[Danielle Balocca]: Hey listeners, this is Danielle. And Shelley. Shelley is a radical Dravidian and racial equity activist.
[Chelli Keshavan]: And Danielle is a community mobilizer and changemaker. And this is the Medford Bites podcast. Every two weeks, we chew on the issues facing Medford and deliver bites of information about the city by lifting the expertise of our guests.
[Danielle Balocca]: Join us in discussion about what you hope for the future of Medford. And as always, tell us where you like to eat. All right, thank you all for being with me today. If you could just start by introducing yourselves with your name, pronouns, and a bit about who you are.
[MCM00000565_SPEAKER_05]: I can go first. My name is Christina Elaine, and I live in Medford. My pronouns are she, her, hers. And I've been a Medford resident for six years, Massachusetts resident lifelong. And yeah, I'm really happy to have landed in Medford. And I'm happy to be here today. So thank you, Danielle, for having us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm Tyler Frank. He, him, I'm the president of Garbage to Garden. We're the contractor doing Medford's food waste program. And that's obviously a lot more than just picking up the bins, but really trying to help educate the community. And, you know, I'm a native of Maine and I went to Boston College and have connections in Medford, but I'm not living there now, but I'm happy to be working with with the community to really get food waste out of the waste stream. And we're doing really well.
[Danielle Balocca]: Right. Well, thank you both. And I really look forward to learning all about composting from both of your perspectives today. But before we get into that, I just want to ask you both a question that I ask everybody on the podcast, which is, what is your favorite place to eat in Medford and what do you like to eat there?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I could say maybe Bob's Italian Foods is a good spot I hit up pretty often when I'm there and maybe just like the regular, I forget the exact name, but they've just got a real good regular Italian that's far from regular. Just the sandwiches. It's a lot. It's good.
[MCM00000565_SPEAKER_05]: And for me, I should have also said that I'm just a resident of Medford, which is why I'm here. And as a resident, I'd like to give a shout out to El Vaquero, the kind of a burrito place in West Medford Village. I really like their fajita plate.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[Danielle Balocca]: Some good variety there.
[SPEAKER_01]: I should qualify mine that I don't I don't eat in Medford nearly enough to really have a really well informed answer to that. So yeah, sure. There's a lot of great places that I'm mostly at work when I'm there.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, you know, we've got a lot of good new places, but Bob's comes up quite often. So yeah, yeah. So we want to talk about composting. So I'm wondering, maybe, Tyler, if you could start out by just sharing with us what does composting look like in Medford right now? And what do you want people to understand about our composting program?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I mean the main thing to understand other than like the nuts and bolts of it is just where the fact is Medford's compost program is head and shoulders above other communities. You know, it's something that I'm really proud of. I'm proud of the community. Since we launched this, I mean, we already had residents, obviously, that were paying subscribers to Garbage to Garden, but it's taken off. And now, you know, we've got 44% of households enrolled in the compost program and that's since it started, you know, just about a year and a half ago. So in that amount of time to go to that level of participation and that amount of tonnage of food scraps going to farms instead of the Saugus incinerator is phenomenal. And so, you know, MassDEP has said that, you know, maybe officially, unofficially, that Medford's program is the best, most successful in the state, hands down.
[Danielle Balocca]: Wow, that's impressive that I did not know that at all.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just just launching right in with the big the big story here. Yeah.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. Cool. And maybe if we could just talk a little bit about the nuts and bolts. So like I do, I feel like there's a lot of stuff that I personally don't know about what you can compose, what you can't and then what happens to it after we put it in the bin. It's like, where does it go?
[SPEAKER_01]: Hmm. Yeah. So the We're bringing all the food scraps to local farms. Most of them right now in Medford are going to Brickens Farm in Hamilton, which is a farm that's been composting for decades, and they're making a great product. It's because of the process, which is, you know, nature's process is really a powerful one, we're able to compost everything that is from a living source. So it's a very inclusive list. You know, a lot of people tell me like, oh, well, you can't do meat, for example. And, you know, you're right if you're talking about your backyard pile just doesn't get hot enough. But with our scale. It includes any meat, dairy, bones, oyster shells, avocado pits, paper towels, other certified compostable products, all are breaking down at the scale of the composting at Brickhands Farm or at any of the other facilities that Garbage to Garden brings material to or our own. But anyway, it's really, if it grows, it goes, is the answer.
