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Louisiana Farm Bureau is constantly working protect and promote Louisiana's farmers, ranchers, and rural residents. This podcast exists to share stories of those farmers with interviews about their farms and issues important to them. Here, we will also share about the work Farm Bureau is doing on their behalf on issues related to public policy from the parish level all the way to the halls of Congress in D.C.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;07;15
Speaker 2
when we got to the airport to go home and we're just at this point, it's like a little bit of a relief, like, you know, we're at the airport.
00;00;07;22 - 00;00;26;19
Speaker 2
The trip is for the most part done. We just got to get these kids their parents now. And so to be able to sit there and look at our whole group just meshing so well together, getting along so well together and them talking about each of the high points that they had throughout the week, like, oh, I like this at this farm or this was really cool at that farm.
00;00;26;26 - 00;00;33;18
Speaker 2
To me, as a youth development professional, that is the part where I'm like, oh wow, this was such a good trip.
00;00;40;17 - 00;00;53;15
Speaker 1
Hey, everybody, welcome to the Louisiana Farm Bureau podcast. I'm your host, Karl Wiggers. And today I've got two folks with me. Hannah Duvall from Louisiana Forest and Josh Meeks. We just got back a week ago now from Ireland.
00;00;53;18 - 00;01;03;20
Speaker 1
And if anyone's been following along on our social media pages, you've seen that. But, Hannah, you were our group leader. So thank you for coming on the podcast. And, let's we're on break it down a little bit today.
00;01;03;26 - 00;01;08;26
Speaker 2
Well, thanks so much for having me. It was a pleasure to have you out with us and Ireland, and also a pleasure to be here today.
00;01;08;28 - 00;01;17;09
Speaker 1
Well, Hannah, low key has been for months saying winds my podcast episode winds my podcast. I said well after Ireland it's happening.
00;01;17;09 - 00;01;19;18
Speaker 2
So super excited to be here.
00;01;19;24 - 00;01;40;03
Speaker 1
Hannah also is a member of Saint Martin Parish Farm Bureau and handles our social media. And she's a young farmers and ranchers. So she's a she's a Farm Bureau folk as well. So for anybody watching that, Josh Meeks is executive producer of Twila. He's been on the podcast before, but he's back here because he and I went and represented Twila on the trip to Ireland.
00;01;40;08 - 00;01;45;22
Speaker 1
Hannah, first, before we get too deep into this for like, what was in Ireland, why do we go to Ireland?
00;01;45;22 - 00;02;12;10
Speaker 2
We took over 140, staff members, faculty and some parents, chaperons as well, to an international agriculture tour in Ireland. So we did a ten day trip. We had three busloads of, our Louisiana, four folks that headed out there. And, we spent ten days there exploring farms, looking at different agricultural systems there, as well as, getting to know some of the culture there and being able to sightsee along the way.
00;02;12;11 - 00;02;24;12
Speaker 1
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It's a long trip. And you've done these types of trips before. It's can be exhausting. It's a lot of together time, but I think it was a good trip over. All right.
00;02;24;12 - 00;02;39;02
Speaker 2
Would you agree with that? Definitely I agree I would that I was looking forward to this trip for sure, but I definitely exceeded my expectations as well. Just our group was great. We had, a great group of four years with us and we had some great leadership, from E.F. and we were just so excited to have you with us as well.
00;02;39;06 - 00;02;45;15
Speaker 1
Well, let's start back. Let's back up in time a little bit. Josh, you were a couple weeks into the job, I feel like.
00;02;45;15 - 00;02;55;00
Speaker 3
And yeah, I didn't know who anybody was. And and Carl comes to me and says, do you want to go to Ireland? Hannah said she's planning this trip. I was like, I don't know who Hannah is, but yes, I want to go to Ireland.
00;02;55;00 - 00;03;16;20
Speaker 1
Yeah. Who doesn't? Right. So back in February of 2024, January, really? Technically I'll launch this right? More than a year and a half ago, in February, I was at the livestock show, the state livestock show in Gonzalez, and we're I'm with an intern, we're doing an interview, and I look up and Hannah and Doctor Leslie walk up and they're like, hey, would you want to go to Ireland with us?
00;03;16;20 - 00;03;39;22
Speaker 1
And I said, yeah, obviously. And came back and I was trying to connect, like get our entire team to go to Ireland because why not. Right. And so so that's where it started. And it's been 18 months in the making, probably longer for folks at four H who've been really doing all the legwork. But why Hannah, as someone involved in Farm Bureau and for H.
00;03;39;25 - 00;03;46;27
Speaker 1
Why was this such an obvious thing to ask? Not y'all didn't just want a camera guy because I had a camera and I was in front of y'all at the moment.
00;03;46;27 - 00;03;47;16
Speaker 2
Was a plus.
00;03;47;17 - 00;03;57;27
Speaker 1
It was a plus, I'm sure. But why? Why was that something that was, I guess something y'all were interested in? And maybe. Where was that connection? Right. I'm brewing for H.
00;03;57;29 - 00;04;18;25
Speaker 2
So when we think a lot about what, really our goal and basis of Louisiana for ages and for h all over the place is really just life skill development and positive youth development. And we think about where we want to see these students whenever they grow up and become contributing members of their society. It's really on working on those skills that are so vital, but sometimes so, hard to develop, on their own.
00;04;18;25 - 00;04;42;02
Speaker 2
So we really just our goal at Louisiana for H is to guide students through that life skill development, responsibility, teamwork, adaptability, becoming aware of their surroundings, some empathy, those types of things. And and just making them aware of what goes on around them. And so many of our students are involved in agricultural type product, projects. And so when we think about that, that'd be a livestock project or horticulture or anything in between.
00;04;42;09 - 00;05;08;11
Speaker 2
And so they're just working on those skills and developing that. So working with Farm Bureau is a great fit because we have so, so much overlap. You know, we work on the youth side of it, but y'all work so much with volunteers, of the adult nature. And so whenever we think about kind of like where those, those different groups kind of see themselves and one melds into the other ideally, fingers crossed, if we all play our cards right and do a good job, we'll see some of those for each members really grow into into Farm Bureau members in the future.
00;05;08;11 - 00;05;15;18
Speaker 2
So I think it was just a really solid fit. And having a personal camera guy, I mean, really is just icing on the cake.
00;05;15;19 - 00;05;32;01
Speaker 1
Well, it worked out really nice for Josh and I because whenever we were shooting leads and we were standing in front of the cliffs of Moore, Josh can just take a few photos of me and I have a great Facebook profile picture now, and I did the same for him, so it worked out pretty nice. But we did take a lot of photos of the kids as well, and we'll talk more about that in a minute.
00;05;32;01 - 00;05;41;07
Speaker 1
But Josh, this is not your first trip to Ireland, but it probably is your first trip with a few dozen for students and parents.
00;05;41;08 - 00;06;02;02
Speaker 3
Indeed. So I went to Ireland back in 2014 as just a vacation. We went to a, concert in London and managed to do a two stop kind of deal. Stopped in Dublin, mostly just explored the city, didn't really get to see any of the countryside. We did go to the cliffs of Moore. But it was all of that in between.
00;06;02;02 - 00;06;20;09
Speaker 3
And to me, that's that's where you really meet the people, right? Is, is you have to get outside the city. You have to meet the country folk. That's where the real part, the real culture is in Ireland. And I didn't get I didn't get to see any of that the first time. And so this time, you know, that that really developed and getting to explore that part of the country.
00;06;20;11 - 00;06;28;15
Speaker 3
I mean, it's it was so much more than just seeing Dublin, which is a I mean, it's beautiful, but a city is a city, right? It's they're all pretty much the same.
00;06;28;20 - 00;06;52;16
Speaker 1
Yeah. Lots of pubs, lots of shopping. Yeah. It's a city and well, let's, let's. So I want to talk about some of that in between, you know, where we went from Dublin. We did go to the Cliffs of Moher and Galway area. But in between those two was a lot of farming. And so let's kind of I want to kind of go through this, kind of the itinerary to an extent.
00;06;52;18 - 00;06;59;03
Speaker 1
The first few days were in Dublin. What do you think about Dublin with the kids and what was what is that what are those couple of days look like.
