A surfer who's a farmer?
I've always felt pretty connected with nature.
A war refugee who's a famous chef.
Got somebody to try some swing roll.
There we go.
Friends who create great dishes.
They're up next on Chef's Afield.
We don't get too much frost right here,
because we're so close to the ocean.
Right.
People sing songs about this place,
make movies here, write books about the city by the bay.
San Francisco.
The gold rush transformed this seaport
into a magnet for fortune seekers, artists,
poets, and immigrants.
A town long known for its diversity and for its food.
And one of the city's most notable food figures
is one of its newer immigrants,
Chef Charles Fann of the slanted door.
The trick is to buy good greens.
Good organic greens.
In 1975, the Fann family,
teenager Charles Fann among them,
fled Vietnam in a small boat.
Eventually they reached San Francisco.
You can go to Grave Smiling,
because you did something.
You put a mart in this world,
you know, and make Vietnamese people proud.
Twenty years after arriving in America,
he opened his restaurant.
Today, family surrounds Fann.
Nearly everyone working in the restaurant
is a sibling, cousin, and uncle,
niece or nephew.
And the newest generation, Fann's children.
Should I do all of it?
Nati, Panna, and Panu.
It's those three who lead the way
on a visit to the slanted door's steady supplier,
Joe Scherner at Dirty Girl Farm.
Out to experience good food,
not on the plate today, on the farm.
We're walking, kids.
Scherner bought the farm from two women
who had named the place for the soil under their fingernails.
Ever since I started gardening in college,
I've been working on farms in the summer,
and now I've been farming to a Dirty Girl
for about ten years.
As soon as I got my hands on the soil, that was it.
Certified organic, locally grown.
Joe grew up here on the edge of the Pacific Ocean,
just outside Santa Cruz.
I've always been really close with nature.
I grew up surfing, so always being in the ocean
and swimming, diving.
Just because Joe Scherner became a farmer
does not mean that he had to leave surfing behind.
He lives and farms right beside the ocean.
There's just this community of people around organic farming
that are just so cool.
It just feels totally positive being a part of it.
Produce from the Dirty Girl Farm is on the menu
at the slanted door year-round.
Everything that you've seen here, we planted before December.
We didn't plant anything in December.
So it's been over-winning for months.
We've harvested most everything.
It's just kind of the scraps.
It is February along the California coast.
The last chill of winter hangs in the air.
What we're working on a lot here is soil fertility.
We're trying to build the soil.
We're going to walk in here,
and we're going to pull up some of these bell beans.
What the bell bean does, it's in the legume,
kind of the bean family,
and it fixes atmospheric nitrogen.
Atmospheric nitrogen everywhere,
pulls it in from the air,
goes down the stem, goes into the roots,
and it forms these little white nodules.
See all these little guys?
See there's one right there?
And that's just filled with nitrogen.
It fixes nitrogen for the soil
versus throwing pounds and pounds
of petrochemical-based nitrogen fertilizer.
And they just naturally pull it in.
Even if you're a conventional farmer,
you can plant it and it saves money
on the amount of nitrogen you have to put in the soil.
In spring, the plants will be turned under.
Gourmet food for dirt.
And then when it flowers,
it gets pollinated and it forms the beans,
it takes all that nitrogen
and that goes into the bean,
and that's why you get so much protein.
Is that a little worm?
That's the bean.
That's the shell of the bean,
when we planted it,
and they just sprouted out there
and then turned in this plant.
So they did this before Christmas,
and now they've grown so much and healthy,
then they can grow stuff like this.
Is that cool?
Yeah.
So you think you're going to be a farmer
when you grow up, Panu?
I want to work in your restaurant.
Yeah, alright.
And then that's what all this stuff's for.
It's just for growing soil.
How many guys you got working here?
Right now it's just the two guys all winter.
We have just enough produce to keep those guys working.
And that's really ultimately why
there's a lot that lots of creatures flourish.
What do we got here?
Whoa!
Oh, what's that?
Oh, no, that's an aphid.
Bug, where'd it go?
I think it was somewhere over here.
There's one, yeah, you got it.
Remember what that's called?
Lacewing.
It's another predator.
It's a carnivore, so it eats aphids.
A lot of times farmers will release
ladybugs and lacewings into their farm
and lacewing is a good bug.
Yeah, in the right quantities
they're all good bugs, right?
