March 1st, 2021

Music Playlist

Speaker 1 0:01

Hello and welcome to ask the neighbor I'm your host Danko sit around offski We're gonna open up the show with a little song from Leonard Skinner

mama told me when I was set beside me my oldest listen closely to what I say to this song your time to troubleshoot they will you love

your rich man's go That to me is in your soul if you try to be satisfied? You'll find yourself Have you tried to be satisfied?

All right, TJ Chubb. Kahoot do we have there? That was Leonard Leonard Skinner with simple man. All right. You're listening to ask the neighbor. I'm your host Danko sitter. offski. This is our first show. It is Monday, March the first. And we're coming to you live, actually, as well from YouTube Live, you can check us out on very united is the channel on YouTube. We're doing a live stream, you can check us out. Hopefully you will. I want to just say hello to everyone out there. This is our new time slot. And we are just pumped about this new opportunity. During these times we have not had ample ways to express ourselves. Joining me today I've got Jennifer Draper. Hello, Jennifer. Good morning. How are you? A good thank you for calling in to ask the neighbor and helping us with our first show. We appreciate it.

Unknown Speaker 6:54

Absolutely. Glad to be here. Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 6:57

So as the neighbor has been, this time slot has been occupied before by a show very similar to this where we would talk about things around the house questions we might have for our neighbors. And you know, talk a little bit about also our, our gardening that's coming out now. And I know you're pumped about that, Jennifer. So like you're you're chomping at the bits for spring. Tell me a little bit about what your new spring is gonna look like?

Unknown Speaker 7:30

Well, first task is not very glamorous, but it is removing my dog shocks. How do you remain from my backyard from the winter? That truly is the first up task but then I'm thinking about doubling or tripling the size of my vegetable garden.

Speaker 1 7:52

Oh, okay. That's a big one.

Unknown Speaker 7:56

Yeah, seems like a good idea. You know, referencing what you alluded to a minute ago, the times are a little bit different than they have been in previous year. So I figured the more food I've got to grow here and give to my neighbors and my family that easier, easier time we're going to have.

Speaker 1 8:16

So when when do you start planting your seeds? When do you start actually, when is the right time in Michigan to start planting?

Unknown Speaker 8:26

It's a good question. So the you know, the sort of rule of thumb here is that last freeze or last frost I think is Mother's Day. So that's typically the middle of May. So that makes for a pretty short growing season. So what I and a lot of other Michiganders do is start gardening indoors. So I've got about a million little pots with seeds and seedlings coming up. And then I tried something new this year called winter so in and we can talk about that for a minute if you'd like

Speaker 1 9:03

yeah, what is what is the winter sewing mean?

Unknown Speaker 9:08

I just learned about it earlier a few months ago but it's basically recycling plastic containers. So think milk jugs or you know large water bottles or you know soda bottles of plastic ones. What you do is cut off the top not entirely remove it but sort of leave a flap so you can open it and then put oil in there. plant your seeds kind of pop that top back on as it were but don't put the plastic cap back on. And then you put them outside and they collect snow and rain through that opening at the top and then the plastic acts as a as a mini greenhouse so those days when there is sunshine. The seeds get warmed up by the sun and that greenhouse effect and the seeds sort of know when they are ready to to emerge from the soil, and they're hardened off, and evidently, I'm just going to be able to transplant those little seedlings right into the garden, not have to harden them off, which I will have to do with my seedlings from indoors. So I'm pretty excited about it.

Speaker 1 10:16

What does hardening off mean? For our audience? It's not that much of a gardener?

Unknown Speaker 10:22

Yeah, that's a great question. So think about your house. Well, my house is 64 degrees, yeah, probably 70 minus 64. Right. So you've got these little seedlings that have emerged, and they've lived in a wind free environment, they've lived in a very temperature controlled environment. And hardening off is the process whereby you take your flats of seeds outside for just just an hour or two, the first couple of times, and you put them in the sun. Because the sun's not going to be very intense early on in the season, and just get them acclimated to feeling wind and feeling sun. And then you bring them back inside, and you extend that hardening off period a little by little, and then eventually, you can leave them out overnight, so they can experience that sort of chill. The purpose is, so the seedlings don't just, you know, curl up and die from the transition from being in a nice, sheltered warm home to the abrupt climate change of being outdoors.

Speaker 1 11:30

Well, I mean, that makes a ton of sense. I mean, like anything, you got to get it ready before it starts hitting, you know, reality, right? Because nature is can be can be tough on little, little seedlings. But that's, you know, that's some of the stuff that you do. And I want to, you know, have you on our show the whole time if we can, or as much as we can of your time, because you have such a wide knowledge about all different types when it comes to gardening and things I want to touch with about homes and housing and things like that. I also want Iran only right, remind the audience that this is a call in show folks. So ask the neighbor is welcoming any calls that you might have for gardening for home questions that you might have recipes that you'd want to share, and even things that you might want to sell. So I don't know, Jennifer, maybe you've got something you want to sell to. We'll talk about that later, maybe. But we can talk about that a little bit. Well, all of us seem to have accumulated many, many things over over time. And I think it's a great place to be able to let people know what you have to sell here on our show. So little later or whenever you guys want to call you guys can give us a call at 248557 3300. We're going to be talking gardening home food, and maybe a little tack two as the day goes on. It's early in our show. We're broadcasting live here on YouTube Live as well. First time doing that. You're listening to ask the neighbor on March 1, our first inaugural show. Thank you Jennifer, sir, for joining us. We're gonna go to somebody here. That is actually a handyman, Jennifer. And maybe you want a few questions for him. He is the this is his name is Robert Gilbert. He's the founder of Michigan's handyman, which is you can find them at Michigan's handyman.com Hello, Robert, how are you?

Unknown Speaker 13:44

I'm doing good. How are you?

Speaker 1 13:45

Excellent. I want to thank you for calling into ask the neighbor. This is a show about our audience calling in and asking questions about things around their home, how to fix things. We also have Jennifer on the line right now. And she's a a person that has a nice home that does a lot of gardening and she may have some questions for you too. But I just want to just introduce you that way. How long have you guys been in business Robert? Oh, we might have just dropped Hello? Okay. Hello, Robert. Hello, Robert. Are you there? Hello, Robert. Okay, well, we were having some technical issues. Jennifer you still with us?

Unknown Speaker 14:36

I'm here I have a plumbing question for Robert.

Speaker 1 14:40

Okay, he's gone back in. Okay, here we go. Here we go. I think he's calling right back in Hello, Robert. Are you back on?

Unknown Speaker 14:49

Sorry. I think my Bluetooth messing up. Any questions?

Speaker 1 14:53

Well, I'm Jennifer actually might have. Well, first of all, I wanted to ask you How long have you guys been in business?

Unknown Speaker 15:01

I founded the company in 2010 2010.

Speaker 1 15:02

Okay, so quite a while.

Unknown Speaker 15:06

Yes, sir. All right.

Speaker 1 15:08

Um, and I know the handyman business as it is, I think I feel like there's been a lot of demand during this Corona time because you guys can take care of almost anything, right?

Unknown Speaker 15:21

Yeah, I mean, it's been a little difficult. It's kind of a pain where the mask everywhere but you got to do everything to keep everybody safe. Well, yeah, I mean, we've been working mostly through the whole thing. First couple months, we were shut down, but we've been added ever since.

Speaker 1 15:37

Well, we appreciate you calling in. We have a question actually from Jennifer. That's related to plumbing, Jennifer.

Unknown Speaker 15:45

Yeah, Robert. Hi. Thank you for being on the show. You do plumbing because that I won't do plumbing and electricity because I figure I could die doing both of those things.

Unknown Speaker 15:57

Right? Yes, we do them both.

Unknown Speaker 16:01

Awesome. So I'm sorry. Go ahead. Do that again.

Unknown Speaker 16:09

Where are you from? And what kind of plumbing? Are you talking about doing?

Unknown Speaker 16:13

Oh, thanks. I'm in Troy. Right? On well, right near Somerset Mall. And I live on a My home is on a slab. And I've got an outdoor spigot that has been leaking for more time than I'd care to reveal in public. And I've heard some, you know, friendly neighbors try and tell me that, oh, we can come over and take care of that for you and that other day. And I just feel like I'd be in better hands with plumbing with someone who's got some expertise.

Unknown Speaker 16:49

All right. Well, there's I mean, there's a few different types of, you know, spigots, they have does it comes out of the side of the house or come out of the ground.

Unknown Speaker 16:58

Yes, or comes out of the side of the house.

Unknown Speaker 17:01

Okay. Typically the you know, house and Troy they're usually fairly newer, so try get copper plumbing. It just be as simple as calling our phone number 240-506-4000. And then I would have one of my former come over and look at it to give you a price. Okay. So I

Unknown Speaker 17:22

mean that we handle free.

