The trees are key to Frosini’s permaculture approach to transforming the windswept 100-acre ranch into a savannah for his pastured cattle, pigs, and chickens. In addition to using a keyline design for water retention, closely managing his animals’ rotational grazing, and several Hugelkultur mounds the young rancher built by covering piles of wood with soil and compost, he’s trying out silvopasture—the integration of trees into pastureland……”
FARMER HEROES | MAY 2, 2016
by JESSICA KURN
“ Guido Frosini, like other ranchers, prides himself on being a steward of the land. “We are first and foremost grass farmers,” he says.
But, grass farmer doesn’t tell the full story. Guido doesn’t plant this grass, he safeguards it, finding a fine balance of letting his cows graze and allowing his fields to sit fallow. This method gives perennial grasses and flowers, like native California bunchgrass, blue-eyed Mary and balsamroot, time to express themselves. In every square foot of soil, thousands of these perennial seeds sit dormant, waiting for the right conditions to come along so that they can grow—conditions that are thwarted by overgrazing…………..”
the garden club | MAY 15, 2015
by LENNIE LARKIN
“When we first met, Guido would come by the farm where I was living for small impromptu dinner parties. Inevitably he arrived with the perfectly sized parcel of beef and began sautéing or broiling it up within minutes. I had previously been a vegetarian – for 20 years – and was embarrassingly squeamish towards raw, bloody meat (what a fool I was!). But I sensed at that first dinner that everything was about to change for me.
And you can imagine the rest of the story: Guido lovingly cooked up his steak – the product of no small amount of sweat and tears – and as we all took our first bite, the skies parted, the heavens sang and life and vitality returned to our tired souls! And I’m only exaggerating by a small degree. This meat is really, really good………”
STEWARDSHIP | aug 5, 2014
by ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AWARD
“Conlan Ranches California and True Grass Farms of Valley Ford, Calif., was honored as a regional winner of the Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP), today. The award, which is sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the National Cattlemen’s Foundation, is presented to farmers and ranchers who are working hard to protect America’s natural resources.
The land on which Conlan Ranches California and True Grass Farms operates has been in Guido Frosini’s family since 1867. However, when he took over the operation 13 years ago, the ranch had fallen into a state of disrepair. Since then, Frosini has worked to clean up the ranch by building fences and implementing an intensive grazing program. He has also worked to clean stock ponds, and to plant trees and grass where needed. ………..”