Latest / Barnyard Language / Chickens in Space w/ Julie Cates

Transcript

Chickens in Space w/ Julie Cates · Barnyard Language

• 0:15
  Welcome to Barnyard Language.
• 0:16
  We are Katie and Arlene, an Iowa sheep farmer, and an Ontario dairy
• 0:20
  farmer with six kids, two husbands, and a whole lot of chaos between us.
• 0:25
  So kick off your boots, reheat your coffee, and join us
• 0:28
  for some barnyard language.
• 0:30
  Honest talk about running farms and raising families.
• 0:34
  In
• 0:34
  case your kids haven't already learned all the swears from being in the barn,
• 0:37
  it might be a good idea to put on some headphones or turn down the volume.
• 0:41
  While many of our guests are professionals, they
• 0:43
  aren't your professionals.
• 0:44
  If you need personalized advice, consult your people.
• 0:47
  Welcome to another episode of Barnyard Language, and today we
• 0:51
  have Katie and I in the same room recording our first ever live.
• 0:54
  Well, no, it's not live first.
• 0:56
  Ever update together.
• 0:57
  So we're live.
• 0:58
  Yeah, we're live together.
• 0:59
  It's not live that you will hear it anyway, you know what I mean?
• 1:02
  So it's weird we're in the same room huddled together on the couch cuz we
• 1:05
  have one microphone because we've never recorded together and Katie didn't
• 1:08
  pack her in her luggage, which is fine.
• 1:10
  Sorry.
• 1:11
  That's okay.
• 1:11
  So Katie, I'm not gonna ask what's happening in Iowa cuz you're not there.
• 1:15
  So what's happening here in.
• 1:17
  . Um, she's looking out the window.
• 1:20
  She's gonna give you the weather report.
• 1:21
  Yeah, I'll check the weather.
• 1:21
  Uh, snow.
• 1:23
  Yeah.
• 1:23
  Looks like maybe some sun.
• 1:24
  Now I don't see any cows running loose, so that's good.
• 1:28
  I don't see any children running loose, so that is also good.
• 1:31
  Well, the children could go outside, they'd be fine.
• 1:33
  Yeah.
• 1:33
  But I don't see them like running a moth.
• 1:35
  So that's directly out this window.
• 1:37
  Yeah.
• 1:38
  Um, we're getting ready to go to Maya's birthday party.
• 1:41
  Yeah, an inflatable parade.
• 1:42
  Yeah.
• 1:43
  Which is very exciting.
• 1:43
  Past guest Mais celebrating her 40th birthday, which means inflatables at
• 1:47
  an eighties dance party in a barn.
• 1:48
  So Katie gets to enjoy that and stay
• 1:51
  tuned for fun.
• 1:52
  Eighties clothes at home with my microphone.
• 1:54
  Oh,
• 1:55
  sadly.
• 1:55
  Yeah.
• 1:55
  I She doesn't sound too sad about that.
• 1:57
  No.
• 1:58
  So what is, uh, travel like from rural Iowa to rural Ontario?
• 2:01
  How long did that take you?
• 2:03
  Three hours in.
• 2:04
  Two hours on a plane, three hours in an airport, an hour on a plane.
• 2:09
  And then legitimately the most enthusiastic greeting I've ever gotten in
• 2:13
  an airport.
• 2:14
  . I was not in an inflatable,
• 2:16
  unfortunately.
• 2:16
  No.
• 2:16
  But Arlene and her mom made a lovely sign and brought a Canadian flag
• 2:20
  and greeted me at the airport.
• 2:21
  It was delightful.
• 2:23
  And then Linda did not lose my luggage.
• 2:25
  Yeah.
• 2:25
  And then another.
• 2:28
  The car.
• 2:28
  Yeah, so basically a, a giant voyage to get from one place to the other.
• 2:32
  But those of you in rural places know what that's
• 2:34
  like.
• 2:35
  It was a tremendously uneventful trip.
• 2:38
  That's the right time to see my friend Holly in Minneapolis.
• 2:42
  She's a listener as well, and that was lovely.
• 2:43
  I got to meet some more listeners and some past guests and
• 2:47
  yeah, we met up with, uh, Dr.
• 2:49
  Jessica who came to join us.
• 2:50
  She's just in upstate New York, so not, not all that far from here.
• 2:54
  So she came to Miley Little town and we went out for Indian food, and
• 2:58
  then we got to go to the farm of past guests, Claire Smith, who has also.
• 3:04
  A fantastic cheese room.
• 3:05
  So we got some cheese, which is like the best kind of farm tour.
• 3:09
  Not, I mean, any farm tour is good, but when you get free
• 3:11
  cheese, that's also an added bonus.
• 3:13
  And she fed us lunch, which was fantastic.
• 3:16
  And Arlene's husband has been teaching me about curling because the Women's
• 3:20
  Canadian championships are on.
• 3:21
  They are.
• 3:22
  Yeah.
• 3:23
  Um, , like my preferred sport of nascar, there is more going on than I
• 3:28
  would've expected . So yeah, it was more interesting than I was prepared to get.
• 3:33
  Yes, we're telling
• 3:34
  her lots of rules and she's questioning whether they're all
• 3:37
  actual or if we're making fun of her, but we're, we're not being, yeah.
• 3:40
  There is actually a thing called a hammer.
• 3:42
  Yeah.
• 3:42
  But there's no literal hammer.
• 3:43
  There's no actual hammer.
• 3:45
  . Oh, and the other thing we did was we got Katie to come and help organize, well not
• 3:49
  organize, but peel potatoes and, uh, prep and be at our, uh, four H Awards dinner.
• 3:54
  So we got to peel some potatoes and peel some carrots and get
• 3:58
  ready for a four H supper.
• 3:59
  So Katie, what are your first impressions of Canada?
• 4:02
  What's different?
• 4:02
  What have you noticed?
• 4:04
  French.
• 4:05
  Okay.
• 4:06
  Yeah, mostly . Um, yeah.
• 4:08
  And not all that much of it
• 4:09
  really.
• 4:09
  No.
• 4:10
  But it's always interesting traveling to another English speaking country
• 4:13
  because things seem more similar.
• 4:15
  So things that are different seem weirder than when you traveled to
• 4:18
  a totally different place and it's like everything here is different.
• 4:22
  Of course, the packaging is different.
• 4:23
  Sure, yeah.
• 4:24
  Yeah.
• 4:25
  We
• 4:25
  went on a cultural experience all the way to Walmart, so that was exciting.
• 4:27
  Yeah.
• 4:28
  What products are the same?
• 4:29
  What's different?
• 4:30
  No.
• 4:31
  At Canadian Walmart, but they do have hockey sticks and hockey
• 4:34
  jerseys, which that's true.
• 4:35
  Which we do not have.
• 4:36
  That's true.
• 4:37
  Um, and all sorts of cookies that we don't have.
• 4:40
  Yeah.
• 4:41
  All sorts of, all sorts of strange cookies.
• 4:43
  Yeah.
• 4:44
  The Cho the chocolate bar selection was significantly different.
• 4:47
  Yeah.
• 4:47
  You know, in the name of science we bought some cookies.
• 4:50
  Mm-hmm.
• 4:51
  to test out to.
• 4:52
  To investigate.
• 4:53
  We should do that.
• 4:54
  Yeah.
• 4:55
  Arlene, how are things in Ontario?
• 4:56
  Uh, well, I think we covered a lot of it already.
• 4:58
  Okay.
• 5:00
  You know, I felt like I should ask.
• 5:01
  Yeah.
• 5:01
  I don't think there's much.
• 5:03
  , those are
• 5:03
  the main things.
• 5:04
  There's some weird, creepy lady in her house, but , she,
• 5:07
  she hasn't kicked her out yet,
• 5:08
  so, yeah.
• 5:09
  Yeah.
• 5:09
  So we are at the stage where we don't have a spare room anymore, so
• 5:12
  we had to kick the youngest out of his bedroom, and he's now bunking in
• 5:15
  with his two other older brothers.
• 5:16
  So he's delighted because he gets to have sleepovers with his big brothers
• 5:20
  and they are less thrilled, but they've
• 5:22
  all, they're fine.
• 5:22
  Very polite to me about it.
• 5:25
  ? Yeah.
• 5:25
  Not too many Iowa jokes.
• 5:26
  Really?
• 5:26
  No.
• 5:27
  No.
• 5:27
  Less than I anticipated.
• 5:28
  Yeah, a little disappointed.
• 5:31
  , they're just warming
• 5:31
  up too.
• 5:32
  I'm sure that Tuesday morning before they leave for school,
• 5:35
  there will be a real flurry.
• 5:36
  Yeah.
