>> NARRATOR: Come along for a once-in-a-lifetime journey through New England as you've never experienced it before.

A true insider's guide from the editors of Yankee magazine.

Join explorer, adventurer, and traveler Richard Wiese and his co-host, Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso, for behind-the-scenes access to the unique attractions that define this region, as they uncover the hidden New England that only locals know.

It's the ultimate travel guide from the people who know it best.

Coming up on Weekends with Yankee... >> WIESE: So, this is Mussel Beach.

>> NARRATOR: Richard jumps into the world of Maine's Bangs Island Mussels, where they are producing more than 250,000 pounds of sustainable shellfish a year.

>> So our mussel farm is a system of rafts, and hanging underneath these rafts are ropes, and our mussels actually grow on those ropes.

>> NARRATOR: Then it's up to the Bold Coast, where a wild granite coastline meets beautiful clear, cold waters.

>> TRAVERSO: Can I say hello to one of the ladies?

>> You may!

You can say hello to Anika.

>> TRAVERSO: Anika, hello!

>> Her mother is one of our prized Holsteins.

>> NARRATOR: Next, Amy heads to Connecticut's famous Litchfield Hills to visit Arethusa Farm, an idyllic spot where the cows get shampooed every day, and their milk is turned into award-winning cheese and ice cream.

>> Every cow in this barn is a lady, please treat her as such.

>> TRAVERSO: That's such a great thing.

>> We try to live by that at Arethusa.

>> NARRATOR: And, finally, we travel to the Trapp Family Lodge-- founded in Vermont by the family made famous by the movie The Sound of Music.

>> My family came to live in Stowe in the summer of 1942.

They loved it, it reminded them of Austria.

And we've been here ever since.

>> NARRATOR: That's all coming up next, on Weekends with Yankee.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Portland, Maine, is a food lover's paradise.

♪ ♪ So much so that in 2018, Bon Appétit named it Restaurant City of the Year.

♪ ♪ And right off its shores, in Casco Bay, Bangs Island Mussels is growing delicious, sustainable mussels by the ton.

What started almost 20 years ago as a small operation now supplies restaurants from New England to Colorado.

>> WIESE: How are you doing?

>> Good, how are you?

>> WIESE: All right.

>> Good morning.

>> NARRATOR: Richard jumped aboard as co-owner Matt Moretti was about to head out to do some harvesting.

>> WIESE: So, what is a mussel farm?

>> So, our mussel farm, Bangs Island Mussels, is a system of rafts, floating rafts.

They're big, 40-by-40-foot platforms out in the water.

We have two sites in Casco Bay where we grow the mussels.

And hanging underneath these rafts are ropes that hang straight down in the water, and our mussels actually grow on those ropes.

♪ ♪ Bangs Island Mussels was founded in 1999.

My father and I had been running it for the last eight years.

And my father and I lobstered together when I was younger.

And now we own a business together farming mussels on the coast of Maine.

♪ ♪ Mussels actually feed themselves in the water, so that's the beauty of the mussels.

You put them in the water, you protect them, and they take care of themselves.

> WIESE: So, what do you start with?

Do you seed them?

>> Farming mussels starts with seed, just like farming, anything on land starts with a seed.

So, we put the seed, the juvenile mussels, on our ropes in the water.

It takes about 18 months minimum to grow a mussel to market size.

♪ ♪ (engine puttering) >> WIESE: So this is Mussel Beach.

>> (laughs): This is Mussel Beach-- watch your step.

>> WIESE: Yup.

>> Kind of a jump.

Nice.

They're suspended off the bottom, so they never come into contact with silt or sediment, so they don't have any grit.

And they grow a lot faster and larger.

They have a larger meat-to-shell ratio, so the meat inside the shell is a lot larger than most wild mussels.

♪ ♪ They are filter feeders, so they feed off the nutrients around them in the ocean without us having to add anything to the system that wasn't already there.

No feed, no food, no fresh water, no fertilizers, no chemicals of any kind.

They just feed on what's there in the ocean naturally.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: They expect to harvest about 250,000 pounds of mussels this year.

