Speaking metaphorically, Ausra business development chief Thomas Bartolomei says, "We have irons in the fire" but no signed deals yet.

FORBES: A solar project's funding freezes up.

But the produce comes from the ranch of owners Catherine and Joe Bartolomei (sister and brother, not husband and wife) just up the road in Forestville, and a quartet of chickens roam the property. (Granted, they live in a peaked-roof house well padded with straw and furnished with a heat lamp.) Then there is that quintessential inn amenity, a house cat.

FORBES: Sonoma Country Rustic Luxe: The Farmhouse Inn