Bees, Ducks, and a Grain Cart Walk Into a Bar: Farm Camp 2025

We bring our St. Louis friends to Farm Camp to work harvest, laugh through a grain spill, build a duck run, and explore how tech, grit, and community shape real food. City and country meet through bees, gardens, drones, and the joy of doing hard things together.

• who Anita and Paul are and why they came
• grain cart learning curve and golden shovel moment
• urban farming attempts with deer, chickens, and backyard bees
• honey stories, safety, and the gift economy of food
• the grounding calm of gardens and canning
• what most people miss about the food supply chain
• autosteer, machine sync, and trust in automation
• drones, fine droplets, and crop health efficiency
• storage bags as a harvest pressure valve
• generational shifts from horses to GPS rows
• real local markets versus resold produce
• live-chicken adventure and lessons on meat and family
• duck run carpentry, mistakes, and laughter
• greenhouse tour, herbs, tomatoes, and giant sweet potatoes
• why time on the farm resets our mood and focus

Transcript

Welcome & Who’s At Farm Camp

SPEAKER_00 0:15

The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast. We believe the Farm's Greatest Asset is the Farmer. Their knowledge, experience, mind, and health.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Well, welcome to the podcast. I'm Jesse.

SPEAKER_04 0:40

And I'm Dr. Leah.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Well, today is Farm Camp Edition. Who do we have with us, babe?

Urban Roots: Careers, Family, Why They Came

SPEAKER_04 0:50

We have my great friends from St. Louis, Anita and Paul Schnapp. This is their second year at Farm Camp. And not my last. Sorry, you're stuck with us. You're stuck with us. And we're so happy to have them here. So welcome, guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Thanks. Good morning.

SPEAKER_04 1:09

Tell our audience a little bit about you guys.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

And yeah, we live in St. Louis. Most of us born and raised there. And and uh I had a career in coal, and now we run an indoor cycling studio and do a little work on the side to import meat into the US. So busy all the time.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

And I'm uh No Leah from way back in residency days. So I am a practicing OBGYN in St. Louis with all kinds of other side hobbies. So yeah, and and coming up to farm camp for the second year in a row is amazing because it's just a break at something different and kind of I don't know. Just getting back to the earth. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

And and we do have four adult children.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Oh, yeah, we do have them, don't we? Oh, she says we left them. We I thought we left them all at home this week. That's okay. It's a break. It's a break. Right. Yeah. All right. We do have four children.

SPEAKER_02 2:18

Yeah, we've got that's our that's how we show started.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Yeah. We love them very much. Sorry, guys, didn't mean to leave you out.

Grain Cart Drama & Golden Shovel

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Uh well, we do really like having you here just because we enjoy you guys. But Paul has been a big help driving the grain cart. Last year I even let you drive the combine.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

The grain cart is more challenging. And I appreciate the the combine last year, but I feel more productive, more helpful with the grain cart. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 2:48

What happened yesterday in the grain cart, Paul?

SPEAKER_05 2:50

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Anita had to bring it up, didn't she?

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Well, when you've done it long enough, it's bound to happen.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

It's going to happen.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

And I should not say a word because I would not even attempt to drive the grain cart because I know my driving skills.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

So Paul gets the golden shovel award.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Yeah, and I will say that this example is an example of what I think you two go through every day. On you have a piece of equipment that doesn't work as you plan, and you have to figure out why and then how to get it back into its design use.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

And that's why the grain spilled yesterday. Paul was loading one of the semis and spilled some corn on the ground. And on our farm, we made a rule because it happens every single year. You spill corn, you're buying rounds. But for farm camp, I guess it's the golden shovel award. So we get a shovel some corn this morning.

unknown 3:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

So that I just move the combine closer so I don't have to walk it back. Right.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Right. Oh, shoot. It's bound to happen. And it's not the first time it has ever happened and will not be the last. I promise you that.

Urban Farming: Deer, Chickens, Bees

SPEAKER_04 4:06

So you guys are urban farmers. Uh so why don't you tell everybody a little bit about your urban farming adventures?

SPEAKER_03 4:16

Um, so for years I had a vegetable garden, and in St. Louis we have a huge deer population. They are out of control little jerk faces. Um, and after the third year of them demolishing, I demolishing my garden, um, I gave up on that. Um, and then we had chickens for a while, and then circle of life um kind of took care of that. And by the time somebody besides us had a Sunday chicken dinner, we were starting to travel a little bit more. And so we decided not to replace the chickens. I miss them dearly, but practicality is well, you got to help out with them here. Yes, yes, but our current farming project is more pauls.

