Anson Tebbetts was appointed by Governor Phil Scott to be the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets in 2016.
Anson grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Cabot, where they raised Jersey cows, kept sheep, and operated a Vermont maple sugaring business. Alongside farming, Anson built a long and successful career in broadcasting, working in both radio and television. An award-winning reporter and storyteller, served as a newsroom manager, overseeing teams of reporters, editors, and photographers. A devoted birder and nature enthusiast, Anson also hosts a weekly radio segment, For the Birds, on Radio Vermont.
Myers Container Service Corp. is the area's most reliable in garbage removal and recycling services. We are a locally owned company with 12 years of industry experience.
Every week here on the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast, we highlight local heroes and organizations that are doing great work in our community.
Anson grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Cabot, where they raised Jersey cows, kept sheep, and operated a Vermont maple sugaring business. Alongside farming, Anson built a long and successful career in broadcasting, working in both radio and television. An award-winning reporter and storyteller, served as a newsroom manager, overseeing teams of reporters, editors, and photographers. A devoted birder and nature enthusiast, Anson also hosts a weekly radio segment, For the Birds, on Radio Vermont.
Myers Container Service Corp. is the area's most reliable in garbage removal and recycling services. We are a locally owned company with 12 years of industry experience.
Every week here on the Trash Talking and Giving Back Podcast, we highlight local heroes and organizations that are doing great work in our community.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hey, everybody, Welcome to another episode of the Trash Talking
and Giving Back Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm Aaron Colefield Barker.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
This is my co host, Joe Snagra from Meyers wastein Recycle. Joe,
it's been a wild and crazy few weeks.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Here in Vermont. Very warm weather.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
We are definitely in the midst of summer, and I'm
excited because today's guest is like someone who obviously has
a year round job, but I feel like the summer
is like his time to shine.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Absolutely, mister Vermont. If there is if we had an award,
mister Vermont, I think our guests would be would be
mister Vermont.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I like it. Well, we're gonna tease people still then
I guess they could read it. But that's all right.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Before we get to Anson, Tebbitts, this is who it is.
How's your week? What's been going on?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah, weeks ago going well, and you know, this summer
and it's the summer season, so people are traveling and
I'm traveling more. And you know, we as a society
have acknowledged that men and boys are are gross compared
to girls and women, and men and boys have different
health standards than women and girls. But I have to
(01:22):
tell you recently, I was on a plane and that
no shoes to the plane bathroom is might be the
most grossest thing I've ever seen in my life. And
I thought it was like a one off, like you know,
I'm on a discount airline, so you know it's a
discount airline. But then I go online and I look
(01:42):
and it really is a thing that a lot of
people go to the bathroom on an airplane because you
take your shoes off without shoes on, like.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
No socks, no shoes, no socks, well, some.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Shoes, some socks. Like my wife doesn't go into my
bathroom without shoes on.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I think, how old? How old was this person?
Speaker 4 (02:01):
You saw? An adult?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
You know, forties, fifties, I mean, I don't know, I
mean more yeah, not a kid, not like a five
year old.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
But yeah, yeah, yeah, I just know.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I yeah, that is that's like remember back in the day,
the old school, Like wasn't there like a Britney Spears
barefoot video of her doing something and it was like
a hole to do.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
I asked about the socks or not, because I feel
like right in the summertime, people usually have shoes that
are probably easier to like get on versus in the winter.
Maybe it's like boots that are painted in the butt
and they just don't want to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
But like, yeah, that is kind of a little icky.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, it's it's just totally threw me off. And it's
the whole summer season, so yeah, just it just turned
me turned my stomach.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
As they say, Joe, Joe works in the trash industry,
and but he's a little bit of a germophobe, is
what we're going to go with.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
No, I'm not germophobe. I just think it's gross that
you know, it's an airplane bathroom. I mean, we've all
been in them.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, it was a budget airline though, as you mentioned,
so we've got to we might have to talk to
Jeff about a little raised bario over there so we
can get you off the budget airline.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Too funny, All right, Well, today's guest is Anson Tabbitts,
who is the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets for
the State of Vermont.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Let's bring Anson in.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
We're not going to ask him if he if he's
ever walked barefoot to a bathroom, although I do happen
to know. I mean the ansigonn grew up on a farm,
so I'm sure he has had his fair share of,
you know, trudging through some not so fun fun ground
going places.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Out there on the farm.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Well, I think there's even a little bit of risk
of even going to the bathroom on an airline, even
getting to the bathroom with shoes on. You're taking a
little bit of risk there. But that's a new one, Joe.
And you know, it's just amazing what people do on
airlines now.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Right, exactly exactly.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
It's great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, no, thanks so much for joining us. Where we right,
is this kind of your life busy time of the year,
I mean just your title alone, agriculture, food and markets.
Like it's farmer market season, it's fair season, it's everything's
going on.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
I feel like, yeah, well, right in the middle of it,
we've got peak farm stands season, where people are visiting
farm stands to maybe get their vegetables, maybe they get
their corn, maybe get their steaks for the grill when
they go home. We've got farmers' markets all across the
state of Vermont that's in full swing. Most of them
are on Saturdays, but there are others that are sprinkled
(04:29):
throughout the week. So that's pretty exciting. And we've got
fair and field day time is amongst us and just
a tremendous amount of work being done in the field
by our farmers. But it's been a fingers crossed as
we speak today, it's been an okay summer. It's been
certainly been warm and hot and humid during periods of
the summer. But here we are and looking forward to
(04:51):
the rest of the summer and into fall.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Now.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
One of the great things about Vermont is all the
field days going around and really found.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I've been lucky enough.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I think I've been to every regional or county field
day in the state and they're all so different. You know,
hats In County has a different definitely a different cath
th and flair for Caledonia County and and others. You know,
maybe Anton talk a little bit about some of the
differences that Vermonters might see from going to you know,
(05:24):
in the Kingdom and down south and places like that.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Yeah, they're really reflective of their of their community, you know,
or their county. So some are more heavily focused on agriculture,
depending on what's happening. But I always think you can
get a good judge of how the summer is going
by going to a going to a to a fair.
Our last one is is the World's Fair in Tunbridge,
(05:49):
and that is in September, so some of those fall
crops are coming in. The products are really amazing. But
most of our fairs across the state and field Days
are heavily focused on agriculture. You got four huers that
are showing their cattle. They worked all summer long to
get their animals all cleaned up and ready to be
showed and judged, you know. And there's been some improvements
(06:11):
of some of the facilities over the years, particularly Caledonia County.
I know you're really familiar with Catalona County, Joe, because
you went to school up that way. But they put
in some really neat new buildings. Look at those giant pumpkins. Now,
that's something that I've attempted to do, is grow a
giant pumpkin, but have been unsuccessful so far. Working on
the sunflower, which I think at least I have a
(06:33):
shot of a big sunflower. But all great and I
encourage everyone to support your local fair field day if
you can great food, great entertainment, and just the real
slice of Vermont and some nice entertainment not without huge
cost as well.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Now one of the ones I like to tell people
because everybody knows about the big ones, but I always
tell people if you want to make a drive a
perfect place in Vermont that a lot of people don't
go to it now, But the Bonneville Fair in southern
er Mom is one of my most favorite field days
of the year.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Yeah, those, you know, some of these are one or
two day affairs, some of them are four days. In
Addison County, I think even up to five to six days,
and of course the Champlain Valleys a lot longer, multiple days.
