with its elegant rotunda, the reflecting waters of the sub rounding lagoon and fraying rant eucalyptus trees, special dates and memorable proposals. it is the perfect picnic spot to relax with that special

someone by listening to water and fountain in the lagoon and gazing as the swans go gracefully by. beautiful to view from many locations along the lagoon and inside the columns is an ideal place to walk around with your loved one. the palace of fine arts is the most popular location in the city arts system. reservations for weddings and other events a [captioning made possie by cbyifornia farm bureau federation] >> coming up on "california country," meet a farming family finding a way to give back to their community. then find out why this crop is coming out of the dark literally. next, it's turkey time. learn how to make a new recipe with the holiday favorite. and travel to one of the most unique farmers markets in the stata. it's all ahead, and it starts now.

you would think being around watermelons all day, you might get sick of eating the sometimes messy snack, but not for farmer dan van groningen. >> that's good. that's crispy. it's sweet. it's wet. it's everything a watermelon should be. >> but then again, he's had a lot of practice eating watermelons at his family farm in ripon. for more than 70 years now, they've been growing the picnic favorite and have loved every minute of it, seeds and all. >> 1939, we started growin' watermelons the first time. my grandfather did, and, uh, my father was young then, and he would do the harvesting. they would, uh, load the watermelons into small, little trucks and-- and bring 'em to the rail car and load 'em--stack 'em by hand

in the rail car, and that's how a lot of the watermelons were shipped. >> dan's right. when it comes to the harvesting of watermelons, not much has changed over the years. the melons love the warm days and cool nights the central valley offers them, and they take about a hundred days to grow before they are plucked out of the fields by workers who transfer them to the harvest truck. while they still grow the traditional seeded ones, they have planted more of the seedless watermelon varieties in recent years, as they are becoming a consumer favorite. but no matter which one you like, how do you pick the best melon? we turned to the expert. >> so, anyway, i would pick this watermelon, simply because it's all filled out on the end. this is a--this is the fill-out end. you know, here's the--here's where we cut the stem off right here. ok, and this is where it's growing. it's growing from this end, and it's all filled out. see how it's all filled out right now? if it's indented somewhat, it's still growing. >> ok. >> now, that is one of the things to look at. you wanna have one that sounds good. >> no, yeah, what's the thumping? i mean, is that--