Episode 1 · Mary Keene · June 25, 2023
Mary Keene has spent decades shaping Humboldt County — from back-to-the-land homesteading and goat breeding to building Cypress Grove into an iconic local company, and now helping imagine new models of housing, care, and interdependence through We Are Up. In this conversation, Scott Hammond talks with Mary about how she found Humboldt, what she built here, and why community still matters.
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What this episode covers
- Mary Keene’s path to Humboldt and the back-to-the-land years
- The origins of Cypress Grove and what it took to build it
- What enough means, and what wealth is for
- We Are Up, housing, and intergenerational care in Humboldt County
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Transcript
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Scott Hammond: Hi, everybody. I got Mary Keene here as my special guest. Hi.
Mary Keene: Hi. How are you?
Scott Hammond: I am doing great. It’s such a big honor. I wanted to flatter you with words like humble royalty and, and-
Scott Hammond: … and big words, but I think, I think Joni and I are both convinced you’re just-
Mary Keene: Grandma
Scott Hammond: … grandma and good, good people. So-
Mary Keene: Plain old grandma
Scott Hammond: … we’re gonna go with that.
Scott Hammond: So, uh, so Mary’s done a thousand things. We’re gonna talk about them. Uh, I wanna hear a little bit about you first. I’m curious about your background and were you born and raised here? How’d you get to Humboldt?
Mary Keene: So my dad was an attorney in the Navy, and we moved-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Mary Keene: … every four years back and forth from coast to coast pretty much.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: And, um, so no, I wasn’t, but my whole life goal was to have a house with a fence and a yard and never move again.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: So when I got to Humboldt, that was for sure.
Scott Hammond: You have that now?
Mary Keene: Uh, I don’t have a fence, but I have the house, so I’m not leaving.
Scott Hammond: Now if I remember, are you out in Fieldbrook somewhere, McKinleyville?
Mary Keene: Mm-hmm. I’m downtown Fieldbrook, yep.
Scott Hammond: Downtown… Oh, I love it.
Scott Hammond: I know where that is. We just became members of the Fieldbrook, uh, winery. We’re in the wine club-
Mary Keene: Oh, fancy
Scott Hammond: … with Judy and all.
Mary Keene: Yeah. It’s a fun, fun place.
Scott Hammond: Such a nice p- I’d never been there. Joni and I wandered out there and-
Mary Keene: It’s lovely
Scott Hammond: … had a great time.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Anyway, tell me more.
Mary Keene: Okay. So, um, then I graduated from high school on the East Coast and moved to California to go to college.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Mary Keene: I went to UCSB and-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Mary Keene: … Santa Barbara Junior College-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … and I was a marine biology major.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Yep. Obvious-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … turn to g- making goat cheese. I mean, what else was she doing?
Scott Hammond: Of course, it’s totally connected. Recreation administration-
Scott Hammond: … over here. Cal Poly.
Mary Keene: But that was in the ’60s.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Mary Keene: And so, uh, we had the first oil spill there.
Scott Hammond: All right.
Mary Keene: And I kind of got disillusioned-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Mary Keene: … and dropped out of college and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … uh, moved to southern Humboldt.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Mary Keene: Bought 80 acres there. Did a homestead.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Built a cabin out of logs we drug out of the woods with a horse.
Scott Hammond: SoHum.
Mary Keene: So, so Hum.
Scott Hammond: SoHum. Where, what part of southern Humboldt?
Mary Keene: Um, inland from, uh, Miranda.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: On the Samuels Ranch.
Scott Hammond: Oh, so you’re out there a ways.
Mary Keene: Way out there.
Scott Hammond: Wow, the sticks.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And yeah, so kids were born-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Mary Keene: … Mallory, my oldest daughter, was born in Sonoma-
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh
Mary Keene: … before we moved, and then I had twins.
Scott Hammond: Is she the one that’s married to Padre?
Mary Keene: Yep.
Scott Hammond: I wore… Just so Padre knows, I wore his Padre shirt last night.
Mary Keene: Oh, very nice.
Scott Hammond: I have it in one of his T-shirts that Matt m-
Mary Keene: His Parthenon Construction.
Scott Hammond: I was looking at it, Parthenon Construction.
Scott Hammond: Humboldt County, California.
Mary Keene: Yep. He’s a good guy.
Scott Hammond: He’s a great guy.
Mary Keene: He does lots of good stuff for a lot of people.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. He’s a good man.
Mary Keene: He’s really, really great. Yeah, so, um, one thing led to another, and let’s see, what did I start with in Humboldt County? So I had goats ’cause I was a back-to-the-lander.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: The ultimate hippie. You had to do everything.
Scott Hammond: Gotta get goats.
Mary Keene: You had to have goats. You had to have a garden.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Make your own clothes.
Scott Hammond: Did you grind your own wheat?
Mary Keene: Uh, yep.
Scott Hammond: Home-
Mary Keene: I did everything
Scott Hammond: … how about homeschooling?
Mary Keene: Woods- Well, the kids weren’t in school yet-
Scott Hammond: Okay
Mary Keene: … at that point. But a wood stove, heated water on… No hot water, no electricity.
Scott Hammond: Whoa.
Mary Keene: I mean, serious. I love to do things. If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna really-
Scott Hammond: I love it
Mary Keene: … my dad always said the world doesn’t need another mediocre anything, so just go for it.
Scott Hammond: Right. Oh, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: So, um, let’s see. So I got these goats, and because of my interest in science, I got into the genetics of goats-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Mary Keene: … which is another obvious thing, but –
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … so I started breeding goats, um, and have you ever seen the… What is that movie about the dog shows? Uh, Best in Show?
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Mary Keene: Okay. Well, the goat world is a lot like that.
Scott Hammond: Interesting.
Mary Keene: Except it’s goats.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And people are crazy for their goats, so.
Scott Hammond: And they do, they walk them around and trot them and-
Mary Keene: Walk them around
Scott Hammond: … do stuff?
Mary Keene: You don’t trot, but you walk, and you set them up, and-
Scott Hammond: Brush them and-
Mary Keene: Brush them and bathe them and clip them.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: And adore them, you know?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: So I did that.
Scott Hammond: Are goats, are some goats pretty smart?
Mary Keene: Uh, yeah, they’re pretty much as smart as a dog. Not, they don’t-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Mary Keene: … behave the same way, but-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … you know what a little sliding barrel bolt-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … you know, those little-
Scott Hammond: Sliders on a, on a gate?
Mary Keene: … that you close a, a gate?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: I had one that could s- reach up over the gate, open it with her mouth, and let all the other goats into the barn.
Scott Hammond: Sweet.
Mary Keene: Yeah, not so sweet.
Scott Hammond: Pretty smart.
Scott Hammond: Too smart.
Scott Hammond: Too smart.
Mary Keene: But anyway, so I showed goats for quite a while and had national champions of my breed, which was Alpines.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And that led to having too much milk.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: And so I s- obviously started making cheese.
Scott Hammond: What are you gonna do with the milk?
Mary Keene: Yep.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Make cheese.
Scott Hammond: Good.
Mary Keene: So then I started Cypress Grove Goat Cheese.
Scott Hammond: And this is when you lived up here now.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You’re not in So- SoHum.
Mary Keene: I’m back in To- Hum- Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: I moved to Humboldt.
Scott Hammond: Were you out in Dow’s Prairie? ‘Cause that’s-
Mary Keene: Mm-hmm
Scott Hammond: … you used to be out there.
Mary Keene: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: We don’t, you didn’t know this, but we used to be neighbors.
Mary Keene: Mm-mm.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, Joni and I lived out on the end of Dow’s Prairie before you go down the hill to Cornell.
Mary Keene: Oh.
Scott Hammond: The very end.
Mary Keene: Do you know Sally Callahan?
Scott Hammond: Yeah, kinda.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: She’s a goat lady.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: I mean, we’re it’s a special-
Scott Hammond: You guys all know each other.
