Episode 3826

- [Presenter] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by...

- [Announcer 1] Some of our biggest checks have also made the biggest difference. The Tennessee Lottery. Proud to have raised more than $7.5 billion for education. Now, that's some game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Announcer 2] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways. Discover Tennessee's adventure, cuisine, history, and more made-in-Tennessee experiences showcased among these 16 driving trails. More at tn TNTrailsandByways.com.

- [Announcer 3] The co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned co-ops driven to serve farmer owners, rural lifestyle customers and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states. More at ourcoop.com.

- [Announcer 4] Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds, enrich lives, and earn a living. More at mtsu.edu/cla.

- This week, the "Crossroads" crew goes on safari. We'll indulge ourselves with sweet treats from the 'Boro, see what's cooking in Colorado, and gaze at stars you may know in the works of a talented artist. We hope you'll gaze along with us for the next half hour. I'm Laura Faber. Welcome to "Tennessee Crossroads." It's not uncommon to see beautiful wildlife here in Tennessee. And in our first story, Miranda Cohen travels to Yuma to find residents that are a little more exotic than usual and tells us how you can see them too.

- [Miranda] The landscape looks like a scene from a movie or an animal documentary. Lush acres filled with rare and exotic animals from all over the world. But this is not in Asia or in Africa. You will find all of this beauty in Yuma, Tennessee at Southland Safari guided tours.

- So we've got about 135 acres. We've got about 700 animals, 56 different species of animals now. Now, it didn't happen overnight. It certainly was many years of hard labor and love. And over time, we've just built it and grown it into what it is today.

- [Miranda] Tosha Gurley and her husband Chris dreamed of working and living with exotic animals. They started out with a small herd of buffalo on a patch of land here in Carroll County.

- [Tosha] We are a breeding facility, and that's how we started 20 years ago, was raising buffalo.

- [Miranda] And one magnificent creature led to another. And that's when the Gurleys started Southland Safari as a way of allowing people to learn more about animals. The guided tours at the Southland Safari are very different than a zoo or enclosure.

- Eddie, you're gonna sit right up here, up front with me. Okay, dog? You too. I want y'all to climb in the back back here like a pair of lemurs. Y'all know what lemurs are, don't you? They look like a monkey with a ring tail on them. Y'all lemur. I believe it.

- [Miranda] You will climb aboard the safari wagon. And from here on, the people are enclosed and the animals are not. The majestic wildlife is roaming freely. And if you're lucky, they will come and see you.

- [Mr. Michael] Now, Benny here is a baby Indian rhino.

- [Miranda] Michael Avery, or Mr. Michael, is one of the very experienced tour guides. He knows every one of his babies by name. He loves them, and the feeling is mutual.

- You're gonna see the kangaroos, the sloths, the giraffes, the zebras, the main staples of any facility. But you're also gonna see some animals you wouldn't see at a lot of different places, like the Indian muntjac, the aardwolves that are out here. And not only that, you're gonna see the amount of love that these animals are getting taken care of every single day.

- [Tosha] So we do offer a guided safari tour. So you do have a private guide with you. The tour is both educational and entertaining. You're gonna go out on the safari and do the petting zoo about an hour and a half long. During that moment, you are interacting with animals. You're getting to touch, feed all sorts of animals out on the safari.

- For parts of the tour, you gently ride along in a Jeep and listen to a very knowledgeable tour guide. But for the very best part of the tour, you get to get up close and personal with the animals. And we do mean personal. Just look at Griffin.

- [Tosha] The most impressive animals that people love is doing the up close encounters. The kangaroos. Getting to get nose to nose with a giraffe. The sloth is definitely a fan favorite. Everybody loves the sloth.

- [Miranda] Southland Safari boasts more than 60 different species of animals, including a rare white rhino named Chopper, and an endangered Indian rhino named Benny. Plenty of buffalo, kangaroo, and friendly emus who know just where to find the goodies hidden in the safari wagon.

- We have a lot of African hoofstock, kudu, impala, buffalo, ostrich, rheas.

- [Miranda] And it is most important to the Gurleys and their staff that people learn and appreciate the beauty of the animals in their natural habitat and learn the importance of conservation.

- [Tosha] But the most important thing is you're learning something about those animals. You're not just seeing an animal and wondering what it is. Your private guide is gonna be there to give you information that maybe you didn't know before you arrived at Southland Safari. The majority of our time, we are making sure that our animals are healthy and taken care of. And because we do have a lot of land, it provides a natural environment for those animals, and so that improves their breeding here at Southland Safari.

