Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this January 16th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here at 330.
We're going to welcome in our friends from the United Way, looking forward to
catching up with them. Right now, our great friend, Ashley Haginau,
76th annual Alice in Dairyland with us right now. Ashley, how you doing?
I am doing well. I'll beat a little bit chilly because it is.
It is chilly out there. It's the winter wonderland, but thankfully,
I have plenty of provisions to keep me going and I hope the same goes for you.
I appreciate you not only being on the air with us, but you're doing this from indoors,
so we don't have the teeth chattering. We don't...
Ashley, especially with the traveling you do and this kind of weather,
we certainly want to remind, I appreciate the note that you kind of start to wear
show within our pre-game. I hope everybody's staying warm out there, be safe, and
many of you Wisconsinites out there. You've been through this before. This ain't your first winter.
Make sure that you have all your things you need and back of your car, your truck, and
you're ready to go and be prepared for Mother Nature.
Exactly right. Now, it's important to have water, snacks, blankets, extra coats, boots, hats,
gloves, the whole nine yards to make sure that when winter weather hits, as it certainly has over
the last few days, we are all prepared together. Yeah, well said. Ashley, as you do travel the state,
we get the chance... when we get the chance to talk to you to highlighting different things about
Wisconsin, things that not only Wisconsinites can take pride in, but really learn about,
and I love when we get a chance to talk ginseng, and that's what we're going to do today.
I'm so excited to chat about ginseng as well to share more about this unique commodity for
Wisconsin, ways to use it, and resources where you can learn more because it is such an important
commodity for the state of Wisconsin, especially our agricultural industry.
And this is a perfect time not only to be talking about this, but to have you on the air with
the Chinese New Year and everything. And I think that's where we'll start.
Yes, the Chinese New Year is coming up here in just a few weeks, and we are celebrating Wisconsin
ginseng because of the Chinese New Year, which officially starts on February 10th and lasts until
February 24th. With the Chinese New Year, this holiday is celebrated across Asia, and each country
has its own customs and traditions, and certainly Wisconsin ginseng plays a very important role
in the Chinese New Year each and every year.
Actually, Wisconsin is well known for its ginseng production, but why is now the best time to
celebrate this unique Wisconsin commodity?
With the Chinese New Year, I love the chance to highlight just how important of a role ginseng
plays in Wisconsin's agricultural industry. Wisconsin is known for being the number one producer
of many different agricultural commodities, and as Alice in Dairyland, I enjoy the chance to promote
the diversity and abundance of Wisconsin agriculture wherever I go, and that includes Wisconsin
ginseng, as ginseng is one of Wisconsin's number one crops in addition to cheese, cranberries,
green beans, and a few other key commodities. In fact, we produce 98% of all cultivated ginseng
in the United States. That's 98% for the United States, and then we also grow 10% of the world's
supply of ginseng with the majority of our Wisconsin ginseng being produced in Marathon County.
So right there, just goes to show the immense impact that ginseng has on the state of Wisconsin
on our nation and truly across the world.
That 98% really stands out.
Oh, it does, and I was going to say 98% that such an incredible figure when we think about
how unique of a crop ginseng is, and we are able to grow so many different types of ginseng
here in Wisconsin due to our natural resource base, our climate and our geography,
that truly makes Wisconsin an ideal state for growing this specialty crop.
Hmm, and as far as celebrating Wisconsin ginseng because of the Chinese New Year,
that's going on. That's a perfect time to be doing it.
It certainly is, and we can celebrate the Chinese New Year in many ways here in the United States.
As 2024 is the year of the dragon, and in China, it is the most important festival.
It's the time for feast, gifting, and a time for family.
And I like to think we can celebrate that year close to home as well.
Popular rituals during the Chinese New Year include serving food that symbolizes good fortune
and making resolutions concerning what one hopes to accomplish in the next year.
So when we celebrate New Year and New Year in the year, the Chinese New Year has many different,
many similarities when it comes to spending time with loved ones,
goal setting, and really think about what you want to accomplish in the year ahead.
Well said. Ashley, have you ever gotten to see a Chinese New Year celebration or parade?
I have not, but I certainly would love the chance to, at some points in the future,
especially since I had the chance to travel to China earlier this year while serving as Alice
in Dairyland with the ginseng board of Wisconsin. So I had the chance to travel to Taiwan,
mainland China, and also Hong Kong promoting Wisconsin agriculture and promoting Wisconsin ginseng.
