Smyth County, Virginia, located in the mountains of southwest Virginia, offering outdoor adventures and small town charm.

Details online at VisitSmythCountyVA.com.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [Chef Missy] I think a lot about how I spend my time.

What am I sowing into on a daily basis?

And what are my rituals?

Healthy rituals are important.

Actions arising from convention, habit, even necessity, can bring comfort, peace, stability, and solutions.

There is even relationship in ritual.

I've learned a lot from my farmer friends.

Work hard.

Be responsible.

Learn to adapt.

And, start your day at the crack of dawn, because you reap what you sow.

I was a very stubborn teenager.

Fortunately, I've mellowed a bit.

It took me a long time to join the Crack of Dawn club, but the ritual has paid off.

And sometimes I miss it.

My spirit is willing, but my body is stubborn.

Goats also have a reputation for being stubborn, and a little misbehaved.

They carry the odd personality trait of sneezing to warn each other of danger.

Goats are noisy when they want attention, and demonstrate dominance within social groups.

They are clean, but don't like to walk in even the shallowest of water.

And despite myth, they are very picky eaters.

I questioned why one would tolerate these persnickety creatures until the unapologetic, almost irritatingly perfect tanginess of handmade goat cheese sweeps my palate.

Garlic, pepper, lemon, fresh herbs, its inherent adaptability causes the marriage of flavors and brightens any companion.

Goats may need a lot of attention, but like getting up early, there are some rituals that are worth it.

Hi, I'm Chef Missy, and I'm the French Magnolia, a true blue southern gal with French ancestry running through my veins.

My husband Thomas is a wine expert and hospitality veteran.

Throughout our careers, we've worked for some incredible restaurants and hotels, from Atlanta to New York City to Charleston, South Carolina, to the edge of a mountain at a five-star Relais & Châteaux.

But pretty soon, the French Magnolia, a luxury movable feast company, was born.

We pour into your home and set an elaborate stage for a multi-course culinary and wine experience.

We settled in Bristol, Virginia, a good place to live, and when we're not working, we love connecting with local farms and Appalachian culture.

From farm, field, garden and stream to chef and somm, to the table, all in one day, this is the French Magnolia Cooks.

Long after your GPS has lost its way and you've crossed a few railroads and creeks, take several more rises and dips, then endure a few dozen switchbacks, you will eventually land in the utopic and private Possum Creek near Gate City in Scott County, Southwest Virginia.

Nestled in a lush valley, you will find Possum Bottom Farm and Ziegenwald Dairy.

Today, I'm catching up with Andrea Woodworth, who raises sheep for wool, pigs and rabbits, heirloom seeds for other farmers, and most importantly, precious dairy Alpine goats.

French-style Chèvre, Feta, Mozzarella, and Colby.

Andrea's infectious work ethic, knowledge and joyful smile permeate the atmosphere.

John Gurley, our field and stream expert, is joining me to learn about all things goat and French style Chèvre goat cheese.

[♪♪♪♪♪] We are here in Gate City, Virginia, at Possum Bottom Farm with Andrea Woodworth, and I am just so excited to be here.

Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Thank you for letting us be here.

This is just beautiful country.

This is an interesting area in Appalachia because it's really where Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky all meet and converge in this little pocket of the world.

Tell me the name of your dairy.

-Ziegenwald Dairy, and that means "goat woods".

"Ziegen" is goats in German and "wald" is woods, that's for the Woodworth in the name.

We combined them both and that's what it is.

-Oh, that's beautiful.

-Thank you.

-I love it.

How many acres do you guys have here?

-We have about 80.

-Is there a breed of goats--?

[Andrea] They are all Alpine goats.

There's Saanen, there's Oberhasli, there's Nubians.

They're all dairy goats, but we raise Alpines only.

-Tell me when the big revelation came of, "All right, family, we are going to raise Alpine dairy goats."

-We were supposed to go look at cashmere goats, at fiber goats.

The lady canceled out on us at the last minute.

Our children were set and determined to see some goats and we could not disappoint them.

So, we pulled out the trading post, and there were a couple of people who had goats for sale.

We said, "Well, let's go there."

And one of the people was a breeder of Alpines.

