Tracey Barnes-Priestley: Hi, I'm Tracey Barnes-Priestley.

This week, on "What's on Your Bucket List?"

a spirited woman tries her hand giving a haircut to a very cooperative four-legged beast.

Tracey: Then a curious grandma and her good-natured granddaughter realize a dream come true that has a very tasty ending.

Tracey: Coming up next on "What's on Your Bucket List?"

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Tracey: We traveled south to the beautiful pastures of Ferndale and the Foggy Bottoms Boys farm where I sat down with our first enthusiastic guest.

Tracey: We are here on one of those days at Humboldt that's gloriously sunny, it's warm, and I'm very happy to introduce you to my guest, Beth Gin.

Beth Gin: Good morning.

Tracey: Good morning.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Beth has perhaps one of my most fascinating requests.

Beth, what are we doing today?

Beth: We're shearing a sheep.

Tracey: We're going to shear a sheep.

Where does that even come from, Beth?

Beth: You know, I really don't know.

I've never been around a sheep.

I've never sheared a sheep, never seen a sheep sheared, except on videos, but I haven't done it before.

So why not?

Tracey: Why not?

That's what I love.

Now, when we met, we do a little pre-production interview and when we met, you said that the life you're living now is probably pretty different from what you were living even 10, 15 years ago.

What's the difference?

Beth: Well, I've decided to be me.

You know, before, I was a parent, I was a mom, I was a wife, and I was what everybody expected me to be.

But I wasn't me.

So when the kids left home, I decided it's my time.

So I started taking art classes and traveling by myself and kind of doing silly crazy things.

And I'm having a ball.

Tracey: But what other kind of things have you been enjoying?

Beth: Well, I tell you.

I always wanted to be a mermaid.

I'm afraid of water, so my husband took me to the pool with my flippers on and goggles and everything, trying to get me to do water, but I couldn't do it so I found a place in Hawaii that did a photo shoot on the beach, you know, in a mermaid suit.

I have a greater respect for mermaids now 'cause that tail's heavy.

Tracey: And what would you say to other--to our viewers because, you know, part of my reason for doing this show is to encourage people to get out of their comfort zone.

What do you think you've learned by risking a little bit more?

Beth: There are so many things out there, so many things that we always say, "Oh, I can't do that," or "I'm afraid," or "What are people gonna say?"

Or, "I'll do that tomorrow," but you don't have-- you don't know if you have tomorrow, you don't.

So if an opportunity comes up, or make your own opportunity and just do something fun and crazy.

Tracey: Well, now, if I remember correctly, you had a big health scare a couple of years ago.

Beth: I did, 2 years ago I had a stroke.

Not fun, but I'm here today.

Tracey: Here you are.

And what did that do to your outlook?

Beth: It basically changed the timeline for everything.

I may have another stroke tomorrow, I don't know, but today I can do something.

Tracey: And today-- Beth: And today I'm shearing a sheep.

Tracey: Before meeting the lucky sheep, I spoke with Cody Nicholson Stratton, a sixth-generation farmer.

Cody filled me in on the rich history of their farm and also described their very busy operation.

Cody Nicholson Stratton: So our family farm started in 1860.

Tracey: Whoa.

Cody: Yeah, my grandmother's family emigrated from Denmark and settled on Cock Robin Island, which is at the mouth of the Eel River.

When you move from a wee, wet, cold island, you settle on a wee, wet, cold island, of course, and then in the 1920s my grandfather's family started dairying here with 6 head of Jerseys and our entire herd of 100 cows today is based off of those original 6 cows.

Tracey: They are direct descendants?

Oh my gosh, that's impressive.

Cody: Yeah, so we've kept a really strong family line of our cows, so today we have a family operation where there's four generations working on the farm at any given time.

We sell grass-fed beef and lamb, pastured eggs, and then organic milk all goes to Rumiano Cheese to be made into cheese, butter, ghee, as well as lactose for organic baby formula and whey protein.

Tracey: And you also host events here at the farm, is that right?

Cody: We do, we host tours as well as dinners, and then we also do educational events.

We're really trying to give everyone a place where they can connect with food and fiber.

Tracey: Well, and I do thank you today because I know you've made some special accommodations with your friend and it is really wonderful that we're gonna make this happen for our guest.

