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Heirloom Market and Café’s Annual Melon Days Fall Festival – Episode 120

Wouldn’t it be nice to just relax in the America of yesteryear, the America of our parents and grandparents, for just a while? To revel in down-home cooking, the camaraderie of neighbors, the music of the country, and fun-filled events such as petting zoos, train rides, fire truck rides, face painting, and so many other activities that our children could enjoy?

Well next week, September 22, 2012, in Thomson, Illinois, you can do just that. The Heirloom Market and Café is holding its Melon Days Fall Festival event, and if you are anywhere near the Thomson, Illinois area, you won’t want to miss it.

Off The Grid Radio
Ep 120
Released: September 13, 2012

Bill:                  Welcome indeed to Off the Grid Radio. I’m Bill Heid. I’m your host and I’ve got with me today Brian Brawdy in on Skype. Brian, how are you today?

Brian:               I’m doing great, Bill. How are you, sir?

Bill:                  You know I’m really good. It’s a banner day here. The temperatures are finally cooling off, Brian. I don’t know if where you’re at it’s like it is here. It’s finally… This brutal heat that we had is finally kind of letting up a little bit—60s today for a high, a little rain. I’m almost starting to think about duck hunting a little bit.

Brian:               Oh, very nice.

Bill:                  So I’ve got… Are you going to go duck hunting this year, Brian? Are you going to come hunting with me?

Brian:               You know what? My thought Bill, about an hour across the table from a wise man is worth a year’s study in books. I’ve never been duck hunting so I think this will be the year that I’m going to take you up on your offer and learn, as I know you’re great at hunting and trapping and the like so I’m looking forward to learning from you.

Bill:                  An hour across from a guy with a shotgun and some beer is worth I’m not sure how much. Probably less than what you’re thinking but I’ve also got Nick Huizenga with me. Nick, thanks for joining us today in the studio. Nick’s going to be doing a seed saving workshop so we want to talk a little bit about the even that we have September 22nd so Nick’s here. Nick, thanks for joining us.

Nick:               No problem, Bill. How are you doing?

Bill:                  I’m great. I’m great. And then we also have Travis Jerome, our friend from Nashville Tennessee. Travis, welcome.

Travis:              Thank you very much. Thanks for having me today.

Bill:                  Great to have you. We want to talk a little bit and Brian’s probably got some questions for you too but we are having this event and my good friend Brian Brawdy, as I said, is going to be MC-ing the event September 22nd. It’s our little Melon Days Fall Festival here in beautiful, sunny Thompson Illinois, as we say. The event starts early in the day and we’ve got a lot of activities, Brian, including we’ll talk about Travis playing a little later in the day with his band, The Church Wardens. But we’ve got a lot going on that day.

Brian:               You know Bill, we really do and I’m excited about it. We’re in kind of like our one-week out—a little more—window for the Melon Days and Fall Festival in Thompson Illinois. As you know, it is our second such endeavor and this year packed just full of cool things to do. You mentioned Travis Jerome and we’ll get into that in a bit—but all kinds of cool things. Nick is going to be giving a clinic, which I am personally looking forward to. Pumpkin mazes, camel rides, great, fantastic music—this is going to be a great show.

Bill:                  Magic shows. Here’s what we’ve got planned this year. We’ve got six local bands—some of the best local bands—and they’re going to be playing old time classics, some old time rock ‘n roll and so forth but the bands start at 10:00. They play for 40 minutes and then we’ve got the magic show. Remember Zany Janie and her magic show we had last year? Zany Janie is back. They’ll be doing magic shows on stage with you—hopefully you won’t disappear or anything as a result of any of that—and then we’ll be doing one of our crazy raffles at the end of each hour and we’ll be giving away a lot of fabulous prizes—I don’t know if you remember our Spin to Win that we did last year—as well. So we’re doing that too.

Travis:              Very nice. Did you say camel rides—what I heard there—was that a camel ride?

