Coming up on America's Heartland... meet a couple who took a gamble when they exchanged their urban lifestyle and became saffron farmers.
See why they say they're grateful they followed their dreams.
[Melinda Price] We want to just go try and... and don't be afraid of that.
Discover how tomatoes are grown and processed to make ketchup and other products at a farm in California's Central Valley, one that's a leader in sustainable agriculture.
[Stuart Woolf] And I can't think of a... a better thing to do than to pass on this legacy of land on to the next generation and in better shape than it was received.
Farm to Fork host Sharon Profis prepares a beef stew, a filling meal with beans, carrots and flavorful spices.
Plus, journey to Alabama, where timber is grown, harvested and processed at a high tech, high speed lumber mill.
[Justin Gary] You really don't think of making a two by four as being something like this.
And meet a farm family in Arkansas that sells a variety of soybean seeds that can resist disease and withstand different climates and soil conditions.
It's all next on America's Heartland!
America's Heartland is made possible by... ♪♪ ♪ You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man ♪ ♪ in America's heartland, living close to the land.
♪ ♪ There's a love for the country and a pride in the brand ♪ ♪ in America's heartland, living close... ♪ ♪ close to the land.
♪ ♪♪ Welcome to Lake County, just north of California's wine country.
It's where you'll find Clear Lake and the tiny town of Kelseyville.
In this quaint county, you'll find barns and businesses displaying antique quilt patterns, showcasing Lake County landmarks.
[Melinda Price] There's a quilt, um, square on the barn that was here when we moved in.
It's part of the Lake County, uh, Quilt Trail that women started about 15 years ago.
And that pattern is "Peace and Plenty" pattern.
It's an Amish pattern.
So, obviously, perfect name, because that's what we want, peace and plenty.
And we had searched for a name, and so it just was right there for us.
Melinda Price and Simon Avery are the owners of Peace and Plenty Farm.
They met in 2016.
Melinda worked in Tech in San Francisco and is a former international model.
Simon is a wildlife biologist, who appeared on Animal Planet's hit conservation series Whale Wars.
The couple fell in love and in less than a year, with no farming experience, went all-in, buying an old ranch and breaking ground on their new farm.
[Simon Avery] After we'd managed to purchase the property, we didn't have the money to buy a shovel.
[Melinda] Yeah, we couldn't buy a garden hose.
[Simon] We couldn't buy a hose.
[Melinda] We had one hose that we dragged all over the seven acres when we needed to water something.
And when we purchased the farm, we had help from friends.
So, we... we had no capital, but we still did it.
Their hard work paid off fast.
These days, Peace and Plenty Farm is famous for producing one of the most legendary spices in the world, saffron.
Step inside their roadside local farm stand and you'll see national headlines- from the Wall Street Journal to even Martha Stewart magazine- featuring Melinda and Simon's success with the savory spice.
Peace and Plenty is the largest grower and producer of grade one, top quality saffron in North America.
[Rob Stewart] You and Simon have been harvesting for about a half hour, and look here.
This is so beautiful.
[Melinda] Yeah, the bees like it, too.
[Rob] Filled with bees.
And inside, this is what it's all about.
Saffron.
[Melinda] Mmhmm.
[Rob] Walk me through what we see here.
These are the flowers.
[Melinda] This is the flower.
And what we're taking is the top of the pistol, which is the stigma.
So, it's these red threads, and each flower makes three threads.
I've just taken the red part, the very top of this- of the pistol, and... and what we do when we separate is we're leaving that behind and just taking this.
There is never a break during harvest.
The fields must be stripped bare of every flower every day.
On peak days, Melinda and Simon, with the help of friends and neighbors, will pick and process up to 50,000 flowers.
By comparison, it takes 75,000 flowers to make one pound of saffron spice.
The spice is dried, then packed and prepped for sale.
Within 24 hours, the saffron field is once again covered with fresh flowers.
This process is tedious and time consuming, but saffron is worth its weight in gold- about $5,000 a pound.
- Wow, look at these.
Customers from across the San Francisco Bay Area take day trips to the farm stand, open every day of the year.
Alongside fresh-picked vegetables grown just feet away in the gardens, you'll find everything from saffron-infused lemonade, local honey, tea, pickles, beans, even saffron shortbread- all made right here on the farm by Melinda.
Saffron is sold by the ounce here and online, and shipped nationwide.
Melinda and Simon built everything you see on these seven acres, except for the old farmhouse, water tower and barn.
They have never missed a day on the farm and have never taken a vacation.
They say they wouldn't have it any other way.
This land has filled their lives with peace and plenty.
[Laughter] [Melinda] No matter where you are in your life, there's always the chance for new.
