(country music) - [David] "A Fork in the Road," was brought to you by: (upbeat music) - [Man] Georgia's soil is rich.

It's climate agreeable, it's agricultural variety, exceptional.

That's why we're nature's favorite state.

Georgia Grown supports the farmers and producers who work the land, and keep us fed, because we all grow better together.

Find out more about Georgia agriculture at GeorgiaGrown.com.

(upbeat music) - Since 1917, the "Farmers and Consumers Market "Bulletin," has been Georgia's primary resource for all things agriculture, from thousands of classifieds, for livestock, farm supplies, equipment, and home grown goods, to the latest and most important farming news.

The fascinating and ever-changing world of agriculture.

(upbeat music) 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."

♪ Mm, mm, ♪ ♪ 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 and the food we consume.

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

Down here, roots run deep.

From a pure natural spring delivering a sparkling refreshment and cheesy little straws that symbolize Southern comfort, to a charismatic casserole maker in the heart of Columbus, and a fine muscadine wine grown on a family farm going way back in time.

That's where we begin, down in Nashville, Georgia that is, home to sweet wine from the roots of South Georgia vines.

(gentle music) Along the edge of these beautifully manicured 40 acres, runs a small stream known as Horse Creek; the namesake for this award winning refreshment.

Nashville, Georgia is home to Horse Creek Winery at Perry Vineyards.

This property represents a perfect blend of old Southern traditions and the progression and innovation of the new South.

And if these muscadine grapes could talk, they'd tell you they're the sweetest in the US of A.

(upbeat music) Ed and Andrea Perry are the founders and owners of Horse Creek Winery, a business that began in 2008, but this land and this family history goes way back.

- This farm, this family farm goes back to the 1800s at the end of the Civil War.

Our family have always been a family of agriculture and they started out actually in the timber business when timber was big, and they often say the railroad came and got the timber for cross ties, and then when the timber was cut, we got into the cotton farming.

The boll weevil got the cotton, and then we went into the tobacco business, raising tobacco.

And the government got the tobacco, when they found out it was so unsafe.

So we got into the cattle business, and then it evolved into produce, and the produce we chose was the muscadine grape.

The muscadine grape is native to Georgia; it's been here since before man.

It was here with the dinosaurs.

It's a native grape, and it's easy to grow, it's resistant to diseases that you find around here.

It'll survive in the humidity.

And then we started selling that to wineries around the country, and they found out that the grapes coming from this vineyard made really excellent wine.

So when we harvest our grapes, we do it by hand.

All our grapes are picked by hand, we don't harvest any of it by machines.

So whenever we made the wine, or sold the grapes, to Chateau Elan or to any of the other wineries, the reason we thought maybe the reason it was making such a superior wine is because of the grape was really a pure grape and it wasn't mixed with any leaves, or trash, or bugs, or anything else that may happen to get in a mechanical harvesting.

So that's what got us into the wine business.

(gentle music) - [David] Horse Creek bottles over 25 varieties of wine, the majority coming from these sweet Georgia grown muscadines that burst with natural Southern sweetness, so it only seems fitting to blend it with a few other natural flavors that grow from this Southern soil.

- We always wanted to accent agriculture; that was what our roots were, so we developed watermelon wine, blueberries, blackberries, and peach of course, which the state's known as the Peach State, and that is our best selling wine, but we have strawberry and all the other fruits and commodities that's grown around the state.

So all of our product is a Georgia grown, and Georgia produced, and has a Georgia history behind it.

(upbeat music) - We've actually been able to take our muscadine grapes and make award-winning wine all over the country with it.

We send it up to international competitions in New York and out to California yearly, and our muscadine wines, I mean, they compete with the biggest cabernet, chardonnay, and merlot grapes that are out there.

- [David] Soon after the awards started stacking up, Ed and the Horse Creek team quickly realized that they had something special, and found the best way to share this wine was to combine it with good times.

A charming tasting room and store soon opened here in Nashville, followed by another tasting room and spectacular bistro in the little town of Sparks.

The Sparks location seen clearly from the road while traveling interstate I-75, about 30 miles north of the Florida border, is a neoclassical style home with a massive covered back porch that comfortably tucks into the surrounding vineyard.

- We've actually had some people that have come in, they've just seen the building, and stopped because they thought the building was just beautiful and they had to see the inside of it.

- [David] These well manicured muscadine vines are draped as a picture perfect canvas all along these 40 acres, painting a perfect backdrop for weddings and other special events.

But these old vines take expertise to maintain.