Bill:                  Travis, we said camel ride and this is one of the most unusual things that we’ve ever decided to try to pull off but we’ve got a fellow here that has some camels that lives not too far away and these camels are broken, as they say and are hitched up and ready to go and we’re going to start that at 10:00 and last year… Anybody that wants to come here should come here a little early. Last year one thing—and Brian, you probably remember this—the camel—the ride for the camel—the line for the camel ride was quite long. So that was always an issue for us. It’s something in demand and it was a lot of fun. Nonstop. Those poor camels probably felt pretty tired by the end of the day, Travis.

Travis:              I’ll be getting in the front of the line. I can tell you that. I’ll be getting there early just for that. That sounds exciting.

Bill:                  It is exciting and it will be a lot of fun. We’ve also got a petting zoo for the kids and that’s always a blast. Just the kids get a chance to go around and get up close to some animals. A lot of people don’t have a chance to see animals up close, that maybe don’t grow up on a farm or anything anymore so it’s a great opportunity for kids to do that. We’ve got a car show that day that starts in the morning with… And our first place prize actually is a six-foot trophy so that’s a big deal. All of this you can check on our website, which is MelonDaysFallFest.com. And now Travis, I want to talk to you a little bit about what we’re going to do at 4:00. We’ve got this program that we’ve decided to link up with you all. We’re calling it “Remember the Fallen.”  Why don’t you tell us…? You’re going to be playing the music. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about what you do and how you got involved with Carry the Load and what your musical past is like? So why don’t you tell the audience a little bit about yourself? You’ll be playing at 4:00 for us.

Travis:              Yeah. Well thanks again for having me on. You know I moved to Nashville Tennessee over ten years ago and I was in full time ministry actually. I was pastoring a church, very young, in Michigan. And my wife and I had this decision moment and a moment of prayer to actually visit Nashville, where my cousin Chad lived and was attending the music college of Belmont down here that turns out all kinds of big musical names. And we got down here and we walked the streets and enjoyed the town and we went back home and my wife said, “We are moving” and so…

Bill:                  She liked it.

Travis:              She loved it and with little more than probably $10.00, a tank of gas—and the old country story—we just moved to town and I ended up going out on tour with a Christian band first called Audio Adrenaline and Audio Adrenaline, for those of you who don’t know much about CCM, they’ve had 15 number ones in the past. And from there I began to just sort of network and get into the scene and produce some music and write some music and play guitar and like most people in this town, became a jack of all trades in the music industry.

And I ended up meeting a fellow named Byron Gallimore and Byron Gallimore is the producer for Sugarland, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill—lots of the bands that you hear all over country music radio—and he pulled me under his wing and had decided to whip me into shape and I became a staff writer for Byron for a while, while working on my own artistry. You know you always have sort of these train tracks that run parallel in your life and at the same time working on a worship program here in town. And so my cousin Chad—he’s also from southeastern Kentucky—came up with this harebrained idea because we both have big, curly hair, to have this thing called Halfway to Hazard and Tim McGraw and Byron Gallimore really loved the idea so they produced the first CD—Halfway to Hazard.

Bill:                  Very cool.

Travis:              Yeah. We had a single called Daisy. It was on the radio for quite some time and in 2008-2009 we toured with Tim McGraw and Dierks Bentley and Jason Aldean and Faith Hill and everybody under the sun. And coming out of those tours, I really felt in my heart it was time to grab hold of my career in a way that gave me a little bit of control so I launched a record label—Quadriphonic Music Group—and my own publishing company. And as a result, from there I grabbed a hold of… Well, I didn’t grab a hold of it. It grabbed a hold of me. A couple of causes—because our father is a veteran—the Wounded Warrior project and a group of guys that are Navy Seals came to my doorstep too and so we produced two CDs, one to benefit Wounded Warrior and one to benefit Carry the Load. So Standing United Volume I as a benefactor of Wounded Warrior and we have Tim McGraw and Big & Rich and myself and Waylon Jennings Band is on there and all kinds of great guys. And then also on Carry the Load for the Navy Seals, they had me produce the project and also become one of the artists on the project as well as Willow Dawn Carter and others.

