s doom and gloom. it's all you hear about, how bad this virus has gotten, all the civil unrest in society, and it gets overwhelming.

it almost feels like you can't escape it, you can't get away from it. so for me, this respite is just a much needed break. [theme music] (vocalizing) (singing) gonna give up and be my, buh be my-- [fast acoustic music] one of my favorite quotes is "cover the world before it covers you." the world, the globe, this planet that we live on has so many magnificent places to see, so many incredible things to offer. and there's so much out there. johnny devenanzio: so in these unprecedented times, it's important to be mindful that just because you can't go away doesn't

mean you can't get away. and some of the best adventures are quite literally located in our own backyards. the area long-occupied by the mohican indigenous people was first purchased by the dutch in 1662 and formerly chartered as the city of hudson in 1785. what's so striking about this street is the architecture. i mean, this looks picturesque, man. it looks like a movie set. johnny devenanzio: situated between albany and new york city and positioned off the head of the hudson river, once a bustling whaling port, which if you look hard enough, you can see has left its mark. there used to be a candy store, way back in the day. when i was younger, they had penny candy. no way! yeah. like the bubble gum, the penny gum. yeah. johnny devenanzio: but today, this village is an easily accessible escape to anyone looking for space, fresh air, and like all new yorkers, a caffeine fix.

hi! hi. do you want a coffee? yeah, iced coffee. cream and sugar. iced coffee, cream and sugar. and i would like an iced mocha with an added shot of espresso. got it. so this is the spot to come to get coffee? this is where you like to go. yeah. it's, you know, super accessible, family-owned. johnny devenanzio: there's no, like, franchisey-type places around here, right? kamal johnson: no, that's actually not allowed in the city limits, which is great for local businesses. johnny devenanzio: yeah. kamal johnson: good community feel. that mom and pop kind of business. what's going on? you come to a certain shop, and everybody knows your name and usually know what you order, and you can't beat that. you really do get that sense of community here and that small town feel. i mean, the energy here is great. it's not just the weather. the weather is beautiful too. hello! [man laughs] so you're originally from hudson, new york, columbia county. yeah. what was it like growing up here, and what is it about this city that has kept you here? i think growing up here, it was always close-knit.

you knew everybody in the city, your closest friends were the people that you lived next door to. and i think what's kept me here is it's a city that you can make immediate impact. and kamal johnson knows a thing or two about impacting his community. all right. off to city hall! yes. i got to say, this is my first time being in a mayor's office, but i spent a lot of time, as a child, in the principal's office, so i kind of feel right at home. yeah. i used to spend a lot of time in the principal's office, as well, as a kid. i was a class clown. yep. so i was always getting in trouble, and one of my teachers called me the mayor of the classroom. so as, like, a joke one day, i made a sign that said kamal for mayor. and i hung it up in the classroom. from then on, i always thought, i wonder, like, if that could ever be a possibility. and that's kind of where my political career was born. how old did you say you were? i'm 35. the first african-american to hold

this office and the youngest in the history of our city. this kid that you're reprimanding today could be in charge of your future later. yes. hey, look at this guy. hey! what's going on? tom. - judge around here. - all right. hello, how are you? i'm the new city council president. replacing tom, are you? yeah. tom's moving on. he's telling everyone he's their council president. i mean, you know everyone. it's almost like you're the mayor around here. i mean, i think this dispels a lot of notions about new yorkers being, you know, not friendly and rough and tumble. i mean, everyone we've run into has been just so sweet, courteous, and nice. there it is! it brings everything full circle. it's just that community feel. and i think this establishment has done a good job with that. and we moved here because we wanted to raise our son in a community and be in a community where we had impact, and we were all building it together.

