Season 2 Episode 2

Us crabby old ladies went to the Old Salt festival and came back crabbier than ever.

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GOML S2E2 - Old Salt
[00:00:00] 
 
Hey everyone, welcome to Get Off My Lawn podcast. I'm Anne. And I'm Shelly. And it's October. We, uh, had a very busy summer this year. Uh, both of us put in gardens and it's still harvesting. How, how did your garden do? Um, it lukewarm, but you know, it was really my first. Mm-hmm. First big attempt, but, um, we ended up with a few things.
So I, I'd say overall good. Yep. A win. Yeah. Win. Yep. Uh, we actually, uh, planted some DTA squash this year, so we got a pretty big harvest of that, and that was pretty cool. Nice. And some pumpkins. And the first time ever we actually got a watermelon Yeah. Of any [00:01:00] size. So I had a lot of tomatoes and garlic that, that would, those would be the big harvest.
This year, but, um, looking forward to next year. So, so one of the big things we did this summer is Shelly and I took a trip up to Helm to attend the Old Salt Festival. So what we did is we actually attended the festival and then on the drive home we discussed what we looked or what we saw, and then we created this podcast.
So this is part one of. Our old Salt festival, uh, impressions.
I think we were just a little bit kind of negative on this one, Ann. That is, that us. Maybe it was crabby. It was, it was cold and raining and, yeah. So maybe we weren't in the best of moods, but it was, it. It is what it is. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I, I like it. All right. Well, let's just go [00:02:00] to it then.
Ann: You can get your notebook up 'cause you were actually taking notes, whereas I was just like, oh yeah, I have to take notes because Anna, if I don't take notes, I forget Uhhuh. And, and I don't always, , remember, what my notes mean. Yeah. But you know, it helps a little bit, Uhhuh. So, what did we think about today?
Shelly: What's your, what's your takeaway besides wet being wet? Oh, yes. 
Ann: Um, the food was okay. Yeah. So just to kinda recap, we had the, and I can never pronounce this correctly, charcuterie. Charcuterie. Yeah. We had that, which it was fine. I'm not a real meat slab or meat snob I should 
Shelly: say. Well, there wasn't a lot of vegetables, let's just say that.
Shelly: No, yeah, 
Ann: of course. It is made by ranchers, right? Uhhuh. So it was meat and there was some. Strawberries and cheese and dried [00:03:00] pears, which I was intrigued with. Um, there was a piece of meat that was almost all fat and I tried it and I did not like that. And did you try that? Did you see that it was all like 
Shelly: white?
Shelly: Yeah, I feel like it was some, like they were trying to make, it was like some type of prosciutto, but not quite. He told me what it was. Uhhuh? Yeah. No, it was my favorite. I liked the sausage. I thought that was Yeah. 
Ann: Sausage was good. Was good. Yeah. Maybe I just am not a fan of slimy, not slimy meat, but slippery meat.
Ann: I dunno. 
Shelly: Cured meat. Yeah. Because it's, that's more cured than it is uhhuh. Uh, you know, it's like prosciutto, right? Yeah. Except for it's really super thinly sliced and Yeah. , So I noticed this when I went and took the stuff back to the compost thing. Mm-hmm. Is that had we wanted to.
Shelly: Brave the rain again and rent all the way over to the , VIP [00:04:00] tent. They were taking food over to them Oh, okay. From this. So I think that that's the benefit Uhhuh, but it was so far fricking away from everything. Yeah. And I felt like you really, you know, I would think the VIPs would really wanna be close to all the action and I guess, right.
Shelly: I guess if it wasn't raining Uhhuh and the music was playing, you're right there. Mm-hmm. You're right there next to the music, but it. It was raining. They stopped the music uhhuh and all the interesting stuff was across the field. Right, right.
Ann: And it was really hard to eat because there was two 
Shelly: plate bowl. Yeah. Why didn't they just put it all on one? Yeah, yeah. Just one big plate. All right. We're gonna get 'em organized. 
Ann: Oh, yeah. I mean , it was 
Shelly: cool. Yeah. It's good. It's good. 
Ann: I applaud their. Their effort. Good effort. A for hustle or something like that.
Ann: Yeah. So what did you think of the outdoor kitchen meal? 
