The Post Podcast

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares updates from the housing development at 22nd and Wheatland.

On this episode of Forward Ever: Leading in Challenging Times host Gary Shorman speaks with southwest Kansas veterinarian Tera Barnhardt

The Hays Chamber's Educators Appreciation dinner may be months away, but the planning has already begun. Hays Chamber President and CEO Sarah Wasinger shares the details on this episode of the Post Podcast.

On this episode of the Post Podcast Cottonwood Extension District agent, Stacy Campbell shares information about the upcoming Ellis County Fair.   Transcript: EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.   James Bell  As the wheat harvest kicks into full gear throughout the area, Ellis County Fair preparations are also underway. Stacy Campbell from the Cottonwood Extension District stops by to share the all the details on this episode of the Post Podcast.   Stacy Campbell  Well, of course, fair is just right around the corner. In July, like about the week of I think the 16th through the 20th is the main part of the fair. And so we invite the public to come on out all kinds of all kinds of advanced, you know, it's on the Midway, there's bands each evening, the beer garden, there's gonna they're gonna have the mechanical bull out there, James, you ought to come out and give that a whirl.   James Bell  I love riding a mechanical bull. Yeah, my favorite things truly true. I do. Yeah, if there's one around, you'll see,   Stacy Campbell  they've got one out there again this year. So you need to come out and check that out. So anyway, yes, please come out to the fair and kind of mentioning that the Market Week show, we always have that for farmers. And right now no harvest is going on. So if you've got some really good wheat, just put up, put some of it off to the side and a bucket, you can fill a ziplock bag later, bring it into the office or take it to the elevator, and we'll get that entered into the fair. And there's there's cash in there. There's there's prizes and cash for that. So we encourage farmers to enter though, wheat into the open class wheat show. And then also kind of one of the combinations of the county fair is when the kids at their pre at the premium sale sell their animals and the champion baked goods. And that'll be on that Saturday, I believe it is the 23rd of July. And we invite the public to come out to that there's, there's a lunch or excuse me a supper before at five o'clock, and then the sale starts at six o'clock. And James one of the neat things about that is if people just want to add some money on to a kid, I mean, they don't have to buy the animal or the baked good, but if it's the neighbor kid or, or you know, somebody that they know, in what to support them, they can just add some money on simply just go up to the clerk at the sale and say you would like to put $100 on to you know, John Doe steer or something like that. So you don't have to necessarily buy an animal. And then even if you do come out in one is really support the kids embed on an animal there again, you don't have to buy it, it's a premium sale. So you can literally, you know, be the winning bidder on on a on a pig. And then you do not have to keep the animal, the kid, we have one, two options. And then one of the options is you just give a premium price for the animal. And then the animal is the responsibility of the kids, they can take it back home, take it to the to the butcher or whatever. And then the other thing is most of these kids have gotten butcher dates set up for animals. So if you do want some meat to put in the freezer and you buy one, they probably have a butcher date set up for that animal and can get it to a locker and get it processed the way you want it. So   James Bell  very cool. That's what I was curious about. Because you know, if I wouldn't went out there, I wouldn't have any place to put an animal but some steak I could find some room for Yeah,   Stacy Campbell  right. Right. So yeah, in. And the other thing I mean, if you buy an animal and a lot of people know this, they probably come out and do it. But you don't, you know, you can always half it or quarter it, you know, quarter of a beef with with several other people and stuff like that. So lots of different ways to slice it and dice if you will. So yeah, come on out support the kids at the fair at the sale on July 23 At six o'clock. And just yeah, we invite the public to come on out to a lot a lot of different events. You know, there's a rodeo and, and I didn't bring a schedule many other things. And there should be brochures and posters around town and stuff.   James Bell  So yeah, I've seen those around town already. Are they going to get the wheat in before the fair survey and go out and enjoy?   Stacy Campbell  Oh, yeah, cuz wheat harvest is going on now. You know, we've had plenty of hot windy days. So that really drives the wheat down. So it's been it's been going, you know, kind of cloudy, humid days like this. You know, they may not get much cut today until the sun comes out and the wind starts blowing but the wheat harvest is going on. And yeah, I'm sure they'll probably, you know, unless it happens to start raining quite a bit, they'll probably be done here and another 10 days, two weeks, you know, at the most mentioning harvest just kind of wanted to mention to people here and in town that maybe you're going out to the country. Just keep in mind the columbines the grain carts just gotten bigger and bigger and those farmers literally can't see behind them if somebody is behind them, especially when they have to slow down and they've got to turn at an intersection or whatever. So please be very careful. You know, you're driving 50 6070 miles an hour they're doing 24 miles an hour. You can get up on them really quick and then they can't see you so just just be cautious about that. And I guess also talking about wheat harvest after the wheat harvest, you know, for farmers. As a lot of them know it's getting tougher to control some of these tougher to control weeds so I wouldn't wait too terribly long before you decide to spray your wheat stubble once the once you see some weeds, especially if it's Kosha fireweed or pig we'd