America's Heartland

- [Presenter] Coming up on America's Heartland.

- [Presenter] Coming up on America's Heartland.

An urban farm provides free food to families in need.

All part of a greater mission to bring food security to this Bay Area city - People are grateful and blessed and just super excited to just be able to have access to fresh produce.

- [Presenter] Health expert Dr. Daphne Miller looks at how to get the most nutritional benefits out of leafy greens like purple tree collards and kale.

- And if you cook it with a little bit of citrus or a little bit of vinegar, that's gonna actually release the nutrients in the kale and so that you are able to better absorb them in your body.

- [Presenter] And speaking of cooking.

Our "Farm to Fork" host Sharon Profis demonstrates how to make a homemade pizza with broccoli rabe, leeks and Yukon Gold potatoes.

Plus visit a farm that's growing produce as part of an innovative program called Food as Medicine.

See why doctors are prescribing vegetables to patients with diabetes, heart conditions, and other health challenges.

- Our healthcare system is overwhelmed by chronic conditions and we need to do something different.

- And meet a Wyoming farmer growing alfalfa as part of a diversified farming operation that includes feedlots for cattle and sheep.

It's all coming up next on "America's Heartland."

America's heartland is made possible by (soft rhythmic music) You can see 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 (soft country music) (screen whooshing) - I see us as just a team of passionate community members, really trying to make a change here in Richmond.

- [Presenter] Marcos Floriano got his start farming in cornfield in Mexico, working alongside his father.

Marcos, who goes by Chito says the pandemic led him to think about the security of our food systems.

That led him down a career path to becoming the director of farms and gardens at Urban Tilth in Richmond, California.

- So, Richmond is in the Bay Area, maybe about 20 minutes away from San Francisco.

And during World War II, it was really kind of a war boomtown city.

A lot of folks migrated from the south to come work at the shipyards here in Richmond.

And as soon as World War II was over, there was no more work.

And so, folks ended up getting displaced or just ended up not having work and really impacted Brown and Black communities here in Richmond.

So with that said, here in North Richmond where we're at, it's still very heavily industrial.

We're in the area surrounded by refinery, hazard waste facilities, as well as dump facilities and very vacant open lots that are gonna be occupied by warehouses.

And we're here with our farm, showing them a different way of taking over land and occupying it with the intention of community benefit.

People are grateful and blessed, and just super excited to just be able to have access to fresh produce.

- [Narrator] Urban Tilth not only nurtures plants, but people as well.

It provides employment and training to locals.

- Most of the people that you saw here out on the farm are mostly local residents and grew up here in San Pablo in Richmond who are out here harvesting, washing, packing, and bundling all of our greens and making sure that that gets in the cooler.

It's all by hand, so we don't have any tractors, no machines to do that work.

And it goes with our farming models and practices as well.

We try to do minimal soil disturbance.

We believe in preserving the soil ecology and the microorganisms in the soil.

We're putting in the intention of taking care of it because it's taking care of us.

- [Narrator] Urban Tilth has five green spaces in Richmond, including local school gardens.

This farm here in North Richmond is the largest of the five with plans to expand even further.

- So, right behind us you'll see some permanent infrastructure.

We have a permanent greenhouse being built out, we're gonna have a permanent tool shed and a farm staff break room.

And it's all a part of our bigger vision of creating this space, this three acres here into a community hub.

We currently have about an acre and a half in production, broccoli in the ground.

We have a lot of different varieties of kale.

We also have the Richmond crop, which is called the purple tree collard.

We also have a orchard.

Apricots, pears, apples, as well as persimmon.

So really just sticking to what grows best in our climate.

(soft chiming) - [Presenter] Those crops go out to people who have subscribed to their CSA boxes or community supported agriculture.

Subscribers can pay a little extra to help send a free food box to a family in need.

Urban Tilth also hosts free farm stands as part of its mission.

Chito says all of this is possible thanks to partnerships with other like-minded farms within a hundred miles.

- We really believe strongly in creating our own food system.

And so, we partner with other small, local, Black, indigenous, people of color, family farmers to help kind of supplement our produce bags and our free farm stand.

They're able to get their produce for free.

- Recognizing that food is medicine to people with certain health conditions, Urban Tilth also partners with government agencies to provide veggie prescriptions.

A bag of fresh produce that doctors at a local clinic can prescribe to their patients.

- What we put into our bodies in terms of food is very important in healing our bodies.

And so, we're talking about a lot of serious conditions that are very much food related, like high blood pressure or diabetes, are able to get prescribed veggie box, and then take classes on how to cook the veggies in hopes that it will support them in lowering their risks of food related diseases.

The feeling for me is very close to home.

