Tomkat Ranch is the kind of place we’re all looking for in the California food community; 1 part Farm and 2 part Institution. It’s full of farmers, farm equipment and farm animals, but there’s a purpose beyond the business of holistic animal agriculture in its core. That’s not to say raising animals holistically is not purposeful; indeed, many of the modern world’s greatest problems can be solved through these farms, but at Tomkat there is a sense of something more. We met Kathy, a wiry, powerful woman who projects when she speaks and always seems in a state of intense focus to counteract a profound restlessness. It is likely that, even when she was listening to us, there were a dozen other things she was making progress on in the back of her mind. TomKat feels a bit like the star at the center of a great constellation. They are one of a small group of leaders at the heart of the developing BARC project which, soon enough, will provide Marin and the surrounding region with a Co-op slaughter facility capable of alleviating some of the major problems facing Regenerative farmers. The source of Tomkat’s power, aside from Kathy, is probably the many research projects they take on in support of the community. While other farms engage in the business of farming, Tomkat engages in the future of that business, devoting its attention and resources to new farming methods which might one day define that business.