Coming up on America's Heartland, take a bite into a fresh, juicy California orange grown by a family that's been farming citrus since the 1800s.

[Mark Gillette] To be able to take that and make a business out of it and do that for five generations, it's... it's pretty exciting.

Plus, discover how cantaloupe, honeydew, and other melons are grown and harvested for peak flavor and sweetness.

[Stephen Smith] What really produces the best melons would be warm days and cool nights.

Meet a fourth generation artichoke farmer, whose family has been growing artichokes from rootstock brought over from the Mediterranean more than a century ago.

We'll also join Farm to Fork host Sharon Profis as she prepares a Lemon Couscous Chicken with all the ingredients in one pot!

[Sharon Profis] Now is also a good time to add one of our star ingredients here.

We'll do the juice of two lemons.

And step inside a school that's pioneering the first program of its kind in California, where every student is enrolled in an agricultural curriculum.

[Payton] This is probably the best class on campus.

It's all next on America's Heartland!

America's Heartland is made possible by... ♪♪ ♪ You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man ♪ ♪ in America's heartland, living close to the land.

♪ ♪ There's a love for the country and a pride in the brand ♪ ♪ in America's heartland, living close... ♪ ♪ close to the land.

♪ ♪♪ You would think that orange farmers who grew up surrounded by these trees, eating oranges their whole lives, might be a little tired of the classic fruit, but you'd be wrong.

[Mark Gillette] That's good.

[Melissa Burchett] There's just nothing better than a fresh orange.

I- That is my absolute number one.

Um, the navel is just super juicy and refreshing and has that orange flavor.

[Mark] You would think- I eat so many oranges all day long, but then at night, I still have to have a bowl of... of oranges.

So, let's see what that tastes like.

Oh, beautiful.

Mmm.

Really good, a lot of sugar.

They're ready.

Mark Gillette co-owns Gillette Citrus, along with his brother Jay.

They grow and pack a variety of citrus fruits, including Navel and Valencia oranges, as members of the Sunkist Cooperative.

The Gillette family has been farming citrus in California since the late 1800s.

That tradition continues today with Mark's son Greg Gillette, daughter Melissa Burchett and son-in-law Kevin Burchett all working for the family business.

[Mark] Just to watch them- They grew up just like I did, out in the orange groves.

You know, we... we... we- none of us have neighbors.

We live in the groves.

But to be able to take that and make a business out of it and do that for five generations, it's... it's pretty exciting.

[Melissa] My great-grandfather, his favorite quote was, "The best fertilizer is the grower's own footprints."

And truly, that is what we still go with today.

So, we're out here every single day, checking on the trees.

[Mark] ...and it's just about ready to go.

An orange tree won't produce fruit until it's about four years old, and even that is considered young.

It takes about 12 years before an orange tree is mature and in full production.

[Mark] And then those trees can be in the ground anywhere from 30 to 80 years old.

We have some trees in the ground, 80 years old.

But mostly, we'll change the varieties out about every 40 years 'cause there'll be newer varieties come along that people like, but you're kind of in for the long term when you make a decision to plant a tree, um, you're pretty much making a 40 year decision, a generational decision.

The Gillette family began farming oranges in Southern California, which at one time, was the heart of the citrus industry.

But that began to change after the World War II baby boom, with orange groves replaced by houses and freeways.

Many growers moved north to the San Joaquin Valley, including the Gillettes, where they found rich soil deposited from the nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains.

[Melissa] Why is the fruit a little green on this side?

[Mark] You know, the fruit's always a little more colored on the north side of the tree, just because of where the sun is this time of the year.

[Melissa] California supplies 90% of the US's fresh citrus, and actually 70% of that comes from right here in the San Joaquin Valley, in the three counties that we are right, kind of, all in the middle of.

[Mark] Central California is amazing for growing citrus because of the weather.

I mean, we have these super hot summers that create sugar.

We have super cold winters that just gives us this flavor balance.

We- A good orange has a good balance of sugar and acid.

In fact, to harvest these oranges, we can't harvest them for Code of California until they have a certain ratio of sugar to acid.