Mary Keene: You do.
Scott Hammond: Special club.
Mary Keene: Well, any club, you know, you-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … if you have a special needs kid, you end up-
Scott Hammond: Any industry or, yeah
Mary Keene: … anything.
Scott Hammond: Correct. Well, that’s totally true.
Mary Keene: You know? You kind of find your homies wherever.
Scott Hammond: So you started farm- and breeding goats?
Mary Keene: Breeding goats and, um, selling goats-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … and making cheese at home for friends and family.
Scott Hammond: Gotcha.
Mary Keene: And then when Larrupin opened-
Scott Hammond: Ah.
Mary Keene: Larrupin Cafe opened
Scott Hammond: Sure. Dixie
Mary Keene: And Dennis-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … at Los Bagels. Those were my first two customers.
Scott Hammond: Great people. Remember Dixie and Pear?
Mary Keene: Oh, man. Do I ever?
Scott Hammond: They started Larrupin.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: For those that don’t know, Larrupin Restaurant is probably-
Mary Keene: It is
Scott Hammond: … I, I think it’s the best restaurant in the north state, if not-
Mary Keene: It’s so good
Scott Hammond: … California. He does, he still does a great job.
Mary Keene: And, you know, they’ve stayed true to those recipes-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … but they added new ones.
Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.
Mary Keene: And it’s really a bargain ’cause you get… I’m sorry, I’m gonna go on a Larrupin-
Scott Hammond: It’s okay. We’re marketing today.
Scott Hammond: Brought to you by Dick Taylor Chocolates.
Mary Keene: Da da da. Um, you know, you have all the appetizers and the sal-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … everything’s included.
Scott Hammond: That’s a great, great v-
Mary Keene: And they’re so-
Scott Hammond: It’s a value
Mary Keene: … wonderful.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: And the food is great.
Scott Hammond: So-
Mary Keene: Anyway
Scott Hammond: … let’s put a pit- pit in the goat cheese for a second. Who w- who was Mary Keene at 15?
Mary Keene: Oh, 15. What was I doing at 15?
Scott Hammond: What were you about at 15?
Mary Keene: I was in high school.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: On the East Coast. Um, just a regular high school kid.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: You know, I had big hair.
Scott Hammond: Oh, right.
Scott Hammond: Just, who didn’t?
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Hard to believe it, I actually had hair, folks.
Mary Keene: And, and the East Coast, you know, you couldn’t– we had to wear dresses.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: You couldn’t wear pants to school.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: If it was snowing, it didn’t matter.
Scott Hammond: This was not parochial school, this was just school school.
Mary Keene: Public school, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, different.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: It really was different. So when I moved to California and saw guys walking around in T-shirts-
Scott Hammond: Shorts
Mary Keene: … I was horrified.
Scott Hammond: Flips.
Mary Keene: You know, what?
Scott Hammond: Humble.
Mary Keene: It doesn’t take very long to get used to that.
Scott Hammond: Right, right. I was from San Diego where we-
Mary Keene: Right
Scott Hammond: … just what- whatever you wanted to wear.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Um, you know, within reason. We got away with a lot, so. Uh, who, who were you at 20?
Mary Keene: Let’s see, at 20 I was being quite a hippie.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.
Mary Keene: Quite a hippie in tw- uh, in my early 20s.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Mary Keene: Yeah. Uh.
Scott Hammond: I’m, um… Me too. Actually, I started getting my hair cut at 20 ’cause I had it really long in San Diego.
Mary Keene: Oh. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Different story.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Uh, how about 30?
Mary Keene: 30 I was… What was I doing? I think I probably had three kids.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Um, I had three in less than two years.
Scott Hammond: Rad.
Mary Keene: And a single mom.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Super poor.
Scott Hammond: Chops, yeah. No.
Mary Keene: Super, super poor. Um, yeah, that was a rough, rough time.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. And we, so we have nine, as you kinda know.
Scott Hammond: Um, for real. And one wife, Jodi, and I with nine kids, and we were, gosh, by the time I was 30 I think we had three or four.
Mary Keene: Uh-huh.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. But doing it alone, that’s, that’s awesome.
Mary Keene: Well-
Scott Hammond: Total respect on that
Mary Keene: … I don’t know.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, you do what you can, I-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … you do what you have to do.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I don’t-
Mary Keene: You try and get by
Scott Hammond: … I don’t know how my, watching my young daughter with three sons, it’s just too much to fathom, but she figures it out and she goes, “I don’t know how mom did it. She had three kids, and getting bagels and coming to the office, and she’s got, holding coffees.” I go, “How do you… She goes, “I don’t know how mom did it.”
Mary Keene: Well, my twins were born prematurely.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: And in those days, that was pre-car seats. I brought them home in a lug box.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Mary Keene: Fruit box.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: Each wrapped in their own little blanket. They fit in there.
Scott Hammond: Perfect.
Mary Keene: It works, you know?
Scott Hammond: No seat belts.
Mary Keene: No s- well-
Scott Hammond: Well, then seat belts
Mary Keene: … no car seat.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Just-
Mary Keene: A box.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And drive real slow and careful.
Mary Keene: No, I put them on the floor.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: You know, ’cause it was safe.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Times are different. Remember riding in the back of that pickup when you were a kid?
Mary Keene: Well, my kids did that too.
Scott Hammond: Oh, and the crazy-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … uncle going really fast on a gravel road.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It’s like, yeah.
Mary Keene: I didn’t have that guy.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. So how about 40?
Mary Keene: Oh, gosh. I don’t know.
Scott Hammond: Were you farming then? Were you…?
Mary Keene: By then I think, um, let’s see, I started Cypress Grove in ’83. I’d have to do math-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … to figure that out. But-
Scott Hammond: Close enough
Mary Keene: … yeah, I would think I was getting close to s- starting… Or s- I already started, ’83.
Scott Hammond: Gotcha.
Mary Keene: 74, probably. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: I was doing Cypress Grove. Um, that was fun. I got to travel all over the world.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And you were talking about communities a minute ago.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And so the cheese community is huge.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: And it includes everybody who likes cheese, some people who don’t, all the people that make it.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: And you’re like there at somebody’s wedding with your ch- You know, it’s kind of, it’s a really fun-
Scott Hammond: Oh, I bet
Mary Keene: … fun job.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I’ve heard Dick Taylor guys talking about the, the chocolate community.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And then the– We just were on one of their first tours.
Mary Keene: Oh, nice.
Scott Hammond: Last week. Jodi, Jodi made me go, and it was really fun. And, uh, we learned that the, kinda the craft chocolate makers, the guys that were doing micro batches and doing it right and doing it with killer ingredients, they were a very small community, like you said.
Mary Keene: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Everybody knew each other. And, uh, it was just a fascinating story, and not, not, uh, um, o- only in as much as that there are communities within communities and… So, uh, tell, tell me-
Mary Keene: Well, we took their cheese. We used to, our marketing includes going to the International Fancy Food and Confection Show.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Mary Keene: Twice a year. There’s one in New York and San Francisco.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: So there’s 10 miles of booths. If you walk up and down every 10-foot booth-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Mary Keene: … 10 miles.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Scott Hammond: Those are the big w- shows.
Mary Keene: It’s huge.
Mary Keene: But people come from all over the world, and we paired their chocolate with our cheese.
Scott Hammond: Perfect.
Mary Keene: ‘Cause it’s a nice-
Scott Hammond: Oh, it, yeah
Mary Keene: It’s really nice
Scott Hammond: I bet it really, really-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … good.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So I was reading about, about your… You’ve been recognized a lot then at, at, as your product and your-
Mary Keene: Mm-hmm
Scott Hammond: … yourself, so tell m- could you, could you-
Mary Keene: Brag
Scott Hammond: Could you brag? It’s okay to brag. You were prompted.
Mary Keene: All right.
Scott Hammond: It’s not bragging if it’s true.
