March 14, 2025 • 37 mins
What happens when we prioritize family in an economy designed to pull us apart? Shannon Latham joins Sam Byler just one day after celebrating his 25th wedding anniversary, sparking a profound conversation about the intersection of family values and business success in the shed industry.
Together they explore how traditional marriage celebrations—once grand community events marking 25th and 50th anniversaries—have faded from cultural prominence, reflecting broader societal shifts away from family-centered values. Shannon shares they were told their marriage would never last, yet through determination and commitment, they've built a lasting partnership that now spans a quarter century.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn as they examine the unique family-oriented culture of the shed industry. From manufacturing shops run by fathers and sons to hauling businesses where children gradually join the family trade, Shannon and Sam celebrate how this sector has managed to preserve family integration while many other industries drive division between work and home life.
"Family is your first ministry," Shannon reflects, articulating a perspective that challenges the corporate expectation that work must always come before personal relationships. They share stories of businesses within their community where this principle guides operations, creating environments where family strengthens rather than competes with business success.
Perhaps most compelling is their examination of economic pressures that forced changes in traditional family structures. Shannon recounts how rising costs in the 1980s pushed his mother into the workforce, dramatically altering their family's daily routines and quality of life. This personal story illuminates a broader cultural shift that continues to challenge family cohesion today.
Whether you're in the shed industry or simply interested in how business and family can harmoniously coexist, this thought-provoking conversation offers wisdom for navigating work-life integration in a world that increasingly tries to separate them. Don't miss this authentic exploration of values, relationships, and finding purpose through both work and family.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sambassador (00:08):
Welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek
podcast.
Friday fun day with Sambassador.
I'm your host, Sam Byler.
Um, I'm kind of kicked backtonight.
Y'all, uh, lost my hat.
I'm kind of kicked back tonight.
Y'all Lost my hat, got myweekly shower in and took my
(00:29):
wife out to dinner and got tochill out for a little bit, and
I'm excited about who I've goton today tonight.
Shannon Latham, the boss, theShed Geek.
How are you, man?
Shed Geek (00:50):
I'm doing really good and I, I, I mimic your energy.
I'm laid back tonight.
This is one day after my 25thwedding anniversary.
Sambassador (01:00):
Oh yeah.
Shed Geek (01:01):
Yeah, I appreciate it .
We took the day off to spendtogether and I actually put work
down for the whole day.
And that was very difficult forme to do, but I come prepared,
Sam.
I come prepared for Fun DayFridays with my Shed Hauler
(01:22):
Brotherhood gear.
I don't know if you noticed.
Oh yeah, I did.
I wondered if you were going tomention something about that or
not.
I'm representing.
I'm representing for Sam andall the guys there and the
haulers and what they do.
Yeah, I always enjoy anythingshed hauler related.
Sambassador (01:45):
Absolutely 25 years 25 years.
Shed Geek (01:51):
Are you starting to feel old?
I am.
I look back at my 10-yearwedding anniversary.
We went down to Nashville,stayed at the Opryland Hotel and
I had a head full of hair.
Opryland Hotel and I had a headfull of hair and I was like I
don't know what happened in sucha short amount of time.
Now it'll grow, it's just, andit's not even like the
(02:16):
hairline's missing, it's justthin, Sam.
You know it's just thin, but Ican't stand to let it grow out
even a little bit now.
I've been shaving it for solong.
I wish it would all just goahead and turn loose.
So uh, but yeah 20, 25 years andum, uh, we started dating 29
years ago when I was just asophomore in high school and uh,
(02:41):
it's really neat to reflect onthings like that, because that's
maybe one of my favorite thingsabout the podcast is we don't
just hammer, we do hammer sheds.
Right, we hammer carports andall that stuff now, but we talk
about life.
We just talk about like reallife and how family and ministry
(03:03):
and all those things sort ofcombine to make up your life.
And I read a post the other dayof someone who had been married
to their high school sweetheartfor 14 years.
Actually, her and him weremarried, but she was writing the
post and she was like get readyfor a roller coaster because
(03:23):
you're going to meet so manydifferent versions of each other
over the years.
And when I think back to meIndiana, whenever I was 15 and
we were dating, versus being 44and now grandparents a roller
(03:49):
coaster looking back over the 25years of just marriage, work,
family you know thinking abouthow she supported me through all
of my endeavors the craziness,you know, the craziness of life.
You know being stubborn andbeing stubborn and being driven.
In my younger age I've had tocome home.
I bet you've had to do thiswith Miss Karen Sam.
(04:10):
I've had to come home at leastonce or more and explain to my
wife why I got fired today.
Yep.
Sambassador (04:22):
And she stood by me .
Anyway, I was just thinking wecould dedicate this whole
episode just to our spouses, toour wives, and I see so many
people in this industry that Ilook up to and respect and I see
the relationship they have withtheir wives and it's just like
(04:44):
man, it's a big deal up to andrespect and I see the
relationship they have withtheir wives and it's just like
man, it's a big deal.
And we were talking about was Italking to you about that the
other day about how we don'tcelebrate marriage big
anniversary anymore yeah 25thwedding anniversary for my mom
and dad in a culture wherepeople stayed married forever.
(05:08):
25th wedding anniversary wascelebrated almost like a wedding
.
We threw up, I mean, we, we hadthe whole thing.
We had the table set up frontand everything.
Um, you know, we had the, thepeople, the uh, I keep the
witnesses what do you call it?
Drawing a blank here, I'mgetting old.
But we had, we had it all setup just like a wedding.
A lot of people renewed theirvows and then, you know, the
50th, that's a golden one and wedon't hear that anymore, it's.
(05:34):
It's just, I mean, you took theday off and went celebrated.
Good on you, but there was.
You know, it's like sometimes Iwonder if we shouldn't be
promoting or doing more like wehave time to promote anything
else or do anything else.
But, um, you know, marriage isunder attack in this country.
We know it.
You know, as conservatives, um,the family's under attack.
(05:56):
You know, you said you became agrandpa.
Um, and I'm just man, thatthrills me to no end.
You know, I could have been agrandpa long, in fact, if I
would have if my son would havehad a kid when I did, I'd have a
13 year old grandkid.
Oh goodness, yeah, and I'm likethere's no way.
I don't even want to thinkabout that.
They're actually getting oldenough that they're actually
(06:21):
starting to talk about kids alittle bit, you know, and it's
like old enough that they'reactually starting to talk about
kids a little bit, you know, andit's like well, you know I yeah
, we're, we're.
Shed Geek (06:29):
You're absolutely right on celebrating family,
family, culture, life and thingslike that.
And, um, you know, everythingwe do in the shed industry, I, I
, I I'm using generalizedstatements here by saying
everything, but generallyspeaking, everything that you do
(06:50):
in your work is to support yourfamily.