probably get them sprayed when they're when they're small, it's going to be easier to kill them. And then another thing is just with these high high input prices, fertilizer this boy this is the year to definitely be taking soil samples. So in August or September before you plant your weak crop, you know I would advise taking a soil sample to see just how much fertilizer you actually need instead of guessing you know,   James Bell  and then dilute dial it in because you might be spending money you don't need to   Stacy Campbell  exactly exactly and it the price of sending off the soul samples and getting them is very inexpensive, it's a it's a great return on your time and investment. You know, I've taken those soil samples, you do need to take them properly we've talked about that, you know in a field it's recommended and there's been research to validate that that you need to take about 15 cores you know whether it be a 10 acre 40 acre 80 acre field, tin, tin city and 15 cores and mix those into a clean bucket and then put about a pint into a bag and then take it to the coop they can send it off to us soils lab where you can bring in and dust and we can send it to a soul slab as well. Very cool. And then I guess one of the things we've got time I've talked about it some but since we are dry and if your pond in your pasture has gone dry, this is a good time if you wanted to to clean it out and dig it out some one little tidbit that so a lot of people don't think of is to take that dirt and put it on the back side of the dam a lot of times you'll see them they clean the pond out and they just put the dirt 1015 feet away from the pond. Well where's that dirt gonna ultimately in backup at in the park? Right on Yeah, we get big rains, the cattle even trumpet and kinda you know all that stuff. So put it on the backside of the dam if you clean out your ponds and then if they're leaking, there's a soil texture test that we can send off some soil does take some coarse around the pond about six inches down. Take several cores about half a dozen, we can send that soul in and see what the texture of the soil is. If it has enough clay in it around 30% or more. But the ponds been leaking. You can probably prevented from leaking by this really packing it good with the sheep's foot roller which we've talked about. So it may just need to be packed well if it's leaking, a lot of people think they need to go put bentonite clay in that's very expensive. Yes, it can work but it's really expensive. But before you do that, yeah, get a soil texture test and see just how much clay you have in the soil. You may have enough to where you just need to really pack it well.   James Bell  Yeah, save yourself some money. Exactly.

On this episode of the Post Podcast Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams shares updates on their Microfactory project.   Transcript: EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.   James Bell  The microfactory project continues to develop in Hays Grow Hays, Executive Director Doug Williams that stops by to share the latest on this episode of the Post Podcast.   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  This all started a few years ago with a group out of Manhattan called the technology development institute, Division of Kansas State University that focuses on manufacturing. And they put together a grant request for 10 locations across Kansas, that would be micro factories. And what those are basically incubators for manufacturers to start in, grow in and then move out that grant application was not successful. And so when the base grant became available in Kansas to build a stronger economy, I believe is what base stands for. We applied with that same concept for a 30,000 square foot structure, that would be an incubator for manufacturing companies. And we were successful in acquiring a $2.63 million grant for the construction of that facility. Since that time, we have received a donation of land from Heart of America Development Corporation at the corner of ninth and commerce Parkway, which is the lat directly between Glassman Corporation and the Army Reserve center on commerce Parkway. And that's where this facility is going to be constructed. We've also engaged a local contractor, commercial builders to assist us in building the structure. And we're working with an architect out of Manhattan on the preliminary plans and trying to get all the specifications and that kind of thing together. Essentially, it'll be a 30,000 square foot building built to it'll be manufacturer friendly, you know, high ceilings and accessible areas, capable electrical loads, and all the things that manufacturers might need to start their business and grow their business.   James Bell  Very cool. Very cool. So, you know, I was wondering if that launch day, I know this can sometimes generate some conversations and some questions. Did you have any good input or questions about the project there?   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  Well, I think that the first question everybody asks, well, who's going to go in there, and we don't have anybody specifically that we have committed to go in there, you know, we have a couple of prospects. Interestingly enough, the last Friday, when I wasn't here for our session, I was actually in Manhattan with at a meeting with the architectural firm, as well as the technology development institute. And they indicated to us that this is a relatively new concept and kind of the eyes of Kansas are upon us on this, a lot of people are watching this process and are going to be very interested on how this works. Because if it does, they want to replicate this in a number of other places across Kansas. The other thing they said, which was very encouraging to me, was that a lot of manufacturers, this is a big struggle for them finding a facility that's friendly to what they need, and a lot of may be willing to relocate to a community like Hayes, if we had the right facility for them. So that was encouraging. And a, they don't think we're going to have any trouble at all filling the space, their concern is that we're going to have to be fairly selective as to who we let go in there. Because the whole concept is, you want a company that's going to start in there and grow. But in a three, maybe four year period of time, they're going to outgrow it and need their own facility. And, you know, their concern is don't put people in there that are going to put down roots and want to be there for 20 years, because that's not the intent of this facility. So that's going to be a challenge for us. But one of the one of the benefits is that they're going to be in there at about half or less of what it would cost them to be in their own facility. Not to mention, a lot of the value adds that we're going to bring to them, which is some support from people like the technology development institute, the technology department at Fort Hays State, the SBDC and helping them develop business plans and, and all the things that go along with owning and operating a business aside from just space space is part of it, but there's a lot more to it than that.   