[Danielle Balocca]: And so even like those compostable like paper plates or paper products, you can put in your.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, if they're certified, you know, you look for the BPI biodegradable products Institute is. is if that's the logo of the certification that's saying is this is going to break down like a banana peel into water co2 and biomass and um whether it's a made from you know wood fiber or corn starch uh those certified compostable products are good it's too bad it's called biodegradable products institute because There's a lot of products out there that say biodegradable and that just means this will break down into a million microplastics in a pretty short time. So that's very bad. So if you're buying any of those products that look like a sustainable option, make sure it's certified compostable.
[Danielle Balocca]: All right, Christina, I'm curious about your like personal experience with composting. So what's important about composting to you? How is it? How does it work in your household? Like, what are the kind of pros and cons?
[MCM00000565_SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, I think I first started composting in it was probably 10 or 15 years ago in an apartment that I lived in with a few friends. And we tried backyard composting. And I think the appeal of it is it's in thinking that there's something of value in your trash that you would otherwise throw away in the trash. And then maybe realizing that maybe it's not trash, you know, some of these things, maybe they have value and can be used differently. And I'm a very beginning gardener now, but, you know, I understood at that time that, you know, compost or food scraps can be, you know, sort of, I think of the word melt a lot. I don't know if that's the right word, but that it will, you know, almost like melt down and like, you know, through a number of processes, like turn into soil or into something that's like, not just a soil, like the kind of dirt outside of your house, you know, that you might, kick around, but like into the richest, like blackest, you know, most kind of nutrient dense soil because it was food scraps that was good enough for me to want to buy and spend money on at the grocery store and then like eat the food. Um, so I haven't really gone through the cycle of ever like producing my own, you know, compost that I then wanted to garden with, but, um, there's just a really cool thought around making something or to kind of, you, I guess extracting the value of your trash in a way. So a long time ago, we did some backyard composting and we totally had tomato vines popping up next to the backyard composter, which is pretty fun. And then a few years ago, I started doing the subscription service from the apartment that I lived in, in this area, where it just was taken away. And that was really cool because I guess at first, like in the house, you kind of start to separate the trash and have like, instead of one trash bin, you have like a separate compost bin. And so when you're first getting started, you kind of find yourself holding things in your hand and standing over the two containers, like looking at it. And it's like, which one does this go in? So it takes a little bit of getting used to like what goes where, but then. I guess it didn't take that long to, you know, kind of learn what goes where and then it gets on autopilot. And then the trash bin in our house, like it used to, you know, smell a lot because, you know, if it's in the summer, I don't have air conditioning, you know, there's like banana peels and like chicken bones and whatever in there that can start to smell. When we started composting you know that container would have a lid and then all of a sudden like you know it's I don't know it just felt there's no smells there's kind of no mess there's no kind of unexpected odors around and then also the trash was I don't know the volume of it was less I didn't think that I was throwing away that much food, but I'm kind of separating them out kind of felt like I guess I don't really have as much like trash as I used to, and a lot of it's just going into the compost. So yeah, it's been, it's been a good process that way. And I have since gotten bags of compost that I've used to spread on. I do have a little raised garden bed and some grassy areas near my house and help spread compost at a community center nearby where I live, which I understand is good for the plants. I haven't asked the plants. I don't know how the plants feel about it, but I believe it. So yeah, it seems really cool. And then when you think about how much, when you think about the whole town, like Medford, and 44% of the households, I've seen some pictures of Garbage to Gardens, the farms that they bring the compost to, and that it looks, I mean, it is a big pile. I mean, pile is the wrong word. It's more like a small hill of compost that I've seen. And then I've seen pictures of you know these like heat lines coming off of it like even in the winter because of all the heat that it's generating and it's just amazing to think of like how much volume is in there and that it all melts down into this um soil so um i guess like there's this like nice kind of individual resident impact that i get of like my trash is a little bit less my kitchen definitely doesn't smell um very much i have kind of experimented with different ways to you know, do I have the composting bin on the countertop or do I have it underneath the sink? Or I think I might even try putting it in the freezer because in the summer there is the odd like fruit fly, you know, that can kind of be, you know, floating around the kitchen. And I've heard the freezer is like a good spot, especially in the summer. Cause you know, it can be so hot, like on the countertop or in the kitchen. But it's yeah, it's been, it's been, you know, there's a lot of ways to do it, but those are some ways that have worked for us. And I like the effects that it's had. And now I am getting into like, you know, doing more gardening and actually like trying to think about that side of things too, just for fun. But it just feels, I don't know, a lot of people say that it like feels good in some way. You feel like you're being like, less wasteful and kind of feel like you're using these resources that you have, you know, that you did spend money on, even even if you're not going to get the compost yourself and use it, that it's not going to waste, actually, same way that it would be otherwise.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thank you. Yeah, I think there's like two things that come to mind when you're talking about that impact on your household, like one being know we've heard that trash collection is going to be less frequent potentially in the future and so if there's no food waste in your trash the volume sounds like it'll be less and also the kind of like messiness of it may be different and it reminds me of kind of I think this really strong group in Medford which is like the everything is free network like this idea of like within our community sharing things that we're done with so that people don't have to buy more or like put stuff into the trash that could be like reused by somebody else. And on that note, I think I'm curious, like for both of you, what you see the how you see like composting fitting into like the values of a community that you that you want to see or the enhancing some of the values that we already have here.
