cotton projects. well, you know, now it became a competitive thing. and so, i just fell in love with the idea of farming a plant and harvesting it and seeing the fruits of your labor. >> today, the fruits of his labor are as much about the people working with him as the food he grows. that's because he is surrounded by family these days--not only his 2 brothers, who have returned to the farm, but also the community of workers he has by his side on a daily basis. >> well, people are everything. ok. if you have the best people, then chances are, you're going to have the best farm. it's not just--it's not, you know, just the idea of growing strawberries. you have to have people that will help you execute your--you could say it-- you'd call it your dream. you could call it your vision. >> on a farm, it's a close-knit thing. you cab't be everywhere every minute. so you're

depending on other people to pay attention to the farming. >> daren definitely has a passion for farming. he was in ag his whole life. we knew it since we were little kids that he was--he would tear the back yard up and replant, and we would do this constantly. he just loved, loved plants. >> in the berry business since 1990, daren has seen the industry in california grow les and bounds over the years. believe it or not, it's now a billion dollar business in the state. but not all strawberries are created equal. there are actually more than 600 varieties, but only a handful are grown commercially in california, one of the most popular being the albion variety that daren worked closely with uc-davis to develop. >> it has several advantages over other varieties. first of all, the production is hh. i mean, this thing will produce anywhere from 6,500 to 8,000 trays a year, ok? the second

thing that it does, it has that beautiful red color, probably one of the prettiest berries that you can buy on the market. it also has shipping ability. so what it does is it allows us to ship it full color. now, that has been something that has eluded us for years. >> once the berries are picked, they are then rushed into the cooling facility where huge fans draw out field heat. once cooled, they are theb trucked off for same-day delivery to a variety of places, including one of northern california's most famous berry businesses, shari's berries. started in 1989, this is the place where strawberries go on a unique adventure. here, they are drizzled, dipped, dunked, and no doubt devoured by those lucky enough to receive one. >> you talk about how a company succeeds. it's got to have a product with some distinction and some appeal. and everybody loves chocolate-covered strawberries, and we do the best. we're the best at it.

we're the largest in the country in making this product. we have the best mechanisms for packaging. we have the best reliability for certainty of delivery on the requested date. >> part of that reliability rests with the dozen or so growers throughout the state that the company works with on a continual basis. each flat that comes in is checked for sweetness, size, and quality. in fact, their standard has been dubbed in the industry as the shari pick, because in a business where freshness reigns, there is simply no room for error. >> so we have very particular standards that we go through. sometimes, the fields, when the crop is good, will actually have them pick a berry to our exact specifications, our minimum sizes. so we don't jupt take any berry. it has to be of a certain quality, a certain size. >> the relationship with growers is premiere. in fact, we--when we get a relationship started, we like to show them what our final product looks like. in fact, we like to send them boxes

of shari's berries now and then in thanks for their efforts and also so they see what the final product looks like. >> the company estimes they did up to 2 million strawberries, used 60 tons of chocolate, and shipped to more than00,000 homes every year. >> everybody remembers and can tell you the story about the day they first received shari's berries. and that's how we came up with thmoniker, the unforgettable gift. >> from berries covered in ooey, gooey chocolate and showered with nuts, to berries dressed up in chocolate-covered tuxedoes, to good old fashioned ripe berries ready to be enjoyed straight out of the field, california growers can take great pride in growing one of america's favorite fruits. for "california country," i'm tracy sellers. >> hi. i'm chef paul murphy. and today, we're going to make an absolutely fabulous strawberry salad with bleu cheese from point reyes. i have some romaine lettuce, some strawberries, some carrots. and we're going to finish it off with a balsamic glaze. thesd are the simple steps you're going to

take to enjoy this wonderful strawberry salad. some romaine lettuce, we're going to cut it as strips. next, we're going to slice up some of the strawberries. we're going to place these ingredients in a bowl, add some of the carrots, and last but not least, that delicious point reyes bleu cheese. we're going to put, oh, a nice amount. we'll chop it up. so we'll tosp this. we'll add some of the balsamic glaze. what it is, it's pomegranate syrup, and i reduce it, and i add balsamic vinegar to it. so it's a wonderful, wonderful alternative to something else. this dish can be enjoyed as a first course, or i would serve it as a dessert with a nice port, or maybe a big cab, and you finish off a lovely evening at home so there's all the ingredients. chef paul murphy's strawberry salad with