The handpicked grapes are then carried to the chilled fermentation room where they are pressed, cold stabilized, and bottled, or in some cases repurposed for a thirst quenching Southern refreshment.

That's right, wine slushies.

(gentle music) - We have a lot of hot days down here.

You finish up your wine tastin', it comes with a wine slushie.

We've also now got it to go.

They can come in, sit anywhere on premise, and enjoy it, or they can take them in a little jug to go, and it really cools you down on these hot South Georgia days.

- [David] These classic Georgia grown wines can be found at each of the primary locations and stores all over the Southeast, but one of the sweetest places I found to take a load off and relax with some fine muscadine wine is the Horse Creek Winery tasting room in Georgia's second oldest city, Darien, home to the Waterfront Wine and Gourmet.

(gentle music) - [Ed] Horse Creek Winery embraces rural Georgia and it embraces Georgia history.

So, our third leg of what we're trying to create with Horse Creek Winery, is going to the coast at Darien, Georgia.

It was settled about the same time that Savannah was with Oglethorpe, and my descendants actually came over with Oglethorpe as indentured servants.

They had to work for seven years to be a citizen of the crown and part of the colonies, which they did.

So, the Waterfront Wine Bar and Gourmet is actually our flagship tasting room, which is located in Darien, and they promote Horse Creek Winery, and we in turn promote them.

Their mission is to perpetuate good feel of a good time, but in a historical environment.

- [David] And since lovers of this wine have been so supportive through the years, Ed and the rest of the Horse Creek team have decided to give back.

And for that, we go way back, about 200 years to the original construction of the Sapelo Island Lighthouse, an historic Barrier Island beacon situated just north of Darien.

(epic music) - [Ed] 1820 is when the light house was built.

That's 200 years ago, and then the range beacon came along later behind that in order to give guidance to the ship in order where to actually approach the harbor, and also give them a bearing on how far out they were.

That's why it's called a range mark.

And both of these navigation aids were very important from the middle of 1800s all the way to 1930.

- [David] The 65 foot tall Sapelo Island Lighthouse is one of only five lighthouses remaining in Georgia.

And about 150 yards from the iconic tower, is a cast iron range beacon, built in 1877, and thought to be the only one of its kind in existence.

David Freedman of the Freedman Engineering Group has teamed with Horse Creek Winery and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to restore and maintain these two historic structures.

- We were introduced to Ed Perry at Horse Creek Winery, and came up with the idea of a private label wine to celebrate the lighthouse, and interesting enough, the lighthouse, the day mark is red and white, so that worked out well, and they're all made in Georgia from Georgia products at Horse Creek Winery.

- The wine is a gold medal wine, so the profits are going to restore that, but we want to preserve that light house, and we want to preserve that range marker, because it's a proud part of our history, and a proud part of the settlement of Georgia.

- This lighthouse and the range beacon, and the other structures, the cisterns and the oil house, they require a continuous upkeep and maintenance, and just somebody coming out all the time, cleaning the lights, cleaning the rust off.

For example, the range beacon, even though it's just been sandblasted and painted, it's gonna begin to show signs of rust and deterioration probably within a few years.

Clean off the rust and repaint different sections.

Same thing with the lighthouse.

The idea of the proceeds would go to help fund that continual maintenance and, you know, reduce the strain on the state government.

(gentle music) - [David] Every sale of the Lighthouse Red and Range Beacon White are a self rewarding way to make a contribution and help preserve an important piece of coastal Georgia history, all courtesy, a refreshingly sweet Georgia grown grape from a family that's been growing in the South since Georgia's beginnings.

(upbeat music) From Sapelo Island, our next fork in the road takes us up to Pine Mountain, home to an inspiring and beautiful Blue Spring.

(dramatic music) This place is seemingly out of a fairy tale, the Blue Spring.

Pure, clean natural water bubbling through a quartzite rock bed over a hundred feet below the surface, and it was this tranquil spring that caught the eye of Cason and Virginia Hand Callaway in the 1920s, and inspired them to purchase 2,500 acres in Harris County, Georgia, that surrounded the spring.

A land purchase venture that has since expanded through the years.

And once you step foot in this part of the country, you instantly capture the appeal.

As you explore this region, part of which is the now famous Callaway Resort and Gardens, and nearby FDR State Park, there are stunning panoramics all around that seem to come out of nowhere.

There's the brilliant plum leaf azaleas, among other rare native flowers that flourish in this pocket of Georgia, and tucked away at the head of this trickling stream, is the Blue Spring itself, a natural source of this Georgia grown refreshment, Montane Sparkling Spring Water.