Shelly: Yes. Itself. So that whole thing was kind of fascinating. And I [00:05:00] did take some pictures, so I don't know if we have a way to share those along. I think we can somehow get 'em on our website or something. Yeah. Or social media or whatever. , Uh, so there were, let's just talk about it a little bit.
Shelly: So they had this big kind of circle of cinder blocks. Wall. Yeah. And inside that they had, um, pork. Pork. Yeah. Whole pork. Whole, like a whole pig. There was lamb too, wasn't it? There might've been lamb. Yeah. But I believe it was, it wasn't, there wasn't any, any beef in there. Right. But whole pork. And then they were also cooking, I think some chickens or turkeys or uhhuh or something.
Shelly: Um, and they were splayed across like, I don't know, hung a wooden frame, hung up on a pole. And then they had fire behind them and were cooking them. Yeah. And then they were just basing 'em with different, uh, with something and she had 
Ann: like a broom of sage and another rosemary I think was in there too.
Shelly: Yeah. And was brushing it with stuff. Yeah. And [00:06:00] and throwing salt on it. 
Ann: Yeah. 
Shelly: Yeah. Okay. It was okay. I mean, I wouldn't, I wouldn't ride home about it and say, Ooh, that was the best food I've ever tasted. I know. But it was kind of fascinating to watch the process. Right. And just. Even building the big ovens outta cinder block.
Shelly: Mm-hmm. You know? 'cause they were also cooking the, they were 
Ann: roasting apples and cabbage too. 
Shelly: Yeah. That was kind of pretty actually. 
Ann: Yeah. And I noticed they had that in the pork. Mm-hmm. So that was interesting. 
Shelly: Yeah. 
Ann: Um, I kind of felt bad for the musicians. Yeah. 'cause they got rained out. 
Shelly: I think so too. I don't know if they get a, another shot at it tomorrow Uhhuh.
Shelly: And maybe that'll be a. I don't know. I think it's more the same tomorrow. Right? Is that the plan? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. It was kind of crazy. Uh, after, I don't remember, it must have been right around one o'clock or something or two when we were [00:07:00] coming back from the, from getting our little snacks. Mm-hmm.
Shelly: And, seeing the road, all the cars driving up the road. Yeah. It was kind of crazy how, how many cars were coming up. So I think they're all coming to tent or. Camp and Uhhuh and listen to music and it listen to music. Yeah. So let's go backwards. So, okay. Instead of talking about the one that I actually have notes on, let's talk about, we just had, it was Helen Re Bank, I think her name is.
Shelly: I think so. And she's the author of,, the Farmer's Wife. The farmer's wife, and she's from England. And then there was a podcaster by the name of Ed Robertson, I believe is, was what's his name? I think you're right. I'll clarify that for sure. Uhhuh. Um, and, he was basic, basically like a book talk. Yeah, I, I mean a book reading, and she read some excerpts from the book and talked about the book.
Shelly: And it's a memoir. It's a memoir of her life. Um, so 
Ann: it wasn't like a fiction story, it was her story. Right, right. It's her 
Shelly: story. And it sounds like the format [00:08:00] was, that it was a day in the life. So the whole book is one day. Mm-hmm. But each part of the day, she's interspersing with memories, and little bits of her life.
Shelly: Yeah. Um, and recipes apparently. Mm-hmm. Recipes. So, uh, yeah, tell me, what do you, what were your thoughts on that whole talk? 
Ann: I thought it was, I mean, it was fine. I have a different mindset. I'm not like, 'cause I'm not a mother, I guess it's harder for me to relate. And so that's a big part of her life , I mean, it was hard for me to relate to her person.
Ann: Personally. Mm-hmm., I do understand her wanting to feed her family good food because I want to feed us myself and my husband, good food. I am having a hard, a struggle to kind of put my thoughts into words, maybe because I haven't read the book. Yeah. So I don't really, I, I'm, I'm. [00:09:00] Coming in cold to that. 
Shelly: Right. I'd kinda like to, I mean, I don't know if I really wanna read the book or not, but I might like, part of my problem was this whole thing that she stated as a child that she didn't want, she wanted to get out of that life.
Shelly: Mm-hmm. And this is where maybe we'd find that out if we read the book, but she wanted to get out of that life. But now she's in that life and she is, she wouldn't want it to be doing anything else. And to me, I'm wondering, okay, what. Did she give up? And I think that's kind of what the one woman asked that question.