But they're all different and they're all reflective of their community.
There's some neat contests.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
You know.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
You go into a floral hall at some of these
places and you just see the incredible gardeners that we have,
the people that are growing vegetables, and sometimes it's reflective
of our weather conditions we've had over the years. You know,
some of those really soggy summers we've had over the
last couple of years, you can tell our gardens have
paid the price. And even this year We've had a
lot of rain and keeping up with the weeds has
(07:47):
been a challenge for many of our gardeners.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Anthon, I know you grew up in Cabot right on
a farm.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Or where did your fair and field Day history begin?
Where you one of the four Age kids out there
with your animals.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Yeah, my calf's name was Alice, and Alice was a
Jersey heifer, and we began at the Washington County Field Days.
In the early days, Washington County rotated around and I
remember being in Waterbury Center showing my calf there. I
also went to Caledonia County. I have family that grew
(08:25):
up in Lennonville, so I would spend time there. Eventually
State Day and then I did get Alice, and I
didn't get a chance to go down to the to
the Big E in West Springfield, Massachusetts to show her.
So you know in the four Age Days. Four H
is a wonderful organization, been part of my life for
a long time. Right now, if someone's looking to get
(08:48):
a calf, maybe they're not on a farm. There are
farmers that will leaseh you an animal for the summer
and you can learn and there's some really neat camps.
Now some dairy camps out there now where people can
get close to the cows and you can lease a
calf or heifer for the summer and you can you
can clean it, you can bathe it, you can lead it,
(09:08):
you can take care of it, and then you can
take it to a field day, which is pretty cool stuff,
even if you don't have a farm. And you can
do that through four h run by UVM extension.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Wow, I love it, Alice, Alice Andson's Ellie Andson's Price.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I love it all right, go ahead, y'ell no.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I was going to say, you know, I talk a
lot on the podcast about you know, I'm not the
most outdoors the world person in the world, but one
of the things I do love and uberly love about
Vermont even when I leave the state is our farmer's market.
And you know, I find myself at two or three
actually a week. You know, Winski Winuski's farmer market has
really expanded over the years, and I've been getting some
(09:49):
of my beef at the Winuski farmers Market, so, you know,
and maybe talk a little bit about some you touched
on a little bit, but these wonderful farmers' markets that
aren't just on Saturdays and Sundays. Last last Thursday, I
was in the Islands for South here North hero Is
Farmers Market.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
And there's a good place where you can keep track
of them, uh, the Organic Association of Vermont and Northeast
Farmers Association. They have a website and there's there's the
map right there, so it gives a list of all
the times and the locations and all of them are
are different, and they really are wonderful experiences for folks.
And one of the great things about this is the
(10:29):
money is going right back into the business or the farm,
so you're buying directly from from the farm and it's
just a wonderful way to you know, give back and
those dollars are going right back to the farm. And
and again many of these are weather dependent. We had
some SOAGGI Saturdays early on in the spring and summer here,
so they really rely on their income our farmers throughout
(10:53):
the summer to make sure there's a good attendance at these.
I was at the I was at the Stowe one
a couple of weeks ago, and they have theirs on
a Sunday afternoon and they had you know, both Vermonts
were present. The robust visitors were there enjoying it and
enjoying the farmers market and you know, bringing back food
to their probably to their maybe their airbnb or their
(11:15):
hotel or their condo, et cetera. And then there was
a good local population there as well, buying produce, buying meat.
There was entertainment, plenty of parking, plenty of places for
folks to gather and meet and have a good time
on a Sunday midday up and stow. But again, as
you mentioned, Joe, many of them are not on Saturdays
(11:35):
or the weekends, and you can enjoy them any day
of the week. If you look at the map from Nofa,
NOFA fromont is the place where the map is where
people can really find out where they all are well.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
And I love that it gives right the farmers an
opportunity to I'm sure you know people who live near
the farms, you know, if they have a pharm stand
on site, like people go there.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
But it gives them an opportunity to reach so many
more people, and.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
A lot of people like that's there's Saturday morning or
their Sunday morning or their Tuesday evening, it's like, Nope,
I gotta go get my eggs for the week.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I gotta go get this for the week.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Like, well, let's see what you know, vegetables are fresh
at the farmer's market, and then that dictates what they
what they have. And if there's one thing we've learned
and we know about vermontras is they love supporting local.
But one thing about humans is they also enjoy convenience.
And so I think it's great that these farmer markets,
where you can find one pretty much probably any day
of the week in different places.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Like make it easy even easier.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
For people to go and support, you know, local people
having businesses in our area.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Yeah, it's really it's really a chance to support your
your local business or your local farmer. And we are
right in the peak of farmers market season right now,
and you know, I think of, I think of I
have not had my first corn on the com yet,
but it's coming. And I don't know how deep you
want to get into this, but how you like to
cook your corn, And we've probably spent the entire Trashy
(12:55):
podcast talking about that, but I particularly like garlic butter
on mine with salt and pepper and just steamed. I
think that works for me, but some people like to
roast it. Someone's told me the other day they were
they perfected the microwave.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Oh my mom's a microwaver. We grill it sometimes. You
ever do the grill?
Speaker 5 (13:14):
I'm my problem with grilling. I'm not a patient person,
and you've got to be patient. It's like like the smoker,
you know, I want to you know, you gotta get
a five o'clock in the morning and slow cook it
and whatever. You know, I'm one of those. It turns
it on high and I expect to be perfect in minutes.
So I loved I love the grill. I love the
taste of it and everything, But as far as me
(13:35):
actually doing it, I'm more of the like you put
it in some put in some water, boil it, and
then just smother it with. And another question is how
do you how do you use the butter? I mean,
how do you is it? Do you just take a
stick in this roll? Do you melt it? How do
you do that? That's a whole nother podcast, Tragy folks.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
So that's an I nominated you recently for best Social
Media follow with a local newspaper and I would advise
anyone to go and follow Anson because I learned so
much from you and you have your social media presences.
Second to nine, the one thing that I want to
(14:14):
learn more about that I didn't know about and you
had me at cheese is the Vermont Cheese Festival. I
have to admit I'd never heard of it, and you
had cheese.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, the Cheese Festivals is coming up. It's coming back
to Shelburne Farms and this is one of the you know,
sort of a premier summer events. It often sells out,
but I think it's the first week in August and
you can go to the Vermont Cheese Council website to
find out all the details. But this is going to
(14:44):
be all the cheesemakers throughout Vermont and the region coming
together all there.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
It is.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
Look at that that looks like a nice piece. That's
got to be cheddar. It's got to be cheddar. There
isn't that wonderful? All Mount Mansfield that's up and up
in Stow and they're at the farmers Market in Montpellier.