- [Miranda] Their breeding program is hugely successful. They will welcome hundreds of newborns every year, including new baby giraffes. And if you don't want your experience to end at sundown, it doesn't have to. The Southland Safari offers a unique experience for spending even more time with the animals.

- [Tosha] We do have seven cabins. All of them are named after animals that we actually have here on the Safari park. So if people are looking for lodging, they can choose to stay in a cabin and also do the tour and encounters with us as well.

- Every one of the staff is knowledgeable and helpful, answering any questions. It's just a beautiful place. Our tour guide was definitely the most knowledgeable, smartest guy in the world I've ever met. So I mean, you can ask him anything about any animal. He knows every one of them by name and you just don't get that kind of experience anywhere.

- [Chris] We're very, very much more of a more personal experience. We'd like for you to get up close and personal with them. We'd like for the buffalo to come in and give you those sweet kisses. We'd like for you to see all these different animals and all their little different personalities.

- [Tosha] The beauty of it is watching families, grandparents, parents watch those little ones enjoy and learn about animals. But most importantly, they're learning to respect animals. They're learning to care for those animals. And I think that's what I take away as most enjoyable.

- Thanks, Miranda. In our next story, we're heading to Gramma's. No, it's not a family reunion. This Murfreesboro lady is known for her cinnamon rolls, cobbler, and banana pudding. Spoiler alert, if you are counting calories, the story could be dangerous. If you see this food truck anywhere in Rutherford County, stop and take a deep sniff.

- We turn on the ovens. The smell is so potent that you could smell it from everywhere. It's wonderful when people say, "What are you cooking?" "Cinnamon rolls." So it's really, really.... It's wonderful.

- [Laura] MoNique Ivory has been serving up sweetness in Murfreesboro since 2008, after a store-bought red velvet cake nearly ruined her son's birthday.

- He wanted strawberries inside of the red velvet cake. And when we got it home, the red velvet cake was stale and it tasted like chocolate. Well, everyone knows red velvet cake is a buttermilk cake and it should not taste like chocolate. It's only hints of chocolate. And from there I'm like, "Well, I can make this."

- [Laura] She started simply baking for friends, making cupcakes for her kids at school and for fundraising events at church. Her reputation grew and she became the go-to person when you wanted something old-fashioned and downright delicious.

- [MoNique] I know that everyone says that it's really good. I love what I do. It gives me peace. It gives me an abundance of peace to bake.

- [Laura] Eventually, MoNique realized she had a small business in the palm of her hands and launched Gramma's Hand Sweetery, though that wasn't the original name.

- Gramma's Hands Sweetery came in 2018, when my father passed. I decided that I wanted to do a little bit more of honoring my mom, my grandmothers. People that has actually put some type of inspiration or a recipe, or some type of knowledge, or something into myself, my family, my husband, just so that we can just say, "This is for you." This is what Gramma's Hands means, because there's so many memories that we wanna just honor those.

- [Laura] It is a family-run business. MoNique's husband, Bernard, and both of their mothers often work the truck alongside them.

- Well, I have my regular Good-Good, which we always have. We also have Sweet Fire, which is the one that won Nashville Hot Chicken.

- [Laura] The baked goods all come from family recipes. Nothing is written down. It's all in MoNique's head. She caters and sells online, and her food truck can be found all over town and at festivals. Her loyal customers follow her wherever she goes.

- The Good-Good and all of her cobblers are like just... They will melt in your mouth. Like, they're just fresh and just so succulent. I mean, there's not a bad cobbler. You'll never get a bad cobbler. Each time she comes up with a new dessert or something that she wants to do, she really does take her time to just hone in on the craft. She'll make several batches of something and say, "Hey, I need you to sample this. I need you to taste this." And it's like, "My turn."

- All right, the number one seller are the cinnamon rolls, followed by the cobbler and...

- [MoNique] Our Southern banana pudding.

- A secret family recipe. Oh my gosh. Thumbs up, MoNique.

- [MoNique] The Good-Good is the glaze. And while the cinnamon roll is actually hot, we do one glaze over so that it seals in the moisture. And that's the first part. The second part is the decoration. We do a second part of the glaze, the Good-Good, and we make a decoration. 'Cause when it goes out the truck, I always make sure that it looks just as pretty as if you were going somewhere else to get it.

- [Laura] That's not just cobbler?

- [MoNique] No, it's a combination of two cobblers. It is your regular cobbler and crumble combined into one.

- [Laura] MoNique tries new recipes all the time and has started exploring the savory side. Her Sweet Fire Hot Chicken Cinnamon Roll wins awards, and is so creative.

