Welcome to the Why Not Today Podcast where we celebrate courage, determination, and the
power of saying, Why Not Today.
I'm your host, Leslie Cain, and in each episode we dive into inspiring stories of individuals
who have taken bold steps, face their fears, and embrace the possibility of today.
From entrepreneurs to dreamers to doers, we explore the moments when they set enough waiting.
Why Not Today?
Join me as we uncover the heartwarming, the audacious, and the transformative, whether
it's pursuing a lifelong passion, overcoming obstacles, or simply choosing joy.
Our guests share their journeys and inspire us all.
I started this podcast in honor of my father, Patrick Cain, who often said, Why Not Today?
And remember, you're just one decision away from changing your life.
So my guest today is Jennifer Seyfert, and she's got a really cool, it's a nonprofit,
right?
Yes.
And I'm looking for pics, which those of you listening or seeing the description, like,
what the heck is that?
And so I always like to see, talk about how we connected.
So I have heard about you because a good friend of mine goes overboard with her decorating
and pumpkin's in her yard.
And at the end of the Halloween season, she puts them in the back of her pink Cadillac
and would take them somewhere.
So I heard about you, and then I went to a networking event the other day, and you were
standing on the street corner basically, we stood out there for 15, 20 minutes before
we even entered the event.
And so I don't really know much about your story, except we're going to do a preliminary
column like, you know what, I think this is a great cause.
And let's just do the call.
So I'm going to learn along with the listeners today who Jennifer is.
So let's start with first welcome.
But who is Jennifer and tell us a little about you.
And then also a fun fact that people might not know.
Yeah, so yeah, my name is Jennifer Seyford and I've been in the DMV my whole life.
And I have a tech now.
Sorry, I did not know that.
Where'd you go to high school?
out in Bel Air.
So yeah, in Maryland.
So I guess it is DMV, but it's not.
Yeah.
Sorry.
It's not going to Virginia now.
Over the river.
Yeah, I mean, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, right?
Yeah.
So yeah, I have a technology background.
My focus has been over the years, large transformations within organizations.
And that included everything from program and project management, risk management, things
like that.
But also how do we get organizations to be able to realize their investment by getting
people to go through the change journey of actually adopting whatever technology they
decided to implement to support a business objective.
And so that's what my day job is.
And then I have this nonprofit that I started.
Yeah.
So what's a fun fact about Jennifer?
So I have driven across the country round trip three times.
Wow.
Yep.
By car.
So I am a car enthusiast.
No, exactly.
So I'm a car enthusiast and my husband and I have had many coupers and many USA used to
do a many takes the states every other year.
And so we would, you have to meet on one coast or the other.
And then you drive in the other direction.
So, you know, we were able to do that three or four times.
So that's, I've seen a lot of the country and it's just, you know, I encourage everyone
to take time out of their day and take some time off and do that.
It's a lot of fun and you'll learn a lot.
That is pretty darn cool.
Yeah.
So my bucket list to do that and kind of talk about my little in the end of my dad connection,
which you just fed into immediately.
So yeah.
Oh, okay.
So I always ask how people know my dad and most people have never met my dad, but I always
find a connection of something that my guests talk about that relates my dad and you already
hit it.
So we'll talk about that in a few minutes.
Okay.
Yeah.
So, um, you have this nonprofit pumpkin for pigs explain what the heck that is and how
you got there.
And, um, did you have before you, for explain it, did you have a why not today moment within
this starting this nonprofit, like you had that moment you were doing something you were
knew where you were, what you're wearing almost and you're like made that decision.
Yes.
So we were out picking up eggs one evening in the fall in 2017.
And you know, by that time, I mean by picking up eggs, I got the grocery store pick up eggs.
So we're going to, you're going to a local farm to pick up eggs.
And it was getting late in the season and I said, Hey, you know, I have these pumpkins
on my front step and I'm going to be putting a wreath on my door here shortly.
They're in great shape.
I don't want to throw them out.
It just, there's something wrong about that.
There's inherently something that just doesn't feel right about that.
