Kim Olson: Running to Fuel Texans

WEBVTT

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortez. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

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on purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortez. Welcome back to

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Working on Purpose. Thanks for tuning
in again this week. I'm your host,

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Elise Cortez, joining from Dallas,
Texas, which is home base for

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me. This program is all about
helping people more meaningfully and productively connect with

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their work and equipping organization to do
the same for their employees. I bring

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on guests who have a particular perspective
or experience that I think expands the conversation

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about meaningful and productive work. And
I draw on the meaning work research I've

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been doing over the last fifteen years, as well as the consulting work I've

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been doing at Insigniam and prior.
I'll get to the program in just a

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second, but thank Let me think. My media partner and sponsor jobbing dot

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We talked, among other things,
about incorporating vision with strategy and starting a

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business, the criticality of managing cash
flow, and scaling the business by adding

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talent to offload tasks that diminished the
effectiveness of the owner. And we covered

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a lot in an hour. It
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This week, I'm very happy to
say is retired Colonel Kim Olson from

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the United States Air Force. I
affectionately call her the Force. By the

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way. You'll see why as we
go along. Retired retired Colonel Olson has

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a distinguished career creating and leading organizations
and initiatives, which I'll ask her to

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detail later today. She is a
farmer, veteran pilot, and champion of

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education, and is influencing the future
of sustainable food production through her community supported

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agriculture at the four K River Ranch
on Mineral Wells, Texas. Retired Colonel

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Olson has announced her candidacy for Texas
Commissioner of Agriculture, and we'll talk about

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the important work she's doing to literally
help fuel Texans. She joins us today

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from Mineral Wells, Texas. Colonel
Olson, welcome to working on purpose again.

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It is always a pleasure in an
interview with you. At least it's

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just a fabulous show. I'm a
fan and I want to be able to

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help my listeners understand why I'm a
fan of you. So before we get

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into what we want to talk about
with regard to feeding Texans and the health

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of Texans and what you want to
do about that. Will you just say

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just a bit about your background.
I want listeners to get, you know,

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the smattering of the various kinds of
things that you've been up to,

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and what with the perspective and experience
they would be getting. Well, my

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background comes from serving in the United
States Air Force for twenty five years.

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I happened to be in the first
generation of female pilots, so just by

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design, I got to be a
trailblazer in that arena, which, as

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most women know, once you enter
a non traditional career field, you learn

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a lot quickly. And then after
I retired, I entered the field of

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education, as your bio described,
and I worked for Dallas I s D.

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Worked on a school board, both
urban and suburban, and then saw

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that there was a need for women
veterans to have access to equitable care since

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we had women that were going into
both Iraq and Afghanistan and when they came

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out, they just did not have
the kind of support that was needed given

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the tasks they were required to do. And in that work I discovered that

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food was a great healer, and
we can talk about that later. And

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then since then I've been running my
ranch, the four k River granch and

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I run a CISA, which again
we'll talk about a little bit later.

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And in all that that kind of
accumulated into a decision to put my time,

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talent, and treasure into running for
office. So that's kind of where

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you find me today. That is
a crisp way to crazily captures a wealth

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of experience and contribution, colonel,
So thank you for that. I just

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wanted to make sure our listeners got
a little bit about your background that I

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knew. So let's get into this
here, this thing that you're doing here,

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Why do you want to run for
the office? Why do you want

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to run for Texas Commissioner of Agriculture. Well, at least there were tipping

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points that sort of led me down
this line. A lot of people had

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asked me, you know you were
going to run for office? You're we're

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going to run for office given kind
of my breath of experience. And yeah,

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I had run, like I said, at school board for two terms,

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but I mean just more like on
a larger platform. And so three

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things happened. One was November the
eighth, and then in December, my

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son joined the United States Air Force
and I thought, oh my gosh,

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I've just given my nation my most
precious resource, one of my children.

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And then in January of this year, I got to march in Austin with

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one hundred thousand of my close personal
friends. Now we did a lot of

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marching in the military, but not
carrying signs. I'm going to assure you

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of that. And so I looked
around. I thought, how can I

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not do something? How can I
not step into the political discourse and do

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something to help this nation. It's
one thing to sign and you know,

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write a blank of your life in
the service of your nation. It's another

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to put your name on the ballot
line for your state. And that's pretty

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much what I've done. That is
it just it moves me, Colonel,

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because the service of that's involved in
that is magnanimous. It's just it's really

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amazing. And for our listeners to
better understand, which what's what's really what

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this is really all about, what's
involved to compete in this race? And

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when well, the race is department
of agg And I didn't quite close the

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question of why agg And given that
I had worked with veterans for five years

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and I saw how food could be
the great healer and we can talk about

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this in more detail as to why
I'm driven so by making sure that Texans

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have access to the best food,
whether it's in our school systems and our

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nursing homes or just in our grocery
stores. I mean, we need to

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have good fuel to exactly your point, few us for our future, whether

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we're learning in the classroom, whether
we're aging out, and whether we're in

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the middle of our work life.
Food is an incredible not just keeps you

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alive, it keeps you well if
you eat appropriately. So so let me

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let me segue then over to your
question about what it takes. So we

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started early. Most folks have entered
the race in two thousand and seventeen have

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started early. This is a statewide
race, so anybody out there listening from

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Texas can vote. You will all
have a primary in January, I'm sorry,

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March the sixth of twenty eighteen,
and then the general election will be

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in November the sixth, at two
thousand and eighteen. And I'm excited because

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number one in the least, I'm
the only female on the ticket right now.

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I think women need to share in
the leadership, especially in the political

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arena. I just know from experience
that better decisions are made when you have

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more women around the boardroom and the
war room tables and the political tables.

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So I am thrilled that I get
a chance to maybe step into the fray

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and be a reasonable voice of someone
who's spent a lot of time working in

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a male dominated arena. And I
think with my very broad background that I

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could bring a lot to the game. So I'm very very excited. You

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ask me what it takes. I'm
trying to visit all two hundred and fifty

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four counties because I really believe that
rural Texans built Texas, and therefore rural

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Texans have a lot of things to
offer, and in a way, we've

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kind of forgotten about them because we
concentrate a lot on our cities stuffs one

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end of the spectrum, and then
the other end of the spectrum is believe

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it or not, we have places
in large cities like Dallas, places where

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you are where there are food deserts, places where a mom can't get access

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to fresh foods and vegetables without taking
three forms of public transportation. I mean,

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that's just that's insane. In two
thousand and seventeen and We're going to

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talk about how we can fix that
later. But that's that's kind of where

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we are on the rate on this
kind of race. And the bottom line

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is three million. That's the number, three million votes and yep, that's

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what it's going to take. Okay, it doesn't sound and it doesn't sound

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like a lot for a state that
has nineteen million people who could vote.

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I want you to think about that. Ye incredible, huh uh huh.

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I appreciate you laying that out for
us, Colonel. I guess the other

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thing I want to make sure that
that we understand here is that when you

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run for an office like this,
you don't get paid, right. I

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mean you're you're actually spending your own
money or whatever you raise to be able

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to run for the race, and
then when you actually do the work,

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you don't get paid. Correct.
Well, actually, the the agency,

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which is Department of Agriculture, has
a thousand employees that work for it.