00;06;59;05 - 00;07;14;00
Speaker 2
To start off with, when I think about Dublin, I do my first thought is that we were just a bit tired. So after flying all night and getting these kids and just the anticipation of getting there, and then we had a first few days in Dublin, and so we were able to sightsee and we did some guided walking tours.
00;07;14;00 - 00;07;38;21
Speaker 2
The students had time, to just kind of get the feel for Ireland and kind of see like what Ireland was, make some of those big comparisons between like the outstanding differences right between being at home, back in Louisiana and Irish just culture. And so we kind of started off with that. And then once we got our feet, got our feet under us in Dublin, we started heading, I think, south first, and then we went out west, south.
00;07;38;21 - 00;07;45;16
Speaker 2
We went to the Irish National Stud farm, which was a horse farm, which was awesome to see.
00;07;45;16 - 00;07;48;04
Speaker 1
Yeah, it was immaculate is not a word I.
00;07;48;04 - 00;07;49;12
Speaker 2
Was gonna say. Impeccable. It was just.
00;07;49;14 - 00;07;50;27
Speaker 1
It was insane. Yeah.
00;07;50;29 - 00;07;51;18
Speaker 2
That works best.
00;07;51;18 - 00;08;09;07
Speaker 1
It was insane. It was so beautiful. So, I did a story on that this week and this past week in the show, and Josh did kind of the his story was kind of around the getting to Dublin and kind of getting our feet under us in the culture and what we were looking forward to, the differences and things like that.
00;08;09;10 - 00;08;20;28
Speaker 1
But I was looking through that video again of the horse farm, and Josh shot probably better stuff outside around the horses because he was with the group better than I was. I was carrying a bigger camera. That's my excuse.
00;08;21;00 - 00;08;22;14
Speaker 3
Sure, we can go with that.
00;08;22;16 - 00;08;33;12
Speaker 1
But the video of these horses, they're just beautiful. Yeah, I was showing Brady and he was just like, oh man, it was incredible. And then they showed us, they gave us some drone video.
00;08;33;14 - 00;08;34;02
Speaker 3
Yeah. Because we.
00;08;34;06 - 00;08;35;02
Speaker 1
And we would fly the.
00;08;35;02 - 00;08;49;11
Speaker 3
Drone out there. We're always cautious of, you know, flying near animals. And these are very expensive horses that we do not want to disturb. So we talked about it and he was like, you can probably put the drone up at a distance. And I was like, I'm not. I'm not risking it at all.
00;08;49;13 - 00;09;01;19
Speaker 1
But seeing it from above. And we have other drone video that we did shoot Josh did shoot. And it's insane when you see everything from above, but that Horse Farm National Stud was just insane seeing it from above.
00;09;01;20 - 00;09;15;27
Speaker 3
You mentioned how immaculate the horses are. I think all of the animals just look so much prettier in Ireland than they do in other parts of the world. I don't know if that's because they're set against this lush green backdrop.
00;09;15;28 - 00;09;16;23
Speaker 2
Has a lot to do.
00;09;16;23 - 00;09;31;23
Speaker 3
With it, or it has to do with their diet. Or we were. We were told that the limestone in the, under the soil plays a huge part in the way that these animals are, develop and grow. But yeah, like, they just like every animal was just like, beautiful.
00;09;31;26 - 00;09;43;04
Speaker 1
I remember we had that discussion. So after the National Stud the next day, we went to a dairy and not to fast forward through this entire itinerary, but as a as a ten day trip, folks.
00;09;43;07 - 00;09;44;09
Speaker 3
We can we can a little day.
00;09;44;15 - 00;09;56;11
Speaker 1
Yeah, we can a little day is what I said on TV in one of those, one of our stand ups. There are plenty of bloopers, but at the dairy farm, remember, we talked about it like these do not look like what we were expecting dairy cows to look like.
00;09;56;13 - 00;09;57;17
Speaker 2
Like that's what.
00;09;57;19 - 00;09;58;19
Speaker 1
They look good.
00;09;58;22 - 00;10;20;00
Speaker 2
That's what was so interesting about the the climate there. So a lot of times whenever we're thinking about, oh, we're going on a trip, we're going to go international, let me check the Weather Channel. Oh, it's going to be 60 degrees and sunny, maybe a light rain. Well, that sounds great. But when you think about the differences in their climate for a 12 months, and that's about as warm as it's going to get right about about 70 degrees there.
00;10;20;00 - 00;10;45;10
Speaker 2
It's like they're they're high in the summer. They're normal average high in the summer. And so when we think about that and it doesn't get very, very cold there, because, you know, if like they're just general environment. And so we're thinking about how this their forages just grow and it's so lush, I couldn't get over how every time we looked out the window and every time you looked into pasture, it looked like a Irish screensaver on your computer, like a stock photo.
00;10;45;12 - 00;11;11;21
Speaker 2
That's what every single thing looked like. And so when you put animals in that situation, that was the biggest difference to me versus at home was whenever we see, you know, we see pastures here and our pastures look very different. When you think about through the seasons here. And just in our area. And so whenever you think about that, their pastures stay green and they stay lush, and they have a small rainy season, in the winter time and they bring everything in, but it stays green and it stays lush.
00;11;11;21 - 00;11;18;07
Speaker 2
That's just such an amazing comparison to make. And what's so cool for the kids to be able to see that and realize that through their agricultural system there in Ireland.
00;11;18;07 - 00;11;39;18
Speaker 3
You mentioned the the Irish screenshot. Looking out the window and seeing all these beautiful pastures. That was a running joke with me and Carl, because we're following the bus in a car that we had rented because we didn't want to hold you guys up if we ever had to stay behind at a farm. And so we're driving along these very tiny Irish roads in our very tiny Kia car.
00;11;39;20 - 00;12;02;14
Speaker 3
But we were noticing, like through driveways, like, oh, my God, look how beautiful that is. Oh my God, look how beautiful that is. But what you don't realize seeing it back here is that almost every road in Ireland is lined with about four feet tall of either a hedge, a stone wall or grass. And so we're catching little glimpses of it through through driveways.
00;12;02;19 - 00;12;18;01
Speaker 3
And we're like, well, we have to shoot our, our leads for, for Twila. And it's like, well, that's a good spot. And so we would literally catch it out of the corner of our eye and like, whip a U-turn and try to park in little alcoves just to be able to capture these, these spots. But it was so funny.
00;12;18;01 - 00;12;23;25
Speaker 3
Always joking about I know right behind this hedge there's there's beautiful scenery that we just can't get to.
00;12;23;26 - 00;12;41;15
Speaker 1
Yeah. We also would drive down the highway when we actually got on the open road, like on the. Well, I guess interstate would be something like that. And we're just driving. You come across a hill and just opens up and you're just like, oh my goodness. And so Josh will be looking at the driver's side, which is on the wrong side, and I'm looking out the passenger windows.
00;12;41;15 - 00;12;54;26
Speaker 1
And as I look at this Josh and we just started saying, oh, gross. Or it is who would want to look at this all the time? I did ask about the last place we ate dinner. Kind of our farewell dinner. I said, do you ever get tired of of this?
00;12;54;26 - 00;12;55;25
Speaker 2
The being so pretty.
00;12;55;25 - 00;12;59;16
Speaker 1
She's like, absolutely not. We do take it for granted, but we don't get tired of it.
00;12;59;18 - 00;13;07;17
Speaker 2
Like the like the lushness of the grass was like. It looked fake. Like if you would buy, like think about something. It was just so rich. Yeah.
00;13;07;21 - 00;13;15;10
Speaker 1
So what did you think at the dairy farm? Josh? That's the first place we flew the drone. Well, first farm we flew the drone at. So what did you think when you put that thing in the air?
00;13;15;12 - 00;13;36;04
Speaker 3
I mean, it doesn't like Hannah said. It doesn't look real, especially once once you get up and can kind of see over the hills and you see the these like they just layer, they're layered for miles and miles or kilometers and kilometers, however you want to put it. And I mean, I got I got lost up there. I think I was flying that drone for a good hour, missing half the tour.
00;13;36;11 - 00;13;48;01
Speaker 3
I mean, thankfully you were out there with them, but I was just I couldn't get enough flying up there and I would I would send it probably over somebody else's farm. Neighboring farm. Whoops. Yeah. Woops. Not.