[SPEAKER_01]: One thing I was thinking while I was listening was, I can't remember who said this quote, but I really like it, and it's that we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains. It's kind of a simple but powerful thing because there's really only one way to make soil, you know, we're talking about it's not like the dirt outside, it's like the darkest, blackest, richest thing, and it's the organic matter, you know, and the average, like, content of the organic matter in soil is like a small percentage of it, but that's where all the water is held. Without that, your soil can't hold any water. Without, you know, it's where all the nutrients are, and in a long enough scale, you know, you can't grow food without it. It's a finite resource. So, You know, just the values of the community. I think we live in the society that is so consumer based and just, I mean, there's everyone wants to make a difference, wants to change that and wants to have a circular economy or wants to have some, you know, leave things in a way that they didn't really ruin them. I think that there's this feeling that we can't individually solve the problems of our world or of our community, and that your individual amount is not enough of an impact to matter. And I think that's the number one thing we hear when we're talking to people about this, food waste recycling or composting. It's like, well, I don't have much. And I'm curious. how much you have in your bin every week, but like I have maybe would half fill the bin, but we cook a lot. And I think the people that don't fill it up very much need to realize that it adds up a lot. And so that's just one thing I wanted to throw out there. But again, I'm not a Medford resident.
[MCM00000565_SPEAKER_05]: I agree though, completely with that point. I think when I think about composting and how it relates to the values in Medford, I also think about how Medford and other communities like Medford, you know, want to feel that their resources that we have locally are being recognized, that they're benefiting the community, that there's a circular economy. that we're not maybe dependent on, you know, outside actors for our economy. It's not necessarily a direct path, as I mentioned, like I might send compost out and I may or may not get finished compost and use it to grow my own food. Maybe someday that will be true. But I'm a real beginner gardener. So I'm But, you know, as Tyler was saying, a lot of the food scraps from Medford go to Hamilton, that's like pretty local in Massachusetts. And, you know, Medford residents can get, you know, purchase compost from Garbage to Gardens, you know, where they, you know, had their compost picked up by the same service. I think like on a community scale, it is happening actually that like we're able to, you know, take this otherwise waste and like use it to enrich our soil and to enrich our food and also to be like less dependent on the, you know, industrial food complex, if you will, and on things being like shipped across the country and like grown using, you know, like added fertilizer. And, you know, there's a way that that you know, is happening, I think, in Medford. And I think that that really connects to a value in Medford of, you know, really recognizing, like, the resources that we have, celebrating them, celebrating, like, what we can do for each other, celebrating, like, how we can be kind of resilient and, you know, independent in ways that we can from, you know, sort of, like, other forces that are, you know, really not, like, local and maybe don't have, like, the best interests of the community in mind. So yeah, I do think that there's a strong connection to, from composting to like those values and that, like, I really feel, even if I don't think about it when I, you know, put in my, you know, apple peels into the compost bin, I do think that that's at play.