Cody: It's been our pleasure.

We're really looking forward to it.

Tracey: Today would not be possible without this gentleman.

Cody Kinsman, thank you so much.

Cody is our sheep shearing expert, correct?

Cody Kinsman: That's right.

I've spent a lot of years doing this, so.

Tracey: Now, it's not your day job, right?

Cody: No, I teach school in the wintertime and by summer I recoup and regenerate my brain so that I can get back in the groove in the fall.

Tracey: That's great, that's-- well, thank you for teaching.

It's an important profession.

Cody: Thanks, I enjoy it.

Tracey: How did you become a sheep shearer?

Cody: When I was a little kid, we had horses and every type of critter you can imagine.

My dad really liked the fast-paced, high-spirited horses, and I was sick of getting bucked off, so I said, "Dad, I'm getting my sheep," and it's all history from there, so.

Tracey: Is that right?

Cody: Yeah, yeah, I just kind of fell in love with it and it became a 4-H and FFA project.

Tracey: Okay, I wanna thank you for coming all the way from Oregon to help us today.

I know it's--it is your summer vacation so thank you so much, Cody, and let's go shear sheep.

Cody: Okay, let's do it.

Tracey: Finally, it was time for Beth to check sheep shearing off of her bucket list.

Tracey: Okay, here we go.

Beth: I'm ready.

I don't know if the sheep is.

Tracey: I don't know either, but we're gonna meet Cody and the sheep.

Does she have a name?

Cody: She does not.

Tracey: Cody, this is our guest, Beth, and-- Cody: Hi.

Beth: Hi, Cody.

Nice to meet you.

Cody: Nice to meet you.

Tracey: All right, well, we're gonna have a little demo first, okay?

So why don't you go ahead and get her ready?

Cody: Sounds great.

Tracey: Is this her first time?

Cody: Yeah.

Tracey: Wow.

Beth: Hah, her first time, my first time.

Beth: Have you ever cut one?

Cody: Yes, that happens.

It's not something I like.

I really hate it, actually, 'cause I'm empathetic towards them.

They didn't ask to be sheared, but for health concerns and flock management, we keep them shorn so that they'll be healthy and gain weight and be fertile.

Beth: If they get too--if they don't get sheared for a long time, does that hurt them?

Cody: Yes, it's best practice to keep them shorn once, if not twice, a year.

Tracey: Wow, look at that.

Beth: It's a different color.

Tracey: I know.

Cody: And that discoloration, the yellow pattern, is called lanolin.

Lanolin is a natural oil and it's in lotion, it's in cosmetics, it's-- Beth: It doesn't take that long, does it?

Cody: I'm slow.

There are much faster shearers.

Tracey: He's slow, I know.

Cody: There are much faster shearers out there.

I take a lot of pride in getting a nice job done so that the sheep can look their best, and that slows me down, but everyone has all their legs and all their body parts that they started with.

Tracey: Look at her.

Beth: Are you happy now?

Oh, such a pretty little girl.

Tracey: Oh, look at the difference.

Beth: I bet you weigh a lot less.

Bet you can just go springing around.

Cody: Yeah, she's a cutie.

Tracey: What a cute--all righty, well, thank you.

And now, are you ready?

Cody: Yes.

Tracey: Your turn.

Beth: Oh, my goodness.

I hope the sheep forgives me.

♪♪♪ Cody: She'll stay here.

Beth: It's okay, baby.

It's okay, it's okay.

Cody: There you go, good job.

That's what they like.

They just need calm, soothing.

Tracey: You're like the sheep whisperer.

Beth: It's okay, baby, it's okay.

I'm probably more nervous than you are.

Tracey: Cody first sheared the most challenging parts of the sheep: the head and the belly.

Cody: She's doing great.

Beth: Ha, ha, me or the sheep?

Cody: Both of you.

Cody: So, her belly and her cheeks are done.

So now we're gonna hand 'em off to you and you're gonna jump in.

Tracey: Go, Beth.

Beth: How do you turn it on?

Cody: If you have questions-- yup, right here.

[shears buzzing] Cody: If you have questions, I'm here.

And you just try and feed into the fleece slowly and drive straight back, good.

