The Boone Show
The Boone Show
The Boone Show - S6 E3 - Denver Downs Fall Fest and ACTC's Hogfather
Text us what you think of this episode!
We walk through Denver Downs’ new fall season—Lainey Wilson maze, fireworks, flowers, food—and meet the ACTC “Hogfather” whose students breed, deliver, and show pigs while learning real vet science. A student leader joins to share how FFA turned curiosity into a calling.
• Lainey Wilson corn maze design, trivia, photo ops
• How mazes are built using grids and spray
• Mums, sunflowers, and market sales with tips to replant
• USA Today Top 10 pumpkin patch and TripAdvisor honors
• New rides, games, irrigation upgrades under the maze
• Live music, bonfires, and Saturday night fireworks
• Ticket details and preseason pricing
• ACTC ag program: student-led AI, farrowing, show prep
• Vet science lab: diagnostics, handling, hands-on skills
• Student voice on FFA leadership and college plans
• Pig and duck races collaboration between ACTC and Denver Downs
• Local recommendations for food, shows, and events
Get tickets at DenverDownsFarm.com.
Thanks for listening! Direct all inquiries to jboone@mypulseradio.com.
Hello, everybody. Welcome to another edition of the Boone Show. Happy to be with you on a wonderful first show of fall.
SPEAKER_08:Two weeks in a row, John.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, well, we're off next week. That's true. Can't overdo it. But we do have a couple of great go uh ghosts, no, uh guests would be the proper word uh on the show. And uh one is no stranger, because as it is, time for fall fun.
SPEAKER_08:And you know what we always think of. In the fall in Anderson.
SPEAKER_06:That's right, the Denver Downs Fall Festival. Yes, and Catherine Garrison is once again with us. Hello.
SPEAKER_07:Hello, John. Great to be with y'all today. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_06:And we also have a first timer who says he's been waiting for me to ask him to be on the show.
SPEAKER_04:I feel so honored.
SPEAKER_06:I had no idea. I keep looking over there. He's sitting so low in his chair. Anyway, Trey Harris my whole life is quite all right. Trey is the uh agriculture instructor here at the Career Center. So we're doing all farm.
SPEAKER_08:Exactly.
SPEAKER_06:It's a farm show tonight. So uh happy everybody's with us. We'll have some fun uh getting to know Trey a little bit, and Catherine will let us know what's going on at Denver Down. So uh Catherine, let's start with you.
unknown:All right.
SPEAKER_06:What's going on what's going on at Denver Down? No. Um, but is there anything new at the fall festival, which opens up this Friday?
SPEAKER_09:Yes.
SPEAKER_06:So it boy, that came fast.
SPEAKER_09:It did.
SPEAKER_06:And uh I know you've been saying things have been a little hectic, but heck, last year we had a hurricane.
SPEAKER_07:Oh, yes. I know. It was nasty. I th I think I've got uh some peace this year, so I don't have to worry about a hurricane the opening week.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it can be a little better than that. Um so tell us what's going on with the fall festival. What can we look forward to this year?
SPEAKER_07:Well, we've got uh everybody ready to open up, and we've got our um maze theme this year is going to be Lainey Wilson.
SPEAKER_06:Oh that's like all over the country they're 36 different places.
SPEAKER_07:Yes, so we belong to an association of corn mazes, which people find that amazing that there is an association.
SPEAKER_06:Amazing, she said it is.
SPEAKER_07:So they are the people in the corn maze, sometimes they have partnerships that they're approached by different uh organizations or country music, and they will uh decide that they would love to their image to be in the corn mazes. So we were offered the chance to have Lainey Wilson as our as our design this year. We thought that was really cool. She represents just you know a she's a great individual and she's a great role model for so many people. So we thought that would be fun. And when people go into the maze, we've got a a giant or a life-size uh photograph of her that people can take pictures with. And there's there's trivia throughout the maze on little checkpoints that people can learn a little bit about her history and what's going on with Laney.
SPEAKER_08:And Catherine, this is a big deal to figure out who's gonna be in the maze and what it's gonna look like each year.
SPEAKER_07:Yes. So and it's it's really unlimited. We can just do anything we want with it. But um it's uh we hopefully we're gonna do the 250th anniversary of the US United States next year. Oh, yeah. Very cool. That would be a great thing. We're looking forward to that. So um we've got yeah, so a few years ago, we really would love to do Dolly Parton, but they haven't um Dolly's people have her people have not given us the go-ahead on that. Uh but Luke Bryan um was in a lot of corn mazes like the year before last. And we did Reva McIntyre. Yes, I remember that. Yeah. So it's I mean, it's kind of flattering, I guess, to have your image in, you know, a field of corn over the whole country. So for sure.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, just think she's flying somewhere, she'll see herself in the city.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, and all the different mazes. And there's a special contest that people can when they come to the farms or one of the farms that's doing her the her image maze, uh, they can register for an all-expense paid trip to one of her concerts. See, now that is very cool. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So when people have to remember to do that when they come out to Denver Downs, make sure that they sign up. Register for that.
SPEAKER_06:Um when you do the maze, as you said, there are 36 places that are doing it. Do they have people they just give you the the outline, whatever? I mean, you've described a couple different ways you've done it over the years as technology advances. Yes. So how are they doing it this year? And do they just give you a plan and every place does their own, or is there a group that advises on this?
SPEAKER_07:That's a great question. So most years we just do a little sketch of what we want the maze to look like and we uh kind of have an image of, you know, well, we want this to be a turn, this to be a turn. So we call that like maze wrap. You want to have a certain amount of maze wrap with the twists and turns in there. So most years we sketch out an image and then we give it to our uh our maze friends and they graph it out and then can cut do the cutout from there. For Laney Wilson, they had a few different samples of uh design that you could kind of put together in your maze. One might be like a guitar or her outline, which hours has a guitar and her outline. Some are like cowboy hats, different kind of country.
SPEAKER_04:I was gonna say she has to be known for her hat. Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_07:And bell bottoms.
SPEAKER_06:Bell bottoms, yeah. Um but so not they're not all these aren't gonna be the exactly the same then.
SPEAKER_07:Right.
SPEAKER_06:Because they can choose certain elements.
SPEAKER_07:Yes, they'll all they'll all be a little different. I don't think any of them are exactly the same. Yeah, that's neat.
SPEAKER_06:And how do you do it again?
SPEAKER_07:How do you Great question? So the aliens come down.
SPEAKER_06:That's I would take that as an answer.
SPEAKER_07:So they um the group that our Bayes Association, well, there's a few different things you could do. You could do it with a GPS and a mower and cut the corn out that way. We've done it that way, but it's not optimal because uh there's still some corn that grows back and you have to go in and trim trim that. So the best way we have found is the the company that we the organization we belong to, they'll send out their team and the team marks the entire field it with white flags. Say every 12, 10 or 12 feet, they'll make a huge grid of the entire cornfield. And then they walk through with backpack sprayers with their little piece of diagram, their little piece of paper, and they say, Okay, this little ten by ten looks like this. We need to go up and do a big curve, or you know, go up and turn a make a right right turn in the middle of this little area. And so you do that over the whole corn maze and and it's cut out. It just doesn't grow in the areas that they spray. Yes, the trails, they kill off the corn in the trails.
SPEAKER_06:So this thing is ready to go right now. When did you have to start on that?
SPEAKER_07:Beautiful. Oh my gosh, the corn looks great. Compared to last year when we were all facing the army worms everywhere, they they were not friendly to the to corn and also the and then the hurricane. Yeah. So this is amazing to see. It's amazing. I say that word way too. I love it.
SPEAKER_04:All these corny jokes.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, oh my.
SPEAKER_07:I know. Where's my buttons, John?
SPEAKER_06:I know. Gotta get on Nathan about that.
SPEAKER_07:So yeah, it's really it's amazing how it the corn just looks great. And then we've got flowers. We've got, you know, tons of flowers that people can come out and pick and cut for uh flowers like to take home in a vase for their kitchen table or give to a friend, and that's always so they can pick these.
