Growing the Valley: Inside UI Extension & the Idaho Master Gardener Program

This week on Nobody Knowz, we’re pulling back the curtain on a resource that’s been quietly serving the Treasure Valley for decades — UI Extension. From the Idaho Master Gardener program to pest diagnostics, soil testing, and sustainable landscaping education, Sierra Laverty and Brad Stokes share how Ada and Canyon Counties are working together to help our region grow responsibly. 

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Welcome to the Nobody Knows podcast with Callie Zamzow. Join us for conversations with local changemakers and hear the stories that don't always get told. It'll be honest, messy and beautiful. Touching and humorous. Slow down for a glass and pull up a chair. This is the Nobody Knows podcast. Welcome to Nobody Knows. I'm your host, Callie Zamzow. So today we're going to be talking right in our wheelhouse. I am thrilled about it. I'm going to start with a zam zos tip of the day. So here we go. The tip is almost heading into April here. Don't jump the gun. And in order for you not to jump the gun, we have a class coming up this week. Especially if you are new to Idaho, where you can come and learn gardening 101. And if you are new to the valley especially. But even if you're not, if you've been around for a long time, this is a class that will help you with the basics. It will help you answer specific questions you might have and it will be at all 12 slams those stories throughout the Valley. It will be this Saturday, April 4th, 2026. In case you're listening. The future at 10 a.m. and again, all stores. And while you're there learning, we also have a sale that's going on. So, all sort of garden supplies are going to be on sale. So you can learn all about things and then you can, you know, buy stuff for a less expensive price, which is great. I also want to remind you that we are closed this Sunday, April 5th for Easter. For those of you who celebrate that, Happy Easter. But all stores will be closed on April 5th for Easter. And now that we're done with that, I'm going to tell you a little story. About six years ago, I, I'm going to say bravely signed up, although later I realized I didn't have to be that brave. But I'm saying this in case any of you are listening and decide that you'd like to do the same thing that I did, I felt like I had to be super brave to sign up for the Master Gardener program through the University of Idaho. I, my brother, had been a master gardener. My mom had gone through the master, food safety program. And, so the relatives that had done it and I just kind of it was one of those things that was in the back of my mind that I just kind of wanted to do. And so I signed up at Canyon County and, and I was so scared. I was so scared because I hadn't I've been out of education for a while and like, trying to I thought it maybe I was unable to learn things. I don't know what I thought, I was just worried about it and it turned out to be a fantastic experience. I learned so much. I continue to learn so much. What I learned mostly is that you're not going through it to be the master of the universe. You're just trying to learn things so that you can then share information with other people in a way that is science backed. And a lot of what I learned is how to gather information that is science backed. That was one of the biggest things that I learned. But it's been a wonderful experience. And then I've stayed on. So this is my sixth year, with helping out with the Canyon County, extension Agency, with the Master Gardeners. And, and I continue to just keep learning and sometimes I relearn stuff that I it happens, it happens. So today and I'm this is particularly fun because I have two guests and, so I can introduce you to, okay. So first we have Sierra Laverty. She is the Ada County horticulture educator for University of Idaho Extension. And then we have Brad Stokes, who is a veteran on the show. He's been on before. So Brad Stokes, he is the Canyon County horticulture educator for the University of Idaho Extension. Thanks for being here, both of you. Thank you for the invite. We're excited for Stokes. So I, I want to hear before we get going too far, I want to hear about each of you, but I'm I want to just kind of set the scene for people who are not aware you to operate in two different jurisdictions, and bringing you together is kind of a it's kind of a first. It's kind of a it's a it's a cool thing. And it's really because you two have actively decided to begin working together, which is such a huge benefit for our community. And so I'm very excited about talking about it before we get going too far, we'll each one of you kind of give, give back in your own words, sort of what you do and and anything else you'd like to add. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Thank you. So much for having us. So amazing. So as a horticulture educator, we have we wear many hats. So we are the, overseer of the Master Gardener program, obviously, and facilitator of that in both of our respective counties. We both also run our planning, our county's plant clinic as well, which is a huge part of our, our jobs, but more so than, we're the bridge. I would say, between the research that's conducted by the university and by other universities and everyday people. So we're really, out there, creating resources for the community through bulletins and other publications, trying to inform the general public, but also the broader green industry, horticulture industry about science. And the latest trends, in horticulture. Yeah, I would concur with that. It's really all about education. Yeah. Whether we're doing an in-person class, a zoom class, if we're writing something for a newspaper outlet, a magazine, our bulletins, our peer refereed journal articles, it's all about getting education to people and our constituents, the entire state of Idaho. We do focus on our counties, but our entire goal is to educate everyone and all the people, including youth. Well, and you do such a good job of making it welcoming to everybody. So I, I'd like to speak directly to somebody who's listening, who is like, you know, I, I didn't go to college. I don't, you know, I'm, I'm that I would not be able to do. You're wrong. You absolutely can do it. Oh, yeah. It's it's all presented in a way that's very, user friendly and and really, the whole point is that we want you to understand these things, so, so if we have to tell you 89 different directions, so that you understand, it will happily do that with patient, it's yeah, it's such a great program for anybody, anybody who wants to do it. And so I do find that, we are kind of a quirky bunch. Oh yeah. But that doesn't I think I have to deal with the education. I think it has to do with the fact that we're gardeners. Scientists are weird people. Yes. Yes, I, I feel that I feel that. Well, so one of the things that I really like about both of you, that I think