- Corn isn't just about everything these days.

It's in our soda, it's in our cereal, but the way it's processed, it strips out most of the nutrition our bodies actually need.

But what if there was a method thousands of years old that actually made corn more nutritious, not less?

The Haudenosaunee had it.

They didn't have labs, they didn't have factories.

It was just wisdom passed down through the years.

Well, on this episode of "Rolling Thru," they're going to show us just how they did it.

What else is in store for the 70-plus miles we cover today?

Some hiccups, and I'm going to ride a bike that's pedaled with your arms.

I'll look into how a glass of wine and women's right to vote can be connected, and how all our stops are at the intersection of a healthy democracy.

Skeptical?

Bear with me and stick around.

This is "Rolling Thru," a bicycle travel show.

(lively music) It's a cloudy start as we roll out of Rochester proper and drop back onto the canal.

Out here, the Erie Canal winds through the east side suburbs, passing a string of quaint, almost Norman Rockwell-looking canal towns.

Last episode we talked about how places like Medina and here, towns like Pittsford and Fairport, popped up as booming hubs once the canal was completed.

But the culture runs deeper on the east side; you feel it in the buildings, in the streetscape, and in this case, it literally runs deep, or shallow.

The canal used to be much shallower here, and one prominent local, Oliver Culver, built and launched the fourth canal boat ever made right on this stretch, a shallow-water packet boat that helped kickstart canal commerce right here in the region.

Today, these towns really lean into that history while keeping a modern world in mind.

Walkable village centers hug the canal, lined with cafes, restaurants, and shops.

The canal isn't about moving freight anymore; it's about recreation.

And these places have adapted.

And speaking of adaptation, most bikes and trails, they're built for the average able-bodied rider.

And that's great unless you fall outside that category.

There are lots of reasons someone may have issues with mobility, and when that's the case, you know just how big a hurdle simply enjoying the outdoors can be.

But there are places here that understand these kinds of amenities should be for everyone.

When you come to the village of Fairport, there's a guy that rents bikes and kayaks to anyone who wants one, lowering the barrier so more people can actually enjoy the canal.

And yes, if you believe in nominative determinism, Pete Abele might be the perfect guy for the job.

- I was sitting here on a Sunday morning talking to the people walking by, so a young man was pushing a gentleman in a wheelchair, and we just started talking, and he said, "Oh, I used to go kayaking all the time, and I loved it."

I said, "Well, when's the last time you went?"

He goes, "Oh, it's been years."

I said, "Well, why don't you come next week, and we'll go kayaking?"

And he goes, "I can't kayak, I'm in a wheelchair."

I said, "I don't see a problem.

You're sitting down in a wheelchair, you're sitting down in a kayak.

We'll help you in.

We have a tandem kayak.

Your son-in-law can paddle along."

Came back the next weekend and went paddling.

And I started thinking to myself, there is wonderful opportunities for the community to get out on this canal and go kayaking, and why not try to open it up to people of various abilities?

And as we looked into what we might need to do, we found a person, Anita O'Brien, who is with Rochester Accessible Adventures, but they had an adaptive cycling program.

They did it once a week during the summer.

So we got into conversation, said, you know, it doesn't make sense that you're moving your bikes back and forth every week.

And we provided them a kayaking and cycling location for people of all abilities, and we've been doing it ever since.

- Can you tell me about the growth of adaptive cycling, like in your business over the years?

- It's absolutely phenomenal the growth that we've seen, and it more comes with the knowledge and experience that we've had.

It's very hard for somebody that has not experienced biking or hasn't been cycling for a long time to know that we have tricycles here that are specifically suited for their abilities.

And knowing that you have somebody here that has the knowledge to fit them in correctly and help them through that first couple of times so they can get used to getting back into the sport, and being in a location like this where they can do it with their families and their friends and just go out cycling at their convenience.

It's just amazing.

- And it reconnects them with nature.

- It reconnects them completely.

It does.

The community around here is so understanding, and they're so accepting and helpful in what we do.

But over the last five years, we have seen tremendous support from New York State, and they have been almost looking at us as a model for what villages and cities can do for adaptive recreation.