SPEAKER_06:It's not like they're already just there. And because I know what what are the big flowers you usually do?
SPEAKER_07:The sunflowers. Oh, and then we do the mums.
SPEAKER_06:The mums. Yes. But those are already in a container, right?
SPEAKER_07:Yes, those are in pots.
SPEAKER_06:Okay. So these you can actually just go out and pick your own.
SPEAKER_07:Yes. So we've got the mums, which are in pots, for people to take home and put on their front porch, and then we've got the cut flowers that you take some shears out and you actually cut the flowers and make an arrangement. Nice. So the the mums look great too. It's they're absolutely beautiful. So people we'll be selling those on the weekends when we're open for the festival, and then on the weekdays we sell the them at our market. There's an old Roseide Market that we have on Clemson Boulevard. So we'll be selling those there. And mine lasted all season. Yeah, they are perfect and huge. Yeah, they were gorgeous.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:You gotta make sure you keep them watered. Yes. So Clemson fans are gonna love this. We've got some that are orange and purple. Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Sunflowers.
SPEAKER_07:Oh, the mums. Mums, um, yeah.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_07:And so you know, I don't know if you tried this before, but you can plant the mums in your yard, and then the next year they grow back. No, I did not know that. And we've got a lot that we've planted from last year. So you plant when they start dying, then you plant them in the ground over the and then over the winter they look they're dormant. They're dormant, they look terrible. But then in the spring and summer they start coming back, and they are they're enormous when they're in your yard. I did not know they had the big shrubs. Uh when mine died, I just threw it out. Yep. You gotta save them and put them in your yard.
SPEAKER_06:Thank you for the gift that keeps giving.
SPEAKER_08:That's right.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Uh, and tell us about this whole uh pumpkin thing, which uh another national getting some national attention. Your pumpkin patch.
SPEAKER_07:We are very excited. So this time of year, it's so interesting because you don't know what kind of email or or what news is gonna come come our way. Um USA Today uh contacted us about two months ago and we had been selected uh or nominated for the top ten pumpkin patches in the U.S. So the U.S. about five for five years, the past eight or nine years, we've been in the top ten corn mazes in the country, but we've never been in the top ten pumpkin patches, which is cool. It was really special. So then there was a there was a vote for about a month, and Denver Downs came in at number five. That's great. So we want to thank everybody that voted for us. And I they probably everybody probably I probably got on everyone's nerves asking everybody to keep voting for us. But it's it's a big honor. Also, this summer we've got we got a contacted by TripAdvisor, and we are this is kind of hard to believe. Denver Downs is in the top 10% of attractions worldwide.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_07:That is little blown away by that. Yeah. So that means that people we're people are searching for us a lot and they are um leaving good reviews.
SPEAKER_04:We used to bring our FFA group from Georgia over like every year. Um it depended on where you know which school I was at, but we we would come to Denver Downs and bring a busload of kids, um and it was always a great time. And y'all always was uh very friendly working with us and you know and helping us out there with the students, so we greatly appreciate that.
SPEAKER_07:Great, I love hearing that. Yeah, we want it to be a special time when people come out because you could choose to go anywhere. And so we want to make it really special when you uh come spend the day with us. And every year that we go, there's always something new. So what's new this year? This year we've got these these well, with Laney, she has a w song called Whirl Win. And so we've got these chairs that you sit on and you they it's like they're like giant tops. Uh-huh. So you sit on them and you go. So they're kind of crazy, but they're there's something fun for folks to try this year. And uh we've added a few more little games out there so people can enjoy. Uh and we on the farm agriculture side, we replaced the uh irrigation system underneath the corn mace. Okay. So I don't know if y'all remember this, but like 15 years ago, we had a 10-acre, about two and a half foot mace. Yes, because nothing was wet. Right? Right rain. I remember that. So it was our 10-acre mini maze. So that so guess what we decided to do? And we really tried everything. I mean, I was thinking, you know, can we call the fire departments and get them to come out, you know, and it's you know, now knowing what kind of water that requires, that was really silly for me to think that. But um I was trying to problem solve, but um, so we put in an irrigation system that's like dripline tape underground that waters the whole field. So that had been in the ground for 12 years and it was time to replace it. There was there was a lot of damage over the years. So uh we just replaced that. So that's one reason the corn is looking so great because it's it's had Mother Nature and it's had a little bit of help with irrigation. Very cool.
SPEAKER_06:That's cool. Uh by the way, just an idea for future corn maize, you can do our our mascot. You can do the platypus.
SPEAKER_08:He's not a duck.
SPEAKER_06:He's not a duck. We'll we'll get you your shirt later.
SPEAKER_07:I love the platypus. It makes me it makes my heart so happy when I see him out at the farm.
SPEAKER_06:We might come out and see the platypus.
SPEAKER_07:I may keep him. If y'all if he gets kidnapped.
SPEAKER_06:We'll know where to look. Okay. But yeah, he has uh she lets him go on all the the rides and stuff.
SPEAKER_08:The rides and stuff, I love it.
SPEAKER_06:Ride the slide, and he was inside a big tractor tire being rolled around and I'm sure the kids love to see him.
SPEAKER_08:So it's fun. It's just happy. People love that.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Is he gonna be wearing his not a duck shirt? Maybe. That's a good idea. We might as well let him wear it if everybody else is. Sure. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:I've got some ducks out at the farm this year, so I'll have to get a picture of the colour.
SPEAKER_06:Yes, of him with the ducks so you can tell the difference.
SPEAKER_07:Duck, not a duck.
SPEAKER_06:Yes, duck, not a duck.
SPEAKER_07:That'll be the next t-shirt. This year, my new t-shirt we're gonna be selling, it says, How about them pumpkins?
SPEAKER_06:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_07:So we might have to say, I'm not a duck. That's a good thing. There you go.
SPEAKER_06:She's right along the line. What we're thinking here. Great minds.
SPEAKER_07:And when this year we are doing, in addition, we always have live music on you know, in the afternoons and in the evenings. And in October, on Saturday nights, we are gonna be having fireworks this year. Yes. So the Hyundai of Anderson is uh doing a sponsorship to help help us out with that. So that's gonna be really exciting. Every Saturday night at what time? In October. Um, about dark, probably about 8 30. Okay. Yeah, so cool. We'll have the bonfires going and the live music, and then we'll take a break and we'll do the fireworks. So it's everybody can come out and enjoy it.
SPEAKER_08:That's an I always every single year you surprise me because I think there's no way you could have any more stuff out there, and then yet you add more things.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, it's kinda long.
SPEAKER_04:I'm always impressed with the musical lineup. Yeah. And I'm a big music fan, and and I just I think you guys pull some great artists, and it's just an awesome event.
SPEAKER_07:We love that. We love supporting local artists, and it really adds to the atmosphere you know, having some great music. Local, kind of homegrown themed. Yeah, love it.
SPEAKER_06:So how many years has have you been doing the Falcon?
SPEAKER_07:We think it's about 25, I think.
SPEAKER_06:But I tell you, the last several years, it just kind of exploded. So credit to you and all those people who work with you because it's really it's become one of the topics. Right. Yeah, I can just remember back uh the one you were talking about with the short corn was one of the first ones I had ever been to. And just you know, since then, it's just it's you can't even compare. It's gotten so much bigger and better. And and the and just the grounds, they're spotless.
SPEAKER_08:It's beautiful, it's just clean and and it's decorated nicely. It is, it really is.
SPEAKER_06:It's great. So it kicks off this Friday, and we'll come back to this later in the show. But how can people get tickets?
SPEAKER_07:We have on our website, Denver DownsFarm.com, we have a the tickets are for sale there. And they're gonna be we have a pre-season sale going on now, which will be through Thursday night. So the day before we open, we'll have uh the preseason sale tickets. So they'll go back to 25 or I think about$25 after that.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, so good thing to bring the family to. And again, we'll talk more about what's going on there, including, yeah, we have to get the food update. Yes, because there's always always the food and drink aspect of Denver Downs is big as well. But right now we're gonna take a quick timeout, and when we come back, we meet Trey Hours. So don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Boon Show or watching on My Pulse Radio and YouTube.
