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What's Happening MoCo?
An authentic, unscripted update from County Cable Montgomery highlighting items that help residents of Montgomery County. This program features interviews with elected officials, employees, public servants, and residents. It is produced by the Office of Community Engagement from the Department of Technology and Enterprise Business Services. Interviews are recorded live and presented with very few edits to ensure the integrity and authenticity of the conversations.
What's Happening MoCo?
What's Happening with People of the Fair - from the 76th MoCoFair
Step into the vibrant world of the 76th Annual Montgomery County Agricultural Fair as we take you behind the scenes of this cherished summer tradition. Through conversations with dedicated volunteers, passionate 4-H members, and innovative vendors, we discover the heart and soul of what makes this nine-day celebration so special.
Whether you're planning your visit or simply curious about this cornerstone of Montgomery County culture, this episode captures the educational value, family traditions, and pure fun that have made the Agricultural Fair a beloved institution for over seven decades. Come experience the "endless fun included" at this celebration of our County's agricultural heritage!
Subscribe to What's Happening MoCo for more stories that highlight the people, places, and events that make Montgomery County special.
What Good day and welcome to what's Happening, MoCo. This episode was recorded live from the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds during the 76th annual Montgomery County Fair. We've talked to some of the individuals that made this year's Ag Fair quite memorable. Take a listen.
Speaker 2:Good day and welcome to what's Happening MoCo, an authentic unscripted podcast from your Montgomery County government. Now here's your host, derek Kenney.
Speaker 1:Good day and welcome to what's Happening, moco, we are live at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds and we are here with none other than the powerhouse, the workhorse, the brains behind the social media and many of the operations of Ag Fair Fairgrounds, christy Geary. How are you, christy?
Speaker 3:I'm great, Derek. How are you doing today?
Speaker 1:I'm great now because whenever I'm in the presence of people that really make things happen I mean really make things happen Think about it all year long, add the plans together, bring people together, inspire them, train them and then, when the action starts happening, feet on the ground fire them, train them and then, when the action starts happening, beat on the ground.
Speaker 3:I love being here. The fair is my favorite time of year. I love. I love interacting.
Speaker 1:And it's great to talk with you today. Well, I love the fair and I want to talk to you about all the things that you do and some of the things that people want to really learn about the fair, all the educational opportunities, the rides and all that. But you know, know, I'm a big guy and I have a sweet tooth but I can't eat everything. I wanted to eat like I used to, but I I love it's like. It's like netflix, like to watch on netflix people eating, uh, good food. What is your food of choice each year at the ag fair? What do you come to the ag fair and need to have?
Speaker 3:well, I can't anything if I didn't have any other answer. It's got to be the grilled cheese. You know the world famous grilled cheese. I think everybody would give me a hard time if I didn't say that.
Speaker 1:And you're talking about the grilled cheese. Well, you can actually go to the big cheese.
Speaker 3:The big cheese and get my grilled cheese.
Speaker 1:All right. And so if you're in the carnival area, which is the south, and then you walk down and you walk away from the carnival, you walk into this area near the garand stands, you keep walking and on your left you will have a building filled with wisconsin cheese, and they actually bring the cheese from wisconsin yep, it's like a 650 pound wheel.
Speaker 3:They come, they bring it in, they, they cut it up here. You can, you can purchase cheese to go home with you.
Speaker 1:You can and they make it make their grilled cheese right here.
Speaker 1:Say, literally, say cheese, and a smile on your face because you have the best grilled cheese this side of the Mississippi. Oh, definitely, all right, all right. So her favorite is the grilled cheese. I will say the deep fried Oreo might be one of mine, but as I sit in my booth, I see churros, I see root beer, I see all types of good things and I even see something that says stuffed cookies and dirty drinks. I don't know what that is, but I'm going to find out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I haven't been over there yet.
Speaker 1:Dirty drinks. I get dirty looks all the time. I don't know what the dirty drinks are. I'm going. I don't know about the dirty drinks. I'm going to try that out, all right, so now, what are some of the things that people should look forward to when it comes to the fair this year? What's?
Speaker 3:unique, unique. We have all kinds of animals, which are not unique, but we love our animals. We love our 4-H'ers that get to show off their projects every year, and so it's just great to interact with our 4-H'ers and be able to see all those type of things. But of course, we have all the grandstand events. We've got the monster trucks coming back again, We've got the rodeo, we've got demolition derby Whoa a rodeo, a rodeo, yes, a real live.
Speaker 1:Cowboys rodeo, bulls rodeo, horses rodeo, definitely Okay.
Speaker 3:Second year in a row. They were rodeo horses rodeo definitely okay, second year in a row. They were here last year. They're going back again this year on a different night, friday night, um, and we've got um a demolition derby again. But wow, we've got all kind of a new like um magician show over on the pepco stage to go along with their hypnotist, okay there's all kind of things around here.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of good things going on here at the county fair. Uh, many of them are free, some of them in the grandstand you have to pay for, but they're well worth it, like the rodeo.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the big events in the grandstand do have a fee with them, but we have so much stuff we're advertised as endless fun included.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3:Which is great, which is the magician show and the hypnotist and the, the rock and circus up on the upper ground. There's so many things all the kids own, things are all free.
Speaker 1:Wow, they're all free free for as soon as you pay your admission, you're in here. There's so many things you and your family can do, a lot of educational things. So as your kids get ready to go back to school, you can bring them to the ag fair. You can learn about the bunny rabbits, you can learn about the bovine, you learn about the pigs, you learn about what are the raptors all the different animals that you can learn about firsthand and see firsthand here at the Coastal Fairgrounds, montgomery County, maryland. Let's talk about you a bit. Your family's been involved with the fair for quite some time. Let's talk about that. How long has your family been involved with the fair and who all in your family contributes to the fair? Uh, normally pretty much.
