>> Welcome to KBTC.

Thank you so much for being here with us this afternoon.

It's wonderful to have you.

Yes.

Go ahead, Terry.

We're thrilled that you could be here as we go behind the scenes of one of our favorite local programs, statewide programs, Washington Grown.

You're going to get a chance to learn a lot about the show today.

You're going to get a chance to meet the producer.

But before that, I'm DeAnne Hamilton and I am the executive director and general manager for KBTC.

Whoo.

OK, you guys can get rowdy, I promise.

Yeah.

We will welcome that.

Actually, it's going to be my Association Board Members who are going to get rowdy.

So you'll get a chance to meet those two in a moment.

But you're in the Advanced Technology building.

Our TV station is next door.

That's where our studios are.

This is a classroom.

And this is part of Bates Technical College.

And we are service of Bates Technical College.

And the students who are dreaming to become producers and engineers actually get to study in this particular room and in this building.

So if you get a chance, you can walk the halls and see what a lovely, lovely place this is.

And this is the central campus and Bates has three campuses where we feel fortunate that we can be here on the hilltop.

So we have a lot that we want to share with you today, this afternoon.

It is afternoon, isn't it?

It seems like it's been a long day already.

As you know, PBS was founded with a mission to use media for education.

And today, we're taking you beyond the screen to learn more about the impact and the reach of our state's agricultural products.

I know it sounds a little educational, but you're going to have fun in the process, I promise.

And while you were waiting, I hope that you got a chance to take in some of the wine and some of the wonderful food, that's all Washington products.

So cheer your state.

We have great food here in the great state of Washington.

This event was made possible today thanks to our friends at Washington Grown and the KBTC Association.

And the KBTC Association is a 501(c)(3) organization that supports the work of KBTC public television.

And guess what, I have a couple of my board members here today with me, Diane Tilstra and Terry Bergeson.

Please wave, stand.

[ Applause ] They do a great job of supporting the work that we do.

And if you don't watch out, they might try to recruit you to the board.

So we do have openings.

So here, at KBTC -- oh, money.

I told you they were going to be rowdy.

Here at KBTC, we're proud of our special partnership with Washington Grown.

In fact, we've been bringing you the series since 2018.

So we're one of the long haulers.

In this 11th season of Washington Grown, this show traces Washington products across the globe to Mexico and Vietnam.

And the show's producer, Ian Loe, is here with us today and will give us a behind the scenes look at that journey and to share some of the stories about what it takes to put together this weekly series.

I told him earlier he makes it look easy.

There's a lot of work that goes into the show.

And it's high quality and we love it.

The new season just started on KBTC, but it's also available free on demand on the PBS app.

You can watch it anywhere, anytime on any device.

And now I'm so pleased to be able to introduce Ian Loe.

Ian has acted as the editor, producer, and videographer for the Washington Grown for over five years.

He's a proud graduate of Gonzaga University and believes that every story, much like carefully nurtured crops, deserves to be cultivated to its fullest potential.

Please welcome Ian Loe.

[ Applause ] Welcome.

>> Thank you, DeAnne.

Thank you, KBTC.

Thank you so much all of you for showing up.

We really, really appreciate the support.

We love making the show.

We love making it for you.

And it's an absolute pleasure and an honor to be here.

So first off, show of hands.

How many of you have actually watched Washington Grown?

OK, there's a table over here.

I see a couple specific people.

Your homework tonight is to go on to the PBS app.

There should be 11 seasons on there.

You can watch all 11 seasons.

It shouldn't take you very long.

There's like 150 episodes, something like that.

It should be no problem.

So, yeah, as she said, my name is Ian Loe.

I'm one of the producers on Washington Grown.

I'm the editor, one of the videographers.

I'm surrounded by so many amazing and talented people.

And I'm very blessed to work on the show.

And I think when I was trying to figure out how to introduce you to what Washington Grown really is, I figured that the best way to do that would be to introduce it the way I was introduced to the show about five or six years ago.

So tell me what's going on here.

>> This is my house cow, her name is Peanut.

>> Do farmers usually do this with calves?

>> I don't know about most farmers, but they do here.

>> That was my very first shoot.

I was straight out of college, I had worked a little in news.

And then I was sent on the shoot and I walked into the kitchen and there's like -- there's a cow in the kitchen.

And to be clear, I don't think things have really gotten any less complicated than that this entire time because I've had the chance to see some really amazing things and tell some really incredible stories.