is very interesting is that you're both entomologists. Yeah. So is that it. Well first of all for, for our listener what's entomology. The science of studying insects and their relatives. Though you could separate out the mites or the spiders, the centipedes, the millipedes. But I would say the study of the insects. Okay. Which is, is it typical that you might both be have that as a background thing and be doing what you're doing? It's more common than you might think. Yeah, yeah. We have a lot of entomologists, University of Idaho, in extension specifically, I think for me, I so my bachelor's degree is in horticulture, the broad, vast majority of my experience is in horticulture, but I wanted to study entomology because I wanted to learn more specifically about insects because they are so diverse and so specific, in their biology and behavior and everything else that I felt like that was a piece that I was missing after, doing my undergrad and and working in the industry for a little while. So that's kind of where I ended up with, with entomology, I would say the entomologists are the smartest to know the facts. When you look at, life on the planet, you know, the insects are probably somewhere between 55 and 60% of all the species we have on Earth. So if you're an expert in that field, you can do more than half of every scientific question. That's true. And I didn't realize in getting involved with the Master Gardeners that we would be doing so much with entomology. I was just, I was really surprised that and it's some of my favorite stuff is when somebody brings in a bug and says, what is this? And, you know, should I be worried about it? And that when we're all get we get to look at them under the microscope and then, you know, you're you're pointing out things like, you know, the various features and this is what makes it different than this. And, I always find that very, very interesting. It's complicated, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, much more than I thought. I you just think, oh, well, you ought to be able to look at and go, well, yeah. Or just. Well, it looks like a bug. That's, that's really one reason why I love the Master Gardener program so much that you find these rabbit holes everywhere. Everywhere you learn that there's an expert in this specific type of little mite that exists only on this specific plant, and you get to really don't have to like, dive down into that information. But your awareness of the world. I feel like when you participate in a program like that just expands because you get to understand that, oh man, everything around us has such depth. And it's really, I don't know, it's really beautiful. It's fun to. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree I want, you know, microbiologists feel the same way to me as well. Like talk about diving in the deep end and then looking at a microscope and being like, what am I looking at here? And, and then you think about like the whole food chain and all the different, you know, living beings that are involved with that and, you know, oh, it's great stuff. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about you of extension. So what do you to wish that people understood about what you guys do? And, in both of the counties. What what do you wish that people when, when they hear about the extension, how do you wish that they knew about what you do? What I wish they knew about what you were. Extension does for the state, for the region, for, the national and even international audience is we have programs in so many different fields. We have agriculture, water, horticulture, family and consumer science, livestock, small acreage. We have specialists in potato, in cereals, pathology. We have experts throughout the entire state, and we're all on the same team. We're all wearing the same uniform if you will. Yeah. So we are everywhere. If you look for us and find us, we probably have the answer or can point you in that direction and you want to. That's fun. Yeah. Yeah that's our job. That's our entire job. Yeah. Yeah I know add on to the to the the way the extension is set up through universities across, you know, the United States is that you have, specialists whose job it is to really go in and again, like research those really specific scientific questions. And you have educators throughout, you know, the United States in every county that well, in 40, 42, 42, I should say I should. I think broad strokes are 42 out of 44 of Idaho's counties, has a has a county educator, whose job it is to interpret that information and understand it deeply and then also connects with people locally on their actual, you know, issues that they're experiencing in their own communities. So I think that that, sometimes universities can be thought of as, you know, the ivory tower complex and that those they're far away, they're out of reach. And for the everyday person, you know, may not even have any any sort of, you know, higher education. It's not there's there's no wall there between our especially county educators and the community. We're immersed in living our lives here, experiencing the same things as you are. And we get the great pleasure of getting to digest all of this information and then share it in a way that feels, easily understood and approachable and relatable to. So, yeah, I can attest to you do that very well. And I think that that was just like when I was thinking about taking the class, how scary it is. If somebody even just wants to ask a question, I think that can be really scary. I don't want to look stupid. I don't want to ask the dumb question. I don't want people. I want to walk in and then have them be like, get out of here, you know? And it's not that way. They're you're so welcoming. And it's I think, in fact, when people come in, it's kind of exciting. It's like, oh, good. They've got something that we could to jump in the middle of and try to, to resolve and figure out. And you know, it. It's fun. It's a it's a cool thing. Very well. I feel like they're like mystery box surprises. I bring in stuff. You're like, I've never seen this and I've been doing it for 12 or 15 years. And you get to play detective. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I that's my favorite part too. I still haven't, although I gotta tell you, I'm always grateful when I've got help in the room that. Yeah, it has that you can take higher knowledge base because it can be even as fit, you know, as one of the people who was volunteering. Very intimidating. So, but it's it doesn't need to be. It really doesn't. There's. And if we don't know, guess what? We'll just continue to look and we'll bring in other people and we'll, you know, figure it out, which is super fun. Well, I would add on to that, there's stuff that comes in my office, Sierra. That's where we don't even know. Oh yeah. So yeah, we reach out to specialists around the state or even specialists on campus or in other, universities. Yeah, it's okay not to know everything. Yeah, right. Well, and I know this because I've worked a little bit more with you, Brad, but, sometimes something will come in and I can't tell if you know or not because you don't want to give it or you want to let us have the opportunity as the learners to learn. So you're not like, well, it's technically this. And here's how I know. You're like, I don't know, what do you think? And then we start researching and we'll sometimes I'll go down a rabbit hole and were like, you might you might consider looking this direction. Farmer. Well you can me this in the right direction. So then we land on it. But even that process is fun. And and you have a safety net, so we don't have to feel like boneheads. We can. Absolutely. Which is great. Okay. So we're as we're heading into April, what are some of the questions that are coming into your offices right now? Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of questions about this winter being so warm and what's going to happen in the springtime. No snowpack. That's probably snowpack. Yeah. And you know, in general right now. So we're getting some greenhouse questions right now as well, because that's where things are actively growing. Some questions about looking forward to spring. Like what should I be planting? What should I be doing? How should I be adjusting my practices from last year? And then just in general, I feel like we get a lot of what's wrong with my tree, what's wrong with my turf? What's wrong with my xyzzy? What insect is this? I mean, that's exactly the same thing we're getting. Yeah. You know, how do we manage this? What is this? The mystery box question that I love. We're seeing pathogens probably come out a little bit earlier. Yeah. I think with the warmer temperature, even though we haven't had snowpack, we've still had a lot of precipitation. Really just no snowpack. Yeah. So it's a weird year. Pathogens are really doing well right now. I would say the insects will probably do well this summer as well, given they're probably waking up right now. Yeah. Well you kind of describe that a little bit so that our listener might understand why we might have more insects. This year because of, the milder winter. Sure. I would say, you know, simply put, their poi kilo therms. They're cold blooded. So their internal body temperature matches the ambient temperature. And if that ambient macro or microclimate is high, they're going to be awake. They're going to be flying around earlier than, yeah, the eggs will hatch. They'll come out of a pupa and be an adult. They'll mate sooner. So they might have a little bit of a head start on our garden plants this year. Okay. What are they? Is there enough of a time span for an insect to if they if they woke up early, got busy early. And then is it possible to have like an additional round like. Oh yes. Yeah, absolutely. There's several well a whole host of species that go from that one year life cycle to two sometimes. Wow. Yeah. And then ones that have this, we call them boom and bust population. Insects that just rapidly develop in many, many, many generations. I think of, like, all the aphids. Yeah. Stuff like that. When you see in aphids on roses right now. Wow. They're, they're, it's it's insane. Yeah. This year's it's going to be pretty nutty as far as this kind of rapid generation insects. Yeah. And I also think that the ones that vector viruses, might get a prolonged chance to vector that to our plants. So I might be a really weird year. Yeah. Well, then, as far as the snow pack are we the potential that we're going to have issues with water and needing to conserve? And I know we a few years ago we had an issue that was semi similar, but I don't think it was as bad as this year. Well, I'd remind you, me and her aren't water specialists, right? That's right. Yeah. I do remember that we have colleagues. Yeah, we do have colleagues for that. Good to know we can. We can always talk about how. Yes. You in southern Idaho. Yeah. We should all be concerned about water and our water use and that looking at plants, and zero zero escaping not zero. Right, right. Love it because I like. Yeah x x x. e r I not not zero. But recommending plants that will really help us reduce our water waste. And we are in a desert. Yes. We need to remind ourselves of that constantly. Right. It's so interesting how many people will come into those with lawn program or lawn problems. And we will that the number one question we ask is tell us about your watering. Always, always, always. That's for later in our segment. Yes, but it fixes so many things. And yes, we'll get a chance to talk about that. But I think this year in particular educating on that is going to be huge. Yes. Okay. So I hope this isn't touchy, but I'm curious about you two working together. So and I don't I don't know enough about like kind of dynamics previously. I'm just excited about what's happening right now and I do I feel like the it makes sense for you to be working together. I'd like to hear from your own words. Like what? How did this come about that you decided that you wanted to work closer together? Yeah, well, I started in June, so I am new to the University of Idaho Extension Service. Had had met Brad before, through through many, different, conferences and things like that, but immediately was excited to have a partner in crime when it comes to solving problems locally. I mean, that's the the big thing here is that especially pests and diseases don't know County. Right? As it turns out, they don't care. Got to turn around where they are. Kind of nice. If they did it, it would be great if we could do a lot of training for them to, Yeah. Oh, sure. One way or the other. But, so that's really important that we share information as much as we as much as we can, that we should resources. And it really strengthens both of our programs, I think, to to be stronger together rather than kind of in our own silos. And, it's more fun. Yeah. It's more fun to work with someone, that you can bounce ideas off of and share share struggles, but also share achievements and share, you know, exciting moments and, support each other. Yeah. And I would say I have some Canyon County Master Gardeners that live in Ada County, and I'm sure I'm one of them. Yeah, I live in Canyon County. So if we can bridge those volunteer opportunities, I love that we can cross collaborate and really help the community as a whole. It is, important that we are in the Treasure Valley. Yeah, we face the same issues. