Transcript
Plant People: Okay, that was me hitting the button. So if it ended really abruptly, you're welcome. Hi, everyone.
Brett: Yeah.
Jessica : Hello.
Brett: Hello.
Plant People: Good.
Brett: Greetings.
Plant People: Awesome.
Jessica : Greetings.
Plant People: Yeah. Well, ah welcome to Hort Culture. If you're new here and if you're a true leaf and have been around for a while, thanks for coming back.
Plant People: ah And I'm just, if you hear any wind in the background, it's because, well, we live in Kentucky and it's apparently the windiest place ah now.
Jessica : and
Plant People: No longer Kansas. It's just us.
Brett: Not not to it's not tuning its wind.
Plant People: So, um,
Jessica : Weekly.
Brett: Okay.
Plant People: Exactly, exactly. It's fine. Everything's fine. I'm not i'm not panicking about the fact that
Jessica : Nobody nobody is stressed about the high winds and the storms coming in later.
Plant People: Nobody's stressed. Nobody has giant plastic, basically kite structures on their property.
Jessica : Nobody. It's fine.
Jessica : Great. It's going to be good.
Alethea Bruzek: It's going to be fun.
Plant People: um
Alethea Bruzek: It's going to be fun.
Plant People: It's, you know, we we did find out the other day, though. ah Brett, correct me if I say this wrong, but Kentucky is like this, like number two behind California for the amount of ah like land undercover, like under structure.
Brett: like under agricultural land that's protected like a high tunnel or a greenhouse in terms of, in terms of acreage.
Jessica : Okay.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : like greenhouse.
Plant People: Greenhouse. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: oh
Plant People: Yeah. So we're only behind California and the U S which is why we're all panicked about high winds and tornadoes and hail.
Jessica : That's wild to think about.
Alethea Bruzek: That is.
Plant People: So look at that.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: i thrown in some facts with some anxiety.
Alethea Bruzek: I love that.
Plant People: ah
Alethea Bruzek: Not the wind part, but the part about the facts.
Plant People: us being awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, in general...
Plant People: That part.
Brett: Who is that? Who is that voice? I just heard. Is there someone joining us today on the podcast, Alexis?
Jessica : I have a special guest.
Plant People: Well, somebody extra special, I believe.
Jessica : yeah
Plant People: The other half of the A-Team, as we formally called ourselves. So introduce you.
Alethea Bruzek: Hi, everyone. I'm Alethea Bruzek. I'm a Boyle County agent for Family and Consumer Sciences. And i ah when you were talking about the high tunnels, it reminded me that we got plastic put on ours at the office now.
Alethea Bruzek: So that's going to be happening.
Plant People: Yep, that's awesome. Also might fly away.
Brett: we
Alethea Bruzek: Might fly away.
Brett: We have...
Jessica : yeah
Alethea Bruzek: Completely possible. It's on top of a hill. So
Brett: in the In the lead up to to getting started on this, we had a few things in the conversation with Aletheia that were callbacks to previous episodes.
Alethea Bruzek: yeah
Brett: One, you've you've experienced some white pine decline.
Alethea Bruzek: I have. have.
Brett: We've talked about this in the past.
Alethea Bruzek: I have four.
Brett: We all love white pines, but you know, that that heavy clay soil...
Plant People: White pines don't always love us.
Alethea Bruzek: They look great in your yard while they're living. i will just say that that time can be cut short because they are not native, I learned.
Alethea Bruzek: They are not native to ah this part of Kentucky.
Plant People: This air.
Jessica : This area, yeah.
Plant People: Yeah, yeah.
Jessica : Yeah.
Brett: and Especially the elevation and...
Alethea Bruzek: I had four in my yard.
Plant People: so yeah
Alethea Bruzek: i now have two.
Brett: Uh-oh.
Plant People: You have um another, well, you have another tree in your backyard that you've learned a lot about ah this past winter, or two winters ago.
Alethea Bruzek: Yep.
Alethea Bruzek: Yes.
Plant People: ah So, so what, tell me about, tell me about that time you text me.
Alethea Bruzek: Oh, yes. I got it so excited because I thought to myself, let's try and see if I can do maple syrup in my yard because i have maple trees in my yard.
Jessica : Oh.
Plant People: she's a She's a backyard homesteader, guys, all right?
Jessica : one i
Alethea Bruzek: do.
Plant People: She's family and consumer science, but this girl, she's she's been doing stuff.
Alethea Bruzek: identify as horticulture.
Plant People: Yes.
Alethea Bruzek: um
Jessica : Bees, chickens, all sorts of things.
Plant People: We accept you.
Alethea Bruzek: yeah. Yep. We do have one chicken and she has started laying eggs.
Jessica : Oh, congratulations.
Plant People: Again? She's old, right? Like, she's...
Alethea Bruzek: is old.
Jessica : Oh, she's one of the original girls.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: She is old and she, yes.
Plant People: She's one of the...
Alethea Bruzek: And she has started laying eggs and I'm so proud of her, but the trees in my yard, oh my gosh.
Plant People: She knows you might kill her. Sorry.
Alethea Bruzek: I swear. I,
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: I wanted to make maple syrup. And so I tapped these trees in my yard because they're big enough and they seemed appropriate.
Brett: You tap that.
Alethea Bruzek: ah did. and I put the bucket and the little piping and the stuff, hooked it all up. Was so excited. Nothing came out of the tree. And I'm like, why is this not working?
Alethea Bruzek: I did everything by the publication because extension publications. choice.
Plant People: Top notch.
Alethea Bruzek: That's where you get your information. And so I did this only to realize they're oak trees.
Jessica : oh
Brett: Well...
Plant People: She was like, I have tapped the maple tree in my backyard.
Alethea Bruzek: So.
Plant People: And I said, babe, I don't think you have a maple tree in your backyard. You have one in your front
Alethea Bruzek: no, no. Yes, I do. I told them. i told I told you. I was like, no, no, no. Yes, I do. I have them.
Plant People: yard. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: And they're big enough to tap. And so I did.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : okay
Plant People: And I was like, no.
Brett: Well, in terms of the scale of mistake, you could have tapped the pine trees and that would have been really embarrassing.
Alethea Bruzek: but
Jessica : Oh, that would have been, yeah, that would be a nice sticky
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Brett: But resiny, you know maybe like a nice IPA or something out of that.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: You know?
Alethea Bruzek: Right?
Jessica : Sticky mist.
Alethea Bruzek: You know, I would try it.
Plant People: Hut, hut.
Brett: And we have one more, one more before we jump tree related update from a previous episode, which is Jessica, they got some trees planted at the park near you.
Alethea Bruzek: would try. Yeah.
Jessica : Oh, I did. Yeah. Our hair.
Brett: I made a joke about how, you know, people sometimes don't know about seasonality and they you should plant some orange trees so that the the the soccer players could have orange slices after there.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: Oh, yeah.
Brett: And, you know, we had uproarious laughter across the across our listener base at that joke. And it just reminded me and and they planted a a lot of oaks and some.
Jessica : Yeah, we did.
Brett: What else?
Jessica : ah ah We have a really large park that is lacking a lot of trees in Harrodsburg. And we did a diverse group of trees because we didn't want to have a monoculture, right?
Jessica : And everybody loves red maples, but if we don't plant another red maple for another 10 years, that will be okay.
Plant People: Right.
Jessica : um So yeah, we did chinkapin oaks. We did Kentucky coffee tree, schumard oaks, willow oaks. ah There's one more that I'm forgetting, i think Oh, we did some bald Cypress too.
Plant People: r
Alethea Bruzek: Bald. Yes, it was something bald. It was a bald screen.
Jessica : Yeah. So this is our first of many plantings out of that park. And we some really large trees, like the largest our little group has ever planted, where thankfully the city brings little excavator and helps dig out the holes, which we're very thankful for.
Brett: that's exciting
Brett: Shout out to the city.
Alethea Bruzek: Can't do an end.
Jessica : um But they also had to lift some of the trees off the trailer. They were that large. And never had we have installed trees that large before. But just the very first of many plantings that can happen out of that park.