SPEAKER_02 5:00

Yeah, so we have two to four hives, beehives in our apiary in the backyard. And and it it's a challenge because these bees, they've got a lot of natural things that want to kill them. And it's a challenge because I'm allergic to bees, so trying to keep from being stung is uh I didn't know that's like this is an interesting hobby for someone who's allergic to bees.

SPEAKER_01 5:27

Oh, you want to kill yourself with your own hobby.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

We didn't know he was allergic to bees until after he had the bees. Now, I will say he's gotten a little bit better about it, but I instituted a rule that before he goes out to the beehives, he needs to take a claritin. Now, I do have a slight medical base, so he might know what I'm talking about. Right. But he goes out to the bees, and I have to ask him, Did you take your claritin? And sometimes the answer is yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:53

And sometimes it's no. So it's um it's a nice, it it's delicious. The honey is delicious. It it doesn't um we have plenty of people who enjoy it in the really in St. Louis and in Iowa and Georgia. So yeah, it we friends have it's nice to it's really enjoyable to give honey just as a welcoming suggestion.

SPEAKER_04 6:21

Oh well, we appreciate when you bring it to us. We love it.

Honey Tales & Over-Engineered Packaging

SPEAKER_03 6:24

So he went to visit some friends in New York a couple years ago and was talking to them about the honey and decided to ship them some. He couldn't take it because flying, he didn't check. So he is gonna make darn sure that the honey does not get jostled, broken, anything in transit. I could see where this is going early. I don't know if you can. This is hilarious. So he gets a gets a nice box, he sprays some foam insulation that hardens, sprays it in, and sticks two honey jars in it, lets it dry, and then sprays a second coat on top. So the box gets chipped. Susie calls us and says, Um, I'm assuming this is honey, but I can't get through the packaging.

unknown 7:10

Right.

SPEAKER_03 7:11

How did she finally get into it?

SPEAKER_02 7:13

I told her there are two in there. She got one out, and then I said, There's another one in there.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

But they were they were safe, but they were very appreciative. So, yes, our honey has gone all over.

SPEAKER_02 7:25

Yeah, the spray foam is uh pretty solid once it's drawn as well protected for sure. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 7:31

I can send some packaging materials home with all right. I can send some boxes and some packaging materials home with you.

SPEAKER_03 7:39

So if we're flying anywhere and taking honey to people, he will put the honey, he'll wrap it in a pair of socks and then stick it in a pair of shoes to make sure that it's that it's welcome. He's he's protective. It is delicious honey. And the bees are fascinating. Yeah, they are. They're really cool to watch. And I've learned a ton about bees.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah, they have a they actually have a society. Everybody has a job, their jobs change as they age. And uh the the best story on that is that the males are usually useless. Yeah, so they're don't they dote after the queen?

SPEAKER_04 8:17

I mean, really, like I think humans should maybe model this behavior. Yeah, no, the females do that.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

So the the males they fly up, they mate and die immediately, and and that is oh don't don't model that. That is the extent of their value in the hive.

unknown 8:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

I'm gonna I'm gonna say that you two have a lot more value than that. Yes, you very much do. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05 8:41

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

So that it's it's enjoyable to see, you know, it's it smells delicious back there. Oh yeah. You can smell the honey in the in in late July, and the bees are always active, and it's it's a pleasurable little hobby.

SPEAKER_04 8:59

So do you you guys have a pool too. So do you keep how do you keep them away from that? Like do they use another water source?

SPEAKER_02 9:06

There's we do have a big pot of water back there, and they have they're really not a problem with the pool. They're close, the they're close to the pool, and it's not a problem.

SPEAKER_04 9:16

That's probably my biggest concern with the Liam setup.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

So we have a bucket of water in the back and we put corks in it because that way they can land on the corks. Sure. Which so for years I would save corks from our wine bottles. I was like, why am I saving these? Why am I saving these? And I was like, oh, who knew? That's why I was saving them. Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

See you. It's like saving wood. The two by fours. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

That came back to get you, didn't it?

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Yeah. I gave you credit yesterday and now, yeah. Okay, that that makes up for the me talking about your growth. Right, right.