The Mount Mansfield is there, there's a cave if you
get a chance, ever get a chance to go into
a cave, a cheese cave. It's pretty cool. That's one
(15:10):
thing about my job. I continue to see. Oh yeah,
there we go. There's some hostings. You know, you know
your dairy breeds. Do you know all your dairy breeds?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
That would have been a fun game to play.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Okay, so let's can we can we do that right now?
So name the name the six day. It's only six
of them, six dairy breeds. But in a previous job
of mine, when I hired people, I quized them on
the dairy breeds if they were going to work in Vermont.
And like, if Joe was wanted to get into Linden,
I would have asked him the six dairy breeds. And
(15:43):
I don't know if I would have let him in
if he didn't know. So, you know, let's stock again.
You know the one over my shoulder, that should be
an easy one. One one on on my screen there,
that's would be pretty easy. What's that? I know? That's
that's a whole sting. So you've got one. So that's
the you know, the Ben and Jerry's one. The whole
steam produces a lot of milk but does not produce
(16:05):
as much cream. So we'll go number two. We'll go
with a jersey, which is a brown one. It's the
classic sort of cow brown and it's kind of a
solid brown and different shades of brown. So that one
produces a lot of cream, a lot of butterfat, makes
good ice cream, all kinds of stuff. So that's two.
The ones over at Shelbourne Farms they're gray. Okay, they're gray. Yes,
(16:30):
you can almost said it.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
You said it.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
No, Well, I was gonna say.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
The only other one I can think of, and I
don't even know if it's real as a belted cow.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Well, that is just like what they look like. There
are belted Galloways. They're not considered the dairy breed. So
brown Swiss. So you see this right here, see my hair,
it's gray. That is actually brown Swiss. So anyone I've
got a pink company out there and they want to
do it a new color should be brown Swiss. And
I think Joe's got a little brown Swiss in his life,
(17:01):
So brown Swiss is number three. Number four would be
an ashire or ashier, which is a red and white one.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
And then guernsey, which is sort of a it's similar
to an asher but not as robust color red and
they have and they're spotted with white. Strafford Creamery in Strafford,
UH their milk company. They make ice cream. They have
guernseys in some of the Hollywood movies. You would see
(17:29):
the gernsey cow being used. It's just a classic cow.
And the one that no one ever gets for the
with the six dairy breed UH is the milking short horn.
And the milk milking short horn is a solid It's
kind of a dark red animal and it kind of
looks like the what's the red devon on the Vermont flag?
(17:51):
You see that little little love cow on the Vermont flag.
It is kind of that color. So there you go.
H But the REDCN family I think probably would go
with the with a milking short arm because it's really
kind of a rusty red.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
I was gonna say ans And you know, you talk
about cows and everything, you know, and there's some Vermont history.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I'm one of six people that was inside the room
when the most famous cow question might have been asked,
which is how many teeths are on a cow? I
was one of the step excuse me, seven people that
were inside the room when the question was asking, now
there's books written about that incident.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
And former US Senate candidate right.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Yes, absolutely, And.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
What's the answer.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Well, come on, Aaron, you've been in Vermont long enough
to even I know this one and I'm I.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Was born in New York.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Six eight Repeat the question again, Joe, how many teats
are on a cow?
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Seven? Six? Is even?
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Or on? Wow? You know this?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
And and you know she u doubles her time at
a local television station.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Two and as a local.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
You knowed me.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
You wouldn't have hired me a little No, we would
have hired you. We just would have. We just would have.
We would have had sit down once in a while
to go over things. So we're gonna want we go
with four? Why don't we go with four? But some cows,
some cows get injured and they you know, they're you know,
the proper answer would be four, but sometimes you know,
they get injured or it doesn't lactate out of one,
(19:31):
so they could be a three. Now, a goat has two,
and we have a lot of goats in Vermont. Now
we get some really impressive goat farms that are producing
goat cheese and like that. But so yeah, that was,
and that was Fred Tuttle versus uh.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Jack Jack mc bowen, Yes, yes, yes, and I uh
in the in the radio studios of n PR or VPR.
Uh there was there was Jack and Fred and and
myself and John O'Brien who's now a state representative who
(20:10):
is managing Fred's race, and then the host of NPR.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Yeah, that's going that's going back.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Is that is that the nineties, probably nineteen ninety eight, Okay, okay,
a long time ago.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Long time.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I don't know how you remember these things in these years, and.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Well I kind of forgot about it, but I was
last year. I got a phone call from somebody who
was writing a book about the about Fred title and
that nineteen ninety eight thing, and my name came up
in it. And so we were reminiscing about about the
late nineties.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Joe, We're getting a little nudge here, wondering if you
and I could have a milking contest. I actually so
we talked about how I worked at a TV station
and I did that Darren Aaron segment and that was
one that I always wanted to do here and milks
the cow.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Well, we should take this podcast on the road. If
that's possible, maybe, yeah, we can go out and we'll
get some video and we'll take you over to you know,
a good place to learn would be a UVM at
the UVM Spears Street Farm. They milk the cows over
there three times a day and they're all milked by
the students as a club cab.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
So those they're used to dealing with inexperienced people.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
A lot of those students have never worked on a
farm in their lives, and they and they do a
great job and a little bit of training and they and
they fall in love with those holsting animals over there.
But they're milked three times a day, I think eleven
o'clock three point thirty, and then there's a late evening
one as well, so they rotate with all the UVM students.
Someone probably come right from the parties right to milking
(21:47):
in the morning.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Considering considering I'm scared of raccoons and I've never actually
milked cow, it would be an interesting afternoon.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Well we should we can arrange that, we know how
we can do that. That would be fun.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
That would be fun. That would be fun.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Other things that are fun, though in said, I know
the big Ee was something we want wanted to chat about.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
I grew up in Connecticut. I think when I was younger,
I had definitely gone to the Big Eie. I have
family who owned a store that sold.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Like lawnmowers and all that kind of you know, good
stuff we often see at fairs.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
But tell us about Vermont's tied to the Big Eie.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Well, Vermont owns a building down there, I believe it
or not. The state of Vermont owns the Vermont Building.
It's on the Avenue of States, and here we are.
There's some apple pie and cotton candy and it's all
very authentic Vermont with cheese and all really you know,
nice products from Vermont. So it's a seventeen day fare
(22:42):
down to the Big Ee. Some people participate by bringing
their animals down. We use it as a platform to
promote Vermont, but we have companies that sell and a
lot of a lot of revenue comes through that Vermont
building in late sent September to nudging right up against
early October, and it's a New England affair. So you're right, Connecticut,
(23:06):
Massachusetts and each state has a building, and of course
Vermont's is the finest and the best, and that's everyone
knows that it's not disputed by anybody. And oh, look
at those donuts. Look at that there they go, look
at those so cider donuts are there, and it's just
a wonderful place and we encourage everyone if they get
a chance. There is something called Vermont Day, which is
(23:28):
the middle Saturday of the fair, and thousands of people
will be going through the fair and visiting the Vermont Building.
