Corps Stories Innovators S1E1 - Marine Dave Andersen

Corps Stories Innovators Series 1 Episode 1: Dave Andersen - Combat Marine, Writer, Land Conservator

YouTube version of this podcast: https://youtu.be/fcYj7oH2GLE

Corps Stories interview with Maj. Andersen 2004: https://www.corpsstories.com/archives-200601-andersen/

Veteran's LLC Land Rescue: https://www.facebook.com/veteransllc/

We Never Leave our Brothers Behind by Maj. Dave Andersen: https://www.corpsstories.com/memoriam-curtin/

Transcript

Andersen Zoom Podcast

Corps Stories. Ordinary Marines, extraordinary lives.

 Howdy, howdy, y'all, you're going to love today's podcasts for Corps Stories Innovators, you get to meet innovative Marine, Dave Andersen, who is an extraordinary writer and public affairs officer. That's what he did before he retired from the Marine Corps among a million other things, but also he's a land conservator.

He has come up with a great way of approaching problems on people's rural and semi rural piece of land here in Virginia, the greatest state, anyway relax and enjoy, check him out and I will catch you on the back side.   

Dave: [00:00:52] can you hear the chickens?

Meriwether: [00:00:54] I sure can in there. They're happy. 

Dave: [00:00:57] Yeah. They're  very happy chickens. Okay. So I'm sitting outside here. Is 

that okay? 

Meriwether: [00:01:03] It's fine.

Dave: [00:01:04] Who knows what we're going to hear anyways, how's that? 

Meriwether: [00:01:08] So, Dave, it has been too long, too long since I've laid eyes on you live so I'm, so it's. 

Dave: [00:01:17] Been a long time. Been a long time. 

Meriwether: [00:01:20] Yeah. So the last time that we worked together  I was like having meeting my idol moment when I went down to New York , you were public affairs officer for the Marine Corps and you had this fancy Midtown Manhattan office, but you had written the story that had launched Corps Stories. It gave me license to write what I had dreamed of writing, which is feature profiles about Marines from a positive slant.

And it was of course the story about finding the remains of Sergeant Major, Michael Curtin in November of 2001 at the World Trade Center. But it really, it means it remains. a groundbreaking story and military journalism. And it certainly has, I say inspired my life's work. So I'm really honored to be with you again, but also thrilled that I've sort of watched from afar.

You've, you've retired and started a business. So talk to me about that journey, to where we are now. 

Dave: [00:02:30] Going back to that story that, and, and I'm humbled and it's just, well, I'm just humbled that you say that and they don't launched your.

Career, if you will. And I mean, you've been to Oxford university, come on [LSE, but corrected later!]. That's fantastic. And, to even think I had something to do, do what that is, is amazing. And I appreciate you saying that, but, the story it's, it's popped up throughout my life. many different times I was going to say odd, but many different times that I didn't expect, And, I mean, one time it was, I was at the, the NYP, the, a birthday celebration they used to do every year at One Police Plaza and, and the general got up there.

And I, I honestly forget who it was, but he said,  I, I can't say the words any better than this. And he read my story and I was like, blown away. I was blown away and, anyway, but, yeah, so I retired in 2007. I went to, well, I,  I ran that, a hockey camp, a leadership hockey camp for like probably seven years.

But I went back to work for defense contract management agency. And then I worked for the office of the comp for of the currency, under Department of Treasury, and just recently retired from federal service. but all along, I've been,  just, I always have something going and, I'm always doing something.

I can't sit still. I can't be idle. My mind is always going. I'm always writing down ideas and it goes back to my father. And my father was, three war veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. And, and I was one of four boys and I was the youngest and I was nine years later. So it was almost like I was an only child.

And my dad and I used to sit there and, he would write on napkins at restaurants at the kitchen table. Oh, we're going to do this. And he had a Bostonian accent is as David, we're gonna do this. We're gonna pack the car and we're going to make money. I,  and, he would just come up with these ideas and he just never did any of them.

 He had just talked. Things he was going to invent and businesses. He was going to get rich at and, and, I've been the opposite. I've written them on napkins and then just started them. I mean, I guess the first big one was the hockey camp, the bootcamp hockey. And it started literally out of my wallet and I just.