• 5:37
  They'll start firing them off healthcare jokes.
• 5:38
  And other than peeling potatoes, we haven't made Katie work yet, but maybe
• 5:41
  she can milk with us Tuesday before she leaves or something like that.
• 5:44
  That would be fun.
• 5:45
  And we got some photos taken together so we don't have to just Photoshop
• 5:49
  our heads into, uh, Pictures.
• 5:51
  So stay tuned for those.
• 5:52
  We might roll those out over a little while.
• 5:54
  And we already decided that anyone who's on uh, Patreon is gonna
• 5:57
  get all the outtakes because there's a lot of awkwardness.
• 6:00
  There's
• 6:01
  some great ones.
• 6:01
  Yeah.
• 6:02
  Yeah.
• 6:02
  So stay tuned Pats, and if you'd like the show, you can join our
• 6:06
  Patreon and see all the embarrassing stuff because we have a price
• 6:10
  in regards to the four H dinner, the food was delightful,
• 6:13
  the people were delightful.
• 6:15
  And Hugh Hunter's management of program.
• 6:19
  Was masterful . It was possibly the shortest program of that
• 6:24
  sort day I've ever been to.
• 6:25
  That is, that
• 6:26
  is the best part.
• 6:27
  Keep it short and snappy.
• 6:28
  And there was no gun
• 6:29
  raffle.
• 6:29
  There was no gun raffle . There was no raffle.
• 6:32
  There was, which I did not know was a thing.
• 6:33
  None of the delightful ways that we raised money in the US sadly.
• 6:39
  Yeah, so our guest for today has been waiting patiently.
• 6:43
  I think we interviewed her way back in November maybe.
• 6:46
  Anyway, it's been a while, so I think it might have been the end
• 6:48
  of October . Anyway, she's gotten bumped a few times for some other,
• 6:52
  uh, kind of seasonal episodes.
• 6:53
  But thank you so much for your patience, Mrs.
• 6:55
  Kates, and we are excited for you to listen to her interview.
• 6:59
  Today we are very lucky to be talking to Julie Kates, who is a sixth grade
• 7:03
  teacher joining us from California.
• 7:04
  So Julie, we start each of our interviews with the same question, and
• 7:07
  this is a way that you can introduce yourself to our listeners so we
• 7:11
  can, a, we ask what are you growing?
• 7:13
  And this can cover crops or livestock if you're a farmer,
• 7:16
  and then families, businesses, careers, all kinds of other things.
• 7:19
  So Julie, what are you growing?
• 7:21
  Hi.
• 7:22
  Well good morning and thank you for having me.
• 7:25
  Um, so at home, I'm trying to grow celery, , and I have a few chickens
• 7:32
  though we're producing a few eggs.
• 7:34
  Uh, but at cool, um, in our classroom we're very excited to be, um, partnering
• 7:40
  with Fairchild Botanical Gardens in NASA to, um, have a growth chamber
• 7:44
  with some basil and cilantro cultivars.
• 7:48
  So that's what we're growing at school.
• 7:50
  So Julie, did you grow up on a farm or how did you, um, get involved in agricul?
• 7:56
  You
• 7:56
  know what, I, I did not grow up on a farm.
• 7:59
  I actually, um, we moved to the Central Valley.
• 8:02
  Uh, my husband had a job relocation, and that's where I was exposed to all this
• 8:07
  agriculture and it's really amazing.
• 8:09
  Um, we have a, an international agri center, which I saw that
• 8:14
  on the highway, like what?
• 8:15
  International.
• 8:16
  We're in the middle of nowhere.
• 8:17
  What is that about?
• 8:18
  And um, it's this giant farm show.
• 8:20
  And so I went.
• 8:22
  Um, in 2007 and that's when I got started to become excited about it.
• 8:26
  So for our less US geography minded friends, , um, can you
• 8:31
  tell us a little about what the Central Valley is and where it is?
• 8:36
  Yes.
• 8:36
  So California is a, uh, densely populated long state and, um, the
• 8:42
  Central Valley in terms of agriculture is in the middle of the state.
• 8:48
  Um, Longitudinally and.
• 8:53
  Latitude, like, uh, we're south, we're, we're directly between Bakersfield and
• 8:57
  Fresno, or like halfway between LA and San Francisco, but inland toward Yosemite
• 9:04
  National Park, um, Sequoia National Park.
• 9:06
  And so it's this long stretch of growing area, which essentially is a desert.
• 9:11
  Um, but Californians have been irrigating it, it was naturally
• 9:14
  irrigated and now there's a lot of water wars about all of that.
• 9:18
  But, Um, needless to say, we grow a lot of fruits and vegetables
• 9:22
  and nut and dairy in our area.
• 9:24
  I wanna say it's one of the richest, horticultural
• 9:28
  growing areas in the country.
• 9:30
  Correct?
• 9:31
  Definitely.
• 9:32
  As opposed to, as opposed to row crops like we grow in Iowa.
• 9:35
  Yes.
• 9:36
  So yes, we have, in California we have over 400 specialty crops,
• 9:40
  and so that means it's not corns or soybean corn or soybeans.
• 9:45
  Um, so we have a.
• 9:46
  , like all of the lettuces are grown, but those are over on the central coast.
• 9:50
  We're on the Central Valley, so we're in a drier area.
• 9:54
  Um, and so I don't know if people know that, but the lettuce that you.
• 9:58
  Probably by at the store.
• 9:59
  It was typically grown in the coastal region of Central
• 10:02
  California or maybe Arizona.
• 10:04
  Not here where we are though.
• 10:05
  Yeah.
• 10:05
  I had no idea how much lettuce has grown in Arizona.
• 10:08
  It does not seem like, uh, the most logical place.
• 10:12
  Yeah.
• 10:13
  , but
• 10:13
  like it would be conducive.
• 10:15
  Yeah.
• 10:15
  I toured it actually a couple years ago.
• 10:18
  Um, the Earthbound Farms, when they started, when they started
• 10:20
  purchasing land and growing there, I went on an ag tour of.
• 10:24
  Lettuce.
• 10:25
  It was pretty amazing.
• 10:26
  Yeah.
• 10:26
  It's
• 10:27
  um, interesting to see how California is really adjusting to
• 10:32
  the changing demands on agriculture, especially with climate change.
• 10:36
  And Yes.
• 10:37
  You know, it's really stressing a lot of systems.
• 10:40
  I guess I was trying to come up with a nice way to, to put Yes, yes.
• 10:44
  It didn't sound quite so
• 10:46
  . Right.
• 10:46
  Yeah, it's definitely, it's definitely distressful.
• 10:50
  I mean, that's a whole nother conversation, but, um, farmers are having
• 10:53
  to take out large orchards and fields just because we're, we really don't have water.
• 10:58
  It's pretty
• 10:59
  hard.
• 10:59
  And how did you know that you be wanted to become a teacher and what, what possessed
• 11:04
  you to want to spend your life with?
• 11:07
  Other people's children.
• 11:08
  Insanity,
• 11:09
  ? No.
• 11:10
  Got it.
• 11:11
  No.
• 11:12
  Um, I actually did not, I actually always wanted to be a nurse, but, um,
• 11:16
  All of that math and science, you know, when, when I was in high school and they
• 11:20
  threatened me with all that math and science in college, I was afraid of that.
• 11:24
  Um, so I did a lot of other things and, um, I, I worked always since, you know, 15
• 11:30
  and, and, uh, did all these other things and had children and then I finished my
• 11:33
  degree very late in life, so I'm an old.
• 11:36
  New teacher.
• 11:38
  So I've been only a teacher for about eight years.
• 11:41
  And, um, when I finished my degree, um, I, I lived in different parts of
• 11:45
  the country for my husband's, um, work.
• 11:49
  And when I finished my degree here in California, uh, my first job
• 11:53
  was with, uh, cooperative Extension and I was a nutrition educator.
• 11:57
  And, um, all of the teachers I worked with said, you have to be a teacher.
• 12:01
  Like this is your thing, do it.
• 12:03
  So I did.
• 12:05
  And, um, I fell in love with agriculture when I got here, so I
• 12:08
  had to incorporate it all the time.
• 12:10
  Like it's so important and uh, it's really vital to all the kids
• 12:14
  who live here because like one in four jobs are related to that.
• 12:18
  And.
• 12:19
  People don't know either.
• 12:21
  They don't have a concept of how important it is to eat
• 12:26
  . Yeah.
• 12:27
  Which is weird.
• 12:27
  You know, you'd think that people would understand that
• 12:30
  food is important to All right.
• 12:34
  Yeah.
• 12:35
  Um, Arlene, do you guys have university extension in
• 12:38
  Canada or something like that?
