Green Oaks Creek Farm

Looking back on our wedding now, I can’t imagine us having it at a more perfect and beautiful place than Green Oaks Creek Farm. It was everything we could have dreamed of, and more. The garden was a gorgeous spot for our cocktail hour and our dinner in the meadow was unlike anything our guests had ever seen, a perfect spot for rows of picnic-​style tables decorated for a family-​style meal. We had our wedding in the fall, so we were blessed with beautiful flowers growing all around us. The owners were amazingly accommodating and always there to help us during our planning. They even grew the flowers we used at our reception! They went way out of their way to help our day run smoothly, and we could not have been more pleased.

My husband and I used Green Oaks Creek Farm as a venue for our May 2015 wedding.
We had a fantastic weekend, and my guests could not stop singing the praises of the farm and the general atmosphere of the event. Our families were very impressed that we found such a unique and beautiful place! We have nothing but good things to say about the venue. The outdoor kitchen served us perfectly fine, and my friends absolutely loved using the fire pit in the evenings. Everyone was transported to a magical place during the ceremony and cocktail hour. All of the amenities added to the theme of the event, and helped transport our guests to a rustic, magical place. Thank you to Steph and her staff for all of their help with providing us a space to do our thing!

We chose this place as a way to spend our anniversary weekend. We wanted to be away from the city, close to the beach and hiking places, and we were enticed by the green, sustainable character of the Farm.
What we found was not a green grass to camp on but a dry, dusty, stubbly field. The «kitchen» is this 3-​walled, straw bale structure which looked unkempt, at first sight, and had rotting food in the fridge and questionable utensils. The outdoor bath is not dedicated to the campers, but actually shared with the farm staff. You’ll find multiple towels and toiletries strewn about if you try to use it.
But most of all, there was no sense of being welcomed by the owners. It was like having guests was an afterthought. It gave the impression of a couple of latecomer hippies that were on their way to failing their return to the land, and had a hard time keeping it all together: the farm, the retreat business, and their lives.
We were going to spend two nights and ended up leaving the next morning to go back home.

Green Oaks Creek Farm is one of those places that embodies the promise of sustainable living in the 21^st century. The coastal communities located between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz are ideal spots for such experiments in low-​impact land use, and they offer great alternatives to corporate food culture to those lucky enough to access them. Green Oaks Creek is a small, family-​owned farm and rural retreat located south of Pescadero between the Pacific and the Santa Cruz Mountains. You can tour the farm, camp out, stay overnight in a yurt, or even hold a wedding on their eco-​friendly property. These all sound really great, and the farm — part of a historic orchard and ranch property settled by the Steele family in the early 1900s — is near to lots of cool places to visit: Pigeon Point lighthouse, Año Neuvo park, Butano park, Coastways Ranch, etc. But this review is about the food.
On three acres of land dedicated to organic strawberries, flowers, herbs, and vegetables, the folks at GOCF produce some very lovely and delicious products, which the sell at several farmers’ markets in the area and through a CSA program: Palo Alto (Sun), Pacifica (Wed.). and Half Moon Bay (Sat). Their stand is small but superb. We’ve gotten some fantastic Seascape organic strawberries, sweet and rich in flavor, as well as ultra-​fresh green garlic, mixed greens, and lettuce. It’s a lovely little set-​up with something new every week, including cut flowers. We are happy to have found them and look forward to their late spring and summer offerings. Perhaps we’ll visit the farm in the future, too!