(gentle music) (bright music) - As we head into the holidays, we wrap up our season by visiting Our Daily Bread Food and Resource Center, to learn more about the value of having fresh produce.

From the garden to the glass this season, we head over to the OSU Beverage Center to get tips on how to make the best pairing for your upcoming holiday meals.

All this, plus gift ideas for gardeners and a season recap, right now, on "Oklahoma Gardening."

Underwriting assistance for our program is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, helping to keep Oklahoma green and growing.

So, if you're looking for easy and low maintenance perennials... (bright music) Have two different types of flowers on one plant.

(bright music) Capsaicinoids that gives the pepper it's heat.

(bright music) Over the season, we've been following in the OSU Student Farm and the production that's being grown there.

Today, we are here at Our Daily Bread, joined by Rachael Condley, who is the director, and now we're getting to see where all that produce is going.

So, Rachael, thank you for having us.

- Thank you for being here.

- So tell us a little bit about Our Daily Bread.

- So, Our Daily Bread is a food and resource center.

Our mission is feeding our community collaboratively and providing connections that enable lasting change.

So, obviously, we're here in the food part.

- Yes.

- So we are modeled like a small grocery store, where anyone experiencing food insecurity throughout Payne County, can come and select groceries for their household once a month.

- [Casey] Okay.

And so, who all do you serve?

- [Rachael] We serve everyone in Payne County.

Anyone that comes in and says they need groceries, gets to shop.

- Okay.

- [Rachael] So, it's a really beautiful thing.

We don't want asking for help to be anything that is embarrassing or hard, even though we know it is.

- Right.

- So we try to normalize it as much as possible.

Have music playing, make this obviously bright and upbeat.

And then self-selecting groceries, we believe provides a lot of dignity and also reduces waste, because people are picking exactly what they can use in their household.

- [Casey] Okay.

Well, and obviously you have a lot of shelf-stable stuff.

- Right.

- But something that's always been a need is fresh produce.

- Produce.

Yes.

- Right.

So tell us a little bit about how this collaboration came about with OSU Student Farm.

- Sure.

So, Dr. Justin Moss, who is the department head for Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, he is a friend of Our Daily Bread, has been since the very beginning in 2017.

He helps us a lot with our community garden here on site, which is a quarter acre.

Our mission for that is production and education, but obviously, on a quarter acre, we're pretty limited.

So, when I came on in 2021, he and I met up several times so that we could get acquainted and he asked me once, like, you know, "Do you have all the produce that you need at Our Daily Bread?"

I said, "No, we run out every session.

We have to limit it for our guests.

People always want more fruits and vegetables."

And I'm a dietician, that's where my heart is.

I wanna give them more fruits and vegetables and not day old donuts.

- Right, right.

- You know?

So, he said, "I wanna show you something."

And so, at one of our meetings he showed me the lands that he had thought for years might be good for the project he had in mind.

And we started talking about what maybe needed to happen to make that happen.

And here we are.

- Yeah.

And so, you got a lot of produce this season.

- Lot of produce.

- This is the first season to actually- - Right.

- [Casey] kind of reap the benefit of that.

Right?

- Right.

- And next year, it's even growing more.

(chuckles) - I know.

And I am so ready.

So, you know, before, we have a mobile market program.

Obviously, not everyone throughout Payne County can get to us.

So people with transportation difficulties, we go out every Wednesday afternoon to different communities in Payne County, and we weren't able to take any fresh produce before.

So now, since the Student Farm, we take Student Farm produce to mobile market.

We stock it in all of our satellites, including one on OSU's campus for the OSU family.

And then we're able to have so much more to offer here as well.

- [Casey] And what are you hearing from your customers about the fresh produce?

- Oh, they're in love with it.

We've gotten...

So social media is kind of a tricky thing.

You know, some comments aren't always compliments.

A lot of times they're constructive criticism.

But when we started getting in the bulk of the Student Farm produce in the summer, we had people reaching out to us with pictures of what they were able to make with the produce that they got here.

We had one lady specifically reach out and said, her husband has cancer, they have to watch what they eat.

She tries really hard to give him all the healthy foods possible, and how the produce had been such a blessing to them because she could have so much, she could freeze and store, she could juice it, and just for their health, she was so incredibly thankful.

