- [Announcer] "A Fork in the Road" was brought to you by: - I'm Tyler Harper.

As your agriculture commissioner, I have the honor of representing one of the hardest working groups of people in our state: our farmers.

That's why we invite you to take the Georgia Grown Challenge.

Try any Georgia specialty crop against any other state's produce, and you'll pick Georgia-grown.

♪ Picture perfect ♪ ♪ Hang the picture from the wall ♪ (mellow R&B music) ♪ I see you shine from afar ♪ ♪ Yeah to me you are a star ♪ ♪ All right baby ♪ ♪ Feels good ♪ ♪ Feels right ♪ ♪ Take the feeling pass it on ♪ ♪ Just pass it on ♪ I'm Tyler Harper.

As your agriculture commissioner, I have the honor of representing one of the hardest working groups of people in our state: our farmers.

That's why we invite you to take the Georgia Grown Challenge.

Try any Georgia specialty crop against any other state's, produce, and you'll pick Georgia-grown.

- 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".

(slow rock music builds) ♪ I came from the mud ♪ ♪ There's dirt on my hands ♪ ♪ Strong like a tree ♪ ♪ There's roots where I stand ♪ 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.

(slow rock music) (captivating strings music) Roots run deep here in Georgia.

From peppers, tomatoes, and sprouts to berries and satsumas.

But there's also the roots of the farmers themselves and the businesses that have blossomed here in Georgia.

Roots that have grown strong through the years.

(slow rock music builds) We begin this episode down in Waverly, Georgia to meet a dedicated farmer who grows to support his community and for the love of the job.

(upbeat bluegrass music) Meet Farmer Brandon and Farmer Brandon's special cows, his chickens, pigs, goats, his turkeys who roam the satsuma orchards- (turkeys gobbling) Along with his folk art, his dogs, his bus- (vinyl glitch) Let me rewind a bit and just let Brandon tell his tale.

(rooster crows) - I grew up in metro Atlanta in Stone Mountain.

And I like to grow stuff and I started a garden and then I got bees.

This was in metro Atlanta, and then eventually I rented some property in Reidsville, which is about an hour inland from here.

We're in Camden County now.

And then I bought this down here and here I am all these years later.

- [David] You have turkeys.

- [Brandon] I do have turkeys.

- [David] In an orchard of satsumas.

- In an orchard of satsumas.

(upbeat bluegrass music) I do turkeys every Thanksgiving.

I do meat chickens, I do hens for eggs.

Obviously satsumas, these are all organic.

I do a garden where I'll do greens and tomatoes and cucumbers, stuff like that.

Do cows and then hogs.

Oh, and garlic, I grow a lot of garlic here.

- [David] Keep the vampires away.

- I try to keep the vampires away.

What I've learned here is that I work with what this place gives me.

I grow what I grow because I enjoy growing things.

I don't really care what it is.

I love to grow things, whether it's a cow or a satsuma or garlic or a mustard green or whatever.

But you work with what the weather gives you, what the dirt gives you, and sort of hone in on it.

(laid-back music) - [David] Now, when I arrived, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to witness.

I knew from his social media pages that he was an excellent writer and his followers love him.

But still, I really didn't know who or what to expect as I meandered alone down this old dirt road.

But what I found upon arrival was a kind, humorous, down-to-earth guy who simply loves what he does.

So Brandon guided me on our walk through what, in his words, is a magical place full of beauty in life.

(laid-back music continues) You got some friends here.

The turkeys seemed to trust you.

- Yeah, the turkeys- (turkeys gobble) When you feed, when you're the feeder, you know, they- (laughs) The pied piper, man, you know?

Some people wonder, isn't it sad when you have, you know, they, it becomes meat?

And I'm like, no, it's not sad because, look, they get a incredible life, living a natural life.

They have one bad moment in one marginal day.

Yeah, they trust me and one day they'll trust me with a knife in my hand.

(turkeys gobble) (swanky music) Everything here moves around, except the satsumas don't move, but a lot of the crops, they move to different parcels.

I range animals to fertilize to improve the dirt, right?

And then I plant behind them.

So right now you got lettuce, you got cabbage, you got some kale, you got Swiss chard over there, you got mustard green, Southeast Georgia favorite.

These are satsumas.

These were actually the first thing I put in here.

This was, like, all woods and then me and a buddy of mine, Joe Sime, came in, cleared where you see these 80 trees, put them in.

There was no fence, there was no water, there was no power, there was nothing.

It was just them surrounded by scrubby woods.

These are all organic.

