See how an exotic fruit farmer rose from the ashes of a natural disaster. Food and Lifestyle Expert, Laura McIntosh joins chef Tony Baker from Montrio Bistro in Monterey. Together they whip up Pancetta Wrapped Lamb Loin served over Artichoke Ratatouille with Marjoram & a Sticky Lamb Glaze. Find out one San Diego grower’s secret to producing sugary, sparkly edible flowers. In the early 1970s, Christmas trees and grape vines were the two crops the El Dorado Department of Agriculture suggested Madrona Vineyards founder Dick Bush consider growing on his newly acquired land in the Sierra foothills. Plus, Master Gardener Kristine Hanson shows you the safest plants for you and your pets.
California Heartland is made possible by the James G Boswell Foundation committed to sharing the stories and successes of California Growers Bank of America Bank of opportunity funding provided in part by the California Farm Bureau Federation proud Publishers of California Country magazine more information is available at californiacountry.org owned by the Almond Board of Cal abrone in California’s Heartland and by Rio California Mill this seal ensures your favorite Dairy brands are made exclusively with real California milk more information at realcaliforniamil.com coming up on California Heartland this fire pretty much destroyed everything on the ranch they lost it all their Farm their home but not their Spirit see how the San Diego farming family’s passion turned disaster into determination plus I never would have thought of eating a rose petal you’ve seen them on wedding cakes but have you ever tasted one visit folks who’ve patented their secrets for creating sugary sweet edible flowers and are your plants making Fido sick Master Gardener Christine Hansen has safe plant suggestions for a pet-friendly Garden next on California Heartland from your backyard to the back country field or on your family table it’s all about what keeps California moving and growing this is the California Heartland this is our Paradise when we bought this property there wasn’t a twig broken it was difficult to fathom how a fire could be so destructive it took weeks to just comprehend the severity of this fire Paradise looks much different to Dan and Adina Lammers these days that’s because normally they would be taking part in harvesting their favorite exotic fruit from their Ranch to sell at local San Diego farmers markets this was one of the fuyu Persimmons here obviously the fire came through here really really quite bad and you can see how the bark has just been basically charred off there were all together in this field we lost I think it’s 12 or 14 persimmon trees now all they can do is wait wait for hundreds of their trees to grow back and replenish after being destroyed by fire we had roughly 550 trees quite a variety of exotic fruits we lost about 135 trees the rest of the trees were damaged to the point of where when we pruned we had to prune them back severely their whole world was shattered in an instant when the Witch Creek Fire tore through their Ramona Community we saw this huge red Dome on the horizon to the Northeast and then reality set in and we realized that hey you know we’re right in the path of this fire foreign the first thing I did is to look for my family they live here in a range and I started calling them and telling them they we have you know 25 minutes to leave Dan says nothing could have prepared them for the severity of the fire or the shock of seeing their Homestead the first time after it was all over this fire really pretty much destroyed everything on the ranch Dan and Adina say they didn’t think twice about immediately starting the rebuilding of their home and Ranch we may be discouraged but you know we will not be defeated and so we came back here because we had still you know 350 or 400 trees that needed our attention I mean they’re like our children you know and you just don’t walk away from your children you’re going to serve the ice cream Tata likes ice cream our first granddaughter was born in San Diego little Ariana was really the light that shined in our lives through all the darkness that we had been through so it was so gratifying to to see this baby and to really distract us from the terrible tragedy that we had encountered for Dan and Edina staying focused on the good things in their life has helped them look forward to the future instead of dwelling on their misfortune and seeing how resilient their trees turned out to be has been an unexpected surprise to the farmers who say they’re not giving up on their crops just yet right now these would be fruit bearing with tons and tons of pineapple guava yeah probably at least 700 pounds of fruit and this year you know as you see we can’t even see maybe very very high up are you surprised at how well it’s come back yeah that’s the amazing thing you know this is an incredible experiment that we’ve never never done before never seen before and uh you know I thought sure that most of these that we were going to be losing them but look at how how green and vigorous the growth is uh and they’ve really come back remarkably well I think if in another year or two get back into that usual productive rhythm we’re really going to need another seat over there for the couch Beyond repairing The Grove they’ve also taken on the daunting task of rebuilding their home from the ground up it has been hard living in this trailer you have a lot of limitations but it’s a beautiful trailer I enjoy being like it in vacation but the vacation is taking too long but by staying on their Homestead and finding the courage to start over it’s clear that Dan and adina’s Paradise will be restored once again after all they’re farmers and no one understands the cycle of life more than they do it was important for for us to come back and start all over again because in here has been always our dreams this is an