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It has kind of if I may
real quick, it has basically, I

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have big things. It does.
It make sure the ways and means,

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meaning you know, when you put
a gallon of gas in your car,

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you get the right amount of gas
and it's a good gas. It does

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a free and reduce lunch for our
kids three million children every day in our

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schools. It helps do match grants
like meals on wheels, providing foods for

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seniors. And then it makes sure
about our food safety that the food we

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pull off the shelves and our grocery
stores are safe for our family. And

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then the big deal is it's supposed
to enhance rural communities. And I think

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that's what's kind of let itself down. So a billion dollar budget, yeah,

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a half a billion dollar budget,
a thousand people, and it's an

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agency. And yes, you do
get paid, you do get paid roll

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on that agency. Okay, good, good, good. I'm glad to

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hear that. I would hate to
think that, knowing the effort that you're

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going to put forth, that you
wouldn't actually even draw a paycheck. So

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I'm actually happy to hear that.
Well, let's talk about one of the

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things that I really was interested in
hearing about for my own self, because

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I certainly do care a lot about
health, physical fitness, food, all

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nutrition. I know that you know
a lot more about the health of Texans

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than I do, and you've got
some concerns about that what aretainly, certainly

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in Texas, I think shares what's
going on in the United States the really

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sad thing. And you can there's
lots of research around it, lots of

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study showing this, but the projection
is that a third of Americans are pre

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diabetic or diabetic. That's a hundred
million people who have the potential to have

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diabetes. And the sad thing is
it's our children who have an absolute diabetic

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epidemic bubbling. And the reason that
is a current police is because of what

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we see them. Now, I'm
going to talk to the moms out there,

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because no mom wants to sentence their
child to a shorter lifespan than they're

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going to live. But that's what's
going to happen if we don't curb this

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diabetic epidemic. It is, for
the first time in human history, this

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next generation will not live as long
as say you and I will. And

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that's, like I said, that's
insane. And so we moms who do

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bring the groceries into the household.
I know you've got some guys out there

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that shop, but you know we
are six pack of beer isn't really considered

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groceries value the room, so we
have to educate moms as to that how

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food can be medicine for their children, and how it's important what you feed

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your child in the early years and
then later on, because they don't want

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their children have diabetes. They don't
want their kids to be sentenced to a

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shorter lifespan, and they sure a
sect, don't want all the complications that

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come with a sickness, which is
which is actually pretty brutal. Diabetes is

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a brutal sickness and at last a
very long time, but it really truly

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does shorten your life and give you
a terrible quality of life. So if

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we can educate moms or the caregivers
of families about what's best to bring into

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your household, then I think we
can we can curb this projection of a

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pretty sick society. And that's that's
really what drives me. And of course

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Texas is writing line with all that, education is a big thing for me.

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Obviously, how do you want to
how do you want to get people

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educated on this front? This is
a big task, it is, but

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I'll pay you at least once you
and I'm going to swing out to the

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women again. Once you get women
on board. And moms on board and

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caregivers on board. You're going to
be amazed what we can do. What

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person out there, let me just
ask you that, what person out there

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would put a toddler in a car
and not put it in a car seat?

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Do you know that legislated? We
actually legislated and changed behavior. And

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I know everybody has a fit when
we say, oh my gosh, you're

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gonna legislate behavior. But if I
tell you, look, if you bring

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that six pack of soda in,
if you feed your children's sugary drinks,

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this is what's going to happen to
this. And it's not that they get

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sick. In addition, it's here's
what happens in their inability to learn because

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they can't pay attention. Here's what
happens when the sugar spikes and drops back

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down. Here's what happens when they're
the obesity epidemic that's rolling through our children

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today. These are lifelong illnesses that
again I know of no mom that wants

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to preg their child with that.
And in reality, we got to own

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this the least because when we entered
the workforce to work with a purpose,

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we put a void in the kitchen
and guess who filled that fast food?

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So we created it. There you
go. If we created it, we

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can fix it. And can you
imagine now pulling up to a fast food

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restaurant and said, yes, I
like a pack of slice carrots and some

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peanut butter and celery, and let's
ask some apples with that and a bowl

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of fruit. We can do that. We have the most powerful thing at

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our fingertip, which is our dollar
bill. Where do you spend your money?

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What do you support as a mom? And I'll go back through it

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moms again, strung driving, putting
car seats in the car, making sure

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that all the things that that moms
do very well. And if we want

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to feed our kids healthy food,
we'll do it. I believe in I

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believe some women we will. I
can remember, Colonel, when I my

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daughter who is now fourteen, and
for a year, I've always believed very

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strongly and having good healthy food,
especially starting with vegetables and fruits, and

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I remember so distinctly. I'd go
to the market, the basic grocery stores,

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and I would be literally the only
person in line that had just a

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boatload of vegetables and fruits, and
everybody else had package stuff and you could

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almost see the clerk going, oh
no, here we go. We got

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to look up with all these skews
for all these things. Oh no,

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bags and bags of vegetables. So
you're right, we can appolutely change that

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tide. Absolutely can. I believe
in that too, And all the more

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reason that I wanted you to come
on the air because I want I want

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to be a part of helping to
raise this message and bring this ourness to

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necessity to change. That's how we
get it done. That's how we get

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it done. You're right, Well, are there any other kinds of so

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we talked about about diabetes and obesity. Is there anything else out there that

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you want a presence that you want
to address in this particular role. Well,

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I think the biggest thing, like
I said, would be to help

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rural Texans because, like I said, America built was built on the back

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of role Americans, and Texas was
built on the back of royal Texans,

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and I think they feel as if
they're forgotten. And again, I've been

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to forty six counties in this state, and I'm going there to listen to

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them to see what their issues are
and what is it they need Do they

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need less legislation? Do they need
you know, seed money? Do they

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need help in regards to getting access
to land for young farmers they're getting access

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to let's say an exemption early off. Do they need less fees? Like

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the auditors just came up with apartment
of agg overcharge these poor farmers and ranchers

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the fees and so. And a
great example is here we had Harvey which

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decimated the cotton crump. What can
we do to help them modernize? What

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can we help help them do to
save our resources? Because just because you

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work the land doesn't mean you get
to strip it of all it has.

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I believe that most of us at
work land, which of course I do

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want to be good stewards of the
land. And so if you have information

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and education out about how best to
work your land, and I'll just give

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you a real quick example is something
like cover crops. If you put cover

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crops, then you don't lose that
precious resource on your land, which is

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the first two inches of soil.
This is the most is like gold to

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most farmers and ranchers. So if
we can do that and get the farm

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bill which will come out next year, to put some money in to help

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farmers transition, to say, instead
of broadcast irrigation, maybe we do micro

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sprayers. Instead of leaving ground barren, we put cover crops on it so

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that we can save the top soil. So there's lots of things we can

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do because technology is incredible now in
farming, but the farmers need capital to

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make those kinds of technological transition.
And I think not only do farmers and

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ranchers need a voice in Austin,
they need a voice in DC. And

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you want to be that voice.
Well, I would be happy to have

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that right. And you've got a
voice and you want to use it.