Plant People: So lots of watering happening in the summer out there.
Jessica : So. Yes. Yes. I have water bags currently sitting in my office floor that will go out there when needed.
Brett: can
Plant People: Good.
Brett: Wow.
Plant People: Good.
Brett: kentucky Kentucky coffee tree. i As lumber smells terrible.
Jessica : Oh.
Alethea Bruzek: it
Brett: It smells it smells like vomit, frankly.
Jessica : Oh.
Plant People: Really?
Brett: Yeah, yeah, I made I made some some cutting boards out of it.
Plant People: I wonder why.
Brett: And I was all ready to gear up and sell them, you know, Kentucky coffee tree.
Jessica : oh
Brett: And then as soon as you start cutting cutting vegetables on it smells like something you don't want to eat something you did eat maybe.
Jessica : Oh,
Alethea Bruzek: Huh.
Plant People: and
Brett: Yeah, it was weird.
Plant People: I'm going to have to look up like compounds that are in
Jessica : that's so strange. Yeah. You're going to find that out.
Plant People: The coffee tree that make it smell like that.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: Because I am, you know what? I'm honestly mad. Speaking of coffee tree, you brought it up. I am mad that is no longer the state tree. Because literally is in the Latin name, Gymnacletus Kentuckiana. And it's like, why did they, and it was the state tree.
Plant People: And then they were like, oh no, we're going make it the yellow tulip popper.
Jessica : does Yeah.
Plant People: Which is a perfectly okay tree. I'm not downing it.
Brett: Very basic, very basic, kind of a basic.
Plant People: But it's very, bait yeah, it's the golden retriever of the, you know, native trees.
Jessica : I guess.
Jessica : I guess you find it everywhere, right? Versus the coffee tree, you don't see it everywhere.
Plant People: Well, you know what?
Jessica : But it was very confusing being in elementary school.
Plant People: Maybe more people would plant it if they ah knew that it was the state tree.
Alethea Bruzek: and
Jessica : Right?
Plant People: Maybe if it got recognition, it deserved literally as Kentucky in the name.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: and
Plant People: But I digress.
Brett: I have a, I have a new change it up.
Jessica : and
Alethea Bruzek: I did not know that it was a state tree.
Plant People: I'm here for today.
Jessica : It was literally going from elementary school and then starting middle school. And they were like, oh, hey, it's not. You're wrong. It's not the kenta ah Kentucky coffee tree anymore.
Plant People: rude yeah this was a recent thing this wasn't like you know 100 years ago
Jessica : Like, why? Why did it switch?
Brett: Yeah. So that's like a, like a post nine 11 kind of thing era.
Alethea Bruzek: Wow.
Plant People: a
Jessica : Pre.
Brett: change pre okay see that because we have some people who are probably listening who are like middle so you were in middle school where was i and the answer is you might not have been born when we were in middle school uh well
Jessica : Pre.
Plant People: pre like right right around you might not have been born and we still
Alethea Bruzek: I was in middle school around then, so
Jessica : i'm eating more I'm meeting more and more people in that age range now that's kind of like, oh, guess I am old now.
Plant People: yeah yeah
Brett: i have one more tree update i'm gonna jam one more tree update we have a in our front yard and you mentioned the kentucky in the name We planted ah this past year a Kledrastis Kentucky, a Kentucky yellow wood in our front yard.
Plant People: Love it.
Jessica : Love Yellowwood.
Plant People: Gorgeous.
Alethea Bruzek: o
Brett: Extremely obscure deep cut of of ah like kind of native shade shade trees in the Fabaceae group, I believe.
Brett: And so like same thing at same general ballpark as peas, which is a vibe. So
Plant People: Is it nitrogen fixing? Do you know?
Brett: um
Plant People: Not all Fabiaceae are nitrogen fixing.
Brett: I'm not exactly sure about that.
Plant People: like I think redbud's in the same family and it does not fix nitrogen.
Jessica : I think you are correct.
Plant People: Is that right, Jess?
Jessica : That sounds correct to me.
Brett: also have some do some some hardy rosewoods on the back porch.
Alethea Bruzek: I do love Redwood.
Brett: Dalbergia, which is in Fabaceae.
Jessica : The red buds are popping right now.
Alethea Bruzek: They are, they're stunning.
Plant People: They be popping.
Brett: Yeah, beautiful.
Jessica : beautiful right now.
Alethea Bruzek: I love them.
Jessica : All the Bradford pears are slowly disappearing.
Plant People: but
Jessica : i mean, they're still there, but you know, the flowers, but the red buds are really looking nice.
Brett: Well,
Plant People: The Magnolias popped this year. If you were in Kentucky, you probably saw we hit like that perfect window of where it was like just didn't get too cold and they lush.
Jessica : Yes.
Brett: so the the plant dorks have had their say now, Alethea.
Plant People: Okay.
Brett: And ah it's just, you know, and and I'm not one of them.
Jessica : We have.
Brett: I'm i'm one of the cool ones, you know. um
Plant People: Fabulous.
Alethea Bruzek: you know
Brett: But you were used to mention earlier that you kind of you have an identify with horticulture and you you know have that connection. I'm just curious, you know, in your life, work, whatever, like what how do you intersect with with horticulture and with plant the world of plants?
Alethea Bruzek: Oh, very much. um I will say i i do enjoy gardening. i give it a shot. And I have asked Alexis and Jessica many times over the years, lots of logistic questions so that I can try and be successful because anybody can put a tomato plant in a bucket and sh try and get it to grow. But You know, ask somebody for some help sometimes because, you know, it's helpful to know that you should put one jalapeno plant per one gallon bucket or sized pot instead of three or four.
Plant People: somebody
Plant People: because what happens if you do put three or four the capsaicin is concentrated
Alethea Bruzek: They're lava. They are the hardest jalapenos you will ever experience.
Jessica : you
Alethea Bruzek: They are...
Brett: Lava Pena, they call it.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, jalapenos for sure. They were the hottest jalapenos I've ever grown ever in my day. And oh yeah, that you had
Plant People: You watered them like eight times a day.
Alethea Bruzek: And I'd have to put more soil in there because the soil would start to go down.
Plant People: It's
Alethea Bruzek: And I'm like, why are these jalapenos so needy? Because I should have put four plants in four different pots instead of one. One pot. One one-gallon pot.
Brett: you You live and you live and you learn.
Alethea Bruzek: Live and learn. But now I've got
Plant People: so okay
Alethea Bruzek: a bunch of raised beds. And um my husband has put in this really cool irrigation system because watering is very important. And you want to make sure that the watering is consistent.
Alethea Bruzek: So your tomatoes turn out gigantic, the size of the bread. so when you make your BLT, there's full coverage with one thick slice.
Jessica : Yep.
Plant People: That's how you know you've done it right.
Alethea Bruzek: That's how you know.
Plant People: That's how you know.
Jessica : Right.
Alethea Bruzek: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Plant People: You have blackberries too, don't you?
Alethea Bruzek: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: Well...
Alethea Bruzek: Um, see what had happened was was very ambitious last year and I went and I went to one of our local farmers plant sale and absolutely loved all the stuff that they had there and had ah big dreams, big dreams.
Alethea Bruzek: And i got yeah, yeah, I bought them.
Jessica : As we all do in the spring, Alethea.
Plant People: Right? Yeah, like felt.
Jessica : Yes, totally normal. Yes.
Alethea Bruzek: i did. i got some blackberry plants and then I didn't end up planting them.
Jessica : As.
Alethea Bruzek: Because they didn't get the trellis built. And one thing after another, they they did become crispy and die.
Plant People: Happens.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: But we know what do this year instead so that they are successful.
Brett: Well, you didn't you did avoid you may not have planted them, but you also avoided a massive problem of not having a trellis in place. so you know you you there's no optimal There's not optimal solutions in life.
Plant People: Right.
Jessica : Right.
Alethea Bruzek: Good.
Brett: Sometimes you have to you have to pick and choose.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Plant People: I feel like um that meme that probably most of you have seen if you are on any type of plant stuff, that's ah it's that like...
