Gridiron Dreams and Gourmet Schemes (Hour 2)

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

And

here are your hosts, John Mino and Jim

Schmidt.

Still working?

Okay.

Con cons last day convo last day his last day working with us because Todd's gonna be back tomorrow.

Well,

we'll see about

that We like con better.

We're gonna take a vote

convoy.

Yes You're right there.

I'm doing good.

Yeah Happy Tuesday.

I called I got here and I called con I didn't see him here.

I'm like, dude, you know, where are you?

He's I didn't even look out the window.

He's sitting in his car eating breakfast like okay

So he was here early, but having

what does the con have for breakfast?

No, he's a healthy guy get this I asked him that I thought for sure it was a McDonald's drive-thru Was con watermelon, right?

It was watermelon and I had some scrambled eggs.

That's that sounds weird the water little weird little weird water melon's my favorite side, okay?

Okay, I enjoy with everything scrambled eggs

That kind of healthy though, I think really

he might be on to something there con Well, you know you eat that you eat the watermelon and then

Don't eat together, obviously.

Oh, I thought it was kind of like mixed together.

No.

No.

Oh, that's what I thought when you said that.

That's what I thought.

OK.

We're in a hurry.

We only take so many spoonfuls.

So spoonfuls, we just kind

of... God, we're old.

You have to

eat... Right, right.

As long as it's... Well,

all right.

So I have eggs and watermelon on the side.

OK.

That's great.

That's good.

That's good.

You know

I've been eating?

What why do you always do that cuz it's you know, it's funny cuz I was talking to somebody yesterday.

She goes, you know, you guys sure talk about food a lot

It's the nourishment of life one

night it was I did what she said I said, well, we're we're working on a plan we're on a we're on a program So anyway, yes, but hey, I'm gonna try something today, too, and I get home this morning,

but no so anyway, okay?

Here's what I eat get back to all right under I'm 211 by the way not bad not horrible

What

No that, just wait.

That's good,

isn't it?

That's okay.

I was down at 209 and then I put a couple on quickly.

Yeah.

Okay, so I told you I wanted to get

up.

You know what I've been drinking?

I shouldn't say this.

No, don't drink alcohol, man.

Mm-mm.

Oh, then I won't say it.

Yeah.

So anyway, but no, here's what I've been eating,

okay?

Mm-hmm.

So I get these frozen chicken breasts from Aldi, I think.

Yeah, that's fine.

Okay.

They have good meat there, actually.

They buy right.

Yeah.

They buy a lot of their beef comes from AFG, which is really, really good beef.

So anyway.

Sweet.

OK.

So chicken breasts.

All you gotta do is put them in the microwave for 10 minutes.

I don't like microwave

chicken, but OK.

OK.

I don't know how to use an oven, Jim.

I told you that.

That's true.

You're right.

So, Mike, if I don't want to fry it because I feel like it's going to stink up my place when I fry stuff.

Then frying garlic.

Do you like to smell garlic?

I love garlic.

OK.

You have that stuff that's ground up already, don't you?

Yeah, those little jars.

Don't buy a little jar.

That's too expensive.

Buy the

bigger jar.

They ain't cheap, I'll be honest with you.

No, that

little jar is like $4.99.

You get a

big jar for like $7.99.

So it's probably three or four of those little jars.

So yeah, you get a big jar, especially if you use it.

And I like garlic

too.

Oh, I do, yeah.

That's my favorite.

Yeah, that's good to see.

So anyway, but listen to me.

This is healthy.

I'm helping people.

I heat it up for 10 minutes in the microwave, the chicken.

Then...

There's a little rubber

on it that comes out.

Oh, God, can I continue?

Can

I... Okay, I don't know, man.

Why don't know why you're not...

Do you have an air fryer?

Do you

have an air fryer?

No.

Do you have

an air fryer?

That's chicken in the microwave.

That's the best way to cook it.

Why don't you bake it?

Just let me know when you're... Con, let me know when he's done.

What are you saying, Con?

Do you eat chicken?

Would you take a frozen chicken breast and put it in the microwave?

Well, no, I know you

heat up food in the microwave.

That's why they're that's what they're for.

I mean, I would I would thought before anything.

Yeah.

Well, you know what, you're not me.

All right.

I just think you have other resources.

Can I just finish?

OK.

So I take I put in the microwave for 10 minutes.

OK.

Then I put it in the frying pan with olive oil.

