The fork in the road was brought to you by.

From produce to people.

The best things are grown and raised in Georgia.

Even in tough times, we come together, work hard and grow strong.

When you purchase Georgia grown products, you support farmers, families and this proud state we call home.

Together, we will keep Georgia growing.

Picture perfect.

Hang the picture on the wall.

A sign from afar.

You get to meet.

Oh, it feels good.

This has been.

The fascinating and ever changing world of agriculture.

Look at the road here in Georgia and meet the farmers, producers, makers and bakers who keep us all fed and keep us coming back for more.

Straight ahead, at the fork in the road.

I came from the desert on my hands, strong like a.

Tree.

Then contrasting and Georgia farmers, artisans, merchants and producers.

We depend on these men and women every day of our lives through the choices we make and the food we consume.

Their strategy and approach is always shifting, but the end game remains the same.

Results and the prospect of gold in these hills back in 1829 brought droves of fortune seekers to this scenic region of North Georgia.

Prior to the 1849 gold rush out west, stories of these golden olden days are plentiful and locals love to share the tales.

But today, this shining city in Lumpkin County, Georgia, is rich in so many other ways.

We begin this journey through Dillon again, the golden hills of Lumpkin County at a historic home at the edge of the UNCG campus, where a community is growing something quite special.

There's something happening here, and what it is is exactly clear.

A group consisting of professors, students and community leaders working together to feed, teach and carry on traditions.

A mission here in Dahlonega, known as Hometown Harvest.

In the summer of 19, Dr. Patterson and his wife and little boy were helping us with summer meal delivery in the school system, and the question was posed If they had a surplus of tomatoes and nothing to do with them, could we take them and use them for the students?

And I was delighted to hear that we would be more than happy to take locally grown tomatoes or any other produce item to serve the students in Lincoln County schools.

This historic home known as the Victory House is the setting.

Located on the edge of the University of North Georgia, a campus visually defined by its iconic gold spire.

This comforting setting with an amazing 1830 gold rush era cabin in the backyard serves as a home base for the hometown Harvest Group to expand their mission and achieve their vision by sort of co-manage the gardens around here.

And there are several objectives with them.

The first one is teaching college students how to garden.

The second one is providing food for the community, both within you, Angie, and outside of you, Angie.

The third one is managing a heirloom seed bank.

These are seeds that are native to Appalachia.

Cross-pollination.

How We're trying to avoid diluting those original Appalachian seeds.

All four seasons.

There's a garden here that is available to students and faculty and everyone else.

We have a lot of students that come in from different majors.

A lot of the volunteers, they have this unrefined passion for it, whether it's seeds starting or harvesting or just playing in the dirt and getting outside and interacting with one another.

It's more based off of their curiosity.

So we get more of a diverse group of students who are really interested in what the garden can provide for them.

And beyond teaching, learning and carrying on traditions, the mission gives back and provides to the community in ways beyond the goods from the garden.

We have a room in this house that has soups, can meats all those kinds of things stuffed in refrigerator in the freezer.

We just let kids come and take what they need.

There's so much being offered within and outside of these historic walls of the bakery house.

Some students need to look no further than the white picket fence that runs along the sidewalk.

These are all dauntless blackberries that we got from the Georgia Mountain Master Gardeners.

They donated the plant.

So lots of students come in as are passing through.

They'll grab blackberries and eat them off the vine or take them home or do whatever they want to of them.

That's the biggest one I could find.

Yeah, that's perfect.

It's huge, huh?

Oh, good.

Huh?

Yeah.

Dr. Patterson and the gardening team are working hard to make this cost effective and sustainable, using science, technology and creativity to make it all work.

So over the past two years, we haven't.

I don't think we've used a drop of city or county water.

We basically hook a hose up down here, and then we have soaker hoses running through all of the beds and down the center and that water is everything.

This whole row is tomato plants.

These specific types of tomatoes were picked out by the Lumpkin County School system as things that kids like to taste test.

And so a lot of them are these small cherry tomatoes.

The goal is for them to come and gather multiple things to make meals.

And so the Hometown Harvest Program has actually started publishing recipes to do with our vegetables here on our social media.

And that seems to be a really great way to connect with students.

You know, once you get them over the hurdle of collecting it, then they sort of don't know what to do with it.

And so we figured out that we need to also provide them fairly quick and easy recipes that they could use in their dorm room or at their parent's house or wherever they live.

And while everything seems perfect around here when it comes to bringing a community together for a good cause, there's one community member, or should I say members that just don't play by the rules.

These are heirloom okra varieties.

And so these are seeds that have been saved over generations in Lumpkin County.

We put these baskets over the top of them because of the groundhog issue.

And as we come on down here, these are all cucumbers.

These are actually coming back.

And Groundhog came in and ate it down to the ground.