Now, what I do is I graze animals through here.

Like right now I have turkeys in here.

Sometimes I have my hens in here, sometimes I have meat chickens in here, I graze cattle.

You know, where literally cows come through, they're grazing around the trees.

So when the cows come through, they'll eat it down, way down.

(laid-back music) We have bears here, we have Florida panthers, we have coyotes, we have bobcats.

- [David] That's a lot of predators.

- Yes, when this was more frontier and I would try to push hens to the outskirts of this place, they would get decimated.

And so eventually, if I built this fence, then I can open this up and let them go out.

But this is a good bit, this is about 400 or so.

What they need is a roost and shelter, and so I have all the nest boxes.

This is where the hens wanna lay the eggs.

Just get the eggs.

- [David] Oh, beautiful.

- Yeah, I already got eggs this morning.

(jaunty music) There's one in here.

I always think that I should write about this.

(chicken squawks) There's a lot of funny things about a chicken, about the mind of a chicken.

Not all of these boxes will have eggs in them.

Some boxes will have a bunch of eggs and then some boxes never have an egg.

Like this box here, for example, never has eggs in it.

I don't know why, it's like the mind of a chicken.

- [David] Yeah.

- But the funniest thing to me about them is they see me every day.

Every day I get their eggs, every single day.

And every day for them as I'm getting the eggs in the morning, it's as if this has never happened before.

And I'm always thinking, we've done this.

Every day I'm grabbing your eggs and every day you're acting like you've never seen me before.

You know, they're jumping out.

It's crazy, it's pandemonium.

I'm pulling them out and I'm like- (David laughs) We did this, we do this dance every single day.

(hen squawks) But we get these really, really great eggs.

They have good yolks and I get to range the hens out when I want.

I sell eggs for $5 a dozen, I mean- - [David] I'm coming to you, yeah, that's- (swanky music) - This is where I'll plant the garlic for this year.

So you plant garlic here in late November, early December.

I do an heirloom variety of garlic.

I do a lot of it, I do it every single year.

I love growing garlic, it's so good.

But this is fallow right now, but you can see that, see, I've had cows in here.

Just the old- You ever had anybody pick up a cow turd on TV?

- [David] No, that's first, that's first.

Seen them step in it, yeah.

It looks good.

- This is, it's old.

See, it just smells like dirt.

I've written a lot about manure.

The thing is, is that- (David laughs) Think of manure like this.

America before European settlers was a land of bison, including down here.

And so as bison graze, then they're followed by birds.

But as bison are grazing the grass, bison are depositing manure and you had exceptional dirt.

And you don't get new dirt without manure.

You have to have it and that's how dirt gets rich.

So when I arrange them and I move them, they come into a place where there's gonna be garlic grown.

They're depositing their manure back and they change the structure of the soil.

You graze cows, you graze chickens, and then when you plow this up, it's just black dirt, man.

It's beautiful dirt.

- Oh yeah, look at that.

- As you can see.

Like super, just really, really good dirt.

And good dirt is good for you.

(swanky music) When you harvest garlic, you plant it in in late November, early December, and then you harvest garlic in May or maybe the first part of June.

So to cure garlic, you leave the stalk on, you have the bulb and then you lay it.

It has to be in a dry spot to get some draft.

What you'll see when I first harvest this is, like, tons of garlic laid out like this in lines going up that way.

There's tons of varieties of garlic, not all of which will do well here.

This variety does well, but there's garlic that's, you know, spicy, there's garlic that's mild.

This one is like a good, strong, garlic flavor.

It's not spicy.

This one's called echalions and it does really, really well here.

It does smell good.

Okay, so these are hogs here.

Pigs are naturally curious.

I was gonna tear off a piece of garlic.

- [David] And they know it too.

- Let's see if they eat it.

(lighthearted music) Key to the whole electric paddock system with pigs is that they have to be trained to, it's just a psychological barrier.

Obviously the pig, if he had the wherewithal to get shocked one time he could get out and he could flee and never come to Grassroots Farms ever again, right?

But this is where they eat and by doing this I can move them and that's the beauty of the electric fence system.

And so they'll root it all up.

When I first put them here, it looked like that right there behind you.

It's exactly what it looked like.

The French call it terroir.

People talk about it with wine, like how a place can impart some sort of flavor.

But I don't understand why we don't talk about it more with why Georgia shrimp are so good, why Georgia pork can be so good, why Georgia beef can be so good.

It's romantic-sounding, but I really do think that it imparts something.

Now, they will, they like to nibble on my Crocs.

Can you see this joker?

