On a trip back from Southern California we camped our RV at the Pismo KOA and found the most amazing piece of farm-to-food in heaven. If ever you are taking a long weekend vacation in the Pismo Beach/Avila Beach/San Luis Obispo area, this should be on your list to visit.
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The RV Trip
We had set up a one night layover at Avila/Pismo Beach KOA for our 3 night 4 day drive back to the San Francisco bay area from Southern California. We went down on the desert side trying to avoid the LA area, and came back up on the ocean side. Wonderful vistas all over the place, famous street and venue names we recognized, and now we also have lists of places we’d love to explore further.
On day two of our return home trip, we checked into the KOA and shortly thereafter I received an email ”welcome” notice from the managers that included nearby places to visit. One item in particular caught my eye:
- Avila Valley Barn: Located within walking distance from the campground this is a popular destination for locals and tourists. Deli, ice cream, fudge, baked goods, and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Open all year long. Winter hours are Thursday through Monday, 10am to 5pm.
We are on our second to last day of an overall 10-day trip and food supplies were running a bit low. So my spouse did the initial trek to the Barn and, it seemed, within minutes I get this call: ”OMG you have got to see this place, perfect for your blog.”
Coming back home with two meaty sandwiches and stories about this place we decided that the next day, before we hopped on 101 North, we’d stop and visit the place. Luckily they allowed well behaved dogs on leash everywhere on the grounds except in the buildings.
Avila Valley Barn
Avila Valley Barn is picturesque, fun to explore, and made with children and children-at-heart in mind. Is it one of those tourist traps? Sure it is, but that is okay if you go in with the idea of having fun. In fact, of all places similar to this one, Avila Barn is by far one of the better places I have experienced.
This was started back in 1985 as a food stall, and since that time they have made such vast improvements that now I would say, without hesitation, this place is a destination spot. If you are on your way on 101, passing through Pismo or San Luis Obispo, you need to stop at this place for locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables, pick up a home made pie or bakery treat, hand feed and pet farm animals, or stop off for lunch from their Smoke House and Chicken Shack. Heck, you can even get an ice cream or freshly squeezed apple juice while on the way to the beach.
- Pismo Beach
- This place has a great sandy beach right on the ocean
- Easy to walk to from the downtown area, its right there
- Has a squeaky swing set that adults and children used while we were there
- But the dogs need to behave, people need to clean up after the dogs, and dogs must be on leash while on the beach.
- Avila Beach
- Dogs are allowed off-leash and under voice-command control on Avila Beach before 10:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m. daily.
Associated Farms
A lot of the food comes from nearby farms, but I cannot say it all does. Some of the farms are lsited below:
This is the farm that grows the organic apples, and produces apple juice and apple cider sold at Avila Valley Barn. The original farm owner loved apples and grafted an unusual variety of them on his farm. When he died, the farm was bought by Debbie Smith and her husband Bruce. Who also purchased the Avila Valley Barn. Eventually, one of their children grew up to take over the Gopher Glen Farm and added a new business.
The apple farm makes apples for use in apple pies, strudels, muffins, apple sauce, apple butter, baked cinnamon apples, apple juice, and so much more. This offshoot company, started in 2016, focuses on hard cider, with an approach similar to wine.
Although marketed as a wedding venue, this is an actual farm with apple and pear orchards and bees. They make honey, jams and jellies, and alcohol-free apple cider for their own farm stand and the Avila Valley Barn.
Some of the food sold at the Avila Valley Barn is grown on land owned by The Land Conservancy, set aside as an agricultural preserve. Lands at the SE end of the Avila Valley are permanently reserved for agricultural and natural land use. These nearly 90 acres produce ~400k pounds of produce, all of which is sold at Avila Valley Barn.
Avila Valley Barn has dedicated themselves to the preservation of the valley area and uses absolutely no pesticides or herbicides on their farms. (This does not mean the food is organic, and I saw no signs saying they were, we also saw no signs saying the food was pesticide free. We only found this out later, after doing research on the business.) They do however use sustainable farming practices, which include: cover cropping to protect and build the soil, reduced or eliminated tillage to foster healthy soil biology, and integrated animals into the farming process to increase nutrition within the animals, soil, veggies and fruit.