00;13;48;01 - 00;13;49;19
Speaker 2
We weren't supposed to say that.
00;13;49;21 - 00;14;01;01
Speaker 3
That that part was technically okay as long as we were not within close distance to, cities or airports. Very restrictive about where drones could fly there.
00;14;01;03 - 00;14;02;00
Speaker 1
We followed all the rules.
00;14;02;05 - 00;14;04;22
Speaker 3
A lot of research, honestly, on drones before we left.
00;14;04;22 - 00;14;21;17
Speaker 1
But yeah, when Josh. So Josh flew all the drone work while I was with the group or, you know, in most of these cases, and we'd get back at the end of the night and look at video and he would show me and even this past week that there were some shots he used in the show. And I was like, where was that?
00;14;21;19 - 00;14;25;17
Speaker 1
When do we shoot that? My goodness, it was just insane. It looks like a screensaver.
00;14;25;17 - 00;14;28;21
Speaker 2
In between those little hedges. I look at what's the look.
00;14;28;24 - 00;14;29;19
Speaker 1
On the hedges? I mean.
00;14;29;25 - 00;14;37;12
Speaker 3
I will say it was just as beautiful from the ground in a lot of these places. The wheat fields at the, at the other, Cal farm.
00;14;37;12 - 00;14;43;03
Speaker 1
That, on Dedman. Yeah. Yeah, man, I want to talk about that too, because that was a really cool.
00;14;43;07 - 00;14;44;03
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00;14;44;05 - 00;14;49;05
Speaker 1
I think like, that's where it started to shine. Like that was like the most for each stop there might have been. That's where.
00;14;49;05 - 00;14;49;16
Speaker 3
They put in the.
00;14;49;16 - 00;14;50;21
Speaker 1
Work. They got to put, they got.
00;14;50;21 - 00;14;51;02
Speaker 3
Put to work.
00;14;51;02 - 00;15;10;08
Speaker 2
Put us to work. So we got to do some service. But also it was a very diversified operation. So we got there was a little something for everyone there. So there were some horticulture there. They talked a lot, a little bit about like wildlife management, what that looks like. And then of course there were beef cattle. So any that pertains to everyone because we all eat, you know.
00;15;10;08 - 00;15;10;14
Speaker 1
Right.
00;15;10;20 - 00;15;17;10
Speaker 2
So everyone everyone got engaged there. But then we also got to see some row crops. It was the first time we got to see potatoes in the field.
00;15;17;13 - 00;15;19;04
Speaker 1
I never actually got over that part of the tour.
00;15;19;04 - 00;15;23;27
Speaker 2
I didn't know potatoes flowered, to be honest with you. I've never grown a potato.
00;15;24;00 - 00;15;27;26
Speaker 3
I wasn't the only one. We were eating them raw out of the ground. I mean, it's a it's a potato.
00;15;27;27 - 00;15;30;23
Speaker 2
It was either that or become a problem for TSA.
00;15;30;26 - 00;15;35;19
Speaker 1
You know. Yeah. I was really nervous that a lot of these kids were going to try and bring some of this stuff home. I saw them, I did.
00;15;35;19 - 00;15;38;20
Speaker 3
See a lot of a lot of potatoes go in pockets. And I like.
00;15;38;22 - 00;15;44;20
Speaker 2
They got they got soft. What we got in, they weren't dry enough, so they got soft. So I'll tell the kids I was like, oh, we should throw that away.
00;15;44;21 - 00;15;45;28
Speaker 1
Yeah, we should throw that away.
00;15;45;28 - 00;15;48;16
Speaker 2
So I don't get that time. I got to Galway, I was like, I think we should take those away.
00;15;48;22 - 00;16;01;00
Speaker 1
Like they, they brought them. They kept them for a little while. Yes, yes. Yeah I was, I was getting a little bit nervous for customs like the morning we're trying to leave like please, you're Lord I'm separate. I'm in my own little thing.
00;16;01;00 - 00;16;05;29
Speaker 2
We had our biggest problem coming back was just, Oh, I forgot I had a Coke in my bag.
00;16;06;06 - 00;16;08;05
Speaker 1
Oh, let's. That happened. Was that a couple?
00;16;08;05 - 00;16;10;26
Speaker 3
I would imagine a lot of people wanted to bring home oyster shells, too.
00;16;10;29 - 00;16;14;00
Speaker 2
I don't I don't know if that was even spoke about as an option.
00;16;14;04 - 00;16;14;18
Speaker 3
Okay.
00;16;14;18 - 00;16;19;02
Speaker 2
But I think there was a lot of either eating them and putting them back or just avoiding or.
00;16;19;02 - 00;16;20;02
Speaker 3
Just not eating them at.
00;16;20;02 - 00;16;24;00
Speaker 2
All. They were probably scared that y'all would try to encourage them to eat. I'm on camera.
00;16;24;03 - 00;16;45;07
Speaker 1
I'm getting like a mouth puckering saltiness that that was Anyways, back to Redmond's. That was a really cool stop because the kids. So there was the cattle, there was the row crop, the kids got to see, but then they also had vegetable production and they put the kids to work, which is a really cool kids. And parents got put to work.
00;16;45;09 - 00;17;02;17
Speaker 1
Hands, knees in the dirt, putting plants in the ground. I thought that was a really cool aspect because it you mentioned it, service learning. You were talking to me about the what we call that and for each. And I was like, what I call it is learning by doing and that it's very much in line with for you.
00;17;02;19 - 00;17;07;10
Speaker 1
Tell me what you're saying about service learning and how that plays into all that for each is about.
00;17;07;12 - 00;17;28;20
Speaker 2
Yeah. So when we think about learning in forage, there's a lot of times where we're like, oh, we're here to teach. And there's different teaching styles and different learning styles. And so we've, we utilize our most often in for experiential learning and service learning. So experiential learning is, like you said, to learn. By doing so you do something, you process it with a group and then you apply it on for word.
00;17;28;20 - 00;17;51;16
Speaker 2
And so that's just very, very small potatoes if you will, of what experiential learning is. And then when we think about service learning. So when we come into an area we identify a need, whether that be a community or a school. Identify the need do a needs assessment and then do a service and then go back and and reflect on what we did there and, and apply it into the community and what we can do moving forward.
00;17;51;18 - 00;18;07;18
Speaker 2
And so when we think about those two different learning and and teaching styles, we can see that that was super evident, especially at Robin's farm. So these students were able to go to the farm. And it was it. This is how you this is where we harvest cauliflower are. This is where we're going to plant cauliflower. It was okay.
00;18;07;18 - 00;18;23;19
Speaker 2
So we need to get these nets from the top barn down to that bottom field down there. And so the students were able to use their skills and be able to say, okay, well, what's the best way to get these down there? And be able to work together and get that done. And then they were able and then the next thing was, okay, we're going to plant some cauliflower here.
00;18;23;19 - 00;18;41;02
Speaker 2
And it wasn't, hey, watch me plant the cauliflower. It was, hey, you're going to plant it like this. And then let's work together and do it so those kids are able to do that service the need was identified for them. The farm needed to get it done. We were able to do the service together. We learned about the process throughout.
00;18;41;02 - 00;19;00;05
Speaker 2
So they learned about how far the plants need to be. Why? And not just do it like this. They were, the the tour giver there with, farm Tours. Ireland was just great about explaining to the students why, how deep it needed to be and why it needs to be this way. And then they were able to do it, and then they got to like go later that evening.
00;19;00;05 - 00;19;18;19
Speaker 2
And we were able to eat some of our not the bounties of our harvest particular, but from that farm, at a farm to table dinner that night. So we were able to eat beef from that restaurant and, I believe we had beef stew that night. Maybe we had beef stew quite a few times, but I think that night was the best beef stew we've had.
00;19;18;21 - 00;19;33;06
Speaker 2
Or had that, that whole trip. But, they were able to eat in that the hotel restaurant that we ate at that night, actually, is owned by the same people as the farm. And so they they source, I believe it was six restaurants. They source with food from that farm.
00;19;33;08 - 00;19;44;08
Speaker 1
Yeah, they have two hotels and I think a couple of restaurants within each that all are coming from just their farms, right? They have like multiple locations of their farms. But it was a really cool experience.
