[captioning made possible by California Farm Bureau feddration] coming up on California Country, take a step and sip back in time at a unique ranch. The overall theme is, wow, its pretty spectacular. Then, farming in the city . Sound impossible . Not for these folks. This is my land, but its everybodys land. Next, meet a farmer and a chef who make the perfect pairterally. I think pears are great because theyrei like the versatility. Then, ever wonder how to pick the best summertime produce . Weve got the tricks of the trade from a pro. Its all ahead, and it starts now. [moo] here in the tiny town of Santa Margarita, they have a population of only 1,300. But what they lack in size, they more than make up for in history. Thats thanks to its legendary occupant, the Santa Margarita ranch, one of the oldest, continuously operated cattle ranches in california, and one that draws oohs and ahs from both its visitors and owners. The overall tme is, wow, its pretty spectacular. Most people that look at it, just go, ooh, blows you asay. This was the most idyllic place in the county. And i really do believe, today, it is truly one of the crown jewels of San Luis Obispo county. I dont know that ive ever been able to explain how i fell in love with the margarita. All three owners are local boys who knew about and had olized the ranch growing up, and leapt at the chance to purchase it in 1999, and keep it true to its rich agricultural roots. You see, the ranch was first established way back in the late 1770s, and was part of father serras famed mission trail. Back then, it was actually the ranch and farm to local missions in the area. Later the land bame known as the queen of the cattle rancheros for its elaborate parties, fiestas and gettogethers. You know, it has so many aspects of it that are unique. Its certainly a beautiful working landscape for those that pass by. But as they become more involved d knowledgeable in it. It has a unique history, from the spanish era, the native american era, and certainly more recently, the western and rancho period. It continues to be alive and well here. Today, the new generation of owners is continuing the cattle venture. Doug, carl, and carls daughter amanda, along with their crew of workers, oversee the cattle operation where much of their be goes to harris ranch to be sold at restaurants and stores up and down the state. To supplement their income on the ranch, they also have begun giving tours on the ranch to introduce their urban neighbors to the rural life that surrounds them. You might say theyre going back to their rcots and reinventing the past to introduce a special way of life to new visitors. You know, it means a lot. I think that people can really connect with the sense of place, the sense of family, and then really back roots agriculture. And people love it. But its all in an effort to make people associate with this place, and create an experience from the land. And thats kind of funny in todays society, cause people come here and theyre totally blown away. They say, oh, these cows, they just Wander Around . And i said, yeah. Well, dont they have a barn . And i said, no, they dont have a barn, thats the way they live. In addition to the cattle, the trio of presentday owners planted grapes across almost 900 acres on the ranch. The margarita vineyard is unique as they come, as it stretches across several different mini microclimates on the ranch, and is grown on a rich soil full of fossils. Its just riddled with calcium. This is 94 calcium. And the calcium uptake into the vines just imparts special flavors to the grapes, which translates into structure and flors in the wines. Some of the grapes are sold to california wineries, but many end up here at the ancient peaks winery in downtown Santa Margarita, that is alpo owned by the trio of families. So if theyre not out wrangling on the ranch. If we just bring them down the fence line, theyll go righttheyll go rightyeah. Then theyre more than likely mingling at the tasting room with friends and family. There you are, cheers. A lot of people go on the tours that we have. And so when they come here, theyre like, we didnt know this place was so special and there was so much history and youve got all these oyster shells and the petrified sea bags, and so everyone is just really happy when they come in, and the wines are fabulous. Thank you all so much for coming tonight. We appreciate you being here. Cheers to all of you, and heres to good times and good friends. [cheers and applause] and harkening back to their historical roots, the family still enjoys having gettogethers at the ranch or at the winery to share a glass of wine or maybe a history lesson, too. In fact, theyve adopted a saying around these parts the land lives on through each calf raised and each grape harvested here. Its been that way for centuries, and they hope to continue it for centuries to come, as well. The part that i enjoy is sharing it with people, and i think through the wine and the cattle, you know, i want people, when they eat one of their steaks, t think about this place. And when they drink a bottle of wine, i want them to think of this place. Brought to you by allied insurance, a member of the nationwide family of companies, which also includes nationwide insurance. On your side. Welcome back to California Country. [jazz music playing] [indistinct