Season 2 Episode 1

Welcome back! It's been a while but we are back with a new podcast, discussing our trials and tribulations of planting our gardens this spring.  We talk about what we planted, lessons we've learned and what we are doing next.

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Transcript

GOML S2E1 - Edited

[00:00:00] 

This is season two, episode one of Get Off My Lawn. I'm Anne Reber. And I'm Shelly Parus. And welcome back. Yeah, so it's been a while, but it's been a busy time for both of us since it's spring. Yep. Yay. And since both of us are like avid gardeners, guess where we've been outside in the gardens doing lots of things.

Lots of chores. Lots of preparation. Uhhuh. Lots of planning. Yes. Lots of mistakes already. Oh God. [00:01:00] I know. So what did you, end up doing this spring with your garden? Well, we had a couple of really big other projects that interfered a little bit with the garden, but are positives. And one was we, had a new well put in.

Mm-hmm. So they ended up digging up a lot of the area where. The main garden was gonna be, and , certain parts of our yard and everything. But now that, now that's done, that's good. And I can really start focusing on that. But the big, big project was I had some deer fencing put in. Mm-hmm. And, and built some raised beds.

And so now I actually have a place where I can grow some food that maybe we could eat, not just the deer. Yes. And I know it's expensive, but it is so well worth it. Yeah. Just. 'cause I know people, when they think of deer, they think of Bambi. But deer are more like rodents. They're just pests. They're opportunistic, uh, eaters Yes.

[00:02:00] With no care of where they walk. Mm-hmm. Or what they might do. Or they eat and they strip the bark off of trees. You know, they'll eat entire, especially baby trees. Yeah. And fruit trees. They especially go after. So. Yeah. But yeah. Deer fencing. Yes. Well worth the investment. Very much so. It doesn't keep the bunnies out.

Nope. Which are another whole set of pest. Although they're so cute. We have some big jack rabbits. Oh, okay. The big hair. Not as cute. Not as cute. Equally destructive though. So in addition to deer fencing, we had to wrap our fence with chicken wire to keep out other. Things besides deer. Yeah, we started, we did some of that.

So we're learning, learning all of those things that we need to do because I was, uh, standing, kind of overlooking my garden and admiring the view, you know, and, uh, just literally watched this little budding hop up, jumped through the fence, hop around, checked everything out, and I thought, oh, he is [00:03:00] stuck in there now, so, you know, we'll mm-hmm.

Seal up that hole. And then, uh, he went, but no, he just like. Hopped through the fence. No, no, no worries at all. So yeah, definitely gonna need to put some mm-hmm. Chicken wire or something on the bottom half there to keep those smaller. Oh yeah. Critters out. Now if someone could come up with a way to keep out gophers Yeah, they like to, they can dig in, right?

So, oh yeah. Or Vols. Vols. Vols from, yeah. Yeah. They're equally bad, but gophers are horrendous. Okay. 'cause they went after a couple of my young apple trees, Uhhuh the. So, so yeah, we, I haven't seen any, any gophers around mm-hmm. Our place. So I don't know if we just don't have 'em or I just haven't seen 'em.

Yeah. So, yeah. So the gophers dig a lot of holes and they eat the roots. Is that what they do? Mm-hmm. Um, pocket gophers are really bad 'cause they don't come up to the surface. Mm-hmm. So you have to try to trap 'em down in their holes and that. Not easy. I think in my entire career as a [00:04:00] gardener, I've trapped three, and that doesn't even make a dent in 'em.

So how do you trap 'em? Just with like a live animal trap or what? Oh, how you trap them, like you trap 'em in their hole and just leave 'em in there. So, well, what you do is you take the trap and you tie like some twine around it and tie it to a stick. Okay. And you stick the stick in the ground. And so, and you shove the trap and as far into the hole as you can.

Okay. And so, um, the trap was designed to close after the gopher clo falls over it. So you just take the twine and pull the trap back out. Okay. So, all right, you got it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, they're kind of nuisance. I'm sure they have a purpose. Maybe, maybe, I don't know. Feeding other predators. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah.

But we need, we need more predators. Right. To take care of them. So what my husband and I have been doing is we are gonna start building rock [00:05:00] piles mm-hmm. To attract the bull snakes. Yeah. 'cause they'll come in and help take care of a lot of the golfer issues. So that's on our list of things to do this week.