And you know, I heard a pastorsay one time your family is your
first ministry.
You know, your family is thefirst ministry that God trusted
you with.
You know, my buddy Dylan, youknow, Dylan likes work so much.
He says man, I love to be here,I mean, I actually eat it up.
(07:10):
He said you know, God gave, Godgave man work, even before he
gave him a woman.
You know, and so I love havingthese conversations and how they
roll into your and your workand your ministry and how they
all just kind of collectivelycome together.
(07:31):
At least for me and I thinkthat was one of the biggest
changing points of my life isrealizing that church wasn't
something you did on Sunday, orGod wasn't something you put in
a box and you checked the box.
You know family was a box thatyou checked I spent time with
the kids.
Or I know family was a was abox that you checked.
I spent time with the kids, orI supported them or I did this
work was just a box.
I somehow feel like I found themagic, at least for me,
(07:55):
whenever I began to say, hey,sometimes you're at work, but
God calls you to pray for acustomer maybe not sell them
something.
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Shed Geek (09:07):
You know, maybe today is take your son to work day
and let him understand what daddoes, and we've literally done
that to the point where he's,he's editing this podcast, right
.
So, it's just to me it's justreally important to have that
sense of community.
And that's one thing you saidearlier about conservatives that
(09:29):
they do well, and one thingthat I've even been very envious
about.
In the Anabaptist culture.
I talk to you guys all the time, all kinds of guys that are
Mennonite, Amish, and they'llsay, well, I was out of town.
We had to go four states overfor a wedding.
It was my cousin's daughter'ssecond, second, third dog that
(09:51):
was getting married or something.
And we went to the wedding andI'm like holy cow, like you guys
, like they come out in suchgroves in support of each other
and support of, like the, the,the holy matrimony of marriage,
right, uh, and that's, that'spretty impressive.
Uh, I don't feel like we hadthat even 25 years ago with a
lot of our family and friends.
(10:14):
Several didn't come to thewedding, most wrote us off, said
we'd never make it and, to behonest with you, we're lucky we
did.
To be honest with you, theymight have been right.
We've had to fight througheverything to keep this thing
together, but we've done that.
We work to keep it together asopposed to let that fall apart.
Yeah, I don't know.
(10:35):
It's an interesting, dynamic,interesting thought.
Sambassador (10:38):
Yeah Well, I mean I know a pile of shops out there
that I mean manufacturing,hauling, more of those two.
I see some of it in therent-to-own world, maybe a
little bit in sales, but inmanufacturing you see a lot of
places that are family-runbusinesses Dad and his sons,
(11:03):
daughters involved, spousesinvolved, family operations
involved, spouses involved,family operations and then the
hauling side.
It seems like in the past twoyears I'm seeing more and more
of maybe it's just theindustry's aging to a point to
where some of those guys youknow back in the Tennessee bash
that were all what I called theyou know Billy, the kids and the
(11:25):
young guns and all those guysthey're starting to get a little
older, their kids are getting alittle bit older and you're
starting to see them bring theirkids around more.
That's back to the values ofthe shed industry.
It's huge, it's a big deal.
We all have our love-haterelationships with it and stuff,
but at the end of the day, yousee more of that, we had that
(11:46):
construction growing up as kids.
You see more of that.
You know we had thatconstruction growing up as kids.
You know we'd all go to workwith our dads and the guys that
were, you know, farming.
The kids stayed on the farm andfarmed and to be able to see
that brought together the way itis in the shed industry and
yeah, I was actually leading upto you know what you've done
with your family.
They're all tied in workingwith you.
(12:06):
I mean you cannot ask for morethan that.
Tied in working with you, Imean you cannot ask for more
than that.
That's the top of the mountain.
Shed Geek (12:17):
Yeah, it tickles me to be able to have Deanna here
working with me every day, formultiple reasons.
One some people say there's noway I can work with my spouse
and I got to tell you, me andDeanna sort of work like a
well-oiled machine in terms oflike work, even our personal
life, like we complement eachother well and I think we're a
good representation in many waysof opposites attract in some
(12:41):
way.
But me and Deanna have a littlebit different than traditional
roles in our marriage.
You know, a lot of the guys arequiet, uh, don't speak a whole
lot.
Uh, you know, you hear that.
You know the ladies like yap,yap, yap or whatever.
It was just the opposite.
For us I'm the yapper.
And uh.
I'll talk to anybody that I,that I, I can see I sit down on
(13:02):
a Walmart you know bench, andnext thing you know I'm 10
minutes into a deep story withhim and Deanna's like how do you
do that?
And I'm like what she's like?
You know where he works, whathe did for a living?
I don't know.
I just find people interesting.
I think that's why I started apodcast.
I wanted to interview all theseinteresting people because I
(13:23):
genuinely find their storiesinteresting.
But we work together, well, youknow, and the whole family
works, you know, together.
Well, troy Aaliyah works for uspart time, you know.
We get to see the babysometimes whenever she comes
over.
So that works out that, so thatshe can work and we can sit and
(13:44):
watch the baby a little bit.
But no, it really is.
It's become a real familydynamic for us and for a guy who
struggled to figure out purposein life and purpose in work, I
would say that I've hit thejackpot about as well as I could
possibly hope for.
Sambassador (14:01):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, agreed, yep, so you knowone of the guys that always –'ll
just give a shout out toquality in Texas.
You know the stripes there,right?
Yeah, you know what they'redoing there.
I love both of us.
We love going there and hangingout with this guy.
Yeah, you know a couple ofbrothers and their dad there,
(14:23):
and then they have anotherbrother over here in Georgia
that I get to see.
I need to get back over thereand see him again.
I haven't seen him in a whileto get by there and see him.
It's a big deal to me that wecan be in an industry that is
still fighting for somethingthat's becoming more and more
(14:45):
gray, vague.
They're trying to make it towhere it's not even important
anymore.
They want it to be downplayedas much as possible.
Shed Geek (14:59):
Yeah, what do they use in the news?
They use the term the nuclearfamily in the sense of a nucleus
and, and you know how it's.
Uh, you know, you know a lot ofthat comes from, you know, from
our roots, right, uh, but thereality is I'm better with
(15:24):
family.
You know, I'm not better on myown and I and I'm better because
I'm married.
I think that she makes me abetter person.
Sambassador (15:34):
I got a question Does that stem from corporate
America?
I remember back in the 70s mydad would go to breakfast with
some of the local business guysand stuff.
We were a small barn shop outin the middle of nowhere in
Missouri, you know, and it was astruggle.
(15:56):
It was.
People talk about strugglingtoday.
Let me tell you something.
Central Missouri in themid-'70s it was terrible, and he
would.
You know.
Dad was a little bit like me.
