I worked as a Teacher in Residence at Slide Ranch in 2020. I am a Black queer woman. The way me and some of the other BIPOC staff were treated by the management of the organization was racist. I and several other "diversity hire" staff felt so uncomfortable and unsafe at Slide Ranch that we left early. I would not recommend this org to anyone of color. They use black and brown children for grants while paying well below state minimum wage to the teachers ($9/hour) while expecting the teacher in residence to carry the weight of the org. We never got to meet with the all white board to voice our concerns. Any qualms with Slide Ranch were immediately shut down. Be warned, this is a white supremacist organization!
Review from Guidestar
Slide Ranch is a magical place that transports the entire family. The physical location is stunning, the staff is exceptional and the ranch itself provides such a needed and thoroughly enjoyable opportunity to reconnect with the natural world. My husband, 7 year old daughter, 3 year old son and I love Slide Ranch!
My family loves Slide Ranch. The chance to take my "City" kid to a farm near by is priceless. Goats, plants, learning about farming, and a chance to participate and learn real skills (spinning yarn, baking, milking)such great life long experience. I wish we could live at the ranch it is a beautiful place to visit.
My 5 year old son and 2 year old daughter absolutely love Slide Ranch and talk about going there all the time. We have done the family campout, Spring Fling and Family Farm Days. All are really well run, very engaging for the children and the location is spectacular. My kids love milking and petting the friendly goats, making bread and sitting by the campfire at the campout. If we could go every weekend, we would!!
Stunning retreat. My 4 and 3 year old sons talk about their visits there often. The staff was knowledgeable, patient and kind. My boys gathered eggs from the chicken coop, milked goats and picked vegetables and herbs from the garden. They were so proud watching us eat up the vegetable fritatta they had so much fun preparing on the outdoor stove.
I was a teacher intern, then Operations Director and finally Board member of Slide Ranch over the period of almost six years. The benefits to me personally of being involved ranged from the emotional reward of seeing the wonder on the faces of youth from Oakland who had never before seen the ocean, to the profound experience of slaughtering a chicken with my own hands for food, to the political growth I was exposed to in understanding the importance of local food systems and joining the Marin Food Policy Council.
Both of my Children (ages 9 and 23) have attended the Slide Ranch Summer programs from ages 5 on. No less than an absolutely wonderful organic experience for them both (that the older one still speaks of to this day.) It's a very special part of our summer together as a family. Thank you Slide Ranch!
I have a Sixteen year old son who has attended Slide Ranch since seven years old. He has been a counselor for the last four years. Slide Ranch really helps our youth appreciate the enviroment, humans, and the love of life. Iam so excited when the summer comes so my teen can leave the material, fast pace life for the beauty of slide ranch offers. Now his eight year old sister will attend slide ranch for her third year and experience the years of joy he has. I can't say anough about the people and enviroment at slde ranch. If you want your child to go to a camp that will teach them the beauty of our mother earth while having fun Slde Ranch is that magical place for your child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Slide Ranch camp is my daughters' favorite and everyone to whom we've recommended it feels the same way. The opportunity for kids to experience cycles of food production firsthand in such a beautiful setting is unique.
Quite simply, it is my girls' favorite summer camp. I try to expose them to many activities and experiences, but nothing beats Mother Nature at California's utopian ranch.
Five starts for good old Slide Ranch, which is more than a "non-profit" or a collection of programs, more than the sum of its parts. It is way of thinking, of being in the world, utterly bound in space and time to there and now.
There is nothing better than spending a day at this farm by the coast. After milking goats, holding chickens and carding wool, you and your family can take a small hike to the tidepools and discover the wonders of our coastal habitats. The staff are wonderful.
Slide Ranch is such a wonderful place for our nature deprived children to learn about where our food comes from and experience how a farm works. The staff is friendly, knowledgable and caring. The programs Slide Ranch offers are age-appropriate and full of learning and excitement for the children. The setting is absolutely stunning. It is such a magical place for the whole family. We are so lucky to live close enough to enjoy this special place.
I love the goats at camp. I like taking the goats for walks when I am at camp. It's fun running with the goats. I really like Fiona but she might not be at camp this summer because she doesn't produce milk anymore. Milking a goat is so fun. By Sylvie age 8
This summer, my older daughter will spend time at Slide Ranch summer camp----for the 8th year in a row. It's the first place she asks to attend and she looks forward to it every year...all year long. My younger daughter will be attending for her 5th summer and is equally enthusiastic. Slide Ranch is a special place...from the fennel forest to the goats, from the wonderful counselors and staff to the amazing location. My girls are learning about their environment and nature in a way I wish I could have experienced at their age. And it is giving them an appreciation for all that Slide Ranch represents. Thank you for the opportunity to share.
My child attended a week of summer camp at Slide Ranch for 5 years in a row. It was a high point of each summer for him! As an urban child, the opportunity to be outdoors, enjoy the garden, learn about the garden and how food is grown, to enjoy the tide pools and so much more, was very special. Thank goodness the Bay Area has such a wonderful place for families to explore the outdoors, appreciate nature and enjoy the amazing organic gardens!