I said, I've lived here in the county for over 10 years.
I still haven't figured out like, is there, you know, what are my options?
And he said, bring them by that would be considered a sweet treat for the animals on my farm,
the pigs, the cattle, the chicken.
And I suddenly dawned on me.
Well, I have two or three.
I have a neighborhood of over a hundred houses.
What if they all had two or three?
Are we putting all of that into the landfill?
And maybe they would be willing to go out to a local farm and drop them off when they
go to pick out their holiday tree.
And so I got on the phone and started calling all the farms that were on the farmers market
list that we get every year and said, Hey, would you be willing to try this out?
And I was just so impressed.
I had nine or 10 of them that said, Yeah, and I had a animal sanctuary in Maryland and
I had these, you know, eight or nine farms here in the county and they were all willing
to give it a try.
And then it was literally the old school printing up flyers with a little tear sheets because
they didn't have a website yet and saying, Hey, you know, if you have these pumpkins
here are 10 different locations you could take them to when you go out to pick out your
tree or, you know, you go out to buy Christmas gifts at one of the local farms and they'll
take them and they'll use them for feed.
And I was just so overwhelmed at how much people were willing to do that when that time
of year is already so busy.
You've got kids games, you've got holidays, you've got football.
This area and I don't, you know, I've lived in rest of my whole life.
So this is the area now, but they're willing to help and they want to help.
They just don't know how to help.
Right.
And especially over the holidays and I want to get kids involved, but they don't know
how.
Yes, exactly.
And so, you know, the second year we doubled in size and then the third year we doubled
again and then the pandemic hit and it, you know, and I started doing some things online.
This is still an outdoor activity that people could do.
Our name got into a homesteaders group and it just exploded from there.
And then we started getting picked up by National Geographic and I Heart Radio and all these
different news outlets.
And it just, it really took on a life of its own that I couldn't have imagined.
Yeah.
Did you, was it a non-profit from the beginning or?
No, I didn't start it out that way because I wasn't sure, you know, is this something
that's going to sustain and last, right?
And then, you know, how, you know, legally, how can I accept donations and then, you know,
who do I go to to get the paperwork done and just the mechanics of getting it done?
And then finally reaching someone that said, oh yeah, I know someone who could help you
get that set up.
And so, and then eventually we've done that.
That's awesome.
So okay, so tell me what is the pumpkins for pigs look like today?
How does this work?
Yeah.
So our original plan was you take your fall decorations, your pumpkins, your gourds,
your corn stalks, your hay bales, all of those sorts of things that are still usable.
And you take them to a farm or an animal sanctuary that can use them, whether for feed, you know,
it gets really muddy in November, right?
With the rain and, you know, those things are very helpful and they're still viable.
There's no sense in sending them to the landfill.
And that's how that meme, what came about, right?
Pumpkins for pigs.
Now, obviously we understand now that it, that lots of animals eat them.
But then from what I know, I have a dog and I've never had to do this, but I've heard
that if dogs set up stomachs, give them pumpkin.
But I don't see them pumpkin, but do you, can you give them real pumpkin?
You need it to be cooked for them.
So the large animals and chickens have a different stomach system than you and I do.
And so for jack-o-lanterns, you and I might be able to pull out the seeds and roast them
and they're fantastic.
But we would not be able to digest in most cases a lot of the jack-o-lanterns and different
subspecies of pumpkins.
Now some people do make soups out of them.
Oh, no, every day is a learning day.
Every day is a learning day.
So, all right.
So you start to say lots of animals eat pumpkins.
Yep.
So lots of animals.
So we had folks with cattle that joined us and that kept growing and then we said, oh,
hey, winter's coming.
Everyone has a place to, you know, there isn't always a curbside pickup of Christmas trees.
And we found that some of our donation sites were using them for goats and the goats would
eat them and they love them.
Other places were using them.
I had one that said, we're going to submerge it in the pond and we're going to create an
aquatic environment, which I had no idea that that was even a thing.
And so every year it was something else.
And then, you know, a couple of years back, I think during the pandemic, I was visiting
one of our new donation sites and she had a lot of foul.