He knew a lot of the people inthe community, got to know a lot
and they would basically talkabout being up against the
(16:19):
machine, and the machine to themwas corporate America.
They knew it was coming andthey were talking about how it
would divide families.
You know.
They would get wives to go backto work and the kids would be
at home by themselves.
They called it selling theirsoul to the machine.
They're trying to make itirrelevant.
(16:42):
The reasoning behind it is ifthe family is more important
than the job, then you're nevercommitted to the job.
Shed Geek (16:54):
Oh man what a can of worms.
I literally heard a former shedhauler, who's still very
related in the shed haulingbusiness, on a phone call, or
returned a phone call his day,and he said he literally told
the girls at the office that youknow, relationships are more
(17:15):
important than the job.
And they was like no, don't saythat you know, or something
along the lines of that.
And he was like that'sabsolutely the case.
It'll always be the case thatfamily will come first.
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Shed Geek (19:11):
You know, there's probably a political avenue that
we can take just off of thisconversation when you think
(19:35):
about what a shed hauler is.
Probably what dominates 90% male, would you say oh yeah, you
know, we have good female onesout there, but they're few and
far between right, uh, and thensales is going to be a much
different number.
I don't know what that numberis, but it's going to be
considerably different.
I would, I would think thatthere's going to be a much
higher level of femaleparticipation, sort of, in that
Manufacturing.
I would make the assumptionthat it's going to be male
(19:58):
dominated in many cases, maybenot completely, but I'd be
curious of what that percentageis.
Do you know a single female?
Sambassador (20:07):
Do you know a single female builder?
Shed Geek (20:11):
I know a couple that either own manufacturing or have
.
I've seen families I never willforget working for Irvin at
Summit and going down toAdvanced, Missouri, to David
Troyer's place, and this wholefamily was out there building
(20:32):
sheds.
I'm talking about kids,everybody, you know what I mean.
They'd be out there justhammering away and men and I,
family and I was so impressed bytheir family atmosphere, you
know what I mean.
The way they would all jump inand just get a job done.
It kind of reminded me ofgrowing up.
You know, in the in theeighties, where my, my dad
worked at a kitty litter plant.
(20:52):
Um, and you know he was a, hewas a maintenance foreman.
You know my dad had a sixthgrade education.
You know, uh, uh, his dad madehim quit All the boys quit when
they got to sixth grade and, um,um, you know, made them, made
(21:12):
them cut wood for a livingbecause that's how they made
their living and uh.
But my dad learned how to begood with his hands.
He was self-taught, you knowthey're four, so taught himself
how to change brakes and hestarted teaching himself how to
work on vehicles.
The next thing, you know he'spretty, know he's pretty handy,
right, he's pretty mechanical.
And when he gets a job there,years later on into his life he,
(21:33):
you know, made for a reallygood maintenance foreman that he
would bring us up there to thatplace and have help mow the
grass, or he was responsible forfilling the soda machines on
the side.
These were like little sidegigs, little side hustles he
took to help try and make moneyfor the family.
(21:55):
And uh, you know, um, I don'tknow what we mowed.
I bet we mowed three or fouracres at least back then and
this wasn't like a footballfield, this was like very patchy
mow some here we'd eat here.
Big field here.
I think he got paid 50 to mowthat something back then of
(22:18):
course, we got none of thatright because we were just, you
know, family helping out.
We were just kids just tryingto do our part, but, um, I felt
like that did a lot of good forus.
But while we're on this subjectand how you think about the
family dynamic in the shedindustry, you know my dad was
able to make a living.
You know cause, my mom, westill talk about it to this day?
(22:43):
Cause in 1985, they used to.
Health insurance used to cost $3for the whole family per check.
Yep, yeah, you know what I payfor health insurance today.
For, for just me and Deanna,Troy's got his own, Aaliyah's
married off and on Mason'sinsurance through the fire
department.
You know we pay for insurance,we get, we get no subsidy.
(23:06):
We pay $1,500 a month forinsurance.
So, it's one of those thingswhere I'm like, wow, three bucks
, you know.
And then I think back to theeighties, during that time where
you know I could sense thepressure on our family
financially, even back then formy dad who was making good money
(23:27):
, that my mom ended up having togo to work to kind of help.
And, Sam, that changedeverything.
That changed everything for ourfamily.
My mom used to get up in themornings and she would fix us
breakfast before school.
You know, she took care of thehome, she took care of the bills
.
You know, she took care of allthe errands.
(23:48):
Like, my dad's job was to gowork, bring in money for the
family, take care of stuffaround the house.
Right, that's what he did.
You know, as far as, like, thecar or mowing or stuff like that
.
You know, uh, my mom took careof everything else and you could
sense it even whenever she wentto work.
Everything changed for all of us.
Right, there was no breakfastin the morning, it was cereal.
(24:12):
She wasn't up cooking eggs, shewas tired because she had to
work.
Dinner changed because dinnerwasn't on the table necessarily
Every night, strict at 4 or 4.
Thirty or five o'clock orwhatever we ate.
Uh, you know.
So, things just change wheneveryou do.
And I'd be curious at how manypeople in the shed industry and
(24:33):
how they view it in terms of,like, the family dynamic in
their business, yep, somethingwe haven't really hit on, is it?
Sambassador (24:44):
Not really there's been.
There's been occasions whenwe'll kind of tap dance around
the subject of the supportingcast behind us.
We'll talk about that a littlebit, but not the outright attack
that we've seen the last 20years on the actual structure of
family.
And I believe if my dad wasalive today he would say that
(25:11):
what they were afraid of in the70s is exactly what we've gotten
.
I'm sure there's old guys outthere that had those same
conversations back in those days, but central Missouri was a
very, very poor place back inthe mid-70s and some of that
(25:31):
area even still is Like I goback and visit every once in a
while and it just kind of blowsme away.
You know, man, I am very blessedto be living in the area I'm in
, other than the curse oftraffic.
It's awful here.
We went in like today.
We literally wanted to go eatearly tonight, wanted to take
(25:52):
Aaron and Haley out, and I got abuddy here, john, that's trying
to help me walk through whatthe future looks like for what
I'm doing right now, which is awhole separate podcast, but it
was so we headed into town itwas probably 10 after 5, and
we're running back roads intotown and there is nothing but
(26:14):
lines and lines of trafficcoming out at us and it blows me
away at the amount of peoplethat we have in this area.
But it also makes for a strongeconomy.
It makes for a good way to makea living.
There's plenty to do all that.
But I'm like man, I'm just readyto move, you know, back to
(26:35):
central Missouri where there'snobody.
Shed Geek (26:38):
Yeah, no, you guys are getting busier and busier in
that state.
It seems like all the timeSouth Carolina and North
Carolina.
Where exactly in centralMissouri were you?