Speaker 3:It's a my entire family's involved. My, my grandparents helped to, were pioneers and helped to build some of the grounds here. Okay my mom was a past president during the 50 and 51st fair, so it is an. It is a family fair. My, my dad's involved, my son and my niece, everybody, my brother, everybody is our lifetime members and we just we love the fair and enjoy giving back to the community.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's awesome. And you mentioned lifetime members. What does it take if someone's listening right now and they say look, I want to contribute to the fair. I love it. I'd love to be a member too. I want to support the fair. How do they do that?
Speaker 3:Which is great. Our fair is a little bit different, probably different than most fairs that I interact with, where we we we love having volunteers come in and you volunteer over 200 hours. You hit 200 hours and you become a lifetime member and that allows you to have access to the fair all the time. You get voting rights and in our, in our annual elections and that kind of stuff. So you know it's, it's great, it's a great community. We call them our fair family. They people love coming in and being volunteers here at the fair and we're appreciative of all the work that they do, because we could not put on this fair without our volunteers.
Speaker 1:And I will say there's a lot of sweat here at the fair, a lot of hard work, and it starts not just this week.
Speaker 1:It didn't start last week or the week before it starts early on in the year, I guess guess continues along with good people like yourself helping to plan things and make decisions, but then also hands on the ground making things happen. There you go, that's right, all right, that's what's happening, moco. There's so many more things to see than the carnival. Who knew, we knew, and now you know. And that's what's happening, moco. Thanks for being here, christy. Good day and welcome to what's Happening, moco. Today we're talking to Lily Luther. Live at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds. Lily Lily, lily Luther, how are you today?
Speaker 8:I am wonderful, thank you. How are you?
Speaker 1:I am fantastic. It's great to be here at the Ag Fair Another sunny, beautiful day. Sunny hot day there's clouds every once in a while to give you a break from the sunlight. Then there's a cool breeze.
Speaker 8:Every once in a while, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we're having a pretty good August. I would say this is a great August. To come to the fair, what do you think?
Speaker 8:I agree, this has been a nice cool one for sure, all right, all right, I've been enjoying it.
Speaker 1:Now, this is not your first fair, though, right.
Speaker 8:No, how long life. My entire family has been a part of this fair for about 40 years now, I would say 40 years. Yes.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow. So all the beautiful Ag Fair activity that you contribute as a volunteer or as a 4-H-er didn't start with you.
Speaker 8:No no.
Speaker 1:But it started 40 years ago. How did it start for your family?
Speaker 8:So my grandfather has been and my grandma have been a part of 4-H since they were in it as well. They were um of youth age Um, my grandpa in Arkansas, my grandma in Iowa, um, and they eventually moved to Maryland and got my um dad and his sisters all in it Um mostly showing beef cattle Um, and so we have a beef farm of about 150 head currently. It's our pride and joy and we've just left If it was uninitiated.
Speaker 1:150 head means 150 cows 150 cows, that's correct. Are the male cows and female cows cows or like the male something and the female something? What's the terminology?
Speaker 8:they are all called something different, so cows actually aren't all girls. The cow, an animal, is not a cow until she's had a cow okay before that, the girls are called heifers wow.
Speaker 1:So, in order to be qualified as a cow, they have to be mama they have to be mamas. Yeah, what are they before that? You say they have the heifers, heifers, heif mamas. Yes, what are they before that? You said they're heifers, heifers, heifers, heifers. Before they have the babies. When they have the babies, they graduate becoming cows.
Speaker 8:That's right, that's right, all right so what are the boys?
Speaker 1:The boys? They start out as bulls, but a lot of different exhibits and places where people can learn on site. But they also can learn right now from talking to lily, luther and lily. So you have experience. Let's talk about you now. We talked about the uh, the history of your family and all the great things your family's done over the years in terms of 4-h and how big your farm is. But let's talk about you. What do you do at the ag fair? What do you? What's your focus?
Speaker 8:so my focus has mainly been rooting, rooted in um showing cattle and then also judging livestock in general. Um I have, I show, purebred angus and that's just a breed of cattle okay um, and so I don't just show at the fair, I show year rounds um. These cattle have gone to um anywhere from five to ten shows a year um yeah, they get get off the farm and they just get shown off.
Speaker 8:The purebred ones do anyhow. And then um the commercial herd we have at home, um, the different breed, just, you know, regular cattle, not anything special and expensive. Um, they uh, we raise and work with for market and so we raise those separately. We call them those money-making herd. And then we have fun with our purebreds.
Speaker 1:And those are the ones that I like to call mmm. Mmm, moo good, Okay, all right, Yummy hamburgers. We're not going to delve into that too deeply, we're going to go back there, we're not going to go there too deeply, all right, but you you are when you say show. So a lot of people aren't familiar with showing cattle, what is involved in showing cattle and what makes a good showing for cattle? That's true.
Speaker 8:Yeah, there's a lot that goes into it. For sure, it starts out at the beginning of the year around, or, I guess, in the 4-H year. So September, october, is when you select your animals for the year, for 4-H wise, anyway. So we visit several farms and you judge your cattle. So this is something that kids compete for a lot throughout 4-H nationally, and basically what you're looking for is the muscling of the animal, the structure, condition, degree, and so you're just kind of seeing the ones, particularly the particular ones, want to raise yourself, um, when you're going to look at these cattle, that's awesome so that's the beginning process, um.
Speaker 8:And then, once you get your animal, you raise it um year round up until august, next august to the fair. So you, every day, these kids are out feeding their animals, working with them, making sure they're well behaved, um, rinsing them in the summertime every day, getting their hair to grow, putting in products and getting that, getting them ready oh, hold on, hold on you.
Speaker 1:Uh, the cows get their hair done hair treatment hair did they? Yeah, they get the chemicals that they get stuff in their hair.
Speaker 8:They get more hair product than I do. Oh wow, okay, um by landslide yes, who knew that cows?
Speaker 1:well, you say cows were uh I guess they're steers mostly.
Speaker 8:Steers and heifers are normally the ones to get the most treatment, you get the beautified you get beautified okay okay, that's good to know okay um, yeah, so the ones that are getting shown are, um, getting prepped far beyond show day they are. They have there's a lot of work that goes into it, for sure Several hours in the barn.