Unknown Speaker 17:26

Yes, all the estimates are free. If we can we try to give you around about price over the phone, if it's self explanatory and easy to understand from the customers. A lot of times we deal with pictures or text messages to kind of help get an idea of what's going on with someone's project. That way, you know, we don't waste each other's time. If I'm thinking a couple $100 And you're thinking 20 bucks, you know, this way, we don't waste each other's time and it gets their project on the faster.

Speaker 1 17:53

That makes a lot of a lot of sense. That really does. So what what kind of things are you experiencing in this time of year like things are defrosting? Robert, what kind of calls are you guys getting?

Unknown Speaker 18:09

Well, we get calls from anything from gutters to flooring to, you know, a new kitchen, bathroom or roof leaking. Last couple weeks has been a lot of ice dams happening. So we've been going around and removing a lot of those for homeowners,

Speaker 1 18:21

right? No, I mean, I think that was a huge one. And when the ice was melting quickly, right? There's probably rice, I know, I had a little water that came into my house. And because of the way it was, you know, melted so fast and how you know, plus, there's other things that you got to do to protect your house. Maybe there's some right,

Unknown Speaker 18:42

and a lot of houses don't have ice and water shield underneath the shingles. You know, the first three to six foot supposed to be like ice and water shield, it's kind of like griptape on a skateboard. You know, it's sticky. And it's, you know, it's got that friction, you know, sandpaper type feeling to it. In this way if ice ever does get underneath the dam, because water hits the dam, and then it goes back upwards up the roof. And the shingles aren't designed to work that way. So you need to have ice and water on your home so that if the water does do this, it doesn't get into your home.

Speaker 1 19:13

Well, I know I have some family down in Texas and they experienced a really bad situation to the extreme of that because down there, they don't have any protection. I guess when they build they don't yeah, there's

Unknown Speaker 19:25

no there's no code saying down there that they have to have that kind of ice and water shield. It's more of a, you know, upper United States thing.

Speaker 1 19:34

Right. And I think they're wishing that they did do some of that now, I mean, after what they've experienced, I heard like almost every house has water damage now, somehow somewhere in it. And that leads to mold, you know, so that's another thing that are you guys experiencing a lot of mold questions.

Unknown Speaker 19:53

Um, no, not really. For the most part, people only call for what they you know, most They're experiencing everyone's wild mold called but I can we can handle it removing the portions of things that it's you know, on. But as far as the mold remediation, we don't do that here. But I always try to refer anybody out to anything that we don't.

Speaker 1 20:18

Jennifer, Jennifer does mold and asbestos, don't you Jennifer?

Well, no, that's, that's a specific, right. I mean, like that takes an expert, make sure that it's out and gone. At serious things. We're asking callers to call in today. For questions that you might have. You're talking to ask the neighbor, you can call us at 248557 3300. And you can ask some questions about your home. What what other types of questions you might have that you might want to ask the neighbor? Many times, we might have something we want to ask the neighbor, but we're too shy to ask them. Robert, what what have you what have you felt in the last year in the corona season? Have you guys seen different types of personality behavior happening from some of the people that call you?

Unknown Speaker 21:20

Yeah, I mean, there's always some characters as you can imagine, you deal with 1000s of people you meet all kinds of different spectrums. But, I mean, it's, for the most part more more people are just scared than anything. If you know some people have questions, y'all, we gonna wear masks while we're in there. You know, the very beginning. We just weren't doing anything because, you know, I didn't know what was going on. And I didn't want to know how big and how real real this Coronavirus thing was. So I didn't want to endanger anybody. So, like I said, we shut down for about two months. And like I said, I see that most people just want to be concerned, you know, make sure you're wearing a mask, especially when it comes to elderly. Right. You know, people's, you know, Mother father's?

Speaker 1 22:03

Well, that's the scary thing with this disease. We don't know, we don't know a lot about it. And we don't know if someone's infected and uninfected I mean it's, it's really a crazy thing, guys, so we're living through the craziest times of our lives. And I would imagine people are home you might have some questions about your home or you might have some questions about gardening. So our guest right now is Robert Gilbert. He's the founder of Michigan's handyman. You can reach him at 248-506-4000 or online at Michigan's handyman.com over 20 years servicing Metro Detroit with fast friendly fare repairs and renovations. So do you service the whole Metro?

Unknown Speaker 22:51

Yes, we do. There's 118 cities between Wayne Macomb and Oakland we service them all

Speaker 1 23:01

realized 180 Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 23:04

yeah, there is I have every city listed on the website. And we like I said we go all the way from Lake orient to South Lyon. I will say that we have we have two two locations one in Hazel Park in one in Sterling Heights. So you know, when it comes to going to farther areas like South Lyon we prefer you know, it'd be a job worth the customers time and money you know, we want to want to go all the way out there to you know, fix the hinge right? Because you'd have to pay a little extra for the drive time all that but we go out to those further areas when we're doing bigger jobs like over for you know, Roof Repair or something like that remodeling a bathroom.

Speaker 1 23:46

So they could call you a lot of bathroom Eiling so they could call you for pretty much you know, whatever needs that they might have regarding the home. I don't think a lot of people know what handyman can actually get accomplished.

Unknown Speaker 23:59

Right? And when you know, the name of the company is Michigan's handyman, and it's you know, it started out that way because it was just me by myself now I got you know, guys working for me, we're still a small company, but you know, I'm a licensed builder in the state of Michigan. So I'm licensed to do almost anything in your home with the exception of like a heating and cooling. I don't know but most of our calls truly are like gutter repairs you know, gutters falling down cleaning the gutters. Just Roof Repairs, shingles falling off wind storms and stuff. What designing repairs a lot of wind damage seems to be

Speaker 1 24:37

wind damage. So this year we've had I feel like there's quite a bit of wind I saw some shingles fell off of my roof. There on my front grass now after the snow melted. So what do we do for that like if we find some pieces of shingles in the on the lawn?

Unknown Speaker 24:57

Well, if you find the shingles, it's always a good idea to keep them, just so you can, you know, just so you got them in the for the color match, sometimes it's code done, the backward repairman can actually take the shingle up to a place and match the shingle. More times than not, you can't really match it perfectly, because because your shingles on the roof or sun damage, and, you know, the store doesn't really sell those kinds. So essentially, we would come out to a customer's home, they call about that, again, first thing, usually I say, hey, send me some pictures, if you can, you know, and I can see it's just a few pictures over the phone or a few shingles over the phone, a lot of times they can get most time I get a phrase right over the phone instantly. And then for some reason, if we showed up there, and we're both agreeing that, hey, this is, you know, a couple $100 repair, and we get there and look, oh, you forgot to show me, you know, the other photo that has 30 missing shingles. And we renegotiate and everything before we get started,

Speaker 1 25:53

is it insured by repairs

Unknown Speaker 25:54

are done with people's at work, as you can imagine, you know, the times I'm at work is the times that you're at work, so you're not at home a lot of times. So as long as it's not getting into too high of a price range. Most the time, what we'll do is we'll just go to the home, and if no one's home, we'll do the repairs. And we'll leave an invoice in the mailbox. This way, the customer can just mail a check in it makes it way more convenient for them. And they can you know, use cash app or Venmo. To pay us

Speaker 1 26:22

nice. So you're, you're in this is the modern world we're in I mean, like moving money around and getting all these things. It's it's kind of wild, but you know, we're a Corona has advanced us in a lot of different ways. Technologically, it feels like you know, not touching things. And you know, moving money like we are right now. You know, so I'm sure that's a that's a big shift for a lot of business owners that are trying to figure out the best method to get paid sometimes, like I know, I use Venmo all the time. So I think it's a great app to use. So

Unknown Speaker 27:05

we have another Yeah, another question. Glad, Jennifer. Yeah, I'm looking out my window and realizing I really need help with a French drain. Is that within your wheelhouse?

Unknown Speaker 27:19

Yes, it is. Firstly, you want to wait to the grounds not as frozen as possible. But yeah, was like in front of the garage door or something where water is getting in?

Unknown Speaker 27:30

Yeah, it's actually like, it's in front of my patio. I've got a contained area because the sidewalk wraps around and I'm watching this water flow into I guess I could have like a small swimming pool. But I don't want one right here. It's it's just it's the waters not moving out of that contained area. And I don't think it's because the ground is frozen. I think it's just poor design. So I will I'll hit you up to the spigot and a little French drain help because I I'm in that part of Troy where we don't have sidewalks but I've got this sort of moat construct around my property. I've got a corner home. And so that part of Troy where they've got those sort of gullies in front of everyone's house, I don't know how to describe it to contain the runoff. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 28:23

The different things Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 28:26

Yeah, the water do you know, the maintenance of those? Do you know who's responsible? I don't have those valleys. Because, yeah, I'm curious.