But what differentiates from a lot of the places around the world, Florida included, and Mexico, is just- is we don't have that humidity.

The hard work comes when it's time to pick the oranges, as many as 600 per tree, starting in October and lasting all the way through June.

[Melissa] Every piece of fruit is picked by hand.

Um, you actually have to clip it.

You can't just pull it off.

Otherwise, it'll pull the stem and it could create mold.

And then, they're usually packed the day after they're picked.

So, it's a really fast process.

So, when someone's eating an orange in, you know, in a grocery store, know that that was picked just probably within the same week.

So, that's actually very cool.

Um, it's, uh, as fresh as we can possibly get it to you.

[Mark] Just almost there.

[Melissa] That's good.

[Mark] Yeah.

About 2 million pieces of fruit come through Gillette's packing facilities each day.

When they arrive, the oranges are washed and waxed to seal in moisture.

They're graded by a machine that takes 20 pictures of each piece of fruit before being further graded and sorted by workers.

Then, it's off to be packaged for their final destination, whether that's an American grocery store or a market in Asia.

[Melissa] This is a labor of love for everybody, from the grower to the crews that go into the groves.

We all live here.

So, we live with tractors going around us and we watch the trees grow and we're a part of it.

Everybody's involved in agriculture in our area, pretty much in the San Joaquin Valley.

And so, when you're buying an orange or a bag of oranges, you're supporting communities, and that's really important and special.

[Mark] We've seen an increase now in... in the navel consumption because I think people have realized- kind of missed eating oranges.

There's so many other fruits and varieties that have come from all over the world and people have kind of- it's gotten diluted and I think people realize just how good a flavor it is.

It's just amazing that something that good for you can taste that good.

♪♪ [Stephen Smith] It's all about flavor.

And when I get an email saying, "How did you do it to get these... these great melons?"

and "I look for your label now," that's what I enjoy.

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Over 100 years ago, Steve Smith's grandfather- nicknamed James H. 'Cantaloupe' Smith- founded the Turlock Fruit Company, a fourth generation family farming business located in California's San Joaquin Valley.

[Stephen] We basically have three generations actively involved in the management of this company.

My dad, who's 92, is still active in the business.

Myself, I'm third generation.

And my son is now active in the business.

I think having three perspectives on business from three generations has been our- to our benefit, not a detriment.

Steve Smith's son-in-law, Neill Callis, is also an integral part of the family business.

In the late 1980s, the Smith family moved a majority of their farming operations from Turlock to an hour south, near the town of Firebaugh.

[Stephen] I'm sitting on soil that just is the best in the world for the kind of crops we grow.

The Turlock Fruit Company grows seven varieties of melons as well as asparagus, cherries, wheat for grain processing and tomatoes.

But they are best known for their sweet tasting melons, particularly cantaloupes, honeydews and mixed melons.

[Stephen] We're trying to differentiate ourselves by flavor, 'cause what really produces the best melons would be warm days and cool nights because it allows for the efficient transfer of the sugar from the plant to the melon.

[Neill] Honeydews are a member of the cucumber family.

And so, without the right amount of sugar, a honeydew tastes like a cucumber.

And it's been our experience that most consumers, when they eat a honeydew, it's in a fruit salad at a hotel maybe, and it doesn't have any flavor.

We grow for flavor.

On this day, crews are busy harvesting Honeydews.

[Neill] Our honeydews are grown starting in April, and then the growing process goes for about 100 days.

Once it's time to harvest, the crews come in, cut the melons from the vine, lift it onto the loader behind us, and we bring them into the shed in bulk trailers, where they're packed and sorted for quality.

We harvest about 125,000 melons per day, and we do that for 110 days during our harvest season.

And we try and ship that amount of product out every single day, just to keep pace so that the fruit is fresh.

In a nearby field, cantaloupes are also being harvested.

They're hand-picked as well.

[Alec Smith] They're too delicate to be harvested with machinery.

So, and that's why they're packed in the field, because it minimizes any handling.

It just goes right from the field into a box.

Uh, we're packing about 10,000 boxes a day.

And so, it's about a hundred thousand melons a day.

The melons are then transported over to the processing facility.