experience that you know a lot of people just will never experience and I want to be able to experience that until the day I die my name is Lindsay Fulton and welcome to my California Heartland these are my birds we have seven finches three regular doves two diamond doves one cockatiel and four parakeets just listening to them they wake me up in the morning and the um they sing a lot the little ones pick on the big ones sometimes and the funniest thing is the thing is they chase each other around a lot they’re really messy they like to on the bottom of the cage they take the um food and they fling it everywhere the finch is an escape artist I can’t have the door open farther than about this wide or they will get out immediately they’re kind of like babies they need a lot of attention they’re talking they like a lot of attention but they’re really they’re really a joy thank you for coming to my California apartment bye California lamb the perfect California meal it’s a great source of protein and is low in calories it’s also loaded with vitamins and iron California is the second largest land producing state in the nation so why not roast broil or grill it up here with a great lamb recipe is food and lifestyle expert Laura McIntosh bringing it home from the Crocs to your kitchen the man to deliver great recipes is right here with us Tony Baker from Montreal Bistro in Monterey yes a restaurant let’s hear a little bit about Montreal Bistro or downtown Monterey which is only about 20 minutes south of where we are right now all right well we’re going to get the our our dish starts and all it is as a matter of putting putting ingredients in the pan in the right order okay uh so we have garlic I’m gonna put even more olive oil if you want a lot of oil for this recipe all right and am I getting the garlic to a brown consistency not right now because it will with the eggplant you’re going to be cooking that down for a little bit so I’m putting it in there yeah this is an artichoke Ratatouille and all I’m all that means really is I’m gonna put diced artichoke hearts in towards the end and we’re going to add onions bell peppers and at the very last minute we’re going to add our zucchini yellow squash artichokes and these are oven dried tomatoes oh good um we’re gonna get straight to the heart of the matter here excuse the pun yeah okay and I’m gonna take a a serrated knife it’s just a regular bread knife okay and I’m gonna chop the top well you really took it all off okay I’m gonna whip the bottom off now notice I’m not cutting it all the way back because that’s all the heart in there you want to protect the heart so I’m going to cut around the outside leaves taking all the way down to the heart I’m getting there now so you keep going around and around you want to try and shape the knife around okay well you want to get the heart yes so there we go we got that all cleaned up now we’re going to take that green part off the bottom oh the this bottom the bottom part yes I’m going to cut this and cut that all the way around now there’s our heart see it’s beautiful that is gorgeous so I’m going to clean that up with some Citrus there keep it nice and white um I’m adding onion oh you go girl yeah pop it in um we’re gonna pop that into the cooking liquid it has oregano uh red wine vinegar and we’re gonna pop those in there for about 20 to 25 minutes after 20 minutes of course you’re going to end up with cooked meat which is what this is right here which is going to be the ingredients for our rats next up yeah beautiful spring lamb I’ve wrapped it in pancetta which is an Italian cured bacon I’m going to season these up a little bit now there’s there’s a little bit of salt already in the pancetta of course so you have to be careful yeah I gotta be careful don’t over season it okay um but I’m gonna throw some extra black pepper on there I’m I love my pepper I do too I’m adding by the way the zucchini oh you go girl all right so I’m gonna sear those in the pan so we put it into a really hot pan right a little bit of olive oil get it seared browned all the way all the way around and then we’re gonna pop that into our oven and finish it off all right we’re gonna do some merger margins a herb that you don’t hear much of it’s uh it’s beautiful it’s fragrant we’re gonna add this wonderful chopped Marjam to our Ratatouille okay Delica herbs like cilantro and and margarine you want to pop in towards the end I’m gonna pop this straight in the oven okay quick did you see that yep okay I got this in a hot oven I like to cook things well it depends I got about 400 Degrees okay and that’s only going to take gosh maybe 10 minutes because it’s been a hot pan we’ve already seared it all the way off easy yeah very easy okay we wrapped the Lamb with pancetta we’re making the Ratatouille pretty big too bad okay what is this now now we got a sauce here and I cheated I made this at the restaurant it’s made from lamb stock as a base okay and I have in there uh some Sherry vinegar some red wine some herbs some vegetables mirepoix which is carrots onions leek celeries are a good staple yeah and that’s got uh just a tatter cream at the end okay all right let’s go well with this dish all right we’re gonna pop that out of the oven oh yeah look at that lovely oh that looks beautiful okay good all right Laura would you mind popping that marjoram into that Ratatouille for me Perfect all of it so much sure why not okay ah now that is what it’s supposed to look like everybody that’s great okay I’m gonna just cut the ends off just trim the ends off okay and I’m gonna cut three one inch piece pieces for one serving and let’s see oh yeah look at that oh that looks great gorgeous from here we’re doing good Laura you did well you did well awesome okay I’m gonna pop this dead in the center of the plate okay you know what would be a nice touch uh to use a ring a pastry ring but uh you