• 12:40
  Not,
• 12:41
  not really.
• 12:42
  Not in this, not in the same
• 12:43
  way.
• 12:44
  No.
• 12:44
  Julie, I'm in Iowa, which is, you know, hardcore land grant.
• 12:48
  Yes.
• 12:48
  University territory.
• 12:49
  And yes, the state extension is one of the biggest.
• 12:54
  Blessings and resources that we have around here, and it's really
• 12:58
  definitely, so for the people that don't know, I think it was like 1906,
• 13:03
  I wanna say I'm, I'm not sure which chicken or the egg, but the university
• 13:08
  system and the farm Bureau system were developed and so they work.
• 13:14
  Together.
• 13:14
  And so, um, in California we have a pretty robust extension system.
• 13:18
  And so there are crop advisors that are particular to different, you
• 13:22
  know, nut crops and row crops in dairy and all the, uh, those things.
• 13:26
  And so each county, we have 57 counties in each county has a farm bureau and
• 13:32
  or an extension office that they can get all these free resources from.
• 13:37
  And so, It's really amazing.
• 13:40
  I guess
• 13:40
  that was the question I was gonna ask is about, you know, whether those
• 13:43
  resources are, are paid or free, but yeah, we definitely don't have
• 13:46
  a, a similar system in, in Canada that I, that I know of anyway.
• 13:51
  Our state extension at least does everything from, um, pressure
• 13:55
  testing people's canners to running the Master Gardeners program.
• 14:00
  Um, four H, they do just all sorts of, um, farm production.
• 14:08
  Classes and coaching and, um, business coaching and farm succession
• 14:14
  planning, all sorts of things, uh, yes, is a really an amazing resource.
• 14:18
  So, Julie,
• 14:18
  you talked a little bit about the geography of where you're located,
• 14:21
  but can you tell us a little bit more about your community, where your school
• 14:24
  is, what it looks like in terms of the, the people and the, the families
• 14:28
  that your, your school is made up of?
• 14:30
  Sure.
• 14:30
  So we're in, um, where I teach, um, is in.
• 14:37
  A town, uh, well, a town of about 140,000 and it's, so I'm not sure if
• 14:42
  that's considered suburban, rural or, so we're kind of in the middle of state.
• 14:47
  We have a hospital and we do not have a university.
• 14:51
  , we have a community college, so that's sort of how big the town is.
• 14:54
  You know, when I first moved there I said, well, they have
• 14:56
  10 Starbucks and one library.
• 14:57
  So those are the priorities.
• 15:00
  , uh, the ki I work in a title one school, so that means we have a, a high percentage
• 15:06
  of, um, low income and underperforming.
• 15:09
  And so, um, that's the population I serve and.
• 15:13
  That's part of why it's really important to always include like the STEM
• 15:17
  activities and the why behind everything.
• 15:21
  Um, and because some of my i'd, I'd like to say a fourth maybe of my classroom,
• 15:27
  their dads or moms work on dairies or, um, in a dairy related field.
• 15:32
  And so it's also really important for their self-esteem to know that their
• 15:36
  parent, uh, is part of something huge.
• 15:41
  Huge and important to, uh, survival of the United States, really.
• 15:45
  And my opinion, like we can't feed ourselves.
• 15:47
  How can we sustain ourselves?
• 15:49
  I think that's such a key thing.
• 15:50
  Um, my kids are in a very similar school in rural Iowa, so, uh, a very
• 15:55
  small town, um, with a packing plant.
• 15:58
  So I wanna say, It's something like 60% of the students in the school are minority
• 16:07
  and over 70% are below the poverty line.
• 16:10
  So it's a very different school than you see, um, in any of the
• 16:14
  other communities in the area.
• 16:17
  But I think it has done such a disservice to ag that it's been so sort of a,
• 16:22
  for folks who can't do anything else, who stay home and farm, and that's.
• 16:27
  At all the reality of agriculture now.
• 16:29
  And so melding those stem skills with pride in what we do, you know, because
• 16:37
  there are computers and robots and science and math and you know, it's not a.
• 16:43
  Go out back and milk one cow by hand.
• 16:46
  And not that that does not also take science and math and a lot
• 16:50
  of skills, but you know, we're looking at a very different world.
• 16:54
  So where does your passion for ag education and nutrition
• 16:57
  come from?
• 16:58
  I think it started when I went to the International Ag Show.
• 17:01
  And I asked so many questions that one of the, um, booths thought, thought I
• 17:05
  was a reporter and they were excited.
• 17:07
  They thought I was from some magazine and I had to say, no, I'm
• 17:09
  just a person that knows nothing.
• 17:12
  Um, and so then Cooperative Extinction made me serve on a committee, an ag
• 17:16
  education committee with Farm Bureau.
• 17:19
  And, uh, they provided me with a, an ag in the classroom field trip,
• 17:23
  and that's where I became hooked.
• 17:25
  So I was always into nutrition.
• 17:27
  Um, my degree is in communication and I was always about, Um, positively putting
• 17:32
  the word out about proper nutrition, but I really became involved with ag
• 17:37
  because of Farm Bureau, and I want kids to eat healthy, but they need to know
• 17:41
  where it comes from and, and nutrition isn't nutrition until they eat it.
• 17:46
  And so, I just really, that's really important to me.
• 17:50
  Like Taki are not food, , Taki are chemicals.
• 17:53
  They're not, I mean, I can't even attribute them to corn or soybeans or
• 17:56
  anything that's far from California.
• 17:58
  And so I'd really like them to eat food that is grown and um, . I had
• 18:05
  a sixth grader, one that did not know that walnuts grew on trees.
• 18:09
  She thought walnuts were a, a thing that were made in a factory.
• 18:13
  She saw them in the store and she didn't know, and we live
• 18:16
  in a huge walnut growing area.
• 18:18
  So for her child to be in sixth grade and not know that weren't manmade was.
• 18:24
  A shock
• 18:25
  on your Instagram, you have a, was it called, is it called
• 18:28
  try it Tuesday or your Uh, yes.
• 18:30
  Yeah.
• 18:31
  So is that something you do in the classroom
• 18:32
  as well?
• 18:33
  Yes, I do that in the classroom and, um, I have other teachers
• 18:36
  at school doing that as well now.
• 18:38
  And then I have a, a teacher friend, um, who I'll do, I applied for a grant
• 18:43
  initially my first year teaching, and that's how I had to pay for it.
• 18:46
  But now I just pay for it myself.
• 18:47
  Or if, or if people say, oh, my grapefruit tree.
• 18:52
  Blooming.
• 18:53
  Would you like these?
• 18:54
  Yes.
• 18:54
  Then we try that.
• 18:55
  But we try to, we attempt to try things that are in season and also
• 18:58
  reasonably priced because I want the kids to be able to buy it.
• 19:01
  So if I'm trying something exotic like Dragon fruit, they always wanna try
• 19:06
  dragon fruit, which is really fun.
• 19:09
  Um, but.
• 19:11
  That's just an excursion or like a treat because families can't afford to buy.
• 19:15
  That's very expensive.
• 19:16
  But all the other things like kids lettuce, different types of
• 19:19
  lettuce, if they've only had one kind of lettuce, they don't know.
• 19:22
  It's very exciting.
• 19:23
  So they love try it Tuesday.
• 19:25
  So I have three teachers at my school doing it and a teacher, um, in
• 19:29
  another community doing it as well.
• 19:31
  Julie, speaking of.
• 19:33
  Accessibility of foods and knowing how, um, depressing it is when the
• 19:39
  food that's grown in your area is too expensive for the families in your area.
• 19:43
  What are ways that families can.
• 19:46
  Get better access to especially produce.
• 19:49
  I know myself learning more about the nutritional qualities, especially of
• 19:54
  frozen produce was really astounding because we get such a push that it
• 19:59
  has to be fresh, which makes it so spendy and you know, at least with
• 20:05
  kids like mine, my kids are four and five and we have a phenomen.
• 20:08
  That is referred to as sack of bananas.
• 20:10
  You know, where you, like your kids are obsessed with this one food.
• 20:14
  They will only eat this one food.
• 20:15
  You stock up on this one food and you're all like, what the hell?
• 20:19
  We're never eating that again.
• 20:21
  , you know?
• 20:21
  And so at least if it's frozen, you can kind of like save it until
• 20:26
  they forget that they hate that thing or sneak it in other places.
• 20:30
  So I'm wondering what, um, what your ideas are on.
• 20:37
  Making it more accessible for families to feed their mm-hmm.
• 20:42
  . So that's a great question because, um, where my school is, is not a food
• 20:46
  desert, but other lots of other towns in our county are food deserts, so
• 20:50
  that's where they don't have access.
