(gentle music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(upbeat music) - R-Town, the show about Rochester, learns about an inspiring women's expo, and we hear from an organization that's sowing seeds for good in the community.

We also take a nature stroll through MLK Park with two master gardeners, and learn from a local woodworker and artist.

Coming up next on R-Town, the show about Rochester.

(upbeat music) Coming to you from 125 Live in Rochester, Minnesota, R-Town.

(upbeat music) So if you ask any child under the age of five what they wanna be when they grow up, chances are you'll hear firefighter somewhere at the top.

The firefighting dream is as true for girls as it is for boys, yet as of 2019, only 8% of firefighters in the United States are women.

We are joined today at 125 Live by Rochester firefighter Mandee Marx, who's here to tell us more about the Rochester Fire Department's first ever women's expo.

Welcome to R-Town, Mandee.

- Thank you for having me.

- So I'm pretty stoked about this expo.

Can you tell us a little bit about it?

- This expo is a chance for women and young girls to get hands-on first experience, just being able to do some of the skills we do as firefighters.

They will be able to climb the aerial ladder, rappel from a building, take a charged hose line through a house, search and rescue for a victim, extricate a victim from a vehicle.

And then also, you go through a physical agility test that you have to pass in order to be hired with the Rochester Fire Department.

- Wow, that's quite a lot, and sounds pretty exciting.

Why is the Rochester Fire Department putting this together?

- It's a chance, like I said, to make a more diverse department.

Most people, they think of big, strong men as being firefighters when they think of firefighters.

Well, everybody can offer something.

So I'm 5'5".

I'm not a huge firefighter, but I do bring an asset to some situations, some medicals that we go to.

If there's like an older woman or a child, they're gonna reach out to me as a female instead of the bigger male firefighters.

- Sure.

- So it's just a chance for us to expand our department.

- Sure, can you tell us a little bit about your own journey as a firefighter?

How'd you get started?

- I didn't wanna become a firefighter my entire life, not going to lie, but once I became a volunteer in a department up in the cities, and the first time I put the gear on and went into a fire, I was, I was sold, I was in love.

And so then I tried to become full time in Rochester, and I finally got hired in 2017, and now I don't look back.

It is the best job.

It is the most rewarding job I've ever, I mean, it's amazing.

- Sure.

I'm sure it's rewarding.

I'm sure it's demanding as well.

What are some challenges that you face throughout your career?

- It's a very physical job.

It's a very physical career.

So we have to work out a lot.

We have to stay in shape.

It's one of those jobs where you never know what you're gonna get.

You're gonna see things, you're gonna do things.

And it's, every day's different.

Challenges I've faced have been being a female, being of smaller stature.

And I've learned to overcome them by learning new techniques, how to do certain things with some of the bigger equipment, and also just proving myself by being good at my job.

- Have you found community with other women firefighters?

- Yes, I went to a women's expo last year in Spokane, Washington that was over 2,500 women firefighters from all over the country.

I talked to fire chiefs that were females.

I talked to firefighters that were females, all the way down the ranks, and it was an amazing experience.

So there are women firefighters out there.

- Awesome.

What do you love most about what you get to do?

- Being a part of the community, being able to serve the community in a great way, people call you on their worst day, right?

So I get to go help somebody on their worst day and try to make it better.

Nothing's more rewarding than that, than seeing people when you show up in that big red fire truck, all of a sudden relief, they're like, oh, the firefighters are here, you know, and things are gonna be okay.

That's amazing.

- So in addition to this expo, what are some other things that the Rochester Fire Department's doing to support women and girls who wanna pursue this as a career?

- There's a high school program now that they started a few years ago, that juniors and seniors in high schools can actually take Fire One and Fire Two, and they're trained by the Rochester Fire Department.

They'll get college credit for these classes and it gives them a chance to actually try it out again, where they can actually go into a fire on air and do some of the more skills than what we do here at the expo.

- Great, have you been doing anything yourself in terms of like mentoring any young girls and women that wanna pursue this?

- Yeah, so anytime there's with the high school program, some of those young women that actually sign up and I'm generally their mentor, so I get to talk to them.