Speaker 1:And you rinse them off on hot days, yeah give them a nice cool-down bath to keep them.
Speaker 8:Yeah, lots of phanto in the barn. You've got to keep them cool, to keep them contained. So these are like divas.
Speaker 1:There's the rest of the animals on the farm, and then these guys are walking around. These guys get the farm and then these guys are walking around. They're prim, they're proper.
Speaker 8:They get to turn around yeah Special attention. Yeah, they're like the farm's pride and joy. They get showed off. This is like yeah, they represent the farm for the farmer.
Speaker 1:So these are the stars. So when people come to the Ag Fair and they see the competitions, they get to see the stars from each farm.
Speaker 8:They're not just animals, these are the animals from each farm, each family, each forager, yes, yes, every forager you know, foragers that come from farms will definitely be breeding their, bringing their highest quality cattle to show off. And then a lot of foragers don't even have a farm, but they get to experience that by raising steers, um, which is really really cool as well. Um, they just saw other farmers and they get to learn. They just get a nice little glimpse into what, um, raising cattle entails by just raising out a seer and just really getting digging deep into what that animal needs feed wise, and you know just quality, yeah how many hours a week do you think uh takes to care for a, a show animal?
Speaker 8:so if the type of show animals you deal with if it was just a show animal, I would say I. In the summertime I spent about four hours a day in the barn okay in the winter it's probably closer to one or two hours a day, um, just because you don't really rinse them as much. Um, then it's cold enough they can grow their hair on their own and everything they can do their own hair in the winter, like, okay, we don't care about your hair yeah, so, um, but yeah, it's definitely.
Speaker 8:It's not a? Um easy process, for sure, but it's. It's very rewarding, it's very high reward, um, to be able to come, come to the fair and show off my projects. That I'm right and you're not.
Speaker 1:You're not competing just with other other animals, like just the regular animals. You're competing with the best of the best, uh, from around the area. Yeah, and then from that you're able to generate some type of revenue, of course, maybe, or prestige for your family yeah, so, um, yeah, for general showing just just outside jackpot shows and everything.
Speaker 8:A lot of the family farms are, yeah, bringing up prestige for their name and everything.
Speaker 6:Wow.
Speaker 8:But then at this fair we do have an auction at the end of the week and, yeah, the grand champions, dr, goes in the ring first and everything and it's very exciting. So that is a big moment for the 4-H'ers at the end of the week is, yeah, doing?
Speaker 1:the best at the auction after showing off. And so you spent many years here at the fair and now you're helping others kind of learn how to do what you've done for years.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What's next for you as you move forward?
Speaker 8:Well, yeah, I really had an incredible time because I've learned so much as a 4-H'er here and I've gotten to reflect that on the younger generation. I'm the president of the Beef Club now, so I've gotten to oh the president, La presidenta.
Speaker 1:Okay, there you go, yeah.
Speaker 8:So I have gotten to just teach the younger generation what I have learned and it's just just, it's a very full circle moment to support one another and have that connection. And so hopefully in the next, in the next step, like you were asking, I'll get to use all nut prep to continue in the agriculture industry. Okay, there's a lot of struggles currently you, with our population expanding and our environmental struggles, to be able to sustain the agriculture that we have. Um, and to just publicize that to especially everyone in Montgomery County, these urban areas, they're not entirely sure Um. So that's my goal as um of graduating 4-H'er. That hopefully, um, I can do that and with my college degree, um, I'll go into. That's my plan as well.
Speaker 1:I'm hoping to work in genetic research, but within agriculture oh, wow, wow, to ensure that we have uh ways to sustain ourselves for years to come. And that's not just some people, it's like all people um have a way to sustain themselves and their families and their children and children's children depend on a lot of the agricultural education and science and technology and all that goes into some of the things we see at the MoCal Fair.
Speaker 8:Yes, yes, absolutely so. The fair. Its whole purpose, essentially, is to project the value of agriculture that we have. A lot of people don't know or understand agriculture because it's become so centralized. Yeah, in that, yeah, not many people are going out to their own barns every day like they used to in like the 1800s, and having their own small, small, self-sustained farm. But it's very, it's much more efficient. In order to just yield the quality food that we have today, it has to be done by these large-grade commercial farms, and so the fact that people don't know and understand quite about how that works is difficult.
Speaker 8:just to communicate kind of the needs and the needs for support, the needs for continuity, the needs for support, the needs for continuity, the need for education and all the other things that uh you may find, uh in places like 4-h and the actor yeah, so we're all here to just um advocate for, for agriculture, and to continue, uh, doing what we're doing and keep, keep researching and keep, keep it going, and you know and you're and you're from and you're from what you are from ad County and you're from well, you are from Montgomery County and you live here now currently.
Speaker 1:So we love to celebrate Montgomery County. We love to celebrate people in Montgomery County doing great things. So, wow, that's what's going on right now for you, lily Luther. That's what's happening. Moco. President of the Beef Club.
Speaker 8:Yes.
Speaker 1:Future agricultural scientist.
Speaker 8:Is that a scientist? That's the plan, yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, looking forward to great things from you, yeah.
Speaker 8:I'm off to study biochemistry and animal science.
Speaker 1:Wonderful, wonderful and good luck to your animal as it goes forth and competes here at the Ag Fair. What day are you competing?
Speaker 8:I am going to compete. The market show is thursday and then showmanship is friday, okay, and where can people see that? So that's gonna be in the cattle pavilion.
Speaker 1:So when you go to the fair, it's up towards all the ag barns, and so when people see those things going on, because the kids are wearing what? White pants and stuff, but they're wearing jackie pants and our white shirts the white shirts? Yeah, so when you see those kids out there walking those animals around, you're looking at a high pressure intense oh my goodness, those are some of the most you don't even realize.
Speaker 1:Yeah there you go all right. So be sure to check it out, like the same way we check out the basketball game or football, hockey, anything else. Check out these cattle competitions or these different animal competitions at the MoCo Fair. They are free to see and it's free education. So thank you, lily Luther.