When we talk to people and we talk to communities about adaptive programming, people say 25% of the population has some sort of disability.

So I'm not just renting one piece of equipment to somebody with a disability; I'm renting that piece plus to their family and friends that are going out with them.

- You're including the whole family.

- It is very family-friendly, especially if you have never kayaked before.

Cycling is the same way.

So it's just a great experience for everybody to just get out on the trail.

- Pete, thanks for taking the time to talk to me today.

- Absolutely.

- One last important question: can I try out an adaptive cycle?

- Sure.

- All right.

- Absolutely.

- Let's go check it out.

Access matters because it includes all of us, even if you don't think that applies to you.

Pick up a lot of speed with this.

Get really good moving on this.

I like this a lot.

Its so extremely comfortable.

We definitely need more of these.

We need these in every town.

Suburbia is often framed as keeping up with the Joneses, but what if it was keeping up on the trail?

Access to recreation benefits everyone: city folks, country folks, and yes, suburbanites too.

Imagine riding over for canal-side dinner and drinks with friends without stressing about parking or driving home.

Oh, what could be.

Now we're leaving the Empire State Trail for a quick side quest down to the Finger Lakes, and that means one thing: it's time to talk corn.

But that, of course, won't come before some challenges.

- Our hero Pat is on the search for the little small piece that might have fallen off further down.

Come along with me, and we'll try to find it.

- I say we take it off, store both away, or the fender mount and the fender, and you know, we just go from there.

It should be fine.

The multi-tool is the exact size cut out for... yeah, so the zip tie broke, and we lost... the problem is this little piece.

- Okay, gotcha.

- Came off.

So we got to get something to match and then tie it off.

- Making it happen.

We're just rolling through whatever happens, you know, let's keep it going.

- We peel south and hop onto the Auburn Trail, which follows the old path of the Auburn and Rochester Railroad.

The “Auburn Road” once carried passengers by rolling hills and lake views, a route known as much for its scenery as its destination.

You can imagine how that kind of travel really created a sense of connection to the land.

But it's worth pausing here.

So much of this history we've talked about, canals, railroads, it centers on a very specific period of settlement, and it's a period that isn't remembered fondly by many.

So maybe we look a little deeper, and a little earlier.

This land was the ancestral home of the Seneca Nation.

Long before rails ended up getting put down, this was an ancient Seneca footpath.

So what happened?

In 1779, George Washington ordered the Clinton-Sullivan campaign, a scorched-earth assault on the Haudenosaunee.

Entire villages were destroyed; fields of corn and orchards were burned to force the Seneca from their land.

And even after treaties recognized Indigenous land rights, private interests used pressure and coercion to claim the land needed for the railroad.

But as we arrive deeper into this region, one thing stands out: the resilience of the Haudenosaunee.

That's why today at the Ganondagan Historic Site, the White Corn Project is reclaiming that legacy.

It's a restorative agricultural effort centered on food sovereignty and the preservation of an ancient heirloom seed, a staple of the Haudenosaunee life for at least 1,400 years.

Corn.

They're not here?

I just rolled all the way here, and they're not here.

That was like 20 miles.

No, I'm just kidding.

We already got that interview.

It was too important not to include.

Roll the footage.

The folks behind the White Corn Project happened to be on vacation the week I planned this ride, but this story was too critical to skip.

So we sat down ahead of time to talk about their work reintroducing a vital and traditional corn known as Tuscarora White, and why it matters today.

Here to teach me more are Peter, Angel, and Lorinda.

- So in 2012, we moved the project here.

We renovated the farmhouse, and now just most recently this year, this building was renovated, and also our kitchen and the farmhouse, so that we can continue production on-site of the white corn.

This corn has not been modified by any means.

You know, it's a product that is heirloom.

It's been controlled by us.

It's a white corn; it has a very hard hull on it.

And that hull has to be removed through a process called nixtamalization.

- Traditionally, we used hardwood ashes, and these days we use a culinary lime.