Unknown Speaker 28:39

But I would imagine as a homeowner, it'd be your responsibility to more than likely you got to, to going through your driveway, you know, underneath the driveway, that goes to each one of these valleys or moats, whatever you want to call them. And you definitely want to make sure those don't clog up. Because then it'll fill up the water, pour over to your neighbors and go to his neighbors and keep on going, you know. So the best thing to do is to get down in there to see if you can see through that hole, you know that tube. And hopefully you can see how a lot of people have like grates over top of it to stop, you know, debris, and you know, garbage and stuff from going in there.

Speaker 1 29:18

There's maintenance all over the place for a home when you're a homeowner guys. So I want to thank Robert, calling in and sharing your knowledge. And hopefully we could have you call in again and discuss other ways as more guests start to call into our show, Robert, I'm hoping that we can have you answer some of their questions and maybe they can reach out to you and you can help them out as well. So thank you so much for calling.

Unknown Speaker 29:44

They'll be fine. Thank you for your time they go. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1 29:47

Yeah. You're listening to ask your neighbor. We just had Robert Gilbert on the line from Michigan's handyman. Thank you, Robert. He's the founder of Michigan's handyman. You You can reach them at 248-506-4000. or online at Michigan's handyman.com. Thank you so much, Robert. All right, Jennifer, great day, you too. Take care now. So Jennifer, um, during this pandemic, right? There's been a lot of things going on. And my question is, how has technology changed life for you? And I'm specifically kind of like zooming the zooming stuff. Let's talk a little bit about how your life changed when Corona hit. And what technology Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 30:41

funny. I just at the end of last week, was rearranging my stack of books on my desk to get the optimal position for my laptop, because I am on teams and zoom and, you know, whatever flavor of video calls, literally all day, I finally realized that I had my camera angled up, so it wasn't necessarily the most attractive vantage points for talking to somebody. Think I've got a good, you know, nine inch stack of books. So it's more eye level. And I really hadn't thought of that I'd read an article online that was talking about, you know, when you're having a conversation with somebody, you're typically across from them. You know, I level the eye level, and I just hadn't thought about that almost, you know, a year into this. I've had people looking at my notes. Unfortunate everyone else who's on a video call with me now. To look at my eyes and not

Speaker 1 31:51

what's up? What's the difference?

Unknown Speaker 31:52

I don't think that's what you were going for. But But no,

Speaker 1 31:54

I mean, it's a little bit about it, because it is not like real life. Right. So I feel there's a lot lost in this form of communication. What are your thoughts on that? I mean, like, I get a lot of vibes from people when I'm next to them. So I can really read what's happening in the conversation. Over zoom, how do you feel about it?

Unknown Speaker 32:19

I agree, I think it's very challenging. I am an infamous hand talker. So I, you know, I'm explaining things, I think using my hands. And I may or may not be helping, I don't know, but very dependent on that. Hand communication. So I'm cognizant of people not being able to see me as I'm like, right now acting now what I'm trying to say to you, of course, you can't see me because we're on the radio, right? So there's that component, and I do I agree with you, there are so many visual cues that are lost. When on video, I can't, you can't ascertain if somebody is listening to you entirely, or if they're listening to you and doing a spreadsheet at the same time. And it's just, it's somehow it's especially exhausting. It's like being on stage in a way because you have to, you have to be on on your game the entire time, you really have to be engaged, and there aren't necessarily any breaks in the day. So I think, you know, something I've tried to do, in you know, recognition of how exhausted I am, and I know how exhausted everyone else is that I'm speaking with is to try and make a meeting 45 minutes in length, or 25 minutes in length versus the full hour or the full 30 minutes to give people that opportunity to just stand up and stretch or go grab another cup of coffee or it just feels like we're back to back to back in this in this paradigm. And so I like to just try and break it up a little bit and, you know, walk around my house go outside now that the sun's out in Michigan, that sort of stuff.

Speaker 1 34:08

Yeah, we are thankful today. We've got some we have some nice days. Oh, we're gonna we're gonna take a little break. Now we're gonna go to a little music. And I hope you can stay with us, Jennifer, as we go through our show today. I want to let everybody know that you're listening to ask the neighbor. And you can reach us at Ask the neighbor.com where you can send in a question. You can also go to workflow.com and input a service request. So we're gonna go to a little bit of music, and we'll come back to you Jennifer. All right.

Alright, a little Anatolia, Cafe de Anatolia. Most beautiful songs. Five. Alright. We're back. You're listening to ask the neighbor. I'm your host Danko. Souter Rawski. Thank you for tuning in. This is our first show. Ask the neighbor.com is where you can input a question. We are here broadcasting from W. NZ K 690 Am our show is a call in show, we're asking our audience to call in with questions about home issues, gardening technology, maybe share some recipes that you might have as well as the neighbor.com. We also want to thank work flied.com For being the service sponsor. In the real estate sector, bid front.com Check them out place where you can input a price for a house that you'd like to make an offer for. So bid front.com. Check them out. We also do a show every week called very Detroit, very Ann Arbor. And we do that here at WNZ. UK, you can check that out between 11 and 12. Every Friday on W NZ K 690 am. Thank you for tuning in. Jennifer, we have Jennifer Draper with us today. And she's been our first co host helping us here in our first show as we go forward. Again, audience our calling number is 248557 3300. If you have questions about gardening, questions about your home, auto or any recipes you want to share. So this is kind of like this question I want to ask Jennifer. It sounds like it's a food question. But it's actually a gardening question. Jennifer, you still with us? Yeah, of course. All right. Okay, so I want to ask you about this lasagna gardening con concept that you have that you do. Tell us a little bit about what lasagna gardening is.

Unknown Speaker 42:41

I would love to it's to be clear, it's not my invention. But it is something I absolutely ascribe to. I, I love to garden. It's like one of my favorite things to do. But I'm also infamously impatient. And with the short attention span, so that's a pretty bad combination to be a successful gardener. But I remember probably 20 years ago, a dear friend explained the concept of lasagna gardening. And it's really simple. What it is, is you identify an area in your yard that gets as much sun as possible, you know, most vegetable and I'm speaking you know, more specifically a vegetable gardening. So find an area that gets at least six hours of full sun if not more. And like all this winter, I've been saving cardboard boxes. So I've relied, unfortunately pretty heavily on Amazon, in their deliveries to get groceries and whatnot. Given the COVID situation,

Speaker 1 43:56

there's a box, I believe

Unknown Speaker 43:57

all of those boxes. Yeah, yeah, my whole garage is over overrun with them. What you do is to take that tape, take that tape off because you're what you're going to do is the cardboard is essentially going to be the base layer of the lasagna of your garden area. So you take that, take all those boxes, take all the tape and any staples and whatnot out and put those in the trash and then flatten those boxes on the area that you would like to have your vegetable garden bed. And that's your your base layer that serves a dual purpose it holds the contents of everything you're going to be placing on top as well as being a barrier that will kill the lawn underneath. So that's a huge benefit of lasagna gardening is you don't need to go through the effort of cutting through that. That side, excuse me your side and removing it right because this you know the blackness of the car Before you know keeping the sun out, we'll kill it for you. So that's your first layer. And then I typically put down a layer of straw or leaves. I've got tons of leaves saved up because I'm fortunate and have a lot of tall trees on my property as well. So a layer of leaves, and then I put a layer of compost, they've got a big compost bin. So again, I've been saving all my scraps from the kitchen that other than meat and dairy. And that sort of breaks down into this wonderful compost green, nutritious stuff for the garden. On top of that, I put another layer of cardboard so you get the theme. We're doing noodles, right? All right, cheese noodle sauce, cheese. Yep. Yeah, so you just keep going up.

Speaker 1 45:49

So what happens

Unknown Speaker 45:51

when I have 10?

Speaker 1 45:53

Go ahead. In Michigan, go ahead. No, no, in Michigan, what

Unknown Speaker 45:57

I was gonna say in Michigan, we have a pretty short growing season. So I tend to favor raised beds. And that's a pretty simple thing to build yourself. Just get some one by fours. Preferably non treated lumber, because you don't want those chemicals leaching into your soil that you're creating with this lasagna approach. Right? And that'll just kind of hold. There's your baking pan, right, that holds all the contents in there. So what that also takes advantage of sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 1 46:31

No, well, I was gonna ask you what? So what happens to the cardboard? Does it? Does it kind of get eaten up over time?