SPEAKER_00:In the mood for Italian? Well then stop on by the House of Pizza in Williamson, South Carolina, with a menu packed with everything from pizzas and pastas to stubs and salads. There's a reason House of Pizza is a top restaurant in the upstate. So stop on by, locate at 14 North Hamilton Street in Williamson, South Carolina, or call in at 864-847-6000. Want to order online? Go to hfpwilliamston.com and see what real Italian tastes like.
SPEAKER_05:Let's stick in these crappy barber shops. What do you mean? Own a barber shop that treats me like a family. Have you heard of Doc's Chop Shop? Doc's Chop Shop? Yeah. It's a veteran-owned and operated barber shop that provides quality haircuts at affordable prices. They even provide discounts for seniors, military, law enforcement, and first responders. Wow, that's great. Where can I find them? You can visit their location in Piedmont or visit their website at DocsChopshopBS.com for more information. Doc's Chop Shop, where veterans can be veterans.
SPEAKER_10:Let's be honest. No one wants their home to feel too hot or too cold. And thanks to Davidson Sun Heating and Air, it doesn't have to. Specializing in HBAC installation, maintenance, and repairs, David Sun can guarantee that your home feels just right. Call today 864-221-2219 for the local family-run business with the best solutions for all your heating and air needs. Again, that's 864-221-2219.
SPEAKER_11:Davidson Sun, the family you never knew you needed. Envision Willingston is a nonprofit organization that puts together fun activities and events for the town of Willingston. Have to pay your water bills, ask about trash pickup, or inquire about other town business? That's not what Envision Linkston does. Think new business ribbon cuttings, town cleanup day, community fundraisers, adopt a shelter, the new dog park, concerts, and events such as Bobbers on the Big Creek, Cinco de Mayo, and Willingston Winter Wonderland. When you think about fun, think Envision of Inston. They're always open to your ideas too. You can check out InvisualInston.com or their Facebook page.
SPEAKER_02:In the middle with Danica.
SPEAKER_00:And Cam, or the conversation's never too far left.
SPEAKER_02:Never too far right.
SPEAKER_00:We're just right in the middle of the middle nest.
SPEAKER_06:And welcome back to the Boon Show on MyPulse Radio. Our guest, Catherine Garrison from Denver Downs Farm and Trey Harris, the ACTC Agriculture Instructor. Trey, what is this? Your third year? Third year. Third year already. And just things are exploding back in agriculture land. It's like an amusement park in itself. Talk about Denver Down. You walk back there and you got all kinds of exhibits going on. And if you like pigs, there's just a few back there. Great things coming up that are support.
SPEAKER_04:There are pigs. And you know, we got tons of great support here, and that's uh that's what the difference maker is for sure. Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_06:I I can certainly agree with that. Uh so Trey, just tell us a little bit about yourself. Uh where you everybody was asking during the well, not everybody, we know you. Catherine was asking during the break uh where you're from and all that. So uh get people up to date. What bring what brought you ultimately here?
SPEAKER_04:So um I am from a little town called Wahala down the road, uh about 45 minutes longer if you were stuck in that traffic on 85 this morning. Um but uh it's a great great little town. Um I grew up on a uh a farm. We we grew uh beef cattle um for the better part of my life, and then the hurricane came through and actually affected us as well. And um now I am uh I kind of run things myself and um unfortunately our our fences took a lot of damage, so I I I thought it was a good time to go ahead and sell out of the cows for a little bit, and I'm gonna come back and try to revamp things, but um so I I've put that on the back burner right now. Um to me uh I've always said that you know in life you gotta find what your one thing to do is and uh and you gotta do it well, and you gotta be a little bit cocky, a little bit arrogant about it. My one thing is to teach agriculture. And I just absolutely love to do it. Um, you know, and so that's why I come in every single day and and get around these kids and man, I tell you, it we have a lot of fun. So uh those kids uh they're they they keep me coming here every day. I told my my students one of the things that I like to say is uh, you know, if you wake up and you dread going to work, or if you you uh you you then you're in the wrong line of work. Um you know, the mega millions that just got up so so high not long ago, and you everybody dreams and thinks about what would you do with it and everything else, you'd miss me for a couple of days just while I'm getting things settled, then I'll I'll be back. Okay, so just know, you know, I'll drive an escalade, but I'll be back.
SPEAKER_08:That was that's exactly what I told the kids.
SPEAKER_04:I will drive something different every day of the week. Yeah, I will be back. This isn't your first stop teaching, right? It's not. I actually spent um quite a few years in Georgia. I spent 12 years in Georgia. Um my first year uh or my first stop was in Effingham County, and I had the best role model. I had uh Mr. Billy Hughes. Um he was my mentor, and then um he was an actually an ag teacher for 28 years, I believe. And then he he m uh moved around and went into several admin positions, and then he actually ended up becoming the director of ag education for the state of Georgia. So then he became my boss again after I had left. Um so that was uh that was really cool to have that relationship with him and have him as a mentor, and um he was uh just really helped to kick things off for me in the right direction.
SPEAKER_06:So when did you decide that you wanted to teach?
SPEAKER_04:Um when I couldn't afford vet school. That ultimately was my dream. I wanted to be a vet and I wanted to go to Georgia because you know, we uh you know didn't have a vet school at the time, and now Clemson, you know, is building this huge, huge vet school. Um, but I couldn't afford it. And honestly, I walked through the halls every single day, and I have a lot of friends. You know, I really, really do. I'm blessed. Um, I have a lot of people that I like to talk to. And whenever I would walk through the halls every day, I'd say, Man, I just I love this. And as senior year of high school kept narrowing down, I was like, how can I get back here? And I looked around and I said, I'm not smart enough to teach this, I'm not smart enough to teach this, but I'm gonna I I I like agriculture. So why don't why don't we go ahead and teach agriculture? And so I tell you, it's it's been a wild ride, but it's been a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Um so talk about uh some of the things you're doing in the agriculture program here, because I know um in the three years you've been here, you've obviously had certain initiatives that you've been doing.
SPEAKER_04:So everybody knows me as the pig man. Um I kind of get that mentality, you know, whenever we go anywhere, everybody's like this guy. You know, I I my my favorite one that I got the other day was the hog father. I thought that one was pretty good. I so I thought that one was pretty good. Um shout out to uh uh Jenny on that one. But it's I remember that. It's great. Um I I breed and raise pigs for the the kids, and ultimately what it boils down to is we can have cattle here, but you know, if we if we breed a cow and we raise a calf, I can impact one student possibly through the show ring. Um if we breed and raise goats, I can you know have one to two kids each year, and that that's gonna impact one to two students. If we have a a pig, she can easily have two litters, and that's gonna give me twelve to sixteen viable show projects to impact students. And so that's ultimately why we breed and raise pigs, is because we can impact more students. And that's that's what I'm about is impacting the students.
SPEAKER_06:Now, tell us a little bit about raising the pigs. Because I I see him walking how long is this show? Well, we've got time. I don't think Zach is calling in. And you know why the reason is? Because he's still stuck in traffic. That traffic still hasn't all cleared up from earlier today.
SPEAKER_08:Not to mention he really doesn't have a whole lot of talk about.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I think that's the real reason. I don't think he's really stuck in traffic. I think uh he doesn't want to call in and talk about crimeson.
SPEAKER_09:Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_06:But uh but but go ahead because I look out there and I see, you know, you have the piglets and then they grow up a little bit, and then I see uh the the kids walking them around with those little uh handles uh to keep them walking in a straight line and all that. And then what goes into the process of getting them, you know, show ready, et cetera?
SPEAKER_04:So it's a it's a really big process. Um you know, we start with um our our matriarch or our main female that we kind of built our program around, um, who has a whole cool story herself, but we won't go into all that, but she is uh fantastic and it you know has done a really good job for us. And what we do is um we monitor the heat cycles of the of the females, and then my students actually artificially inseminate the the the pigs with some of the the the best boar uh prospects from around the country. Uh gotta give a shout out to Premium Blend Genetics there because they definitely help us out. So those those guys are fantastic. That's awesome. Give us a good discount. Exactly. So we we love them. Um and we have a lot of success with that. Um the thing that I I can say I'm most proud about is in the last two years, we have actually bred 14 pigs here at the school, and so that means that they were bred two times per pig. So that's 28 total times. 27 of those were completed by students.