As a former staff person, I have seen the value of Slide Ranch on both the clients served as well as on the residential teacher training program for the teaching interns. These teachers are the "face of Slide Ranch." When participants disembark from their bus or car, they are embraced by the expansive view of the ocean, the breeze on their skin, the wild land beneath their feet. Then they meet a warm-hearted guide for the day who teaches about what and where they live. The experience arises authentically from the land, and by the end of the day most children are so touched they never want to leave. The impressions last for a lifetime. I have seen many parents bring their children to family day programs because they remember their personal experience of Slide Ranch from their own youth, remember being touched to their core with appreciation for this planet and our role in it, and want to share that very same experience with their own children. For myself, and for countless others, my time at Slide Ranch is one that has changed who I am in the world.
As a kindergarten teacher, I have been bringing my students to Slide Ranch for more than 15 years!! It has always been an integral part of our environmental curriculum. Our visits to the ranch have offered a wonderful way to underscore the incredible beauty of nature and the importance of developing a personal responsibility for the care of our planet! We have eaten from the organic garden, milked the goats, run in the fields with the lambs, and eaten lunch with a beautiful vista of both the mountains and the powerful sea. We have hiked down a steep mountain to experience the wonders of the tidepools below, made soap from one of the garden plants, worked with the wool that has been shorn from a sheep, and made our own butter from the goat's milk. With these experiences and so many more, the fabulous teaching interns have always been insightful, knowledgeable, creative and so much FUN!! Slide Ranch has always been our favorite field trip of the year. It is a perfect place for all of us, adults and children alike, to take some critical steps closer to our connection with the wonders of mother earth!!
Our granddaughter was extremely enthusiastic about her experience at Slide Ranch. The expertise of the counsellors, the adventures of domestic animal contact, seashore exploration, garden and making hand make projects such as candles and cheese as we observed and she reported combined to provide her with a very broadening experience. We very highly recommend this Slide Ranch.
For decades, Slide Ranch has served as a valuable reminder that living simply in harmony with nature and gentle cultivation of the earth can be healing and healthy. As an example to our children and their parents, their diverse courses teach local sustainable organic farming, including raising farm animals for milk and grazing for compost in gardening and poultry for eggs, food and fertilizer. These simple, traditional ways of living on a stressed earth are now more important than ever. Because I live nearby and have dozens of fruit trees, I have called upon the teachers of Slide to come and harvest our fruit, berries and nuts. In exchange, they have given us eggs and produce. Community outreach to Marin kids and disenfranchised inner city kids is one of the more vital purposes of Slide and its devoted staff and volunteers. As a fully functioning farm Slide teaches, by example, agrarian and sustainability skills that cannot be learned in schools. By connecting children with nature, their program fulfills our evolutionary and biologic essence. Southern Marin is enriched by their presence showing all of us ways to live more holistically with the ecosystem. Their function as teachers to our children is imperative to true sustainability.
Slide Ranch rocks! It is one of my favorite places on the planet. My daughter and I have gone to weekend events for the past four years, and this summer she will attend camp. We have milked a goat, fed chickens and turned the eggs in the incubator, and even learned what a turkey waddle does. My favorite part of each trip is the circle talk about respect, the animals, each other and the planet.
I was a teacher there for all of 1998, and it was one of the best experiences of my life, to live in such a beautiful place with such great people and serve the children & families of the Bay Area. SLIDE RANCH ROCKS
Slide Ranch has been a great experience for my daughter. First her school had an overnight trip there which was very well organized and our very diverse group of city kids got to milk goats, hold chickens, run through fennel and really experience farm life and coastal life. Since that trip she has been two summers to camp there and is looking forward to a third. We have been to one day family days and just love the people who run the farm. For me - it is a truly magical spot - a charming farm, in a sweet valley - right on the coast!
Slide Ranch is one of my favorite places on the planet. It has provided my family with an opportunity to experience life on a sustainable small farm. We first went on a LGBT Family day with our two year old daughter. All three of us milked a goat for our first time. In small groups we made bread and cheese, we picked a salad from the garden and shared a meal together under the trees. Making bread and cheese so simply was eye opening for us parents. Our daughter discovered the worm composting bin and it was her favorite part of that first trip. We have gone once a year since, 4 times so far, and have gotten to see sheep shearing, tide pools and learned how to pick-up a chickens. We have enjoyed the new crop of interns each year. This very special place provides intimate and mindful learning experiences in a way no larger organization ever could.
Provides an extraordinary opportunity for kids to experience the outdoors and learn about the environment. Wonderful staff, great values. My kids had an amazing experience here and will continue to attend the camp every summer. We are very lucky to have this in our backyard.
My kids have been attending weekend activities at Slide Ranch since before they could walk. The highlight of our summer is the week they attend farm camp at Slide Ranch. Through Slide Ranch, these city kids came to appreciate the joys and challenges of farming, eat vegetables they harvested themselves, make friends with chickens and goats. They think of themselves as having an important connection to the land. It's a rare and wondrous institution.