>> We're standing on two platforms right now, two mussel rafts, 50,000 pounds of mussels, or more, per growing cycle on each raft.

>> WIESE: How deep is the water here?

>> We're at about 50 feet of water.

And we also have a scallop long line, where we're farm-raising sea scallops, and we also have a kelp long line there, as well.

It's not in the water right now, because it's out of season, but over the winter, we will be growing kelp there, as well.

All three species together.

>> WIESE: And so you see sort of like a movement in all three markets.

>> Yeah, absolutely.

Mussels is our bread and butter, it's what keeps us going.

But kelp is a very emerging market.

♪ ♪ These ropes, we call them fuzzy ropes because they are actually pretty fuzzy.

They have a lot of surface area, a lot of "stuff"-- filaments on the outside, which gives the mussels more area for them to hold onto.

And mussels attach to anything, really, using their byssal threads, or beards.

You can sort of-- there are some right there-- see these beards.

So that's something they secrete, sort of like a spider's web.

And it's like a glue that they use to hold on to things.

(water burbling) >> WIESE: And where do your mussels end up?

>> Fine restaurant menus around the country.

>> WIESE: How far are these from market?

>> So we're pretty close-- we have maybe another few months.

They're... we like to sell our mussels at a minimum of two-and-a-half inches in length.

♪ ♪ It's kind of like growing wine.

Wine grapes take on the characteristics of the earth and the environment in which they are grown.

I believe it is called terroir, a French term.

We've sort of bastardized that term, made it into "merroir"-- and I am not the author of that term by any means-- but it makes perfect sense.

So, like, the characteristics of the ocean in which the mussels and shellfish are grown give the shellfish their specific characteristics.

>> WIESE: What is the "merroir" of the mussels here?

>> Very briny, but they're also quite creamy and delicious.

They have a lot of meat, so you get quite a mouthful of delicious, high-protein, very nutritious food.

>> WIESE: What would be the biggest challenge of growing mussels?

>> The biggest challenge for growing mussels is essentially growing enough.

We are constantly limited by our supply.

We need to grow more to satisfy our customers.

We have customers across the country that are just screaming for more Bangs Island mussels, and we haven't yet been able to grow enough.

So we need to grow more mussels, we need to grow more kelp, we need to grow more scallops, and in doing so, we can help the environment, help the local economy, and help our company and our employees, as well.

>> WIESE: Is this a sustainable industry?

>> Absolutely.

Our core mission, as a company, is to farm-raise the finest seafood using only environmentally sustainable methods.

And the reason we started farming mussels was because it fits so well within that mission.

Essentially, just protect them and provide an adequate environment for them, and they do the work themselves.

♪ ♪ This is pretty much the ultimate in sustainability, sustainable food production, you can get.

>> WIESE: What's the big takeaway that you've had now, in eight years of actually growing mussels for real?

>> Growing mussels is hard, it takes a lot of work.

Conceptually, it's simple-- you put mussels in the water, they feed themselves, they grow.

But there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

You have to have the exact right site, you have to have the methods down, and there's just a lot of details out there that really make all the difference in the world.

It's a lot of labor out here, it's a lot of...

It's a labor of love, but it's...

There's definitely a lot of work that goes into that.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: While in Maine, we also traveled up the coast to a wild and beautiful area next to the Canadian border called the Bold Coast... ♪ ♪ Which is home to a scenic byway that traverses some of the most stunning scenery in New England.

The Bold Coast Scenic Byway is a 125-mile route... ...that runs from the coastal fishing community of Milbridge to Lubec, the easternmost town in the United States, and circles around Cobscook Bay to Eastport.

♪ ♪ Visitors can meander along the coast, passing through wild blueberry bogs, forests, working harbors, and mile after mile of seaside beauty.

During our journey, we came across the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse... ♪ ♪ ...which marks the easternmost point of the Continental U.S.

The lighthouse is located in Quoddy Head State Park, spanning 541 protected coastal acres.

>> I want to welcome you to West Quoddy Head this morning.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: The original tower was built in 1808 on the orders of President Thomas Jefferson.

In 1858, that structure was replaced with the lighthouse that stands today.