I've had the chance to eat cherries straight off the tree, eat apples and pears straight off the tree.

I've been into these different packing houses where you have onions flying by you at 50 miles an hour, which is a little intimidating.

And I've gotten to tell so many people's stories, including some more interesting ones like this one.

[ Music ] That is the Lind Combine Derby.

And if you want to have a good time and a little bit of a violent time, that's the place to go.

Basically, they take all these old combines that aren't in the field anymore and they smash them to smithereens.

I say this as a compliment.

It's one of the most redneck things I've ever seen in my life.

And it's so much fun, highly recommend it.

But aside from agricultural stories and sometimes weird stories like the Lind Combine Derby, I've gotten the chance to eat a lot of amazing food, because as you can imagine, one of the perks of the show of working behind the scenes is you get to eat the food that the chefs give you and they're very, very good chefs.

That is one of the best apple fritters I've ever had in my entire life.

It was straight out of the fryer, freshly glazed, I thought I was going to die.

It was so amazing.

That's Francisco's Bakery down in Kennewick.

If you're ever down there, please give them a shot.

But I'd say -- if I had to say the most interesting thing I've eaten this past year that was actually quite delicious, it was down in Mexico City, I ate ant larva risotto.

Absolutely wonderful.

If you ever get the chance, I was very surprised and I would recommend it to people.

I would say, "Yeah, you have to try ant larva."

I've also gotten the chance to meet some really, really amazing people.

Some of these people you may recognize.

We have Val over on the right.

She's one of our wonderful hosts.

We have Tomas down on the bottom left there.

We have Kristi Gorenson and our executive director, David Tanner, up there.

They're wearing lamps as hats there.

And then we have our -- some of our team from Vietnam from this last year.

And so much like people, Washington is not that easy to incorporate into a single story because Washington is so, so diverse and so different and interesting.

It's absolutely amazing how much comes out of Washington.

You've got dairy, you've got fruits, you've got vegetables, you have all sorts of things that come out of Washington.

And part of that is to do with our climate.

See, we have a very unique climate.

On the east side of the state, we've got the rolling hills of wheat, where farmers are using dry land and not agriculture to produce wheat for miles and miles and miles.

And then over on the west side of the state, you have something different.

You have the Skagit Valley where they have a limited amount of land, a limited amount of acres, that they're producing amazing berries, and flowers, and spinach seed, and so many other things on very limited places.

So they're working together, they're talking with one another to make sure they plant things in the right spots to make sure everything is growing perfectly.

This year, down south in the Tri-Cities, we got the special opportunity to shoot in 105 degrees, which was a lot of fun because it was out in the scorching hot sun, we were shooting some grapes.

And I didn't love it, but the grapes absolutely do because what they really need is they need that heat.

They need that stress in order to really get the flavor to make the Washington wines that a lot of you are drinking right now.

In order to do that, that heat is absolutely imperative so that it doesn't go to the leaves, because if you grow grapes over here or in a more rainy area, the leaves get too big and the grapes kind of not as flavorful.

And so that heat is perfect for grapes.

Not perfect for an Ian.

Then up in the south -- or I'm sorry, then up in the north, you have your orchards, you've got your pear orchards, your apple orchards, your cherry orchards.

Highly recommend, if you ever get up there during harvest season, taking something like that straight off the tree, there's just nothing like it.

It's absolutely wonderful.

You're never going to try fruit like that.

And see, Washington has so many different crops that we produce.

We produce apples, cattle, and Christmas trees as well, potatoes and cherries all over the state.

It's tough to really encapsulate that into one story, which is partly why we've been doing this for so many seasons because there's so many stories to tell.

So how do you edit so much when we're the number one producer of apples, blueberries, spearmint, and the number two producer of huge crops like asparagus, potatoes, and winter wheat in the entire US?

So how do you edit so much?

This is a timeline.

This is my job as mostly editor.

I do many other things, but editing is one of the big things that I do.

And this is what I stare at for like eight hours a day other than like great pictures of food.

And this is how we tell a story because that's what's important about all this.

I -- yeah, I can tell you about all the different crops we grow.

But really, it means nothing without a story.

And so we need to boil everything down.

This is how much footage we shot from one shoot.

Now, one shoot boils down to about three minutes.

I think this one was three minutes and 36 seconds.

We shot four and a half hours of footage to get you that three minutes and 30 seconds.

