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From Garden to Table: Food Preservation with Alethea Bruzek
83 Plays20 days ago
In this episode of Hort Culture, guest Alethea Bruzek, Boyle County’s Family and Consumer Sciences agent, shares her gardening experiences, including managing raised beds and food preservation mishaps. She discusses the role of FCS in supporting family well-being through topics like budgeting, parenting, and especially safe food preservation methods like fermentation, freezing, dehydrating, and canning. The conversation highlights the importance of using trusted resources and the connection between horticulture, food management, and mental health.
Family & Consumer Sciences Extension
Food and Nutrition Publications
Questions/Comments/Feedback/Suggestions for Topics: hortculturepodcast@l.uky.edu
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Transcript
Introduction and Kentucky's Weather
00:00:17
Plant People
Okay, that was me hitting the button. So if it ended really abruptly, you're welcome. Hi, everyone.
00:00:22
Brett
Yeah.
00:00:25
Jessica
Hello.
00:00:25
Brett
Hello.
00:00:26
Plant People
Good.
00:00:26
Brett
Greetings.
00:00:26
Plant People
Awesome.
00:00:27
Jessica
Greetings.
00:00:27
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.
00:00:37
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
Agricultural Land and High Tunnels
00:00:45
Jessica
and
00:00:45
Plant People
the windiest place ah now.
00:00:47
Plant People
No longer Kansas. It's just us.
00:00:50
Brett
Not not to it's not tuning its wind.
00:00:50
Plant People
So, um,
00:00:51
Jessica
Weekly.
00:00:52
Brett
Okay.
00:00:55
Plant People
Exactly, exactly. It's fine. Everything's fine. I'm not i'm not panicking about the fact that
00:01:00
Jessica
Nobody nobody is stressed about the high winds and the storms coming in later.
00:01:02
Plant People
Nobody's stressed. Nobody has giant plastic, basically kite structures on their property.
00:01:04
Jessica
Nobody. It's fine.
00:01:08
Jessica
Great. It's going to be good.
00:01:09
Alethea Bruzek
It's going to be fun.
00:01:09
Plant People
um
00:01:10
Alethea Bruzek
It's going to be fun.
00:01:10
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.
00:01:25
Brett
like under agricultural land that's protected like a high tunnel or a greenhouse in terms of, in terms of acreage.
00:01:27
Jessica
Okay.
00:01:28
Plant People
Yeah.
00:01:29
Jessica
like greenhouse.
00:01:29
Plant People
Greenhouse. Yeah.
00:01:31
Alethea Bruzek
oh
00:01:31
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.
00:01:34
Jessica
That's wild to think about.
00:01:36
Alethea Bruzek
That is.
00:01:40
Plant People
So look at that.
00:01:41
Jessica
Yeah.
00:01:41
Plant People
i thrown in some facts with some anxiety.
00:01:43
Alethea Bruzek
I love that.
00:01:45
Plant People
ah
00:01:46
Alethea Bruzek
Not the wind part, but the part about the facts.
00:01:49
Plant People
us being awesome. Yeah. Yeah.
00:01:50
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah, in general...
00:01:51
Plant People
That part.
00:01:51
Brett
Who is that? Who is that voice? I just heard. Is there someone joining us today on the podcast, Alexis?
00:01:56
Jessica
I have a special guest.
00:01:58
Plant People
Well, somebody extra special, I believe.
00:01:59
Jessica
yeah
00:02:00
Plant People
The other half of the A-Team, as we formally called ourselves. So introduce you.
00:02:07
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.
00:02:22
Alethea Bruzek
So that's going to be happening.
00:02:23
Plant People
Yep, that's awesome. Also might fly away.
00:02:26
Brett
we
00:02:28
Alethea Bruzek
Might fly away.
00:02:28
Brett
We have...
00:02:28
Jessica
yeah
00:02:28
Alethea Bruzek
Completely possible. It's on top of a hill. So
00:02:32
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.
00:02:32
Alethea Bruzek
yeah
00:02:40
Brett
One, you've you've experienced some white pine decline.
00:02:45
Alethea Bruzek
I have. have.
00:02:47
Brett
We've talked about this in the past.
00:02:48
Alethea Bruzek
I have four.
00:02:48
Brett
We all love white pines, but you know, that that heavy clay soil...
00:02:51
Plant People
White pines don't always love us.
00:02:54
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.
00:03:05
Alethea Bruzek
They are not native to ah this part of Kentucky.
00:03:07
Plant People
This air.
00:03:08
Jessica
This area, yeah.
00:03:09
Plant People
Yeah, yeah.
00:03:09
Jessica
Yeah.
00:03:10
Brett
and Especially the elevation and...
00:03:10
Alethea Bruzek
I had four in my yard.
00:03:10
Plant People
so yeah
00:03:11
Alethea Bruzek
i now have two.
00:03:12
Brett
Uh-oh.
Maple Syrup Mishap and Tree Planting
00:03:15
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.
00:03:15
Alethea Bruzek
Yep.
00:03:24
Alethea Bruzek
Yes.
00:03:24
Plant People
ah So, so what, tell me about, tell me about that time you text me.
00:03:30
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.
00:03:39
Jessica
Oh.
00:03:40
Plant People
she's a She's a backyard homesteader, guys, all right?
00:03:40
Jessica
one i
00:03:41
Alethea Bruzek
do.
00:03:43
Plant People
She's family and consumer science, but this girl, she's she's been doing stuff.
00:03:45
Alethea Bruzek
identify as horticulture.
00:03:47
Plant People
Yes.
00:03:48
Alethea Bruzek
um
00:03:48
Jessica
Bees, chickens, all sorts of things.
00:03:49
Plant People
We accept you.
00:03:50
Alethea Bruzek
yeah. Yep. We do have one chicken and she has started laying eggs.
00:03:55
Plant People
Again? She's old, right? Like, she's...
00:03:55
Jessica
Oh, congratulations.
00:03:57
Alethea Bruzek
is old.
00:03:58
Jessica
Oh, she's one of the original girls.
00:03:58
Plant People
Yeah.
00:03:58
Alethea Bruzek
She is old and she, yes.
00:04:00
Plant People
She's one of the...
00:04:01
Alethea Bruzek
And she has started laying eggs and I'm so proud of her, but the trees in my yard, oh my gosh.
00:04:04
Plant People
She knows you might kill her. Sorry.
00:04:08
Alethea Bruzek
I swear. I,
00:04:10
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:04:10
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.
00:04:16
Brett
You tap that.
00:04:18
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?
00:04:29
Alethea Bruzek
I did everything by the publication because extension publications. choice.
00:04:34
Plant People
Top notch.
00:04:34
Alethea Bruzek
That's where you get your information. And so I did this only to realize they're oak trees.
00:04:44
Jessica
oh
00:04:44
Brett
Well...
00:04:46
Plant People
She was like, I have tapped the maple tree in my backyard.
00:04:46
Alethea Bruzek
So.
00:04:49
Plant People
And I said, babe, I don't think you have a maple tree in your backyard. You have one in your front
00:04:53
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.
00:04:59
Plant People
yard. Yeah.
