News on Youtube Feb 21 2019

Covington Teen Nick Sandmann, Through His Attorneys, Have Just Announced That They Are

Suing The Washington Post For More Than $250 Million, And Warned "This Is Only The Beginning."

Fox News Reports That Attorneys Representing The Kentucky High School Student Involved

In A Confrontation That Went Viral On Social Media Last Month Announced Tuesday That They

Were Suing The Washington Post For $250 Million In Compensatory And Punitive Damages.

The Lawsuit, Which Was Filed In Federal Court In Kentucky, Accused The Post Of Practicing

"A Modern-Day Form Of Mccarthyism" By Targeting Nicholas Sandmann And "Using Its

Vast Financial Resources To Enter The Bully Pulpit By Publishing A Series Of False And

Defamatory Print And Online Articles … To Smear A Young Boy Who Was In Its View An Acceptable

Casualty In Their War Against The President."

Sandmann, A Junior At Covington Catholic High School, Became A Target For Outrage After

A Video Of Him Standing Face-To-Face With A Native American Man, Nathan Phillips, While

Wearing A Red "Make America Great Again" Hat Surfaced In January.

Sandmann Was One Of A Group Of Students From Covington Attending The Anti-Abortion March

For Life In Washington, D.C., While Phillips Was Attending The Indigenous Peoples' March

On The Same Day.

Sandmann And The Covington Students Were Initially Accused Of Initiating The Confrontation, But

Other Videos And The Students' Own Statements Showed That They Were Verbally Accosted By

A Group Of Black Street Preachers Who Were Shouting Insults Both At Them And A Group

Of Native Americans.

Sandmann And Phillips Have Both Said They Were Trying To Defuse The Situation.

The Lawsuit Claims The Post "Ignored The Truth" About The Incident And Says The Paper

"Falsely Accused Nicholas Of … 'Accost[Ing]' Phillips By 'Suddenly Swarm[Ing]' Him

In A 'Threaten[Ing]' And 'Physically Intimidat[Ing]' Manner … 'Block[Ing]'

Phillips Path, Refusing To Allow Phillips 'To Retreat,' 'Taunting The Dispersing

Indigenous Crowd,' [And] Chanting, 'Build That Wall,' 'Trump2020,' Or 'Go Back

To Africa,' And Otherwise Engaging In Racist And Improper Conduct.

…"Sandmann's Attorneys Accuse The Post Of Publishing Seven "False And Defamatory"

Articles About The Incident Between Jan. 19 And 21 And Claim The Paper "Knew And Intended

That Its False And Defamatory Accusations Would Be Republished By Others, Including

Media Outlets And Others On Social Media."

Earlier This Month, Sandmann's Attorneys Sent Preservation Letters To More Than 50

Media Organizations, Celebrities And Politicians Including The Post, The New York Times, Cnn,

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., And Actors Alyssa Milano And Jim Carrey The First Step

In Possible Libel And Defamation Lawsuits.

This Is Just The Beginning Folks.

Let's Pray That Justice Is Served.

God Bless.

When You Share To Your Friends You Greatly Help Distribute Our Content.

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Thank You, We Appreciate It!

For more infomation >> Nick Sandmann Sues The Washington Post For Over $250 Million"This Is Just The Beginning." - Duration: 3:24.

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Political columnist Michael Gerson on coping with 'insidious' depression - Duration: 7:52.

JUDY WOODRUFF: His is a regular voice on the "NewsHour."

Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson fills in from time to time as part of our regular

Friday wrap-up of the week's political news.

But, this past Sunday, he delivered the guest sermon at Washington's National Cathedral.

It focused not on politics, but on something more personal.

He revealed that he battles depression.

MICHAEL GERSON, The Washington Post: Like nearly one in 10 Americans, and like many

of you, I live with this insidious chronic disease.

Depression is a malfunction of the instrument we use to determine reality.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And Michael Gerson is with me now.

Welcome to the program.

MICHAEL GERSON: Good to be with you.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Michael, how long have you known that you had depression?

MICHAEL GERSON: Really since my 20s.

But, like a lot of people, I thought I was coping.

I was on antidepressants.

I was able to finish my work.

And that's how a lot of men and women determine whether they're succeeding or not.

But I was really very much in a downward spiral of depression, that my psychiatrist said,

you're on a dangerous course.

And she was exactly right.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What made you decide to talk publicly about it?

MICHAEL GERSON: Well, I was asked to do this sermon months ago, so it came at just the

time that I had, about two weeks before, had a medical hospitalization for depression,

and had been a week in the -- hospitalized.

And coming out of that experience, you have to make a choice.

Are you going to be public about it, are you not going to be public?

And part of the problem here is stigma.

There should be no stigma attached to this.

And I thought I would give the message pretty pure and let people deal with it the way they

want.

But the response has been extraordinary, and a lot of it from people who look like they're

coping themselves, if -- you know, public people that you think, you know, they're successful.

And they're not.

They're on the same kind of path.

And it's a dangerous one.

JUDY WOODRUFF: You said -- among other things, in the sermon, you said, over time, despair

can grow inside you like a tumor.

MICHAEL GERSON: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: How has it affected your life?

MICHAEL GERSON: Well, it's interesting, because I kept a journal at the low point of my last

depression that got me in the hospital.

And you write things, you know, I'm a burden to my friends, or no one cares about me, that

are just lies.

They just are not true.

But, at that moment when you write them, you believe they're true.

And that very much is the function of your brain, related to certain chemical reactions,

where you get a depressive episode, and it interprets it in ways that are consistent

with your kind of brain patterns, and you end up thinking, no one likes me.

And it seems, particularly when you're isolated, it can be very dangerous, because all you

have then is this -- these thoughts in your own head, these ruminations in your own head.

And it really takes other people to try to break into that and say, this is wrong.

This is not true.

What you're thinking is not correct.

And there are a lot of ways to recover from that, but it really is -- you have to have

a recognition that you're not right.

JUDY WOODRUFF: I think, for many people, it's striking that someone as successful as you

are, a columnist for this important newspaper, The Washington Post, speechwriter in the Bush

White House, you have had a public role for a long time, and yet you have been battling

this year after year.

Explain how you can both be in the public eye, be doing the important work you're doing,

and be dealing with this.

MICHAEL GERSON: Well, you do it by husbanding your energy to do the things you have to do

in your life, and then letting a lot of other things in your life, whether it's family or

social engagement or a lot of other things, slide.

And, you know, eventually, that's all you have left is a work life.

And that was the situation where -- which I was in.

And it was no way to live.

And it really was on a bad path.

But I know people that have -- that are -- you know, struggle with depression, prominent

teachers.

I got some from college professors at Harvard University today.

I got some from other media figures.

It's a broader group of people than you think.

And part of it is because people can cope in their work life, but they're not really

coping in the rest of their life.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And you said in the sermon -- I mean, you said a number of things that

I wish we had time to talk about.

But, at one point, you, of course, were talking about your own faith.

And you talked about, when all else fails, there's love.

How does that play a role?

MICHAEL GERSON: Well, even at the bottom of your depression, you sometimes get hints and

glimmers of hope.

And it's usually someone coming to you and showing you that they care about you deeply,

that they love you deeply.

And that can be professionals, it can be family, it can be friends.

But it's -- you know, a lot of people think, oh, I don't want to get involved.

But someone who is in a depressive episode like that needs to know that they're cared

for.

And I -- of course, I'm a Christian.

I come from a Christian background.

And I think that there is a broader divine love involved as well here, that everybody

is created in God's image and is equal before him.

And part -- remembering that, remembering that you're as valuable as everybody else,

can be part of a recovery.

And I think a lot of people have that experience.

JUDY WOODRUFF: One of the things that's clearly going to come -- is coming from this is, others

are responding.

What do you say?

What does your own experience, do you think, say, both to people who are experiencing depression,

have been battling depression, and the people around them who love them?

MICHAEL GERSON: People should get professional help.

You can't will yourself out of this disease, any more than you can will yourself out of

tuberculosis.

This is a physical disease that -- where you need help.