00;19;44;10 - 00;19;54;02
Speaker 3
You mentioned the bounty. I believe that Andrea or Andrea, the proprietor there said that they were going to send pictures once the cauliflower had started to grow.
00;19;54;02 - 00;19;54;27
Speaker 2
Oh, that'll be all.
00;19;54;29 - 00;19;57;01
Speaker 3
They could actually see what they had grown.
00;19;57;01 - 00;20;02;01
Speaker 1
Yeah. So they're not they didn't they didn't plow that up whenever they were done, whenever the kids left, which is really cool.
00;20;02;07 - 00;20;09;21
Speaker 3
Yeah. It'll stay there. And the restaurant that we ate at had something special for you to,
00;20;09;23 - 00;20;26;15
Speaker 1
A little VIP back. Back, maybe behind the scenes. I'll back this up because it was kind of our idea, but we got there. We went there early. We skipped a stop because we filmed some at Redmond's farm. We missed the strawberry stop, which I heard was really awesome.
00;20;26;15 - 00;20;28;20
Speaker 2
Absolutely.
00;20;28;23 - 00;20;35;28
Speaker 1
But we filmed and we were, like, late for lunch, and we were asking, Oh, man, what's with farm?
00;20;36;03 - 00;20;37;00
Speaker 2
Where's Ireland.
00;20;37;02 - 00;20;53;10
Speaker 1
Was? Ireland was like, Jerry, where should we get lunch? Real quick to catch up with the group. And he's like, are you going to dinner tonight? Which I think there was some misunderstanding here because we were trying to stay with the group and catch up, get a quick bite. He sent us to the hotel and he said, ask for.
00;20;53;12 - 00;21;11;23
Speaker 1
I don't remember her name. Whatever, man, ask for the manager. Which are? Ask for Amy. We found out Amy happens to be the manager at the hotel. She gives us, like, just take your pick. Go in here, eat at the carvery, which is looks like a Piccadilly line. It is not a Piccadilly line. It is insane.
00;21;11;23 - 00;21;13;14
Speaker 3
Everything. It looks like a Thanksgiving dinner.
00;21;13;14 - 00;21;40;28
Speaker 1
It was the best. One of the best meals I had on the trip. And it came from behind the glass at a hot line. And it was lasagna, which was insane. Anyways, gave us like just opened it up to us. So whatever you need, y'all set your computer's up, works on whatever you need to do. Well then when we get ready to go up to the the restaurant upstairs where the dinner was for the kids on our way in, she's like, would you like to see the dry, what?
00;21;40;28 - 00;21;43;04
Speaker 1
She called the salt room salt. And we were like.
00;21;43;06 - 00;21;43;29
Speaker 3
Salt cave.
00;21;44;00 - 00;21;44;11
Speaker 2
Is it a.
00;21;44;11 - 00;21;46;03
Speaker 1
Spa? I was like, sure.
00;21;46;08 - 00;21;47;12
Speaker 3
And meet the head chef.
00;21;47;13 - 00;22;08;24
Speaker 1
Yeah, the head chef or executive chef or whatever he is. It's over. The entire operation was back there and he gave us like, the tour. And I was like, this is fascinating. I don't know anything about what you're saying, but this is awesome. Later on at dinner, we're Hannah and I are visiting and Josh things walking around came up on that and was like, we should see if we can get Hannah back there to see that salt room.
00;22;08;27 - 00;22;13;13
Speaker 1
And we just kind of went and asked the like, wait staff. We're like, can we go back to the back and see that?
00;22;13;15 - 00;22;15;16
Speaker 2
We see Andrew with Andrew in the back.
00;22;15;16 - 00;22;16;12
Speaker 1
And see the chef, please?
00;22;16;12 - 00;22;19;27
Speaker 3
Well, we asked Hannah to like, do you want to go see the room? That's like do I.
00;22;19;29 - 00;22;36;01
Speaker 1
Yeah. So we, we was like happy to. But he told us he was like nobody ever really cares to see this kind of thing. Right. He was excited that you actually were interested in it. So all that is the backstory of how Hannah got this little VIP viewing of The Salt Room. But what did you think about that?
00;22;36;01 - 00;22;37;17
Speaker 1
Was that like, was that a highlight? Was it.
00;22;37;17 - 00;23;00;14
Speaker 2
Up? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And the fact that the chef just stood there and he was like, I don't normally talk about these things out loud, but like, I wanted to know, like step by step. And so it was cool to find out that not only, Redman's Farms is where the cattle come from. They're harvested, they're in the same county, and then they're all all of the meat is sold through there.
00;23;00;14 - 00;23;22;05
Speaker 2
There's six different types of restaurants. And so they have like different types of restaurants to meet the needs of what the harvest is that they have, either from the beef cattle or from the veggies and other things that they're growing. So it was a really, really cool way to see how sustainable that operation is. But honestly, it wasn't a one restaurant or like A11 stop shop.
00;23;22;05 - 00;23;38;07
Speaker 2
It was on a huge scale. The farm was huge. The restaurants were, I mean, just like big hotel restaurants. And so when we got to go back there, Chef Andrew was so kind to explain the whole process, which I believe he had explained to y'all already. He did and y'all had to listen to twice, but I I'm appreciative.
00;23;38;07 - 00;23;39;12
Speaker 1
It was worth it.
00;23;39;14 - 00;23;58;11
Speaker 2
But I thought it I have a, desire to learn more about meat science and have a background in that a little bit. And so that's always something that I'm super interested in. But he talked, he told us all about sourcing it and what that looks like. Whatever. However many had they send every other week to harvest, he gets to go and pick out.
00;23;58;13 - 00;24;14;03
Speaker 2
I'm I'm kind of thinking that maybe the restaurant that we were at with maybe their top end restaurant, just seeing the rib racks that he had dry aging in this salt room. But he gets to go and pick out the rib racks, and he was, you know, talking about how he he's like, that's one of his jobs.
00;24;14;03 - 00;24;22;03
Speaker 2
And then he has to go. And 40 days later, after they, they dry age. And then he even showed us where they wet aged some of the other meat as well. So that was super cool to see.
00;24;22;06 - 00;24;30;27
Speaker 1
It was a really cool what I was kind of listening in on the conversation and he was just like, I'm just a country boy that happened to learn how to cook and this became my career. So, you.
00;24;30;27 - 00;24;32;15
Speaker 2
Know, I grew up on a dairy and.
00;24;32;15 - 00;24;37;03
Speaker 1
It was really cool, like hearing kind of hit some of his background and personal kind of connection to the farm.
00;24;37;03 - 00;24;44;11
Speaker 2
And he was a competitive shooter as well. And so he and his sons, I was like, okay, shooting sports. Here we are. That's baking for age H2. We got.
00;24;44;11 - 00;24;56;04
Speaker 1
That. Yeah, it was cool. And he's he's a fan of, our cuisine in Louisiana, I believe. So he was he was talking about New Orleans. Like I've been I'm familiar food scene.
00;24;56;06 - 00;25;04;15
Speaker 2
So that was certainly a highlight for me just being able to see that. So I appreciate y'all for getting me in the back door to the to the kitchen and the salt room.
00;25;04;15 - 00;25;13;22
Speaker 1
aside from that, what what stands out I mean, as is there any other super high point that stood out to you? I have one for me.
00;25;13;24 - 00;25;30;29
Speaker 2
I feel like I've been asked a few times since we've been back, and I can't say that there is a particular moment that I'm like, oh, this is this is awesome. But when we got to the airport to go home and we're just at this point, it's like a little bit of a relief, like, you know, we're at the airport.
00;25;31;06 - 00;25;50;03
Speaker 2
The trip is for the most part done. We just got to get these kids their parents now. And so to be able to sit there and look at our whole group just meshing so well together, getting along so well together and them talking about each of the high points that they had throughout the week, like, oh, I like this at this farm or this was really cool at that farm.
00;25;50;10 - 00;26;14;10
Speaker 2
To me, as a youth development professional, that is the part where I'm like, oh wow, this was such a good trip. Like it was good as an adult, but like to be able to see them just like, really relish in that moment of being like, oh, I love this hour. Do you remember when we saw this at that farm and knowing that they're taking those experiences with them to whatever their path may lead, that it's not a it's not one moment.
