(soft guitar music) - [David] From the soil of our family farms to your table, there's something special about Georgia, something you can taste in every bite.

(soft guitar music) Fresh flavors, local farms, unforgettable experiences, Georgia has it all.

Support local, taste the difference, and make memories along the way.

Look for the Georgia Grown logo wherever you shop, or visit georgiagrown.com.

(light upbeat music) - [Announcer] Community, learning, working, playing, celebrating, doing life is always better together.

At GPB, we aim to provide you with the tools to be able to do life together well.

Our mission to educate, inform, and entertain inspires everything.

From our wide range of programming to our stimulating radio conversations, to our fun in-person events, we've got something for everyone.

Visit gpb.org/community to learn more about our upcoming events.

- The fascinating and ever-changing world of agriculture.

Let's hit 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".

(soulful country rock music) ♪ I came from the mud ♪ ♪ There's dirt on my hands ♪ ♪ Strong like a tree ♪ ♪ There's roots where I stand ♪ - [David] Georgia farmers, artisans, merchants, and producers, we depend on these men and women every day of our lives through the choices we make in the food we consume.

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

(slow country rock music) (moves into light country rock music) It's a destination that drew people to the North Georgia Mountains in droves nearly two centuries ago with dreams of gold.

Dahlonega, the site of Georgia's first major gold rush still brings folks in from all over the US, but for different reasons.

Be it the natural beauty, the wine, the food, the mushrooms, the unique coffee shops, or even the bison?

Yes, that's right, bison.

People continue finding more reasons than one to explore this precious part of America.

- Dahlonega and Lumpkin County are just truly a magical place.

You've got grapes being grown, you've got mushrooms being grown, you've got bison being raised, and it really just brings in a sense of how important agriculture is, to not only Dahlonega and Lumpkin County, but Georgia alone.

And a lot of these folks in our community will help out in other aspects of the state.

And that's the thing with Dahlonega and Lumpkin County that truly makes us special.

(jazzy upbeat music) - [David] And right when you arrive in the town of Dahlonega traveling northbound, you'll notice an eye-pleasing market and coffee shop situated on the crest of a small hill.

Blue 42 is surrounded by gardens and packed with items from Georgia Grown farmers and producers.

The folks here are passionate about fresh, local, and sustainable goods.

This place is unique, the food is delicious, and once you meet Henry and the friendly crew inside, you'll be glad you made the stop.

- [Henry] This is Blue 42 Market, a market concept that's full of wonder and connect with the local farmers that are doing good things here in in North Georgia.

- You talk a lot about community.

When we're driving into Dahlonega, this is one of the first places you see it's almost the gateway and that's kind of what you want this to be.

- [Henry] Absolutely.

When I sent my plans in to do this, my charter was straightforward.

I wanted to be that community place where local farmers, local artesians, and musicians could all come together and create goodness in their community.

And, "Wonder begins here," is kind of our mantra.

When you walk through the doors, wonder does begin here.

- [David] I saw an alien and dinosaurs.

- Yes.

- So they go together, right?

- Alien and dinosaurs.

Kids love this place.

We have a mom's morning house where we have a music teacher and teaching kids music here.

So, we're doing a lot of good things in our community.

- So you went to Florida State, you played for the Steelers, you came to Dahlonega.

What brought you here?

- [Henry] Fly fishing, the outdoor sports, and the mountains brought me up here to Dahlonega.

- Yeah, this is a beautiful place surrounded by national forests.

(light upbeat music) You have the great coffee.

Hang on.

Gotta do this, cheers.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Oh, that's fantastic.

- That's our honeysuckle.

- Honeysuckle.

- Yeah, that's our honeysuckle.

- And we just, we just saw your honey guy.

- [Henry] Yeah.

It's important that we have local honey, local bee pollen.

You know, we've started introducing bee pollen to our teas and coffee.

- [David] There's a lot of local in this.

How important is having local here?

You talked about White Oak Pastures, you have a market outside.

- [Henry] Yes.

- [David] Talk about how important local is and what you're trying to build here.

- [Henry] We wanna make sure that we protect Appalachia.

It's one of the most bio-diverse places on this planet.