SPEAKER_07:That's incredible. Wow.
SPEAKER_04:And we had 13 out of the 14 that ended up uh being successful breedings through artificial insemination. That's uh almost unheard of. And then when you start talking about our conception rates, you know, we ended up having almost 13 pigs per litter. Um I think that's one of the highest in the country as far as in a show pig operation, and that just that to me just boils down to what we what we're doing here and how we're able to to do things a little bit different. That's for sure.
SPEAKER_08:And I think the coolest thing is watching these kids, and we're talking sophomores, juniors, and seniors, when these babies are born. And it may be born at two o'clock in the morning, and they're here catching them, grabbing them, making sure that they're clean, they're breathing, they're okay, the whole works. It is the most incredible experience ever.
SPEAKER_04:It is quite the experience. Um I joke with the kids as they were coming in for August because it was like uh talking to the sophomores who were just yes, it was like, get get ready, bring old clothes, wear old shoes, because you know, baby watch the first week, it's gonna be get ready, here's a pig catch, you know. Uh and it was it was a lot like that.
SPEAKER_08:So the best part about it is when you have these babies, we have, you know, Trey usually has anywhere from twenty-four to twenty-eight kids sitting in there. And if you have thirteen babies just like that, everybody can participate. And that's the coolest part of it. And they want to, the kids want to participate.
SPEAKER_06:Hands-on projects.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. I love that you're really teaching them a lot about genetics. That's science. It's so hands-on, and you know, kids will get that like in one day in biology, and that's it.
SPEAKER_04:You should see our new vet science lab. We're just now transitioning from the animal science uh portion over into the vet science, and I am so excited to get going with these students. We actually did some hands-on practicums today and did some different holding of the animals, but we've got uh microscopes where we can do um fecal samples and we can diagnose problems. There's just so much that we can offer to the students here at ACTC, you know, in our vet science program, and it is just phenomenal. So if you haven't seen the vet science program by far, stop by, check it out. Um it is it is incredible.
SPEAKER_07:It's impressive what y'all got. That is the first time I've seen it today, and it's I've my mind is blown. I can't believe y'all have everything that you have.
SPEAKER_06:Well, I'll tell you. Um I've been You didn't get to see it all either. No, no, we we scratched the surface.
SPEAKER_04:But we you know, whenever I took this job here, um, you know, it was uh it was kind of a last minute ordeal how everything worked out. Um and and ultimately I I personally just have to say it was a God thing for me too and and how it ended up because I wasn't ready for where I was at at the time, and and then obviously some things needed to fall into place for for us and for ACTC to happen. Um and you know, Miss Harrel called me and I'll tell you guys just a little bit, just because I think it's just amazing how that works. I actually was lined up to take another job out of education because I had I had had uh a couple of instances where I was just ready to pull my hair out, and uh, and I just said, I need to break. And so um I actually was ready to take the job at another f uh facility and I had it saved on my phone to uh as a reminder to call and accept this job at like 9 30 in the morning. My grandmother unfortunately fell and broke her hip. We were loading her in the ambulance when the reminder went off on my phone. Should we get her loaded? I said, I'll have to call them in a little while. Have we got a handle with this? And as we're closing the doors and she is driving up the driveway, my phone rings, and I answered my phone because it was Anderson and it was Miss Holly Harrel. And she was offering me the job at, you know, and here we here we are. And uh I accepted, had never came to the campus since 2008 or 2009 when we toured as a student at Clemson, had no clue what uh they had, nothing. And uh I came the first day, they threw a notebook at me and said, What do you need? And and here we are. Um and it has been wonderful.
SPEAKER_06:It is an incredible because you came in late that first year, you missed a free bowling outing. So Holly still owes you a bowling outing outing. Because we were out there at uh spare time.
SPEAKER_08:That's right. That was our opening session that year.
SPEAKER_06:So don't let her get away with that. She owes you. She owes me a bowling. I gotcha, Trey.
SPEAKER_08:I gotcha.
SPEAKER_06:Okay. Um, you have a student here. Can we uh have her join you on the mic?
SPEAKER_04:Yes, absolutely. Come on over.
SPEAKER_06:Because now that we're talking about, we're talking all about what you're doing. We got somebody who's doing it right here.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yes, and she definitely is. So this young lady is Miss Stella Cawtran. And Stella is our uh FFA president, and she is a senior at Rand High School.
SPEAKER_06:All right, so tell us what um what got you into FFA and how you're enjoying your time here with Mr. Harris.
SPEAKER_03:Um well initially I was never anything with agriculture. I've always been really into music and orchestra. But we toured it in tenth grade and I thought it looked pretty cool. So I decided to join it, and then I was all about the plants, wanted everything in the greenhouse, and then he somehow convinced me to show the pig. And now I have two pig projects and a land project.
SPEAKER_06:That's that's awesome.
SPEAKER_04:There's that impact.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:So you pull them in with that pig project and it looms into this. And from that, what all have you got to do as far as this summer and some of the things that you gotta change?
SPEAKER_03:This summer I really wasn't at home. I had the I gotta go to FFA camp, which was a lot of fun. But the highlight of my summer was probably to go to South Carolina Commissioner School for Agriculture at Clemson. It was a long application process, but it was really worth it. We gotta work in the BFO unit, we gotta work with a lot of the professors and ISEC things and just learn all about it. And it was really, really amazing.
SPEAKER_06:That is amazing. So where do you what do you want to do with this? Are you a senior now? Okay. So what do you want to do with this uh moving forward?
SPEAKER_03:Uh I would love to go into wildlife conservation and study wildlife biology. That's the point.
SPEAKER_06:All right. So are you gonna go to Clemson? No?
SPEAKER_03:No, I don't think my mom went there, my uncle went there, and they all love it. I just don't think it's really the place for me.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, the football team's not very good.
SPEAKER_03:Gotta have a good sports team.
SPEAKER_06:But where are you going?
SPEAKER_03:Uh I'm thinking about either ABAC or Colorado State.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, way out west.
SPEAKER_04:Okay. She's been looking at some uh colleges out west, focusing on the forestry management side of things. I think the other day you were looking at North Dakota State, maybe.
SPEAKER_03:I got accepted yesterday. Congratulations.
SPEAKER_06:North Dakota State, they do have a good football team. They're on the what the second level of college football. Yeah. But uh I think it's D1, FBS, whatever it is. The second level. They win championships all the time. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I'll have some fun.
SPEAKER_06:It's very cold, very cold.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, but I like the cold. I've been out there a lot of hiking and I love it.
SPEAKER_06:So what do you have to say about her track?
SPEAKER_04:Uh Stella's fantastic. Um, you know, I I absolutely like I said, I have a lot of great students, but um, whenever it comes to student leaders, I love writing recommendation letters for her. Yeah. Um because we get lots of them for scholarship opportunities and for um, you know, just overall acceptance letters and everything else, and we get to experience that. And um we've got some really, really good kids. Um that's that's the one thing that I I tell you is different about ACTC is because the students in the classroom want to be there. You know, I'm coming from a public education background, and a lot of times the students in those classes don't want to be in that class. Um they prefer to be somewhere else. Whereas our students choose to be there. And so it makes it a learning environment, you know, a majority of the time. Some days, you know, you you're not necessarily as a teacher on it a hundred percent, but the s the kids are still there to push you, and it that's what makes your day better.
SPEAKER_06:I think for whatever reason, I mean you for obvious reasons, you get some pretty committed kids because if they're, you know, inseminating pigs and and such, that's uh you have to be a a special kind of kid to be before and after each other. Sticking your hands in places that they normally don't go. But uh but uh at the same time you get a lot of r reward out of this field.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I really like seeing all the pigs just in the barn.
SPEAKER_06:Go ahead.