Yeah. Just get some big piles of rocks. Yeah. I'd like to attract the snakes too, just so they can eat some of those smaller rodents and everything. Mm-hmm. I haven't seen, like I said, I haven't seen a whole. Whole bunch, but I did catch a little bull running around the other day. They're pretty, they're, they're kind of shy.

They don't, they don't actually come out much when you're there. No. Yeah. But you need tree protectors, which is those things you put around the base of the tree. Mm-hmm. Up to about a foot and a half, two feet tall to protect the bark because they will griddle a tree and kill it. Mm-hmm. Stupid little animals can kill a tree.

I have no idea how hard it is to keep a tree alive. Yeah, it is crazy. Well, I've planted a lot Uhhuh, so we'll see how they survive. But I've [00:06:00] got one that I don't think quite made it, but most of them are. Or they're hanging on. Yeah. You know, the plants have to be tough around me 'cause I'm not overly nurturing.

I was gonna say, I try, but it's like, okay, , all this effort to keep this damn tree alive, right. I want it to stay alive. Right. Because, yeah, okay. I'm an old woman and if I want a tree to at least grow so I can see it big enough, right.

I don't have a lot of time left, so yeah. I'm not sure. I'm not sure that'll ever happen for some of my little baby trees mm-hmm. That I planted this fall, but especially my barques. Yeah. So what did I plant this? Um, I got a bunch of trees. I planted some trees last year. Mm-hmm. But I got more trees this year from, from that place over, um, outside of Missoula.

It's in the Bitter Valley somewhere. My daughter actually was getting trees, so we got 'em together. So I planted a couple of service berries. Um, I planted two apple trees, [00:07:00] some quaking, Aspen. Mm-hmm. Um, huckleberry bushes. We'll see. They're alive again. There's, they're still alive. Uhhuh, so, so that's good.

Uh, blueberry bushes. What else did I have? I had some other things. I'm trying to remember. , Elderberry bushes. Those are doing well. Yeah, so I had, and two plum trees. So planted all of those. We'll see the plum trees were relatively big uhhuh and those came from that place too. Oh, okay. Those two that are inside the garden.

Yeah. So, yeah, they seem to be, are those American plums or what kind? There's two different kinds. I don't remember. Got 'em on. Cool. It was a deal. So anyway, so you wanna hear about my rookie mistake? Absolutely. My rookie mistake. So I, of course was super excited about starting seeds. So I started a bunch of seeds, tomato plants, pepper plants.

, Some different flowers and herbs and stuff like that early in the season and, but monitored was monitoring the weather, right? Mm-hmm. 'cause I wanted to get 'em out. , I know everybody else always says [00:08:00] you should wait till after Memorial Day, right? I just didn't think I had to wait that long. So I figured if I could find a stretch of time where there was at least a few, three, four days of good weather mm-hmm.

They'd be fine. 'cause they were big enough. I thought that they'll be okay. So I checked the weather and like the next three or four days looked good what I, and, and so I decided, okay, I'll go out and plan it. And what I forgot to do was, uh, check what the weather was gonna be like that night. Oh no. You know, rookie mistake and, uh, we had this huge rainstorm come through, so I planted all these tomatoes that I'd been nurturing inside for six to eight weeks, you know, and, and gained.

Started. Started very tender. Very tender, but I'd been doing all the things I, mm-hmm. Oh, and I forgot to harden 'em off too, so we should talk about that. Okay. I dunno. Do you do hardening enough? Yep. Okay. I got a couple of, yeah, so, so I've learned that that's a good thing to do. Mm-hmm. For those of you that don't know what it is, we'll tell you in just a minute.

But,, I, so I took 'em these wonderful, uh, little tomato plants [00:09:00] and pepper plants, and I'd been kind of giving them, like petting 'em, you know, have you heard about that? Like you kind of pet 'em and stuff. So they feel, so their stem stems are stronger uhhuh, so it simulates wind, or you even put a fan on 'em.

So people put a fan on 'em. That's what we do. But anyway. I just kind of liked the idea of petting them, so I pet 'em, and so I put 'em all out there. They were looking good in the new garden beds. Mm-hmm. In the new fenced in garden area that the deer won't be able to get to. So it's like all excited about it.