And we have farmers that, you know, are growing here locally, growing organic.

They're not certified organic, but they're growing organically.

So, we wanna celebrate that.

Like Mount Fresh Creamery, you know, we have a creamery right up the road, the best milk you can get.

- I love that milk.

I do, you gotta shake it.

- You gotta shake it.

- You gotta shake up the cream.

- The first time I drank the milk was, "Oh, this is bad."

But it was a cream on top.

- Right.

It doesn't taste bad, it just, it's salty.

- It was sweet.

- But it's supposed to be.

- Yeah, I haven't had that since I was a kid.

When you went, got the glass bottles, you know, from grandma's and everyone fought for the cream.

What worked back then, I know we don't wanna be static.

We wanna always move forward with dynamic principles and, and AI is coming in, but how are we gonna utilize all that and still celebrate local?

How are we gonna grow sustainably, create the industries we need, sustainable industries, create a place that people want to live, work, and play?

I mean, like, this is the terminus of the AT.

So we have great opportunity, but I also wanna make sure that we're growing sustainably.

We have four strains of hemp.

We cultivated them from Same Frame Research in Boulder Hemp in Colorado.

I want to name them indigenous to Georgia.

So we have Georgia Pine, Red-Tail, Kudzu, and Cherokee Rose, where we plant usually on June one, you know, catch that summer solstice and- - [David] It's been a few days and I see it coming up.

- Actually- - A little bit.

- Yeah, it's just coming up a little bit.

So, it's just a great way for us to educate our community on industrial hemp and the hemp rocks that we make.

Like the hemp milk that you tried earlier.

- [David] Mm hm.

- We don't have the infrastructure supply chain in place yet to be able to make hemp milk here in Georgia.

And we now have farmers that wanna grow it, so now we need to create that infrastructure and the tooling we need here in Georgia to make sure we can create those products.

Georgia-grown.

(light upbeat music) - All right, are you one of those geniuses that can?

- I used to know the algorithm.

I don't- - You did?

- I used to know the algorithm, I think, yeah, but I- - I don't wanna mess this one up.

Someone worked hard there.

- And you brought up a good point, like, what we're trying to do, especially in the digital age, you notice a lot of people come in here and they're on their computers.

- Yeah.

- I'm trying to put, we have Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot, like that.

- Yeah.

- But it's just, it gets them off their digital equipment and engaged with each other.

A more personal, more analog, you know, kind of environment.

- Yeah.

Well I did learn you could just take the stickers and put the stickers on.

- Don't tell anybody.

(laughs) (slow country rock music) - [David] Along with the coffee and apothecary, there's often live music, and even fresh baked bread and tasty sandwiches.

And lucky for me, Henry shared one of his personal favorites.

- One of the things we just started doing is introducing our own sourdough.

Sourdough is easy to make as far as ingredients.

- Yeah.

- But so hard to perfect.

Even using einkorn flour, which is ancient grains in a lot of our products, it's not cost-effective to do it on everything, but a lot of, we have a lot of customers asking for gluten-free products.

So we're incorporating that into our menu.

So this was just baked, so we're baking on Mondays, all our bread for the week.

- Pesto.

- Little bit of pesto.

So I use a capicola.

So we just pile it on.

One thing you notice, so you go to a lot of these places and you have to ask for double meat.

We just go ahead and give you the double meat.

- [David] You know it's coming.

- [Henry] Yeah, I mean, I grew up, like I said, with the Polish Italian family.

And we're also gonna start working with White Oak Pastures.

Will Harris' farm down there and bringing a lot of his chicken, poultry, beef and pork into our menu as well.

- Beautiful.

- Yeah.

And then put it on our press.

And this sandwich just melts together perfectly.

Some arugula.

It has a little bit of truffle oil on it.

- Beautiful, all right.

- I always just, just pop that out, just always hit it with a little bit of lemon just to pop it out.

And then I just take some burrata.

This sandwich will probably do half a burrata and just kind of just spread it over the top.

- [David] Oh, my.

- [Henry] And I hit it.

Just a little bit of balsamic.

And that, David... - [David] (laughs) That's a sandwich.

- That's an Italian sandwich.