And in night it's twenty twenty nine, the building will
be one hundred years old, so we're gearing up for that.
It's a historic building, so we're trying to make some
changes and get it all up and running and beautiful
by the one hundredth Anniversity, which is coming up in
(23:49):
twenty twenty nine. And we're almost half to twenty twenty five,
so it's not too far away.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
That's wonderful. You know.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
In the trash business, weather plays such a huge part
of what we do. Between when it's really hot like
we've had the last few weeks, it's a struggle for
our guys. But then the severe storms are play such
a role in what we do, and I know it's
a huge impact for both the state. Maybe talk about
(24:18):
some of the stuff that I mean, we all see
on the news and stuff that the impact weather has,
but from the agriculture side to maybe talk about some
of that.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Yeah, So we're still you know, we had the big
events in twenty three and twenty four, and we had
another one up up in the Kingdom, particularly you know,
near Lyndonville. This year. Again, we did not have any
significant agriculture impact on this July's weather event, but in
twenty three and twenty four it was significant. Millions of
(24:48):
dollars was damaged. You know, you can see the fields
of flooded, so a lot of crops that were being
grown for feeding animals, but we also had a lot
of vegetable produce series and it was you know, peak
time where the crops were coming in. So those particular
producers and farmers are still you know, the headlines have passed,
(25:09):
but they're still living on that and we continue to
work on trying to get them some support. We were
anticipating some federal support coming through the Farm Services Agency
with a block rant to Vermont. It hasn't been finalized,
but we're working with FSA out of Washington to get
that and hopefully we'll be able to get some some
more dollars so people can help recover from the damage
(25:32):
that was done in twenty three and twenty four. And
you guys have been living it, and you know that
the cleanup and all the debris and just the you know,
millions and millions of you know, do we calculated in
pounds or yards of debris that's been whatever the measurement is.
It's just astonishing that happened in twenty three and twenty four.
(25:55):
So still in the recovery stage, but farmers are doing
their best to make the best of it.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Anson before we let you go, is there anything we
didn't ask you about? But also or if not, is
there anything that you find people are surprised to learn
right about agriculture, food and markets in Vermont, or just
some little tidbit that people often don't realize or just
kind of is you know, under talked about.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
Yeah, I would say, you know, in agriculture, there's there's
something when we touch your life every single day, Like
you go to work in the morning, maybe you have
to pull in to gas up. Well, we inspect the
gas pumps so to make sure you're getting the proper
amount of gas and so forth. Maybe it's the daily scales.
We have entomology, so I know we've we've had an
(26:45):
issue with ticks, so we're out collecting ticks and mosquito
borne illnesses, so we're doing that. We've got economic development,
We've got folks working on water quality. We inspect meat,
we inspect milk both on the farm and then the plant.
So a lot of it has to do with consumer
assurance and making sure that things are running smoothly. But
(27:06):
it's a great place to be. It's a great place
to work, and I'm honored to work for the State
of Vermont in a constituency that is helping us feed
us and that's the bottom line of all this. In
the end, we are pretty lucky the amount of food
that we all have in Vermont. We're blessed with people
who produce high quality food and drinks. And you guys
(27:29):
are part of it. Any successful event needs proper disposal, right,
we need facilities, We need you guys playing a part,
and so everyone plays their part. And it's not always glamorous,
but it's it keeps a function and keeps it going well.
So we appreciate what you guys are all doing to
support our farmers, and I know you are at some
(27:50):
of our farmers and I know you're at plenty of
our events over the summer and winter, so it's great
to see you all.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
And you know, we.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
See the governor out talking about Veron and serving us
so well, but outside the governor, it's in your the face.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
We see you every place. So thank you for everything
you do.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I can't imagine the schedule you keep up from still
working a farming cabin. But you know, at night I
see you on on social media at some event all
over the state or out of the state promoting us.
So I don't know how you do it, but thank
you for for everything you do.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
For this day.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Well, thank you so much. It's it's just a just
an honor. And I've got a wonderful job. And got
to tell you I eat pretty well. You know, it's
not a not a cheese I haven't touched you know,
or don't know about, so it's all pretty good. So everyone,
we didn't talk about creamies, but we can do that.
It's a whole separate podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah me too, absolutely, yes, definitely a fan of a
good creamy and that is absolutely could be a podcast,
an entire podcast one time.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
So maybe what we'll do is, maybe we'll get this
milking thing to happen.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah, I get some video of it, and then we
can have you back on and we can check out
how the milking went and talk about creamies, because that
all kind of just naturally.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
We're gonna have a milking contest between you two, and
we're gonna document it and then and then we're going
to air it and then maybe the winner, maybe we'll
come up with the prize. I'll think of something I.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Like, love it, We'll do it. Thank you so much.
As we just discussed, you are a very very busy man.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
I'm not sure that you sleep, so we appreciate you
taking a little bit of time to chat with us here.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
On the podcast You Beta.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
By Anthon. Yeah, I'm not sure he sleeps.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
No, it's it's just it's just amazing. I've known Anson
for a long time and he's always been like this,
and he's uh, it's true, not because he was with us,
but he's he's a vermot treasure, so we're.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
Ling to have him.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I don't know if you caught this or not, but
a couple of times he called us the track you
trashy guys, I'll take it.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
There's not enough. People always say, like you can call
me trashy, but I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Yeah, you know, and and it's a good segue into
you trash here or not, so you know, this week's
question is you know, and there's I have to preface
it with you know, there are things that you should
and shouldn't do, but sometimes it's not exactly trash here
or not, so trash here or not this week, not
returning your shopping cart to the corral in the parking
(30:21):
lot trashy.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
And I used to be like, I don't know, maybe
someone else will park and this will be convenient for them.
But then one time I saw a video of a
person that was like in a wheelchair and they couldn't
go down the sidewalk to get into the store because
people had just like blocked it with them all. I've
also seen the argument of like moms like right, like
so how like logistically, what am I supposed to do?
(30:45):
Like put my kid in my car but then leave
my car running and write and open and bring that
like someone could steal my child?
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Like what do I do?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
And so situationally, sure, there could be times where you know,
it's it's harder to figure out. I do because of
that if I see like a mom with a kid
and I am just out there like we'll offer.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
One time it ended up okay.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
But I was at Hanford unloading my car and I
like went to putting in the side and Ellie was
in the front and it just started rolling across the
parking lot and some woman stopped it for me and
was like, oh my god. I was like, wow, thanks Ellie.
He was just like, Aha, this is great. But yeah,
I think the logistics are hard, but I think you
should just come on, get the extra steps in and
(31:32):
do the right thing.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
I agree, I agree, and I'm said that answer laughed
because I asked him.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
He was something about cows. Which cow? Does chocolate milk
come from?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Chocolate? Oh? No, that's like we should have asked them that.