Inside the Hive: Roles, Risks, Rewards

SPEAKER_01 9:53

That's funny. Uh so coming up to farm camp, I guess what last year, what was your biggest surprise or what did you really enjoy the most, I guess?

SPEAKER_03 10:05

So personally for me, I loved being out in Leah's vegetable garden and having my hands back in the vegetables and my feet in it's it truly is grounding, which sounds cheesy to have, you know, to have your feet in the ground. It it is grounding. It brings you back to nature and what's important, and that we really are all, you know, we're all the same. Um, and so having my my feet in the ground and my hands on those plants, and then your hands smell like tomatoes. And so that was amazing.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Last year you guys canned a lot of tomatoes and other stuff, did a lot of gardening.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

Yeah, yeah. Pumpkin and tomatoes we did last year when she was here. Yeah. So that was, I think, the most well, and spending time with you guys, obviously. But as far as specific farm camp activities, just being back in a vegetable garden was amazing for me.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Yeah. And what I the value I got out of it was I enjoyed that Henry was able to take a weekend off and do what he wanted to do. And then, of course, running equipment. I've I've never ran equipment like that. So Henry did a great job of giving me on-the-job training and then taking over for you know for the rest of the day and a little bit on Sunday, and and then driving home, we're like, man, that's nobody really knows what goes into our food supply. This is a hard job. And uh 85% of the country lives in the city, and they just they think it they think they can go to the sh you know, the grocery store is where their food comes from. Right. So they don't understand what what everybody goes through just to produce uh the convenience that they that we have in the city.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

That's why I appreciate having you guys here. I like to educate or can I share my favorite fact that I learned?

Garden Joy & Canning Wins

SPEAKER_03 12:01

Absolutely. Absolutely. I love I love that I know that you can't dry soybeans with heat because the oil is too combustible and they will spontaneously ignite.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

There's too high oil content.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

Corn does not have his high oil count intent, and so that gets dried with heat. And it's an interesting fact, it's not an amazing fact. It's but the fact that I know that I love the fact that I know that.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

I suppose you can dry them with heat, but it's a bad idea in my in my book. So I know people have tried it and they've caught on fire. So don't do that. Yeah, don't do it.

SPEAKER_02 12:36

Well, as our since our kids are now adults, we're trying to be more social at home. And she brings this story up all this hard stuff.

SPEAKER_05 12:45

Now just wait.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

She's gonna tell a story of you spilling corn for the next year. It's her opening line.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Right.

SPEAKER_03 12:54

Did you know? I'm waiting for it to come up on a trivia night. Some at some point it will come up on a trivia night.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Right? Yeah, that's awesome. Well, again, I appreciate you guys coming here. And I don't let just anybody run the grain cart, and I trusted you to do it, and you've done a fantastic job.

SPEAKER_02 13:12

Thank you. It it's uh it's challenging and a little stressful on unloading because we're there's a lot there. It's a big tractor and grain cart, and yeah, it's uh 50, 60,000 pounds of of material.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

And that's not even filling it. Yeah, I try to keep it so it's just a truckload every time. Because I can see the scale now in my in the combine, so I'm just trying to send you with what the truck needs. Because that thing will hold 1300 bushel, which is 75,000 plus pounds.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

That's a lot. So again, it was it it's enjoy it's uh it feels good to be able to. I know this is a stressful season for you, part of the year, so it feels good to add two more sets of hands and we appreciate it. We do give some you know some extra time to their kids and uh to you too.

SPEAKER_04 14:09

We appreciate you guys coming and having some friends to talk to. And oh my word, Leah and I laughed so much yesterday.

What It Takes: Food Supply Reality

SPEAKER_03 14:19

We just had a good time.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

We did working on the chicken coop. It well, I guess the coop is ducks. The coop is built. We are working on the run portion of the coop. Yes. How many OBG WANs does it take to build?

SPEAKER_03 14:33

Apparently just two, because we got that done.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

With precise measuring of two 10 centimeters.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

Right. It has 10 centimeters, it's all a crapshoot.

SPEAKER_04 14:44

But oh shoot, I we laughed, we did laugh hard. And um, we're probably going to repeat that again today.