But get it… Wrap it up here real quick. You know I could talk forever about the music industry but this band called The Church Wardens that always backs me up wherever I go, either in the studio or on tour, is comprised of guys that are touring with Jason Aldean, like Rich Redmond and Kurt Allison and Khali Kennedy or guys from Michael W. Smith’s band like Jim Danniger or Brian Pruitt from Leann Rimes. Those are the type of people that make up The Church Wardens so they’re all nonstop touring artists with major artists that you know now so…

Bill:                  Sure. And you guys are coming here to Thompson Illinois as part of a Carry the Load event that we’re sponsoring at 4:00 and… Tell us a little bit about some of the songs. Just kind of give us a rough overview of the motivation and then how that turned into music for this type of event.

Travis:              You know it… Both organizations—especially Carry the Load—I had a chance to sit down with Coleman Ruiz, who is the second in charge, if you will, of Carry the Load and Clint Bruce, who is the head of the organization. And as they began to talk to me they said the one phrase that sums up what Carry the Load is and that is “Who are you carrying?”  As Clint Bruce would load his pack down every morning—former Navy Seal of 12 years—and walk around the lake by his house, he began to realize that he was carrying the memory of his fallen brothers and he was also carrying upon his back the burden of taking care of the families of his fallen brothers. And so this organization was launched with the idea of caring for the families of the fallen and making sure that we remember the fallen.

Carry the Load supports four organizations that have been in existence since 2005. One is Heroes on the Water, one is Tip of the Spear, one is Snowball Express and then they also support the Dallas Firefighters. Now we can get into all that in depth and we can direct people to the website to get all the information but when they approached me I could not help but sit down with a pen and paper and the emotion in all of that just flooded out into these five songs—one called “One Day in May,” the anthem for the CD called “Carry the Load,” which actually Willow Dawn Carter performed on and it sounds wonderful. It just flowed out in a way that I couldn’t control. It was just a calling more so than a musical project. So I produced it and got together with all of these friends of mine that we call The Church Wardens. Got in the studio with Aldean’s band and some others and just began to hammer out this music with flags flying high and Ronnie Milsap’s studio and there it is.

Bill:                  Well that’s very cool. And you’re going to bring Coleman—executive director of Carry the Load—up here. Is that correct?

Travis:              That is correct. Yeah. He’ll be coming up to talk for a good segment of 15 minutes and he’ll be around to talk to others. He’s a very passionate guy and… One night we went out as a part of this organization. They started in two ways. One was a 1,700 mile relay beginning on May 1st and ending on May 31st.

Bill:                  I remember that. Yeah.

Travis:              It was a powerful recollection of Memorial Day and reverent and then the big event on May 31st in Dallas Texas and… So I walked 15 miles one night through the middle of the night, literally—at midnight until about 8:00 am the next morning with big blisters on my heels when I was done—and we talked the whole way. He’s passionate. You’ll love getting to talk to him and hear him speak about what he believes in.

Bill:                  Yeah. And so he’s going to come and speak a little bit about sort of reconnecting with what Memorial Day used to be and what it is now and how we can kind of try to pull people together in certain terms about just remembering not only the fallen but the people that have served and we really look forward to having a 12 year Navy Seal come up and talk as a part of the event. And then Travis, I think we talked to you a little bit about this. We decided we’d have an auction afterwards to benefit Carry the Load and we’ve got these really… We’ve got a guy coming that does chainsaw sculptures and really, really intricate, detailed chainsaw sculptures and so he’s making some. He’s going to be—that day—creating some eagles and things for us. We’ll auction them off afterwards and I think you’re going to bring a couple guitars up, right?

Travis:              I am. Yeah. I’ve got a couple of guitars that are signed by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill and got some good signatures on there and they’re cool guitars. They’re little Baby Taylors and I’ll probably have another guitar that is sort of a project that started as an accident really. One night with a friend, Patrick Poole, we sat out on my porch smoking The Church Warden pipes—that’s where the name came from—and ended up lighting this Stratocaster on fire Jimmy Hendrix style by accident and it really went up and as I put it out I had to sort of carve it back again like the chainsaw guy and bring it life. And it became this really cool guitar and people have all of a sudden been bringing me their guitars and saying, “Hey, will you set mine on fire and hit it with the Dremel tool and make something cool out of it?”