And at the end of the day, someone, which it's me, it's -- surprise, it's me, has to go through that and make it something interesting, something that tells a complete story.

And sometimes that story is easy to do and sometimes it's more difficult.

This is Zora.

She is adorable.

And she is a potato-sniffing dog.

She can sniff out a disease in a potato plant from acres and acres and acres.

And she's absolutely amazing.

As you can see, she's getting her little treat, which is her tennis ball.

Who doesn't want to see a dog get a tennis ball and sniff potatoes?

Like absolutely so easy, so wonderful.

But not all stories are quite so cute, cuddly, and interesting in that way.

And so some stories are a little bit harder, like this one.

>> This is really probably equivalent to like a city with a population of 50,000 people.

That's how much waste as far as poop and pee we deal with.

The solids, you compost, farmers like it, gardeners like it, everyone likes a little bit of compost.

I think if you ask any dairy farmer, our biggest headache and liability on our farms is the lagoon.

And the lagoon is what we call the liquid containment area for our liquid manure.

>> Green water.

>> The green water.

That's right.

It's kind of the origination of the smells on dairy.

The green water is a pain in our butt.

>> Green water is the nice way of saying liquid cow poop.

So how do you take a food show that's essentially a farm-to-table food show and tell the story of cow poop?

Not easily.

I wasn't thrilled about this edit.

But -- just kidding.

It was great.

Basically, we told the story about the whole entire cycle of agriculture and the way that Austen Allred and the people at Royal Dairy are using this, they basically take those sprinklers and they spray the liquid cow manure over these big beds of worms and woodchips.

And I mean, they go like nine feet deep, it's crazy.

And then the worms kind of eat through things, they kind of clean the water out to the point where it can be used.

So they spray it over these potato plants, which are then fed back to the cows.

Completes this entire regenerative cycle and makes things greener and better for the environment at the end of the day.

Absolutely wonderful stuff that they're doing.

But the reality of it is that Washington farmers do this kind of thing all of the time.

They're constantly innovating and focusing on the environment.

They're focusing on how they can steward the land and make better products for me, for you, and for people around the world because something a lot of people don't think about very often is that we produce so much food that it can go around the world.

And that brings us to this year.

This is our The World Needs Washington here.

Because after 10 seasons of galivanting around Washington state and seeing so many amazing things here in our state, it was time for us to see the other side of the story.

So we got the chance to go to Mexico City and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam this last year, absolutely amazing trips, and see where our food goes because we do send food out.

And our goal for this season was to say one thing.

And that is that the world needs Washington.

So 70% of our potatoes feed people in other countries, our wineries export to more than 60 different countries.

25% of our cherries go to other countries.

They're actually very, very revered over in Asia.

And they're well known as like kind of a delicacy, which we don't always think of cherries in that way because we're so lucky we have them in our backyard.

But they do.

And we export roughly 90% of our wheat to other countries.

And that's just because we produce so much.

But the thing about this trip, as you can probably imagine if you've ever done any international travel, it is a little chaotic.

And then you add on top of that the need to film a TV show and then you add on top of that that we had about 15 to 18 people with us and you have chaos.

This was our very first shoot we did in Vietnam.

This is a Vietnamese wet market.

It was absolutely amazing.

We got off the plane, we slept for about 12 hours.

And then we were plopped into the middle of this.

This is like a videographer's dream right here because there's so much to see.

And you can see right here, there's the meat market.

There's so much fresh food, whether it's Vietnamese food or our Washington food as well, that it's just -- there's so much to see.

It's tough to even describe how chaotic it really got.

And that honestly kind of continued the entire way into the trip.

This is our last shoot that we did.

This is a Vietnamese wet market or a Vietnamese night market rather.

And this is where when produce kit comes in from the port, basically, it needs to go from the city to the provinces and it needs to get there by the morning when the shoppers are actually going to be doing something.

So they do all of this at night.

And they have these scooters that are full of big huge containers of apples.

It was so crazy and chaotic and insane that our producer Kara decided that each videographer needed someone to make sure we didn't get squished and ran over.

Because to be frank, I don't know if they could stop even if they wanted to.

And they have a place to be, so maybe they wouldn't want to stop and they just run you over anyway.

So it was absolutely amazing.

So chaotic.

But that's kind of the name of the game of Washington Grown.

Washington Grown, it's kind of has three legs to it, I like to think.

It's got agriculture, it's got food, and it's got a little bit of chaos, too.