I cut it up into small cubes.

Yeah.

Cubby old type things.

And I put it in the frying pan with olive oil.

OK.

and eggs and jalapeno peppers.

And I put some of the jalapeno juice in there to cook

it.

Okay, that's good.

All right, that's good.

That's good.

I don't know why you wouldn't do the whole thing like that.

What do you mean?

Why are you putting the microwave?

Just cut up the chicken into cubes.

You know, slice the chicken breast in half because it's too thick.

And you cut it up in cubes.

put it in with the just do it in the frying pan

well okay well because eggs only take like two minutes versus cooking at the chicken who says

you gotta put everything at the same time just

put what else you're gonna

do put the chicken in first wait till that gets you know almost done and then throw the eggs in and then put some lettuce you put some lettuce spinach in there no that'd be good some tomatoes no jalapenos oh jalapenos that's good

but the garlic juice

is really good to cook eggs with is what I'm saying yeah it's

a little vinegar

yeah

that's not bad no I don't get the microwave thing though

but anyway what

do

you

mean I don't know why you're using the microwave because that makes the chicken more

rubberous because I don't want to get food poisoning

how's that uh I do it my way you wouldn't get food poisoning it cooks it's just that it cooks first so you don't this is the reason why you don't

This is the reason you use microwaves.

You don't know that you could cook the chicken first and then add the jalapeños and eggs later.

But you could.

And that's what you should do.

And you should throw in a teaspoon of garlic.

Yeah, I would.

Yeah, garlic, I would.

If I had the garlic.

But it goes through so fast.

That's one of those things where you buy it and it's like you use it twice and it's gone.

Excuse me, you buy that little jar.

I know.

I know.

I'm just saying.

But anyway, throw it out of myself.

That's much better than...

a lot of other stuff you shared with us.

So yeah, good.

I pretty much don't drink anymore.

What?

Do you get that kind of like you think that's definitive?

I pretty much don't drink anymore.

But when I do, did you drink a lot?

No, I don't.

I only buy little bottles.

I like by the little

bottles.

That's

more expensive

too.

Hey, you're

always talking to me about, you know,

I.

Okay, whatever.

All right.

I'm just saying I'm trying to help you a little bit,

but you know, it is a really good summer drink.

Actually, I did this last night, sat out of my patio where it was 116 degrees.

Okay.

I thought, you know what song I kept thinking of?

Um, hot child summer in the city, back to my next getting dirty and gray.

Red and pretty,

right?

Remember that?

Yeah.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So anyway, that Tennessee whiskey, Tennessee Convoy, what's the name of that stuff?

It's kind of like a red ball.

It's a Jack Daniels, but it's, it's a red label.

Yeah, that's expensive

Jack

is Jack

fire.

That's why I only buy yes

Jack

fire.

That's why I only buy real little bottles

What Because this is what he does con he'll go by eight little bottles He could buy one big bottle and have like 12 to 13 little bottles, but he doesn't think like that But the probably it's better for you.

You know what?

I'll take that back.

It's better for you to buy the little bottles.

Because if you have a big bottle, you might drink

too much.

I

watch.

I know.

Okay.

So

this is like discipline in the little.

Yes.

I'm disciplined.

What?

I got big bottles of vodka

and shit.

No, I got little but the biggest bottle of booze I've had is the one that you gave me at your Christmas party.

Yeah, I, I, okay.

I don't.

Yeah, I don't drink.

So that's, I know you don't.

All I'm saying is it's a perfect summer drink.

So what was in there?

Just that, just that.

I just drink it right out of the bottle.

I thought you were going to tell me that you remember that bar we went to and they kind of grilled the lemons.

And yeah,

it was like

smoked.

Yeah, I do.

Where was that?

Was that that was that was that Zamboles Zambinis?

No, I don't think they have

a girl in

there.

Where was that?

That was good.

That's they did kind of took a lemon.

And I think it was like I could have been.

Vodka, I'm not sure but then they you're right.

They took the lemon and

oh They brought it here.

They brought it here,

and it was it's it was like a smoked Yeah, vodka tonic.

It was

really expression lemon.

Yeah

That was good.

Who was that?

That would be a perfect summer that would be

a great course.

You could have a grill though on your deck.

Can you know

I?

Just use a candle or something even

I could maybe you know, we live close enough.

I could run some

Oh my gosh, that was that was a good

good thinking about

that, but I

refreshing

they brought it.