And now they're they're in the process of regenerating back.

There's no hatred in your voice when you say Groundhog Day.

I've heard about this, for instance.

That's right.

We don't hate them at all.

They're wonderful little creatures.

So even with the groundhogs adding to an already tough job, this team of young students, professors and committed volunteers proudly come together to make it all work, sharing local traditions and growing new ones together.

We continue our exploration of Dahlonega, Georgia, a few miles from the downtown square where the hills appear a bit more purple and gold.

If you drive with your windows down, you'll know you're here.

The spring and summer blooms boast a vibrant purple hue that you can clearly see from the roadside.

And once you step inside this cute little shop and meet the mind behind this purple shine, you'll learn that lavender is so much more than meets the eye and the nose.

We call ourselves a learning lavender farm.

Our research lavender farm.

Because lavender is not supposed to grow in Georgia this far south with our climate and our acidic clay soil.

So we are checking which varieties actually grow best here, which are your Spanish and your intermediate long stemmed lavender.

There's actually 453 different varieties or cultivars of lavender, and we actually grow 21 of those varieties here.

We have our English lavender, Augusta Folia, which is lavender.

Dula And it has a lighter, sweeter smell to it, shorter stem.

It's great for culinary uses such as lemonade, teas, cookies, cakes and so forth.

Then we have our long stem lavender, which is the high bred intermediates, and it has high in camphor.

So that's what gives you that wonderful, strong lavender scent that everybody seeks.

Lavender is inert and so it's not going to have a real smell unless you manipulate it by touching it or the sun rays are heating and up, it will release the oils from the buds.

That's why they're great in the bathroom.

When you're taking a hot shower, it'll make it smell really good, like a spa inside or in your kitchen.

When you're cooking.

It helps to disinfect, actually, lavender as an antiseptic and antifungal.

So it's so good as a health benefit.

But we also, when we debugged the lavender and just have the stems, those are great for fire starters because you can throw them in a fire pit and it keeps mosquitoes away.

And in the winter time they're a great air freshener.

If you have a fireplace, kind of put it up above your mantel and make the whole room smell so much better.

It's pretty fascinating to see this setup along with the pleasant aroma rows of different types of lavender or hanging from the ceiling, connected by a simple, yet effective pulley system.

Below the hanging bundles are shelves packed with over 100 different natural lavender products to choose from.

It has to be soothing to walk into your store.

Beginning of your day.

We hear everybody.

When they walk in the front door, they go, Oh, that sigh of just amazing scent that they can smell.

Yeah.

Some farmers have a different smelling office.

We have everything from sachets to lotions, bath salts, shampoo, conditioner.

It's a hundred different items.

We also do baby products and men's products, bath bombs.

You can wander around the gardens, take pictures.

We're open to the public, even though this is actually our home property.

We wanted a peaceful place for people to come and enjoy and just relax.

They can picnic here.

You can also you pick in June and take some fresh lavender home.

And you don't pick.

You clip.

You clip.

Right.

And there's a special place to cut our clip.

The lavender at right above the second stem cut too far.

You can kill the plant.

And even though varieties of lavender are the primary crop on this farm, there are other buds blooming.

These are actually heirloom seeds from Thomas Jefferson's garden in Monticello.

We also have all kinds of different flowers.

We have David Austin Roses.

We have our seniors, which are real popular.

And we also have our dahlias down there that my husband David started because he remembers times with his grandmother on their farm helping her with her dahlias.

So while most of this mountain town is bathed in gold, this little section of the lawn of a Georgia proudly displays more of a purple haze, a diverse and valuable crop cared for and cultivated by the Duffy's.

Follow your nose and let the lavender show you the way.

Only about ten miles north of Red Oak lies a room full of barrels and a team full of talent.

Time to check out the spirits that flow along the Lonergan's Big Creek.

It takes a few years for these beautifully crafted barrels to do their magic, an art form that has been tinkered with since the 18th century.

And Emily Ponder and the folks here at Big Creek Distilling Company in Dahlonega have done their research, put in the hours and are off to a tasty start with their barrel aged bourbon and specially crafted gin.

Big Creek Distilling Company is a family owned and operated business.

We love that.

We get to be a part of Dahlonega Rich history and hopefully add our own twist and a name to it.

Big Creek Distilling Company distills a variety of spirits.

We distill our five year old bourbon.

That is a 75% corn with a 15% wheat and 10% malted barley blend.

We also distill a local Georgia seasonal gin that has a more botanical taste than it does a pine tree or cedar traditional gin.

We also distill a moonshine as well as brandy and currently some rye that we're working on.

That's certainly the moonshine.

You know, we're in the mountains.

May as well do it because it's legal now.

Absolutely.

All right.

I see new barrels.

I see older barrels.

And these are actually made in Georgia.

Absolutely.