He had gorgeous goats.

-How many Alpine dairy goats did you start with?

-We started with two does and two bucks.

Those were adult does, so they were already milked.

Of course, I mean, I had to learn to milk.

First time they had babies, one had four and the other one had twins, and we had a herd.

-Wow, how many goats does it take to have a herd?

-Well, apparently just two.

-So, when you have these little baby goats, what's... how do you feed them?

They're on the bottle, right?

-We-- since we have a dairy, our babies come off their mamas when they're born.

We give them the colostrum, we give them-- we feed them the milk.

They're all bottle babies, which makes it a whole lot easier to handle when they grow up.

-How many Alpine goats do you have, and are they all for dairy?

-They're basically all for dairy.

We've a total of about 80 right now.

We've got about 40 down by the dairy, and pretty much most of them are still milking.

-The mature bucks are used for breeding?

-That's all they're gonna get used for.

-Okay, that's their primary job is to basically knock up the young females.

-Or the older females.

-Or the older females.

Heck, yeah.

-Any female that needs to go into milk needs to have a baby.

-I notice that you have, let's see, at least four male bucks down by the back.

Do you need that many?

-You know, I kind of look at parentage and what lines they're for, and not every buck, I don't want every, not every buck to breed a certain doe.

-Right.

-Because they may be a little bit close related.

-Oh yes.

-So you don't-- as some people say, if it works, it's line breeding.

If it doesn't work, it's inbreeding.

-Yeah.

-You don't want-- -We have that in humans too.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Andrea, tell me your favorite thing about farming.

-Here, it's my goats.

I love my goats.

-You're getting on TV.

Don't worry, you got picked.

I love you.

You're very pretty.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -There are some tasks at the farm that I don't particularly care for, such as trimming feet.

[Chef Missy] [laughs] Okay.

Oh gosh, that doesn't sound like very much fun, trimming feet.

[Andrea] No, but it has to be done.

[Jack] That variety is called Elkins.

[Chef Missy] I love how wild and non-commercial your garden looks.

So, you heirloom seed everything here.

[Jack] Pretty much everything is heirloom.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -What a good boy.

Are you the father of many?

[♪♪♪♪♪] -We have Great Pyrenees.

[♪♪♪♪♪] That will be two goats.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -Can you be my new mama?

My new goat mama?

-If you want to.

-I want it.

-You can come out anytime you want.

Bristol isn't that far.

-I love it.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Okay, let's whack some cheese.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Maybe you found yourself a new vocation.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [Andrea] We don't use garlic salt.

We use the real thing.

[Chef Missy] Okay.

So you grew this garlic?

-[Andrea] Yeah.

-[Chef Missy] It's beautiful.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [Andrea] That's Chèvre, fresh Chèvre, about 40 pounds of it.

We'll fix us a little bit of garlic black pepper cheese.

This one, I hung that two days ago, and took it down this morning.

[Chef Missy] So it's very fresh.

[Andrea] It is very fresh.

This is a pasteurizer vat.

This machine has a double jacket, so you have water inside here, which heats up the milk.

And down there's a thermostat which is very helpful so you don't overheat your milk.

If you overheat your milk, it's expensive pig food.

-Right, right.

That's an expensive mistake.

-Yes.

[♪♪♪♪♪] The milk sits in the pasteurizer to ripen because you add rennet, you add culture, and it all just has to-- you have to bide your time.

-Once it's in here, how do you get it out of here?

-Well, you take the lids off, you kind of ladle off the whey and then you have a little-- I've got this little pan here, and you scoop it into bags and hang it up.

-Oh, my goodness!

[♪♪♪♪♪] I love pungent flavors.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Andrea, how long can this stay in the refrigerator, and can you freeze it?

-I usually freeze it, and it can stay in the freezer for about six months.

Then once it comes out of the freezer and thaws, we recommend to use it within two to three weeks.

[Chef Missy] What markets are you selling in right now?

[Andrea] Right now, we're selling in Jonesboro, Tennessee, and in Bristol and-- [Chef Missy] In Bristol, yay!

That's where I am!

Ready for market.

[Andrea] That is ready.