And you'll wanna keep the tips of the shears flat against her skin so that you're getting it all in one pass.

Tracey: There you go.

Cody: Yeah, you still got some to go.

Beth: Sorry, Sheepy.

Cody: She's fine.

Tracey: Yeah, yeah, go, Beth.

Cody: So really focus on--here, can we hold it at the same time?

You hold it and I'll hold it.

See?

Beth: Oh, you're getting closer to her.

Cody: There we go.

See how we're really getting in?

And we go, go, go, go, go.

Cody: Is it what you thought it might be like?

Beth: No, I didn't know what I thought.

Cody: You didn't have any 'cause you'd never done this before.

Beth: Right.

[shears buzzing] Cody: Keep going, keep going, keep going.

Gotta drive all the way towards her head.

You're doing great.

Cody: Hey, and then, done.

I'm pulling the skin around from her elbow or her armpit and then she'll-- yeah, much nicer.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Cody: Very nice job, yeah.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Cody: Wow.

Beth: I'm exhausted.

Tracey: Is that a little bit of a workout?

Beth: Yeah, I'm sweating.

Cody: You did a nice job.

Beth: Yeah, it's gorgeous.

Cody: Like I said, the first sheep I ever sheared.

Beth: Did I put you to sleep?

Tracey: I wanna see that picture.

Beth: A little straggly in spots, but-- Tracey: You're all done.

Beth: Oh, I'm exhausted.

She looks good, but I'm tired.

Cody N.S.

: She looks great.

Tracey: What do you think?

Cody: She looks amazing.

Good job.

Beth: You lie a lot, but she looks better than she did.

Tracey: All right, so we've checked it off your bucket list.

Beth: Yes, we have.

Tracey: What do you think?

What was it like?

Beth: I'm so glad I did it.

Tracey: Are you?

Beth: I am.

Tracey: Because?

Beth: Because I hadn't done it before and I had no clue how difficult it was and what hard work it is and how brave these little sheep are, but yes, I enjoyed it.

Cody K.: Great.

Tracey: Cody, I wanna thank you.

You're a great teacher.

You really--you can tell what you do for a living because you're a really good teacher.

And Cody, thank you for having us.

It wouldn't have happened without you, and I think you have a little something.

Cody N.S.

: Yeah, well, since I have learned that you are learning to knit, I think it's only appropriate that you have some yarn, not only from our farm, but from this breed of sheep in particular that you've just sheared.

Beth: Ohh.

Tracey: Look at that.

Beth: I'm gonna knit me a sheep.

Knit me a little sheep.

Awesome, thank you.

Cody: You're welcome.

Tracey: Final product.

Beth: See, it can almost look like you.

Cody: Almost as good.

Beth: What's on your bucket list?

[sheep bleating] Tracey: At the end of a country road, we met our next guest, Dottie, and her delightful granddaughter, Leila, at the first stop of an internationally respected enterprise Dottie had always wanted to visit.

Tracey: I'm here today with Dottie Simmons and we're gonna have some fun.

What are we doing today, Dottie?

Dottie Simmons: We're gonna see Cypress Grove Cheese.

Tracey: Yes, we are, and why did you pick Cypress Grove's cheese?

Dottie: Because it's amazing to me that I know they started this as a small goat cheese thing and decided to go for it.

And to me, that's just amazing to, A, wanna jump off that cliff for starters, and just how do you make this amazing-- I mean, everything about this fascinates me: the cheese itself, the--how she does the business, and goats.

Tracey: And goats?

Now you had goats once upon a time?

Dottie: We had goats for 20 years.

Tracey: Okay.

Dottie: And then we started a business, and it was a soap business and it was growing and we came to Humboldt as back-to-the-land homesteaders back in the '60s.

And we found the home of our heart in the mountains.

And when our business got to a place where we could make it bigger but we'd have to move to town or we could stay the same and just not be rich, staying the same was the no-brainer for us.

We could--and she took it to that next level, which is so incredible.

And I wanted to see how that evolved.

Tracey: Well, I think we're gonna have a great time because we're starting where?

Dottie: With goats.

Tracey: Right, let's get this tour underway.

Dottie: That sounds good to me.