bleu cheese, carrots, and romaibe lettuce. this strawberry salad is a crowd pleaser at home, or you could come to humphrey's and have us make it for you. [captioning made possible by california farm bureau federation] >> many would argue that one of the signature agricultural products of california is wine. the golden state is america's top wine producer, accounting for nearly 90% of the wine production in the country. today california actually has more than 2,000 wineries, but surprisingly, some of the biggest wines are now being produced by one of the smallest group of vintners, one of those being at vision cellars, owned and operated by mac mcdonald. the winery only produces about 2,000 cases of wine, mostly pinot noir, but what thelack in size, they more than make up with in personality, thanks to

the man in charge. >> ha ha ha ha ha! how you doin', man? >> i'm doin' great. >> are you havin' a great time >> havin' a great time. >> in the wine business, everyone is trying to get their bottle of wine noticed, but for mac mcdonald, being noticed in a crowd has never been a oblem. from his overalls to his straw hat, mac is about as an original character to the wine industry as it comes, but he's banking on exactly that fact as he tries to bridge the gap between his heritage and a new blend of wine drinkers. >> it's to promote wine to all nationalities, but with special interest on the african-american community. and i think that it's good for the wine industry. i don't say you have to drink african-american wine. i just want folks to drink wine. you may not like vision cellars phnot noir. that's ok. >> and mac couldn't have come into the industry at a better time. new research shows that only a handful of wineries are actually owned by african-americans, yet they make up more than 10%

of the nation's wine drinkers, which is exactly why mac and a new generation of winemakers are entering the business and trying to educate others about this special way of life. >> this whole wine industry goes along with farming. i-it's-- it's all about a lifestyle, not--not about money. if you wanna aake money, uh, go off and become a c.e.o. of some company or something, uh, hit it lucky in, uh, vegas or something, but farming is a lifestyle. it's a lifestyle that i greup with in the sticks of texas. it's a lifestyle that i wouldn't give up. >> it's a heartwarming story, because he was really green, and, i mean, he came--like, started later in his career, uh, makin' wine, and, uh--but you could see he just had it in him. he was gonna make--do the best he could, whatever he di-- whatever he--he worked at, and it happened to be-- uh, he's stuck it out this far, and he's done just wonderful.

>> and it's thanks to fellow winemakers like gary and his own willingness to learn that has helped mac succeed in a business wherso many have failed. his vision cellars wines have won numerous awards, been served at the white house, and more importantly are the culmination of his lifelong goal of being able to make his own wine and share it with others. it's a goal vance sharp knows well. owner of the sonoma sausage company, vance dabbled in the wine business a little before meeting mac. together, the two and 6 others came together to form the association of african-american vintners in the hopes of stimulating other minorities to investigate careers within the business. >> it's od being in it and ha--and being associated with others who have precisely the same thoughts that you have, although you have other--you have your independent thoughts. but there's certain things that we all wake up and think about,

and--and that'good that, uh-- that's our bond. >> one of those inspired by the group's tight bond was daniel bryant. he joined the group early on abd had a successful customized wine country tour operation called "a color of grape," but it was at the urging of mac that he decided to step into the business of making wine as well. in 2004, he released his first vintage, and today his wine is being served in 4-star restaurants all across sacramento, including the popular waterboy restaurant in midtown. >> i started in this business from the education side. i did education seminars and workshops all over the country. um, and as a member of the association of african-american vintners, a couple of the guys says, "you know, you knaw as much about this as we do. why don't you create your own wine?" said, "i don't have the money you all have. heh. and i don't wanna be broke the rest of mx life." and i talked to a couple people. i talked to mac, um, and he said, "i think you can do this, uh, and i'll hep you from

the standpoint of providing you counsel if need be, but why don't you do it? why don't you try it?" >> today this group of pioneering men have as much fun educating each other as they do others. >> what kind of sausage we got here, my man? >> we got somethin'. we got some--a little chicken, spinach, with feta. we got some bavarian bratwurst, hot italian over here, and in the middle, hawaiian portuguese. >> think that's gonna be enough sausage? >> tell me. you tell me. >> but besides education, the group has one other purpose, to promote the wines that are currently being made by african-american vintners, and every summer, they get the opportunity to do both at their annual luheon and panel discussion. [applause] >> the wine is great, and these--i didn't know anything about the african-american vintners association, so it's all news to me, but the wines are wonderful. >> that you've got folks who've always had an interest in this, but now they have a chance for us to demonstrate what they can

do. um, mr. mcdonald, i guess is like the godfather of this whole thing, from what i hear. [no audible dialogue] >> so while each man had their own goals going into the group, their successes together have tasted sweeter than they ever could have imagined, which makes sense. after all, how fulfilling are dreams if you can't share them with others? for california country, i'm tracy sellers. >> ♪ this is dedicated to the one i love ♪ >> now he's gonna sing. >> i'm sure glad-- >> where's my backup? >> you? >> i'm sure glad you're in th wine business and not a singer. >> [laughter] >> that concludes today's tour of the best of "@alifornia country." join us next time for more undiscovered treasures from the most fascinating state in the country. [captioning made possible by california farm bureau federation]