Shelly: Yeah. What she was trying to get to Uhhuh is, do you ever wonder what if? Right. Yeah. What if I didn't follow this path and I ended up doing this other thing? Mm-hmm. And, I think about that all the time. Do you, I don't know if I regret anything, but I, yeah. But I think about that all the time and I would've liked to have heard a little bit more about, okay, what was it that she was hoping to do mm-hmm.
Shelly: That she didn't end up doing. Or did she [00:10:00] really end up kind of somehow incorporating what it was she wanted to do? We didn't really hear that story. 
Ann: Yeah, no, that's true. And so maybe I'm a selfish person, and actually there's no, maybe I kind of am, but the whole idea that mothers live for their children and be subservient to not subservient, but to be the caretaker all the time.
Ann: And I, I just, that in a way bugs me because it kind of,
Ann: I, I, again, I'm trying, I'm struggling to put my thoughts into words because you know what, you know what? I, I kind of think I, I have a similar thought, but it might not be exactly the same. Okay. So maybe it'll help you, you know, the thing that bothered me was this feeling that people have roles and they have to be in these roles.
Shelly: Yes. And that they have to be happy with those roles. And, that's important. And for sure, yes. I'm not saying they're, it's not [00:11:00] important, but just because somebody chooses to not be in that role, Uhhuh, doesn't it? I, I don't know. It made me kind of feel like, oh, well, if I didn't devote my entire being to my children growing up and their wellbeing over mine all the time, yeah.
Shelly: Then maybe I wasn't as good of a person as, you know. I mean, yes, I'm not, I don't think that's what she. At all. But to me that's, that, it's that whole kind of mindset of that Yeah. The women, you know, we need to champion all the moms and all of the women that are farmers' wives, right. Maybe there's some of those women that are the farmers, uhhuh.
Shelly: You know what I mean? Yeah. It felt to me like, it was like pushing somebody into a role or, or a stereo like, or not a stereotype, what's the word I'm looking for? It's like this, um.
Ann: I know what you're saying because I feel it too, I don't wanna be pigeonholed. 
Shelly: No, no. And it felt like it was trying to put 'em into, put [00:12:00] that category of person uhhuh into, into a box. Yeah. Or, or a I'm not, this is still not the right word. We'll, we'll get it Uhhuh, we'll get it. But it, it's like, it's like this is the traditional place that the woman is supposed.
Shelly: To be. 
Ann: Mm-hmm. And 
Shelly: regardless of whatever your hopes and dreams were when you were a child, yeah. It comes back to that uhhuh. And I think that's what bothered me about the whole thing. Okay. Thank you as well. Yeah, because it was like, okay, she took this , and, , more power to her if it was her choice and it's what she wanted and it seems like she really loves it and it gives her a lot of joy and that's great, but at what point do.
Shelly: Her dreams become less important than the family as a whole. Uhhuh. And I get the community and I get that there's a bigger picture than just ourselves. Yeah. And all of that. And I and and you say you're selfish. I don't think you're selfish, but I think I get what you're saying, Uhhuh , you also have to take care of yourself.
Shelly: Yes. And even as a parent, I'm a parent. Even [00:13:00] as a parent, and there's probably times when I've, , put my kids' needs above mine or my husband's needs. It's above mine, Uhhuh, I also know that I need to put myself ahead of that sometimes. Yeah. Just for my own sanity and wellbeing and health as well.
Shelly: Uhhuh, you can't. Can't keep giving. Right. Not all. It just is, 
Ann: I guess I am Okay. I know I, you say I am not selfish, but in a way I am because I feel like we only get one spin around the dance floor. Her, if you will. And I want to share it with whom I want to share it with, but I don't wanna feel like I am forced to play a role that I don't wanna play.
Ann: And it seems like she was advocating for that, and I know she wasn't, but may, uh, maybe I'm just misinterpreting it, but 
Shelly: yeah. And, and maybe it's a little bias on [00:14:00] my side. I'm, I'm thinking about it by. Self and I'm thinking, ha do I have a little internal bias there of thinking that farmers' wives are basically don't have any independence.