Unknown Speaker 46:42

Yeah, yeah, good. Good question. The cardboard is biodegradable, so it breaks down naturally. And since it's on the bottom layer, right, it's going to have the straw and leaves which are going to break down naturally, they're going to decompose naturally, and they're sitting on top of that cardboard, and you think of all the rain that's fallen, and unfortunately, snow and you know, we're going to end up watering a little bit this summer, when the when it gets hot, that's all going to cause that cardboard to eventually break down. And then by the time you've got these layers on the you know, the cardboard is going to be eight inches below, you know, the dirt, you're eventually going to put topsoil and you know, maybe some manure, if you can get your hands on that. And the compost of that cardboard is at the very bottom layer. So any seeds or seedlings you plant will be at the very top of the lasagna tray. And they will those roots will grow down and may can actually break through the cardboard, if it's still a solid. And just help continue that break down. And then that cardboard will actually become a component of your soil.

Speaker 1 47:55

Interesting. So this method is a seems like a simple method that you can cover the lawn with the cardboard so that you're not digging out the side. And then layer it in with different compost and different parts and pieces and then surrounded so that your dirt can be you know, within the what do you call the the boxes? The the raised beds?

Unknown Speaker 48:26

Yeah, yeah, you can do a raised bed. I think that's probably the easiest. And additional benefit of that raised bed concept is that it will warm more quickly, this season and next season because it won't be part of the, you know, the I don't know how to say it'll just warm more quickly because it's closer to the sun. And it's not. It's separate from it's separate from the dirt in your yard.

Speaker 1 48:57

Good stuff. Good stuff. So we just learned a little bit about lasagna gardening from Jennifer Draper. We're gonna go to a little bit of music, and we're gonna ask our audience, keep us in mind if you guys are just driving around and thinking like well, you know, I got a question here. Give us a call. 248557 3300 You're listening to ask the neighbor. My co host today is Jennifer Draper helping with our show. My name is Danko. Souter. offski We're coming from 690 Am w NZK. We're gonna go to a little music for you

All right. All right. All right, a little bit of Cafe Anna, Diana totally. Some tunes from all around the world here happening and w NZK. You're listening to ask the neighbor. We are a show talking about things around the house things that you might want to ask the neighbor that you might not ask in person. Jennifer, I know you've probably got a ton of questions for your neighbors yesterday, but you may not ask them right there in person. So I this is why we do the show. And we're coming up in coming up to one hour of our show so far. And I want to thank our audience for tuning in, I know we're a new show. I know it's March 1. I know it's sunny outside. And I know Jennifer Draper is hanging out with us as our co host today, from home from her home in Troy, talking about lasagna gardening, talking about some other things and repairs that we might have coming out this spring, because of the water, the ice, the different things that occur in the springtime, we might have a little bit of flooding, we might have other situations that might occur. So we will be breaking here for a little bit on the hour at 10 o'clock. And I just want to re emphasize that we appreciate everybody tuning in, this is a new show a new way about going and asking the neighbor questions about what you might not normally ask them in person. So you could give us a call at 248557 3300. Jennifer, I might be able to answer that question. What do you think, Jennifer?

Unknown Speaker 56:07

I think it's possible we could probably find some resources that help

Speaker 1 56:13

Absolutely, absolutely. Well in today's world you know, it's weird because sometimes you might not have internet access or don't know how to get on the internet and we can use old ways to get to new information especially when it's something simple like if we have a handyman question or if we have some kind of question with the automobile or maybe a tech gadget and you might might not want to run over to the neighbors but maybe you can give us a call at Ask the neighbor.com So we're going to be going to a little bit of music and then we're going to be going to our one hour break and Jennifer will be jumping back on and around 10 o'clock?

Unknown Speaker 59:15

WNZK He has available a few good hours of airtime for all few good programs to serve their communities. Radio is better than ever in targeting an audience that listens to what you say. Learn more about this exciting radio broadcasting opportunity by calling WNZK radio at 248557 3500 Verse is w NZK Dearborn heights, Detroit's your ethnic superstation 690 days 680 Nights.

Speaker 1 59:53

All right. Welcome back to Ask the neighbor. I'm your host Danko sitter AUSkey Thank you for tuning in, you're listening to 690 am WNZ K, we are pumped. Because it's March 1, we're pumped, because it's sunny out, we're pumped, because it's our first show. We're also kind of pumped because we're live on YouTube right now on very united, which is our channel. It's our channel, because every Friday, we broadcast from w NZK, a show called very Detroit, and another show called very Ann Arbor. So we focus on nonprofits, and we interview different folks that are doing positive things in the community. So join us from 11 to 12. On Fridays here at WNZ. K, I want to thank our also our sponsor, one mag.tv. So if you're listening out there, and you're afraid to touch magazines in a waiting room, or you don't have access to content, that's global, go to one mag.tv. And you can access once you're done going through all your Facebook and Instagram, or maybe you're done with those all together, and you can't handle the news anymore, and you can't handle this anymore. That's the purpose of am radio. I mean, we're taking a spot where on FM and on other media, there's so much advertising that it's refreshing to be on am because we're not all about advertising. We're more about what is being said. So join us on AM 690 every day and get a different pulse of what's happening in the world. And you're listening again to ask the neighbor.com you can reach us there, submit a question you can call in. We can talk about things directly here live in the studio 248557 3300. I'm your host Danko Sutter offski. I've got Jennifer Draper with me. She's hanging out. And we're talking all kinds of great stuff from technology, to gardening, to home things, right. So it's been a good day. And I just want to thank Jennifer Draper for hanging out with us. I also want to just let people know that there's a lot of jobs available right now in the universe. I know that you might be a little bit gun shy from going out there and getting work because of COVID. But there's some cool jobs out there. I was just passing by on eight mile. US ice needs drivers. So imagine delivering ice this summer would be kind of cool. What do you think, Jennifer?

Unknown Speaker 1:02:46

Yes, that could be cool.

Speaker 1 1:02:49

Could be even cold?

Unknown Speaker 1:02:55

Honestly, I am. I am working on my list of projects for your previous guest, Robert Gilbert, okay, handyman, right. And I've got five or six that I'm planning on reaching out to him for so thank you for putting that connection together. That was really helpful. There are a lot of questions. I don't want to go ask my neighbors because I don't want to be that neighbor. Right. So it's got all the questions. Right. Right. So this is a great format. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 1:03:29

Well, it's interesting because you know, our world is seems so fast. And so this and so that that am radio kind of fills that void I feel about, you know, being a little bit nostalgic to the old days, having a place where you can actually call in and it's not heavy advertised, right. So we can have a conversation. We can be on air, we can be connected through the radio. And yep, it's always a good thing to be connected. I wanted to ask you you're not only into gardening outside, but you do a little bit of gardening and growing inside. And you connect up also with some different retailers locally. So tell me about your mushroom gardening and what kind of mushrooms have you grown?

Unknown Speaker 1:04:23

Ah, yeah, I hadn't even thought of that. So I can't think of the business name. I'll try to look it up right now. But yes, I have had great success. growing mushrooms in my actually in my front office. All winter. I started probably a couple of years ago when I ran into there's a mushroom vendor at Eastern Market. So every Saturday I'm sure your listeners are aware of the Eastern Market which is the largest and longest running food Farmers Market in North America right here in Detroit. So anyhow, this mushroom vendor is down there and he is selling various types of mushrooms. So he always has like 10 to 20 different varietals of mushrooms that he himself has grown so good for you all so sells bags of I don't know what to call it like substrate that's got loggers in it and gives you Yeah, it's well, it's not really a log, but it's, you know, could be called a log. And he gives you directions of how to grow it. And I find that mostly via abandonment of the project. I grow very successfully. But I've grown Lion's Mane mushrooms really well. And I think my last batch was Blue Oyster mushrooms, which also did very well. So it's been kind of a fun science experiment.

Speaker 1 1:06:01

What what? Alright, so I've seen the mushroom guy at Eastern Market got a great selection of mushrooms, which I love. And then then he sells the the substrate right, this log, and then what do you do with it? That's the biggest question like everyone can bring the log home. But then what?

Unknown Speaker 1:06:23

Yeah, no, it's pretty easy. It's definitely not something to be intimidated about. Really, all you need is either like a five gallon bucket would work. Or what I have used very successfully this year is those plastic storage bins, those kind of ghastly, you know, things you put your holiday ornaments in or you know, your winter sweaters, whatever, right? Repurpose one of those, you need a lid, that's really, really important. Because you really truly want to keep the direct sun out of from hitting the bag of mushroom spores. So I just get one of those. So it's probably a 25 gallon size. I'm kind of guessing right now. And you invert a bowl, so you put a bowl in upside down at the bottom of that. And then I placed the bag on top of that upside down bowl for a couple of gallons of water over the whole mess. And then I put the lid on sort of, you know, sideways caddywhompus. And pretty much ignore it. I typically forget about it. And then I go look in two or three weeks, and I usually have like a bibble crop of mushrooms. So I harvest those. And then you kind of start over again, you just water, give it a heavy dousing of water and then walk away and see what happens in another two or three weeks.