• 20:52
  Even a grocery store, we have a very inexpensive grocery store near us, so
• 20:57
  that's not a huge problem at the moment.
• 21:01
  Um, but I do teach them.
• 21:06
  That, um, fresh, frozen, or canned are all, all going to have this
• 21:10
  high nutrient value because the food that is in frozen and canned came
• 21:15
  even faster from its source than the food that's in the grocery store.
• 21:21
  Um, we also have a cool garden, and though, I assist with that.
• 21:24
  I'm not the garden leader, but we really focus on, um, showing kids
• 21:29
  how to plant, how they can have that at home, let us even in a container.
• 21:33
  And then I also am into tricks, so I don't, I actually don't
• 21:37
  call them tricks, like I don't.
• 21:39
  I don't hide my vegetables.
• 21:40
  I call it value added.
• 21:42
  And so we like to do fun things like if we have a, um, pancake day, like peas
• 21:47
  and pancakes, so you can put frozen peas in the pancakes like for St.
• 21:52
  Patrick's Day.
• 21:53
  Super fun, right?
• 21:54
  Peas and pancakes and um, you could even put the whole frozen
• 21:59
  vegetable medley in pancakes.
• 22:01
  And that's another way to get kids to eat things that's
• 22:03
  fun and they don't notice it.
• 22:07
  I teach the kids a lot about spinach, cuz spinach is kind of a bland.
• 22:12
  Tasting thing that you can put in anything, you're in the Crock Pott.
• 22:15
  I'm a big, huge crockpot person, so I have a crockpot in my classroom and I
• 22:19
  try, I have sixth grade, so they're at the age where they can do things themselves.
• 22:23
  So I try to teach them things that they can make themselves like hummus.
• 22:28
  Those are from canned garbanzos, and that's a great afterschool snack,
• 22:32
  and once they make it themselves, then they're hooked on and it's a
• 22:35
  high protein dense protein snack, and it's very cheap to make.
• 22:41
  I will say my, uh, my big trick now with my kids, they
• 22:44
  won't normally drink smoothies.
• 22:47
  I think they're onto me that there's like weird vegetables in there or
• 22:50
  whatever, . But if I freeze them into popsicles and then I'm like, oh look,
• 22:55
  you could have a Popsicle for breakfast.
• 22:57
  They're right on it, you know?
• 22:59
  Yeah.
• 22:59
  And it might just be the healthiest thing in the world, but if it's a
• 23:02
  Popsicle and they can eat it for breakfast, they'll eat anything that.
• 23:07
  . Yeah.
• 23:07
  You know, and that's so, yeah.
• 23:09
  I mean, I, I also don't prefer to hide things from my kids because that's not
• 23:17
  a great way to teach them to eat it.
• 23:19
  Right.
• 23:19
  Um, but there's also times that you can just, you can throw spinach in pretty
• 23:25
  much anything without really changing it.
• 23:28
  Yeah.
• 23:30
  and we, um, I like to use, I like to tie a lot of fruits
• 23:34
  and vegetables to curriculum.
• 23:36
  And so, um, cause I can't, I love try it Tuesday, but my first principle is like
• 23:40
  everything had to be tied to standards and which it should, of course, , but, um, so
• 23:46
  I, I use a lot of like, how does it grow?
• 23:49
  Um, true food, TV, videos, and.
• 23:53
  Use a lot of a classroom material for sixth grade to reading and writing.
• 23:57
  But I also do things like, um, when we're doing division of fractions
• 24:01
  in math, they cut zucchini.
• 24:04
  Like I give them an equation and then they have to cut the
• 24:06
  zucchini according to that.
• 24:09
  And then when we're finished with all that, we put in a crock pott with
• 24:11
  some chicken broth and onions and other vegetables, and we make a soup.
• 24:15
  They love it.
• 24:16
  Like so they might not like squash before today.
• 24:19
  And then we try that and it's like the greatest thing ever.
• 24:22
  They go home and they tell their parents and that's a very inexpensive meal
• 24:26
  that they can make for themselves.
• 24:27
  That's a really great idea.
• 24:28
  Yeah.
• 24:29
  Using, using those manipulatives, which we know helps kids learn and
• 24:33
  retain information, but then not having those just be thrown out or.
• 24:38
  Or you take them home.
• 24:39
  Right.
• 24:40
  You know, like actually doing that in front of them is the, is the, the
• 24:43
  next step to really engaging them.
• 24:46
  Yeah.
• 24:46
  And eating it themselves in class or like, um, like sugar snap peas for ratios, you
• 24:51
  know, show me, demonstrate the ratios.
• 24:54
  And then averaging later, like they get, they're kind of playing with their food.
• 24:57
  Like, I don't like to say that.
• 24:58
  I don't want them throwing peas or anything like that, but Sure.
• 25:01
  Yeah.
• 25:01
  Just actually, um, you.
• 25:03
  Washed hands, of course, touching it, examining it, looking
• 25:07
  at it, and then eating it.
• 25:08
  It's like a whole new level of experience for them.
• 25:10
  And also lots of kids don't eat those and those are a very healthy snack
• 25:14
  that are affordable for families.
• 25:16
  Um, and again, we're back to more green in their diet.
• 25:20
  So.
• 25:20
  So
• 25:21
  you mentioned already in what you're growing about some of the programs
• 25:24
  you're working right now, but can you tell us a bit more detail on
• 25:27
  those, those programs and how.
• 25:30
  Changing the world
• 25:33
  , but I don't know that I'm, I'm trying.
• 25:34
  But, um, so let's see.
• 25:37
  Um, we have the try it Tuesday, which is great.
• 25:41
  We try new things, but we ha we do have to tie it to curriculum.
• 25:43
  So math and science for sure.
• 25:47
  A year ago in Iowa actually, um, I went to an ag in the classroom
• 25:53
  conference and um, this woman.
• 25:57
  Can your grow, can your kids grow chickens on Mars?
• 26:01
  My can.
• 26:02
  Mine can.
• 26:02
  And so I went to her, her thing and I was hooked.
• 26:05
  So last year we tried a project called Nuggets on Mars.
• 26:09
  And so University of North Carolina, I believe it was working with NASA
• 26:14
  to get, um, kids to think about.
• 26:17
  , like chicken nuggets are their favorite.
• 26:18
  And so how would they, if they have to live on Mars, how are
• 26:21
  they gonna get chicken nuggets?
• 26:22
  And so that's a whole big complicated process because they have to
• 26:27
  learn about, um, chicken poultry development and poultry processing,
• 26:31
  but they also have to be able to grow the food to feed the chickens.
• 26:35
  And so that was a year long.
• 26:36
  Um, project, there was not a lot of curriculum available, so it was a lot.
• 26:40
  We had to do a lot of investigating and designing ourselves, but we
• 26:44
  had an incubator, so we were doing some cell theory development.
• 26:49
  We had, we had to do two trials of that.
• 26:51
  Cause our first one we got no chickens.
• 26:53
  It was very sad.
• 26:55
  So we did it again.
• 26:55
  We had chickens.
• 26:57
  Um, we had, we grew different types of plants, and then we
• 26:59
  got to study like robotics.
• 27:00
  There's a, a lettuce company in Massachusetts that grows
• 27:04
  all their lettuce, hands free.
• 27:06
  And so it's just an idea of like trying to get things to think about
• 27:09
  agriculture, but in the future, to use the least amount of water, the least
• 27:13
  amount of, um, additives, et cetera.
• 27:16
  So that's a yearlong project.
• 27:18
  And then this summer, I found another one that also is tied to space, um, and
• 27:23
  that's called, um, growing Beyond Earth.
• 27:27
  And so that's where we actually, um, are we, I got a grant and through
• 27:32
  Mars Farms we have a growth chamber, and in the classroom we are growing.
• 27:38
  Uh, for basil and cilantro, that they're actually growing on the space station.
• 27:43
  And it's just amazing because we get to zoom with these NASA scientists.
• 27:48
  We were zooming with Kennedy Space Center Center, excuse me, during the hurricane.
• 27:54
  So here's this scientist with his iPhone, walking around NASA explaining
• 27:59
  all these great things to kids about plant science and how things grow.
• 28:05
  My kid, the vocabulary was beyond belief and they, they just ate it up.
• 28:10
  They wrote, their notes are pages long, so it's very exciting.
• 28:14
  And so, um, our whole sixth grade team is doing that.
• 28:16
  So we've written several grants and the, we're just now getting the money
• 28:19
  and so we're trying to make sure that we're covering all those things.
• 28:23
  Eggs, chickens, plants.
• 28:25
  Space station, all of it.
• 28:27
  I think
• 28:28
  it's so wonderful.
