Sonoma County Farm Trails Spring Tour

Blossoms, Bees & Barnyard Babies is the spring tour of Sonoma County Farm Trails: one weekend in early May when dozens of farms, ranches and producers across the county open their gates to visitors. The tour is self-guided. You register for free, receive the map and the insider's guide, and draw your own route between the stops.

Expect young animals in the barns, behind-the-scenes farm tours, tastings of cheese, honey, cider and wine, hands-on workshops and farm stands selling straight from the field. Not every stop opens both days, so the guide is worth reading before you set out.

The spring tour is Farm Trails at its most personal. You meet the farmer rather than a host, and you see the work behind the cheese plate and the jar of jam.

Spring is a generous moment to go. Blossoms are out, the hives are busy and the season's newborns are in the pastures. Families find it easy, and anyone who cooks will drive home with a trunk full of the county's best.