Speaker 1 1:07:52

That's pretty cool. I mean, I don't know if a lot of people know how grush mushrooms are grown, but it's in the dark that they grow.

Unknown Speaker 1:08:02

Yeah, yeah,

Speaker 1 1:08:03

right. I don't know if a lot of people know that out there. And if you're not a gardener, and you don't understand that, but it's a it's such a complex plant. Do you call it even a plant? I'm not even sure it's almost like a living organism of some other type. Almost alien the way the mushroom system works in our world. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. Fascinating. Yeah, kind of more like Avatar style, where the whole underneath is connected. And these mushrooms pop up out of nowhere all throughout the forest, but you think it might be from somewhere and they also put out so many spores in nature. It's crazy. Like millions of spores are being shot out into the world and being spread. It's crazy.

Unknown Speaker 1:08:53

Yep, yes.

Speaker 1 1:08:55

And is this the time to mushroom pick? Is this the time of year for that?

Unknown Speaker 1:09:02

In the outdoors, no, but it's coming up rapidly. And I am a member of a few Facebook groups that talk specifically about Michigan mushroom foraging and other foraging. You know plants you can forage for in Michigan forage as a as another way to say identifying products that aren't typically identified as it's finding things that you can reuse. Let's say that so the mushroom season is coming upon us because everything is really moist right everything sign out. And so there's gonna be a ton of moisture in the soil and the substrate and the trees that have fallen down and whatnot. So that's a prime environment for mushrooms to come come for us. And I would I would really be irresponsible to not say They do not go forage mushrooms by yourself, make sure that you have somebody with you who is trained in mushroom identification. There are so many varieties of mushrooms that are fatal. So I don't want to be I definitely want to be clear about that. But yeah,

Speaker 1 1:10:21

don't go out picking any random mushroom because they can kill you. It's as much as they're great. Absolutely. There's some varieties that are very dangerous.

Unknown Speaker 1:10:32

And a friend who's been trained. Yeah, find your friend who's been trained. The MSU has a great master gardener program, and they also have a intensive mushroom training program.

Speaker 1 1:10:46

I'd love to take that. Is there something online for that? Jennifer?

Unknown Speaker 1:10:52

Yeah, I'm sure there is. And let me look and see if I can find a fix on it. But I saw Interesting.

Speaker 1 1:10:57

Yeah, I mean, mushrooms to me are fascinating. I everything about them. So we're, it's not as show but it's just a neighbor. But we are talking mushrooms.

Unknown Speaker 1:11:14

Yeah, I've got a few varietals that come up in my yard. And I, I need to to actually to go back to the Eastern Market. I when they come up, I need to, to harvest some of them and run them down to Detroit and have my have the mushroom and let me know what they are.

Speaker 1 1:11:32

Oh, right. Because, I mean, I had different mushrooms pop up on my lawn. I'm like, man, that looks beautiful. But you're just a little gun shy to eat it. So I don't know which ones to eat, which ones not to eat? So is there an app out there that you can identify mushrooms? Or is that too risky?

Unknown Speaker 1:11:53

That's way too risky. There's so many variables. I've actually called friends of mine, and sent them photos of mushrooms who friends been trained in this in this mushroom Identification Program. And they were not comfortable telling me, you know with certainty Yes, that is yes, that is edible or Yes, and is poisonous. So their overarching advice was donate it. Wait until I'm there with you and can see the exact environment in which, you know, you harvested that mushroom where you saw it. What was around it? You know, there lots of indicators, like what color are the gills which are the kind of the roughly under part of a mushroom. If you think about a mushroom and turn it upside down that roughly part is called the gills. And so if those have if those put off segment, even though that's an indicator, there are just so many variables that go

Speaker 1 1:12:51

well, I wish I knew more about mushrooms, I wish that we were all more aware about mushrooms because I feel it's such a great thing for us to eat. Harvest, they're all around us yet we aren't, aren't really taken advantage. And I don't think people people don't pick things they see in America. Let's just be frank out that they're like, oh my god, that looks like why I can't pick something and eat it. It seems like taboo. And it's weird that we've lost our connection to that, to actually, I feel like many Americans, even myself, over time, have kind of I don't know been stored up. I mean, basically fie feeling like you have to buy it from the store could kill you, or it's not good for you, or something like that. I

Unknown Speaker 1:13:47

completely. I completely agree. I think gardening has been corporatized. And, you know, I've got a small garden in my backyard and all the neighborhood kids come over. And unfortunately, many of them are amazed to understand that that's where a tomato comes from the ground. Yeah, that's how corn grows. And we all you know, I grew up in the country. So it was not new to me. But more often than not, we just don't understand the food chain. We don't understand where vegetables come from. We don't understand that. You know, fruit oftentimes comes from trees. We don't understand the connection between how did that steak get on my plate? And what was that prior to being my dinner? Right? So I think the closer we can get to understanding the food supply chain, the better we all are and the more appreciative we are of what we have available to us and what we can produce what we can produce ourselves.

Speaker 1 1:14:54

Yeah, and I know and this goes back and I want to shout out to distant lover he's in Hawaii. Right now, but he, he says all the time that Detroit provides, right. And he's talking about the fruit trees that are all over the place that you can go pick. He's talking about the wood that's available that to have bonfires pear trees, whatnot. And I think urban foraging is fascinating to me. I mean, like, there's trees all over the place that aren't being harvested. And so not only urban, but everywhere else, right? Yep. So we need to figure out how to go ahead.

Unknown Speaker 1:15:41

No, I was gonna say I just pulled up from the Michigan State University Extension class. There are two classes coming up in April. That training specific to the mushroom identification, there is a cost associated with that. If you want to just take the course and not obtain the certification. The cost is $85 to the university. And then if you are interested in obtaining your certification, that cost isn't $175. But the trainings are coming up. There one day in length, there's one on April 8 In Hessel, which I don't know where that is. And then there's one the following week on April 16, at MSU itself in East Lansing. And I would invite you all to check out their website is www dot Midwest. mycology which is spelled Emma's and Mary y. C. O oh logy.org. So that's Midwest mycology.org. And that way your listeners can learn a little bit more more about mushroom foraging and what the classes and certification entail. I definitely want to do that. I

Speaker 1 1:17:09

think I want to do so. What Wait a second so see the.com again of the.org. mycology. Yeah, what is so mycology is a study of mushrooms.

Unknown Speaker 1:17:24

I am inferring that as well. I think it must be. So it's Yeah, again, it's dub dub dub dot Midwest. Mid W E F T. mycology M Y. CO l Oh, geez. why.org

Speaker 1 1:17:48

So great.

Unknown Speaker 1:17:49

It's mycology all one word.

Speaker 1 1:17:52

It's unbelievable. I mean, there's millions upon Is there are there millions of mushrooms out there. First of all.

Unknown Speaker 1:18:00

There are millions of mushrooms out there. And May is Morrell month in Michigan has the website.

Speaker 1 1:18:09

I thought Morris tulips I thought two L's are

Unknown Speaker 1:18:12

just a decadent treat. So I am definitely going to be about taking this class in April.

Speaker 1 1:18:20

Well, I was able a couple years ago, not last year, but a couple years ago some morel mushrooms popped up in my backyard to greet me one morning and I was just like, wow, yeah, right in my backyard. So check out morel mushrooms, folks. If you haven't, maybe you see them in your backyard right? Maybe they don't know what they are. And mushrooms are so beneficial for our health. I feel like it's a superfood and I don't know why exactly but do you know Jennifer Why

Unknown Speaker 1:18:58

don't and that's why I'm going to take this class because I want to understand more about it. I mean the variety of mushrooms are the colors are just incredible. Typically the more colorful they are the more toxic they are so bear that in mind but I've got some orange ones that come up in my front yard that are called Dead Man's fingers and they look exactly like something's coming up from underground that you don't want to meet right these strange orange little yeah

Speaker 1 1:19:33

well, I don't know I bet you those aren't edible they don't sound edible to me but they might be no dead man. But I do encourage people to eat off the trees if you see something I mean why not? Right and off the land. I think we've lost touch. Like we only can we not only but we feel like we have to buy it in order. For it to be good. Um, and it's it's a shame because once you start when you take an apple off of a tree and eat it, there's nothing like it. It's the freshest, right tomato thing you can do. Or if you're picking something out of your garden, right? It's incredible.