chatter] dwe loolike we know what were doing . San francisco is a worldrenowned hotspot for great restaurants, food and chefs. But now the city is gaining notoriety for Something Else its Community Garden like alemany farm, where hundreds of people get involved in growing things. But since this 4 1 2 acre farm is by interstate 280, even longtime residents unknowingly drive right past this farm by the freeway. You know, ive driven by this r ad hundreds of times. Ive never even seen this farm or heard of this farm. But its beautiful here. The alemany farm is located basically right in the middle of San Francisco. Its on the Southern Side of the city right next to the 280. Were lucky in that the space is so large that we have a big buffer zone between the freeway and where we grow. This space was basically an illegal dump. And people from all over the city would drive down alemany boulevard, pull off, and dump their refrigerators, whatever it was they didnt want. And so people in the alemany Housing Community decided they didnt want a dump in their neighborhood. Youll find a festive atmosphere on this communityorganized farm. Run largely by volunteers, theres a variety f crops, like collard greens, rainbow shards, strawberries, even artichokes all of this growing right next to a publc housing project. Residents who volunteer get to pick and keep their own food. Let me show you how to pick em. Look how beautiful it is. You want to put it inside . Yeah. Good job. Kids play an Important Role on this farm. 9yearold christian and his 10yearold buddy dejean were showing me the organic cabbages and greens they planted. These are calledi forgot what theyre called. Collard greens. Yeah. [both giggling and we have lettuce growing right here. This ones almost done. Its like something you could co up here and do instead of being bored out there. Erin williams has been involved in alemany farm for about 2 yes. This is your land this is my land. But its everybody s land. And i just love the fact that we can have honey and beehives that we extract from. [indistinct] oh, my gosh theyre right behind us. Theyre right behind us. What is this were looking at . So, these are boxes of the honey that we keep. And they actually have a layer of, kind of like like a tray . Like a tray that collects the honey on top of the tray. Growing and looking after so many crops takes an army of volunteers. And many of them have had little or no farming experience. But they often see once they get their hands in the soil, well, theyre hooked. If you cant bring the people to the land, well, you gotta bring the land to the people. And thats what were doing here. Weve got this beautiful property. And were taking advantage of it. Jason marks, who graduated from a Farming Program at u. C. Santa cruz, has been one of the farm managers for several years. He says this project symbolizes urban farming in america. And its a great way for peopleregardless of their income to grow organic, healthy food. This is urban farming. Yeah, this is how we do it. And again, you know, were growing about 3 tons of foodabout 6,000 pounds of fooda year, which could sustain several dozen families. And again its not like were producingwere proud of the amount of food that we produce. But mostly its about showing people how much they can grow in their own backyard. And i noticed one of mplantp had mold this morning. We transplanted it just in time. Its a lot of work. And they way that were able to do it is because weve got so many volunteers like you saw just planting the trees. This is really popular. Every weekend weve got literally dozens of people who come out here and volunteer. And so, thats how we run this garden is through volunteer labor. Yeah. Yeah. I like this farm so much sie all these fruits and vegetables growing here. You know, theres a Victory Gardens history in San Francisco when people were growing i heard up to 40 of the citys food was grown within the city limits. And i feel like thats totally realistic. Were starting trails of new agriculture, of new things. We have peach trees. My motherinlaalways says she wants green beans and things like that. Im like, dont go to the store ill bring you some. You know, its right in the garden. She loves the organic beans as opposed to her beans. So, you know, everybodys just getting healthy around here. We need this in our commuty. If you know what nature is, you can survive through nature. The u. S. Department of agriculture says there are thousands of community farms and gardens throughout the country. Being a small Little Market garden, its not as if were growing a ton of food. But we are showing people in urban places like San Francisco how they can be their own food producers. This was just like perbect for me. So, it was just a garden. We can grow it ourselves. And we can eat it. And its fresh. Its organic. So, absolutely, this really has been, you know, its been wonderful. In San Francisco, Charlotte Fadipe for California Country tv. This segment is brought to you by the California Farm Bureau federation. Literally farm to table. Literally its like from the garden. Its from the dirt. I mean, they come straight from that place. The connection, when you make that connection with the farmer, with the growers, it makes for a different feeling when youre cooking. For me now, things taste different. Welcome back