OFF TOPIC BUT AMUSING: Tomales cheese maker lives his dream

Buffalo graze on land owned by Craig Ramini of Tomales who is finding success in cheese making. (Courtesy)

Craig Ramini doesn't think of himself as a Big Cheese or anything, despite regularly hanging out with Grace Slick, Van Morrison, and Neil Young. A humble cheese maker in rustic Tomales, he doesn't let his relationships with Bette Midler, Joan Jett or Shakira give him a big head.

As founder of Ramini Mozzarella, he is living his dream to make mozzarella cheese from water buffalo milk in America, worthy of comparison to the wonderful mozzarella di bufala that is made in Italy. And he's decided to have as much fun possible. Early on, he decided to attach rock star names to each member of his growing herd.

A fan of "permission marketing" guru Seth Godin, Ramini hung up his suits and left behind corporate life as a Silicon Valley software consultant five years ago at age 50, to wrangle stubborn and skittish, horned animals weighing about half a ton a piece. He's three years down on a ten-year lease on a sprawling coastal property with several fenced pastures and a specially designed buffalo-milking barn.

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