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I love that. There. For
a second, it's time for a quick

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break. I'm your host, Elie
Cortez. We've been on the air with

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retired Colonel Kim Olsen, who served
the United States Air Force for twenty five

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years. She has a distinguished life
and career, and it's running for Texas

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00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:03.599
Commissioner of Agriculture. She joins us
today from Mineral Wells, Texas. We've

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been talking a bit about why she
wants to run, what it takes,

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and some of the issues that she
really wants to help move through. Stay

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00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:26.519
with us after the break. Friend
us on Facebook to keep up with what's

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00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:33.039
empowering the world. Voice America Empowerment
so. Elise Cortez is a speaker and

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00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:38.200
engagement and development catalyst. She designs
and delivers professional development, leadership and engagement

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00:19:38.200 --> 00:19:44.000
workshops and can bring her expertise to
your organization. She will help ignite meaningful

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00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:48.440
development within your workforce that will increase
employee engagement, performance and retention. To

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00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:52.480
learn more or to invite Elise to
speak to your organization, please visit her

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00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:57.960
at www dot Elise Cortez dot com. She would welcome the opportunity to help

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00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:04.039
get your employee working on purpose.
Have you friended us on Facebook yet?

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Why not? Just go to Facebook
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It's your world. Motivate, change, succeed Voice America Empowerment dot com.

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This is Working on Purpose with Elise
Cortez. To reach our program today,

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00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:56.240
please call into one triple eight three
four six nine one four one. Again

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00:20:56.359 --> 00:21:00.720
that's one triple eight three four six
nine one four one. You may also

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00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:07.160
send an email to Elise ali se
at Elise Cortez dot com. Now back

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00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:12.559
to Working on Purpose. Thanks for
staying with us, and welcome back to

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Working on Purpose if you're just joining
us. My guest is retired Colonel Kim

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00:21:17.160 --> 00:21:19.759
Olsen, who served in the United
States Air Force for twenty five years.

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00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:25.079
She has announcedair candidacy for Texas Commissioner
of Agriculture. She has a farmer,

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veteran pilot, and champion of education, and is influenced in the future of

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00:21:27.799 --> 00:21:33.799
sustainable food production through her community supported
agriculture at the four K River Ranch in

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Mineral Wells, Texas. I'm your
host, Elise Cortez, So Colonel.

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Before the break, we were talking
a bit about just some of the things

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that you would be able to help
enact via voter support. So the first

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thing I want to do in this
segment is I want to remind listeners that

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the way to get into this conversation
and become part of the solution is to

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vote. So you mentioned there are
nineteen million people that are eligible voters in

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the state of Texas alone, and
in the last run, only eight million

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of them voted. So and I
certainly get that no vote is a vote.

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And so the first thing I want
to say as we go into this

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next segment is the importance of really
joining in through lending your own voice via

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via via vote. So I know
that Texas is one of the one of

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the states that just doesn't seem to
vote. So let's change that tide.

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While we're talking about foods, right, thank you, right job, Yeah

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you want them. I just think
that I've I've been asked to share that

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as well because I think it's just
so important and people say, please please

305
00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:36.599
speak your mind on that issue of
voting too, So I will. Well,

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let's get back into the food topic, colonel, if we can.

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I I mean, food varies considerably
in people's perspective, and what actually constitutes

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food varies considerably. So will you
help our listeners understand what kind of a

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diet negatively contributes to our health?
Well, let me let me just spend

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that question, which is a great
one, and let's talk about the best

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and the best guy you can have
is the one that is where you get

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the food closest to the source.
So if you're having mangoes in the wintertime,

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that means those mangoes were picked from
overseas and they were picked to be

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00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:18.839
transported. They're not picked for their
nutritional value. They picked so they can

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handle the transportation journey, and then
they're shipped obviously to your local girsh store

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where it is you shop. And
so I'm a huge proponent of trying to

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get food as close to the source. So we're going to segue into Okay,

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well where does that happen. Well, when you look at your grocery

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store and you look at the label, look where food comes from. Is

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it from New Zealand? Is it
coming out of Mexico, Which isn't bad,

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that's just south of our border.
That's not too bad. But you

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have to remember that food like tomatoes
and apples and things like that are picked

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so that they can be transported,
not picked at their peak of rightness.

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So if you're scerned about the nutritional
value of food, fruits and vegetables,

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again, you want to get them
as close to the source as you can.

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We'll talk about where that is later. The second thing is when we

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were retraining women vets on how to
change their diet to help them in their

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reintegration back into civilian world, because
we have a pretty processed diet when we

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ship you overseas to fight in combat, because it's very very high calorie and

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high sugar, and we try to
not have that when we come back home.

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We tell folks to shop only the
perimeter of the grocery store because most

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of the inside aisles are really non
food items. They're processed items. And

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if felf your kid has add if
we're struggling with dasthma, a lot of

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the research will show if you will
decrease the consumption of that kind of food.

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And really it isn't food, it's
just put me too on that those

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symptoms will decrea. And again I'm
not a doc, but there is a

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00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:07.839
ton of research out there on the
best way, especially if you're struggling with

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any kind of illness, the fresher
and the more whole literally whole food you

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can get, meaning at you know, the whole potato, not a French

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fry or a potato chip, but
the whole podata is better for you than

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anything that's been processed. And that's
just a lot, it's common sense.

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But number two is really we found
an incredible change in our women who we

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fundamentally change their diets when they came
back. You know, I really appreciate

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the crispness of crispness what you just
outline for us there, colonel, the

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idea being that when you go to
the grocery store, you shop the outside

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00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:49.119
corns, and I realize that is
what I do. I very seldom we'll

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00:25:49.119 --> 00:25:56.440
go to the internal aisles, and
that is a simple way to frame good

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00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:06.279
eating. I really appreciate that.
That's fantastic, great simple things for simple

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minds, Colonel. That's what I
need. I can get it to me

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straight. Well, along those lines, one of the things I definitely wanted

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to talk about is, and I
know that you're you're one of the things

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you want to do is help Texans
gain access to farmers markets. And I

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love going to the farmers markets.
But first, why are you a fan

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00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:26.480
of farmers markets? Well, I'm
a fan of farmers markets because I'm a

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fan of farmers and most folks who
don't like farmers. I mean, they

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00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:36.319
work in the field, they grow
you a product, they're proud of it,

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they harvest it for you. If
you know anything about farmers markets,

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00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:41.920
this is kind of how it works. Most of us who are and I'm

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00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:47.200
you know, I've sold at a
farmer's markets. We're up at O dark

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thirty. We harvest whatever it is
we're going to bring to the market.

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That means it is picked that day
for you. We get it to the

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farmer's market. We tend to we're
very proud of what we sell. Tends

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to be much cheaper than anything get
in the grocery store. Yeah, do

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00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.319
you have to find a place set
selling stuff? Yes, you do,

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00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:08.880
Okay, get over it. You
know you'll you'll drive to a Starbucks,

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00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:12.200
you'll drive to a movie theater.
Come to your local farmers markets. It

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00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:18.640
shows that you support those farmers who
are working really hard to provide good produce

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for the Texans family. And it's
a good way to show your children where

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food comes from and how it gets
delivered and what people look like who grow

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this stuff. I mean, most
of us, most of the farming is

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not done by mega corporations. It's
just done by regular Texans. Who just

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00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:42.759
happen to love to grow stuff.
And I think it's a great community event

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when you go to one. There's
several in Dallas, there's several in most

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00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:52.240
large places, and if there isn't
one, you ought to start one.