Bill:                  So it became… Wow.

Travis:              Yeah. Yeah.

Bill:                  That’s amazing. So is that something that The Church Wardens do ordinarily—smoking cigars and lighting Stratocasters on fire?

Travis:              On occasion.

Bill:                  On occasion. Every…

Travis:              On occasion.

Bill:                  Like a blue moon kind of thing maybe.

Travis:              It was the 4th of July. We were lighting fireworks off…

Bill:                  Oh, well geez. Why didn’t you say so? Of course.

Travis:              Yeah. Yeah.

Bill:                  You should have seen the things that Nick and I lit on fire that day.

Nick:                I don’t even… I can’t even recall.

Bill:                  Nick doesn’t even remember some of that stuff that we burnt down that day but all in the name of the cause.

Nick:                It was awesome though.

Bill:                  It was awesome. So talk a little bit about who you’re bringing too. We said you’re bringing Coleman obviously. He’s going to talk a little bit about what it’s like to be a Seal and what it’s like to come back home and sort of support some of their folks but who else are you bringing with you and where have they played…? Now did you play with Tim McGraw at one time?

Travis:              Yes. Yeah. I played a little acoustic guitar and did a little backline in there. Yes, absolutely. Tim’s a wonderful guy and I have nothing but praise for him. I hate to see them going out to Vegas, you know? But I’ll tell you what. They’re going to light up that strip. They’re a wonderful family and what you see is what you get. He’s not a…

Bill:                  That’s the impression I get from talking to you about him that what you see is what you get with him and Faith Hill.

Travis:              Yeah. There’s nothing phony there. He’s a really wonderful man. No doubt about it. And yeah, another guy that has taught me so many things… Sometimes one of the greatest lessons is knowing what not to do so…

Bill:                  Well he’s been through it. I’m sure Tim’s had his share of temptations.

Travis:              Absolutely.

Bill:                  And so he’s probably got a lot to share with you guys and you guys have done Bible study and stuff together too, I’m told, so you guys have probably had a lot of those deep conversations.

Travis:              Yeah. And his acoustic player, all the time… You know it’s a big stage. Tons of guys—Bob Menner—we would sit and talk eschatology all day long. He is a—sorry to use a big word—but boy, he is Mr. Deep Mind and so sometimes I’d have to walk away from him and say, “I’ve got to stop there Bob or my head’s going to explode.”

Bill:                  Top of the charts.

Travis:              Yeah. Absolutely.

Bill:                  So you’ve got… Who is your lead guitarist that you’re bringing up?

Travis:              Lead guitarist is just one of the greatest guitar players I know. His name is Jamie Perano and he plays in a band currently called Guardian and for some of you, you might remember Guardian from the ‘80s and ‘90s but still in Europe and overseas—boy, they are packing out Wensley and they are selling out 20,000-30,000 seaters all day long.

Bill:                  Wow.

Travis:              Yeah. And Jamie is also a producer in town here and he played with Leann Rimes at one time and there are so many records that he’s played guitar on and produced that I couldn’t… If I named them all it would take forever. And then the bass player I’m bringing is Brandon Talby [sp] and Brandon Talby plays in Montgomery Gentry and he also played in Halfway to Hazard with me years back and he’s a session player as well and he’s all over records all over the south too. And then on drums, Brian Pruitt—one of the greatest drummers I know—sweet hearted man, loves his family, loves the Lord and just beats the tar out of the drums. Same thing—Leann Rimes—gosh, I’m trying to go down the line. He’s in the studio five days a week playing on master scale sessions. So records you’re hearing all over the radio, you’re hearing Brian Pruitt. That’s just how it is.

Bill:                  Very cool. And who…? And Smith Curry?

Travis:              Yeah. Smith Curry is a pedal steel player and not to bring up an odd name but he has played on all the Randy Travis hits that have been out of recent and also Montgomery Gentry, Colt Ford’s new record, Jason Aldean—on down the line. He’s just a phenomenal… Not only does he play pedal steel but he has his own style of electric dobro that he plays and he’s an entertainer. He’s a showman. He will stand on his pedal steel and just give you a solo that will raise the hair on the back of your neck on an electrified dobro. It’s pretty impressive.