We should have asked that. Well, well we're as we're milking.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
That actually a really funny thing to be be like, well, okay, wait,
so this is where we just get like white milk from,
Like where do you get the chocolate milk from?
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Absolutely right?
Speaker 5 (31:58):
He was good.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
He was like a good note to leave you all
on make sure that you like and subscribe, send us
some comments some questions for the Trash Talking and Giving
Back podcast. Thank you again to Anson Tabbitts for joining
us this week, and we will see you all another time.
Hey, everybody, Welcome to another episode of the Trash Talking
and Giving Back Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm Aaron Colefield Barker.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
This is my co host, Joe Snagra from Meyers wastein Recycle. Joe,
it's been a wild and crazy few weeks.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Here in Vermont. Very warm weather.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
We are definitely in the midst of summer, and I'm
excited because today's guest is like someone who obviously has
a year round job, but I feel like the summer
is like his time to shine.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Absolutely, mister Vermont. If there is if we had an award,
mister Vermont, I think our guests would be would be
mister Vermont.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I like it. Well, we're gonna tease people still then
I guess they could read it. But that's all right.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Before we get to Anson, Tebbitts, this is who it is.
How's your week? What's been going on?
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah, weeks ago going well, and you know, this summer
and it's the summer season, so people are traveling and
I'm traveling more. And you know, we as a society
have acknowledged that men and boys are are gross compared
to girls and women, and men and boys have different
health standards than women and girls. But I have to
(01:22):
tell you recently, I was on a plane and that
no shoes to the plane bathroom is might be the
most grossest thing I've ever seen in my life. And
I thought it was like a one off, like you know,
I'm on a discount airline, so you know it's a
discount airline. But then I go online and I look
(01:42):
and it really is a thing that a lot of
people go to the bathroom on an airplane because you
take your shoes off without shoes on, like.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
No socks, no shoes, no socks, well, some.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Shoes, some socks. Like my wife doesn't go into my
bathroom without shoes on.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I think, how old? How old was this person?
Speaker 4 (02:01):
You saw? An adult?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
You know, forties, fifties, I mean, I don't know, I
mean more yeah, not a kid, not like a five
year old.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
But yeah, yeah, yeah, I just know.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
I yeah, that is that's like remember back in the day,
the old school, Like wasn't there like a Britney Spears
barefoot video of her doing something and it was like
a hole to do.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
I asked about the socks or not, because I feel
like right in the summertime, people usually have shoes that
are probably easier to like get on versus in the winter.
Maybe it's like boots that are painted in the butt
and they just don't want to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
But like, yeah, that is kind of a little icky.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yeah, it's it's just totally threw me off. And it's
the whole summer season, so yeah, just it just turned
me turned my stomach.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
As they say, Joe, Joe works in the trash industry,
and but he's a little bit of a germophobe, is
what we're going to go with.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
No, I'm not germophobe. I just think it's gross that
you know, it's an airplane bathroom. I mean, we've all
been in them.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, it was a budget airline though, as you mentioned,
so we've got to we might have to talk to
Jeff about a little raised bario over there so we
can get you off the budget airline.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Too funny, All right, Well, today's guest is Anson Tabbitts,
who is the Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets for
the State of Vermont.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Let's bring Anson in.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
We're not going to ask him if he if he's
ever walked barefoot to a bathroom, although I do happen
to know. I mean the ansigonn grew up on a farm,
so I'm sure he has had his fair share of,
you know, trudging through some not so fun fun ground
going places.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Out there on the farm.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
Well, I think there's even a little bit of risk
of even going to the bathroom on an airline, even
getting to the bathroom with shoes on. You're taking a
little bit of risk there. But that's a new one, Joe.
And you know, it's just amazing what people do on
airlines now.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
Right, exactly exactly.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
It's great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah, no, thanks so much for joining us. Where we right,
is this kind of your life busy time of the year,
I mean just your title alone, agriculture, food and markets.
Like it's farmer market season, it's fair season, it's everything's
going on.
Speaker 5 (04:08):
I feel like, yeah, well, right in the middle of it,
we've got peak farm stands season, where people are visiting
farm stands to maybe get their vegetables, maybe they get
their corn, maybe get their steaks for the grill when
they go home. We've got farmers' markets all across the
state of Vermont that's in full swing. Most of them
are on Saturdays, but there are others that are sprinkled
(04:29):
throughout the week. So that's pretty exciting. And we've got
fair and field day time is amongst us and just
a tremendous amount of work being done in the field
by our farmers. But it's been a fingers crossed as
we speak today, it's been an okay summer. It's been
certainly been warm and hot and humid during periods of
the summer. But here we are and looking forward to
(04:51):
the rest of the summer and into fall.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Now.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
One of the great things about Vermont is all the
field days going around and really found.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
I've been lucky enough.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
I think I've been to every regional or county field
day in the state and they're all so different. You know,
hats In County has a different definitely a different cath
th and flair for Caledonia County and and others. You know,
maybe Anton talk a little bit about some of the
differences that Vermonters might see from going to you know,
(05:24):
in the Kingdom and down south and places like that.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Yeah, they're really reflective of their of their community, you know,
or their county. So some are more heavily focused on agriculture,
depending on what's happening. But I always think you can
get a good judge of how the summer is going
by going to a going to a to a fair.
Our last one is is the World's Fair in Tunbridge,
(05:49):
and that is in September, so some of those fall
crops are coming in. The products are really amazing. But
most of our fairs across the state and field Days
are heavily focused on agriculture. You got four huers that
are showing their cattle. They worked all summer long to
get their animals all cleaned up and ready to be
showed and judged, you know. And there's been some improvements
(06:11):
of some of the facilities over the years, particularly Caledonia County.
I know you're really familiar with Catalona County, Joe, because
you went to school up that way. But they put
in some really neat new buildings. Look at those giant pumpkins. Now,
that's something that I've attempted to do, is grow a
giant pumpkin, but have been unsuccessful so far. Working on
the sunflower, which I think at least I have a
(06:33):
shot of a big sunflower. But all great and I
encourage everyone to support your local fair field day if
you can great food, great entertainment, and just the real
slice of Vermont and some nice entertainment not without huge
cost as well.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Now one of the ones I like to tell people
because everybody knows about the big ones, but I always
tell people if you want to make a drive a
perfect place in Vermont that a lot of people don't
go to it now, But the Bonneville Fair in southern
er Mom is one of my most favorite field days
of the year.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Yeah, those, you know, some of these are one or
two day affairs, some of them are four days. In
Addison County, I think even up to five to six days,
and of course the Champlain Valleys a lot longer, multiple days.
But they're all different and they're all reflective of their community.
There's some neat contests.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
You know.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
You go into a floral hall at some of these
places and you just see the incredible gardeners that we have,
the people that are growing vegetables, and sometimes it's reflective
of our weather conditions we've had over the years. You know,
some of those really soggy summers we've had over the
last couple of years, you can tell our gardens have
paid the price. And even this year We've had a
lot of rain and keeping up with the weeds has
(07:47):
been a challenge for many of our gardeners.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Anthon, I know you grew up in Cabot right on
a farm.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Or where did your fair and field Day history begin?