SPEAKER_03 14:52

So so for this year, my takeaway from Farm Camp is that ducks are disgusting.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

Yeah, they're just they are gross and stinky. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Just a smaller version of a goose. They just yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

They're they're actually more different from chickens, and I guess they're waterfowl, so that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Yeah, the the duck eggs better be well worth it.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

Amazing. Or Jesse's like, or we'll be eating duck.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

We'll eat duck. I don't know. Lucy duck.

SPEAKER_04 15:18

Lucy's not gonna be down with that.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah, that'll be a rough day. But circle of life as it happens. Circle of life, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:30

Circle of life. Yeah, the eggs will be amazing, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 15:33

I'm sure they will. Time will tell. So, do you guys have any burning questions or anything that you want to ask us?

SPEAKER_03 15:40

I don't know. I I also like the amount of technology that you use is amazing. And how long have you been farming? On this farm, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Back full-time farming. 18 years after I went to college and had a job job.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

Because this isn't a job job. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

So back full-time basically 18 years.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

So, how much of the technology that you use now is new to you in in that time versus was started?

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Oh man. Well, I come back from community college to farm in 99, and that was auto steer was just brand new. So from that time in the last 26 years, you know, we've gone from no auto steer to now I can control the whole grain cart tractor from the combine. Right.

Farm Tech: Autosteer to Machine Sync

SPEAKER_04 16:34

But I would say the majority of the farms in this area don't use it's catching on.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

There's a few guys around here I know. Like we've been using it for the day it came out and I could put it on. We demoed it. Uh so funny story on that. We demoed it, and that was right when Leah was the first time she ever got in a grain cart. And I didn't tell her that we had that capability and made her learn how to drive it just manually.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Well, the equipment broke for two offloads, so I did have to do it manually.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

It wouldn't connect the last couple loads we did there.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

So just because I would have had no idea about this, the way it works now, the grain cart gets within a certain distance, and you can kind of on each of our screens, his screen and the tractor, and my screen and the combine, it's there's an orange box.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

And once that tractor is in that orange box, the orange box follows the combine, and then the grain cart driver just presses a button and you can feel it engage and it and move to the position, and then he'll move it back and forth.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

Yes, yeah. So then you're controlling the green cart, which makes it a lot easier for a novice to step in.

unknown 17:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

But all I can think about when you talk about that is the Space Invaders game where that tractor beam comes down from the enemy ship and capture.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Yeah, it's similar. It is, yeah. So she didn't know we had the machine sync capability, and it was a struggle for most of the morning. Oh, and then sometime in the afternoon I said, hit that button on the armrest. And I don't even remember what it cost. It was subsc a subscription, you know, and then a you know, an antenna and just minor stuff. And she's like, I don't care what it cost, we're getting that.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

If you want me back out here in this tractor, you're getting that.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Right. And I I won't run without it anymore. I can get the grain cart fuller because I can move them back and forth, side to side, without the combine, you know, because I'll drive five mile an hour right now. So without it, the combine would have to slow, slow down or speed up. So then you're just kind of changing the flow of everything inside. So now I can just hit a button and get that grain cart plumb full. So my cousin, who farms all around us, they don't run it. They also run theirs on an articulated four-wheel drive tractor, so it turns differently. But my uncle hates it. They tried it this year and he said, just take it off. I hate it. I don't want it.

SPEAKER_04 19:12

Really?

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:14

Well, you it is hard not to grab the steering wheel, right? Because it's like, and he, you know, it it jostles the tractor around, um, especially if when you go through waterways, and you have to like I have to almost sit on my hands sometimes because you're like, Whoa, it's hard to not be.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

I can see you and they hit the button, you're like, should I grab it? Should I not grab it? I want to grab it, but I know I'm not supposed to.

SPEAKER_02 19:40

My fear is that it you think you're connected and you're not right. The green car just slams into the combine. Right.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

So that's we would not be invited back to four.

SPEAKER_04 19:54

Right. We would not be here next year if you do all the time. Paul might be helping with construction then.

Storage Bags, Drones, Efficiency

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Yeah. So when we have a 40-foot bean head on, we have put an extension on auger, but we were like really close. The front dual on the tractor was really close to that head. And I can remember when my uncle ran it, he'd just sit there and stare at that head and drive, and he'd be all over the place. And now we have that, and it's just you don't have to worry about it, really.