And then, yeah, they got hammered, hammered, hammered, and they were all pretty much the next day all just laying down looking really sad. Uhhuh. But I have kind of babied him and got him, like I tied him up a little bit. Mm-hmm. And they're still alive, so at least they seem like it good, you know? Well, they can survive that.

Yeah. We'll see. Yeah, we'll see. Maybe they will, hopefully they'll produce actually some, some fruit, you know? Yeah. But anyway, so hard enough. Talk about what you do for hardening enough. Well, our [00:10:00] indoor plants that we start putting 'em out on the patio when they're. Yeah, about six inches tall, you know, to, because then that exposes them to wind and sun and they start getting used to being outside.

And so we'll do that. And when the temperature gets 50 degrees in the morning and then in the, at late afternoon evening, we'll bring 'em back inside. And so we'll do that over the course of a couple weeks. And I know it's a lot of work, but it really helps the plant. So when they finally do go into the ground, they're used to being outside mostly.

Yeah. So we recommend you follow Ann's process instead of just throwing 'em in the deep end like I did. They're still alive though. Well, they are still alive, but we'll see how well they do throughout the season. Mm-hmm. I did, I did also plant somewhere. I actually did that process, so we'll see. I'm sure they're gonna be better.

They look better already. Oh, yeah. Out there. So, yeah. Yeah. That's. Okay. And then I also planted the, uh, did the three sister method. Mm-hmm. I don't know if we talked about [00:11:00] that at all, or, uh, I don't think we have. So the three sister method is a way of companion planting. Mm-hmm. , Where you plant corn and beans and squash, squash or pumpkin together.

And it, it helps each other, uh, you know, for different reasons. So, so the corn can serve as. As a stock for the beans to grow up. And then the squash, keeps the, , soil cool. Mm-hmm. Because it, the big leaves cover the soil and it keeps it from drying out. And then the beans of course, add wonderful nutrients to the soil.

Nitrogen. Nitrogen for the corn. Yes. And then you plant the idea is then the fourth sister is planting like sunflowers or amaranths around it. And I, so I did that and that. Theoretically is supposed to keep the birds from wanting to eat the corn 'cause they'd rather eat the sunflowers. Yep. Makes sense.

That's the, that's the thought. So anyway, I started that. You put the corn in first to get it to about six, five to six inches, and then you put the beans in. Mm-hmm. I might have put my [00:12:00] beans in a little too early. They were probably closer to four inches when I put the beans in. And so now they're getting a little tall faster, but I think they'll, I think it'll still all work out, so it'll be kind of fun to see what happens with that.

You'll have to let me know how that works out. We haven't put our corn in yet. We usually wait till, uh, first, second week of June, which is now, so probably this weekend we'll get all, all those really tender plants that can't tolerate the cold. Mm-hmm. Because. Even last night, it was in the low thirties.

So my potatoes that I've had in the ground for about a month and a half now, the upper leaves are like all wilty and black. Mm-hmm. Because they got frost. Oh. So we're still getting that out where we are. It's still getting pretty cold. Um, my black walnut tree that's been. In the ground for at least four years, but hasn't ever had a chance to [00:13:00] actually grow because every year it gets leaves and then it frosts and it loses leaves.

Oh, no. So it doesn't have any way to pull in that. Yeah. Energy from the sun Uhhuh. Oh, shoot. I know. So I don't even know why they sell black walnut around here if it can't survive. Yeah, I think it probably can't, but hey, you know, that's what gardeners do. We try, we, we buy plants that we are not meant for our, um, climate.

Mm-hmm. And then we're sad about it when they die. Uh, yes. Yes. Well, you know, and a lot of my issues, it has to do with pests. Mm-hmm. You know, like I was talking about earlier in gophers. Yeah. Those damn things have eaten the. Roots of at least four of my apple trees this year, and it is like, oh my God, you know, these trees, it's not just the money,, but also the time.

Yeah. So, you know, and it's like, oh, now I have to [00:14:00] start over with a new tree. I am looking into. Um, so they make these cages that you can put the tree in and the roots go through it. It's like a metal cage, but the gophers can't get in and eat the root ball. Right. So, so it kind of protects that. Yeah. Kind of core part of the tree.