Also, anytime we go to like safe city nights or any of those we're out in the community, I like to talk to young girls 'cause when they see a female firefighter, they're like, whoa.

You know, and I'm like, anybody can do this job.

You can do this.

- This, I know.

I'm like, whoa.

(laughing) What advice do you have for girls and women in our community that are thinking about firefighting as a career?

- Do it, don't give up work hard, do whatever you can for experience, do ride-alongs with Rochester fire, if you want to.

They could contact me, myself at my email address, or contact the department and to get in touch with me, and just experience it, go and try it.

- For young girls, is there a particular age in terms of this expo that they should be thinking about?

If they're trying to attend.

- It's 14 and up.

- Okay, great.

- So age 14.

- Wonderful, what else can you tell us about how people can learn more about the event, and attend if they'd like to?

- The event is September 10th, it's gonna be out at the Regional Training Center.

There's going to be six stations.

If they're interested, there is a flyer on the Rochester Fire Department Facebook page that they can look at, and then they can scan it and they can just go to the Eventbrite.

Or you can register for the event there.

- Perfect, well thank you so much, Mandee for - Thank you.

- being here and for your service, and we're looking forward to catching up with you all at the expo on September 10th.

- All right.

Thank you.

(upbeat music) - How do we care for the natural world right here in our city and our backyards?

Well, you'll wanna stick around as we learn from two local master gardeners at Reverend Martin Luther King Jr park.

We also meet with Revolutionary Earth and learn how they're growing food and combating hunger here in our community.

But up first we get to work with woodworker Sean Archer in this week's art culture segment.

(sawing wood) (upbeat music) - I kind of describe my tools as they're like musical instruments.

I played guitar and drums and each tool like has a, you know, you gotta learn to play it, gotta learn to use it.

Hi, I'm Shawn Archer, and I'm a wood craftsman.

(upbeat music) With my parents, we would do housework.

We built our own deck.

So, you know, we did some projects.

It wasn't like what I'm doing here, but it's gave me an introduction to that, I suppose.

(upbeat music) I didn't know what to go to school for.

Just jumped into automotive engineering, actually.

My last year of that was focused on a lot of programming work and testing.

Right after school, I spent a year in Taiwan learning Chinese before I came back and got into the, you know, full time, real job thing.

Multiple weeks in a row, just sitting in front of the computer, I was doing testing and design, but my office didn't have windows, and you know, Minnesota winters can be tough.

Go to work in the dark, get home in the dark.

And I think there was one month I realized I hadn't seen the sun for a month and I started taking my lunch just out to the park just to get some sun, and it was tough.

(sawing wood) And at some point I guess I started with this idea that I'm gonna quit my job because I wanna get outta this computer thing, and I wanna start something better.

(upbeat music) (sawing wood) My lifestyle should be more appropriate to, you know, what my body wants and needs and what my mind needs.

So I just started doing like more physical work, more, you could say like hand tools, like my woodwork.

Doing things by hand, doing things the hard way as some people say, but I found more appreciation with it.

(sawing wood) Woodworking, it's definitely a hard, hard place to be successful in because so many people do it, but it's available, you know, there's always gonna be wood around.

It's our number one resource.

I try to help customers understand how it's made and why I make it this way, which I think is important.

The first thing I do when I grab a piece of wood is I check the grain.

I have to cut with the grain, I can't cut against the grain.

I'm always looking at the grain, I'm always looking at what the wood is doing.

I can't just grab a piece of wood and make it into something, I have to see what the wood is doing and how that'll affect the work.

Well, you can get to the point where you can look at a board and you can say, okay, what part of the tree is this, and where did it go?

And it's, and that affects how it's gonna work, which is, it just takes my mind on the trip, maybe.

(upbeat music) The learning is never gonna end for me.

And I say that like, now I understand better how the takes 30 years for craftsmen to become a master, is I can see how that applies.

You know, I've been doing this for a while, but I don't have 30 years under me.

And in 30 years I expect I'll still be learning new things, probably.