Speaker 9:If you see her, give her a high five, and that's what happened to. Moco Awesome.
Speaker 1:What's happening? What's up, doc? We're talking about rabbits and we're here with folks from the 4-H Rabbit Barn and we're here with Amelia Martin and Eva Martin and Zoe Tepper. All right, all right. So what is it about rabbits that have you guys so excited that you wanted to work with rabbits in the Rabbit Barn?
Speaker 6:Me and my family have been coming for quite a long time, even before we were official 4-H'ers. My dad did a lot of stuff in his teen years for 4-H, and so we were always fair attenders and we just would sit and watch the rabbits.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, wow, Okay. And what kind of rabbits are there for people that aren't aware of rabbits? What are some of the different types of rabbit?
Speaker 6:In Arva there are 51 different breeds of rabbit 51?. Yeah, oh, wow, and there are rabbits that range big enough to be almost 20 pounds and some smaller, like one and a half pounds. So big variety.
Speaker 1:Okay, and what's your favorite rabbit? My favorite rabbit is the Dutch, the Dutch rabbit. And why is that?
Speaker 4:Because they don't shed a lot. So they're like a good house pet and they're a lot gentler and they're not too small. Like Minirex is a really small breed but Dutch is like a like they're bigger than Minirex but they're not as big as like I like New Zealand's.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, great, great. Now what about you? What is your favorite rabbit? My favorite breed of rabbit is Holland Lops. I love the floppy ears. Oh, I'm sorry, say that again. A Holland Lop, holland, lop, holland, lop. Okay, and why do you like them? They have floppy ears and they're super fluffy and small. They sound adorable and cute. Oh, my gosh. Now, if we wanted to, we're at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds. If we wanted to see rabbits that are cute, with floppy ears, or rabbits that don't shed too much, where can we go?
Speaker 6:You can come to the rabbit barn. It's across from the sheep and swine pavilion.
Speaker 1:And so not not only are you able to see rabbits, but I noticed that there's a table. There Are people able to see rabbits up close and maybe touch them?
Speaker 6:There are two touch tables in the barn where there are oftentimes rabbits out for petting and learning about, and then you'll also find people sitting around the barn who will have rabbits in their lap and you can ask them all sorts of questions and pet the rabbits.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, that's great.
Speaker 6:Now, what are some fun facts that people should know about rabbits? Um, uh, I have one from the other day, so um, in 138 ce, spain originally had rabbits on both gold and silver coins oh wow, rabbits on coins yeah, just like presidents, yeah.
Speaker 1:Or bugs bunny just as important. Yeah, just as important. There we go, there we go, all right. How about a fun fact from you? Um, what's the cutest thing, what's the best thing about a rabbit?
Speaker 4:not all bunnies like to hop.
Speaker 1:Not all bunnies like to hop. Not all rabbits like to hop. You heard it here on the what's Happening MoCo podcast Not all rabbits like to hop. Now, each of you have your own rabbits, so let's talk about your rabbits Now. What rabbits do you have, what are their names and what are they like?
Speaker 4:So we have three Dutch rabbits and one Holland Lock. Their names are Clover, maple, sienna and Brie.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, okay, Very nice.
Speaker 4:And we just got our Holland Lock, like a few days ago at this fair At this fair.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool. And so when people come to the fairgrounds, will they be able to see your rabbits too?
Speaker 6:Yes, they are. We take our rabbits out a lot, so people often find them sitting with us or on the table. We love to show people and let them learn about them.
Speaker 1:Now, if there's other people out there that would like to work with rabbits, children or others, how do they get involved in 4-h?
Speaker 6:um, well, they can join 4-h, obviously, and just start attending meetings. It's super simple, um, we meet on the third tuesday of every month. So if you come to the 4-h building here at the fairgrounds, we can give all the info and you can join the club, right?
Speaker 1:join the club, play with the rabbits and guess what? They don't all hop. No, they don't Not if you make them. Oh my gosh. Yeah, oh my gosh. All right, so that's what's happening, MoCo. We're here with these fine young ladies. You can find them in the rabbit barn and they can introduce you to their rabbits and other rabbits and all sorts of nice animals over there. Good day, Welcome to. We are still live at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds and we can't get enough information about bovines, and so we've gotten a good friend here.
Speaker 9:Sophia.
Speaker 1:German, who's the vice president of the Montgomery County Jersey Calf Club. All right, say that three times fast. All right. What is a Jersey calf? It is a type of dairy animal. Ok, what's unique?
Speaker 9:about calf. It is a type of dairy animal.
Speaker 1:Okay, what's unique about it? How is it different from other types of calf?
Speaker 9:Well, like there's definitely it's like one of the shorter breeds.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 9:And it's on like the slimmer side of breeds and their milk production.
Speaker 1:Fantastic, and you are one of the competitors today, right?
Speaker 9:Yes, I am.
Speaker 1:All right, and you are one of the competitors today, right? Yes, I am All right. And you saw a good friend of yours on here earlier yeah.
Speaker 9:Lily, okay, and you thought perhaps you might want to be on here. What do we have to make? A top line on the top of heifers, which is in which perfects any imperfections on the cow's top line, oh wow and what's the top line? It's like the back of the cow.
Speaker 1:Okay, wow so you know a whole lot about cows yeah all right, and so what were you doing? So what were you doing today? As you got got ready for the competition and I believe you compete today. What time do you compete?
Speaker 9:today Six o'clock.
Speaker 1:All right, so this may come out after six o'clock, but for people that want to support you, what's the best way to support people when they're competing live? Do you want people to stay very quiet? Do you want them to cheer?
Speaker 9:Well, cheer when it's necessary. Sometimes people can get in the way, oh, wow. Like when you're walking down the alleyway or in the barn, so try to keep your distance. But, yeah, definitely coming to the show ring to support is the best thing.
Speaker 1:Wow, very nice. And so tell me what's going on inside the ring. I've noticed that you're walking your animal and there's a judge there and he's making decisions about the quality of the animal. What are you thinking about when you're walking the animal?