Bill:                  Very cool. That sounds like a lot of fun.

Travis:              Yeah.

Bill:                  We can’t wait to have you here. It will be great. You’re going to get here Saturday morning. Is that what I understand, Travis? And then we’ll do a little… We’ve got this show that we do called The Heirloom Hour. We’re going to do that at 8:30 and if we could have you do a couple songs maybe—maybe just you; maybe a couple of the guys—whatever you want to do. You can take a look at it when you get here. That would be around 8:30 in the morning inside The Heirloom Café and that’s just a little show that we do and that will be a lot of fun and then we’ll look forward to having you guys later in the day. Then you can go back and sleep a while longer and then get rested and rejuvenated for your 4:00 thing. And let’s hope this is a good event.

Anybody listening that lives within a couple hundred miles away, come on out to this because it’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ve got stuff for your kids. We’ve got stuff for you—which is plenty to eat, we’ve got ribs we’re going to cook up, we’ve got grass-fed beef, which is our specialty here—and just a lot of good stuff. Nick, anything…? One of the most important things too Nick, is I want to talk a little bit about your seed saving thing. Saving seeds Travis, is something that at The Heirloom Solutions Company that we have, we try to encourage everybody to do and Nick is our senior botanist here at Heirloom Solutions. So Nick, what are you going to do at 11:00? At 11:00 and 1:00.

Nick:                11:00 and 1:00, I guess we’re just going to go through most of the basic fall crops that we’re getting in right now and show people how to save seeds and what to look for, how they can isolate their plants better the next year and how they can ultimately have an heirloom seed that they save every year that is just acclimated to the conditions that they grow it in. So we had a pretty good turnout last year. We’re hoping for the same this year.

Bill:                  If you want to learn how to save your seeds—of course we’ll be doing some tomato seeds and some melon seeds and some other things that are coming in…

Nick:                Definitely will be all those. Yes.

Bill:                  Yeah, all of the above. It’s worth the drive. You’ll get some knowledge that can last a lifetime—knowledge that you can maybe pass down to the next generation. And think about it—we’re one of the only companies that tells you not to buy seeds from us. Buy them from us once and then we’ll show you how to save them forever so that you don’t ever have to buy them from us. What kind of company…? Travis, what kind of company would be crazy enough to tell people not to buy things from them? But…

Travis:              Man, I’m telling you. You guys are an educational facility from what I know about you and that’s… Yeah. I don’t know who would do that. It makes me impressed. I’ll tell you that.

Bill:                  Well we’ll even show you how to save seeds. Travis Jerome can be our seed saving ambassador to Nashville. Like they always have during NFL… They always have the official sports drink of the NFL. You can be the official seed saver for Heirloom Solutions in the greater Nashville area. How is that for a title?

Travis:              I love it. I’ll till up an area of my backyard just for that purpose.

Bill:                  You know what? We will. We’ll send you… Nick is going to create a little package for you when you come up. We’re going to send you back with a bunch of seeds and then we’ll check in with you from time to time next year and say, “Travis, you got your ground tilled? Travis, you got those seeds…? Travis, you got…”

Travis:              I’ll even… I’ll take my till over to Aldean’s house. He’s not too far from here. And I’ll just till up his yard too for him and we’ll have two going.

Bill:                  Great. Great. That’s awesome.

Nick:                I’ll give you a private clinic.

Travis:              Nice. I love it. Let’s do it.

Bill:                  He’s going to save some real secrets for you.

Travis:              Perfect.

Bill:                  All right, Travis. Thanks so much for talking to us today and we’ve got some other people we’ve got to call but we really appreciate your time. We know that you’ve got a lot going on and we’ll try to connect with you a little bit later. We’ve got a couple other calls to take here and we’ll connect with you soon. So thanks again for your time and we sure look forward to seeing you Saturday, September 22nd.

Travis:              Likewise. Thank you. God bless, guys. Have a good day.

Bill:                  Thanks Travis.