(upbeat music) - [Danielle] For more information about this story and other R-Town features connect with us on Facebook, Twitter @ksmq #RTown, or ksmq.org/rtown.

(upbeat music) - This is Danielle Teal with R-Town spotlight.

I'm with Mark Braun from Schott Distributing.

Welcome, Mark.

- Danielle, how are ya?

- (laughing) I'm good.

And I'm excited to meet you.

I see the name all over.

Share a little history about Schott Distributing, 'cause it's actually been around for a while.

- It has been, Schott Distributing is a third generation beverage distributor.

We've been around since 1955, we've expanded out to eight and a half county area coverage.

We sell everything from bottled water to beer, wine, spirits, so we are a full service beverage wholesaler, so.

- And one of the only local ones around town, correct?

- Right, there are a couple located in town, but we are truly the only local one, we're owned local.

All our money stays local, yeah.

So.

- And that's great stuff.

And we were chatting a little bit before this about you do have quite a bit of community involvement.

So what are some things that Schott Distributing gets involved with?

- Well, each year we try to do things that better the world.

That's a really big thing in the beer business.

- And I love that too.

- Yes.

- I mean, that's awesome.

- So with our Anheuser-Busch brands, like Michelob ULTRA, we team up with join a journey, breast cancer in October, and with Michelob ULTRA brands, you can go to liquor stores and you'll see these big displays of Michelob ULTRA with pink ribbons.

They'll be decorated up with pink coolers, bikes, just anything to kind of call out.

And Schott Distributing makes a donation to the join a journey program.

So we team up with all our local wholesaler or distributors, distributor partners, I should say.

- Yeah.

- And we donate so much per case sold, and the first year, this will be our third year, the first year, I believe it was like a $3,000 donation.

Last year, we expanded out into the bars and restaurant areas and we were able to make up over $6,000.

- That's really awesome, Mark.

Thank you for sharing more about that.

We're gonna share your website and Facebook page.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- [Danielle] Thank you.

(upbeat music) - Hello again, this is Michael Wojcik with your R-Town rundown.

I love this time of year.

It is absolutely fantastic time to be outside.

It's not quite fall yet, but the weather is nice, the temperatures are a little bit cooler and there's so much to see.

I encourage everyone to get out and enjoy our hundreds of parks and hundreds of miles of trails in this area.

In particular, if you go around Cascade Lake right now, you're gonna see absolutely beautiful sunflowers and Aster coming in very shortly.

And there's a lot of events going on in Rochester as well.

This Friday night will be the last regular season home game for the Rochester Honkers.

They are playing Eau Claire, and then the playoffs will begin shortly after that.

Also going on on Friday at the Mayo Civic Center, Travis Tritt and Aaron Lewis in concert.

Tickets are still available.

And also this is the last weekend at the Rochester Repertory Theatre to watch Ruthless.

It's a great time.

I encourage everyone to go see that.

Going on on Saturday on the Peace Plaza is Butterfly Festival, and that is being put on by Listos preschool, that is from 12:00 to 3:00.

There will be intercultural activities for kids as well as free activities.

And then shortly after that, if you wanna see the inside of the refurbished Chateau Theater, there is a 21 plus event and that is the Butterfly Social, and that's gonna go on from 4:00 to 7:00, going on Saturday night.

Once again, we have the Night Market, which has been a huge success in the city of Rochester.

That's gonna be located just north of the Civic Center, and don't forget the last free concert of the summer in Mayo Park is going on Sunday night.

That is going to be a Led Zeppelin tribute band with 9th Planet opening at 7:00.

I hope to see you out and about enjoying Rochester.

(gentle music) - This is Danielle Teal with R-Town Walk About, And I'm at the Farmer's Market at MLK Junior Park, where we are checking out the community gardens and the master gardener program.

Tom Bellinger and Kelly Ray Kirkpatrick.

We are here with the University of Minnesota extension master gardener Olmsted county.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the program?

- So we, we're a large county.

We have over a hundred active volunteers in- - [Kelly] We're the largest volunteer led county in the state.

- Oh, wow.

- Yeah, so we're volunteer led right now, so.

- Wow.