Sambassador (26:50):
North Central Missouri.
We were all the way up on US-36, which is the top route across
the top of the state betweenChillicothe and Hannibal, a
little place called BrookfieldMissouri.
Some of the folks that willlisten to this.
They'll be like oh I knowexactly where that is.
They'll be like wonder who heknew up there.
Shed Geek (27:13):
I think just here in Hannibal alone is kind of
interesting.
I took a job; so I went to bootcamp in central Missouri.
Right, I went to Fort LeonardWood, Missouri, there in West of
Rolla, so that would have beenin the summer of 98.
When I got out I was working inCape Girardeau, Missouri and I
was working for a company calledDNK.
(27:35):
They used to deliverpharmaceutical supplies to
pharmacies, including medicines,and I used to meet a guy in
Hannibal, Missouri, on themidnight shift.
He would drive from Des Moines,Iowa, and I would drive from
cape Girardeau and we would meetin Hannibal.
We'd swap vans and then head onback our own separate ways, and
that route happened five nightsa week.
(27:55):
So, uh, it's kind ofinteresting to just of course
you know Hannibal's, halfway,Missouri's halfway, famous for
mark twain and everything else.
But, um, your lifestyle and mine, even though you grew up, uh,
you know, under a little bit ofdifferent, uh, culture would
(28:17):
have been very similar in thesense that, you know, didn't
grow up with a whole lot ofmoney and things like that, and
so you really relied on dad toyou know help, you know make a
living, and mom pitched on dadto you know help, you know make
a living.
And mom pitched in where shecould you know what I mean she
would always jump in and helpout and things like that.
And I see that same thing todaywhenever I go to shed expos or
(28:39):
trade shows or the shed haulerbash or any of the local
barbecues that you see, you know, kids come out, wives come out,
family comes out and support,um, it's, it's really a neat
environment and it's, um, it'sreally made us all feel welcome,
uh, especially coming from, youknow, not within the culture of
(29:02):
the Anabaptist community.
You sometimes feel a little bitout of place, almost even,
because I don't know the people,like I, always we call it the
name game, right, like you know,you guys will be like oh, was.
You know, was he kin to such andsuch and they lived in such and
(29:23):
such and I'm like, oh mygoodness, what is going on here?
But you, you guys, you guys alldo that and it's, there's such
a connectivity there.
But honestly, it's a bit ofenvy for me because I do what it
was like to grow up with a bigfamily and cousins and all that,
and they were always around andmy kids haven't really got to
experience much of that.
To be honest with you, Sam, uhand I see that family dynamic
(29:47):
play out, certainly at the Shedevents, and maybe we need to be
moving towards that more insteadof away from that.
Maybe this is the cost ofprogress.
Yeah, I don't.
Sambassador (30:00):
I don't the cost of progress is.
I don't it's.
I know what you mean.
I don't like the term becauseit's like progress should be
able to happen without the costof what I hold dear to me.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, yeah, so you know.
(30:23):
Yeah, like my mom, you know shenever went.
She never went to work, shenever got a job.
She was always at home.
But she's the one that kept thecost of living so low.
But she kept a garden and sheplanted all this stuff and she
knew how to cook good and sheknew how to make do with stuff
and you know she learned how to.
You know, oh, 20 dollars a weekfor groceries.
(30:43):
You know that was it.
The rest of it came out of thegarden.
It's a whole different world,man.
It's just crazy.
Shed Geek (30:58):
My grandma.
Sambassador (30:59):
Women out there are still doing that.
They're still making it work.
One reason the Amish don't haveto have near as much is because
they know how to have just asmuch.
They just know how to do itbetter and easier.
Shed Geek (31:16):
You're right.
My grandma would can things forthe winter.
I mean, she'd wrap everythingup in that white paper, whatever
it's called that, that freezerpaper.
She'd have so much stuff in thefreezer, but she would just
(31:37):
keep stuff in general.
She was.
You know, she wasn't.
She wasn't hoarding to behoarding, I think she was.
You know, she grew up as achild during the great
depression and you kepteverything you could get your
hands on.
So, for them, uh, we're goingto use this one day, you know,
rang true, because you know shemade use of it one day.
So, she, you know she, she justkept stuff, and we had so much
(31:59):
stuff in her basement to get ridof.
After she passed, we were justlike, why would she keep this?
You know?
But that was that mentality,was.
You know, when everything wasscarce, you know, you had to
kind of keep what you could toget by.
I mean, you had, like you said,you had to make do.
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Sambassador (33:59):
You said something about canning.
You reminded me of one of myfavorite Amish Mennonite jokes.
This couple moved into acommunity where there was a lot
of Amish Mennonites and theywere trying to fit in.
It was out in the country andthey were doing the whole raise
a garden and everything andtrying to keep their cost of
(34:20):
living down and stuff.
And one day the husband comehome he sat down there at the
table and his wife had madedinner and everything and
they're sitting there eating.
And he said you know, he saidhe heard, he said I stopped in
and talk to those Mennonitesdown the road again today.
And he said they said one ofthe most peculiar things he says
I've ever heard.
He said I asked him what theydo with all their sweet corn and
(34:49):
he said she looked at me andshe said that they eat what they
could and what they couldn't.
They could and his wife lookedat him and she goes are you sure
that's what?
she said he's like yes, that'sexactly what she said.
She said that they eat whatthey could and what they
couldn't they could.
And he said I can't figure outwhat she's talking about.
So, a couple of days later, thewife's in town and she come
(35:10):
back through there and, sureenough, the midnight lady's out
there in the garden.
So, she pulled over there toset out the road.
She walked over and she, youknow, hey, you know, it's a
beautiful day.
How are you doing today andeverything?
Oh, today and everything, oh,we're doing great, you know, she
says.
My husband come home the othernight and he told me the most
peculiar thing I've ever heardof.
He said that he asked you aboutwhat you do with all your sweet
(35:31):
corn and you told him that youeat what you could and what you
couldn't.
You could.
And the man, that lady lookedat a little bit and she goes
well, that doesn't make anysense.
I don't know why I would havesaid that.
And uh, she's like well, whatdid you tell him?
And she goes well, I told himwe eat what we can and what we
can't.
We can.
Shed Geek (35:57):
I felt like you were going some direction similar to
that.
I wasn't exactly sure I got totell you I don't hear too many
Amish and Mennonite jokes.
Sambassador (36:09):
I got a whole bunch of them.
You want to make anotherepisode?
Shed Geek (36:15):
I don't hear too often.
I think people appreciate that.
Sambassador (36:21):
How many Mennonites can you get in a band?
I don't know One more.
Shed Geek (36:28):
Yeah.
I didn't recognize so manythings from the culture.
But I'm so much wiser now afterspeaking with so many different
people.