(gentle music) - My great grandparents heard about the spring and came here on a picnic in 1928, and they fell in love with the springs and the land surrounding it, and they bought it in 1932, and spent the rest of their lives restoring the habitat and sharing it with others.

Montane means mountainous and it's the name of one of the habitats we have here on the Springs property.

The purity is because of the quartzite bedrock that the water flows through.

Most springs flow through sedimentary rock, like limestone or dolomite, and those erode over time.

This is like glass, it doesn't erode over time, it's hardened silicon dioxide, and all that to say that it's exceptionally pure.

There's hardly anything in the water and it's some of the purest water in the world, is right here in the state of Georgia.

(gentle music) - [David] Hollis Callaway is president of the company and has been coming to this spring with his family and friends his entire life, swimming in the clear emerald water downstream from the source, and often walking back upstream to take a refreshing water break from the handy silver ladle that hangs from a nearby tree branch - The Springs are secluded here.

You walk through a small gap in the prunifolias, and as you go up, it opens up into a large moss wall and at the base of it is this iridescent blue spring, where the water comes out, and it's exceptionally beautiful and we love sharing it with the world.

(gentle music) In 2017, I was a big sparkling water drinker, and one day I looked at the can in my hand and say, "Hey, I think I can do this better."

Nobody else in the US uses real spring water in their canned sparkling.

They don't say where their water comes from and we like to brag about our source.

Our flavors, we're inspired by the great culinary traditions of the South and the fruits and vegetables that are grown here, and so we don't have any exotic flavors.

We wanted to stick with things that are familiar to us and inspire us.

- [David] It's really neat to see these snapshots of Georgia and American history all over these 40,000 acres.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who spent much of his time at the nearby Little White House, was friends with the Callaway family, and was also known to spend time around the Blue Spring.

Some of their gathering spots, still here for family visitors to see and reminisce.

- We've loved this place.

Our grandparents and parents taking us around showing us the forest and the beauty.

And of course, just being with family around the pool.

Blue Springs has been our family's go-to place since my grandparents bought it in the 1930s.

- [David] It's the only truly natural sparkling water on the market right now; a Georgia born gift from mother earth on a most refreshing level.

(upbeat music) From Pine Mountain, we journey a few miles south to Columbus, where a local family has put a modern twist on an old Southern snack.

(upbeat music) Cheese, glorious cheese, straws that is.

Down by the river in Columbus, Georgia, Margaret Amos, and her son Neal, took a heirloom family recipe and from that, concocted a simple, but perfect little pack of snacks.

(folk music) - Cheese straws have been around, of course my whole life.

They really go back to about the 1930s, is really what I find.

All of us in the South have known for generations and generations, that it's a great hors d'oeuvre, it's a great appetizer.

It's kind of hard to explain 'cause it's not a cookie, it's not a cracker, it's a cheese straw.

It's a fun product to make.

In my twenties, I had picked up my mom's recipe, had started making 'em.

It became the thing that I always had to show up with when I went to parties, and so cheese straws were there, and it was like, "I'm gonna start a cheese straw company."

(gentle music) What I really think the history of 'em is, is it was leftover cheese and flour when people were baking other things, and they were like, "What are we gonna do with this?"

And somehow or another, they came up with cheese straws.

The kick of spice is really what defines them.

- [David] The straws come in spicy, mild, and the old fashioned original dandies with just the right amount of cheddar after kick.

- My boys had grown up with 'em their whole lives, and so they saw this momentum starting to build.

In 2014, my oldest son Neal, was graduating from the University of Georgia, and he called me up early in that year and said, "Mom, you've got this startup you're messing around with."

He said, "What if I came and worked with you "on this startup?"

And I was like, "Come on."

(gentle music) - [David] As Neal explains, this started super small scale with Margaret single little shaping tool, and demand eventually led to this big heavy duty dough dripping thingamajiggy, for a lack of a better name.

(upbeat music) - This is just a little cookie press that we have a cheese straw die in the bottom of, and you put the dough in here, and you just wheel it, and it would lay it out on the trays, and she'd have to fill it up like 50 times.

And so after we got going in the company, we upgraded to the beef jerky gun.

And so this thing holds about a batch, and we say a batch, you know, it's what you would use at home with your little mixer.

And we have the die in the bottom of it, and then we just lay 'em out on the tray.

And then you hand cut 'em, just like we do today.

And that's how we got started.