But isolation can be deadly.

And that has to be broken by family and also broken by the people themselves that are involved

with this.

You know, I'm not an example here.

This was a fairly recent depressive episode.

I know I will get one again.

That's the nature of a chronic disease.

But you need to put in place the structures by which, when you need to be rescued, that

there are people there to rescue you.

My psychiatrist was really a godsend and was -- I thought I was coping.

She said: You're not.

This is not the way to live.

And everyone needs everyone -- who is a depressive needs someone in their life to say this, that

you're not living the life you could live.

You're, in fact, much too hard on yourself.

You're living in a kind of small little world of your own creation.

And you need to come out of it.

And I think family and friends can play a really important role there.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, I thought it was so important to try to have a conversation with you.

I was struck when you said one -- nearly one in 10 Americans are battling depression.

MICHAEL GERSON: Yes.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And hearing your story can make a difference.

MICHAEL GERSON: Well, thank you, Judy.

I appreciate that.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Michael Gerson, we thank you.

For more infomation >> Political columnist Michael Gerson on coping with 'insidious' depression - Duration: 7:52.

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How QAnon, the bizarre pro-Trump conspiracy theory, took hold in right-wing circles online - Duration: 5:22.

For more infomation >> How QAnon, the bizarre pro-Trump conspiracy theory, took hold in right-wing circles online - Duration: 5:22.

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Student sues Washington Post for $250M - Duration: 0:34.

For more infomation >> Student sues Washington Post for $250M - Duration: 0:34.

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Watch as a winter storm unleashes snow, ice and rain across U.S. - Duration: 0:53.

For more infomation >> Watch as a winter storm unleashes snow, ice and rain across U.S. - Duration: 0:53.

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A family escaped Syria's civil war. Then a fire killed seven of their children. - Duration: 1:58.

For more infomation >> A family escaped Syria's civil war. Then a fire killed seven of their children. - Duration: 1:58.

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3 lawmakers leave Britain's Conservative Party - Duration: 1:46.

For more infomation >> 3 lawmakers leave Britain's Conservative Party - Duration: 1:46.

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'We're the cool kids': Here's people enjoying the snowstorm around D.C. - Duration: 1:21.

For more infomation >> 'We're the cool kids': Here's people enjoying the snowstorm around D.C. - Duration: 1:21.

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Washington Post Climate skeptic may lead WH panel to study climate change and national security P - Duration: 1:56.

Washington Post Climate skeptic may lead WH panel to study climate change and national security P

The Post, citing planning documents obtained by the paper, reported that William Happer, a National Security Council official, would head up the proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security.

The committee would be created via an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, according to the paper.

The White House declined a request for comment.

In 2014, Happer, who co founded the CO2 Coalition, an advocacy group that focuses on "the consequences of mandated reductions in CO2 emissions," compared criticism of carbon dioxide, the increase of which scientists say has raised global temperatures, to the treatment of Jews under Hitler.

"The demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler," Happer said on "Carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews."

Happer, an at Princeton, that he prefers to refer to the group as "the CO2 anti defamation league...because there is the CO2 molecule, and it has undergone decade after decade of abuse, for no reason," according to the Post.

Happer did not immediately respond to CNNs request for comment.

The Posts report comes a few weeks after in a report the potential security challenges posed by climate change, including "threats to public health, historic levels of human displacement, assaults on religious freedom, and the negative effects of environmental degradation."

That reports assertion is at odds with positions of the President, who before taking office claimed climate change was a "hoax."

Last month, in a tweet that was largely seen as mocking global warming, Trump commented on extremely cold temperatures in the Midwest, writing, "What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you!"

The Post reported that the documents it obtained indicated the committee would serve "to advise the President on scientific understanding of todays climate, how the climate might change in the future under natural and human influences, and how a changing climate could affect the security of the United States."

The paper also said that the documents add that although the Trump administration has said previously that climate change is a threat, "these scientific and national security judgments have not undergone a rigorous independent and adversarial scientific peer review to examine the certainties and uncertainties of climate science, as well as implications for national security."

For more infomation >> Washington Post Climate skeptic may lead WH panel to study climate change and national security P - Duration: 1:56.

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Family of Covington High teen sues Washington Post for dollar 250 million over coverage of D.C. enc - Duration: 0:39.

Family of Covington High teen sues Washington Post for dollar 250 million over coverage of D.C. enc

In this Jan. 18, 2019, image from video provided by the Survival Media Agency, a teenager wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, center left, stands in front of an elderly Native American singing and playing a drum in Washington.

In this Jan. 18, 2019, image from video provided by the Survival Media Agency, a teenager wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, center left, stands in front of an elderly Native American singing and playing a drum in Washington.

The family of the Kentucky teen who was involved in an encounter with a Native American advocate at the Lincoln Memorial last month filed a defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post on Tuesday, seeking dollar 250 million in damages for its coverage of the incident.

The suit alleges that The Post targeted and bullied 16 year old Nicholas Sandmann in order to embarrass President Donald Trump. Sandmann was one of a number of students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky who were wearing red Make America Great Again hats during a trip to the National Mall when they encountered Nathan Phillips, a Native American activist.

News accounts, including in The Post, and videos of their encounter sparked a heated national debate over the behavior of the participants.

In a span of three days in January of this year commencing on January 19, the Post engaged in a modern day form of McCarthyism by competing with CNN and NBC, among others, to claim leadership of a mainstream and social media mob of bullies which attacked, vilified, and threatened Nicholas Sandmann, an innocent secondary school child, .

It added, The Post ignored basic journalist standards because it wanted to advance its well known and easily documented, biased agenda against President Donald J. Trump by impugning individuals perceived to be supporters of the President.

The suit was filed by Sandmanns parents, Ted and Julie, on Nicholass behalf in U.S. District Court in Covington. It seeks dollar 250 million because Amazon chief executive Jefff Bezos paid that amount for the newspaper when he bought it in 2013.

The lengthy complaint, which carried the names of five attorneys from two law firms, alleged seven false and defamatory articles published online or in print by The Post. It also cited tweets sent by The Post to promote its stories.

The Sandmanns lead attorney is L. Lin Wood, who represented Richard Jewell, the security guard falsely accused in the bombing of Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta in 1996. He also represented John and Patsy Ramsey in pursuing defamation claims against media outlets in connection with reports on the death of their young daughter, JonBenet.

A Post spokeswoman, Kristine Coratti Kelly, said in response to the suit, We are reviewing a copy of the lawsuit, and we plan to mount a vigorous defense.

According to the allegations made in the complaint, Nicholas Sandmann and his classmates were waiting for a bus at the Lincoln Memorial after attending the March for Life rally on the Mall when a group of African American men who call themselves Hebrew Israelites began yelling racial epithets at them. The high school group began a series of school sports chants in response, the complaint said.

Phillips, a self described Native American activist who was on the Mall that day for the Indigenous Peoples March, has said he was walking toward the Lincoln Memorial when he encountered the Covington group. He was chanting and beating a small drum when he came face to face with Sandmann.

The Sandmanns suit asserts that the newspaper bullied Sandmann in its reporting because he was the white, Catholic student wearing a red Make America Great Again souvenir cap.

It calls Phillips a phony war hero [who] was too intimidated by the unruly Hebrew Israelites to approach them, the true troublemakers, and instead chose to focus on a group of innocent children.

It added that The Post did not conduct a proper investigation before publishing its false and defamatory statements of and concerning Nicholas.

It also accused The Post of ignoring online videos that showed a fuller picture of the incident and of using unreliable and biased sources, thus acting with knowledge of falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth. A plaintiff must show that a defendant acted with reckless disregard to sustain a defamation action.

The family of the Kentucky teen who was involved in an encounter with a Native American advocate at the Lincoln Memorial last month filed a defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post on Tuesday, seeking dollar 250 million in damages for its coverage of the incident.

The suit alleges that The Post...

For more infomation >> Family of Covington High teen sues Washington Post for dollar 250 million over coverage of D.C. enc - Duration: 0:39.