>> The dangers are the rocks and stuff out here.

Low water, there's more ledges than there is at high water.

They have been know to cause a lot of damage over the years.

>> NARRATOR: The red and white tower is the only candy-striped lighthouse in the U.S. >> The candy striping is what they call a day marker.

The boats know when they see the color of the lighthouse where they're at.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: The tower is 49 feet tall and houses a 1,000-watt bulb, filtered through a five-and-a-half-foot lens.

>> The lens is what they call a Fresnel lens.

It was made in Paris, France.

On a scale of one to seven, one being your largest, seven being your smallest, the one we have here is a three.

It can be seen for 18 miles away on a clear day.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: We asked Brian what is his favorite part of the job.

>> Oh, just the beauty and stuff, and meeting all the public, people and stuff around.

It's a very nice job.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Nestled into Connecticut's Litchfield Hills is Arethusa Farm, a place whose roots go back to 1869.

It was purchased in 1999 by George Malkemus and Anthony Yurgaitis, two senior executives at Manolo Blahnik.

>> I need your honest opinion.

>> You can't afford them?

>> NARRATOR: The luxury shoemaker made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker on Sex and the City.

Even while running an international fashion brand, they devote much of their time to the farm, where, in addition to pampering their award-winning dairy cows, they run a restaurant, a store, and a café on their beautiful property.

>> TRAVERSO: I am looking around at this beautiful place, and I'm trying to square two ideas in my head, which is, you own this farm, and you live part of your lives here, but the other part of your lives, you are executives at a top international fashion brand.

Those seem like very different career paths at the same time.

>> You know, it always is, is based on what you're passionate about, and, you know, we had been passionate about Manolo Blahnik for, you know, almost 38 years.

And we have been passionate about this since we first bought the house in 1988.

And then ten years later, we bought the farm.

So we bought the farm to protect our view because it was going to become a development.

>> We started not sure what we were going to do with it, so I decided, "Let's get some cows."

>> TRAVERSO: Uh-huh.

>> So we started with five cows.

Well, the cows started to calf, and they started to calf.

(Traverso laughs) >> So the herd started to grow.

>> So it started out with five cattle, and now, today, it's 350 cattle.

>> TRAVERSO: So, I can't help but wonder what it's like to go from the Paris runway shows one day to a cow barn the next day.

>> Well, from the Paris runways and the Milan runways to the Madison World Dairy Show, which a runway for cattle, it's the largest dairy convention in the United States.

And we have had the privilege of winning on several occasions with our cattle, but it's quite different than a runway show, where you have Naomi Campbell, and, you know, in the day, Linda Evangelista, and the girls, the supermodels, to our supermodels.

You know, the Holsteins and the Jerseys and the Brown Swiss that we own.

It's a different kind of beauty.

Well, Amy, Tony, we're about to approach the milk barn, so we'll be... >> Oh, yes, here we are.

>> ...showing you how we milk the cows and how we wash the cows, and shampoo the cows.

>> TRAVERSO: I can't wait to meet some cows.

>> Every day, every single day.

Here we go!

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: Well, this is the prettiest dairy barn I've ever seen.

>> Well, welcome to Arethusa.

>> So, we're going to show you where the ladies spend their days and their evenings and provide us with the luscious milk that Arethusa has.

>> TRAVERSO: So, these are some of the ladies?

>> Our prized ladies.

>> TRAVERSO: They are gorgeous.

>> It starts with Veronica, who we lost last year.

She was 19 years old.

She's on Tony's shirt.

>> TRAVERSO: Aww.

>> You know, they classify cows, so the highest you can go is 97.

That's almost like... that's perfect.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> All right?

So Veronica was 97.

>> She was the grande dame of Arethusa.

Going to meet the ladies of Arethusa.

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, they're beautiful!

>> Every cow in this barn is a lady, please treat her as such.

>> TRAVERSO: That's such a great thing.

>> We try to live by that at Arethusa.

We groom them every day.

They're well-bedded, always dry.

>> TRAVERSO: So clean!

>> We pride ourselves in the care of our animals, Amy, so each cow gets a bath every day, shampooed every day.