-We are back here in the French Magnolia Culinary Center, and we have just come back from the Ziegenwald Dairy in Gate City, Virginia, where John and I learned about all things goat, including making amazing, delicious, tangy goat cheese.

And, we're going to have our Field and Stream expert John Gurley here with us in the kitchen.

He's going to stand in as my sous chef and so, ah, there he is.

-[John] Hey.

-Hey.

[John] We're back from Gate City.

-We're back from Gate City.

-Possum-- Possum Road or Possum Run.

-Yeah, exactly.

Hi, it is good to see you.

-I cleaned up and changed my shirt.

-I know.

-Kind of get some of the goat off of me.

-I know, right?

I still feel like I have a little goat hair up in my nose.

-Right.

That smell's gonna stick with us, I think, for a while.

-For a couple of days.

But that was so fun.

I really-- -So cool.

-I loved it.

I loved it.

Ziegenwald, Ziegenwald Dairy.

-Goat wood.

-Goat wood.

-Ziegenwald.

All German words are kind of cool to say.

-I know, so guttural and mouthy.

-Ziegenwald.

-Ziegenwald.

-Yeah.

[Chef Missy] But I brought back with us all this beautiful, tangy black cracked pepper garlic goat cheese which Andrea and I made together, and I thought it was superb.

We're going to make goat cheese lobster rolls.

-Ooh!

-Yeah.

-Doesn't that sound great.

It's lobster season, so that's perfect.

-I love the idea of pairing the handmade goat cheese with something very special and delicious like lobster.

So, we are going to make some homemade lobster rolls, Maine style.

I have some homemade apple cider.

Will you do the honors?

[John] I sure will.

[Chef Missy] I also bought from Andrea her homemade Goat Colby, which I thought would be yummy to just snack on while we're having the apple cider.

And Gate City is so beautiful.

-It's gorgeous down there.

-Right.

-And that stream that was behind their farm... Jack has invited me back to catch a fish there.

-No!

See, you made a friend.

-I did.

A field and stream guy found a stream.

-Cheers!

-Cheers with our apple cider.

-Cheers!

It tastes like the weather outside right now.

-Exactly.

So, I thought it was interesting that Andrea made different types of cheese from the goat cheese.

Right?

-[Chef Missy] Exactly.

Andrea makes this Colby, Feta-- -[John] Right.

-[Chef Missy] Mozzarella.

You can actually buy the mozzarella curds from her and make your own mozzarella.

So, this is a French Chèvre style cheese made with the goats' milk.

And another fun thing is that goat milk is very low in estrogen, so it's a little healthier than cow dairy.

-Oh, good.

That is really good.

-Hm-mm.

Wasn't she wonderful?

-She was.

-I just loved Andrea so much.

She's a delight to be with, so knowledgeable, and her personality, she's just easy to be around.

-And such a hard worker.

-Very.

-Wow!

-So instead of using mayonnaise, we're going to use the soft whipped goat Chèvre with cracked pepper and garlic that Andrea and I made, and it's gonna be perfect.

I'm going to walk you through, step by step, how to make these lobster rolls, Maine style.

Okay, John, the first thing we're going to do is mise en place .

Mise en place, everything in its place.

So, the first thing we're going to do is get our butter together.

I've got a project for you.

-Perfect.

-Do you need a project?

-I do.

-Okay.

Alright, I want you to pull all these celery leaves and then this fresh dill, pinch all the little ends off for me.

This recipe calls for about four sticks of butter, I do unsalted.

We have our steamer ready.

We have our Old Bay.

Can't have a lobster roll without Old Bay.

-Right.

-Old Bay just makes everything good.

We have our special local homemade goat cheese.

We have our butter, celery, chives, celery leaves, my special lemon zest, lemon oil concoction that I love to use.

-Did we have that on something else?

-The chicken.

-Yeah.

Man, that's good, yes.

-The Poulet En Cocotte .

-Yes.

-Dill, celery leaves, lemon, a zester, lemon juicer.

Okay.

And now we need lobster, yes.

-Ooh.

[Chef Missy] I just picked up these nice lobster tails from the regular grocery store.

For four people, I'm gonna do seven lobster tails.

I'm gonna go ahead and put them in the steamer.