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Washington Post Climate skeptic may lead WH panel to study climate change and national security P - Duration: 2:01.

Washington Post Climate skeptic may lead WH panel to study climate change and national security P

The Post, citing planning documents obtained by the paper, reported that William Happer, a National Security Council official, would head up the proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security.

The committee would be created via an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, according to the paper.

The White House declined a request for comment.

In 2014, Happer, who co founded the CO2 Coalition, an advocacy group that focuses on "the consequences of mandated reductions in CO2 emissions," compared criticism of carbon dioxide, the increase of which scientists say has raised global temperatures, to the treatment of Jews under Hitler.

"The demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler," Happer said on "Carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews."

Happer, an at Princeton, that he prefers to refer to the group as "the CO2 anti defamation league...because there is the CO2 molecule, and it has undergone decade after decade of abuse, for no reason," according to the Post.

Happer did not immediately respond to CNNs request for comment.

The Posts report comes a few weeks after in a report the potential security challenges posed by climate change, including "threats to public health, historic levels of human displacement, assaults on religious freedom, and the negative effects of environmental degradation."

That reports assertion is at odds with positions of the President, who before taking office claimed climate change was a "hoax."

Last month, in a tweet that was largely seen as mocking global warming, Trump commented on extremely cold temperatures in the Midwest, writing, "What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you!"

The Post reported that the documents it obtained indicated the committee would serve "to advise the President on scientific understanding of todays climate, how the climate might change in the future under natural and human influences, and how a changing climate could affect the security of the United States."

The paper also said that the documents add that although the Trump administration has said previously that climate change is a threat, "these scientific and national security judgments have not undergone a rigorous independent and adversarial scientific peer review to examine the certainties and uncertainties of climate science, as well as implications for national security."

For more infomation >> Washington Post Climate skeptic may lead WH panel to study climate change and national security P - Duration: 2:01.

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High-level U.S.-China trade talks to start in Washington on 21st - Duration: 0:42.

Officials from the U.S. and China have resumed their third round of trade talks in Washington.

The White House has announced that the deputy-level talks began on Tuesday, ahead of the main

talks which start on Thursday.

For the U.S, these meetings will be led by the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

Beijing's Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington to lead the Chinese side at the trade talks.

The White House emphasized that Washington will engage in the talks with a view to achieving

structural changes in China that affect trade between the U.S. and China.

The two sides will also discuss China's pledge to purchase a substantial amount of

goods and services from the United States.

For more infomation >> High-level U.S.-China trade talks to start in Washington on 21st - Duration: 0:42.

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Update Washington Post Climate skeptic may lead WH panel to study climate change and national secur - Duration: 2:07.

Update Washington Post Climate skeptic may lead WH panel to study climate change and national secur

The Post, citing planning documents obtained by the paper, reported that William Happer, a National Security Council official, would head up the proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security.

The committee would be created via an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, according to the paper.

The White House declined a request for comment.

In 2014, Happer, who co founded the CO2 Coalition, an advocacy group that focuses on "the consequences of mandated reductions in CO2 emissions," compared criticism of carbon dioxide, the increase of which scientists say has raised global temperatures, to the treatment of Jews under Hitler.

"The demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler," Happer said on "Carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews."

Happer, an at Princeton, that he prefers to refer to the group as "the CO2 anti defamation league...because there is the CO2 molecule, and it has undergone decade after decade of abuse, for no reason," according to the Post.

Happer did not immediately respond to CNNs request for comment.

The Posts report comes a few weeks after in a report the potential security challenges posed by climate change, including "threats to public health, historic levels of human displacement, assaults on religious freedom, and the negative effects of environmental degradation."

That reports assertion is at odds with positions of the President, who before taking office claimed climate change was a "hoax."

Last month, in a tweet that was largely seen as mocking global warming, Trump commented on extremely cold temperatures in the Midwest, writing, "What the hell is going on with Global Warming? Please come back fast, we need you!"

The Post reported that the documents it obtained indicated the committee would serve "to advise the President on scientific understanding of todays climate, how the climate might change in the future under natural and human influences, and how a changing climate could affect the security of the United States."

The paper also said that the documents add that although the Trump administration has said previously that climate change is a threat, "these scientific and national security judgments have not undergone a rigorous independent and adversarial scientific peer review to examine the certainties and uncertainties of climate science, as well as implications for national security."

For more infomation >> Update Washington Post Climate skeptic may lead WH panel to study climate change and national secur - Duration: 2:07.

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Nick Sandmann files lawsuit against the Washington Post - Duration: 1:35.

Nick Sandmann files lawsuit against the Washington Post

The law firm Hemmer DeFrank Wessels on Tuesday on its website that said attorneys Lin Wood and Todd McMurtry have filed the lawsuit on behalf of Nicholas Sandmann against the newspaper for "compensatory and punitive damages."

"This is only the beginning," the law firm said.

Sandmann, a student at Covington Catholic High School, was in Washington on January 18 for the annual March for Life rally wearing a red Make American Great Again hat. In a video that gained national attention, he was in an encounter with Omaha tribe elder Nathan Phillips, who was playing a drum and chanting at the Indigenous Peoples March at the Lincoln Memorial on the same day.

that surfaced days later for the encounter, but the first video had gone viral, touching off widespread accusations of bigotry as photos of the teenager spread across social media. In the second video, a group of black men who identify as members of the Hebrew Israelites is seen taunting the students from Covington Catholic High School with disparaging language and shouting racist slurs at participants of the Indigenous Peoples Rally and other passersby.

Major news outlets, including the Washington Post, the Associated Press and CNN covered the incident and its aftermath.

The lawsuit claims that the Post "wrongfully targeted and bullied Nicholas because he was the white, Catholic student wearing a red Make America Great Again souvenir cap on a school field trip to the January 18 March for Life in Washington, D.C."

The complaint also accuses the Post of engaging in a "modern day form of McCarthyism by competing with CNN and NBC, among others, to claim leadership of a mainstream and social media mob of bullies which attacked, vilified, and threatened Nicholas Sandmann, an innocent secondary school child."

A Washington Post spokeswoman told CNN Business that the paper is "reviewing a copy of the lawsuit and we plan to mount a vigorous defense."

Sandmann at the time, saying he was trying to defuse the tension and denied allegations that anyone was acting out of racism.

"I was not intentionally making faces at the protestor," Sandmann said. "I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation."

For more infomation >> Nick Sandmann files lawsuit against the Washington Post - Duration: 1:35.

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Washington Grown Season 6 Episode 7 Peaches - Duration: 26:47.

Washington Grown is brought to you by

the Washington State Department of Agriculture's

Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

And Northwest Farm Credit Services,

supporting agriculture in rural communities

with reliable, consistent credit and financial services

today and tomorrow.

Hi, I'm Kristi Gorenson, and welcome to Washington Grown.

In the summertime here in Washington,

peaches are a juicy favorite.

Their sweetness, their sunset colors,

and their soft, fuzzy skin remind us that there's a reason

we refer to good things as, "just peachy."

We'll make a vegan peach cheesecake

at Harvest Beat in Seattle.

Kind of looks like a weird science experiment

at this stage.

It does, but it's cool.

Then we'll visit the peach orchards at Tonnemaker's farm.

I try not to pick favorites really just whatever is ripe.

Whatever is ripe today.

Right. They're all your babies.

And Tomas will be on the street with some fresh peach pops.

I just picked it off the tree, put it in some ice,

and there it is.

All this and much more today on Washington Grown.

We grow 'em big in Washington.

You're like, "I can put her to work."

Right now. Oh yeah.

Are you getting tired already?

No.

Am I doing this right?

It's like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

This is one of the hardest things I've ever done

on this show.

Cheers. Thanks for having us.

Walk over to Wallingford in Seattle

and you will stumble upon a culinary gem,

Harvest Beat.

This vegan restaurant

offers a completely unique dining experience.

Step inside and you will instantly be wrapped

in a welcoming atmosphere.

I feel like this is just such a homey community feeling

that I really like.

It's like a little community coming here

and chef Joe always comes and welcomes us

every time we get here.