James Bell  Yeah, absolutely. Do you know, you know, off the top of your head, like how much you might be able to cut down a business's, you know, startup funds with a project like this?   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  Well, if you just take a 30,000 square foot building and you divide it by five tenants, that's 6000 square feet per tenant. If a if a business was going to go out and build a 6000 square foot facility, they could spend upwards of a million dollars doing so. So that's one thing they don't have to do in terms and to build it. Manufacturer friendly. You know, cost more money than that. We're going to try and have some common areas like loading dock and some things like that that will help if Five businesses can use it instead of one. You know, that's we're spread out over five people. So it, it's a large reduction in what they would have to spend normally to get into business for sure.   James Bell  Excellent. You know, yeah, no, it's a manufacturing industrial. And that's a little different, a little new, as you say. But it, you know, it strikes me as the same kind of model as what we've seen in co working spaces, just like you did your very own brief space.   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  It is similar to I mean, it is an incubator for businesses, just different types of businesses. And one of the things I talked about at the quarterly luncheon is that, that our community has traditionally been a white collar community, you know, we have the university, we have the hospital, we have USD 489, those are the three largest employers in the county. And those are primarily white collar jobs. We don't have a lot of manufacturing in our community, we have some certainly, but we don't have a lot. Part of that is because of the long standing challenges we have with water. In our community. Today, it would be there are certain manufacturers of certain types of businesses that we can't handle because of water. But we also have workforce problems. And one of the things the the microfactory allows with small manufacturers, as these people can grow incrementally. And it's not like somebody's coming to town and they need 200 employees, day one, they may need three or four or five, day one, they grow over time. And we can we can help them with the workforce grow incrementally instead of all at once. And that that I think is going to be very positive for our community because we just, we just aren't in a position right now to recruit a large employer, we just don't have the the employees to do it. And we're not alone with that lots of places are in that same situation. But certainly this is a better way to approach it.   James Bell  Yeah, and I gotta believe that doing it this way, you maybe doesn't save a lot of money. But it eliminates some of that risk. I think about a few years ago, Brian, Brian, after a right before the pandemic kind of kicked off, there was a business trying to move into Russell. And I don't remember the exact figures, but I think they got about a million dollars in economic stimulus money to help start that up. But because it was an expensive proposition they moved in. But they found that really, it didn't work. But that wasn't until after they had spent all that money and they tried to get there when they're like, this isn't going to be feasible. And if they had a facility like this, they could have maybe saved a lot of them funds,   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  I would think so yes, that was an unfortunate startup that didn't work out and a lot of money was invested in lost by the community. This, this is a different approach, this does start much smaller. And we don't know how the building might be sliced and diced, there might be one needs 10,000 square feet, there might be three others that need 5000, and then one that needs to that 2500. You know, we we don't know for sure. But we're going to have that flexibility. And it absolutely decreases the risk of all the people involved not only the business, but also us. At the end of the day, if all else fails, we're gonna have a 30,000 square foot facility that somebody can use and has value. So this is significant, the construction process will be good for the community in terms of employing people for the construction process materials purchased, all of those things will will be very positive locally. Very cool.   James Bell  So I'm curious that, you know, it's been a while since we've had any updates on this. You know, I think the last time we talked you were still trying to find a little bit more money to get this thing finished off or getting it off the ground. I guess maybe it was a better way to say it. I wonder if you want to share any updates there.   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  As far as how we're going to pay for it?   