[Danielle Balocca]: Hmm. Well, I think, too, that it sounds like this sort of collectivism of, like, my half barrel of compost isn't doing much for me, although my kitchen doesn't smell as bad or whatever, but that it's all going to this place that's going to benefit, like, you know, a larger amount of people. And it sounds like, too, I know, Christina, you share that you have kids that, like, teaching them, this is part of maybe that value that you're teaching them of, like, here's how we, here's what we do with our food waste and here's how it's going to go to, like, help us and help other people. our environment.
[MCM00000565_SPEAKER_05]: Yeah absolutely. I think yeah maybe I didn't mention it but maybe the concept of like just valuing resources and like stewardship of resources you know there's not infinite resources and the ones that we have we should like be appreciative of them and grateful for them and not waste them and this is a way to to do that like every day and like everything
[Danielle Balocca]: yeah it does make me think differently about when my kids like don't finish a meal and I just feel awful about them putting in the garbage like this is a less wasteful option um yeah so I'm curious um how people get involved with composting if they aren't already what do they need to do?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well that's easy um in Medford it's easy because you can just go to medfordcomposts.com and enroll and then you will have it been delivered to you uh it's your next trash day And there's a great team that Gus garbage garden customer experience team that is available to answer questions. And, you know, you get a how to booklet and and a liner like a biodegradable or compostable excuse me bag. to align your bin with when you start out. And then the booklet kind of explains some different tips and ways to engage with it, like Christina was saying, and those different ways to collect your food scraps in your kitchen to get them into your larger bin that you put curbside. But we also have a street team, we've got some engaged students and other part-time staff who are out going around and trying to engage with Metro residents and answer their questions about composting and just recognize that it's not complicated, but there's no There's no silly questions. There's a lot of information out there, but you can just email or call our team. But the sign-up process couldn't be simpler.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah. Any other information that you think is helpful for people to know who maybe haven't started composting but want to give it a try?
[SPEAKER_01]: I wish we could hear anyone who's listening what they're saying about like yeah but because you know what's the like we're both like Christina and I are used to using a bin putting our food scraps in it but if you're not um There's some things that might be on your mind about what your issues are going to be. I refer to, does the impact really matter? Like, I don't generate a lot is something that I know we hear. And the answer to that is, yes, it doesn't have to be a lot. And it does matter. And, you know, Christina mentioned like the trash doesn't smell, which is a big deal. I mean, if you, if we are gonna have trash collected every other week, you know, well, mine's picked up every week, but I, and probably will continue to be, but I only, I don't need to put it out every week because the bags are lightweight. They don't stink. It doesn't matter even in the summer. But I think that, you know, another thing we hear is questions about rodents. And I think it's important to say that this is actually a proactive step that is part of Medford's rodent control plan. There's a lot of people that compost in their backyard, which is awesome. And you'd want to encourage that. But in an urban area, there are rodents. And eliminating food sources is one of the most important things that can be done to mitigate that problem. And the best way to do that is to get food waste out of trash bins and out of backyard piles, frankly, and into more secure, latching, state-approved bins that are designed to contain food waste. So I think sometimes we don't get to really have a good conversation about that, because people who are concerned about it have maybe already made up their mind that this is going to contribute to that. And it's kind of a knee-jerk reaction. But I think, I don't know, do either of you have any other thoughts about what concern somebody might have or one you've heard about why they might be hesitant to try to participate in this program?
[MCM00000565_SPEAKER_05]: I was going to, um, highlight that point that you made about the concern about rodents. Um, I've also heard that a lot and it's a valid concern in terms of the proliferation of rats in Medford. And I think we've heard a lot about that in Somerville and also Boston, um, that that's been a real problem. And I have seen rats in Medford. Um, so I understand the concern for sure. It has been really interesting to realize that, um, the compost bins are like the enemy of the rat. I imagine like two rats talking to each other and just being like, boy, I really hate these compost bins because I can't get in there. And it used to be this like backyard composting situation that was like, you know, rat buffet and like I could bring all my friends and, you know, it was just like endless food source. And now, you know, like you can't, the rat can't get into those bins. I do have a friend in Medford who Um, has had like raccoons get into her bins. Um, which I think is more of a credit to the raccoon. Like, I feel very impressed, like thinking about that, like they were able to knock it over and then like pry it open with their like little paws. Um, she solved that by like putting a bungee cord around it. So like, now that raccoons are also like, you know, bummed out, but, um, definitely a rat can't get into the compost bin. So, um, yeah, it does, uh, maybe counterintuitively. the curbside composting program serves as a really good mitigation to that problem. And compost and food scraps are not the only food source for rats, but it's one of the main ones. So yeah, I like to think about how the rats are. The more curbside composting that we do, the more unhappy the rats are in Medford, and the more that they're gonna be like, well, I guess there's not as much for me here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they'll be headed somewhere else. I know Boston's really taking a good look. We do the compost program in Boston as well. And the containerization of food waste is a big thing, because there's areas in the city where there's just piles of bags on the street. There's no container, and not everyone's composting, obviously. So that's an unmitigated disaster for rodents. My personal theory is that's probably where they're really coming from and then they're just making their way to Medford. But yeah, I think we can make it an unwelcoming community for them.