It's one seating every night.

So everybody comes in at 7:00

and they're prepared to have a two-hour dining experience.

We have a totally set menu,

based off of our small farms that we love to use

and I'll get up by ringing a gong.

I love it.

Kind of slows everybody down

and kind of sets the focus for the night.

Yeah.

So talk about our farm

and talk about the connection that we have with them.

So we do it kind of on I like to call it "micro seasons"

because we'll change the menu every three weeks.

So we just try to give everybody a snapshot of what's the best.

What's happening now.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Chef Joe Ianelli

knows that having a micro seasonal coursed menu

is an ambitious undertaking

but his patrons are always appreciative

of the beautiful dishes presented to them.

It tastes extremely healthy, very fresh,

and it's very satisfying, and it's really tasty.

I'm just amazed

how they've mixed some really complex flavors together

in a way that works.

Later in the show chef Joe will be showing me

how to make a peach spiced vegan cheesecake.

Kind of looks like a weird science experiment

at this stage.

It does but it's cool.

We're heading to Royal City, Washington

to visit Tonnemaker Farms where, for multiple generations,

they've been growing fresh and tasty organic peaches.

I'm here with Kole Tonnemaker of Tonnemaker Farms.

Give me a little bit of history about your family farm.

So my grandfather bought this in 1962

and my grandparents came out and started with sagebrush

and planted the first orchard on the Frenchman Hills

and so they were just incredibly hard-working into their 70s.

And then talk about a family farm,

well we raised a family here.

Kole's son, Luke Tonnemaker,

is part of their third generation at the farm

and today he's showing me around their peach orchards.

They're beautiful.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Usually the top of the tree ripens first,

so when you look up there

there's a lot that are very perfectly round.

Oh yeah.

You look down here; you see these ones that are not quite...

they're kind of triangular almost.

Those are gonna need a few more days.

Yeah, each peach is hand selected.

When we go through,

it may take two or three pickings

to finish a particular variety.

The Tonnemakers farm 126 acres

with 400 different varieties of produce and 40 types of peaches.

We're picking an early Hale variety called Delp

that was discovered in the Yakima Valley

in the '50s or '60s.

We've had to get new trees made

because peach trees don't last over fifty years in this climate

So go back to the old varieties

and they have at least as good a flavor, if not better,

than the new ones.

So that's cool. So here at Tonnemaker

you're kind of bringing back some of the...

We're certainly trying to preserve them.

The Diamond Princess is a newer one that's very red

but it's very excellent and that's being picked right now.

And that's one we like of the more modern varieties.

I try not to pick favorites really just whatever is ripe.

Whatever is ripe today.

Right. They're all your babies.

Yep. Like we were talking about earlier

that the top of the tree ripens first,

This is the top?

this is the top but it's down here now.

This is a problem you can see with peaches sometimes.

So how would I pick it?

Just kind of, with your whole hand, grab it

and then just kind of roll to the side.

That should, yep. Come right off.

Look at how pretty that is. It is like perfectly round.

Oh my gosh. That is so juicy.

It takes a lot of work to make organic peaches this good

so I asked Luke about some of the challenges they face.

Well you can see on the leaves here there's some white.

Yeah.

That's powdery mildew, which can scar the fruit.

I see, yeah.

So this is the scarring. So that occurs right after bloom

and then there's spotted wing drosophila,

which is a fruit fly.

Despite those pests,

mother nature is on their side with great growing conditions.

The overall climate is very conducive.

We tend to have the right temperatures

to grow good peaches.

It isn't 50 degrees one day and minus 10 the next,

and that's what stone fruit needs, especially,

is a consistent temperature.

We have the heat when we need it to really bring in the sugars.

Well yeah. I mean you can taste them. It's delicious.

And a lot of your peaches are sold here

or where else do they go?

We sell some right here at the farm

and then we take them to farmers markets.

A lot of them go to restaurants.

Harvest Beat is one restaurant that buys.

Oh cool. Yeah.

Yeah. Getting tree-ripe peaches anywhere is extremely difficult,

and that's something that a small farm can do

that the big farms can't do better.

So the next time you bite into a peach,

thank farmers like the Tonnemakers

for them being beautiful, delicious, and just peachy.

Hey! Let's go!

When you think about summer,

you're probably thinking about fresh peaches,

and when you take those fresh peaches

and you make them into an ice pop, now we're talking.

Let's check them out.

Hey everybody!

I'm here with Mandolyn here in Kendall Yards in Spokane

and you run, not necessarily a food truck,

but a pretty delicious little cart.

Absolutely, it's great for the markets.

I can scoot in and out on a bike.

We just try to get the fruit at the peak of the season

and make a pop out of it.

What started this whole venture of Fannie's Ice Pops?

Well I have twins

and so I just wanted to have something that was healthy

and fun for them to have.

Right. Okay.

And so it just blossomed into this little business.

One day somebody said, "you know, you should sell these!"

Absolutely. They did, at a garage sale.

"You should sell these." So we did,

and now people say, "you should go on Shark Tank."

That's awesome!

Mandolyn has a special flavor today

that only pops out in the summertime.

Famous, seasonal roasted peach and vanilla.

Yeah.

So where are the peaches coming from

that you're making these out of?

Kind of depends

but usually I always try to get them from the farmers market

or today I was up at Green Bluff getting some.

So I just really try to support locally.

Here we go. This is the moment of truth. Cheers.

Cheers.

Oh wow!

I just picked it off the tree, put it in some ice,

and there it is.

You got a winner right here.

Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

So let me ask you a question, do you enjoy a good peach?

I love peaches.

Yeah, no. Just bite into a peach. The best.

I love peaches!

Do you like peaches?

She likes peaches!

So why don't you give that a try and tell me what you think.

Very good. I love the vanilla.

It's pretty rad.

So much peach is in there.

Super! Yeah.

You like it?

Well Cori obviously likes it.

It's like biting into a peach.

The vanilla and peach together, it's the move.

I would highly recommend it.

You enjoy that, okay?

What do you say?

Thank you.

You are so welcome. Thanks for coming.

You may know that peaches are a stone fruit,

but what plant family are they from?

Find out after the break.

Coming up we'll be making a vegan, peach cheesecake.

Okay, now I have hair spray.

So we'll just do it from a distance.

And we'll be in the Second Harvest kitchen

trying out a viewer's peach recipe

that is fast, easy, and peachy.

Peaches are a member of the rose family.

We're back at Harvest Beat, a vegan restaurant

where the menu changes with the micro seasons.

Chef Joe Ianelli loves to respect the food of the moment.

We believe that food should be as locally sourced as possible.

There's just so much more life

when your greens are picked that morning or the morning before.

You can taste it.

It's just the way food should be done.

It's incredible.

I've never seen, first of all, such passionate chefs, I feel,

and I've never had such delicious, healthy food.

It's like a little community coming here

and chef Joe always comes and welcomes us

every time we get here.

I love it. I absolutely love it. I like the farm-to-table idea.

When it's the right season,

chef Joe loves to incorporate Washington peaches

any way he can.

We've done grilled peaches in salads.

Just simply like that.

We'll do peach sorbets, peach ice cream,

I mean there's so many things you can do.

Yeah. What are we gonna make?

So we are gonna make a peach, spiced cheesecake.

I'm excited because, you know,

I would guess you kind of have to get creative

when you want to do things like whipped cream and that.

You know,

that you would normally have like milk or butter.

Yeah. Exactly. Especially in the dessert world,

you really have to step outside the box to make some things

that are just equally as beautiful and delicious

as things in the other world of dairy and butter and things.

Yeah. The other world.

First we start to make the crust.

We pour maple syrup on some pecans

and then sprinkle on nutmeg, cinnamon, and truffle salt.

Once the pecans are coated,

we place them on a baking sheet and send them to the oven

for about 20 minutes.

While the pecans roast, we begin making the whipped cream.

Joe pours coconut milk into a pot and adds in some aromatics,

chamomile, and rose petals.

He finishes with a bit of agave.

Now the interesting part of making vegan whipped cream

is going to be this really cool product that we use.