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Well, so is there enough of a difference between your two counties that there would be different questions that would. There's a few. Yes or no, yes, yes or no. There's a there's a lot of overlap for sure. There are some differences I would say Ada County, we're looking more, you know, that, space along the foothills in terms of, folks wanting to learn more about the wild urban interface, which is that that, area between development and then wild, wild spaces. So we've get a lot of questions around Firewise, landscaping plants that are more, suited for those kind of circumstances where you don't want your house burning down. If there's if there is a, you know, a wildfire. We saw the Valley Fire last year. Oh, yeah. That was Yeah. So I think that we do have probably that, more prevalent in Ada County, a little bit denser urban spaces, but not by that much. Yeah. Not anymore. Yeah. I mean, where you look at. Yeah. I mean, there are parts, I think, of Canyon County that are much more rural that we don't have as much. And exactly I would say we have a little bit more rural, maybe larger lot sizes on the edge of some of these municipalities. Right. And then definitely that clash going on between urban and suburban and true ag fields. Oh, sure. Yeah. That's really going on in Canyon County. Well, it's a it's a lot, a lot of juggling there. Okay. So you guys kind of touched on this, a little bit of that. There are more things that you do at the extension than just gardening. So can you dive in just a little bit further into what are some of the some of the other things that that are done, like if somebody was curious about what else you provide for the community, how what do we provide for the community? All sorts of information. I, I really like to focus on the scholarship myself. I would be honest and say we are on these professor tenure track, jobs. So you go from assistant to associate to full professor and it includes that scholarship component. In my role, I really like to write the bulletins that are free to download for the public and includes all the information on that pest, that insect, that pathogen, including all the IPM information. And that's really critical for me that that I can essentially teach while I'm sleeping in bed at night. Right. Like, that's nice, reaching a couple hundred people or thousands of people. Yeah. It's such a great thing. And. Yeah. And and we also serve on, service and committee things. We each do a little bit of for each youth development because for each youth development is really critical for extension making sure we reach the youth of Idaho. I agree. Yeah. It is one of the, one of the cool things that you guys do. Yeah. What else do we do. Oh gosh. Yeah I mean there's, there's so much and and you know as someone who's come on last year I feel like I'm still learning especially about all the different things that my colleagues are doing. Yeah. We kind of be drinking from a fire hose. Oh, I think we're all. Oh, yeah, he's doing even I am. Yeah, yeah, from what I understand, that doesn't change. But yeah, it's kind of amazing the things that, that we're learning about other, educators that are, you know, going out into communities doing bilingual education for for youth in Stem. We've got that's cool. Yes. I mean, there's just there's so, there's so, so many, amazing programs. It really not a lot of people know about in extension that are happening right here in the Treasure Valley. Yeah, I would say if you're new to Treasure Valley, it's kind of a cool place to start because it is so friendly. You can meet new people very quickly and then you can understand what's going on in our area. I, that brings me to my next question, for we have a lot of newcomers that have come into that and continue to come into the valley. And we are we're unique. I wouldn't make it in a kind way, but our soil is unique. Yes, yes. And conditions can be unique and all that fun stuff. Are you what are some of the typical questions or and ways that you're helping newcomers to the valley understand like our soils and and things like that? Yeah. Well, we do live in a desert. I don't know. So that's why usually where I start the conversation, because I get a lot of folks that are moving here from just really wherever that if, unless they've lived in the Intermountain West, they really don't understand how challenging it can be to grow certain plants here. Yes, that we have different weeds here. We have a lot of invasive annual grasses, that, are more aggressive here than they would be in other parts of the country. But really, when we start to get down to looking at. So water influences everything, live 11in of precipitation, puts us like right above that definition of a true desert. Yeah. And that also means that our soils, have, very high pH. They're alkaline, probably above eight. Yeah, a lot of times, really leaning into that spectrum that is, I think about. So acids and bases, we have very basic soils, alkaline soils. Most plants prefer that six and a half, maybe to seven. Yes. We usually sit above seven. Yeah. Well into the A and that every, you know, unit above that is like a massive there's a massive gap even between 7.1 and 7.2. And the difference can really stress plants that aren't well adapted to that. They can, have limited, nutrients. I just moving through their systems, even like the nutrients that get to them. The way that they utilize it is different, because of our pH. And that we have, you know, heavy, calcium and or less calcium. So there's, you know, we're unique in that way. And I guess the big one is, iron ion fluorosis is when you see, you know, you see it everywhere. Everywhere. Yeah. So that's where, iron is limited. And the movement of iron is limited in soils with our high pH and, then, certain plants aren't well adapted to dealing with that. So they start to turn yellow where the the veins will be green, but then the rest of the leaf is yellow, and you wonder, why does that thing look so sick and sick? Is it a disease? No, that's just just, the soil and the plants ability to deal with it. Our listener doesn't realize it, but you've just created, now they're going to see it. They're gonna be looking at me like. Then there's plurals and there's plurals in the summer, you know, and I would add on, I mean, it really is our soils. We have a source right there, low and organic matter high and pH typically very low in nitrogen. Yeah. Very high in calcium. And then you can get other weird chemical stuff going on. I would always tell a listener, go and get a soil test. So yeah, please let's get to that baseline. And then the second thing I would say is plant selection. Oh gosh. Yeah. So so if you are growing a hydrangea in western Washington, that does not mean that that acid loving plant is going to grow well at a pH of 8.2 in southwestern Idaho. It's true, it's true, or you're going to have it. But it's nice to have those beautiful blue blooms. It's going to be white and pink or whatever. So me I'm they're working on the plant selection component. You know, researching what you're going to plant, how you're going to plant it. That's really the start of eliminating a lot of landscape problems and trees. Let's not forget trees choosing trees. You have the tree right here. Yeah. So let's talk about that. But I know my my tree that I'm just like oh that's, that's I think it just doesn't do well here. What do you tell me. Tell me a little about some of the trees that you would, you know, I mean, ideally we would not necessarily plant these particular trees just because it's harder. It's like yeah. Yeah. So, trees so, so broadly looking at the Treasure Valley and trees kind of period here. We have a handful of trees that are native to the Treasure Valley, but only a handful. We're looking at things like cottonwoods and net leaf, hackberry, ponderosa pine up in the foothills. There really aren't a lot you know, we don't live in a forest, necessarily, unless you're, like, down by the river. So our urban trees are immediately in this place where they're not necessarily, well adapted to the urban environment and to the, the high desert that we have here. The extreme heat in the summer. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's for sure. So you need to look to other places where they have similar climates, and similar, soils and, and bring trees in that they can withstand those kind of conditions. So the big one, the, the big few I guess the that we get questions about, I would, you know, I always say if it's on my top five list of things that I get questions about, it's probably not something that you want to be actively sure I yeah I it puts on my top five. Let's see how you know. Yeah I want to I want to want to at least it's not the you have to pull it out, but you probably don't want to be putting any more in. One of them is, you know, autumn leaves Maple. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's the one I was going to say. Yeah, yeah, that's that's the one that, you know, we see the most issues with iron clearances and the bigger, bigger picture here with trees is that every single stressor that trees experience. So heat like Brad mentioned water stress iron the iron corrosive issue nitrogen, nitrogen, any of those things kind of set the stage initially planting practices. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. So locally that we, you know we're we're really working hard to address is is proper planting. But every single one of those pieces fits into something called the tree mortality spiral. And the tree mortality spiral basically tells us that as we add in, these pieces like coin stacking and stacking and stacking, each one of these stressors, it can eventually cause the tree to fail, whether that's limb failure, branch failure or, you know, complete failure. And tree death as you just continue to stack those things. It's just like people, when we get stressed, we get sick. Trees and plants are the same way. Exactly. Especially with the pathogens. Yeah. And that's what brings in a lot of our pathogens and insects. Insect pests are looking for those stressed trees. They can actually sense the, stress on trees as far as, like, they can smell those pheromones. They can actually visually identify when trees are stressed or failing, and then they come in as these secondary, stressors that again, the tree also has to fight against. It's a balancing act for the tree. Do I put my energy into growth? Do I put my energy into fruiting if I'm a fruiting tree, or do I put my energy into fighting against XYZ pathogens, scavenging the soil for water and nutrients? They can't do it all. Exactly. They get stressed. Yeah. It's like your job, you know, you your plate when it starts overflowing is like, Yeah. Yes, yes. Amen. I say to you. Well, I, you know, I, I want to speak to our listener right now who maybe is feeling a little bit like, okay, that maybe they've got a tree that you just discussed and they're like, oh, no, I don't want them to feel badly. Yeah, yeah. It's happens a lot. And people, you know, you might look at a tree or a picture of a tree and you're like, well that would that's the right height. That's the right spread. That's not what that's going to work perfectly. I have actually done this myself. I'm a I'm. So I knew better. I had people tell me don't do it. And I did it. And I ended up losing two trees, which I'm still depressed about. But by the time I think by the time it was time to cut them down, it was really time to cut them down. They were now an eyesore and I and I tried. I turned the book at them, and I really have a lot of things that I can throw at them and, you know, and so it's sometimes it's just, yeah, wrong tree or right tree, wrong place, you know, that sort of a thing. And so people I don't want them to feel badly, you know, they've run into that situation and as, as a professional horticulturist we've killed many a plant. We have it's kind of how we learn, right? That is how you learn how to do this stuff is you figure it out through a little bit of trial and error. Oh, yeah. So that. Yeah, that that's, definitely something that we're familiar with. And we don't feel bad about saying, you know, prune it right at that soil level sometimes. Yeah, yeah. One basic, you know, it's pretty easy for you to be expensive. It kind of actually makes me feel better. I just pruned it right at the soil level. Editing. Editing is what I usually. That's brilliant. Yeah. It's okay. That's so brilliant. So to speaking of, people coming in from outside to here, do you, do you think that the extension plays a role in responsible, growth in the Valley? Do you do play a role in that, or if so, what would that role be? Or how can you be supportive of that? I mean, I think we play a role certainly in land stewardship and better practices. And that educational piece is really is is our bailiwick. I would I would concur with that. I think we all recognize that there's rapid, large scale land use changes going on around us. Yeah, for sure. Whether you're an educator at the county level and ag specialist, a for each youth development specialist, we just have to recognize that. So I do think there is a place for us at that table. Yeah. I agree, to a question that was always yeah, but you answered it, right. That's right. It for us is what we care about. Okay. So when you think ten years down the road, so what what do you think a truly healthy Treasure Valley looks like? So for, for me as an arborist, I, I think in terms of like 50 or 100 years, times. All right, let's go 50. I mean, it's, I think when you're, when you're dealing with these beings that last. So long and outlive us. Yes. A lot of the time when you're thinking, in terms of their lives, life cycles, you really have to think really far ahead. Ten years. I mean, ten years is doable, right? Ten years. We can we can imagine what that future looks like for sure. But, so if I think a little bit more long term, it is that thriving urban canopy that is really diversified, but something that I would really like to focus on a lot in terms of education and just providing and connecting people to resources with us. That, a more diverse, tree canopy specifically will greatly help us in terms of emerging pests and diseases that may not be here already, something like