[Danielle Balocca]: Yeah, that's good to know. I do think that's probably like a myth, like a myth that a lot of people believe in. I do think too, like from anecdotally what I've heard people is like it's just a hard change to make to like not be used to separating your food and your trash like this, just kind of not wanting to have an extra task in the kitchen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, right. Well, you just said like an extra task in it. And that's exactly what it seems like it would be. And maybe it's like, you know, Christina said in the beginning of like trying to figure out like, OK, which bin is this going in? But I think once you get over that pretty brief hump of, you know, understanding where things go, it's not actually any more work because, you know, if you have You turn left and throw it in there, you turn right and throw it in there. It's no different than if you have a recycle bin and a trash bin next to each other. You're not having to like handle it twice or do something. I mean, there's a third bin to put at the street, I guess. But, you know, it's, I mean, we actually, there is somewhat legitimate concern there with like older people that already have a hard time maybe doing something like getting a bin out to the road. But we even have a handle extension that we've given out to some people as an accessibility aid that makes it a lot easier to wheel the bin if it's something that's a trouble. So there's a lot of solutions. just really hoping that people will be willing to give it a try, because the retention rate is high. I think anyone who starts doing it starts to realize, Jesus, this isn't any more work. And wow, it's actually kind of nice. And Jesus, I feel good about this. I'm really doing something that is a small, meaningful change that's positive for the community.
[Danielle Balocca]: And the bids are very cute.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I second that.
[Danielle Balocca]: I do think hearing from you today that any food scraps can go into the compost is really helpful. I kind of imagined it was more of a sorting process with your food scraps, but that's great to know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, yes. So simple. Right. I mean, it becomes so second nature. Do you just automatically know if it's going to break down or not? You know, is this organic or is this like trash?
[MCM00000565_SPEAKER_05]: That is really a cool point maybe to highlight, because maybe some people who are considering it, they might be thinking about what they heard or learned maybe about composting, you know, kind of traditional backyard composting recommendations, which were much more limited, you know, mainly like vegetable peelings and things like that. And then what I recall from the time that I first tried to do it in the backyard, you know, there was a lot of guidance about, you know, thinking about things in terms of like, I think like brown matter versus green matter, and then like kind of stirring it repeatedly, you know, just more things that you would need to do to manage The compost so that it would break down into the soil components in the right way. And because it's in a small scale in your backyard. I guess it could be easy to somehow like throw a wrench in that by putting chicken bones or ratios of stuff. Um, it's like amazing to think about how. At this scale of this sort of like, you know, municipal level composting, you can put like, I have what Tyler said earlier. Um, there was a time when I had, uh, like a little party at my house and I got the BPI certified compostable, like plates and napkins. All of that went into the compost. Um, you feel like a total rebel putting like, you know, meat scraps, you know, but it's because of the scale that it's like working at, um, once you kind of get going, you know, then it's just amazing how much can go in there and that you can imagine is going to break down into this like rich stuff. Um, and compared to maybe what. One might've heard from their friend who was doing it and really into it years ago. Actually, it's so easy. You don't have to worry about the ratio of anything. You don't have to stir anything. really do anything at all except take it out with the rest of your, alongside your other bins. So that might be sort of, I don't know, something in the back of people's minds if they ever tried it in the past or heard about it from like a really enthusiastic backyard composter. This is so easy and streamlined. It's like quite cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, well said, actually. And I was thinking about how in the beginning you were talking about how, you know, you can put stuff in the freezer. And I've I've heard people say like, OK, yeah, I'll just, you know, put my stuff in the freezer. And that's actually something that we also try to communicate out is like you don't generally have to do anything different than what you do now. Like there, you know, if you have some rotten chicken in your fridge, you'd be a fool to take it out of the fridge before a trash day. You leave it in there and then you put it in your trash bag and let it sit there for four days. But whatever you normally do to manage your waste, if you don't compost, it's the same thing. It's in your trash bag right now. So it's not going to smell more or less or different likely than it does currently. It's just putting it in a different spot and you don't really need any very serious strategies to manage it. You can, there's lots of tips out there if you do have an issue. Like, for example, you could take shredded newspaper or finished compost or something like that and put it on top of the scraps in your bin if you, if you do have an issue with flies or something. But realistically, you know, you just put a like a bowl on your counter. This is what I do next to the sink. put my coffee grinds and my little eggshells and food scraps in there and then when it's full or once a day whichever comes first dump it in the compost bin and then boom you know and then the compost bin is Uh, doesn't really smell other than when you open it, but, or you just keep it outside and it's the non-issue. So, uh, yeah, it's, I think it really is a very simple thing that you can make more complicated if you want to optimize it in some other way, but, uh, it's not, it's nothing to it.