The difference is a hardwood ash would soften that hull, and then we would have a traditional corn-washing basket.

You'd have to take a handful and scrub like crazy for a while to really scrape that hull off.

- By doing that, we release the amino acids that are cell-building, you know, important for the body.

And so this corn has been sustaining us all these years.

- It has a lot more minerals, nutrients of all kinds, but it also has a low glycemic index, and it is a slow-processing food.

Here we start with the husking bee, so removing all but three or four strong husks on the cob, and then it all gets braided together so that it can be set aside to dry in a corn crib.

And then it goes across the way to the farmhouse for the actual process of it.

And that is on the stove.

Takes about an hour on the stove, and then we have to do a really good rinsing of it.

We spread it out on these trays to put in the dehydrator.

You know, different kernels have different jobs.

We'll sort out seed corn, we'll sort out any corn that's to be processed.

And then we sort out any compost corn, because that compost corn, even if it has mold in it, we can't eat it.

There's still a use for it.

And usually, that's going into the compost and creating fertilizer for the next garden.

- So you're able to find more and more sustainable ways to process this corn.

- We originally planted it together with the beans and the squash in what we call a Three Sisters garden.

The beans put nitrogen into the soil for the corn, which really relies on nitrogen.

And then the squash leaves block the sun from the roots of the white corn so that they don't get too much sunlight and dry up, retaining water that's underneath the leaf.

And so together they're reciprocal in that sense.

We say of that, “Dewënödë:node: jöhehgöh,” meaning "they sustain us," these foods sustain us.

- So speaking of feeding yourselves, can we talk about bringing it to the table?

- They believe the younger that we introduce it to individuals, the more sustainable we will be in growing our projects and everything, because we can't just take our knowledge; we have to share it.

Well, the kitchen alone brings people together because it's a center place of the home, or even any building.

Everybody, if it smells good, they want to know what's going on.

That part brings 'em to the table.

- I'm very much known for that.

If something smells good food-wise, I'm there.

- And it's really important then, when they come in, not to be like, "Hey, get out of the kitchen."

You know, because that is such a common thing, like, "Get out of the kitchen, I'm cooking dinner."

Taking the time to explain it, bringing them in and having that open talk about slowing it down, because I think when we slow things down is when we can actually enjoy ourselves, and enjoy learning, and enjoy sharing.

As Haudenosaunee, we are known to tell stories, and to share stories; we have to share 'em in order for it to keep going.

- Ganondagan reminds us that caring for our ecological health goes hand in hand with our body's health.

When we take care of the land, the land takes care of us.

And this fits in perfectly with the Seventh Generation principle.

It's a core tenet of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy's governance.

They direct council members to abandon self-interest and act for future generations.

It demands that leaders and individuals consider the impacts of their actions on descendants not yet born, roughly 150 years ahead.

So it's more than just sustainability; it's about heritage, about honoring histories and knowledge passed down for generations.

So we nourish our soil, we nourish our bodies, and we keep history alive.

As we roll on, I want to keep following this idea of caring for the literal fruits of our labor, which takes us deeper into the Finger Lakes.

This region is serious about wine.

Sure, it's not Napa, but don't sleep on it.

With deep glacial lakes, rolling hills, and cool-climate grapes, the Finger Lakes has quietly become one of the most exciting wine regions in the country.

And I'm excited to explore it, even with all the hills.

There's a French concept called terroir.

It literally translates to soil, but in winemaking, it means much more than that.

Terroir is the mix of soil, climate, topography, even local farming traditions that create what ends up in your glass.

Grapes are incredibly sensitive to their environment, which is why the same grape can taste completely different depending on where it's grown.

That means every glass of wine carries the flavor of its climate, literally.

But when that climate starts to change, it gets hotter, wetter, more unpredictable, what happens to the wine?

To help answer that, we're at Ravines Wine Cellars, one of the first Finger Lakes wineries to pilot Cornell's sustainability certification program and officially certified in 2023.

It's a family-run operation led by Lisa Hallgren and her daughter Elise.

And they've welcomed us in to see what sustainability looks like from the vine up.