to California Country. The show that takes you on an allexpense paid trip to experience the best kept secrets of the golden state. Sacramento is known for many thingsa rich culinary scene, unique scenery, and a wealth of history. But just a stones throw away from californias capitol city, you will find all of those adjectives describe another Central Valley city the agricultural oasis known as courtland. Here along the delta, farming once thrived as 49ers came searching for riches during the gold rush. And now its up to people like tim neuharth to keep that history ale by farming the land that has given him and his family so much. So the familys been here since 1848 here on the delta. Came out here for the gold rush and found gold elsewhere. Found out that there was a market for fruit to feed everybody, and grain and all of that. Cherries were a big thing here at one time, asparagus was a big thing here at one time. But now its involved. Pears are still a major pear growing region here in the delta. Tim, along with his wife and 2 sons and 81yearold mother all care for the most recognizable crop along the delta these dayspears. He has around 50 acres of them, growing mainly bartletts and whats being harvested today, golden russet boscs. Both of whh thrive in this rich agricultural land. Its the soil. This is the delta. The deltas got tremendously healthy and good, deep soil. The sacramento deltas pear district actually can boast to being the worlds most extensive plantings of pears, most of which have gone to the canning industry in years past, but at tims farm, his go to the fresh market, juice industry and to baby food. But always striving to do more, tim is hoping to turn this once rich farming area into an educaional oasis for visitors of all ages. Were slowly transitioning to agritourism to get people to come out and enjoy the farm, see what goes on in agriculture. Ageducation is a big thing on farms these days to let people know where their food comes from and how it gets to their table so they can enjoy it. Also enjoying the food that makes the delta famous is one of the sacramento areas most respected chefs patrick mulvaney. His restaurant mulvaneys business and loan has become a popular hangout for folks hoping to take advantage of mulvaneys culinary consciousness. The more seasonal and local, the better. Our restaurant is a little different than most other restaurants because our menu changes every day. And for me, instead of, yes, it is a challenge, but rather than thinking of it as its a challenge in a good sense, because its what i wake up every day to do. I wake up to say, whats new today, and what are we going to use . Whats coming in the front door, and how are we going to make people in the dining room happy with it . Originally from the east coast, patrick says its fun to work on the west coast where every month brings about more produce to experiment with, including his personal favorite, locally grown pears. On any given night, you might find them caramelized with onions over pork, or in a scrumptious dessert with this pear gette. I think pears are great because theyrei like the versatility. You can have them when theyre fresh and crunchy. And fresh and crunchy and just off of the tree, we can cook them down, we make pear butter, we make ice cream, we make sorbet. So its soft. We use it under the pork that you saw today so that it melds well, it melds well into the pork dish. So it can be a star, it can be an accompaniment. Its just the whole variety of uses. And while pears may have a sweet history in this area, the people of courtland will tell you its the future thats ripe for success. A pear is a unique fruit. Theres nothing really like it, and i dont think theyll ever go away. In ancient times, they were called the fruit of the gods. And it really is a great, great piece of fruit. If youll let it ripen prerly and you have the ideal riping process going on, its great, and theyll never go away. Theyll always be here. There will be some pears here for a long, long time. [man vocalizing] welcome back to California Country. Today on food 101, were going to be talking about how to pick the best produce, and theres nobody better to tell us about that than my friend Greg Corrigan of raleys, vicepresident of produce and floral here. So first of all, tomatoes. How do you pk the best tomato . Well, tomatoes here, one of our best sellers is the tomato on the vine, as youre seeing right here. So theyre grown actually indoors, so most of the time, all you gotta look for is make sure theres no blemishes, no cuts, no scars. But generally theyre consistent, good tomatoes. Ok. And one thing thats commonly misunderstood is people tend to put tomatoes in the refrigerator. Yeah, i do that. Thats not good . You dont want to do that. And actually, anything below 55 degrees causds them to break down. They get mealy. They actually lose their flavor. Ohh. So you dont want to do that. And you want to keep them out on your counter. You notice this, as its growing, the riper ones are towards the top where the plant grows. Right. So those are the 2 tomatoes you want to use first. Ok. So as you work through the week, youll pick those 2 top ones first, and then let those 3 bottom ones continue to ripen on the counter at room temperature. So, greg, we have some more tomatoes over here. What should we be loing with