Unknown Speaker 1:20:20

Yep. So I mean, I don't know if anyone's had any experience of tasting a garden grown tomato versus a store bought tomato is night and day is not dramatic enough of a comparison, like my kids are fortunate because they've grown up eating my tomatoes from my garden, and they won't eat tomatoes from the store, they won't eat tomatoes in restaurants, because they just don't have any flavor they've been picked. When they were still green. They've been boxed up into dark boxes to inhibit their growth. They've been shipped from, you know, South America, Central America, or you know, even from the US they've been shipped from California. And they've been off the vine for literally weeks by the time they get to our supermarkets, and they've been kept in cold storage. And just, yeah, they have no flavor. They've got no aroma that got they're just totally different from a garden grown tomato. And

Speaker 1 1:21:21

I'll blame kids for not wanting to eat store bought tomatoes. They're terrible. I mean, most of them are really, really not tasty. So I don't blame them at all. But in the summer, if you can get yourself a nice good tomato off the off the vine, that's there's nothing like it, nothing like that. So we're coming up to 1030 here in a little bit. And we should have another caller coming in. Casey will be joining us at 1030. She is a baker expert. And if there's anybody that has any questions towards that area, give us a call at 248-557-3300. I'm your host Danko sitter offski With me is Jennifer Draper. What up Jennifer?

We're talking mushrooms. We're talking gardening, we're talking plumbing. We're talking outside French drains, which I was. That's a big ask. But it's so cool of a system when you're doing French drains. And it's different because it takes your water and it kind of moves it around in a circle around your yard and kind of positions it into a area where it would all move into a lot of times that that's dug into the ground and filled with maybe like a rock substrate of some kind. And then the water kind of just goes right on in there. So French, French drains are more a little more fancier than the American drain of course.

Unknown Speaker 1:23:05

Yeah, I mean, I just think of it as a way so again, to use my house as an example I'm on a slab and I am apparently my home or my property had a creek running through it decades ago. And the developers of the subdivision of course attempted to reroute that creek. But Mother Nature usually wins. And so you know about this time every year, this waterway reappears around my home and it does. It's where most of my mushrooms come up. So it's quite lovely. But, you know, I've got French drains on my property in an effort to sort of guide the water away from my slab and towards the edges of the property as much as possible. And so I think of it more as a trench that has been dug. And then I've got like PVC or you know, some other large kind of plastic tubing down there. That's got holes on the top half with holes.

Speaker 1 1:24:13

We've got a caller calling. Jennifer not sorry to interrupt you. We got a caller calling in. It's Madeline from Shelby Township. Hello Madeline. How are you?

Unknown Speaker 1:24:23

Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome

Speaker 1 1:24:26

to Ask the neighbor. Thank you for calling in Madeline. How are you today?

Unknown Speaker 1:24:32

I'm good. I was

Unknown Speaker 1:24:36

a frequent caller on barbells and chill. Oh, and I also was on his show the first day he started.

Speaker 1 1:24:45

Oh, so you're on our show too.

Unknown Speaker 1:24:48

So now I'm on your show the first day already. I've already called someone is she's going to spread the word. Oh

Unknown Speaker 1:24:58

god, you know, I believe We've got worked in strange ways. What happened to me today, I normally leave a lot earlier to go to work. And today the girl was unable to come in on time. So she said, Stay home, and then I'll call you when I get to work to open up the doors. So I said, Okay, so I'm claiming off the top of my counter. And I had my little transistor radio that I had. Nobody touched my radio, if it was for the morning show, and I'm wiping it off, and I put it on and I hear asked my neighbor, and I said, What?

Unknown Speaker 1:25:40

So let me say, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I hope this show takes off because it has been a part of my life, almost 59 years. And this last year has been very rough on me without you guys.

Speaker 1 1:25:59

Ah, so Madeline. I mean, I can't even express Jennifer, do you have something to say here?

Unknown Speaker 1:26:09

Just that that's such a lovely story and how fortuitous. And I believe in that sort of synchronicity as well. So it's great to share this honor of being firsties on the show together.

Speaker 1 1:26:23

Natalie? years Wow.

Unknown Speaker 1:26:27

Yeah. 59 years, I was suppressed bride with a little boy about a year and a half old and Bob. He educated me without going to college. And our neighbors did too. I love this show. I love him. I love Rob. I send Rob hugs and kisses if he can hear this. And I pray for his good health and happiness. Yes. And I'm glad you're giving it a shot. I'm gonna do the best I can keep you rolling. Thank you, man. And, uh, we I've already contacted somebody, she's going to contact some of the regular callers to let them know you're available. Now. How many days a week are you on?

Speaker 1 1:27:09

We're on every day. So we're gonna be on Monday through Friday 9:09am to 11am

Unknown Speaker 1:27:17

Oh, God bless you. I think to quit right pulled in two directions.

Speaker 1 1:27:34

Are gonna keep you working man. We got to keep you working. I mean, it's important to work but you know, you probably put your time into so

Unknown Speaker 1:27:42

yeah, I am not in charge of the radio over there. Because I'm brand new in the in the department. I can't take over right away. Listen, you have a

Unknown Speaker 1:27:54

blessed day,

Speaker 1 1:27:55

thank you to

Unknown Speaker 1:27:56

stay healthy. You to do the best you can appreciate in there, because we're going to support you as much as we've supported Bob. We are. That program was a lifesaver for many, many, many people. In May you always be blessed in everything you do. Insane. In like at work at your side and protect your alleys.

Speaker 1 1:28:23

Thank you, Madeline for that, and I appreciate you calling in. I hope to hear from you again. Real soon.

Unknown Speaker 1:28:28

Oh, I hope I could call it and I'm going to ask the girl to come in an hour later. Bless you, God

Speaker 1 1:28:40

bless. Thank you. Thank you. How nice to hear from her Madeline from Shelby township calling in she has been a longtime supporter of ask your neighbor with Bob Allison, reminding us of the good show the Great show that had been running for 59 years. We are asked the neighbor.com and my name is Danko. Sutter offski. With me. I have Jennifer Draper. And we're talking all kinds of things that are relevant around the house. And we were just talking Jennifer. I kind of interrupted you and I'm sorry about that. We were talking about mushrooms. Oh no, that's

Unknown Speaker 1:29:26

fine. I I think we were talking about French drain French

Speaker 1 1:29:29

drains. Right? Yeah, we were on the France. So I love French strains. I like a lot of things that are French. And I think this just a little more elegant. The little French strains you know the way they operate? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 1:29:51

What I like about them is that they are invisible. So you don't, it doesn't. It's underground and you don't want to they're in place, you really don't have to think about them. I think I bought my house. I think six years ago now, and I don't know how well kept some of the mechanics were so French drains can get clogged up over time, you know, they can get compacted and whatnot. So I think I just need to either myself or hire Robert, your guest earlier, Michigan handyman to invite them over to give me an assessment of how I know I know of at least two French drains on the property one is for sure malfunctioning, and the other, I think can use some sprucing up. So I look forward to working with Robert and his team.

Speaker 1 1:30:44

Well, they definitely seem like professionals, a lot of times I mean, we got to be careful with who we talk with, right? And who we let in our homes and around our houses. Because this is everything right? Our homes, our house, our family, we need to be able to trust the people that we're inviting to help us. So Michigan, Michigan's handyman, definitely, I feel has the reputation that you can trust. And that, you know, they're using the protective gear to that is important in these times. I mean, like, you know, a lot of people are discounting what's happening right now. And thinking that it's all over, and I can walk around and everything's gonna be fine. Well, folks, I'm afraid of what might happen if we do that. So please be careful. And the service providers, I feel like, you know, they're critical. And if they're not following protocols, that could be huge spread, if our service providers aren't, aren't going that direction. So I don't know. I mean, we just got to be careful here as we go forward. And, you know, I want everybody to be safe. I'm thankful that Madalyn called in from Shelby reminding us of how important these talk shows are to people that are out there, that don't have another way to ask the neighbor, maybe they're not computer savvy. Maybe they're just a little shy to go talk to the neighbor. And weirdly, ask the neighbors about how we can help each other basically. And by having this show. We are trying to be a conduit for you so that you can get serviced properly, with safety in mind. So these are the kinds of people we want to call into our show. So if you're a business out there, remember, ask the neighbor if your respected service provider, ask the neighbor.com Call us be part of our show. If you have questions about things around your house, please call us we'll be able to get you resources, and maybe somebody that can help you instantly. Like there's so many services out there now, Jennifer that I think I can't even keep track of so many cool services out there, let alone if I'm a little older and not phone savvy.

Unknown Speaker 1:33:25

Yeah, I mean, I love what was the woman's name? Who just called Marilyn

Speaker 1 1:33:29

Madeline? Madeline?

Unknown Speaker 1:33:32

Madeline? Excuse me? Yeah, I mean, her reaction was so heartfelt and lovely. And clearly, this connection that you have picked up the baton for was critically important for her. I mean, it brought back so many positive memories for her. And so I think that's exactly what you're going to provide the larger community again. And I think also with the presence of COVID, it is critically important that everyone feel that they've got a source of connectivity. I mean, I am, you know, computer literate, but it just doesn't replace this sort of human to human contact and asking questions and getting answers from a wide variety of people. I mean, as your show grows, different people will call in and say, You know what they think of French trainers, for instance, versus what I think a French drain is or they'll add to what can be done. You know what other problems can be solved. So I think it's going to be a great, great network. And I appreciate you inviting me to be on and and help out this morning. Our pleasure.