Speaker 9:um, what I'm thinking about is uh, don't act up like please are you telling yourself that?
Speaker 1:you're telling that to the cow? The cow, okay.
Speaker 9:I was like please stay calm and collected. Okay and just Right.
Speaker 1:And so the cow is being judged on its behavior as well as its composition.
Speaker 9:So there's two classes in 4-H. There's fitting and showing which is all about you and how well your animal is trained and how well you fit in it and how well you show your animal and how well, you know it.
Speaker 4:Wow.
Speaker 9:But then there's your breed classes and your age classes that are based off the cow's looks.
Speaker 1:Okay, fantastic, fantastic. And which ones are you doing today?
Speaker 9:Today, earlier today, there was milking, short horns and brown Swiss, and tonight there's Holsteins.
Speaker 1:Wow, brown Swiss. Are those the ones that make chocolate milk?
Speaker 6:No, they all make normal milk.
Speaker 1:It sounds like it makes chocolate milk, you sure it doesn't. They're actually gray, they're actually red, okay, okay, all right, brown swiss does not make chocolate milk. You already did first, when it was happening. Milk hill podcast, all right. So we're here, the ag fair rounds, and you're competing and you're a 4-h, but you're also a regular person yeah, that likes the ag fair. What are some of the things you like best about the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair?
Speaker 9:Definitely the animals. That's my top thing.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, okay.
Speaker 9:I enjoy all the people that come and ask questions about it and they get to learn, and I also enjoy the food.
Speaker 1:All right, and what's your favorite food?
Speaker 9:The corn dogs, the corn dogs oh yeah, corn dogs are delicious.
Speaker 1:What is it? Is it corn bread? The corn dogs? Oh yeah, corn dogs are delicious. Was it? Is a cornbread on top of a delicious hot dog on a stick?
Speaker 9:Yep.
Speaker 1:And what do you put mustard anything on there? No, I eat a plain either. Plain, all right, fantastic. Now what are you going to drink with your? With the corn dog?
Speaker 9:Well, I've been a big fan of Gatorade recently.
Speaker 1:OK, all right.
Speaker 9:That's like a Gatorade I'm down like six Gatorade in a day, oh wow, Every day.
Speaker 1:So. So I guess a lot of what you do is exhausting and it really, you get a bit dehydrated then, Okay, cool. So what are some of the um, the more demanding aspects? Going back to the competition and preparing your animal. How, how physically demanding is it? Um, moving and feeding and doing all the things you need to do with your cattle?
Speaker 9:Well, every morning we have to watch them for the fair to be nice and pretty for the people.
Speaker 10:OK.
Speaker 9:Which it takes a lot of work because they get dirty in 12 hours.
Speaker 10:Wow OK.
Speaker 9:Fitting wise it's, it's all right. It's definitely exhausting after a while, but I kind of enjoy it fantastic, fantastic.
Speaker 1:Now what about other people? I noticed you are all in, like you are a professional, well, what I would consider someone's well adept to the uh, the competition and preparing the animals and, uh, you know a lot about the animals and all those things, but there are some children out there that would like to know more, like to do more with the animals. How do they get involved, like you've been involved?
Speaker 9:well, if you don't live on a dairy farm I personally don't live on a dairy farm okay, um, our cows are somewhere else, but you can lease from someone and show them in open oh, that's great, or? If you're leased, you can put them in your name and show them in 4-H, as well. Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1:So just to say that again, you can. If you're a regular person, a child that wants to be in 4-H, you can lease an animal. You don't have to actually have an animal in your backyard, so you don't have to go get a cow and bring it to Bethesda and put it in your backyard. No, okay.
Speaker 9:You can lease one and you go out to the farm or wherever the animal's located. It all depends on your leaser if they want you to do more or they want you to do less. It all depends who you lease from.
Speaker 1:Fantastic, fantastic. That's what's happening in MoCo. We're learning more and more about 4-Hers. We're learning more and more about people that have ambition and the know-how and the competitive juices flowing, like Sophia German, here from the Jersey. What was it? Jersey?
Speaker 9:Montgomery County, jersey, calf.
Speaker 1:Club, montgomery County, jersey Calf Club. So there you have it, so let's wish her the best of luck today and hope that she does the very best she can, and wish her the best in the future as well, because this won't be the last year you're competing is it.
Speaker 9:No, I have four more years.
Speaker 1:Fantastic, all right, looking forward to big things from Sophia. Thank you, sophia, take care.
Speaker 9:Thank you All right.
Speaker 1:Good day. And what was what's happening? Moco, we are still live here in Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds and we're delving a little bit more into this competitive nature of cows competing against one another, sheep competing against one another, just figuring out the whole science behind the agriculture. Yeah, in some ways, and help me do that I'm not going to do that by myself. To help me do that, we have Michael Creek. He is a judge for the Open Dairy Cow Show. He also knows a lot about the science behind agriculture. He's going to help walk us through what we're looking at when we look at a dairy cow competition.
Speaker 7:Oh yeah. So you know Maryland historically has a rich history in dairy cattle and the quality of dairy cattle really in agriculture in general, like Maryland. There's a lot of leaders in the agriculture industry that have started in Maryland. Come out of Maryland, not just in dairy in the beef sector, crop sector, swine and poultry.
Speaker 7:It's it's a very diversified agricultural state, but we really, really like to get together and show cows. Historically in the state and and I'm personally, I'm from Washington County but it's spread across the state, but Montgomery County here has a rich history and at Montgomery County Fair in particular, it's like the lead up to Maryland State Fair, so it's really important.
Speaker 6:So yeah, when we go to judge cows, Local fair.
Speaker 7:No, it's OK, but when we go to judge cows or livestock, you know there's things we look for.
Speaker 1:All right. So, as we judge these things and this is a this is a full competition, right? There's not? There's. It's really literally each individual with their cow. Yes, the cow is being judged on certain qualities that has it stand one hidden shoulders above the other cows. Correct In terms of, and to help you select winners or a hierarchy of which cows are the best, how do you determine what are some of the characteristics of a winning cow?