Yeah, you're right We didn't go out get a text here Jim is quite snarky this morning and that's from snarky Brian Wow.

Yeah.

All right.

What does that say

something?

Brian.

I'm getting ready.

You are the educator I have to teach today at 8 30.

So I'm kind of getting getting ready for the students.

That's why I'm snarky We've ever flunked anybody No, I

Well, it's like, drop this class, or I'm going to flunk you.

Oh, OK.

One of those things.

So they drop because they don't want that on the record.

D's, I think I told you at TC, they don't transfer.

A lot of kids go to TC, save a little bit of money, go there for one or two years, then transfer to GB.

And, you know, these, yeah, that's too bad.

You know, isn't that crazy, though?

When you look back on things, and I did it this, I did it this.

Believe it or not, the one smart thing I've done in my lifetime was going to a junior college, a community college first.

It's the exact same classes that I would have had at Arizona State University for 10 times the amount.

It was still English 101 or whatever, whatever, for a 10th of the amount.

And sometimes like at TC, they'll help you with some remedial things at no cost.

Like I say, look, you're not, you really should, you should be a little bit more advanced in math and they'll like coach you along.

They have great

student support at that place.

So, but, I mean, if you can, a D, yeah, and that's too bad.

I felt bad about it and they were all upset about it, but I'm like,

look man.

What are you gonna do?

You know what were great classes to have for those kind of things that's not in your major?

The ones where they had a program for teachers, for future educators, where they wanted them to just have some

Knowledge of like like I said that physics class was gonna be that I although I dropped it half way through the syllabus But those types were just to give you a taste of those things.

Yeah,

those are good classes Well that

right that's called a that that was one of my

concerns I walked out half way through the syllabus,

but I didn't know you did have to do the syllabus What does that mean that does it syllabus is the outline of the course?

Yeah, it's

So you got halfway through the course.

No, I got halfway through the professor going through the syllabus.

20

minutes.

I thought you were talking about four weeks.

20.

It was probably 14 minutes.

Well, I got up and walked out through the syllabus.

Yeah.

Okay, yeah, that

guy just knew it right then.

It's gonna happen.

You know what this ain't gonna work This I'm out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Got a text here from Michael says Jim I'd love to be a guest professor in your business class I'll bring microwave chicken for the students a treat.

I tell you what Michael

I'll take half of that I will take you as a I like I love bringing

you would be a good you'd be a

good speaker.

He would

be

really good.

Although I you know Yes, I like and I think I'm

gonna work for

him.

Yeah, that'd be good Mike is hiring

me.

Yeah

Well, now that he can't respond, I like bringing in guest speakers

for like, oh,

can you

never ask

me?

An hour.

You know who's going to speak at my class is Nick.

I just love a side hustle out the doors.

Cheese curd, Nick.

Oh, yeah, that's that dude has his whole business financials on his phone.

Like he, everybody looks at him like I just, you know, hand him off.

It's like, no, that guy knows what he's doing.

He's got savings and he's going to come in and talk.

I would.

Yeah, Michael would be great.

Anything that has.

to educate the students on business in the real world.

Because the theory, we have so many books and articles, and even today we gotta watch some video on, it's interesting, today we learn about different types of- Do you ever do film clips?

Remember those?

Convoy.

Do you

have

film clips?

No.

No, today it's about entities, right?

Soul proprietorship, partnership, LLC.

I could do that.

What You do have your

own LLC I did you

okay

minor productions, right?

Absolutely.

That's

cool.

We could talk about the advantages and disadvantages to that.

Yeah

tax implications.

I could say the real reason I did that during the break.

There's been some financial things.

Convoy!

Did you get a hold of my buddy?

I screwed up, man.

We've got

to get a new

board.

Well, that's probably with our board.

So just we need Todd.

All

right, we're going to run out of time.

The listeners, we have a board of what's coming up and John didn't know when Wednesday was.

So he kind of filled up Thursday.

I did.

But today I fixed it.

All right.

We're going to stop the break.

Back after this.

Yes, you know what the okay the next break you don't show on a what okay lawyers guns and money

I'll see if I can

find warren sieve on great song lawyers guns and money

I'll find it.

Okay.

Thank you

some Guy die yesterday some famous musician.

Oh, I don't know.

Hey

played his song.

I know I never heard his music before who?

Yeah Like real famous

Yeah, I mean it was it was a national I don't know.