Tracey: We were lucky to be shown around the dairy by Janne Rasmussen, the Cypress Grove marketing manager.

Tracey: And here we have-- Janne Rasmussen: Hi, I'm Janne.

Dottie: Hi, Janne.

Leila: Leila.

Janne: Nice to meet you.

Tracey: Hello and who are these guys?

Janne: And these are the baby goats that we have here at the Cypress Grove Dairy.

And these babies are about 2 months old.

They're weaned off milk and they are enjoying some of their total mixed ration.

So they have a variety of things that-- they've got a lot of things to eat.

Watch out, they do like to nibble on other things, other than your--the food.

The babies are the most important part.

You cannot have a successful dairy without taking really good care of the goats.

From the moment they're born, it's the most intensive part of this dairy.

This is where it all starts, but it doesn't end here, of course, 'cause these babies are just 2 months old.

And soon they'll be moved out to the pasture out there until they're ready to be bred.

Because the whole goal of this dairy is to create a comfortable environment for the goats.

If they're warm, if they're dry, if they're healthy, they make great milk.

Janne: So we have several loafing barns and these are all very similar.

We move the goats around, depending on what's going on.

So we--and we built this theory.

The goal is to make a model because we don't have a tradition of goat dairying in the US, but we are sure building demand for goat cheese, and we need more milk.

Janne: Now we're gonna go to the milking parlor, and we bring the goats in here twice a day, every day, 365 days a year.

Cannot miss a day of milking.

There's no milking happening right now but you can see they've finished up for the day.

They start early in the morning, about 6 in the morning.

The equipment is really smart and as soon as the milk stops flowing, they automatically release, which is great, and then they drop off.

And then they funnel out and they get to go, relax, and have their breakfast in the barns and we treat the milk gently all the way across the process.

People have these theories that goats are--they'll eat anything.

But really, they're very picky.

And so they'll pick through the alfalfa just to eat the parts they want and leave the stems behind.

So we have to do a lot of work to make sure they're getting everything they need, you know, like a child.

Tracey: Well, I think we're ready to go down to the creamery.

What do you think?

Shall we see what happens with all this wonderful milk?

Dottie: What comes next?

Tracey: We drove down to the creamery and first spoke with Mary Keehn, the founder of Cypress Grove Cheese.

Tracey: One of the things that I've always been curious about and I know that our guest is as well, is how in the world did you ever begin?

Mary Keehn: So I had goats, I had four daughters.

I made cheese because we were super-poor.

You know, we lost money for 6 years and it was really hard because nobody liked goat cheese in the '80s.

Tracey: So you just believed in it and kept going?

Mary: I had no choice, really.

What do they say?

Necessity is the mother of invention.

I had four daughters to feed.

I was a single mom.

We have a joke in my family that I'm ready, fire, aim, so I'm a huge risk-taker.

I don't see the risk, and that is helpful, until I'm well into it and then I'm committed, so-- Tracey: Fantastic.

Mary: --I think if you design for the vision you want, you can then hold that vision and don't do what will take you off the vision, so you know, we have our solar panels now, we're--we've been reducing water usage, all kinds of things for sustainability.

We had a company picnic that I got to go to a couple of days ago, and families are there, and somebody said that they loved this company because they look out for people.

And it's really--I think you can hire for the heart and you can train for the job, you know?

Tracey: Oh, that's beautiful.

Mary: And it makes a big difference.

And so you'll notice that everybody here is super-wonderful.

Part of this time of life is giving back.

You know, we've lived our life, a lot of people have helped us get where we are.

Now, it's our turn to help the next group get where they need to go.

Tracey: And then it was time to see how milk from well-tended happy goats was transformed into renowned cheeses that are savored around the globe.

Tracey: Before entering the creamery where the cheese is processed, we had to cover up from head to toe to prevent any contamination from the outside world.

After a final disinfecting station, we were ready to see where the magic happened.

♪♪♪ Ashley Nylander: All right, so welcome to the Cypress Grove Creamery.

Did you--do you think it looks bigger here than it did from the outside?

Dottie: It totally looks bigger.

Look, this is huge.

Ashley: And so our milk is brought in on the complete other side of the wall, and so it just gets pasteurized and put right into those vats right there.