- Yes, sir.

- [Henry] This actual marble, it's from Tate.

So I wanted, yeah, so when we talk about Georgia-grown, it's also Georgia-produced, and every headstone in Arlington has the, is made with Tate marble.

So it's important to us to make sure we're incorporating that even into our builds as we grow.

- Well, Henry, this is a treat.

This is a treat.

This whole place is special, you know, for the people that live here and the people that come to visit.

- Absolutely.

- I appreciate you showing me around.

- Thank you.

- Yeah.

And I really look forward to that, I'll tell you that.

- That's yours to go.

So I'll wrap that up for you.

- All right.

From the market, we now head to one of Dahlonega's newest farms.

Let's meet Shane in the microgreen and mushroom growing crew of Fresh Harvest Farms.

(upbeat country rock music) Broccoli doesn't always look like this, and radishes don't always look like this.

Mushrooms too, for that matter.

But once you meet Shane, discover his newfound passion for this method of farming, and understand the why behind it all, you'll be fascinated, impressed, and your taste buds will be wanting more.

(upbeat country rock music) So microgreens and mushrooms, the ideas happened simultaneously.

- They did.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Usually it's one happens and it just turns into this, and then the second one's bigger.

But this happened at the same time.

It's very cool.

- I guess you could say I semi-retired from corporate America and really wasn't sure what I was going to do next.

And then probably three months into my leaving corporate America, my business partner called me up and said, "Hey, what you gonna do?

Have you ever thought of mushrooms and microgreens?"

I'm like, "Well, I certainly eat them."

- It's just on the top of your head.

- Yeah right, "I've eaten them, I enjoy them," I said, "but not as a business."

He said, "You ought to look into it."

- Okay.

- Six months later, right, I figured out this would be a business that is sustainable, it's viable.

For me, what the next step in my career was twofold.

One, kind of a sunset job and two, something that I could really immerse myself into my community.

So it really checked those two boxes for me.

And so that's what really drove me to go ahead and start the business and get to where we are today.

(upbeat music) - [David] You had to learn how to do it.

You had to start it and you learned there's not just one way to do it.

- Yeah, there are a lot of really talented microgreen growers out there, and they all have their different way of doing it.

But it took me about six months to get to a place where I wasn't just growing microgreens, I was growing the perfect microgreen.

- Nice.

- And being able to document that process so that every crop that comes out of this farm is consistent.

And so I think people, when they buy our product, they expect quality for sure and consistency.

And so we've been able to define and create a process that enables us to do that.

(lively orchestral music) These are pea shoots, and these seeds have to soak eight to 12 hours before you actually plant them in the soil.

So once we get 'em planted in the soil, we top water for three or four days, and they're in the blackout phase.

So that means that this seed, this pod, is germinating.

So we keep it in the dark, but we keep it moist.

And then four days later, they're ready to come under the lights because you've got these little sprouts coming up, so the seed has germinated.

And then eventually, what you end up with, and this is about two days away from harvesting, is a deep root base.

We are firm believers that bottom watering is A, the best way to grow them because of you prevent mold, mildew, those kinds of things.

And then B, it's a more effective way to ensure that even distribution of water gets through the entire tray.

- So when you harvest these, do you, is it shaving?

Do you shave it off?

They grow back.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- That's a great question, in fact, we'll harvest these in three days.

We will cut it with a knife, right about an inch and a half above the seed.

- Kind of like down here.

- This is a second flush.

- Oh, cool, okay.

- So to answer your question, right, we'll take it after we do the first harvest, we'll put it down here and we'll get a second yield out of it.

(upbeat country rock music) This is our famous broccoli, right?

Everybody knows broccoli.

- Yeah.

- This is one of the microgreens that are up to 40 times more nutritious than the mature counterpart.

- [David] Like it doesn't look like broccoli.

- It doesn't.

- Maybe like the little shoots that come off.

- Right?

- Yeah.

Okay.

- But if you think of a stalk of broccoli, right?

It's pretty heavy, it's pretty bulbous.

Right?

And there's a lot of water inside the stalk in particular.

This is more dense and so the nutrition content is greater because of the density.