00:05:00
Alethea Bruzek
And they're big enough to tap. And so I did.
00:05:02
Plant People
Yeah.
00:05:03
Jessica
okay
00:05:03
Plant People
And I was like, no.
00:05:03
Brett
Well, in terms of the scale of mistake, you could have tapped the pine trees and that would have been really embarrassing.
00:05:06
Alethea Bruzek
but
00:05:08
Jessica
Oh, that would have been, yeah, that would be a nice sticky
00:05:10
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:05:11
Brett
But resiny, you know maybe like a nice IPA or something out of that.
00:05:11
Plant People
Yeah.
00:05:11
Alethea Bruzek
You know?
00:05:14
Alethea Bruzek
Right?
00:05:14
Jessica
Sticky mist.
00:05:14
Alethea Bruzek
You know, I would try it.
00:05:15
Plant People
Hut, hut.
00:05:17
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.
00:05:17
Alethea Bruzek
would try. Yeah.
00:05:26
Jessica
Oh, I did. Yeah. Our hair.
00:05:28
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.
00:05:38
Jessica
Mm hmm.
00:05:38
Alethea Bruzek
Oh, yeah.
00:05:39
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.
00:05:48
Jessica
Yeah, we did.
00:05:48
Brett
What else?
00:05:49
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?
00:06:00
Jessica
And everybody loves red maples, but if we don't plant another red maple for another 10 years, that will be okay.
00:06:05
Plant People
Right.
00:06:07
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.
00:06:17
Plant People
r
00:06:19
Alethea Bruzek
Bald. Yes, it was something bald. It was a bald screen.
00:06:21
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.
00:06:27
Brett
that's exciting
00:06:38
Brett
Shout out to the city.
00:06:38
Alethea Bruzek
Can't do an end.
00:06:38
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.
00:06:50
Plant People
So lots of watering happening in the summer out there.
00:06:51
Jessica
So. Yes. Yes. I have water bags currently sitting in my office floor that will go out there when needed.
00:06:53
Brett
can
00:06:56
Plant People
Good.
00:06:57
Brett
Wow.
00:06:58
Plant People
Good.
00:06:59
Brett
kentucky Kentucky coffee tree. i As lumber smells terrible.
00:07:06
Jessica
Oh.
00:07:06
Alethea Bruzek
it
00:07:07
Brett
It smells it smells like vomit, frankly.
00:07:10
Jessica
Oh.
00:07:11
Plant People
Really?
00:07:11
Brett
Yeah, yeah, I made I made some some cutting boards out of it.
00:07:12
Plant People
I wonder why.
00:07:15
Brett
And I was all ready to gear up and sell them, you know, Kentucky coffee tree.
00:07:17
Jessica
oh
00:07:19
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.
00:07:22
Jessica
Oh,
00:07:26
Alethea Bruzek
Huh.
00:07:26
Plant People
and
00:07:26
Brett
Yeah, it was weird.
00:07:27
Plant People
I'm going to have to look up like compounds that are in
00:07:27
Jessica
that's so strange. Yeah. You're going to find that out.
00:07:31
Plant People
The coffee tree that make it smell like that.
00:07:31
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:07:32
Brett
Yeah.
00:07:33
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
Gardening Journey and Home Economics
00:07:47
Plant People
Kentuckiana. And it's like, why did they, and it was the state tree.
00:07:52
Plant People
And then they were like, oh no, we're going make it the yellow tulip popper.
00:07:55
Jessica
does Yeah.
00:07:56
Plant People
Which is a perfectly okay tree. I'm not downing it.
00:07:58
Brett
Very basic, very basic, kind of a basic.
00:08:00
Plant People
But it's very, bait yeah, it's the golden retriever of the, you know, native trees.
00:08:00
Jessica
I guess.
00:08:03
Jessica
I guess you find it everywhere, right? Versus the coffee tree, you don't see it everywhere.
00:08:09
Plant People
Well, you know what?
00:08:09
Jessica
But it was very confusing being in elementary school.
00:08:10
Plant People
Maybe more people would plant it if they ah knew that it was the state tree.
00:08:13
Alethea Bruzek
and
00:08:16
Jessica
Right?
00:08:16
Plant People
Maybe if it got recognition, it deserved literally as Kentucky in the name.
00:08:16
Jessica
Yeah.
00:08:19
Alethea Bruzek
and
00:08:20
Plant People
But I digress.
00:08:21
Brett
I have a, I have a new change it up.
00:08:21
Jessica
and
00:08:22
Alethea Bruzek
I did not know that it was a state tree.
00:08:22
Plant People
I'm here for today.
00:08:24
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.
00:08:33
Plant People
rude yeah this was a recent thing this wasn't like you know 100 years ago
00:08:34
Jessica
Like, why? Why did it switch?
00:08:39
Brett
Yeah. So that's like a, like a post nine 11 kind of thing era.
00:08:40
Alethea Bruzek
Wow.
00:08:45
Plant People
a
00:08:45
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
00:08:45
Jessica
Pre.
00:08:45
Jessica
Pre.
00:08:46
Plant People
pre like right right around you might not have been born and we still
00:08:55
Alethea Bruzek
I was in middle school around then, so
00:08:55
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.
00:09:01
Plant People
yeah yeah
00:09:06
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.
00:09:21
Plant People
Love it.
00:09:21
Jessica
Love Yellowwood.
00:09:22
Plant People
Gorgeous.
00:09:22
Alethea Bruzek
o
00:09:22
Brett
Extremely obscure deep cut of of ah like kind of native shade shade trees in the Fabaceae group, I believe.
00:09:34
Brett
And so like same thing at same general ballpark as peas, which is a vibe. So
00:09:41
Plant People
Is it nitrogen fixing? Do you know?
00:09:43
Brett
um
00:09:44
Plant People
Not all Fabiaceae are nitrogen fixing.
00:09:46
Brett
I'm not exactly sure about that.
00:09:48
Plant People
like I think redbud's in the same family and it does not fix nitrogen.
00:09:51
Jessica
I think you are correct.
00:09:52
Plant People
Is that right, Jess?
00:09:54
Jessica
That sounds correct to me.
00:09:55
Brett
also have some do some some hardy rosewoods on the back porch.
00:09:55
Alethea Bruzek
I do love Redwood.
00:09:59
Brett
Dalbergia, which is in Fabaceae.
00:10:01
Jessica
The red buds are popping right now.
00:10:03
Alethea Bruzek
They are, they're stunning.
00:10:04
Plant People
They be popping.
00:10:05
Brett
Yeah, beautiful.
00:10:05
Jessica
beautiful right now.
00:10:06
Alethea Bruzek
I love them.
00:10:07
Jessica
All the Bradford pears are slowly disappearing.
00:10:10
Plant People
but
00:10:11
Jessica
i mean, they're still there, but you know, the flowers, but the red buds are really looking nice.
00:10:13
Brett
Well,
00:10:14
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.
00:10:17
Jessica
Yes.
00:10:26
Brett
so the the plant dorks have had their say now, Alethea.
00:10:28
Plant People
Okay.