Shelly: You know, I mean, a little bit in my own head, Uhhuh, and I think of this because, you know, my dad grew up on a farm and there was a family farm and, and there was, you hear all these stories, there's just such a rigid role. Everybody has their role, right? The hierarchy. There's, you know, like she said, the men and the boys are out in the field and the women and the girls are inside doing the laundry.
Shelly: Oh, making meals and all of that. And if that's your choice, fine, fine. That's okay. That's, that's all right. It just feels very much like, this rigid, normalization of what is an expectation uhhuh of a woman versus a male in that perspective. And that does bother me a little bit,.
Shelly: I think it does., And I think, haven't we progressed? Asked that at this point, you know, uh, well a lot 
Ann: of [00:15:00] people do romanticize being like the farmer's wife, but it's not, it's hard work. Ridiculous hard work. So my mom grew up on a farm and when I was little, we'd go to her parents' place. They had a farm, in Minnesota, and we'd go there every Sunday and it was just, I will.
Ann: Never forget, the men always ate first and the women ate last, and then the men would go sit in the living room watching TV while the women did dishes. Mm-hmm. And it just never seemed fair, you know? Right. 
Shelly: Well, and you know, in those days if there. Really honor a farm or a ranch or something.
Shelly: The men have been working hard too. Yeah. I mean not, dissing them for what they're doing. I know being a farmer and rancher is hard to work, but it's, yeah. I mean, [00:16:00] I dunno. I just don't like it. I don't like to feel like I have to fit a expected Yeah. Role. That's it. That's how I feel about that.
Ann: Yeah. Thank you. Okay. I'm so glad you understood, because I felt just like I. Yeah, I didn't get her. 
Shelly: Yeah, I'm sure her story's really interesting, Uhhuh, and it sounds like she's probably a beautiful writer. Yeah. Which, might make the story really kind more compelling, compelling to read and all of that, , it wouldn't have been, it wouldn't be the message that I would want to leave and again, haven't read the book.
Shelly: Mm-hmm. So I probably need to not be judgmental, , I don't want my daughter to feel. Like, because she's the mom, Uhhuh. That she's has to be the one that does all of those things.
Shelly: I just feel like it's just, it's, it's the stone age. Yeah. And I'm scared about that. We're headed back that direction, quite honestly. I agree. 
Ann: Because on the. , Yes, the woman is, you know, very important in a [00:17:00] child's growth, but that doesn't diminish the absolute need that the father needs to be involved too.
Ann: Right. You know, the whole nuclear family where the father's off working and the mom stays home, , I think that really damaged a lot of society by removing the father from the family 
Shelly: Well, right. The father, and they've created this whole idea of that it's the woman that's the nurturer, right? Yeah. So the men, and we wonder why our boys and men have trouble expressing their emotions, Uhhuh, because they weren't really encouraged to do so.
Shelly: Right. Right. Don't 
Ann: man up or whatever. 
Shelly: Right. Or, you know, don't express, and I don't think this is the case with all of 'em. I mean, actually, my dad was very affectionate and really. Wheat to me. Yeah. I mean, not as much to my brother though, huh. So it's interesting, you know? Yeah.
Shelly: Mm-hmm. , And I kind of was kind of looking around and seeing,, Uhhuh , she said some really good things [00:18:00] too, , but I'm sure, I dunno. Interesting. Yeah. I 
Ann: guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on that topic. 
Shelly: Yeah. So that's all right.
Ann: Yeah, so we walked around though and talked to a bunch of different people. Uhhuh. I got some business cards here. Yeah. So, , we talked to the guy at Montana. His name was Montana.
Shelly: Montana, yeah. From the Montana Farmers Union Uhhuh. And that was interesting. And they have this group called the, um, it's a cohort. Yeah. The, oh, I can't, I know there's a little thing somewhere in there, kind of an 
Ann: aside, but you notice a lot of those groups really? You don't have a presence in Helena. 
Shelly: No, it was interesting.
Shelly: Yeah. You cut that too, right? Because you know, I mean it's the state capitol. Yeah. And we're not that far from it. Are you going to try to, influence things? It feels like you'd wanna be in the state capitol. Yeah. Especially 
Ann: if, you know, they try to write up, [00:19:00] you know, work with the legislature on stuff.
Ann: You don't have a hell enough presence. I find that again, interesting. 