Where you one of the four Age kids out there
with your animals.
Speaker 5 (08:03):
Yeah, my calf's name was Alice, and Alice was a
Jersey heifer, and we began at the Washington County Field Days.
In the early days, Washington County rotated around and I
remember being in Waterbury Center showing my calf there. I
also went to Caledonia County. I have family that grew
(08:25):
up in Lennonville, so I would spend time there. Eventually
State Day and then I did get Alice, and I
didn't get a chance to go down to the to
the Big E in West Springfield, Massachusetts to show her.
So you know in the four Age Days. Four H
is a wonderful organization, been part of my life for
a long time. Right now, if someone's looking to get
(08:48):
a calf, maybe they're not on a farm. There are
farmers that will leaseh you an animal for the summer
and you can learn and there's some really neat camps.
Now some dairy camps out there now where people can
get close to the cows and you can lease a
calf or heifer for the summer and you can you
can clean it, you can bathe it, you can lead it,
(09:08):
you can take care of it, and then you can
take it to a field day, which is pretty cool stuff,
even if you don't have a farm. And you can
do that through four h run by UVM extension.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Wow, I love it, Alice, Alice Andson's Ellie Andson's Price.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I love it all right, go ahead, y'ell no.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
I was going to say, you know, I talk a
lot on the podcast about you know, I'm not the
most outdoors the world person in the world, but one
of the things I do love and uberly love about
Vermont even when I leave the state is our farmer's market.
And you know, I find myself at two or three
actually a week. You know, Winski Winuski's farmer market has
really expanded over the years, and I've been getting some
(09:49):
of my beef at the Winuski farmers Market, so, you know,
and maybe talk a little bit about some you touched
on a little bit, but these wonderful farmers' markets that
aren't just on Saturdays and Sundays. Last last Thursday, I
was in the Islands for South here North hero Is
Farmers Market.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
And there's a good place where you can keep track
of them, uh, the Organic Association of Vermont and Northeast
Farmers Association. They have a website and there's there's the
map right there, so it gives a list of all
the times and the locations and all of them are
are different, and they really are wonderful experiences for folks.
And one of the great things about this is the
(10:29):
money is going right back into the business or the farm,
so you're buying directly from from the farm and it's
just a wonderful way to you know, give back and
those dollars are going right back to the farm. And
and again many of these are weather dependent. We had
some SOAGGI Saturdays early on in the spring and summer here,
so they really rely on their income our farmers throughout
(10:53):
the summer to make sure there's a good attendance at these.
I was at the I was at the Stowe one
a couple of weeks ago, and they have theirs on
a Sunday afternoon and they had you know, both Vermonts
were present. The robust visitors were there enjoying it and
enjoying the farmers market and you know, bringing back food
to their probably to their maybe their airbnb or their
(11:15):
hotel or their condo, et cetera. And then there was
a good local population there as well, buying produce, buying meat.
There was entertainment, plenty of parking, plenty of places for
folks to gather and meet and have a good time
on a Sunday midday up and stow. But again, as
you mentioned, Joe, many of them are not on Saturdays
(11:35):
or the weekends, and you can enjoy them any day
of the week. If you look at the map from Nofa,
NOFA fromont is the place where the map is where
people can really find out where they all are well.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
And I love that it gives right the farmers an
opportunity to I'm sure you know people who live near
the farms, you know, if they have a pharm stand
on site, like people go there.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
But it gives them an opportunity to reach so many
more people, and.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
A lot of people like that's there's Saturday morning or
their Sunday morning or their Tuesday evening, it's like, Nope,
I gotta go get my eggs for the week.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
I gotta go get this for the week.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Like, well, let's see what you know, vegetables are fresh
at the farmer's market, and then that dictates what they
what they have. And if there's one thing we've learned
and we know about vermontras is they love supporting local.
But one thing about humans is they also enjoy convenience.
And so I think it's great that these farmer markets,
where you can find one pretty much probably any day
of the week in different places.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Like make it easy even easier.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
For people to go and support, you know, local people
having businesses in our area.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Yeah, it's really it's really a chance to support your
your local business or your local farmer. And we are
right in the peak of farmers market season right now,
and you know, I think of, I think of I
have not had my first corn on the com yet,
but it's coming. And I don't know how deep you
want to get into this, but how you like to
cook your corn, And we've probably spent the entire Trashy
(12:55):
podcast talking about that, but I particularly like garlic butter
on mine with salt and pepper and just steamed. I
think that works for me, but some people like to
roast it. Someone's told me the other day they were
they perfected the microwave.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Oh my mom's a microwaver. We grill it sometimes. You
ever do the grill?
Speaker 5 (13:14):
I'm my problem with grilling. I'm not a patient person,
and you've got to be patient. It's like like the smoker,
you know, I want to you know, you gotta get
a five o'clock in the morning and slow cook it
and whatever. You know, I'm one of those. It turns
it on high and I expect to be perfect in minutes.
So I loved I love the grill. I love the
taste of it and everything, But as far as me
(13:35):
actually doing it, I'm more of the like you put
it in some put in some water, boil it, and
then just smother it with. And another question is how
do you how do you use the butter? I mean,
how do you is it? Do you just take a
stick in this roll? Do you melt it? How do
you do that? That's a whole nother podcast, Tragy folks.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
So that's an I nominated you recently for best Social
Media follow with a local newspaper and I would advise
anyone to go and follow Anson because I learned so
much from you and you have your social media presences.
Second to nine, the one thing that I want to
(14:14):
learn more about that I didn't know about and you
had me at cheese is the Vermont Cheese Festival. I
have to admit I'd never heard of it, and you
had cheese.
Speaker 5 (14:24):
Yeah, the Cheese Festivals is coming up. It's coming back
to Shelburne Farms and this is one of the you know,
sort of a premier summer events. It often sells out,
but I think it's the first week in August and
you can go to the Vermont Cheese Council website to
find out all the details. But this is going to
(14:44):
be all the cheesemakers throughout Vermont and the region coming
together all there.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
It is.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
Look at that that looks like a nice piece. That's
got to be cheddar. It's got to be cheddar. There
isn't that wonderful? All Mount Mansfield that's up and up
in Stow and they're at the farmers Market in Montpellier.
The Mount Mansfield is there, there's a cave if you
get a chance, ever get a chance to go into
a cave, a cheese cave. It's pretty cool. That's one
(15:10):
thing about my job. I continue to see. Oh yeah,
there we go. There's some hostings. You know, you know
your dairy breeds. Do you know all your dairy breeds?
Speaker 2 (15:18):
That would have been a fun game to play.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
Okay, so let's can we can we do that right now?
So name the name the six day. It's only six
of them, six dairy breeds. But in a previous job
of mine, when I hired people, I quized them on
the dairy breeds if they were going to work in Vermont.
And like, if Joe was wanted to get into Linden,
I would have asked him the six dairy breeds. And
(15:43):
I don't know if I would have let him in
if he didn't know. So, you know, let's stock again.