You know, my father deals with kidney failure and I know what it's like for someone to suffer from food-related diseases and which is why, another reason why I got involved in this work is 'cause I wanted to be that change.

We're all very mission-driven and it's very hard work, but at the end of the day it is rewarding.

I'm just so grateful.

(tranquil music) (soft rhythmic music) - Hi, folks.

Today we're at Urban Tilth Farm in Richmond, California.

And this place is near and dear to my heart.

It's about two miles from my medical clinic and we have a really interesting agreement with this farm where they are growing fruits and vegetables here, and cleaning them and harvesting them every week and packing them up in these paper bags.

And they're sent two miles down the road to our clinic where we, the doctors, get to hand them out as these food prescriptions, these produce prescriptions.

And we hand them out much like you would hand out a prescription for cholesterol medication or blood pressure medication.

And it's intended to do the same thing, which is protect our patients from heart disease and diabetes, and other types of diet related diseases.

These prescriptions are handed out each week in a medical group called the Healthy Eating Group, where we get together and we check blood pressure and check in on medications.

And then, we actually cook together.

And one of our favorite things to cook is something that comes from this farm almost every week.

This comes from a very special kind of tree.

It's a purple tree collared, which is a perennial plant, and you can harvest the leaves pretty much every week ongoing.

It produces new leaves.

And the seeds from this plant were thought to come originally from Africa.

And it's a plant that actually has been propagated and the seeds have been passed down by the African-American community.

One of the things we love to do in our group cooking is actually make salads from this purple tree collard.

And you might think, "Wow, this looks a little bit too tough to turn into a salad."

But the secret is to take a leaf and actually strip it off its stalk, and then what you can do is massage it.

And what that does is it breaks down the tough fibers and makes it so that it's much more like a typical lettuce in terms of eating it.

And then, you chop it up super fine as if you're making confetti for a parade.

And you toss it with your favorite salad dressing, and you can add in other fruits and vegetables.

Now it's not just tree collards or purple tree collards that you can massage in order to get this benefit of having them more tender.

You can do it with pretty much any kind of tough green.

This is a curly kale, which we also turn into salads.

And oftentimes, I'll make a mixture of both and throw them in with your more standard greens like your romaine or even some iceberg lettuce.

But the truth is that these greens have so much more nutrition in them.

They have more iron and more vitamin C and more fiber, and more antioxidants and beta-carotene.

So, it's actually a wonderful thing to have these in your salad.

It's great to add them to the mix both for taste and for that very agated color and for your health.

And when I cook kale, what I really try and do is cook it as lightly as possible.

You don't want it to get overcooked and kind of mushy.

You want it to have just that kind of a bright greenness to it.

And if you cook it with a little bit of citrus or a little bit of vinegar, that's gonna actually help release the nutrients in the kale and so that you're able to better absorb them in your body.

Thank you so much today for joining me at Urban Tilth, where we discovered how their food is literally being turned into medicine.

(soft piano music) - [Presenter] Still ahead on "America's Heartland."

Alfalfa is an important crop used as a high protein feed for livestock.

See how this Wyoming farmer diversified his farming operation by growing alfalfa for feedlots, for cattle and sheep.

Plus a prescription for fresh produce.

See how this small urban farm in California is part of a Food as Medicine program that aims to improve the health of local residents.

But first, homemade pizza?

Follow along as we show you how to prepare a pizza with broccoli rabe, leeks and potato slices.

(bright upbeat music) - Today we're making a broccoli rabe, leek and potato pizza.

Broccoli rabe is one of those ingredients that is a little bit confounding because it looks like a leafy green, but it also has these little broccoli-like sprouts.

It's not at all a broccoli.

This is a bitter green.

And that's why I have a pot of water boiling here.

It's salted and it's going to help us tone down a lot of the bitterness that comes with broccoli rabe.

To prep the broccoli rabe, we're just removing the tougher parts of the stems.

Our water is boiling, so these go straight into the water for two to three minutes.

As these blanch, they'll become a much deeper green and they'll also become more limp, which is what we want.

I already separated the light green and white parts of the leak.

The reason I'm pairing the leeks with the broccoli rabe, is that they take on a really sweet flavor, which is the exact counterbalance we want for those more bitter broccoli rabe leaves.

You'll know that the broccoli rabe is ready when the stems have become much more flexible and they're that bright green color.

You also can't always find broccoli rabe.

So, if you're looking for a substitute for this recipe, broccolini works great and then also just regular broccoli.

The next step for our pizza toppings is to saute our star ingredients.

I'm adding one tablespoon of butter to this pan over medium heat.

And then, also a little bit of olive oil.

To that we'll add all of our leeks.

I'll saute these leeks for about 10 minutes until they've softened and caramelized.