Speaker 7:Well, so each and this goes for any livestock breed, but cows in particular, which is my specialty so any breed or species they come up with what they would call an ideal, you know, or what they're looking for. As far as characteristics, each breed in the cattle industry looks for a little bit different things, you know, because there are different. They each have characteristics that make each breed individuals in there. So there's an ideal out there that we're comparing every cow against. As she comes in the ring and as you place them, the cow that's closest to that ideal, confirmation, or how she's built, works her way up to the top of the ring, and then so on and so forth. So second is the next closest to that ideal, and then third.
Speaker 7:So what we have is someone like me and our state, and dairy cattle in particular. Our 4-H program in the state of maryland is extremely strong. Um, and historically um, the dairy cattle 4-h, dairy cattle judging team, so the youth judging teams, where we teach kids how to evaluate cattle um has won more national championships than any other state. In fact, it's one, wow, nearly 30, okay, maybe more than 30.
Speaker 2:It's a crazy number.
Speaker 7:It's a big number, much larger than any other state. So I was lucky enough to come through that program. A lot of our youth come through that program and you're trained over the years as far as what we're looking for. And as cattle develop and as genetics make our cattle change, they get better at their jobs. They get to live longer. They get to be prettier those type of things they get to at their jobs. They get to live longer. They get to be prettier those type of things they get to make more milk.
Speaker 1:As cattle change, we change the demographic. I've noticed this one thing about cows when you see them and you're walking by cows, the female, what are they called? Bowbines? Bowbines, their eyes are gorgeous. That's a big eyelash. They'reines, their eyes are what's the big eyelashes gorgeous it's like they, it's like someone went by with some mascara or something, right yeah, and like really did their eyes. Is that like? Is that like natural?
Speaker 7:yeah, oh yeah I mean, uh, I, I guess it's just something about the bovine species, right, okay, but just you know those big brown, you know brown eyes. Sometimes they can even have a different color tone, but there's big brown, hazel eyes yeah, but the big, it's big eyelashes, I think. I think cows have those big eyelashes up there, you know, and uh so wow, they just look.
Speaker 1:Uh, they look a little gentle yeah it's like, it's like I wouldn't mind having this cow in my backyard hanging out.
Speaker 7:You know, that's right, that's right, that's right yeah, so I, when I'm judging the cow though that's not exactly what I'm looking at, but it does come into play when I say, uh, if you were to come to montgomery county fair tonight or tomorrow night for supreme champion, you hear me say a cow has style. I'm talking about how pretty she is to the appearance so when I say style, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying this this cow is so pretty that even you can tell All right, yeah, even I can check it out. That's right, and I'm a novice.
Speaker 1:I'm not like an agro-scientist, yeah, I don't know all the nuances, but I do know a pretty cow when I see it, you know.
Speaker 7:All right, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Now see, that's your role as a judge, but you also have, um, you're also into the, the business of agriculture as well, and some, many people me included uh, I included, uh, not not aware not so much aware of some of the different ways, or innovative ways that um cows are being bred these days or, um how efficiencies are being brought forth through science.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I mean um, um. The truth. The truth of the matter is is we're having to learn, and it's important for us to learn as a you know, as a society, a country society really to how to do to get more with less. But there is a genuine and rightfully so, because this is part of the farmer's concern also, there's a general concern for the well-being of the animal also. So these cattlemen here that are exhibiting their cows, they're here to show off their prettiest animals.
Speaker 7:But, when they get home and they work with guys like me that will come in and say you know like I'd like to see my cow be able to to stay and produce for me for as long as possible to live a productive but a a good life. You know, as far as you know they stay. You know they're eight, ten years old, which in a dairy cow that's. That's a really long lifespan in a dairy cow compared to other cattle and, um, you know, I'd like to see them last eight to ten years. I'd like to see them live a beautiful life, make halves calves, make milk we work with that to make them more efficient. As they go, farmers think about those things as well as how they handle their crops or how they maintain their buildings or manage their operations. They use a lot of science to figure that out. Luckily, the USDA and the college agriculture at the University of Maryland and colleges like that across the country do a lot of work and do a lot of research to help us get better at our jobs.
Speaker 1:Fantastic and for some people that may not be fully aware that dairy cows have a major role in our food. When you go to the grocery store, what are some of the things that are associated that come from what's produced by the cows?
Speaker 7:well, I mean you can go down that dairy aisle right and actually that's the easy answer is all that fun cheese? I, my family, makes cheese, so I'm a cheese snob kind of. But as far as that I like to just you know, collect it kind of my my wife and my. I have a drawer in my fridge my wife's just. Yeah, like to just you know collect it kind of my wife. I have a drawer in my fridge my wife's just you know but just you know that cheese and those dairy products.
Speaker 7:But you know dairy cows are a large part of the beef process as well. That is, as some of these farms, uh, you know, have grown in size, or even the smaller farmers, they're choosing to, um, to use some beef bowls on their dairy cows to make some beef, you know, to help move into the food, the food system. Um, and also, when you talk about a dairy cow, you know you really are talking about an animal that not only is she producing all that milk and then all that cheese and all that yogurt, but she can use feed. And this is the thing about cows that are amazing. All right, they eat things that we can't eat, like if you and I ate it, we would have a hard time you, you know, like really upset stomach and a cow can use that and and you can take ground that maybe can only grow something like that.
Speaker 7:And a cow can take that and use it and turn it into something, then that that dairy product that we can use, and uh, it's a really, it's a really amazing thing what they do with this, with those four stomachs.
Speaker 1:That's amazing, and so when you come to Montgomery County agricultural fairgrounds, you can see cows up close and personal. As a matter of fact, you even see cows giving birth. There's a birthing center up here, yeah.
Speaker 7:Yeah, and I and I, you know county fairs continue to decline a little bit in participation as far as livestock exhibitors and because time of the year and crops and et cetera. But at the same time, if you come down here, there's some world-class animals still inside these barns. Here Just some amazing animals here.