• 28:29
  I'm sure it's frustrating to not have curriculum just ready to go
• 28:33
  because it is that much more work.
• 28:35
  And we know that teachers are overworked and underpaid.
• 28:38
  Uh, seems to be a pretty universal thing, but how wonderful it is for your students
• 28:42
  to see a teachers who are engaged enough to make that happen for them, even when
• 28:47
  it does mean designing your own curriculum and also that your students are seeing.
• 28:52
  You don't have to have a fancy special education or a fancy special
• 28:56
  lab or whatever else to do science.
• 28:59
  That science is just something they can pursue and they can ask a question
• 29:04
  and figure out how to answer it and just to make that accessible for them.
• 29:10
  Because I know, especially in income schools where there's
• 29:14
  not a ton of money for fancy science things, you know, to, to.
• 29:22
  How they can make that still be a thing that they can pursue without
• 29:25
  those resources is wonderful.
• 29:28
  Yeah.
• 29:28
  And you know, , the one thing that the lockdown really enabled for us is Zoom.
• 29:34
  And so I use, I've brought farmers into the classroom before, but
• 29:38
  Zoom makes it even more accessible.
• 29:40
  So I know that you've had, um, Ginny Halterman on Almond
• 29:43
  Girl, Jenny, so she's amazing.
• 29:46
  Like social media is amazing.
• 29:47
  I connected with her, I don't even know how many years ago, and she's so helpful
• 29:52
  and so I started zooming with her.
• 29:54
  The kids, I mean, I, as I said, they grew up around these orchards,
• 29:57
  but they don't know anything.
• 30:00
  . It also helps me to reinforce like there's an actual person behind
• 30:03
  it, and they are scientists, right?
• 30:05
  They have a, they have a hypothesis every day.
• 30:07
  They grow out there.
• 30:08
  They're trying to discover what's gonna work best for their crop.
• 30:11
  They're dealing with the government in politics, the watering, all of it.
• 30:15
  Like a farmer is all those things.
• 30:18
  It's not some old white guy on a tractor.
• 30:20
  It's like all these people and all of these.
• 30:24
  and they can be that as well.
• 30:26
  I think that the, you know, like that's, that's the message, right?
• 30:30
  For, for kids and for lots of, lots of adults.
• 30:34
  in the world too.
• 30:35
  Yeah.
• 30:35
  Yeah.
• 30:36
  That, that farmer is not someone who's, who's just out there doing a simple job.
• 30:43
  You know that there's so much, so much behind the food that's being grown.
• 30:48
  And I mean, we all take things for, you know, for granted.
• 30:52
  I mean, I don't necessarily know how the power comes into my house or you
• 30:56
  know, all the elements of, you know, all the things that I, that I purchase.
• 31:00
  But food is one of those elemental things that we all need.
• 31:04
  to survive.
• 31:05
  So I think that there, you know, sometimes there is that lack of
• 31:08
  re respect for the people who are, who are growing the things that are
• 31:12
  actually keeping us all alive, right?
• 31:16
  Yes.
• 31:16
  And I think also like, Big Ag has gotten like a really bad name and
• 31:21
  I understand the history behind.
• 31:22
  I'm old enough to know all about the history, but I think that was then,
• 31:27
  and this is now, and farmers are really dialed into the most efficient
• 31:32
  use of water power, uh, drones.
• 31:36
  All of the things and making the most nutrient dense food possible.
• 31:41
  And it's really important to get their stories out too.
• 31:43
  Like it, it's just so complex.
• 31:45
  There's so many things available.
• 31:47
  I mean, I didn't even, you know, when I went to Maine, I didn't even
• 31:50
  know about aquaculture like, Fishing and, and lobster and all that.
• 31:53
  That's agriculture.
• 31:54
  I didn't even know that.
• 31:55
  Like, and I'm this old, how , how did I not know that?
• 31:59
  That's a thing.
• 32:00
  Yeah.
• 32:00
  We just interviewed a fish farmer the other day actually, and we were full
• 32:04
  of questions because same, right.
• 32:06
  You, you don't know what it takes to, to grow these things and, and when there's
• 32:11
  only 2% of the population growing all the.
• 32:14
  We, you know, we have to be efficient.
• 32:17
  You know, like farmers, farmers have to, and we have to use the
• 32:21
  resources that we have in hand.
• 32:23
  We have to, you know, value the water and, and preserve it and, and make
• 32:28
  sure that the land is productive.
• 32:30
  I mean, who more than the people who are growing the food know that that soil is,
• 32:35
  you know, an incredibly important or maybe the most important element in terms of,
• 32:39
  of growing the food that we're eating.
• 32:42
  It.
• 32:42
  Yeah.
• 32:42
  That, that impression of agriculture as an industry that doesn't care is, is
• 32:49
  definitely outdated or, you know, misled.
• 32:53
  Yes.
• 32:54
  And then, and also even like simple things kids don't know
• 32:56
  about, um, beneficial bugs.
• 32:59
  So it's really great when you're talking to someone and they say, oh, well, um,
• 33:02
  we introduced these, these insects to counteract those other insects rather than
• 33:07
  they didn't just come out there and spray a bunch of unnecessary chemicals, they.
• 33:11
  They had beneficial bugs.
• 33:12
  And like our garden teacher, she teaches the kids that, like our
• 33:15
  kids that are in garden club, they understand, oh, that's a good bug.
• 33:19
  That's a bad bug.
• 33:21
  What do we need those for?
• 33:23
  So what do you find most excites and engages your students
• 33:26
  when it comes to ag education?
• 33:29
  I think the most exciting thing is just anything that has to do with
• 33:32
  them creating it or building it.
• 33:35
  I mean, tasting is important.
• 33:36
  That's so fun.
• 33:37
  They, they love try it Tuesday.
• 33:39
  I mean, they ask me ahead.
• 33:40
  I try to keep it a surprise, but if we are, when we are planting, they're
• 33:44
  touching soil, they're putting the seeds in, or when it grows, they're
• 33:46
  so excited the next day that if it's.
• 33:48
  Sprouted like our, um, NASA project.
• 33:51
  They're sprouting really fast.
• 33:52
  I'm not sure what is in the, the growing medium, but that's exciting to them.
• 33:57
  They wanna see change, they want it.
• 33:59
  If they can build it, then they're all for it.
• 34:03
  Um, they also really do enjoy zooming with actual people and.
• 34:10
  One year I zoomed with, um, Nicole Jolly from True Food TV because
• 34:15
  I use a lot of her videos and I, I edit them with Ed Puzzle, which
• 34:19
  is a, a, a video, a team program.
• 34:20
  So I can put in math comprehension questions, et cetera.
• 34:24
  But they zoomed with her and they had, they had their questions ahead
• 34:27
  of time, and the takeaway was, oh my gosh, a YouTuber talked to me.
• 34:33
  I mean, you just don't know is sixth grade what is gonna be like the thing that is
• 34:37
  so exciting for them, but the real people connection definitely up there in the top.
• 34:41
  So do you have any sort of, um, things that are consistently surprising to your
• 34:47
  students or consistently misunderstood?
• 34:52
  and what funny things have happened because, I mean, sixth
• 34:54
  graders are a trip anyway.
• 34:57
  Um, I know I
• 34:58
  tr saw the question ahead of time.
• 35:00
  I thought funny.
• 35:00
  I don't know.
• 35:01
  They're, they're goofy all the time.
• 35:03
  Um, I don't have any like hilarious.
• 35:06
  Anecdotes to share.
• 35:07
  I just have like surprising things like the girl who thought walnuts were manmade.
• 35:12
  I had a cotton farmer come to class once and that was pretty cool cuz
• 35:16
  cotton used to be huge in California, but it's a very thirsty plant.
• 35:19
  It's not, we don't grow it that much.
• 35:22
  Um, but he came in, showed the kids all about that, and in that process he said,
• 35:26
  oh, I also grow peaches for Del Monte.
• 35:29
  Well, Del Monte's a huge canor and huge thing in the area.
• 35:34
  We ended up doing a lesson, a math lesson on, uh, like a would
• 35:38
  you rather on canned peaches, the different sizes or a fresh peach and
• 35:43
  we're free and reduced lunch school.
• 35:45
  And I had a 12 year old girl that they, they put canned peaches on
• 35:49
  lunch tray for a hundred years.
• 35:52
  She said, oh, that's what that is.
• 35:54
  I never, I don't eat that thing.
• 35:56
  And she loved the peaches.
• 35:58
  She ate fresh peaches, camp peaches.
• 35:59
  She wanted the dice peaches.
• 36:01
  So I never ate that thing.
• 36:02
  It slid off my.
• 36:04
  And you know, that was like, oh my goodness, slid off your plate.