[Neill] Our cantaloupes and honeydews and mixed melons are distributed nationwide.

Uh, our honeydews are also exported to Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

So, my father-in-law, Steve, has worked for decades to settle on a variety that we can condition for stores that like ripe, ready-to-eat fruit, but also for honeydews that can, uh, take a two week ride to Japan and still, uh, be enjoyed by a consumer over there.

There has been a decrease in demand.

And there's a sad story to tell, um, on cantaloupes in particular, as... as the grocery chains have demanded a piece of fruit that has a longer shelf life.

The seed companies and other melon producers have transitioned to these longer shelf life melons, which, unfortunately, the trade off with shelf life is less flavor.

So, we've seen it dampen demand over the last decade in a pretty big way.

In honeydews, um, we're one of the last big shippers that focuses primarily on honeydews and doing a really good job there.

So, for us, the demand is pretty constant.

It's pretty high.

Another challenge the family faces is shared by growers in California's Central Valley and many other regions across the U.S.- the availability of water to grow their crops.

[Stephen] I'm farming in a desert, and the... and the biggest concern is getting the water that we need to grow this crop.

But we've become as efficient as we possibly can.

[Alec] There's only so much we can do as one farm.

So, our entire ranch is drip irrigated.

I think we probably irrigate the absolute minimum that we have to to get, uh, you know, a good crop and a good product.

[Stephen] They throw around that agriculture uses 40% of the water produced in the state.

Well, the water is transformed into food.

It's not- There isn't a sinkhole in the middle of the valley, where the water just flows down and into nothing.

It's food.

Despite the challenges, the family stands by their commitment to growing flavorful fruit that they've been known for over the decades.

[Neill] Nothing about this business is easy and, uh, one of the traits, I think, of any farmer that's still doing specialty crops or row crops in California, you've got to be really stubborn.

And I think that's a characteristic that applies to all of us.

[Stephen] It's too much work and too much stress to do unless you have a passion for it.

And I- Fortunately for me, I've got a much younger son that has a passion, but he's got energy and I'm- I've got the passion but not so much energy.

[Alec] I think our ability to survive is just, you know, it's been based on the foundation that was set by my great-grandfather and my grandfather... so, and that drives us to... to just try and do it better every year.

♪♪ ♪♪ [Greg Scattini] My name's Greg Scattini.

I'm a fourth generation farmer here in, uh, Salinas Valley.

So, we predominately grow, uh, perennial artichokes, which is based from the rootstock that was originally brought from the Mediterranean back in the late 1800s, early 1900s.

And we've... we've continued to produce the... the rootstock, uh, perennial artichokes through today.

It's really grown like a rootstock of a vineyard.

So, the quality and the uniqueness of it is like no other and it can only be grown here, in this region of California.

Salinas Valley is very, very unique in... in growing artichokes, especially the coastal region.

Our variety, the original California artichoke variety, cannot be grown anywhere else other than the microclimate that we have here in- on the peninsula.

So, I run the business with my brother Doug, and my cousin Mike.

So, we... we're owners and operators of the... of the, uh, farming operation now.

My great-grandfather started the business back in the early twenties.

At a very young age, I grew up working on the ranch.

My brother and my cousin did.

And, um, so, it's... it's just part of the love of farming, the hard work, the involvement it takes, the... the attention to detail.

And it's really a lifestyle.

It's... it's not a job, it's... it's a lifestyle we all love.

To me, there's nothing better than getting up and... and... and going to the ranches and... and do what... what needs to be done to... to earn a living.

Artichokes is very labor intensive.

We'll handpick and throw them in the back of the backpacks, and then we'll bring 'em to the end of the field where our, uh, harvesting machine is, and we'll pack 'em by hand in, uh, in each box.

I think Scattini Family Farms, what makes it so special is the... is the four generation- the pride that's been passed on from generation to generation.

And definitely, with the product that we've developed, we pay attention to detail and we strive for the customer having the greatest eating... eating experience that they can.

Still ahead on America's Heartland, tour a school where students in every grade are taught an agricultural curriculum in California's Central Valley, one of the most productive growing regions in the world.

