Dreams, Soups, and Farm Fans (Hour 1)

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Coming to Northeast Wisconsin live from the Civic Media Studios, this is Mino and the Mayor.

Here are your hosts John Minow and Jim

Smith Happy Thursday to you

it is it is and it's this is a doesn't look bad.

No obviously say, but this is like a holiday just Juneteenth.

Yes.

There's no mail Places are closed Do you believe that I mean post office and everything?

Businesses

Salvation Army, you know, they're closed because this is a legit

shot.

It commemorates the worst thing that's ever happened in our country.

Well, I don't know to not not really it's What do you mean slavery?

No, no, no, but this is but isn't that

what it's about?

Yeah, it

is but it's really about the notification that slavery was abolished.

Oh, well, yeah, okay, so but you're right.

Yeah, I agree Okay, we're on the same page, but this is kind of a holiday today a little bit.

I don't know what's all going on

In the community, but I was looking you know how you get those pictures on your phone 10 years ago 12 years ago, but

how many years ago was it when you had those short shorts?

And there's some pictures that when we celebrated Juneteenth rent with Randy skedown scandal scandal anyway Yeah, but yeah, that's today, but yeah the weather.

No, it's

but did you

see super nice today

Illinois?

Right and it missed Wisconsin.

I'll tell you what Wisconsin's been so lucky There was that band in Illinois coming up right through Springfield, Illinois and everything I want to say 12 to 14 tornadoes Then it went into Michigan like around Grand Rapids wise that was heading that way where it could have headed so easily just straight up

And

it would have

been just right through

Central

Wisconsin.

And then I saw a thing that Brittany had and her thing the other day, Northern Minnesota, that whole hibbing area and everything up there.

They were under big time tornado warnings and got hit with some stuff.

And we are right

in the

middle of all this and not getting hit.

And even last year we talked about that.

It's just we are.

It's amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Although I want to say that I just when I got in here this morning talking to con it did rain last night I don't know if you were all last night, but okay, just

I was you know what you ever those nights you just you don't know why can't sleep I I sat and I worked in my book till 3 30 this morning Wow that I went to bed and I did not have I had one of those damn good dreams Where I was in TV

And I didn't know how to use the the editor to edit my story and I didn't know how to do the whatever whatever So I was hand writing my script And trying to put that in the teleprompter and I jumped up two times I know

I got her in

and then I looked at the clock.

It was like 405

That's me that half

everybody has those for their jobs.

I'm not saying anything different, but when you have those they can be so

But they I like

I told you when I, way, way, long, I went and talked to this guy about dream analysis.

He was a guy in Green Bay, he's not here anymore, if we guide.

But that may mean, and I think that would mean that maybe you're not prepared for an event coming up.

You know

what I

mean?

It's something like that.

Like, you know, the thing that you're in school, oh my God, there's

a test, and

there goes the test.

That is the same thing.

Do you have an event coming up that you're not as sure as you think you are about it?

You know, I just remember him saying that.

But anyway, that,

Yeah, if it's something that I know this, but then you get that you don't know, right?

That means, but the thing

is, it's such vivid detail.

It's

unbelievable.

It's such vivid detail.

And, you know, they always talk about how, um, first of all, if I ever take Advil PM, craziest dreams, you'll find.

Well, I got some better stuff.

Well, I know you're your

ambient.

I know.

But

not anymore.

But I sometimes I think it's what you eat.

And okay.

So I got to take the soup I made yesterday.

I think you're on to something with the eat but I can go ahead.

It was I

think salt does it cuz okay.

Here's what I had

all right sugar, but I

had So I bought some low sodium beef broth Okay, good low sodium 30% less than normal.

Mm-hmm.

All right, but still 500 but whatever 300

okay,

all right, but 380 I think but Four bags of frozen vegetables of all different kinds of vegetables like those like those okay, but shrimp Well, no that was good

Um, thought some chicken.

Wow.

Thought some salmon.

Who's all coming over?

All for myself.

I put in about 14 different types of seasoning.

I had chimes.

I had basil.

I had, um, I love garlic salt.

I had all those different things in there.

Okay.