Mary Keene: So we’ve been Oprah’s Favorite Thing a couple times. We got-
Scott Hammond: No way.
Mary Keene: Yeah. We’ve won lots of international awards.
Scott Hammond: Did you go on the show with her or…?
Mary Keene: Uh, no. You, um, you talk to her people-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Right
Mary Keene: … with Oprah.
Scott Hammond: Her team, yeah.
Mary Keene: Yeah. And, but Martha Stewart and-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Mary Keene: … um, Sunset Magazine, you know, lots of-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Mary Keene: … national and international press.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: So, um-
Scott Hammond: How about famous chefs?
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Chefs are all over TV. Oops, now it’s done.
Mary Keene: Yeah. Well, the first, um, Humboldt Fog was the really break-in cheese for us-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Mary Keene: … and Florence Fabricant from The New York Times wrote about it.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: So, um-
Scott Hammond: Even I know her, her name.
Mary Keene: Yeah, everybody-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … knows Florence Fabricant.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: But, um, Russ Parsons from the LA Times-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Mary Keene: … um, somehow… Oh, he had a, a relative going to Humboldt State.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Mary Keene: So we, he connected with me, but he every year would buy cheese from me to send to Julia Child for her birthday.
Scott Hammond: Oh, that’s neat.
Mary Keene: And so that was really special.
Scott Hammond: That’s
Mary Keene: It was so cool.
Scott Hammond: Julia who?
Mary Keene: Yeah. So-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Mary Keene: … yeah, it’s… And, you know, true to life, if you don’t need something, people give you lots of free stuff.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: So when I would go to a re- restaurant, we would always get comped, and the chef would come out-
Scott Hammond: Oh, nice
Mary Keene: … and-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … you’d get that special treatment.
Scott Hammond: Free bagels with Dennis.
Scott Hammond: World’s bagels. Oh, yeah. No, I could imag- That’d be really great. I mean, Larrupin, just-
Mary Keene: It’s fun.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And all from little Humboldt County.
Mary Keene: Yeah, little baby Humboldt County.
Scott Hammond: 100, 100% Humboldt. That’s… What a great story. It’s-
Mary Keene: Well, and the nice thing is that when we, we do all our names, we have really goofy names like Purple Haze and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … Ms. Natural and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … um, Humboldt Fog.
Scott Hammond: Humboldt Fog’s perfect.
Mary Keene: But the, in the cheese world, people would typically pick French names because that was the-
Scott Hammond: Ah
Mary Keene: … beginning of goat cheese.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Mary Keene: So we just went regular-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … and picked good old regular names.
Scott Hammond: Purple Haze, who wouldn’t want to try some of that?
Mary Keene: No.
Scott Hammond: Come on. It’s Purple Haze from Humboldt, folks.
Scott Hammond: I love it. So, so what motivates you today? Like-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … you sold… That was sold, right?
Mary Keene: Yeah, I sold the business about 10 years ago.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And, you know, I mentioned that I had been super poor as a mom.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And if you’ve ever lived through that, you don’t forget it.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: And so all of a sudden, I wasn’t-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Mary Keene: … ’cause I sold the, the company, and I picked a really good partner. They’re s- hands-off, and my whole team is still there.
Scott Hammond: Perfect.
Mary Keene: I’m just really, really happy.
Scott Hammond: That’s re-
Mary Keene: And I still-
Scott Hammond: And-
Mary Keene: … get to be involved if I choose
Scott Hammond: … the dream succession.
Mary Keene: Yeah, it was perfect.
Scott Hammond: So how is it different having more, um, options with wealth versus-
Mary Keene: Well-
Scott Hammond: … being dirt poor as a mom? ‘Cause I, uh, with nine kids, I get it. We, uh-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … one income. Joanie didn’t work. Actually, she worked really, really hard.
Mary Keene: Yeah. Right.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Don’t you ever say-
Scott Hammond: She worked harder than-
Mary Keene: … she didn’t work.
Scott Hammond: No. I ne- Honey, I didn’t, didn’t mean it like that.
Mary Keene: No, you did not.
Scott Hammond: I did not.
Scott Hammond: Thanks.
Mary Keene: You won’t be able to go home.
Scott Hammond: Just kidding, Joanie.
Mary Keene: But, um, so when I was starting s-
Scott Hammond: Hmm
Mary Keene: … not just starting, but a few years into Cypress Grove, I took a business class, and it was really business philosophy.
Scott Hammond: Hmm.
Mary Keene: And they were all about wealth and how much… If you have $10 million, you’re okay. That was his premise.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: But, you know, I adjusted it for Humboldt County.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Mary Keene: But what I took away is if you have enough, you don’t need more.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Right?
Scott Hammond: How much is enough?
Mary Keene: Well, it depends on each person-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … you know, and, and what your needs are and what your family needs are-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … and how many… You’ve got nine kids to take care of.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Some have special needs. They need more.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Mary Keene: And you set it up.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: But once you have enough, then you get to get rid of it.
Scott Hammond: Play. Then you give it away.
Mary Keene: Give it away.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And so I’m involved in a donor circle group that works on social justice.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Um, I’ve been a, a board member for Humboldt Area Foundation and was their past chair for-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … a couple of years. I’ve been on the board for seven years.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: So I do, I get to do what I want-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … and make a difference, and-
Scott Hammond: It’s awesome
Mary Keene: … it’s n- there’s really nothing better.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I’m starting to understand that.
Mary Keene: Yeah. Well, you can’t when you’re young-
Scott Hammond: You can’t really
Mary Keene: … ’cause you’re struggling.
Scott Hammond: Oh, you’re just grinding.
Mary Keene: Yeah. You just-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah
Mary Keene: … do I have food? Can I t- take… I mean, taking four girls to the dentist.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: You know, it’s hard.
Scott Hammond: Oh, man, and bills. Just wait for that medical bill thing.
Mary Keene: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. No, I, I remember just constantly digging out of a hole.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You know? And, and now I d- I’m not loaded, but I, it’s… We’re going to Medford this weekend and not thinking about the gas money.
Mary Keene: Yeah. There you go.
Scott Hammond: You know, we’re gonna spend money on people, and it’ll be fun, and yeah.
Mary Keene: But when the hole is really deep and you don’t have a shovel-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … it’s hard.
Scott Hammond: It’s really hard.
Mary Keene: And the idea that people should pull themselves up from their bootstraps if they don’t have boots.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: I mean, there’s people like that.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.
Mary Keene: I don’t n- I don’t need so much, you know? I have holes in my shirt, and I’m fine with that.
Scott Hammond: Hey, it’s Humboldt.
Mary Keene: It’s Humboldt.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: You don’t have to get dressed up.
Scott Hammond: I saw your car. It’s not a brand-new Jag or anything.
Mary Keene: Well, it, it is a Tesla.
Scott Hammond: S- it’s an older Tesla.
Mary Keene: It is an older Tesla, but that’s about, you know, I really believe in solar, and we have to change.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And, and it was … You know, I’m not at all into the car.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: But I’m into what it can do.
Scott Hammond: Right, what it represents.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: I love it. So I wa- I wanna talk about, uh, your latest project.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: But before I do, I wanna kinda set it up for the why. So we’re, you’re developing this really neat pro- project. I’ll just leave it at that.
Scott Hammond: So why …
Mary Keene: Wh- why am I doing what I’m doing?
Scott Hammond: Why are you doing what you’re doing, and why do you love Humboldt?
Mary Keene: Well-
Scott Hammond: As it leads into the We Are Up project.
Mary Keene: I, I’ll start about Humboldt because I was talking to someone, um, just yesterday about all the cool things that are happening here. We’re gonna be first in the nation, um, to be net energy negative-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Mary Keene: … with the offshore wind.
Scott Hammond: Oh, right.
Mary Keene: Cal Poly. We have the aquafarm. We have Del Arte. You know, if you go into smaller things, we have more nonprofits per capita, more artists per capita.
Scott Hammond: I was gonna say, art, art community.