Shelly: The other thing I found interesting, and I think you made this observation as. Well, is that a lot of these groups are, they have a really great idea of wanting to do good things, but they have no focus. Yeah. Or they don't have a real concrete, I don't know, for lack of a better word, business plan.
Shelly: Yeah. What, what are they trying to, what? What is it? What is their vision and what are they actually trying to accomplish? That's the first question. So there's mission and vision, right? What is your mission statement? Yeah. Okay. What are you trying to, what do you, what do you wanna, whatcha are doing? What do you wanna be?
Shelly: Yeah. What do you wanna be when you grow up Uhhuh And what, what is the, what is your, your vision over the next five years? Yeah. And I kind of almost wanna do that next or tomorrow if we have some time. Uhhuh is go around and say, Hey, you know, well, we didn't even introduce ourselves and say, you know, we have this podcast and, [00:20:00] we're, two gals from Montana mm-hmm.
Shelly: Or from Helena. And we, we talk about, gardening and, the land and all of that. So we're. Loving it here. Um, we'd really like to learn about your organization. Yeah. Can you just tell us quick, like in, I don't know, one minute or less, what is your mission and your vision for the future for your organization?
Shelly: And see how many of 'em can answer that. That is 
Ann: Yeah. You would think that would be the first thing that, you know, when you form, when you bring a group together, right? That would be one of the first. Things you need to do is define the parameters of what's your goal. 
Shelly: Right. I, I think, I think a lot of 'em have, they have values, right?
Shelly: Yeah. So they have core values and that's a good thing to have to you as an organization. They just don't have any vision. I know, right? So how are you gonna make a difference or accomplish anything uhhuh, because , when we talked to the guy with Montana.
Shelly: Farmer's Union. I mean, they basically, it's a networking group is what it sounds like [00:21:00] to me. It sounds like, yeah. Like they just get together and they talk about topics and they may bring people in to talk about topics 
Ann: and you know, I noticed. Which is 
Shelly: that there's value in that.
Shelly: Yeah, 
Ann: there's value. But it seems like everybody, all they wanna do is have a conversation. Well, at what point you take action, take, take action. Yes. Yes, exactly. And I want to see people taking action. Yeah. But. Right now, all they wanna do is have a conversation. Okay. 
Shelly: Well, it all starts with conversations, Uhhuh, but at some point you have to, uh, move beyond that.
Shelly: Yeah. Right. I mean, uhhuh conversations are good. Yeah. That's, that's all fine. 
Ann: But if nobody has defined goals, right. Or nobody's got a, okay, a mission statement or a plan of action or what, what the hell are we even doing? , 
Shelly: And I mean, to be fair, yeah. Maybe they do. You. Mm-hmm.
Shelly: But those individuals don't know, you know what I mean? That's, I mean, they, they might not be the right ones. Uhhuh, [00:22:00] but then they shouldn't really be, sending them out to be the ones 
Ann: to interact with, promoting their 
Shelly: organization. Right. I, I dunno. So, and 
Ann: that's another thing. Okay. They're out there promoting their organization to essentially people who think exactly like them because there you go.
Ann: Well, yeah, you're speaking to the choir. Uh. You need to be out talking to, and I know someone made that comment. We have to talk to, we have to convince a lot more people and we as the universal we. Mm-hmm. That this is the way forward. Right. So. Yep. Yeah. 
Shelly: That might have been her little English friend. I think she's the one that said that.
Shelly: Yeah. You know, she said she doesn't really do social media and all that stuff. Mm-hmm. But using things like social media to. Tell the stories. Yeah. And to tell , the positive messages and the things that, yeah. 
Ann: Trouble is positivity gets drowned out a lot [00:23:00] by all the negative. 
Shelly: Yeah. Well, and we shouldn't be afraid to talk about the negative too, but it's, it's about the messaging of what's good, right?
Shelly: Okay. The Blackfoot watershed. So there were a couple different watershed projects that are going on, and I know that those are basically constant, a lot of 'em are conservation, um, efforts mm-hmm.
Shelly: Around the watersheds. Um, and. Again, it just felt like they're trying to do so many different things and, I mean, I'm sure that there's some benefit happening from 'em. Yeah. I mean, I hear about the benefits that are happening from 'em, but again, it just kind of seemed, it kind of seemed like they need to have a little better message.