I saw that but

suddenly type thing or

yeah, I think so I don't know but one of those like bands like like like meatloaf that kind of band Well,

he's dead.

Yeah, he died.

Yeah.

I met him one

time.

Did you

yeah?

You know what?

He was a huge Packers fan.

That's awesome.

I did a story with him.

There's a couple

of

guys out there that are like, oh man, was he like a county fair or something like that here?

And I interviewed him

And I didn't put it together.

Somebody else, I think, put it together.

His hero was Fuzzy Thurston.

Wow.

Yeah.

And he got to meet Fuzzy Thurston.

That was a big thing for him.

That's a big thing for him.

That's cool.

That was his, he was a high school football player and Fuzzy Thurston was his hero.

Hmm.

Yeah.

Huge pack.

You know what?

We have a great, interesting guest coming on.

And you're going to take the last half hour with him alone because I'm going to leave.

I wonder who his hero is this Christian Collins.

Yeah What he did in that state championship game last year was beyond anything I've covered sports since you know 1910 and I've never seen anybody have a single game like he had did

Like I don't I he's my neighbor, right?

I mean I know him and his brother and his dog all the time But I read about him last night a little bit Wow Amazing That this guy is

in the state of Wisconsin and all record-keeping for yards.

And that game was unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

Yeah, he's a super nice kid.

I mean, that's how I know him.

I think that's great when great things happen to great people.

Anyway, so he's coming on at eight.

Great.

Talk to him.

Let's see who's.

Hero is.

Besides you.

Yeah, absolutely.

Besides you, of course.

Actually, I spoke with our boys from Channel 26, Channel 32.

We're doing high school football again this year.

Oh, cool.

So that'll be fun.

We're actually getting ready to shoot our pre-game show.

and uh that's you know what that people i get this all the time hey planar you're still doing this god you're like 80 years old to be able to it's like i don't care that's something i still there's something about friday night football that i still there's something about high school sport i wouldn't do it for the packers i wouldn't do it for college but high school sports yeah just the whole atmosphere i still love

did you did you do

Any Notre Dame's games or isn't that

part of your network?

No, we didn't.

Okay.

Well, it is, and they're on our schedule this year, but just by chance, for whatever reason, they weren't on our schedule last year.

Who picks them?

Do you go into those meetings?

Ted pretty much does it.

Huh.

Yeah.

He follows.

I mean, he studies that like you can't believe.

So.

Do you have a

spotter?

for like the with the binoculars because

you know to be honest with you the booths are so small you can't really we're still talking behind you Ted's such a big body my god Ted is like six foot yeah he just takes up a lot of space okay there's there wouldn't be room in 95% of the booth there wouldn't be room for another person

well

yeah yeah okay

But still, I love it.

Yeah, you do.

You know who our spotter is at times?

Mark Houston.

Oh, yeah.

He's a good guy.

Oh, my God.

Mark sees everything.

And so Mark's kind of like our spotter when he's at.

Oh, yeah.

That's gotta be fun.

It is.

Just the atmosphere.

Did you have to go through like a big assessment?

Like you can't gamble, right?

On high school?

No.

Didn't you tell me one time that like to do a sports announcer, you have to fill out this form and you gamble and I thought they asked a

lot.

Oh, no, that was for the Wisconsin herd.

Oh, that's an NBA thing.

Oh, NBA.

That's through the NBA.

That's why I didn't do it.

I'm serious.

That's why I said, I'm out.

I wouldn't do it.

I know, right?

Take my phone away.

Yeah.

Actually, you know, it's so funny.

I got to show you something.

This isn't good.

A buddy sent me a picture that he took of me in high school.

You see it?

Yeah.

I

know.

Go into your reunion right two weeks.

I don't know.

With the lunch lady.

Yeah, I don't know if I'm going or

not.

Hang on.

Okay,

anyway.

Want to see me in high

school?

Not really, but hey,

who are

you?

Which one are you pointing?

I'm the guy throwing the pass.

Oh, it looks like you're pointing.

No, see the balls appear.

Oh, you already threw

it.

Yeah.

Oh, that's great, John.

Good form.

Good form.

Why do you have that with you?

He sent it to me last night.

Oh.

He was a photographer.

And he's going through all the pictures.

He's got like 1,000 pictures of stuff that he took over the years.

You know what's cool about that?

I just, I'm doing that right now.

Let me tell you.

This is something you can do.