00:10:29
Brett
And ah it's just, you know, and and I'm not one of them.
00:10:30
Jessica
We have.
00:10:32
Brett
I'm i'm one of the cool ones, you know. um
00:10:34
Plant People
Fabulous.
00:10:34
Alethea Bruzek
you know
00:10:36
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?
00:10:50
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.
00:11:19
Plant People
somebody
00:11:33
Plant People
because what happens if you do put three or four the capsaicin is concentrated
00:11:35
Alethea Bruzek
They're lava. They are the hardest jalapenos you will ever experience.
00:11:41
Jessica
you
00:11:41
Alethea Bruzek
They are...
00:11:42
Brett
Lava Pena, they call it.
00:11:43
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
00:11:50
Plant People
You watered them like eight times a day.
00:11:54
Alethea Bruzek
And I'd have to put more soil in there because the soil would start to go down.
00:11:54
Plant People
It's
00:11:58
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.
00:12:08
Brett
you You live and you live and you learn.
00:12:10
Alethea Bruzek
Live and learn. But now I've got
00:12:12
Plant People
so okay
00:12:13
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.
00:12:24
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.
00:12:31
Jessica
Yep.
00:12:34
Plant People
That's how you know you've done it right.
00:12:36
Alethea Bruzek
That's how you know.
00:12:36
Plant People
That's how you know.
00:12:36
Jessica
Right.
00:12:36
Alethea Bruzek
Mm-hmm.
00:12:37
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:12:37
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:12:38
Plant People
You have blackberries too, don't you?
00:12:38
Alethea Bruzek
Mm-hmm.
00:12:41
Alethea Bruzek
Well...
00:12:44
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.
00:12:57
Alethea Bruzek
And i got yeah, yeah, I bought them.
00:12:58
Jessica
As we all do in the spring, Alethea.
00:12:59
Plant People
Right? Yeah, like felt.
00:13:00
Jessica
Yes, totally normal. Yes.
00:13:03
Alethea Bruzek
i did. i got some blackberry plants and then I didn't end up planting them.
00:13:10
Jessica
As.
00:13:11
Alethea Bruzek
Because they didn't get the trellis built. And one thing after another, they they did become crispy and die.
00:13:14
Plant People
Happens.
00:13:15
Jessica
Yeah.
00:13:20
Alethea Bruzek
But we know what do this year instead so that they are successful.
00:13:25
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.
00:13:32
Plant People
Right.
00:13:32
Jessica
Right.
00:13:32
Alethea Bruzek
Good.
00:13:35
Brett
Sometimes you have to you have to pick and choose.
00:13:37
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:13:38
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...
00:13:38
Alethea Bruzek
This is so true.
00:13:49
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.
00:13:59
Alethea Bruzek
Right? Yes.
00:14:00
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.
00:14:06
Jessica
Yes.
00:14:09
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.
00:14:14
Plant People
Mm
00:14:17
Plant People
Oh, look!
00:14:17
Alethea Bruzek
Right?
00:14:18
Jessica
Let's propagate it or let's let's
00:14:18
Plant People
The whole tray i forgot to water.
00:14:20
Alethea Bruzek
I have led so many plants to Jesus.
00:14:21
Plant People
well. Yeah,
00:14:24
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.
00:14:35
Jessica
Oh, no
00:14:40
Alethea Bruzek
There's one. Oh, I know there's one.
00:14:41
Jessica
yeah
00:14:41
Alethea Bruzek
I have a jade plant. I have a jade plant.
00:14:44
Plant People
yeah i
00:14:44
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.
00:14:49
Alethea Bruzek
Absolutely not.
00:14:50
Jessica
Okay.
00:14:52
Alethea Bruzek
Nope.
00:14:53
Brett
Well, I would imagine many of our listeners can commiserate and even share share some experiences with you.
00:14:53
Alethea Bruzek
Thank
00:14:58
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.
00:15:03
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:15:05
Plant People
Plant peep.
00:15:09
Brett
ah
00:15:09
Alethea Bruzek
you. go
00:15:10
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.
00:15:16
Jessica
Thank you.
00:15:23
Alethea Bruzek
Yes.
00:15:24
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:15:24
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.
00:15:33
Plant People
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:15:38
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,
00:15:53
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
Food Fermentation and Preservation
00:16:07
Alethea Bruzek
a new form.
00:16:07
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.
00:16:18
Brett
what do you What are you fermenting?
00:16:18
Alethea Bruzek
Along with canning.
00:16:19
Brett
What are you what are you fermenting?
00:16:20
Jessica
Yeah.
00:16:20
Alethea Bruzek
I am making sauerkraut.
00:16:22
Brett
Okay.
00:16:22
Jessica
Oh, cool.
00:16:22
Alethea Bruzek
Yep.
00:16:23
Brett
Oh,
00:16:23
Alethea Bruzek
I got crock and I have, it's a two gallon crock and it's made out of clay and I put
00:16:26
Brett
wow. I like that.
00:16:32
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.
00:16:36
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:16:40
Alethea Bruzek
And then added more cabbage the next day. And now it's been three days.
00:16:45
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:16:46
Alethea Bruzek
So I'm leaving it. I'm going to leave it for four to six weeks and tangy it gets.
00:16:49
Brett
Yes, ma'am.
00:16:51
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.
00:16:58
Plant People
Love it.
00:16:59
Alethea Bruzek
So it's fun.
00:16:59
Brett
Describe, describe for me your ideal balance, because this is I'm ah i'm ah i' a long time crop maker myself.
00:16:59
Alethea Bruzek
I'm excited.
00:17:00
Jessica
Cool.
00:17:09
Alethea Bruzek
Really?
00:17:10
Brett
The balance between crunchy and tangy. If you had to choose crunch or tang, which would you prefer?
00:17:16
Plant People
and
00:17:17
Brett
and and we're wow
00:17:20
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:17:20
Brett
Yes.
00:17:21
Alethea Bruzek
I like the tangy.
00:17:22
Brett
That's awesome.
00:17:23
Alethea Bruzek
I like that that flavor because pickles are my favorite.
00:17:23
Plant People
Yeah, same.
00:17:27
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.
00:17:40
Alethea Bruzek
That and kombucha. I got a SCOBY to do you that.
00:17:42
Plant People
oh
00:17:43
Brett
Wow. You're going all you're going whole whole ah culture, whole hog, whole culture.
00:17:43
Plant People
who Yeah, I love it. Teach me your ways.
00:17:47
Alethea Bruzek
I did.
00:17:47
Brett
I don't know.
00:17:47
Alethea Bruzek
I got this book. I borrowed this book from my dear friend, Mary Robin.
00:17:51
Jessica
I'll have to.
00:17:54
Alethea Bruzek
And well, then I had Sonera order me a copy because I might have to return this, but I really like
00:17:57
Plant People
what What's it called?
00:17:58
Alethea Bruzek
going to write in it.
00:17:59
Plant People
I'll put a link to it.
00:17:59
Brett
What does it say?
00:18:00
Alethea Bruzek
It is the Noma Guide to Fermentation by Renee Redzepi and David Zilber.