So those are the kind of comments we're getting now, which is incredible.

- [Casey] That's amazing.

And healthier food than some of those stores, you know, the shelf-stable stuff.

- Exactly.

- Right?

- [Rachael] Or even, you know, you take canned food, high in sodium, usually kinda concentrated- - Right.

- which, you know, is definitely something to feed your family.

But you can even add produce to things like that.

So, making it a healthier option is just... Ugh, it's been so great.

(Casey chuckles) - [Casey] Well, and you guys obviously provide a lot of food to the whole county here- - Yeah.

- in the Payne County.

- [Interviewer] But also you provide other resources.

Tell us a little bit about some of those other resources that you offer.

- Absolutely.

So that's the second part of our mission, providing connections that enable lasting change.

So since the Student Farm Produce, we've been able to partner much more than before with OSU Extension to provide cooking classes and samples and demonstrations with the produce that we have.

Also, gardening classes, we provide classes on budgeting and finance.

We did an early childhood parenting class this week.

We host the baby mobile from Infant Crisis Services.

Payne County Health Department comes a lot for different educational things, STI testing, things like that.

So those are the resources we wanna connect our guests to while they're here.

Because often, once you get here, when in the moment of stress you're thinking, "Okay, I need food for my family."

But then when they get here, we wanna be able to provide them other things here so that they don't have to go searching all over town or looking for what else they need or thinking three steps ahead of what they need today.

- [Interviewer] Right, and cooking class is an important part of that too.

Because I know a lot of times it's like, "Okay, I have this whatever product and I don't know what to do with this necessarily."

So you're providing 'em with those resources to actually utilize it.

- Exactly.

We met with Linda and Matt, the farm managers, before they ever started growing and planting.

And we said, "Okay."

You know, they said, "What do your guests want?"

So we had a survey that kind of showed the most popular fruits and vegetables for this reason, honestly.

But then we had to balance that with, "Okay, but what's Hardy crops?

What's gonna have a long shelf life?"

So we have it for a long time.

So one of those things, for example, with spaghetti squash, but a lot of people don't know exactly what to do with it.

They wanted to take it, but then you get it home and you're like, "What?"

So that's where Extension came in and did several prep classes and then some samples of a couple of different recipes for our guests before they shopped so they could see like, "Hey, here's some ideas on what you could do with it."

- [Interviewer] That's amazing.

Well, and I know as we head into the holiday season, a lot of times, people's mind sort of shifts and think about how they can help and serve their community.

But this isn't just a thing for the holidays.

This is a year round thing and a year-round need.

How can people get involved anytime of the year?

- Yeah, so I mean, specifically around here, we say hunger isn't just on the holidays, that's kind of our key word.

But we obviously do need sometimes more help in the holidays, specifically for us, our OSU community kind of vacates during Christmas break.

And so you can go to our website.

Anyone can call and pick any extension and leave a message that you wanna help.

And I promise we will get back to you.

But yeah, we have more shoppers during the holidays and then also lower numbers of volunteers typically.

So we can usually make those volunteer shifts work.

Even if you and your family can come for an hour or two, it makes a huge difference.

- [Interviewer] And it's everything from like stocking shelves to donating paper bags and plastic sacks for shopping, right?

- [Rachel] Yeah, egg cartons.

All kinds of things that we take all the time.

Obviously monetary donations, but time, you can go to our website and go to our Get Involved tab and there's give food, give time, give money.

Lots of different options on how you can help.

Not everybody can be a shopping assistant, nor do they wanna be, but I promise we've got a place for you.

- [Interviewer] Well, Rachel, I know Our Daily Bread is very Payne County focused, but there's people all across the state that can help.

Where should they go to get involved in their local community, good resource?

- Absolutely.

Yeah, so one great resource for finding organizations that help people is 211.

You can call or they do have a website.

If you go there, you can see a list of resources in your area.

And if you wanna help, you give them a call.

I promise you, they won't turn you away.

- [Interviewer] All right, thank you so much, Rachel.

Appreciate it.

- Thank you.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - The CobraHead tool is one of my favorite tools to use in the yard, and I made friends with a lot of my neighbors by giving them these tools as gifts.