I had no business plan. I said, let's do this. I put an ad in USA, hockey magazine and away it went. And it was definitely a learning experience. It was difficult. It was,  scary signing a contract in October for the following summer.  You're on the line for a hundred thousand hours of ice rental.

But the, the camp went well. And from there, I, I, living in New York on New York city, I'll say, I actually, at that time I was still in, I bought a snowplow and I said, Oh, this will be fun.  I wanted to play with the snowplows. So I bought the soap out. I plowed my driveway one time and I was like, wow.

Okay. That's all done. And then my neighbor's like, Hey, will you do my plow? will you plow my driveway? Give me like a hundred bucks. I was like, okay.

Meriwether: [00:06:01] There's money here. 

Dave: [00:06:02] I ended up getting a contract for New York city sanitation. And I mean, we had like 65 trucks and it was a nightmare. I mean, You made good money, but, oh man, working with sanitation, wow.

Working with New York city was just a challenge. It's always, I was always doing these things and, and I, I, I did them off duty, so I was,  playing with trucks, rebuilding my truck, learning stuff off YouTube. I mean, I re rebuilt my entire Ford F350, a 7.3 diesel from YouTube. Literally, and I just, and my, my nephew who also remembers grandpa doing,  on the plans on napkins, he's like, I love that you're just do. And you just try it and, and, say hi, say hi. Hello kinds of animals just calming. And that's a Seamus named after a bartender at Smith & Wollinsky's on 49th and Third, yeah, I just, then w okay, so then. We moved down to, Lovettsville Virginia. 

Meriwether: [00:07:18] Okay. Stop there. Steps up there. Cause  I have to, I have to interrupt that part.

Yeah. Because  I had been kind of following you,  total fan girl here. And I think of you as like a native new Yorker,  I, I remembered following that you up the fancy truck, I think you had a couple big. Heavy service pickup trucks. And then, all you're tinkering like a gearhead come and got you.

And there was surprise me, but then you moved to in my state, Virginia, and I'm like, how did you come? How did you select Virginia? And especially like, Virginia, of course is the most beautiful state in the country, of course. But where you moved is up there in the Northwest corner of Virginia, which is exceptionally beautiful.

So how did that happen? 

Dave: [00:08:09] So, my wife, Angela, her, we lived with her mother. her mother, I mean, never spoke English, Italian only. And so we were, she took care of her because she got sick. When she passed, she said, and this was three, four years ago. She said,  Hey, why don't. Okay.

Let's, let's get out in New York and,  do you want to move to Northern Virginia? I was like, hell no. And never say those two words again. Cause I was in Quantico, stationed in Quantico twice and Pentagon once and I drove up and down I 95 and it's it's hell. And she says, Oh, okay.  And so we, came to my nieces.

Her niece is our niece, a wedding in Bluemont Virginia. So Loudon County, her brother moved down to Sterling, which was then all farmland in Loudon County to work at Dulles, worked at Dulles airport, like, for like some 35 years now. Wow. So we came down here and I was like, okay. Yeah, I could live here.

This is, and so at that time I was still cause I'm recently retired at that time. I was still working, so I wanted to be near the train. So the Marc train ran in Maryland from, Harper's ferry.

Meriwether: [00:09:32] Just over the river. 

Dave: [00:09:33] Right. All the way down. So we, I said, I want to live off a route seven, cause I want to get away from development.

And,  route seven through Leesburg down to Perceville to Round Hill. Pardon me is all very, it's just growing like anywhere else. Lovettsville is probably 20 miles North on the border, kind of, where I think we're like nine miles from West Virginia or Harpers Ferry and two miles from the bridge that crosses into Maryland where I caught the train.

So that kind of is what led us. So  this beautiful farm, if you will. I know now we have like chickens, cats, and dogs. We have horses, horses. We don't have horses. There's horses surrounding us. And people say that's the best way to have horses look at them and you don't have to pay for it. 

Meriwether: [00:10:25] I think, I think I remember you posting a short video about leaving your driveway, but you were interrupted by the hunt.