• 36:07
  Like that's what it looks like.
• 36:08
  It looks like this big orange foreign object to her.
• 36:11
  It didn't look he or tasty and she couldn't get enough peaches after that.
• 36:15
  So, um, I think just anything real world.
• 36:19
  With kids is is vital.
• 36:21
  Like you just have to try it, try it, show it to them.
• 36:25
  Um, the dairy, like they don't have a concept about cheese, how cheese
• 36:29
  is made, or yogurt or any of the extra or the byproducts of cows.
• 36:34
  All the things sort of almost in um, holistic Native American approach.
• 36:40
  Like, no, nothing is wasted.
• 36:41
  Farmers waste, nothing.
• 36:43
  There's nothing that's.
• 36:45
  Thrown away.
• 36:45
  They used the whole cow, the whole almond tree, the whole everything.
• 36:49
  So that's also always a big shock.
• 36:51
  They didn't, they don't know truly.
• 36:53
  You've been
• 36:53
  a teacher for a few years, Anne had to teach during the pandemic.
• 36:57
  So you already mentioned the, you know, some of the positive aspects
• 37:00
  of Zoom, but what are some of the ways that teaching you feel has
• 37:03
  changed even in a short span of time?
• 37:05
  In both in the positive ways and in ways that are more challenging?
• 37:10
  I think in the positive ways.
• 37:13
  Technology certainly is helpful.
• 37:15
  As I mentioned a couple of things, like there's tools that are just so great
• 37:19
  because there is no one size fits all curriculum, so it's not really out
• 37:24
  of the question that we would have to create things to teach kids because
• 37:29
  some, I mean, by the time it's published, it's outdated, you know, in terms of.
• 37:36
  Technology and growing things.
• 37:37
  So I do love the tech aspect, but I think it's taking us a couple years to
• 37:44
  bring back social skills and patience.
• 37:48
  Um, they just wanna swipe left on everything, and like I'm in
• 37:52
  the middle front of the room and they cannot swipe left.
• 37:54
  I'm still here.
• 37:55
  They cannot mute me.
• 37:56
  They cannot swipe left.
• 37:57
  Like it's hard to keep their attention.
• 38:01
  And sometimes I don't want to, like, they have to sit on it.
• 38:04
  They have to think, they have to perseverate over a question.
• 38:08
  They can't just like swipe left.
• 38:10
  Oh, we're done with her TikTok.
• 38:11
  You know, TikTok is fun and it's great, but we can't do
• 38:15
  everything in 10 seconds or less.
• 38:18
  Like we have to think about it.
• 38:19
  We have to.
• 38:21
  Actually try the science.
• 38:23
  Like it was really great that our egg project failed because we had to learn
• 38:26
  from that and the kids had to examine like, what did we touch the eggs too much?
• 38:30
  Was the temperature not right?
• 38:31
  Like we had collected all the data and all three classes did not work.
• 38:36
  So obviously it was the eggs.
• 38:37
  We hope it not us, but um, you know, it took more than 10 seconds to.
• 38:44
  So I think that's the biggest thing that we need.
• 38:47
  I need to remind myself of that sometimes too.
• 38:49
  I feel like my own, I, I, I legitimately do feel, you know, like I have less
• 38:56
  patience or maybe capacity or I don't know, you know, there, there are so many
• 39:00
  things to distract me and maybe that's part of being a parent and business owner
• 39:04
  and, you know, doing lots of things too.
• 39:05
  But, but yeah, but finding the time and, and forcing myself to focus.
• 39:11
  One thing at a time is, is a, is a challenge for me too.
• 39:14
  So I'm sure that for grade Sixers that it's a similar situation.
• 39:20
  I've noticed Arlene too, I don't know if I told you, but I've been, um, I work from
• 39:24
  home, Julie, so I listen to a lot of like self-improvement books while I'm working
• 39:29
  because I'm not really listening to them.
• 39:32
  And all of them start with people who've done amazing things and then
• 39:37
  I realize that all of them are.
• 39:40
  and it never mentions their households or their children or their families
• 39:45
  or anything beyond their work.
• 39:48
  And it occurred to me that they're never talking about women with kids because
• 39:53
  we're too busy doing everything else.
• 39:57
  Or men who are actively engaged in taking care of their kids because it's
• 40:02
  not just women who raise children, but men who are free to do their.
• 40:09
  Get a lot more accomplished, a lot faster, and they get talked about a lot more, so.
• 40:13
  That's true.
• 40:14
  Yes.
• 40:15
  Yeah, it's, that's a sticky wicket, but definitely because,
• 40:21
  you know, women are, um, I believe anyway, are multitaskers, right?
• 40:25
  Because they are the ones who have.
• 40:27
  Had the children or adopted the children, and they have to do
• 40:30
  all the things all the time.
• 40:31
  So I think teachers, n not all teachers, but female teachers are sort of like moms.
• 40:36
  I mean, we're like surrogate moms or whatever.
• 40:38
  Foster moms all day long.
• 40:40
  Right.
• 40:40
  And we have 29 children.
• 40:42
  And I mean, I'm here at science camp and it's a, it's, it's not a vacation
• 40:49
  . So yes, I.
• 40:50
  Julie's taking time out of her, her, uh, science camp experience to talk to us.
• 40:54
  So we definitely appreciate
• 40:56
  her time.
• 40:56
  Yeah, no problem.
• 40:57
  They're just like, I saw, um, I think it's a meme.
• 41:00
  I saw one and it said like, teaching is, I mean, have you ever tried to
• 41:05
  serve, you know, 29 students, very specific meals, all plated beautifully,
• 41:11
  arriving at the table at the same time while someone who hasn't served a meal
• 41:16
  before is telling you how to do it.
• 41:20
  And that's about right.
• 41:21
  And
• 41:21
  then write it down.
• 41:22
  Write down a report of it afterwards.
• 41:25
  . Yeah.
• 41:26
  Yeah.
• 41:26
  I feel so bad.
• 41:27
  Our, our daughter is starting kindergarten this year and I went in
• 41:31
  to meet the teacher and I said, you know, we're very engaged parents,
• 41:33
  and she kind of got this look.
• 41:34
  And I said, oh, no, no, no, no.
• 41:37
  I will not tell you how to do your job.
• 41:39
  I mean, like, if you need crayons donated, you need a field trip person.
• 41:45
  , I'm on it.
• 41:46
  Yeah, you go.
• 41:46
  I said you have the state and the federal government.
• 41:49
  You have enough people telling you how to do your job.
• 41:52
  Yeah, I am not.
• 41:53
  And she was concerned about, you know, what our academic
• 41:56
  goals were for this year.
• 41:58
  It's like she's five, like Right.
• 42:00
  Maybe if she can write her name and.
• 42:03
  Not hit people and not peer pants.
• 42:06
  Like I'm gonna call that a success . Right?
• 42:09
  That's a win for the day.
• 42:10
  It's just, you know, we put so much on teachers, like you guys are magically
• 42:16
  going to raise our children for us.
• 42:19
  Ugh.
• 42:19
  Anyway.
• 42:21
  Um, if other teachers are homeschooling parents or non homeschooling
• 42:25
  parents who just want to teach their kids shit, cuz it's cool.
• 42:30
  Want to start using more agriculture and food as part of their curriculums?
• 42:34
  What resources do you recommend?
• 42:38
  Okay, so I definitely recommend in, well, in my state California Ag in the
• 42:42
  classroom, so that's learn about ag.org.
• 42:47
  because it has tons of free resources.
• 42:49
  They are for teachers, but also they really do have a lot more components
• 42:52
  Now for the homeschool parents, cuz that's a trend, um, they have free
• 42:57
  stuff on teachers, pay teachers.
• 42:59
  So if homeschoolers are doing that, you can find a lot of resources
• 43:02
  from learn about Ag there.
• 43:03
  But you can just go to learn about egg.org for free.
• 43:06
  I like True Food tv.
• 43:09
  It's a YouTube channel, but there are, how does it grow videos.
• 43:13
  Most of them are perfectly fine.
• 43:16
  There's one that's about figs and it has like a little, um, sexual innuendo
• 43:20
  joke, which is fine for adults, but I cannot show it in sixth grade
• 43:24
  And I told her that like, sorry, gonna skip that one.
• 43:27
  Not learning about figs.
• 43:28
  But all of the rest are really great.
• 43:30
  They're really solid knowledge.
• 43:31
  So I recommend that.
• 43:33
  And, um, I do use social media, like I follow farmers.
• 43:38
  I follow you, I follow people on.
• 43:40
  Instagram and Twitter, because Twitter is very big with educators.
• 43:45
  Lots of free education goes on there.