Speaker 1 1:34:43

Thank you, Jennifer. You're listening to ask the neighbor.com I'm your host Danko sitter outskirt. Just want to remind everybody, we come out of a show that used to come on right after Bob Allison called very Detroit and very detroit.com is a place where you can tune in to get that information and listen to some past shows, listen to some past guests. We, we care about Detroit, we care about our community, we care about Michigan, we're here to stay. And this is an extension of that, like our very Detroit show focuses in on community nonprofits that are located in the city of Detroit, people that are doing exceptional things to for the betterment of our city of Detroit, as the neighbor is that is an extension of that show, whereby we're asking people to call in 2248557 3300, between nine and 11am, Monday through Friday, and talk about any question they may have about their home, their auto, things that you would typically in the old days, ask the neighbor, but in today's world, we seem so distant, don't we, Jennifer? Like people are distant?

Unknown Speaker 1:36:12

Yeah, I think the uncertainty of the time has affected people differently. Some people have become much more reclusive, and, you know, much more hesitant to go outside of their home, to communicate with people. I mean, I know, I was afraid to go to the grocery store for a long time. And I went, I did go i Well, I still want to go and make very focused trips. And I don't necessarily try to speak to many, many people in public because of that potential for transfer of COVID. So I think, again, this is just a really safe way to ask questions and meet people and get solutions. I think that, you know, one thing I've found I've lived all over the country. And one thing I can say about the Midwest is nowhere are people friendlier, and more helpful than here in the Midwest. I know that I've had many questions, and I've needed lots of help since getting here. And people have been so willing to, you know, share their expertise, share their knowledge, and help. And so I think what you're provided with this radio show is yet another conduit for that for people to connect and help each other.

Speaker 1 1:37:34

Yeah, you know, and I feel, we end this station and am just coming through a resurgence. And the reason I think that is that it's alive, direct connection to somebody. And we don't have the mega advertising. And I think it, it's really great for younger people and people that are just overwhelmed with advertising, as we know it. And you know, the millennials and the younger folks don't want to go through many advertisements or watch advertisements on TV, we're just fed up with that type of push marketing. And this is I think, a nice, nice easy way to talk with folks in a in a slow, not rushed by this kind of by this by this by this, you know, it's really we're slowing it down a little bit. And we're making it real. So thank you again, Jennifer, for calling in today and being with us on Ask the neighbor for our first show, on March 1. All the dates are aligned, all the moons are aligned, everything even Madeline is aligned with us in our quest for this. So we are in good shape. I want to just now we have a caller coming in. And we're going to be talking with different folks. But I also want to remind you, the number here is 248557 3300. Feel free to call in. Our supporters today are one mag.tv Spacelab Detroit, very detroit.com and very Ann arbor.com. Listen to us. Check us out on the regular. You can also go to work fly.com If you have a service request and you are not mobile and you need somebody to help you mobily go to work fly.com Enter your service request and we will have people respond to you. Also, if you're looking to put your house on the market and you're not sure what it would go for, maybe you can go to bid front and ask us to figure that out. help you out. Bid front calm. Alright, you're listening to ask the neighbor. I'm your host Danko sitter AUSkey we have Katie See on the line. Hello, Casey.

Unknown Speaker 1:40:02

Hi, how are you? Excellent.

Speaker 1 1:40:05

Casey, you are fantastic for calling in today. First of all, thank you. You also have been our my co host on very Detroit over the years. And I want to thank him for that. So you've been, you've been here and in the studio, and now you're on our show. But one of your biggest passions that I'd love for you to share with our audience is baking.

Unknown Speaker 1:40:34

Absolutely, it is baking. I have a business. And it's Kate glamour. And so we specialize in consulting, on helping new bakers establish their businesses, or bakeries and home businesses and things like that. We do cake education or pastry education. And we're just having a great time doing what we do.

Speaker 1 1:40:58

First of all, Jennifer, what do you think of the name? Cake glamour?

Unknown Speaker 1:41:04

I love it. I love it. And I'm, I'm interested. I wish I had the reason to call you I just started my own sourdough starter. I'm like ecstatic. I feel like I've got a new kid. Oh, yeah. Took me a long time when this started, so I'm really proud.

Unknown Speaker 1:41:29

Okay, that's great. That's great. Yeah, but basically, we emphasize, like all the trendy things. My specialty is Cape sculpturing. So most of my students, they want to know, how would I and I have a lot of heirloom recipes. I don't share those because I'm going I'm working on my book for that. So the world will see those. But yeah, but I teach most of my students how to do this cake sculpturing and things like that. So it's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 1:42:05

Alright, so how does this get done? No, I mean, are you teaching all the particulars? Like first of all, you have to build the structure of the cake, which is baking salutely, right?

Unknown Speaker 1:42:16

Absolutely. So yes, I do teach my students how to bake, you have to have a cake with structural integrity, in order to carve it out. You have a flimsy cake. And that's just not gonna work

Speaker 1 1:42:29

well. So that's what I'm thinking like, you know, you. So what's the trick to making a firm base for the cake?

Unknown Speaker 1:42:38

Well, for most of my students who they don't really have a history of baking, you can use a back mix. And you have to add like sour cream or something else to make it a little firmer was one of the ways of doing it so that again, you can use a cake cake mix, like a cake box mix.

Speaker 1 1:43:04

Okay, and that'll make it a little bit then

Unknown Speaker 1:43:07

you would add? Yes, and then you can add sour cream. Mm hmm.

Speaker 1 1:43:14

And that'll give it a little more weight and structure. So So then, so then you guys are doing different layers on the cakes and getting them pumped up higher and doing different things. I want to get I want to get to you. I think we might have a caller here Lucy from Chesterfield might want to have a question. Hello, Lucy. Hi. Welcome to Ask the neighbor.

Unknown Speaker 1:43:41

Yes, I Madeline called me and said she thought she heard that. So I had to see what was going on. Yeah. So,

Unknown Speaker 1:43:49

Casey. Okay, so

Unknown Speaker 1:43:51

what you do when you ask that you put sour cream instead of or you put it with all the other stuff?

Unknown Speaker 1:43:58

With all of this other stuff?

Unknown Speaker 1:44:01

Yes. You How much would you add?

Unknown Speaker 1:44:05

Well, it depends on how many boxes of mix so I would use a cup per cake box mix.

Unknown Speaker 1:44:15

Plus the eggs in the oil in the water.

Unknown Speaker 1:44:18

Absolutely. Wow. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 1:44:21

I didn't hear my I didn't know that.

Speaker 1 1:44:25

Well, I mean, I Yeah, well, I think you know, especially for the structure of the cake. Now I'm not a baker guy. To be honest. I'll let my audience know that. I do love a good cake though.

Unknown Speaker 1:44:40

Well, let me tell you what Danko if all these people that used to call ask your neighbor, call your program if they find out about it by word of mouth or whatever. You will become a baker. Well, Casey,

Speaker 1 1:44:55

Casey, let's get bacon Come on. I mean, Glamour. Is it cake glamour? How do people get ahold of you Casey To get more info?

Unknown Speaker 1:45:07

Okay, you can contact me at 248-716-0363

Speaker 1 1:45:15

Okay, 066

Unknown Speaker 1:45:17

Again, it was 248716710 2x 030363

Unknown Speaker 1:45:19

Another 036. No, it's 630363063. Okay, six, three. Okay. Okay,

Speaker 1 1:45:39

it's so great to have all the ladies on the line here that are bakers. Jennifer, do you have anything to add about this baking sector right now?

Unknown Speaker 1:45:53

No, but Casey, I'm really excited to meet you. And as I, you know, hopefully developed some of my own baking skills would love to learn from you. I had no idea about, for instance, the sour cream for structure, it makes sense. And I'd love to get him ready to work. Okay. So yeah,

Speaker 1 1:46:14

what got you into this kind of business? Casey, like, what got you inspired to do cake? Really decorating? Right is the the focus of the business, which is the hardest thing to do?

Unknown Speaker 1:46:29

Absolutely. Well, I had a pastry chef, we went to her one day and to order a cake, and she was really nasty. And it just rubbed me the wrong way. And I said, You know what, I can do this myself. And I said, Okay, I need to take some classes. I need to, you know, figure out which way I'm supposed where I'm supposed to go and how I'm supposed to do this. And that just started it off. So I'm grateful to her for pissing me

Speaker 1 1:46:57

off. Isn't that something how people get us mad, and it makes us do things right. It's like so come on, make us mad, and we'll just be better. Right? We just get better.