Dave: [00:10:36] Oh, that's right. Yeah. The gala dogs came like 40 dogs. Came flying across the road. I'm like, what the heck? And  the red tuxedos. And I thought I was in some British movie,  but it was, yeah, there was a fox hunt. That was really cool. It's a real deal. So yeah, that's how that's, that's how I ended up here.

Meriwether: [00:10:59] Okay. So now, so. Now though. So you have this background, you're an extraordinary writer. You seem to have abandoned that much to my heartbreak, but everything you do sort of turns,  you kind of have this Midas touch. So I watched, some of, you started this organization where you're doing land management, like small scale land management for ordinary people who have a little piece of land.

Many, many Virginians owned between half an acre and three acres, probably most Virginians do. And yet it's more than the average homeowner can, can manage. So they wind up with land they own, but they can't use very well. Right. And yet there's not that many people to call to help with that. I mean, you can call like, so take it away.

Dave: [00:12:01] So, I mean, you said it perfectly, cause one of my mottos or sayings is I, I give you back the land, you already own. Because you said it. what I saw on my land was okay, the grass around the house and then a wall of vines, and you couldn't even walk into all this land you own, right? Well, this is, this is ridiculous.

And so I open up people's, land. I say, I groom their land. and I purposely want to stay small, but what got me into this backing up, which I, I think you were kind of going at is, The snow industry, went so far downhill because everybody and their brother bought a, a plow and threw it on some rusted out truck.

And Jen many, can't say everybody didn't have insurance. And suddenly,  when it snowed in New York, it was like these ants came out and just.  people everywhere and it undercut everything and it just, it just blew the industry. So what I did down here is I was like,  what, what can I do?

and  I saw this problem that I had on pointing back there, because I've opened up my acreage out here. And, so what can I do? That's actually very expensive to get into that. Not everybody can just jump into it and kill the market. Right. And so, I mean, that's what led me towards forestry mulching, which is what it's called and,  so I ended up buying heavy equipment and buying these forestry mulchers and,  thought I was going to get into something,  large scale.

And it ended up being where I. started getting hired by homeowners in Loudon County. And then I got licensed to work in West Virginia. I got licensed to work in Maryland because  I'm right here in the corner. Right. And it just started exploding on me and,  I had to hire people and it was very much a learn as you go.

Sure. And it was so funny. Cause yesterday we finished the job. We got back at like noon and just worked on equipment all day and did maintenance very, very military,  doing your PMs, your preventative maintenance and  I I've since built a large shop and it was,  we had a great time in there in turn, turned on the music and tore apart stuff.

And so I'm still. Kind of rebuilt, not rebuilding, but building the, I call it the barn. It's really, I guess, a shop. but, so yeah, that's how I got into it. And it just, people started telling people, started telling people and I have,  the name of the company is veterans LLC. And,  then I kind of started calling it veterans, LLC, land rescue, to kind of.

Yeah.  instead of land clearing people think, Oh, you're, you're gonna destroy the land.  you're going to wipe it clean. I try,  I tell people, no, I'm going to groom it so you can enjoy your land and better stuff and grow. You're going to have air water. I mean, it's just going to, and people are just blown away by the before and after pictures. And if you, I mean, you can on Facebook and Instagram, if you search @VeteransLLC, you can see the before and afters and it's, it's really cool. 

Meriwether: [00:15:29] So one correction is that I studied a summer at, with Regent university at Oxford, but I actually am attending accepted to, and attending about to finish a master of science at London, School of Economics. But all of that has brought me there many times in the last several years, my beautiful country. But one thing about the Brits, I notice it's different from Americans. They take, it's very important to them that every square inch of the line and that they have, they take good care of it. So whether that's just basic gardening or it's really manipulated for the wellbeing of the wildlife, but they take it very seriously. So that's why it caught my attention, what you're doing and another, so I, I had noticed that when you do. It's very innovative, I guess it's like you say, it's a big difference between coming in and clearcutting and coming in and making it just so you can use it.

You're not destroying the wildlife habitat. You're not doing anything to make, land around it suffer in any way by cutting off or, or adding to the water flow. And, also not interrupting the shade canopy. So there's. It's I'm looking carefully and I'm seeing that you have these paths that you cut and you leave the, the healthy and hardwood trees. I remember seeing a certification that you posted about responsible... 