Mm-hmm. That's a good idea. I might have to resort to that too, since I, I really don't like poison because we do have predators. That eat, you know, the voles and stuff like that. And I don't wanna poison our predators. Right. So, yeah. That's a bummer. I know. But so we, I've also planted, , a couple of honey locust trees.

We got some big ones from the nursery and they are very beautiful. Mm-hmm. And, so. Montana, DNRC has a nursery too that you can order trees for wind break. So we ordered a bunch of hackberries to put around the house because hackberries are supposed to be very [00:15:00] drought tolerant. They're good in high winds, they, , grow fast.

Mm-hmm. And, uh, various birds and stuff like, you know, , their fruits, I guess. And they came and they were like a foot tall. Oh yeah. Yeah. And that's the Ponderosa Pines I got too. Mm-hmm. I, I thought they were gonna be, you know, I don't know. I guess I obviously did not read things very well, but Yeah, same thing.

They were like, I don't know what you, I gave you some what, six, eight inches tall? It's like, okay. But they actually seem to be doing pretty well too, the ones that were planted, so, yeah. The ones you gave me, I, I was out there watering them this morning and they look really good. Yeah. So. I love, I love pond roast pines.

Mm-hmm. But it'll be 50 years before. Yeah. I won't, I won't, I won't be around to see it. But, uh, yeah. And then,, I've planted a lot of strawberries. Now that the deer fence is up, we can have a strawberry patch. Oh, nice. And then companion planted. And we put like [00:16:00] peas in between the strawberry rose. So we Oh, that's interesting.

I didn't know that they were, well, they too fix nitrogen. Yeah. So the strawberries can take up the nitrogen that the peas are creating. So we'll see how that goes. And, , my highberry bushes have actually created berries. I've had a few Oh, I know berries already. That's kind of exciting. Yeah, they're early.

, And they're also putting on a lot of growth now that they can, because they are protected by the deer fence. Right. Once again, it's very, um, you, you should actually just invest in it 'cause it'll save you a lot of time. And headache. Well, and money, right? Yeah. So, because man, we, we pour a lot of money into our, uh.

Into our gardens and planting things. Mm-hmm. And it's enjoyable even without the deer fence. It's enjoyable, right? Yeah. But if you really wanna have product at the end or, or produce or something you can eat. Yeah. Just say, I grew [00:17:00] this. Yeah. To see the end result. , That fence is just gonna make the biggest.

Difference in the world. Yes. You know, I mean, we'll see. I'll, I left my potatoes out. I'm contemplating if I should move all of those, but I don't think the deer will get into the potatoes. I dunno. We'll see. I don't know. Yeah. I usually have more trouble with gophers going after my potatoes until I started putting them in raised beds.

And they ate my beets and they ate my turnips. Anything in the ground, the gophers would just be, yeah. So do you thin out your carrots? How do you do carrots? I, I, so I, I planted a bunch of carrots and they're coming up just little, tiny little mm-hmm. Bits now, but I, I kind of am thinking I'm probably gonna need to thin 'em out, otherwise I'm gonna have just little Yeah.

You have to carrot slippers. Yeah. But, uh, you should thin 'em out. I don't like to, but you have to in order to get, , at least. Some good sized carrots. Yeah. Yeah. I, we planted dcom radishes, and those are the big, long Japanese ones. Oh, they're good to cook with. Yeah. So originally [00:18:00] we had just bought, Aaron had bought a big sack of seeds and we had planted 'em around the apple trees because the soil is soft there.

Mm-hmm. And we were pulling out these radishes that were a foot and a half long. Uh, just like this past month or No? Um, like in previous years. Oh, previous years. Yeah. And I didn't really realize you could cook with them. Yeah. Because we were just using it to break up the soil. Right. 'cause they're, you know, our, our soil, , out in the field is very compacted.

Mm-hmm. It's hard pan. Okay. So we like to, uh, put out dandelion seeds 'cause they've got the big tap roots. We've done sweet clover. That too is a big tap, root. Anything to kind of bust up the soil. Mm-hmm. So, and that's been working, but when we put the radishes out, I, like I said, I didn't realize it got that big.

I didn't know anything about dicom radishes. Yeah. And then, so we started pulling 'em out. They actually grew [00:19:00] because the deer couldn't get in the cages. Oh, nice. That we have around the fence or the, the apple trees. So when we pulled 'em out, I'm like, wow, that's massive. So we, I just went in and I kind of made a stir fry and threw some in and they were really good.