All barrels that contain bourbon have to be a white oak barrel.

And so these are white oak trees that have been grown in Georgia and then milled and made into a barrel in Gainesville, Georgia.

Nice.

They're so classic now.

These are quite different up here.

They've been doing some work.

Yes.

So these barrels here are a little bit older.

They're about five years old that have been aging bourbon for five years.

We've got 30,000 gallons of bourbon here in the distillery.

These have a little bit more character to them because the way that bourbon actually gets their color is that it moves in and out of the barrel.

The barrel actually is breathing when it gets a little bit warmer, it lets the bourbon pass through and get some of that caramelization.

And when it gets colder, it shrinks in and really retains all the bourbon inside.

We're actually working on something that's very unique to our distillery.

We're doing a barrel aged gin.

So some of these barrels, I think actually this one right here has some gin that we've put in there to get some of that caramelization from a used bourbon barrel and give it some color and some sweetness to it.

That's fun.

So you can kind of experiment.

Oh, yeah.

Business, right?

Absolutely.

That's the best part about a distillery that you own is that you get the opportunity to do whatever you want, making new flavors and new blends and testing things out inside these awesome barrels.

That's cool.

That may be the second best part.

The best part might be what's going on right here.

Oh, yeah.

So you just pop that out right there?

Oh, yeah.

Can you smell that?

Oh, my.

God.

I know.

Yes, That is beautiful.

You get some of that caramel, some of that vanilla essence that's been soaked up from the the charred barrel.

So this is where the magic happens.

These are our two copper stills that were custom made by Vendome.

Still Company.

And this is our 750 gallon still.

That's where we make our big both batches of our bourbon.

And on our 500 gallon still is where we'll run our smaller batches, such as our moonshine, our rye, and sometimes even our gin.

And there's another smell.

I smell the bourbon, I smell the moonshine, I smell lavender.

Lavender?

Yes.

Okay.

What's the role of the lavender?

This is our beautiful English lavender that is grown right here in Dahlonega, Georgia, by Red Oak Farms.

And we use their lavender in collaboration with five other botanicals that we source here in Georgia for our Georgia seasonal gin.

You taste lavender.

Do you smell it?

Is it both?

So our gin has that classic juniper smell and taste to it.

But then on that back end, you get a little bit of that orange, a little bit of that coriander, and most certainly our lavender.

It's really neat because the bourbon is in the barrel.

That's where the works getting done.

The gin is a little different.

So our Jenny's fractionally distilled, which means we distill each botanical individually in order to really get that pungent flavor out of each botanical that goes into our gin.

And then Augustus or my brother will blend it all together and make our gin as one whole.

It's been fun so far, just making everything and experimenting with different flavors and blends that we do.

And I'm excited to see where Lee and Augustus take us.

All right.

So we're going to have a little sample here.

I see Augustus coming.

He's got some goods to age Gin spin agent for two months, two months.

And.

Oh, yeah, See?

Oh, that's very smooth.

Said the colors are so different.

So you can see here that we've got a slight variation in color in our barrel gin.

We've got some of that sweet yellow ness that's coming from our bourbon barrels.

The barrel imparts that color just like it does to the bourbon.

This is.

This is special.

Oh, you haven't had anything like that.

You taste all those florals.

Mm.

Oh, that's really bourbon.

Yeah.

Yeah, It's almost like a in between bourbon gin.

Oh, Augustus.

Yeah, Yeah, I'm excited.

Mainly because of this.

What is this?

Yes.

So this is a copper whiskey for you thief.

So you are stealing.

We're stealing the bourbon out right now.

All right, All right, Well, let's.

Let's steal it.

This is exciting.

I'll take that back off.

And so what you're going to do is just stick the tube down into where the bone was.

Cover your thumb over that whole and outcomes.

The bourbon will give you a big taste today.

Fine, fine.

It's past noon.

Perfect.

It's 5:00 somewhere.

Yes.

This is our Georgia straight bourbon whiskey made in-house, distilled on our 500 gallon copper.

Still made by Vendome, of course.

And that's what makes it taste so good.

Smooth wakes you up to.

Oh, yeah, it hits here.

Not here.

Well, no.

Now I'm tasting the oak.

Are you finished?

Yeah.

Yes.

So when you're pulling it straight out of a barrel, this is about 130 proof.

Okay, so this is some hot bourbon right now, but once you proof it down, you'll get a little bit more of that flavor, some of that vanilla essence.

And right now, we're getting a lot of oak, a lot of heat, but we're tasting a lot of that Georgia dark corn and some of that malted barley that we get.

The fact I can sip on 130 proof is pretty enough.

That says a lot for the smoothness of it.

You could say it's perfection in progress.

A delightful group of distillers making it high quality product for customers who want a unique Georgia born beverage for their own bar site collection, or just swing by the tasting room and sample for yourself.