Now, that the leeks have definitely broken down and taken on some golden color, we're going to add our broccoli rabe back into the mix.

But before we do, just breaking it down into these two-inch pieces.

Okay, those go in.

(pan sizzling) We blanch them, but now we're sauteing them to give them more flavor.

They'll take on some of the leek flavor.

And then, we're adding a few more seasoning.

So, I have fresh oregano here, although you can certainly use dried oregano.

(soft rhythmic music) That goes in.

We'll also grate two garlic cloves right into the pan here.

Good time to season with some salt and pepper.

I'll saute this for about five more minutes.

And then, we'll be ready to build our pizza.

Now that our broccoli and leek mixture has cooled, it's time to make our pizza.

So, let's stretch this out.

Today I am using store-bought pizza, but you can absolutely use your own homemade pizza if you're feeling ambitious.

So, I took this pizza dough out of the fridge about 45 minutes ago and I let it rest at room temperature.

You can't stretch out cold pizza dough.

And once it comes to room temperature, you're just gently stretching with your hands or you can lift it up and stretch it out with your fists.

(gentle upbeat music) And I'm just using the edge of my hand to create a crust while also stretching it out.

(gentle upbeat music) And we're ready for our toppings.

This pizza doesn't necessarily have any sauce.

Instead we're just brushing it with olive oil and that'll act like our sauce.

And then, we have our cheese.

We're leaving a little bit of edge around the pizza so that we have a crust.

First goes our broccoli rabe, leek, garlic mixture.

(gentle upbeat music) And then I've boiled one Yukon Gold potato and sliced it.

Now, we'll brush each potato with a little bit of olive oil so it doesn't dry out.

Some fresh pepper.

I like things a little bit spicy, so a little bit of chili flake and a little bit of salt to season those potatoes.

And then, Parmesan cheese.

I like Parmesan cheese before it goes in the oven, and I like it after it comes out.

We're doing both.

This goes in the oven at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes.

If you have a pizza oven or a pizza stone, you can use those too.

But I'm just using the baking sheet today, so let's bake it.

This pizza looks so good and it smells even better, and I'm so ready to dig into it.

But before we do, a little bit more cheese.

This isn't exactly a circular pizza, so I'm going to go rustic with it and cut it into squares.

The crust got so crispy and the key is really to bake it at that high temperature to try and mimic what you would get with an outdoor pizza oven.

Every bite of this pizza has leeks, the broccoli rabe, a little bit of that potato.

And it looks very fancy, but it was pretty easy to make.

And now, all that's left to do is eat.

(bright upbeat music) - [Promoter] Despite its similar name, don't call broccoli rabe a broccoli.

While they are both part of the Brassicaceae family, broccoli rabe is actually more closely related to turnips.

In Italy, broccoli rabe is called rapini, which means little turnip.

Broccoli rabe has long been a staple in both Chinese and Italian cuisines.

And some suspect the plant's origins date all the way back to the Middle Ages, possibly descended from the wild mustard plants that carpet the hillsides of Italy.

The plant was introduced to the United States by Italian farmers in the 1920s.

But it didn't really take off in America until the 1960s due to its more bitter flavor profile.

This green vegetable is packed with nutrients including beta-carotene, vitamin C, and fiber.

(soft rhythmic music) - [Narrator] Nestled in the heart of San Leandro, California, Dig Deep Farms isn't just about cultivating crops.

It's a food hub with a purpose.

Providing healthy food to those facing food insecurity in the local community.

- It's the only thing that most folks have access to in these areas.

A lot of apartments, a lot of houses, very densely populated without a lot of green space.

- Troy Horton and Sasha Shankar are directors of Dig Deep Farms, which was founded in 2010.

- Currently, Dig Deep Farms has about six different sites in Alameda County.

Leafy greens are our number one grower that we grow year round, specifically collards, and more specifically tree collards.

- We were struggling at the beginning and things like that, but we were also struggling to get the clients.

And so we just doubled down with the Food as Medicine program.

- [Narrator] Food as Medicine is exactly what it sounds like.

Doctors prescribe healthy foods to patients just like they would medicine.

- Sasha and Troy are amazing farmers.

They know the land, they know how to grow the food.

I have full trust in them.

They are the next generation.

- You see how that scales when you just cut 'em and you can pot 'em up and grow a new plant.

- [Narrator] Dr. Stephen Chen often spends time with his farmer partners at places like Dig Deep Farms.

He's the Chief Medical Officer for Alameda County's pioneering Food as Medicine Initiative.

Together, they're creating a holistic approach to patient health, starting with a commitment to regenerative farming techniques.

Then farms like this one partner with local health clinics, prescribing its nutrient-rich produce as a form of medicine for patients living with conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

- So hypertension, obesity, even mental health issues like depression.