So I got from there's lots of salt.

The thing is, so I thought, okay, so I couldn't sleep.

So I'm, I'm up all night and it's like, I need to flush myself.

Cause it's, cause you're eating something that's so good for you.

I mean, my gosh, chicken and shrimp and lobster and salmon and all vegetables.

It's really, really good for you.

Yes.

Okay.

But it's up for the salt.

Yeah.

So I'm going to wash the salt out so you don't have that feeling like when you step on the scale, even though mentally, you know, it's from retaining water.

So I

drank like a gallon of water.

Everybody has to give us money five pounds more than I was yesterday And it's like you know you

didn't put

on five pounds of fat and it's eventually just gonna wash away But there's still that feeling of I just ate the healthiest thing I've ever had but I think when I eat stuff with a lot of salt

Yeah,

like that.

It does retain a

wax my

brain.

Oh, that's just it affects your dreams.

Yeah

I know sugar does, but I don't know, maybe it does.

Hey, a couple of things you can do with that.

One is, did you ever try that, no salt, salt?

My doctor said, and I've had it, it's not as salty as salt, but it's a flavor.

The other thing is that, you know what I'm gonna say?

Garlic powder instead of garlic salt.

I'm gonna try that the same day, okay, that I drink non-alcoholic beer.

Okay.

Give it a little bit of a try then that that stuff.

Yeah, you're right.

It's a why why do it right?

This stuff's a little bit better than non-alcoholic beer.

I think

my mom or dad They had high blood pressure to and they used to use that but let's put it this way There was I will say this I mean they had that one little thing and I bet it lasted from 1971 to 1978 that

big box of blue stuff and

it never went anywhere Yeah, anyway, but I didn't but the reason I didn't

I couldn't, I didn't buy garlic, like the crushed garlic, cause that adds so much to it.

So I had to use the garlic

salt.

That's pretty strong stuff too.

But I love garlic.

I can eat garlic for every meal.

And it's, yeah, if you don't, I love it when I

sweat in it almost smells like

garlic.

Yeah, everybody but you, everybody.

Yeah, you.

Have you ever noticed that here some mornings?

Oh

my God, yeah.

Just saying.

Out of the pores, but yeah, but garlic powder I'm telling you I went to a class and they're like look if you need to make one change Because I said I like garlic salt and they're like look sure to grab and that's it's just as good It's just as strong.

Yeah, I don't know you might want to but I think

I'm gonna I'm experimenting so much with my soups

Yeah, that's okay

that I think I could become a soup maestro

Yeah Summer and soup nothing.

I just don't I don't like to

see Jim.

I

would

hear one of us study medicine

Okay, that's news to me.

I've been working with you for two years.

I don't like to break.

No, that's the only idea.

Okay, here's the deal.

Here's the deal.

There's that thing going where if you drink something hot when you're sweating really bad, it does more for you than drinking something cold.

Because when you're hot, it says, oh, I got to open up my pores and sweat more and cool this person down.

That's why eat the soup in the summer.

Don't open my pores

Yeah theory that yeah, I don't okay, what they're gonna be just for you You're gonna become the soup my store because if you're gonna start a business Which I that's gonna be that's gonna be tough in the summer.

Well, I'm starting to write stuff down about what I put in stuff Okay,

and

I'm gonna come up with three good ones and that's all I'm gonna have is three good ones Three good soups

and you're gonna post them so that we can all fit from here Hey, might

know what you got going today,

right?

I'd

like to I'd like to do something where we could actually open up with these windows or something sell it right during the show Just sell it right out of the studio here.

Yeah, three soups.

That's gonna be the name But what's the name of what's the name of the minus place three soups?

That you know, that's gonna be interesting people are going to come to see what the three soups are absolutely gonna change them up, right?

Yeah, yeah That's okay,

but that way you're not making one that nobody eats and then you throw it away

right

give it to your cat or whatever,

right?

Huh that yeah, maybe

now you can't

do that here

You're not you're you can't you can't sit here and just automatically say like you do a lot of times Don't even thinking about this let it percolate a little bit.

That's dumb.

That's dumb.