The mats are re-bed every day, and they're all chewing their cud, if you can see.

>> TRAVERSO: Yes!

>> We focus on the care, we focus on their health.

We focus on bringing those cows to their fullest potential, health-wise and production-wise.

>> So they are milked twice a day-- they are milked at 4:00 in the morning and 4:00 in the afternoon.

>> TRAVERSO: Uh-huh.

>> So after the first milking, and a little bit of breakfast, then they go out until the second milking.

>> We milk about 160 cows daily.

And we average about 2,000 pounds of milk every other day.

We use every drop of our milk in our dairy.

>> TRAVERSO: I'm noticing different breeds here.

Sort of classic Holsteins, if I'm getting that right?

>> You're right, the black and white are the Holsteins.

>> TRAVERSO: Is that Brown Swiss?

>> Brown Swiss, good!

Good, good, good, Amy.

You're learning the cattle industry.

>> TRAVERSO: So, Holsteins, Brown Swiss, and do you have... >> And Jersey.

>> TRAVERSO: Jerseys!

So why do you choose that mix?

Is it for the milk?

>> You know, it's a, it's a great variety, I think.

We, we love the three breeds.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: Can I say hello to one of the ladies?

>> You may!

You can say hello to Anika.

>> TRAVERSO: Anika!

Hello!

>> So Anika is... her mother is Acoustic, one of our prized Holsteins.

>> TRAVERSO: She's wondering, "Should I... is this lady nice?"

>> Cows are very docile.

>> TRAVERSO: They are, just look at her.

>> They are gentle giants.

>> TRAVERSO: Hello!

>> They never complain.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: Can I help with maybe some of the washing?

>> The shampoo, come on this way.

>> I hope so!

Testing the temperature.

>> TRAVERSO: So I've seen people washing horses, but I actually have...

I never knew cows got washed.

Is that normal, or...?

>> Well, it's normal on this farm.

So we... all of our cows, you know, we have about 120 milkers right now.

They're washed every single day.

>> TRAVERSO: And you use a good-quality shampoo?

>> Well, I'll let George talk about that.

>> Pantene!

>> TRAVERSO: Oh, that's great.

(laughs) >> So, a cow, you know, might feel sluggish, you know, and then you take her into the bath and you shampoo her, and you scrub her down, you'll see that the cow just sort of perks up and starts chewing her cud, and she's happy.

>> NARRATOR: At Arethusa, they use the milk to make everything from cream, butter, and ice cream to many kinds of cheese and yogurt.

>> TRAVERSO: These lettuces are so gorgeous.

>> NARRATOR: Before finishing the tour, Amy makes a brief stop at the garden.

>> This is the Arethusa Gardens.

So we put this in this, just this year, so it's five acres of gardens.

>> TRAVERSO: This is a one-year-old garden?

This looks so mature and beautiful.

>> Well, it's less than a year old.

So we put it in the spring.

>> We're going to go pick tomatoes, because we're going to make a caprese salad.

>> TRAVERSO: And we're going to be brave about this, because we're in New England.

>> NARRATOR: And then heads inside to make two salads, almost entirely from the farm's own ingredients.

>> TRAVERSO: Okay, so I'm always looking for connections between your lives as fashion magnates and your lives as farmers.

And I'm thinking you have these sort of Italian-influenced restaurants, and Manolo Blahnik shoes are made in Italy.

Is that...?

>> By hand.

So basically, a mano me ans by hand.

>> TRAVERSO: Uh-huh.

>> So everything in A Mano, the café, and also here in the restaurant, is made by hand.

So if you order a cheese plate from Arethusa al Tavolo, even the crackers are made in the kitchen.

>> TRAVERSO: Wow.

>> So everything is made by hand, and in the shoe world, everything in our... Manolo Blahnik's collection is made by hand.

>> TRAVERSO: So what is your relationship to Connecticut?

>> Oh!

>> TRAVERSO: How did you end up coming here?

>> I, I'm returning home.

I'm from Connecticut.

>> TRAVERSO: You are from Connecticut?

I am, too!

>> Connecticut was known for, for its farms.