James Bell  Yeah, there was a little there's a little bit of money left, right, because you got the big grant and the land grant. But now   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  we we anticipate a $3.5 million cost. And the base grant provided $2.6 million. The land donation was $275,000. So there's still a shortfall there. We have applied for some other grants, we haven't gotten a couple of them, but we're still applying for others. At the end of the day, we're either going to have to borrow the money and pay it back over time is probably what we would do. We will have revenue from the building from rents, they're going to pay as I said, they're going to be paying about half what they would normally pay but there is going to be rent coming in from that. And we're going to continue to look for other grants and other sources of financing to help pay for it. But worst case scenario we've we've got to it's a good thing. We have a lot of local banks that are willing to lend money on good projects and and we'll we'll borrow the balance if we have to.   James Bell  Absolutely and long term planning you do foresee this as being an not to money maker, but at least revenue neutral, right?   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  Absolutely. We it needs to pay for itself. And we need to pay for the operation of it and that type of thing. And the goal here and one of the reasons why Heart of America was willing to donate the $275,000 lot is because they own the 72 acres To the east of this current development, and they are in the business to promote commercial development in our community. And that's exactly where we would like the people that graduate from our microfactory to need facilities and wool will put in a facility for them where they can build their own, to the east there and some of that hard American land and, and this process just continues itself over and over again. That's the goal. That's what we hope happens.   James Bell  Very cool. I'm wondering, is there any updates on like, the timeline, the construction efforts? The is the building going up? I don't think anything started yet is it not started   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  yet. Still Still working on the actual specific blueprints and plans. I am optimistic for a lates, I'd say a false start. And we got two years from the date this grant is, from the day we signed the grant agreement, which should be in the next two weeks, we got two years to get this project done. That would seem like more than enough time, but things come up, you know, in this day and age of supply chain issues and that kind of thing. There's lots of challenges there. But we hope to start probably in the fall and hope to complete it. Nine months or so later. So some time about this time next year, I'd love to be talking about our grand opening and that type of thing. So very cool. That's our plan.   James Bell  Now the city infrastructure is in that lot already. Right? The water, sewer, all that.   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  It is, that's one of the fortunate things is at Heart of America a number of years ago, put in the street, they put in the water, the sewer, electrical, gas, all of those kinds of things are there. That lot is in the economic development business, we call that shovel ready, which means it's ready for somebody to come in and and start doing some things. So that's another very positive aspect of it.   James Bell  Okay, you know, I'm curious, what other feedback did you receive about this facility at   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  the launch? And, you know, there's, there's lots of questions as to what's it going to look like? And how's it going to be? What's going to be inside? And how are you going to handle things, and some of that's still up in the air. And one of the things they that surprised me was the group of TDI said they don't anticipate there being necessarily any walls in there to separate one group from another. And that kind of, I'm having a little trouble wrapping my head around that. But they said, you just do the Les Nessman tape on the floor. And this is your space. And it does allow for if you've got larger material pieces or that type of thing, you aren't confined by wall spaces by getting it moved around and whatnot. So I don't know how that's going to work. That's that's that that was, like I said, I'm having trouble getting my head around exactly how that would work. In my mind, I had, you know, six different individual spaces with walls between them, each having an overhead door and that kind of thing. And that's not necessarily how this will be. So we're, we're working through some of that kind of thing. That's why we want to get it right on the front end, spend a little time on the planning side of things. So that we don't have to make a lot alterations later.   James Bell  Yeah, I mean, I can see that I can see like an error of kind of collaboration to you know, when you guys get to tinker into things and try to figure out problems where hey, maybe come over here and look at this. And then the next week he's helping with the other project   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  sure could be an end, a lot of this equipment that they put in there are very expensive and different types of manufacturing processes, CNC machines that are computer operated and they they do cutting and plasma cutters and that kind of thing. In the end. I just, I just hadn't quite visualized it that way. So it's going to be interesting to see how it develops. But the one thing they said down there, they said manufacturers are creative and they're resourceful. They're resilient. And they can he said to you wouldn't believe some of the facilities we have customers and operating out of he said this will be so much better than what they're trying to do. Because a lot of time it's it's in the guy's garage or a shop out back or just some space he can find someplace but certainly not conducive, and as efficient as it might be. If it was designed up front for that specific purpose. Sure.   James Bell  Well, Doug, we've got just about a minute left. Anything else you want to hit on about this microfactory project before we   Grow Hays executive director Doug Williams  go, I think just keep keep your eyes open. We're I was gonna go out and put a sign up on the on the lot, but it's a ways away from the street. I'm not sure anybody could see it if I put it up. But it's, it's between Glassman and the Army Reserve center on Ninth Street. And just keep watching. We'll keep everybody posted either on our website or on our weekly show with you as to what's going on or a Facebook page. And it's going to be exciting.