And so, if you want, we can actually pull some off if you want to taste it.

- Let's do it, let's do it.

- Let's do it.

- Yeah, okay.

(steady country rock music) Oh, yummy.

All right, here we go.

Eat the stem and everything?

- Eat the whole thing.

Yeah.

(steady country rock music) - Oh, that's awesome.

- Right?

- It's better than broccoli.

- Sweeter, right?

- And it is broccoli, but it's better.

- Right?

- Okay.

So do you mix this in with your salads?

Do you sprinkle it on top of whatever you want?

- All the above.

- That'd be good on a burger.

- Right?

So for me, this goes onto my eggs every morning.

- Yeah.

- I put it in my wraps, I put it in my sandwiches, we put it on top of our soup.

Really versatile.

You can almost, I've seen people put it on pizza.

(jazzy upbeat music) - [David] I'm sure each of these have a story.

- Yeah, we looked at the broccoli earlier, and then the pea shoots.

We also grow kale.

We grow tatsoi, which is essentially baby spinach.

We grow radish.

It's got a kick at the end.

And so if you like something that's got a little kick, it's great.

- Okay.

I think of a radish as a root vegetable.

- Yeah.

- This is a sprout.

- It is, yeah.

- It's a microgreen, okay.

- And we also do a basic salad mix, which is a combination of four different kinds of seeds.

So it's broccoli, cabbage, kale, and kohlrabi.

- Cool.

Okay.

- And then a spicy salad mix, which has those exact same four seeds, but it adds a mustard seed.

So it gives it a little kick at the end.

- Yeah.

- A little bit of spice at the end.

(lighthearted upbeat music) - Nice.

- And then lastly, but not least, are rainbow beets.

- [David] Those are beautiful.

- Right?

- It's like a soft carpet.

You wanna lay on it.

- Yeah.

- It might not be good for the beet.

- Yeah, it wouldn't be though.

- The rainbow beets, but... - As a garnish on a dish or a topping on a dish, it just makes it pop.

- Oh yeah.

- Yeah, now I'll tell you, these aren't quite mature yet.

They need another two or three days.

But I think taste profile, you're still gonna get a good, it's not gonna be too bitter.

- Yeah.

- And I gotta get you if I can, to try the radish.

- Okay.

- Are you okay with that?

- Yes, let's do it.

Let's do it.

- All right.

People like this if you like a good kick, and this guy has a really good kick at the end.

(jazzy upbeat music) - Oh yeah.

- Gotta wait for it and it just goes boom, baby.

- Okay.

Boom, baby.

Yeah, that's it.

That's it.

Oh yeah, a little spice there.

- Right?

- Yes, sir.

Round two.

- Yeah.

- From microgreens to mushrooms.

Back when I was growing up, you didn't see lion's mane.

These weren't the mushrooms that I grew up with.

- Hericium erinaceus, lion's mane.

For chefs, it is the Dom Perignon of mushrooms.

- Okay.

- Right?

Flavor profile is very much a sweeter, a lot of people compare it to scallops, lobster, seafood type of taste.

In this unit, we've got capacity to do about 1900 pounds of mushrooms per month.

- They grow fast.

- They do.

From bag to harvest is anywhere from eight to 13 days.

- That's, wow.

- For the lion's mane.

- And that is getting very close right there, that big- - [Shane] Yeah, these guys will be ready to harvest tomorrow.

The rest of these guys that have that little bit of pinkish hue, they need another two or three days to marinate in here and cook up and get ready.

(upbeat music) - Okay, now you're just showing off.

(Shane chuckling) This like a centerpiece.

- I get that a lot.

- This is unbelievable.

- Yeah, welcome to the Pink Coral of the mushroom grow unit.

Right?

So, these are our pink oyster mushrooms.

A fan favorite, a chef favorite.

I literally have people, when we take 'em to market, we take 'em outta the box and they want pictures of just them and the mushroom.

- Yeah.

- Right?

- And they put it out on social media.

They can't believe their eyes.

This is the bacon of mushrooms.

- The bacon of mushrooms.

- Bacon of mushrooms, right?

So a really savory taste.

It pairs beautifully with risottos and pastas, but it's also nice paired with a light protein, like a chicken or a fish.