 

 

Bill:                  Back again with yet another paradigm. I’ve got our good friend, Andreas back. Andreas, are you there?

Andreas:          I am here Bill. How are you?

Bill:                  I am good. Thanks so much for joining us today. Nick here is in the studio with us as well. Nick, are you still here? Nick, are you ready to talk about camels with Andreas?

Nick:                There is nothing I like more than camels—right after plants.

Bill:                  Plants… It’s second on the…

Nick:                I have an irrational fear of them so I’m automatically interested in them.

Bill:                  Why? We’ll do a workshop on your fear of camels as well. Andreas, thanks so much for joining us. Let’s talk about… You’re coming here Saturday, September 22nd. You’re kind of like Noah. We joked around. I’m hearing animals in the background. It was great to have you here last year. Do you remember last year what happened when your camel rides were out in front, on Highway 84 and the traffic was actually stopping and backing up? We kind of created a little bit of a police/traffic event because people saw you giving these camel rides.

Andreas:          Bill, I was impressed with the crowds that came to visit the camels, that came to visit the event that was being held there. I personally was very, very impressed and happy to meet everyone, actually.

Bill:                  It was awesome. And you’ve got a lot going on. You’ve got a petting zoo and you’re going to bring Shawna… In addition to your other camels… What are your two camels’ names that are the ones that…?

Andreas:          Famous Joe and Codi as seen on CBS News—we were blessed that Steve Bartelstein did a story on us doing live nativity—Biblical or not—Christmas cards. Joe and Codi are available for that and I’m going to switch back to camel rides on that event. Joe and Codi, as seen on CBS News and our newest camel, Shawna, who we wish and pray and has signs that she might be pregnant. So we’re blessed again.

Bill:                  That would be amazing. So she’s going to come and just make kind of a guest appearance and the ninos can pet her and become… And maybe Nick, since he’s got this irrational fear of camels—maybe he can use Shawna as a bridge to actually get on a camel later in the day then. So you pet Shawna in the morning and then later in the day you’re feeling more comfortable, Nick, and then you maybe get on one of the camels.

Nick:                Yeah, I think it’s high time I face my fears.

Bill:                  It’s time you face your fears. So Andreas, you’re going to be involved in kind of a rescue of sorts when you’re here. We’re going to try to get Nick on a camel and that will be something for everybody to see as well. So…

Nick:                What type of camel is this?

Bill:                  What kind of camels are they? What’s the…?

Andreas:          The camels I have are called Dromedary and single hump camels—Dromedary.

Bill:                  Dromedary and single humps?

Nick:                Oh, I’m not scared of those. It’s the two hump camels that…

Andreas:          There is a problem, folks, with all this high tech stuff out there—they do not come with power windows, power door locks but an awesome personality, I tell you.

Bill:                  They don’t have any electronics but they…

Andreas:          No electronics these days—just a good old hump and that’s when I tell everyone now you can appreciate why Henry Ford came out with the first Model-T. Boy, those humps are not as comfortable but it’s an awesome ride—no plane ticket needed to those exotic areas for an exotic animal ride.  Right there in Thompson Illinois—Joe and Codi are going to be there. Once again, seen on CBS News.

Bill:                  Very good, Andreas. Anything else you want to tell us? We’re looking forward to it. We had a great time with you here last year, especially the petting zoo. The kids really love your petting zoo. Everything’s so clean. The animals are clean. I don’t think any of them bit anybody or anything last year so we got through. You got… Everything’s very tame. Your crew is just nothing but total professionals. So anything you want to say about the petting zoo?

Andreas:          With the petting zoo there are going to be numerous animals like—I forgot to mention as always—Baby Jo-Jo. Named it after my wife—born on her birthday—a baby llama born on June 18. We’re going to have a baby llama named Jo-Jo. We’re going to have Coffee, the Alpine goat that has the news for the Cubs and all that with the billy goat person…

Bill:                  You got the Cubs’ billy goat? The Cubs’ billy goat’s going to be…?