know let’s face it I wouldn’t do that at home at home yeah I might do it at home if I was doing if I was a weekend warrior yeah you know doing this for the weekend okay we’re gonna pop this dead in the center like that just oh delicious yeah I’m gonna drizzle that around the outside like that look at that tasty okay let’s see yeah and you said that you would make these easy enough for us to do at home and I think Tony you have wonderful on this arid Hillside 20 miles east of downtown San Diego John Clemens grows and sells flowers here you’ll find bright orange marigolds rows of strawberry parfait dianthus and colorful stock yet despite their beauty none are destined for bouquets instead the blossoms here feed a different Market I never would have thought of eating a rose petal yeah that’s good this is my favorite it’s good everything Clemens grows is organic and edible a former computer programmer Clemens started growing herbs here with his brother in the early 80s as a way to earn cash soon he became one of the first U.S Farmers to grow edible flowers sold mostly to high-end restaurants today’s sunset Farms remains among the nation’s largest edible flower producers we’ll average about 50 000 flowers a day production for Monday through Friday and then the crops will recover over the weekend and it’s it’s amazing when you started this and you’re out peddling uh edible flowers I mean did people think you were crazy you know that was a tough one I’d say hey I’m growing these are you interested they go nah well you know we like the parsley and the mint that we’re using as a garnish I don’t see that in our restaurant it’s a lot of closed doors today with help from his fiance Diane Richards and her daughter Shanna Johnson Clemens has parlayed the success of sunset Farms into a second Venture called sweet Fields the product crystallized or candied edible flowers which is winning national awards including a gold medal at the Fancy Food Show in New York John came up with the you know the marvelous idea of let’s let’s take it another step forward and let’s crystallize and Candy these flowers and we actually have a patent pending on our processes and then they’ll put them in the tubs and they’ll put them in the cooler the coolers at 40 degrees and it takes all the field heat out of these and so now they’re nice and cold and crispy then Clemens gently immerses the flowers in a bath of water and meringue powder pulls them out and sets them in a lettuce spinner to drain then onto a paper towel that absorbs excess moisture from there each is generously coated with sugar and set either under a heat lamp or on a tray to dry among Clemens edible inventions these glazed and waterproof flowers that float on hot and cold drinks shimmering candied flowers dusted with 24 karat gold and the latest release chocolate dipped flowers all of them made on the farm right here we have a tray of crystallized pansies you can taste one if you’d like I’d love to I’ll try this one right here oh this looks great kind of feels like a potato chip it’s exactly what I compare them to they’re crunchy and yummy and there are rose petals delicate Viola is only a half an inch in diameter and chunky snapdragons all of them Infuse with fruit flavors at Hans and Harry Bakery in nearby Bonita owners Han zendi and Harry eisermann have long adorned elegant wedding cakes with sweet Fields crystallized flowers here all right we’ll do that fueled by an unending supply of flower power Clemens and Richards can’t seem to stop new business ideas from blossoming so what’s next so we have a whole line of jewelry now and the jewelry is actually called blooming jewels and so we make necklaces and earrings and bracelets and just a lot of different things yeah yeah sky’s the limit the roots of California’s farming families grow deep this is the heritage of our Heartland I’m Dick Bush and we my wife and I started Madrona Vineyards back in 1973 here in the Apple Hill area of El Dorado County I’m Leslie Bush I’ve been married to dick for 52 years I’m Paul Bush I’m owner and winemaker of Madrona Vineyards carry on the family winemaking traditions of El Dorado County they call this part of the Sierra Foothills Apple Hill but it’s not apples that keep three generations of the Bush family living here and working the land it’s the Allure of another fruit grapes and the fine wine they’ve been producing for more than 30 years today workers in the vineyard clipped The Last of The Season’s Cabernet Sauvignon grapes it’ll be another three years before these Beauties are ready for drinking like so many years before Paul and his father are in the middle of the Crush it is a ritual the Bush family has mastered since the early 1970s when Dick and Leslie plunked down about fifty thousand dollars for 52 Acres back then it was just a Brushy Hillside with a gorgeous madrone tree towering above the land well it’s a tree that was obviously very large and very old even when we bought the property it became our namesake for a variety of reasons one I just like the sound of Madrona running a winery was not what dick and Leslie expected when they got married 52 years ago they met in college his roommate was her brother my brother brought down a friend and I got a friend and we went for a double date so I was going to San Jose State and he was going to Stanford but Dick’s education had nothing to do with winemaking he worked as an engineer for Ford in Detroit but in 1967 moved the family back to Leslie’s hometown of Placerville in 1972 they found this patch of land they set out to preserve and make productive local Farm advisors gave them a choice the soil could sustain Christmas trees or wine grapes and if you had made a different decision back in 1972 we’d be in the middle of Christmas trees yes but um yes we would be we wouldn’t be having nearly as much fun now either the fun included enlisting an army of family