You know the one over my shoulder, that should be
an easy one. One one on on my screen there,
that's would be pretty easy. What's that? I know? That's
that's a whole sting. So you've got one. So that's
the you know, the Ben and Jerry's one. The whole
steam produces a lot of milk but does not produce
(16:05):
as much cream. So we'll go number two. We'll go
with a jersey, which is a brown one. It's the
classic sort of cow brown and it's kind of a
solid brown and different shades of brown. So that one
produces a lot of cream, a lot of butterfat, makes
good ice cream, all kinds of stuff. So that's two.
The ones over at Shelbourne Farms they're gray. Okay, they're gray. Yes,
(16:30):
you can almost said it.
Speaker 4 (16:30):
You said it.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
No, Well, I was gonna say.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
The only other one I can think of, and I
don't even know if it's real as a belted cow.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Well, that is just like what they look like. There
are belted Galloways. They're not considered the dairy breed. So
brown Swiss. So you see this right here, see my hair,
it's gray. That is actually brown Swiss. So anyone I've
got a pink company out there and they want to
do it a new color should be brown Swiss. And
I think Joe's got a little brown Swiss in his life,
(17:01):
So brown Swiss is number three. Number four would be
an ashire or ashier, which is a red and white one.
Speaker 4 (17:08):
Uh.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
And then guernsey, which is sort of a it's similar
to an asher but not as robust color red and
they have and they're spotted with white. Strafford Creamery in Strafford,
UH their milk company. They make ice cream. They have
guernseys in some of the Hollywood movies. You would see
(17:29):
the gernsey cow being used. It's just a classic cow.
And the one that no one ever gets for the
with the six dairy breed UH is the milking short horn.
And the milk milking short horn is a solid It's
kind of a dark red animal and it kind of
looks like the what's the red devon on the Vermont flag?
(17:51):
You see that little little love cow on the Vermont flag.
It is kind of that color. So there you go.
H But the REDCN family I think probably would go
with the with a milking short arm because it's really
kind of a rusty red.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
I was gonna say ans And you know, you talk
about cows and everything, you know, and there's some Vermont history.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
I'm one of six people that was inside the room
when the most famous cow question might have been asked,
which is how many teeths are on a cow? I
was one of the step excuse me, seven people that
were inside the room when the question was asking, now
there's books written about that incident.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
And former US Senate candidate right.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Yes, absolutely, And.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
What's the answer.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
Well, come on, Aaron, you've been in Vermont long enough
to even I know this one and I'm I.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Was born in New York.
Speaker 3 (18:44):
Six eight Repeat the question again, Joe, how many teats
are on a cow?
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Seven? Six? Is even?
Speaker 4 (18:55):
Or on? Wow? You know this?
Speaker 3 (18:59):
And and you know she u doubles her time at
a local television station.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Two and as a local.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
You knowed me.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
You wouldn't have hired me a little No, we would
have hired you. We just would have. We just would have.
We would have had sit down once in a while
to go over things. So we're gonna want we go
with four? Why don't we go with four? But some cows,
some cows get injured and they you know, they're you know,
the proper answer would be four, but sometimes you know,
they get injured or it doesn't lactate out of one,
(19:31):
so they could be a three. Now, a goat has two,
and we have a lot of goats in Vermont. Now
we get some really impressive goat farms that are producing
goat cheese and like that. But so yeah, that was,
and that was Fred Tuttle versus uh.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
Jack Jack mc bowen, Yes, yes, yes, and I uh
in the in the radio studios of n PR or VPR.
Uh there was there was Jack and Fred and and
myself and John O'Brien who's now a state representative who
(20:10):
is managing Fred's race, and then the host of NPR.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
Yeah, that's going that's going back.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Is that is that the nineties, probably nineteen ninety eight, Okay, okay,
a long time ago.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Long time.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
I don't know how you remember these things in these years, and.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
Well I kind of forgot about it, but I was
last year. I got a phone call from somebody who
was writing a book about the about Fred title and
that nineteen ninety eight thing, and my name came up
in it. And so we were reminiscing about about the
late nineties.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Joe, We're getting a little nudge here, wondering if you
and I could have a milking contest. I actually so
we talked about how I worked at a TV station
and I did that Darren Aaron segment and that was
one that I always wanted to do here and milks
the cow.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Well, we should take this podcast on the road. If
that's possible, maybe, yeah, we can go out and we'll
get some video and we'll take you over to you know,
a good place to learn would be a UVM at
the UVM Spears Street Farm. They milk the cows over
there three times a day and they're all milked by
the students as a club cab.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
So those they're used to dealing with inexperienced people.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
A lot of those students have never worked on a
farm in their lives, and they and they do a
great job and a little bit of training and they and
they fall in love with those holsting animals over there.
But they're milked three times a day, I think eleven
o'clock three point thirty, and then there's a late evening
one as well, so they rotate with all the UVM students.
Someone probably come right from the parties right to milking
(21:47):
in the morning.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Considering considering I'm scared of raccoons and I've never actually
milked cow, it would be an interesting afternoon.
Speaker 5 (21:56):
Well we should we can arrange that, we know how
we can do that. That would be fun.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
That would be fun. That would be fun.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
Other things that are fun, though in said, I know
the big Ee was something we want wanted to chat about.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
I grew up in Connecticut. I think when I was younger,
I had definitely gone to the Big Eie. I have
family who owned a store that sold.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
Like lawnmowers and all that kind of you know, good
stuff we often see at fairs.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
But tell us about Vermont's tied to the Big Eie.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Well, Vermont owns a building down there, I believe it
or not. The state of Vermont owns the Vermont Building.
It's on the Avenue of States, and here we are.
There's some apple pie and cotton candy and it's all
very authentic Vermont with cheese and all really you know,
nice products from Vermont. So it's a seventeen day fare
(22:42):
down to the Big Ee. Some people participate by bringing
their animals down. We use it as a platform to
promote Vermont, but we have companies that sell and a
lot of a lot of revenue comes through that Vermont
building in late sent September to nudging right up against
early October, and it's a New England affair. So you're right, Connecticut,
(23:06):
Massachusetts and each state has a building, and of course
Vermont's is the finest and the best, and that's everyone
knows that it's not disputed by anybody. And oh, look
at those donuts. Look at that there they go, look
at those so cider donuts are there, and it's just
a wonderful place and we encourage everyone if they get
a chance. There is something called Vermont Day, which is
(23:28):
the middle Saturday of the fair, and thousands of people
will be going through the fair and visiting the Vermont Building.
And in night it's twenty twenty nine, the building will
be one hundred years old, so we're gearing up for that.
It's a historic building, so we're trying to make some
changes and get it all up and running and beautiful
by the one hundredth Anniversity, which is coming up in
(23:49):
twenty twenty nine. And we're almost half to twenty twenty five,
so it's not too far away.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
That's wonderful. You know.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
In the trash business, weather plays such a huge part
of what we do. Between when it's really hot like
we've had the last few weeks, it's a struggle for
our guys. But then the severe storms are play such
a role in what we do, and I know it's
a huge impact for both the state. Maybe talk about
(24:18):
some of the stuff that I mean, we all see
on the news and stuff that the impact weather has,
but from the agriculture side to maybe talk about some
of that.