Alethea Bruzek: This is so true.
Plant People: ah how I feel or as an experienced gardener, what I say when plants die and it's like the Loki and it's like, ah, yes, very sad. Moving on.
Alethea Bruzek: Right? Yes.
Plant People: Because like all of us who have been experienced have killed so many things and continue to kill so many things every single year, even though we know better and have experience and we just.
Jessica : Yes.
Jessica : Yeah. And it's always like you feel bad for people who are like so upset over losing a single plant because then you feel bad because you're just like, get you another one.
Plant People: Mm
Plant People: Oh, look!
Alethea Bruzek: Right?
Jessica : Let's propagate it or let's let's
Plant People: The whole tray i forgot to water.
Alethea Bruzek: I have led so many plants to Jesus.
Plant People: well. Yeah,
Alethea Bruzek: Like I try really hard, but I don't remember to water them. And I will admit, Alexis would water the plants in my office. And the plants in my office now, there are not any.
Jessica : Oh, no
Alethea Bruzek: There's one. Oh, I know there's one.
Jessica : yeah
Alethea Bruzek: I have a jade plant. I have a jade plant.
Plant People: yeah i
Jessica : Did you ever bring the orchid back to life? I remember there was an orchid one time you were trying to bring back to life.
Alethea Bruzek: Absolutely not.
Jessica : Okay.
Alethea Bruzek: Nope.
Brett: Well, I would imagine many of our listeners can commiserate and even share share some experiences with you.
Alethea Bruzek: Thank
Brett: And so, you know, we we obviously count you among the the Hort squad and and accept you as our own, ah you know, ah first first among true leaves.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Plant peep.
Brett: ah
Alethea Bruzek: you. go
Brett: But that's not the thing that you do in your working time and and kind of what people might know. You said this is something like ah there's a science and it's something about families and it's there's consumers involved.
Jessica : Thank you.
Alethea Bruzek: Yes.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: Oh my goodness. um It's funny that you mentioned the name family and consumer sciences, because in America, we're the only country who calls it that everybody else still calls it home economics, which is kind of brings it all together.
Plant People: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: You know, like I, I like the family and consumer sciences part because it does bring in a little bit more of the science part and like lets you know that there is science involved in, you know,
Alethea Bruzek: home economics because there's just, ah there's so much that goes into it, especially when you're thinking about canning and food preservation. That is very scientific. Ooh, I almost forgot to tell you, i am learning about a new form.
Alethea Bruzek: Well, it's not a new form of food preservation, but it's fermenting. I'm working doing some fermenting so that I can teach that as well.
Brett: what do you What are you fermenting?
Alethea Bruzek: Along with canning.
Brett: What are you what are you fermenting?
Jessica : Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: I am making sauerkraut.
Brett: Okay.
Jessica : Oh, cool.
Alethea Bruzek: Yep.
Brett: Oh,
Alethea Bruzek: I got crock and I have, it's a two gallon crock and it's made out of clay and I put
Brett: wow. I like that.
Alethea Bruzek: six cabbages in it. The first day I could fit four in there and then you wait it down and let the juice come out.
Brett: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: And then added more cabbage the next day. And now it's been three days.
Brett: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: So I'm leaving it. I'm going to leave it for four to six weeks and tangy it gets.
Brett: Yes, ma'am.
Alethea Bruzek: If it needs to be more tangy, I'll leave in longer. If it's tangy to my liking, we're going to have sauerkraut and try that.
Plant People: Love it.
Alethea Bruzek: So it's fun.
Brett: Describe, describe for me your ideal balance, because this is I'm ah i'm ah i' a long time crop maker myself.
Alethea Bruzek: I'm excited.
Jessica : Cool.
Alethea Bruzek: Really?
Brett: The balance between crunchy and tangy. If you had to choose crunch or tang, which would you prefer?
Plant People: and
Brett: and and we're wow
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Brett: Yes.
Alethea Bruzek: I like the tangy.
Brett: That's awesome.
Alethea Bruzek: I like that that flavor because pickles are my favorite.
Plant People: Yeah, same.
Alethea Bruzek: They're so good. and um Anything vinegary, salty, like tangy. Got that. I've been doing a lot of, well, I've been eating a lot of kimchi lately. I haven't personally made any yet, but it's next on the list.
Alethea Bruzek: That and kombucha. I got a SCOBY to do you that.
Plant People: oh
Brett: Wow. You're going all you're going whole whole ah culture, whole hog, whole culture.
Plant People: who Yeah, I love it. Teach me your ways.
Alethea Bruzek: I did.
Brett: I don't know.
Alethea Bruzek: I got this book. I borrowed this book from my dear friend, Mary Robin.
Jessica : I'll have to.
Alethea Bruzek: And well, then I had Sonera order me a copy because I might have to return this, but I really like
Plant People: what What's it called?
Alethea Bruzek: going to write in it.
Plant People: I'll put a link to it.
Brett: What does it say?
Alethea Bruzek: It is the Noma Guide to Fermentation by Renee Redzepi and David Zilber.
Jessica : Well, we're all going to have to sign up for your class and come when you teach us.
Brett: Ooh.
Alethea Bruzek: It was right.
Brett: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: It's going to be so much fun. It'll be probably in like June or something because I want to have different stages to show you of the sauerkraut.
Plant People: Sweet.
Brett: Yes.
Jessica : It's a good idea.
Alethea Bruzek: You kind of see what it's like. um But it's the oldest. Fermentation is the oldest form of food preservation and the safest. So if you follow the recipe, get you an extension recipe.
Alethea Bruzek: um Hit me up if you need that. Yeah, get one of those and just follow the recipe and be patient and wait for the magic to happen.
Brett: Well, let me let me just throw I'll just throw this out. i don't know if you have to follow. We we regularly a staple in our house is sauerkraut grilled cheese. Sauerkraut melts.
Jessica : That sounds so good.
Alethea Bruzek: Ooh, that sounds really good.
Plant People: It's so good.
Brett: It is. And with the tang, if you get it tangy and you've got like a fairly you know nice rich cheese, little crunch on the outside, a little, you know, roastiness from the bread.
Brett: wo me
Plant People: I like it. Rye bread specifically.
Alethea Bruzek: I bet that'd be really good.
Brett: why
Plant People: Right. like
Jessica : Wow.
Plant People: Listen, Annie, Brant's wife got me in on that. I don't, I think I told her I was eating sauerkraut out of jar at some point. And she was like, do it with grilled cheese.
Alethea Bruzek: Directly.
Plant People: And I had rye bread, get some cheese. Yeah. ah
Brett: yeah We've also done sauerkraut pizza, where we do like a cheese pizza and then top it sauerkraut and maybe some pickles.
Alethea Bruzek: Ooh.
Jessica : o
Alethea Bruzek: Ooh.
Brett: it's I mean, pretty much if you go like carb, cheese, sauerkraut, you're like in good shape.
Alethea Bruzek: Stop. Mm-hmm.
Jessica : you
Plant People: any form or fashion.
Jessica : You can't go wrong.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: Oh, that sounds so good.
Brett: There's other things you could sub out for the crap, but the the like tang of the sauerkraut against the richness of the cheese. so so you're a part Part of your ah FCS stuff is food is food stuff.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Brett: But that's not all of it, right?
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah. No, that's not all of it, but that is what ah people really love the most of.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: i did a cooking class this past Saturday and we made a bunch of different breakfast foods and that was a lot of fun. But I also do um all sorts of things like budgeting classes and family resource management type stuff.
Alethea Bruzek: Um, parenting, health, safety, wellness, mental health.
Brett: Wow. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: um I've been trying to do some fun stuff with mental health because the weather's getting good and we've got these nice walking trails out here.
Brett: yeah
Plant People: so much
Alethea Bruzek: Spending time outside is a great way to be mindful. So be looking for those programs on the horizon. But yeah, I do anything that has to do with ah the family from birth to death.