Dave: [00:17:06] Land disturber.

Meriwether: [00:17:08] Talk about that for a second. 

Dave: [00:17:10] So I wanted to make sure I was doing everything correctly and I like, like I said, I learned, learned as I go, I was learning as I was going. And I saw that I could get a, if I took a test, I could become what Virginia calls a Responsible Land Disturber, which I think kind of sounds funny, but anyways, I'm sorry.

So. There are certain rules of what you can do. And I wanted to make sure I was on the right side of that line, not just because I wanted it to be,  not liable, but I wanted to know why those rules were there. And like even doing that, you learn more about the why, which extends your knowledge further, and it even opens up more doors. So. Yeah, it was,  I had to take the test and I got the credential and it adds to your, your value, if you will. And one thing, going back to what you were saying about,  not clear cutting is I, I tell people, I, I almost consider myself an artist because I go out there and I have this blank canvas and it's just a wall of craziness.  It's a very crowded canvas. When I go and visit a client,  I tell them, I'm like,  I'm kind of an artist.

I am not going to clear cut. There's not going to be straight lines. I want to create pathways that when you walk out there, you're going to, you're going to enjoy yourself and.  it's, it's interesting because as a Marine, you spend most of your time living outside and kind of going way back.

That's what I like to do. I like to walk in the woods. I like to be outside and this all kind of came together and,  a lot of times I'll just be out there and turn off the equipment and just sit there. And,  if you're having lunch or a drink of water or whatever, you just sit there, on the track and enjoy it.

And. I did that many, many times in the field artillery, where you just,  there's beauty, wherever you are. You just have to recognize it, be it in the desert or in the mountains. And,  people said how much they hated 29 Palms. It was,  yeah, it was hot, but it was, it was gorgeous in the evening and in the morning.

So,  there's beauty everywhere. So I wanted to provide these people and environmentally safe and environmentally responsible. And beautiful, setting that they could enjoy. And I thought that was pretty cool. 

Meriwether: [00:19:42] Bring that back around to the Marine Corps because I, I see, I mean, I see the Marine Corps, ethos and, and all these things that you, of course your writing, and I hope in your old age, you'll return to your writing. That's a long time from now. but. In in this business,  I think of, Marines as sort of be having an ed an edge with respect to, efficiency and frugality and just, focused on the job at hand and not over complicating it, and making sure that the job gets done.

So that's so it seems to me that that is another edge you have. Is your approach to running this business. So you can, is that I'm on track with that? 

Dave: [00:20:34] Yeah, you are. Because I tell people, sometimes I take it overboard and I'm walking around at the tail end of a job and I'm literally picking up sticks and I'm like, well, if I could see it, the owner can see it.

And I want to be different. I want to go above and beyond. I want to groom your land. And I, I want to present it to you, so then you can take it to the next step, plant new grass, plant new trees and enjoy that. Also. It's like you're out there on your own. Nobody's coming and help you. That's very Marine-esque as well, because when you're out there on the front lines, I mean, you are the, the 911, you are the rescue.

So when I'm out there, And you like throw a track, which I guess tankers would, relate to, you have to figure out how to get that stinkin' track back on the machine. And many times, like when I was trying to fix a car or something, everybody wants to call somebody, Americans want to call somebody to get done well, Even if I had to call somebody, they're going to show up and do the same thing that I'm doing.

Like, how do we do this? Now I'm paying somebody to also think about how to do it. So why don't I just do it? So, yeah, that's definitely, and it's mission accomplishment,  you've mission comes first. You just, you have to finish what you're doing. And  I, I, I was on a. A huge job. And what was so interesting is this a man served in Alpha Battery First Battalion 12th Marines from '87 to '90.

And I was like, wait, I served in Bravo Battery First Battalion 12th Marines in '87 to '90. And we served in the same battalion and,  never knew each other. But, it was crazy. I mean, and here he is, he moved from Arizona to here. But I remember being there and it's pouring rain and, and like,  I had to hire extra people because it was so, the job was so big and they all it started raining and we're running, a giant... what were we running... a chipper, a giant shipper and it's pouring rain.