emerald ash borer that's really knocking on our doorstep right now, or it's here or it's yeah, it's it's it's like, yeah, it could be here and we don't know it. We there's, you know, we've been no, confirmed, confirmed, of evidence of it. I just don't confirm it will be good. Right. That's the ostrich in the sand. Yeah. Oh, is that what that is? Okay. Yeah, a little bit of that. Yeah. So. So the research tells us that the more diverse, diverse our plants, selection is, the better. And specifically plants, the, that are distantly related to each other. So not not closely related. So you don't want to have a city full of just maples or a city full of just ashes, obviously, or a city full of just oaks. You really want to look at those, groups that are, small and unique and, distant, distant cousins of other trees. And that actually helps to protect against a lot of those. They just don't have as many pests, or diseases really. So things like ginkgo trees, for instance, if that's the case, it's the only, tree species in that genus. That's surviving today. So because of that, kind of like narrow, narrow, I guess genetic selection, you know, that's not the right way to say it, but, they do have less pests and diseases. I think they were they were thought to be extinct for a long time. And then they found a small little, some amongst them. Yeah. Preserving these trees that are ancient fossils. Really? Yeah. They're. Yeah. Living fossils. Is that the same thing? That's the medicinal, like ginkgo. Is that different? Okay. Same thing. Yeah. And they're the ones have kind of the fun leaves that right. They're like Bi-Loba. Yeah. 2 Little lobes. Yeah. fan shaped. Yeah. Yeah. Really beautiful trees. Not everybody likes them because they do, the, female females. Yeah, yeah. Brad. The female trees are a little stinky. Oh. My fruit is is a little messy. A little stinky. Although, you know, male trees put a lot of pollen than they are. So there's there's pros and cons, everything I love. So I first, I think for the first encountered one when I was in New York City and it was the smell like what is going on. And then somebody explained that, and it was so and at the same time I was like, but look at these fun leaves. So, you know, you got the good and the bad both directions and I was going to. So look, in ten years. Yeah too. I like seeing or this thought that highways as a community has a large, thriving community garden. Oh, I love that. Right. Like, you see, a lot of HOA is. And you see a lot of green grass. That's basins, if you will. The other thing that I will not take credit for this. This was a master gardener, Paulette. Oh, yeah? Yeah, she said that every new house they should have two, four by eight garden beds in the backyard. If they were there when they're built in, that person buys that house. I guarantee they garden. I guarantee they get their youth involved. And I said, that's brilliant, Paulette, you just need to create more hours in the day, and I'll get that. No kidding. You know that that's actually really brilliant. It is all that good work, Paulette Blazek. Yeah, that that's that really I mean, think about it. But I remember my very first house, it was in Meridian, and the people before us had built boxes. So we did come with the boxes. And I mean, I realized as, as am. So I should just know how to do these things automatically. But surprise, surprise, I didn't. But having those boxes already there and ready for me made it so much easier for us to do. Absolutely. Yeah. And it's and it's also kind of nice to have somebody because there were only two boxes. So it wasn't a matter of like tilling up the whole backyard and taking on way too much and not being able to handle it, because a couple of boxes you can handle when you're very first learning. So. Exactly. A couple, do you know plants and corns? Exactly. Cucumbers, whatever you want. Yes. In that could help hit on the food insecurity stuff. Yeah. So it's a multi-pronged approach. Absolutely. So speaking of the food insecurity, do you want to talk a little bit about, the project that the the seedling program, that it was pretty cool. Okay. The food bank seedling project, Kim Street and Julie Eldridge and other Canyon County Master gardeners partnered with Syngenta. You guys, I have the list down there. But over the past five years, they've grown all these plants and went out to all of these food banks, and they hand them out to those clients for free. It's all they're there to get food. Hey, take this. Here's some education. Come to our plant clinic. And I've done some, calculations, and it's, what, 17,900 meals over those five years? So cool. And fresh food. Yeah. Healthy. Nutritional. Yes. Homegrown. Yes. All of that. So I put a value on, more than $50,000 to the greater Canyon County or Treasure Valley area, which is fantastic. It is. They are planting soon at Syngenta, we think Syngenta and other private organizations for their support. Now there's a lot of hands in the bucket there too. Yeah, I know the answer is in there as well. So thank you for yours. So yeah, it's fun. It's really fun to be a part of. It's such a you know, it's fun to be a part of things that are working really well. Yes. It's just there's a lot of joy when, you know, when you set out to do something. And this particular thing started off pretty small and has grown very quickly. Yeah. My graph down there, you would be like, whoa, that's an exponential graph. So cool. Yeah. That's neat right? Yeah I love it. Okay. We're going to take a quick break and recognize our sponsor Zamzows. This episode is brought to you by Zamzows, your local source for garden, pet and planet friendly products. As a thank you to our Nobody Knows listeners, use code Extension at the checkout at Zamzows.com and you will receive 10% off your online order. This discount applies automatically and is valid online only, and it does exclude lawn programs, but it runs through June 30th, 2026, so you can even buy online and pick up on in stores if you'd like. We've got 12 Treasure Valley locations where you can pick up and so this is the answer to.com. And let's grow something good. Nobody knows like Zamzows okay. Now we're shifting gears. This is the sharing is caring portion. I call it rapid fire but don't feel pressured by that name. Especially since I made it up. Okay, so sharing is caring. Are you guys ready? Ready. All right, so and just feel free to blurt out your answer. And if you don't have one, that's okay too. There's two of you. So one of you can, you know. So just we'll just see how this goes, okay? A plant you wish more people understood really kept gum, weed has the past. I like that I'm gonna choose a pest to, bind weed. Okay. Yeah. It's everywhere. Well, curly kept gum, we'll say. Is is is considered a weed in some circumstances. But did you know that there are some 49 different species of native bees that are specialists throughout the West, all in curly cap gun weed, and rely on that