• 43:48
  And so, um, definitely homeschool parents and other teachers
• 43:51
  can learn a lot for free.
• 43:52
  Like, it's hard to be a teacher.
• 43:54
  I don't wanna have to pay for everything.
• 43:56
  So it's really nice when we can all share our ideas, uh, and be them.
• 44:00
  But farmers are great and they answer your questions.
• 44:03
  I mean, that's the best thing if.
• 44:05
  and Cooperative Extension, if you have that, like they will answer you
• 44:08
  if you, if you message them and say, Hey, I don't know about this or that.
• 44:12
  And if you say you're a teacher, even homeschool moms should do that.
• 44:16
  I think, hi, I'm a teacher.
• 44:18
  People are always willing to help you.
• 44:20
  Right?
• 44:20
  And they say, sure, of course.
• 44:22
  I'll, I'll answer that.
• 44:23
  I'll zoom with you.
• 44:24
  Because people like kids and kids ask a lot of crazy questions, and so they're.
• 44:29
  Teacher, uh, adults like that.
• 44:31
  So, yeah.
• 44:32
  I find a lot of, a lot of the farmers who are on social media
• 44:35
  are there, in part because they want to share what they're doing.
• 44:38
  Right.
• 44:38
  You know, they, yes, they want, they want people to know what's going on, and,
• 44:41
  and they're happy to answer questions.
• 44:43
  So, for sure.
• 44:44
  I mean, we, I know Katie and I have found the same thing.
• 44:47
  You know, you and so many of the people that we interview, you know,
• 44:51
  we connect through social media and.
• 44:54
  Lots of ti you know, most of the time we get a yes.
• 44:56
  If we ask someone for an interview, they, you know, don't even, lots of
• 45:00
  the people have never listened to the podcast or, or know who we are, but
• 45:03
  they're like, yeah, sure, you wanna talk?
• 45:05
  We can talk.
• 45:05
  So, yeah, it's, it's amazing the people that you can meet if
• 45:08
  you just ask the questions and.
• 45:11
  Put yourself
• 45:12
  out there.
• 45:12
  I forgot a major one.
• 45:15
  . Yes, go ahead.
• 45:15
  Um, so the produce moms.com, which is a business obviously, but I
• 45:21
  connected with her, um, the owner Lori Taylor, very early when I was
• 45:26
  at Cooperative Extension because she.
• 45:29
  Uh, worked for produce companies and then was considered like a mommy blogger.
• 45:33
  That's how long ago that was.
• 45:35
  Now she has this full-fledged, um, business and her, her whole
• 45:39
  thing is to get people to eat more fruits and vegetables.
• 45:41
  So she has a lot of free resources for any person.
• 45:45
  Doesn't have to be a teacher.
• 45:47
  Um, so I've worked with her for.
• 45:50
  Nine or 10 years now.
• 45:52
  Um, so I should have mentioned her at the beginning, but that's also a great
• 45:55
  resource cuz they have a produce challenge calendar so kids can look at a wheel and
• 46:00
  decide like, oh it's gonna be Tuesday.
• 46:02
  Can we have blueberries?
• 46:04
  And blueberries are nice cuz you can get those frozen.
• 46:07
  You don't have to have fresh, um, kids love blueberries.
• 46:11
  Mm-hmm.
• 46:11
  to put them in.
• 46:14
  all kinds of places.
• 46:15
  Yeah.
• 46:16
  So often we ask our guests what their, some of, what some
• 46:19
  of their future goals are.
• 46:21
  So we were wondering about your future goals, and that can either be with
• 46:24
  regards to teaching or education or your personal goals, whatever.
• 46:28
  Whatever you want to talk about.
• 46:30
  Well, That's, I would like to survive science camp.
• 46:34
  Uh, no.
• 46:35
  I, short term goals are good too.
• 46:38
  ? Yeah.
• 46:38
  Yeah.
• 46:39
  Um, I would really like to make sure that my whole sixth grade team, uh,
• 46:44
  gets to connect with NASA because, Initially it was only my only, my
• 46:49
  class is very expensive, so we had to write a lot of grants and I just really
• 46:52
  wanna make sure that we're equitable to all of the kids at my school.
• 46:56
  Like that's really a big thing.
• 46:57
  I don't want it to be like, only my class gets to do this or that.
• 47:02
  Like we work, there's three of us and we work really hard to make sure
• 47:06
  that the kids all have opportunities.
• 47:07
  So I just really, that's my goal is to make sure that happens this year so that
• 47:12
  they all are part of something really.
• 47:15
  That's great.
• 47:16
  And it's good to have that awareness too, of, you know, if, especially if
• 47:21
  it's something the kids are excited about, that there doesn't become that,
• 47:24
  you know, oh, well you get to be in Mrs.
• 47:27
  Case's class and I don't . Yeah, no, yeah.
• 47:30
  I mean, of course, of course you want the kids to want to be in
• 47:32
  your class, but at least if yeah, you're offering the, the same, same
• 47:37
  opportunities, then that makes it, yeah.
• 47:39
  More fair for
• 47:40
  everybody.
• 47:41
  Well, and I think it's such an opportunity because I listen to a lot
• 47:45
  of podcasts, um, you know, science related podcasts, and they're always
• 47:49
  interviewing folks who are like, oh no, I didn't really like science and math.
• 47:53
  And then, you know, I did this one thing in school and now I'm an engineer at nasa.
• 47:57
  You know, and it's always some, like, some random thing and they're
• 48:00
  like, oh yeah, now I'm an aerospace engineer, you know, or whatever.
• 48:03
  And I'm just like, you never want to be the one.
• 48:06
  Cheats a kid out of that thing that could have sent them onto this tremendous career
• 48:11
  as an astronaut or whatever, you know?
• 48:13
  Exactly.
• 48:14
  Or maybe non astronaut.
• 48:15
  Maybe they're just a water tech down the street.
• 48:18
  I mean, that's still valuable and viable.
• 48:22
  Yep, absolutely.
• 48:23
  Maybe they're the, uh, robot fixer.
• 48:26
  For a dairy.
• 48:27
  Exactly.
• 48:28
  Or they all want, or they all wanna be farmers and that would be awesome
• 48:30
  too.
• 48:31
  Well, the cows, like in where we live, there's a big, um, processor called
• 48:36
  California Dairies and it just so happens that like milk, we're a number one dairy,
• 48:42
  um, county in our state and like, I don't know what, five in the US or something.
• 48:47
  And, um, milk, that is milk today in three weeks from now
• 48:51
  could be in dehydrated farm in.
• 48:53
  And so that's really significant for our kids to understand.
• 48:56
  Like your dad's a milker.
• 48:57
  That's huge.
• 48:58
  Little baby in China might be getting quality milk because
• 49:01
  your dad did his job today.
• 49:03
  And even just if you look in our fridge, uh, we definitely appreciate
• 49:08
  our, our area dairy farmers and many non-a dairy farmers as well, I'm sure.
• 49:12
  So, yeah, it's, you know, for folks who wanna say that so-and-so is just
• 49:17
  a farmer, like, cool, go clear out your fridge and then we'll talk.
• 49:20
  Great.
• 49:21
  So we ask all of our guests, if you were going to dominate a category at
• 49:25
  the county fair, what would it be?
• 49:26
  And the categories can be real or made up to ensure that you.
• 49:31
  I think I would dominate zucchini bread.
• 49:36
  I would enter my zucchini bread and I think that would win.
• 49:39
  And that Was this a recipe with chocolate chips or without
• 49:43
  no chocolate chips.
• 49:44
  Okay.
• 49:45
  Although I put chocolate chips in the pumpkin bread, but I have
• 49:47
  this zucchini bread recipe that I got from my mother-in-law, but I.
• 49:53
  Accidentally messed it up and it tastes better.
• 49:56
  don't tell her.
• 49:56
  Cuz some unintentional tweaking.
• 49:58
  Yes.
• 49:58
  That, that's just the secret ingredient.
• 50:00
  We'll just call it that.
• 50:01
  Exactly.
• 50:02
  So if you add walnuts or raisins or anything.
• 50:05
  No.
• 50:05
  Um, I don't add nuts.
• 50:07
  I'm highly allergic to grapes, which is hard in this area.
• 50:10
  So no grapes or raisins.
• 50:12
  And then I have a lot of family members who cannot have nuts and like in my
• 50:15
  classroom is a nu free classroom.
• 50:16
  I have a kid.
• 50:17
  Mm-hmm.
• 50:17
  super allergic.
• 50:18
  So I don't put nuts in.
• 50:21
  Anything that I make, but almonds I do.
• 50:23
  I can eat almonds, so I put almonds in things, but not mond.
• 50:27
  Allergies make things so tricky.