But just once the nature gets out of balance
and the soil gets weak, plants are weak,
their immune systems are weak
and then you get like a lot of aphids
where you get a lot of worms
or grubs, something that eats a plant.
It's clear that the beneficial bugs
get the pretty names.
Lacewing, Ladybug, Pregnantus,
Harmonia, Dragonfly.
You want to pick beets?
This is the beet?
This is going to be a Kyosha beet,
which is an Italian striped beet.
So you kind of go like this,
you get down real low
and you can kind of push the leaves
and you kind of check and see if it's a good one like that.
And then you yank it out.
Wow, that's a big one.
See that?
When you cut these, these are Italian striped beets.
They have pink and white stripes all the way through.
There we go.
I found one already.
Oh, you got a gold beet.
One thing about beets is they're good all year round
in this climate, but once you get
that first little frost, that cold chill,
the starches turn to sugar so they get real sweet.
So they're actually a little bit sweeter in the fall.
In the fall?
Being so close to the ocean,
how does that affect you?
Well, we don't get too much frost right here
because we're so close to the ocean.
It's cold closer to the ocean, but not...
I mean, in the summertime, it's cooler.
Uh-huh.
Because you get the fog.
But in the wintertime,
it also doesn't get as cold.
The ocean breezes warm
and wet in the winter
help stretch out the growing season.
You got a huge one.
That is a big one.
That is a small one.
That's a good looking hand there, Pena.
Who wants to help me?
I think you're on your own.
All right, I got more for you.
I'm going to keep loading you up here.
You sort of giving up on this?
No, no, no. Open pollinated radicchio.
So this is Castle de Franco, right?
People cook them. People put them in salads.
Obviously, the heart's better.
It's milder.
But when you're cooking them, oh, you got the biggie.
When are you going to take this to market?
We're taking it to market.
Yeah, we just chisel away a little bit every bit.
This is more like foraging at this point
than like just straight harvesting, you know?
When you're farming, you get dirty.
A little dirt won't hurt.
Yeah, follow Joe.
Come on, guys. Just follow me.
I'm going to go pick some lunch.
There's one over there.
So what else do we have here, Joe?
So we have cabbage bed, right?
We have airhood cabbage.
Then we go into Romanesco.
Savoy cabbage.
Broccoli, broccoli.
And then here's our broccolini.
It's our lunch.
Broccolini.
Can I try?
Yeah, you can do that.
Where?
I like to take that little bit right there.
It works a little better with the knife,
but you can do it just as well.
Right? By hand.
All these little shoots.
They just kind of snap right off.
Trim off these stem here.
Broccoli originated in Italy,
and piccoli brocchi means little arms.
It's related to cabbage.
Both are members of the Brassica family.
In a couple weeks,
I'll get this in.
Oh, that's a good one.
In the basket. Put it in the basket.
So how many waves can you get the broccolini before?
You know, there are different varieties.
Like, some varieties
really don't have side shoots.
They're made to just grow
one big head, you know, poundage.
Uh-huh.
Some, like a lot of older heirloom varieties,
they're, you know,
they grow more of a medium to small size
first head, and then
it's all about side shoots.
It's almost like kale.
I like the side shoot better.
They're a lot more tender.
They're not this big, tight, really...
This is a really small one.
Yeah. Add it to the mix.
The industrial standard is
you get this big head of broccoli,
and it's got this big fat stem on the bottom.
It's got that fat right off and throw it away,
because the skin's tough,
and they don't even know that that's really the best part.
They just like the little flower bud part.
The stem of the broccoli
provides nearly double the vitamins
and nutrients of the florets we usually eat.
Also another great thing is
you go to the market.
I mean, this is how I learn stuff from them.
When you're in the kitchen, you're just kind of all
boxed in. You don't see what...
Everything comes in a box, you know?
You think a whole life comes in a box.
You literally see the bloody plant
on the field. And especially,
at a farm like yours, we know that
it's in a trusted hand,
and there's no chemical...
Even psychologically, it tastes better.
It's just known that...
Yes, sir. Tastes it?
What do you think?
Did you taste it?
Or you just used me as a guinea pig?
See, straight from the hand,
it picked it.
Just kidding.
What did I do?
Stem.
That's for the earthworms.
Earthworms? This is a stem.
Yeah, you're right. A lot sweeter.
Mm-hmm. It's really sweet.
I haven't thought about that.
Everybody wants the top.
I think that's a good deal.
Try this kind of... Eat the stem.
Yeah, it's amazing.
It's wonderful.