On this episode of the Post Podcast, Fort Hays State University's Glen McNeil shares information about fresh veggies on National Fresh Veggie Day.   Transcript: EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.   James Bell  Fresh veggies day is an opportunity to explore fresh veggies for naysay universities. Glenn McNeil joins us to talk a little bit about that. And more on this episode of the Post Podcast.   Glen McNeil  June 16. Every year is also national fresh batch.   James Bell  That's probably a little healthier than well,   Glen McNeil  very few people know that. Oh, because the first thing if you type in what is June 16, it comes up as national budget. Yeah, you know, nobody really looks any further.   James Bell  Exactly. I got my excuse for the day. I'm gonna go eat some fudge and celebrate today.   Glen McNeil  There's there's a few other things too. I'm not. Sometimes you so okay, I'm not a big fan. Butterscotch fudge. I like marshmallow fudge.   James Bell  I like yeah, the creamy.   Glen McNeil  Yeah, I don't really like nuts. A lot of people like nuts and fudge. And I do like to take fudge and take an old cheese shredder. Shredded real fine. Put it on ice cream, and put marshmallow cream on top of the ice cream. So yes, I do eat fudge. Okay, not a lot. I eat more fresh vegetables than I do fudge.   James Bell  And that's what everybody should do. Yeah, more vegetables than more than more vegetables than fudge   Glen McNeil  but nothing wrong with you know, eating some foods as we've always talking here. Moderation and all things you know, include a little bit of everything you like in your diet, in essence, what you eat, but at the same time, focus a little more on the more healthful items like vegetables and being national fresh vegetables. You know, that's the kicker in this is that encourage people to eat fresh vegetables. We have frozen, which are excellent quality, we have canned, which are very good quality. Okay, we have dehydrated vegetables these days, which are they fit well in soups and things like that, that you want to make that have a lot of liquid, but it's still pretty hard to beat the taste, the texture, the mouthfeel of fresh vegetables, you know, so So that's, that's a big one. When we look at it. There's four, there's lots of vegetables. I mean, the list, depending upon how you categorize things is huge. But there's four major types. When we look at vegetables, we've got root vegetables, okay, and root vegetable would be what's the root vegetable, always think of potatoes. Okay, potatoes is an example of a root vegetable, because what you're actually eating is part of the root. In most cases, you're eating the starch, which is the sugar the plant has stored for continued growth. So that's in so when it comes up the next year, it will come up so that root vegetables is basically it's the underground part of the plant that we consume. Okay, and many of them are I mean carrots is a standby that vegetable, beets if you if you like beets turnips,   James Bell  I was I went to the farmers market the other day and talking with a couple of vendors, I know there and they had some beats. And I don't know that I've ever had them. They but they pushed him on me and said you got to take these home and try him because if you if the only thing you've ever experienced, it's like pickled beets, you might not be a fan, but there's so many other things you can do with them. Yes.   Glen McNeil  Sweet beets. Excellent. Make in terms of pickled beets is not not that difficult to do. So you know, that's, that's what you you get with those onions fit into root vegetables you know, of course and so, so we get that root vegetables are okay, since they're a vegetable they are plant product. They do contain they're primarily starch, but they do contain a small amount of protein. But what's big today is red vegetables contain no gluten. So you'll see root vegetables advertised as a part of a healthy free gluten diet. Well, they never did contain gluten, they don't contain. So that's that's really not not a big deal. Red vegetables, overall good sources of vitamin A. Many of them are good sources of vitamin C. Of course, they're they're great sources of fiber, which can benefit all of us and many of them have high potassium value, which is good for the heart, okay and circulation and I mean muscle contraction, another group of things, okay. Then then we have what we call the cruciferous vegetables. Most people know the cruciferous vegetables as gas formers. Because when you eat a surface festivals, your body tends to produce a lot of gas. Okay, they're, they're a rather large groups are the diverse, most of most people think of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, okay, when they think of the cruciferous vegetables, which you've got kale, you've got bok choy, which both kale and bok choy can easily be purchased in grocery stores these days. And they're kales like a leafy product. But bok choy is a type of cabbage that is not quite as, say bitter as regular cabbages and it's more in the shape of celery than what we consider to be head of cabbage. It's really easy to work with brussel sprouts. Good Good what not too many people around here eat but when we lived in in Kentucky and when my son lived in Louisiana collards were big and you hear used to hear collard greens well, okay, they're also greens and they're also cruciferous vegetables. It's a it's a bitter type of leaf that you cook kind of long lines of spinach. Okay, and in terms that depends on what you do with it, watercress, things like that, and I did bring you since it is fresh vegetable today. I did bring you a cruciferous vegetable out of my garden. Okay, I'm not much of a garden out of my garden that I have been. We have been eating ready. And just to show you that it is oh wow festival. I picked it right before we came and I washed it   James Bell  was washed so I can eat this wash. This is a good looking.   Glen McNeil  It is a what   James Bell  is it? Well, I think it's a radish, sir. Okay, it's already circular. To judge your radish. It   Glen McNeil  always depends on it depends on how you plan them and when you pick up Yeah, as to how they grow.   