Shelly: Yeah. It's like that elevator pitch thing, right? Mm-hmm. Maybe this is, maybe this is our mission, Ann, is to let these people know that, you know, they're doing good work. They need to be able to communicate that. Yeah. And they need to be able. Us say it to people other than the people that think the [00:24:00] exact same way as them.
Ann: Yeah. And that's right. So another thing that I think about when talking to these organizations is like my husband Aaron one of his beliefs is an organization. Once it, what does it do when it accomplishes its goal? Should it disband? Should it, I mean, so when do you think you're done? Um, right. So, so, so a conservation, what does that mean? Is it ongoing forever or does they have a, an end date? Well, or do they have, uh, this project is now complete?
Shelly: Well, it depends on like, so , if it's a watershed project, Uhhuh, then it, they, that's the definition of a project. It have. An end. Yeah. Has a definitive beginning and an end. Right, right. So , I think that, these are not, they're more foundations or organizations that are con a [00:25:00] continuous effort to maintain the integrity of the watershed.
Shelly: Right, okay. And, a conservation effort. So they might have a project within that. Like, we're gonna do this project on education outreach, educational outreach to the schools. 
Ann: Yeah. 
Shelly: That's one of the. Things that they're doing. This Blackfoot Watershed program was talking about, they do education outreach to the schools.
Shelly: They're working on native, or, not native, I'm sorry, the animals, the grizzly bear issue. Yeah. 'cause they have a big grizzly bear issue. They're, yeah. Or, in that area. , You know, all those different, those are all projects that they do. 
Ann: Okay.
Shelly: Anyway, I think it's a good conversation to have. Um, here. He, so we also had a neat little conversation with Amanda. Kro KR Chick. Could be, did I say that? K-R-O-L-C-Z-Y-K. And she is an artist who makes these beautiful landscape pieces out of reclaimed wood, different colors, different types.
Shelly: And then, [00:26:00] you know, some of 'em are painted, some are not. Mm-hmm. Um, uh, interesting textures. And, we got to chat with her and she was talking to us about her, artwork and how she puts that together was, yeah, it's 
Ann: very fascinating. 
Shelly: Very fascinating and, and, uh, beautiful work. So little plug there for Amanda Plaid Beaver Company is what it says on here.
Shelly: Huh? It's the name of her, of her company. Plaid Beaver. Okay. Yeah. Interesting. All right, so that's that. Um, the VIP tent, I'm gonna say I'm lukewarm on that. Yeah, I'm not. See you paid for your ticket out right? I got my ticket just because I bought some beef. Oh. I don't know that I would've paid for it outright.
Shelly: So , I feel like, oh, I 
Ann: figured this would be an interesting opportunity to 
Shelly: Oh yeah. It's fun. Yeah. I'm happy. I'm not sure that we got that much out of the VIP tent. 
Ann: No, I don't think so. I mean it, the parking [00:27:00] was 
Shelly: Oh, that's true. 
Ann: Convenient 
Shelly: parking. Is That is true. Actually, Uhhuh, I will say that, although we could have carried, I think that's what the little wagon is.
Shelly: Yeah. You just ride the wagon? Of course, if it was raining like it is right now, I'm not sure that would be all that much fun. All right, let's look at my notes here from, our first , talk that we went to was the land talk lounge and they had a panel of three people. , One was, , Cooper Hibbard, who is, , Seban Ranch.
Shelly: Seban Ranch, which is outside of Helena Uhhuh. Stefan, I did not catch his last name, but he's a scientist and he is a researcher. Sweet. , From, he's from the Netherlands. Oh, the Netherlands. Okay. But I think he is somewhere in the US though. I mean, as far as like, he teaches somewhere. But anyway, he does research, he's a scientist.
Shelly: Anyway, I can't, I don't know if I can explain what his research is on. Well talk about that a little bit later. And then Sarah Keel, who is an eco nutritionist, who, I think it sounded like her crew was the one that was cooking all the food. Oh, okay. [00:28:00] So I don't know about, you know, what that means and, well they started the whole thing.
Shelly: So the whole theme, of the , weekend is land is kin. Mm-hmm. And talking about that we're all born of the earth and we will all return to the earth at the end of the day. Yep. And, that we're all in it together. Mm-hmm. Was kind of like how they kicked off, the whole thing. What were your thoughts on that talk?
Shelly: Any big takeaways? 