And it's the same thing as the turkeys.

They get a good life and the meat is exceptional.

(gentle music) These are Pineywoods cows.

So these are like the historic cow of Georgia.

Older people will look at them and say, God, these are the cows that we had when we were little.

You know, they have horns, they're protective.

That whole Bartram thing, the Bartram Trail.

When he came through North Camden, he wrote huge herds of horned cows.

And that's what North Camden, you know, historically was.

- [David] So who brought these?

- Spanish, and then became feral cows.

And they're more resistant to a lot of things.

So like parasites and stuff, they have good genetics, they're just small.

- [David] What is their meat like?

- Oh it's great, Pineywoods meat is exceptional.

It's sweet, it's really, really nice.

They have good fat, they're not overly fatty.

It's about an 85-15, something like that.

And they're also really great with the Angus.

You know, if you cross an Angus on Pineywoods with the calf is half and half, they're really, really nice.

And so these are a cross.

These are Pineywoods, that's their mothers over there.

Pineywoods-Angus.

You know there's breeds of livestock that are rare, breeds of livestock that are endangered, breeds of livestock that are extinct.

And Pineywoods cows are certainly in the endangered category.

And really the irony of that is the only way that you can really save them is to have an economic incentive to eat them.

And they're a magical animal to me.

(gentle music) - [David] This was a memorable experience and a place of which I'd love to return.

There's that feeling of watching a guy farm the way it used to be and the way it could be for many others: grassroots.

(gentle music fades) (slow rock music builds) We now journey just west of Macon to the small town of Salem and meet another farmer who has carried the skills of her past to her present-day farm.

(gentle music) Kaneisha Miller has a knack for this whole farming thing and her kids certainly enjoy the fruits of her labor.

But she's not the first Miller to farm this Georgia soil.

- [Kaneisha] EM Farms is named after my grandmother.

Her name was Emma Mall Miller.

She's the best cook ever.

I wanted to name it after her 'cause I grow fresh fruits and vegetables.

And my granddaddy, Granddaddy Pig, he was a farmer and he farmed a lot of acres in the Salem community.

- [David] I was reading about Pig and I saw that he farmed a lot of things, but not pigs.

- Yes, so he bought all vegetables.

But he did have some livestock, but it was cattle.

EM Farms is located directly next to my grandmother's house.

My dad allowed me to use this land that he previously used to utilize it to what I wanted to grow and what I wanted to do with EM Farms.

Now, EM Farms means so much to me because I'm carrying on my legacy.

The Miller name, growing it into something that my kids can actually grow into and decide what they wanna do with.

Whether they want to continue growing vegetables, whether they want to turn it into something even larger.

(lighthearted music) - [David] So now that we have the origin story, let's turn to present day and see what Kaneisha has growing out here.

- I have a variety of pretty much everything.

So I have kale, I have squash, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, scuppernongs, watermelon, eggplants.

Just whatever I feel I'm in the mood for or what I think that customers will like.

Also things that I think they might not like 'cause I like to be creative.

I like to try it and try to see if I can get them to use it.

These are the first thing I grew, eggplants.

A lot of people don't know how to cook them.

So I kind of go on my Facebook page and kinda show people how I cook them, whether even can saute them.

- [David] What made you wanna do eggplant this year?

- I was just curious like, hmm, what all can I do?

How can I make this?

I really think of anything people usually don't buy at a store or just buy all the time, I wanna grow it.

I wanna see can I make people buy it?

That's how I had to do with kale.

At first, no one around here was dealing with kale.

They was like, uh-uh.

I said, you know, just get some for free.

So I give them some for free and they'll come back and they say, oh, I love that kale and they just keep getting.

(lighthearted music) These are the Brussels sprout clan.

But what people don't know is you can eat the leaves off of Brussels sprouts.

And you can just cook them the same as Brussels sprouts, 'cause I've done it too until these come in.

Because these have been here since March, and the Brussels sprout bulbs, they have actually just came up.

So it takes a long time for them to come up, so if it's your actual plant, you don't have to sit there and wait for them to come up.

Just go ahead and take some of these leaves and cook them like the Brussels sprouts.

- [David] I never knew that about the leaves.

- [David] They're just like Brussels sprouts, so they're, like, not tender, they're harder.

So I would just, I cook them hard.

I cook them in the cast iron skillet instead of in the oven 'cause I think they'll get too brittle.

- [David] And they can handle that.

- Yeah.

- [David] Good-looking sprouts, how do you like to eat the Brussels sprouts?