[captioned by the naticnal captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--] >> good morning, everyone. we are going to begin. all and to the relaunch of the ambassadors program. i am the executive director for civic and give jim an immigrant affairs. thank you to everyone for coming out this morning. we want to thank burst upon dr. eddie chan, the ceo of the northeast medical services center, whose facilities we are using this morning.

we will be hearing prefer march from mayor lee fallen by president chu and supervisor cohen, and two community leaders. fallen by that, we will be introducing the permanent community ambassadors team. interpreters from my staff are here, so if you need language assistance, they are here. without further ado, i want to introduce mayor lee. we will hear first from him because he is the person that conceived of the community ambassadors program last year following a series of high- profile assaults, and has continued to provide leadership to the ambassador program appeared mayor lee. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. about one year and a half ago, supervisor david chiu and malia cohen, along with former supervisor sophie maxwell, and the police department,

commissioners, including commissioner joe marsh, we met with various members of the community. particularly, district 11 and district 10, talking about violence on our sambar . the community, including a number of resident groups, had appealed to us to come up with some better ideas on how to keep the community safe. being the public safety was the number one concern among everyone, particularly during the very tense situation that occurred a year and a half ago, and as we deliberated within the city administrator's office, we concluded community policing had to take an additional improvement, if you will, by embracing what the community wanted to see. particularly on the muni lines, in areas where there might be

isolation that occurred in those areas, subject to activities that would end up being -- resulting in violence. after several months of meeting with this idea, we met with members of the community that said, if you hired from our area and if we use the jobs now program, and if we used the city program to embrace it and got training through the police department, we could come up with this idea of the community ambassadors program. we did that for one year. i am standing in front of a great group of san francisco residents, people who have stepped up, who wanted to not only work with the city administrator's office, work with the city as a whole, partner up with the police department, police commission, community organizations in the

bayview hunters point, a partner up with our supervisors as well who sat in on all these meetings to make sure that we had the funding for this, at least partial funding. and then a couple of corporation that i wanted to personally think this morning. at&t, lennar corp.. they stepped up and said this is such a wonderful idea of a public-private partnership aimed at making sure that hot spots along the t line and san bruno were going to be safer. to have 12 residents of san francisco, many of them living in district 10 speaking a total of eight different languages and communicating with not only the operators of our municipal transportation agency -- i see deborah johnson here this morning. thank you for being here. 311 as well as department of public works, the whole sfmta

organization, police department, board of supervisors, city administrator's office, working together, have produced an opportunity in a public-private relationship to hire these 12 individuals. we have done a pilot program and the results are stunningly positive. when you engage the public, when you engage the ridership of muni, engage people in the community and ask what they are most concerned about, public safety is always on their mind. along with the board supervisors, we work to create this idea that residents of san francisco, and what they are doing today is they are not only on the streets, but they are at those spots where we have had a history of activities that were negative, people hanging out. if a resident were not able to speak english and did not understand that they should not

be isolated by themselves, you have extra eyes and ears in those areas, and that debt -- that resonated with people to get information not just on the arrival of their most needed muni lines but also just inquiries about where they could get information about the clipper card, healthy fret -- san francisco, ideas of how they can access city hall, other programs. these became important topics for the ambassadors to absorb themselves, share that information in a multi legal way. and i have to thank them because they are a brave bunch. these are people who wanted to be trained through the police academy, they got that training route former chief, now present chief's officer, to go through the academy and get updated constantly. they got the backing of our police commission to make sure

they were truly ambassadors. non law enforcement residence but equipped with knowledge and cell phones that are provided more free by at&t so that they can help make important calls. if they see something wrong or out of place, they can do that on behalf of modeling will residents in this area, and to allow information to be shared among everyone. just to have the presence of 12 more people along this corridor, in hot spots where people feel more isolated, is extremely important. i want to thank adrienne and her staff at the office of the civic engagement. i know linda young is here representing the soviet minister's office, for working together with the community ambassadors program, with the staff, community agencies that are here today, constituents of

supervisor chiu as well as maria cohen, and the police chief and his staff, making sure these areas are not only looked after, and permission is shared, but also that the presence there is one that is positive. in addition to being present, vital information can be shared with people who ordinarily might not understand what is going on in a particular area but the basic information. this program has been successful. adrian has reports on 22,000 transactions sharing information over the past year that we declared to be the pilot first year. because it has been so successful, david chiu and malia cohen protected some funding in the budget for that, but we combine that smartly with funding from lennar corp., who is also making a big investment in district 10 as well. i want to thank both supervisors for their support, and also the

