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Our Story

Mary Keehn turned two goats and a dream into Cypress Grove, creating iconic cheeses like Humboldt Fog® and a legacy of innovation.

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Mary Keehn
In the 1970s, convenience ruled American kitchens—Hamburger Helper®, Shake ’n Bake®, and rubbery orange “cheese” slices. Meanwhile, Mary Keehn, a self-described “serious hippie” and single mom, wanted healthier milk for her kids. After spotting a neighbor’s goats, she was told, “If you can catch ’em, you can have ’em.” She did—luring Esmeralda and Hazel with grain. Those two goats turned to four and pretty soon Mary had, well, more. A lot of goats means a lot of milk, so Mary tried her hand at making cheese.
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How Cypress Grove Cheesemaking Began
After officially opening the doors of Cypress Grove in 1983, Mary traveled to the cheese mecca of the world: France. She tasted and tested and learned from the masters and makers of brie, camembert, morbier, and more. Full of great cheeses and bursting with ideas, Mary was eager to get back to her kids and her goats. As she slept on the long transatlantic flight home to Humboldt County, a prophetic vision danced across Mary’s imagination. She awoke with a clear image of a new kind of cheese: a cheese accented with a thick line of ash reminiscent of the fog often blanketing the expansive Humboldt County coastline — and the idea of Humboldt Fog® was born.
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Model Dairy
As America’s tastes evolve, so does the demand for cheeses that please our clamoring fans — a challenge Cypress Grove is more than happy to meet. We built our own dairy in 2010; a great deal of thought went into the dairy, designed to be an easily accessible source of knowledge for the growing American goat dairy industry. The dairy is managed primarily with the health and happiness of our herd in mind. But don’t take our word for it; we’ve received 100% scores from the American Humane Association and Certified Humane.
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