Welcome to the summer of sustainability! We were inspired by a past episode to continue learning more about what is going on locally to encourage recycling and sustainability. So for Episode 39: Sustainable Summer, we invited Beth Rankin, one of the organizers of the McMinnville Recycled Arts and Sustainability Fair plus one of the vendors participating in the event, Julie Wilson with the The Department of Work. We had a great time learning more about this fun and creative event and think that you will as well. This is an easy one friends, there's always something you can do to contribute and learn ways to live more sustainably. Supporting this event is a perfect place to start.

This episode will get you thinking. In the best possible way. You may be reminiscing about your college experience or feeling pride for your home town school after listening to this week's Episode 38: The University. We've known we would have an episode on Linfield at some point, and the summer seemed like the perfect time to chat with our friends from the University before the new school year begins. We're so thankful we had a chance to spend some time with Professor David Sumner, who has been an English and Environmental Studies at Linfield for 20 years and Debbie Harmon Ferry who is the Director of Alumni and Parent Engagement at the school. Both of these professionals are passionate about their school and it was very easy to hear their dedication to the student's experience. Chelsey had a great time reflecting a bit on her experience attending Linfield as well. It is great to hear that the benefits she gained while a student are still there for new students to explore. We are thankful to have received quality college educations, and whether you go to a large public school or a small private university, if you lean in and take what is provided you really can leave with an amazing gift. We hope you find some renewed connection to Linfield University after listening this week, there's always room in the bleachers for more fans!

Summertime blues around here ... While we had to pivot from this week's planned episode we thought we would sit and console each other about what's got us down in the world. There's always a lot of change happening in McMinnville, and sometimes its ok to pause for a minute and reflect on things that mean something to this community. And at the same time there's opportunity to share what we hope to see in the future. So this week we talk on Episode 37: Just The Two Of Us - News and Blues, Ossie and Chelsey talk about whats going on in the news and give our thoughts on a few topics. Plus we share a bit about all the fun summer events coming up in town and that made us feel a little better. This is starting to sound a bit like a therapy session, and that's ok with us. Talk to us, we're listening.

Nothing is better than sitting around shooting the breeze with friends you grew up with. And this week's Episode 36: Don't Tell The Tourists - Part 2 feels a lot like that. We grabbed locals Todd Hyder and Robin VanBuren and asked the question that started this podcast... What are the things about McMinnville that we want to keep special just for locals? We all agree that we enjoy the benefits of the tourism industry in town, but the connection we feel when we can experience things only locals know about, is something special. So we added to the list! And as it goes when you get together with friends, once you start reminiscing you start to go down memory lane a bit. So there's a bit of nostalgia and just townie's talking in this one. We hope this episode feels like a fun hang around the fire pit, catching up with your friends and remembering the things that keep us connected.

May we officially introduce you to our new Mayor Remy Drabkin.... We are so thrilled that we got to spend a bit of time with our friend, and now Mayor, and chat about what her life is like in her new job. Remy has been known to many in McMinnville for years as the owner and winemaker of Remy Wines. And we were so heartened when the citizens of McMinnville elected her as our new Mayor last year. Remy brings an energy and enthusiasm for City government that can't be ignored and you will hear in this week's Episode 35: Madame Mayor the wide range of things she is leading and involved with on behalf of all of us. Mayor Drabkin is a listener and a doer and you can hear it in her voice when she knows that something important has been accomplished. While she is doing the work of Mayor, Remy is busy running Remy Wines and also co-founded Wine Country Pride and the Queer Wine Fest. We could have talked with the Mayor for hours, but her time is valuable and so we weren't able to dive into all of these topics. So for today, we focus on her role as Mayor and we hope that when you hear her talk you will feel encouraged by the work that is being done and motivated to engage in the work our City is doing for McMinnville.

We talk a lot about what makes McMinnville special on this podcast, and we keep coming back to the sense of community we share when we connect through service. Our guests today are members of our local school board, and as we have all come to realize, it's an important role that we should know more about. We are thankful to our guest on today's Episode 34: The Board, for giving us a glimpse into the important work a school board does, and maybe more importantly what they don't do. Janis Braich has just retired from the board after an amazing 24 year span, and Jason Bizon has his first two years under his belt. Their approach and commitment to our local school district is inspiring and we are thankful that we got to spend some time talking about why they decided to run for the school board (because we know elections aren't easy!), and what keeps them inspired. We know that the McMinnville School District is filled with hundreds of amazing teachers, staff, administrators and board members, we've talked about it a bunch on the podcast. We hold tight to our values in McMinnville and you can see that at every level in our schools. And we hope whether you are a parent, or not, you will take away not only some new knowledge from this episode, but also a renewed sense of connectedness when you hear from these amazing community members.

