Lavio’s pasture land is home to TV’s happy cows
Published: Thursday, Apr 24, 2008
Let’s suppose, just for a moment, that you have several hundred friends coming for dinner this weekend and you’re flummoxed over how to prepare that half a steer you’ve kept in the cooler for just such an occasion. The answer to your dilemma would be to call Leo Lavio, a well-known, native-born dairy rancher who’s reputed to be, hands down, the best chef in these parts when it comes to fixing deep-pit barbecue.
This method of cooking, which requires one large hole, several cords of wood reduced to charcoal, a few hundred pounds of specially wrapped beef, and lots of practice, keeps Lavio busy at events held throughout Marin and Sonoma counties. But you’ll need an invitation to sample his delectable salami, homemade venison sausage or satiny smooth creamy cheese, or if it’s a special occasion, a stew of robins and polenta.
“I was born under a cow,” says Lavio, 84, semi-seriously, explaining how his mother, Maria, would join his father Dazio and his uncle, Louis, with the milking chores on their Hicks Valley dairy while she was pregnant with her children. While Leo, his twin sister, Elsie, and brothers Louis and Hugo, were actually born indoors, Leo’s life was, quite frankly, spent in the barn. “I was raised drinking raw milk. My mother would put it in the bottle straight from the cow,”he said.
Dazio Lavio immigrated to California from northern Italy around 1906 at the age of 14, and his brother, Louis, came over in 1913. Several years later, Dazio was earning $15 a month milking cows on Joe Corda's dairy and Louis was milking for Maurice Mazza on San Antonio Road. Next to the Corda’s, on the Garzelli ranch, lived Maria Stefenoni, who Dazio married in 1921.
Dazio and Louis Lavio went into partnership in 1920, taking over a dairy in Hicks Valley, where they, along with Maria, and later their children, milked exclusively by hand-operated until 1938. The kids spoke only Italian until they attended Lincoln School, and later Petaluma High School.
“I only went because I had to. My future, I could see, was in the barn. That’s why I didn’t care for school,” said Leo, recalling the days when he’d haul the dairy’s milk cans to the Petaluma co-op in the morning and return home with them after school. “I liked the work. I used to know every cow in the barn. We used to name them instead of number them,” he noted. During the Depression when things were tough, Leo, between morning and afternoon milkings, did some carpentry, and helped Ernest Sartori build his barn.
In 1938, the Lavios purchased a 320-acre ranch on D Street extension straddling San Antonio Creek for $40,000 from Emmett Dado. Dazio, Louis, Leo and Hugo, with the aid of machines, milked about 200 cows a day. The picturesque rolling hills and oak-studded meadows of the property can be seen on television in the happy talking cow commercials for the California Dairy Council. Another property, a 150-acre spread on I Street extension, purchased by Leo and Hugo in 1951, was sold to developers in 1986 and named Westridge. That subdivision’s Lavio Drive honors the family name.
“I’ve lived a tough life. We didn’t do much running around. We went to dances in Penngrove and Cotati, and we did a lot of visiting each other’s ranches,” said Leo, who met his future wife, Josephine, on a blind date. “My wife says the reason she married me is because I spoke Italian.”
In June, his cooking expertise will be tested when the Lavios host 30 family members from Italy, coming to help celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
He’s a member of Nicasio Native Sons, the Marin County Sheriff’s Posse and is a 50-year member of Sons of Italy. A long-time member of the American Dairy Association, he helped start the Milk Advisory Board in 1968 and is involved in the annual Dairy Princess Ball.
(Harlan Osborne’s column, Toolin’ Around Town, appears every two weeks. Contact him at harlan@sonic.net)