these guys . Well, these are the hothouse beefsteak tomatoes, and what you want to look for is just, again, no cracking, no blemishing, no wrinkling. Tend to be wrinkling will tend to show some of the decay or aging of the tomato. But, yeah, and even on the smaller tomatoes, these tend to be a little higher in sugar content. So these also, you want to make sure theres nothing breaking down, no mold in the pack. There should be a nice, firm, red skin to em. Yeah, these look great. So i would pick these, then . Definitely, thats ready to go. Ok, lets go ok, so now were onto the melon area. What should we look for in a good cantaloupe . Well, cantaloupe, again, a lot of its based on the skin. You dont want to see any blistering or any wrinkling. You want to see a nice, consistent, round, firm flush to it. Nice and heavy dense piece of fruit. Ok. As you notice in here, i think you were gonna yeah is this bad . I look at that and go, oooh. Its actually not. Acally all that is is from where it sat on the ground. It didnt color up just cause it was not exposed to light in the field. Oh, ok. So its still good. So its still good, good piece of fruit. Ok. But again, you want to make sure theres not any cracks or breaking down or rubbing of the skin. That will be an indication that its starting to break down anbe out of its prime. And it should smdll like a melon. You actually can. Once these get a little bit, if theyre not too cold, a little bit room temperature, you can actually smell some of the cantaloupe fragrance it gives off. So youve got a nice, strong fragrance, nice, strong cantaloupe fragrance, thats going to be a good cantaloupe. Ok, thats good. Now what about they honeydew . What are we looking for . I notice a difference in color here. You can kind of see a litte bit of difference in ripeness. These arent quite as ripe as the deeper, darker one. Youll see this deeper yellowing. Youll actually get a tackiness to feel to it, whereas these will be a little bit smoother as they start to ripen and get a deeper color, youll just get that tackiness to it. Itll be a little more sticky, and those are the ones you want to go for. Now this one, i always have trouble picking the best corn. What should i be looking for on this one . Well, you just want to find one thats got nice green coloring to it, where the silks arent real moldy or beaten up. Ok. Ideally, you want to just rip that thing open, though, and check, make sure you got full maturity all the way through to the cor that its not immature and underdeveloped. But corn, one thifg about corn, once its harvested, it instantly is turning fr sugar to starch. So you want to get it in the fridge right away at home. You dont want to store corn too long at home, you want to eat it right away. cause what happens . Itll definitely get starchy. And we dont want starch in corn. Now whats with the silk . What is that, tell me about that a little bit. Heres a little trivia for you. Fun fact, fun fact, i love fun facts. Did you know, for every single one of those kernels, theres a silk asqociated to it . So thats what those are. From when the pollination occurs, every single one of those kernels has a silk tied to it. Have you counted . Do you know for sure . Not in all of our spare time, no [both laugh] so this is my personal favorite, strawberries. I love strawberries. But how do i pick a good basket of strawberries . Well, you definitely want to look for one that doesnt have any mold. You want to always turn them over. Ok, good, i do that, thats good. Shake them around a little bit. Make sure you dont see any that are getting fuzzy, cause sometimes that happens. You get one strawberry thats bad. Itll kinda infest the whole package. But you want a nice, shiny, firm, no mold. Ok, good, good, good. One thing that a lot of people will dg is take these home and wash em up right away. But really, if youre not going to use them that very first day, youll want to put them in the refrigerator just like this in the container, and then take em out and wash em as you need em. Oh, really . Because that water, that moisture can tend to cause a little bit of mold to start growing on them. So you definitely dont want that. So wash em as you need em. So how long would you store these in the fridge, would you say . You know, some people stretch it 3, 4, 5, 6 days, but you definitely dont want to stretch it beyond 6 or 7 days. Too much longer than that, right . Thats going to push the limits of it. Ok, good, good, good. And when in doubt, if you have any questions, ask your local produce man, right . The produce manager thats on duty, theyre the experts in the field. They know whats going on. They know whats coming in local and good right then and there. Always want to ask them whats going on. Good. You guys know. Ok, thanks. That concludes todays tour of the best of California Country. Join us next time for more undiscovered treasures from the most fascinating state in the country. [captioning made possible by California Farm Bureau federation] [captioned by the National Captioning Institute www. Ncicap. Org] annenberg media by narrator welcome to destinos an introduction to spanish. In this episode, raquel begins her search for angel the son of rosario and fernando. Remember to let the actions and the situations guide your understanding. Se llama angel castillo. El que puede saber es jose