So I would love to get back at some points and maybe during the Chinese New Year
the witness those celebrations in person.
I'd love to talk with you more sometime about that trip. That is really fascinating.
That's really interesting. The parades are awesome. They're so colorful and beautiful,
but the best part, dragons. They've got dragons. They've got man-made dragons running around.
It's awesome. It's so cool. You got to check it out sometime.
Oh, I'll have to. And with it being the year of the dragon in 2024,
I'm sure there will even be more dragons on display during some of those festivals and celebrations.
Now what are some ways to use Wisconsin ginseng to kind of help celebrate this,
or just to use it in general?
When it comes to using Wisconsin ginseng, whether it's during the Chinese New Year or really
every day as part of our daily routine, there are so many ways to use Wisconsin ginseng.
And in the role of Alice in Dairyland, I have learned so much about Wisconsin ginseng
and ways to use this product over the last six months or so.
So Wisconsin ginseng, you can use it in tea. You can take it in a capsule form. You can grind it
into powder, or oftentimes it's sliced for steeping or cooking. We slice the root very thinly.
And those are just a few ways that we can use Wisconsin ginseng, especially when it comes to
traditional Chinese medicine practices, as it is most commonly used in countries such as China,
Korea, and Japan. And in Western cultures, we might use this as a dietary supplement or a
botanical element. It's really, you can use this amazing product in so many ways.
And I really enjoy learning more about different recipes that we can use Wisconsin ginseng in.
And one of those recipes is for a cherry morning smoothie, which I absolutely love smoothies and
all of the different flavors and ingredients that go into them. And you can use Wisconsin ginseng
and smoothies as well. So the recipe that I have for a cherry morning smoothie, it uses bananas,
spinach, coconut, vanilla extract, Greek yogurt, blueberries, cherries. And then you add in a little
bit of Wisconsin ginseng powder. You blend all of these ingredients together. And then it's really
ready to be enjoyed. It only takes about five or so minutes to put all of those ingredients together
and enjoy a delicious smoothie in the form of a cherry morning smoothie that uses Wisconsin ginseng.
Ooh, that sounds good. Man, that sounds like I got to try that. I have to try that.
It is. It's really good. I cannot stress that enough. I have to try that. That sounds so good.
And now I can make it myself. Thanks for the recipe. That's very cool.
You are so welcome. What about, oh, and I do want to remind people they can find that in other
recipes that real Wisconsin ginseng.com, real Wisconsin ginseng.com. Just get that out there one
more time. Where can we go to find more information about Wisconsin ginseng in ways we can enjoy?
If you would like to kind of just gave him the answer, did I got it?
Hey, we will reiterate it. That's what's so important. But if you would like to learn more,
and in addition to recipes on the real Wisconsin ginseng website, you can learn so much about how we
grow Wisconsin ginseng. Meet some of the growers of Wisconsin ginseng in our state. Learn more about
where we send our Wisconsin ginseng to in addition to recipes. So again, that online resource,
it is the ginseng board of Wisconsin's website, realwisconsinjinseng.com. That is your one-stop shop.
For all things Wisconsin ginseng, you can also follow the ginseng board of Wisconsin on Instagram
and Facebook. They are very active on both of those social media platforms, promoting Wisconsin
ginseng facts and ways to use Wisconsin ginseng in recipes. And also, while we are in the midst of our
Allison Dairyland campaign highlighting Wisconsin ginseng, you can go ahead and follow Allison Dairy
land on social media to continue increasing your knowledge about this very unique and very important
specialty root crop for the state of Wisconsin. I really appreciate that information Ashley.
We've got a little bit of time left and I'd like to talk about some other things with you if you don't
mind. You did have some additional information about the Chinese New Year that I thought was quite
interesting. When it comes to the Chinese New Year, again, this is celebrated across Asia.
And Wisconsin ginseng is definitely a central focus or a key role, a key component of the Chinese
New Year. When it comes to celebrating each country's own traditions and customs. As we talked
about, we both love dragons. 2024 is the year of the dragon to be celebrated during the Chinese New Year.
And in China and other countries across Asia, it is one of the most important festivals to celebrate.