You have these events, the 101- - Local Food 101 is an event that I started, and we encourage all of the master gardeners to go rogue, branch out and do something that they can lead and they can take ownership of, and that they can get a following for and include partners in our community, you know, - I like, - to get the word out.

- I like the going rogue.

I like the go rogue, the Tom and Kelly show.

What about that?

- We had a Facebook group, right?

And so we started posting and I think, you know, I started posting videos of me just walking around my garden and stuff like that, and of course, Kelly is starting this wonderful community garden and we're out here one day and, - Yeah, we were working - She starts - together and I said, hey - teasing me.

- let's do a Facebook live.

- Where can people find out more information about the master gardener program in Olmsted county, and then also watch your show?

- Well, there is a wonderful website where we have the Olmsted county, University of Minnesota extension.

So you start there, that's where all of our program information is.

- So 4H is on there, the agriculture information, - 4H, agriculture, - Oh, wow, yeah.

- garden, - Very convenient.

- Yep, and then their role - Yes.

- is up at a state level, role is up at a state level, but that's how you get local county information.

- Right.

- [Tom] And then we have the Facebook group, which is very popular, very active.

- Awesome, well, thank you so much for sharing about the program.

- Thanks.

Thanks Danielle.

- Thank you.

- All right, that was a blast.

I'm going to enjoy the beautiful natural scenery, and thanks for watching.

(gentle music) (upbeat music) - Every day, 14,000 individuals and 4,000 children face food insecurity here in Olmsted county.

We're joined today by Ani Bulbulian of Revolutionary Earth, here to share how the organization is working to restore our local food ecosystem and connect those in need with fresh local organic food.

Welcome to R-Town Ani.

- Hello.

Thank you.

- So can you tell us a little bit about the mission of Revolutionary Earth and how you got involved?

- Sure, yeah, thanks for having me.

The mission of Revolutionary Earth, as you previously stated, it's to restore an ecosystem that feeds everyone.

And the way we do that is people in the community, local residents, they offer their backyard lawns.

And then we, the organization and volunteers of the organization, we come and convert that lawn into a garden, and then we give all the produce that we harvest within 24 hours to people in need for free.

And so when in our mission statement, when we serve everyone, that's anyone who is struggling to feed their own family or themselves, and those people may not have a car to go to certain food places in Rochester.

So we hand deliver it.

- Wow, how do those people get in contact with you?

How do they connect?

- So many are just like local contacts that we have.

Others are people that we know.

Imagine knowing someone that needs food, but you don't really know where to turn to.

So lots of people we just find and then we serve them.

So it's yeah.

- So we, you know, I stated it and you stated as well, sort of the local food ecosystem, what is a food ecosystem and what are some of the main issues that our local food ecosystem is facing that you are working to address?

- Yeah, so I forget what the number is exactly, but it's like 70% of the food in Rochester comes from California and it's transported and moved here.

And in my opinion, I think that's stupid because I think we have the resources in our backyards, in the community to grow our own food.

And so that ecosystem that we're building, it starts in the earth and it's very important to convert the lawn into a garden because, you know, there's so much more you can do with the lawn than just cut it, trim it, and put chemicals on it.

Instead, you can just have people do the work for you and you can build your own garden and serve people in need.

So the ecosystem that we're building, it's the ecosystem in the ground, it's the nutrients that the plants give to the soil and that we give to the plants.

And then it's a lot of just natural things that keep the ecosystem going.

- Sure, that's really - Yeah.

- astounding, I think about the fact that we're here in Rochester and we're surrounded by farmland that 70% of our food is coming from outside of us.

- Yeah.

- Can you, you talked a little bit and sort of gave us this outline of, you know, working with people's lawns and backyards, and then how you harvest and distribute the food.

Yeah, I just, can we focus a little bit on just the growing of the food?

So how, you know, how do people connect with you to get to grow food?

What types of lawns and backyard spaces are you looking for?

- Yeah, so it's, one of the best things about our organization is it is very, hey, we'll take that or, hey, you're offering that.

Sure, that'll help.

So it's not like we are a strict organization.