00:18:11
Jessica
Well, we're all going to have to sign up for your class and come when you teach us.
00:18:11
Brett
Ooh.
00:18:11
Alethea Bruzek
It was right.
00:18:14
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:18:14
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.
00:18:18
Plant People
Sweet.
00:18:22
Brett
Yes.
00:18:22
Jessica
It's a good idea.
00:18:23
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.
00:18:36
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.
00:18:44
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.
00:18:54
Jessica
That sounds so good.
00:18:54
Alethea Bruzek
Ooh, that sounds really good.
00:18:55
Plant People
It's so good.
00:18:55
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.
00:19:07
Brett
wo me
00:19:07
Plant People
I like it. Rye bread specifically.
00:19:10
Alethea Bruzek
I bet that'd be really good.
00:19:11
Brett
why
00:19:11
Plant People
Right. like
00:19:12
Jessica
Wow.
00:19:12
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.
00:19:20
Alethea Bruzek
Directly.
00:19:21
Plant People
And I had rye bread, get some cheese. Yeah. ah
00:19:25
Brett
yeah We've also done sauerkraut pizza, where we do like a cheese pizza and then top it sauerkraut and maybe some pickles.
00:19:28
Alethea Bruzek
Ooh.
00:19:28
Jessica
o
00:19:31
Alethea Bruzek
Ooh.
00:19:31
Brett
it's I mean, pretty much if you go like carb, cheese, sauerkraut, you're like in good shape.
00:19:34
Alethea Bruzek
Stop. Mm-hmm.
00:19:37
Jessica
you
00:19:37
Plant People
any form or fashion.
00:19:38
Jessica
You can't go wrong.
00:19:38
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:19:39
Alethea Bruzek
Oh, that sounds so good.
00:19:39
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.
00:19:52
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:19:53
Brett
But that's not all of it, right?
00:19:53
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah. No, that's not all of it, but that is what ah people really love the most of.
00:19:56
Plant People
Yeah.
00:19:58
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.
00:20:12
Alethea Bruzek
Um, parenting, health, safety, wellness, mental health.
00:20:17
Brett
Wow. Yeah.
00:20:18
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.
00:20:18
Brett
yeah
00:20:19
Plant People
so much
00:20:25
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.
00:20:39
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.
00:20:48
Plant People
Yeah.
00:20:48
Alethea Bruzek
Very fun.
00:20:49
Jessica
Yeah.
00:20:49
Alethea Bruzek
i
00:20:50
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.
00:21:00
Alethea Bruzek
Mm-hmm.
00:21:01
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,
00:21:14
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.
00:21:25
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.
00:21:30
Jessica
um huh
00:21:31
Alethea Bruzek
Every time.
00:21:34
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
00:21:54
Alethea Bruzek
Right. You know, is actually
00:21:55
Jessica
Right. Don't trust the Facebook, right?
00:21:58
Plant People
don't trust what Pinterest necessarily tells you
00:22:01
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.
00:22:07
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:22:10
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.
00:22:28
Plant People
who
00:22:29
Alethea Bruzek
Um,
00:22:29
Brett
one of those One of those handy places where family and consumer science comes in.
00:22:33
Plant People
There's like legit research that has been done.
00:22:34
Alethea Bruzek
Yes, because we test those recipes and make sure that they're safe instead of, you know.
00:22:39
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.
00:22:52
Jessica
Like some of the books you even get might not have like actual safe recommendations for like the United States. Right.
00:22:58
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:22:58
Plant People
um
00:22:58
Jessica
Depending on where your book's coming from. So just, you know, being able to double check with you guys is very helpful.
00:23:01
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.
00:23:14
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.
00:23:25
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.
00:23:28
Jessica
Mm hmm.
00:23:30
Plant People
We'll get.
00:23:40
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:23:41
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.
00:23:58
Alethea Bruzek
So yeah, lots of food preservation.
00:23:59
Plant People
Freezing is by far my favorite way because it is the easiest.
00:24:01
Alethea Bruzek
It's easy. It's easy. easy. so easy
00:24:05
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.
00:24:21
Jessica
used.
00:24:26
Plant People
ah What shouldn't you freeze? Is there anything that like you just don't recommend?
00:24:32
Alethea Bruzek
I wouldn't freeze lettuce, you know, like your salad lettuce, your salad greens.
00:24:37
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:24:39
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.
00:24:45
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:24:48
Alethea Bruzek
You can buy it frozen.
00:24:48
Plant People
Soups! Soup season!
00:24:50
Alethea Bruzek
Soups, dips, all kinds of things, you know.
00:24:52
Plant People
Dips. Oh yeah, dips.
00:24:53
Brett
Stock veneer.
00:24:53
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
00:25:03
Jessica
Right, right.
00:25:04
Plant People
Yeah.
00:25:04
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.
00:25:17
Jessica
was a fresh bell pepper, yeah
00:25:19
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.
00:25:28
Plant People
I don't lose any of those nutritious value when you freeze.
00:25:32
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:25:32
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.
00:25:57
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.
00:26:07
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.
00:26:15
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:26:16
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.
00:26:23
Jessica
ah
00:26:31
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.
00:26:41
Jessica
Cool.
00:26:41
Alethea Bruzek
And we had those dried and did different compound oils and butters and vinegars.
00:26:44
Jessica
o
00:26:49
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:26:50
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?
00:26:56
Alethea Bruzek
Yes.
00:27:01
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
00:27:12
Alethea Bruzek
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:27:24
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.
00:27:29
Jessica
i don't get that
00:27:34
Alethea Bruzek
Like when you're getting into dairy, it's very ah important to, to, to not. um I have,
00:27:42
Jessica
yeah just Just know.
00:27:42
Plant People
to To not. Just not.
00:27:44
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.
00:28:03
Alethea Bruzek
um
00:28:04
Jessica
Right.
00:28:05
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.
00:28:14
Brett
So you're telling me that there is a limit to your can-do attitude.
00:28:14
Alethea Bruzek
So
00:28:17
Alethea Bruzek
there is a limit to your can do attitude, you know?
00:28:21
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?
00:28:41
Alethea Bruzek
Oh, oh, that's a great question.
00:28:41
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:28:43
Alethea Bruzek
i
00:28:43
Brett
And was there a difference in and what how they thought or what they did or anything?
00:28:48
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,
00:29:11
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?
00:29:20
Plant People
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:29:20
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?
00:29:21
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:29:28
Alethea Bruzek
um We've had a lot of people come in and um from both sides of that.
00:29:34
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?
00:29:50
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.
00:29:51
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:29:56
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.
00:30:05
Jessica
Yes.
00:30:11
Plant People
Their grandkids want to grow a garden and they're like, well, you know, ah but yeah, you're you're right.
00:30:15
Brett
Can you put a price on the connection to the land, Alexis?
00:30:20
Plant People
Depends on who you ask.
00:30:21
Brett
Some people certainly can.
00:30:22
Plant People
Um, yeah.
00:30:23
Jessica
yes
00:30:26
Plant People
um
00:30:27
Brett
So as you all as ah you all, you're talking about kind of like people are, the word you said was realistic.