Andreas:          Coffee has been used. His name is Coffee and we have Coffee and Espresso. They’re Alpine goats. They’ve been used for the Cubs things—oops, I made a mistake—but no, tell the world. Why not? We’re here with animals of all kinds. A lot of cool animals are going to be there—personalities, they have (inaudible)… We go to schools. We go to CPS schools. We go to Kinder Cares. They have been used… They’ve been [inaudible]… by so many children and we’re blessed again to be welcomed back to Thompson Illinois to that awesome event.

One thing we’re forgetting to talk about—the world’s only dual steering tractor—a customized Farmall where a child—with his parent—can drive it with us. It’s got two steering wheels mirrored to the existing and off they go to have a cool tractor drive.

Bill:                  That was very popular as well last year.There were lines for that because everybody loves… It allows you to let a child kind of get on a tractor and kind of at least go through the idea that he’s driving and he’s kind of driving through it with an adult but there were lines all day for that because that was… You’ve got a great tractor there and it was a great event, as we said, Andreas. And we really look forward to having you come back, man.

Andreas:          We are blessed that we’re going to be back. We look forward to meeting more people, the same people that came at last year’s event, happy to be there. Thanks for having me on today, Bill.

Bill:                  You bet. Thanks so much for being with us and we look forward to seeing you then. We’ll probably see you a little bit on Friday, Andreas, and then we’ll get this thing started Saturday, September 22nd at 10:00.

Andreas:          Thank you, Bill.

Bill:                  Thank you.

 

Brian:               All right. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Off the Grid News, the radio version of OffTheGridNews.com. Bill, I’ve got to tell you, I am looking forward to September 22nd. Listening in on the interview with Travis, hearing about the great pumpkin maze and everything else going on Saturday, September 22nd from 9:00-7:00 at The Heirloom Market and Café. We are going to have a blast.

Bill:                  It’s going to be a blast, Brian, and I don’t know… The listeners that are hearing this are remote friends all across the country and internationally. Now we know that there is… We have listeners in Europe and we have listeners in Africa and we have listeners over and so they’re probably not going to make it. Our listeners in North Africa can probably ride their own camels—don’t need to come here to ride a camel. But Brian, do you remember about a week or two ago, we recorded a spot for our local advertiser and I wanted Jeremy to queue that up and play that just so our long distance people could know that we’re also kind of a Mom and Pop retail company.

You can walk in here. You can even come in here and see our solar generators, see all of our great—as you say, Brian—gear to get that we talk about and a lot of the videos that you do. People can walk in. If they do decide to come here—drive here—they could come and see that stuff. They can see Nick over at Heirloom Solutions. They can learn how to save seeds and so forth. So we have this kind of walk-in business too and we have beautiful café. You’ve eaten at the café, drank some coffee and tea at the café and so you know what that’s like. But so we’re a real bricks and mortar kind of place that you can drive in and then we also like to have fun once in a while. Once a year we get together and do something. We’re going to do this Carry the Load thing this year and also have a lot of fun. Jeremy, do you have that spot? Brian, I don’t know if you remember this. This is your spot.

Brian:               Oh, great. I haven’t heard it so I’m looking forward to it.

Audio Clip:       Hi. I’m Brian Brawdy. Join me Saturday, September 22nd at 10:00 am for Thompson’s second annual Melon Days and Fall Festival at The Heirloom Market and Café on Route 84. We’re planning fun for your entire family. Enjoy the live music of six local bands playing all day long. Ride a live camel. There is even a petting zoo and pumpkin maze with a free mini pumpkin for the kids. Amazing chainsaw carvings, balloon and magic shows, a huge bounce house, face painting and fire trucks, mouthwatering melons, cider and tomato tastings at the area’s largest pumpkin and watermelon market. Savor the flavor of grass-fed beef burgers with prizes drawn every hour. And don’t miss a very special tribute to our area’s veterans at 4:00 pm. Admission is just $5.00 per person and $10.00 per family. We’re looking forward to spending Saturday, September 22nd with you and your family. For more information visit TheHeirloomMarket.com.

Bill:                  Or they can go to MelonDaysFallFest.com where the actual event site is for more information on all this stuff. But how did you like your spot, Brian?