And I just kept working through the rain and I was just drenched. And my main guy was drenched with me and everybody else went and hid away from the rain and wherever they're hiding, they got wet too. So why not be working?

So, okay. Yeah, go over there and don't get paid,  anyways. Go ahead. I'm sorry. 

Meriwether: [00:23:19] I love to trail hike. and Virginia has some extraordinary parks, state parks, national parks, and even city parks in some of the wealthier counties. And, These trails require a tremendous amount of maintenance.  this is not, this is no joke.

And we have kudzu here, which in the summer can literally take over acres and acres and acres of land and in weeks and a few weeks. and so I completely get that.   you can have a really big job, especially if it's not, if it's, if you're starting from scratch, if you're talking, just talking about land that hasn't been, and then.

Also as a Virginia and I'm actually forestry is the family business. And so I know that there's a tremendous amount of mix of land. So even on one acre, you could have hardwood, you can have softwood, you can have trashy stuff that needs to go, and you can have precious trees that you don't want to disturb young baby trees.

So it is a, when you describe it as. That you're an artist or a sculptor, or however you want to describe it. It really is. You have to take every square foot as it is, and you're going to encounter any kind of weather. so I really admire, I admire your approach to this, and I do think it's very unique, and very innovative.

So we're where are you going to go with this? What's what's on the horizon. 

Dave: [00:24:49] You know, I I'm actually trying to stay small and, and I, I want to have control not as in a control freak, but as in,  quality control and it's, I mean, everything comes down to the Marine Corps acronym,  BAMSIS , the final, the S on the final.

At the end of that acronym is supervise. So,  you have to supervise the plan and you show up and you, I am the one that comes up with the plan just by walking the ground. And again, it's just like,  coming up with a battle plan of some sort, you. You walk in and,  you begin the planning, you were arranged for the recon.

You make the recon, you complete the order, you issue the order and you supervise that's BAMSIS right there, and you can apply that to anything you do. And I mean, and I go in and I do it like that. We get started and you, you finish the job. And again, it's all tied back to. My Marine Corps training. And  every Marine out there will relate with this.

People are like, Oh, I couldn't do what you do. And I, it's, it's so cool. Or this that I don't know to us, it's just what we do. Yeah. I mean, it's not like anything we think of that's unique. I have to tell you a story. I was on a job two weeks ago and we're. going to town and then suddenly a guy pulls up in a golf cart, older gentlemen.

And he's sitting there watching. And actually my son was down from New York. He was helping and another, my main guy. And so they were actually using machetes clearing. And that's another thing we do. We actually hand clear around trees and make it beautiful. And, so I just kept going and I'm like, Oh geez, what's going on?

 the neighbors not happy is somethings that I'm going through my list of what could have gone wrong. And so I. See now my son and, my worker are talking with this gentlemen, so I turn off the machine and he comes over and he goes, Hey, how are you Marine? Cause  my, my Bobcat I'm using as veterans, llc.us,  Marine Corps stickers.

I get, of course,  we, we tattoo everything, to include heavy equipment and So he was smiling. He goes, this looks great. And I was like, okay. So,  the bad Juju went away and he's I said, Oh, I, You said I was in the Marine Corps for a long time and I said, Oh yeah. And I worked for defense contracting after I said, well, I kind of did the same thing.

And I said, Hey, I'm Dave Anderson. Nice to meet you. And he said, Oh, I'm Earl Hillston. Yeah, it's cool. And I said, what was your last name? And he said, Hale. And I said, General Hillston. And he goes, yeah, that's me. I'm like, Oh my God. Oh,  and I mean, he ran MAR4PAC, MAR4 this MAR4 that. And I mean, he was in the Marine Corps for 40 years, three star general, and  I knew him.

And, here we are meeting out in the woods on some mountain top and.  Western Northern Northwestern, Virginia. It was really cool. 

Meriwether: [00:28:03] I love it, but it's not terribly surprising because  a lot of Marine bosses retire not far from. The Pentagon's Quantico, And, I, I, I wouldn't have been terribly surprised at that, that this would happen, but I imagine it was a wonderful booklet, fresh air to see him though there.