This one has some merit true How

much no you

guys get sourdough bread, but no

boys bring your partner them

bring your own bread.

I'll be home.

Yeah, you'll be yep

All right, maybe.

Mm-hmm.

So there you go.

Okay.

All right.

Well, on top of it, I had... There's

Michael sitting there.

Oh, Michael.

MedTalk with Mino.

Hey, he... MedTalk with Mino.

That's not bad.

One of our listeners just sent that in.

I like it.

MedTalk, I think there could be... I

think there's some

potential with

that.

Yeah.

Then that would lead to, we could do another segment, lawsuits with Mino or something.

That would be,

yeah.

By the way, our girl Sarah posted, good morning boys.

Vicki says, good morning boys.

Isn't that nice?

Very nice.

That's people listening.

Sarah was

outside your house again last night.

I don't think so.

She didn't come over and I'll tell you what.

She

sent pictures from over there.

It looked like it rained pretty hard in the park.

You know what?

Did they still have it?

They did.

No, not okay.

Okay.

John, do you know, so we had the,

Big mouth?

No, no, the night before.

And what was it, 500 people there?

Yeah,

I

guess.

It was awesome.

And then there's the Allway Village Band, but now they call it the AVB, which is all volunteer band.

You know, they play and Plasky plays.

The City of Green Bay pays our band for that one hour, $3,000.

Okay.

Out of taxpayer money.

Okay.

They have a rain date the next day.

If it rains,

You'll play the next day tonight.

It's gonna be what you see the weather this it's gonna be unbelievable It's happening sunny and it's like gonna be like I don't 75 degrees.

You

see it might get like the heat index into

the

hundreds on Sunday.

Yeah, that

Graduation party

that

kind

of are you golfing on Sunday?

You know,

are you I might have to wear a lot of sunscreen?

Well, you know what that might be a good day to golf because people may not go.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, it might be time you want you're right.

You're right.

But anyways, no John the last night

we had some friends over and it's like a lady came over it wasn't Sarah a lady came over um are we gonna have is she in the band with her music stand i do you think we're gonna have the concert tonight they came to

you to

ask okay but i will say john i just want to say back in the day it was my decision and the park director oh that's true okay because now the band wants to baton once they play the first note they get paid so there was maybe

maybe 40 people there last night, 50 people.

So that's like $3,000 for 50 people.

Last year, they did that twice.

They started to play six minutes later.

Okay, we're done.

They got their three grand.

So I think if the band director who is maybe driven a little bit more by money than the audience, he shouldn't make that call.

That call should be made by the mayor and the park directors.

I wrote to the park director last night, sent them pictures.

I'm like, look, this is ridiculous.

This is $3,000 is a lot of money.

It just is.

There's a lot you could do with

that.

So as the park director, the guy you sent out to shut us down that time with me and Nick, we're doing that show in the park with the wild animals and the brought cookout without license or permits.

No, because that's

I

know.

I know it was Jaden that tried to shut down our unscheduled parade.

We did with the flatbed trucks with the Green Bay Blizzard won the championship.

I remember that.

Yeah, I remember that.

A lot of people.

Someone's got to be in charge and someone's got to make a decision that said, look, you guys, we're not going to spend three grand to entertain 50 people, half of which are spouses of the band.

So we're going to play tomorrow night, which would be tonight, which would be great tonight.

There'd be 400 people there tonight.

But so that's got to change.

And I told Khan when I came in this morning, I said, look, I did write a letter to the parks director sent pictures.

Maybe he can come on and explain the process.

That'd be great, but also, I saw a thing with Kevin Van Ness last night, they were putting Ash Waban on, and they brought everybody like on stage, because

it was

raining hard, so they brought all, there's like 40 people or whatever, and they brought him up on stage, like under the shell or something.

Kevin, if you're listening, what did you guys

do during your, and that

sounded really cool.

That's fun.

Yeah.

That's cool, but.

Yeah.

All right, let's have a quick break.

None of them are hearing our favorite day of the week, second favorite day of the week.

Back after this.

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started.

W. I. S. S. Of course, the civic media app worldwide 64 degrees in Green Bay 63 and Appleton 63.

Gosh straight shower or possible thunderstorm is possible.