It's called agar agar.

Okay. Yeah. I've heard of it.

Which is a type of gelatin flake

in the sense of adding thickness to it.

But it comes from...

The ocean.

The ocean.

We add in the agar agar and make sure it dissolves.

Then Joe pours the hot mixture into a blender.

Once the mixture is blended,

we pour it into a pan to be chilled.

Once it's chilled,

we put it into a food processor to be whipped.

Kind of looks like a weird science experiment

at this stage.

It does but it's cool.

When the whipped cream is done,

we move on to finishing our crust.

We deseed some dates and add them to the food processor

along with our candied pecans.

So this is our crust.

That is the crust.

I could just eat this.

We place our crust into the bottom of ring molds

and then get ready to make the peach flavored cheesecake.

Now let's get into our peaches

because we love our peach season.

This is the most important part.

Yeah. And Tonnemaker,

we love Tonnemaker, the farm and orchards.

They have some of the best products in the world.

Like without them...that's what makes our restaurant successful.

We chop our Tonnemaker peaches and add nutmeg, cinnamon,

vanilla, and some maple syrup.

We caramelize them on the stove

with the help of some Washington wine.

You know I have hair spray.

So we'll just do it from a distance.

So yeah.

Once the peaches are deglazed,

we begin making the cheesecake batter.

So the cheesecake,

to make it a cheesecake and make it kind of authentic and creamy,

we use soaked cashews and a little bit of fresh lemon juice

and that gives it this creamy, tangy, almost like cheese flavor

Yeah. Interesting.

We put two cups of the cashews

and our caramelized peaches into the blender.

We add in coconut milk, coconut oil, and a splash of vanilla.

Chef Joe adds in a soy lecithin to act as a natural emulsifier.

Then we blend it all together

and our vegan cheesecake batter is ready.

I pour the batter into the molds.

And we call all the drips and stuff like that angel share.

There we go.

Yes. For the little spirits around the kitchen.

Well they're going to be happy today.

We send it to the fridge to chill for about two hours

and then it's finally time to assemble this dessert.

I'm a horrible painter and so this is when I can do my Picasso

or Bob Ross happy little things.

There you go. Happy little clouds.

I love this part of it.

We begin our artistic creations

by topping off the cheesecakes with our vegan whipped cream.

Joe sprinkles on some blueberry powder

and adds a pomegranate reduction.

With our cheesecakes complete it's now time to dig in.

Eating this, I would never think it doesn't have dairy in it

or anything like that.

That's the beautiful part.

Yeah.

We have lots of carnivore friends that come in

with their vegan counterparts...

Oh sure.

And they end up leaving really satisfied.

You won't miss anything.

You'll be so happy you came here.

Exactly.

To get Harvest Beat's recipe for peach, spiced, vegan cheesecake,

head over to wagrown.com.

When people hear Washington State,

they usually think of our apples, our grapes, and hops,

but what about our peaches?

Today we're learning about peaches from James Michael,

the vice president of marketing for North America

for the peach growers of Washington State.

Peaches, and cherries, and the stone fruits,

they like just a certain little microclimate.

Fortunately, in the Northwest

we've got tons of them scattered around,

you know, mountain sides and valleys,

but here in this place,

this is Parker Heights above Wapato Washington,

just outside of Yakima,

right in the heart of the Yakima Valley.

We have hot summer days but the really cool nights.

Yeah.

And it's just that perfect recipe for flavoring.

Washington peaches travel all over the world,

especially to Taiwan and Canada.

So I asked James about how many peaches Washington produces.

Peach production in Washington has been pretty steady

for the last five years, about eight thousand tons.

Overall our growers are finding the right variety,

the right hillside, the right fruit,

you know, and root combination to get that flavor profile.

Where does that 8,000 tons fit into the rest of the nation?

We're top 10.

California and then the southern states,

South Carolina and Georgia, are the big three

in terms of production but we fit a niche in the late season.

So we're north, we're a little bit later in our ripening,

a little later in our delivering to the shelves,

but our growers benefit from an extra hour of light

because of where we're at north.

So we get that flavor development,

those extra sugars, that extra juiciness.

So we're a great flavor, a great peach to end the summer with.

But growing these great tasting peaches is no easy task.

Growers that invest their entire livelihood,

their whole annual income on success of a harvest,

and things like peaches,

you might have a narrow window of a couple of weeks

and there's just too many factors at work every day

to guarantee any of it.

What's the future of the Washington peach?

Are we growing? Is it shrinking for things like hops and grapes

or what's gonna happen?

We'll never be the world's largest peach producer

but we can produce a really great quality piece of,

you know, dessert quality fruit.

May not be the biggest but probably the best.

That's what I think.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Coming up we'll meet a very special agriculture storyteller.

Oh there you go. Yeah. Work it. Beautiful smile.

Diamond Princess,

Elegant Lady,

Sweet Dream,

these names couldn't be more fitting

for the delicious and delectable peach.

With more than 300 varieties of Peaches in the U.S

and over 2,000 worldwide,

it can sometimes be hard to choose.

Peaches can be white, yellow, or red,

and they're classified into three categories;

freestone peaches are best to eat fresh.

Clingstone are best for canning and baking,

and semi-freestone are a combination of the two.

Let's check in with our produce manager, Ralph,

to learn about choosing peaches at the store!

In the summertime, Washington peaches are in season.

Go for the heavy ones, that's where the juice is at!

And always, for freshness, give them a whiff.

Thanks, Ralph!

Now if you buy peaches at the store

that aren't quite ripe yet,

keep them at room temperature until they're ripe,

and then put them in the refrigerator.

You can even speed up the ripening process

by putting them in a brown paper bag on your counter.

Because the sweet dream is only so when it's perfectly ripe!

Today I'm in Moses Lake

meeting with a very special agriculture storyteller.

I'm Sue Tebow. I am the founder of agri.CULTURE.

What is agri.CULTURE?

agri.CULTURE is a social media based blog

about people of agriculture.

So it's culture of agriculture.

So my tagline, "one story at a time" is just that.

There's one story every morning

for you to read about an agriculture person.

Since starting this project two years ago,

Sue has gained over 12,000 followers

on Facebook and Instagram

and has posted over 650 daily agriculture stories.

There's such that disconnect

between the people who grow the food

and the people who eat the food,

that I thought I could help bridge that gap

in a very creative way.

So I came up with a story idea.

Just a simple story and one single photo, anonymous,

that tells the story of that person for that day.

There's a story of a man one day,

a woman, or a child.

It's whoever has something to say.

Sue didn't grow up on a farm

and admits she used to feel the farmer-consumer disconnect

but when she married her husband,

who also happens to be a farmer,

she soon realized that feeding the world

took a lot of hard work.

Sue decided it was important

to share these stories with the world.

Everybody matters, all their stories matter.

I have approached people for stories and they say,

"Oh, I'm not fancy. I don't have anything important to say"

but they do. They really do.

They may not know they do,

but they do and, as soon as they start telling their story,

they find out that they even surprise themselves

that they do have things to say.

So are you primarily running on Facebook?

Is that kind of where most of this stuff's happening here?

Yeah.

My thought behind that was social media is huge.

I would like to reach a younger generation

and that's all social media.

If the average age of a farmer is 58,

who's gonna grow the food in 15 years.

Yeah. Good question.

So we need to get the word out.

Bridge the gap to the younger generation, the upcoming,

and social media was the way to get that.

Speaking of the younger generation,

Sue invites us to the Verhey peach farm

as she goes to profile third-generation

McDarra Vonstein.

Sue chats with McDarra about her family's peach operation

and her role in it all.

I will go home, type this up,

and then your story will appear on agri.CULTURE

probably in a couple of weeks.

Sweet! Cool.

All right. So tell me about how long has your family

been in the peach business?

We've been growing peaches for probably close to 50 years now.

It started with my grandpa in like the '60s.

What exactly is your job in the orchard?

What do you do?

Mostly I sell at the shop here.

Okay.

And then I also will get the peaches out of the orchard

for the lady who picks for us

or sometimes I go to farmers markets.