Dave: [00:28:23] Very cool. It was, it was really neat and yes, I understand. But the circumstances. Yeah, we're out in the middle of the woods,  and I'm like, we're returning, we're rich. The Marines are returning to where we belong in the woods. 

Meriwether: [00:28:38] Yeah. That's, that's a very illustrative, isn't it? It also means that you were doing the right thing, like you're at the right place that you would have that, that kind of serendipitous moment,  at least from my way of looking at it.

Dave: [00:28:51] Exactly. So, 

Meriwether: [00:28:53] yeah. So you have, you're going to stay in Virginia. Is that sort of the plan? 

Dave: [00:28:59] Yeah. That's, that's the plan for now? I mean, we're building this wonderful homestead,  have a massive 40 by 24 garden. I mean, I'd like to pick it up and show it to you, but I don't know. 

Meriwether: [00:29:11] Well, in the YouTube version of this podcast, that is the one wonderful thing about podcasts these days is that they can.

They're available on all the podcast channels, but they can be converted  to video when there's great art. And of course with you, great art is going to follow. So I, that was really important to me to be able to include a video version of this to have, if nothing else, all your, your history is as a Marine from my.

From what brings value to me, which is Marine Corps, news writing, and also this Virginia move. But I wanted to include , your work in the woods. And I'm going to try to get some video of you guys with the machete, certainly, but any other art. So listeners going over to YouTube and you'll find this, there there'll be a link in the description, but.

absolutely. We want pictures of that garden. What do you get growing this summer? 

Dave: [00:30:12] Oh, geez. if I walk in there's beets, arugula lettuce, I'm trying to visually walk through there. numerous different kinds of zucchini, summer squash, next row. then we have many different varieties of tomatoes.

I think in the next row, peppers and we have peppers, we have potatoes and sweet potatoes, peas, cucumbers, then lined the garden with zinnias and marigolds and, hung up pots on the flower pots of, I think, impatiens. And then I tried the bucket tomatoes where you grow the tomatoes 

Meriwether: [00:30:57] upside down.

Dave: [00:30:59] So that's my first time trying that. And those were in each corner as well. 

Meriwether: [00:31:03] A little bit about Angela. It seems to me that Angela is an extraordinary chef, there. 

Dave: [00:31:10] Oh, she is she a. she's done some chef training and she's just her mother taught her how to cook.  they're from Sicily and, I mean, it's just, it's, it's rough to stay in shape with her.

I mean, she's got us going back to the personal trainer, getting the old PT back in line and, but she's a teacher, K through two autism teacher in Loudon County. So right now we're fighting with the decision of,  does she go back to school four weeks from now? And it, it seems in the time we are right now with the COVID-19, it almost seems ridiculous that we're sending our kids back to school.

That's my personal opinion. I mean, it's just. I don't understand that decision right now. 

Meriwether: [00:31:59] I mean, well, it's a definitely a, a hot button topic, but for you, obviously it hits home because your wife would be there as well as all the other professionals and teaching it's, it's a terrible season where we're in it.

 I love CorpsStories to be, our stories, to be timeless, but there's no way I could have a podcast without this coming up. And, it's, it's very, it's very challenging. I mean, I completely completely value the reservations and concerns that your family has about her returning to the classroom.

And like you say, four weeks, it's it's right upon us now. Yeah. 

Dave: [00:32:45] Yes, it's right there. And, It's really interesting to hear the parental view of,  these kids need to go back to school. They need to socialize, or there's not going to be socialization six feet apart wearing masks. I mean,  the classrooms cut down, but it's like,  Oh, the kids they're there.

They're not as susceptible to get the virus, but it's like,  what about the teachers? Do  nobody's thinking about the teachers, 

Meriwether: [00:33:13] the concern that really, and, and all the other staff who work there. There are so many. 

Dave: [00:33:17] Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's a it's. Okay. 

Meriwether: [00:33:23] But that's noble. It's noble work she's doing,  

Dave: [00:33:25] no, I it's. It's it's a tough job, but hold on, I have a dog walking.

I don't know if she'll come. Yes. 

Meriwether: [00:33:32] Oh, come on. Let's see, Walter Love him.