SPEAKER_03:I'm sorry. And just getting to see them grow up and knowing that like we had a major part in that and getting them here where they are now.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. All right, that's really cool. Uh stay around. We might have some more questions for you, Stella. But uh that's awesome. I love talking to shark kids. Speaking of not talking to shark kids, uh Zach did manage to call in. And uh, Zach, I know you're being very brave. Um, where are you right now?
SPEAKER_01:I am currently can y'all hear me outside? Yeah, I'm on my blue screen.
SPEAKER_06:We can hear you.
SPEAKER_01:I am currently in uh Canton, Georgia, about let's see, two hours and fifty minutes from home. I'm getting home at 727.
SPEAKER_06:Long day, buddy.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I hope that nobody from uh the business center is listening right now because there's nothing like being on the clock and talking to your high school and teaching at the same time. I'll take that and you're done.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, well, be careful out there.
SPEAKER_08:Um just as long as you're on your Bluetooth following the law, then you're good.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, hands free.
SPEAKER_01:I sat in traffic. I don't know if y'all seen it on the news, but it was the traffic jam where right here at the South Carolina Georgia line where uh somebody ended up getting killed.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I sat, I started in it at 8 45 this morning and got out of it at about 1 30.
unknown:Holy cow.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, that was that was Trey and I were both in that traffic jam. He left a little earlier because I'm always running late, but uh and got through some of the the bag and only took him what, an hour and a half to get here? About an hour and a half. It took me two and a half hours to get here uh this morning. So yeah, that's been a mess all day. But uh speaking of messes, uh talk uh uh talk about Clemson a little bit, Zach.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, do do we have can we talk about the heater, the brazer on instead?
SPEAKER_06:The heater that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. They won nine games in a row, but it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01:I know, I know. I know they get on a heater and it don't even matter.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, where was that? Where was that, you know, a couple months ago?
SPEAKER_01:I know, I know, I know. No, I that that's what I was thinking about about um about trolling you today. Um that traffic jam, you know, it was like, you know, you go for a little bit, then you stop. Then you go for a little bit. That's kind of like the way Clinton football's going right now. I mean, you know, you don't know what you're gonna get. You know, you you're sitting there hoping for the best, and you what you think's good, and then you can turn your back down. And I I just I just I just can't explain it. Uh I wish I could. I wish I could explain it. I I don't know. Holly's at the game, you know. Um Holly was tailgating the entire time. She didn't care about the game. Um but you know, I haven't had hey, the good thing is I put on Facebook, I don't know if y'all saw the other day, hey, the good thing is Lincoln keeps losing, the tickets are just getting cheaper. So I won't be able to go to the Florida State game this year and watch that floodplace.
SPEAKER_08:The prices are set this year, but I'm sure people will be uh dumping their tickets.
SPEAKER_06:Secondary market will be uh really busy. But I but it'll be full of Florida State fans. That's what you gotta watch out for.
SPEAKER_07:I do not want to go to that game. I'm not looking for that at all.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no, I do not. I do not. Speaking of tickets, and you know, we're not on the sports subject. Smackdown is coming back to green on November the 7th.
SPEAKER_06:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01:Lower bowl tickets. Lower bowl tickets. Where me, my sister, and Carson sat last time, everything.$220 a day.
SPEAKER_06:That's ridiculous. I've heard that from a lot of places.
SPEAKER_01:Me and my sister Caitlin, we always just put the price down the middle with Carson. We paid less than that together last time they come. And it that that is mind-blowing to me. Is this at Bonstacoral Wellness Center? I mean, why do you have a New York Bowl with$67?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, that's everybody they were talking about that um at the at the pay-per-views, too, that they were bragging about how much money they were making off of it. It's the biggest gate ever. Well, no wonder you're charging so much money that uh it's the biggest gate.
SPEAKER_04:My nephew actually uh talked me into going to that last wrestling match at Bon Secur. Yeah. So we went to that.
SPEAKER_06:But, you know, and they got all the streaming services you gotta buy now, too. Were you able to watch the one this weekend on the SP ESPN?
SPEAKER_01:The the ESPN stuff. Yeah. The ESPN. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Just cancel my peacock, because that's why I got it first, was because of that. And uh I'm not gonna cancel it because all of our other shows of me and Tiffany watch are on there.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_08:It's crazy.
SPEAKER_06:Well, now it's and it's not just ESPN, it's ESPN apps, so you have to have that other plus, uh Disney, whatever it is, all of that. Yeah, which is thirty dollars a month more, and you know, you're already paying for like six streaming services.
SPEAKER_07:I don't know who can figure out all this stuff. You know, I just went like Amazon Plus or Pro. Each one of those is charging. Like we ought to just go back to Direct TV.
SPEAKER_08:I mean, serious.
SPEAKER_06:Just have them all in there.
SPEAKER_08:Well, and I almost think that it's intentional, right? So, okay, to watch this, you gotta have Peacock. So you subscribe to Peacock, and then the next time they're like, no, we're switching that to Hulu. So now you gotta have Hulu. Or you have to have Netflix. I mean, it's almost like just for wrestling, they're on what?
SPEAKER_06:Three different streaming services now?
SPEAKER_01:It's like Yeah, you yeah, well, the it the wall is on Netflix, so that's not three dollars, well, eighteen dollars a month. Smackdown is on USA, and it or USA, I think it is. I don't know, I don't have YouTube TV, but I think it's USA. So you have to pay$30,$18, you know, almost$60,$65, almost$60,$65. A little less than that. And raw. When it was$15 a month for all the pay-per-views.
SPEAKER_06:And don't forget, you gotta pay$220 for your seat if you want to go watch it. So uh dig they're not treating their fans very well these days. But uh speaking of that, the Clemson football team is not treating their fans very well these days. And uh I know you've uh brought up some of the things, but how uh what do you see going forward for the team? Because I don't Are they gonna win? It's gotta be us.
SPEAKER_04:Is there somebody they can beat? They had 500 and something yards of offense. But they only put up 21 points. So we've got to we've got to figure out how we're going to score because obviously they can move the ball, they just can't move it to the end zone.
SPEAKER_08:And Syracuse did get fined$25,000 just for feigning an injury. Just saying.
SPEAKER_06:But you're a Clemson, folks, so you always have excuses. Just saying. So it's uh Syracuse was sorry. We're not used to losing. I don't have a dog in the fight, so it doesn't matter. You still sound salty. I just like getting you guys.
SPEAKER_01:You've got to, you you and their defense hadn't depressed me at all either. I mean, I just get here and we're gonna step the run, we're gonna stop the run, we're gonna step the run. Georgia Tech really didn't bother me because their quarterback does that to everybody he plays. I mean, he sent Georgia, it took 10 overtimes last year for Georgia to beat them. You know, he does that to everybody. But when Syracuse does it to you, imagine what Furman's gonna do too. I mean, I'm at that that's where I am at this point. South Carolina eclipses is gonna be at 10 o'clock in the morning on the car two night.
SPEAKER_07:They might do it on a Thursday, uh Friday night.
SPEAKER_06:Well, if you know, if Clemps, if uh Furman gets out to a 16-3 lead like Troy did, uh then I don't I don't know why. Zach actually texted me the other day after the game. He goes, I'm done. Period. I know you're not really done, but my goodness. My goodness.
SPEAKER_07:This is gonna show we have to show what real fans are made of. That's right.
SPEAKER_08:And you know what I say? Some years are for watching college football, and some years are just for tailgating. And this is just a tailgating year.
SPEAKER_04:Either way, there's a either be hanging on my wall from Clemson. So I'm gonna pull for them no matter what. I'm I'm invested. That's right.
SPEAKER_07:It's gonna be fun either way, Holly. That's right. Yeah, we're gonna have fun. That's right.
SPEAKER_06:Got anything else there, Zach? This is a good discussion.
SPEAKER_01:We'll see what happens because this this there's still a long season ahead, but I can't.
SPEAKER_06:Oh gosh, if I hear that one more time, after every loss. Well, it's a long season. Well, it's a long season. Well, it's getting shorter every time.