SPEAKER_03 20:21

Yeah. Well, it just takes one one person in control of two vehicles versus two. It yeah, it just makes sense. Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

But just in this year, your technology you have two changes that we know of. One is the the bags for storing product. Yep. And that relieves relieves constraint on the silos and gives you more flexibility on when you move it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

We don't have to haul it to town and pay storage there and then sit in line at town. Um, because elevators just tend to get busy and it's slow going.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

And then the the other technology that we haven't seen but talked about is the drone and using the drone to fertilize and fungicide.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yeah. That is a fun little thing.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

The year.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:10

I tend to pick up new technology soon, or I like to stay ahead of it.

SPEAKER_04 21:16

It's probably more like our lean conditioning. Like we like to improve in efficiency.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Right.

SPEAKER_04 21:22

Any way we can be cost effective and more efficient.

SPEAKER_01 21:26

So the drone is maybe a little slower process. Paul and I kind of talked about it last night, but the efficiency of the fertilizer is so much better because the drone is more or less built to make that fertilizer into such a small particle, then the plant can actually absorb it. Um, if you're just out there spraying like with a regular nozzle, you're just kind of drenching it, and it's the plant's not able to absorb it because it's got to go through all those stomata right pores, you know, just those that out of out of biology.

SPEAKER_04 21:57

Yeah, there's my biology degree coming. Woo, that felt good.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

But you gotta get it a small particle to get into the plant. That is one thing that the drone has done for us, but also we can spray all our own fungicide too. Um, so when you run a ground rig out there, you're running corn over. But the drone just flies over top.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

It doesn't damage the plant.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Yeah, we tend to pick up technology pretty quick around here. Like I said, we come home. I come home from college and auto steer was brand new, and I was like, we're doing it. And dad was scared of it. So we also farmed some river ground uh bottom ground. I can remember mom, she used to do a lot of tractor driving, tillage. And I said, Mom, just get in here, and I showed her and I said, just hit the button, it'll drive you straight. All you gotta do is turn to you know, on your end rows and go back the other way and hit it. And she was just terrified. She's like, What if it takes me to the river? She was scared it would just drive her straight, and it would, but she just turned the the wheel, you know, so it was Yeah. Things have come a long way in 26 years.

Generations: Horses to GPS

SPEAKER_03 23:03

Yeah. And I imagine, and this may be stereotypical, but I imagine farmers of generations before you are we're doing it this way because it's how we've always done it. Right. That's just it. It's how we how we've always done it. So there's no discussion.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

So her grandpa, oh man, even when he was 90, I would like to sit and talk to him and be like, Jim, like, how did you farm? Because he started with horses. You know, my grandpa died when I was four or five, so I didn't get a chance to, you know, have those conversations. But he would talk about farming with a horse, and rows were 38 inches apart because the horse could walk down between 38 inch rows. The corn, they would just find the best looking ears and save those ears to plant next year. It was just fun talking to them and hearing how they did it, and it has changed.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

Oh, significantly. I guess autosteer in those days was you did the typical carrot on a stick and put it in front of your horse.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Right, go straight, of course.

SPEAKER_04 24:07

They also could live off of a family could live off of less than a hundred acres.

unknown 24:13

Right.

SPEAKER_04 24:13

And they raised all their own food. Like they had a milk everybody had a milk cow and chickens, and they would raise all their own food. Huge gardens, all the canning. And that was back in an age where nine, you know, ninety percent of America's population were farmers. Now one percent. It's just a different world. It is a different world, but I think we're hopefully swinging back a little bit more to the middle.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

People raising their own food. Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:43

Yeah. There's there are definitely moves to, you know, more and more apiaries and people having uh, you know, some rooftop gardens or different a lot more um herbs, I think are it's which is an easy way to get into if you're in the city or you know, we're even suburban. Herbs are a great way to start and can make a huge difference. And maybe with that, or cherry tomato plants that you can grow in a pot. Definitely I know more people who are doing that now in St. Louis. So hopefully it'll spark a move towards maybe healthier eating and fresher foods and or at least buy from a local farmer, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Right. Yeah.

Local Food: Real vs “Farmers Market”

SPEAKER_04 25:22

Get to know your farmer, support farmers. Yeah. I think that that is the total disconnect. You know, there are small farms that grow vegetables around the St. Louis area that go to farmers markets, and I think people like to go and get produce from them. But we've gone to several farmers markets in St. Louis. Yeah. The more people start buying from smaller farmers, the more smaller farmers will start producing more. It's a lot of work if nobody's gonna buy it, right? So the more support you can have for a local farmer, the better we all will be, the healthier we all will be.