I just kind of do whatever I need to do.

Whatever is needed.

Once Sue gets the story she needs,

the two do a photo shoot full of smiles and laughter.

This is really cute. Really good.

Oh there you go. Yeah. Work it. This is really cute.

You're so pretty. Beautiful smile.

And just like that,

another unique and important agriculture story is told.

Tomás and I are in The Kitchen at Second Harvest

and we're joined by Laurent Zirotti,

the owner and chef of Fleur de Sel restaurant and creperie.

Thanks for being here.

Thank you Kristi.

And we get to taste test some recipes that have been sent in

by viewers of Washington Grown.

We love seeing your recipes,

Yeah, we do.

and today, we get to talk about fresh peaches,

which is a summertime favorite for so many people

here in Washington.

Especially us, yeah, we love 'em!

Yeah.

I love peach...

Bite into one, and it's super juicy,

The smell, the smell of a fresh peach.

Ah, the smell.

And if you've never gone to an orchard

and had the opportunity to pick one off the tree,

and try it, you owe it to yourself to do so.

I like, you had good technique there.

Yeah, exactly.

To me it's the smell of summer.

When they are ripe, you get that smell.

You can make great things with it.

And you know, for fresh, it's like a summertime thing,

and once the season is over, it's hard to find.

And fresh, you know you don't have to...

that's what we're trying to do here at Second Harvest also,

is to teach people how to cook fresh produce.

They receive a lot of fresh produce at Second Harvest,

and we're trying to show them that making food, it's easy.

And not to be afraid.

Not to be afraid, exactly. To put your hands in and...

To let the mistakes happen, because that's how you learn.

Exactly.

Yeah, and also, when you cook, you cook with your heart.

You cook and, the food will taste always better

when you cook it yourself.

Right.

I love it. And that's what you do, is you help,

you teach some of these classes, right?

Yeah, at Second Harvest.

I bet they love you.

I love them.

I love them more than that.

We did this summer, a peach, we had some peach here,

donated by the growers of Washington

and we did a peach cobbler, but I'm excited about this recipe.

Yeah, so this is Easy Peach Cobbler,

by our viewer, MaryLou, and she says that her family

has a tradition of going to an orchard in Royal City

and picking a bunch of fresh peaches.

So this is easy, it involves like, you know,

the Krusteaz pancake mix,

Okay.

some sliced peaches.

So, very easy and we can't wait to see how it tastes.

I like easy.

But first, here's how you make it.

I cannot wait to taste it.

Yeah, that came together really quick.

Yeah.

You can taste the blueberry.

You know, that peach and blueberry combo is pretty good.

I like that a lot.

It is, it's unusual, but very good.

You definitely can taste the blueberry.

Yeah, it comes through.

But the peaches are nice.

That is a sweet treat for sure.

Don't give it to your kids right before bed

Right, exactly.

'cuz they'll be up all night.

This is a great dessert for sure. And you know,

I could actually see creating something like this

on a camping trip,

especially when you use like that Krusteaz mix.

It's easy to do in a camper.

That's a perfect idea.

Take it camping, Boom.

This is great. Nice job!

Everything tastes delicious outside, right?

Yeah.

When you're with your family.

It's part of you know, that's the experience of anything.

It's environment.

Everything will taste better with good friends,

like us today.

Everything will taste much better.

Love it.

Well, we want to thank MaryLou

MaryLou thank you.

Nice job MaryLou.

for Easy Peach Cobbler.

Yeah.

To get MaryLou's recipe for Easy Peach Cobbler,

visit wagrown.com.

Peaches straight from the orchard

to peaches on your plate, if they're from Washington,

you can guarantee these peaches are going to be

the juiciest and sweetest you've ever had.

That's it for this episode of Washington Grown.

Thanks for watching!

For more infomation >> Washington Grown Season 6 Episode 7 Peaches - Duration: 26:47.

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Snow Blankets Roads In Washington County - Duration: 1:49.

For more infomation >> Snow Blankets Roads In Washington County - Duration: 1:49.

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Washington Grown Season 6 Episode 6 Cherries - Duration: 26:47.

Washington Grown is brought to you by

the Washington State Department of Agriculture's

Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

And Northwest Farm Credit Services,

supporting agriculture in rural communities

with reliable, consistent credit and financial services

today and tomorrow.

Hi everyone, I'm Kristi Gorenson and welcome to Washington Grown.

Living here in our state, chances are,

you've had freshly picked cherries in the summertime.

So what makes a Washington cherry so sweet?

You're about to find out.

We'll be baking a cherry coffee cake

at Boots Bakery and Lounge in Spokane.

This is the biggest whisk I've ever used in my entire life.

Then, we'll visit Ormiston Orchards

to see their beautiful cherries and the people behind them.

Just a whole bunch of good people, you know!

And finally,

we'll follow those cherries all the way to Chukar Cherries,

home to the Northwest's favorite cherry treats.

The kid in me is just freakin' out right now!

All this and much more today on Washington Grown.

We grow 'em big in Washington.

You're like, "I could put her to work."

Right now. Oh yeah.

Are you getting tired already?

No.

Am I doing this right?

It's like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

This is one of the hardest things I've ever done

on this show!

Cheers! Thanks for having us.

We're stopping by Boots Bakery and Lounge in Spokane.

This favorite spot features funky decor, friendly faces,

and creative, sweet and savory vegan and vegetarian dishes.

The first time I came I was vegan,

so I like that there's no meat options here.

It just made it easy to order.

What do people say when they come here?

They say, "Wow, I can have everything?"

Owner Alison Collins has created a place

where there is truly something unique for everyone,

from the food and drink, to the decor.

One thing I like about the atmosphere is it's really funky.

So there's a lot of different kinds of art and, you know,

kind of eccentric, eclectic things.

When we were gonna open,

we put a call out to local artists, area artists,

"Do you wanna design a space at Boots?"

So people just did their thing.

Everything in here's pretty much recycled and repurposed.

It kinda has that feel of like,

anyone could just be who they wanna be.

Yeah, everybody's welcome.

Alison used to work as an established bartender

and vegan baker, and decided to open Boots

after receiving encouragement from her customers and friends.

I was the last person to sign on,

but that was because I was scared, right.

I mean, I'm like, are people even gonna come here?

Alison's fear was soon proved wrong,

and Boots quickly became one of Spokane's hippest spots to eat.

Later in the show, Alison will be showing me

how to make a vegan, gluten-free coffee cake

with fresh Washington cherries.

You're doing a great job.

I've suddenly become very uncoordinated.

Growing cherries is a labor of love,

and we're seeing how it's done at Ormiston Orchards in Prosser.

In early summer, these trees are bursting with ripe cherries.

It's a race to get this delicate, soft fruit

from the trees to your table at their peak of freshness.

My name's Gary Ormiston,

and we're about 175 acres of cherries.

Gary primarily grows Rainier cherries.

The Rainier cherry

is developed just a half a mile away from our home place.

My dad planted the first commercial orchard back in 1961

when the trees became available.

Probably some of the oldest Rainier trees in the world.

I was born in '57, so I kinda grew up with these.

Work begins in the field,

where workers carefully hand-pick the cherries.

It's not for everybody.

You have to have that eye-hand coordination

to throw out the bad one and get the good one in the box.

I've gone through quite a few people

to build the crew that we have now,

and they come back every year and enjoy what they're doing

and make good money working for us.

Jorge Jimenas, we call him George or Abuelo; Grandpa.

George and Marybell are taking care of things

out here in the orchard.

Oh yeah, that's a nice lookin' box.

That's the minimum size we allow in the pack.

That cherry's quite a bit bigger than that.

Summer for me is pickin' cherries.

I know nothing else to do in June and July.

I don't go to the casino.

I always say, "No, no, I don't need to.

I'm a cherry grower; we gamble every day on this thing."

You can kinda lose it right overnight

in a rainstorm or a freeze or something.

We asked Gary

why Washington is such a great place to grow cherries.

The climate is so good for growing fruit here.

We can do what not every state can do, you know.