we want to support the local community in all aspects, including farming. and anybody that's, kind of, raising to the standards that we expect and our customers deserve. you know, we want to support that. you're like i'm going to make the best damn corn you ever tasted. i'm about to start eating the entire cob myself. that's so good. holy cow! johnny devenanzio: come sunset, craft cocktails and approachable fine dining fare are plentiful at william farmer and sons, courtesy of kirby farmer, kristan keck, and their dedicated team. we've all had to adjust. covid has completely changed life as we know it. how has that affected your restaurant here, and what changes have you had to make to adapt to this quote unquote "new normal?" well, i think this setting kind of says it all. we're eating outside, and kirby is cooking the food outside. one of the things that we're really fortunate for is that we live in a beautiful place with land and space, and we can take advantage of it, and we

can actually showcase it. i mean this amazing outdoor fire pit, this seating area, was this something that you had acquired prior to the pandemic? we've had the space, but we really have only used it kind of sparingly. you know, the dining room has always been our main focus. if you would just walk through the doors, not at the moment, we're not hugs, but we used to be all hugs. yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. you know, just like make you feel welcome. and it's really, in the long term, just about trying to all come through this, and-- come out stronger on the other end. - right. - yeah. and the mayor is not bad. mayor is not bad at all. what a year to be the mayor. that's what i said. talk about a baptism by fire! exactly. [laughter]

bro, one more time. worth of drip but i'm cut from a different cloth. tell my competition lay low. jif peanut butter. that flow crazy. it's that jif'ing good, ludacris changed his flow for it.

[birds chirping] [fast acoustic music] johnny devenanzio: natural beauty and sweeping landscapes aren't limited to the midwest. in fact, new york state and the hudson valley, specifically, are renowned for their fertile farms

producing a vast variety of agriculture and livestock. and so it begs the age-old question-- what is on the menu for today? ok. so today we have some farm fare. we have chicken sausage-- ok. --sweet italian, hot italian. we have some grilled chicken breast on the far end, some local veggies from our csa. so bon apetit! johnny devenanzio: what we are looking at right now is the essence of farm to table. with the exception of the seltzer and the mustard, i think-- i don't know, like a 20 minute footprint. so that's how you make your carbon footprint smaller. i always thought you have to wear smaller carbon shoes. [laughter] well you could try that, but i recommend you eat the chicken. an afternoon lunch with susan jaffe, her husband, marc, and their children, taylor and teddy gives all new meaning to the term farm to table. this is like heaven to me. i gotta, i gotta admit. johnny devenanzio: but their family owned and operated snow dance farm, located in livingston manor,

off the catskill mountains, had its humble beginnings in the concrete jungle. how far are we from new york city? about two hours. two hours. your family's from new york city. yep. so what was life like in new york city before relocating here in the catskills. oh, the same. [laughter] really? all right, who let you guys out? i was a corporate thoroughbred where i was trained to do one thing, and they treated me very well to do it, and everything else in my life was outsourced. and susan was pretty much the same, and someone else was raising our child, at the time, for us. and then 9/11 happened. so 9/11. 9/11. 9/11, susan was eight months pregnant with theodore. my mother-in-law, her mom, worked at the world trade center. i had lots of friends at the world trade center, my offices were south of canal. it was just a very stressful time. - eye-opening. - correct. and then we moved out here. this was our country house, at the time. and then this became your permanent residence. this was it. release the hounds! go sheep! go sheep, go sheep, go sheep!

corporate america to livestock farming, that must be some sort of a transition. tell me a little bit about that. it was a difficult transition, some transition. [baaing] oh, that was an action shot! susan jaffe: we were used to just the proximity of people. so, yeah. so that was a shock. johnny devenanzio: you couldn't think of a more polar opposite lifestyle. manhattan, the busiest metropolitan city on the planet to then, i mean, one of the most remote, insanely beautiful, calm environments. because of where we are, it's just so isolated and remote. that's when marc got it in his head that we would be farmers. and what was it about livestock and meat? what made you settle on that? basically what we employ is rotational grazing. is the fence off? yeah. there are some permanent paddocks, there's some permanent fencing, but the vast majority of it is this portable, electric fencing that allows us to move the animals around. oh, these are electric fences? these are electric fences. oh, good thing you told me.