And I said, could you use the blue pity pools that, you know, use for toddlers that folks
throw out at the end of the summer?
They usually don't keep them.
And she said, oh, absolutely.
That would help me out a lot.
And so that was a whole nother sort of effort outside of food.
We have since added two more programs.
One of them because of the pandemic, we added backyard extras program.
So a lot of people had these massive victory gardens and they weren't able to take them
into their office anymore.
They could only give them out to so many people.
So if they didn't give them back to a food pantry or something like that, you could give
those to farms.
And then lastly, we've added on and last earlier this year, we added on working with food pantries
and kitchen food kitchens to say you have extras that you can't always get out to the
population you serve.
So where does it go?
Well that also can end up in the dumpster and it might still be viable, but it may not
be human consumable based on whatever laws or regulations or standards you're following,
but it's still viable food.
And so we've now added that on and we're trying to figure out how we create those networks
to enable them to avoid that.
That's awesome.
I mean, and there's so much waste.
An episode I did with somebody else, we were talking about square footage waste in this
area, like how many houses and have, you know, she's like, I lived in a 7000 square foot
house and she goes, it was way too much.
And she's like, now I'm in an apartment with less than a thousand square feet.
I'm happier than ever.
So it's, you know, but what I love is that you took an idea and ran with it and let it
grow.
And what I found with my guests on podcasts is we start here and we end up here.
You have no idea, you know, when you started picking up eggs, where it would lead to and
food and food and helping and there's such a need.
Especially the food pantry and helping, you know, help from that end to then be able to
take that and use it.
And there's so much waste of food and like at events and things.
Like if you don't know, you don't know, like my mom used to work for catering or a business,
a training business and they had lunch catered every day and she'd forever call me, are you
in the area going to pick up lunch because we have way too much.
You've been to all these events and you can't, they can't resell the food and you know, in
rest and there's a homeless shelter and luckily I know it.
My mom and my mom used to take things to the homeless shelter or to the fire department.
And there's a domestic violence shelter also in the area that I know because I used to
be on the board.
So I've taken extras over there and they're like so grateful.
But there's so much waste.
40% of food is wasted.
That's a global problem.
We actually produce enough food to feed everyone on the planet.
Plus some, some estimates are as high as 40% more than what we actually need, which would
indicate an 80% overage of waste, right?
Between what's what we actually produce versus what we're utilizing and you and needing.
And I think there's just such a massive opportunity for us to make small decisions every day to
try to reduce our impact in that way.
And it could be as simple as I'm buying less this week and if I need something more, I'll
make a quick trip to the grocery store or the farm market to buy that one item that I forgot.
And it could be just that simple.
And so hopefully the, you know, donating pumpkins, which is truly just one item, we
we grow 2 billion of them in this country every year.
And you know, for decoration and no one's actually eating it.
1.6 billion will end up in the landfill every year.
Wow.
So have you moved outside of the Northern Virginia area?
We are now in 600 locations across North America.
Wow.
So how do you, okay, somebody gets in wants to get involved in resting or somebody wants
to get involved listening to this in Idaho.
Like what is the process?
How can you be in other areas?
So there's a couple of different ways.
If they are a farm, animal sanctuary, someone like that that wants to receive, they can
just go to our website, pumpkinsforpigs.org and register.
It's that simple.
It's a free service.
We do the advertising for them.
And once they're vetted and up on the site, they can manage their own, you know, their
own profile, what they get, what they, what they need.
And we're always looking to grow because we, I got a call yesterday from someone in Ontario
that said, Hey, you don't have any locations here.
And I said, I know I really want locations in Ontario.
I don't have any.
I said, but if you would be willing to go out to your farmers market and talk to any
of the folks there and see if they would be interested, I'd be happy to talk to them further
and just, you know, make that connection for us.
If you're a donor.
So, you know, I'm Leslie, it's now Thanksgiving time.
I'm ready to get rid of the pumpkins that are sitting in my house.
What do I do with them?