Alethea Bruzek: All of it. All of that everywhere. Everything in between. There is no question off limits, which is fun sometimes. so ah Not going to lie.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Very fun.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: i
Plant People: Yeah. We, uh, when I was in Boyle County, Alethea and I did ah series, couple different versions of this, but like a, uh, garden to table type series.
Alethea Bruzek: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: And so, you know, we always, we had the sort of like garden aspect of it. Here's how you some can grow your tomatoes or cucumbers. And then a recipe as well as some sort of like preservation technique for that. So, um,
Plant People: that's That was really cool because you know not only was it like, here's a way to eat it right now, but also if you have a bumper crop of zucchini, here's some options for it.
Plant People: And I think I really always appreciated that because we all know there's always a bumper crop of zucchini and like cherry tomatoes and basil and stuff like that.
Jessica : um huh
Alethea Bruzek: Every time.
Plant People: So ah talk maybe a ah bit about you know just some of those. you we mentioned fermenting, which is I'm really excited about that like you're into that because I have learned so much from you on canning and freezing and just like basic things and also like hey not that I was doing this but don't put your eggs in lime water you you will poison yourself so
Alethea Bruzek: Right. You know, is actually
Jessica : Right. Don't trust the Facebook, right?
Plant People: don't trust what Pinterest necessarily tells you
Alethea Bruzek: I'm so glad that you mentioned that because I feel like it it's definitely worth saying. um The internet is a great source of information.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: It is a great source of information. Not all of the information on the internet is safe or correct, especially when it comes to food preservation. So always call your extension office and ask someone or look at extension publications for, know, food preservation and stuff like that, because you know that they've been tested and that they're safe.
Plant People: who
Alethea Bruzek: Um,
Brett: one of those One of those handy places where family and consumer science comes in.
Plant People: There's like legit research that has been done.
Alethea Bruzek: Yes, because we test those recipes and make sure that they're safe instead of, you know.
Jessica : Because even like some of your like ah my experience with canning, some of the canning books that I've had recommend one thing. But since I'm like around you all and I like hear things about like, oh, tomatoes should be processed at this amount of time.
Jessica : Like some of the books you even get might not have like actual safe recommendations for like the United States. Right.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Plant People: um
Jessica : Depending on where your book's coming from. So just, you know, being able to double check with you guys is very helpful.
Alethea Bruzek: up Just check your sources, you know? Yeah, I'm so glad. And I love when people call and ask me questions. we um We've been getting ready for ah canning season and all of that.
Alethea Bruzek: Um... Part of the garden to table programming that we would do, talk about how to cook as well as preserve ah the vegetables that you grow.
Alethea Bruzek: Because like you said, you know, you might get a whole, whole lot of zucchini might get, we'll get whole, whole lot of zucchini and you might need recipes or you might want to dehydrate them and make, you know, those really awesome little zucchini chips.
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Plant People: We'll get.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: Uh, I'm going to have to make some of those. had kind of forgotten about them and now I've remembered them anyway. Um, but yeah. And how to, you know, properly freeze things so that you can use your produce, uh, later on in the season when stuff may not be fresh anymore.
Alethea Bruzek: So yeah, lots of food preservation.
Plant People: Freezing is by far my favorite way because it is the easiest.
Alethea Bruzek: It's easy. It's easy. easy. so easy
Plant People: Is there anything off the top of your head from like a garden produce? Obviously there are like general things, but you know, those people who maybe have a market garden or just like, I want to have plenty to put away for the winter months because I was so sad not having something I grew and my winter, you know, meal.
Jessica : used.
Plant People: ah What shouldn't you freeze? Is there anything that like you just don't recommend?
Alethea Bruzek: I wouldn't freeze lettuce, you know, like your salad lettuce, your salad greens.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: um One thing that you can freeze that is ah common salad green is spinach. um But, you know, because you can use that in a whole lot of different things.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: You can buy it frozen.
Plant People: Soups! Soup season!
Alethea Bruzek: Soups, dips, all kinds of things, you know.
Plant People: Dips. Oh yeah, dips.
Brett: Stock veneer.
Alethea Bruzek: when i You're, yeah, like you just want to know that not everything that you freeze is going to come out of the freezer the same way that it went in
Jessica : Right, right.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Like you can freeze, you know, bell peppers and stuff, chop them up, measure them, have them ready for recipes, fajitas, soups, stews, whatever. um Just know that they're not going to come out as crisp and delicious.
Jessica : was a fresh bell pepper, yeah
Alethea Bruzek: as a fresh bell pepper, but you can still use it in your items and it's going to be good. going to be great. Nutritious. Um, worth it. So, um, ah yeah, yeah.
Plant People: I don't lose any of those nutritious value when you freeze.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: And some things you need to, cook a little bit before you put them in the freezer to stop their, uh, you know, their maturing process so that they're not, you know, brown and old and gross Like you're going to cook your corn before you put it in the freezer. You're going to want to peel some things like tomatoes before you freeze those.
Alethea Bruzek: Because that peel just it just comes out squishy and weird. So you definitely want to blanch those, peel those, throw them in an ice bath, and then freeze them.
Alethea Bruzek: Chop them up however you'd like to store them. will tell you I've had a great time. We had started a food pantry a couple weeks ago.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: And we had a bunch of yellow onions left over. So we have been dehydrating the onions because you can dehydrate those and use them in all sorts of things, as well as grind it down to a powder and you've got onion powder.
Jessica : ah
Alethea Bruzek: So, you know, you can make your own seasonings. Works really well with herbs. Oh, we did a good class with the herbs. did when We did garden to table. That was a lot of fun.
Jessica : Cool.
Alethea Bruzek: And we had those dried and did different compound oils and butters and vinegars.
Jessica : o
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Jessica : That's really cool. So, you know, ask Alexis asked, like, what should we not freeze? And then I assume, like, if we think about canning, what is, like, one of the big things?
Alethea Bruzek: Yes.
Jessica : Like, I can think of something that I know a lot of people talk about wanting to can all the time, but then, like, our recommendations or your all's recommendations are, like... you should avoid but you see it processed commercially is like pumpkin right like so is there any other like big ones that are you like clearly you're like no we don't we don't we can't can that like is there any other ones out there
Alethea Bruzek: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah. I've had people come in with milk that they have canned or goat's milk or raw milk of any kind.
Jessica : i don't get that
Alethea Bruzek: Like when you're getting into dairy, it's very ah important to, to, to not. um I have,
Jessica : yeah just Just know.
Plant People: to To not. Just not.
Alethea Bruzek: i I wouldn't. I mean, just because you can process something in a jar and that jar can seal does not mean that it is safe for you to put on your shelf in your pantry and keep it and open it up and use it like normal.
Alethea Bruzek: um
Jessica : Right.
Alethea Bruzek: That's just not, it's it it needs to go through a very different process. And some of those processes can't be done at home. They have to be done commercially.
Brett: So you're telling me that there is a limit to your can-do attitude.
Alethea Bruzek: So
Alethea Bruzek: there is a limit to your can do attitude, you know?
Brett: I see. see. Well, I'm curious. I have a question. This may be a total flop of a question, but here we go. um When you all were working, when you, Alexis, and Alethea were working together and you were doing these workshops or you were working with people, did you tend to have people who were gardeners who were looking to preserve or preservers who were looking to get into gardening?
Alethea Bruzek: Oh, oh, that's a great question.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: i
Brett: And was there a difference in and what how they thought or what they did or anything?
Alethea Bruzek: ah yeah, I feel we had several people who had gotten into gardening and they wanted to learn about canning. and preserving ah their their produce. And we, i don't know, I feel like we've had so many different people who have had different experiences. had people who um did a big garden and then canned a bunch of stuff. We've had people to,
Alethea Bruzek: um can be used to canning and, and, you know, just buying the produce. And now they're like, well, I, I, can I grow this? Can I grow enough?
Plant People: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: How much do I need to grow to be able to put up 25 quarts of, you know, tomato juice or whatever they want to do?
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: um We've had a lot of people come in and um from both sides of that.
Plant People: Yeah, I would say like it's probably more people who are gardening and then like want to preserve it. But definitely, Alethea, there's the people who come in and are just like, well, how many what's realistic, right?