office of civic engagement. we are realizing this program as a permanent launch, one that will embrace the community but one that will continue this important public-private relationship we have bill it -- between our police department, first responders, and also with residents of san francisco, residents coming from the baby you and poured a lot area now engaged with us in a multi legal way, creating conversations, directing people, and making sure they feel safe, as well as our safe along these lines. so thank you. [applause] >> thank you. the next speaker is cheap greg certification. before he became the chief of police, as captain of the bayview station, he was extremely supportive and receptive to the idea of residence of the district and

working with the police department to make the community saver. it is my pleasure to introduce chief greg sur. [applause] >> thank you, adrian, mr. mayor, supervisors. the number one party of the sanfrancisco police department is a reduction in violent crime. we know we cannot do it alone and we made great gains in the debut over the last few years through our partnerships with community that we have made and continue to make. one of those partnerships with with the ambassadors that stand behind me. as the mayor said, we went through a particularly tough stretch last year where we needed some help. getting multi-ethnic embassadors speaking a total of eight languages providing a visible presence in addition to our own, the richard citizen, encouraged collaboration and informing residents, was inviable.

now to find out that these in the eye of -- ambassador that have been so special to us are to become permanent is unbelievable and a tribute to those who made it happen. again, it has been a pleasure to work with the ambassadors, keeping everyone informed and safe. they were care and live here and they have a stake to make sure this is a safe neighborhood for their children and everyone else's, their families as well as everyone else's. although they appear to do their job effortlessly, their job is not an easy one. the reason it looks easy is their passion for doing it. we are looking for having them and i look for to our continued relationship. thank you, a drink, mr. mayor, supervisors, for making this happen. [applause] >> thank you. next is someone who was one of the original architects of the ambassadors program. not only has he been a champion of civil rights and language access, which is the

distinguishing feature of the ambassadors program, it is my pleasure to introduce the president of the board of supervisors david to. [applause] >> good morning, and thank you for being here for this wonderful announcement about the continuation of a program we know that works. i want to take a moment to talk about how we got here in the first place. we had to come together because last year we had some horrific crimes that victimized some members of our community. these were crime that opened up some significant tensions in the community and also opened up memories of past crimes that have been happening in these neighborhoods. we need to take a moment to remember this because what was also wonderful about what happened last year was our community came together. i see so many of you here -- dr. marshall, i remember these meetings that we had.

so many of you that came together to say enough is enough. as a community, we have to think of new solutions and we have to put our money where our mouth is. with the inspiration of our then-city administrator ed lee and his staff, with our san francisco police department, with my former colleagues sophie maxwell and now working with malia cohen, the community came together to put forth an idea of putting an incredible chondria of young, diverse, linguistically-proficient individuals -- the men who women -- the men and women who stand behind me -- to make sure our families, seniors, and young people are safe. this is the type of best thinking that we have when the private sector and public sector and nonprofit sectors come together. i want to thank other local nonprofits that have been

working for years to think of creative solutions to be a part of this. when we come together, we are at our best in the city. i could not be more pleased to join the mayor and my colleagues, supervisor cohen, all of the city officials, the chiefs in being able to talk about a program that should hopefully make us say for decades to come. we will keep working. we all recognize that this program is only one part of other programs that we need to think about here. we need -- we know that the south is part of the city needs more resources, and i for one, along with all of us here, know that we want to fight to bring them. thank you for being a part of this community. >> thank you, president chu. from the first moment she stepped into the district and became supervisor of district 10, malia cohen has been a refreshing and enthusiastic

supporter of ambassadors. we work closely with her office on a daily basis to court and our efforts. it is my pleasure to welcome supervisor cohen. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. you heard the long list of think use. i would also like to the knowledge our police captain from the bayview as well as a single side. this is the manifestation of community policing behind me. we have come to thank all of our elected leaders. but i am here to especially thank and pay my respects to the ambassador's themselves who have completed their technical training. not only will they be bringing safety to the san bruno avenue corridor, but they are making a fashion statement. you see these wonderful new jackets that they will be wearing. it is not easy, trust me. it is not easy to preach and bring safety first while you put

it -- while looking good. i want to applaud the ambassadors for doing a good job. i think this is a fantastic example of our local hire ordinance at work, and i want to also added knowledge that this is a response from the ground up. this is an indigenous response to public safety. the answers to our streets, bringing safety to our emerging corridors does not necessarily rest solely in the hands of the police department, but in all of our hands. when we see a crime, we must remember to report it. this particular program started many years ago, i believe in 1995. what you see today is a program that has taken language access, a desire for community policing and public safety, and matched it altogether. i am here to say thank you. i am humbled