And I say wiser now afterspeaking with so many different
people, and, and I say wiser, Iguess I'm just, uh, more attuned
to culture and how differentthings work.
(36:50):
And, um, it's really opened upmy eyes not only to not growing
up in in that culture, thatreligion, but even other
cultures and religions, at leastbeing more open-minded to, to
thoughts and things, and the waythat people do stuff, and
asking questions and beinginquisitive rather than being so
(37:11):
judgmental.
I feel like that's the humancondition in many cases if we
don't understand something, thefirst thing we do is criticize
it, you know, cause it's notlike us.
Sambassador (37:20):
Thank y'all for listening to today's episode.
This was part one of a two partepisode, so be sure to listen
next week to today's episode.
This was part one of a two-partepisode, so be sure to listen
next week.
To finish today's podcast.
Welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek
podcast.
Friday fun day with Sambassador.
I'm your host, Sam Byler.
Um, I'm kind of kicked backtonight.
Y'all, uh, lost my hat.
I'm kind of kicked back tonight.
Y'all Lost my hat, got myweekly shower in and took my
(00:29):
wife out to dinner and got tochill out for a little bit, and
I'm excited about who I've goton today tonight.
Shannon Latham, the boss, theShed Geek.
How are you, man?
Shed Geek (00:50):
I'm doing really good and I, I, I mimic your energy.
I'm laid back tonight.
This is one day after my 25thwedding anniversary.
Sambassador (01:00):
Oh yeah.
Shed Geek (01:01):
Yeah, I appreciate it .
We took the day off to spendtogether and I actually put work
down for the whole day.
And that was very difficult forme to do, but I come prepared,
Sam.
I come prepared for Fun DayFridays with my Shed Hauler
(01:22):
Brotherhood gear.
I don't know if you noticed.
Oh yeah, I did.
I wondered if you were going tomention something about that or
not.
I'm representing.
I'm representing for Sam andall the guys there and the
haulers and what they do.
Yeah, I always enjoy anythingshed hauler related.
Sambassador (01:45):
Absolutely 25 years 25 years.
Shed Geek (01:51):
Are you starting to feel old?
I am.
I look back at my 10-yearwedding anniversary.
We went down to Nashville,stayed at the Opryland Hotel and
I had a head full of hair.
Opryland Hotel and I had a headfull of hair and I was like I
don't know what happened in sucha short amount of time.
Now it'll grow, it's just, andit's not even like the
(02:16):
hairline's missing, it's justthin, Sam.
You know it's just thin, but Ican't stand to let it grow out
even a little bit now.
I've been shaving it for solong.
I wish it would all just goahead and turn loose.
So uh, but yeah 20, 25 years andum, uh, we started dating 29
years ago when I was just asophomore in high school and uh,
(02:41):
it's really neat to reflect onthings like that, because that's
maybe one of my favorite thingsabout the podcast is we don't
just hammer, we do hammer sheds.
Right, we hammer carports andall that stuff now, but we talk
about life.
We just talk about like reallife and how family and ministry
(03:03):
and all those things sort ofcombine to make up your life.
And I read a post the other dayof someone who had been married
to their high school sweetheartfor 14 years.
Actually, her and him weremarried, but she was writing the
post and she was like get readyfor a roller coaster because
(03:23):
you're going to meet so manydifferent versions of each other
over the years.
And when I think back to meIndiana, whenever I was 15 and
we were dating, versus being 44and now grandparents a roller
(03:49):
coaster looking back over the 25years of just marriage, work,
family you know thinking abouthow she supported me through all
of my endeavors the craziness,you know, the craziness of life.
You know being stubborn andbeing stubborn and being driven.
In my younger age I've had tocome home.
I bet you've had to do thiswith Miss Karen Sam.
(04:10):
I've had to come home at leastonce or more and explain to my
wife why I got fired today.
Yep.
Sambassador (04:22):
And she stood by me .
Anyway, I was just thinking wecould dedicate this whole
episode just to our spouses, toour wives, and I see so many
people in this industry that Ilook up to and respect and I see
the relationship they have withtheir wives and it's just like
(04:44):
man, it's a big deal up to andrespect and I see the
relationship they have withtheir wives and it's just like
man, it's a big deal.
And we were talking about was Italking to you about that the
other day about how we don'tcelebrate marriage big
anniversary anymore yeah 25thwedding anniversary for my mom
and dad in a culture wherepeople stayed married forever.
(05:08):
25th wedding anniversary wascelebrated almost like a wedding
.
We threw up, I mean, we, we hadthe whole thing.
We had the table set up frontand everything.
Um, you know, we had the, thepeople, the uh, I keep the
witnesses what do you call it?
Drawing a blank here, I'mgetting old.
But we had, we had it all setup just like a wedding.
A lot of people renewed theirvows and then, you know, the
50th, that's a golden one and wedon't hear that anymore, it's.
(05:34):
It's just, I mean, you took theday off and went celebrated.
Good on you, but there was.
You know, it's like sometimes Iwonder if we shouldn't be
promoting or doing more like wehave time to promote anything
else or do anything else.
But, um, you know, marriage isunder attack in this country.
We know it.
You know, as conservatives, um,the family's under attack.
(05:56):
You know, you said you became agrandpa.
Um, and I'm just man, thatthrills me to no end.
You know, I could have been agrandpa long, in fact, if I
would have if my son would havehad a kid when I did, I'd have a
13 year old grandkid.
Oh goodness, yeah, and I'm likethere's no way.
I don't even want to thinkabout that.
They're actually getting oldenough that they're actually
(06:21):
starting to talk about kids alittle bit, you know, and it's
like old enough that they'reactually starting to talk about
kids a little bit, you know, andit's like well, you know I yeah
, we're, we're.
Shed Geek (06:29):
You're absolutely right on celebrating family,
family, culture, life and thingslike that.
And, um, you know, everythingwe do in the shed industry, I, I
, I I'm using generalizedstatements here by saying
everything, but generallyspeaking, everything that you do
(06:50):
in your work is to support yourfamily.
And you know, I heard a pastorsay one time your family is your
first ministry.
You know, your family is thefirst ministry that God trusted
you with.
You know, my buddy Dylan, youknow, Dylan likes work so much.
He says man, I love to be here,I mean, I actually eat it up.
(07:10):
He said you know, God gave, Godgave man work, even before he
gave him a woman.
You know, and so I love havingthese conversations and how they
roll into your and your workand your ministry and how they
all just kind of collectivelycome together.
(07:31):
At least for me and I thinkthat was one of the biggest
changing points of my life isrealizing that church wasn't
something you did on Sunday, orGod wasn't something you put in
a box and you checked the box.
You know family was a box thatyou checked I spent time with
the kids.
Or I know family was a was abox that you checked.