I think there were over 2,000 farms, early 1900.

>> So, we're going to make you a caprese salad.

I'm going to make the caprese salad.

And Tony's going to make a mixed-green salad.

>> TRAVERSO: Everything here is from the farm, right?

>> Everything is from the farm.

>> TRAVERSO: Bread, the tomatoes.

♪ ♪ >> In five years, I hope to still be here celebrating, you know, more that we've sort of initiated thus far in Arethusa.

>> TRAVERSO: Mmm!

>> Mmm.

>> TRAVERSO: That's very good.

>> But I find tasting lettuce and tomatoes you know, and cucumbers from the garden... >> TRAVERSO: Mm-hmm.

>> It's very different than just having it from even a local farm.

By the time the local farm packs it up and it comes to the restaurant, it tastes a little bit different than it, what it does right out of the ground, right into your... into your restaurant.

>> TRAVERSO: Right.

>> And right into our mouths.

♪ ♪ So, long after Tony and I are no longer here, this farm will always be here.

And it's something that we're leaving to the community, and I think it's a way of just thanking God for bringing us to Arethusa.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: From Connecticut, we move north to Stowe, Vermont, a scenic mountain town known for great skiing and a vibrant restaurant scene, and the Trapp Family Lodge.

The von Trapp family, made famous by the movie The Sound Of Music, settled here after escaping from Austria, because this beautiful area in Vermont reminded them of home.

We caught up with Samuel von Trapp, a grandson of the original couple, Captain Georg von Trapp and his wife, Maria.

Situated on 2,500 beautiful acres overlooking Stowe, the Trapp Family Lodge is "a little of Austria, a lot of Vermont."

♪ ♪ >> Austria and Vermont have a lot in common, with the mountains.

They have their Alps, which are a little taller than our Green Mountains here, but very much an outdoor mountain culture, a strong focus on agriculture, as well, outdoor recreation, hospitality.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: In the 1940s, the von Trapp family toured in the United States as the Trapp Family Singers before settling in Stowe.

>> So, my family came to live in Stowe in the summer of 1942.

They were looking for a more pleasant place to spend the summer.

They came up to Stowe, it reminded them of Austria.

They loved it, they bought this farm, roughly 300 acres, and we've been here ever since.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: In the summer of 1950, they began welcoming guests to the rustic 27-room family home and lodge.

>> The family home basically became a hotel in 1950.

My grandmother was operating it, and my father came back in the late 1960s and got involved.

Got so busy here, he never had a chance to go out and do anything else, so he's been here ever since.

>> NARRATOR: Sam's father is Johannes, the youngest of the von Trapp children.

While Captain von Trapp died not long after they came to America, Maria ran the lodge until her death in 1987.

Most people know their story because of the movie The Sound of Music.

>> ♪ The hills are alive with the sound of music ♪ >> First, there was my grandmother's book, then there were two German movies, then there was the American stage play, and then the 20th Century Fox production in 1965 that sort of made our family story public property, to some extent.

And that certainly attracts a lot of people here.

The movie is definitely based on a true story, it was based on my grandmother's book.

They did change some things around, for sure, but, all in all, it's relatively accurate.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Visitors today can visit the Scottish Highland and Devon cattle the family keeps on the property, or hike or bike the many trails here, or cross-country ski on them in winter.

♪ ♪ Another big draw is the brand-new brew hall, which features Austrian lagers by Von Trapp Brewing.

>> I get a lot of the credit for it.

People assume it was the recently arrived son who started the brewery, but in reality, it was my dad's idea.

>> NARRATOR: Fall foliage season is the most popular time to visit.

>> Vermont is legendary for the colors that we get.

That's really going back to the sugar maples.

We've got a ton of sugar maples here on our property.

♪ ♪ I think my earliest recollections of this property would be being on horseback with my mom.

I think I was about two at the time.

Don't even remember my first time skiing, but I believe that happened when I was around two, as well.

And it's pretty fun now for me to be getting out there with my little boys and my wife on these same trails that I learned how to ski on.

>> WIESE: A little bit of a leap.

This is great.

You should have, like, kids' parties out here.

(chuckles)