High on Sonoma Mountain, a small Glen Ellen farm is marking a milestone few farms can claim.
Glentucky Family Farm, owned by Mike and Mary Benziger since 1994, has maintained continuous biodynamic certification for 27 years. The 9.2-acre farm sits at about 800 feet between Jack London State Historic Park and Benziger Family Winery, occupying a sheltered hanging valley whose volcanic soils, abundant sunshine and protection from the wind create unusually favorable growing conditions.
Glentucky is one of roughly 140 Demeter-certified biodynamic farms in the United States. Biodynamic agriculture, which grew out of the teachings of Austrian philosopher and social reformer Rudolf Steiner, approaches a farm as a living, interconnected system.
Demeter USA is part of an international network that certifies farms to the Biodynamic standard, one of the oldest holistic agricultural systems and an early influence on organic and regenerative farming. Certification begins with USDA Organic requirements and adds whole-farm standards designed to make farms diverse, balanced and largely self-sustaining. Among the requirements are setting aside at least 10 percent of farmland for wildlife habitat, integrating animals to help generate fertility and limiting reliance on outside inputs. Biodynamic certification also treats the farm as a single living system in which soil, crops, animals and people contribute to the health of the whole.
For the Benzigers, the biodynamic approach also shows up on the plate.
“When you eat a Glentucky tomato, you aren’t just eating a tomato—you are eating the farm,” says Mike Benziger. “Our farm is unique in a couple of ways. The location in a bowl on Sonoma Mountain creates ideal growing conditions, and biodynamic farming creates a consistent flavor profile across all the crops we farm, from cannabis to tomatoes.”
After leaving the winery business in 2014, the Benzigers expanded Glentucky into a commercial farm growing vegetables, fruit, cannabis, ashitaba and other medicinal plants. Over the years its specialty crops have ranged from amaranth, arugula and basil to persimmons, pomegranates, pumpkins and tomatoes.
Among its longtime customers is Glen Ellen Star, owned by the Benzigers’ daughter, Erin Benziger-Weiswasser, and her husband, chef Ari Weiswasser. Glentucky also supplies other local restaurants, markets and Bay Area dispensaries, while donating 20 to 50 pounds of produce each week to Sonoma Food Runners for distribution to older adults and others in need.
The farm’s produce has also earned Gold Medals at the California State Fair—recognition for a farming philosophy that, after nearly three decades, remains rooted quite literally in the soil of Sonoma Mountain.
Glentucky Family Farm
2211 London Ranch Road, Glen Ellen, CA