It's a really handy tool because it has a beveled edge, and this nice head, it's very useful for digging into sticky clay.

You can use it to cultivate in different things like that.

It's great for pulling out masses of roots, like under grassy weeds.

I can find a million different ways to use it.

And as much as I love the original CobraHead, I really like the mini CobraHead.

It's got a smaller handle.

I have smaller hands, and so it just fits my hands perfectly.

But either of these tools are great for using in small places in your garden, in between plants, in between flagstones, just a variety of uses.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - If you're looking for a great gift for a gardener, I've got a brand new tool that we just got in here at the Gardens.

This is an extendable reach pruner.

We've always had an issue with pruning and deadheading our cannas.

Whenever we use loppers to reach up into them and prune them, the dead material tends to fall into the cannas and is lost for forever.

So this solves that problem.

You're able to prune all of your dead spent flowers.

You're also able to prune dead material.

And it has grippers on the end to where whenever you prune something, it holds onto it and you're able to... - Pull that away and properly dispose of it.

It extends really, really far and it's great for, you know, shaping up any bushes that you have, or again, deadheading anything.

So, yeah, this is a great gift that I would like to receive as a gardener.

(lively music) (lively music continues) - This is a really popular gardening gift.

They're called Fabric pots.

They come in all different shapes, and sizes and colors, such as purple.

They're really popular for easily transportation and they are good for beginner to expert gardeners.

They're particularly good for college students, for those who can't direct seed, or in apartments.

They're also good for...

They air prune themselves, so you don't have to worry about root circular or anything like that.

If you're looking for fabric pots that are made locally in Oklahoma, they're also known as smart pots.

And we use these all around the garden for easy transportation and moving plants that aren't really heavy.

Smart pots are a really good gift that can fit under your tree or can be used for your tree.

(lively music) (lively music continues) - Today we are at the Center for Beverage Education here at OSU, and joining me is the Director and also Assistant Professor, John Burdge.

John, if you don't mind, first tell me a little bit about the Center of Beverage Education.

- Well, obviously we're the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, so beverage is a big part of that program.

So we teach everything.

We teach everything from wine and culture, wine and distribution, wine and production as long as other fermentation sciences to sealed spirits, beer as well.

- Well, and over this season in Oklahoma gardening, we've kind of visited some of the different wineries and breweries.

Tell us a little bit about what you guys see as the potential for Oklahoma's industry.

- Well, the industry as a whole is very vibrant and Oklahomans as a consumer, obviously, embrace beverages, wine, beer, and spirits.

It's a thriving industry right now.

And obviously with the craft beer and distilleries, we're starting to see that build up in the area as well.

- And obviously you have a student population that has an interest in some of this as well, that you're educating to take on some of that leadership later on.

- Of course.

- So tell us a little bit about.. Let's get into the holiday season, right?

- Okay.

- (chuckling) that's what we're really here for.

- Yeah.

- So I wanna talk to you a little bit about... We've got a lot of holidays coming up.

If I'm entertaining, what do I serve with your traditional ham and turkey and some of that stuff?

- You know, that's a really good question.

I get a asked that all the time.

And when I look at this plate, I see a lot of things going on.

There's obviously a lot of flavors.

But, you know, the main part of the plate is the ham and the turkey.

And a lot of us, we like to brine those.

And because of that, that process involves salt.

So, obviously salt and ham will be a little bit salty.

To counter that, we'll offer something that might be a little sweet, like a Reisling here, or even a Muscat, which is even sweeter.

And Oklahomans love those sweet wines and that works really well.

If you wanted to contrast, you know, something with a little bit more acidity, like a Sauvignon Blanc would work well as well.

- Okay.

So is that sweetness, sort of, kind of like that idea that we sometimes we put soda or honey on our ham to kind of cut that salt a little bit?

So you're doing that same sort of thing with the palette?

- Exactly.

Exactly.

- Okay.

Okay.

- So does it matter red or white or you can go either way with that?

- You know, so it's very versatile, the holidays.

So white wine wise, the wines that have a little bit of residual sugar, like a Riesling, a Muscat, a Chenin Blanc, tend to do real well.

Pinots for reds or a lighter style like Gamay do well.

- Okay.

- But we also like Cabernet.

So really anything goes during the holidays.

