The Gold Ridge Experiment Farm was Luther Burbank's working outdoor laboratory, where he conducted the plant-breeding experiments that made him the most celebrated horticulturalist of his era. The three-acre property in west Sebastopol preserves elements of the experimental farm as it was in Burbank's time, including the propagating house, the original cottage he used as a retreat, and a garden that includes specimens descended from his work. The California Historical Landmark designation reflects how influential this modest site proved to be.
Guided tours are available seasonally through the Luther Burbank Home & Gardens organisation (which also maintains his larger Santa Rosa property). The farm is less visited and more intimate than the Santa Rosa house — closer to the working landscape Burbank actually used. The surrounding Goldridge soil — a distinctive sandy loam that Burbank identified as ideal for his work and that today underlies some of Sonoma's best Pinot Noir vineyards — is visible in the disturbed earth at the property edges.