You go to our website and you say, Hey, I'm looking, you know, I'm going to click the
button that says donate food and you're going to look for a location that's near you.
And you're going to decide, I want to look in Virginia.
I want to look for someone that accepts pumpkins and gourds.
And you look at the list and you say, okay, I'm going to be in this area.
I'm going to drop it off at this location.
And then you take it out there.
And then hopefully you'll consider patronizing that farm when you go out.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So I know you do drop off locations and neighborhoods and stuff.
How does that work?
Do you have somebody that's a captain for it?
Right.
So what we do is if an HOA or a corporation and any type of group is interested in doing
a collection, we help them set a date.
So for example, we have several that are coming up.
It's, you know, I have one on November 3rd.
It's going to be a four hour block of time, 12 to four.
You have someone manning the station, have everyone bring it to a single central location.
And we help you get the advertising to your team.
And then we actually help you identify a farm or donation site that will accept it.
And the big challenge is always donations, excuse me, is transportation.
So in a lot of cases, there are enough individuals with large pickup trucks if they got a lot.
They're, you know, it's pretty easy.
You just fill up your pickup trucks and you go on out there and you drop it off.
In other cases, we have a big event that's coming up.
We have someone that's donated their services.
So we're always looking for organizations that have that and are willing to do in a few
hours to, to the effort to transport it from point A to point B.
All right.
My wheels are turning.
If you see me just like, oh, I know all kinds of things.
Because where are you located?
You personally.
Me personally, I'm in Percerville, Virginia.
So are you, do you have a lot of connections and people doing things in Reston, Herndon
area?
We don't.
We used to have a location in Reston and they got so overwhelmed.
And this was before the pandemic.
They actually called us.
This is the only time it's ever happened.
They said, we are so overwhelmed.
You've got to take us off the website.
And what happened was people knew of them and the next year they were still getting them,
even though we completely removed them.
So the closest one to the Reston, Herndon area these days is Sterling.
We have a bunch of Leesburg, but a lot of them are Percerville, Lovitzville and further
further west.
But you know, we have 120 locations in Virginia alone.
All right.
My wheels are turning.
That, you know, because I'm thinking like it's a great partnership for other businesses.
So I know a real estate agent and she does backpacks for kids.
And so she does a Saturday event.
She did this year.
She had somebody with a donut truck and she just did shredding at the same time.
So like what the partnerships you could do with so many people.
I know a lot of real estate agents give away pies for Thanksgiving.
Like give away Thanksgiving pie and bring your pumpkin and a win-win.
That's right.
Exactly right.
We're always looking for people who are willing to partner.
We'll help you get it all set up.
You provide the labor to run it and we'll be there to do everything we can to make it
go smoothly.
I'm supposed to be saying no to things in my life, but you're getting me this thing.
Why not today?
Right?
Why not today?
You could plan it for three weeks from now.
I don't have pumpkins in my house that need to be recycled or fed to the pigs because
years ago I lived in a townhouse community and we had squirrels.
Squirrels love pumpkins and they devoured my pumpkins.
So I saw online somewhere and I have a Mary Kay business which is all about pink.
I should have brought my pumpkins out to show you.
But I went to Michael's and bought paper mache pumpkins and painted them.
I have three pink ones, ones with pink and white polka dots.
And so every fall I bring them out and put them out and then Christmas comes and I put
them in my bag and put them back here.
So that's right.
The only problem I have is I'm on the ninth floor of a balcony and if it gets too windy
they blow sometimes.
Yeah.
Never gone off but blow around the balcony.
Yeah.
All right.
So any really fun stories around this that you know that are things you had to do that
took a little extra courage or you know I always hope this podcast inspires people to
do things themselves.
You know they have that idea the thing that keeps them up at night or that just moment
like that why not say moment when you thought of something.
You know talk to how if you have any stories or things to encourage other people if you
have an idea run with it.
Yeah.
I think I'm someone who I'm a process person.
So when I think you know someone comes to me and they say I want to do X my brain immediately
goes into problem solving and I think oh you got to put this together and you got to pull
that together and you need to do this.
