Episode Details

Zach Buchel

Wendy Corr:

Well, hey there folks, welcome to The Roundup. We're a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on interesting people in the cowboy state. I am thrilled today to be able to introduce people who are not in Park County to this person who has come and literally, literally made his mark on the land here in Park County.

So we're going to talk to Zach, but first, I want to make sure that you all know about a really great podcast out there for business people in Wyoming. It's called the "Business From the Basement" podcast. It's by the Wyoming Business Alliance, and they want to help business people to succeed. So check out the "Business From the Basement" podcast for great resources, people, stories and and really, to get your feet under you when it comes to being a business person. So first though, before I send you on that direction, I want to introduce you to Zach buckle. Zach is a he's got Wyoming roots, literally, but he also came from an urban background, and he brought his passion for the land, his passion for growing things, and brought it to Cody several years ago, and he's just been a great part of the of the Green Movement here in Northwest Wyoming. Hello, Zach. How are you today?

Zach Buchel:

Hey, Wendy, how you doing?

Wendy Corr:

I'm great. I'm so glad to have you here. I tell you, folks, when I was at the Big Horn Radio Network, I introduced the listening audience at KODI radio to Zach through what was called, and still is called, Farm Table West. And Zach is the CEO and founder of Farm Table West, and he's got great ideas and great ways to really encourage the truly, getting back to, I'm going to do it again, our roots here in rural Wyoming. So Zach, how are you doing? What are you doing? You're taking a break from farming to talk to us.

Zach Buchel: Yeah, yeah. It's been, it's been an action packed couple weeks. We're building a new greenhouse as we speak. But Mondays are kind of a slow day, so I'm actually really excited to be sitting at my desk and not sweating right now. So thank you.

Wendy Corr:

It's been a little warm, hasn't it?

Zach Buchel:

It has.

Wendy Corr:

Zach, you've got such a great Wyoming story. As far as how you got here, as far as you as a person, as an adult, got you here to why me? Because you have connections to the Cody area, but you grew up in an urban area, so I just tell us about how you found your way to living back here in Northwest Wyoming.

Zach Buchel:

Sure. So yeah, I grew up in Woodstock, Illinois, which is just outside of Chicago, and I ended up working in the city for a couple years. And while I was working in Chicago, I ended up visiting some urban vegetable farms on the south side of Chicago, because I was interested in gardening and growing food.

I got interested in that in college, so I wanted to visit some farms, and I ended up visiting some on the south side. And if you know anything about Chicago, the South side is where all the murders happen. It's really rough part of town.

And so what was really cool about those farms was they were bringing the community together in a way that the kids that were working there wouldn't have been, would have been dealing drugs or something else otherwise, because there's just no other jobs or opportunities in these neighborhoods. There's, they're basically what you call a food desert.

But it's not really just about food deserts. There's just no opportunity, so, and that's a whole long story, but was really cool is, they were literally growing vegetables on parking lots. So, like, there's a lot of abandoned p