So that's an interesting thought that just popped in my head is, you know, I've been, uh, trying to, I've been trying to kind of cut down the sweet clover, 'cause I have a lot clover growing in my hillside, but cut down the sweet clover, I'm not. Not pulling it all out because I like the roots in there. Yeah.

But as I'm doing that, one of the things like in where I just planted these apple trees and stuff, there is sweet clover growing there, and I was gonna pull that up and, and try to get all of that outta there. Should I leave it in there? Is it good for it? Mm-hmm. Well, it's a clover, so it'll fix nitrogen, you know?

Yeah. But it, it, the roots flow. Yeah. But it might compete with your tree for, um, nutrient, other nutrients. Okay. So I'd keep 'em about a couple feet [00:20:00] around the tree, away from the tree. Clear? Yeah. All right. So yeah, that's probably, uh, so what, it's kind of like a, it's kind of like a treasure head on my hillside.

Yeah. As I am trying to, I'm finding all these fun little plants growing underneath the sweet clover that can't get any sun. So as I cut it all out mm-hmm. , We'll see, I actually got a, a, battery powered. . Weed wacker mm-hmm. Thing or whatever. It's, it's kind of like a mini lawnmower, but not really.

Okay. It's a handheld thing. Yeah. For cutting down, not like, so I can be a little faster with my process, but, uh, we'll see, we'll see what I, if I like that better, I kind of like using the pruners because I can be mm-hmm. More strategic in, in what I could do. Oh yeah. My, my West garden is pretty much thunderstorm at this point because it's got.

Be balm and, , mock orange and Lia and every weed in the world. Mm-hmm. You know, I'm trying to [00:21:00] find, you know, get, 'cause we got, , silver weed mm-hmm. Which is, I guess it's supposed to make a really good tea. I've never tried it. And then like, insects like it because it has these little yellow flowers.

Mm-hmm. And it looks fern like a fern almost. Mm-hmm. And then we got yaro that's moved in. Um, I've got most of the white top out. Mm-hmm. But there's still a lot of stuff. And so one of the things that I wanted to warn you about mm-hmm. Because everybody's like, oh, you gotta plant milkweed to save the butterflies.

Right. It's very invasive. Okay. So if you haven't planted it, you might want think twice. Well, I think I did. You gave me a bunch of seeds last year for I know. And I didn't realize, I apologize. That's okay. So I did plant some, but I haven't seen it. Mm-hmm. Um, so I'm not sure. I think, you know, when I was planting a lot of those wildflowers last year, I threw 'em on the hill.

I kind of uhhuh threw 'em on the hillside, let 'em [00:22:00] uhhuh, see if they survived, type of thing. Right. Kind of. Yeah. I mean, you know, I didn't really. Incorporate 'em into the soil other than a little bit of raking mm-hmm. And stuff like that. And I think because of the way that that hillside is and how much clay is in it, it just kind of probably washed off.

Okay. So, I mean, there might be a collection of it all down at the bottom of the hill. We'll see what happens. But I haven't seen any milkweed yet. Uhhuh. Um, but yeah, I mean, I have B balm too though. B balm is really good. Balm is good. , I think that's. Some of the stuff that I grew, that I planted in that little uhhuh in a little flower bed, I created this little flower bed actually.

So, but yeah, all that stuff, I haven't, I, I don't think it, I think it might have just blown away. Mm-hmm. So it's probably in that big gully area, you know, I dunno. Somebody elses from well or just doesn't matter. Yeah. You know. Um, and then cat mint of course is spreading all over the place and we have mug board, which.

My husband wanted a mug ward plant, and [00:23:00] so he grew four plants from seed and we planted 'em outside and the deer would not leave them alone. They is the mug ward. Is that what that one big, tall plant is with the little blue flowers or, uh, no, probably not. No. Was it look like, , I'll have to show you a picture.

Yeah, that's it. But it spreads too. So it's everywhere. Like I said, my garden is thunderdome at this point. Yeah. So yeah, between the cat and sweet clover and regular clover and ca Oh, we have California puppies that are starting to bloom. Nice. Yeah, I have some of those out there. So they should start be, they should start popping up.

