Markegard Family Grass-Fed provides the community with locally born, raised and processed certified grass-fed beef and lamb, chicken and pasture raised pork. Customers can order beef, lamb and pork online through our shop to be delivered around the Bay Area, at Farmers Markets. Make sure to check out our CSA to join the other committed members who benefit with regular access to limited products, sales and special events! We look forward to serving you and your family with the freshest, healthiest local meats in the Bay Area!
CSA Boxes
We will be partnering with Fifth Crow Farm again for the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) season May-November. Our Meat CSA is the pillar of our ranch. You can trust in us to bring you the highest quality grass-fed and grass-finished beef and lamb and pasture raised pork and chicken.
We will accept new members twice per year. Join the waitlist to hear about our next opening. Non-members can still order online and visit us at Farmers Markets.
About the Farmer
Erik Markegard is a 6th generation cattle rancher. He was raised on a 2000 acre cattle ranch in San Mateo County. Erik worked alongside his father, Larry Markegard as a youth managing or leasing all of the ranches for Peter Folgerand then Neil Young. These lands included the Broken Arrow, Djerassi, SMIP, Eisenhut, Isenburg, McCreery Moore, and San Gregorio ranches. Erik started his own cow/calf business, Flying M Cattle Company in 1985. Two years later he started managing and then leasing the TOTO ranch. When Erik met his wife, Doniga they transformed the cow/calf operation into 100% grass-fed to meet the growing demands for healthy, local, sustainably raised beef.
Doniga comes to ranching with a background in nature and permaculture. This has given her a perspective on the real risks that we are facing as a species. In her youth, she was mentored by some of the leading wildlife trackers, naturalists, and Native spiritual elders. She spent years alone and with a small group of passionate youth in the Western Washington Wilderness learning the ways of the ancestors, immersing in nature, bird language, survival skills, and wildlife tracking.
Along with her husband and four children, Doniga owns and operates Markegard Family Grass-Fed LLC raising grass-fed beef, lamb, pastured pork and dairy supplying the Bay Area with local, nutrient-dense foods. The family ranch leases land throughout the Bay Area spanning over 8000 acres. Doniga’s work expands beyond her family ranch into policy and advocacy. She has organized a stakeholder working group at the State Capital for small dairy herds. She then took the lead on legislation that would enable family farms to be more sustainable and utilize pasture in an economical and productive way.
Doniga’s deep observation experience aids in her ability to monitor grassland health, biodiversity and to manage land based on the principles and patterns found in nature. Doniga is passionate about the large-scale restoration of Western Rangelands through cattle grazing. The Markegard Family has forged partnerships with some of the largest land trust groups in California, private landowners, as well as regional open space parks. Each ranch has a grazing plan and conservation management plan developed in conjunction with landowners and the Natural Resource Conservation Service. She is dedicated to finding ways to regenerate lands and community through ranching practices that build soil, sequester carbon, capture and purify water and enhance habitat.