We celebrate feasts and gift giving and a time for family, friends and loved ones during the Chinese
New Year. And it's a perfect time of year to get together and celebrate all that we are thankful for
in the year that was just completed while also looking forward to the future. And what resolutions
we can maybe make when it comes to what we hope to accomplish in the next year. So again,
the Chinese New Year celebrated across Asia. It's a great time to celebrate Wisconsin ginseng as well.
And a great way for us to get together with family, friends and loved ones, especially in countries
such as China, where it is most celebrated. Genching such a universal thing in such a world-known
thing. But the fact that it, you know, to think of people in other countries using our ginseng from
here and that it's such a humbling feeling. It's such a, you take a lot of pride in it, but it's
also got a humbling feel to it as well. It does. And when I was in China and had the ability
and the opportunity to meet consumers of Wisconsin ginseng, that for me was one of the most rewarding
parts of the trip and also serving as Alice in dairy lands because it's not often that you get
to meet consumers of a certain product that your state is known for halfway across the world.
So having the chance to hear what everyone loves so much about Wisconsin ginseng,
we are known for a very high quality product and a very bitter flavor that is well recognized
all over the world. And having the chance to hear the stories of why consumers continue to
purchase and use Wisconsin ginseng was very rewarding. And in turn, our group with the ginseng
board of Wisconsin that was traveling together, we had the amazing opportunity to tell the story
of Wisconsin agriculture and Wisconsin ginseng what makes our state so special for growing a product
like ginseng and it was such a rewarding experience. It's really smart on them too to have
people from the area be able to talk about it, be able to sell it. Nobody could talk about it,
nobody can promote it or give you the details that people from the area or people Wisconsinites
could be able to give to that. That's very cool to hear. I also wanted to mention too because you
brought up some great wonderful points about ginseng. There are so many key ingredients that are used
in a lot of not only traditional Chinese medicine but as we're we have adopted here in the west with
a lot of it. One of the things that I've learned from our friends at family and natural foods
was ginseng is also not a bad snack. Like I like I like knowing I like chewing a little bits of
ginseng. It helps boost your energy. It's good for the immune system.
Yes and there are so many newer products as well that incorporate Wisconsin ginseng.
There's ginseng chew, ginseng candies. When we were traveling abroad I had the chance to try
so many different foods that use Wisconsin ginseng such as soups and breads and other baked goods
desserts. There was also some little snack kind of in the appetizer side of things where they had
mushrooms and bread and it was infused with Wisconsin ginseng. It was so so delicious.
There are so many new and exciting ways to use Wisconsin ginseng to really make it a part of
your daily routine and your daily life which I think is really exciting for this product going
into the future. It could help you with not only a number of the things that Ashley and I have been
talking about but you're also going to be able to take pride and feel good about supporting a
Wisconsin made product. And that's really what it's all about when you consume and purchase Wisconsin
ginseng. You are helping to support our approximately 200 Wisconsin ginseng growers and support the
local economy during Wisconsin especially when it comes to the agricultural industry so it's a win-win
truly on all sides in my opinion. Perfect. We're speaking with Ashley Hagginaw at 76th annual
Alice in Dairyland and as much as we don't like thinking about this too much we will have to
introduce a 77th eventually. We love talking with you Ashley but eventually somebody's going to
house is going to have to wear that crown. I wanted to talk about people applying for it and give
them kind of a rundown, a timeline of how to apply and different notes that they may need to know
about qualifying for this and that. Well and I am so excited to share more about the application
and running process for the 77th Alice in Dairyland. It's hard to believe that about six months
into my year of service we are already beginning preparations to select that next individual who will
serve in the role of Alice in Dairyland but it's a very exciting time and it's really rewarding for
me to prepare to welcome our next group of applicants, top candidates and ultimately our next
Alice in Dairyland to serve in this incredible role. So starting first with the application process
applications officially opened for the 77th Alice in Dairyland on January 2nd and they will
officially close on January 31st. So we are right in the middle of our application period with
applications being open for the 77th Alice in Dairyland and if you are someone who is a Wisconsin
resident is female is at least 21 years of age and has at least three years of experience in
marketing, public relations, education and communication on behalf of agriculture or even outside
of the industry then you will qualify to apply for the role of Alice in Dairyland. So that's the
initial process is the application and again they're open right now through January 31st.