- Okay.

- Okay.

Well, after the main course comes dessert.

So can we use the same wine that we had with our main course for dessert or something different?

- You can.

I actually like to do a dessert wine with dessert.

- Okay.

And in that case, we've got, and I'll be honest with you, I've tasted these in class and they were the crowd favorites this year.

- Okay.

- And so it's a grape called Muscat, and there's two different styles.

This one is a Sparkling Muscat, this one's actually a Pink Moscato.

But anyway, it's got some really nice fresh fruit, raspberry flavors, strawberry pop.

It goes... - And bubbles then?

- And bubbles.

So, you know, you can't go wrong with that.

And this one is actually a Muscat from Beaume de Venise, which is an area in their own.

But this one has actually been fortified a little bit.

So it's got a little extra kick.

- What does that, yeah, what does that mean?

It doesn't have vitamins in it, right?

Or does it?

- Well, so when we do the chemical equations, sugar plus cheese equals alcohol and CO2, when they do that, they arrest fermentation by adding a little bit of distilled branding.

- Okay.

- And so that's what makes it.

- It's good.

- So it's got that really fresh, great, juice flavor.

- Okay.

- Real fresh, fruity.

But then, like I said... - A little bit of kick to finish off that- - All right, so we're opening another bottle for dessert.

When we open a bottle, do we need to let it rest or breathe, I guess?

I mean, I don't know, what's the secret here?

- Yeah, so your more expensive bottles probably need a little, they do benefit from a little bit of decanting or opening up, but for all practical purposes, for most, 9 times out of 10, you just need to open- - We don't have to wait, okay.

- Right, yeah.

- So, and I know there's so many more varieties and types, and packaging, really, to select from.

We've got corks, we've got screw tops and boxes.

Is one better than the other?

And let's also talk about price point, - You know, so, well first off is price point.

Technology has caught everyone up to the 21st century and everyone's making really good wine.

- Okay.

- So there's great wine at all price points.

So don't be afraid to try some of the more inexpensive varieties.

But also don't be afraid of different kinds of closures.

So we've got cork finished, which are the most traditional, but we've got Stelvin closures that don't have the cork so there's never any possibility of cork taint.

And then there's actually this one that's very environmentally friendly.

It's made out of cardboard that all breaks down.

This is three liters, which is actually the equivalent of four bottles there, so it makes it real convenient.

- Okay.

- And the other nice thing about these vessels is that once they're open, there's no oxygen that can get in.

So they can stay good for up to a week, - Oh, okay.

- which is really cool.

- So that's really, if you're having a bigger group come over, that might be a better way to serve that also.

- Sure.

- Okay, well thank you so much for this.

And I know you, you know, if people have more interest in this, you guys host several, a couple of different forums each year.

Can you tell us about the beer and wine forums?

- Yeah, so we've got Craft Beer Forum coming up in April.

- Okay.

- It's April 6th and there we bring Oklahoma's best craft beer breweries together, along with consumers, and we have educational sessions for everyone.

It's a great event, great turnout.

We look forward to having everyone there for that.

And then next year we'll have the Wine Forum, which we, same thing, bring in some of the best wineries from all over the world - Okay.

- [John] along with consumers to bring 'em together.

- So you rotate those forums from year to year.

So this spring we're gonna look forward to the beer forum coming up.

- Yes.

- And for more information, is that on your website?

- It sure is.

- Excellent.

- And tickets will be available soon.

- Okay, thank you so much, John.

- You too, thank you.

- Appreciate it.

Happy holidays.

- You too.

(festive music) - Hi, my name is Hailey, and today I'm going to be talking about one of my favorite garden tools, which are loppers.

Loppers can be used for many different things.

One thing that they are really handy for is cutting through thick branches.

So let's say you're out in the garden and you come across a shrub or a small tree that has a really thick trunk, and that normal hand pruners cannot clearly chop through, these will give you that good leverage and power that you need to easily cut through that thick stem branch, whatever it is, and be able to move it out your way.

Another good thing that they're useful for is reaching up in high places and cutting things down.

So you have that really big tree up in the air that you clearly can't reach just by reaching up with hand pruners in your hand, these will give you that extra reach and leverage again to just snip that branch right off.