People said, "Oh, you're in your fifties.
It's too late to do this.
This is a big undertaking."
In fact, some of Simon's closest friends did say that, like, "Don't do it.
This is a mistake.
You need to keep your job and be secure and safe."
And we were like, "No, we want to just go try," and... and don't be afraid of that.
Don't be afraid of trying.
[Simon] Don't be afraid to jump in.
If it's...
If it's a dream and you really feel like you want to go for it, go for it.
You know?
[Melinda] Yeah.
[Laughter] Saffron has long been a prized spice, with its discovery dating back to ancient Greece.
Cleopatra took saffron-infused baths, and Alexander the Great used it to help heal battle wounds.
It's been used for everything from clothing dye to cosmetics, as a spice for food and for medicinal purposes.
Today, it's primarily grown in Europe and Asia, with Iran producing about 85% of the world's saffron.
It's a popular spice in dishes like paella, rice, kebabs, stews and teas.
♪♪ [Stuart Woolf] The thing I love about farming- and I would tell this to anybody that's even thinking about it.
There's a couple of things.
One, I think there's perpetual demand for the products that we produce.
People are going to eat and the... the world continues to grow.
And it's almost like every year, you start over again.
It's like a new football season or basketball season, where you finish one crop year, you start preparing for the next.
The weather changes and spring comes, and game on again.
Stuart Woolf is a second generation farmer in California's fertile Central Valley.
He runs Woolf Farming Company, which was founded by Stuart's father in 1974.
[Stuart] We focus on, kind of, specialty crops in California.
So, those would be almonds, pistachios, wine grapes, processing tomatoes.
On this early morning, a variety of the Roma tomato is being harvested.
These tomatoes are used specifically for processed products, like ketchup and pizza sauces.
Not only does Woolf Farming grow the tomatoes, they also convert the crop into a paste at their tomato processing plant.
[Stuart] We thought, "Why don't we just build a facility in the middle of the most productive tomato growing region in the world?"
And so, we built the plant right in the middle of our operation.
So, we enjoy a very short haul, which takes costs out of the system.
And, you know, we have a lot of control over the crop going into the plant, and the production of tomato paste.
The paste is distributed globally to companies, including the well-known Heinz brand.
[Daniel Hartwig] California, uh, makes up about 90% of the tomato production in the United States.
Uh, and that's about all- The United States is about half of the world production as well.
So, uh, California's a pretty... pretty darn big producer here for, uh, for the tomato market.
[Stuart] Most commercially grown specialty crops around the globe are all on the same latitudes, and those latitudes really are about from Bakersfield to a little bit north of Sacramento.
And if you follow those latitudes all around the globe, that's where you find all of these specialty crops.
We have a great location in California.
We have this entrapped air base, and it's like a giant greenhouse in exactly the right latitudes.
Despite its nearly ideal growing climate, California's growers still face their share of challenges.
[Stuart] My primary mission is to figure out how do I optimize the lands that I can't irrigate because we simply don't have enough water.
One solution they've come up with- installing solar panels on the land.
[Stuart] We've started looking at solar, uh, as kind of an alter... alternate crop.
Uh, we don't have enough water to farm all of our land, so we're taking some of our property, we're leasing it out to solar developers so we can generate income.
We're just looking at solar as, uh, it's a renewable energy source.
So, it's just part of our mix.
Also added to the mix are cover crops, grown specifically to protect and improve the soil.
Another method being used for soil improvement- grazing goats and sheep.
[Daniel] They're eating that cover crop down, and then their waste product is going back into the soil.
And that- what that does is produce nitrogen, uh, that's going to be used by next year's crop as well.
So, really, we're... we're taking it, we're... we're feeding the goats and then, we're helping, you know, benefit our next year's crops as well, both by the cover crops and the animal agriculture.
[Stuart] The more of that biomass you put in, the... the... the healthier your soil is going to be.
You know, you... you want to develop kind of a... a, uh, living, breathing soil full of microorganisms, with the end result that our soils, uh, should be more productive, not require as much water.
Woolf Farming is known as a leader in sustainable agriculture in the Central Valley, a point of pride to Stuart Woolf and, he hopes, a way to ensure the future success of his farm.
[Stuart] Sustainability and regenerative ag practices, it's important to me and I can't think of a- kind of a better thing to do than to pass on this legacy of land on to the next generation, and in better shape than it was received.
And I think we can do it through, uh, changing our farming practices and improving the health of the soil ♪♪ Americans eat lots of tomatoes- on average, about 24 pounds a year, much of that in tomato sauce and ketchup.
Tomatoes are low in calories and high in antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals.
Botanically a fruit, most people consider tomatoes a vegetable, which is perhaps why Arkansas has chosen tomatoes as both the state fruit and state vegetable.