Plant People: Like they kind of they kind of think through it and they're like, all right, well, normally I buy it by, you know, two bushels of corn.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Plant People: at the farmer's market and it cost me this much. ah How much is it going to cost me to, you know, basically grow that much corn? And, you know, just, is you know, maybe they moved and they have an area for it or something along those lines.
Jessica : Yes.
Plant People: Their grandkids want to grow a garden and they're like, well, you know, ah but yeah, you're you're right.
Brett: Can you put a price on the connection to the land, Alexis?
Plant People: Depends on who you ask.
Brett: Some people certainly can.
Plant People: Um, yeah.
Jessica : yes
Plant People: um
Brett: So as you all as ah you all, you're talking about kind of like people are, the word you said was realistic. And so the original idea for for this episode came, we I saw something I think on on Facebook and I immediately implemented it in my life without checking whether it was based on science and, or no, no, sorry, I didn't do that.
Brett: ah did We learned not to do that. I saw this thing on Facebook that was about, um it's this thing I'm kind of always skeptical of, which is, This idea of like a here's a prescription of how much to plant to support a family of four on a quarter acre in a blah, blah, blah.
Jessica : hmm
Brett: Back when we used to have our backyard about a tenth of an acre fully in vegetables, people would ask us, so do you grow all your own food for the whole year there? was like, we do not.
Brett: ah Those are all vegetables. I ah occasionally like a carb and a protein, you know, in the mix sometimes.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, balanced meal, you know.
Brett: That's right. I try. i try you know my i'm trying to keep my FCS ah friends happy with a a nice balanced meal. So how do you approach this question of what's realistic?
Brett: Are people are being maybe too ambitious, not ambitious enough? You mentioned the 25 quarts of tomato juice. like How did you all or how did you answer that or approach that or or get people started thinking about it?
Alethea Bruzek: so That's definitely an Alexis question. of course, it's funny when Alexis worked here, we were oftentimes um confused for each other, very often by people in the public.
Plant People: By people who have met us.
Alethea Bruzek: who have met us and been to our classes and know our areas.
Plant People: Let's be clear.
Alethea Bruzek: And people would still ask me things like, how many tomato plants should I plant? Or, know, what do do with all, what, how you know, garden this plot of land that I have?
Alethea Bruzek: And then I would just direct them to Alexis.
Plant People: is the wrong a name, so
Alethea Bruzek: Yep, wrong name.
Jessica : Right.
Alethea Bruzek: Let me know when you have the tomatoes.
Brett: You all worked so seamlessly as a team, they couldn't tell where one began and the other ended.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: yeah
Plant People: Yeah. And then I get the, I grew all these tomatoes.
Jessica : huh
Alethea Bruzek: Yep. Jesus.
Plant People: ah i got to can them now. And I'm be like, I don't, I can't. that one, go to that one.
Jessica : Can't help you. Yeah.
Plant People: But Alethea, I think what you were so good at was when people were like, I'm going to, you know, I could tell them, okay, you need to grow, you know, 15 tomato plants or you know, whatever.
Jessica : who
Plant People: And these are the kind that are better for canning, or these are the kind that are better for freezing. ah
Jessica : you
Plant People: But what I think you were good at was helping people understand that if they're goal is to you know couldn't consume mostly what they've grown. Obviously, you know unless they're having meat birds or you know pigs or cows or whatever it is, if we're just thinking about their goal is to eat as many vegetables that they have produced, this is what we're talking about here, um talking to them about like sort of like something well-balanced, I think, is where you were really great. And also thinking about
Plant People: you know, freezing versus canning versus dehydrating and what all that entails and what you should do, you know, better. Cause like, I think we can walk people through, know, how many zucchini plants is too many zucchini plants.
Alethea Bruzek: Two.
Plant People: Two, two is too many.
Alethea Bruzek: Two is too many.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: But, um you know, then what?
Alethea Bruzek: What?
Plant People: Then what? You know, after I tell them, yeah, two zucchini plants will give you enough zucchini for three years for 15 people. um She jokes, but also maybe not.
Alethea Bruzek: But also it's true.
Plant People: What you you were there to kind of guide them through that. And so maybe kind of talk about your approach. If somebody comes to you and it's like, I know how many plants I need, but then I don't know what to do.
Alethea Bruzek: Oh, I always love to give people lots of recipes because a lot of times, and I'll also talk a little bit about getting kids eat vegetables because i get that question a lot.
Alethea Bruzek: And when you involve kids in the process of growing a little garden, teaching them how plants you know work and all of that and how you end up with this thing that you can eat and then they get to, from start to finish, be a part of that.
Jessica : huh
Alethea Bruzek: and see that, that helps them to want to try those things. And I'll give you all the recipes you could ever need. Because a lot of times, um people don't like certain vegetables and they'll write them off, but they've only had it cooked one way.
Alethea Bruzek: Or they've only had it in one type of day.
Plant People: brussels sprouts broil or boiled
Jessica : Yeah, and they're delicious.
Alethea Bruzek: Only Brussels sprouts. Oh my word. um That could be a step one in the cooking process for Brussels sprouts.
Jessica : i You gotta find me a beets recipe.
Alethea Bruzek: But I feel like they need it.
Jessica : You gotta to find me.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, oh, beets.
Jessica : Okay.
Alethea Bruzek: We can definitely do that. The simplest, most wonderful recipe, roasted beets. So you roast them. And then you, I'm just, yes, slice them up, put some goat cheese, put some feta cheese.
Plant People: if you mix put some feta in there with um
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Jessica : Oh, oh, you lost me again.
Alethea Bruzek: Ooh, drizzle of honey.
Plant People: She doesn't like goat cheese. She doesn't do the goat cheese.
Alethea Bruzek: Get out.
Plant People: Or balsamic.
Jessica : That sounds good.
Alethea Bruzek: Chopped some toasted chopped pistachios. Sorry for our um peanut tree allergy folks, but pistachios on top of
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: Oh my, so good.
Plant People: Mmm.
Brett: there some Throw some nerds gummies in there, maybe.
Jessica : Yeah, maybe add those.
Alethea Bruzek: I I wouldn't hate it.
Plant People: Jessica's like, it's well-balanced, right? Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, it's balanced. We're all trying to, I'm never going to tell you to eliminate something from your diet. Of course, listen to your doctor.
Brett: i was just trying to help you all win win Jessica back on you, you know, beats, then goat cheese out.
Alethea Bruzek: You know, course.
Brett: It's a tough start, but.
Alethea Bruzek: Put some candy on you.
Jessica : It's one of those, it's one of those vegetables.
Plant People: Feta. Feta.
Jessica : Like they know this. Everybody knows this now in this podcast that I always try them. And every time I'm just like, nope, not yet.
Plant People: Tastes like dirt.
Brett: That's a no thank you bite.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, they're earthy.
Brett: It's a no thank you bite.
Jessica : Not, not, not this year. Maybe next year.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Plant People: I love that you keep trying, and though. a li That's what Alethea always says.
Alethea Bruzek: See, I love that because, you know, you got to run different ways.
Jessica : Keep trying that. Keep trying lamb every year. Exactly.
Alethea Bruzek: You might find a way that you like them, you know?
Jessica : Exactly.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, I swear.
Plant People: Would you say that there is, like...
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Plant People: a goal or anything to be said about like how much of, you again, going back to sort of this, I'm gonna, you know, have all the vegetables I eat this winter are from my garden.
Plant People: Is there, you know, like a go for 30% of it can 30% of it frozen, you know, or is it totally up to, you know, that person and maybe even that vegetable?
Alethea Bruzek: Honestly, yeah, it really is up to the person or the family because um I'd always suggest growing things that your family is going to eat.
Jessica : huh
Alethea Bruzek: um You know, if your family all hates beets, maybe don't grow beets and then tan beets and then have a bunch of beets on hand, you know?
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : right
Plant People: Although pickled beets.
Jessica : it'd be terrible i don't know i do maybe i need to try this i like pickles
Plant People: Jessica, you like pickled beets? Because you like pickles.