These are all connected at a root level through our metabolism and how we manage this food in our body, and the food that we use is critical to that.

And so, I think there's that stark reality of our healthcare system is overwhelmed by chronic conditions and we need to do something different.

- [Narrator] Dr. Chen hopes this effort not only helps people in Alameda County.

The shared goal is to make this a model for health providers across the US.

- So, my prescribing you this medicine is gonna have all these co-benefits just by that single act.

Human health, economic health, climate health, health equity, and racial equity.

- Another name for this Food as Medicine approach in Alameda County is Recipe4Health, aptly named.

- Like any recipe, it has ingredients.

And our Recipe4Health has five ingredients.

The first one is our safety net health centers.

Here in Alameda County, we have partnerships with five different healthcare organizations in the most vulnerable sections of our community.

These federally qualified health centers become the main place where this medicine is happening because they're serving the most vulnerable in our communities.

Folks who lose insurance, folks who are poor, and they're providing great care.

The second ingredient is our Food Farmacy, spelled F-A-R-M-A-C-Y.

It's our farm and our food hub, the food delivery and the food production.

Our third ingredient is our what we're calling a Behavioral Pharmacy.

So just think about that as the place where you can get support, behavioral and nutrition support to amplify the effect of the food.

The fourth ingredient is our Medi-Cal Health Plan or our Medicaid Health Plan for other states.

This is the funding source, so that allows our patients to receive this like any other medicine, free of cost.

And then, the fifth and most important ingredient is our Recipe4Health Team, which is our administrative and training hub to train all the doctors and nurses and nurse practitioners on how to use Food as Medicine to treat, prevent, and reverse chronic conditions.

(tranquil music) - [Narrator] While much of this produce is delivered right to patients' homes, some is also provided to nearby food banks for easy pickup by others seeking free healthy food.

- [Delivery Guy] Happy holidays.

Have a good day.

Take care.

- [Narrator] Meanwhile, back at the farm, Troy, Sasha and Dr. Chen continue their mission of growing and sharing the bounty from this urban farm.

Proud of what they're doing, but acknowledging there's still much more work to be done.

- In the beginning, folks would tell us that what we're doing would not work, that you could not get produce, food as medicine, but it's happening now.

- You just take small steps and small solutions.

You can make it happen over time, but it doesn't happen overnight.

- It's in its early days, I would say.

We have a lot of work to do.

But my hope is that this template, this recipe with these ingredients can be expanded and replicated across the nation.

(soft ambient music) (soft country music) - Heard a while back, it's better to get better than it is to get bigger.

It's kind of where we've gone.

- [Narrator] Todd Fornstrom knows that agricultural success today demands attention to every aspect of farming.

Adjusting his crop rotation to ensure good yields, providing an adequate supply of food stuffs for his feedlot operations, paying attention to market conditions to keep production profitable.

- We try to stick with the forage crops.

We grow corn for silage, alfalfa, and then to help with our rotations.

We grow hard red winter wheat and dry edible beans, pinole beans.

- Todd and his family run a diversified farming operation just outside the small town of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming.

Key to their operation is three feedlots handling cattle and sheep heading to market.

- What we have behind me is the sheet feedlot.

Its capacity somewhere between 30 and 35,000 head worth of cattle.

Its capacity is between two and 2,500 head, depending on the size of the cattle.

- [Narrator] Meeting the demand for a high protein feed on that number of animals requires the family to keep an eye on the bottom line.

In this case, growing alfalfa, harvesting the hay and processing it into pellets.

- They go straight into the feedlot.

We pellet between 8 and 12,000 tons a year.

(engine rumbling) On this hot and sunny afternoon in July, Todd and his crew were finishing up their harvest on a field of alfalfa.

(engine rumbling) Once harvested, the alfalfa is hauled to a mill, part of a process that optimizes crop production to facilitate sustainable farming.

We try to harvest all of our own.

We use our own crops, so we don't have a lot of transportation when it comes to our forage.

- [Narrator] Todd will tell you it's a labor of love that began with his grandfather who raised potatoes on this land in the 1930s.

When Todd's dad took over the farm, he began the extensive feedlot operations that exist today.

- I live in the same house I grew up in.

It's a good place to raise kids.

There's a lot of freedom out here.

All the kids, they learn quite a bit from anything, from livestock to animals, to farming.

- [Narrator] As for the next generation, Todd hopes they enjoy farming just as much as he does.

- I never really call it work.

And most people ask me, what do I do for work.

I don't work.

I just enjoy being in agriculture, being in farming.

All of it's fun.

- [Presenter] 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 - [Presenter] America's heartland is made possible by (soft rhythmic music) (bright music)