We're going to steam these for five to six minutes.

Another way to tell that they're done is that they're going to turn bright red, so steaming it and then finishing it in a little butter would be the little sexy date night thing... -Right.

-...that you would do.

While the lobsters are steaming, I'm going to mise out some celery.

My rule of thumb is a stalk of celery per bun.

I continue to be blown away with how absolutely beautiful Southwest Virginia is.

Just incredible.

[John] It doesn't take long to get to a field or a stream.

-We have our oven preheated to 500 because we're going to toast our buns just for a minute.

How about zesting the zest of two lemons in our lobster pot?

[John] Okay.

-Let me just show you one little trick so you'll know it forever.

-Yep, yeah.

-So, I'm going to do it so it falls, tap tap, tap.

-Gotcha.

-Right, so it falls.

Otherwise, it gets-- And then constantly be moving the lemon because once you get beyond that, it's a pithy, and it gets a little bitter.

[John] Yep, okay.

-Maybe not tap every five seconds.

-Gotcha.

-It's a little annoying.

-Uh-huh.

[Chef Missy] Ah-ha, look at our lobsters.

Wow!

[John] That really didn't take very long at all.

[Chef Missy] No.

That's why I love using a steamer with a glass lid, and this regular kitchen shears are all you need.

[John] I was just going to say, this is going to be so good.

[Chef Missy] I know.

My mouth is going to be salivating.

[John] It's got me excited.

[Chef Missy] I know.

[John] Oh yeah, once you get it going.

[Chef Missy] Yeah.

-Kind of easy as you please.

-See, now we know anybody can do it.

-Right.

-This is a very easy thing for you to do at home if you're not a big cook.

Really fun surprise.

[John] Yeah, it's kind of an interactive dish, too.

[Chef Missy] Yeah.

This is a little white vinegar.

-For cleaning everything.

-For cleaning everything.

Next step, cut it down the middle... like this, chop it.

[John] Beautiful!

[Chef Missy] I'm going to turn this on.

We're going to put our butter in.

When in doubt, add more butter.

-Right.

[Chef Missy] And now, you want to do the lemon?

You're very good at that.

-Thank you.

Squeezing.

[Chef Missy] Fat and acid, butter and lemon, flavors that deserve to go together, flavors that were born to go together.

Just absolutely perfect.

Then we need two tablespoons of Old Bay, two tablespoons of my special lemon pepper, which is lemon oil, lemon zest, sea salt, cracked pepper.

It helps to have your recipe nearby.

[John] Yeah.

-And my Aunt Nancy brought me this from France, a couple of years ago, many years ago.

And it's just been my special note taking, all my original recipes are in this little book in my little chicken scratch.

This is my little treasure book.

The goal is, you have to be able to read what's in it.

[John] Right.

I could take that book and it wouldn't make any difference 'cause I can't read it.

[Chef Missy] Now we're going to toast the buns.

The real traditional thing to have in Maine would be a potato brioche hot dog.

-Okay.

[Chef Missy] I'm going to take a little bit of Old Bay butter and just kind of-- -[John] Oh, yeah!

[Chef Missy] --give it a little juju.

Ready.

-Ready, set, go.

[Chef Missy] Right, so our lemon butter and Old Bay, just on low, on warm.

Then lobster.

-[John] Okay.

[Chef Missy] I'm going to prep out some fresh chives.

Such fresh flavors today.

Nice, just put them right there.

-[John whistles] -Beautiful!

Good job, sous chef.

Three tablespoons of chopped chives.

So we're going to do one... two... three... four... five.

Then our dill.

-Goat cheese.

-Yes, yes.

-Mm-mm, hm-mm.

-Black Pepper.

One... for this recipe.

Come to Mama.

-Fish one out of there, let's just do a little taste test.

-All righty, okay.

-Just to make sure.

-Just to make sure.

-Wow, that truly is delicious.

-And not rubbery.

And then, I also made some homemade pickles, some little red onion pickles that we're going to finish it out on top.

Hey!

-Thomas.

-Goat cheese lobster rolls.

-I can't wait.

-What do you have?

-Well, I... you like presents.

-I do like presents.