SPEAKER_01:We're already, you know, Vegas already had five weeks beat up by three touches.
SPEAKER_08:Hey, I heard there's a thing out there now that you could uh bet on odds of whether Dabo gets fired or not. He's not gonna get fired. I don't know. The buyouts too.
SPEAKER_09:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's just crazy to me. That's just I mean, who are you gonna go get? Who you gonna go get? Right.
SPEAKER_04:You lost the fire and the spark whenever we started paying players. You know, it's not college football anymore, it's minor league major f major football. You know what I'm saying? Like minor league football. That's what we're dealing with. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And club said they just didn't show any life the other day. It was just meh.
SPEAKER_04:Well, that player said you don't have any dogs. Yes. That's that there's a lot of truth to that. So it needs to be some fire and some spark, get them going. Does Dabo still do those Thursday nights uh out out at the grocery stores like he used to? Because if so, I'm gonna I'm gonna go look him look him up.
SPEAKER_07:Ingalls at Ingalls?
SPEAKER_04:It used to be like at the food line or the back in the day.
SPEAKER_06:That was yeah, was it it was Ingalls, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_04:See, that was uh how great was that. I don't mean we don't need you getting arrested. Uh no, no. I just I would like I would like to have a conversation, you know, like get him going, you know. Yeah. You got anything else there, Zach?
SPEAKER_01:No, not really. I wish I did. I mean, you know, it's just we'll just have to see what I just hope we can get by bye week this week. Yeah. So we're not gonna lose this weekend.
SPEAKER_06:And then uh, who is it after that?
SPEAKER_01:North Carolina and Bill Belichick and his 19-year-old girl France.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, is that at North Carolina?
SPEAKER_08:Yes, yes. And then Boston.
SPEAKER_06:At Boston Carolina.
SPEAKER_01:That that's a beautiful campus. I went I went 2019 when they just about beat Clemson and uh Matt Brown lost it on going for two there at the end. And if they would have gone into overtime, they probably would have beat Clemson because they control the entire game. But we'll see. It's a long season ahead. This thing can get turned around, but I just don't see it right now. But that's why you spot the ball in place.
SPEAKER_06:That's right. It's getting to be a long turn for turning it around. Um, all right, Zach, thanks for calling. I know, uh, and be careful on the road out there. We don't need anybody else getting in any trouble on the road. All right.
SPEAKER_01:Sure will. Y'all take care. We'll talk to you next time.
SPEAKER_06:All right. Thanks, Zach. Take care. All right, there's Zach Howard on sports. One of my favorites. He is. It's great. He's definitely passionate. Oh, yes. He is. This is killing him. One and three is killing him.
SPEAKER_08:It is, it is. I love that.
SPEAKER_07:I love the smack down. I mean, I love that he threw that in there too.
SPEAKER_06:That was a good one.
SPEAKER_08:And he's got a little two-year-old that just eats it up. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And he's got what how many? She's six years old. Well, I think the one is three and the other is one.
SPEAKER_08:Maybe it's one and three, yeah. They're little.
SPEAKER_06:But he hasn't watching wrestling all the time.
SPEAKER_08:Yes, he does.
SPEAKER_06:But uh anyway, he's he's a good guy. All right. Um before we get to uh wrapping things up here, boy, that hour went by pretty quickly. Um Trey, we look to the uh to the future, uh Hogfather. And um what else are you gonna do out there? I see new greenhouses. I see uh so is there anything more in the uh plant department so uh Stella can be happier?
SPEAKER_04:Uh now that you've got I was gonna say she's kind of left the plant side of things. So we're working on finalizing our plant sale order um currently so we can kind of go ahead and get that put in for the spring. Um as you guys know, we will have a huge spring plant sale. Um we'll have plenty of hanging baskets, I'm sure, and those gor gorgeous ferns that everyone loves. Um so that that's all always in the works. Uh, you know, and of course we will have some more uh pigs coming. Uh we'll have plenty of pigs running around probably uh end of January, February, and March. Um so we'll have some running around. Uh if anybody comes to the plant sale, um, you know, come and and see the pigs for sure as well. We'd love to have you.
SPEAKER_07:Do you have the date set for the plant sale yet?
SPEAKER_04:Not not yet. Um we typically try to do it around spring break. Um everybody likes to get out and they love to get in the get in the gardens and everything. But I do try to watch the weather a little bit as well. Um the last two years uh we've had really warm spring breaks, and luckily we've been able to kind of avoid the frost. And so we'll look at that and see what the farmer almanac is telling us, and and we'll uh we'll make that judgment call a little bit closer.
SPEAKER_06:And spring break is earlier this year, too. It's like last week of March.
SPEAKER_07:It is.
SPEAKER_06:I don't like that. I like the first week of April.
SPEAKER_07:It's right before Easter, and Easter is the first weekend in April this year, right?
SPEAKER_06:Why does Easter move around so much? Is that a lunar thing with the Passover and all that stuff? Is that how they figure that out? I don't know. But it's always different every year. I Easter needs to stay on the same day so we can have spring break at the same time. But hey, it's always a good time to go to Florida, no matter what.
SPEAKER_07:I can't wait for that sale. I'm uh well as soon as I find out, y'all let me know when it is because I'll be out here buying some flowers.
SPEAKER_06:Yes, we'd love to have you. And you have the sunflower thing.
SPEAKER_07:Yes, so we'll have an i the spring we do our Easter egg hunt. That's right. So that's why we're definitely looking at the calendar um for uh Easter this year, because we'll probably have to open a few weeks before in March. And then the summer we do the sunflower festival.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. So see, it's gonna be cold for the Easter egg hunt.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, it might be. It might be. Yeah, one year uh it was uh March 31st was Easter. Okay. So that was really early.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it's close to that this coming year. So we'll we'll see what happens. Anyway, we said we were gonna get back to the food at the Denver Downs. So tell us uh before we leave uh about that. What are the food and drink selections this year?
SPEAKER_07:Well, we have a new apple cider slushie. That sounds good. Oh, those are good. So I'd gone up to visit Stepp's farm up in Hendersonville and had a delicious apple cider slushie there. I said, Oh yes, we've got to add this to our selection because we have a silo bar where we serve beer and wine, and we have an apple, uh we have a fall frose, which is a Moscato wine and apple cider you know, slushy for adults. So now we're gonna do this for children, so non-alcoholic, and then we'll have our funnel cakes and kettle corn and our s'mores to roast by the campfire, so we've got all that ready for folks so they don't have to round up all the ingredients themselves. And then barbecue sandwiches and hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, and we want people to and our fresh lemonade. We have really delicious. So we've got we want people to come hungry and thirsty and we'll take care of them.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Yeah, and then you brought up the um the campfires. That's that's a big thing too, because you have the music going on at nighttime, and then you have all those little bonfire areas.
SPEAKER_07:It really it just puts you in the mood for a fall.
SPEAKER_06:I have not done that yet, but people always say they like that.
SPEAKER_07:So And we've got a little light show instead of like a Christmas light show, it's pumpkin themed. That little trail that people walk through.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, yes.
SPEAKER_07:And that's that's really entertaining. And we added some new um little vignettes in that this year that people are gonna love.
SPEAKER_06:All right, all right. And you got that little house that has like pumpkins on every level.
SPEAKER_07:Yes.
SPEAKER_06:How do you keep them from falling off?
SPEAKER_07:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_06:The biggest I looked at that thing and I'm like, how do they keep that intact?
SPEAKER_07:They won't fall, they don't fall off as much as uh three-year-olds take them off. So But this year I've got a good friend Michael Mayfield up in Athens, Tennessee, who grows these beautiful gourds, and he sent me down a uh a half a tractor trailer load of them last week. He was bringing calahans over and belting some pumpkins. So he sent me down some, so these beautiful gourds are they're called some kind of squash. So we've got those decorating the building. And so they're heavier, so we're thinking that's gonna deter the three-year-olds from from picking from the won't be able to pick them up anymore.
SPEAKER_06:So, Trey, you ought to have like a little pumpkin patch or something. I mean, you got plenty of free time.