Mary Keene: It’s, it’s art, but there’s a lot of really high-end food makers.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: Um, there’s a lot of cool people doing cool things here.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And that’s what-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … you know? But my theory is that when people left Europe and they moved to the East Coast, um, ’cause they didn’t like th- they were leaving Europe to get away-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … and then people kept going west, well, Humboldt is one of the most westerly places in the country, so we’ve-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … got all the weirdos here.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.
Mary Keene: All the people who couldn’t…
Scott Hammond: Yes. We’re all here.
Mary Keene: We’re here.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: But there’s something wonderful about being weird.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And that leads into my other where, why I am where I am, is you don’t know what life is going to throw at you.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: You know, my husband passed about 10 years ago.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: And I thought we were gonna be traveling in Europe by now.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: But no, we’re not. And instead, I’ve been the, uh, guardian for my granddaughter for the past five years.
Scott Hammond: Right. Right.
Mary Keene: She just turned 15, so she moved in with me at 10.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: She has autism.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And when she moved in, she couldn’t shower. She was afraid of the oven.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: She couldn’t open … They’d had fires.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: She couldn’t open the microwave. She couldn’t-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Mary Keene: … walk in a dark room.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Uh, she didn’t … She knew the answer to two plus one, but she didn’t understand the concept.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: ‘Cause she has a great memory.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: But, um, just a story about her. Um, she wanted … This was last year. She wanted an Apple Watch, and I said, “I’m not buying you one.” I see you have one.
Scott Hammond: Oh, this thing?
Mary Keene: Oh, this thing. But, you know, I didn’t think she needed one. She had a f- uh, an old phone of mine.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: So she made chocolate chip cookies, sat at the end of our driveway with lemonade and c- chocolate chip cookies every weekend.
Scott Hammond: In downtown Fieldbrook.
Mary Keene: Downtown Fieldbrook with a population of 25 people.
Scott Hammond: Right. Maybe.
Mary Keene: And sold enough cookies-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Mary Keene: … to buy a watch.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: She researched the watch online to find out which one she wanted. She programmed it.
Scott Hammond: Right. Wow.
Mary Keene: And she’s a self-proclaimed, um, IT person now.
Scott Hammond: Perfect.
Mary Keene: But more importantly, she’s a business owner.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: So my friend made her a logo. It’s called Jayden’s Journeys.
Scott Hammond: Aw.
Mary Keene: And, you know, she wears her shirt. She’s after it.
Scott Hammond: Good.
Mary Keene: But this change in five years-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … from the kid who couldn’t do math, now she’s-
Scott Hammond: Super proud of her
Mary Keene: … she’s got a bank account. She’s so proud of herself.
Scott Hammond: She’s getting started.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: So she can do those things, but she’s always probably, who knows what is real, but-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … right now she could not be on her own.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: She needs supports.
Scott Hammond: She’ll have support services-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … for a time.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Or, or forever. I don’t know.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: But what does that look like?
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: ‘Cause I could have bought her a house.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: But that’s not gonna solve, take care of her needs.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: ‘Cause she needs people. She’s really social.
Scott Hammond: Wow. Okay.
Mary Keene: And she needs somebody to watch out for her. Some guy shows up with a puppy, she might think she could go with them somewhere.
Scott Hammond: Right. Yeah.
Mary Keene: I don’t know. So, um, how I made most of my cheeses was getting things out of the cupboard and looking at what, what did I have and what works-
Mary Keene: What works.
Scott Hammond: What’s for dinner?
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And I did the same with, with this project I’ve started called We Are Up. And I looked at caref- situations-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … around the US, but also when I had traveled in Europe, I got to go to some-
Scott Hammond: Oh, wow
Mary Keene: … and looked at different things.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: But I ended up making a model that just like you cook, you know, you pull out your best ingredients and-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … and make a, a great, uh, meal.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: So We Are Up is, um, in McKinleyville.I bought 15, a little over 15 acres that I’ll donate to the… We formed a 501 .
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: Donate the land, and it’s been 100% volunteer.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: 100%-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Mary Keene: … Humboldt funded.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: And-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Mary Keene: … all, um… Well, we do have a couple. My friend in Holland-
Scott Hammond: Don- donated a little bit
Mary Keene: … the cheese maker do- gave a little bit and a-
Scott Hammond: That’s okay
Mary Keene: … friend in Seattle, but-
Scott Hammond: I’ll take it.
Scott Hammond: Thank you.
Mary Keene: Yeah, but, I mean, it’s really been a community, um, effort, so.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: The plan is that, um, we’ll build a large community center-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … with housing above.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: 50 units of housing.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: But it isn’t about housing.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: It is partly, but it’s like an, we’re thinking of it as an ecosystem of care.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: So there’s an ag component.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: There’s the housing component, and then there’s programs.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: And they all need to be there.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: But we’re mixing, um… It’s intergenerational, so seniors and folks with disabilities.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And then, um, because both of those groups can get kind of stuck in their ways.
Scott Hammond: Yes, yes, that’s true.
Mary Keene: I’m a senior. I know that.
Scott Hammond: I’m a senior, and I’ve seen special needs kids.
Mary Keene: Yes.
Scott Hammond: So we have them.
Mary Keene: And they’re, you know, that’s, that’s how we are.
Scott Hammond: You get stuck.
Mary Keene: Yeah, but who would, who would unstick is students.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: So the third component is students who are in similar fields like social services-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … nursing, um-
Scott Hammond: Perfect
Mary Keene: … environmental stewardship.
Scott Hammond: Hello, Cal Poly.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Hello, Cal Poly.
Scott Hammond: Cal Poly Humboldt, folks, used to be HSU, and now-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … that’s gonna be amazing. So kind of this synergistic, like, what an overused, and I haven’t used it all day, word.
Scott Hammond: So this whole thing where everybody gets to come and play.
Mary Keene: And contribute.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: A- and receive.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Because so often in our society, people are either receiving or-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … contributing.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: But the idea is that it, I don’t want it to be all low income either.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: Because then the wealthy people are over here in their bubble-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … and the poor people are over here in their bubble.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: But people, it’s about bringing people together and-
Scott Hammond: Good
Mary Keene: … creating a community.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And we’ve had the most wonderful, um, like a woman in her 80s who teaches Tai Chi.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: And a timber company both contributing.
Scott Hammond: Perfect.
Mary Keene: I mean, it, it doesn’t get more diverse than that.
Scott Hammond: Yeah, and everybody cares about that population, that demographic.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Those demographics. Yeah.
Mary Keene: And the two demographics, there’s not a person in the world who doesn’t have a parent-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … somewhere or had one and watch them suffer.
Scott Hammond: Right. Right. So as I understand, it’s three phases. You wanna talk about those real quick? And there’s three-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … build out sort of-
Mary Keene: It’s one long phase for me, but on paper-
Scott Hammond: For you
Mary Keene: … it’s, it, it’s three phases. So right now, we’re, um, we’re in the process of fundraising for a greenhouse.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And we’re two-thirds of the way there.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Um, this weekend, we’re having a work party fencing the orchard-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … and planting some garden stuff.
Scott Hammond: That’s neat.
Mary Keene: And then, um, uh, we’re gonna have a meet and greet out there on the 11th-
Scott Hammond: Cool
Mary Keene: … so people can come and see.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. We’re coming.
Mary Keene: Good.
Scott Hammond: It’ll be fun.
Mary Keene: Yeah, it’s gonna be really fun.
Scott Hammond: And Jodi’s got it in her calendar. She’s got it all dialed in.
Mary Keene: Yay.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Yeah. So bring the kids.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: All nine of them, ’cause-
Scott Hammond: Yeah, that’s-
Mary Keene: … there’s plenty of space.
Scott Hammond: Now they’re in Boise and Medford and soon to be-
Mary Keene: Mm
Scott Hammond: … the, the Netherlands. She, she got a job with, uh, executive Nike.
Mary Keene: Get out.