00;26;14;10 - 00;26;37;06
Speaker 2
But to me, like that is the reason why we do what we do so often, just to see them have that experience with them and know that they're going to their perspective has forever been changed. On what international agriculture looks like, on what agriculture in general looks like. And just like their own personal perspective, that really is just like that little tidbit would be my my high point for the week.
00;26;37;10 - 00;27;01;04
Speaker 3
At that culmination at the airport where they're all kind of talking about the trip and in past tense, was that where it all clicked? Because I had wondered if you had kind of witnessed so putting my thoughts together, we had interviewed every kid individually at the end of the trip and the growing. The big theme was I came here knowing nobody, and now I'm going to leave with a lot of friends, basically.
00;27;01;06 - 00;27;17;09
Speaker 3
Did you get did you being on the bus since we didn't get that opportunity, did you see a lot of that kind of developing in real time where kids probably started out quiet and just sitting next to a total stranger? And then I'm sure by the end of the trip, we're just chatting and karaoke ING and everything else that happened on the bus.
00;27;17;09 - 00;27;39;00
Speaker 2
And so I honestly, I've been on quite a few four trips before, no stranger to traveling with for eight years, but I was honestly so surprised. Even, like our own kid surprised me by the fact that by the time we landed in Dublin, which I mean like spending 24 hours flying with a group of people that maybe you didn't know super well, like, that's a pretty good icebreaker in itself.
00;27;39;03 - 00;27;54;19
Speaker 2
But, you know, I was prepared to lead organized ice breakers at the airport, but the students were so eager to get to know each other that it was a moment where I was like, oh, I had this on my to do list when we got to the airport. But I can step back. And these kids are doing this organically themselves.
00;27;54;21 - 00;28;22;04
Speaker 2
And so that was that was super interesting to me. And we our, our group really was just a such a good group of they all meshed together. They got along. And so to be able to experience that together, like not only are they like exploring new relationships amongst themselves, like friendships that they can continue to see each other at, for at events and things like that, but then also to be learning all this new information at the same time, like what a substantial amount of growth these kids over went in those ten days, right?
00;28;22;07 - 00;28;40;29
Speaker 1
Well, that was for me, my highlight. And, granted, we weren't on the bus all the whole time, but I remember we met a lot of these kids, sleep deprived, whenever they showed up in temple. The Temple Bar region, doing their walking tours, and they didn't like they were fine. They were perfectly polite, but they were like, closed off, like, you don't want to do it.
00;28;40;29 - 00;28;42;21
Speaker 1
I don't get that camera out of my face. Kind of.
00;28;42;21 - 00;28;44;26
Speaker 2
They I felt the same way. I mean, yes.
00;28;44;28 - 00;29;08;05
Speaker 1
But seeing from that very first day, second day, even as we're kind of walking, doing the riding guided tours and, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, how kids went from you could just see them as like individuals and little clicks of to maybe to all of a sudden their groups of four or 5 or 6 and they're all like super clicked up and grouped up.
00;29;08;08 - 00;29;27;26
Speaker 1
Yeah. And it's becoming a little family in that. Not to be too cliche about it, but they were by the time we got to that final dinner, to that final day, really like live in Dublin and they were all like, and you just watched that whole thing transform almost from farm to farm from start to stop was like, well, I, I didn't know you smiled.
00;29;28;01 - 00;29;57;19
Speaker 1
Yeah. I didn't know you were. You speak. You speak to you have friends on this. Yeah. And not to be like I'm making light of it, but really like you saw like them open up. Lance Bruce is an Aggie leadership alumni. I've known him for six, seven, eight years now. I've interviewed his daughter, Kelsey, who was on the trip, and he messaged me before the like, as soon as we're in the airport or something, realizing that we're on the same trip and we're in the same group and said, make sure you get Kelsey come out of her shell a little bit.
00;29;57;19 - 00;30;01;12
Speaker 1
So I started instantly joking with Kelsey, who was.
00;30;01;12 - 00;30;02;15
Speaker 3
Harassing Kelsey.
00;30;02;15 - 00;30;28;02
Speaker 1
I was not harassing her, but I was giving her a hard time and she was not having it. She was like closed off. She's like, get that camera out of my face. I have so many pictures of her like this with for anyone listening, hand straight over the face. You're not taking my picture. So by the end of the trip at the oyster farm, which you haven't talked about, she's like putting a mic on and she's going to, like, narrate what's going on.
00;30;28;04 - 00;30;36;04
Speaker 1
Their little adventure, their games. They're doing their their team stuff. And I'm like, what of like arc?
00;30;36;11 - 00;30;40;07
Speaker 2
And she's one of our students who came really without knowing anyone.
00;30;40;07 - 00;30;40;29
Speaker 1
Knowing Zero.
00;30;41;00 - 00;30;57;03
Speaker 2
Peace sign up for the trip and didn't really didn't have a buddy or anyone else from her parish had signed up. And by the time that we got off the airplane and got on the bus for the very first time, I would have never known it. Never would I have thought that she came on that trip not knowing anyone.
00;30;57;03 - 00;31;15;06
Speaker 2
And so I'm just I applaud our students and I just appreciate the the opportunity for them to be able to develop those friendships and relationships amongst each other. But it really was just outstanding. A great example of just, the group absorbing her as one of their own and the group just really coming together and her being open to it.
00;31;15;06 - 00;31;34;01
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's that's the thing that I think is so interesting is that so many of these students, although they may have a passion for agriculture or they're interested in learning more about agriculture, these students came together for this trip and they weren't a a cohesive group. Therefore, teachers from across the state and being in for Asia something that united them.
00;31;34;01 - 00;31;48;09
Speaker 2
But it wasn't something that they had really worked together as a team or group on. And so just to be able to have these experiences with this group and be open as young people, to be open to develop those skills and to see that really come to fruition was super cool.
00;31;48;10 - 00;32;11;00
Speaker 1
That I keep glancing down and seeing your notes here about life skills and like, if ever an important life skill to have is to be able to build relationship and maybe even become best friends with somebody really quick to to really make this trip, you know, enjoyable and, and grow that way. I think that's a huge, important skill is building relationships, even if maybe finding that common ground.
00;32;11;00 - 00;32;14;18
Speaker 1
And I'm sure they all did that. They all had some of that. But just for each, like you said.
00;32;14;21 - 00;32;15;10
Speaker 2
Right, right.
00;32;15;12 - 00;32;32;24
Speaker 1
That's pretty impressive. We kind of skipped over. I didn't mean to skip to the end here, but when we got to Redmond and we talked about the dinner at the hotel, that's a highlight. And to highlight what else what other farm tours do we hit after that? That was the last night. And that Kilkenny region. Right. And then we went from there.
00;32;32;27 - 00;32;35;13
Speaker 2
We also did the apple orchard apple orchard.
00;32;35;13 - 00;32;36;20
Speaker 1
Forgot about that.
00;32;36;23 - 00;32;45;19
Speaker 2
And so that was cool. The students were actually able to like taste multiple different pride, products that they made their apple cider vinegar and apple sirup.
00;32;45;25 - 00;32;54;11
Speaker 3
I was astonished at the number of children who had never touched anything with vinegar in it. And they were like, what is vinegar tastes like? Oh, that's terrible.
00;32;54;13 - 00;33;01;24
Speaker 2
I they gave us little, little cups of apple cider vinegar when we got there. And then they let us taste on the back side to, to just make it back there.
00;33;01;26 - 00;33;04;14
Speaker 3
Into the under, under the tree. Right under.
00;33;04;14 - 00;33;05;00
Speaker 1
The tree. Yes.
00;33;05;01 - 00;33;05;29
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah.
00;33;06;01 - 00;33;06;10
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00;33;06;14 - 00;33;07;15
Speaker 2
And so we got to taste I brought.
00;33;07;15 - 00;33;09;04
Speaker 1
Some home okay. Yeah. It's mom.
00;33;09;04 - 00;33;20;22
Speaker 3
Thank you. I think that's where a lot of people had taken their allowance of bringing back bottles of things that. Yeah, hold it up there. There were people buying salad dressing and and every other thing that.
00;33;20;26 - 00;33;21;27
Speaker 2
Apple cider apples care.