Still ahead on America's Heartland, tour a new lumber mill in Alabama, where timber is a fast-growing industry.
See why experts say the land here is ideal for growing, harvesting, and replanting trees.
Then, travel to Arkansas to meet a farmer who develops soybean seed varieties that are used by growers around the world.
But first, Farm to Fork host Sharon Profis demonstrates how to prepare a hearty beef and white bean stew.
♪♪ [Sharon Profis] Today, we're making a white bean and beef stew.
It's a stew I make again and again really any time of year, not just in the winter.
And I'm really excited to share it with you.
So, what we'll need to start off with is about one to one and a half pounds of chuck roast.
I have a really beautiful piece right here, and what I want to do is get this into about three quarter of an inch cubes.
We don't want them to be too big, otherwise it... it just becomes hard to eat.
Now, it's time to sear our beef, so I'll turn my stovetop on to medium high heat here, add a little olive oil.
I also want to take the time to season the beef really, really well.
You want to season every step of the way and- locking in a lot of flavor into that meat.
What's important is that you don't want to crowd the pan.
So, make sure that there's plenty of space around each piece of beef, so that it gets nice and browned.
Once one side is brown, flip it over, transfer it to a plate and do your other batch.
Now that our beef is seared, let's go ahead and start adding the rest of our stew ingredients.
So, I'll put the onions in the pan right in whatever residual beef fat there is.
The onion will start to pick up some brown bits on the bottom of the pan from searing that beef.
All right.
While those are cooking, I have a few more things I want to add to this stew.
We have three carrots and four cloves of garlic that we'll get in here.
This is a good time to check our seasoning, add a little salt and of course, some pepper.
This is the base of our recipe.
Now, let's add some big, bold flavors.
Here I have paprika, cumin, coriander and turmeric.
And I'll add them right to the pan at this point.
So, really, the spices don't need that much time.
We don't want to burn them.
And we also, at this stage, will add about a third of a cup of tomato paste.
And just like with the spices, I want to get the tomato paste coated all over these vegetables.
Once the tomato paste really starts sticking to the bottom of the pan, you'll add one cup of a dry white wine right into the pan here.
Now, what we'll do is scrape all of those brown bits that accumulated at the bottom of the pan and let the wine reduce by about three quarters.
We actually- We don't want a wine flavor in the stew.
You can absolutely use red wine but I also think that since we're using white beans in this dish, the white wine pairs really nicely with that, too.
I'm going to add about a tablespoon of Dijon mustard.
And then, here is my secret ingredient to any stew that I make.
It is anchovy paste.
What the anchovy paste will do is add a really deep, robust flavor to the dish.
It has an umami flavor, and it won't taste like seafood.
It won't taste like anchovy.
And before we add the beef back in, we'll add one quart of chicken stock.
You can also use beef stock here, of course.
And now, we'll add our beef back in.
Now, I'll bring the stew to a simmer, cover it, cook it for an hour, check to see if the beef is falling apart.
If not, I'll let it cook for another 20 or 30 minutes until it reaches that point.
And then, we're ready to serve.
It's been about an hour and a half, and I've checked on our beef stew.
The beef is definitely fall-apart tender, which means that it is a great time to add our white beans.
I like cannollinis because they are soft, but they do still tend to hold their shape.
After the beans have simmered for about 15 minutes, this dish is ready to be served.
I have a plate of fusilli pasta here, but any starch is a great base for this dish, anything that'll soak up all of those wonderful, tomatoey juices.
So, let's get some of this stew on here.
♪♪ And then, we'll just finish it off with some fresh parsley.
Beautiful white bean and beef stew.
And now, all that's left to do is eat!
♪♪ ♪♪ When you think of the logging and timber industry, people often think of the misty gray Pacific Northwest.
But in recent years, southern states like Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia have become some of America's leading timber producers.
[Brian Luoma] And the reason for that is because of the massive growth of the timber that's been here.
When... when we went through the downturn, lumber production was really low during the recession.
This timber just kept growing and growing.
Much of that timberland surrounds the rural town of Thomasville, Alabama.
Here, in the heart of timber country, people have long been making a living from the nearby forest.
[Sheldon Day] The timber industry has been the backbone of our community for many, many years.
We've got five pulp and paper mills within a 42 mile radius of Thomasville, everything from Northern tissue and Brawny paper towels to cardboard boxes and you name it, not to mention numerous lumber mills and other facilities, such as Westervelt.
The Westervelt Company began in 1884 and is still in family hands.
Westervelt owns large swaths of timberland and two lumber mills in Alabama, including this newly opened mill in Thomasville that's about as high tech as it gets.