Scott Hammond: I know. They’re, they’re, they’re pretty stoked. Not an easy job to get.
Mary Keene: The Netherlands, I’ll talk to you on the side-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … about that. It’s my-
Scott Hammond: We’re going to Amsterdam.
Mary Keene: I’ve s- I’ve been there, like, a dozen times. It’s-
Scott Hammond: We’ll talk.
Mary Keene: It’s-
Scott Hammond: Yeah, absolutely
Mary Keene: … a good place.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I’m looking forward. Everybody says it’s a great place to visit.
Mary Keene: It’s, it’s wo- it’s like Humboldt, but fancier.
Scott Hammond: Uh-huh. Okay.
Mary Keene: It’s the same f- it’s the same vibe.
Scott Hammond: We got out of McKinleyville last year for the first time.
Scott Hammond: We got to go to England and Scotland and Ireland.
Mary Keene: Nice.
Scott Hammond: It was really fun, so.
Mary Keene: Nice.
Scott Hammond: Now that we’re world travelers, and we have passports.
Mary Keene: Why not? Once you have a passport.
Scott Hammond: We’re, we’re pros at this.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Watched all the TV shows. We’re gonna dial in on all in.
Mary Keene: Yeah, one suitcase, that’s the key.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. So three phases. So the first phase-
Mary Keene: Okay
Scott Hammond: … is the greenhouse?
Mary Keene: The greenhouse-
Scott Hammond: Okay
Mary Keene: … and the property has a duplex on it.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: So we have one half of the duplex, um, empty now that we’re kind of renovating.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And the idea is that we can begin serving people once we get the greenhouse built.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: Folks can grow food, come up to the duplex, learn to cook, learn some life skills.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Um-
Scott Hammond: Hang out.
Mary Keene: Hang out, learn about donating, giving back so that we could grow food for, food for people.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: We could have a CSA.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: Um, I’ve-
Scott Hammond: That’s a, is that a farm share?
Mary Keene: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Like a goat… What’s it called? Um, there’s one-
Mary Keene: Sea Goat Farms.
Scott Hammond: Sea Goat Farms, yeah.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: I just reached out to her. That’s the other fun thing about this is so many people.
Scott Hammond: You’re all connected anyway, so all these guys-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … would kind… Yeah. Now we, Jodi and I get our food from there.
Mary Keene: Oh, nice.
Scott Hammond: They’re great. Yeah.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Have another one of those.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: ‘Cause people have to eat food.
Mary Keene: They do, and, and we could help each other and choose, you grow this, I’ll grow that.
Scott Hammond: I love it.
Mary Keene: I could grow your starts. You c-Whatever
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: Um, so anyway, that gets us started.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: We’ve got really, um… The regional center’s been so lovely, supportive.
Scott Hammond: Oh, they’re great here.
Mary Keene: Gosh, we’re lucky.
Scott Hammond: Can I talk about them real quick?
Mary Keene: Yes, please.
Scott Hammond: The Redwood Coast Regional Center-
Mary Keene: Yay
Scott Hammond: … located in Eureka, California.
Scott Hammond: It’s actually Redwood Coast Regional Center Number 1, ’cause their-
Mary Keene: Ah
Scott Hammond: … their, their designation. And what they do is they, um… So our son Gabe has Downs and autism, and he’s been a client since he was a baby. And, uh, what they do is they administer all the funding and the, the agencies that work through them to get care to Gabe for PT, OT, whatever therapy, speech therapy, and, um, schooling assistance, having special support. So Gabe’s been, um, been a big client, and they’re amazing. So if you live in Texas, guess what? There isn’t anything that looks like a regional center. You’re kinda on your own, baby. Oregon’s broke. Same kinda idea. They don’t have the services that we do. And the cool thing about Humboldt, 100% Humboldt Regional Center, is th- they really care. Dr- You’ve met Dr. Kim Smalley?
Mary Keene: Yes.
Scott Hammond: I mean-
Mary Keene: She’s been on the site.
Scott Hammond: Yes.
Mary Keene: She came to our Spooktacular.
Scott Hammond: She’s amazing. Now, there’s a woman that’s really cool. She’s-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … Hi, hi Kim.
Mary Keene: Hi, Kim.
Scott Hammond: She’s, um, Harvard educated and did it by herself with her own bootstraps. All the kids that went there, that her cohorts were all loaded, you know-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … trust fund kids. She was, as I understand it, you know, not, not that.
Mary Keene: Not that.
Scott Hammond: So she had to do that, and she’s raised a couple girls, I think, and, um, big chops for her. Now she’s the head of our regional center, and I think she’s… I’m a big fan and-
Mary Keene: I’m a big fan
Scott Hammond: … what a cool ally. So y- you’ve really kinda developed, in your cool way-
Scott Hammond: … y- all these alliances and these-
Mary Keene: Well-
Scott Hammond: … connections and these relationships. Ta- talk about that.
Mary Keene: Well, with Cypress Grove, once we got past survival mode, we had a premise that the person who washes the dishes has the most important job-
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah
Mary Keene: … because they could actually kill somebody if they didn’t do it well.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.
Mary Keene: So, you know, I really believe that you have to honor everybody where they are and what-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Mary Keene: … they’re doing. But we’ve always given cheese to every event-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Mary Keene: … in the community.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: And so probably a lot of people feel that you owe me.
Scott Hammond: That’s okay.
Mary Keene: But truly, um, you know, we’ve been around 30… maybe getting close to 40 years. I don’t know.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Since ’83, what does that mean?
Scott Hammond: So ’83.
Mary Keene: 40 years, yeah.
Scott Hammond: Is it 40? Yeah.
Mary Keene: This is our 40th anniversary.
Scott Hammond: Happy anniversary.
Mary Keene: So for our 25th anniversary, we ma- we did 25 random acts of kindness.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: And that meant, like, one of them, one was getting 25 backpacks and filling them with school supplies and taking them to different schools.
Scott Hammond: I love it.
Mary Keene: One was taking cheese to the ladies at St. Joe’s who are the volunteers.
Scott Hammond: They’ll love that.
Mary Keene: It took me 15 minutes to get them to realize I didn’t want anything back ’cause they’re so used to-
Scott Hammond: They’re so used to giving
Mary Keene: … They’re so sweet.
Scott Hammond: Oh, they’re great.
Mary Keene: But anyway, so a lot of people are behind this ’cause they know it’s a-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … it’s a needed project.
Scott Hammond: Oh, well-
Mary Keene: There’s no housing.
Scott Hammond: … sure. Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: Um-
Scott Hammond: No
Mary Keene: … and I get these heartfelt letters from folks, you know?
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: “I’m getting older. I don’t know what’s gonna happen to my child-“
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: “… who’s in his 40s,” or-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … “I had to move my daughter to Crescent City. I can’t… I’m too old to drive to visit her.”
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: “It’s horrible.”
Scott Hammond: Yeah. We were looking at some real dour options for Gabe that just didn’t make any sense.
Mary Keene: How old is he now?
Scott Hammond: He’s 23.
Mary Keene: 23?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Well, Jayden would think he’s so cool because he’s in his 20s.
Scott Hammond: He’s, he is cool.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: What’s really, what’s really cool is watching him kind of prosper without mom and dad around and doing, you know, with, with other support.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: And we have a big advocate in Rebecca who’s a behaviorist, and she’s just taken him to all these next levels for Ga-
Mary Keene: Oh
Scott Hammond: … all these next Gabe levels that are just, kinda like with your granddaughter, exciting to see and go, “Oh. Wonder why we couldn’t get him to do that?”
Mary Keene: Well, ’cause you’re the parents-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … and they know how to work you.
Scott Hammond: Right. Oh, he totally does.
Scott Hammond: Oh, we show up, and he’s playing us right, like, right away.