00;33;22;00 - 00;33;22;18
Speaker 1
I got some.
00;33;22;25 - 00;33;23;16
Speaker 2
We.
00;33;23;18 - 00;33;35;24
Speaker 1
I got I let I think that Saturday morning after I got back Brett made like pancakes and I was like, I'm, I'm putting this on there. She she wasn't a big fan to be honest. But I was like I got it. Yeah. Oh good. Oh more for me.
00;33;35;25 - 00;33;37;19
Speaker 2
Yeah I did the same with my kids as well.
00;33;37;21 - 00;33;40;20
Speaker 1
So we did the apple orchard. What else do we do?
00;33;40;27 - 00;33;41;28
Speaker 3
We missed the strawberry.
00;33;42;01 - 00;33;47;08
Speaker 1
We missed the strawberry over on the West Coast. Where did we go? There we went and did. Or.
00;33;47;11 - 00;33;50;07
Speaker 3
Well, that was a lot of that was it. Tours too.
00;33;50;07 - 00;33;54;28
Speaker 1
Yeah, but the cliffs of more. Let's talk about that for a second. Was that incredible?
00;33;55;00 - 00;33;57;21
Speaker 2
Yes. It just it.
00;33;57;23 - 00;33;58;05
Speaker 1
Can you put.
00;33;58;05 - 00;34;01;04
Speaker 2
Words to it? No, no, I really can't. Honestly.
00;34;01;04 - 00;34;04;06
Speaker 3
It just it is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I mean, I.
00;34;04;06 - 00;34;21;11
Speaker 1
I haven't looked at it a list, but I was trying to explain to somebody and I was like, I imagine if there's a list of top like ten natural wonders of the world, that's got to be on there, maybe 15, I don't know, it's insane. It's, I mean, is it felt like standing at the Grand Canyon? Well, that's crazy to me.
00;34;21;11 - 00;34;21;29
Speaker 1
And saying to.
00;34;21;29 - 00;34;39;06
Speaker 3
Me is that a lot of that is private property. A farmer owns that, and there's sheep and cows that graze right up to the edge of these cliffs, and they're just looking at you while you're admiring, you know, the beauty of the world. And there's a cow just to and cut behind you. It's it's kind of.
00;34;39;09 - 00;34;51;07
Speaker 1
Yeah, otherworldly. It was it was just insane to stay in there. We got like, weather came in and kind of shut the sightseeing down for a minute. Everybody. Everybody went into the gift shop right? And it was my.
00;34;51;07 - 00;34;53;13
Speaker 2
Cafe and all the same exact time.
00;34;53;13 - 00;35;01;16
Speaker 1
That was fun. But then y'all had to leave and we stayed behind, and it got really pretty. Yeah, I'm very sorry. I got. I don't think.
00;35;01;16 - 00;35;01;29
Speaker 2
We knew that.
00;35;01;29 - 00;35;02;26
Speaker 3
It was beautiful.
00;35;02;26 - 00;35;04;00
Speaker 1
Before. It was very nice.
00;35;04;00 - 00;35;13;29
Speaker 3
For the, for like right when we got there, it was beautiful. I personally took probably 20 soon to be senior pictures with Cliff backdrops.
00;35;14;02 - 00;35;18;00
Speaker 1
I mean, it's hard not to. There's not really a bad backdrop there either. That's what was crazy.
00;35;18;00 - 00;35;32;24
Speaker 2
I took the hike and went down like down the cliffs at first, and then on my way back ran into you, Caro. And you. You were like, let's take a picture, take a picture. And I was like, I'm never going to be here again. I'm also like, felt like a little model for a minute. The wind was blowing off the cliff right?
00;35;32;25 - 00;35;33;19
Speaker 2
Yeah. And all the things.
00;35;33;19 - 00;35;38;10
Speaker 1
But like. But why not? Right. I was like you. I'm going to come back here any time.
00;35;38;10 - 00;35;53;20
Speaker 3
Right? I was I was a little disappointed because like I went in 2014, that part where you kind of go up away from the tower, that wall that used to be there, and you could walk up to the ledge and like, I, I didn't do it. I had to crawl to.
00;35;53;22 - 00;35;56;04
Speaker 2
From A48 youth development standpoint. That scares.
00;35;56;04 - 00;36;11;19
Speaker 3
Me. I completely understand that because looking back on the pictures from 2014 that I took, like, it's terrifying. I can't believe I did that. And looking at it now, it's like, obviously they had a safety issue. I just couldn't believe that at one point it was open.
00;36;11;22 - 00;36;17;12
Speaker 1
Yeah, it was it was nuts. I did not know what I was getting into. Also getting there. You're taking the tiniest.
00;36;17;12 - 00;36;18;06
Speaker 2
Roads, right?
00;36;18;12 - 00;36;25;11
Speaker 1
And getting back to our hotel from there. Flying was so beautiful. Like we took the switch back roads and.
00;36;25;14 - 00;36;30;19
Speaker 2
That area was called something in particular. And I'm drawing a blank at this moment. But, do you remember?
00;36;30;20 - 00;36;32;11
Speaker 3
I don't remember.
00;36;32;13 - 00;36;33;24
Speaker 1
It was insane. It was.
00;36;34;00 - 00;36;37;02
Speaker 2
So beautiful. It was like, limestone.
00;36;37;04 - 00;36;41;17
Speaker 1
Oh, is that what it was? I remember looking out at the mountains. I was driving, but I was trying not.
00;36;41;17 - 00;36;43;03
Speaker 3
To knock, like, almost. Yeah.
00;36;43;06 - 00;37;02;03
Speaker 1
It was terrifying. But I remember being just like, we actually did stop a couple of times. We're like, we've got to stop and take some pictures of this. Because again, that weather had come through and it just came out stunning because a lot of it's overcast, was overcast when we got there. Ish. And when we left it was just sunny as can be and I was just like, golly, it's so, so.
00;37;02;03 - 00;37;02;18
Speaker 2
Beautiful.
00;37;02;21 - 00;37;10;27
Speaker 1
So beautiful. But so that was that day. The real ag trips in Galway, though, was it really just the oyster farming? Sheep dog?
00;37;11;00 - 00;37;12;16
Speaker 2
The sheep dog sheep know.
00;37;12;18 - 00;37;15;13
Speaker 1
How it was. Look at that. Yeah, that was wild.
00;37;15;15 - 00;37;39;15
Speaker 2
That was I, I'm an avid sheep enthusiast, so probably second only to my meat science. Passion would be sheep would come up right next. Okay. And so I was very much looking forward to that stop. They I'm not particularly a dog enthusiast, though, and so I wanted to know more about the sheep. I was like, tell me more about the sheep.
00;37;39;17 - 00;37;43;02
Speaker 2
What? I kept asking the farmer, like, all these different questions. And he was like, but look, my.
00;37;43;02 - 00;37;47;01
Speaker 1
Dogs that you were on the sheep dog experience, not the sheep experience.
00;37;47;01 - 00;37;48;06
Speaker 2
Completely understood.
00;37;48;07 - 00;37;49;11
Speaker 1
It was all that I was.
00;37;49;11 - 00;37;52;22
Speaker 2
I had been holding all my sheep questions and for when we got it.
00;37;52;25 - 00;37;59;04
Speaker 1
It was funny. I remember you asked him a question like, what? What breed is this? And he's like to get back to you on the right. And he did. He did.
00;37;59;04 - 00;38;01;02
Speaker 2
Yeah, he did, he did.
00;38;01;04 - 00;38;05;03
Speaker 1
But no, the sheep you were watching that one from the drone. I was also Josh like.
00;38;05;05 - 00;38;21;19
Speaker 3
I was, And that that's because, you know, it takes place over such a big area and the the guys who work there said that, you know, please send us that because we never get to see. Pip was the dog's name. We never get to see what he does when he goes up the hill. We just send him and he comes back with the sheep.
00;38;21;19 - 00;38;43;25
Speaker 3
We don't actually get to see any of that action, so being able to follow that and follow him down the hill and get all these different angles, that's going to help them. You know, I was I was pretty proud of that. But you mentioned, you know, seeing sheep, we saw them everywhere on that switchback trip. They were in the road, the right side of the road and the spray painted on there on their wall.