Hi darling. And he's actually very young. Isn't he? 

Dave: [00:33:39] He's doing what Great Pyrenees do  he's, I think he thinks he saves us about 143 times a day. 

Meriwether: [00:33:48] His job come on now. This is your two, your second one, right? Because every, 

Dave: [00:33:56] I'm sorry, 

Meriwether: [00:33:57] this is your second Great Pyrenees? 

Dave: [00:34:00] No, no, there there's, our, our, actually our first one we've had numerous Newfoundlands and fortunately, yeah, we lost Mason, probably about two months ago, which was rough anyway.

Meriwether: [00:34:13] Yeah. But I loved, I love these massive dogs that you have in that they, They have such a wonderful place to live there. Oh 

Dave: [00:34:21] God, they, they, yeah. It's, I mean, he roams the property and  you keep the chicken safe,  knock on wood. We haven't had any predators come in, although, neighbors have predators.

So 

Meriwether: [00:34:35] Because of Walter. 

Dave: [00:34:36] Yeah, I'd have to credit credit him. 

Meriwether: [00:34:39] It's wonderful to see you again. So, If anybody is in that corner of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and some land management, you can reach out to Dave this way and I'll have links to his organization in the description. But. I can't tell you what an honor it is to be back in conversation with you live about, and, and, yeah, it's been fun. . So. Thank you so much, Dave. Great to see you again.

Dave: [00:35:11] Okay. All right. Sounds good. Thanks so much. It was a pleasure. 

Meriwether: [00:35:15] Likewise. Thank you. And we'll see you again soon, I hope. 

Dave: [00:35:20] Bye. 

Meriwether: [00:35:21] Bye. 

 So Meriwether asked that we go for a walk in the garden, I called the garden, WinterFell Nobody's getting in there. And if you say deer can jump this, there's a laser beam around the top. If that beam is broken, automatic machine gunfire comes from the roof of the house and eliminates the deer at the same time.

A, a protective

beam goes over the plants and saves them from firepower. Friend of mine said that is definitely gardening through superior firepower. So we built this, added some rock here, planted flowers, all around the edge to try to keep bugs out. We've already been eating the lettuce. Your Rugola, the beats are coming in.

We've had a few, but they need to get bigger doing, hanging upside down tomatoes, actually, they're going okay. Except the bottom. This is the first time for me doing these. The bottom gets a little rotten. coming up this way, we have some gourds coming in for Halloween. A volunteer, a tomato plant, having a tough time with the zucchini and squash and butter, not the, squash bugs got in there and something I'm new to.

So I went on a, a seven dust attack yesterday, as you can see. So we'll see how that goes. We have the peppers eggplants already have some of those going good too. Not so good, but are producing. Had trouble with the peas this year. So only got a few on the cucumbers, having a little trouble. Zinnias doing fantastic.

So we have all kinds of varieties of tomatoes coming in. As you can see, pruning them, got the, put this up yet yesterday. Cause it was getting crazy. And as you know, That's tangle foot for any Marine out there. We have some carrots. This is one zucchini plant or squash. anyways, it's one, it started right there.

And apparently our neighbors said you can trace the genealogy, the seeds back to like the colonial days. So we were fortunate to get those. and then we have sweet potato row hall up there. Potato bucket under the zucchini or potatoes right there. Yeah. That's about it. More hanging a tomato of a volunteer tomato plant just kind of came out of nowhere and yeah.

So we're, we're doing good. We're eating well. And, we're going to replant this for the winter. What's really amazing is this, this rock tomato came out, came out in a bad spot because this is a gate, but they're indigenous to Virginia. They just come out of the gravel and, they're really amazing.

Dave: [00:38:27] Or it's just one that fell off and I stepped on it. That's probably more of the. Yeah, that's probably it. That's not a rock actually. I don't think they exist.

   So hope is there is a really enjoyed listening to that podcast. I know I had a lot of fun and certainly very surprised to learn about the rock tomato of Virginia. Yeah.

Anyway, hit subscribe and join us for another episode. Have a great day and semper fidelis. 

  Corps Stories. Ordinary Marines, extraordinary lives.