Speaker 5 (24:27):
Yeah, So we're still you know, we had the big
events in twenty three and twenty four, and we had
another one up up in the Kingdom, particularly you know,
near Lyndonville. This year. Again, we did not have any
significant agriculture impact on this July's weather event, but in
twenty three and twenty four it was significant. Millions of
(24:48):
dollars was damaged. You know, you can see the fields
of flooded, so a lot of crops that were being
grown for feeding animals, but we also had a lot
of vegetable produce series and it was you know, peak
time where the crops were coming in. So those particular
producers and farmers are still you know, the headlines have passed,
(25:09):
but they're still living on that and we continue to
work on trying to get them some support. We were
anticipating some federal support coming through the Farm Services Agency
with a block rant to Vermont. It hasn't been finalized,
but we're working with FSA out of Washington to get
that and hopefully we'll be able to get some some
more dollars so people can help recover from the damage
(25:32):
that was done in twenty three and twenty four. And
you guys have been living it, and you know that
the cleanup and all the debris and just the you know,
millions and millions of you know, do we calculated in
pounds or yards of debris that's been whatever the measurement is.
It's just astonishing that happened in twenty three and twenty four.
(25:55):
So still in the recovery stage, but farmers are doing
their best to make the best of it.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Anson before we let you go, is there anything we
didn't ask you about? But also or if not, is
there anything that you find people are surprised to learn
right about agriculture, food and markets in Vermont, or just
some little tidbit that people often don't realize or just
kind of is you know, under talked about.
Speaker 5 (26:24):
Yeah, I would say, you know, in agriculture, there's there's
something when we touch your life every single day, Like
you go to work in the morning, maybe you have
to pull in to gas up. Well, we inspect the
gas pumps so to make sure you're getting the proper
amount of gas and so forth. Maybe it's the daily scales.
We have entomology, so I know we've we've had an
(26:45):
issue with ticks, so we're out collecting ticks and mosquito
borne illnesses, so we're doing that. We've got economic development,
We've got folks working on water quality. We inspect meat,
we inspect milk both on the farm and then the plant.
So a lot of it has to do with consumer
assurance and making sure that things are running smoothly. But
(27:06):
it's a great place to be. It's a great place
to work, and I'm honored to work for the State
of Vermont in a constituency that is helping us feed
us and that's the bottom line of all this. In
the end, we are pretty lucky the amount of food
that we all have in Vermont. We're blessed with people
who produce high quality food and drinks. And you guys
(27:29):
are part of it. Any successful event needs proper disposal, right,
we need facilities, We need you guys playing a part,
and so everyone plays their part. And it's not always glamorous,
but it's it keeps a function and keeps it going well.
So we appreciate what you guys are all doing to
support our farmers, and I know you are at some
(27:50):
of our farmers and I know you're at plenty of
our events over the summer and winter, so it's great
to see you all.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
And you know, we.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
See the governor out talking about Veron and serving us
so well, but outside the governor, it's in your the face.
Speaker 4 (28:05):
We see you every place. So thank you for everything
you do.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I can't imagine the schedule you keep up from still
working a farming cabin. But you know, at night I
see you on on social media at some event all
over the state or out of the state promoting us.
So I don't know how you do it, but thank
you for for everything you do.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
For this day.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
Well, thank you so much. It's it's just a just
an honor. And I've got a wonderful job. And got
to tell you I eat pretty well. You know, it's
not a not a cheese I haven't touched you know,
or don't know about, so it's all pretty good. So everyone,
we didn't talk about creamies, but we can do that.
It's a whole separate podcast.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Yeah me too, absolutely, yes, definitely a fan of a
good creamy and that is absolutely could be a podcast,
an entire podcast one time.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
So maybe what we'll do is, maybe we'll get this
milking thing to happen.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Yeah, I get some video of it, and then we
can have you back on and we can check out
how the milking went and talk about creamies, because that
all kind of just naturally.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
We're gonna have a milking contest between you two, and
we're gonna document it and then and then we're going
to air it and then maybe the winner, maybe we'll
come up with the prize. I'll think of something I.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Like, love it, We'll do it. Thank you so much.
As we just discussed, you are a very very busy man.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
I'm not sure that you sleep, so we appreciate you
taking a little bit of time to chat with us here.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
On the podcast You Beta.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
By Anthon. Yeah, I'm not sure he sleeps.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
No, it's it's just it's just amazing. I've known Anson
for a long time and he's always been like this,
and he's uh, it's true, not because he was with us,
but he's he's a vermot treasure, so we're.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
Ling to have him.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
I don't know if you caught this or not, but
a couple of times he called us the track you
trashy guys, I'll take it.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
There's not enough. People always say, like you can call
me trashy, but I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Yeah, you know, and and it's a good segue into
you trash here or not, so you know, this week's
question is you know, and there's I have to preface
it with you know, there are things that you should
and shouldn't do, but sometimes it's not exactly trash here
or not, so trash here or not this week, not
returning your shopping cart to the corral in the parking
(30:21):
lot trashy.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
And I used to be like, I don't know, maybe
someone else will park and this will be convenient for them.
But then one time I saw a video of a
person that was like in a wheelchair and they couldn't
go down the sidewalk to get into the store because
people had just like blocked it with them all. I've
also seen the argument of like moms like right, like
so how like logistically, what am I supposed to do?
(30:45):
Like put my kid in my car but then leave
my car running and write and open and bring that
like someone could steal my child?
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Like what do I do?
Speaker 1 (30:55):
And so situationally, sure, there could be times where you know,
it's it's harder to figure out. I do because of
that if I see like a mom with a kid
and I am just out there like we'll offer.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
One time it ended up okay.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
But I was at Hanford unloading my car and I
like went to putting in the side and Ellie was
in the front and it just started rolling across the
parking lot and some woman stopped it for me and
was like, oh my god. I was like, wow, thanks Ellie.
He was just like, Aha, this is great. But yeah,
I think the logistics are hard, but I think you
should just come on, get the extra steps in and
(31:32):
do the right thing.
Speaker 3 (31:32):
I agree, I agree, and I'm said that answer laughed
because I asked him.
Speaker 4 (31:36):
He was something about cows. Which cow? Does chocolate milk
come from?
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Chocolate? Oh? No, that's like we should have asked them that.
We should have asked that. Well, well we're as we're milking.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
That actually a really funny thing to be be like, well, okay, wait,
so this is where we just get like white milk from,
Like where do you get the chocolate milk from?
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Absolutely right?
Speaker 5 (31:58):
He was good.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
He was like a good note to leave you all
on make sure that you like and subscribe, send us
some comments some questions for the Trash Talking and Giving
Back podcast. Thank you again to Anson Tabbitts for joining
us this week, and we will see you all another time.
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