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00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:59.440
It just is lots of folks grow
stuff around where most people live there tend

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to be farmers about everywhere. We
have a beautiful downtown Dallas Farmer's Market that

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00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:08.880
I'm sure you know it and probably
have frequented before, and it has the

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00:28:08.880 --> 00:28:15.240
most fantastic inviting vibe to it,
Colonel. It is just it's visual appealing,

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00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:21.920
It smells fantastic, It has this
jov dviv kind of feel about it

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00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:23.279
that is so inviting. I don't
know why you wouldn't want to go to

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00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:26.519
Farmer's Market. Yeah, sure,
right, you have to slip yourself down

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00:28:26.519 --> 00:28:30.920
there and get there, But it
is incredibly inviting to go to. And

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00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:36.400
I'll give you a tip if most
of us who harvest food and bring it

384
00:28:36.440 --> 00:28:40.279
to the farmer's market don't want to
take it home with us. So if

385
00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:45.119
you'll go at right before the farmer's
market closes, you can get a lot

386
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:48.960
of great deals on food because people
will sell it to you at a discount,

387
00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:52.160
because again, they don't want to
haul it back. And what we

388
00:28:52.240 --> 00:28:55.799
used to do when we were there
is we would barter, so I'd end

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00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:59.759
up given somebody, which, as
I was into garlic, I traded this

390
00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:03.200
guy whole bushel of peaches for my
garlic. So there's lots of things you

391
00:29:03.240 --> 00:29:07.160
can do at a farmer's market.
But I'm glad, And I don't know

392
00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:10.720
what that word was, but I'm
sure it was a good word that you

393
00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:15.880
said. Juvdvi means joy of life
in French, and it just has that

394
00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:18.440
feel for me. But that is
a great tip about going towards the end

395
00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:22.000
of the market. I hadn't considered
that, but that makes a ton of

396
00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:23.359
sense. You don't want to bring
that stuff back to the farm, so

397
00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:29.319
it makes sense. Well, we
talked about for me, it's not hard

398
00:29:29.359 --> 00:29:30.599
for me to get to this market, Colonel. I mean literally, it's

399
00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:36.799
probably a let's call it a five
mile drive at best, and it's fairly

400
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:40.279
easy parking for me. In access, how do you plan to help Texas

401
00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:44.319
skain more access to farmers markets?
You know, that's a really good question.

402
00:29:44.359 --> 00:29:48.400
And I talked about earlier about having
what we call food deserts. Where

403
00:29:48.039 --> 00:29:52.559
there's a South Oak Cliff is the
great example where a mom would have to

404
00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:57.160
get on the dark and then do
public trantisification and then walk three blocks to

405
00:29:57.160 --> 00:30:00.519
get access to a store that's sold
freshly some vegetables. I mean, none

406
00:30:00.519 --> 00:30:04.359
of us are going to do that. That's just insane. So where better

407
00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:08.599
to put a farmer's market than places
where there are food deserts. And I'll

408
00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:12.559
tell the you know about Paul Quinn
College. It's a college right there in

409
00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:18.559
Dallas. The predominantly African American student
body, and I tell you I got

410
00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:22.240
to do a shout out to that
president when he got there, he said,

411
00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:25.480
we're not going to have an athletic
program. These folks need to learn

412
00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:27.920
how to be businessmen and women.
And what he did is he moved the

413
00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:33.039
athletic program I believe, into the
into you know, innermurals, and he

414
00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:37.720
took his stadium and he grows fresh
fruits and vegetables there and he teaches folks

415
00:30:37.720 --> 00:30:41.160
that you grow it there, and
then he sells it to the cafeteria and

416
00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:45.279
then he sells it on the open
market. And what he's teaching his student

417
00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:48.799
body is how to be entrepreneurs,
how to be businessmen and women, how

418
00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:56.240
to market, how to do science
and math, and environmental issues. So

419
00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:03.119
growing food it covers the entire actrum
of all the disciplines you would ever learn

420
00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:08.519
in any college, I would argue, and so here is a phenomenal example

421
00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:15.240
of what a university did around food
and around teaching their students about how to

422
00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:18.640
be businessmen and women. Whether if
we did that in every college in this

423
00:31:18.759 --> 00:31:22.559
great state, whether if we had
something like that in every high school?

424
00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:27.440
You know, we we pooh pooed, voke d anymore, I don't,

425
00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:32.079
which I think was nuts. We
really did our students of disfavored by not

426
00:31:32.119 --> 00:31:36.599
allowing them to graduate. Yeah,
it was some kind of certification in something.

427
00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:38.240
Not I know everybody's going to have
a fit, but I'm going to

428
00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:44.240
say it out loud. Not everybody
should wants to or can afford to go

429
00:31:44.279 --> 00:31:48.200
to college. But it doesn't mean
you can't make a decent living because guess

430
00:31:48.279 --> 00:31:51.200
what, at least I like air
conditioning, I like running water, I

431
00:31:51.880 --> 00:31:59.680
have electricity in my house. All
those things require certification to build and maintain,

432
00:31:57.960 --> 00:32:01.880
and I think our students can do
that. Plus, growing food is

433
00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:07.559
exactly the same thing. I want
to comment on what you said earlier about

434
00:32:07.640 --> 00:32:10.920
the president of Paul Quinn. I
think that's got to be doctor Michael Sols,

435
00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:14.680
And I know him and I'm also
a big fan, but I did

436
00:32:14.720 --> 00:32:17.480
not know that that's what he was
doing with this, with this having converted

437
00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:22.279
to sports program into more of food
production, and I had no idea.

438
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:24.960
That is fantastic. I mean even
I'm even a bigger fan. Now that's

439
00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:29.839
great now, and I appreciate how
you laid out right how that might be

440
00:32:30.039 --> 00:32:32.839
a blueprint for other universities. Colonel. That's that's the kind of stuff that

441
00:32:32.839 --> 00:32:36.720
I wanted to make sure that we
presenced for our listeners. Great stuff.

442
00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:45.200
Oh yummy, no pun intended,
but just yummy. Sorry, I can't

443
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:49.160
help myself. So another thing that
we talked about, and I just don't

444
00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:53.359
have a lot of knowledge about is
CSAs or co ops. So what's CSA

445
00:32:53.519 --> 00:33:00.400
and what's a co op? So
what's a CSA is it's an ad acronym

446
00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:05.519
for community supported agriculture And that's the
business model that I run and what you

447
00:33:05.640 --> 00:33:08.960
do is and this is a big
deal around a lot of a city when

448
00:33:09.039 --> 00:33:14.000
folks want fresh food brought to them, so they don't go to the farmer's

449
00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:16.279
market. It gets brought to them
in a different a lot of different ways,

450
00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:20.920
or you pick up. So when
I ran my CSA, I had

451
00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:24.559
what you call a membership, and
people pay you up front, So everybody

452
00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:30.960
puts money into the CISA. So
everybody pays up front. And what then

453
00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:35.440
you do as you take that capital
and you invest and you grow whatever the

454
00:33:35.480 --> 00:33:38.400
season calls for. And in that
work, you say to your members,

455
00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:43.440
Okay, you're taking on the risk
that a farmer would have. If we

456
00:33:43.559 --> 00:33:47.240
get hails, we get a fund
forbid, if something happens, then well