And then one last thing that I found them really helpful for over the summer while I've been working here is, let's say you're digging up plants that have really problematic roots and they're just too thick to even cut through with a shovel or anything.

If you just take them, put them in the ground like this and snip the root in half, then you will hopefully, get that plant out.

So I think loppers are a great gift to give to any future gardener that you know.

(bright music) - Hi, I'm here with another gift idea.

So we've got a cleaning kit that we've made with a couple of different things.

It's great for maintaining all of your garden tools, things like pruners and loppers.

You've got oil to keep all of the moving parts of your tools, you know, well lubricated.

You've got a sharpener to make sure that all of those blades are nice and sharp, ready to cut for things in spring.

And then you've got a brush for making sure you've cleaned away all of the gunk and grime that accumulates over the years.

This is a great gift, a great stocking stuffer for any gardener, for anyone who has any outdoor tools.

(bright music) - I am here today to tell you about one of my favorite gardening tools, and it is a saw.

And when I started out, and for the last 20 or 30 years, I've used a drywall saw.

But I found out something that works a whole heck of a lot better.

And that is a root saw, and this is one from Corona.

It has double teeth, and so when you push and when you pull, you get a saw motion.

It's really great for roots.

It's also useful for pruning small limbs and things of that nature.

- It's one of those tools I find a million uses for, but my favorite thing for using it for is for cutting out the concept once it grow abundantly in my yard.

(gentle music) - It is the time of year when we begin to slow down and reflect upon the season.

As I wrap up my eighth season of hosting "OklahomaGardening," it's like being told to put down a good book when you wanna continue reading.

Over the years, everyone always asks us how we come up with so many great horticulture segments, and I always respond that it is thanks to you all.

So thank you for continuing to provide us with amazing horticulture inspiration over these past few years.

This year, we had the opportunity to, again, travel around the state, meet some incredible people, learn lots of things, and of course, have many laughs along the way.

(upbeat music) - Behind the scenes.

(upbeat music) (person indistinctly speaks) (hands clapping) (staff 1 speaks in foreign language) (staff 2 speaks in foreign language) - Oh, wow.

(vehicle rumbling) (upbeat music) - [Staff 1] But what's really fun is to see all of the different varieties of plants that are available to us.

(upbeat music) - [Staff 2] It is so much fun.

You get to meet lovely, wonderful people that you learn with and that you share with, and you continue to grow and you don't just... You should never stop learning.

(upbeat music) - This year, we're wrapping up our season just like we do every other one by reviewing the list of segment ideas that we simply ran out of time to capture.

In addition to some of those segments, next year, we'll also be featuring the theme on how gardening can help create a healthier lifestyle.

In the meantime, this winter, you can continue to watch the best of "OklahomaGardening" shows until February when we come back with new shows.

And from all of us here at "OklahomaGardening"... - [All] Happy holidays.

(festive music) - [Staff 3] There are a lot of great horticulture activities this time of year.

Be sure and consider some of these events in the weeks ahead.

(festive music) - Over the next two weeks, OETA will be conducting fundraising.

Our best of "OklahomaGardening" shows will begin December 9th.

(festive music) I saw for those involved next season.

I don't like that.

(tongue clicks) - [Staff 4] Happy holidays.

- [Staff 5] Happy holidays.

(staff laughing) - [Staff 4] I'm sorry, (indistinct).

My mouth (indistinct).

- Yeah.

(festive music) - [Host] To find out more information about show topics as well as recipes, videos, articles, fact sheets, and other resources, including a directory of local extension offices, be sure to visit our website at oklahomagardening.oksstate.edu.

Join in on Facebook and Instagram.

You can find this entire show and other recent shows as well as individual segments on our "OklahomaGardening" YouTube channel.

Tune in to our "OKGardeningClassics" YouTube channel to watch segments from previous hosts.

"OklahomaGardening" is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service as part of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University.

The Botanic Garden at OSUs home to our studio gardens and we encourage you to come visit this beautiful Stillwater gem.

We would like to thank our generous underwriter, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.

Additional support is also provided by Greenleaf Nursery and the Garden Debut plants, the Oklahoma Horticulture Society, the Tulsa Garden Club and the Tulsa Garden Center.

(festive music)