Growing Your Own Food: Goals and Tips
00:30:33
Brett
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.
00:30:46
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.
00:31:01
Jessica
hmm
00:31:02
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.
00:31:13
Brett
ah Those are all vegetables. I ah occasionally like a carb and a protein, you know, in the mix sometimes.
00:31:19
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah, balanced meal, you know.
00:31:22
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?
00:31:34
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?
00:31:47
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.
00:31:59
Plant People
By people who have met us.
00:32:01
Alethea Bruzek
who have met us and been to our classes and know our areas.
00:32:01
Plant People
Let's be clear.
00:32:06
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?
00:32:20
Alethea Bruzek
And then I would just direct them to Alexis.
00:32:23
Plant People
is the wrong a name, so
00:32:25
Alethea Bruzek
Yep, wrong name.
00:32:26
Jessica
Right.
00:32:26
Alethea Bruzek
Let me know when you have the tomatoes.
00:32:27
Brett
You all worked so seamlessly as a team, they couldn't tell where one began and the other ended.
00:32:30
Plant People
Yeah.
00:32:30
Alethea Bruzek
yeah
00:32:31
Plant People
Yeah. And then I get the, I grew all these tomatoes.
00:32:32
Jessica
huh
00:32:32
Alethea Bruzek
Yep. Jesus.
00:32:34
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.
00:32:40
Jessica
Can't help you. Yeah.
00:32:41
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.
00:32:42
Jessica
who
00:32:54
Plant People
And these are the kind that are better for canning, or these are the kind that are better for freezing. ah
00:32:58
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
00:32:58
Jessica
you
00:33:29
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.
00:33:42
Alethea Bruzek
Two.
00:33:45
Plant People
Two, two is too many.
00:33:45
Alethea Bruzek
Two is too many.
00:33:46
Jessica
Right.
00:33:48
Plant People
But, um you know, then what?
00:33:48
Alethea Bruzek
What?
00:33:51
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.
00:33:59
Alethea Bruzek
But also it's true.
00:34:02
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.
00:34:14
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.
00:34:26
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.
00:34:33
Jessica
huh
00:34:43
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.
00:34:57
Alethea Bruzek
Or they've only had it in one type of day.
00:34:57
Plant People
brussels sprouts broil or boiled
00:35:00
Jessica
Yeah, and they're delicious.
00:35:00
Alethea Bruzek
Only Brussels sprouts. Oh my word. um That could be a step one in the cooking process for Brussels sprouts.
00:35:08
Jessica
i You gotta find me a beets recipe.
00:35:09
Alethea Bruzek
But I feel like they need it.
00:35:11
Jessica
You gotta to find me.
00:35:11
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah, oh, beets.
00:35:12
Jessica
Okay.
00:35:12
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.
00:35:19
Plant People
if you mix put some feta in there with um
00:35:26
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:35:26
Jessica
Oh, oh, you lost me again.
00:35:27
Alethea Bruzek
Ooh, drizzle of honey.
00:35:27
Plant People
She doesn't like goat cheese. She doesn't do the goat cheese.
00:35:30
Alethea Bruzek
Get out.
00:35:31
Plant People
Or balsamic.
00:35:32
Jessica
That sounds good.
00:35:32
Alethea Bruzek
Chopped some toasted chopped pistachios. Sorry for our um peanut tree allergy folks, but pistachios on top of
00:35:40
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:35:41
Alethea Bruzek
Oh my, so good.
00:35:42
Plant People
Mmm.
00:35:43
Brett
there some Throw some nerds gummies in there, maybe.
00:35:45
Jessica
Yeah, maybe add those.
00:35:46
Alethea Bruzek
I I wouldn't hate it.
00:35:46
Plant People
Jessica's like, it's well-balanced, right? Yeah.
00:35:49
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.
00:35:59
Brett
i was just trying to help you all win win Jessica back on you, you know, beats, then goat cheese out.
00:35:59
Alethea Bruzek
You know, course.
00:36:05
Brett
It's a tough start, but.
00:36:05
Alethea Bruzek
Put some candy on you.
00:36:06
Jessica
It's one of those, it's one of those vegetables.
00:36:06
Plant People
Feta. Feta.
00:36:08
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.
00:36:14
Plant People
Tastes like dirt.
00:36:15
Brett
That's a no thank you bite.
00:36:15
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah, they're earthy.
00:36:16
Brett
It's a no thank you bite.
00:36:16
Jessica
Not, not, not this year. Maybe next year.
00:36:20
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:36:20
Plant People
I love that you keep trying, and though. a li That's what Alethea always says.
00:36:22
Alethea Bruzek
See, I love that because, you know, you got to run different ways.
00:36:24
Jessica
Keep trying that. Keep trying lamb every year. Exactly.
00:36:27
Alethea Bruzek
You might find a way that you like them, you know?
00:36:30
Jessica
Exactly.
00:36:31
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah, I swear.
00:36:33
Plant People
Would you say that there is, like...
00:36:33
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:36:36
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.
00:36:47
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?
00:36:59
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.
00:37:09
Jessica
huh
00:37:09
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?
00:37:15
Plant People
Yeah.
00:37:16
Jessica
right
00:37:19
Plant People
Although pickled beets.
00:37:19
Jessica
it'd be terrible i don't know i do maybe i need to try this i like pickles
00:37:19
Plant People
Jessica, you like pickled beets? Because you like pickles.
00:37:24
Alethea Bruzek
Because the pickled beets, that tanginess takes the earthy flavor.
00:37:28
Jessica
Yeah.
00:37:28
Alethea Bruzek
down a few notches.
00:37:29
Plant People
okay And then you can put your eggs in the beet juice and you have really pretty pink pickled eggs.
00:37:30
Alethea Bruzek
like
00:37:30
Jessica
It
00:37:35
Alethea Bruzek
They're so pretty and yummy.
00:37:36
Plant People
They are so pretty. Your Easter game just goes up a notch there.
00:37:40
Jessica
just goes up.
00:37:40
Brett
you're You're obsessed with putting eggs in liquid.
00:37:41
Plant People
um
00:37:41
Alethea Bruzek
So much.
00:37:44
Brett
What is deal? Oh, wow.
00:37:46
Jessica
That's your topic today.
00:37:46
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.
00:37:57
Jessica
ah I want those. i want to do that.
00:37:59
Plant People
the
00:37:59
Brett
oh wow
00:38:00
Plant People
The soft-boiled...
00:38:02
Alethea Bruzek
a
00:38:03
Plant People
Yeah.
00:38:03
Alethea Bruzek
Then you just put them in that container and let them get all tasty.
00:38:04
Plant People
Give me those.
00:38:05
Jessica
We go through so many hard-boiled eggs a week.
00:38:06
Plant People
Brown.
00:38:09
Jessica
We've had this also discussion before about how many how many scrambled eggs do you think you could eat?
00:38:09
Alethea Bruzek
Mm-hmm.
00:38:10
Brett
Wow.
00:38:13
Plant People
How many eggs will give you the ick?
00:38:14
Jessica
How many eggs can you eat?