Speaker 1:Fantastic and you've heard that. That's what's happening, moco Amazing animals that you and your family can come see and see up close and personal and also see compete one against another and you can see the judge here. He'll tell you all about the great things, the reason why one won over the other. Good day, welcome to what's Happening, moco. We are back live at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairground and earlier at the start of the fair, there was a competition, a food competition, and you know I like food, so you're probably curious as to who won, and you already know who won. But now you get to meet the man behind the sandwich that won this, reuben. Right here is the Ag Fair number one blue ribbon food for this year's fair, and we're here with the Deli-ish owner from Dundalk, maryland.
Speaker 5:Yep.
Speaker 1:Welcome, Eric.
Speaker 5:Thank you, thanks for having me Great.
Speaker 1:Tell us about your business. What's the name of your business? I think I mentioned it, and why did you name it Deli-ish?
Speaker 5:So yeah, deli-ish and we named it, so it's sort of a deli. It's not the old-fashioned deli where we're kind of stuck to just your traditional deli sandwiches or corned beef. You know, we branch out, we do all kinds of things. We run different dinner specials, you know, with filet mignon and crab cakes and steamed shrimp. We do all those types of things. That that you're no more typical, your typical deli don't won't normally do.
Speaker 1:Okay, great, great. So this is your first year at the Ag Fair. What can people expect from your booth here at the Ag Fair in terms of what you're offering to people visiting?
Speaker 5:So we have kind of our standard event stand food truck menu, which is, of course, our Reuben, which you're having now. Hope you're enjoying it. The Reuben is delicious. I didn't want to say, of course, our Reuben, which you're having now.
Speaker 1:Hope you're enjoying it. The Reuben is delicious. I didn't want to say anything about the Reuben because I couldn't wait and I ate like half of the sandwich, but it's delicious and even if you don't typically like Reuben, oh my gosh, this sandwich is delicious and it's freshly made. And you grill it. Yep, we grill it, it's really good. It's always great to hear Okay, yes. And again, I don't endorse any one business or product, but I have enjoyed this sandwich. I'm not ashamed to say I enjoyed this sandwich so much I'm ready to eat it now, while it's still hot. But okay, yeah, go ahead. All right, eric, are some you were getting ready to say some of the other food items that you have in your truck today?
Speaker 5:yeah. So besides the Reuben, we have our shrimp salad, you know, which was steamed, small batch, steamed fresh shrimp mixed with Old Bay, plenty of Old Bay and black pepper. So it's a little spice, but it's, it seems to be pretty popular, wow. Um, we have our chicken salad wrap. Um, wrap comes in a wrap with lettuce and tomato. Um, and we, we, we spice that up a little bit with old bay as well, okay, and then we have, uh, our classic new yorker, which is a combination of corned beef and pastrami, uh, and swiss cheese, coleslaw, russian dressing on three pieces of rye. So you can imagine it's a big sandwich, oh yeah. And then we have jumbo kosher hot dogs, chicken tenders and french fries, and then you can get a plain corned beef sandwich and a plain patrongi sandwich also, and I think I covered all of our A lot of great items.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm sorry, I'm forgetting one.
Speaker 5:The crab cake egg rolls.
Speaker 1:Crab cake, egg rolls. Okay, wow, wow. Sounds like you have a nice broad array of items there on your menu and it's all here and it's cooked fresh. Oh, yeah, fresh, okay, right there in the truck. So, unlike some Well, I'm not going to say unlike anything else, but we do know that when you come to Erickstruck you will have freshly made items and they are quite, I would say, at least one of them is quite delicious. Oh my gosh, this boobin is very good, very, very good. Now, what started you into the business of deli, the deli-ish business?
Speaker 5:Yeah, so I've just been in delis all my life as a kid. In high school started working at a deli in Baltimore City, a popular deli. School started working at a deli in Baltimore city popular deli, um, and I it's sort of stuck with it. You know, um, I actually opened up um my first deli. It was called the corn beef factory and opened that up in 2010. Um, you know, did that for a few years and uh, had two locations, with that one branched off to do some other things, but eventually I found my way back to the deli and it opened deli-ish in 2010 and now we have uh three food trucks, a food stand and our brick and mortar store, which is in dundon fantastic, fantastic.
Speaker 1:So what can we look forward to in the future from eric uh, the wife and your son is here as well yeah, yeah, my son's here working today, first year helping out. Uh, yeah, doing a great job yeah, so what can we look forward to in the future from your family um your business?
Speaker 5:well, we're going to keep keep doing what we do. We're going to keep putting out good product, hopefully win a couple more awards, like like we did at this one. Yeah, um, yeah, you know we're happy with what we got. Um, you know, maybe expand to another, another trailer or food truck and and start kind of branching further into the state and a little bit out of the state. This was the first year we actually branched a little bit out of the state into pennsylvania a little bit, um. So you know, that's that's something that that may be on the on the radar well, that's what's happening loco.
Speaker 1:Uh, family business growing um and doing well, offering really good food at this year's Montgomery County Agricultural Fairground. Thank you so much, eric, for stopping by.
Speaker 5:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Good day. Welcome to what's Happening, MoCo. We're still here at the Agricultural Fairgrounds. It's the nine best days of summer. It's the fourth day and we're here talking about sweet things, good things, tasty things. We're talking about Dirty Dough.
Speaker 10:Dirty Dough.
Speaker 1:Dirty Dough with Scott Scott Love. Scott Love, welcome to the show.
Speaker 10:Scott, how are you today? I'm doing great. I'm glad to be here and it is the fifth day. The fifth day of the nine best days of summer.
Speaker 1:Yes, so we're about. This is kind of a hump day, I guess you would think so so, guys, come on out here, enjoy, come out, enjoy the ag fair. The weather is fantastic and, of course, we have things that you should come out and try, like dirty dough.
Speaker 10:Tell us about dirty dough so so dirty dough actually got started in utah, um, where many sweet type companies get started Okay, and the concept of dirty is blended, mixed or stuffed. So, it's something that you take as a whole like a cookie, but if you stuff it now it's a dirty cookie, okay. Wow you take a drink and it's a soda. But if you add creamers and syrups and juices, now it's a dirty soda, All right.
