Cow Heaven
(2015) A 45-minute driving audio tour.
And a 30-minute radio version, produced for Making Contact
Drive along Tomales Bay in West Marin, California to learn how this land was saved as ranchland and open space.
Claire Schoen: Producer/director
Narrated by: Peter Coyote.
Marin Agricultural Land Trust: Executive Producer
VoiceMap: Audio Tour distributor
Program Summary: Just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, fifth-generation sheep rancher Bill Jensen guides recalcitrant lambs through a foot bath. A few miles down the road, Bob Giacomini checks out his high-tech milking barn where 480 cows are each milked 3 times a day. Bill and Bob are part of a rich agricultural region of dairy farmers, cattle and sheep ranchers and oyster growers in West Marin County.
In the face of relentless development pressure, how did densely populated San Francisco maintain an agricultural greenbelt just north of the City? A lot of the credit goes to two women: dairy farmer Ellen Strauss and environmentalist Phyllis Faber. As plans were being laid for a 4-lane highway, housing developments and a shopping mall in West Marin, these two women came up with an idea…
Cow Heaven is distributed by VoiceMap, an international audio tour company telling stories in over 60 cities worldwide. Downloading the VoiceMap app and then the Cow Heaven audio tour onto your smart phone, the visitor is guided by audio directions as GPS activates each part of the story as you drive.