I spent time with the kids, orI supported them or I did this
work was just a box.
I somehow feel like I found themagic, at least for me,
(07:55):
whenever I began to say, hey,sometimes you're at work, but
God calls you to pray for acustomer maybe not sell them
something.
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Shed Geek (09:07):
You know, maybe today is take your son to work day
and let him understand what daddoes, and we've literally done
that to the point where he's,he's editing this podcast, right
.
So, it's just to me it's justreally important to have that
sense of community.
And that's one thing you saidearlier about conservatives that
(09:29):
they do well, and one thingthat I've even been very envious
about.
In the Anabaptist culture.
I talk to you guys all the time, all kinds of guys that are
Mennonite, Amish, and they'llsay, well, I was out of town.
We had to go four states overfor a wedding.
It was my cousin's daughter'ssecond, second, third dog that
(09:51):
was getting married or something.
And we went to the wedding andI'm like holy cow, like you guys
, like they come out in suchgroves in support of each other
and support of, like the, the,the holy matrimony of marriage,
right, uh, and that's, that'spretty impressive.
Uh, I don't feel like we hadthat even 25 years ago with a
lot of our family and friends.
(10:14):
Several didn't come to thewedding, most wrote us off, said
we'd never make it and, to behonest with you, we're lucky we
did.
To be honest with you, theymight have been right.
We've had to fight througheverything to keep this thing
together, but we've done that.
We work to keep it together asopposed to let that fall apart.
Yeah, I don't know.
(10:35):
It's an interesting, dynamic,interesting thought.
Sambassador (10:38):
Yeah Well, I mean I know a pile of shops out there
that I mean manufacturing,hauling, more of those two.
I see some of it in therent-to-own world, maybe a
little bit in sales, but inmanufacturing you see a lot of
places that are family-runbusinesses Dad and his sons,
(11:03):
daughters involved, spousesinvolved, family operations
involved, spouses involved,family operations and then the
hauling side.
It seems like in the past twoyears I'm seeing more and more
of maybe it's just theindustry's aging to a point to
where some of those guys youknow back in the Tennessee bash
that were all what I called theyou know Billy, the kids and the
(11:25):
young guns and all those guysthey're starting to get a little
older, their kids are getting alittle bit older and you're
starting to see them bring theirkids around more.
That's back to the values ofthe shed industry.
It's huge, it's a big deal.
We all have our love-haterelationships with it and stuff,
but at the end of the day, yousee more of that, we had that
(11:46):
construction growing up as kids.
You see more of that.
You know we had thatconstruction growing up as kids.
You know we'd all go to workwith our dads and the guys that
were, you know, farming.
The kids stayed on the farm andfarmed and to be able to see
that brought together the way itis in the shed industry and
yeah, I was actually leading upto you know what you've done
with your family.
They're all tied in workingwith you.
(12:06):
I mean you cannot ask for morethan that.
Tied in working with you, Imean you cannot ask for more
than that.
That's the top of the mountain.
Shed Geek (12:17):
Yeah, it tickles me to be able to have Deanna here
working with me every day, formultiple reasons.
One some people say there's noway I can work with my spouse
and I got to tell you, me andDeanna sort of work like a
well-oiled machine in terms oflike work, even our personal
life, like we complement eachother well and I think we're a
good representation in many waysof opposites attract in some
(12:41):
way.
But me and Deanna have a littlebit different than traditional
roles in our marriage.
You know, a lot of the guys arequiet, uh, don't speak a whole
lot.
Uh, you know, you hear that.
You know the ladies like yap,yap, yap or whatever.
It was just the opposite.
For us I'm the yapper.
And uh.
I'll talk to anybody that I,that I, I can see I sit down on
(13:02):
a Walmart you know bench, andnext thing you know I'm 10
minutes into a deep story withhim and Deanna's like how do you
do that?
And I'm like what she's like?
You know where he works, whathe did for a living?
I don't know.
I just find people interesting.
I think that's why I started apodcast.
I wanted to interview all theseinteresting people because I
(13:23):
genuinely find their storiesinteresting.
But we work together, well, youknow, and the whole family
works, you know, together.
Well, troy Aaliyah works for uspart time, you know.
We get to see the babysometimes whenever she comes
over.
So that works out that, so thatshe can work and we can sit and
(13:44):
watch the baby a little bit.
But no, it really is.
It's become a real familydynamic for us and for a guy who
struggled to figure out purposein life and purpose in work, I
would say that I've hit thejackpot about as well as I could
possibly hope for.
Sambassador (14:01):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, agreed, yep, so you knowone of the guys that always –'ll
just give a shout out toquality in Texas.
You know the stripes there,right?
Yeah, you know what they'redoing there.
I love both of us.
We love going there and hangingout with this guy.
Yeah, you know a couple ofbrothers and their dad there,
(14:23):
and then they have anotherbrother over here in Georgia
that I get to see.
I need to get back over thereand see him again.
I haven't seen him in a whileto get by there and see him.
It's a big deal to me that wecan be in an industry that is
still fighting for somethingthat's becoming more and more
(14:45):
gray, vague.
They're trying to make it towhere it's not even important
anymore.
They want it to be downplayedas much as possible.
Shed Geek (14:59):
Yeah, what do they use in the news?
They use the term the nuclearfamily in the sense of a nucleus
and, and you know how it's.
Uh, you know, you know a lot ofthat comes from, you know, from
our roots, right, uh, but thereality is I'm better with
(15:24):
family.
You know, I'm not better on myown and I and I'm better because
I'm married.
I think that she makes me abetter person.
Sambassador (15:34):
I got a question Does that stem from corporate
America?
I remember back in the 70s mydad would go to breakfast with
some of the local business guysand stuff.
We were a small barn shop outin the middle of nowhere in
Missouri, you know, and it was astruggle.
(15:56):
It was.
People talk about strugglingtoday.
Let me tell you something.
Central Missouri in themid-'70s it was terrible, and he
would.
You know.
Dad was a little bit like me.
He knew a lot of the people inthe community, got to know a lot
and they would basically talkabout being up against the
(16:19):
machine, and the machine to themwas corporate America.
They knew it was coming andthey were talking about how it
would divide families.
You know.
They would get wives to go backto work and the kids would be
at home by themselves.
They called it selling theirsoul to the machine.
They're trying to make itirrelevant.
(16:42):
The reasoning behind it is ifthe family is more important
than the job, then you're nevercommitted to the job.
Shed Geek (16:54):
Oh man what a can of worms.
I literally heard a former shedhauler, who's still very
related in the shed haulingbusiness, on a phone call, or
returned a phone call his day,and he said he literally told
the girls at the office that youknow, relationships are more
(17:15):
important than the job.
And they was like no, don't saythat you know, or something
along the lines of that.