Uh, high in the low 80s.

Boy, we sure went from fire warnings and drought to I will say this.

It's this is mosquito breeding weather.

This is when they thrive.

I'm having me.

I haven't been out at all, but I guarantee you up in the U. P. In the backwoods.

Yeah.

They're eating good.

They are eating good.

You know, I've got one.

I got a couple of sensitive spots on my body.

We've talked about

this.

Too

much.

Well, neither.

But my ankles,

my

skittles go insane.

I remember there was a time I was interviewing a guy for one of my books down in, like, Oshkosh-ish, and I was coming back to Green Bay, and I had to stop at, like, a Walgreens and go in and buy, like,

Almost like Calamine.

Right.

It was so bad during the interview.

I want to scratch my ankles till they just rip the skin off of him.

No, no, no.

I don't

know what

it is.

There's something.

So that's why, you know, what I started doing that was that was a cure all really was I put a plastic bag when I was at the camp, I put a plastic bag, OK, under my sock.

And then I'd spray raid on the sock and that would completely that works.

Perfectly,

that's like that's got that DT stuff in you don't want that in your skin

now again at this point if that's what's gonna kill me

Okay, John just use off

that doesn't work these mosquitoes up there that pay they pay it I think it attracts them you laugh at it.

They laugh at it one thing I one thing that I've been told really works

well if you don't

mind the smell is Vicks that mosquitoes will not go anywhere near Vicks

Well, I don't think

that

VIXX has its own, I don't think it has the worst smell.

Well, it

just doesn't bring back images

with a fourth grade.

Right, I know.

And that kid whose mom made him wear the VIXX on his chest.

Yeah, I know.

And the kid's smell, there is like, yeah.

Because

your second cousin Eugene had pneumonia.

Right, right, right.

You know?

The mosquito thing, I don't, I just haven't seen him when I was a kid.

Maybe, I just, we haven't had him with mosquitoes.

Around our place.

I know but you say this is the time they're coming on

this the weather this is breeding weather

now

with this rain and you get the little

Right, right.

Oh my god.

They go at it like rabbits Mosquitoes get around

man.

They

got something.

It's like unbelievable if they could tap that for guys So we make a lot of money, but I'm just saying so

anyway

Yeah.

All right.

We, um, Sarah though, she got back to us.

And Sarah, thanks for sitting there.

I wish you were going to come over last night.

So basically she stalked you.

Well, no, she was welcome to stop by because I had some, I cooked some food last night.

Okay, let me just say

this.

Sarah says, I didn't stop since it was raining.

Right.

I stayed under the concession shelter and just took a picture of Jim's house instead.

Haha.

Hey, Kevin Van As, Kevin Van As, you're out there.

Give us a quick call.

Conroy, you don't know, you don't want to use the phone?

Yes, I do.

Well, I don't know what the studio, what's the studio line?

All right.

Well, it's nine two zero two six four zero six.

That's so fast.

That's so fast.

Two six four zero six zero six.

So

that's not that hard to

Chuck Cecil Brett Favre Her battery.

Her battery.

That's a way to remember it.

Absolutely.

That's how I

do all my numbers that way.

I do everything that way.

Most of us just put them in their phone.

But yeah, that's you do.

And you are actually spot on.

I

told you hard.

Remember things.

I know that

I thinking of other things that

bring back the thing.

Yeah, that can work.

That's a Carnegie thing a little bit, but they wanted you to like associate it with like, you know, like weird things, but then you remember it.

Anyway, that's what I

do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yours is more numbers though.

That's that would be hard for me.

Okay.

If I look at that, if I, if I, if somebody said, what's my phone number?

Why would I look at that person say, hmm, Brett Farr, her battle.

I would, I wouldn't, but

there's gotta be a

connection.

What's the connection?

How do you do that?

Give me a, give me a quarterback.

Okay, Jim Zarn.

Well, I know that one though, Pomona.

My good friend that I worked with in Twin Falls, Idaho, went to, was from Pomona.

Well, we, well.

I told you about Jim Zarn.

Big time Christian.