- I like to put a little bacon in it, a little seasoning, regular, like, seasoning salt.

And then you also put like some vinegarette dressing on it once you get done and put it in the oven.

These are scuppernong plants, they're not muscadine.

They're both in the same family.

Someone planted these for my grandmother 10 to 15 years ago, and his name was Chick.

So Chick helps a lot of farm steel, but he just randomly planted it out here and they have been growing ever since.

All I do is maintain them, but around the end of August, September, they're going to get more clear.

So right now it's a dark green, it's gonna be more of a light green.

- [David] They're pretty.

- They are.

They're really good this year.

(mellow music) Okay, so this is Purple Passion.

It is beets, pineapple, blackberry, ginger.

So what I do is I drink this early in the morning and you're gonna see a change.

You may not need coffee that morning, you may not need that midday nap.

It just really helps with just overall energy.

We have the Green Greatness, and this is green apple, kale, pineapple, and a little bit of ginger.

With the Green Greatness, this helps with gut health, so you wanna make sure you're gonna be very regular.

So it helps with your skin, it just helps with your overall digestive system.

And then we have my favorite, the Mango Ginger.

It's mangoes, pineapple, and a little bit of ginger.

And what this is, it helps with immune system.

It's just amazing taste.

I love it, this is my favorite.

- [David] These juices have helped your kids' immunity.

They've almost been the test subjects.

- I was just gonna say.

I hate that I use my kids as a test subject, but hey, they needed it and it actually helped them.

(tender music) I really love where I came from.

This Salem community, everything is family value.

My uncle is a landscaper, so he cuts my grass at the farm.

I have my sister working one of my markets in Perry.

I have another cousin, she's running my market, and another on Wednesdays.

So everyone's just helping me.

My dad, I can't even put a title on everything my dad helped me with, just everything.

I always tell people the way you find your gift is just by trying things and then God just reveal it to you, like what you really should be doing.

(tender music continues) - [David] So her plans are in place and from the looks of things during my visit and from the ambition I sensed within this hardworking farmer, no doubt this farm and this market will grow just the way she plans: shining light on her family's past and this community as a whole.

(tender music fades) (slow rock music builds) We now journey up to Decatur, Georgia to meet a young entrepreneur who, by chance, may have created the world's greatest apple pie.

(swanky music) Be it a businessman, a scientist, or simply a chef in a suit, Esco Hill is a name you'll remember.

He's serious about his business, that's obvious, but he doesn't stress about the process and you need to pay close attention to pick up when he's being serious and when he is joking with you.

But one thing is for sure; this little award-winning pie is no joke.

(swanky music continues) - We go to the highest mountains in the world and source these apples.

These apples are special to Esco Eats.

(vinyl glitches) Actually, no, you think anyone will get that joke?

I'm not gonna say that, it was a joke.

- [David] I was like, wow!

- I was having a conversation in college and one of my friends said it would be cool to be a food critic.

And just like that, I was sparked an idea of a food series that I was gonna create called "Esco Eats".

And so from there I took a one-way flight home from college to start a food series.

Food critic turned chef and chef turns food critic.

So on one of the episodes I had a Yale gymnast on my set and that day I did not read the instructions to an apple pie.

And as serendipity have it, I made the best dessert in the world.

It's called the World Famous Apple Cobbler Pie.

(bright music) - [David] It started off a mistake.

Did you remember where it went wrong?

- Luckily enough, we did record it.

And so because the episode was recorded, I was able to go back and look at each fine detail to see where I went wrong or where I went right.

When we first made it, it looked more like a cobbler, hence the name the World Famous Apple Cobbler Pie.

But I fine-tuned it kind of look more like a pie because image sells.

And so from there, that's why it's two desserts in one.

Room temperature, it's a pie, but when heated returns to a cobbler so you still get the best of both worlds from that original recipe, even now to looking like a pie today.

- [David] That first pie you made, was it a big pie?

Was it a small pie?

- It was nine inches.

- [David] All right, but what I see behind you today, they're a little smaller.

- They're minis.

We found a very niche market with our minis.

It was actually our third variation of the pie.

So we had a nine inch, we had a five inch, and then we end up decreasing it to a three inch.

It was already prepackaged and it was already ready to eat.

And so that right there automatically made it a hit, because when people think of pie is was a negative perception.

It was, I gotta cut it, it's too many cuts, too many slices, it's messy, no one wants to dig into it.

And so we completely busted that narrative and we made the mini.

We're a destination dessert, which means we don't ship outside of Atlanta at all.

So people travel all around the world to Atlanta for this product.