And he was like that'sabsolutely the case.
It'll always be the case thatfamily will come first.
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Shed Geek (19:11):
You know, there's probably a political avenue that
we can take just off of thisconversation when you think
(19:35):
about what a shed hauler is.
Probably what dominates 90% male, would you say oh yeah, you
know, we have good female onesout there, but they're few and
far between right, uh, and thensales is going to be a much
different number.
I don't know what that numberis, but it's going to be
considerably different.
I would, I would think thatthere's going to be a much
higher level of femaleparticipation, sort of, in that
Manufacturing.
I would make the assumptionthat it's going to be male
(19:58):
dominated in many cases, maybenot completely, but I'd be
curious of what that percentageis.
Do you know a single female?
Sambassador (20:07):
Do you know a single female builder?
Shed Geek (20:11):
I know a couple that either own manufacturing or have
.
I've seen families I never willforget working for Irvin at
Summit and going down toAdvanced, Missouri, to David
Troyer's place, and this wholefamily was out there building
(20:32):
sheds.
I'm talking about kids,everybody, you know what I mean.
They'd be out there justhammering away and men and I,
family and I was so impressed bytheir family atmosphere, you
know what I mean.
The way they would all jump inand just get a job done.
It kind of reminded me ofgrowing up.
You know, in the in theeighties, where my, my dad
worked at a kitty litter plant.
(20:52):
Um, and you know he was a, hewas a maintenance foreman.
You know my dad had a sixthgrade education.
You know, uh, uh, his dad madehim quit All the boys quit when
they got to sixth grade and, um,um, you know, made them, made
(21:12):
them cut wood for a livingbecause that's how they made
their living and uh.
But my dad learned how to begood with his hands.
He was self-taught, you knowthey're four, so taught himself
how to change brakes and hestarted teaching himself how to
work on vehicles.
The next thing, you know he'spretty, know he's pretty handy,
right, he's pretty mechanical.
And when he gets a job there,years later on into his life he,
(21:33):
you know, made for a reallygood maintenance foreman that he
would bring us up there to thatplace and have help mow the
grass, or he was responsible forfilling the soda machines on
the side.
These were like little sidegigs, little side hustles he
took to help try and make moneyfor the family.
(21:55):
And uh, you know, um, I don'tknow what we mowed.
I bet we mowed three or fouracres at least back then and
this wasn't like a footballfield, this was like very patchy
mow some here we'd eat here.
Big field here.
I think he got paid 50 to mowthat something back then of
(22:18):
course, we got none of thatright because we were just, you
know, family helping out.
We were just kids just tryingto do our part, but, um, I felt
like that did a lot of good forus.
But while we're on this subjectand how you think about the
family dynamic in the shedindustry, you know my dad was
able to make a living.
You know cause, my mom, westill talk about it to this day?
(22:43):
Cause in 1985, they used to.
Health insurance used to cost $3for the whole family per check.
Yep, yeah, you know what I payfor health insurance today.
For, for just me and Deanna,Troy's got his own, Aaliyah's
married off and on Mason'sinsurance through the fire
department.
You know we pay for insurance,we get, we get no subsidy.
(23:06):
We pay $1,500 a month forinsurance.
So, it's one of those thingswhere I'm like, wow, three bucks
, you know.
And then I think back to theeighties, during that time where
you know I could sense thepressure on our family
financially, even back then formy dad who was making good money
(23:27):
, that my mom ended up having togo to work to kind of help.
And, Sam, that changedeverything.
That changed everything for ourfamily.
My mom used to get up in themornings and she would fix us
breakfast before school.
You know, she took care of thehome, she took care of the bills
.
You know, she took care of allthe errands.
(23:48):
Like, my dad's job was to gowork, bring in money for the
family, take care of stuffaround the house.
Right, that's what he did.
You know, as far as, like, thecar or mowing or stuff like that
.
You know, uh, my mom took careof everything else and you could
sense it even whenever she wentto work.
Everything changed for all of us.
Right, there was no breakfastin the morning, it was cereal.
(24:12):
She wasn't up cooking eggs, shewas tired because she had to
work.
Dinner changed because dinnerwasn't on the table necessarily
Every night, strict at 4 or 4.
Thirty or five o'clock orwhatever we ate.
Uh, you know.
So, things just change wheneveryou do.
And I'd be curious at how manypeople in the shed industry and
(24:33):
how they view it in terms of,like, the family dynamic in
their business, yep, somethingwe haven't really hit on, is it?
Sambassador (24:44):
Not really there's been.
There's been occasions whenwe'll kind of tap dance around
the subject of the supportingcast behind us.
We'll talk about that a littlebit, but not the outright attack
that we've seen the last 20years on the actual structure of
family.
And I believe if my dad wasalive today he would say that
(25:11):
what they were afraid of in the70s is exactly what we've gotten
.
I'm sure there's old guys outthere that had those same
conversations back in those days, but central Missouri was a
very, very poor place back inthe mid-70s and some of that
(25:31):
area even still is Like I goback and visit every once in a
while and it just kind of blowsme away.
You know, man, I am very blessedto be living in the area I'm in
, other than the curse oftraffic.
It's awful here.
We went in like today.
We literally wanted to go eatearly tonight, wanted to take
(25:52):
Aaron and Haley out, and I got abuddy here, john, that's trying
to help me walk through whatthe future looks like for what
I'm doing right now, which is awhole separate podcast, but it
was so we headed into town itwas probably 10 after 5, and
we're running back roads intotown and there is nothing but
(26:14):
lines and lines of trafficcoming out at us and it blows me
away at the amount of peoplethat we have in this area.
But it also makes for a strongeconomy.
It makes for a good way to makea living.
There's plenty to do all that.
But I'm like man, I'm just readyto move, you know, back to
(26:35):
central Missouri where there'snobody.
Shed Geek (26:38):
Yeah, no, you guys are getting busier and busier in
that state.
It seems like all the timeSouth Carolina and North
Carolina.
Where exactly in centralMissouri were you?
Sambassador (26:50):
North Central Missouri.
We were all the way up on US-36, which is the top route across
the top of the state betweenChillicothe and Hannibal, a
little place called BrookfieldMissouri.
Some of the folks that willlisten to this.
They'll be like oh I knowexactly where that is.
They'll be like wonder who heknew up there.
Shed Geek (27:13):
I think just here in Hannibal alone is kind of
interesting.
I took a job; so I went to bootcamp in central Missouri.
Right, I went to Fort LeonardWood, Missouri, there in West of
Rolla, so that would have beenin the summer of 98.
When I got out I was working inCape Girardeau, Missouri and I
was working for a company calledDNK.
(27:35):
They used to deliverpharmaceutical supplies to
pharmacies, including medicines,and I used to meet a guy in
Hannibal, Missouri, on themidnight shift.