Mary Keene: Right?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It’s like, no, you can perform amazingly with the oth- with the others that are demanding it of you. And so anyway. So, uh, so phase one is the, the-
Mary Keene: Is the greenhouse-
Scott Hammond: … greenhouse
Mary Keene: … beginning to serve people. We can work with the regional center on providing supports for people.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: So when I first talked to them, they said, “Well, nobody ever asked to work in a greenhouse.” And I had to explain the whole concept.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: It’s not about working in the greenhouse.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: That’s a piece of it, but it’s being in there, seeing how plants grow, how to take care of something.
Scott Hammond: And there’s chores.
Mary Keene: There’s chores. There’s food.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Everybody likes to have a good meal.
Scott Hammond: There’s food. Everybody loves the food part.
Mary Keene: Food.
Scott Hammond: And is there gonna be goat cheese?
Mary Keene: Yeah. Cypress Grove has donated so much cheese to this project.
Scott Hammond: That’s part of that relationship-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … that you still have.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: That’s wonderful.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: That’s really neat.
Mary Keene: And so we can do that, and now we’re beginning, um, fundraising for the next, you know, like, it’s a t- I can’t even say it out loud, $25 to $30 million that I-
Scott Hammond: You can say it
Mary Keene: … somehow can come up with. I have no clue how that’s gonna happen.
Scott Hammond: Oh, it’ll happen.
Mary Keene: But it will.
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.
Mary Keene: And so now I’m starting to figure that out.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: We have our, um-A meeting with the planning commission set for, oh, this is a big ask.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: June, uh, July 6th.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: At 6:00 at the planning commission.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: We filed our CEQA docs and hoping to have some solid support there.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: It would really be helpful.
Scott Hammond: Explain SEQ- CEQA real quick.
Mary Keene: CEQA is, um …
Scott Hammond: What it does. I don’t know what-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … that stands for.
Mary Keene: I can’t even think of what… Well, it… We’ve, we’ve spent the last year and a half doing environmental studies of the land.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: Um, where’s the wetlands? What are the limitations? Where can we put buildings-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … without interfering-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … with nature? Um, how tall can the buildings be? All of those things.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: And so we’re gonna be able to put 50 units of housing and a large community center, a greenhouse and an orchard, and still keep 80% of that land open space.
Scott Hammond: Nice.
Mary Keene: Really nice.
Scott Hammond: So that’s, uh, uh, that’s the work of engineers and folks that know-
Mary Keene: Botanists and-
Scott Hammond: That know county and state regs and federal.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: So you’re not in the coastal zone. That’s good.
Mary Keene: That’s really good.
Scott Hammond: Big thumbs up. Yeah.
Mary Keene: Yeah. And architects and-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … all kinds of people.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. So you’re gonna have your stuff together, and you’re gonna give it to these guys that are gonna-
Mary Keene: We’ve given it to them. They’ve-
Scott Hammond: So this is their rendering
Mary Keene: … we’ve given them all of the details-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … of all of our year and a half’s worth of studies.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Working with the tribes, have been on site.
Scott Hammond: That’s really good.
Mary Keene: All kinds of things.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And, um, we had 85 letters of support written.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: 10 not so supportive.
Scott Hammond: You’re gonna get… It’s Humboldt. 100% Humboldt.
Scott Hammond: Uh, yeah, you’re gonna get somebody that hates something.
Mary Keene: Yeah, we do have-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … some haters, but-
Scott Hammond: That’s okay
Mary Keene: … it’s okay. And I think human nature is that we don’t like change.
Scott Hammond: Right. It’d be weird to not have some haters around ’cause then it- they’d go, “This is too perfect.”
Mary Keene: Oh, God.
Scott Hammond: What’s wrong with it?
Mary Keene: I’m such an optimist. I always think-
Scott Hammond: I am, too. I understand.
Scott Hammond: What’s wrong with you people?
Mary Keene: But, you know. Anyway, we’re, we’re moving forward, and once we get this, then we can actually build the greenhouse.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: And-
Scott Hammond: So you could start building on the 13th, the day after, if they-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … voted it up.
Mary Keene: The 12th.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Wow.
Scott Hammond: We’re up.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Yeah. And we have the money to actually purchase the shell of the greenhouse, not all the, um-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … parts on the inside.
Scott Hammond: Do you know any good builders?
Mary Keene: No.
Scott Hammond: They’re all busy building stuff, right?
Mary Keene: They are booked out for years.
Scott Hammond: Oh, that’s crazy.
Mary Keene: That’s gonna be our big-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … um…
Scott Hammond: Wonder if in faith you could pre-book them.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: You know? Pencil us in for J-
Mary Keene: Pencil us in
Scott Hammond: … July 15th, say.
Mary Keene: Well, the, there’s the E- Humboldt County Office of Education has the greenhouse at, uh, Redwood Acres.
Scott Hammond: Oh, right.
Mary Keene: And, um, uh, Gene Callahan, who built my house-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Good builder
Mary Keene: … um, helped them.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And so I think he’ll come and crack a whip or supervise-
Scott Hammond: Len-
Mary Keene: … or-
Scott Hammond: Lend a hand
Mary Keene: … lend a hand. So he’s promised that.
Scott Hammond: Famous.
Mary Keene: Yeah. He’s a good guy.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. I’ve heard really good things.
Mary Keene: Super good guy.
Scott Hammond: Wow, wonderful. So greenhouse, community center, and then what?
Mary Keene: Well, greenhouse and, and programs.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: And then the community center with its housing above.
Scott Hammond: How much is that gonna be again?
Mary Keene: Well, the whole project is 30-ish million, I think.
Scott Hammond: Okay. Today, in today’s dollars.
Mary Keene: Well, it was 25 when I started-
Scott Hammond: Ah
Mary Keene: … so it’s probably 30 now, but…
Scott Hammond: So, well, 50, it’ll cap out at 50-
Scott Hammond: … 50 units.
Mary Keene: 50 units of housing, so we’re having a mix of, um, studios, one bedroom, and two bedrooms.
Scott Hammond: Gotcha.
Mary Keene: Some folks will wanna share.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Mary Keene: Some folks won’t. Some folks will have limited income and maybe want a studio.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: So it’s try- we’re trying to design all of that.
Scott Hammond: So what’s the timeline if you have your-
Mary Keene: In a perfect world-
Scott Hammond: … dream
Mary Keene: … uh, two years we’ll be starting construction.
Scott Hammond: Wow, which is quick considering-
Mary Keene: It’s really quick, but-
Scott Hammond: … building time
Mary Keene: … it’s long for me.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: It’s-
Scott Hammond: Drags on and on.
Mary Keene: Well, when you’re 75, there’s limited time, and I wanna be around to enjoy it.
Scott Hammond: I was gonna say, you look really great for 50.
Scott Hammond: So no, that’s, yeah, you wanna be around to-
Mary Keene: You do
Scott Hammond: … to love it. Yeah.
Mary Keene: You do. Um-
Scott Hammond: Wow, that’s a big vision. I love the fact that-
Mary Keene: It’s kinda crazy
Scott Hammond: … you’re including all this, the, the, the stakeholders in, as part of the process. It’s so cool and right and smart and-
Mary Keene: Well, you have to-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … ’cause that’s who it’s for.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: It’s not… I actually had a meeting today with, um, I don’t… Do you know Cash Busa, the wonderful architect?
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And he hooked us up with, um, a group that is trying to close prisons.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: And they, they’re architects, and they’re trying to design things to, once people get out of prisons-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … or I don’t know, but they’re gonna come up and check out the project. They’re-
Scott Hammond: Wow
Mary Keene: … into crazy projects.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Um-
Scott Hammond: Who knows what they might add?
Mary Keene: I don’t… Well, they’ll add a lot, but one of their big tenets is bringing people together to plan, what does Gabe need? What does Jayden need?
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: It’s two different things.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: And what does Jayden’s neighbor need?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: ‘Cause she gets up at 5:30 and sings at the top of her lungs.
Scott Hammond: Perfect.