The Bakery
The first place I hit was the bakery. A wonderful little area that had 3 cashiers working hard to accommodate all the people wanting their food. They had homemade cookies, loaves, pies, scones, muffins, etc. The aroma hit me as soon as I stepped out of the RV.
I bought one of their famous pies, guaranteed to be made daily by hand using local ingredients. I bought a whole Olallieberry pie, which we proceeded to eat for lunch right there; I love having the RV as we can eat inside, in peace, even though there were a couple of hundred people all over the barn(s).
- Olallieberry
- Made via normal plant breeding, this Oregon-made berry is a combo of mostly blackberry with some red raspberry as well.
- Wikipedia: “Olallie” means berry in the Chinook Jargon. Olallie Lake in Oregon’s Cascade Range is named after the Chinook term due to the abundance of berries in that area.
- Wikipedia: The olallieberry, sometimes spelled ollalieberry, olallaberry, olalliberry, ollalaberry or ollaliberry, is the marketing name for the ‘Olallie’ blackberry released by the USDA-ARS.
- VisitCambriaca: The olallieberry is a dark-colored, shiny, juicy berry that closely resembles a blackberry. That’s because it is a descendant of the common blackberry, genetically combined with other delicious berries. The flavor is tart but balanced, with enough sweetness to enhance baked goods and soften savory selections.
I also bought a lemon-blueberry scone that was the size of a small cake, a chocolate chip cookie, and a pumpkin loaf. All for my spouse of course, I just wanted the pie!
Homemade Pickles
I also reviewed their pickle area and tasted some of their homemade dill pickles. They were properly sweet-n-sour and very crunchy. I ate the sampling, one right after the other. Loved it.
Prepared Foods
They served freshly cooked corn on the cob with plenty of condiments. Pulled pork BBQ sandwiches served with coleslaw and their pickles. We got one and it tasted great, but do NOT feed leftovers to your dogs. I gave each of them a good sized serving for dinner that night. We found out later there was garlic and onions in the mix and both dogs had ”issues” for a few days. I should know better and unfortunately my spouse was up one night taking them out for emergency potty breaks. I am still apologizing to everyone for this oversight on my part.
They also grilled and made tri-tip sandwiches, which we bought as well. The meat was well cooked, tender, and flavorful in a meaty way. That was served with pickles and a dill-horseradish sauce.
Chicken sandwiches were also available, but we did not taste that during this visit.
Dried and Fresh Fruit + Nuts
In addition to dried fruits, they had jerky and nuts. If you notice in the photo above, they also have a large variety of fresh apples. Then of course they offered apple pies, freshly squeezed apple cider, and caramel apples. All things grown and made by hand.
They also feature a season-based, pick-your-own where you do the picking. They will provide a tractor ride to the area the food is ready for picking, and will let you go about choosing the food your want. I do not think you can get fresher food than this.
- July-Aug: Peaches
- July-Oct: Raspberries
- Aug-Dec: Apples
- Sept-Nov: Pumpkins
- July-Nov: Blackberries
- June-Aug: Apricots
- July-Oct: Cut flowers
Great Veggies + Eggs
They had a selection of ripe, colorful, and tasty veggies and eggs from their chickens. The eggs were not uniformly one color, but were brown, blue, white, and some variations thereof.
Honey + More
They had a nice display of the honey they had available, including combs. But there was so much more.
This is one of those places where you would gladly part with your money to pick your own fruits or buy knick knacks.
Children at Heart
There was also an area where they had some farm animals adults and children could pet and feed. The list of animals vary by day, but includes chickens, cows, goats, llamas, ostriches, and sheep.
They had hay rides through parts of their farm, and pick your own opportunities. All in all, a fun way to spend your money and a few hours.
—Patty
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