And that's kind of how things go.

So it's important when you show up to shoot, be ready to pivot, to change things, and to do what you need to do like this clip here.

>> This is Hilario Alvarez and he absolutely loves farming his 82 acres near Mabton.

>> And this one over here -- >> Oh, wow.

>> This is [inaudible].

This is neon eggplant.

>> Look at that!

>> His energy is contagious and we could hardly keep up with him.

>> And this is the ghost pepper.

And this is the habanero white.

This is very, very hot pepper.

>> Don't rub your eyes.

>> Yeah.

Then you start [inaudible] smoke in the ear.

>> Yeah, exactly.

>> Hilario Alvarez is absolutely amazing, but we didn't show up to see his peppers.

You see, our team showed up because they wanted to learn about how we grow peanuts in Washington State.

And we do grow peanuts in Washington State, but not very many.

In fact, he had like, I think, one row of peanuts.

And our producer didn't realize this when they set the ship -- set the chute up.

So how do you tell the story of peanuts when there's not very many?

Well, you don't because while they were learning about this, Hilario just kept talking about his peppers.

And he had so many that he was just shoving them into Moss' [assumed spelling] hands and they decided, "You know what, we're going to pivot, we're going to change things up.

And we're going to make this all about his peppers," because he obviously cares about them.

He wants to grow them right.

And that's the nice thing about this.

Sometimes when you walk into a shoot, you really have no idea what you're walking into.

But that's the fun of the show, right?

One of my favorite shoots of all time happened actually a little bit above Leavenworth.

>> So shall we get some foraging?

>> Yeah, let's do it.

>> Let's do it.

I'm excited.

>> OK. Well, we'll just sort of pop in here.

And you can see already there's some mushrooms.

>> Oh, geez.

Look at the size of that thing.

Oh, look at that red one.

Oh, wow.

>> And there.

>> And there's one there.

>> And there.

>> We just stepped a few inches into the forest and we've already seen a vast number of varieties.

And this one is a beauty.

It's got tons of gills.

>> Yeah, it's a gilled mushroom.

You always want to pull the mushroom out from the ground rather than cut it because this -- the base doesn't help in identification.

>> Wow.

>> Check it out.

See, how the sponge is nice and creamy white like that?

>> Yeah.

>> There's not a lot of holes.

That's perfect.

>> And this is a porcine.

>> Yeah, this is the porcine This is the king of the forest.

>> The king right there.

>> The cool thing is that we can pick these mushrooms all day long.

And it doesn't harm the mycelium because they're growing underground on the trees.

Just don't go out there and pick anything unless you absolutely know because the worst thing in the world is when you're sitting there in bed and you go, "Was that the right mushroom?"

>> We were working with the Puget Sound Mycological Society on this shoot and I would highly recommend them because this was not TV Magic.

I had no idea.

He told me where we were going to meet up.

And we walked five feet into the forest and there were mushrooms everywhere.

I've never seen anything like it.

It was amazing.

Four-inch tall mushrooms to the left, four-inch tall mushrooms to the right, red ones, green ones, you name it.

They were there.

It was absolutely incredible.

And actually, there's a little story here that I wasn't able to put in the show because we didn't want to encourage our viewers to go out and nibble on mushrooms because he picked one up and he nibbled on it.

And so our host said, "Well, of course, that one must be edible."

He spits it out and he said, "No, that one's poisonous."

And we didn't want to encourage our viewers, obviously, to go out and eat mushrooms, so please don't do that.

That's not why I tell you this story, but it's just -- sometimes it's chaotic.

And that's the way the show goes.

>> Oh, watch!

>> [Inaudible] starting it.

>> No, because if [inaudible].

>> Fernando.

>> Oh my god.

>> Yeah.

Put your fingers over there.

Yeah [inaudible].

>> Do you like to cook together?

>> We do.

>> Si, cook together, also my kids in the kitchen.

>> Yeah.

>> I call them, "Hey, come here.

You don't help me -- >> You don't eat.

>> -- no food."

Do like this, see?

[Inaudible] Do it, do it.

>> That's good?

>> Roll it, roll it.

>> OK, I will do it.

>> Yeah, you do it.

>> So -- >> Brava, brava.

Whoo.

>> Brava.

>> Next up, we're going to make a hot Italian sausage.

>> You know, you're an old hat at this now.

You know what you're doing.

>> I broke the machine.

>> Uh-oh, you broke it.

There you go.