I was going through my phone and just some pictures of, because it goes back, I don't know, when did I get my phone?

What, 20 years?

and you can just click the pictures and send them and they print them for two cents each.

Print them, what do you mean print them?

Like they'll send them back to you, print it.

And then what you do with them is you just take that and that becomes like a postcard, just write the address on the back and hey, and you can send like, I would print that out, send it to you and say, hey John, good times, see you at the reunion.

You're not very impressed by that picture.

No, I'm not, I'm more impressed

with

the concept.

You're not the slightest bit impressed with that.

She'll let the con at the break and see convoy.

Maybe I'm missing something.

He's got to work over there.

Let me

want this Johnny I want to broadcast a game with you.

I'd be a good color commentator Michael absolutely.

Yeah, he would be he's so knowledge.

Yes.

Wow,

you know that

That could work.

Yeah, I do in the heartbeat.

Yeah, so you don't pick the games though.

Okay, I know that we got it We got the schedule lined up though for this year.

All right, that'd be fun I just can't announce it yet.

We're gonna be announcing we're doing our extra.

We're shooting our pregame special at little shoot high school

That's a cool point.

You know what?

Those little towns are so under.

I mean, God bless Appleton.

We talk about it Nina, whatever the little shoots, the grand shoots, the cacanas.

They're cool little towns, aren't they?

I mean, they got their own identities.

They do.

And they, you know, they work together.

Even that.

Is that one of the She's Fest where all the money

went back to

public public parks?

That's

very, very

cool.

So

what have you got, Con?

No, you didn't you fail.

No, I got it.

I

got it.

I got it coming up after this break.

I got it.

Don't

worry.

Let's get some coffee.

Who's this

orange even lawyers guns and money?

Keep it up.

Keep it up.

Keep it up.

Is

his birthday or what?

No, he's dead Turn it up con These kids all right All

right, let's get to our

guest.

She's awesome.

Come on.

She's this

is gonna be good.

All right Pam Yankee.

Good morning

I'm, I'm with you.

Turn it off.

We'd rather listen to you.

You get so much going on to share with our listeners and with us.

Midwest Farm report.

Yes.

When we had you on the other day and we just kind of scratched the surface when you were talking about something which was so like compelling.

It's like, and it's about the mental health of people in agriculture.

It's mental health awareness month for men.

Yeah.

So we were talking about that.

And then it's like, people talk a lot about different industries and people don't really think about corporate thing or divorces and all that, but people don't really think about the entrepreneur, the farmer, the risk they take.

And there's some issues there.

And Pam, you want to just, we started talking about them around at a time.

You want to pick up the

right where we were, Pam, if you don't mind.

Yeah, no problem.

Do me a favor though.

Introduce yourself.

Tell everybody what you do.

I thought everybody knew.

Sorry.

Sure.

Happy to do it.

Happy to do it.

Yeah.

So they call me the fabulous farm babe.

I'm a Wisconsin born dairy kid from O'Connell County that struck it lucky to find her passion.

sharing the stories about Wisconsin agriculture.

I've been doing it for a couple decades now.

I am the farm director of the Midwest Farm Report Network that's heard on civic media.

We've got 40 radio stations across the state that we're sharing our stories with every day, Monday through Friday in our website newsletter, et cetera, doing all that kind of stuff.

And like I said, just love trying to help people better understand agriculture today.

It's not the bibs and

you know, pick a toothpick in the mouth, red barn, white picket fence that many people have been led to believe looks a whole lot different today.

And we like to remind people about

those changes that have happened.

Still 98% of Wisconsin is family farms.

So no matter what you drive past, no matter how big that dairy barn may look, it probably is multi generations that are there, which can lead to some of the stress that we're talking about.

So the first thing I want people to realize is that farmers, specifically male farmers, are one of the highest risk.

for suicides that we have in the United States.

They are two times, I believe, more likely to commit suicide than any other demographic.

And part of what you brought up is part of the reason why most of what agriculture involves are beyond the control of an individual farmer, namely weather.

You know, right now this morning I'm using our top

our talk text line and we're talking a lot about the rain.

Toma this morning, checking in with seven into the rain.

Fondlack this morning picked up more than two inches of rain, power out.

If you're like me, I need air conditioning, so do our cows.

So farmers are waking up trying to deal with that.

The other reason why farmers seem to fall into a very high risk category for suicide, a couple of different things.