pollen specifically in order to survive. I didn't even know that. There you go. Aloe is a good one. Yeah, there's many, many species. The old forage on mallow. Yeah. After that, it shows you that if something is even considered really bad, there aren't good benefits. I it's true. I'll learn things like I'll pick. Oh, well, I don't like this, but it's got a medicinal property to it or it's. Yeah. It's amazing to me help all the different things that these plants do and yeah, I. Yeah. The field bindweed is a personal nemesis. Although last year I had the best luck. But it was mostly because I just super mulched him, so like, he couldn't get there. And then when I finally did, I was I was able to, like, get at it more quickly, whereas before it just kind of was taking over my whole front area. There was a study that was done. They shot field bindweed seeds into the vacuum of space, and they collected them and they brought them back down to earth, just like tardigrade. So it's just like they do with tardigrades. Yeah, yeah. 80% of them germinated. Oh, wow. That's that's it. Throw a puncture vine in there too. Oh, yeah. For sure, for sure. Oh. After kids riding their bikes. Poor kids. Sickly. Yeah. Stinkers. Yeah. Those are not fun. All right, well, go. Good answers like those answers. All right. How about a common myth that you would love to retire? So one that I harp on a lot is this. This is the myth. No. Okay, I'm saying so don't follow this advice. But when you're planting a containerized tree, matching the level of the soil in the container to the level of the soil in the ground is almost never the right thing to do. Yes. Which is kind of counterintuitive, right? Yeah. So, so and that's, that's something that is said a lot. But, in especially containerized trees, there's a lot that you have to do to prepare them for, for planting, you need to really go down and actually find that flare, like find that, the where the trunk meets the root system, that root flare. Okay. And make sure that that's visible above the level of the soil. It's really, really critical for a long term health. And something that a lot of folks don't realize is the actual thing that's stressing the tree all throughout their entire lifespan. But it's something that isn't going to show up until like 10 to 15 years down the road when, trees that are planted to deep, create these and what I call the hinge points in their root system. And those hinge points are very, they're weak points based on. Okay. So the under, storms, high wind events, things like that. Like that's where we start to see tree failure from from planting dates. And there's a bunch of other science involved with that. But that's the main thing. So don't don't match that level. The soil look and find out where that root flare is and make sure that's visible above the above ground. So if somebody let's say they did that last year and they're just hearing this knock. Yeah. Is there something they can do now. Oh yeah. I mean, one year you can still dig that thing up and plant it. Absolutely awesome. Even 2 or 3 years, I mean, and arborists will do this up to probably 5 or 6 or, you know, more, more years potentially. So yeah, I would, I would, I would replant if you had done that last year and realize that you can't see that or dig down and at least expose it. Because then you might also see other issues, like girdling roots that are wrapping around and strangling the tree that are literally cutting into those, the tree's ability to take up water and nutrients and things like that. But yeah, that's a big myth that we've seen all the time that a lot of people, I think, who don't prepare the whole at all, and they make the whole exactly the same size as the and they just kind of force it in there. And then they're like, I don't know why it's not more concrete to just drown. There's clay all the way around it. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Our soil is here. Yeah. You need to go 2 to 3 sizes. The that, 2 to 3 times the size of the rebar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What does my dad say if you've got a and this is, this is from back in the day. If you got a $5 tree, you want a $25. Yes. Whatever it is, $100, $100. There you go get one. Yeah, yeah I would on the myth thing. Yes. The all creepy crawlies or insects, arachnids. They aren't all bad, right? You know, I would say that 99.99% of species are beneficial or innocuous. So we don't need to be spraying everything you see on your plants, your tree, your shrub, something that gets in your house. You can release it outside and yeah, just fine. Yeah. And I think it's also healthier too. Yeah. Absolutely. Yes. And pets remember the pets people always, always. Yeah. You're exactly right. And I, I never think about a chemical usage that I tried not I mean, I also try to think about everything else that's going to be affected by it because you yes, you might get rid of that one bug, but there might be a whole bunch of beneficial that by getting rid of them, you're now going to cause another problem. And so yeah, I if I was very careful about that, try not to use them if I can. You know just there are usually takes a little bit more effort to but you know it's worth it. I think it's worth it. That's both great answers. Okay. How about a community event or program that you're excited about? There's so many things. Well, I would say, we're both going to have a plant sale. I believe mine is. Well, Candy County is this May 2nd of 2026. So that is coming up. Ours will be at the Chicago classroom, which is 1901 East Chicago and Caldwell, Idaho. And while you're out there going to, that plant sale, you can also come over to Ada County, because that'll be the same day. Oh, nice. It's really it's really the best time to be, providing for bedding plants, but. Yeah. So May 2nd, nine to noon at the Ada County office on Glenwood, right next to the baseball stadium. And hours are grown by master gardeners. They're typically quite affordable, I would say very affordable. And it's a wonderful place to end. There's usually some unique things. I love the vines. Sometimes I'll just be like, well, you know what? What's this? Or, you know, I say it's an interesting colored, you know, Iris or something like that where you're like, wow, that's really cool. So, yeah, very, very fun. Almost like a scavenger hunt a little bit when you get together. And we're both running, plant clinics from May through September. So that is a free service to the public. If they have a plant question, an insect question, a soil question, a pesticide question, what be it, and bring it in and talk about it. There are no dumb questions. They're all good questions. A 100%. We love questions. That's the name of the game. Yeah, yeah for sure. Okay. How about a simple action that homeowners can take that would make a big difference. Oh. On you. No. Go ahead, go ahead. Yeah. Homeowners okay. I'm going to hit on two really big things. I