>> And then there's Bell in the kitchen again.

Gentle pinch.

>> Uh-huh.

And then there you go.

Nice.

You got it.

>> Oh [inaudible] Oh, oh.

>> Too much.

>> I bust it.

Oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh, I think I'm perspiring.

This is a lot of pressure.

>> Paul even let me hold a piglet.

Oh, my gosh, this is a baby pig.

Turns out holding a piglet isn't quite as easy as it looks.

[Inaudible].

Wow, not easy holding a pig.

>> I -- as a videographer, when I asked her to hold that pig, I was really hoping for this adorable shot of her holding a pig.

Not what we got because he just started kicking and squealing, but it was still fun TV.

And that's kind of the way things go.

You never quite know what you're going to walk into whether it's a Vietnamese wet market or whether it's going to be a kicking and squealing pig.

It's just -- it's going to be something crazy, but that's kind of how Washington is in general.

See, Washington farmers deal with this kind of thing all the time, just like how we have to walk into a situation and kind of pivot and change to whatever we need to do.

So do farmers because you have things like weather.

For instance, this winter, we thought it was going to be maybe a little bit colder than it is and it's not cold at all.

Or the market.

Sometimes the market goes up and down.

Or the regulations or different things like that.

The way the crops grow, it might change from year to year.

So farmers have to be ready to pivot just like we do.

And just like how we push to make all of our segments better, they're trying to do the exact same thing.

They're keeping up on the latest tech.

They're talking with one another about how their crops are doing, how to do things better and better because they want to make the best crops possible for us.

And just like how we make stories out of the people and the places that we see, each piece of fruit or vegetable or piece of meat or gallon of milk in the store has a story.

It does not just show up at the supermarkets one day, just magically.

And it's come from hands of people who actually care about it and who want to make it the best it can possibly be.

So I encourage you, next time you're in the store, think about that.

Because whether it's peanuts turning in to peppers at Alvarez farms or it's Peanut, the cow, in the kitchen, everything has a story.

And it's coming from hard-working people who care a lot about what they're doing and want to keep making it as perfect as they can for you here in Washington.

Thank you so much.

[ Applause ] I wish there was a cookbook.

>> OK, we want a cookbook, everyone.

Please join me in thanking Ian for this wonderful, wonderful program.

And teaching me how to use the microphone.

I watched.

We thank you so much.

We really appreciate this partnership that we have with Washington Grown.

And I told you it was going to be fun.

And you -- I know it was informative.

I learned a whole bunch.

And we really do appreciate all the work that you do and all the work that goes into making this such a wonderful program.

So thank you so much.

OK, everybody, there's a QR code on the table.

If you haven't downloaded the PBS app, that QR code should help you do that.

So that you can watch all of the seasons of Washington Grown.

And as Ian said, there are 11 seasons, you can binge-watch.

And if you like my friend Scott Winship over here, you might watch a show, see a recipe, run out and get the ingredients, and come home and cook.

So there are all kinds of ways that you can interact with Washington Grown and we hope that you will do that.

And if you have any questions about streaming, we have a number of people who work for KBTC.

Raise your hands, everybody.

If you have any questions about streaming or downloading the PBS app, they're here to help and you could do that before you leave today.

I know that I went on my phone to download the app and I had to select KBTC.

Make sure you select the correct station.

Not the one up north, although we love them, but we are KBTC Public Television.

And we'll be working on our own app pretty soon.

So -- but until then, you can do the PBS app and select us.

Even if the other one shows up first, nope.

That is not your station, we are your station.

So anyway, we want to thank you all so much for coming today because it is your support that helps us pull together events like this and to invite the community in.

And at some point, my friend, Anad [assumed spelling], over here asked if we do fundraising events.

We will at some point, but until then, these are free.

So thank you for your help and support for helping us keep it free.

And we will continue to pull everyone together.

It's so nice to be together again after that awful pandemic that we went through.

So anyway, there are some beautiful apples on tables.

So be sure and grab a Washington apple or two.

You can take those with you.

I think there may still be some refreshments back there.

Please help yourself before you leave.

And I'd like to thank my association members for being here today.

I want to thank you all for being here with me today.

And I want to thank my very talented team of KBTC for being here.

Thank you.

[ Applause ] They're the ones that make it happen.

So again, thank you so much for being here.

And Ian, you're welcome back anytime.

OK.

Thanks, everyone.

Be careful out there.

Stay warm.