In Wisconsin, we're really comfortable with alcohol.

It's kind of just the way a lot of us grew up.

The other thing is in agriculture, we're pretty familiar with firearms.

Hunting obviously is something that a lot of people in Wisconsin enjoy.

Farmers are part of that category.

So when you put the two together and then you put in commodity prices, we cannot control.

Weather that we cannot control.

Dynamics of being very much alone in agriculture.

There was a time when husband and wife or maybe the kids were always around.

Now a lot of these farming operations, it's kind of just me, myself and the dog.

Or maybe it's another,

employee but not many neighbors around that we have to share, you know.

thoughts with.

So we really noticed a severe downturn in mental health in the entire agricultural community happened during the pandemic.

Farmers are generally social creatures.

They like to be with each other while all of our farm conventions were canceled.

Sports, they love to get out and support the kids at sports.

Well, that's not happening.

Church, another foundation that a lot of agriculture leans on.

While we're not really going to church or we're not interacting the same way.

So all of a sudden that ice

I know my husband's an agriculture as well and Even to go out and visit a farm as an agribusiness The protocol that was in place meant that you had to stay six feet away from that farmer So, you know that that just it puts an awkward space in and and again lend to

that mental health concern that we've got for agriculture.

Now the good news is when we open Pandora's Box during the pandemic, we also realized the shortage of tools that were available not just for Wisconsin farmers but farmers in general.

And that's when we really saw funding start to stream in for services that are kind of designed not just for farmers but for their families as well.

You know, think about it.

Farm families face not only the stress of being in agriculture, but they face the stress that a lot of families deal with in general.

Alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, drug problems in rural communities, that may be part of the mix here.

So the Wisconsin Department of Ag Trade and Consumer Protection really championed a couple different things that Wisconsin farmers have been able to lean on.

The first is always the Wisconsin Farm Center hotline.

Now that's housed within the Wisconsin Department of Ag, Trade and Consumer Protection.

It's a fantastic staff that does a lot of different things.

They are not only about your mental health, but they're also counselors in farm finances.

Maybe you can't figure out how to make ends meet.

They will help you when it comes to dairy questions.

Maybe cows are just stumping you as far as why they're not producing or why they're sick.

They'll help you there.

They will connect you with attorneys if you're looking at a transition or generational planning.

Just a lot of things in one spot.

And that number is 800-942-2474.

Again, that's 800-942-2474.

Or you can also send them an email, farmcenterat...

Wisconsin dot gov.

Now they handle, they handle calls and emails during normal business hours.

There's another

one.

I

just want to jump in real quick on one quick thing here.

When you mentioned tools, I mean, just you weren't talking about that literally, you're talking about legal and mental type of health type of tools that are available to those people.

But with that being said, aren't they kind of an independent breed of people

too proud?

Yeah.

Oh, for sure.

Yeah, that's probably our biggest.

That's honestly, boys, that's probably our biggest obstacle right there is number one for that individual to admit that they need help.

Yeah, because we are very much a and you know this to be true.

You guys are you guys are from Wisconsin in agriculture.

It's all about.

Come on.

Tough not.

Yeah.

You lace up your boots.

Get up.

Get out there.

work it off, that type of thing.

And like I said, I grew up in agriculture.

This is my whole life.

And I understand that stigma to get especially a male to admit that they need help is paramount to trying to find, you know, get answers.

But boy, oh boy, I have had too many stories where getting them to admit that never happens.

And then the family suffers a loss.

And like I said, sometimes it's been happening over years.

It's not a one incident.

It's not a barn fire.

It's not a farm accident.

It's not one incident.

It's something that seems to generally build over time.

And then finally, it's just somewhere they reach a tipping point.

But you're exactly right.

And those counselors that I mentioned at the Wisconsin Farm Center are trained to listen for keys.

for tells, something in your voice, something that you say.

I had a really eerie conversation with an insurance agent the other day.

Now, remember, I am immersed in agriculture.

This is all I do.

And he just came up to me and he said, hey, Pam, keep doing what you're doing.

He said, yeah, I just had a guy call me the other day wanting to know about the value of his life insurance.

And he said that automatically set off sirens.

He said, when somebody calls and asks about life insurance, he said, I automatically start kind of rallying resources around them so that they have people paying close attention to them.

Because generally, the only reason why a farmer is inquiring about something like that is they are starting to mentally plan to take care of, and they want their family taken care of.

They want the farm taken care of.