I was, well, the Lord, you know, wasn't with us today or wasn't, and he was going to come on my show later that night and say, Jim, could I give you your number so I can give you a call?

Just somebody goes, here he says, just so you know, you give this to me, I will kick your ass.

Praise Jesus.

I said a word.

It was just funny.

It was all so you know, and they said he was like serious.

Oh There are so many of those Christian phony I was getting sports.

You

can't

believe

it.

They're in politics to

oh my lord my lord my lord Loaded with them And the people that knew the real them, you know

But yeah, I,

you know, as much as you hate to see these guys fall, like these guys on TV, you know, um, it's like, are you really shocked?

You know, this guy's doing this, doing her and doing, you know, doing what?

I wasn't going that far.

Oh my gosh.

That guy, I guess politics gets around.

No, I'm talking about the guy and, oh my God, there's so many stories about that.

It's like, give me a break.

Well, I will admit this.

I think the funniest thing in the world is when these billion dollar preachers get busted for something.

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

That's funny.

And when they, and it's, it's not a one time, this guy, they've been going and seeing this and doing that.

I'm a, I'm a firm believer of you can, you could kill a guy by his hair.

I have firm belief around that.

And when they got that, it's, it's even like with politicians, they, there's the certain, like whatever thing you are, you got this, you must have these barbers you go to, they give this one certain here.

Excuse me.

What, um, what are you Republican?

I'm a Republican.

Okay.

It's

going to be really short on the side.

Really?

Whatever.

Cause we want to honor the, yeah.

We're conservative.

So we want to show the ears.

We got to show the ears.

True.

I look, I

would, yeah, they, there's a lot of.

You got Kevin there, Conroy?

Yeah, he's on the phone.

Kevin!

Good morning, gentlemen.

How are you, Kevin?

How you doing?

I saw your Facebook.

I was telling Jim about it because hardly anybody showed up in his park last night.

And I saw your post.

Tell everybody what you did.

Oh, he played two gigs yesterday.

I was at Clipstein with Daddy D's and they thought it was going to rain.

So they put everything inside and it ended up not raining a drop.

And then after I had talked with Allen in Seymour for their summer concert series and we get out there, John, it is raining cats and dogs and we're all set up.

And even some of these people that come out with their buses from seniors and that said, no, we're not coming tonight.

And so he said, I was, Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, I'm sorry, or more people show up.

Kevin, I'm sorry.

We got a central

heartbreak where we get right back to you.

I'm so sorry.

Just hang that thought.

Please, buddy.

Back right after this.

Hey, welcome back.

Mine on the

mare here.

We're gonna get back to Kevin Van Ness.

in just a few minutes talk a little bit about what they did last night and all these boy the number one thing I think about when I see these forecasts are

outdoor weddings and high school

graduations

Guest on convoy?

Yes, we

do.

All right.

Hey, let's introduce Pam Yankee, the fabulous farm babe, the Midwest Farm Report, coming your way on WGBW and WIS.

June, of course, is dairy month and mental health awareness month.

And welcome, Pam.

How are you?

Good morning, guys.

Yeah, I'm doing well.

I'm doing well.

Just like you guys watching out to see what this weekend weather is going to look like.

Oh,

boy.

Do you have any breakfasts on the farms this weekend coming up?

Oh, of course, of course.

I mean, let's face it every weekend.

There's about 16.

We're averaging about 16 dairy events on a Saturday or Sunday around the state.

And we've got a brunch that's coming up on Saturday.

And we've got a couple more that are on Sunday, kind of using the last gasp of June to try to get the people together.

And I'll tell you what, I brought this up before.

If you are thinking about going to any June dairy event, go where the cows are because

There will be an incredible amount of energy, and I'm not just talking people.

I'm talking technology that will be working this weekend to make sure those beautiful bovines are kept cool and comfortable.

And you might be in a better spot if you go hustle and hang with the cows, then worry about standing in line for the food.

I told Jim about my son's high school graduation.

about 10 years ago now, and it was, it was like the hottest day of the summer.

It was like literally 94 degrees.

We had a big tent and one of the guests or whatever, excuse me relatives said, hey, I'll bring in a farm fan.