SPEAKER_04:You ought to just uh y'all are kept talking about all these streaming shows and everything else, and I'm going, I would just like an hour to watch TV.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I don't know how he does it. I know he's he goes home to another farm.
SPEAKER_08:And he's here all I know.
SPEAKER_06:Every time I leave, he's still here. Get in the morning. Me's too.
SPEAKER_08:Yep.
SPEAKER_06:Weekends. At least I enjoy it, right?
SPEAKER_08:Yep.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, exactly. Like you said, if you enjoy it, that's that's certainly worth it. Absolutely. All right, but it is time. It is time, right? It's our favorite time. Our favorite time to make everybody hungry. And um we we get Catherine knows, we take recommendations from our guests on entertainment and food at the end of each show that we do. So if you uh and this is the new view, Trey, so what we do is I'll ask Catherine first uh for an entertainment uh recommendation for our listeners, and a book that she's read, or something that she's is streaming uh on Prime or uh elsewhere, or a movie that's seen, something like that, something entertained that you can recommend. It can be you know something that didn't necessarily have to come out right now, it could be something that you're j just reading or watching for the first time. And then we'll come back around and take a food recommendation, restaurant recommendation, what dish at a certain restaurant, something like that that you can recommend, which Holly and I have really enjoyed.
SPEAKER_08:We like that.
SPEAKER_06:I've gone to so many, she's been to like every restaurant in the upstate anyway.
SPEAKER_08:But but I like to go to restaurants.
SPEAKER_06:I've I have a list based on this show, and I've gone to many of them.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Um and enjoyed every one I've gone to. So uh you think about that. The first one will be entertainment. Let's start with uh Catherine. What can you recommend entertainment-wise to our listeners?
SPEAKER_07:Well, I know everyone's probably already watched like Yellowstone in 1883. So good. That's where you got to know Laney Wilson, right?
SPEAKER_06:That's right.
SPEAKER_07:But anyway, she was she played Abby in that. And I was trying to think. There's one called I've been recommending, I haven't watched it yet, The Social Dilemma. Oh, it's very good. Really?
SPEAKER_08:Yes, it's very good. She showed the teenager needs to see that. Okay.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, that's about the social media. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Especially with kids, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's a good one.
SPEAKER_07:I would affect you down the road.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:And again, I don't I don't spend a whole lot of time watching TV. I don't know if it's because I don't want to navigate which thing which channel I have to watch or what button.
SPEAKER_06:How much money you have to pay to watch one thing.
SPEAKER_07:Right, exactly.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it's gonna be on a different channel each time.
SPEAKER_07:I love listening to audiobooks. I listen to Mel Robbins a lot. So I don't know if y'all know her. She's a like a motivational kind of speaker. For Mel Robbins. Yeah, she's good.
SPEAKER_06:Motivation. That's what you need, Holly. Okay, get more motivated around here. Um, Trey. Entertainment.
SPEAKER_04:All right. So, first of all, I was gonna tell you to go to a pig show. All right, because there's plenty of those. Well, and it just so happens this weekend um there is going to be the local Anderson County uh pig show um and livestock show will be out at the cattle complex uh at T. Ed Garrison Arena. Um, so Daddy's going to be. Exactly, exactly. So check that out. That would be great. We're gonna have uh about I think eight to ten students that'll be there participating. Oh, yeah. Um, and I will be gone. I'll be out of town because I am taking four students with me, and we're gonna be going to Nashville um to uh the national show up there for Team Pure Bred. So we have quite a few, yes. So we're gonna go and see what we can do on a national stage with our our pigs and some of the ones that we've raised. So really excited about that, um in different directions. So it's gonna be busy. But check that out. Uh uh look up Team Pure Bred. That's even gonna be online, I'm sure. So you could watch it and go support our students that's gonna be in the ring. I'll tell you the four students that I have going that's gonna be representing ACTC is gonna be Stella, Estella Cotherren, Ellie Ellison, um Aidan Bradley, and Presley Wiggington. So that's gonna be our four students that's gonna be representing ACTC at the pig show. Look up Team Pure Bred um online, and I'm sure there's gonna be lots of links to watch that live. So that would be really cool. But as far as a a something that I guess we've watched, um we were totally shocked and blown away with the Netflix documentary of the unknown number, the high school catfish.
SPEAKER_08:Right, girl.
SPEAKER_04:Okay, like that was awful. What is this?
SPEAKER_08:It is incredible.
SPEAKER_04:I don't want to give anything away, but it's it's the high school catfish. But I'm just saying I don't have any kids.
SPEAKER_08:Unknown number.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, yes, okay. It's it's terrible. It's it's a great, it's shocking.
SPEAKER_08:Do not look it up before you see it because it you lose everything. And it's important to watch it without finding out who that is.
SPEAKER_04:Yes. But it uh it was definitely something that just catches you uh by surprise. Yeah. Um so we did we did enjoy watching that.
SPEAKER_08:So I would highly recommend that for and it's three episodes, it's not ridiculously what is what 45 minutes an episode, something like that.
SPEAKER_04:We easily binge watch that in one night. And for me to find time, anybody else can. Okay.
SPEAKER_06:That is a truth right there. So uh Catherine, you gotta get Netflix now. Add that to the list. It's uh like twenty dollars a month or something.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah, or borrow somebody else's, because I'm sure people do that.
SPEAKER_06:Uh you can't, it's not as easy anymore. Oh, okay. We've cracked down on that.
SPEAKER_07:Okay. Well I got YouTube TV last year just to watch some football games. Yeah. And then barely watched it after that. So yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Last year I got the NFL package from UT YouTube TV and I watched like two games on it.
SPEAKER_09:Oh wow.
SPEAKER_06:So, like, never again, because I'm an Eagles fan, but the Eagles were good, so they were on regular TV all the time. So this year, no.
SPEAKER_04:My wife's for some package to watch college football. And I tell you, you know, we had a busy night Friday night, and then uh so Saturday, I wake up, she is watching college football and watching, you know, the ESPN game day and everything else, and I just I just think like, how role reversal is this? You know, like I'm supposed to be the one sitting on the w on the couch watching college football and college game day, and she's the one that's getting all hyped up about it. And I'm like, I'm gonna go feed pigs with people. There you go.
SPEAKER_06:The hog file. Uh and one more thing we didn't even mention about the pigs before we go to the uh food thing is that the pigs are gonna be running in the races at Denver Dam. That's yes. Why don't we make that connection? That's why you're here. Catherine, come and take it.
SPEAKER_04:I didn't know if we weren't unveiling it.
SPEAKER_07:No, Catherine, how many pigs are you taking? Eight pigs. And we give them really fun names. So now Trey give it talking about the Hog Father. I think I think we've got to name one of them Hogfather. Absolutely, in honor of Trey.
SPEAKER_04:I've got to find like the wildest one out of the group so he can be the champion. You know what I'm saying? Like he's gonna be your champion racer. So that's his name.
SPEAKER_08:And Catherine, what do you give to them when they finish their race? What are they racing for? The big generic Oreos.
SPEAKER_07:Yes, Oreos. They will run for Oreos. They're brilliant. So and I'm trying to train these ducks too. So we're gonna see how that turns out.
SPEAKER_06:What are you training them to? I'm training ducks for a race?
SPEAKER_07:To to go around inside the pig racers. There's gonna be duck races. Duck races and pig races. How cool.
SPEAKER_04:This is gonna be. They should pick up very quickly because our students love to feed them marshmallows. So they eat marshmallows all the time and follow them around the pens and everything else, and we shoot videos of them. So I'm sure that they're gonna perform excellent for you guys.
SPEAKER_07:They're so smart. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:Pigs are very intelligent.
SPEAKER_07:They learn quickly. So yeah, they're people love it. People love something unexpected. They love seeing it. And we do a little dance before the pig race starts, and all the kids chew. Yeah, that's my aerobic exercise for the season.
SPEAKER_06:You're dancing with the platypus on one year.
SPEAKER_08:So you've got to go out and go to Denver Downs and see the pig races and see ACTC's pigs.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, yes. That's uh that's cool. All right. So we made a picture with the platypus and the pigs. Absolutely. And the ducks. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:So we can tell the difference between platypals.