But first, try out this Lemon Couscous Chicken dish with fresh squeezed lemons.

♪♪ [Sharon Profis] Today, we're making a one pot meal.

We're making Lemon Couscous Chicken.

It is a Greek style dish with lots of bold flavors, and it all happens in just one pot.

So, let's get started by searing off our chicken.

I have six chicken thighs and we'll very liberally season these with salt and pepper.

I have a braising dish over medium heat and the first step here is to get some color on the skin, which will also render out some of the fat from that chicken.

And that fat will then become the base of our couscous.

One and a half tablespoons of olive oil.

Once the oil gets a little shiny we'll add our chicken thighs.

Once these are golden-brown on one side, I'll flip them over, get a little color on the bottom, then we'll do it again with the second batch.

It's a good time to season the other side as well.

Our last three pieces of chicken are done, so let's take them out.

Now, we'll lower the heat.

A lot of fat came out of these chicken thighs, so I'm going to pour off a little bit.

I want a tablespoon leftover, not quite this much.

And now, let's make our couscous base.

First, we'll do a tablespoon of unsalted butter.

Now, to this goes the yellow onion.

I just did a dice here.

As these cook, they'll start to pick up some of those brown bits from the chicken.

In the meantime, I'll slice five cloves of garlic.

Let's add our garlic right in there, and I'll season with a little salt and some pepper.

Now, let's add one and a half cups of pearl or Israeli couscous.

There are two types of couscous.

You have that very fine couscous that you probably run into most often.

And then, there's pearl, also known as Israeli couscous.

At the end of the day, this is really just a type of pasta.

It's made very, very similar to pasta.

But it's also often cooked with a lot of other ingredients- in this case, onions, garlic, and a few other things we'll add.

It just is a great base to take on any flavor and I'm going to toss it in and give it a little bit of a toast.

And while our couscous toasts, let's get some of our herbs ready.

So, I have some fresh oregano here.

I mentioned this is a bit of a Greek style dish.

Oregano is a popular ingredient in Greek food.

That ends up being about five or six sprigs of oregano.

And then, I also have thyme.

Give this a bit of a rough chop.

These are starting to take on a light golden-brown color.

Now, we'll throw in our herbs.

I'm also adding two teaspoons of paprika for a little bit of that sweet pepper flavor and also color.

I thought this dish needed a little bit of a vegetable.

So, today, I'm adding some Lacinato or Dinosaur kale to this dish.

I'll use about a quarter of a bunch of kale here.

Spinach is also a great substitute.

You could also use baby kale.

I've done this with broccoli.

I've done it with cauliflower.

In this step where we're adding vegetables, it's whatever you like and maybe whatever you have on hand.

Now is also a good time to add one of our star ingredients here.

We'll do the juice of two lemons, makes this dish so bright and a really nice balance to chicken thighs, which are definitely a fattier piece of meat.

A little more pepper.

And finally, for some sweetness, I'm adding a quarter cup of raisins.

Combine all of this.

I mentioned that pearl couscous is a lot like pasta, so we're going to need to add a liquid.

I'll add two cups of chicken stock.

You can also use veggie stock or even water in a pinch.

Do one last scrape of the bottom of the pan to make sure no other yummy flavors are stuck there.

OK, last couple steps.

We'll add our chicken back to the pot, nestle them in.

And last but not least, while this comes to a simmer, I have a couple ounces of feta cheese here and I'm just going to cube it.

This is a sheep's milk feta cheese.

So, I just put these cubes of feta all around.

These are going to cook gently and melt right into the dish.

And then, just to make sure we have a lot of that lemony flavor, I'm slicing up about half a lemon and this lemon will go right on top.

This is now going into the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until the couscous has absorbed more of that liquid, the chicken is cooked through, and then it's ready to serve.

Our one pot Lemon Couscous Chicken is done.

The couscous has plumped up.

It absorbed all those juices.

The feta cheese is so nice and melty.

Depending on your oven, in some cases, the bottom of this dish will start to get a little crispy.

That is the stuff that my family fights over.

This dish is so simple to make, as you saw.

It's a great weeknight meal.