[screams] [laughter] where we are, we get a good amount of rainfall. they have more grass than they can eat. susan jaffe: so it was just a matter of finding out what would work for us. and we started off with chickens. oh, hello, hello, ladies! how long does it take a chicken to lay an egg, like nine months? that'd be an unsustainable farm. - yeah, i was going to say. - they're laying an egg a day. an egg a day? an egg a day. oh, this one's warm. just laid. no way! yeah. how important is the lifestyle that the animal leads, the diet, the environment? how important is that to, not only the health, but the overall quality of the finished product. i don't believe you can separate the two. look at that haul! you often hear free-range or cage-free. yeah. all of these are free-range. they're not in cages. aw, look at these guys! one to four-week-old chicks are in here. and then, after that, we move them out to pasture. pasture-raised free-range is they're out on grass.

this, to me, is like, exactly what i want to see when i think about the chickens that i'm eating, the eggs that i'm eating, this is the life that i want them to have. totally. for those of us who choose to eat meat, you have to be responsible about the meat you eat. that's just my philosophy. yeah and you have to take care of the animal because, guess what, it is part of that sustaining circle where if you take care of the animal and treat it right, and it eats well and drinks well, it's a healthier animal. that means it's a healthier you. whoa, she's eating. did we ever feed the turkey? not yet. one of the amazing things about locally-grown produce, livestock, is the people who buy it can put a face and a family to where this came from. and with that, when i'm doing some of the farm chores, you just think about those people. colgate graduate-- yeah. duke sophomore-- what's life been like growing up on a farm? it's nice working with these guys.

it builds character. [laughter] it's hard to make a complaint. i really like being in the country. the city's-- that's not my quality of life, right now, at least. i really do feel like, you know, people who live in the city for a long period of time or their entire lives, they're missing out on so much. and it's almost like this is where we're meant to be and what we're meant to do.

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historically-registered farmhouse, was further realized by her mother, louise, and father, stuart. this building really speaks to the amount of history that's in this area. we did a three-year renovation. it was full of junk, every animal you can think of was living in there, believe me. wow! it's like every man's dream up here. so my first job was to take the floor out, dig down, and lift the building out of the ground. we didn't think any walls away because i wanted to save the barn. i added walls, but i didn't take anything away. from what it sounds like, it would have been easier to demo it and build a new one from the ground up. but you can't build character. that's what i mean. you just can't do it. johnny devenanzio: and while the building dates back to 1810, the product they're producing within it was developed through actual, real-life dating. sophie and i met in plattsburgh, new york, where we went to school. and i think it was right then when we started our first infusions of products. our kitchen used to just have tons of jars with different spices and fruits.

you're basically like a mad scientist over here. like a chemist. after that, i kept saying to him why don't we actually make this into a real business. yeah. that's one of the beautiful things about having a craft distillery is we're not locked into one production cycle. so we can be free to create and deviate more than a traditional, large manufacturing facility. there's some alcohol in there. absolutely. woo! johnny devenanzio: infusing their vodka with fruit from local farms-- what's that smell? you're smelling the production of apple vodka. we're surrounded by tons of orchards. we get fresh-pressed juice just about every week. johnny devenanzio: --and bourbon-blended with syrup from maple trees tapped in their own backyard-- we work with dozens of local farms who produce flowers, like rose petals. she loves me, she loves me not, she loves me! woo! so we're really supporting as many farms as we possibly can.

johnny devenanzio: among them, marilyn cederoth's oasis, cedar farms. so this is too bloomed to sell. too bloomed to sell. but the petals are good, and they get their fragrance. ooh, those are fragrant! as long as they smell good, which is going to translate to good flavor, that's all we care about. and we flavor post-distillation, so our spirits have these beautiful colors to them. like the rose liqueur is pink from the rose petals itself. look how pretty that is! johnny devenanzio: and how does the distillery and what you guys offer change throughout the seasons? we do have about a half dozen products that stay all year, and we get more towards the fall. we'll make our pumpkin spice vodka. it's a ton of fresh local pumpkins, organic spices, madagascar vanilla beans, and local organic maple syrup. you had me at pumpkin spice. johnny devenanzio: there seems to be a lot of incredible innovation that's taking place here. it's the perfect place to be at the source of the best ingredients to make our spirits, being part of the farm to table movement, but bringing it over to farm to glass. - farm to glass! - yeah. that's a new one. yeah.