I'm sure Emily and the crew will welcome you in for some bourbon and jam less than a mile from Big Creek, off a road known as Blueberry Hill lies a mountain resort blanketed with rows of grapevines and is home to a unique pink coated chef.

This stunning setting atop Blueberry Hill is just the beginning.

The view from the top will draw you in, and when you get to the top, you'll want to stay a while.

Whether you enjoy a glass of wine in the garden, take a stroll along these forest trails or settle down for a memorable dining experience.

One thing's for sure you'll be happy you did.

And this talented Georgia chef may be much of the reason why this location.

It's got to be great to come into work and be on this mountaintop.

It's kind of a dream come true.

I enjoy a lot of mornings out on the front porch when I'm getting ready and setting up my prep list for the day, and I'll sit down and have a cup of coffee and just taken that view with walking trails.

I think it's 1.6 miles is the walking trail that goes around the property.

We've got firepits throughout the property and a big part of it is the food.

A lot of people come here specifically for the food and that quiet get away only an hour to an hour and a half, depending on where you're coming from, away from Atlanta.

So it's a great weekend spot for people to come up to and take it in.

And we're smack dab in the middle of the Dahlonega Plateau, which means we're surrounded by wineries.

And what's better than that?

Jeff Madeline has made a name for himself through social media as the barbecue smoke and blond chef.

He's got quite a niche there, for sure, but her talents go well beyond the slow smoking embers of the outdoor grill.

She has a love for local farmers and purveyors.

As I witnessed when these multicolored mushrooms were delivered right to the back door of the kitchen.

Every single one of my restaurants is different.

This one is my is my baby.

I call it upscale, rustic.

I take a lot of comfort, flavors and traditional foods that people can recognize really easily.

And then I just put my twist on it.

I'm not from the South, but I've actually I love this place.

And I fell in love with the Georgia people and the Georgia food and the culture that's down here, bringing joy and creating memories with people through my food.

I've got my Georgia olive oil.

This is my favorite stuff.

I love it.

Farmers and fishermen, every once in a while they carry these big old dry age ones.

You can get 30 days, 60 days.

I'm going to go ahead and make a little appetizer right now.

This is Georgia, honey, and I've just got a bottle of signature here.

I give it a like a sweet heat.

The key is to not get too much of the sauce on here so they don't get soggy because that's the worst as soggy brussel sprouts.

So this is my red wine.

Cured salmon.

You want these pieces to be, like, almost paper thin.

This is my Georgia peach puree.

I got the peaches that I made this with from the farmer's market inside Jay Moore Farms.

I'm going to give you a little chef schmear.

I've got some creme fresh that I'm going to do on this as well.

This is actually homemade.

Whenever I do this dish, I try to match whatever wood I'm using to the flavors in general that I'm pulling out of this.

So we're basically smoking our salmon without having to actually smoke it.

The best part of this is the interactive dining, so your server brings it to the table dome for snow.

They lift it.

You get the aromatic.

So you start basically eating with your nose before you get to the rest of the meal.

So these are beautiful Georgia grown mushrooms.

The couple that grows, these are they're based out of Athens.

This is a lion's mane mushroom.

I'm actually going to go ahead and just cook this whole chunk like it's a little steak.

And I'm going to decorate my my tomahawk with it.

I have a love of fingerling potatoes.

So my clams.

They're so delicious.

I got this.

A island clams.

They're out of Georgia as well.

I've been only using those clams.

Besides, every once in a while, razor clams for probably more than ten years at this point.

Wines are fun because we have two different sets.

We've got our Georgia grown, and then we have our twisted line.

The twisted line is all California grape that we have shipped in from California, and we do all the crushing and then make the wine here.

I want to do farm to table.

I want to use Georgia grown products, work with Georgia farmers, including for all my meats and things like that.

We've got over 60 acres on this property.

I can set up gardens, I can set things up.

I've only been here for a year and a half, so we're only getting started.

You know, one day I want to be like the Yountville, you know, like you're in Napa and you go out to Yountville to get that fine dining experience.

I want to try to do that here.

Be it the wine from these Appalachian vines, the bourbon and gin coming from the barrels of Big Creek, the aroma of purple lavender growing in these golden hills and a community coming together to grow together and share the people of Dahlonega, Georgia, and the entire Lumpkin County region deliver a variety of Georgia grown goodness that can only be described as pure gold.

I'm David Zaleski.

See you at the next fork in the road.

The fork in the road was brought to you by.

From produce to people.

The best things are grown and raised in Georgia.

Even in tough times, we come together, work hard and grow strong.

When you purchase Georgia grown products, you support farmers, families, and this proud state we call home.

Together, we will keep Georgia growing to perfection.

And the picture.

On the wall.

Us sign from afar, eager to meet.

Oh, it feels good.

This has been a.