James Bell  Yeah, I've never had a fresh garden radish. I love radishes. I'm gonna try it. I'm gonna bite into our air.   Glen McNeil  Now, everybody listening Did you hear that crunch when he brought it into it? Okay, that vegetables should be what we call crisp tender. They should have a Christmas and a crunch time. Now what do you think of my radish? That is a spicy radish. Yes it is. I like that. That's the good part about the variety that that I planted in. Anybody can go radishes I have a tub that is two feet by four feet. And I filled it with garden soil and I put roses in it and I've watered and I grow radishes in my little tub. As I go through and I pick out a row I just dropped more seeds in and then I pick out a row so I didn't have to fill up a whole bunch of the garden I got it in a spot that's full sun can water you know the watering can easy to groove so growing many root vegetables is not a difficult process. You simply have to have something deep enough that allows the root to to develop good carrots grown in my in my radish garden could only be about maybe two inches deeper than that. But yeah, so radishes are now these cruciferous vegetables are lots of different colors so they add variety to your diet in color. Okay, as you look at that thing and so many some of the root vegetables do this to cruciferous vegetables, good sources of both vitamins and minerals, especially one great mineral is white is folate, okay, which is good for ourselves is as we age, especially good for developing fetal cells, regeneration of cells, folate or folic acid. So the cruciferous vegetables are high in that there also many of them are good sources of vitamin K. Okay, which is the vitamin, you know, Vitamin K does a lot of different things in the body. The biggest thing that most people know is that it helps with blood clotting. Okay, so you know, we have that particular process. They've got vitamin C in them, they've got some vitamin A in them. They're also the group that's biggest in what we call the phytonutrients. And we've talked about phytonutrients and phytochemicals here before and these are, these are not nutrients like vitamins and minerals. They're chemical compounds. They're plant compounds that our body uses for its benefit. They give us some anti carcinogenic properties, they, they help deal with antioxidant, they help ourselves recover. So they're used in metabolism, but they're not vitamins and minerals. So it's kind of a different type of thing that we do. Many of the cruciferous vegetables can help lower inflammation. Okay, so you know, we find that and again, again, they're rich in fiber. Okay, so as you eat both root and cruciferous vegetables, they can help you feel fuller, consume less food overall. Right? And they have some natural sugars in them, but not not a lot. That is cruciferous vegetables are often called gasp producing vegetables. And what causes that and people and especially when you look at broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. All the time. I can't eat that good. Yes, me. Yes. Okay, well, that comes from a sugar, right? And it's a sugar called raffinose. Right? It is a sugar that not very sweet. We would really use it for anything else. But it's, it's part of the carbohydrate structure in the plant. Right the plant uses it stores it uses it for growth, we do not have the ability to convert raffinose and use it for energy by our body like we can sucrose or or table sugar or glucose, blood sugar, we can't do that. So what happens is the raffinose stage in your gut, right? And it goes pretty much kind of through the stomach, a little bit of activity in the stomach passes through the small intestine bacteria starts to operate on it gets into the large intestine. And what the bacteria in the large intestine does is it breaks everything else down and we get the last nutrients. Well this bacteria in this nice warm, moist environment feeds on raffinose and produces large amounts of gas Yes. So you have gas and you'll feel bloated. Now, most of the time, gas from these types of products is non odorous. Okay? And it's very difficult to control the release of the gas because it's like, Okay, here's a small pocket of raffinose going through the intestinal going through the large intestine. And this bacteria sees it jumps all over it, breaks it down and produces gas very quickly. Okay, so you feel bloated, and you got to release it. So I can't use to say, Grandma toots. My mother consumed a very high fiber diet, just health wise and Yes, Grandma, you know, achieve always left. So, you know, we find out and we see that so, you know, we read vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, then we have a big category called greens. Right? And greens are   James Bell  everything else. Well, that's what like lettuce and I   Glen McNeil  put they're called greens because they're, well, green primary. Yes, yeah. We're primarily grant make sense. Okay. So in in a way, you could say that radish has greens on cook those radish tops, we really wouldn't want to they're kind of bitter. You know, so we want to do that. But, you know, when we look at greens, it's, it's collard greens, which are also part of cruciferous for root vegetables. It's just eating the different parts of the vegetable. Okay, and that's where the Greens come from kale, mustard greens, chard, bok choy that the Chinese cabbage fits in that too. So because you eat different parts of it. Okay, so when you eat the top, you're eating the greens, when you eat the bottom, you're eating the right. And you can't do that with all vegetables. Okay, you can do that with some but you can't do that with all this. Okay, there's another product out that's been out round for years generations known as rocket and it's actually argument. Okay, and it is it's a leaf off of a product or a plant that how do I say this? It's got a mustard. If you ever mix mustard and pepper together and toss in a little tiny bit of white vinegar, it's kind of what it tastes like. So it's sweetened bitter at the same time. It's used as a topping for salads. We don't most people don't buy much of it. You probably have to go ask for it here and I don't know whether anybody would have okay from from that. And then you're good right now. Got in your yard field over there and pick some dandelion greens. I have   James Bell  a friend he swears by dandelions he loves He says they're great for the soil. They're great for you. You can eat it all and he doesn't eat a lot of them I don't think anyway but but he loves growing them he will plant his yard with dandelions.   