And what happens is I end up oh my god that's just way too much and I end up sort of backing
out right.
My brain says have an idea and it's in place the next day.
Now I haven't thought through the process often like just like this I'm like all right
how can I partner with Jennifer and do this and I'm like I really shouldn't but I probably
will but you know that's interesting how our brains are different.
So you're the process you're going to figure out all things and you're going to be overwhelmed.
Yeah and then I'm overwhelmed and I what I would say to people is delve it and find
that I can do this much only think about it is a single step.
And I think it's why not today message like just you know why not today what can you do
that one little thing.
Yeah.
And that's just one thing and so have it start with that one action and and then figuring
out what it looks like.
So maybe your one thing for reducing food waste today and this is the day you go shopping
is I'm going to do meal planning for breakfast lunch and dinner for my family for this week
so that I'm only buying what I need a year or two ago for me it was I'm going to commit
to having a composter come and pick up what I can't use and that was the one thing that
I committed to and it has totally changed how much I buy where I buy it and our trash
is half of what it was before we started this process.
So I'm single I'll have kids and my meal planning can be all over the place and like
Sunday online.
All right I'm going to go to the store and I'm going to get the stuff to do all this
stuff.
Well and then I found myself I'd go to the store and had all these meals planned but
I didn't look at my calendar and all of a sudden I'm like I'm lunch lunch here like
last night I was at my mom she's like do you want leftovers I'm like no I have lunch plans
I have dinner plans I have leftovers my refrigerator from two nights ago.
Next you know I have something Saturday I'm like I'm not going to be here so being able
to say what I'm going to be here and another thing that's helped a philosophy is if we
have an abundance of something we're more wasteful.
That's right toilet paper or paper towels if you're down seriously not even yeah but
if you're down to the last two rolls of toilet paper you're a little more conservative right
but if you just went to Costco and you have three million like who cares you know and
so you know living from a different mindset of and I try I've been trying instead of you
know you want that extra there.
Yes toothpaste or things that are running out I'm going to wait till it's gone and then
I'm going to get it.
That's right.
And you know I bought toothpaste thinking oh it's almost gone and three months later
it's you know cut the tube off that's what I always tell my mom.
Right.
I mean yes foundation and I have weeks left.
That's right it's my husband makes fun of me because my grandfather always used to cut
off the bottom of the toothpaste tube and that's where I learned it from and I still
do that now and he's like that's so funny and I'm like no really I get like two or three
more weeks out of this thing.
I was at a friend's house the other day and their ziplock bags are all like wrinkled and
not so clean.
I mean they were clean but they weren't out of the package you know if you don't you put
something in it for a couple days there's nothing that smells bad or is bad crackers like why
can't you reuse it.
That's right.
All those things I'm trying to do more of that.
I used to have an argument with a friend of mine he was all about the paper towels and
paper plates too and I'm like what a waste and he's like well you're wasting water to
wash them I'm like not as much.
Right.
It's funny because I even.
Yeah I carry around with me in my work bag when I was going to the office these travel
they use them for hiking the plastic fork knives and it comes in like a little kit and
you can just leave it in your bag and that's what I would use at lunch and everyone's like
are you going camping I'm like no this is just I'm not going to use a plastic fork.
I'm just going to clean this.
To get to go food and they give you.
Right.
I'm like I don't need any more of these I have several where in my house and they just
assume and they put it in there.
Right.
And then all these events we go to like yeah and they give you the little chachki things
like yeah a bunch of calculators recently I'm never going to use a calculator.
I have a phone.
You know.
Right.
Yeah.
So I love what you're doing and how you're making a difference so do you have any fun
stories and I asked you that.