If a farm, you

know.

I say to me that you talked about the pressures of, you know,

uncontrollable forces, the external, the weather, the commodity pricing, the isolation.

But the pressure on me would be to kind of screw up or mess up or lose a generation

of business.

I would

think of my great, great grandfather

who's

never met, but say, what is he looking down on me thinking?

That would be like, and I, I've made some money, I've lost some money, but it was always mine.

I just wouldn't want that pressure.

Totally agree.

That would be like.

And that's got to be there, huh?

Yeah.

And unfortunately, some of the things we're talking about will never go away.

The weather issues, the whatever, whatever.

Yeah.

That is part of the game,

right?

But to lose

that

after four generations, I'd be like, uh-uh.

Oh, yeah.

Well, and, you know, like I said, I am fourth generation on our family farm in O'Connell County.

We still farm.

Now, granted, my broadcast headquarters in Madison, but you will see my truck.

Burning up and down highways all the time when it's time for the cows are gone But we still do cash crops and you're right carrying that mantle of Continuing the legacy of that farm is a big responsibility and the other thing is some when farms are forced through economics or otherwise to Sell the cows change professions per se.

They may still have the farm, but maybe the cows leave

Yeah.

The identity of that farmer leaves.

I hear this time and time again.

If I'm not a farmer, what am I?

That's right.

Yeah, completely, completely.

And I try to tell them, you don't realize how good you are.

A farmer is an accountant.

A farmer is a nutritionist.

A farmer is a mechanic.

A farmer is, you know, a

really a community spokesperson, a farmer is a nutrient manager.

They do so many things in their life farming, but if those cows go, my identity is gone.

And getting them to think beyond milk and cows, beyond plowing fields.

is really a challenge.

And I had mentioned to your producer before, there's a gal named Jess Bochamp.

She actually lives in Abrams.

She is the farmer wellness counselor.

And I've talked to Jess and those questions and those conversations happen often with her.

She also has a free service provided through the Department of Agriculture, but it's a different phone number.

And they're available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Wow.

And the farmer wellness hotline is 888-901-2558.

I'll give it again.

888-901-2558.

And what Jess does is listen.

24 hours a day, seven days a week, you call that number and somebody is going to listen.

Pam, we have to

send it to a quick break.

Can you hang on?

We're going to have you back on in two minutes.

Pam Yankee, the Farm Babe Midwest Farm Report.

This is fascinating stuff.

Back right after this.

Hey, welcome back mind of the mayor here gonna look at Tuesday morning 72 in Green Bay 71 in Alton 71 and I today 72 degrees it is swimming lap day Swim a lap day.

I'm gonna do that

If

I know

how to do that, yeah,

we're

with yeah, I'm Yankee and Pam you see a swimming lap day.

Where's that?

Would you know that under a high 72?

Oh

Yeah, Pam.

Yeah, I just got it.

We just got a text um

from vicki pam just from vicki pam jay is absolutely crushing it this morning great content thank you for educating us so those are the people that are listening right now pam and you're bringing such important stuff to the forefront that we don't talk about right that's what you didn't even know about

no that's what's cool about this show is we kind of bring some stuff to the surface that we didn't know right

Because we don't know a lot of stuff.

There's a lot of stuff we don't know.

Our listeners know a lot more.

We're just

scratching the surface.

Hey, I want to talk about mental health, but I also want to, we just talk about the connections that farmers have that they can't control.

Even this Iran thing, right?

Doesn't that affect farming a little bit?

Do we send product to them?

Exporting.

Lately.

Lately.

since 1970s, not so much.

But I did pull some statistics that I thought were interesting, just in case there's a consumer out there that feels a disconnect, might want to keep an eye on pistachios.

Iran is the number one pistachio man grower in the world, ahead of the United States.

They are also big in certain fruits and raisins, things like that.

I don't see a lot of impact on things like dairy or livestock.

But remember some of the technologies that we've got in Wisconsin may end up going to Iran where they are still working to try to make sure that they are food secure themselves They do not have as much arable land for agriculture as we have in the United States So I'm learning a little bit more there as well But like I said for on the short term not a big impact for Wisconsin agriculture,

but exporting is a big part of their business, right?

just exporting well

Go ahead.

I just think that export the big part of our business Yeah, that's what I'm saying because I have some friends who are in manufacturing and I think that tariff thing is settling down a little bit But they're like holy mackerel.