I'm thinking, what are you gonna

do with a

farm fan?

That thing cooled off everybody.

Everybody was completely comfortable by that one farm fan.

I don't know.

And it wasn't like it's one of these things that, you know, blows everything all over the place.

It just really distributed air.

What's the secret of those things, Pam?

Well, they run at quite a few RPMs and they really do have to work through a lot of error.

If you walk into a barn, I know that most people

probably have but pay attention to the the ground the floor a veterinarian that I used to work with always said if you can kind of see the the barn lime which is kind of the white substance we put down to absorb moisture if you can see the barn lime kind of moving or the feeds kind of moving that's the way you want your air circulating you want it you want enough CFM so that there's actually movement of those particles because then you know the cows are comfortable

oh interesting you know you talk about those

breakfasts on the farm and a giant boat and a ton of them but that's the breakfast is really the small part of that to go and tour those farms you talked about the technology but there's so much to see out there that is just a great it's a great event for anybody but for families it's especially great and there's just so much out there and I think sometimes people think these poor cows but

You know, they're treated pretty well.

And they've got their own routine.

Huh?

They've

got their own routine.

Yeah.

And the way they melt them now, some of it's so automated too.

And it's just, yeah, that's just, that's a great thing.

So you,

like I said, they come

first.

Right.

Which it should be.

So this weather, um, what nineties, maybe even a hundred this weekend.

I mean, does that, right?

Tell me how the, what are the farmers?

I mean, do they rely on this farmers almanac?

Do they think our weather is good here?

No

farmers almanac is a nice little conversation piece but as far as reliability I don't think that I know any farmers that that you know plant by it or worry about it but what but we do have a lot of technology that telling us what's going on and it's not just about the animals we have to think about our crops I mean I farm in O'Connell County and let me tell you we could use a few more degree growing units we call it so he

Meat is a wonderful thing in moderation, just like everything else.

And what we've ended up being is a little on the cool side for the month of June.

So our soybeans, our corn is a little bit behind where we'd like it to be.

Now people say, oh, well, great, the farmers will love it this weekend.

No.

No, nobody likes 90 plus in Wisconsin with the humidity it brings.

A plant, a corn plant, for example, will basically start to shut down when you get into the mid and upper 80s.

It's doing that to conserve moisture.

It doesn't know when the next rain is coming.

So it'll take advantage of the heat up into a certain point and then you'll see it close down.

And I'm sure there's a lot of folks listening that say, oh yeah, you know, some of the ground is cracked where they haven't picked up the showers.

That's a survival mechanism for that plant.

So 90s are not what we're looking for.

A nice couple 80 degree days would help us catch up a lot.

But 90s, the plant just cannot really maximize on all that excessive heat.

So

it

basically goes into survival.

I did not know that.

No, me then.

Cons are our expert, our expert golfer and he's with you guys.

He's like the 80s versus 90s.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

Well, if you, when you drive past a field, if you drive past the field and you're just glancing out your car window, truck window, if you ever see corn plants, they start to wrap.

The leaves will start to kind of wrap into a swirl.

That's a survival mechanism, doing what it can to keep the moisture in the plant.

So when we see

The plants start to wrap.

That's a sign that too hot.

Too

hot.

I would have thought just the opposite.

I would have thought, oh, this is great.

We got some water now.

Hotter the better.

So I just learned

something.

Is that true that corn, right?

Remember, as you say, if it's not knee-high by the 4th of July, it's going to die.

Is that true or is that just one of those things we grew up with?

No.

That's another one of those.

It's a nice reference point.

I think most farmers hope

to heck that they're their corn's knee high by 4th of July.

It's it's kind of the visual benchmark that you can use.

Yes.

And it's not so much about that point in time.

But come on, guys, you're in Green Bay.

You know, we start thinking right after 4th of July, then it's all of a sudden, oh, you know, how much of a how much do we have left?

When is that first frost?

When is that first killing freeze?

And that's really what a lot of farms have to start thinking about.

OK, which field?

is knee-high by 4th of July.

When are we going to start chopping silage?

Which fields are farther along?