After picking, the cherries are quickly transported

just a few miles away and refrigerated.

Here, the cherries are individually packaged,

ready for shelves at your local grocery store.

Pretty basic hand-pack operation that they've done the same,

I think, since the turn of the century.

This is what we refer to as a pouch bag.

The bag is left open, and it's sold by the pound.

But Gary's favorite are the clamshell packs.

These have to be perfect.

Not only perfect for the inspection,

but perfect for the customer, 'cuz as you can see,

the customer can see just about every cherry in that clamshell.

No doubt it's hard work, but the atmosphere here is fun

and Gary embraces the people who work with him

to bring in his crop.

Just a whole bunch of good people, you know.

We got Rosa, Garvey

and Marla, Corona,

her family all works here.

A triple, you don't see those very often.

Dora's worked here for 30-plus years.

This is the best setup I've seen.

When we started it was about eight of us.

About eight of us.

Now there's like 60-plus people.

Yeah, and about 150 in the field.

Next time you enjoy a sweet Rainier cherry,

think of Gary,

and Rosa,

and Marla,

and Dora,

and Jorge,

because it takes them all to bring cherries to your table.

Don't you just love visiting an orchard

where you can eat the fruit straight off the tree?

Well, when you eat a cherry from the store,

it's pretty close to that.

Cherries are one of the freshest produce items available.

They generally ripen on the tree, are harvested, packed,

and on the shelf of your store in just one or two days.

Washington state grows half of the sweet cherries in the U.S.,

and one tree can produce almost 800 cherries!

With those numbers, no matter where you live,

you've most likely eaten a Washington cherry.

Let's talk with Ralph, the Produce Manager, to learn more.

Cherries come in many varieties; reds or yellows.

Look for dark spots on the cherries

and also check the stems.

If it's green, it's the freshest.

Thanks Ralph.

You know, cherries aren't just there for their taste.

They're also very healthy for you.

21 cherries are less than 100 calories,

and they've been found to strengthen the immune system,

help reduce jet lag,

and promote healthy sleep patterns.

No wonder I'm always dreamin' about a slice of cherry pie!

The Rainier was developed in 1960,

here in Prosser, Washington at the WSU Research Center.

It's a cross between two red cherry varieties.

Can you guess which two varieties?

I'll have the answer after the break.

Coming up, we'll be baking a Washington cherry coffee cake

at Boots Bakery and Lounge.

You wanna add your flair?

And we'll be in the Second Harvest kitchen

trying out a viewer's cherry recipe

that is good enough for a dairy princess.

The Rainier cherry is a cross between two red cherries;

the Bing and the Van.

We're back at Boots Bakery and Lounge in Spokane,

where, even though the menu changes daily,

there's always something for everyone.

Everyday we have cupcakes, brownies, muffins, coffee cake,

coconut jasmine rice pudding.

Our pumpkin waffle is very popular, very, very popular.

We love going for a bike ride,

then coming here for pumpkin waffles.

I'm not a sweets fan,

but the pumpkin chai butter waffle is amazing.

It's crunchy on the outside,

maple syrup, all the spices in the chai butter.

My other favorite thing, though, is the power greens,

which are kinda like the complete opposite.

And then we make savory food too.

Everything from like enchilada pie to curried lentils,

Grandma's dilly potatoes,

I mean, just kind of a variety of savorys.

Alison and her team

work with produce brought to them by local farmers,

making Boots menu as fresh as you can get.

We just get things from a bunch of local farmers,

so, we have a relationship with someone,

obviously a customer here,

and they bring whatever excess they have;

plums, apricots, cherries.

So what are we going to make today?

We're making a coffee cake;

cherry, almond, cardamom coffee cake.

Sounds delicious.

This is gluten-free flour blend.

We make our own blends here for different things.

This is kind of a master blend

for things that have cake-like texture.

It is rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xanthan gum.

Okay.

To this, we're going to add some sugar.

Do you want me to pit these?

Yeah, pit those.

So just stick 'em in there?

Yeah, throw 'em in and then give a punch.

And then you're good to go.

Hopefully, there.

Awesome. How fun is that. Okay.

While I pit the cherries,

Alison adds in baking soda, salt and ground cardamom.

Then I help prepare the liquids.

Expeller pressed canola.

Okay, canola.

That's a little bit of pure almond extract.

Don't use imitation.

Okay.

You'll be able to tell.

And this is?

Cider vinegar.

So that in this particular recipe,

the cider vinegar plus the baking soda,

you'll see when you mix it in,

that's what creates the bubbles to cause the rise.

Kinda like old depression cake.

Yeah.

So you'll be whisking as you pour that in.

This is the biggest whisk I've ever used in my entire life.

Does this thing have a name? You should name it.

I think it's called Kristi's Whisk.

Kristi's Whisk.

Once the batter is ready, I pour it onto a sheet pan

while Alison tells me how Boots uses Washington cherries

in their different recipes.

So we use cherries in like, fruit bars.

We make cherry jams.

Oh.

You're doing a great job.

I've suddenly become very uncoordinated.

Once I successfully lay out all the batter,

it's time to place our pitted cherries on top.

See that, yours is like, more free-wheelin'

and mine's like... what's goin' on?

Any way is fine.

I am just a person who does not enjoy symmetry.

Once our cherries are placed,

I sprinkle on some sliced almonds.

You can just kinda...

put those over it.

I can do that.

Wanna add your flair?

My flair?

Yeah, and then we'll put that in the oven.

Okay.

While our coffee cake is in the oven,

we make an almond glaze by whisking together

powdered sugar, coconut milk and almond extract.

Once our cake is done baking,

it's time to glaze.

So it's a little bit warm.

Maybe let it cool just a smidge before you're gonna glaze it.

Otherwise, it'll just kinda soak right in.

Alison shows me an easy technique to glaze the cake.

I think this sorta style came from

when you're doing a multiple amount of things,

it's just easier.

Sure, throwing it all over the place.

So we just kinda like this.

Ah, I love it.

I like not too much glaze.

Yeah.

And you want to do the other side?

So you can still see the cherries.

Now it's time to give our cherry coffee cake a try.

Hangin' out, having some vegan, gluten-free,

cherry, almond, cardamom coffee cake.

Sounds amazing.

Sweets in the afternoon.

That is delicious. The cherries are tart.

Yeah, and sweet.

You got any fancy people comin' over with food requests,

you can hook 'em up.

Totally hook 'em up.

Thank you for showing me, that was fun.

Thanks for making it.

To get Boots Bakery's recipe

for cherry, almond, cardamom coffeecake,

head over to wagrown.com.

Hey, let's go!

Fine dining and food trucks?

It's not often you get to hear that pair.

But here at the Seattle food truck, Kukree,

Chef Aarthi and her family

are serving up high cuisine on wheels.

The concept is really about cooking healthy food,

making a composed dish,

and really chef-quality, like upping the standards,

just focused on really good flavors and good food.

Aarthi, of course,

couldn't do this without the best Washington ingredients.

We procure from local vendors,

and the produce just blew me away.

Take for example, cherries.

You at least get it for a good solid three months,

where as the East Coast, not more than two weeks.

Aarthi even makes a homemade kimchi sauce,

marinated in fresh cherries.

But it's not just fresh ingredients that make great food

Two years ago I was on Chopped

and I won Chopped.

And then, a few months ago, I was on Beat Bobby Flay,

and I kicked his...

Butt.

...butt. Yes.

In between, he actually asked me,

"Uh, I don't know what I'm doing here!"

Excellent, well I'm excited to try this cherries kimchi,

so let's check it out.

That is no joke.

You're eating a delicious meal and it's also good for you.

I love it.

So now, let's just see what everybody else thinks,

but I'm pretty sure they're gonna like it too.

So tell me, do you enjoy cherries?

Love 'em.

I love all food.

I love cherries.

Well, I'm gonna have you try Kukree's Hanger Steak

with cherry kimchi.

That's different.

Very good.

This is amazing.

It's sweet and it's savory.

The kimchi and the sweet cherry are real nice together.