And so it's all done right here.

Dottie: Wait, since you're draining off waste, somewhere in there, rennet's added.

Ashley: Yeah, rennet and cultures are added in those ripening tanks and so that in there-- Dottie: And then it sits for X. Ashley: Yeah, it sits and ages and then there's an agitator in there that kind of breaks it up 'cause it turns into, like, a yogurt-like texture while it's in there.

Ashley: All right, so this is the curd press room in here.

And this is the beginning process.

Dottie: Oh, it's so quiet.

Ashley: This is the pasteurization of the milk, this is the beginning process of our cheese making.

And so, right now, the curd and the whey, they get pumped into these little curd press bags that-- or not little, they're very big--that you can see in here and so there's a tube that is being pressed from the other side of the room where we have our ripening tanks, and it is putting all of the curd and the whey that's going into these bags right now, and this is where the separation process is happening.

So you can see the whey is now separating from the curd that's in the curd bags.

And so you can see how much, like, how liquid-like the texture of it is and so how much whey really has to be pressed out of there for it to become usable curd.

Dottie: Oh yeah.

Oh, it smells wonderful.

This is really amazing.

Ashley: I know.

Ashley: Okay, so this is our mixing station.

So this is where they take the salt which we would add for Humboldt Fog and then right now they're gonna be adding truffles which is how we make our Truffle Tremor.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Tracey: But because you were specifically interested in Humboldt Fog, we are taking you to the quintessential Humboldt Fog room.

Ashley: So over there, they're taking the fresh chevre out of the buckets that we just made, that we mixed, and so we took the curd.

We added salt and enzymes to it and so now, that's what they're putting into the hopper right now.

And so that's gonna go into this little extruder that's gonna shoot out the cheese and you can see it coming out.

And each of those is just a half--a half a Humboldt Fog and so they come out in the perfect shape of half a wheel so that way they can go ahead and put the ash in the middle and that creates the ash line.

Dottie: Wow.

Ashley: Yeah.

Dottie: So how long does it have to sit after they do?

Ashley: So the cheese ages for 2 weeks, about 14 days.

It's such a labor, like, intensive job too, as you can see that.

We just--really, it still has that human touch to it, which is really incredible.

Dottie: They're just beautiful.

Ashley: We have three different types of coolers.

We have a drying cooler, we have a ripening cooler, and we have a finishing cooler.

So we'll go along and kind of explain what the different ones are.

And so in here, you will see all of our Humboldt Fog Grandes.

And so if you come in, we can walk in here and just take in that smell of the aged fresh cheese.

And so you can see a little bit of mold is starting to develop on those but these are still really new wheels.

The drying cooler, we put cheeses in here.

Usually Humboldt Fog Grandes, when they need to lose a little bit of moisture.

Sometimes they have too much moisture in them just 'cause it's such a big wheel of cheese.

Let's see what we have in here.

all: Whoa!

Dottie: Oh my gosh.

Ashley: You can even smell this one smells a lot different than the last one we were in.

It has that very like high intensity.

Dottie: That's amazing.

Ashley: These are about halfway through the ripening process 'cause they haven't been moved to the finishing cooler yet.

So these are still kept at a temperature that allows for the mold to keep growing and so, once we get down to the finishing coolers, you'll feel that the temperature drops and so that we try to stop the mold growth a little bit for it to go out into the world.

The mold will never stop growing.

The cheese is alive.

Tracey: After the cheese is wrapped, it is sent to packaging and then finally off to distribution.

Tracey: But that wasn't the end of our tour.

No, the good folks of Cypress Grove surprised us with a delicious picnic.

♪♪♪ Tracey: Well, I must say, we have had quite the tour and what do you think?

Dottie: This is fabulous.

I mean, it's just amazing.

This and that factory and the differences between it all and what amazing products you guys make, it's just incredible.

Janne: Thanks so much for coming to see us.

Dottie: You bet, and it's incredible it's in Humboldt that all this is done.

Tracey: Yeah, so are you glad you checked it off your bucket list?

Dottie: Absolutely.

Tracey: And you can watch this episode and others online at keet.org.

Mm, what's on your bucket list?

All right, shall we?

This might be my favorite.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