think. And it's all lawn maintenance. Okay. One of the best things the average homeowner could do go in their garage, go in their shed and erase their lawn mower blade. Oh, yes. Get it to that healthy for. Yes. You'll get less weeds, more water conservation. It will be stronger, healthier grass. It's just very, very healthy. My lawn stays green throughout the entire summer, fall, spring and winter because I just adjusted my lawn mower blades. That's it. Yeah, sure. Huge. Sharpen them while you're down there. Yeah, that's a good one. And then it is great. The last thing I would hit on is irrigation. If you have a yard, you do not need to be irrigating every day. Do it deeply and infrequently. Yes, I do it two times a week, most of the year, sometimes three when it's 105. Right? Right. And that's it. You don't need to over manage things. And if we're in spring right now, probably don't need to be turned doing anything with your water right now at all. Like hang tight. It's going to be just fine for a little while. You don't even need to. Like, my brother and I have this contest of who? Two turned on our sprinklers. Latest. Yeah, yeah, that's a good contest. Water conservation. Exactly, exactly. That's that's fantastic. I think water is going to be mine. I, I think I want to say stay curious. And look at your yard with curiosity. Try to look at it with fresh eyes. I know as a horticulturist, sometimes it can feel really overwhelming when you're looking at your garden or a space that you're managing professionally. And all you see is a to do list. I know that feeling really well, but try to step out of that occasionally and just start asking questions about your own space that maybe you answer, or maybe you don't. And it's okay to just stay curious and look at your yard as an ever evolving project. There's no destination necessarily there, and it's always something that you can learn more about or really deepen your relationship with. We all have a relationship with space and or sense of sense of space that, ultimately feeds into our sense of belonging. I have lots of philosophical thoughts about this. Brilliant, I love it, but stay curious. Yeah, keep keep asking questions. Take notes. If you rate advice, take pictures. You know, that sort of thing about that. Okay. Well, I like the, the note of curiosity because this is now the final question. And that's the question we ask everybody. There are no rules. You can answer it however you like. So here's a question I'm asking you to both of you. You guys can each decide who wants to answer first. So the question is what is something that nobody knows about me and ourselves? Sure, if that's what you want to answer, this is really open. Sweet. Okay, I like it already. Let's go. I love trash reality shows. Absolutely love them for. So, which ones? Which are all of them? Okay. The judge shows are really good. Oh, yeah. Judge Judy, like my lady. I'm sorry. The girlfriend's gotten me into traitors. Traitors is so good. Oh, it's so good. The drama. I'm going to stab you in the back stuff. Survivor was also great. Oh, yeah. I like all the trash TV shows. Even though I'm a scientist. I like to go home and turn off the brain and be like, oh, look what she did. That's refreshingly authentic of you. I love that answer. That's fantastic. So good, I love it. Well, here I am. I am a huge nerd. And really, what nerds are is just people that are really passionate about the things that they like to learn about. So I even brought, like, a book with me and everything. Just a fact that I thought was really amazing. If you haven't read this book, The Light Eaters and you want to deepen your relationship with plants and nature. Man, this is this is the way to go. It's such a beautiful book. But one of the things that she talks about in there, and I was thinking about how it's this time of year where seeds are growing or we're growing seeds inside, or we're just excited about spring and, and new growth. There's there's two facts in there that have really, really stuck with me since our, our nature book club read this, which is plants count the days, seeds count the days, using sunrises and sunsets to understand the tempo of, the season and how long days are before they emerge. So they use, the ratio of red to red light, looking at, like, how long the days are before the before they emerge. So it's not just temperature. They're actually intuiting what, you know, how how long each day is. And then the other one that was really beautiful is that seeds can recognize their kin, and they can recognize their relatives and soil versus other, plants of the same species that are not necessarily, directly related to them. So not necessarily like the from the same mother plant. And they can recognize other species as well. So they did this, experiment where they looked at, putting, this weed called planting, into containers. And when the planting was with its cans was with its other, related seeds, and another plant that it wasn't related to, it would germinate more quickly and more uniformly, all at the same time, because that recognition that, oh, I've got all these other, you know, relatives in this space, we're going to band together and Germany all at the same time so that we can over, you know, take over the space, versus if they're, you know, sitting in the soil all by themselves and they don't have any other relatives around them, they, the germination is different and they won't. They won't. Germany is as quickly or is readily. Anyway, so the Light eaters beautiful book. Full of, amazing tidbits around around plants I thought were really cool. Yeah, I, I read that recently and it if you're, if you're not prepared to think about the world in a completely different way, then this is not because it was mind blowing. It was like there were things that were like, it's cutting edge science stuff about plants that you're like, how is that possible? And then the data is there to say, this is the study we did. And it's like, Holy cow, is this legit? It's it's pretty cool. Yeah. Great answer. Both great answers. Thank you both for being here today. This was a really wonderful conversation. The community appreciates everything you're doing in case we forget to tell you. Thank you for everything that you're doing for the community. Educating us, helping us solve our problems. You know, helping us not, you know, can things incorrectly and kill people, you know, all sorts of things that you're doing right now that are helping the community be a better place. So thank both of you for what you're doing, and both Ada County and Canyon County and the whole state for inviting us. Thank you, Sierra, for coming. This was a blast. Yeah, it's really fun. So good. Okay. Well. A little edit right there. Oh, sorry. If you enjoyed today's conversation, follow the podcast and leave a review. Next week we'll hear from another incredible voice shaping the Treasure Valley. Until then, thanks for listening.