The most awesome marinated steak.

But now, I already got the chicken,

and I probably would've gotten this.

Maybe I should re-do my order!

Coming up,

Tomás is getting a behind-the- scenes look at Chukar Cherries.

The kid in me is just freakin' out right now!

Today, I'm meeting with Keith Hu

from the Northwest Cherry Growers Association.

And I'm talking with him

about the big business that comes from these little cherries

Keith and his team represent over 2,500 cherry growers

in Washington, Oregon, Montana, Utah and Idaho.

90% of the cherries come from Washington and 5% from Oregon.

That's a lot of cherries from our area here

in Washington state.

That is a lot of cherries.

Northwest Cherry Growers

work directly with growers in these states

to export their products in 18 markets all around the world.

My job function at the Northwest Cherry Growers

is to develop business and branding for them overseas.

And ever since I joined the company, roughly 12 years ago,

we've successfully opened up the Chinese market,

the Korean market, and the select Southeast Asia market.

These markets may be far away,

but cherries fly first class and get there very quickly.

They will receive our fresh cherries in less than 48 hours.

Wow!

Yeah, so that is actually faster than U.S. consumers can

Fly there.

receive on the East Coast of the United States.

Yeah.

What are some of the challenges of,

you know, moving cherries internationally?

As we know, cherries are very, very delicate,

a highly perishable item,

so once the product arrives in any given overseas market,

we have to make sure the quotient continues.

And either it goes into the warehouse

or straight to the retail chains.

The life of a cherry once it's picked, is only about 30 days,

so they are definitely a luxury item overseas.

Because the products we send overseas,

I would say the majority of them are the premium items.

There are some... the sizes of cherries

that we don't see in the local markets at all.

So all the big ones are getting shipped overseas.

And you add in the freight and the custom duties,

etcetera, etcetera,

it's easy to find cherries at a retail shop

for about $9, $10 a pound.

Amazing!

Cherry growers face many challenges,

but that doesn't stop the Northwest Cherry Growers

from sharing the health benefits and sweet flavors

of these fresh Northwest cherries.

Thank you so much for taking time with us

on Washington Grown,

and thank you for all of the work that you do

on behalf of Northwest Cherries.

No problem, I enjoy it.

Today, I'm excited to be visiting Chukar Cherries.

Home to some of the Northwest's favorite cherry treats.

I'm meeting with owners Pam and JT Montgomery,

who are going to show me the ins and outs

of this family owned cherry operation.

Pam tells me the idea of Chukar came to her

after she would snack on shriveled cherries

from her own cherry orchard.

And I'd eat them and eat them,

So what the heck, there it is, right?

They were so delicious!

And from that...

From that, this is what sprung.

The name Chukar came from the local chukar bird,

who has a long history

of being the star of an old local sporting event.

And I've always loved birds.

Pheasant Cherries didn't really work.

No, it doesn't roll off the tongue the way...

No.

It's as local as you can get; local birds, local fruit.

Oh yeah, local fruit, local birds, yeah.

There it is.

Now it's time for JT to give me a tour

of how all these cherry treats get made.

I can't wait.

It all starts with fresh Washington grown cherries.

Local orchards, like our friends at Ormiston Orchards,

deliver their fresh cherries to Chukar,

and are quickly placed in the cooler to chill.

Then the cherries go into a de-stemmer and a sizer.

These machines sort the cherries by size

and reject the imperfect ones.

We have to process all of the cherries that we use in a year

in the six, seven weeks of the cherry season.

Right, wow!

So, because these are fresh out of the orchard,

we have gotta...

Gotta move!

we gotta move!

Then the cherries take a chilling bath

and head to the pitter.

After being pitted, it's time for the dryer.

We get about 3,000 pounds of dried cherries every day

out of this.

And from the time they come off the tree

to the time they become dehydrated,

it seems like it's...a couple days.

Yes, it is a couple of days.

Super fresh!

Yes, they are!

Now we're heading to the next step of the Chukar process,

into the chocolate room.

It's like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!

If you guys could smell this at home!

It is so like, the kid in me is just freakin' out right now!

JT explains how they use old-world topper pans

to coat the cherries in fresh silky chocolate.

Then they're shined with a smooth glaze

and are ready for the package.

Chukar has custom machines

that use scales to measure out precise amounts of candies

for each package.

The packages are boxed up

and sent to the finished good warehouse,

where they're ready to be sent out to the world.

It seems like Chukar Cherries is successful

because you are surrounded by cherry growers.

Absolutely.

This wouldn't have happened

if there wasn't all of this stone fruit product in this area

Now I head back to the Chukar store to say my goodbyes,

but not before sneaking in a quick taste test.

You could put these on anything, really.

I mean, these are delicious.

And they're really good with fine chocolate on them.

Which I think I know somebody who makes that.

I bet you do.

Well, Pam, thank you so much for showing us around.

I've learned so much and I already know

what my wife's gonna get me for Christmas.

Oh good!

Thank you so much.

Thank you Tomás.

Hi everyone. Tomás and I are at The Kitchen at Second Harvest

and we're joined by Laurent Zirotti,

he's the chef and owner of Fleur de Sel restaurant and creperie.

Or...I'm probably saying it wrong, right? Creperie.

Creperie.

Creperie.

And we get the honor of tasting some recipes

that have been sent in by you, the viewers.

And today, we are talking about cherries,

so the particular recipe we'll be tasting a little bit later

has to do with cherries.

And of course, Washington grows a lot of cherries.

Cherries are fantastic in the summer starting in June,

you know, early crops, June, July.

And most of the cherries are IQF; Individually Quick Frozen,

or also canned.

Canned, right.

And that reminds me, of in the old days.

Well, you were talking about Betty Crocker earlier,

was a cookbook.

That's right.

But it's that back in time where you used to have canned fruits.

Yes, absolutely.

And so, what the recipe,

speaking of kind of going back in time.

This is from Marylou and she is introducing us to

Aunt Marianne's No Bake Cheesecake.

So she's not taking credit for it, it's her aunt's recipe.

Aunt Marianne's.

We all have Aunt recipes.

That's right, yes we do.

And so this is what I think of like a very classic,

something that your grandma would make to take to a picnic

or something.

And it uses canned cherries.

You don't even need the oven.

It's quick and easy.

You don't, it's quick and easy.

So this is Aunt Marianne's No Bake Cheesecake.

Well how good does that look?

And how easy was that?

There wasn't a lot to it, but look at how great it is.

That's beautiful.

I know, it looks so beautiful!

Yes, it's truly a classic, I think it's a classic cheesecake.

I think you're right.

This is what I think of when I think of cherry cheesecake.

Mmmm, you can't go wrong.

No.

Mhmm.

Simple, easy, and delicious.

I took a really big bite.

I could have the whole pie.

Yeah.

It's so good, and like, really easy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Marylou has a funny story.

She wrote to us and said that

she was actually a Dairy Princess in Oregon,

and she had to do like a cooking,

little cooking show for, you know, as Dairy Princess,

using dairy, obviously.

And when she was doing it,

she was mixing it and she forgot to turn the mixer off,

and she put her spatula in there and

Broke everything?

Apparently it went all over the place,

rubber spatula flying everywhere.

So...

Well that's a way to make a mark.

that's her story of Aunt Marianne's No Bake Cheesecake.

But I'm surprised at how light the cream cheese is, you know.

Yeah, it's not heavy.

It's really light.

No, it is very light and it's not too sweet,

even if the canned fruits are all sweeter,

but I think it's a delicious dessert.

And those cherries have a little tartness to them

that helps balance out with this cream.

I think that's where most cherries

go into this sort of thing,

they're tart cherries that go into the canned fruits and stuff

and ice creams and things.

My mouth is watering. I want another bite.

I think you're right. Let's take another one.

To get Marylou's recipe

for Aunt Marianne's No Bake Cherry Cheesecake,

head to wagrown.com

Whether you enjoy cherries covered in chocolate

or straight off the tree,

there is no wrong way to eat a Washington cherry.

That's it for this episode of Washington Grown.

Thanks for watching.