The Five Marys Story
- 15m Prep Time
- 40m Cook Time
- 55m Ready In
A moist and tender rhubarb coffee cake with a cinnamon-sugar topping. Perfect for spring brunch or dessert.
Ingredients
- we could find. We worked with top local chefs to identify just what we wanted and what was important to us.
- Sourcing consistent, high-quality meats year-round proved to be difficult. After a lot of research and a few years of searching, we knew exactly what we were looking for: well-marbled Black Angus beef from cattle with excellent genetics that were raised naturally on grasses and finished with barley. We wanted beef that was dry-aged for twenty-one to twenty-eight days for outstanding flavor and consistency every time.
- When we couldn’t find anything that met our criteria, we decided to do it ourselves. We found the historic Sharps Gulch Ranch in the mountains of Northern California outside of Siskiyou County—or we like to say it found
- us.
- Our hope was that we could build an operation to produce our own consistently excellent, humanely raised meats, all while continuing life as we knew it.
- With some help from my brother-in-law, a fifth-generation cattle rancher in Eastern Oregon, we set up operations and jumped into ranch life while trying to run our businesses in Silicon Valley. When we purchased the property, we thought we’d just go up on the weekends, hiring a ranch manager to handle the day-to-day operations while we managed our businesses during the week. We quickly realized we couldn’t do both things well.
- A few months later—and about two hours into the six-hour commute we made every weekend—I turned to Brian and asked, “What are we doing?
- Driving to the ranch every weekend is not sustainable. Let’s commit to this full time.” It was an easy decision to make. But it wasn’t easy to unwind the life we’d created.
- Brian and I decided to sell our home and all of our businesses, including our two restaurants and his law firm, and move our family of six to the ranch for good. It was a huge change. We left behind the only livelihood we’d ever known and set our sights on creating a life and a sustainable business in a rural town with a population of just 681 people.
- This decision wasn’t much of a shock to those who knew us. People often ask my mom if she’s shocked we ended up as ranchers, and her answer is always “No, it makes perfect sense for Mary and Brian.” Brian and I both have deep roots in California agriculture and share a love of the rural Western lifestyle. In 1867 Brian’s great-great-grandfather Casper and his wife, Theresa, came to Ventura County from Germany to farm sugar beets. Casper was known as one of the first agriculturalists in the region. The couple eventually bought the four-thousand-acre Conejo ranch. Their son, Antone, continued ranching and later settled in Orange County, where Brian’s dad started their
- family in agriculture. Brian’s dad, Tom, was a banker in Ventura as a young man but decided to go back to his farming roots when Brian was an infant. Moving his young family to Imperial County, Tom grew alfalfa, grains, and specialty crops. When Brian was sixteen, the family moved north to Tehama County, where Tom began to farm prunes, almonds, and walnuts. Sadly, he suffered greatly from Parkinson’s soon after the move and passed away in 2015, but Brian’s dad made many visits to our ranch before he died. He was clearly very proud to see his son following in his foot
Let's Prepare
Collect
Gather these ingredients — no prep needed yet.
- we could find. We worked with top local chefs to identify just what we wanted and what was important to us.
- Sourcing consistent, high-quality meats year-round proved to be difficult. After a lot of research and a few years of searching, we knew exactly what we were looking for: well-marbled Black Angus beef from cattle with excellent genetics that were raised naturally on grasses and finished with barley. We wanted beef that was dry-aged for twenty-one to twenty-eight days for outstanding flavor and consistency every time.
- When we couldn’t find anything that met our criteria, we decided to do it ourselves. We found the historic Sharps Gulch Ranch in the mountains of Northern California outside of Siskiyou County—or we like to say it found
- us.
- Our hope was that we could build an operation to produce our own consistently excellent, humanely raised meats, all while continuing life as we knew it.
- With some help from my brother-in-law, a fifth-generation cattle rancher in Eastern Oregon, we set up operations and jumped into ranch life while trying to run our businesses in Silicon Valley. When we purchased the property, we thought we’d just go up on the weekends, hiring a ranch manager to handle the day-to-day operations while we managed our businesses during the week. We quickly realized we couldn’t do both things well.
- A few months later—and about two hours into the six-hour commute we made every weekend—I turned to Brian and asked, “What are we doing?
- Driving to the ranch every weekend is not sustainable. Let’s commit to this full time.” It was an easy decision to make. But it wasn’t easy to unwind the life we’d created.
- Brian and I decided to sell our home and all of our businesses, including our two restaurants and his law firm, and move our family of six to the ranch for good. It was a huge change. We left behind the only livelihood we’d ever known and set our sights on creating a life and a sustainable business in a rural town with a population of just 681 people.
- This decision wasn’t much of a shock to those who knew us. People often ask my mom if she’s shocked we ended up as ranchers, and her answer is always “No, it makes perfect sense for Mary and Brian.” Brian and I both have deep roots in California agriculture and share a love of the rural Western lifestyle. In 1867 Brian’s great-great-grandfather Casper and his wife, Theresa, came to Ventura County from Germany to farm sugar beets. Casper was known as one of the first agriculturalists in the region. The couple eventually bought the four-thousand-acre Conejo ranch. Their son, Antone, continued ranching and later settled in Orange County, where Brian’s dad started their
- family in agriculture. Brian’s dad, Tom, was a banker in Ventura as a young man but decided to go back to his farming roots when Brian was an infant. Moving his young family to Imperial County, Tom grew alfalfa, grains, and specialty crops. When Brian was sixteen, the family moved north to Tehama County, where Tom began to farm prunes, almonds, and walnuts. Sadly, he suffered greatly from Parkinson’s soon after the move and passed away in 2015, but Brian’s dad made many visits to our ranch before he died. He was clearly very proud to see his son following in his foot
Let's Cook
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Step 1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray.
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Step 2.
In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
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Step 3.
In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup buttermilk, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 2 large eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.
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Step 4.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in 2 cups diced fresh or frozen rhubarb and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.
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Step 5.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly. In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; sprinkle over the batter.
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Step 6.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.