The Kids Are Alright

Sometimes life takes an interesting and unexpected turn. It certainly did for the couple you’re about to meet. That’s because an unusual birthday gift took these folks down a Tennessee country road. Jim Tanner and his wife, Gayle packed up everything they owned, including nearly a dozen goats, and moved from the hustle and bustle of northern California to the quiet solitude of middle Tennessee. Goats have been a part of Gayle’s life after receiving one as a birthday present in her 20’s.

Gayle Tanner says, “We knew the lifestyle we had with the goats and such was going to be more and more limited so it was time to go.” It also came at a time when the Tanners were getting serious about breeding goats and creating an agricultural business. So they chose this remote spot with more than 100 acres of pastures, woods and a babbling brook to build Bonnie Blue Farm.

Jim Tanner explains, “We owned property 4 years before we moved here. So during those 4 years we would come back periodically and work on this and that and the other thing and it was kind of like our vacation. Typically we came back at Christmas time.”

So when the retired couple arrived for good in 1999, they first built this barn to house their goats. They then added Saanen and Nubian goats to the herd. The Saanens for their higher milk production and the Nubians for higher butterfat content. And with the larger herd in place, Gayle saw an opportunity. “If you’re going to have more goats then you have to have something to do with the milk.”

And that’s where this modern-day milking parlor comes into play. They had the milk so why not make farmstead cheese?

Gayle hand milks some of the goats. That liquid is placed in a small container which is later used to feed the baby goats, called “kids”. The rest of the milk is collected by automatic pumps to cool for 72 hours. When it’s time to make cheese, Jim transfers the milk out of the tank and into stainless steel containers that end up in the Tanner’s “Cheese Studio.” The cheese studio machinery pasteurizes more than 40 gallons of goat milk at a time.

In the meantime the Tanners handle the care and feeding of their herd. Gayle often walks around with her yellow wagon in tow. She puts out alfalfa hay, fills up feed bowls with grain, bottle feeds the kids, checks on the bucks across the creek and with whatever time is left over—tends to the chickens. She mentioned, “A friend came and visited to get away from her desk job to be a farmer. She says maybe you just trade in one set of stresses for another…”

But one role that doesn’t stress her out is that of cheese maker “extraordinaire”. She’s become pretty good at whipping up batches of, now, award winning goat’s milk, feta and raw milk cheeses.

Using her cheese knife, Gayle separates the curd from the liquidy substance known as whey. It begins to take on a cottage cheese look. She says, “It’s time consuming and patience is a cheese maker’s best friend.”

With the whey removed, the “curds” will drain overnight. These tubs will eventually be packaged as Feta Cheese. Bonnie Blue Farm turns out more than a half dozen products. They’ve become a favorite at area farmers markets, but Jim’s marketing efforts have also produced a demand in Memphis and other parts of Tennessee.

Gayle explains, “Where I go to demonstrate the cheese to a chef, I’m thinking of two or three of them and they say ‘this is the best feta I’ve ever had. Yeah, we’ve got to have this on our menu.’ And those are direct quotes.” Gayle says the good feedback is a result of the work and care they put into their farm, their milk and their cheese.

The Tanners are always adding on to their property, most of the time in an effort to create a better product. And this right here is their latest project. It’s called a cheese cave. It’s still in the process of being built but they had to blast a hole in the side of this hill to construct it.

Custom-sized rocks are still being laid and the 3 walk-in coolers have yet to be finished. Fresh air will be pumped in-keeping temperature at a cool 55 degrees: A perfect place to age Bonnie Blue’s hard cheeses. Gayle says, “The environment cheeses age in will make them better. They’re pretty good already but having that will set them apart.”

The Tanners joke if the cave doesn’t work out they’ll simply live in it. They’re fine with a modest, rural Tennessee lifestyle. One they can share with their good natured goats. Looking at her goats nibbling on tree branches, she laughs and says, “That’s why are trees are trimmed up so nice.”