- Hello kids.

I'm Victoria Barnhill, and this is Barnhill Orchards.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music fades) We have a little over 45 acres of farmland here at Barnhill Orchards.

We produce a lot of fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, blackberries, peaches and lots of fresh veggies, like green leaf lettuce.

We also have a corner store on our farm as well as provide a lot of fresh produce to farmer's markets and local restaurants.

Do you ever wonder where your produce comes from?

Today we're going to show you the lifecycle of a lettuce all the way from the seed to harvesting the plant.

And it all starts in the greenhouse.

Let's go.

Everything here at Barnhill Orchard starts in the greenhouse because it has to start from seed.

It needs about four weeks to mature before it can go out in the field.

A greenhouse is used as a nursery for our plants to make sure that they're big and strong and ready to go out into the field.

A greenhouse protects the plants because it provides a lot of shelter for our plants.

It makes sure that they're not getting over-watered or the winds aren't destroying them.

We also have a shade cloth over our greenhouse so it gives the plants just the right amount of sun.

Here we are in our greenhouse where everything on our farm starts from seed.

So today we're going to be planting lettuce.

I have already prepared this tray full of dirt.

I'm going to create holes with my fingers about a half inch down and plant these lettuce seeds in there.

Once the seeds are in there, I will top it with dirt pack it in there, and it is ready to start growing.

And then after a week or so our seeds will start to germinate.

What is germinating?

When the seed germinates that means the plant starts to come out of the seed.

So this is about one week in.

You can see that it has sprouted up a little green and in two weeks of growing, we start to see that it really takes the shape of a head of lettuce, and by the third week it's growing big enough where it's touching each other.

That means it's ready to go out to the field where it'll continue to grow and get ready to pick.

I think my dad's picking lettuce right now.

You all want to go?

Let's go check it out.

Come on.

The best thing about being on the farm is being with my family.

My dad has been farming for almost 45 years now and my grandfather started it when he retired from the Air Force, and my dad has been helping ever since.

- Hi, I'm farmer Rex.

I'm the one responsible for all this greenery out here.

I guess I do everything there is to be done.

- Dad, why don't you tell them when the right time to pick a head of lettuce is?

- Well, the right time to pick ahead of lettuce is about the size of a dinner plate, that big, that's two servings, three servings.

This head of lettuce started out as a seed eight weeks ago, and this is it.

And right now, eight weeks, it was four weeks in the greenhouse and four weeks out here and it's about ready to go to the dinner plate.

My favorite way to eat this is really on a BLT.

There's nothing like fresh, crisp loose leaf lettuce on a BLT.

What do you think, Tori?

You think that's about the right size for dinner?

- Oh, yeah.

And now we have this beautiful head of lettuce.

You have seen the lifecycle of it starting from seed in the greenhouse for about three weeks, and then we transplant it into the field and harvest it in about eight weeks, and it's going out to our corner store to sell to our customers.

Good morning and welcome to Barnhill Orchards.

What can I get you today?

- Well, I think I would like to try that green lettuce today.

- Okay.

Let me get that for you.

And here you go.

- Well, thank you very much.

- Good morning.

What can I get you today?

- I think I need... - [Victoria] Our corner store is open to the public, that is a drive-through only.

We sell a lot of fruits and vegetables as well as jams, breads, and local honey.

The fruit and vegetables at our corner store is picked daily so you know what you're getting is fresh and tasty.

There's nothing better than a freshly picked peach right off the tree.

- I guess my favorite thing about growing produce is, wow, well, I guess my favorite thing about the farming is, is bringing it from the seed and then cultivating and working the ground and raising the crop, taking care of it.

And 80 days later we're going to have a year of corn.

There's nothing better about farming than being outside all the time.

You got to love it.

- We love our farm.

Being outside in the beautiful weather and the beautiful land is just a great place to be.

Not only is it beautiful out here but everything is delicious.

We love providing for our community and other families just like us.

Thank you all for hanging out with me today.

I hope you enjoyed learning about the lifecycle of a lettuce.

As always, thanks for growing with us at Barnhill Orchards.

See you at the farm.