- We, wherever possible, use organic sprays.

Of course, we don't use any herbicides or insecticides, and we use a lot, we use cover crops also.

Legume, clover, you know, peas and things like that.

To break up the soil, to keep it aerated, to keep the weeds down.

- It basically makes it so we don't have to use nitrogen-added fertilizer, which is a big hazard in particular for the lake, because the runoff goes right in there, and it causes things like unpleasant algae blooms.

- It's about soil health.

So it all comes back to the health of the vines and being able to weather all of the extremes that climate change is bringing us.

Having healthy vines can help better weather the extreme weather events that we have.

- What have you experienced, I guess, in the past few years?

Have you noticed more weather events?

Has that impacted some of the growing season?

- Polar vortexes.

It's something that creates very cold winds very fast.

Generally, at the end of the season, you like for the weather to change slowly so the vines have a chance to develop a good wood exterior and be able to weather the winter.

But then you have these polar vortexes that bring a lot of really cold weather really fast and hang around for a while.

So that's a difficult situation.

And then also the very strong, torrential rains that come in and just wash everything away.

- Additionally, years that are hotter and more humid, they cause more disease pressure in the vines.

- We have these really strong hurricanes that come up the coast also, and will drop seven days' worth of rain when the Pinot is just ready to be picked, and you can't do anything about it.

You pick as much as you can, but then the rest is... we've had grapes just on the ground, which is so tragic after a really wonderful growing season.

But just keeping those vines strong and healthy is the best way that we can weather all of that really bad weather.

In the fall, we take all of our leftover pressed skins, seeds, grape seeds, stems, and we compost them with the donkey manure.

And once they're all composted, then we're able to put all of that back in the vineyard, basically taking the nutrients that were lost during harvest, and then we put them back into the vineyard after they're all composted.

- So everything that you're doing is like a holistic approach to be better for the soil, but in return, it gives you better wine.

- A regenerative approach to agriculture is what we try to keep here.

- Keeping in mind land stewardship and making the most delicious wine possible by keeping our land full of organic matter and regenerating itself is what's important.

- This is the dry Riesling from our Limestone Springs vineyard, which is here in Geneva.

- I'm not a sommelier, so am I supposed to, like, sniff white wine or...?

- No, because it's very aromatic.

It's really beautiful.

So it's a great way to enjoy.

Your olfactory system is way more advanced than your palate.

So you get more enjoyment and more details out of the complexity of aromas.

- That's really nice.

- Thank you.

- This is great.

- Thank you.

- Wow.

Well, I want to thank you for having me.

This has been awesome.

Going to probably get a bottle for maybe the back of my bike.

We'll see.

We'll see if I can manage it.

There's a quote by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that's always stayed with me.

He wrote, "The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself."

At its core, the land we inhabit is a fundamental safeguard of our society.

American soil is as much a part of this country as American democracy.

The two are linked.

And if soil can be damaged and then restored, maybe the same is true of our democracy, because throughout its history, American democracy has had real and serious flaws, which leads us to our next destination.

And it's a bit further out in the country.

- Ooh, that's a great smell.

Love it.

- We've reached a town that supposedly served as the inspiration for the setting of my favorite film, "It's a Wonderful Life."

The movie is many things, but at its heart, it's a story about the power of community, about what happens when people show up for one another.

We're in Seneca Falls, New York, where in 1848, a convention was held that forced the nation to reexamine what American democracy could and should be.

- We are in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.

- It's a good spot.

- Yeah.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton finds herself in Seneca Falls.

She's been living here for about a year.

And she's very struck with, you know, how things have not really changed, nothing's improved.

Women are in a pretty bad spot.

At this tea party, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, today we'd kind of say she kind of breaks and dumps.

You know, she kind of has that moment.

She's in this safe space with people who understand, and her quote is, "The torrent of my discontent will pour forth with such vehemence and indignation that I'll stir the party and myself to do and dare anything."

- And it was almost immediately that Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and these other reformers decided that they would organize a public meeting in the chapel by placing a notice in the local newspaper, calling for a convention to discuss the rights of women.