Pioppinos, right?

My Italian friends.

I grow these for a couple of restaurant customers of mine.

- [David] Are these almost ready to go?

- Yes, they are.

- Okay.

- [Shane] And they tell you, because if you look at the caps, they'll start to get little cracks in 'em, in the caps.

So those guys are telling you, "Hey, it's about time to pull me outta the substrate."

- Thank you so much.

This has been an absolute blast.

Thanks for the greens.

Learned a lot about mushrooms.

- [Shane] Glad you enjoyed the tour, and got to eat some of the good food that we have.

- Absolutely.

All right, let's swim out of here.

- Let's do it.

- [David] You can find Fresh Harvest Farms products online, but also as close as downtown Dahlonega.

Even at one of my favorite spots, located right on the square.

Like Henry of Blue 42, Shane is driven to provide for his local community by delivering healthy, tasty, and unique products for the folks in Lumpkin County, Georgia and beyond.

(soulful country rock music) Let's now head Dahlonega's wine country to discover a few bison.

Yeah, you heard me right.

Buffalo now roam the golden hills of Dahlonega, Georgia.

(dramatic orchestral music) Kim Chapman always dreamed of a home where the buffalo roam.

Along with his son and his daughter Kaci, and a few close-knit family friends, this dream has become reality.

Kim has a special bond with these majestic animals, not only for their beauty, but their mindset on life.

(dramatic orchestral music) - [Kim] I'm the owner, ranch manager, bison wrangler.

- [David] Let's start with the name, KC Bison Ranch.

What are the origins of it?

- Well, that's good because obviously my initials are KC and I have a daughter whose initials are also KC.

- Yeah, just met her.

- Kaci and I have a son, Kyle.

- Okay.

- So his initials are also KC.

So, a big part of this is for it to be a legacy to pass down to my family.

And so, the name never has to change.

(slow soft music) - [David] I came down the driveway and saw them.

It's pretty magical.

What are the origins of how this all began and the why?

- [Kim] Back in my 40s, I'm not gonna go back further than that.

- [David] That's fine.

(laughs) - I went through some really tough periods in my life.

It was a long season of life.

Some major storms.

I kind of lost everything.

But during that time, I learned that I was content with what I had, even though I didn't have much.

And I learned so much about how to face those storms and not run the other direction, but face 'em head on and deal with 'em.

And so, fast forward a little bit, I started a new business and that business became pretty successful very quickly.

So I always wanted land and I started looking into it, started investigating bison, and found out I didn't have to move to Montana.

I could do it in Georgia.

I loved the mountains and just everything about Dahlonega.

Found this.

Never dreamed that I would be between two vineyards, in addition to the mountains and the ponds and streams.

And started visiting ranches and just became totally fascinated with the majesty and the magnificence of the bison.

And I said, "I'm doing this."

Told everybody, my kids, and my friends, and they thought I'd lost my mind.

Tried their best to talk me out of it.

- Quite honestly, I thought he was a little crazy.

We were like, "Our what?

Really, what?

No way."

- We tried talking him out of it.

(laughs) (slow soft music) - That has changed tremendously.

It's happened and there's been so much change over the course of the past few years to make this place come to life.

And I am so proud of my dad for having done that.

And when he told me what it was going to be, I couldn't have envisioned anything more than what it is today.

(light guitar music) - [Kim] And I don't know if you know this about bison, but they're one of the few animals, when they have a storm coming, they will face head on into a storm rather than turn and run the other direction and they get through the storm quicker that way.

And so they're the perfect symbol of that strength and impatience and endurance.

Every time I'm looking at 'em, God reminds me that that's why I have bison.

- [David] What do people say when they come and, and visit this place?

Be it for a wedding or just to experience as a whole?

- "There's bison in Georgia?"

(laughs) And they just are amazed by our incredible views and our facility.

We host incredible weddings.

Our venue holds up to 250 and we have onsite lodging that holds up to 37.

So our bridal parties like to go there after their wedding and have their after party.

So it's a really fun place.

- The groomsmen, some of them have a lot to do with wedding planning and a lot of them don't.