• 50:29
  Don't,
• 50:29
  it's tricky, right?
• 50:30
  Yeah.
• 50:31
  And pistachios, I love pistachios and I can't eat those, so I, those are
• 50:35
  the two nuts or seeds that I can have.
• 50:38
  Sure.
• 50:40
  So I guess we'll go ahead and move into our cussing and discussing segment.
• 50:43
  We've registered for an online platform called SpeakPipe, where you can leave
• 50:46
  your cussing and discussing entries.
• 50:48
  And we'll play them on the show.
• 50:50
  So if you go to speakpipe.com/barnyard language and leave us a voice memo
• 50:54
  you, we will listen and play them.
• 50:56
  Or you can always send us an email@barnyardlanguagegmail.com
• 50:59
  and we'll read it out for you.
• 51:01
  Katie, what are you casting and discussing this week?
• 51:04
  I
• 51:04
  have no idea.
• 51:05
  Arlene Uhoh,
• 51:07
  make it a food-based one.
• 51:10
  Well,
• 51:10
  you're happy
• 51:11
  this week then.
• 51:11
  This has never happened.
• 51:13
  Life is
• 51:13
  perfect.
• 51:15
  Well, I mean, I've never run out of things to talk about ever.
• 51:19
  This is horrible.
• 51:21
  Um, I'm gonna cuss and discuss being put on this spot and being demanded
• 51:26
  somebody come up with something to cuss and discuss when I, for some unknown
• 51:29
  reason, don't have anything to talk about.
• 51:32
  You've
• 51:33
  made up this segment, Katie.
• 51:34
  It's not a
• 51:35
  surprise that it's coming.
• 51:36
  I know.
• 51:36
  Oh.
• 51:39
  Now here I have one.
• 51:40
  So social medias, I'll make reels, make videos, videos, videos, videos fine.
• 51:46
  So I try to make a video the other night, Arlene.
• 51:49
  Um, My entire family has something called familial essential tremor, which
• 51:55
  is when your hands shake and it gets worse the older you get and it gets
• 51:58
  worse, the more stressed out you get.
• 52:01
  Um, I'm gonna have to buy a tripod of some sort.
• 52:04
  If anybody thinks that I'm making any more reels that, oh, really, I'm
• 52:07
  gonna look like there's an earthquake happening while I'm doing it.
• 52:11
  Because trying to hold my phone in my non-dominant hand and then do
• 52:14
  something with my dominant hand, um, made my assumption tremor flare.
• 52:19
  Awful bad.
• 52:20
  It was.
• 52:20
  Oh, it did not.
• 52:21
  No, that was a thing.
• 52:22
  Yep.
• 52:23
  Um, Thanksgiving dinner at our family is hilarious because watching
• 52:27
  us like pass gravy boats, it's
• 52:30
  bad news.
• 52:30
  So you only fill everything half full.
• 52:32
  Yeah.
• 52:33
  I'm just gonna start getting Tommy tippy cups for everything.
• 52:37
  . You gotta laugh about it cuz it would be really depressing otherwise.
• 52:40
  So, um,
• 52:41
  you could just say it's a Blair Witch project.
• 52:44
  That's how their film is.
• 52:46
  . Yeah, it it, yeah.
• 52:48
  Uh, we call it what?
• 52:49
  Cinema Verte.
• 52:51
  That's what our reels are now.
• 52:53
  Um, Julie, what do you have cu to cuss and discuss?
• 52:57
  Well, I
• 52:57
  can't be cussing cuz I'm a teacher.
• 52:59
  I gotta be really careful of that cuz I will sound like a tractor mouth.
• 53:03
  But, um, I don't, let's see, I don't know.
• 53:09
  I don't have anything that's, Pers I'm at the moment.
• 53:14
  Is science
• 53:14
  camp a sleepover situation?
• 53:16
  I'm curious.
• 53:17
  Yes.
• 53:17
  Okay.
• 53:18
  Cuz I supervised one time a sleepover camp for middle schoolers
• 53:22
  and that was uh, an experience.
• 53:24
  So are you getting any sleep at science camp?
• 53:26
  That's what we can discuss.
• 53:27
  Not a lot.
• 53:27
  I do have my own cabin, which is really a perk cuz we're, we're separated.
• 53:32
  Um, I'm separated from my other two just.
• 53:35
  , the way the population runs, and so it's the only perk, but it's a lot of extra
• 53:39
  walking, so I'm getting older, faster, and like my feet are, so if the golf cart
• 53:44
  person's coming by, I snag a free ride.
• 53:47
  Like, yeah.
• 53:47
  Yeah.
• 53:48
  I, I never used to be one of those teachers, but now I am
• 53:54
  , so I'm guessing things are probably spread out too.
• 53:58
  You're getting older, but the sixth graders are staying
• 54:00
  the same age, aren't they?
• 54:02
  Oh yeah.
• 54:02
  They're really, because every year they're still sixth graders.
• 54:04
  Exactly.
• 54:05
  And they, and you know, they're so tired.
• 54:07
  They're hilarious cuz they're so tired.
• 54:08
  Oh, Mrs.
• 54:09
  Kate, I'm so tired until I get outta soccer ball.
• 54:12
  Then you'd never seen so much energy in your life.
• 54:14
  Right.
• 54:15
  So I say, okay, you guys are good to go then.
• 54:18
  And curfew probably at Science Camp . Yes.
• 54:20
  Time to go back to your cabins.
• 54:21
  No.
• 54:24
  Arlene, what do you have to discuss
• 54:25
  and discuss today?
• 54:26
  So our conversation today reminded me of one, and it's that this
• 54:30
  is more of a discussing, I guess, that I am in a food rut.
• 54:34
  I'm the cook for the family, and I just feel completely uninspired these days
• 54:41
  and go to the grocery store and end up buying the same stuff over and over again.
• 54:44
  And it's partly that.
• 54:47
  I know I need to bring in more things and get them to try stuff.
• 54:50
  But then you also get into that phase of like, I know everyone will eat this.
• 54:54
  Yes ma'am.
• 54:55
  And tonight I don't have the bandwidth to listen to, not some, you know,
• 55:00
  I've got an, I've got four kids, so their range from seven to 16.
• 55:05
  Uh, Julie, so.
• 55:06
  I mean, they're not all gonna complain, but then you know
• 55:08
  that people don't care for it.
• 55:10
  Even if they say it politely, then it's like, okay, then they get
• 55:13
  up and you know, maybe grab an alternate because that's an option.
• 55:16
  Or they're like, oh, you know, it was okay.
• 55:19
  Or I don't wanna finish it.
• 55:20
  You know, just get into that stage where some nights you're like, I just wanna make
• 55:23
  something and know everyone's gonna eat.
• 55:24
  And then that just turns into the cycle of making the same thing over and over.
• 55:28
  So, yeah, I know I am bored with my cooking.
• 55:31
  I don't know if no one else has mentioned it, but I'm definitely bored.
• 55:34
  They
• 55:34
  don't mention it cuz then they'd have to.
• 55:36
  Yeah.
• 55:37
  Yeah, that's true.
• 55:39
  . So thank you so much, Julie, for joining us today and it was great
• 55:43
  to, no, thank you for having me.
• 55:44
  If people would like to follow you on social media and learn more about you,
• 55:48
  what you're doing at your school and with your kids, where can they find you?
• 55:52
  Um, so
• 55:52
  thank you so much again.
• 55:53
  I appreciate it.
• 55:54
  And, um, I'm on Instagram at Teacher Kate's, that's my last name, c a t e s.
• 56:00
  So teacher Kate's on Instagram and on Twitter.
• 56:04
  I'm.
• 56:06
  Kate's underscore Julie.
• 56:09
  So see, and that's it.
• 56:11
  I don't do Facebook and I am trying not to make reels or TikTok.
• 56:16
  I dunno, , I dunno about that either.
• 56:20
  But I am on Instagram and Twitter end.
• 56:22
  Um, it's hard to keep on top of all the things.
• 56:25
  Instagram is
• 56:26
  great.
• 56:27
  Yeah, Instagram's nice and easy.
• 56:28
  Slow for, so for us, uh, middle-aged or young old, I'm not
• 56:33
  sure what category I'm in yet.
• 56:34
  I don't.
• 56:35
  If I don't wanna confess that one, but
• 56:39
  that's fair.
• 56:40
  Thank you very much for joining us.
• 56:42
  Yeah, thank you.
• 56:42
  Thanks on Julie.
• 56:43
  Yes.
• 56:44
  Thank you so much and I hope you have a great day.
• 56:47
  Thanks, you too.
• 56:47
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• 56:50
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• 56:54
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• 57:01
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• 57:21
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• 57:23
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• 57:26
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