457
00:33:47.279 --> 00:33:50.359
I'll try to do the best I
can. But you got to know that

458
00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:53.880
this is tough. But what they're
doing is investing in a farmer to grow

459
00:33:53.960 --> 00:33:59.079
for them. That's basically what it
is for me. When I ran mine,

460
00:33:59.319 --> 00:34:02.400
I made the families give me sweat
equity, which meant they had to

461
00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:07.119
come to my farm and they either
had to harvest, they had to plant,

462
00:34:07.160 --> 00:34:09.280
they had to weed, they had
to can, they had to clean,

463
00:34:09.719 --> 00:34:14.400
they had to do something. Because
I wanted them to see in reality

464
00:34:14.519 --> 00:34:19.760
at least how hard this is to
do, how much work it takes,

465
00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:23.039
and Once you see that, you'll
never complain about a bruise on your apple

466
00:34:23.239 --> 00:34:28.960
or a little bug in your lettuce. Again. It just it is very

467
00:34:29.079 --> 00:34:31.519
very hard work. We love it, but it is not for the weak

468
00:34:31.800 --> 00:34:36.079
or the faint of heart, because
it is a labor of love. Because

469
00:34:36.119 --> 00:34:42.519
you better love labor. So I
say, I make the transition of you

470
00:34:42.519 --> 00:34:45.039
know, none of us are going
to go out into the valley and pick

471
00:34:45.119 --> 00:34:50.559
fruits and vegetables, but we have
a workforce that'll do that. And that's

472
00:34:50.559 --> 00:34:55.079
why for Texas, AGG is a
third of its GDP. And you need

473
00:34:55.159 --> 00:35:00.519
a decent immigration policy so that you
have workers that can come in and pick

474
00:35:00.719 --> 00:35:05.280
all those massive fields. Because if
I don't get my field pick, guess

475
00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:09.079
what, I lose it, and
I lose it for the entire year.

476
00:35:09.280 --> 00:35:14.079
It's not like some assembly line that
I can just slow down. So AGG

477
00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:19.639
and having people see what it takes
to do that, then they become great

478
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:25.000
advocates for homegrown products and for the
local farmer. And so I've had women

479
00:35:25.280 --> 00:35:30.320
and families that have been with me
for five and six years. So we

480
00:35:30.400 --> 00:35:37.199
do kind of become this minute mini
community. But I'm a big advocate for

481
00:35:37.519 --> 00:35:39.880
community supported agriculture. But anyway,
you would, you get your membership and

482
00:35:39.880 --> 00:35:43.880
then I deliver groceries to you basically
once a week. That's that happens.

483
00:35:44.440 --> 00:35:46.559
Okay. I don't know if we
talked about this or not, Colonel,

484
00:35:46.599 --> 00:35:51.360
but did I tell you that I
grew up on a farm that and that's

485
00:35:51.360 --> 00:35:52.960
really where I got my work ethic. You talked about this hard work.

486
00:35:53.880 --> 00:36:00.159
So when when I was in elementary
school in central Washington state, my parents

487
00:36:00.159 --> 00:36:04.719
had a six hundred acre farm that
had wheat. We ultimately grew wheat,

488
00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:08.199
sugar beets, and we had cattle, and I boy, talk about hard

489
00:36:08.239 --> 00:36:13.840
work. I mean my parents are
I will always revere them and for what

490
00:36:13.880 --> 00:36:16.440
they what they what they put in
in a seven day work week, and

491
00:36:16.440 --> 00:36:20.039
what they taught me about work.
And later on we got into the restaurant

492
00:36:20.039 --> 00:36:23.360
business, and that's equally right up
there with hard work. But anyway,

493
00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:25.239
it's so part of you. Again. The part of the reason that I

494
00:36:27.159 --> 00:36:30.480
resonated with what you're doing is that
I can appreciate just what it takes to

495
00:36:30.519 --> 00:36:34.400
be able to pull this off and
what you're saying about the hard work and

496
00:36:34.440 --> 00:36:37.719
being able to help enroll people in
that process. And having them work on

497
00:36:37.760 --> 00:36:40.320
your farm with you, I think
is a genius. Well, it's funny

498
00:36:40.360 --> 00:36:43.920
because I had a kid come out
one time, and this just shows you

499
00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:46.639
how important it is. Now,
how folks don't know about their foods.

500
00:36:46.679 --> 00:36:51.639
The kid walked out of this Now
which tree potatoes grow on? And I,

501
00:36:52.360 --> 00:36:54.400
honey, let me, let me
just show you what we're going the

502
00:36:54.519 --> 00:37:01.719
dirt. And that's your story.
No, I totally get it. I

503
00:37:01.800 --> 00:37:07.400
understand, and it's and that's all
the more reason I appreciate. And we're

504
00:37:07.400 --> 00:37:08.599
actually just about to go into a
quick break here. I know we're going

505
00:37:08.599 --> 00:37:13.519
to talk more about that in terms
of teaching children about food and where it

506
00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:15.519
comes from and being part of that
process. So let's go ahead and grab

507
00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:19.920
that break so we can get right
back into that conversation. I'm Alice Cortez,

508
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:22.800
your host. We're going on the
air with retired Colonel Kim Olsen,

509
00:37:22.840 --> 00:37:25.039
who served in the United States Air
Force for twenty five years. She has

510
00:37:25.079 --> 00:37:29.880
a distinguished life and career and is
now running for a Texas Commissioner of Agriculture.

511
00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:32.000
She joins It to Day from Mineral
Wells, Texas. After the break,

512
00:37:32.039 --> 00:37:37.440
we're going to talk a bit about
how to help schools and communities grow

513
00:37:37.519 --> 00:37:53.840
using such options as school gardens.
Stay with us Friend us on Facebook to

514
00:37:53.920 --> 00:38:00.360
keep up with what's empowering the world. Voice America Empowerment. Alice Cortez is

515
00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:06.679
a speaker and engagement and development catalyst. She designs and delivers professional development,

516
00:38:06.840 --> 00:38:10.920
leadership and engagement workshops and can bring
her expertise to your organization. She will

517
00:38:10.920 --> 00:38:16.480
help ignite meaningful development within your workforce
that will increase employee engagement, performance and

518
00:38:16.639 --> 00:38:21.599
retention. To learn more or to
invite Elise to speak to your organization,

519
00:38:21.760 --> 00:38:25.960
please visit her at www dot Elise
Cortez dot com. She would welcome the

520
00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:32.000
opportunity to help get your employees working
on purpose. We're making it easier to

521
00:38:32.039 --> 00:38:37.039
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527
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528
00:39:15.679 --> 00:39:20.800
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529
00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:25.559
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530
00:39:25.639 --> 00:39:30.320
Empowerment Channel. Tune into the Power
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531
00:39:30.360 --> 00:39:43.800
talk radio. Visit Star Style Radio
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532
00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:59.840
Follow us on Twitter for more great
ideas and Voice America Empowerment. This is

533
00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:04.960
Working on Purpose with Elise Cortez.
To reach our program today, please call

534
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:08.519
into one triple eight three four six
nine one four one. Again, that's

535
00:40:08.559 --> 00:40:13.920
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one four one. You may also send