(upbeat music) - [David] During pandemic, Margaret and Neal learned that folks stuck at home, like to snack, and the demand was there.

Their online sales, that was once on the back burner, became the way of the world in just a few days.

When folks want their Southern straws, they find a way to get 'em.

- One of the most interesting to me, these people were having like, I guess through Zoom, they were having these virtual cocktail hours with their friends, and I have one customer who has friends in Colorado and in Florida, and then they were here in Georgia.

And apparently on one of their virtual cocktail hours, somebody said, "What is that you're eating?"

And she was like, "These are cheese straws."

Well, they didn't know what that was, so she sent everybody cheese straws so that the next Friday they would all have their cheese straws for their virtual cocktail hour.

(gentle music) - [David] It's a Southern tradition embraced and perfected by a couple of Georgia grown cheese heads, backed by a small team of dedicated co-workers and a growing list of consumers who are forever drawn to the straws.

Let's now pour a cocktail, prop up our feet, and wait for the timer to ding because someone else, down here in Columbus, has done all of the dinner preparations already.

(upbeat music) Hanging out on the couch with an afternoon cocktail.

Relaxing, right?

A logo that seems to be the perfect fit for this Peach State product, marketing extraordinaire with a charming touch of Southern spunk, - Yeah, it's how I wanna be everyday.

- [David] casserole creator, Corie Greenblatt, wants you to be that relaxed figure on the couch because her Georgia grown concoction comes prepared to do all the work in feeding your family.

- I have two children and they had competitive sports.

They were tired of fast food and frankly, I didn't want to get the box that I still had to do all the work with, so I wanted something I could pick it up, tasted like I made it and call it my own.

Unfortunately, there was nothing out there like that.

So with that being said, I thought I had a great idea.

I knew my target audience, 'cause it was me, which means that they are idiot proof.

(Corie laughing) You warm it up, you take it and bake it, and call it yours.

We buy a lot of locally grown or made, different items.

Our chicken even comes from North Atlanta, which I think most chicken does.

(Corie laughing) Let's be honest.

But anyway, all of that has to actually be certified and approved through the USDA.

We make everything, and then we immediately freeze it, and at that point, then we package it.

In Georgia, I have found that in the locations in which we actually sell it to, they like to carry Georgia grown.

They like, well let's be honest, we're Southern, we like to have each other's back, and so to me it means just that.

Number one, you're supporting your own community.

And the second is, is that, you know, it's made with the love and care in which you would do for your own.

(upbeat music) - [David] Of course, it takes a team to keep this place going.

Cleanliness is key, always ready for inspection, high-end meats and produce are delicately seasoned, and blended into the casseroles.

Freezer after freezer stuffed to the gills and several varieties to choose from; some more difficult to create than others, but Corie keeps 'em all coming.

- We are the highest license there is in America, so we have an inspector here every day.

We currently sell to different retail locations from Georgia, all the way to Texas.

(gentle music) - [David] The way this world turned in 2020 has been filled with challenges, but it was actually a manageable scenario for Corie and the Call It Yours Casserole team.

You see, you're getting that restaurant quality meal, and you don't have to go anywhere to get it.

- We had a lot of people that wanted us to ship straight to them.

Our products are great to use as gifts.

We still were a full-blown meal you didn't have to do anything with, you could feed your family, but it came to your door.

- [David] Lasagna, beef stroganoff, steamed veggies, and of course the Buffalo chicken mac and cheese, which is as good as it looks by the way, They're just a few mouthwatering samples of this Georgia grown dream, delivered by Corie and her hardworking team.

Call it yours, simply cook, and enjoy.

(upbeat music) So, from muscadine wine helping an old lighthouse shine, and a magical blue spring pumping out nature's purest liquid, to a classic Southern snack that keeps it in the family.

and a casserole creation that makes life a little easier.

It's all just so sweet, Southern, and oh, so satisfying.

See you at the next "Fork in the Road."

(upbeat music) "A Fork in the Road," was brought to you by: (upbeat music) - [Man] Georgia's soil is rich.

It's climate agreeable, it's agricultural variety, exceptional.

That's why we're nature's favorite state.

Georgia Grown supports the farmers and producers who work the land and keep us fed, because we all grow better together.

Find out more about Georgia agriculture at GeorgiaGrown.com.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Georgia FSIS provides efficient and accurate third-party inspection services to members of the industry.

We inspect various fresh commodities, including peanuts, fruits, vegetables, and pecans.

The use of the inspection service ensures the shipment of high quality products and enhances Georgia's reputation as a supplier of superior agricultural products.