And then they see the bison, they're like, "Yep."

- They're sold.

- "That's where we're gonna get married."

- Yeah.

- But yeah, the lodges offer an incredible view of the whole property, and the bison are very easily seen.

- So KC's Bison Ranch is just a wonderful facility.

I mean, it's bison in Georgia, who would've thought, you know, but they works and it works really well.

But as he continues to build upon his original vision, it's gonna be a game-changer for Dahlonega and Lumpkin County.

And I mean, you can come up here and check out the bison, which that's awesome.

But then you also get these billion dollar views right behind me as well.

- All right, out here in the pasture, we're a little closer to bison than I was in the wild, but I trust you know what you're doing.

(laughs) - So do I.

- Yeah.

A very cool experience out here.

How fun is it to just come out here and walk amongst them?

- [Kim] Oh, it's amazing.

I mean, it never gets old.

- [David] They're always watching us.

It's so neat, especially seeing the babies and seeing the interaction amongst them.

Does it ever get old?

- No.

No.

They're just, they're so curious and so perceptive of their surroundings and it's fun to watch 'em.

- This has been such a great family activity for you.

You've also had some other help getting this whole venture together.

- I have.

When I first got started, I had an old friend that contacted me.

We hadn't talked in a few years, and he came up to visit and he suggested that I needed a partner.

Adam Lawrence is that partner and he has provided so much.

He comes to all the weddings and we bus tables and throw trash out and do all the things that owners do.

But it's fun that, you know, we get to hang out together when we do that.

- [David] That's great.

Y'all get your hands dirty.

- Oh, we do.

We're not scared.

- I love it.

Well, if you need another partner who's not bringing money and pretty much you'd want just to hang out.

- I'll try to remember that.

- [David] There's something you want people to leave with when they've visit at KC Bison Ranch.

- [Kim] What we came up with was, "New life begins at KC Bison Ranch."

Because there's so much new life teeming on the property with the baby bison, to all the birds and all the other wildlife, and then all of the new couples that start their life together.

- It's beautiful.

Has so many meanings.

- It does.

- Yeah.

- Multifaceted.

- Well, I could be out here walking all day, sitting up in those rocking chairs.

I'm sure the fire's nice at night.

- [Kim] Oh yeah.

- [David] A little breeze coming over the hills.

(upbeat music) Plans you have moving forward?

- [Kim] Field trips for school kids.

You know, I just believe that the bison's one of most majestic creations, and I like to teach people about it.

And I think it'd be a great place for school kids to come and look and learn, and not only about the bison, but about the history of America.

Because the bison is so intertwined with America's history.

And I've learned so much more about that since I got to into this, so I would love to help educate kids on that.

(upbeat music) - [David] Be it a near-perfect North Georgia wedding venue, a place to stay for the weekend, or just a spot to get away and witness one of America's most iconic creatures, this hospitable family aims to make these memories happen for anyone who comes to visit this gorgeous gem in Georgia's Southeast Appalachians.

(slow soft music fading) (light upbeat country music) So, from mushrooms and microgreens to a welcoming community coffee shop market, and so much more, to vineyard-lined Georgia hills with iconic American bison, just to sprinkle on some scenic perfection, the golden hills of Dahlonega and the entire Lumpkin County region are embracing and welcoming fresh, nutritious, and exciting new experiences in the world of farming and agritourism.

I'm David Zelski, see you at the next "Fork In the Road".

(light upbeat country music) "A Fork In the Road" was brought to you by: (light upbeat music) - [Announcer] Community, learning, working, playing, celebrating, doing life is always better together.

At GPB, we aim to provide you with the tools to be able to do life together well.

Our mission to educate, inform, and entertain inspires everything from our wide range of programming to our stimulating radio conversations, to our fun in-person events.

We've got something for everyone.

Visit gpb.org/community to learn more about our upcoming events.

(slow soft music) - [David] From the soil of our family farms to your table, there's something special about Georgia, something you can taste in every bite.

Fresh flavors, local farms, unforgettable experiences, Georgia has it all.

Support local, taste the difference, and make memories along the way.

Look for the Georgia Grown logo wherever you shop or visit georgiagrown.com.