SPEAKER_03 26:00

So we have um Seulard Market in St. Louis, which is not it's billed as a farmer's market. We've been the last time the last time it was. Yeah, they have and they're just importing. Yeah. And and so it's the exact same bag of green beans that I can buy at my grocery store that comes from I don't even know where. Right. There are some local, you know, but then there's also a lot of touristy stuff. But but definitely there's like Tower Grove, um, park has a more realistic farmers market, and Kirkwood Farmers Market is a lot of local. Um, so we do have them. It's but Sioux Lard Market, which I'm sure originally was truly a farmer's market, is now I think we made a trip to St.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Louis to try to look at all the different from Soulard Market, and we're like, holy moly, this isn't yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:56

It's I mean, it's a it's an interesting thing to see.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

It's yeah, it's neat.

SPEAKER_03 27:00

It's yeah, but it's I'll tell you a funny story about Soulard Farmers Market. Years ago, before we had our own chickens, Joe, our son, and Paul went on a Boy Scout camping trip, and it was Boy Scouts from all over uh St. Louis, different troops. Um, and the goal was they had to get on the metro, figure out their dinner, and cook their dinner somehow. So one troop went down to Seulard and bought live chickens and butchered the chickens and cooked them up. So Joe thought this was cool and he wanted to do this. I'm like, all right, we we can do this. So we go down to Soulard, we buy two chickens, these fluffy big chickens. I'm like, ooh, they're they're big. This is gonna be great. We're gonna have two chickens. We bring them home. Grace, who is now 23, was mad. She was mad, this is terrible. How can you do this? I'm not eating dinner tonight. Did she have a problem with chicken otherwise?

SPEAKER_04 28:05

No, not at all.

SPEAKER_03 28:06

Not at all. So um Sophie and Lucy were invested in figuring out how this whole thing was gonna go. And Joe had done his research and he knew what we were doing. Mr. Funny Man over here, his big contribution is Ozark Mountain Daredevil's chicken train song. Chicken train. Running all day. So he is playing this from the speakers in the house while we are down in the backyard. And Joe has read that the best way to do this is to hang them by their feet, butcher them, let all the blood drain out. Like, okay, we can do this. So I have them hanging by their feet. One of them escapes, is running, you know, frantically running free.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

That's when chicken train started. Right.

Boy Scouts, Live Chickens, Lessons

SPEAKER_03 28:54

So we we capture that one again. We butcher the chickens, it smells to high heaven. We do the whole, you know, defeathering them. We defeather them. And I'm like, ooh, these big fluffy chickens are not so big. It was all feather. We got probably enough meat off of these two chickens to feed maybe two of us. I mean, they were scrawny, scrawny, scrawny.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Well, Grace didn't have to eat the chicken, did she?

SPEAKER_03 29:25

Did she have chicken nuggets? Chicken nuggets. Right. So I end up going to the grocery store and buying chicken anyway. Grace still is not going to eat any chicken. I was like, Grace, this is the same chicken. We all weezy. I'm not eating it. I think she maybe didn't eat meat for a week or something.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

They all had their moment of being vegetarians.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

Yeah, not all. Just Joe Joe. Fairy girls. I don't think Sophie ever did. Sophie and Sophie enjoys some. Yeah. Now they're all back to eating, you know, regular meat. Protein. That's awesome. Um So yeah, the the butcher our own chicken experience was hilarious and makes for again a great party story. But um not so successful on in terms of making dinner.

SPEAKER_04 30:12

So I have to tell you, like I've never butchered a chicken.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

So I don't want to do it ever again.

SPEAKER_03 30:18

So I don't I don't feel like I need to, but I'm just happy that I've had a farm experience that you have not.

SPEAKER_04 30:24

Oh you probably have quite a few of them.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

I don't know. I've I've never had bees. Yeah. I was so impressed yesterday with our carpentry. Like you were like mad carpenter with the saw. Like I'm not touching that saw. And then the grinder. I you yeah. I was I have never done carpentry.

SPEAKER_04 30:40

I was well, I can't call what I have done carpentry. I think it would be an insult to carpenters. I know how to like screw two pieces of wood together. Um, but if you do recall, we were at the end hammering the fencing into the wood. I was like, screw it. She's like, I guess that's one way to get it done. Barb wife style. I was like, I'm over it.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

We have we have not gone out yet this morning to make sure it's still standing.