SPEAKER_04:We can put a not a duck t-shirt on if you're that's right.
SPEAKER_06:We should have yeah, we should sponsor the pigs. They can wear different shirts and stuff. Yeah, I like that. I like that. So, Catherine, uh, what do you have food-wise as a recommendation?
SPEAKER_07:Oh gosh. Well, once again, last year you sent us to Roughage. Oh, yeah, Ruffage, yep. So that's uh I haven't been there yet. It's delicious.
SPEAKER_06:Where's that?
SPEAKER_07:Pendleton.
SPEAKER_06:Okay.
SPEAKER_07:I've heard great things about docks over on Lake Hartwell. Okay. So doolittles, the man who owns Doolittles operates that. That's over at Green near Green Pond. Okay. Yeah. So it's kind of you have to like pull your boat up on the water, on the um little embankment, because there's not a dock. There's that's funny, it's called docks and there's not really a dock. But and then the Clemson's getting a lot in my area of town, Pendleton. Uh we love Lou Heron. That's always good too. I recommend that.
SPEAKER_06:Any particular dish that you recommend?
SPEAKER_07:Oh, they have a sushi called Tiger Paws. So it is sushi that's fried.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, yeah, that's okay.
SPEAKER_07:Called Tiger Paw, and it's just delicious.
SPEAKER_06:Is that a temperature? Tempura.
SPEAKER_08:I think that's the batter. The tempura batter. So I think if they do it in the tempura batter, then you call it tempura, right?
SPEAKER_06:Oh, and it was out it was cooked sushi. I'm learning. I didn't used to eat sushi, and now my wife is teaching me.
SPEAKER_04:Well now they're telling you that it's is for the most part it's all cooked sushi because they're they're cooking it with that the acid, like the citric acid, and that's how it's cooked, you know. But um I because we eat a lot of sushi.
SPEAKER_07:There's Erica's also near in Pendleton, and that's a great little restaurant. They've got great sushi.
SPEAKER_04:Have you been to Soleil?
SPEAKER_07:Yes, I do like Soleil and Clemson's.
SPEAKER_04:There's one that went in Seneca as well.
SPEAKER_07:That's right. Surely you've been to that one, John.
SPEAKER_04:No, I haven't probably Seneca. She goes and gets uh so on on Mondays and Wednesdays they have some specials on their sushi uh and it makes it worth going for sure. In Seneca. In Seneca. Yeah, we can we can make that up.
SPEAKER_07:I'm sure y'all talk about barbecue. Speaking of hogs, where do y'all what barbecue do y'all prefer?
SPEAKER_04:So I'll tell you, it's hard for me to go and eat barbecue because I barbecue myself. And uh and mine is barbecue, it's again the hog five.
SPEAKER_06:So I really enjoy that.
SPEAKER_04:I actually grew up, and that's what my grandfather would do. He would go around and barbecue at different places because we actually owned one of the only restaurants in O'Connor County. Um he opened it in I think '67 and run it to 91. And so it was one of the only restaurants there. And so we grew up barbecuing and traveling around and doing a lot of that. So I love cooking. But um, as far as my food recommendation, how far are you guys wanting to travel? Doesn't matter. Okay, here you go then. I've got to tell you, have you been to Marietta Diner?
SPEAKER_09:No.
SPEAKER_04:You gotta try it. It was on uh diners, drive-ins and dives um at Marietta Diner. It is in obviously Marietta, Georgia, um, and it is about two, a little better than two hours from here. But I went there this weekend because uh, you know, of course, I was meeting a pig shipping truck. Okay. No doubt. Yep. And I met them in North Atlanta. We actually had to watch Georgia Tech's buses go by. He had to wait for the buses to go by so he could turn into the parking lot to meet me. And so I ended up waiting and um and I pulled it up on my phone. I was only eight minutes away from Marietta Diner, so I had to go and and eat.
SPEAKER_08:What do I get there?
SPEAKER_04:So if you're feeling um a little spice, try the um let's see. The pinnae, the New Orleans style pinnae pasta, something I can't remember. I'm drawing a I'm drawing a blank on it. That's okay. It's really good. So pinnae pasta, a little bit of Cajun dish. It's got some sausages in it, and and chicken blackened chicken. Oh, it's really, really good. That was good, and we also did uh because we did this a little bit of sampling, um, and we had some of the amour seafood, and it was delicious. And it was a uh lobster stuffed ravioli with uh shrimp and scallops in a more of a like a pink sauce on top. That one was really, really good. But you're gonna be blown away when you come in and you see their desserts because they have about 30 to 40 different types, types of cakes and cheesecakes. Um and the a wedge of that cake you can eat on for two days. Ask me how I know.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:There is a little piece, I hope, still left in the refrigerator at home that I will finish tonight because it is so good.
unknown:Gotcha.
SPEAKER_06:Wow. All right, wow. That's that's gonna take a couple months for me to really go through all these recommendations. And Trey, didn't you make barbecue for us here once? Yes, yeah, that was good.
SPEAKER_04:Barbecue. I like the cooked brisket. You need to do that more often.
SPEAKER_06:If the potatoes were delicious. Since you have so much free time, you need to do that more often.
SPEAKER_04:Well, we're actually looking at making that um a fundraiser for our FFA chapter. We're we're um we're gonna be getting uh a smoker that we're gonna be working with and uh and and you know providing some Boston butts for the community here. Uh hopefully looking at doing that around Christmas time. So y'all be on the lookout for that. Um we'll be selling whole Boston butts. Nice. Cooked.
SPEAKER_06:All right. Hey uh Stella, do you have anything to add? Have you been streaming anything or watching anything? And I know you don't have much free time either, because you're always here.
SPEAKER_03:Um I don't watch that much TV, but Gilmore Girls because it's fall.
SPEAKER_06:Uh huh.
SPEAKER_03:Danica's agreeing with you. If you're gonna go far, I would say Doc Seafood in Orange Beach, Alabama. So wow. Alabama.
SPEAKER_06:You get seafood and you got chicken. Exactly. Okay.
SPEAKER_04:She's not very adventurous. Believe it or not, she just had Taco Bell for the first time about two weeks ago. First time. First time. Oh on an FFA trip in Indianapolis. So we went of all places, we were at a boar stud and they fed us pork loin sandwiches as we were looking at pigs. It was great. Uh so yeah, she switches to the pig thing and then she gets to eat the it all evolves around FFA and and everything because you were mentioning that, and Laney Wilson was the headliner of the FFA National Concert two years ago. So, I mean, lots of great people that we surround ourselves with.
SPEAKER_06:That's awesome. So, uh Trey, you made it through your first show. And so we will definitely have you back. Would love to. Fascinating guy. I know, I know, I told you. He's amazing.
SPEAKER_08:That's how we hire here.
SPEAKER_06:Stella, thank you for coming. And good luck to you as the FFA president.
SPEAKER_08:She's gonna be awesome. She's also always here.
SPEAKER_06:Yes, she is. I see her out there.
SPEAKER_08:I'm glad I don't have to pay her.
SPEAKER_06:Don't worry, she barely pays me. And uh Catherine, we will see you this weekend.
SPEAKER_08:And it runs through when? When's the last day I can go to Denver Downs?
SPEAKER_07:Uh oh, November the 9th. Okay. November the 9th. The first two we're still open the first two weekends in November.
SPEAKER_08:So every weekend, uh Denver Downs is open starting this weekend until November the 9th. Right. Perfect.
SPEAKER_06:So Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Yes. Okay.
SPEAKER_08:Come on out. We can't.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, we're coming out.
SPEAKER_06:Denver DownsFarm.com.
SPEAKER_07:That's right.
SPEAKER_06:All right. Come on. Um, let's see. Anything else I gotta remember? Next show is uh in two weeks. So we'll talk to you then. But catch the podcast on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. I'll be up there either tomorrow or the day after. And uh yeah, thanks everybody for being here, and thanks for listening to the Boon Show on MyPulse Radio.