Brian:               Pretty cool. As you know, Bill, I usually never watch or listen to my own stuff because I’m like “Oh…” But I will tell you that the closing line that I had there, that we’re looking forward to… Our family is looking forward to welcoming your family—I’m bringing my family so I think this is going to be an absolute… It’s going to be a good time for everybody. I mean where else can you go…? And I should also say, Bill, talking about the café—some of the best food around, if not the best food around. And I’m a creature to habit so I always have the same sandwich but it is spectacular—the baked goods, some of the fruits and vegetables from the garden that are incorporated into the menu items. Just absolutely a great place to stop by and grab a snack or grab breakfast or lunch. You should be very proud. It’s really great stuff.

Bill:                  Well thanks, Brian. It is… We’ve had a lot of success and we’ve had… A lot of our customers… We’ve had people here drive from St. Louis. We’ve had people drive here from northern Michigan and Wisconsin and Minnesota and all over the country so it’s actually becoming a little place to stop and hang out. As we said, you can come and see the things that we have. You can go see Nick’s experimental gardens out back and walk through them. He’s got everything identified so you can see what plants they are and it is worth kind of a destination, as they say, Brian.

Brian:               Oh, absolutely. And I will tell you that I’m looking forward to Nick’s presentation, Bill, as you know. I had to do a recent shoot and the television production company I was working for was just mesmerized by… I went and did the little mini clinic with Nick. He taught me all about our beans, all about our seeds that you can sprout, that you can grow, that you can eat and those that you’re just better off plain cooking. And they were mesmerized by it. So if you haven’t had a chance to hang out with Nick and learn from his expertise, it’s really amazing what he’s been able to put together and this presentation is going to be one… Even if you’re old school, Bill—even if you think you know it all—it’s still a great way to maybe trade some ideas with Nick. If you’re brand new you can learn from Nick. But I’ve got to tell you, I’m a lot better off having spent that hour with Nick a couple days last week preparing for the segment.

Bill:                  Nick is… His face is turning red. He’s embarrassed. He’s saying, “Aw, you…” Brian.

Nick:                Stop it.

Bill:                  “Stop it.”

Nick:                Go on.

Bill:                  You’re right. It is his passion. We joke a lot about that. Andreas, the camel guy, is certainly passionate about camels. Nick is equally passionate about the heirloom seed industry and seeds in general so anything you can plant… If you can get dirt under your fingernails…

Nick:                Getting it under there is no problem. Getting it out is…

Bill:                  I can see. You really ought to do something about that. But don’t we have some kind of standards with our company that you have to…?

Nick:                I don’t think so—not fingernails.

Bill:                  Okay. Brian, I may need your… some suggestions for you when we get together before the show on Saturday. Anything else Brian, that you can think of as we wrap this down? We’ve almost got our time up…

Brian:               Bill, you know what I would say is that—you’re a dad and now a granddad and I’m just a dad—for the parents listening, these are the type of events that stick with your children forever. You know I remember going with my grandfather when I was… I don’t want to date myself but let’s just say I was a really young kid and I went to the World’s Fair in New York and just some of the things that I did there are the most indelibly etched memories in my mind. So if you think about the fact that we’re going to have a petting zoo, we’re going to have fire trucks, we’re going to have train rides, we’re going to do a magic show, we’re going to do a pumpkin maze—these are the types of things that your little ones quite possibly will remember when they’re my age.

It’s very family friendly. There are some great food concessions that will be available all day. There is going to be live music, as you mentioned earlier, a tribute to our veterans. So if you have a chance to swing by Saturday, September 22nd—really, come on. Hang out with us at Heirloom Market and Café. It’s the second year. Bill and I will be teaming up to kind of co-MC and have some fun from the stage. But we’ve put together an event that really is—in addition to a festival—it’s a family event. And even if you come by yourself, there will be things that you remember forever. But if you bring your family—the little ones—they’re going to have one of the times of their lives, Bill.

Bill:                  I agree, Brian. So we do want to thank everybody for listening today. We do know that your time is valuable. We think your time will be extremely valuable if you spend it Saturday, September 22nd with us. We look forward to seeing you then. Thanks again.

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