Yeah I think you know one of the stories that always sticks with me is in the in the early
years we had it was an animal sanctuary that reached out to us and said hey you know do
you ever collect bread and pastries and things like that and I said well we haven't anyone
asked for that could help me understand like how you how would you use it because it's
it's you know I'm always asking like what can I learn about what I don't know and she
said well you know we just took in several malnourished horses in a less than ideal situation
and we just need to get weight on them and we would just love to have as much bread and
pastries as possible just to get them to some normal weight as we add in all the other healthy
nutrients that they need and it just dawned on me it was you know it was sad to me to
think that that's that's what we need to do but on the other hand it gave me hope that
we had a we could create a solution for it we could really help the animals I'm such
an animal lover that you know it just it has stuck with me that story has stuck with me
for you know all this time that there's always another creative way that you're not thinking
about until someone asks you a question and then all of a sudden it's another light bulb
moment about taking this idea whatever your idea is and making it better because of someone
else asking right I love that and we just need to say why not today and act on these
things or ask the questions just thinking about a nonprofit I ran into recently and it's
cakes for kids have you heard of that you can if you like to bake you can bake cake
cakes and they give it to underprivileged children that wouldn't necessarily have a
birthday cake but special because I love to bake but I don't need it in my house right
and so you know bake it and then it's like gotta give it somewhere and so I'm just thinking
to an example my mom has a neighbor and she goes to a store and buys chicken salad and
they give her whenever you buy a thing a chicken salad they give you a thing or croissants
and she doesn't eat croissants so she gives to my mom and my mom is 83 and you know raised
her parents are raised in the depression so she yeah waste food and so you can't get
in her freezer because there's croissants and this woman gives her bagels but she's not
going to throw them away until they stay in a freezer long enough and they go bad and
freeze it burn away yeah yeah yeah and and yeah and those pastries and bread products
are actually the most wasted food on the planet because we they have such a ceremonial value
and they're so much produced over the course of a day and their shelf life is so short
right you know we try to refresh them in the oven but there's kind of a limit to what you
can do with that before it turns and so most of that ends up getting tossed which is not
the best use of our resources it's adding more to the landfill 24% of our landfills
are food and so that's creating methane and CO2 as it breaks down and and these are the
things these are the impacts that we're having and so for us to divert even the pumpkins
on your front step you you are making a difference and I think we need to start thinking about
it in those tiny habits way yeah you're making me definitely think different thoughts I went
through the leadership Fairfax program a couple years ago and one of their projects you had
to have work on a project's nurse was on food insecurity and I live in Reston and you know
Reston Fairfax County Loudoun County most expensive counties in the country and I can't tell you
how many people when I said food insecurity and rest and I like rest in what are you talking
about like yeah there's a big problem and people don't realize it and you know and you
get busy as a mom a single mom with kids and it's much easier to grab McDonald's which
is not good but you don't have time to cook dinner and so there's actually they open the
food pantry on a South Lakes high school and they really work on getting fruits and vegetables
and different things and then people from other ethnicities they might not be used to
that so they include a recipe card and I was at a gala the other night and somebody started
nonprofit called Better Better A Life another food pantry and helping kids but they do its
cooking class for kids and to teach them to give them the tools so they know how to cook.
Yes and we've been as we're building our partnerships with the local food banks and food pantries here
we're learning those same stories and one of you know something else we're learning
about that is they give them a you know a pre-made bag of food and if it isn't culturally
appropriate for them they may not know how to use them and they end up in the trash anyhow
and so how do you find that balance?
Or people donate expired bad food.
Right.
Do they have a green bag program?
I've not heard about that.
No this isn't a great program I actually interviewed the guy that started it is so basic they're
all over the country and they do have one in Reston so basically they have green bags
like you take to a grocery store and they have people that pick them up so you fill
your bag and they give you a list of things that people need so you know you have it once
a month or every other month whatever it is but so you know that people need pumpkin and
they need rice and they need whatever their list and so you have that in your ahead of
time and so when you're going to a grocery store and they have three for one or four
for whatever and you know a lot of times we buy them because we don't want to waste money
but we don't want them and so you fill your bag with the things they're asking for a volunteer
comes and picks up the bags whatever Saturday it is and then drops them off at food banks
and they get that's awesome so many thousands of pounds and they have people volunteering
to sort it and pull out the expired stuff but things too and I work on totally on a
tangent here that aren't covered by food stamps and I've done an event around this is feminine
feminine hygiene products are not covered by food stamps.