Which are going to need a little bit more time?

Which are we worried about that are really delayed and may not make it to first frost in the condition we want?

So, you know, like I said, we worry about the weather when it comes to spring planting.

Now we worry about the weather as far as plant advancement or making hay.

And we're going to start worrying about the weather after 4th of July, waiting on OK.

Are we going to get the heat and what do we think the early frost is going to be?

When do

we get it?

Interesting.

You know what's funny though?

Not funny, but just kind of almost scary is that there's such a fine line between like where I'm from in the UP.

I don't even think there.

I don't know if there is a corn farm type thing.

I mean,

you know, it just

because the weather but but.

you think about that you put in all this time all this effort all this money and one frost because i remember my dad used to love growing tomatoes that he knows his pride and joy was beautiful tomatoes and i remember him he'd be working at the mine afternoon shift and i'd get a call at like eight o'clock at night and he'd say

Run out, cover the tomato plants, and you take

plastic and

newspapers and it's like, okay, so that's just for his little garden in the patch location.

Push less some

farmer whose

mortgage is dependent on not getting a frost.

I mean, mentally, that is tough, isn't it?

Well, yeah.

Yeah, like I said, that's why I like I said, I grew up on a farm in O'Connell County.

And I remember there was one year Father's Day.

We had a Father's Day frost.

And, you know, I remember that farms were being advised.

And now this just get get your mind around this.

So you've planted a crop, the crop is coming up, the crop is not.

real high, just a couple inches out of the ground, frost comes, all of a sudden there's black on the leaves where they've been nipped by this surprise weather incident.

So farmers were being advised to go out there with what we call a flail chopper, which is basically just kind of like rotating belts that strip off.

the vegetation of a plant.

You normally wouldn't take it into a cornfield, but what they were telling us is go out and take off that dead tissue because a corn plant, until it gets a little bit taller, like say above four or five inches tall, what we call the apical growing point is still below the ground.

So we could go out there and knock off every leaf on those plants.

just have nothing but just the stalk there looks like a disaster but because the growing point was still in the ground the plant continued to thrive and came back that one was a that was where you just have to go on blind faith on the extension agent or your crop consultants telling you that because it flies in the face of what you think you should do but it was exactly the right thing in that strange weather incident

come on

If you're

farming in northeast Wisconsin, you get strange weather incidents drived all over you.

That's cool that someone's working on that research, right?

And they share the research, right?

Well, I didn't know that.

Hey, I got a question.

So I just, defense, I grew up in the hood.

When we drive by these corn fields, is that corn for us or is it for the cows?

It is for the cows.

So here's a, here's a cheat.

Here's a cheat.

Anytime you

see

cornfield, not, not so much right now, not so much right now, but as that, as that crop develops and tassels out, you'll see the top of the plant gets, you know, kind of, I don't know what even to call them.

They're not leaves, but you'll see that it kind of sprouts some growth on the top of the corn plant.

If it's kind of a darker color,

you know, a little bit more like the color of soil.

That's all for the cows.

All of it's for the cows.

Now, if you see something in the distance and it's real, real light, blonde on the top, top, top of the plant, the very top of the plant, that's probably sweet corn.

Because, and it'll have a, it'll have a thinner, finer stock, real fine, like easy to tip over if we get a wind event.

But yeah.

99% of the corn that you drive past is purely for the cows.

Did not know that.

See John?

You never knew that.

You never knew that.

That's awesome.

I mean, it's awesome to know.

Right, because you drive by that and it's like, I heard that, but God, I had no idea.

that it was that percent.

No.

Y'all would have guessed 50-50.

Pam,

we've got an important question here.

This is kind of serious.

How important are mental health services for farmers?

Is there a mental health crisis among farmers and ag producers these days?

I don't think that we talk about it very much by the nature of agriculture, but I think we really saw it amplified during the pandemic.

And it wasn't just farmers, it was everybody.

Everybody.

But stop and think about it.

Stop and think about it today.

You know, when I was a kid, there was, you know, farms all around ours.

My uncle farmed across the road.

My neighbors were farmers.

I mean, we had our own little community.