or farm to cask, if you talk to stuart. depends who you're talking to. is it unusual for a distillery to fabricate their own barrels? it's very unusual, yes. [clanging] the only other distillery that we know of is jack daniels. they have their own cooperage. who know flattening the curve would take place in your wood shop? in between renovating and getting our license, i decided i wanted to do this just for us. i had to learn to build a barrel using the tools i had, the most difficult thing i've ever done in my life. there she is. coming from the uk, what made you want to relocate your family here, to the hudson valley? there was a little stop along the way. we came from los angeles to nyack, new york, which is 20 miles north of manhattan, right on the hudson river. we were there until we bought this property, which was in march 2015. we were very lucky to find this property. yeah, this is the most beautiful place on earth. we're part of a larger group.

so when people come to the hudson valley, they're coming here to experience the landscape and the things that are produced here. johnny devenanzio: you know, everyone has the role that they play here. and it's that culmination of all the different roles that you play that's made this place so special. raise them up. cheers. cheers. oh, they can do that all night. [laughter]

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and not explore the waters for which the region is named. bon voyage! the original name of the hudson river is the muhheakunnuk, and that means the river that runs both ways. so are we in freshwater or saltwater right now? right now, this is brackish water. so because it's brackish water, does that mean that you see both absolutely. there was a fish that jumped in the background. did you get that? at what point then was this river renamed after henry hudson. henry hudson was working for the dutch, looking for that northwest passage, but it wasn't until the english saw how important this part of the world was that they decided they're going to name it the hudson river, because hudson was an english subject. right there ahead of us, right off the bow. that is the pollepel island, home of bannerman's castle. why is that island not get any closer? we're going to need to step on it here. the tide's coming in!

there's not just a surprise around every corner, there's living history. johnny devenanzio: from 1901 until his passing in 1918 francis bannerman constructed the castle on pollepel island as a means to house army surplus and munitions. frank bannerman, the sixth, he was the father of the army navy store. this is the man, right here. that's the man. that's him. so this castle was built as a warehouse. it was a safe place to have his gunpowder and a safe place to store cannons and munitions. this was his man cave. his wife was like listen honey you're not keeping any of that crap in here. you go take it to the island. [laughter] johnny devenanzio: chartered boat trips-- that's a wave, bill! woo! johnny devenanzio: --and kayaking excursions with bill carter of storm king adventures get you to the island-- for me a perfect day is getting out early and hiking the mountains. and then, in the afternoon, come down and cool off by taking a nice paddle. johnny devenanzio: --but once you've tied up, neil caplan of the bannerman castle trust

provides a treasure trove of context. it has a lot of european influence. there's moorish influence, there's scottish influence, because he's a scottish patriot and an american patriot. you know, he must have been a pretty incredible guy because here we are 100 years later, and his legacy lives on. this island is infectious. people come here and get the bannerman bug. and the history is so fascinating. and it's set right smack in the middle of the hudson river. you can't get a better place than this. it's just amazing. there's lots of research that says getting out in nature is very therapeutic for the soul, and i encourage anybody to get out here and enjoy the beauty that is the hudson valley. johnny devenanzio: there's something unique, there's something just spectacular about this region. a undiscovered yet discovered gem. it's got everything that you could ask for and more. it's completely blown me away. nothing but blue skies as far as the eye can see.

i mean puffy, pillowy clouds. this lush landscape. this is the hudson valley. absolutely. [guitar music] bro, one more time. worth of drip but i'm cut from a different cloth. tell my competition lay low. jif peanut butter. that flow crazy. it's that jif'ing good, ludacris changed his flow for it. behold...unlimited wireless for only 30 bucks. that's pretty cool, but you know what's cooler? saving up to 400 bucks! exactly. and if we really want to take it up a notch... get all that and nationwide 5g included. oh nice shot, send that to me. i got you. break free from the big three and get connected to the nations most reliable 5g network. get the new samsung galaxy s22 series on xfinity mobile. and right now, save big with up to $750 off a new samsung device. switch today.

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