Last October, the crew from the PBS show America’s Heartland came out to our farm to capture what it is like to grow and harvest chiles in Mendocino County. We’ve been patiently waiting to see the footage and you can now catch us on Episode 5 of Season 17 of America’s Heartland! It is currently available to watch on the America’s Heartland website and will soon be on YouTube and live on PBS.
PBS member station KVIE in Sacramento produces the series and is running our episode on Monday August 7th at 7pm. If you are in CA you can watch it live on TV, via PBS.org, or with the PBS app on your tv on the 7th! After the show rolls out in CA, it will slowly be available on other PBS networks across the country. Check your local listings to see when it airs in your city or head to the America’s Heartland site to watch it today!
The America's Heartland Series gives an inside look into how different food, fibers, and fuel are produced by farmers across the country. We’ve never been on a tv show before and we were all incredibly nervous about being filmed. But I feel really lucky to have had this experience and to be included in a show that focuses on sharing farming stories with a wide audience. And I think we did a pretty good job!
As someone who gets excited about large farm equipment that we could never use on our small farm, I love being able to take a peek at other operations and see how things are grown and harvested at a larger scale. I'd recommend the segment on Far West Fungi - a mushroom producer in Monterrey - and this segment about a farm that harvests over 125,000 melons a day. Our friends over at Peace and Plenty Farm in Lake County are also featured in the new season (check out Episode 9). I hope you find one of these episodes as fascinating as I do!
I'm so looking forward to this episode airing on TV and to be able to share it with friends who haven't been able to visit the farm yet. Scroll down to the bottom of this email to see the menu I'm putting together for the Viewing Party on the 7th that I haven't quite invited anyone to yet! Maybe it will inspire you to host your own viewing party where you can share our chiles with your friends!
What We're Cooking for the Viewing Party!
- Piment-O Cheese Dip with a bunch of cucumbers from the garden and whatever other veggies our friends have grown.
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Piment Fruit Salad because it is summer and it is hot here sometimes.
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Smoked Salmon d'Villed Eggs for easy snacking.
- Cups filled with ice, sparkling water, and Inna Jam Shrubs! Shrubs are my drink of choice and are a great way to preserve fruits with vinegar and sugar. It's a bit vinegary and incredibly fruity and Dafna's Grapefruit Shrub is one of my faves.