Ann: Um, they had three experts that on paper were kind of connected, but when it came down to discussion, most people were interested in what Cooper had to say. And so he got the bulk of the questions. He did the bulk of the talking. Bad. 'cause I think the other two would've been fascinating if they had a talk on their own right.
Ann: And you could [00:29:00] focus because like you, I don't quite understand what Stefan's research was. Research was about, right. It had to do with like, um, I've 
Shelly: got some notes 
Ann: like vi not vitamins, but like minerals in meat. I got that part. Like you. Know how animals eat plants and take up the plant's nutrients into their own muscles or own meat.
Ann: So there's that. 
Shelly: Yeah. And I have, his big kind of main thing was when we improve the soil, health, it impacts everything, everything else. And so his study is kind of like, what you can do to improve this? Oil. Mm-hmm. And then how that, like biologically I think, or whatever, you know, the actual chemical compounds in the data of what, how that translates to the animals that , eat [00:30:00] the plants.
Shelly: Yeah. And then how that then translates from , us eating the animals. Well then I should have some really, really nutritious deer, because There you go. That's right. That's right. Yeah. And I agree with, what you just said,, and I think Cooper , was very relatable. Uhhuh, I mean, I think And he started, yeah, like, so he was the first one that talked.
Shelly: So that tends to be like who people gravitate towards. Mm-hmm. Because, and he's got the connection right. Of being part of the old salt cooperative. Right. And he's a good speaker. I can see why people were intrigued and wanted to ask him questions, but there was a lot of ranchers.
Shelly: To the audience too. So if you wanna talk to another rancher Yeah. You know, I don't know, I would've really liked to hear more from Stefan. Me too. And, I didn't, I'll be honest, I did not get exactly what Sarah Keel was, why she was there. Right. As part of that panel. Uhhuh, I'm sure there was a connection and I think she's probably super [00:31:00] interesting, but I did not understand her purpose.
Ann: Yeah. And that I think was a failing on the panel's part. Right. 'cause they didn't. Yeah. 
Shelly: Yeah, because I have, let's see, Sarah, when she first , started talking, she said she was an eco nutritionist. Mm-hmm. Um, I would like to know what that means. Yeah. For one, and I didn't learn that. She says she has a love of nature and that nature is a healer.
Shelly: She was interested in conservation phytonutrients in meat, uhhuh, something about that. And that flavor comes from the soil that was interest. And I do think that came up several times. Right? Yeah. Kind of like that. Mm-hmm. You know, if you keep the soil healthy, it takes care of so many different things.
Ann: Right. And that's what I wanted to learn more about. And Cooper kind of talked about it like when the cows t trample the grass into the soil so it [00:32:00] gets absorbed , back into the soil that nutrients. I wish we could have heard more from Stefan about. How to improve the soil if you don't have cows, you know, or something.
Shelly: Yeah. I mean , the story of the cows going and out for play Uhhuh or taking the calves out to play to make happy cows. That was kind of cute. Yeah. I will say, I thought that was good, , here's a note I had talking about food being complicated and that there's, 30,000 different compounds in meat.
Shelly: Wow. I don't know why I thought that was interesting. So I wrote that down , talking about the, how the soil microbes, the microbes that are in the soil and how they move mm-hmm. Through the soil, to the plants, to the animals, into our, basically into our gut. Yeah. And how that impacts our gut health. That, that was pretty interesting.
Ann: That would've been a, in a more interesting topic on its own, because mm-hmm. I mean, the [00:33:00] microbacteria in your gut influences so. Much. Mm-hmm. Um, 
Shelly: I'd like to learn more about that. I actually wrote a little, I made a little diagram here of plants. Plants and soil microbes and that inter symbiosis, of how that interacts with each other.
Shelly: I would love to dive more into, and maybe that's just because we're more on the gardening side of things, you know? Yeah. Just understanding more about soil. Um, just that whole piece. And then this talking about transient microbes and what that means. , You know, how the microbes move , from 
Ann: soil to plant to Yeah.
Shelly: Yeah. 
Ann: Animal to, 
Shelly: there was definitely more focus on animals, than on the plants, but the importance of the plants to the animals. Oh, you were the three things they said. What can people do? Uh, one was talk more about it and spread the word.
Shelly: So [00:34:00] actually it was maybe Cooper that said that, not our English farmer's wife. 