Alethea Bruzek: Because the pickled beets, that tanginess takes the earthy flavor.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: down a few notches.
Plant People: okay And then you can put your eggs in the beet juice and you have really pretty pink pickled eggs.
Alethea Bruzek: like
Jessica : It
Alethea Bruzek: They're so pretty and yummy.
Plant People: They are so pretty. Your Easter game just goes up a notch there.
Jessica : just goes up.
Brett: you're You're obsessed with putting eggs in liquid.
Plant People: um
Alethea Bruzek: So much.
Brett: What is deal? Oh, wow.
Jessica : That's your topic today.
Alethea Bruzek: Mm-hmm. I'm going to have to send you a recipe of those um marinated eggs. or You do them, you hard boil them and then marinate them in the soy sauce and ginger, garlic, and it looks so good.
Jessica : ah I want those. i want to do that.
Plant People: the
Brett: oh wow
Plant People: The soft-boiled...
Alethea Bruzek: a
Plant People: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Then you just put them in that container and let them get all tasty.
Plant People: Give me those.
Jessica : We go through so many hard-boiled eggs a week.
Plant People: Brown.
Jessica : We've had this also discussion before about how many how many scrambled eggs do you think you could eat?
Alethea Bruzek: Mm-hmm.
Brett: Wow.
Plant People: How many eggs will give you the ick?
Jessica : How many eggs can you eat?
Alethea Bruzek: Right?
Brett: if i would if i were If this was a Facebook meme, that would be a flex.
Alethea Bruzek: What's too much?
Brett: You'd be like, I'm rich, son.
Alethea Bruzek: Right? For real.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Because eggs are little expensive. They used to be a great budget-friendly source of protein, but now they are just a source of protein. but
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Do you recommend just like cans of tuna now?
Brett: ah
Plant People: Like what are we, what are we recommending?
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Jessica : Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah. You know, go with whatever's on sale. I do love when there's a 10 for 10 of those ah pouches of tuna.
Plant People: ah
Jessica : Yes.
Alethea Bruzek: ah Love that. Love that.
Plant People: ah
Alethea Bruzek: Great source of protein. Still budget friendly.
Jessica : Miss Miss Tuna currently, but you know.
Plant People: and
Alethea Bruzek: So that's helpful.
Plant People: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Oh, yeah.
Plant People: That's I had to educate my husband on why pregnant women couldn't eat fish or sushi or ham.
Jessica : Yeah. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Brett: yeah
Plant People: Or he, he was like, what?
Alethea Bruzek: The lunch meets. Yep.
Plant People: He was like, they can't get any of that.
Jessica : yeah yeah you can eat like you know like cook salmon that's good you know there's certain things but and there's other things you gotta avoid
Plant People: I was like, have you been? How do you not know this?
Alethea Bruzek: Okay.
Plant People: Yeah, yeah. But he was, like, wanting to take... he was wanting to take a friend of ours, and he was like, let's go get sushi. And I was like, she can't eat sushi. And he was like, why?
Jessica : and that's that's all you want
Plant People: was like, pregnant.
Plant People: Can't eat sushi when you're pregnant. um
Alethea Bruzek: The parasite that's already in inside her could be damaged by the parasites that could be in the sushi.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: An outer...
Brett: Oh, good point.
Jessica : Right.
Alethea Bruzek: a whole thing.
Plant People: An outside parasite. Yeah.
Jessica : Another endoparasite.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah. You don't want a parasite war at that time.
Brett: Yeah, you don't want that.
Alethea Bruzek: Like, I don't feel...
Jessica : yeah
Brett: You don't want that beef.
Plant People: And then you are the host of two parasites.
Alethea Bruzek: no
Plant People: I mean, it just like yeah one is enough. One is enough.
Brett: A pair, a pair of a pair of parasites.
Alethea Bruzek: One is enough.
Jessica : Paraparasites.
Plant People: A pair of sites.
Brett: Pair Hera.
Alethea Bruzek: Oh.
Brett: So i have a, i um I'm known as the the touchy, touchy feely question guy.
Jessica : Anyways.
Alethea Bruzek: Squirrel.
Alethea Bruzek: Love.
Brett: ah So my question, my question for you is, so you, as a ah FCS professional, a horticulture person, a human being on this earth who just brightens up the world for the rest of us, what is your
Jessica : This is very true.
Brett: what is what is it when you think spring? It could be food. It could be ah in the natural world. It could be your personal world. When you think spring in the in the world of like plants, horticulture, that kind of thing, what comes to mind for you?
Alethea Bruzek: Allergies.
Brett: Perfect.
Jessica : Oh.
Alethea Bruzek: Yes. think the spring is the season where I begin to simply fight for my life just through breathing.
Brett: Are you from Kentucky originally?
Alethea Bruzek: um Yes. who
Brett: Okay.
Alethea Bruzek: Sometimes it doesn't sound that way because when I am on a recording, I tend to clean it up real good, you know, like freshen that cornbread up real good.
Brett: Oh, wow.
Alethea Bruzek: So you can understand me. But yeah, no, the allergies. um
Brett: Well, the reason I asked, my my wife is from Pennsylvania and she grew up never having allergies and she moved to Kentucky and it like almost wiped her out.
Alethea Bruzek: I love treats.
Jessica : um
Brett: So I didn't, yeah, it's just been that way for you the whole time.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, it's wild. ah When I was younger, I did not have allergies, like seasonal allergies, hardly at all.
Plant People: Same. Same.
Alethea Bruzek: I might sneeze a little bit for a couple of weeks, but like it wouldn't be...
Plant People: Same.
Plant People: When the locust bloomed, I'd get a little sniffly, but...
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah. Right. Just a little bit. It was nothing near what has occurred in my sinuses as I've gotten past.
Plant People: You turn 30!
Alethea Bruzek: Right. You turn 30 and the world is like, let's try and find ways to kill you. um And allergies, mine tend to be really bad in the spring. I've been taking allergy medicine daily in preparation for spring since the middle of March.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Right.
Brett: warming up
Alethea Bruzek: and We have survived a little bit, although i do feel some tickling going on in my nose and throat because the wind has been blowing. All the beautiful leaves from those Bradford pear trees and everything around pollen is making its way.
Plant People: Mmm, pollen.
Alethea Bruzek: It's just, it's, you know, but it's hard to hate spring because you're so excited for, you know, the weather get better. The days are longer. The sunshine has returned.
Alethea Bruzek: You know, everything's that really bright
Brett: Are you more of a cold weather or hot weather guy?
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, I do not like how weather. No.
Brett: Okay. I i see.
Alethea Bruzek: me
Brett: I have become a hot weather guy as I've gotten older.
Alethea Bruzek: Really?
Plant People: Mm-hmm. Same.
Brett: I used to be a hardcore cold weather guy.
Jessica : Yep.
Brett: And I just, I don't know if i my bones just can't handle it.
Plant People: Yep.
Brett: Like it was like, you know, normal temperature our house this morning. And was like, Oh, I'm so cold. We need to get winter your blankets back out.
Plant People: I know. I have like a little heater I run all summer.
Brett: Yeah. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Yep, the air conditioning is too much.
Brett: Okay, so you're you're you're you don't like the hot. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: I don't love hot weather. um i i It's funny. My dad used to love hot weather. I mean, love it. Hot weather.
Brett: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: He would sit outside and it'd be 90 something degrees.
Jessica : Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Brett: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: And he's just sitting out there in his shorts and shirt reading the newspaper or whatever. And I'm thinking... and I don't want to sit anywhere. I'm going to just be sweating, you know, but um I'm more of a spring, fall, definitely fall.
Brett: Mm.
Plant People: Yeah.
Jessica : huh
Brett: and
Alethea Bruzek: Close, close second would be winter. Yeah.
Brett: Yeah, yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Cause I like winter. I like it.
Brett: so So, okay, I'll i'll try again.
Jessica : the
Brett: i struck out with allergies earlier, which was very perfect response.
Jessica : It was an excellent Kentucky response. was like, perfect.