- [MoNique] Sweet fire.

- [Laura] Then there is her Southern pecan sticky roll covered with caramel, brown butter bourbon, and toasted pecans. Or the maple-bacon cinnamon roll. Or the adult only apple walnut marinated raisin concoction.

- That particular one has a little bit of alcohol in it. The raisins are actually marinated in, I believe, rum. And it's placed in the microwave for them to plump up juicy and deliciousness, even if that's a word. And then, at that point, they're rolled just like the... You just roll them inside the cinnamon roll, and then it's covered with another glaze.

- There you are. You have a blessed day. Thanks for stopping.

- No wonder there is always a line at Gramma's Hands Sweetery truck. If you're craving delicious baked goods that remind you of simpler times, MoNique Ivory is happy and grateful to serve.

- Very, very thankful for my community. If they did not embrace me as much as they have, I wouldn't have my food truck and I wouldn't have a business where I was able to leave my job and do what I dreamed, which is my dream. I wanted to have... I just wanted to serve the great desserts and leave everybody with a great memory.

- If you've ever driven to Colorado, I'm sure you'd agree that trip can be grueling. Well, a couple of years ago, our Joe Elmore found a taste of the Rockies right here in Tennessee. It's a charming place in White House called the Colorado Grill.

- [Joe] Okay. Don't let the name fool you. This place is in Tennessee. White House, to be exact. The only thing not from here is this elk named Glen. Inside, there's kind of a warm western vibe to the place. That's the way Andy and Rosie Rutherford like it.

- you know, down there. Come as you are, pretty much. And just come and have great service and great food. You know, we've always been about... As long as you give great service, people don't mind waiting.

- [Joe] Andy and Rosie practically grew up in the restaurant business.

- That's right.

- [Joe] In fact, that's where they met, destined to be partners in both marriage and food service.

- Got a grilled chicken sandwich with honey mustard. I'm the pretty much a happy-go-lucky one. It's always good to see you.

- work.

- Absolutely. And she's more of the disciplinarian.

- I got your pot pie right now, Ms. April.

- [Andy] She's all about the kitchen, the cleanliness, the recipe adherence, and all that.

- [Rosie] No meat, no cheese.

- [Joe] Andy and Rosie took over the Colorado Grilled Steakhouse in 2013, with the goal of offering delicious food along with exceptional service. The menu options range from steak, of course, to seafood, from pasta dishes to burgers, salads, tacos, and as they say, the list goes on. It's all served up in a friendly, almost family-like atmosphere.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- We don't do reservations because you have no idea when they're gonna leave. It's kind of like a meeting place after church and things of that nature. You may deliver their food and they may be visiting with someone else at another table. So it's almost like that gathering place that everybody kind of comes and meets. And we know it, we understand it. It is what it is.

- [Joe] While steak is part of the dam, the menu's bestseller comes from the sea instead of a ranch.

- Bourbon Street Salmon. We marinated it up to 12 hours before we serve it, but it serves Bourbon Street Salmon and our Cedar Plank Salmon. So our salmon is one big hit that's around the community. He posts it on a Friday and we already got them orders in. And he posts that on the website or on his Facebook page, we're almost running out of salmon come Sundays.

- [Joe] Now, when it comes to burgers, it's pretty much a tossup between beef and bison.

- [Andy] The bison burger sells very well.

- You get a little bit of into it, but no grease. No, it's not dry. It's actually a good flavor.

- [Andy] Our salads are really good for lunch. We have a Colorado salad, which is like a nice salad with fruit, fresh strawberries, things of that nature. And it has a blueberry balsamic goes with it.

- Cool. Thanks, April. The menu here is extensive, everything from seafood to steaks. But for something out of the ordinary, I'm going for the bison burger and a order of fried green beans. Woo-hoo. Those are good. Well, no doubt, the employees here do their jobs and many have risen through the ranks. To Andy and Rosie, well, they're all part of a big happy family. And a big reason the Colorado Grill is such a haven for hospitality here in White House.

- You do it for the strive of watching this family grow and them going off and doing something on their own or staying with you, growing with you. We have managers here that started at 16, are coming in as a single mom, seven years putting in, and now they're managing the restaurant. So it's a pride thing watching them grow up and take over. It's just the joy you see out of it.

- They say, "If you can find a job you love, you'll never work a day in your life." Cindy Carter met an award-winning artist who found his calling. You can tell by how much Michael McBride enjoys creating his breathtaking paintings.