Glen McNeil  You can harvest dandelion greens and that's fine you just got to be make sure if you're gonna go somewhere and pick him that nobody sprayed anything Yeah. Okay, so yeah, red vegetables cruciferous vegetables and greens. Okay, then we have the last and there are other categories these are the four major categories I like that it's a group called Nightshade. Okay and people have heard of nightshade vegetables and the most famous of all the nightshade vegetables and not even a vegetable Oh yeah. The most famous of all nightshade vegetables is not even a vegetable in in many and not I want to say Mideast What do you call it mid times you know back in the old days of castles and kings and fives. Okay, these were thought to be poisonous. They're red and color.   James Bell  Radishes No I'm just kidding this tomatoes I know this one.   Glen McNeil  But you know what? Tomato tomato is a fruit.   James Bell  Okay, because the seeds are on the inside right since grow it   Glen McNeil  comes from blossom. And it's different on how it comes from the blossom. Okay, it goes behind and the seeds the the meat of the product surrounds the seed. When that happens we actually have a fruit okay, that fits in that category. So we have fruits and vegetables that fit into the nightshade group. Okay, and the nightshade group has its its name because many of them are very flavorful. Okay and whatever they are, and they are products that tend to grow better overnight that they do during the day. So the name nightshade came around came around what because they thought there was some sort of an holy thing going on with this plant where it would grow overnight but would grow during the day like all the rest of the plants are growing right so became a Nightshade. That's, I mean, that's folklore. sure that when they do grow better at night, if you ever watch your check your tomatoes or anything, you get up in the morning and there's blossoms all over, you know or something like that. These products grow better as temperature cools down, and then they reserve their moisture for the day. Now nightshade vegetables eggplants an example of a nightshade vegetable potatoes are actually an example but it fits in many other categories. Probably the most recognized one today are peppers all the different varieties of peppers fit within the nightshade vegetables. Now there's also one that most people don't think about and that's tobacco. Okay, but oh yeah, we don't eat tobacco you can try   James Bell  I'm curious now what tobacco actually tastes like if you're eat some well it's   Glen McNeil  it's not a fruit. It's not a vegetable. It's a nightshade plant. It grows better through the night. Okay, so but it fits I always thought that was interesting. I don't eat okay for that. Now the other thing about nightshade plants is that they contain most of the nightshade plants contain some form of what we call an alkaloid. Okay, and out alkaloid? How do I want to put this? There are chemicals similar to proteins but a little different? Okay, and they're high in nitrogen. Okay, well, that's the nitrogen composition. With everything else that's in this alkaloid that has an effect upon the human body. Okay. And, and what we find is they're kind of medicinal, we can make a lot of medicinal things out of Morphe is made from a nightshade alkaloid. As an example of what we fit in there. Quinine is another product that fits into that. So we, you know, we see this and so as this goes on, we find that some of these alkaloids also fit into the phytonutrients category, where they can give us some protective aspects against cancers. So it's, I mean, it's good for us and in terms of that, but it can also be bad for us. If you get too much they can cause headaches. They can cause bitter taste in foods and cause gastric upset, nausea, diarrhea, and in most cases, you can identify when a a dark colored plant gets this potatoes are famous for this. You pick up a potato and it's got green circle or green spots all over people who say Well, that's sunburn tomato. Oh, yeah, it's kind of a suppose. But what that is, is that contains because of the chemical interactions that have occurred, that contains an alcohol alkaloid called solid, the green part of the tomato, that's what can make you sick. Okay, so if you ate lots of green potatoes, now, you could peel that part of the skin into potato, lay and cut it away and use the rest of the potato and that's fine. Now, you're not going to get this from eating one or two green potatoes, okay, you'd have to eat quite a bit or you'd have to eat quite a bit of a of a vegetable that's showing this process. So those are our four main categories that we look at when we buy when we fix vegetables and so for this, okay, and I brought you a fresh vegetable from my garden. Okay to show you how much I appreciate you and also when I appreciate you so well thank you but I wanted somebody else to teach you one of my hot radishes. Yeah, it's good. So first first step in using fresh vegetables. Make sure once you buy or pick are not bruised or damaged. Look them over carefully. Now it always drives me nuts when you go in and people are feeling all the with all the different vegetables and everything but you know you don't want things that have soft spots in them and they should be firm all the way round. This color slices that type of thing. Don't buy him if they're bruised or damaged. Second thing is clean. Wash your hands with soap and water. Then wash your vegetables right your vegetables off with water. There's all these vegetable rinses and washes out there you can use what what most of the science tells us is there not a whole lot better than water. In terms what many of them are is they're really really heavily diluted