- They decided it'll be a two-day convention.

The first day will be exclusively for women.

The second day will be open to all men and women, both.

The dates they'll select will be July 19th and July 20th.

The tea party was July 9th.

So they're literally giving themselves 10 days to put this whole thing together.

- At the center of it all was the Declaration of Sentiments, a document modeled after the Declaration of Independence, written largely by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

It laid out point by point how laws and social norms denied women basic rights, from property and education to work and political power.

And most controversially, it argued that women should have the right to vote.

- The vote becomes the central issue and the critical issue.

And it's the first time we really see that being asked.

The big thing that'll happen at the end of the day is they will vote on whether or not they have to sign the Declaration of Sentiments, and they will compromise.

Women will sign it first, and men will sign it second.

And so 68 women, 32 men, 100 people will sign the document.

All of this paperwork all ends up going to Frederick Douglass, who at this time is running a newspaper in Rochester, and his printer, John Dick, will print out a small pamphlet called the "Report of the Women's Rights Convention."

And it has the Declaration of Sentiments, the names, the resolutions that they had argued about.

But it gets picked up by the papers.

And within a couple days, the story is across America; it's super fast.

Two weeks after the first Women's Rights Convention, we will have the second Women's Rights Convention held up in Rochester, 600 to a thousand people in attendance, kind of part two.

And at that convention will of course be the father, mother, and sister of Susan B. Anthony, who will then receive a letter from her family saying, "You should probably get involved in this."

And three years later, she will meet Elizabeth Cady Stanton here in Seneca Falls.

And the two women begin this 50-year-long partnership, friendship, active working agreement together, and very much shape everything that happens.

Two years after the first Women's Rights Convention, we'll have our first national convention.

So two years to a national convention in Massachusetts.

11 states in attendance.

Super fast, super quick.

- Wow.

So this small town in upstate New York gets the ball rolling for a national movement.

It's a revelatory moment for the promise of democracy.

So what does it mean to you, then, sitting in this and being here almost every day?

What's that feel like?

- The thing that I appreciate, and the thing that I go back to every time, is I just love the idea of where ideas change, you know?

The stone is cold, and it's just stuff; it's cool, it's great, it's awesome.

But when we can actually see people starting to change how they think, change how their ideas change how the world looks, it's everything.

And that's our world.

That's what's going to matter and last longer than anything else: brick, mortar.

The bricks represent this change.

They represent this idea.

But it's the idea that's the thing.

It's how you feel about it, how you think about it.

That's the power of these places.

What does it make you do afterwards?

What does it make you go home and fight for?

- And I hope that everybody in America will come to Seneca Falls and will visit here, and I mean, maybe go to the "It's a Wonderful Life" museum, because I do love that movie.

- A lot of argument being said that part of "It's a Wonderful Life" draws inspiration from this movement.

It's people fighting for human freedom and, you know, human life and loving one another.

- After a long day in the saddle, good wine and good friends are all that matters.

It might be the wine that's talking at this point, but connecting some more dots: sustainability matters for wine, for its terroir, its flavor, its future.

But maybe the most important thing about wine is that you toast with it.

There's another French word I love: sante.

It means health.

You raise a glass to the health of your neighbor.

It's a simple gesture wishing someone well.

But I think it's the sign of a healthy society.

And a healthy society depends on a healthy democracy.

Everyone deserves a seat at the table, or a seat on the bike.

Everyone deserves to have their voice heard and be welcome to raise a glass.

Sustainability, democracy, toasting.

They're all acts of shared care.

They matter.

They're the sante of society.

(energetic music) Next time on "Rolling Thru," we head into some of New York's most fragile and remarkable landscapes, from the Montezuma Wetlands to the shores of Onondaga Lake.

We'll also have to contend with Mother Nature in a real way.

But the payoff leads to a surprising party city.

(energetic music) ♪ We brought it on ourself ♪ Just like it's already here ♪ Once more burden as I am ♪ We know, we care again ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ Yeah, yeah - You make people less intimidated by the prospect of getting into cycling, just getting out and enjoying nature.

It's important.