00;38;43;25 - 00;38;46;04
Speaker 3
So that way they can be identified amongst different fonts.
00;38;46;11 - 00;38;55;16
Speaker 2
The different colors. I thought that was cool, the different colors. If they had like green on the neck and red on their back, right? I meant one ran at one farmer and then, you know, maybe it's blue and yellow on different.
00;38;55;16 - 00;39;06;06
Speaker 3
One, which is clearly an issue because while we're making these drives, there's like, here's a red sheep with a blue sheep, like, are y'all supposed to be co-mingling? I guess at the end of the day, as long as they go back where they're supposed to be.
00;39;06;06 - 00;39;27;01
Speaker 1
It was pretty impressive. I only disappointment with the sheepdog like demonstration was that it wasn't like a big herd of sheep, because I would have loved to have seen a dog or two. Dogs work like 100 sheep is probably a dozen. Yeah, ten, ten, 12. But it was still very impressive. They sent it out. Pit went probably 100, 150 yards away up a hill.
00;39;27;04 - 00;39;27;14
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00;39;27;14 - 00;39;54;15
Speaker 1
And then brought them in and then he would bring them, you know, 30, 40 yards and lay Pip down and they would just stop where they were and it was really cool. And the kids are really, really into it as well. So I think, I don't know this, I didn't ask, I don't know, did we ask him? We may have asked him about this, but the idea of like the ag aware type tours, like I feel like most of his tours are just like, oh how cute, some sheep.
00;39;54;15 - 00;40;00;03
Speaker 1
And then he was getting asked questions from probably just mostly you not only you about like.
00;40;00;05 - 00;40;01;23
Speaker 2
You know, picking one for the team or.
00;40;01;26 - 00;40;06;09
Speaker 1
About the herd health or, yeah, you know, actual ag questions.
00;40;06;10 - 00;40;07;19
Speaker 3
Not just run of the mill tourism.
00;40;07;22 - 00;40;12;06
Speaker 1
And he was I think he was probably like, oh, well, okay. I get to actually like talk farm talk.
00;40;12;06 - 00;40;12;23
Speaker 2
The real stuff.
00;40;12;23 - 00;40;18;27
Speaker 1
Which was pretty cool to see from. I was on the other side of the fence, looking back at the kids and seeing them engage, locked in. It was pretty cool to see that.
00;40;19;04 - 00;40;34;15
Speaker 2
We had quite a few get to maybe show sheep or show goats and those kinds of things, and foray to engage in those animal science side projects. So I know, just in visiting with them, we had really the sheep farm was one of the last farms we went to. So really just I felt like, I'm gonna say we bottled up those questions.
00;40;34;15 - 00;40;38;21
Speaker 2
Maybe it was mostly me, but we bottled up those questions. They were right there.
00;40;38;21 - 00;40;41;24
Speaker 1
So like, we talked to Sophie K, who has, goats.
00;40;41;24 - 00;40;42;17
Speaker 2
Sheep and goats and.
00;40;42;17 - 00;40;47;07
Speaker 1
Sheep. And she was like, ready. She was in the front. She was in the front of the room, was excited.
00;40;47;07 - 00;40;51;14
Speaker 2
I was right there prior to, oh, we were ready for those questions.
00;40;51;14 - 00;40;59;27
Speaker 1
So that was one of the last that was part of the last leg of the trip, really. And then the very last day I really of ag tours was Oyster.
00;40;59;27 - 00;41;02;16
Speaker 2
Farm, oyster Farm, and I didn't know what to expect.
00;41;02;16 - 00;41;10;18
Speaker 1
I didn't know either. I had no clue. I honestly never even been on oyster farm in Louisiana. So, so I was kind of like, okay. And I don't personally like oysters.
00;41;10;18 - 00;41;11;08
Speaker 2
I couldn't tell.
00;41;11;08 - 00;41;19;02
Speaker 3
Clearly. You need to put that video right here, over this segment and show how coral reacts to.
00;41;19;05 - 00;41;19;22
Speaker 1
A mouthful.
00;41;19;22 - 00;41;20;19
Speaker 3
Of freshly cracked.
00;41;20;19 - 00;41;24;08
Speaker 1
Oyster. They are salty, very salty.
00;41;24;12 - 00;41;28;15
Speaker 2
They were, like, still swimming. Yeah. The ones that we had.
00;41;28;19 - 00;41;42;08
Speaker 1
No mouth was hurting. No. Anyways, it was a cool experience. And what was really impressive about that tour is they really have built that. I don't say they built the farm around tourism, but they have definitely built tourism into their farm.
00;41;42;11 - 00;41;43;16
Speaker 2
And they spoke to that.
00;41;43;16 - 00;41;53;06
Speaker 3
Yeah. Go ahead. No good. Because they had that hands on experience that was built right out there. They had tables and chairs and and all that ready to go.
00;41;53;11 - 00;41;53;20
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00;41;53;23 - 00;42;22;01
Speaker 2
The sheepdog, farmer as well spoke to how they needed to pivot and diversify some of their operation. And agritourism worked right into that. Yeah. And I think that whenever we went to those two farms, thought was something that I noticed whenever we went to the farms earlier in the week that weren't really focused on agro production, but more production, agriculture, we can see how those farmers really interacted with us a little bit differently, and the, the hands on components were built into them.
00;42;22;01 - 00;42;37;29
Speaker 2
But we could tell, I could tell when we went to the sheepdog, farmer, as well as the oyster farm there. They're bringing in money through agritourism because of these tour experiences. And so I thought that was cool to compare. But also, I'm really glad we got to do both.
00;42;38;00 - 00;42;56;25
Speaker 1
I don't want to say it like, in any kind of a derogatory way. They were tourist stops. And they just happened to be tour stops based around agriculture because the others were for sure farms that we got welcomed onto. But those last couple in the oyster, so for, for folks listening they had their I guess production room.
00;42;56;25 - 00;43;19;06
Speaker 1
They're sorting. They're like a little warehouse like I mean I say a little warehouse very tiny relatively speaking. And they had 50 of us piled in the room on like little folding like benches. And then they took the kids out and we walked in. We saw the different, you know, parts of the farm and different where they met and traps and stuff like that.
00;43;19;09 - 00;43;37;12
Speaker 1
But then they brought them back up to the shed and they had tents set up outside where they had the kids go through some games. And I thought that was like the hands on. They made it very competitive and the kids took it quite seriously. It got loud and crazy for about five seconds at a time. It felt like it was just and and a lot of build up and then craziness.
00;43;37;13 - 00;43;51;24
Speaker 3
It wasn't just handing it off to the kids like they were like the proprietors. There were just as involved in that competition, you know. You know, we're going to check the box, make sure you did the seaweed right, make sure you had 12 oysters, make sure they weren't, you know, broken open beforehand.
00;43;51;24 - 00;44;07;23
Speaker 1
Make sure you flip the traps. And they were all strapped down correctly and right. Right. It was so they had to the two different races or relay relay state type races where they had the first one, they had to flip traps, they had to shake traps and flip them and then strap them back down, which.
00;44;07;23 - 00;44;08;21
Speaker 2
Is a big task, which.
00;44;08;21 - 00;44;10;06
Speaker 1
Is part of what they do on the farm daily.
00;44;10;06 - 00;44;25;13
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's a huge labor input on their, their, their side of things that they talked a lot about. And once you do it a few times and you're able to appreciate what rows and rows and rows of those oyster bags look like after they have to be. Each shake shook and individually. Right.
00;44;25;13 - 00;44;33;02
Speaker 1
Yeah, I thought that was a really that's a good point because that was hey, I want you to appreciate what goes into the farming that happens here.
00;44;33;02 - 00;44;36;01
Speaker 3
And you're doing this three times. We do it hundreds of times, right?
00;44;36;07 - 00;44;51;21
Speaker 1
Yeah. And then the other the other game they had to do was they had to pack some, finished ready to ship oysters into a little styrofoam box, and they had to lay a bit of seaweed down. They had to put exactly 12 oysters in there. But the lid on, put more seaweed, the lid and the tape it up and get ready to go.
00;44;51;21 - 00;44;53;13
Speaker 1
And they do. That was boxes, pure chaos.
00;44;53;13 - 00;44;53;22
Speaker 3
And that.
