Photo Credit to Will Bucquoy
Dancing with Mother Nature
By Jennifer Corriea
In the publication known as A Sand County Almanac chronicling the restoration of his farm, Aldo Leopold, a professor of wildlife management at the University of Wisconsin’s College of Agriculture in the 1930s and 40s asserted that “When we see the land as a community to which we belong, we begin to use it with love and respect.”
It was an exploration into Leopold’s concept referred to as land ethic, where humans have an obligation to care for the integrity of the ecosystem as a whole, an idea so unpopular that it wasn’t until after his death in 1948 that his work was put into print.
However, starting in the 1960s acceptance grew and today it is to the point where a prestigious stewardship award is named in his honor.
Sharing Leopold’s views of what is also referred to as regenerative agriculture are the 2025 California Leopold Conservation Award recipients, Loren and Lisa Poncia, the co-owners of Stemple Creek Ranch.
Theirs is a story based upon willingness to take a risk, belief in themselves and commitment to principle, one that is reflective of another Leopold quote which is that, “The landscape of any farm is the owner’s portrait of himself.”
It’s a statement that Loren says he is familiar with and is a fair description of what he and Lisa have tried to achieve since embarking on the joint venture back in 2005.
“I believe I have that one written down and it does sound like us. What we’ve done may not work for everyone and goes a bit against the grain, but we take pride in promoting biological diversity and raising high-quality, nutrient-dense food for the community.”
Without question it was a gamble as the two gave up very successful careers and their life in Sacramento to come back to the family ranch located just north of Tomales and start from scratch.
“I was in law school and Loren had a job in sales for an animal pharmaceutical company when we decided to try and build a business in agriculture,” recalled Lisa. “We wanted to find a niche market, but it was not going to be a hobby. It had to be profitable.”
So, the couple, who met while attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, returned to the ranch that has been in Loren’s family for four generations with the only specific plan being to avoid a power struggle by trying something new and striking out on their own.
And while Loren understood the agricultural lifestyle having grown up in it, for Lisa, a self-described girl from the suburbs of Southern California, it was altogether something different.
Yet, they took a leap of faith and relying on their respective skill sets, the vision emerged and they set to work.
Using the money from their “regular jobs” to fund the venture, they focused initially on obtaining leases and upgrading the infrastructure on the properties.
With no actual playbook for what they were undertaking, Loren focused on boosting the biodiversity and building upon what his father Al had started years before, while Lisa, the “non-rancher” observed the turning points and sought out people with expertise in areas they were trying to incorporate.
Although the goal-oriented couple didn’t feel any specific pressure to follow family tradition into the dairy industry or previous methods for raising livestock, Loren says the motivation has now become to make the business fun and exciting, something not only their children but their nieces and nephews want to be involved in as well.
So, to tighten their focus, they initially enrolled in the Ranching for Profit School and found momentum in the knowledge they acquired, which ultimately led to the creation of the Stemple Creek label in 2009.
Investing in a regenerative program certainly slowed the process and admittedly they have made mistakes along the way, but they have learned from the experiences and continued to move forward.
“There’s definitely been a lot of trial and error because initially this type of agriculture is more difficult,” said Loren. “But I’m motivated by biodiversity because I see it as a dance with Mother Nature. One of our objectives is to leave the land better than we found it.”
Lisa agreed saying, “It hasn’t always been rainbows and sunshine, but we have been profitable every year and I am proud of the fact that Loren and I built something out of nothing.”
As their successes mounted and the demand for their beef, lamb and pork increased, the challenge then became how to provide products on a year-round basis and thus the process of diversification accelerated.
By acquiring more leases and working with partners who share their philosophy, Stemple Creek has some 600 mother cows, annually harvests between 1500-2000 head of cattle and more than 1,000 lambs in addition to 400 pigs and have ventured into poultry as well.
With the expansion has also come the need for more warehouse space and as a result they have purchased the old Tomales Bay Foods building in Petaluma, which allows them to move from their most recent location in Richmond and keep inventory in a closer proximity.
Yet, in order to achieve that growth both Loren and Lisa recognize the contributions made by the team that helps them with the day-to-day operations, specifically noting the role that general manager Conner Hackett, who came aboard officially in 2024, plays.
Hackett, originally from Humboldt County, was raised in a ranching family which has ties as a producer partner to Stemple Creek. By taking charge of the meat operation not only was he instrumental in acquiring the new warehouse, but his hiring frees Lisa to focus more on Stemple Creek’s event venue enterprise, while also affording Loren the opportunity to continue leading the ranching operation and dream up new avenues for the company to explore.
However, literally what serves as the foundation of the whole effort is the soil, something the Poncia’s have taken great steps to restore.
Having planted over 10,000 trees and added over five miles of fencing around riparian areas, the ranch has over 50 types of migratory birds earning it an Audubon Society certification, then additionally uses rotational grazing practices to stimulate perennial plants and soil life.
Working with the Marin Carbon Project (MCP) since 2013 as one of three test cases, Lisa and Loren came to realize that what they had been doing was already helping not only with lessening soil erosion, but also with compaction, root life and storing more carbon, all of which contribute to increased soil health.
In short, by restoring the habitat, they are able to grow more and higher quality grass which in turn is used to feed and finish the beef and lamb.
“We are paying attention and seeing results. We feel like we’ve elevated our product from McDonald’s to Chez Panisse,” said Loren.
Furthermore, the exposure from being a part of the MCP has drawn the attention of others around the country, as the ranch hosts those who want to experience a different type of agricultural product as Lisa explained, “We offer direct tours for the public as well as for agriculturists and governmental groups. People come to see, feel, touch and taste the products we have to offer. We felt that it would create loyalty to the Stemple Creek brand and it has been very important to our growth and expansion.”
Additionally, with word about their regenerative practices and accomplishments widening, Loren and Lisa were invited by the Northeastern Grazing and Livestock Conference in New Hampshire to serve as the keynote speakers at the end of January.
Still, just as Leopold endured questions regarding his methods, the Poncia’s have as well, even from their own families, about why they have chosen the ranching pathway and particularly one that maintains such strict quality standards, but the answers are relatively easy for the couple.
With Loren saying, “We have based our brand on quality, transparency and honesty, but there is also a need to constantly adapt and change. We want to be in control of our destiny and be self-sufficient,” while Lisa added “We have built a great team. One that is based on trust, not just amongst our employees, but with our partners and the consumers as well.”
Overall, Loren and Lisa’s approach is a holistic philosophy based on working together with Mother Nature, one Aldo Leopold himself shared and is reflected in another passage from A Sand County Almanac which says, “The practice of conservation must spring from conviction of what is ethically and aesthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and the community; and the community includes the soils, waters, fauna and flora as well as the people.”
Having reached its twentieth year milestone, it’s clear that the bonds that Stemple Creek has forged with both land and people are in fact “the right thing.”