00:38:16
Alethea Bruzek
Right?
00:38:17
Brett
if i would if i were If this was a Facebook meme, that would be a flex.
00:38:17
Alethea Bruzek
What's too much?
00:38:20
Brett
You'd be like, I'm rich, son.
00:38:22
Alethea Bruzek
Right? For real.
00:38:24
Jessica
Yeah.
00:38:24
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
00:38:34
Jessica
Right.
00:38:35
Plant People
Do you recommend just like cans of tuna now?
00:38:36
Brett
ah
00:38:37
Plant People
Like what are we, what are we recommending?
00:38:38
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:38:38
Jessica
Yeah.
00:38:39
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.
00:38:46
Plant People
ah
00:38:47
Jessica
Yes.
00:38:47
Alethea Bruzek
ah Love that. Love that.
00:38:48
Plant People
ah
00:38:49
Alethea Bruzek
Great source of protein. Still budget friendly.
00:38:52
Jessica
Miss Miss Tuna currently, but you know.
00:38:52
Plant People
and
00:38:52
Alethea Bruzek
So that's helpful.
00:38:56
Plant People
Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:38:57
Alethea Bruzek
Oh, yeah.
00:38:57
Plant People
That's I had to educate my husband on why pregnant women couldn't eat fish or sushi or ham.
00:38:57
Jessica
Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:58
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:38:58
Brett
yeah
00:39:07
Plant People
Or he, he was like, what?
00:39:08
Alethea Bruzek
The lunch meets. Yep.
00:39:09
Plant People
He was like, they can't get any of that.
00:39:10
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
00:39:11
Plant People
I was like, have you been? How do you not know this?
00:39:14
Alethea Bruzek
Okay.
00:39:18
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?
00:39:29
Jessica
and that's that's all you want
00:39:29
Plant People
was like, pregnant.
00:39:33
Plant People
Can't eat sushi when you're pregnant. um
00:39:34
Alethea Bruzek
The parasite that's already in inside her could be damaged by the parasites that could be in the sushi.
00:39:40
Jessica
Right.
00:39:40
Plant People
An outer...
00:39:41
Brett
Oh, good point.
00:39:41
Jessica
Right.
00:39:41
Alethea Bruzek
a whole thing.
00:39:41
Plant People
An outside parasite. Yeah.
00:39:43
Jessica
Another endoparasite.
00:39:43
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah. You don't want a parasite war at that time.
00:39:48
Brett
Yeah, you don't want that.
00:39:49
Alethea Bruzek
Like, I don't feel...
00:39:49
Jessica
yeah
00:39:50
Brett
You don't want that beef.
00:39:50
Plant People
And then you are the host of two parasites.
00:39:51
Alethea Bruzek
no
00:39:53
Plant People
I mean, it just like yeah one is enough. One is enough.
00:39:56
Brett
A pair, a pair of a pair of parasites.
00:39:56
Alethea Bruzek
One is enough.
00:39:58
Jessica
Paraparasites.
00:39:58
Plant People
A pair of sites.
00:40:00
Brett
Pair Hera.
00:40:03
Alethea Bruzek
Oh.
00:40:04
Brett
So i have a, i um I'm known as the the touchy, touchy feely question guy.
00:40:05
Jessica
Anyways.
00:40:07
Alethea Bruzek
Squirrel.
00:40:10
Alethea Bruzek
Love.
00:40:10
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
00:40:11
Jessica
This is very true.
00:40:29
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?
Seasonal Allergies and Tomato Love
00:40:44
Alethea Bruzek
Allergies.
00:40:46
Brett
Perfect.
00:40:48
Jessica
Oh.
00:40:49
Alethea Bruzek
Yes. think the spring is the season where I begin to simply fight for my life just through breathing.
00:40:57
Brett
Are you from Kentucky originally?
00:40:58
Alethea Bruzek
um Yes. who
00:41:00
Brett
Okay.
00:41:01
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.
00:41:11
Brett
Oh, wow.
00:41:12
Alethea Bruzek
So you can understand me. But yeah, no, the allergies. um
00:41:18
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.
00:41:19
Alethea Bruzek
I love treats.
00:41:25
Jessica
um
00:41:27
Brett
So I didn't, yeah, it's just been that way for you the whole time.
00:41:27
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:41:30
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah, it's wild. ah When I was younger, I did not have allergies, like seasonal allergies, hardly at all.
00:41:34
Plant People
Same. Same.
00:41:37
Alethea Bruzek
I might sneeze a little bit for a couple of weeks, but like it wouldn't be...
00:41:37
Plant People
Same.
00:41:41
Plant People
When the locust bloomed, I'd get a little sniffly, but...
00:41:43
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah. Right. Just a little bit. It was nothing near what has occurred in my sinuses as I've gotten past.
00:41:50
Plant People
You turn 30!
00:41:52
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.
00:42:05
Plant People
Yeah.
00:42:07
Alethea Bruzek
Right.
00:42:08
Brett
warming up
00:42:09
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.
00:42:24
Plant People
Mmm, pollen.
00:42:25
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.
00:42:37
Alethea Bruzek
You know, everything's that really bright
00:42:38
Brett
Are you more of a cold weather or hot weather guy?
00:42:40
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah, I do not like how weather. No.
00:42:43
Brett
Okay. I i see.
00:42:44
Alethea Bruzek
me
00:42:44
Brett
I have become a hot weather guy as I've gotten older.
00:42:47
Alethea Bruzek
Really?
00:42:47
Plant People
Mm-hmm. Same.
00:42:48
Brett
I used to be a hardcore cold weather guy.
00:42:49
Jessica
Yep.
00:42:51
Brett
And I just, I don't know if i my bones just can't handle it.
00:42:52
Plant People
Yep.
00:42:54
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.
00:42:59
Plant People
I know. I have like a little heater I run all summer.
00:43:03
Brett
Yeah. Yeah.
00:43:05
Alethea Bruzek
Yep, the air conditioning is too much.
00:43:05
Brett
Okay, so you're you're you're you don't like the hot. Yeah.
00:43:09
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.
00:43:16
Brett
Mm-hmm.
00:43:17
Alethea Bruzek
He would sit outside and it'd be 90 something degrees.
00:43:18
Jessica
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:43:19
Brett
Yeah.
00:43:21
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.
00:43:29
Brett
Mm.
00:43:30
Plant People
Yeah.
00:43:31
Jessica
huh
00:43:35
Brett
and
00:43:37
Alethea Bruzek
Close, close second would be winter. Yeah.
00:43:39
Brett
Yeah, yeah.
00:43:40
Alethea Bruzek
Cause I like winter. I like it.
00:43:41
Brett
so So, okay, I'll i'll try again.
00:43:42
Jessica
the
00:43:43
Brett
i struck out with allergies earlier, which was very perfect response.
00:43:47
Jessica
It was an excellent Kentucky response. was like, perfect.
00:43:49
Brett
Yeah, and so honest, just so honest.
00:43:51
Alethea Bruzek
If you've ever experienced allergies in Kentucky, you know, it's rough.
00:43:55
Brett
Yeah, we're we're good at that.