00;44;53;22 - 00;44;54;05
Speaker 1
Was kids.
00;44;54;05 - 00;44;55;19
Speaker 3
Were being taped to the boxes.
00;44;55;24 - 00;45;00;07
Speaker 1
Literally one arm we got taped on there. It was fun. But that was, I'm.
00;45;00;07 - 00;45;02;11
Speaker 2
Glad those didn't go out.
00;45;02;13 - 00;45;22;16
Speaker 1
And they unbox those quickly. Yeah, but it was a it was a lot of fun. I think that was a really cool stop. And that was, and they even got to taste some fresh oysters and we did, folks like Jeremy loved it. Yeah, some folks like me. Not so much. Yeah, but I did it. I didn't spit mine out, though, which is what half the students did or a few students did.
00;45;22;16 - 00;45;23;17
Speaker 2
I maybe a couple days.
00;45;23;19 - 00;45;28;22
Speaker 3
Some of them were angry after that because they were forced to try it, and then they were very upset.
00;45;28;22 - 00;45;30;05
Speaker 2
And you forced them at.
00;45;30;07 - 00;45;33;26
Speaker 3
Some somebody who wanted it on camera. I guess, you know, just.
00;45;33;29 - 00;45;35;22
Speaker 1
Don't look at me. I was forced also.
00;45;35;23 - 00;45;36;28
Speaker 3
Yeah, he was forced.
00;45;36;28 - 00;45;44;18
Speaker 1
And Josh finds it hilarious. I actually had a student tricked me into it and was like, I won't do it unless Mr. Khalil does it. I no, I'll do it. I'm not going to back down from a challenge.
00;45;44;21 - 00;45;46;10
Speaker 3
She was the one who was upset.
00;45;46;10 - 00;45;55;03
Speaker 1
And she I did it and she kept she was asking too many questions about it, like holding it up. I was like, don't go.
00;45;55;05 - 00;45;56;27
Speaker 2
Oh, that's what she she did. Pick it up.
00;45;56;29 - 00;46;02;09
Speaker 1
She remembers that part two. And I'm like, don't just one, two, three go.
00;46;02;11 - 00;46;07;20
Speaker 3
It was we got to go with it because they were like, you have to chew it. And I was like, oh, I'm not used to chewing it. Just.
00;46;07;24 - 00;46;08;25
Speaker 1
Swallow. They were salty.
00;46;08;25 - 00;46;16;28
Speaker 2
They were so fresh. So I mean, they literally just came straight out the water. And so like a lot of times when you get them in a restaurant here, they've been packed a couple days are.
00;46;16;28 - 00;46;22;27
Speaker 3
Shocked and they're chiller too. And so I think they'll input your place when it's room temperature. It's weird.
00;46;22;28 - 00;46;29;15
Speaker 2
The, the extra, seawater in the shell was probably something for me. That was a little bit. Yeah.
00;46;29;17 - 00;46;31;06
Speaker 3
Dump that out three times. Right, right, right.
00;46;31;06 - 00;46;34;01
Speaker 2
You had you had to tip it over. And so I.
00;46;34;01 - 00;46;36;23
Speaker 3
Did it for it. It's still didn't like it.
00;46;36;25 - 00;46;47;29
Speaker 2
That was the difference for me. I felt like that it's not some of that salty water and and so it really did you I mean you didn't even need to season them. They were nice and solid, plenty of salty. I was looking for some Tabasco in a cracker.
00;46;48;06 - 00;46;48;20
Speaker 1
Everywhere.
00;46;48;20 - 00;47;00;29
Speaker 3
For every meal. We were told at one coffee shop that we had a Louisiana Farm Bureau shirt on, and and the barista was like, oh, y'all from Louisiana? I was like, yeah, she was like, next time you come bring Tabasco will trade it for whiskey.
00;47;00;29 - 00;47;02;23
Speaker 2
Oh, okay. So not a for.
00;47;02;26 - 00;47;23;23
Speaker 1
Pro tip for tip, if you're ever going to Ireland, take some seasoning with you. Will appreciate it. Yeah. So any final thoughts on this trip? I mean, we saw castles, we saw cliffs, we saw all cliffs, castles. Any other sea sounds? But we but but we saw a lot. We experienced a lot. A lot of life skills, a lot of growth.
00;47;23;25 - 00;47;32;19
Speaker 1
Any any parting thoughts that that now that you've been home for a week plus that, I mean, you've talked about it and staff all day to day. I'm sure you're probably tired of talking about Ireland.
00;47;32;21 - 00;47;49;23
Speaker 2
My number one thing that I'd like to say is just that I'm so appreciative of having y'all with us. And having the Twila team come out and be able to document it. And it was such an experience for our kids. They're not they were not only experiencing agriculture in a foreign country, but they also got, you know, some on the cuff media training as well.
00;47;49;23 - 00;47;59;08
Speaker 2
And it's just such, just really, really pouring into our kids. And I really appreciate y'all being able to do that and taking the time to do that and your administrators for letting it happen.
00;47;59;08 - 00;48;18;26
Speaker 1
So that's the real thank you there. But say you didn't have to twist our arms, but Farm Bureau put money behind us going. And that's that's what's really I'm appreciative of Josh, you said this. You said this a couple times. Josh, for anyone that doesn't know, comes from traditional news media where getting interviews is not always easy.
00;48;18;28 - 00;48;23;28
Speaker 3
It's usually usually twisting a lot of arms and shoving a camera in a in a face of somebody who doesn't want the camera.
00;48;24;00 - 00;48;37;01
Speaker 1
And getting good interviews is even more difficult sometimes. And after a couple of interviews, just the first couple, Josh was just like, I forget these kids actually are solid. They're they're sharp kids.
00;48;37;03 - 00;48;57;22
Speaker 3
Yeah. Before this, before this trip started, I was expecting every interview to be like, tell me what you thought about this phone, because, I mean, that's that's what a lot of teenagers will give you, you know? But these four kids just right out of the gate just open up and given you full thought out interviews and and these weren't kids that, like, rushed up to us to be like, hey, I want to be on camera.
00;48;57;28 - 00;49;03;02
Speaker 3
And these were kids that we randomly picked in, like the first five or whoever. I think whoever.
00;49;03;02 - 00;49;13;21
Speaker 1
Looked at us when we had a camera and like, we're like, I'm poor. Addie was like, sleep deprived and like, right before our first dinner that first night. And she was just as I was like, it was the.
00;49;13;24 - 00;49;17;22
Speaker 3
First one we picked out. We were like, you, you're you've been straggling in the back of the group.
00;49;17;22 - 00;49;38;10
Speaker 1
And come, come, come here and tell us what you thought about the trip here. And it was like, what a what a great start to this. And honestly, it never, never was like it was all just A-plus. And I shouldn't I shouldn't be surprised. I've been around this Farm Bureau world for about a decade now, and I've been around the youth and FFA, and for each, I shouldn't be surprised.
00;49;38;14 - 00;49;43;29
Speaker 1
But every time I'm just like, man, that is awesome. So thank you for training up these kids pretty well.
00;49;44;03 - 00;49;50;18
Speaker 2
Well, it takes a village and so we appreciate all that Farm Bureau does as well to help us work with these students and train them up as well.
00;49;50;21 - 00;50;10;06
Speaker 1
Well, if anyone after hearing us talk for however long this has been, I'm very sorry. If you've been waiting around for some awesome nugget, here's the nugget. We have videos. We have blog posts. We have photos from all of this. Hannah wrote an awesome blog post that kind of talked about the for ages, and that's in there. We'll have them in the show notes.
00;50;10;07 - 00;50;27;07
Speaker 1
You can find the links to that. You can find all of our videos that we've already done. Josh will have eventually some bloopers, and I'll come back and attach them to this. He was working on them earlier, and I was hearing all of my bloopers and I said, can we not can we not do that? But there will be bloopers one day and I'll put them in the show notes as well.
00;50;27;07 - 00;50;40;16
Speaker 1
We'll find all of our coverage, all of our blogs, all of our photos in the show notes. And until next time, I'm Carl Wiggers, Josh Meeks, Hannah Devall. Thank you for being here. We'll see you next time on the Louisiana Farm Bureau podcast I.