and friends to clear the brush and plant The Vines back then it didn’t really hit that we were just going to start a Vineyard when it really hit is when we started planting The Vineyards and we got paid for each Vine that we planted today Madrona covers about 70 Acres producing two dozen grape varieties there is a tasting room where most of the family wine is sold right now the wine making facility is capable of bottling about 12 000 cases of wine proudly marked by the madron tree still standing strong ready go glad you didn’t cut it out there wasn’t much the business is still quite a family affair it’s been passed down to Paul who is the owner and winemaker we didn’t know for sure whether any of our children would want to carry on with it and you don’t want to force something on anyone and so we were really pleased when Paul came back and then when Maggie has come into the family too Maggie runs the business end of the winery that includes everything from budgets to marketing right Paul and Maggie have two daughters Tessa who’s five and Hannah who’s eight we get to crash and we sometimes get the help pick I hope that they whatever they do it’s just something that they want to do and if it’s the winery that’s great what’s in your heart at the end of the day when you fill up a glass of wine and and think of all you’ve accomplished uh I’m amazed that we are where we are you get to make something that other people can really enjoy your mom and dad enjoyed this for so long everyone’s a farmer when it comes to their own backyard try these tips for doing it homegrown around your yard an impossible cup well it doesn’t have to be we’re going to show you how you can bring these two passions together in a harmonious and safe environment come on guys these are all very common landscape plants euphorbia boxwood hibiscus Daphne’s azaleas great plants in the landscape but not so great for your pets here to talk about the good the not so good and the really bad plants in your Landscaping is Dr Jill Rubin she’s a Sacramento veterinarian and I have raised livestock and they don’t chew on poisonous plants why do our domestic dogs and cats love things that aren’t good for them they want to chew on things because it tastes good it smells good and sometimes they’re just a little bored so what does this plant do once it gets inside our animal well each plant has a different toxic component to it so some of them can cause kidney disease some of them can cause liver disease others can cause vomiting or gastrointestinal issues so you need to make sure you’re aware of which plants in your garden are toxic to your pets how do we deter animals from eating them well there’s several things you can actually purchase fencing or you can plant other plants around the toxic plants that don’t smell good to your pets and then the third thing that I do is I just take a squirt bottle and fill it with water and add some dish soap to it and spray it right on top of the plants it’s not toxic and it keeps other pests away and your pets don’t like soapy water thank you Dr Jill and you know if your pet just won’t stop chewing on a plant that’s poisonous get rid of that plant and plant something that’s a little more pet friendly so if you’re going to be planting new shrubs or flowers in your yard select ones that are good non-toxic for your pets this is a variety we’ve got some snapdragons these are great annuals in the fall and winter the pets love them crepe myrtles are Universal throughout California drought resistant great color and this is a dwarf version but non-toxic as well another pet friendly plant is our gardenia which has those beautiful fragrant flowers and it’s Evergreen there’s another version the dwarf version of that and then we’ve got date palm so there are plenty of good plants to select that look great in the garden and are good for these guys too foreign slugs snails and earwigs can be very toxic to your pests so make sure you look for a product that can be used around pets and Wildlife this particular product that has iron phosphate not only controls slugs and snails but it will also fertilize your plants now I have an even easier way of dealing with little pests that will destroy your plants overnight look at this it has been ravaged by slug snails and earwigs simply take some paper like I’ve done you can use newspaper as well and you’re going to roll it up tight you’re going to put it under the plant so you can place these throughout the garden overnight slug snails earwigs love damp dark places in the morning pick them up put it over a bucket of soapy water and hit them all out they die and you’ve controlled your pests in a pet friendly way now I’m going to get busy and plant a few pet friendly plants and if I’m lucky I’ll get a Little Help from these guys come here poodles come here poodles I don’t think so that’s California Heartland for more information on any of these stories go to californiaheartland.org I’m Chris Flores we’ll see you next time you tired you getting tired huh You’re Gonna serve the ice cream Tata likes ice cream I think I might try one more now this might be my favorite that we’ve tried so far come here photos come to order a copy of this show visit us online or call 1-88-814-3923 the cost is 14.95 plus shipping California Heartland is made possible by the James G Boswell Foundation committed to sharing the stories and successes of California Growers Bank of America Bank of opportunity funding provided in part by the California Farm Bureau Federation proud Publishers of California Country magazine more information is available at californiacountry.org and by the Almond board of California California almonds loved around the world grown in California’s Heartland and by Rio California Mill this seal ensures your favorite Dairy brands are made exclusively with real California milk more information at realcaliforniamil.com