Unknown Speaker 1:47:12

Movie. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 1:47:15

What is your favorite type of cake? Style to make? Is it like an Eiffel Tower? Is it rhinoceros? What do we got?

Unknown Speaker 1:47:29

Huh? I love them all. I bet. I bet everything that I create. I love them all. Yeah, because it takes a lot of time. It takes more time creating the cake than it does actually baking the cake and decorating the cake.

Speaker 1 1:47:46

You mean the creative process of of design and structure and color?

Unknown Speaker 1:47:52

Absolutely. Alright. So somebody comes up to me that I have had a girl came to me she wanted this cake. It was what was it a dahlia flower, right? And she was like, Okay, I wanted this way. I want to have all these dollies and everything. So what I had to do, I had to find all these pictures of flowers. So I had to really analyze the photos, every little detail. And that's what I recreated. So that part of it took hours upon hours for me to do that. Then I had to get the color. Right. So I had to find color swatches and all these things. Match the paint to it. If this it's fun for me. Yeah,

Speaker 1 1:48:41

I mean, it's interesting how it's art. Really. I mean, I used to watch. What's his name? The cake. Cake Boss, boss. Yeah. Cake Boss. Oh, yeah. And that's a that's a crazy show. But I mean, like, what is the material they're putting on the cake itself? What is that called?

Unknown Speaker 1:49:03

The Finder font.

Speaker 1 1:49:04

Yeah. How do you say it? Finding? Yeah. Jennifer, have you ever worked with any of that? I've never really, I've never had the opportunity. I don't even know if I can say it properly. So I'm just gonna stay away.

Unknown Speaker 1:49:18

Some people call it fun do No, but it's finding

Speaker 1 1:49:22

Okay, so I don't even know what to call it but I want to play with it. I want to touch it. It looks like a fun process.

Unknown Speaker 1:49:32

Oh, it is it's you know what it's like playing with edible playdough

Speaker 1 1:49:37

Yeah. And and so basically what it is yeah. So you're making when you do that, that find it piece of Lucy by the way have you ever made Have you ever made anything like that with that fondue Find it.

Unknown Speaker 1:49:52

Find no I don't know, adapt for more experienced people to do. All right. All right. Yeah, for me I'll buy it. I mean, I'm just regular old housewife Baker cooker, stuff like that. But it's it's nice to hear Casey, you know, if you need something special, you can call Casey. Yeah, yeah. And if so this TED, this is going to be the show, you're going to take all things like cooking baking recipes, asking people things, you know, if you can't find something, right, is that the type of show that you're gonna kind of do?

Speaker 1 1:50:31

Yeah, we're just trying to be here for the community. And we're trying to, you know, things that you would ask the neighbor, right, and those are kinds of things that you would ask the neighbor, but we're just making it a lot bigger of a field. You know, also, I think if people have stuff that they want to sell, want to make, oh, you're gonna do that? Well, we just want everyone to be able to have a good place. It's a two hour show. So we have some time on our hands to talk with different parts and pieces. So the front, the front part of our show, the first half hour I'm envisioning it to be for like home repairs. The second half hour to talk. The third half hour to be about food, the fourth half hour to be about buying and selling. And the second half hour to be either about health and gardening today. We talked a lot about gardening, which is great. And it's the time of the year to do it. A word about mushrooming I believe Yeah. mushrooming. Yep. And so this is, this is the format right now. And I think it's really nice that we've got already some built in support like you like Lucy from, from Chesterfield, and Madeline from Shelby Township. We appreciate you calling in. And I really, really do. Lucy, thank you so much for calling in today. If there's, I mean, we're gonna be Oh, you're very welcome. We'll be on every day. And if there's ever anything, just give us a holler.

Unknown Speaker 1:52:04

Sure. Okay. Thank you, Leo. Oh, God,

Speaker 1 1:52:07

I appreciate I appreciate your support. Lucy, thank you so much. Okay, bye. Bye. All right. It's so great to have callers calling in guys. We appreciate that. She had some good questions for you, Casey. She did. You know, what, Wednesday so are you doing all your things virtually now with your cake? Go? Cake glamour.

Unknown Speaker 1:52:33

Um, we're doing virtual. I can't wait to get back to the face to face one on one. My students can't wait for that. I know. I guess it's coming soon. So by the summer, maybe by

Speaker 1 1:52:47

the summer, and I know you have children and they're in a they're in school now.

Unknown Speaker 1:52:54

Well, I have a high schooler that's back in school, but only for two and a half hours a day. So what's the point of that? I don't know. But my youngest daughter, she's still 100% virtual.

Speaker 1 1:53:08

How does the younger ones all virtual now that's weird. That's not that's still virtual it

Unknown Speaker 1:53:14

is. So we have to do extra curricular things. She still has swimming. She has other activities. And and then that's all you can do. She misses her friends.

Speaker 1 1:53:27

I bet. I mean, it's sad to even imagine what the kids have been gone through. So far this year. It's too much.

Unknown Speaker 1:53:37

It's just absolutely. But what I've done with her. We've been doing a lot of baking. I've been teaching her a lot of things. And we've created this box. And so we share that she has a couple of friends. And so their parents work with them. And we're baking the same thing. Okay, and we share that on video. So it's pretty cool. So basically, I go I give them any the ingredients, any tools that they need, because I have lots of stuff. And I send it to them in a little box. And then we zoom. And then that's the way that they're been. They've been sharing. How cool is that? So that's their play date. It's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 1:54:25

Now, is there a way for anyone to get a hold of you online? If they wanted to be a part of the the box that they would maybe be able to do together? Or is it just the friends that you're doing that with with your child?

Unknown Speaker 1:54:42

Um, right now, I'm just doing it with my youngest daughter's friend, but we plan to expand that. Okay, so I will be doing that in the near future.

Speaker 1 1:54:53

I love that idea. What do you think of that idea, Jennifer?

Unknown Speaker 1:54:58

I I was just you Yeah, I Casey that sounds like a great business model. I mean, with or without COVID. Unfortunately, it's going to be with COVID. But I was I've got an 11 year old daughter who also loves to cook. And she's kind of pushing my limits as far as cool fun new things to do in the kitchen. And I was just talking with her about what what does she want to do for her birthday party? What you are doing would be a fantastic, cool birthday party to teach, you know, they can all like you know, air, quote, be together, some of them could actually be together. But even kids that need to be remote because of family needs, you know, be a multi generational household or what have you. Everyone can participate and learn a cool new skill. That sounds fantastic.

Speaker 1 1:55:53

It is a skill to baking Yes. Serious. Yes. Baking a serious. So

Unknown Speaker 1:56:01

unlike cooking, baking is more inexact science. So I really emphasize to the totally with my daughter and her friends. Yeah, the measurement is everything. And they're like, Well, why can't we just just throw a punch in here? No, you cannot do that. It has to be excited. Exact, you know. So I teach them how to measure we go through that. And the mothers learn a lot from that as well. Because they're like, well, we weren't doing that. That's probably why when we bake the cake, it didn't turn out properly. I said exactly.

Speaker 1 1:56:30

Just a little bit of an adjustment right can only lie. That's why I seven big. That's probably why. I mean, I hear these stories about the cake dropping down in the middle.

Unknown Speaker 1:56:44

Absolutely. Right.

Speaker 1 1:56:46

And that's and that's do Yeah, it really withdraw.

Unknown Speaker 1:56:52

Or it could be a number of things. Oh, if the somebody opened the oven, it could be you didn't mix it long enough. Or you mixed it too long. Ingredients when that happens? Yeah. I mean, it could be a number of things. Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:57:13

That isn't exact science. I mean, you're not joking.

Unknown Speaker 1:57:17

Oh, no. Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:57:19

Well, I just want to make sure we're Casey. Go ahead, Jennifer.

Unknown Speaker 1:57:25

Oh, Casey, I was gonna say that's why I was so excited about my sourdough starter is because I messed it up so many times. Because you do have to be precise, and I think I was waiting. I finally figured out Oh, damn, I gotta use the kitchen scale. That's what it's for. You can't just dump in the wait. I'm hard. Exactly.

Speaker 1 1:57:51

That's, well, we know you're a precise kind of person, Casey, and we appreciate you calling in today and supporting our show, and cake glamour here as your business that you're promoting. And if somebody needs a cake or wants cake instruction, can I give me your number Casey?

Unknown Speaker 1:58:13

Absolutely. To 487160363

Speaker 1 1:58:15

I want to thank you Jennifer Draper for CO hosting today. Thank you Casey for calling in. Thank you DJ Chubb, CA. And thank my audience, everybody for being part of this show. Today. You're listening to ask the neighbor.com your host Danko sitter AUSkey Have a great day.