00:43:55
Jessica
Yeah. it's Especially for those transplants.
00:43:57
Brett
but So what's something about, what'd you say?
00:43:59
Jessica
Go ahead. ah Especially for those people who transplant in.
00:44:03
Alethea Bruzek
Mm-hmm.
00:44:03
Brett
Oh, gosh, yeah.
00:44:04
Plant People
a
00:44:04
Jessica
like it just it Like you said, your wife.
00:44:05
Alethea Bruzek
They're not even ready.
00:44:05
Jessica
It just wipes wipes them out.
00:44:08
Brett
Yeah, they're not ready for that.
00:44:08
Plant People
And then it's like 20 degrees and then 80 degrees and then And then.
00:44:11
Jessica
What's happening here in this state? Yeah.
00:44:13
Alethea Bruzek
And then a tornado comes through and throws a cow into your yard and then it snows over the...
00:44:16
Plant People
Yeah. It's.
00:44:18
Jessica
Then it's beautiful and then it snows and it's either raining, snowing or warm on Derby Day.
00:44:18
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah. Who knows?
00:44:22
Plant People
It's fine.
00:44:24
Jessica
So who knows?
00:44:26
Alethea Bruzek
Who knows?
00:44:26
Plant People
Yeah.
00:44:28
Brett
So what's something in the realm of of plants, gardening, whatever, about summer that you're maybe looking forward to?
00:44:34
Alethea Bruzek
Tomatoes.
00:44:36
Brett
Okay.
00:44:36
Plant People
Mm-mm.
00:44:37
Alethea Bruzek
I did not used to like tomatoes, okay?
00:44:37
Brett
Talk to me. Okay.
00:44:39
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,
00:45:03
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.
00:45:11
Plant People
Thank you.
00:45:15
Brett
um
00:45:22
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:45:25
Alethea Bruzek
Delicious. I love the tomatoes. I'm looking forward. I never thought I would, but I'm looking forward to
00:45:29
Brett
What kind of bread are you working with?
00:45:32
Alethea Bruzek
Oh, that's important because if you're going to make a sandwich, the bread, the bread is what makes the sandwich.
00:45:36
Brett
Yeah. Yeah.
00:45:40
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.
00:45:45
Brett
well And you're a a fermentation person now, so it's become even more important to you.
00:45:50
Alethea Bruzek
Right? One of these days I'm going to try.
00:45:50
Plant People
Fair.
00:45:51
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.
00:45:59
Brett
Sourdough is good, but but oh, sorry.
00:46:03
Alethea Bruzek
I'm going to get some of that bread from you for my sandwiches.
00:46:07
Brett
Yeah.
00:46:08
Alethea Bruzek
Because you're really good at making bread.
00:46:10
Brett
I like that. I like that.
00:46:14
Plant People
Focaccia, the easiest thing.
00:46:15
Alethea Bruzek
Ooh.
00:46:16
Jessica
that is it's very very simple yep
00:46:16
Plant People
and it seems fancy, but it's really easy.
00:46:16
Brett
Gotcha. Very, very good.
00:46:19
Plant People
Even I can make it Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:46:22
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
00:46:22
Plant People
But just some...
00:46:36
Plant People
Hmm. Hmm.
00:46:38
Brett
I have not.
00:46:40
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.
00:46:40
Plant People
Hmm.
00:46:45
Brett
Oh, wow.
00:46:47
Jessica
Yum.
00:46:50
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.
00:47:00
Plant People
Freezer jam.
00:47:02
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:47:02
Alethea Bruzek
Ooh, delicious.
00:47:03
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
Homegrown Meals and Extension Education
00:47:18
Brett
the thing.
00:47:18
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.
00:47:21
Jessica
right
00:47:25
Plant People
Catch me with my lemon curd in in the winter.
00:47:27
Brett
Yeah.
00:47:28
Plant People
Like...
00:47:28
Brett
Alexis takes it to, Alexis takes it to an extra level.
00:47:29
Alethea Bruzek
Oh, this is lemon curd is so good.
00:47:31
Brett
If anyone could imagine that.
00:47:32
Alethea Bruzek
So good. It was very special.
00:47:34
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.
00:47:47
Plant People
Like I was, I was the bell of the ball or I'm going to pretend that I was.
00:47:48
Alethea Bruzek
Yep.
00:47:52
Alethea Bruzek
Can
00:47:52
Plant People
Don't listen to anybody who told you otherwise.
00:47:55
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.
00:48:02
Jessica
Oh, yeah.
00:48:03
Plant People
or made the thing and both.
00:48:07
Alethea Bruzek
Ooh.
00:48:08
Brett
And that has real value.
00:48:08
Plant People
They were store-bought cookies.
00:48:08
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,
00:48:19
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:48:30
Plant People
Yeah, get your act together, Jessica.
00:48:32
Jessica
Right?
00:48:32
Plant People
How dare you but whole farm and a full-time job and...
00:48:32
Brett
Man, that's 90% of the plate is something you produced.
00:48:32
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah, oh my gosh. You don't have time to bake bread from slacks.
00:48:38
Brett
Why not 100? You made me sick.
00:48:40
Jessica
Right?
00:48:40
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah, slacker.
00:48:40
Plant People
yeah
00:48:41
Jessica
And I just sit there and i'm just like, this could be 100%.
00:48:42
Brett
You made me sick.
00:48:46
Brett
Farm to table.
00:48:46
Plant People
Does it count if you caught it but didn't raise it but you cleaned it yourself?
00:48:53
Jessica
mean, Yeah.
00:48:54
Brett
Are...
00:48:55
Jessica
so
00:48:56
Alethea Bruzek
don't think that would work.
00:48:56
Plant People
Does that count?
00:48:58
Brett
Are the boys impressed by the fact that like all this stuff came from your farm, your, your children?
00:49:03
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
00:49:11
Brett
meaning
00:49:12
Plant People
Well, they are all under five, so...
00:49:12
Alethea Bruzek
Okay.
00:49:16
Alethea Bruzek
Understandable.
00:49:26
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
00:49:51
Alethea Bruzek
ah
00:49:53
Jessica
um
00:49:53
Alethea Bruzek
It happens.
00:49:55
Jessica
But they were still ecstatic about those potatoes that they got to pull out.
00:49:55
Alethea Bruzek
We get ambitious.
00:49:59
Alethea Bruzek
See?
00:49:59
Jessica
And yeah.
00:50:00
Alethea Bruzek
Because they grew
00:50:01
Plant People
I'm ecstatic about them.
00:50:02
Jessica
Right.
00:50:02
Plant People
Yeah.
00:50:04
Alethea Bruzek
I love that.
00:50:04
Jessica
So...
00:50:06
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
00:50:06
Plant People
well
00:50:18
Alethea Bruzek
Eat, I don't know.
00:50:18
Plant People
Kohlrabi.
00:50:19
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?
00:50:28
Plant People
I'm sauteed it that one time. Remember?
00:50:30
Alethea Bruzek
like what o
00:50:31
Plant People
We went and harvested the little aliens out of the, out of the garden.