Are we gonna these days could be a customer or not, you know You know that's something else that's out of their control I just you know the more I think about it the less I mean, it's it's great It's rewarding your feet in the community, but I don't know maybe too much risk for me on that and I love I could never do it

Hey, Pam, did you see them way?

I know I asked this last time you're on green and gold.

Is that the name?

Yeah.

Did you see it?

Oh, yeah, I

was at the premiere.

Oh, what did you think?

I really enjoyed it.

I mean, it was a little cheesy with the Packer aspect, but what did you I thought that kind of like boy, it kind of opened my eyes to the fact that if this is based on reality, how farmers and I mean, it's it's serious stuff, huh?

Well, it remember was the reality of the 90s right not today, right?

Although I am a diehard packer fan, and I love agriculture So those two components were there do not think that the way that Craig T. Nelson was farming outside of Sturgeon Bay is kind of the way we're farming today, but green and gold I love it I endorse it support it if you haven't seen it try to watch it because it is a it's a good it's a good story

to get people connected with some of the challenges of agriculture.

Yeah, I don't think people use horse and plow anymore the way he did, right?

Correct.

Hey, Pam, we're talking a little bit more about it.

We're Pam Yankee here of the Farm Bay Midwest Farm Report.

You are so passionate about this.

I can't think that agricultural people could possibly have a better advocate than you.

Well, like I said, there's a lot of us out there.

I just happen to be lucky enough to be an old broad in this business.

So have built an audience.

You know how it is and half the time in radio or broadcast is just hang on and survive.

Well, I've been very fortunate to kind of be the dodo bird.

You don't see many of me anymore.

So the uniqueness and the specialized area that I talk about is something that people really care about and cared about, especially during the pandemic.

And now I've got a staff of six that are

young enough to be my kids and they are just as passionate, just as excited and just as ready to carry the baton and help people better understand where their food comes from and how difficult any more these days it is to get it to your table and still find profitability.

Pam, I want to circle back to a few minutes left.

I want to circle back to the services that are offered.

You mentioned two, you give us some 800 numbers that they can contact given really any issue.

Is that all confidential?

Because maybe they want to call at night when the brother's not around or the kids aren't around.

Oh, for sure.

All

right, that's

cool.

And you bring up an excellent point that I hear from the counselors all the time.

Number one, of course, it is always confidential, absolutely confidential.

And the other thing is, you're right.

Jess Boatchamp was telling me some of her call volumes will tend to go up.

After about 11 o'clock at night, you know when you're you can't get away from your brain and You're by yourself or you're out in a tractor And you're just driving driving driving trying to get crops in or trying to harvest and you're all by yourself That is when a lot of people feel most comfortable to try to open up their soul to a complete stranger That isn't in isn't going to judge doesn't know your background or anything like that.

You are exactly right and quite frankly fellas

I give a rat's dairy air when you call.

The catch is call.

Yeah.

Make an effort.

Reach out.

You don't want to leave people behind.

Don't leave people behind.

And if you feel like somebody in your family, I don't care if it's agriculture or not.

If you feel like they're at risk, one thing that I've been told by the trainers is ask them.

Yeah.

Do you feel like you're suicidal?

Because sometimes just that in their face.

question will shake them into reality that they need to reach out or they need to unburden themselves and just but I don't know if I'd have that's a that's a big question you know what I mean

so I do so

searching myself but it's something to think about

Pam we got 30 seconds tell people how they can hear you

Love to.

Midwestfarmreport.com.

We've got our podcast playlist.

We've got a downloadable app.

And of course, any of the civic media partners that we've got, you can pick us up every day, Monday through Friday.

We'd love to share our stories.

Thanks

guys.

We love having you on.

You're fantastic.

Thank you for what you do, Pam Yonkey.

We get center break back after this.

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

And here are your hosts, John Mino and Jim Schmidt.

Hey, thank you very much.

Thank you, Con.

Okay, is it working?

Yeah.

All right.

So Convoy.

Yes.

You haven't thanked us.

Yeah, who gave you a free 18 holes?

No,

not really

Well, I do I do appreciate it.

I'm definitely gonna use that

so Khan has been filling in for Todd the last but four days right five six

Okay, anyway seems so much longer and he gets paid more than we do but we're not gonna bring that up But we are we didn't give him a little thank-you gift Johnny went and it was his idea went but did you drive up there and get it?

Yeah, well, that's cool.