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