Brett: Yeah, and so honest, just so honest.
Alethea Bruzek: If you've ever experienced allergies in Kentucky, you know, it's rough.
Brett: Yeah, we're we're good at that.
Jessica : Yeah. it's Especially for those transplants.
Brett: but So what's something about, what'd you say?
Jessica : Go ahead. ah Especially for those people who transplant in.
Alethea Bruzek: Mm-hmm.
Brett: Oh, gosh, yeah.
Jessica : like it just it Like you said, your wife.
Plant People: a
Alethea Bruzek: They're not even ready.
Jessica : It just wipes wipes them out.
Brett: Yeah, they're not ready for that.
Plant People: And then it's like 20 degrees and then 80 degrees and then And then.
Jessica : What's happening here in this state? Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: And then a tornado comes through and throws a cow into your yard and then it snows over the...
Plant People: Yeah. It's.
Jessica : Then it's beautiful and then it snows and it's either raining, snowing or warm on Derby Day.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah. Who knows?
Plant People: It's fine.
Jessica : So who knows?
Alethea Bruzek: Who knows?
Plant People: Yeah.
Brett: So what's something in the realm of of plants, gardening, whatever, about summer that you're maybe looking forward to?
Alethea Bruzek: Tomatoes.
Brett: Okay.
Plant People: Mm-mm.
Alethea Bruzek: I did not used to like tomatoes, okay?
Brett: Talk to me. Okay.
Alethea Bruzek: i I did not like tomatoes as a kid. I didn't like them. the texture, they're slimy, it's gross, they'll sully us, say, i want you make the bread soggy, I can't deal. But now, as an adult, I can appreciate a homegrown tomato that has ripened on the vine, it is juicy and delicious,
Alethea Bruzek: I think it's funny, however, okay, yeah, I know bacon isn't like the healthiest thing, but it certainly makes a tomato quite palatable on a bread with some mayonnaise and some lettuce and a little bit of Danos, whichever your favorite kind of Danos seasoning, salt-free, of course, on there.
Plant People: Thank you.
Brett: um
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: Delicious. I love the tomatoes. I'm looking forward. I never thought I would, but I'm looking forward to
Brett: What kind of bread are you working with?
Alethea Bruzek: Oh, that's important because if you're going to make a sandwich, the bread, the bread is what makes the sandwich.
Brett: Yeah. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: You know, anybody can make a sandwich, but if you've made your own bread, because Brett, I know you do some fantastic bread.
Brett: well And you're a a fermentation person now, so it's become even more important to you.
Alethea Bruzek: Right? One of these days I'm going to try.
Plant People: Fair.
Alethea Bruzek: i am so bad at sourdough. i I don't know why. i i need to work it out. But I might just get some from you.
Brett: Sourdough is good, but but oh, sorry.
Alethea Bruzek: I'm going to get some of that bread from you for my sandwiches.
Brett: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Because you're really good at making bread.
Brett: I like that. I like that.
Plant People: Focaccia, the easiest thing.
Alethea Bruzek: Ooh.
Jessica : that is it's very very simple yep
Plant People: and it seems fancy, but it's really easy.
Brett: Gotcha. Very, very good.
Plant People: Even I can make it Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: Have you ever, Brett, made any focaccia where you've put um like a homemade jam or something in and folded and done the stretch and pulls and then like dimple it and cook it and it's got the jam all through it
Plant People: But just some...
Plant People: Hmm. Hmm.
Brett: I have not.
Alethea Bruzek: I saw a video ah that a girl did a strawberry jam one and a blueberry jam one, and they were really good and really easy.
Plant People: Hmm.
Brett: Oh, wow.
Jessica : Yum.
Alethea Bruzek: And I thought, well, wouldn't that be yummy? Like grow you some strawberries, make you some jam, which is super easy and yummy, and then make your focaccia and put it in there.
Plant People: Freezer jam.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: Ooh, delicious.
Brett: Yeah. Well, one of the things you're touching on about like food preservation and growing stuff and all that is that if you, if you use that stuff to make something that you take to a party or to like someone's house or something, you've got like 12 more layers of story to tell about the thing.
Brett: Like you're suddenly the interesting person at the party because you did these multiple things and it's not like, Oh, you know, I just snagged this at the grocery store, which is great.
Jessica : right
Plant People: Catch me with my lemon curd in in the winter.
Brett: Yeah.
Plant People: Like...
Brett: Alexis takes it to, Alexis takes it to an extra level.
Alethea Bruzek: Oh, this is lemon curd is so good.
Brett: If anyone could imagine that.
Alethea Bruzek: So good. It was very special.
Plant People: I showed, listen, nothing impresses horticulture department people. And when I showed up to that thing and I was like, oh yeah, this lemon curd is homemade with lemons i grew. That'll get plant people impressed.
Plant People: Like I was, I was the bell of the ball or I'm going to pretend that I was.
Alethea Bruzek: Yep.
Alethea Bruzek: Can
Plant People: Don't listen to anybody who told you otherwise.
Alethea Bruzek: confirm delicious. And plus, it's, don't know, it gives you an extra sense of pride when you grew the thing, you know, or made the thing, like grew it and made it.
Jessica : Oh, yeah.
Plant People: or made the thing and both.
Alethea Bruzek: Ooh.
Brett: And that has real value.
Plant People: They were store-bought cookies.
Jessica : If you can do, yeah when you can do a whole, like, a meal, like, sometimes, like, I've gotten very close to having a full meal now at my house that's, like, everything we have grown from, like, the protein to, like, the vegetables to, and I'm like, man, if I got my act together and I actually made some rolls tonight from scratch, like, this whole plate would have been, like,
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Plant People: Yeah, get your act together, Jessica.
Jessica : Right?
Plant People: How dare you but whole farm and a full-time job and...
Brett: Man, that's 90% of the plate is something you produced.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, oh my gosh. You don't have time to bake bread from slacks.
Brett: Why not 100? You made me sick.
Jessica : Right?
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, slacker.
Plant People: yeah
Jessica : And I just sit there and i'm just like, this could be 100%.
Brett: You made me sick.
Brett: Farm to table.
Plant People: Does it count if you caught it but didn't raise it but you cleaned it yourself?
Jessica : mean, Yeah.
Brett: Are...
Jessica : so
Alethea Bruzek: don't think that would work.
Plant People: Does that count?
Brett: Are the boys impressed by the fact that like all this stuff came from your farm, your, your children?
Jessica : um yes and no like they get some of it right i still don't think they have the full connection about the animals yet ah about like the they are under five um but they are very as alethea mentioned earlier about like connecting kids like growing things into eating they are definitely more willing to try
Brett: meaning
Plant People: Well, they are all under five, so...
Alethea Bruzek: Okay.
Alethea Bruzek: Understandable.
Jessica : different but veggies and stuff because like we've grown them ourselves or they or we do like some of like maybe the harder things at our house like we're trying to do like carrots or other things and we did potatoes in a container last year and they thought that was like the coolest thing ever and they were like the tiniest potatoes right like they should have been like can't you put too many pepper plants in there i put too many potatoes in there
Alethea Bruzek: ah
Jessica : um
Alethea Bruzek: It happens.
Jessica : But they were still ecstatic about those potatoes that they got to pull out.
Alethea Bruzek: We get ambitious.
Alethea Bruzek: See?
Jessica : And yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Because they grew
Plant People: I'm ecstatic about them.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: I love that.
Jessica : So...
Alethea Bruzek: i mean, I'm more likely to eat things when i had something to do with the growing of it because there's plenty of things in the garden that i probably wouldn't
Plant People: well
Alethea Bruzek: Eat, I don't know.
Plant People: Kohlrabi.
Alethea Bruzek: I eat a lot of vegetables, but kohlrabi, I don't know what to do with that thing. It looks like, don't know what. And I'm sure, what part do you eat?
Plant People: I'm sauteed it that one time. Remember?
Alethea Bruzek: like what o
Plant People: We went and harvested the little aliens out of the, out of the garden.
Alethea Bruzek: We did. We did, and we roasted them.