We, if you have compost or if you have dirt or if you have something else, we'll take it.

The only thing about our organization is we do not take leftovers.

So like if someone, like leftovers from restaurants or leftovers from other farms.

We strive to give the most disadvantaged people the best organic produce, which is always fresh right from the garden.

So like I said, I said 24 hour harvest and delivery.

We hand deliver everything to their front doorstep.

So during COVID, it was really important for people who didn't have a car, they couldn't get to Channel One or they couldn't get to other food shelters.

So it was really important for us to just, hey, here's a box of food here.

You can feed your family now.

And yeah, the second part of that question, can you repeat that?

- Yeah, of course.

It was more about the specifications around what you said, you take anything.

- Oh yeah.

- Could people, you know, if I had quite a large like home garden, could I give you my tomatoes for example?

- Yeah, yeah, that's a great question, so whenever we take a plot of land or a backyard or a potential garden space, we always take a look at it and make sure the soil's okay, the sun's okay, there's not many tree roots inside.

So we'll have someone from our organization come if like, hey, I wanna donate my backyard.

We'll come look at it and see if it's good for us as well.

And then if it is, the person could just sit back and relax and watch people take care of it.

So it's really nice for them.

And then I think you mentioned how to get involved.

We have a website, revolutionaryearth.org that people can look to volunteer, to donate, or to see what volunteer programs or opportunities we have.

We have events and volunteer opportunities almost every single day.

So it's really important that since our organization is based on a hundred percent volunteers, it's important that we get people out there in the gardens.

So if you choose to volunteer, you would take a garden site and choose it as yours, and you would work with other people to keep tending up that garden, so we're able to feed the people in need.

- For sure, and if there are volunteers that really wanna support, but maybe don't know that much about farming or gardening, what resources or support might you provide?

- Yeah, so I always tell them this story.

I started volunteering for Revolutionary Earth in high school and I was 17, and I had no idea what gardening even was.

I knew tomatoes, I knew squash and that was it.

So I always tell people like, if you know nothing, just start and you'll learn a lot.

I, just firsthand experience, I've seen lots of groups and young youth in our gardens and, you know, youth don't know much about gardening.

And then all of a sudden they're like, hey mom, I learned how to plant blah, blah, blah.

Or I learned how to do this, and it's very cool to see them kind of pick up that information and then get excited about it.

So, and then I should probably mention, if you feel like you can't volunteer, if you're disabled or if you can't do any garden work, it's also just very important to kind of do it from the sidelines.

There's lots of like inside the organization work to do, plenty of us get, you know, stressed by the end of the season, 'cause there's a lot of planning and lots of who's gonna take care of this or who's gonna take care of that.

So we always like extra hands on deck, even behind the scenes, and then also donations are always helpful as well.

- Fantastic, so lots of different ways to get involved.

So the name Revolutionary Earth, can you talk a little bit about what makes the model revolutionary and you know, I think a lot of what you've talked about is how you're fostering change and food justice.

So can you just tell us a little bit more about that?

- Sure, so yeah, Revolutionary Earth's quite a title.

I can't think of anything better because it's really a revolution what we're doing.

I don't think there's anyone else in Rochester that gives the best organic produce for free for people, and hand delivers it.

Most people have to go get it themselves.

Our Revolutionary Earth was started by our founder, Christopher Brenna back in 2019, he saw a need in his community.

So he asked a couple of neighbors if he could grow backyard gardens in their backyards.

And they're like, sure, if you'll do all the work, fine.

And he started doing that and gave all the produce that he was growing to his friends in need.

And ever since then, the organization has really just grown and it's grown like a flower, and it's really sprouted and people really rely on us for sure.

- Wonderful, well thank you - Yeah.

so much, Ani, for joining us, and thank you for the work that you're doing, and we hope to keep up to date with what you're doing.

- Sure, thank you.

- Yeah.

Of course.

And thank you for joining us today, coming to you from 125 live, I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of R-Town, the show about Rochester.

For more wonderful content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at #RTown.

For now be well and stay safe.

We will see you next time.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the citizens of Minnesota.