Mary Keene: They need-
Scott Hammond: Something different
Mary Keene: … good soundproofing.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. And then the Venn diagram where those kind of come together-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … and you can figure out-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … what the needs are.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Wow. Big vision stuff.
Mary Keene: Yeah. I love, um, our family joke is I’m ready, fire, aim.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: ‘Cause if you worry about it, you’re not gonna do it.
Scott Hammond: Right. Yeah.
Mary Keene: If you-
Scott Hammond: You perfectionists out there, we, we know that you can’t get it done ’cause you’re too busy being perfect about it.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: But you need the perfectionists, too.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: So it needs to be the whole community.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And I can be the crazy one, but other people can be the smart ones who say, “Oh, no, you you don’t wanna do that.”
Scott Hammond: Don’t do it. No, don’t.
Mary Keene: No, no, no, no.
Scott Hammond: We’re not building on the marshland.
Mary Keene: Yes.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: No. Or, you know, we’re gonna add a frog pond at the end of this detention center-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … so the frogs have a sweet place to be and-
Scott Hammond: Perfect
Mary Keene: … the herons have a place to land.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: That-
Scott Hammond: So is it 80 acres? Is that what I remember?
Mary Keene: No, it’s… It feels like it. It’s huge.
Scott Hammond: It’s fif- 15?
Mary Keene: 15.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: And so we’ll just be up against grocery outlets-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … so we’re within walking distance of a grocery store-
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah
Mary Keene: … a movie theater-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … restaurants, a hardware store, health clinic, bank-
Scott Hammond: Perfect
Mary Keene: … and the bus.
Scott Hammond: And McDonald’s.
Mary Keene: No.
Scott Hammond: And I think Denny’s is gonna become Mountain Mike’s-
Mary Keene: Oh
Scott Hammond: … Pizza. That’s what they said anyway.
Mary Keene: Well, that would be nice.
Scott Hammond: Why not? It’s all there.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, McKinleyville’s-
Mary Keene: But-
Scott Hammond: … got it all
Mary Keene: … you wouldn’t need to drive.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And a lot of our residents probably won’t drive.
Scott Hammond: Right. They can walk down to Pearson Park, Azalea, Azalea Park, and…
Mary Keene: Or they can, um, the health club is-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … right two blocks away.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. There’s two, yeah, Health-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … Support and the Club, yeah.
Mary Keene: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: Love it.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Wow. That’s a really big vision.
Mary Keene: It’s a sweet spot.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. And we drove back there, looked at it some months ago, and-
Mary Keene: Oh, you haven’t… You didn’t come last year, did you-
Scott Hammond: Mm-mm
Mary Keene: … to our party?
Scott Hammond: No, we didn’t make it.
Mary Keene: Okay.
Scott Hammond: But we just took an independent Sunday afternoon and hung out, and we didn’t walk on the property or anything.
Mary Keene: Mm.
Scott Hammond: But just got a look at… Kinda looked at it on a sunny day and go, “This is gonna be magical.”
Mary Keene: Well, when you actually get on it, it’s kind of long and narrow.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: And about two-thirds of the way, there’s this stand of trees that are all a little bit different.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: They’re not just all redwoods, or they’re not all anything.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Mary Keene: And I’ve always called it the fairy circle.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: And I don’t know why those tre-
Scott Hammond: They’re just different?
Mary Keene: They’re just weird. And so, um, I had a dream of a kids’ story about how did this fairy circle come to be.
Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.
Mary Keene: And it was because the trees on the other edge decided that they needed to have a place for the animals to hang out.
Scott Hammond: Okay.
Mary Keene: And they learned to walk.
Scott Hammond: Oh.
Mary Keene: But anyway, all my weird stuff comes in dreams, Humboldt Fog and this project.
Scott Hammond: Hey, dreams are good.
Mary Keene: If I get a dream, I, I try to pay attention to it.
Scott Hammond: Do you write ’em down?
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: That’s good.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. ‘Cause I think with folks like us that get busy, the only time you have to-
Mary Keene: Quiet mind.
Scott Hammond: … dream, to dream-
Scott Hammond: … and a quiet enough mind is to be still and, and write that stuff down.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: That’s fun.
Scott Hammond: I love your vision. It’s cool to get to know you.
Mary Keene: Yeah, thanks.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: It’s a fun project.
Scott Hammond: Oh, it’s gonna be great.
Mary Keene: I’ve met so many cool people.
Scott Hammond: Oh, I, I think every… How could you not be behind it? So you 10 haters-
Scott Hammond: … I’d say-
Mary Keene: No, I don’t wanna be mean to them-
Scott Hammond: No
Mary Keene: … because truly, I get it.
Scott Hammond: Wanna win ’em.
Mary Keene: They’re-
Scott Hammond: There could be one.
Mary Keene: They’re-
Scott Hammond: They just need to understand.
Mary Keene: They’re… But they’re worried that their views are gonna change, or-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … it’ll be too noisy, or-
Scott Hammond: Not in my backyard.
Mary Keene: Well, literally, though, it is in their backyard, and-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … nobody wants their backyard to be different.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: I get it.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: But-
Scott Hammond: There’s mitigation, and there’s discussion and-
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, I… It… You’re right. Let’s consider those guys.
Mary Keene: Yeah. I, I mean, I hope they’ll come around.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: But I have to consider the Gabes and the Jadens of the world.
Scott Hammond: Right, the whole point, yeah.
Mary Keene: And the seniors.
Scott Hammond: So, uh, parting shot, what would you like to say to Humboldt if you, if, if you-
Scott Hammond: Or to the world ’cause this is gonna go out on the World Wide Web, including Humboldt.
Mary Keene: Oh. I’m hoping that, um, this will really be a model of change.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: Because the current model is often for folks with disabilities to be isolated.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: You know, five to a group home with a caregiver.
Scott Hammond: Maybe, yeah.
Mary Keene: If they’re lucky.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And often on the streets, I mean, I-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Mary Keene: … I have people that I give food to-
Mary Keene: … on the street regularly who I know have autism. I can… I know it.
Scott Hammond: Sure. Oh, yeah.
Mary Keene: It’s… And they shouldn’t be on the streets.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: It’s wrong.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: So, um, if we can get this built and have a model that can be copied, the ag land is, is a nice to have. It’s not-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: You could still do other things if you didn’t have the ag land. You could teach whatever your people are into.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: Computer skills, video-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … um, making food.
Scott Hammond: I love it.
Mary Keene: So that’s what we’re hoping.
Scott Hammond: So we could do one of these in Fortuna.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: But right now, if you’re a parent in Trinidad, you’re driving-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … your, your loved one to Eureka probably for day programs.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. We do.
Mary Keene: And how long does that take you?
Scott Hammond: 22 minutes and a lot of fuel.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Twice a day.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: So 44 minutes-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … twice a day. You know-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … if it’s round trip.
Scott Hammond: And the th- program Gabe’s part of is, you know, lo- love you guys, but it’s… we didn’t have, like, a lot of choices.
Mary Keene: No.
Scott Hammond: It… There wasn’t like, “Hey, well, there’s five different choices. They’re all amazing.” No, there’s this-
Mary Keene: There’s a choice.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. And, uh, they love Gabe, and he, he blends in and does great, but I don’t, I don’t know that he’s challenged, and he’s, you know, in any sort of… It’s like s- it’s not like school.
Mary Keene: Right. And, and when school’s over, things change.
Scott Hammond: Yes, they do.
Mary Keene: And the kids drop off.
Scott Hammond: 22 years old, you gotta leave high school.
Mary Keene: And then what happens? You’ve had all these supports and then nothing. Like, 90% ofAdults, kids with autism, you know, the, in that twen-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … I’m still calling them kids when they’re 20-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … ’cause I’m 75.
Mary Keene: But haven’t interacted with a friend in a year.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: That’s horrible.
Scott Hammond: That’s tragic.
Mary Keene: It’s b-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … but programs stop, they go to their room and-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … iPad it.