Speaker 1:So you know dirty rice, rice, dirty martinis whatever it's, taking the hole and mixing it with something else. I've never realized that when you mention dirty, that you're adding an element to something to make something new, right? So, like a blizzard's, a dirty ice cream all right, and the reason why we're talking uh with scott today is because he and his business is here at the montgomery county agricultural fairground and he has stuffed cookies and dirty drinks available to people passing by. Is this your first?
Speaker 10:year as a vendor, so this is our first year as a vendor. We just opened our retail store in Rockville. We're at the Rockville Town Square.
Speaker 1:Oh wow. Well, we love, I will say we love Montgomery County businesses. So hold on, let's see if I can find that applause button In Montgomery County, maryland, hooray, all right.
Speaker 10:Scott, thank you. Yeah, so we're right next to the Science Center, across from Buffalo, wild Wings and the library. Wow, we've been there since late, late December. We're doing great. People love us. We're happy to be here.
Speaker 1:Fantastic, fantastic, scott, all right, so your last name is Love, right, scott? My last name is Love, all right. So let's talk about some of your treats here. Yes, what is this? You brought over some orange concoction.
Speaker 10:What is that? So this is one of our dirty drinks. Our dirty drinks, primarily, are soda-based. Okay, so we take an orange soda, we mix it, in this case with vanilla and some creamers, and it tastes just like an orange cream.
Speaker 10:So oh wow we have what we call a caribbean crush, which starts with spray and then we add pineapple juice and we add coconut. Tastes just like a pina colada a mocktail but just like a pina colada. And we have root beer, floats and we do uh, hibiscus drinks and strawberry drinks and we blend them together. Drinks are extremely popular okay coming real soon. We're going to be doing rice crispy treats and waffle treats and cinnamon buns and we have so much to offer montgomery county and rockville specifically all types of tasty items to drink and to eat.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know, I don't know if you always find tasty creative drinks and uh, things to eat in one place.
Speaker 10:Right, we like to consider ourselves a tree shop, okay, but at the same time, you know, our cookies are big. Our cookies are almost six ounces each.
Speaker 1:Wow as far as our competitors go, we're also about 20% your calories.
Speaker 10:Can I try this? Absolutely, it's looking at me it's looking at me in.
Speaker 1:This it's calling is a temptation guy. The guys. It's a temptation in action. If you're on the Ag Fairgrounds and you go walk past the Dirty Dough booth and not stop by to say hi to Scott, you have a very strong what do you call it? They have a lot of discipline. Yes, You're at the Ag Fairgrounds, so indulge yourself. I'm going to try this out here. Scott, thank you very much for this.
Speaker 10:I'll have to taste this oh wow, you like that oh wow, that's just like an orange cream sickle that's amazing.
Speaker 1:That is like drinking an orange cream sickle, um, if the consistency is very smooth, uh, with some ice in it, but it's so smooth you wouldn't. You wouldn't think that it would be so smooth to drink. And it's easy. It's an easy, refreshing drink. As soon as I drank it, I felt like a few degrees of heat uh, come off of my body. So that's good, all right, that's that's unbiased and I'm not endorsing scott or his product by any means, but it is delicious, that's honest.
Speaker 10:Okay, wonderful, okay scott, and our cookies are a little bit different, so this is a cookies, cookies and cream.
Speaker 1:I don't know, oh wow, yeah, we can see that. Oh, that looks delicious, okay.
Speaker 10:This is a vanilla cookie that's blended with a chocolate cookie.
Speaker 1:Okay, and it's stuffed with an Oreo cream.
Speaker 10:And it tastes like a big soft Oreo cookie. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:Again six ounces. Oh my gosh, Six ounces. Okay, I guess what is. What is a pound?
Speaker 10:yeah, so 16 ounces so you're, it's a quarter pound cookie basically more or less, a little more, a little more than a quarter pounder.
Speaker 1:So you have a quarter pound cookie here. So stop over by dirty dough with scott love. Check out the stuffed cookies, the dirty drinks and the dirty drinks actually beautiful, they look good, they taste fantastic. So he's a bent. He's a vendor here supporting Montgomery County at Coastal Fairground, so please come out support him. But he's also a Rockville Town Center Montgomery County-owned business, so check him out there, rockville Town Center, which is very close to where I work at the council office building. So I want to stop by there and check you guys out. Thanks for being here, thank you.
Speaker 1:Anything else you want to tell people? Do you have any type of cookies you want to recommend when people come by?
Speaker 10:So the cookie and cream is my favorite.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 10:We have another cookie, that's a red velvet cookie stuffed with cheesecake. That's my daughter's favorite. Okay, we have a chocolate cookie stuffed with a defattened peanut butter. I'm sorry what. They remove the oils from the peanut butter, okay, and then they add protein, so it has about 23 grams of protein. Okay, there we go. Great for people that want to work out, all right. Uh, our chocolate chip is even stuffed. It's stuffed with an edible cookie dough.
Speaker 10:Oh, gosh and we have gluten-free or gluten-friendly, because technically there are gluten products in the air around here, so yeah, but we have a gluten-friendly chocolate chip which is made with a rice flour, and it's an excellent cookie all right.
Speaker 1:well, you heard it here on the what's Happening MoCo podcast. We're live at the Montgomery County Ecological Fairgrounds. Be sure to check out Dirty Dough. Dirty Dough and I will say that's the most gangster dessert name I've ever heard. So good luck to you and your brother who's from Potomac, maryland.
Speaker 10:Yep, my brother's from Potomac. This is our second oh wonderful, we were in the spa business in Gaithersburg prior to this?
Speaker 1:Oh, fantastic. Well, thanks for being here, scott. Have a great rest of the day, I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to what's Happening, MoCo. Please subscribe via your favorite podcasting platform and follow us on Facebook. This podcast is brought to you by County Cable Montgomery, your source for news and information from the Montgomery County government. Connect with us via cable, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube by searching for County Cable MoCo.