SPEAKER_04 31:15

Yeah, right. Well, yeah. There was no way that was moving. It has a lot of screws in it. We ran a we might have to make a Menards run.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

That's a lot of screws.

SPEAKER_04 31:33

Oh, but we are going to build some more walls today. Yes, we are. And now we have the plan. I think we're gonna be like boom, boom, boom. We're gonna be like skilled surgeons in the OR. Oh wait, are we supposed to be skilled surgeons? Oh, wait, we are skilled surgeons.

unknown 31:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 31:56

Oh man. Yeah, it's been fun. But yeah, the grinder was a new experience for me. Today it might be a handsaw. So we'll see.

Duck Run Carpentry & Laughter

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Oh, a circular saw. Circular saw, yeah. Bordless circular saw. Hopefully, we have all our fingers by the end of the day.

SPEAKER_04 32:12

Oh, yeah, of little faith.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

Oh, I have full faith in you guys.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

So yeah, it'll be a fun time. Well, and like we need to go out and tour the weed. Yes. The weed greenhouse.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Guard house greenhouse full of everything.

SPEAKER_04 32:28

Grass.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes. Oh. Sweet potatoes. Monster sweet potatoes.

SPEAKER_04 32:32

We'll dig some up. You guys can take some home. You're gonna be like, all right, uh, we'll save this one for when the whole family's here.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

This is a basketball size.

SPEAKER_04 32:41

I can't believe you don't like sweet potatoes, Jesse.

SPEAKER_01 32:43

I don't. I just it's I don't know if it's the sweetness and it's supposed to be a potato. I just don't care for them.

SPEAKER_03 32:50

They're so healthy.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

I know. Or should. But can't do it. I don't like tomatoes either.

SPEAKER_04 32:57

He does not.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

But I eat bruschetta. I mean, it's I just don't like you know, a big slice of tomato.

SPEAKER_03 33:04

I love tomatoes in any form.

SPEAKER_04 33:06

We can pick some more today. You can take some. There's lots of herbs out there. Well, Schnapps, thank you so much for coming back to farm camp.

SPEAKER_03 33:14

You're stuck. I'm telling you, you are stuck with us.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

No, we love it. It's like I said, I like having people here so I can inform, educate, let people see. And we take it back to St. Louis and talk about it, and it's good.

unknown 33:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:28

I share, I share my soybean fact. Every chance I get. We're gonna have to find you another fun fact from the farm. So I will say last year when I went back to work on Monday, my partners, because we have like an open workspace, so there's four of us that sit by about lunchtime, they were like, Oh my word, we are sending you to farm camp like twice a year. You are in the best mood. I it just good, it just was so good to see you guys. But to again, to just get back to earth. Get back to earth. Yeah, it's good.

SPEAKER_04 34:05

Well, I hope after our construction this time, you feel you might be. I maybe we need to do construction barefoot or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

I feel like I feel like Bob the Builder.

unknown 34:14

Oh Bob the Builder.

Greenhouse Tour & Giant Sweet Potatoes

SPEAKER_04 34:18

Oh, was Joe a fan of the Builder? Very much so. Very much so. So, Joe, if you're listening, your mom is now Bob the Builder. I am. Well, can you do it? Yes, we can. We're gonna that's gonna be our motto today. We are so cheesy. Corny. We're corny. That was funny, Lisa Leah. So much fun.

SPEAKER_02 34:47

You might want to consider measure twice and cut once.

SPEAKER_03 34:50

I said that yesterday at one point.

SPEAKER_04 34:52

Well, we kind of did that.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

That is like rule number one from the.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

And then I started writing the measurements on my hands. I was like, well shit, I said 82 and 38, but why did I cut it at 81 and 38s? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Yep. Measure twice, cut once. That's good advice, Paul. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 35:12

There's lots of lumber. We can use those little pieces to make more little pieces.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Well, we appreciate, we certainly enjoy coming out here and helping out and you know, just seeing a part of the world that we we are not uh we're not exposed to.

SPEAKER_04 35:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Well, we love having we don't want it to be drive by country anymore or fly over country, right? That's where your food comes from.

SPEAKER_04 35:38

Yeah. All right. So with that, we have to have a good day. Yeah. Have a great day. Bye.