Scott Hammond: Wow. You’re right. It, we looked at all kinds of options that weren’t there.
Mary Keene: That weren’t there.
Scott Hammond: We were looking at all these things that we couldn’t find, and it was tragic. I’m going, “Well, there’s the Sundberg Center, but that’s a, that’s way down on Broadway and it’s far a-,” and there was just nothing.
Mary Keene: That’s a nice-
Scott Hammond: You know? And-
Mary Keene: They do a lot with a little.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. And the regional center was kind, but it was COVID time and they were retracted and, uh, c- let’s go get Gabe a job. Well, he’s pretty limited in his skill set, so you’d have to have a magical employer with, you know, with a supervisor. It’s so, it just gets so complex right away.
Mary Keene: It, well, one of the things we’re thinking is, say we have, s- say somebody wants to have a wedding at our community center.
Scott Hammond: Wow.
Mary Keene: Could Gabe open a door for somebody or-
Scott Hammond: Sure
Mary Keene: … stand there and s- wave to them? Whatever he can do. There’s, everybody can do something.
Scott Hammond: Right. Has a role.
Mary Keene: Almost.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: I mean-
Scott Hammond: Well, live-
Mary Keene: … you can just be there and be kind.
Scott Hammond: Some live music could really make the neighbors crazy.
Scott Hammond: Not in my backyard.
Mary Keene: Well, that’ll be indoors.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, that’d be fun though. So it’ll be a whole venue then. It’ll be-
Mary Keene: Yeah
Scott Hammond: … for a wedding. That’s really neat.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Outdoor.
Mary Keene: Or another event.
Scott Hammond: Sure.
Mary Keene: You know, if, if our residents have an opportunity to do whatever makes them happy-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … and interact with the community at large-
Scott Hammond: Yeah
Mary Keene: … and the other piece is the community at large needs to know about our kids.
Scott Hammond: Absolutely, yeah.
Mary Keene: ‘Cause if they don’t, they think they don’t exist.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: And if, then they don’t.
Scott Hammond: Then they’re invisible.
Mary Keene: They’re invisible.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And they have no voice.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Ew, I don’t like that.
Mary Keene: I know. Me neither. Like-
Scott Hammond: I don’t like that pic- that word picture.
Mary Keene: No.
Scott Hammond: I, uh, so I s-
Mary Keene: But we wanna change it.
Scott Hammond: Speaking of change, I’m gonna leave you with a question, and it is this: since you’re a dreamer and big thinker-
Mary Keene: Mm
Scott Hammond: … and I’m, I’m really creative, like very little. I’m a good copier.
Scott Hammond: You know, I’m, I’m good at watching Seinfeld.
Scott Hammond: So what do you see for Humboldt in the next 5 or 10 years, as you dream, as you think, as you know, as you’re connected and you’re out there, what do you, what do you see, what do you think, what would you like to see manifest in this beautiful county of ours, this-
Mary Keene: Mm-hmm
Scott Hammond: … the, I call it the original God’s country.
Mary Keene: Still is.
Scott Hammond: Still is.
Mary Keene: Um, I think, I think we’re all poised on, um, something with steps-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Mary Keene: … that we could take that would take Humboldt to a really next level kind of place.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: I mean, as the offshore wind happens-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … um, one of the things Humboldt Area Foundation’s been doing is to be sure that it’s not another extractive, um, boom and bust like the Gold Rush. So-
Scott Hammond: M- meaning cannabis?
Mary Keene: Or cannabis.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: You know?
Scott Hammond: Or redwoods.
Mary Keene: All of these things.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: So writing community, community benefits plans in advance.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Mm.
Mary Keene: So let’s plan.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: Let’s be sure that the folks out in Hoopa have some benefit of power.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Mary Keene: Let’s be sure that people have broadband-
Scott Hammond: Mm
Mary Keene: … when that comes through.
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: Let’s take care of our fishermen when the aquaculture comes in, and maybe they can raise the price of the wild salmon-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … so they can actually make a living.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: But people can afford to eat salmon who can’t afford that, you know?
Scott Hammond: Right.
Mary Keene: Let’s, let’s make it happen-
Scott Hammond: I love it
Mary Keene: … because I think there’s so much just on the edge of happening here. It’s really exciting.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: Cal Poly is … But all of these have struggles-
Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah
Mary Keene: … to make them happen, and, you know, we have to be compassionate for the naysayers.
Scott Hammond: Mm.
Mary Keene: But, or like, we’re talking about building a four or five story buildings in Arcata.
Scott Hammond: For Humboldt.
Mary Keene: For Humboldt.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: Now-
Scott Hammond: Sorry, Cal Poly.
Mary Keene: Cal Poly.
Mary Keene: So if we don’t build that, what are our choices? People are homeless.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.
Mary Keene: Students are homeless, or we use up ag land.
Scott Hammond: Right. Or buy more hotels.
Mary Keene: And put people in tiny little hotel rooms.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: So why wouldn’t we go up?
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: What’s wrong with, if it’s engineered so it’s safe-
Scott Hammond: Right
Mary Keene: … what’s wrong with not using the ag land-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … and keeping that? I saw it in Europe a lot where apartment buildings behind them had beautiful gardens for people.
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Mary Keene: So let’s just-
Scott Hammond: Get creative
Mary Keene: … take a breath, be creative.
Scott Hammond: You remind me to-
Scott Hammond: I think I’ll take a breath. No, I like your, I like your vision. It’s good, it’s good vision.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: It, it is there. I think it’s, it’s, it’s doable. It’s right there beyond our grasp.
Mary Keene: It’s-
Scott Hammond: And we’ve just gotta figure it out.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And just say, “Yeah. Maybe we won’t get everything we want, but we’ll get a lot of it.”
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: And somebody else might get a lot of what they want-
Scott Hammond: Yeah. But-
Mary Keene: … and need.
Scott Hammond: You got Humboldt Bay to develop and the waterfront, and then you got, is it the Great Redwood Trail?
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: That’s gonna be-
Mary Keene: That’s happening.
Scott Hammond: Oh my gosh. That’s gonna be bomb.
Mary Keene: There’s so many things right now.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah. But-
Mary Keene: And then I love all the music and stuff up at Cal Poly-
Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm
Mary Keene: … at Center Arts.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hopefully it gets a good bands this year.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: What did I just infer? That they had-
Scott Hammond: … some other bands last year. And we saw a really good show. It’s fun. Well, speaking of fun, it’s been fun having you.
Mary Keene: Yeah. Thanks for inviting me.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. What a delight. Cool to get to know you.
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Yeah. And I look forward to hanging out some more for sure. You s-
Mary Keene: Yeah. We have some-
Scott Hammond: … you haven’t seen the last of us.
Mary Keene: We have some things we can share.
Scott Hammond: Yeah.
Mary Keene: Mm-hmm.
Scott Hammond: And Joni wants to get to know you, too. By the way, she’s raised nine kids plus me makes 10. She’s-
Scott Hammond: You’ll have a lot in common. She’s-
Mary Keene: She’s experienced.
Scott Hammond: She’s amazing. She’s just … My dad goes, “You, you know, I really like Joni.” I said-
Mary Keene: Ah
Scott Hammond: … “What about me?” He goes, he just shook his head. He goes, “Um, I, I don’t know, Scott, you were smart enough to marry Joni.”
Scott Hammond: So shout out to Joni Hammond. Well, thanks for coming, Mary. Appreciate you.
Mary Keene: Oh, thanks. Appreciate it.
Scott Hammond: Wish you, wish you all the best, and we’re there to support for sure.
Mary Keene: Cool. Cool. And July 6th at the Planning Department.
Scott Hammond: July 6th, hear that.
Mary Keene: Be there.
Scott Hammond: That’s right downtown, right?
Mary Keene: Yeah.
Scott Hammond: Cool. We’ll be there.
Mary Keene: Cool.
Scott Hammond: All right. Thanks again.
Mary Keene: Thanks.