Yeah. Kind of fun. Yeah. And then we got, uh, Lia, which is going on gangbusters now. . So that's what's going on right now. , Then we're hoping that we can get some Rocky Mountain Bee Plant. 'cause I haven't seen too much of it. I mean, in past years we've been inundated [00:24:00] with it. Mm-hmm. But, , this year I haven't seen much.

I haven't, I, I think I went to, , garden Works. Mm-hmm. And they had a few. Okay. Um, but it was earlier in the season. , And they were, they didn't like. It didn't really look like much at that point. Right. Uhhuh So, so they didn't have very many though, so I imagine they probably, probably don't have a lot.

Yeah. , I have seen a few food plants that I'm leaving alone, so they'll get big and then I'll just grab the seeds. So Rocky Mountain De Plant? Yeah. We'll, I'll let 'em grow. And then they usually produce quite a bit of seed, so I'll just grab 'em and then sow it, , in the spring. Nice. I was, , I was just wondering, , so what, what all did you, what all do you plant before Memorial Day, we talk a lot about, you know, the, that you, that you need to wait to plant certain things after Memorial Day. Mm-hmm. What are some of the things that people can actually plant earlier? Peas. Peas like it cold. Mm-hmm.

Um, [00:25:00] potatoes, basically anything below the ground. The roots. Mm-hmm. Uh, so you know, you're looking at potatoes, beets, radishes, carrots. Um, lettuce. My lettuce seemed to do pretty good. Oh, good. I put that out there. It likes it. Cool. And I guess once it gets hot it doesn't, yeah, it'll, cabbage. Cabbage likes it cold.

Mm-hmm. So our cabbage is out, um, onions, garlic, well, garlic you plant in the falls, so you just don't even need to bother with it in the spring. So yeah, all of that, uh, strawberries. We, we threw some straw over that, our strawberries, and they just came through just fine. Nice. But yeah. ,, , Did you see the rhubarb roots that I took a picture of and posted?

Oh, I think I missed that. You wanted to take a look? It looks like an alien. Seriously. Interesting. It looks like an, or a big octopus or something like that. It's got massive thick roots and I'm not exaggerating. Oh, wow. They're like. [00:26:00] Four inches thick. Yeah. I know that rhubarb plants, once they get established, they're, they're like really hard to get rid of.

Yeah. Super hard to get rid of. Mm-hmm. That's if you want to, I don't know why you want to, but I like, uh, rhubarb. I like strawberry rhubarb pie and, uh, juice rhubarb. And make cider. That's good. Cool. So talk to me about potatoes, because let's just talk a little about potatoes a little bit. I'm excited about my potatoes.

So I got some potatoes from you that you grew seed potatoes from you, um, that you grew. And then I got some from the local nursery and, uh, I planted 'em in grow bags. Mm-hmm. So how do you guys plan 'em and what's your, what's your technique? I've been studying this, so there's all, I know there's all different kinds of techniques.

Uh, it's actually not too much. I mean, you don't put too much thought into it. Uh, you get your seed potatoes, you cut it up. So at least there's a, at least one eye or a couple eyes. Okay. And then just. We have [00:27:00] potatoes in raised beds, so we have like three raised beds full of potatoes, and then we have a couple of containers for mm-hmm.

Other potatoes that, uh, we're just experimenting with. So we usually go with the, uh, what is it, Russian butterball or the German Butterball. Oh yeah. German butterball. Yeah. And then the Russian fingerlings, I guess. The fingerlings. Yeah. So those are good. Um, and then we're like, we're trying the kind that you gave us.

What's that Huckleberry? The huckleberry gold? Yeah. Yeah. And then there was another one that, , we're giving it a shot and seeing how we like it. Yeah. But how about you? Yeah, so, so I put mine in the grow bags. I didn't cut 'em. Mm-hmm. I didn't cut any of 'em. Um, there were some that were kind of a little bit bigger that I questioned if I should have cut 'em.

Most of 'em were pretty small, so I just threw 'em in the bag. Okay. I, so, so I threw, I put like three to four inches of [00:28:00] soil in the bottom and I put the potatoes in. Mm-hmm. Or the seed potatoes in, and then I put another three to four inches of, um, of soil on top of them. And then as they grew up, I kept adding soil.