With some of those like the experience with public speaking and those actually when you came into
this position did you have a good body of experience with some of that or was that one of those
things that you were still learning you're so young I imagine that it's something that you're
learning as much as you have experience with. It's definitely a little bit of both. Having ran
for Alice in Dairyland last year to be selected as the 76th Alice in Dairyland I was so fortunate
from a young age to get a lot of experience in public speaking and communication skills especially
if you're being involved in 4-H and FFA and participating in speaking contest such as leadership
development events in FFA and judging dairy cattle and presenting sets of oral reasons in 4-H
and serving as a Wisconsin state FFA officer which allowed me to gain so many incredible leadership
and public speaking skills. So those were some of the experiences that I had when starting in the
role of Alice in Dairyland and from day one when you start in this role you are always growing and
always developing your public speaking skills and all other skills that you use each and every day
of Alice in Dairyland. I can truthfully say I have grown so much already from this experience and
it will continue to until my final day serving as the 76th Alice in Dairyland. So certainly if you
are an applicant and a top candidate for Alice you have likely had some experiences growing up that
have allowed you to gain different skills in those key areas of public speaking communications
and marketing but if selected you will continue to grow in those areas and you'll grow as a top
candidate as well with some new programs that we've had in place for the past few years. So you
truly gain so much from the experience and you learn so much along the way as well. If you are
fortunate and you're one of the six qualified candidates to ask to move on to the next step what
is the next step in the process. So after you apply and submit an application for Alice in Dairyland
from there we have a preliminary interview that is towards the end of February is when those
preliminary interviews will take place for the 77th Alice in Dairyland after those preliminary
interviews is when we select our top candidates. We have anywhere between five to six top candidates
each year and when you are a top candidate for Alice in Dairyland you undergo this amazing journey
to learn more about Wisconsin agriculture Alice in Dairyland how to prepare for the role of
Alice in Dairyland and what the day-to-day roles and responsibilities look like observing in this
role. Once you are selected as a top candidate at the press briefing which will take place the first
weekend in March in Door County that will then begin an eight week long journey where we have weekly
trainings and top candidates complete weekly assignments leading up to the Alice in Dairyland
finals. So if you are a top candidate you gain so many skills in marketing and communications
and you actually earn a certificate now through the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer
Protection here in Wisconsin as a result of going through that experience. It's a pretty nice
and pretty cool thing to be able to give to not only people in this position but for the for
people that you know going on after this position to have that on your resume is quite the note
right there. It is and that was why we decided to form a marketing and communications certification
from being a top candidate for Alice in Dairyland as we recognize that all top candidates going
through this experience gained so many critical skills but they can apply to any career whether it's
inside or outside of the agricultural industry and you also build such a vast network from being
a top candidate that definitely plays such an important role moving forward in all of our careers
whether selected as Alice in Dairyland or not. And then the final interview process will take place
in May and in early May the candidates traveled to host the final step to get to the final step.
As we continue preparations for the 77th Alice in Dairyland finals those official dates of the
finals taking place in Door County this year at Stone Harbor Resort in Sturgeon Bay. Those
specific dates are May 2nd through the 4th of 2024 and there are public facing events where
if you would like to purchase tickets and attend the Alice in Dairyland finals you can certainly do so
and those public facing events are Friday May 3rd and Saturday May 4th with a few different
components of the finals that will be made available to the public. And if you are interested in
attending the Alice in Dairyland finals to support maybe someone in your life who will be running
for Alice in Dairyland or just to attend and learn more about this incredible process all of the
information for the Alice in Dairyland finals can be found on our website Alice in Dairyland.com.
And again you want to learn about that cherry morning smoothie that I cannot wait to try or
anything else that recipe wise that she has on there. Real Wisconsin Jinsing.com is a wonderful
website to find that recipe and others and the blog that you guys do too Alice Ashley it's a
fantastic blog as well. Well thank you so much and we certainly keep our blog as up-to-date
as possible with my current travels across Wisconsin and also some key topics related to agriculture
at various points of the year. So all of that information Alice in Dairyland finals info
just current initiatives that the Alice in Dairyland program and our blog and everything
else related to our program can be found on Alice in Dairyland.com. Always appreciate the time.
Thanks so much Ashley. We look forward to seeing you and talk with you again real soon.
Thank you so much. Stay warm out there. It was a pleasure chatting today. You as well. Stay warm,
safe travels. We'll talk soon. Coming up next we've got a great guest coming up on Midday Magazine.
We've got our friends from the United Way coming right up here on WFHR locally grown radio.