-These are my favorite presents to bring.

So I brought us a nice Chablis.

-Ooh.

[Thomas] Great with seafood and cheese.

It's in Burgundy, it's in France.

It's France, Burgundy, and then inside of that is a place called Chablis.

-Very cool.

-And in there, what grape do they grow?

-Chardonnay?

-Chardonnay.

-Boom!

-World-class Chardonnay.

-Wow!

-So that's just how we do it.

Chablis' amazing.

-Is this aged in French Oak like the Montrachet that we had?

-Great question.

No, this is actually unoaked.

All Chablis is unoaked, like Sancerre.

Back in the day, they would use polished concrete, I know.

-Concrete.

-Wow!

[Chef Missy] So you get the pure expression.

[Thomas] That's right.

A hundred percent Chardonnay and nothing else influencing it.

Two hundred million years ago, being underwater, things die underwater.

They, you know, when the water goes away, it becomes part of the soil, which is fossils, okay.

So, you have fossilized sea creatures in the soil in this area, along with limestone and marl, which is a combination of limestone and clay.

So that's a very mineral-forward soil that we're talking about.

You know, it is very true to the terroir, which I think is very important.

Changing climate is not anything new, but it's great for wine because it's an experience.

It gives you a chance to taste a place and time in liquid form.

This is one of my favorite Chablis, too, by the way.

-Oh, good.

-So, I've had this in the cellar, I thought we'd just break this out.

-That's good.

-Wow!

-Really good.

-Wow!

[John] Can't wait to see how it goes with lobster.

-You taste the Chardonnay, but then you also have the mineral, right?

And mineral and acid are great for pairing with food, right?

-Especially seafood.

-Especially seafood.

[Chef Missy] Let's go eat some lobster rolls and drink some Chablis.

-[John] Why not?

-[Chef Missy] Let's do it, okay.

And then we're going to finish with a tiny bit of pickled onion... some beautiful chopped celery leaves.

[John] Chèvre's touched all that.

-I don't like ridiculous things on top of food that don't make any-- -Like microgreens?

-Like microgreens.

-Good memory, yeah.

-Uh-huh.

-You guys, you clowns, alright, let's get out of here.

Let's go eat and drink some good French wine.

-Are we going to--?

[Chef Missy] Heavenly Father, we thank you so much.

We're just so grateful for all the people who farm for a living.

-That's worthy of a toast, right?

-Yeah.

-It is, yeah.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -Okay.

Alright, go.

-It is go time.

-[Chef Missy] Yeah.

-Or goat time.

-[Chef Missy laughs] -And this looks delicious.

[♪♪♪♪♪] That is absolutely delicious.

-So good.

-This might be one of my favorite things thus far.

[Chef Missy] Yay.

Oh, very cool, I love that.

But the black pepper garlic goat cheese, I think, is what sets this apart.

[♪♪♪♪♪] First and foremost, let's have a toast to Jack and Andrea... -[Thomas] Absolutely.

-...at the Ziegenwald Dairy... -[Thomas] Absolutely.

-...for teaching us so much about goats, goat cheese, goat milk, everything goat.

They've got it covered.

[Thomas] So this is what a goat smells like.

-And also, let's give thanks to the people who went and got these lobsters for us because without that, the goat cheese wouldn't be quite the same.

[Chef Missy] Exactly.

-And here's a toast to the two of you for again having us in your home for a beautiful meal, and what wonderful hospitality.

-And then, cheers to you, John, for all you do.

We love you.

-[John] Thank you.

I love you guys, too.

-[Chef Missy] Love you.

Although verbal and terribly needy, goats are stinking adorable.

They require work, and the daily ritual of being milked makes them the ultimate dependent.

As time passes, the cheese ripens, making the tartness sharper and earthiness more pronounced.

Any farmer will tell you, great things take time.

Rituals are small investments, sowing daily deposits that deepen us with substance and savor.

And when we wait, we experience a harvest of flavor.

I guess some things are simply worth the wait.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [music fades out] Smyth County, Virginia, offering a business friendly environment with partnerships like Smyth Strong fostering entrepreneurship and growth.

Details at SmythCountyEconomicDevelopment.c om.