bleach. Okay, so the even if you read some off of those, you still gotta rinse them off with water. So just make sure you rinse them off good. And actually a little vegetable brush like I pulled out of ground I get a little vegetable rush put it in some running water and brush it off and slice the top off at the bottom and it's ready to eat. Okay from from that process. So watch that. Alright Third, when you go through this process, when you shop, okay or when you go to the farmers market to buy, separate what you purchase. Here we get into also into the preparation. We've talked in here a number of times about cross contamination, keep fresh vegetables away from raw meats, raw poultry, raw anything, handle them separately. Go to the grocery store watching when they get their groceries they put the most of them are very careful about it. Sometimes they aren't. They put the chicken in the bottom and then dump in the fresh vegetables on top of it. I always say at what my meats in separate bags. I want my chicken in one bag, my beef and another bag. I don't want anything else in the bag with bags, things like that at the grocery store. keep them separate at home. Okay, don't use a cutting board for raw meats. And then put raw vegetables on your cutting board. Okay, and then serve. Just be safe you know, watch for the content elimination. Cooking is the same thing. Now cooking with vegetables. You want vegetables to be what we call all dented. Chris, tender, green, fresh green beans that are cooked until they're mushy and fall apart or overcooked. A lot of people like them that way but they're over cooked. Okay from that so boiling, steaming boiling, you know for a short period of time steaming, microwave, great way to go. Okay when you're cooking fresh vegetables if you're gonna cook, and many times cooking helps break down some of the raffinose Vegetable so it will help make cabbage less gas producing. It will, it will in many cases cooking vegetables creates milder flavors within the vegetables. If you've ever fresh broccoli and cooked fresh broccoli, there is a definite difference in the taste. Okay, of those two products, even if they're both annulled, right. Okay, step five, chill things. If you bring a bunch of vegetables in the garden from the garden, or bring them home from the store and you wash them off, put them in the refrigerator, bag them up, you know, wrap them in a towel bowl, with water out, whatever, put them back in your frigerator keep them chilled, just helps prevent any bacterial growth or anything that can occur around them. And most fresh vegetables that are chilled, still have good flavor. Some of the flavors get a little bit better as they warm up kind of like cheese. Okay, but some still still do that. And then I'm gonna go back to when in doubt, throw it out. If you're not sure how old it is, if it's sat out on the counter for a vegetable dip or something for a couple of hours, good idea to pitch it, you know, because of contamination you're dealing with a raw food product here. Okay, so you just want to do that. You know, if you've had something if you're not going to cook it if it's been in contact with raw if you're going to serve it Ron it's been in contact with Rami you messed up, well cook it don't kill the bacteria, okay, you cook it but be very careful. And we just tell people do that around around holiday time. Fresh vegetables cleaned, put in the refrigerator will keep for many will keep for a week and maintain their freshness. I always put my radishes in a bowl of water and set them in the refrigerator and they'll stay crisp and fresh for about six days. Okay, they don't last six days because I eat them all. Okay, but you know, in terms of like that, and I, I don't think you can beat the flavor of many of the fresh vegetables out there to take a green or a yellow pepper and just wash it, see it, slice it up and stack on it. Now for a lot of people that's a lot of spice, but I think that that makes a good taste. And then nothing better to me than ever daily onion, peeled cooldown peeled, sliced it nice big round pieces. And then you put a piece of sharp cheddar cheese on top of their daily onion and sharp cheddar cheese, or just eat an onion like an apple. People don't like that. lettuce leaves. You know, if you're looking for a way to lighten sandwich meals, lettuce leaves make great replacement for bread. Oh yeah, I love doing that. Cook a hamburger patty and put your hamburger patty between two lettuce leaves and, and whatever whatever else you want it and it really makes a nice little pocket and the same is true with camis leaves. So lots of fresh vegetables. They're coming into their own. You know I look my cucumbers. My cucumber plants have got little cucumbers on them about two inches long already. My tomato plants are covered in blooms but no, no tomatoes yet. By being planets are growing. It's early for beans I plant. I'm trying I've never planted beans before. So I played in pole beans this year. So I got these big pots scattered around the yard being planted poles sticking up and up. That's how I garden I don't really have it all in the ground, I think big pots and bends around. That works. Yeah. So it works but Grow Your Own go to the farmers market, buy them into grocery store. They're, they're great, you know, and he's right now you can go into grocery store, you can buy a platter of clean vegetables, you know fresh vegetables that you can snack on. And they make great snacks for people. Absolutely. I hope people enjoy them all summer long. You know, just be smart, be safe. Eat the ones you really like and occasionally buy one you've never had before. Look, look up how to prepare it. Okay, that's always important. Sometimes the vegetable preparation is not as standard as we think. And then sample it. You know, and if you don't like it raw, chop it up. Toss it in the skillet, a little olive oil on a top little onion with salt and pepper crack couple eggs in it. Sprinkle some cheddar cheese on it. And you got a nice little mix of vegetables you did like most with eggs and cheese you do like There you go. So have a great summer.

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