As the second generation of pioneering organic dairy farmers and creamery operators in California's West Marin County, Albert Straus and his sister Vivien decided that adapting their family's remarkable story on screen would take a producer with an unusual skill set. Bob and Jane Fleck in Los Angeles were their first choice.

The senior Straus's had barely escaped the Nazi takeover of Europe when they came to California's lush north coast. Ellen had been headed for a career in medicine before she was wooed by Bill Straus. Her sharp, inquiring intelligence never left her. Years later, when runaway suburban sprawl threatened to obliterate her beloved West Marin hillsides, she simply and courageously began to organize her neighbors into a strikingly original political group -- MALT. It took off.

Today, the Marin Agricultural Trust now has borne the fruits of Ellen's creative vision. Because of Ellen's fierce affection for her pastures, thousands of acres in West Marin County have been preserved for future generations through an innovative land trust that works financially for both farmers and local government. As a creative collaboration, working with the Straus's has been truly rewarding. And Albert's ice cream is so good, it qualifies as a mystical experience.