It would also make a beautiful centerpiece for when you have guests over.

Now, all that's left to do is eat!

♪♪ ♪♪ 20 minutes outside of Fresno sits a country school that's bringing learning to life.

Fairmont is a TK through eighth grade school in the growing and diverse Sanger Unified School District.

What was once a small, rural school is now bursting at the seams.

Parents are eager to send their children to Fairmont because they say this school is doing something unique.

[Chrstine] So, our program involves all our students, and they, um, come to ag science classes every week.

And so, we do plant science, animal science.

We do ag marketing, ag business, ag technology.

We cover the drought.

I know that there was stuff that you were going to need.

Christine Torosian-Klistoff heads Fairmont's agriculture program.

It's the first program of its kind in California, where all students- from the little ones in TK to these seventh and eighth graders- learn science standards through an ag lens.

Fairmont is building curriculum they hope will be adopted and used in classrooms across California.

[Christine] If you're going to teach about plant genetics, instead of keeping it small, why not teach about, let's say, our... our top commodities in the valley?

Which, here in the San Joaquin Valley, you know, almonds, pistachios and grapes- why not teach those things with that ag lens?

So, our idea is to give a blueprint of the science standards, so that all schools can take it back and use it.

The hands-on science lessons are designed to provide students with an understanding of agriculture and its impact on the San Joaquin Valley, one of the world's top food producing regions.

On this day, seventh and eighth grade students are rotating through learning stations designed to teach them how to analyze, evaluate and problem solve, as a team.

Students are learning how to stitch up a wound using bananas.

They look at bugs through microscopes, discover safe ways to fertilize plants, get their hands dirty with soil samples, and plant vegetables in their school garden.

[Payton] This is probably the best class on campus.

I mostly look forward to, like, learn something new.

Like, all- Like, 'cause every time we come in here and never taught the same thing over and over.

It's always something new.

And I just- I always can't wait to know what we're going to learn next.

In addition to the weekly Ag Science Lab, students are exposed to technology through engineering classes.

Here, students have access to computers where they learn coding.

They work with drones and 3-D printers.

They have a robotics team and even do small welding projects.

[Trisha Jett] I think, through our program, they're going to have an amazing foundation and knowledge base about agriculture and the industry, and not just within the means of plant and animal science, but within the means of looking at energy conservation, how to run a business, how to do the marketing, how to do all of that.

It's important for them to understand, even as basic as how do we get our food on our plates, how are we eating every single day?

But for them to be able to be provided with career exposure to different options and opportunities that are available to them within that Ag industry, um, outside of just, you know, the basic farmer- I feel like a lot of kids grow up thinking agriculture is about- just about farming, but it's not.

There's so much more science and technology and, um, engineering that is involved in it.

Fairmont School is in the process of growing their agricultural program.

Plans include an $8 million, two acre complex that will house areas dedicated to plant science and animal science, along with a 4,000 square foot innovation lab that will be used to study water energy and robotics.

[Jared Savage] Our Ag complex is going to be a blend of tradition and innovation, and that's a unique combination that really serves this population, that serves this valley.

We started a capital campaign five years ago called Grow the Legacy, and that is all of our community members coming together and saying, "This is so important.

We want to help fundraise."

The Ag complex will be available to all 8,000 elementary school students throughout Sanger Unified, and it'll be a host site for robotics and other statewide competitions.

It's all designed to help Fairmont in their goal of spreading Ag education throughout the Golden State.

[Christine] Agriculture is so important to our valley, to our state, and by educating our youth, all of them, whether it's here at Fairmont, if we could start the blueprint here and spread... spread that out for everyone, it could change education.

It could change the way of agriculture.

It is our future.

That's it for this edition of America's Heartland.

For more stories, full episodes and recipes, visit americasheartland.org or connect with us on Facebook.

♪ You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man ♪ ♪ in America's heartland, living close to the land.

♪ ♪ There's a love for the country and a pride in the brand ♪ ♪ in America's heartland, living close... ♪ ♪ close to the land.

♪ America's Heartland is made possible by...

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2BrtqWxzmicqaGjpLGmeZZmraqpmWjHcA%3D%3D