That's incredible to me.
Yeah and so you know we've done tampon drives and be able to give back so I love being able
to you know awareness I remember just telling somebody about food insecurity in Reston they're
like it's not in Reston I'm like yes it is.
It is and you know we work I actually have been invited to attend a monthly discussion
or bi-monthly discussion with the food banks in the county and one of the things that's
been so shocking to hear is we you know over the course of this year the amount of need
for food has gone up astronomically and it's one you know it's gone up I believe they were
saying it's one in three or one in four of every person you meet is food insecure they
may be able to buy part of their grocery list but not everything they need they may not be
able to buy any of it and they're really fully dependent on on a food bank and you know this
is you know there's a variety of reasons for that some of it is because of the pandemic
money coming to an end and the impacts finally being held felt now and then the increase
in inflation has really driven this down and I think it's really interesting that we live
in a county of such wealth and to suggest that this isn't happening in our community
is incorrect it's happening everywhere and we have the option to do something about it
and you know what does a Best Buy date really mean does it just mean that it's not maybe
as flavorful but it's still fine and so there's a lot of discussion around what do those dates
mean how do you use them and we have a link on our website so that people can go out and
learn well what do those dates mean and how do you use the food in your pantry that you
already have yeah and so I think a lot of its awareness it is yeah I remember one time
as a kid we had an extra freezer there were six of us kids and the freezer was and this
is just a memory ingrained in my head that Fraser was jam packed and I went through it
with my mom and we made a list of what's in there like okay what can we make from here
that's right and we do that now my husband and I a couple of times a year will go through
and say we're pulling everything out of the pantry we're going to go inventory it we're
going to use everything that is getting close to expiration and we're going to figure out
how to be creative for the next however many meals we need to be creative and then we're
going to be buying less because now we have a better sense of what we've been shoving
in the back.
Well I was at something this morning we were talking about down on the subject organization
we are really going on tangents here but there's a company or some women that started business
called home edit oh yes I love them so it's all the organization so I read a friend of
mine had the book I looked at it and came home last summer and literally took everything
out of my pantry and put it in the fancy containers with the stickers and so we were talking about
it and somebody's like oh what do you do with all the extra I'm like why are you buying
all the extra you know I don't have a small condo so I don't have room for all the extra
but even those some of those Facebook groups there's one in resting called share nothing
or okay thing or something and the other day I'm like my cinnamon jar was almost empty and
I'm like I need to buy more cinnamon and then somebody posted when you buy the Costco you
get these two big things you're just like who wants one of them I'm like well hadn't
them been open I knew the person too I'm like that cinnamon so yes you know and living because
I live in a condo and there's other people here like you need a cup of sugar you need
this like you don't want to buy the whole thing for a recipe you just need a little bit and
somebody else might have it like the old boron egg from a neighbor we don't do that we go
to the store because they're two seconds away and then you buy 25 things you didn't need
that's right that's right and I think you know that's something else that we're hoping
is that we're going to reconnect communities back together because you know we think about
coming together to have a meal but we don't think about the making of the meal together
and you know going to looking to your neighbor for that one cup of sugar and there's that
this again this is a tangent there's something there's a discussion going around where this
little girl asked her mom well why did you ask our neighbor for eggs we have eggs and
she said because whenever she needs something even though we don't she won't always feel
like she's asking us and it's more of a give and take you know equal where she feels like
she can help us even though we know that you know it's more of us helping her so I think
it's I think there's a there's a humanity in it that maybe will come back yeah yeah
lots of things we need to think about and encourage people to do like let's be better
humans and take care of this place and everything around it and while you're doing it you're
building community and connection exactly fun with it that's exactly right yeah whether
it's extras at a school where they have like a table of you know the kids get apples in
their bag and they don't want them and they put them on a community table and then other
people who need or want them can take that and so I think there's lots of ways to do
it and and respect people's dignity in that process and just another tangent but I'm
going to throw it out there which I've talked about doing and I think I need to do is to