536
00:40:13.960 --> 00:40:21.239
an email to Elise ali se at
Elise Cortez dot com. Now back to

537
00:40:21.559 --> 00:40:25.840
Working on Purpose. Thanks for staying
with us, and welcome back to Working

538
00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:30.440
on Purpose. If you're just tuning
in, My guest has retired Colonel Kim

539
00:40:30.440 --> 00:40:34.559
Olsen of the United States Air Force. She's announced her candidacy for a Texas

540
00:40:34.559 --> 00:40:37.679
Commissioner of Agriculture. She was a
farmer, veteran pilot, and champion of

541
00:40:37.800 --> 00:40:44.159
education and is influencing the future of
sustainable food production through her community supported agriculture

542
00:40:44.440 --> 00:40:46.920
at the four K River Ranch in
Mineral Wells, Texas. I'm your host,

543
00:40:46.920 --> 00:40:52.599
Elise Cortez, so colonel. Before
we left off last and then on

544
00:40:52.639 --> 00:40:55.400
the break, you and I continued, what are some of the things we

545
00:40:55.480 --> 00:41:00.840
can do to get access to good
food? Well, one idea that I

546
00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:06.280
think is fabulous that our neighbor to
the north does, Canada, is when

547
00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:09.000
you go into a restaurant, they
have the ability to they have like a

548
00:41:09.400 --> 00:41:14.800
circle with a hundred inside of it. And what that means is that menu

549
00:41:14.920 --> 00:41:20.079
item came within the food for that
menu item came within a hundred miles.

550
00:41:20.119 --> 00:41:22.960
And so what that does is tells
the consumer. It's kind of like our

551
00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:25.599
go Texan program, but Texas is
a pretty huge state. My goodness and

552
00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:30.119
guard for ten hours and still not
be out of her is if we had

553
00:41:30.199 --> 00:41:34.280
something like that where we went to
some of our favorite restaurants and we had

554
00:41:34.280 --> 00:41:37.440
a circle with one hundred saying,
look, the food on this item came

555
00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:39.559
within a hundred miles. And why
that's a big deal is because number one,

556
00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:43.840
you're supporting a local grower. Number
Two, you don't have food that

557
00:41:43.880 --> 00:41:46.679
has to be picked for transportation.
And number three is we're not burning all

558
00:41:46.719 --> 00:41:53.199
kinds of petroleum in moving food from
New Zealand or clear out from California or

559
00:41:53.280 --> 00:41:58.119
way down south in Mexico somewhere that
the food is coming locally, meaning it's

560
00:41:58.119 --> 00:42:01.719
going to be fresher, more nutritious, and probably really taste better. So

561
00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:06.280
there's things like that that we could
do, which would be just so simple,

562
00:42:06.360 --> 00:42:10.119
not cost anybody anything. I like
that idea. I don't know that.

563
00:42:10.199 --> 00:42:15.880
I also understand that was happening either. That's fascinating, very simple,

564
00:42:15.960 --> 00:42:19.679
And then how could we support that? How could that? Is that just

565
00:42:19.719 --> 00:42:23.400
a matter of education evangelization? What
is that? Well, a lot of

566
00:42:24.400 --> 00:42:30.320
top chefs will contract with local farmers
to bring in certain kinds of food.

567
00:42:30.400 --> 00:42:35.119
So if I went to the local
chefs there in Dallas and said, look,

568
00:42:35.119 --> 00:42:37.599
I'm a garlic grower, and they're
like, okay, well we'll we'll

569
00:42:38.199 --> 00:42:42.840
buy all our garlic from you.
So there are chefs that already do that,

570
00:42:43.320 --> 00:42:46.119
and a lot of times some menu
items like I'm just thinking I'll give

571
00:42:46.119 --> 00:42:52.960
a plug to Grace in Worth.
It'll tell you all these greens came from

572
00:42:52.960 --> 00:42:54.639
a local farm and these are the
names of the farm, and they laundry

573
00:42:54.679 --> 00:42:58.960
list where these came from. And
so wouldn't that be cool to know you

574
00:42:58.960 --> 00:43:02.360
were eating lettuce the poor Gay rib
lanch or you were eating garlic from my

575
00:43:02.519 --> 00:43:07.599
ranch while you went to this particular
restaurant. It's just it personalizes it and

576
00:43:08.039 --> 00:43:15.239
it makes you understand that your choice
as a consumer impacts that farmer on the

577
00:43:15.239 --> 00:43:19.440
other end of the spectrum. M
What I also really like about that,

578
00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:23.719
Colonel, is what I see is
just that really rich, you know,

579
00:43:23.960 --> 00:43:29.679
connection, that profound connection that exists
between where the food actually came from,

580
00:43:29.679 --> 00:43:31.280
the person that created it, and
then your actual consumption, which is a

581
00:43:31.360 --> 00:43:36.440
very intimate connection. That's what I
heard when you talked about that that I

582
00:43:36.480 --> 00:43:39.719
couldn't help getting that. Okay,
So along those lines, one of the

583
00:43:39.760 --> 00:43:43.960
other things I wanted to talk about
that I know is important to you in

584
00:43:44.039 --> 00:43:47.159
terms of growing healthy communities is working
with school gardens. And I can tell

585
00:43:47.239 --> 00:43:52.079
you that my daughter, who's now
fourteen, she did actually do that when

586
00:43:52.079 --> 00:43:54.920
she was in elementary school here at
Lakewood Elementary, they had a garden,

587
00:43:54.960 --> 00:44:00.840
a school garden program, and I
thought it was fantastic. So I know

588
00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:04.079
I saw that she got to be
able to contribute her talents to be able

589
00:44:04.119 --> 00:44:07.079
to create this food nurture at Harvested, and she was proud of it.

590
00:44:08.239 --> 00:44:12.719
But will you say more about why
you're such a fan of school gardens and

591
00:44:12.760 --> 00:44:17.119
what can they do to help us
eat better food? That's a great question.

592
00:44:17.159 --> 00:44:22.960
And I am a huge fan of
putting gardens in every school in every

593
00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:28.039
district in this state. I think
every elementary school ought to have a garden

594
00:44:28.239 --> 00:44:34.280
for three reasons. Number one is
it's important for kids to understand where stuff

595
00:44:34.280 --> 00:44:37.199
come comes from. It really doesn't
come from a rosy store, and it

596
00:44:37.239 --> 00:44:42.840
doesn't come out of a container.
It comes from something and it has to

597
00:44:42.840 --> 00:44:47.760
take a process to get there.
And like I said earlierly gardening encompasses science

598
00:44:47.800 --> 00:44:53.639
and biology and the impact to its
environment and health and all these things.