What do you do when you want a guest on the podcast but you haven't been able to get them to the studio? You take the podcast to them! And we're lucky enough that it also happens to be at a place we like to hang out. For this week's Episode 33: The Regulars, we take the show on the road again and record from the Grain Station Brew Works and chat with a few friends who have becomes regulars along with Ossie. The conversation varies widely from tech and AI to brewing to wine making. We talk with pals Chris Rowe, Joe D'Aboy and Ryan Kelly-Burnett about their day jobs, and what they all love about gathering at their favorite watering hole. Settle in and join this chat amongst friends and maybe get inspired to connect with your friends regularly. These are truly the times that keep us rooted and relaxed and Ossie and Chelsey are thankful to the "regulars" in our life.

Who likes to have fun? Who likes to play games? We do!! This week we chat with two locals who are working to bring fun and games to McMinnville. On Episode 31: Fun Makers we meet McKenzie Moorhead with Walnut City Rollers and Chase Estep of Nerds of McMinnville and the new NOMCon. What is about board games and roller skating that feels so fun? We ask our guests that and learn why they decided to start these new groups in town and what they are enjoying by connecting with folks through these throw back activities. We hope that this episode gets you inspired to dust off your dice and roller skates and get out and have some fun.

What does your favorite business smell like? It's probably one of the things that keeps you coming back... or maybe it's the awesome owners and managers and people who greet you when you walk in the door. On Episode 31: Businesses We Love - Part 2, we talk with two more of our favorite local businesses, Casee Clark with R. Stuart & Co. Winery and Tayler Brisbin of Mes Amies. We were able to share notes about each of our favorite places to visit these days, on and off 3rd Street. We dive a little into cancel culture and the changes we have seen over the last decade downtown McMinnville. It's always good to touch base with our business peers, and we hope that you find yourself wanting to support these businesses as well.

You may be thinking...wow, guys, that's a bold statement. Who ever could earn such a title? Well, we are about to introduce you to Ramsey McPhillips: The Most Interesting Man In McMinnville. We've been playing around with the idea of dedicating an entire episode to one guest so we can really dive into their story, and Ramsey couldn't be a better fit for this new format. Ramsey's family has owned their farm south of McMinnville for over a century and you will hear about the battles Ramsey has fought to ensure that the farm is able to exist for a hundred more. His story starts off in Portland under the guidance of two women who each taught him their unique approach to caring for the soil and their gardens. That experience led Ramsey to college on the east coast to study horticulture, then New York to work in Central Park, a truly unique foray into the New York art world, and beyond, before coming back to McMinnville to take over his family's farm. His backstory could have filled its own episode, but we also wanted to talk with Ramsey about his dedication to education and advocacy for climate change and how innovative approaches to farming are being cultivated on his farm through some major league investors and scientists. We know you will find this episode fascinating, and we hope, like us, you learned something and "grew" a new appreciation for the the land and soil around us.

Sweeeeet Caroline ... bum bum bum... good times never seemed so good! So good! Doesn't that get you in the mood to cheer on your favorite team, and maybe your favorite podcast? We're in the sports frame of mind again and this week we had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with two McMinnville legends, Marianne Mills and Don Rutchman. On Episode 29: Hall of Famers 2, we check in with our friends to chat a bit more about what they loved about their coaching careers, what drove them to show up for kids every day and how they think things have changed over the years. For better and for worse. It's always an inspiring episode when you get to sit and ask questions from your teachers and coaches about what they were experiencing when we were messing around in high school. So grab your popcorn and settle in for another nostalgic sports episode with two more Hall of Famers.

Here we are again, just the two of us. After last week's heavy topics, and a week full of fun and important events, we thought we would sit down again and chat with each other about something that is very important in our lives ... service to your community. We've spoken a lot about the value we place on giving your time and so for this week's episode we dive a bit deeper into the subject of service. We're just coming off of the annual Distinguished Service Awards, a long standing tradition of recognizing people in our community who have made service a priority in their lives. It's always an inspiring event and we're left with hope for the future of our town and an immense appreciation for all who have given in such meaningful ways. We also give a recap of the concert we threw at The Bindery last week (thanks for coming out!) and end with the message to get out and VOTE, because today is election day!