- [Cindy] Step into Nashville visual artist Michael McBride's studio, and you instantly pick up on his vibe. Jazz plays in the background. His artwork is proudly displayed on the walls. And the man just can't seem to talk for too long without... Laughing. A lot.

- Oh, enjoy all of them immensely. I mean, I enjoy art. At the age of eight, I told my parents I was gonna be an artist. And so that feeling that I had at age of eight, I still have it now at the age of 64. It has never left me. I never deviated from that.

- [Cindy] Michael's varied background includes design, illustration, watercolor painting, printmaking, ceramics. He's an art professor, a muralist, oh, and a keen observer of the human condition.

- Most of my work is figurative, you know, people and faces and things, because I find them fascinating. I do people-watch. As an artist, man, you look at everything. People, insects. You just look at everything. Whatever affects you, you'll be surprised at the things, if you are open as an artist, to the nuances around you and your environment.

- Michael says much of his art depicts African Americans because that is his experience. But he doesn't shy away from any subject matter or theme. There are a common threads in Michael's work, perhaps most notably his use of color. Rich and saturated. A reflection of both his aesthetic and his positive outlook.

- "Good trouble." Yes.

- [Cindy] "Good trouble" is the title of perhaps Michael's most notable Nashville mural to date.

- Wow. You know, that's the biggest one I've done.

- [Cindy] He was commissioned to paint civil rights activist and Congressman, John Lewis, appropriately along downtown Nashville's John Lewis Way, and to do so in a way that highlights Lewis's many historic ties to Music City.

- [Michael] It's such an honor because he was a great man. And to be able to do something of that... 'Cause it's big. It's like 54 by 54 feet. So, it's pretty big.

- [Cindy] Michael has created more than 20 murals in Nashville. His first one went up in the 1980s on Church Street. He says he has a lot of gratitude for how far he's come since then, what he's been able to accomplish, and what might happen next.

- [Michael] I'm living my dream of what I want to do.

- [Cindy] A dream that took root in rural Tennessee, just outside of Jackson.

- So I was a PK, a preacher's kid. So my mother would let me these old Bibles, they used to have had these wonderful engravings in them. And my mother would let me take blank paper, typing paper and a pencil, and she know they would keep me quiet in church for two or three hours, you know?

- [Cindy] From those humble beginnings, Michael went on to study art and illustration in college and graduate school, just soaking in everything he learned by studying great artists. Eventually, he was able to develop his own technique and style, which is on full display in his artwork today.

- [Michael] I call it kaleidoscope painting. And when I was in graduate school, that's when it evolved a combination of looking at Picasso's cubit's painting and then merging Aaron Douglas with his geometric designs, which is African-based in that, and merging those two together.

- [Cindy] Michael really enjoys creating series or collections of paintings that carry the same theme but also stand alone in their individuality.

- [Michael] My iconic pieces, I came up with that series. And when you look at iconic pieces, it's not really about any skin color, it's just about color shaping these images, and it becomes very interesting. Dolly Parton doesn't have black eyes, but all of these images have black eyes, and you don't even think about it when you see it.

- [Cindy] He has a series devoted to African American writers and another that depicts 25 of his father's sermons.

- [Michael] Each painting will be the title of the sermon.

- [Cindy] A series both contemporary and deeply personal. But you could argue all of Michael McBride's work is personal. Also, colorful and distinctive, created by an artist who likes his jazz and loves to laugh. Almost as much as he likes to paint.

- I can create any kinda world I want as an artist, on canvas. I can make myself happy no matter what's going on around me. You know? That's the beauty of that.

- Beautiful work. Thanks, Cindy. Well, that brings us to the end of another show. You can watch us anytime on our website at tennesseecrossroads.org or on the PBS app. Until next week, be well and thanks for watching.

- [Presenter] "Tennessee Crossroads" is brought to you in part by...

- [Announcer 1] Students across Tennessee have benefited from over seven and a half billion dollars we've raised for education, providing more than 2 million scholarships and grants. The Tennessee Lottery, game-changing, life-changing fun.

- [Announcer 2] Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways. Discover Tennessee's adventure, cuisine, history, and more made-in-Tennessee experiences showcased among these 16 driving trails. More at TNTrailsAndByways.com.

- [Announcer 3] The co-op system in Tennessee consists of independently owned co-ops, driven to serve farmer owners, rural lifestyle customers, and their communities throughout Tennessee and in five neighboring states. More at ourcoop.com.

- [Announcer 4] Middle Tennessee State University College of Liberal Arts helps students explore the world, engage minds in rich lives, and earn a living. More at mtsu.edu/cla.