599
00:44:53.679 --> 00:44:59.880
And so I'm the sand of dinosaurs, and I know we have dinosaur module

600
00:45:00.119 --> 00:45:02.760
in all the elementary schools, But
why don't we teach people about something they're

601
00:45:02.800 --> 00:45:07.639
going to do three times a day
for the rest of their lives, which

602
00:45:07.719 --> 00:45:14.440
is eat. Teach them about the
impact of how we eat, farm and

603
00:45:14.719 --> 00:45:16.800
what it takes to get food on
the table. I just think that is

604
00:45:16.840 --> 00:45:23.320
so critical in just learning about that. The second thing is that a lot

605
00:45:23.360 --> 00:45:27.280
of times this is a this is
like the number two thing I was hearing

606
00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:30.760
about is I was traveling around that
there's this shaming going on. So when

607
00:45:30.760 --> 00:45:35.480
a kid runs out of money in
the cafeteria, they really like almost punish

608
00:45:35.559 --> 00:45:42.840
the child for not their parents not
having enough money for food and a nutritious

609
00:45:42.880 --> 00:45:49.480
meal for our kids. Isn't you
know That's not like just something we might

610
00:45:49.559 --> 00:45:52.280
want to do, It's something we
should do. All children in the United

611
00:45:52.320 --> 00:45:57.800
States of America should eat, and
they should eat a nutricious food period.

612
00:45:58.360 --> 00:46:01.119
This is this is a this is
a Texas value. And if we had

613
00:46:01.199 --> 00:46:06.480
food that we could get to for
free, then feed it to kids,

614
00:46:06.679 --> 00:46:08.719
let them pick it, let them, let them learn what it's like to

615
00:46:09.159 --> 00:46:12.760
bring food to the table. Who
cares if you can pay for it or

616
00:46:12.800 --> 00:46:15.719
not. I think it's insane that
with all the funding that we have out

617
00:46:15.719 --> 00:46:21.519
there, that a child should go
hungry in twenty and seventeen in the United

618
00:46:21.559 --> 00:46:25.400
States of America. It's just it's
insane. It is completely insane. And

619
00:46:25.480 --> 00:46:29.800
at the other end of that.
Of course, go ahead, I'm gonna

620
00:46:29.800 --> 00:46:31.079
say an other of that, of
course is you know then then we've got

621
00:46:31.239 --> 00:46:34.840
the ubcity on the other side of
that too. It's just it's crazy.

622
00:46:35.199 --> 00:46:37.920
Sorry what we're going to say,
Well, I was going to say.

623
00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:39.639
Then. The last thing is,
you know, you and I we have

624
00:46:39.800 --> 00:46:45.599
gray hair, chemically altered gray hair. And it is this next generation that

625
00:46:45.719 --> 00:46:51.960
has to learn the impact of our
choices in how we use our on.

626
00:46:53.079 --> 00:46:57.599
I don't care how many doubters you
have out there. The reality is if

627
00:46:57.880 --> 00:47:00.199
you didn't think so after watching Harvey, then we're living under a rock.

628
00:47:00.880 --> 00:47:06.039
But how we use our land and
what we do to our is going to

629
00:47:09.239 --> 00:47:22.679
packed our access to exporting to different
markets because now those ports and I'll just

630
00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:29.159
say Houston, even Iowa corn cannot
get out of the United States is where

631
00:47:29.159 --> 00:47:35.639
it's pushed out. So my point
is Fultor being a massive econ on an

632
00:47:35.719 --> 00:47:44.400
impact for our cur what we do
to the because it care about it from

633
00:47:44.400 --> 00:47:46.679
a conscious point of view, you
ought to care about it from an economic

634
00:47:46.679 --> 00:47:53.519
point of view because these events the
last we are going to cost the feeling

635
00:47:54.039 --> 00:48:01.239
of dollars in revenue laws and in
damage to that does it. So kids

636
00:48:01.239 --> 00:48:04.880
all alone about that because they're gonna
fix it. They're gonna have to fix

637
00:48:04.920 --> 00:48:08.239
it. You were cutting out quite
a bit there from a technology vantage point,

638
00:48:08.239 --> 00:48:13.760
so I know you were talking about
the economic impacts of Hurricane Harvey here

639
00:48:13.800 --> 00:48:16.679
in Texas. I want to make
sure that listeners could could get that context

640
00:48:16.679 --> 00:48:20.440
for what you were talking about.
To say again, if you could,

641
00:48:20.480 --> 00:48:22.719
Colonel, just to make sure that
listeners get it, because you did cut

642
00:48:22.719 --> 00:48:27.199
out what the next generation can do
to address that. Well, the next

643
00:48:27.239 --> 00:48:32.079
generation needs to take on climate change, okay, because the change did not

644
00:48:32.119 --> 00:48:37.239
only did it wet all the cotton, so we lost a predominance of our

645
00:48:37.280 --> 00:48:42.000
cotton crop down there. It hurt
the rice farmers because the rice had been

646
00:48:42.039 --> 00:48:45.679
harvested now it's wet. And in
addition to that, most of the corn

647
00:48:45.719 --> 00:48:51.159
and soybean come out of Houston.
And so what it does is that it

648
00:48:51.320 --> 00:48:55.000
impacts our export capacity. So what
I was saying is, if you don't

649
00:48:55.039 --> 00:49:00.639
care about climate change because you have
a social conscience, you ought to care

650
00:49:00.639 --> 00:49:07.519
about it from the economic impact that
events like Harvey will do to our agricultural

651
00:49:07.760 --> 00:49:14.119
economy, which is I'm going to
repeat is a third it's a hundred billion

652
00:49:14.239 --> 00:49:22.320
dollar economy in Texas and it generates
or works around five hundred and sixty million

653
00:49:22.480 --> 00:49:28.159
dollar jobs in this state. It's
a big deal at least. Yeah,

654
00:49:28.239 --> 00:49:30.519
it is a big deal. And
I appreciate you just really helping us get

655
00:49:30.599 --> 00:49:35.000
very clear about that because it can
get ethereal for people. I think it

656
00:49:35.039 --> 00:49:38.320
can get very abstract for them in
terms of concept if they're they're not connecting

657
00:49:38.800 --> 00:49:42.960
that like you are for us.
And speaking of that, one thing I

658
00:49:43.000 --> 00:49:45.480
want to do really quick because we're
starting to get close to the end of

659
00:49:45.519 --> 00:49:47.079
the show here is it just occurred
to me as you were talking back on

660
00:49:47.119 --> 00:49:50.679
school gardens. I know we're kind
of going back a little bit here,

661
00:49:50.679 --> 00:49:53.960
but I want to understand there's so
many people out there who say this to

662
00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:58.079
me, and I just don't get
it. I don't eat vegetables or I

663
00:49:58.119 --> 00:50:04.679
don't eat anything green. Most of
my diet is vegetables. Do you think

664
00:50:04.760 --> 00:50:08.719
that if we can help students get
access to school gardens earlier in life,

665
00:50:08.719 --> 00:50:14.079
that we might actually see some of
that trend change, Well, you'd hope.

666
00:50:14.119 --> 00:50:15.480
So. I mean, we as
a nation, we're able to kick

667
00:50:15.519 --> 00:50:21.760
the habit of smoking cigarettes we legislated
it, we educated people, the medical

668
00:50:21.800 --> 00:50:23.599
community got on board. I mean, there are all kinds of changes in

669
00:50:23.639 --> 00:50:25.920
that. And so if I say
to you, look, we have this

670
00:50:27.039 --> 00:50:31.639
diabetic epidemic going and it is only
because we are consuming too much sugar and

671
00:50:31.719 --> 00:50:37.400
not enough fruits and vegetables or too
much of another product, I'll leave sugar

672
00:50:37.400 --> 00:50:39.679
out of it, and we educate
then moms to say, okay, this

673
00:50:40.159 --> 00:50:44.800
is maybe instead of a bag of
chips, how about a bag of carrots?