Beets and others in the ground
are transformed over the winter.
They become sweeter as the cold turns their
starches to sugar. Nature's dessert.
These are arominesco.
They're related to broccoli
and cauliflower.
It's an heirloom, very old variety.
And they look like
yellow fractals.
Wow, look at this.
You want that one right there? That looks great.
So you just lean it over with one hand
and just give it a cut right about there.
All right, nice and easy.
There you go.
Good job, good job. What do you think?
That's a good one. All right,
we'll put that in the stir fry.
So Joe, this one is spreading out a little bit more.
They're just starting to flower.
Some of them don't form a real tight head
and they kind of go.
Arominesco, loosely related to cauliflower.
It's spears growing as they do
in a spiral have long
fascinated scientists, artists
and philosophers.
Do you want one of those? Do I eat it?
Yeah, here, I'll eat one.
It's really sweet.
Yeah. The stem.
It's amazingly sweet. Wow.
Isn't that good? Mm-hmm.
Seriously? You like this better than broccoli?
Good stuff? Why don't we go
to stir fry just the stem?
Yeah.
It's just a different way to eat the same vegetable.
We saw two frogs in the frog pond.
A sign of spring,
the appearance of a frog.
Frog alert. I can do it.
Oh, I got him.
His head is sticking out.
Got him. Look.
Whoa.
What's your favorite foods, kids?
Beets. Beets?
All right.
I love all the stuff that we picked.
I think I like broccoli. Yeah?
What's your favorite food other than that?
Ice cream? Not out of all the stuff we picked.
We didn't even pick any of that.
Yeah, no, we didn't pick any ice cream today, huh?
You can't pick ice cream.
All of this has made everyone hungry.
Poppy, what you making?
Doing a little broccoli and beef.
And some fish and broccolini.
Beef and broccoli,
fond style, cooked fresh right there on the farm.
Look at that color.
This is just bright green.
And all that heat, it kind of infused the flavor
into the vegetable.
So the Chinese tradition is called
the breath of the wok.
Joe, you can get eating now.
Bring the rice up here.
Oh.
Farm lunch.
Everybody help themselves.
Come on, let's grab lunch.
Look at those greens, huh?
Not bad.
Once he has grown the food,
the farmer must take it to market.
We're going to go help Joe out, huh?
Go help Joe set up his stand.
Hey guys, helpers.
We have baskets, cauliflower going here.
Radicchio here.
Radicchio here.
And I think we've got some lettuce right here.
There you go.
Pilot high.
Watch it fly.
What are these little guys?
Look at the little Jim.
Many hands, even little hands, make quick work.
So this was picked, what?
Fuel?
Yesterday?
Remember that?
Romanesco it is.
Nowadays, there's a farmer's market
in nearly every town in America.
You can bet at least one near you
is selling year round.
Did all this stuff come from Europe?
Yup.
So how many markets you do a week?
This is a slow time of year.
Only three markets a week.
Still got a lot of stuff here.
I know, huh?
Is this normal? Loaded.
Yeah. Pretty normal?
It's funny, look at the fields
and how scrappy they are, so many weeds there are.
But you still got all this stuff.
Yeah, broccoli is
350 a pound.
What about lettuce?
I need another color.
Take your time.
E.
There you go.
Okay, let's go and ring the bell.
Manu rings the bell to open the market.
Winter harvest
Mild climb
Ocean nearby
Abundance in February
The chef finds the bounty hard to resist.
There are onions and greens
Nuts and apples
Greenhouse grown goodies
Citrus, avocados and kumquats
Swiss chard, greens of all sorts
Brussels sprouts, baby beets
Herbs and plants
All for the taking.
Order up, 350.
There you go. 3 dollars please.
Adam boy, how's it going?
Good.
You want to weigh up your dad?
Did he help you?
He did.
When you're only 8 years old
doing this sort of thing for the first time
makes you feel very important.
How much is it?
This man's asking you a question.
How much is the beef?
How much?
2 dollars?
A bunch?
Thank you.
I think that's a good price.
13 dollars.
13 dollars?
Cool.
Thanks, Joe. Thank you, Charles.
The kids are going to have to come by
and visit me on Saturdays at the market.
Come hang out.
Joe goes to the market every Saturday.
In the back.
Charles Fawn has been in and around
family kitchen since he was very small.
With no formal education in cuisine
but only on the job training
he has nonetheless built
a leading restaurant
in America's great food cities.