do a jewelry or a bag per swap there you go I did do this a holiday swap one time and
it was during covid so it wasn't as effective but I might add it to one of my lunches but
you know especially holiday decorations they don't go bad and we only use them for a month
and then we pick away then you get bored with them and so right everybody bring their holiday
stuff they didn't want and then you could grab something trade it and then whatever
we had left we took to a shelter perfect do that again that sounds like a great idea
all right yeah I'm mad at you Jennifer because you make my brain think of too many ideas
your brains on fire now yes so all right so how would you so to get involved go to your
website that's the best right yep that's the best place we have a place if you want to
volunteer your time if you want to schedule have us help you run an event if you're looking
to donate food on your own if you want to help us find additional donation sites lots
and lots of ways to get involved all right so I'm gonna look at that and check it out
and of course we'll share all your info on the show notes but it's just pumpkins for
pigs that work pumpkins for pigs just pumpkins for pigs that work okay love it so anything
oh so I always connect back to my dad and yeah you didn't know my dad but talking about your
cross-country travels he was broken California was supposed to play football for USC got
in a car accident and didn't wasn't able to so he traveled all the way to East Coast
to start college so a travel but when I was 16 he got this grand idea my parents they were
gonna buy RV and we are gonna travel cross-country now remember I am 16 years old at that point
there were five less kids my youngest sister when we left was five weeks old so at 16 you
don't admit your parents let alone parents are good things they would have a baby yeah
and I want to spend I just got my driver's license so what we were gone for five weeks
and I went all the way across the country and then back looking back oh my gosh I treasured
that and the memories and the fun and the sacrifice my parents did to take us my dad
worked for himself so he'd stop at campgrounds we pick him out and he'd get on the pay phone
and do his work so that's been a dream of mine to do a cross-country just work work my way
across the country I can't recommend it enough I've even told people find a Minneapolis rent
a car drive west go on the north side go through North Dakota and Montana and in the summer
mind you and just keep going west that's what I did I was able to take one of the legs from
east to west solo in my convertible and you know checking in each day hey this is where
I'm at and it's all good I can't recommend it enough it's just spectacular I need to
do that so there was a podcast episode I had her name is Mary I think her last name but
she started something it's do more good I think it was and she took her mom passed away
she took her mom's car and just started traveling and just would be like I'm gonna be in this
state who wants to host me who knows somebody that I could stay with yeah I met someone
through one of these other networking events and she is seeing all 50 states she works
for herself she does she's a coaching business and so she can do a lot of it remotely and
what she does is she spends a month up to three months in any one location she rents
an Airbnb and she just decides you know what city or town she's going to be in for the
next three months so that she can you know live in these areas and really get to know
them instead of just sort of passing through I did that a lot during COVID I worked from
other places like goes into Florida a couple times for two weeks I was at Smith Mount like
a lot so much that I joined the chamber you know and it was interesting to see other areas
and other people and because I'm from here you know we live in a bubble very eclectic
though I think what's really great about living here is there's so many different cultures
and different experiences but yeah it's it's good to actually then go see it for yourself
yeah so well this was wonderful and thank you so much I didn't realize we could talk
this long about pumpkins and pigs thank you for being my guest and you know if people
are interested they will go to your website and if you want to reach out to me I will
probably be doing something in the rest area I don't have a pickup truck though I got to
find someone with a truck but I'm sure two phone calls we can figure it out yes well
thank you for this opportunity this is a lot of fun I'm so glad we did this and thank you
everybody for joining us on this inspiring journey remember every day is an opportunity
to take action chase your dreams and make a difference and remember and I want to add
to if you're listening to this and you're feeling overwhelmed kind of like you're spinning
too many plates have too many balls in the air and are wearing too many hats simultaneously
from my 30 years of experience leading people helping businesses I am here to give you assistance
and help get rid of that overwhelm that chaos so I'll put together a coaching program and
if you want more information feel free to reach out and let me share in the show notes
a way to contact me with that too so thanks again Jennifer and make sure you share this
podcast and let's save feed some pigs this season and give them some pumpkins thanks
everybody and remember say why not.