Large events, small events.

It goes really well with our premium just-in-time offering with the World Famous Apple Cobbler Pie.

(upbeat music) - [David] So now we cook.

Some ingredients are obvious.

Let's start with the Granny Smith apples.

All right, so I see the apples, I see the pie, and I see the chef in a suit.

- I can only do it in a suit.

It's something about the suit that brings out a little extra flavor.

- [David] High-end apples here.

Pick them from the highest point on earth, right?

- Yes, the highest point on earth.

These apples were grown with love and we watched them grow each step of the way.

We read them lullabies as well.

(upbeat rock music) Perfectly balanced.

Usually one full apple can make about six minis.

Perfect precision.

It's nothing like a hand-cut apple.

- [David] But much like a magician, this suited chef doesn't reveal too many secrets, and that's just part of the fun.

- [Esco] I'm just gonna bathe it a little bit.

(upbeat rock music continues) All this crumble was made by hand.

50/50 split blend of the toppings right here.

- [David] Three pies.

How it got there, no one will know.

- No one knows how we got to this step right here, but we traveled a long way to come to this moment right here in time.

A lot of people think I'm a chef.

I'm really a scientist disguised as a chef.

Crust is on and the magic is waiting to happen.

(dramatic music) (captivating music) The best reaction's always on that second bite.

The first one is like, wow, okay, he wasn't lying.

This is the best dessert in the world, and this is that second after bite that hits them.

It's like, wow, it's like a rush of happiness that hits you.

- [David] And if like me, you spend all of this time filming, taking in smells and anticipating the final product, you just have to jump at the chance to eat a little pie right out of the oven.

So that's what I did.

(lighthearted music) This is the moment of truth, you've built this up now.

- [Esco] Yes, so this is it.

- [David] This is it.

- So there is a way to eat this, though.

A lot of people have to know that this is not just your normal granny apple pie.

- Okay.

- You wanna get the topping, the filling and the crust.

That together combines for the World Class experience.

- All in there?

- All in there.

- All three layers.

- All three layers in there.

And so, David, this is the moment.

I don't want you to edit this.

- Okay, okay.

- Just look into the camera and let you know, is this World Famous or is it not World Famous?

Here we go.

- This is not gonna be edited.

Here we go, here we go.

Gonna get the big chunk there.

Getting the pie, the crust.

(captivating classical music) What do you think?

Oh, there's a piece.

- There we go.

- Is this an Esco-approved scoop?

- It is, it's a hearty scoop, I like that.

- Okay.

(captivating classical music continues) Mm.

I got the big chunk at the top.

There's the apple.

Oh, that was gorgeous.

A gorgeous flavor.

- A lot of people think it happens on the first bite, but it's really that second bite that seals the deal, so.

- Oh, I can go again?

All right, all right.

- More bite for the people.

- You notice my second bite's bigger.

(swanky music) You were right.

I am getting more of the cinnamon in that second bite.

That's crazy, why is that?

You weren't just being goofy.

- Perfectly balanced flavors.

- It is better the second time.

Let's go, I love this.

- Yes sir.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- You mind if I take that with me?

- It's all you.

- All right, all right.

Have a good one.

(swanky music fades) So it's a wrap.

- It's a wrap, guys.

- So from the deep, rich Waverly woods of Grassroots Farms where nature and farming exhibit a perfect balance, to a middle Georgia family farm and market feeding and juicing the next generation, and a pie-making scientific chef who's concocted an extraordinary treat that's famously even better on the second time you taste it.

These three stories are wound common by a thread of passion and drive to succeed in what they love.

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

(upbeat bluegrass music) (music fades) "A Fork in the Road" was brought to you by- - I'm Tyler Harper.

As your agriculture commissioner, I have the honor of representing one of the hardest working groups of people in our state: our farmers.

That's why we invite you to take the Georgia Grown Challenge.

Try any Georgia specialty crop against any other state's produce, and you'll pick Georgia-grown.

♪ Picture perfect ♪ ♪ Hang your picture on the wall ♪ (mellow R&B music) ♪ I see you shine from afar ♪ ♪ Yeah to me you are a star ♪ ♪ All right baby ♪ ♪ Feels good feels right ♪ ♪ Take the feeling pass it on ♪ ♪ Just pass it on ♪ I'm Tyler Harper.

As your agriculture commissioner, I have the honor of representing one of the hardest working groups of people in our state: our farmers.

That's why we invite you to take the Georgia Grown Challenge.

Try any Georgia specialty crop against any other state's produce, and you'll pick Georgia-grown.