674
00:50:44.880 --> 00:50:51.239
Right instead of that process food,
how about something closer to the source,

675
00:50:51.320 --> 00:50:55.679
meaning greens or fruits and vegetables.
And so I'm a huge proponent,

676
00:50:55.760 --> 00:51:00.760
and I trust Texas women they're going
and do right by their families. I

677
00:51:00.800 --> 00:51:04.239
don't have to browbeat them. You
just got to make sure, ay,

678
00:51:04.280 --> 00:51:07.960
they got access to it easy to
understand the consequences if you choose fast food

679
00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:15.480
every day for every meal. And
see, no mom that I've met wants

680
00:51:15.519 --> 00:51:17.639
to see their child suffer. And
so if I can say to them,

681
00:51:17.679 --> 00:51:22.119
look, you know, or help
them find you know, the whatever the

682
00:51:22.280 --> 00:51:27.559
educational or the research base that says
this is where you can help your child

683
00:51:27.599 --> 00:51:30.360
to grow healthy and strong. Most
kids want to be healthy and strong.

684
00:51:30.639 --> 00:51:37.760
Don't we want our children to be
that? Yeah? Got it. Well,

685
00:51:37.760 --> 00:51:40.119
we're getting really close to time.
Who I have two more things I

686
00:51:40.119 --> 00:51:45.000
want to ask a really quick colonel. Next one is any other thoughts about

687
00:51:45.039 --> 00:51:47.760
how we can grow healthy communities?
Anything else that you haven't said that you

688
00:51:47.760 --> 00:51:51.920
want to make sure and pass on
to our listeners about growing healthy communities.

689
00:51:52.519 --> 00:51:55.039
Well, I'd like to harken back
to our Paul Quinn College where where a

690
00:51:55.199 --> 00:52:00.599
leader took a decision and he and
he pushed and showed the benefits of all

691
00:52:00.639 --> 00:52:04.440
those involved because there are a lot
of stakeholders, I'm sure and all that

692
00:52:04.880 --> 00:52:07.360
and said it is for the best
of the community if we do that.

693
00:52:08.079 --> 00:52:14.239
As I understand down in Corpus Christy, there are community gardens in which folks

694
00:52:14.280 --> 00:52:17.719
come and work and they get to
have their produce. There are places in

695
00:52:17.760 --> 00:52:22.400
which they grow food and give it
to food banks. There are churches that

696
00:52:22.639 --> 00:52:27.239
do only sweat equity and then you
can take home as much produce as you

697
00:52:27.280 --> 00:52:30.119
want. I mean, the hunger
issue in our country is one of the

698
00:52:30.199 --> 00:52:36.719
dumbest problements we have because the least
forty percent of the food that we grow

699
00:52:36.960 --> 00:52:40.960
and bring to the table gets wasted. I'll repeat that matter effect forty percent

700
00:52:42.400 --> 00:52:46.159
we pitch forty percent of the food. We can fix that if we can

701
00:52:46.239 --> 00:52:51.519
grow it closer to the site and
grow it closer to the people who need

702
00:52:51.559 --> 00:52:54.760
it. And I would also you
can grow food in downtown Dallas to share

703
00:52:54.800 --> 00:52:58.920
it, can grow food out here
in Palopino County. All you need is

704
00:52:58.960 --> 00:53:02.000
a little bit of land and people
can feed a family on a little bit

705
00:53:02.039 --> 00:53:07.920
of land. That just breaks my
heart that we throw away forty percent of

706
00:53:07.920 --> 00:53:13.159
the food. That just that kills
me. Oh my gosh. Okay,

707
00:53:13.320 --> 00:53:15.599
Well, final thoughts here for our
listeners, colonel, what would you like

708
00:53:15.639 --> 00:53:17.800
to leave our listeners with? Here? The show is about help people more

709
00:53:17.800 --> 00:53:22.280
meaningfully and productively connect with their work
and for you to be able to talk

710
00:53:22.280 --> 00:53:24.119
about just what it is you're trying
to convey. So what would you like

711
00:53:24.239 --> 00:53:30.519
them to leave with? While you're
in your show, it's working with a

712
00:53:30.559 --> 00:53:35.119
purpose. And I can think of
no greater purpose in this state in which

713
00:53:35.159 --> 00:53:38.039
we have the capacity to grow on
food to feed our own Texans. Because,

714
00:53:38.039 --> 00:53:44.599
as I said earlier, everybody eats. Everybody eats, and everybody has

715
00:53:44.599 --> 00:53:47.480
a chance to affect how their longevity
is going to be. Everybody has a

716
00:53:47.559 --> 00:53:52.840
chance, through education and the right
choices, to drive what kind of life

717
00:53:52.880 --> 00:53:57.400
their children are going to live.
Everybody has a chance in life to make

718
00:53:57.480 --> 00:54:04.719
good choices around feel good and aging
out well. I mean, healthy agg

719
00:54:05.239 --> 00:54:08.239
leads to healthy Texans, and when
we have healthy Texans, we have a

720
00:54:08.239 --> 00:54:15.119
healthy economy. It's as simple as
that, Elise. Wonderful way to finish

721
00:54:15.119 --> 00:54:16.440
the show. Colonel, thank you
so much for joining me again. You

722
00:54:16.480 --> 00:54:20.320
know I'm a fan. I appreciate
you, appreciate the work that you're doing.

723
00:54:20.400 --> 00:54:22.400
You are absolutely working on purpose,
and I'm glad to be part of

724
00:54:22.440 --> 00:54:28.440
that conversation with you. Thanks for
joining us. It is my pleasure as

725
00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:30.920
always a least. You know,
I'm a fan of you two. Thank

726
00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:36.440
you. If you want to learn
more about retired Colonel Kim Olson and the

727
00:54:36.440 --> 00:54:39.599
work she is championing by running for
Texas Commissioner of Agriculture, visit her website.

728
00:54:40.039 --> 00:54:44.360
I'll say it and then i'll spell
it. It's Kim Olson four texagg

729
00:54:44.480 --> 00:54:46.639
dot com. But it's got some
different different characters in there, so it's

730
00:54:46.719 --> 00:54:54.840
Kim Kim Olson A O L S
O N. The number four t xagg

731
00:54:55.280 --> 00:55:00.719
dot com, kim Olson Fagg dot
com, and then join us next week

732
00:55:00.760 --> 00:55:02.960
if you will, We're literally going
to be going back to school and talking

733
00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:08.599
with Bishop Lynch High School biology teacher
Christie Wainwright about her completely unplanned journey into

734
00:55:08.599 --> 00:55:14.360
teaching and literally getting zapped by her
passionate dedication to instilling the love of lifelong

735
00:55:14.440 --> 00:55:16.639
learning in her students. See you
then remember that work is at least one

736
00:55:16.679 --> 00:55:27.440
third of our lives, So let's
work on purpose. We hope you've enjoyed

737
00:55:27.440 --> 00:55:30.679
this week's program. Be sure to
tune into Working on Purpose featuring your host

738
00:55:30.719 --> 00:55:36.639
Alice Cortez, every Wednesday at six
pm Eastern Time, free pm Pacific Time

739
00:55:36.679 --> 00:55:40.559
on the Voice America Empowerment Channel.
This week, find your life's purpose at work