So if you needed something, you needed help, you needed an extra tractor, you just called them up or you went over and grabbed one, brought it back later.

Now, today's farmers are working by themselves to a large extent.

They are by themselves all day.

Why?

Because the kids aren't really interested in farming.

and they probably have their own life.

Anybody that's got a teenager, a tween, or whatever you know they're about.

sports or extracurricular or seeing their buddies or being doing other things.

And most parents wanna give them those opportunities.

So they're not pressured into coming back to do chores or stuff like that.

The wife works off the farm because maybe they need health insurance and that's a great way to do it.

Maybe they'd need the extra to income.

That's a great way to do it.

So it's basically the farmer and his dog and whoever else pulls in the yard.

So when the milkman pulls in, I talk to him.

If the FedEx or UPS guy drives in, I talk to them.

That's about the extent of it.

There aren't the farm neighbors near you that there used to be.

So when we got to the pandemic and you took away farmers opportunities to go to the feed mill and talk with one another, or going to church, which is a social mechanism for a lot of farmers, going to school events, the basketball, football games, et cetera, you really took away an incredibly important part of their social network.

And then you factor in what happened during the pandemic.

You and I didn't know.

How many gallons of milk are you going to be able to walk out with?

Is there going to be any meat in the showcase?

Are we going to get fresh produce?

I mean, all of a sudden, people did not take for granted their food or where they were getting it from.

Farmers got caught on the backside of that.

Dairy processors couldn't get employees to come to work, so I can't come and pick up your milk.

Well, what the heck am I supposed to do with it?

I got another milking coming up in four hours, and I need that

bulk tank space, so then they were forced to dump it.

Pam, unfortunately,

we are out

of time.

Can we get trying again very soon?

We got to talk more about this.

This is good stuff.

Next week, can we get you

out again to talk about this?

You bet.

All right.

You

bet.

It's not

a problem.

Thank

you.

You're

awesome,

Pam.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

Trucker Thursday and obviously convoy

did not get the

message to play trucker music

that that under the Thursday.

Maybe they listen to that.

Yeah, just we're not aware of that.

He just plays the

worst song by the worst band in American music.

No,

no, no, no, no.

I hate Queen.

Oh, you know who has Queen Kevin Vaness.

Kevin loves all

music.

Kevin, you never play Queen, do you?

How do you

guys handle the rain because we were talking last night I know you've played the city band concerts, but you know if it rains we I

I don't know when I was there we would we would postpone until the next day like tonight It's going to be about 78 degrees at six o'clock last night It was raining it was raining and they'd go ahead and play anyway And I think they do that's just then they get paid, but how do you what do you guys do when it rains?

Oh It's a nice early weather when you can't get it right by the hour right We were in Seymour last night and

They were going to cancel it first and they called me up and said, no, we think it'll be good.

Now it dropped down to 15%.

It's supposed to be 90%.

Okay.

So we go set all up and the band's coming in to soundcheck and they're like, Benaz, why did you book this?

It's raining all the way here from Appleton and Green Bay and all over the place.

So we soundcheck, it's raining cats and dogs.

There's nobody there.

So we said, ah, they'll start to tear down with that.

We get a boatload of people coming.

But they get, but where we're playing, we're undercover where they have to watch.

It's just out the range.

So they say, Hey, can we come up by the band?

So we turned it into a VIP concert.

Anybody comes up on a stage so you can sit all around the band and actually see what we're doing or how we do it.

And so we did, we just ran to all concerts, like a VIP with everybody on stage.

It was great.

That's,

that's creative.

That's taking care of your customers too.

Cause it would

have been a lot easier to say, sorry folks, we're going to pack up and go home.

Wow.

But, yeah, that's

awesome, Kevin.

That's awesome, Kevin.

That'll be close.

I mean, if we're doing that sing-sing-sing, the guy can come and sit right next to the drummer and watch him.

It's pretty cool.

I think that's really cool.

How does that work, Kevin, as far as if you guys got a gig, you know, one day this weekend or something, and it's 99 degrees or whatever?

Do you guys ever say... Too hot?

Yeah, a little too hot for some of our fellas?

You know...