[Brian] I think a lot of people have a vision of the lumber industry or a sawmill as being this sort of dark and dreary, sort of arcane, archaic process.
And what they probably don't realize is it's... it's really not that anymore.
It's... it's high tech, it's high efficiency.
[Justin Gary] You know, you really don't think of making a two by four as being something like this, um, as fast as it runs.
Well, we're moving stuff to the thousands at very high speeds.
High speeds mean high capacity.
More than 150 trucks arrive at the Thomasville Mill every day, where they're unloaded in just a single bite by a massive crane.
Once the logs are unloaded, the bark is removed.
Then, they're scanned, cut, trimmed, dried and processed.
It takes about two weeks for a log to be made into the kind of board you might buy at your local home improvement store.
[India Dixon] Main thing that I do here at Westervelt, as shipping supervisor, is making sure that our products get to the customer, we're sending out a quality product.
Driver's coming around for two by six number two, ten foot.
Do you want him between the sheds?
- Yeah.
[India] I was born and raised here in Thomasville, Alabama, so I've lived here, um, off-and-on for 50 years.
Thomasville has always been a small town, more like a family than a town.
So, Westervelt coming here has brought, um, people from surrounding areas here to work.
Bringing people here to work is one of the bigger goals of the mill.
It opened in 2021 after about a year and a half of construction.
150 people work here, but the real number may be higher.
[Justin] With timber industries specifically, uh, there's a three-to-one or more equivalent to indirect jobs that come with those 150 jobs, because somebody's got to harvest the timber, somebody's got to, uh, service the equipment that harvests the timber, then it's processed.
And then, when it's processed, you have another trucking site that trucks it out or rail, et cetera.
So, you have additional jobs that come with any one timber industry.
Westervelt leaders say the new mill is part of a larger cycle that both starts and ends with the planting of a tree.
[Brian] And that's what the beauty of the... the way forestry works in the South is that this- the... the soils here and the land here is really suited for growing trees and... growing trees and harvesting trees, and then growing them again.
♪♪ ♪♪ [Brad Doyle] Wow, I think there's 8,000 products.
It's a "miracle bean," what we call it here in the state.
Little wonder they're called the "miracle bean," and not just here in Arkansas.
With soybeans being used for food, feed, fuel and so much else, it's not surprising they're in such demand from consumers around the world.
[Brad] Within our own breeding program, I would say no less than a thousand different varieties that we're testing today.
Brad Doyle and his family know and grow soybeans.
Here at Eagle Seeds in Weiner, Arkansas, he and his wife and son study, develop and sell seed varieties on their 2200 acre farm.
Soybeans for farmers in different states, climates and soil conditions, so they can grow crops that resist disease, provide maximum yield and even have different flavor characteristics.
[Brad] Here we have uncleaned soybeans straight from the field.
This is a GMO variety, where we use technology built into the seed to reduce our overall herbicide use.
The Natt soybean for the Japanese market.
This would be higher in sugar, smaller in size.
Here we have a black seeded soybean, it's popular in, uh, countries such as Thailand.
One key goal of this research is sustainability, long a priority and a practice at this century-old family farm, and aided by the use of cover crops and no-till farming, choices that often result in fewer inputs like herbicides or fertilizer.
[Brad] Sustainability, for our farm, is the economic sustainability from one generation to the next, improving the land from, uh, the way we received it.
On this farm, the soil's health is enhanced even more by the use of locally sourced fertilizer.
[Brad] We have a huge poultry industry in the state of Arkansas, so we have access to... to the litter that those chickens, uh, leave behind.
Soil health and soil health building doesn't happen overnight.
It... it... it takes many years to build.
And if we can use a cover crop to reduce our... our fertilizer inputs by a third, I mean, that's huge savings.
Beyond soil health, sustainability ties closely to protecting the environment, including providing a welcoming habitat for native plants and animals.
All the rainfall on the farm is captured to fill this hundred-acre reservoir built by the family in the 1980s.
[Brad] We have waterfowl that use the reservoir in the off season.
We have fish living in the... in the reservoir.
There's no telling how much water this reservoir has saved us, groundwater use, over... over the years.
What I grow here on our family farm will provide nutrition for someone here in my home state or someone in... in a foreign country.
And I'm very, very proud of that fact, that we help feed the world with U.S. soybeans.
That's it for this edition of America's Heartland.
For more stories, full episodes and recipes, visit americasheartland.org or connect with us on Facebook.
♪ You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man ♪ ♪ in America's heartland, living close to the land.
♪ ♪ There's a love for the country and a pride in the brand ♪ ♪ in America's heartland, living close... ♪ ♪ close to the land.
♪ America's Heartland is made possible by... ♪♪