Ann: Okay. Yeah. 
Shelly: Okay. , Search out movies. I wrote down these two movies. Yeah. It was like Kiss the Ground. Kiss the Ground, yeah. And Oncoming Ground. And there was another one that I didn't quite uhhuh,, didn't quite grab. But anyway, I think that might be kind of fun to find a movie to.
Shelly: Watch. , The other thing was eating whole real foods, Uhhuh. I mean, we've heard that a million times, but that was actually Stephan, so that makes me think that that's part of his research. Yeah. Which we didn't really get to hear much about again. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe we could look at the schedule. Maybe he's talking again 
Ann: somewhere else.
Shelly: And then know where your food comes from. Yeah. So that was kind of , the main things that they were, they're call to action uhhuh, like, right.
Shelly: So their call to action was, that's what we need to do. 
Ann: Well, one of the audience members brought up, how do you sell your meat when someone comes up and says, I can get this cheaper at Costco. 
Shelly: Right. And what makes your beep, and even whether it's cheaper or not, but what makes yours better than [00:35:00] mine?
Shelly: Yeah. Yeah. . How do you do that? 
Ann: Uhhuh. So you bought , a beef package from the old salt co-op, right? What is your assessment of the flavor? Of the flavor of the meat? Yeah. Was it like, oh my God, this is amazing, or it's like, yeah, this is sort of good. Or, um. , 
Shelly: I felt like it was good.
Shelly: Uhhuh. I mean, I don't know. Uh, oh my God, this was amazing. Yeah, man. I don't know if I'd go there. Yeah. Um, but it was definitely, a better quality than, if I go to Walmart , and I don't shop at Walmart, but Mike does sometimes, right? Yeah. And I just hate their meat. Right. Yeah. , But it definitely tasted better than like your standard fair.
Shelly: Yeah, I'd say. , And even. Standard, like if I buy organic somewhere or something. I think it did taste okay, taste better, , it didn't blow me away. Okay. What were your, [00:36:00] what was your thought, or you haven't, you didn't buy any of this? 
Ann: No, well, Aaron's bought packages of meat from old salt before or a package and we thought it was okay, but mm-hmm.
Shelly: I don't, I mean, I think Costco meat, like especially if you get the prime uhhuh, it's pretty good meat, right? It has to be decent to get that prime rating. Yeah. So it's not. Horrible. I think that goes, speaks more to knowing where your food comes from though too, right? Yeah. So knowing where your food comes from, that statement to me mm-hmm.
Shelly: Means a couple things. , To me that's like buying locally. Yeah. Like knowing the actual source Uhhuh, right? But then also because you're buying locally, you have that connection. So I think there's something to be said of. About knowing that we bought meat that was grown uhhuh,, in Montana, just outside of Helena, right.
Shelly: We know the people, you know, , that did make a difference to me. Mm-hmm. Uh, [00:37:00] and even if the meat was the same, like let's say it was on par. Yeah. I still feel like that connection's worth that. Yeah. Because I can see it's, it's too. Like going and picking a pee outta my garden versus eating a pee, you know, somewhere else.
Shelly: Right. Or or buying a packet of peas. It's always going to taste better.
Shelly: That Stephan guy also made a statement that I thought was interesting. He said about a, it's really all about a remembering. I just like that statement. So basically what he was saying is that the things that we are discussing today and that we're identifying and finding and that are useful and good, or.
Shelly: Not new. Yeah. Uh, it's just we've forgotten. We've forgotten or not prioritized it or, or whatever.
Hey everyone. This concludes our Friday Old Salt Festival podcast. Shelly and I drove home, had a long, great discussion, and thank you for joining us. Stay [00:38:00] tuned for our next episode where we'll talk about day two, which was a very different experience
yeah. And we figured out a few things and. It was still cold though and raining. It was still cold and rainy. It was a little better the next day. Oh, a bit snow. Oh, okay. Yeah. And we'd went to the On the Prairie Walk. Yes. Which ended up in a pasture, ended up a walk down the road. We didn't even go into the Prairie really.
I mean, I guess we were in a prairie Uhhuh. But anyway. Yep. Anyway, stay tuned to hear more about that one my name is Shelly and I'm Anne. And thank you for, uh, joining us on Get Off My Lawn.