Mm-hmm. So do you do that, that it's like the whole hill? Han concept of the Hill method that if you put 'em in the ground, but then the, um, in the bags, you're just filling the bag as they come up. No, you don't do that. Okay. I don't know if I should have done wasted the soil on it or not. I'm sure it works great.

It's a lot of soil. Yeah. But we just have never thought to do that. Okay. So we just put 'em in raised beds and they, they go down, but we don't really do hills. So next year I might do a a, a test. Okay. Like I might, what I might do is put some in raised beds and then put some in bags and do the different ways and see if it really makes any difference.

Mm-hmm. Might be kind of fun to do, like a little, like see how much yield they actually put [00:29:00] out. Yeah. Just in, because it's, it's a lot of soil. I'm just surprised at, I was hauling dirt down to my bags all the time, filling 'em up and I'm thinking, well, I wonder if I'm actually gonna get more potatoes this way or not.

I dunno. But I guess in the grow bags, they can't really go down any further than what you have. So Uhhuh. So yeah, let me know how that works. Yeah, that's cool. So coming up, um, we have the old Salt Festival. Oh yeah. Tell me about that. I've never really been, so I don't know a lot about it. So it takes place at Manx.

Ranch out by Helm Belt. Okay. So it's a little bit of a drive for us, but um, last year when my husband and I went, it was the, we went and it, what it does is, um, like a, it's kind of a Friends of the Earth type thing where people talk about like regenerative farming [00:30:00] and how to take care of the land and how to.

Connect with other people who think the same way. A lot of it is ranchers. Mm-hmm. And farmers, um, gardeners. But there's also like music there, there's booths, there's talks. Mm-hmm. Um, so people will give talks like, uh, their experiences on their, um. How sustainability. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. So like if you get there, a lot of people camp there 'cause it's three days.

So they get there Friday morning and then they leave Sunday. But I'm not, I'm not a camper. Really. Yeah. Me neither. But they all just drive. Yeah. Let's just drive. I, I'm excited. I think it's gonna be cool And, um, I, we should take a look at the schedule and figure out what we wanna Yeah. Go see and everything and, and VIP tickets.

Yeah. I don't even know what that means, but. I think we get food. [00:31:00] Okay, awesome. Yeah, you're gonna feed us. That's great. So, uh, yeah, so that'll be kind of a special episode. Mm-hmm. I don't know if it'll be episode two or if it'll be like just a special Oh yeah. I think we can, , talk to some of the people there that, uh, , to get their ideas on what they intend for the Old Salt Festival and what we should be.

Kind of looking forward and taking away from, because, , I've met Cole Manix several times. Mm-hmm. , He actually owns the union. Okay. Right. So, uh, it's a restaurant in town. Yeah. It's a really good restaurant in town and they're all about sustainability and using local food and local growers and stuff like that.

, So he is one of the founders of the old Salt Festival. His family ranch is where it takes place. Mm-hmm. , I'm looking forward to maybe we can have him, , talk to us. That'd be great. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. We might need to get some shirts and hats or something. Absolutely. That could be kind of fun.

We'll have [00:32:00] to talk about that. Yeah. But you know what, I think we probably are, near the end of this episode. Mm-hmm. , Just wanted to get back in touch and, looking forward to having, , a special, , visit to the Old Salt Festival and sharing that, , excitement with all of you out there. , If you see us come say hi.

Yeah. Be sure to come and say hi, and maybe we'll have some kind of fun. Uh, swag. I don't know. I think we need to have some swag. Oh yeah. Well, we'll figure that out. We'll get swag stickers. Stickers would be easy. Yeah, wouldn't it? Yeah. Everybody like stickers. Yeah. Everybody likes stickers. We can put on our laptops.

Yeah. And it'll be an experiment for us 'cause it'll be our first time recording outside, considering how much we like to be outside instead of inside. We've never done that. So, , new experience for us and hopefully, , all will go well. Yeah. So, so. Catch you later. All right. Oh my God. Is that a real bird? Or is that a fake? No, it's a fake. Oh, it's a fake, sorry. [00:33:00] Oh, yeah. Uh, I just saw it through the corner of my eye. It's like, okay. Um, in the meantime, a happy spring and looking forward to a, a great summer outside. We'll see you next time.

All right. Take care. 

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