Well, let's see how this goes. In this week's Episode 27: Just The Two Of Us, Ossie and I chat with each other for the duration of an entire episode about a few hot button issues. We went back to the root of why we started this podcast, and it was to have a voice. Sure, we could talk about sports, or our kids, or our favorite memories, but that seems too safe. Too easy? So we dig into it, and get honest and share our thoughts with you all on some important issues. Like homelessness, and elections, and historic buildings and demolition. There's nothing to it when it's just two siblings sitting around a table talking, but we've turned the mics on and are sending our thoughts out into the world. Here we go..

Sing...Sing a song...Sing out loud....Sing out strong! This is us beating the drum about local music again. We love this topic and are excited to be putting on a show at The Bindery. We were so inspired by our first McMusicville episode that we not only planned a concert, but wanted to talk to more people who are involved in the local music scene. This week we chat with local musicians, Marcus Glaze and Jamie Howe about how they got into music, some of their favorite memories around music and what they are excited about in the McMinnville music scene. Put your headphones on and tune in to the easy listening of the McMinnville Yacht Club podcast.

Here is the exciting (and slightly more inebriated) second half to our 25th Episode fun at the Blue Moon Lounge. If you listened to the first half last week you will get a taste for the background noise and the over all vibe of us sitting in the first booth at the Moon talking to folks. In this second part, we have three groups of locals sit down to chat with us. We feel inspired that folks came to talk about specific things, and we hope to be able to do something in the future with that idea in mind. For now, here's a toast to the townies, and the strangers and how both feel like family when you're at your favorite bar.

Oh my gosh, what a night we had! We took the show on the road and recorded Episode 25 from The Blue Moon Lounge in downtown McMinnville. You've heard us talk about how much we love the Moon, so we thought it would be a fun way to spend a night ... with our headphones on talking to people. We spent so long recorded we decided to split this fun into two episodes. So this week you get the nervous, excited hosts talking with people, next week... well, hold tight. Thank you to Justin and the team at the Moon for putting up with the shenanigans, we love you all very much. And thank you to all of the folks who sat in the booth and talked with us, it meant a lot! We're in this together McMinnville, and that's what this episode feels like. Cheers!

Turn your night light on and get your cozy blanket for this week's episode all about books and the McMinnville Public Library. For Episode 24: The Librarians, we chat with the library Director, Jenny Berg and librarian Courtney Terry about how they got into the librarian profession and what our library has to offer. We learned so much about all of the fun and important services our public library offers and really get an appreciation for the dedicated staff that guide visitors towards a meaningful experience at the library. We spend a bit of time talking about the books that shaped us, and our experiences growing up in the stacks. What we read shapes us forever, and we are lucky to have a public library in McMinnville that focuses on putting books in the hands of all of its citizens.

It's time to get smart! We had fun on this week's episode being quizzed by Ossie about all things McMinnville, and then we randomly veer into Oregon trivia as well. We know this is the beginning of a fun series of us testing our local knowledge and have lots of laughs while we do it. We're thankful to our friends Erica Anderson and Ryan Manfrin for coming on and giving their best guesses as we test all that we know and realize how much we don't know!

Ok, go easy on us with this one. We're tired and stressed. But we're just fine! On this week's episode we convinced two of our friends, Brooke Anderson and Kara Missildine to come on and share about how this thing called parenthood is going. We know that none of us are experts, and we're going to get it wrong probable more often than we are going to get it right. But being able to talk about our experiences raising kids is truly what keeps us going. Some days are hard, really hard. But so many days are really really good, and we wanted to talk about all of it. We share notes about where we are at in our parenting journeys and try not to stress too much about the things that we can't control. So, grab a drink, or a tea, or get in your best meditative pose, and listen with us as we connect about living in Parentville. And be sure to listen to an extended post episode session with just us moms.

Honor, may we approach the bench? Because we have a lot of questions... And thankfully we have two amazing law professionals on the podcast this week to answer them for us. We got to ask local family law attorney, Alexis Bishop Stern and Judge Jennifer Chapman about some of the ins and outs of the McMinnville legal system. We chat about what they love about their jobs and how they approach their professions while making sure they see the people and not just the problems. We're fortunate to have these two women in our community, as both moved from other states to settle and grow their families here. Hopefully you only run into these two moms on the soccer field, but if you happen to need either of them when life gets hard, we know you are in good and caring hands.