Plant People: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Plant People: Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: ah We went through that really fun phase where we just roasted everything, and that was great.
Plant People: Saute.
Plant People: Was that before or after our smoothie phase?
Alethea Bruzek: It might have been like in conjunction with, because I feel like for a while we were doing a lot of vegetables.
Plant People: wi we might've went into the roasted cause we were like, we're sick of drinking all of our meals.
Alethea Bruzek: Yep. Yep.
Plant People: We got really excited about smoothies.
Alethea Bruzek: Sometimes you need to chew something. You know, it's nice to be able to chew something every now and then.
Plant People: Let's use our teeth for something.
Jessica : Right.
Brett: Honestly, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, Kohlrabi, what's the big deal about ah it?
Plant People: i like, I like kohlrabi.
Brett: I mean, it's fine. It's like, yeah i just don't understand why.
Plant People: Yeah, it's not like...
Alethea Bruzek: I've never grown it.
Jessica : We at out of market well we used to sell a we first started selling at a market, there was a gentleman and he only came at the beginning of the season and he sold kohlrabi and I never knew his name.
Alethea Bruzek: And I don't find it in the store.
Jessica : And we just called him the kohlrabi guy. And he literally just sold kohlrabi and people came and bought the kohlrabi. And I remember we got some once and I was just like, this kind of just tastes like a broccoli stem. I don't know what to do with, you know, it's kind of the same thing.
Plant People: And look.
Brett: Yeah, little like ah maybe a little a little crispier, less tough.
Jessica : means,
Brett: But like I'd rather just be eating cabbage.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Plant People: I mean, cabbage is top notch.
Jessica : and I would prefer broccoli.
Plant People: Kohlrabi is easier to grow than cabbage and in my experience.
Brett: Yeah, broccoli. That's fair.
Plant People: so And it is faster.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Brett: That's fair.
Plant People: I did just seed some kohlrabi in the mineral tubs that Jessica gave me last year. Super pumped about it with my leftover tulip crate ah compost that I dumped in. So we're just reusing everything.
Plant People: But sold kohlrabi and lettuce the other day.
Alethea Bruzek: Peace.
Plant People: We'll report back with how... how that goes.
Jessica : How it goes.
Brett: If that guy's name isn't Cole or Robbie, then what's he even doing?
Alethea Bruzek: two
Brett: and
Jessica : Right.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Plant People: Listen, if i if I ever meet somebody whose last name is Robbie and there's not a Cole in their family, I will be super depressed.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Plant People: Like your parents just missed out on an opportunity here.
Alethea Bruzek: Right. Missed an opportunity.
Jessica : Great opportunity.
Alethea Bruzek: Missed it.
Brett: You just give him that nickname on the spot.
Plant People: What up, Cole Robbie? they be like, who are you talking to?
Brett: Cole, wonder if I call you Cole.
Alethea Bruzek: Cole, what's up? What's
Plant People: It'll be extra cool if they have never heard of Kohlrabi, the vegetable before.
Jessica : so
Plant People: They're going to be like, I don't understand.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah. I don't feel like it's super common. i don't feel like people are super aware of it.
Jessica : Right.
Plant People: Or Jessica's maiden name is Kohl and why she doesn't have a brother named Robbie, I'll never know because that would be pretty cool.
Jessica : Right.
Brett: Robby Cole.
Plant People: Yeah, Robbie Kohl, but then it could be in some professional ways it would be like a Kohl comma Robbie.
Jessica : I do know Robert Cole.
Brett: Cole, Robby. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah. Mm-hmm. yeah
Jessica : Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: ah
Jessica : Mm hmm.
Brett: I like that. Well, if we didn't if we didn't spell it out exactly clearly earlier. ah So Aletheia is part of we're all part of this extension system. Aletheia represents one of these fields called family and consumer science, FCS.
Alethea Bruzek: It's so much fun.
Brett: ah The rest of us are in this world of horticulture and and agriculture to some extent.
Jessica : Thank you.
Brett: There's also for h there's arts programs, there's community and economic development. And so that we're all just, we're all part of this cooperative extension system and you're our very, very first FCS guest ever.
Plant People: I
Brett: ah And I don't think we could have asked for a better first ah representative from from that field or or just a better guest at at all. um But we'll we'll look to expand a little bit more and and have and i have those offerings, or sorry, have have some conversations with other folks who are, well, I guess technically Jan is sort of in that realm, Jan Nappage.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: yeah
Brett: But like not not like full full-blown, you know?
Plant People: mean, yeah.
Brett: not Not like the... Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Plant People: She's not like FCS, like,
Brett: yeah
Jessica : Right. There's a difference.
Alethea Bruzek: She does give us a lot of really wonderful resources that we use a lot. um
Plant People: We do love Jan.
Alethea Bruzek: A lot of horticulture and FCS go so well together, you know, because you're talking about how to grow the food we eat. And I'm talking about how to make the food we eat edible.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Plant People: But also the mental health that goes along with growing something, whether it's edible or not.
Jessica : Mm-hmm.
Alethea Bruzek: and Yeah.
Plant People: And then you talk about, you know, kind of ways maybe you do some meditation in your garden or, you know,
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah, get in the garden. Just simply getting in the garden and working with your hands in the soil, that is helpful.
Plant People: Put your hands in some dirt. There's good microbes in there. Don't eat it, though. Like, don't.
Alethea Bruzek: Don't eat the dirt.
Brett: Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: Well, not like a lot of it. I mean, like if you get a little bit, it's okay.
Jessica : I unfortunately too
Plant People: Yeah, like, if you, like, accidentally, you know, little in your mouth, like, it's fine.
Alethea Bruzek: Yeah. like
Plant People: But we don't encourage.
Alethea Bruzek: Oops.
Jessica : often these days. too often these days
Plant People: Don't eat the dirt!
Brett: Don't eat dirt.
Alethea Bruzek: Don't eat dirt.
Plant People: I have to tell ah my corgi fin not to eat the worms.
Brett: well
Plant People: ah this When it rains a lot and, you know, all the worms come out and they, you know, try and find some dry ground and then they don't make it back so they get a little dry. It's like worm jerky and he goes around and scoops them up.
Plant People: um So, don't eat the worms, fin!
Alethea Bruzek: a
Plant People: ah
Alethea Bruzek: It's got eat the worm jerky.
Plant People: Sorry if I just screamed in your ear, but it's a consistent thing this time of year, so...
Alethea Bruzek: Wes is hard.
Brett: least all of our ears are ringing together.
Jessica : Yeah.
Plant People: Awesome. Well, Olivia, we appreciate you. We will put ah the info about that great book as well as your contact information ah in the show notes along with ah our Instagram, which you can find at Hort Culture Pod.
Plant People: Olivia obviously follows us already. Totally. 100%. Yeah.
Alethea Bruzek: From the jump, from the beginning.
Plant People: yeah So you can find it there. If you are one of those people who's into having this pulled up on YouTube and that's the way you listen, you can find us on there and also view our beautiful faces if you should so choose.
Jessica : Thank you.
Plant People: ah Or, you know, hopefully you just have us in your headphones while you're out in the garden doing that mental health and growing that kohlrabi. But if you've got questions about that, we'll we'll throw some links about, ah you know, maybe some canning preservation, kind of the main UK area.
Plant People: ah area where you can go to that. And anyways, we appreciate you all being on. If you've got any questions you want us to you know forward to Alethea, feel free to reach out to our email again in the show notes, or you can contact her directly.
Plant People: And if you want to know more about FCS content, maybe you want to know something a little bit more specific, like, hey, deep dive on cabbage, fermentation, all that good stuff.
Jessica : Thank you.
Plant People: Let us know. Leave us a review. ah Find us on Instagram and tell us that is the next thing we need to do. And we'll call Alethea back up. We'll be like, yo, girl, about that cabbage you got fermenting.
Alethea Bruzek: Let's see that sour crab.
Plant People: We got to see that kraut, baby. ah so So we'll bring that back. But we appreciate you guys being here today. And we hope that you have a good one and that you'll join us next time.