He would drive from Des Moines,Iowa, and I would drive from
cape Girardeau and we would meetin Hannibal.
We'd swap vans and then head onback our own separate ways, and
that route happened five nightsa week.
(27:55):
So, uh, it's kind ofinteresting to just of course
you know Hannibal's, halfway,Missouri's halfway, famous for
mark twain and everything else.
But, um, your lifestyle and mine, even though you grew up, uh,
you know, under a little bit ofdifferent, uh, culture would
(28:17):
have been very similar in thesense that, you know, didn't
grow up with a whole lot ofmoney and things like that, and
so you really relied on dad toyou know help, you know make a
living, and mom pitched on dadto you know help, you know make
a living.
And mom pitched in where shecould you know what I mean she
would always jump in and helpout and things like that.
And I see that same thing todaywhenever I go to shed expos or
(28:39):
trade shows or the shed haulerbash or any of the local
barbecues that you see, you know, kids come out, wives come out,
family comes out and support,um, it's, it's really a neat
environment and it's, um, it'sreally made us all feel welcome,
uh, especially coming from, youknow, not within the culture of
(29:02):
the Anabaptist community.
You sometimes feel a little bitout of place, almost even,
because I don't know the people,like I, always we call it the
name game, right, like you know,you guys will be like oh, was.
You know, was he kin to such andsuch and they lived in such and
(29:23):
such and I'm like, oh mygoodness, what is going on here?
But you, you guys, you guys alldo that and it's, there's such
a connectivity there.
But honestly, it's a bit ofenvy for me because I do what it
was like to grow up with a bigfamily and cousins and all that,
and they were always around andmy kids haven't really got to
experience much of that.
To be honest with you, Sam, uhand I see that family dynamic
(29:47):
play out, certainly at the Shedevents, and maybe we need to be
moving towards that more insteadof away from that.
Maybe this is the cost ofprogress.
Yeah, I don't.
Sambassador (30:00):
I don't the cost of progress is.
I don't it's.
I know what you mean.
I don't like the term becauseit's like progress should be
able to happen without the costof what I hold dear to me.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah, yeah, so you know.
(30:23):
Yeah, like my mom, you know shenever went.
She never went to work, shenever got a job.
She was always at home.
But she's the one that kept thecost of living so low.
But she kept a garden and sheplanted all this stuff and she
knew how to cook good and sheknew how to make do with stuff
and you know she learned how to.
You know, oh, 20 dollars a weekfor groceries.
(30:43):
You know that was it.
The rest of it came out of thegarden.
It's a whole different world,man.
It's just crazy.
Shed Geek (30:58):
My grandma.
Sambassador (30:59):
Women out there are still doing that.
They're still making it work.
One reason the Amish don't haveto have near as much is because
they know how to have just asmuch.
They just know how to do itbetter and easier.
Shed Geek (31:16):
You're right.
My grandma would can things forthe winter.
I mean, she'd wrap everythingup in that white paper, whatever
it's called that, that freezerpaper.
She'd have so much stuff in thefreezer, but she would just
(31:37):
keep stuff in general.
She was.
You know, she wasn't.
She wasn't hoarding to behoarding, I think she was.
You know, she grew up as achild during the great
depression and you kepteverything you could get your
hands on.
So, for them, uh, we're goingto use this one day, you know,
rang true, because you know shemade use of it one day.
So, she, you know she, she justkept stuff, and we had so much
(31:59):
stuff in her basement to get ridof.
After she passed, we were justlike, why would she keep this?
You know?
But that was that mentality,was.
You know, when everything wasscarce, you know, you had to
kind of keep what you could toget by.
I mean, you had, like you said,you had to make do.
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Sambassador (33:59):
You said something about canning.
You reminded me of one of myfavorite Amish Mennonite jokes.
This couple moved into acommunity where there was a lot
of Amish Mennonites and theywere trying to fit in.
It was out in the country andthey were doing the whole raise
a garden and everything andtrying to keep their cost of
(34:20):
living down and stuff.
And one day the husband comehome he sat down there at the
table and his wife had madedinner and everything and
they're sitting there eating.
And he said you know, he saidhe heard, he said I stopped in
and talk to those Mennonitesdown the road again today.
And he said they said one ofthe most peculiar things he says
I've ever heard.
He said I asked him what theydo with all their sweet corn and
(34:49):
he said she looked at me andshe said that they eat what they
could and what they couldn't.
They could and his wife lookedat him and she goes are you sure
that's what?
she said he's like yes, that'sexactly what she said.
She said that they eat whatthey could and what they
couldn't they could.
And he said I can't figure outwhat she's talking about.
So, a couple of days later, thewife's in town and she come
(35:10):
back through there and, sureenough, the midnight lady's out
there in the garden.
So, she pulled over there toset out the road.
She walked over and she, youknow, hey, you know, it's a
beautiful day.
How are you doing today andeverything?
Oh, today and everything, oh,we're doing great, you know, she
says.
My husband come home the othernight and he told me the most
peculiar thing I've ever heardof.
He said that he asked you aboutwhat you do with all your sweet
(35:31):
corn and you told him that youeat what you could and what you
couldn't.
You could.
And the man, that lady lookedat a little bit and she goes
well, that doesn't make anysense.
I don't know why I would havesaid that.
And uh, she's like well, whatdid you tell him?
And she goes well, I told himwe eat what we can and what we
can't.
We can.
Shed Geek (35:57):
I felt like you were going some direction similar to
that.
I wasn't exactly sure I got totell you I don't hear too many
Amish and Mennonite jokes.
Sambassador (36:09):
I got a whole bunch of them.
You want to make anotherepisode?
Shed Geek (36:15):
I don't hear too often.
I think people appreciate that.
Sambassador (36:21):
How many Mennonites can you get in a band?
I don't know One more.
Shed Geek (36:28):
Yeah.
I didn't recognize so manythings from the culture.
But I'm so much wiser now afterspeaking with so many different
people.
And I say wiser now afterspeaking with so many different
people, and, and I say wiser, Iguess I'm just, uh, more attuned
to culture and how differentthings work.
(36:50):
And, um, it's really opened upmy eyes not only to not growing
up in in that culture, thatreligion, but even other
cultures and religions, at leastbeing more open-minded to, to
thoughts and things, and the waythat people do stuff, and
asking questions and beinginquisitive rather than being so
(37:11):
judgmental.
I feel like that's the humancondition in many cases if we
don't understand something, thefirst thing we do is criticize
it, you know, cause it's notlike us.
Sambassador (37:20):
Thank y'all for listening to today's episode.
This was part one of a two partepisode, so be sure to listen
next week to today's episode.
This was part one of a two-partepisode, so be sure to listen
next week.
To finish today's podcast.
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