[MCM00000565_SPEAKER_05]: And maybe one other thing to add as well as some people like to use bin liners and, um, it sounds like you get some bin liners actually when you get started in Medford. I understand that that's optional and doesn't have to be used, at least, you know, in your. kitchen, if you have a kitchen kind of countertop bin, you can just, you know, put the food in it directly and like pour it out and then rinse it out and you don't have to have any liner. That's kind of more of a preference thing. And I've also used like paper bags that I got from the grocery store. It can be like bin liners if you do want one. Correct me if I'm wrong about that, Tyler, but I have heard that that's, you know, allowed, you know, if you use that as a bin liner.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad you said that because it's a good one. There's liners. City gives you one bag to line the cart and you can get more. They're not very expensive. We can get them through us and we'll deliver them with the service or you can get them at the store that fit the bin just perfectly. Or you can use little bags in a countertop compost bin. But yeah, the simplest thing to do if you have paper grocery bags, they fit really pretty well in that compost cart and You could put one or two in there and then just take like you said like a bowl or whatever You're collecting scraps and rinse it out. You know, you can dump that straight into a bag It doesn't need to like your bin and may not be perfectly clean But it's not gonna be that bad if you have some kind of liner. It is definitely best practice to have some containment of scraps just to keep the bin somewhat somewhat clean and you know, it's a waste bin. So once in a while you might want to rinse it out, but it's not really something you are going to have an issue with if you have a paper grocery bag or something to keep the scraps contained in there.
[Danielle Balocca]: Well, these are very helpful tips, very compelling arguments here. Thank you both for taking the time to explain this to us. Any last comments before we wrap up?
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I guess if anyone is listening that hasn't tried it yet, it's pretty easy to try it. So I would say don't knock it until you've tried it. Medford is the top community in the state right now. composting and you're a little bit madder. So just give it a try. And a lot of people are surprised how much they do generate like paper towels, coffee, like everybody eats. There's nobody that doesn't have some food scraps. And I guess one last thought is down the drain, garbage disposal is not good. It's not helping the environment. It's not helping the sewer. So that's not really a solution. When someone says, oh, well, I just put my scraps down the drain. I'm like, oh, good. Well, then you do have some scraps and you're separating them already. So this will be really easy for you. Yeah, that's my parting wisdom.
[MCM00000565_SPEAKER_05]: I'll just say for myself that I feel really proud of Medford for having such a successful, like the residents of Medford who, as Tyler said, have made this so successful in such a short period of time. And I'm grateful that we have this service because, yeah, it feels good. It's kind of fun. It feels aligned with our values. So I feel really grateful for that. And I hope that more people will hear about it and think about giving it a try.
[Danielle Balocca]: Me too. And thank you both.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for having me.
[Danielle Balocca]: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. The Medford Bites podcast is produced and moderated by Danielle Balacca and Shelly Keshaman. Music is made by Hendrik Idonis. We'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. You can reach out to us by email at medfordpod at gmail.com, or you can rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts. Thanks so much for listening. Guys, what's the name of the podcast? Medford Bites. Medford Bites. Good job.