00:50:33
Alethea Bruzek
We did. We did, and we roasted them.
00:50:36
Plant People
Yeah.
00:50:36
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:50:36
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:50:37
Alethea Bruzek
ah We went through that really fun phase where we just roasted everything, and that was great.
00:50:37
Plant People
Saute.
00:50:41
Plant People
Was that before or after our smoothie phase?
00:50:45
Alethea Bruzek
It might have been like in conjunction with, because I feel like for a while we were doing a lot of vegetables.
00:50:50
Plant People
wi we might've went into the roasted cause we were like, we're sick of drinking all of our meals.
00:50:55
Alethea Bruzek
Yep. Yep.
00:50:56
Plant People
We got really excited about smoothies.
00:50:56
Alethea Bruzek
Sometimes you need to chew something. You know, it's nice to be able to chew something every now and then.
00:51:01
Plant People
Let's use our teeth for something.
00:51:03
Jessica
Right.
00:51:04
Brett
Honestly, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, Kohlrabi, what's the big deal about ah it?
00:51:09
Plant People
i like, I like kohlrabi.
00:51:10
Brett
I mean, it's fine. It's like, yeah i just don't understand why.
00:51:12
Plant People
Yeah, it's not like...
00:51:15
Alethea Bruzek
I've never grown it.
00:51:16
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.
00:51:17
Alethea Bruzek
And I don't find it in the store.
00:51:29
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.
00:51:41
Plant People
And look.
00:51:42
Brett
Yeah, little like ah maybe a little a little crispier, less tough.
00:51:42
Jessica
means,
00:51:46
Brett
But like I'd rather just be eating cabbage.
00:51:48
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:51:49
Plant People
I mean, cabbage is top notch.
00:51:49
Jessica
and I would prefer broccoli.
00:51:52
Plant People
Kohlrabi is easier to grow than cabbage and in my experience.
00:51:53
Brett
Yeah, broccoli. That's fair.
00:51:56
Plant People
so And it is faster.
00:51:57
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:51:57
Brett
That's fair.
00:51:58
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.
00:52:12
Plant People
But sold kohlrabi and lettuce the other day.
00:52:13
Alethea Bruzek
Peace.
00:52:16
Plant People
We'll report back with how... how that goes.
00:52:18
Jessica
How it goes.
00:52:20
Brett
If that guy's name isn't Cole or Robbie, then what's he even doing?
00:52:20
Alethea Bruzek
two
00:52:24
Brett
and
00:52:25
Jessica
Right.
00:52:25
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:52:26
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.
00:52:26
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:52:34
Plant People
Like your parents just missed out on an opportunity here.
00:52:34
Alethea Bruzek
Right. Missed an opportunity.
00:52:37
Jessica
Great opportunity.
00:52:38
Alethea Bruzek
Missed it.
00:52:38
Brett
You just give him that nickname on the spot.
00:52:40
Plant People
What up, Cole Robbie? they be like, who are you talking to?
00:52:42
Brett
Cole, wonder if I call you Cole.
00:52:42
Alethea Bruzek
Cole, what's up? What's
00:52:46
Plant People
It'll be extra cool if they have never heard of Kohlrabi, the vegetable before.
00:52:51
Jessica
so
00:52:51
Plant People
They're going to be like, I don't understand.
00:52:51
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah. I don't feel like it's super common. i don't feel like people are super aware of it.
00:52:58
Jessica
Right.
00:52:58
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.
00:53:03
Jessica
Right.
00:53:06
Brett
Robby Cole.
00:53:06
Plant People
Yeah, Robbie Kohl, but then it could be in some professional ways it would be like a Kohl comma Robbie.
00:53:07
Jessica
I do know Robert Cole.
00:53:09
Brett
Cole, Robby. Yeah.
00:53:12
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah. Mm-hmm. yeah
00:53:15
Jessica
Yeah.
00:53:15
Alethea Bruzek
ah
00:53:15
Jessica
Mm hmm.
00:53:16
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.
00:53:25
Alethea Bruzek
It's so much fun.
00:53:29
Brett
ah The rest of us are in this world of horticulture and and agriculture to some extent.
00:53:33
Jessica
Thank you.
00:53:33
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.
00:53:45
Plant People
I
00:53:47
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.
00:53:56
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah.
00:54:06
Alethea Bruzek
yeah
00:54:07
Brett
But like not not like full full-blown, you know?
00:54:08
Plant People
mean, yeah.
00:54:10
Brett
not Not like the... Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:54:12
Plant People
She's not like FCS, like,
00:54:14
Brett
yeah
00:54:14
Jessica
Right. There's a difference.
00:54:15
Alethea Bruzek
She does give us a lot of really wonderful resources that we use a lot. um
00:54:20
Plant People
We do love Jan.
00:54:20
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.
00:54:33
Plant People
But also the mental health that goes along with growing something, whether it's edible or not.
00:54:33
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:54:33
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:54:33
Alethea Bruzek
and Yeah.
00:54:38
Plant People
And then you talk about, you know, kind of ways maybe you do some meditation in your garden or, you know,
00:54:43
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah, get in the garden. Just simply getting in the garden and working with your hands in the soil, that is helpful.
00:54:47
Plant People
Put your hands in some dirt. There's good microbes in there. Don't eat it, though. Like, don't.
00:54:53
Alethea Bruzek
Don't eat the dirt.
00:54:55
Brett
Yeah.
00:54:55
Alethea Bruzek
Well, not like a lot of it. I mean, like if you get a little bit, it's okay.
00:54:58
Jessica
I unfortunately too
00:54:59
Plant People
Yeah, like, if you, like, accidentally, you know, little in your mouth, like, it's fine.
00:55:01
Alethea Bruzek
Yeah. like
00:55:02
Plant People
But we don't encourage.
00:55:03
Alethea Bruzek
Oops.
00:55:03
Jessica
often these days. too often these days
00:55:06
Plant People
Don't eat the dirt!
00:55:07
Brett
Don't eat dirt.
00:55:09
Alethea Bruzek
Don't eat dirt.
00:55:09
Brett
well
00:55:09
Plant People
I have to tell ah my corgi fin not to eat the worms.
00:55:14
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.
00:55:25
Plant People
um So, don't eat the worms, fin!
00:55:26
Alethea Bruzek
a
00:55:28
Plant People
ah
00:55:29
Alethea Bruzek
It's got eat the worm jerky.
00:55:29
Plant People
Sorry if I just screamed in your ear, but it's a consistent thing this time of year, so...
00:55:31
Alethea Bruzek
Wes is hard.
00:55:34
Brett
least all of our ears are ringing together.
00:55:36
Jessica
Yeah.
00:55:39
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.
00:55:56
Plant People
Olivia obviously follows us already. Totally. 100%. Yeah.
00:56:00
Alethea Bruzek
From the jump, from the beginning.
00:56:00
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.
00:56:11
Jessica
Thank you.
00:56:16
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.
00:56:31
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.
00:56:45
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.
00:56:56
Jessica
Thank you.
00:56:56
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.
00:57:06
Alethea Bruzek
Let's see that sour crab.
00:57:07
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.