The Ranch Podcast

Brett Wilder is an Ag Economist, Proprietor of Boise River Lamb, and an incredible lamb chef. He kindly agreed to smoke a boneless leg of lamb to bring in that we devoured and share his recipe. The more I engage with local providers and find out how they work their homegrown proteins, the more I’m drawn to cooking at home myself with high quality, locally sourced food. My mouth is watering recount...

Ilana Rubel is the House Minority Leader from District 18. She has been in the Idaho legislature for roughly a decade and came in to speak on the take cut that just passed. The $300+ million was put together with many small pieces, like property and grocery tax cuts, as well as one big income tax cut. Ilana picked apart these pieces and shed light on who the winners and losers were from this struc...

Nick Fasciano is the Executive Director of Idaho Wildlife Federation, the oldest association dedicated to representing hunters, anglers, and wildlife enthusiasts in the state of Idaho. During the legislative session, Nick and IWF watch legislation and advocate on behalf of sportsmen and conservationists. He came in to give me a legislative analysis through the lens of wildlife and conservation. En...

Rod Gramer is the former president of Idaho Business for Education. This is a group comprised of hundreds of leading businesses in the Gem State that work together to advocate for a pragmatic, effective education system that yields competent, employable business leaders of tomorrow. I invited Rod in to better understand what businesses in Idaho actually need from our education system. As a father...

Bobbi-Jo Meuleman is the CEO and President of the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce. She advocates for local patronage of businesses and services in the greater Boise area as well as advocates for effective policy on behalf of her membership with state and local governments. We spoke about education, housing, stresses on the area, and more importantly, where to get the best Ribeye in Boise. Enjoy! T...

Brad Richy is the Director of the Idaho Office of Emergency Management. He recently helped organize just over 100 local firefighters to go assist in the fire crisis in California. We spoke about the organizations involved in this type of work, the cost to the take payers, and why this is good for Idaho. We also moved away from fire talk to discuss other emergency management issues including emerge...

Heather Scott is a District 2 Representative and brought a joint memorial as the first act of the 2025 legislative session to tell the SCOTUS to re-visit its 2015 decision on gay marriage. She feels it is a state’s rights issue and not something to be determined by the federal government and Supreme Court. She is also bringing bills regarding local rights to fly flags as well as labels for alterna...

Scott Bedke is the Lt. Governor of Idaho and came in to speak about the SPEED Council, a group formed by an executive order from Governor Little comprised of several state agency directors that will expedite the review of permits, increase collaboration with project proponents, boost public transparency, and seek to eliminate duplicative or unnecessary statutes and rules. The world supply chain pr...

Monica Church is a District 19 Representative, school teacher, and ferociously Idahoan. She has a very clear perspective on what makes Idaho, Idaho, and her articulation about what Idaho was and is becoming was something I had never heard so clearly before. I greatly appreciated her time and energy and am confident this is the first of many. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes ar...

Rich Stover is the Administrator of the Governor’s Office of Energy and Mineral Resources. The SPEED Council has recently been created to offer a more streamlined, efficient process for companies to engage in to bolster our energy production and mineral harvesting processes. This is NOT a rubber stamp program, but instead one focused on making a more attractive review and regulation process for co...

Quinn Perry is the Idaho School Board Association Government Affairs officer. She advocates on behalf of the elected school board officials from across the state of Idaho. We spoke about education extensively, as you might imagine, and she brought up points like due process and parental vs school rights that I had never heard before. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are suppor...

Russ Fulcher is a United States Congressman representing the great people of Idaho. He has been working on several things, including finding a way to improve management of our public lands, ways to supply more and better energy to Idaho, and a way to eliminate income taxes on overtime pay. He also offered an explanation about why Idaho has public lands owned by the federal government that I had ne...

Janie Ward-Engelking is a District 18 Senator who has been on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) for years. JFAC is responsible for establishing a revenue estimate and then dolling out said revenue. This is a crucial piece of the entire legislative process as the legislative session cannot conclude until Idaho has a budget. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are s...

David Leavitt is a District 25 Representative fighting to repeal the grocery tax. This particular tax in Idaho is not popular among the populace and many attempts have been made to repeal it with no success. The state does offer a grocery tax rebate that you can file to recoup some of your tax burden, but that naturally begs the question, why have a tax in the first place if I can file to get it b...

Dr. Derek Bub is the superintendent for West Ada School District, the best public school district in the state of Idaho and one of the best in the country. The district is not just academically successful, but it also has culturally conservative policies in place, like banning all flags other than US and Idaho flags, removing inappropriate books from libraries, and prohibiting political speech in...

Soñia Galaviz is a District 16 Representative, a teacher, and a champion for addressing the problems with our rural school funding system. Funding for public schools in Idaho has a lot of pieces, including gross property value of the area, attendance in schools, and community willingness to fund said schools. This comes into conflict frequently with the constitutional obligation to provide a free...

Justin Buckley works for Idaho Coalition of Land Trusts, an organization working to help preserve agricultural land. Ag land is not only required for food systems, but it’s also an integral part of our tax base. Residential developments are a net negative from a county tax standpoint, whereas agricultural operations are a net benefit. Preserving this land is not only important for local providers...

Brody Harshbarger is one of seven Idaho Fish & Game commissioners directly appointed by the Governor, a rancher, and a wildlife enthusiast. He also has grizzly bears walking around his yard where his children play. Much conversation has been had regarding ranchers on public lands and what that relationship should be with wild predators, but very little is being said for individuals who are eng...

Dr. Julie Yamamoto is a former Idaho State representative and chair of the house education committee, and is also currently on the board of several charter schools. She is a member of the group Idaho Children Are Primary and has insights into the difficulty with educating large populations of people and what we can do to improve our system. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are...

Travis Ruby is the Eagle Chief of Police. Eagle PD recently busted a local massage parlor that was engaged in the sex trade as well as many other things. Chief Ruby spoke at length about the myriad of issues that having a crime center like this brings to our area as well as root causes of said services. This was a sobering conversation, but understanding what is being done to protect my family, yo...

David Lent a District 33 Senator and recently waded into the School Choice discussion. Many people have criticized School Choice bills for having little or no accountability from the state on private schools that get state funding. Senator Lent has proposed a version of this but also indicated that if we are going to offer private schools funds with no strings attached, then we should do the same...

Bill Mitchell is an attorney and advocate for equal rights in Idaho. He graciously came in to explain a large confusion most people have regarding employment law. Idaho is a right to work state as well as an At Will state, but even with these two designations, you cannot fire people for a protected reason, like their race or gender. You can, however, fire them because they are gay. Although title...

Elliot Tolbert is the manager and resident chef at Northwest Premium Meats. In this episode he brought in his slow cooked Buffalo Hump Birria Tacos, and let me tell you, they were INCREDIBLE. By far the best protein I have had in years outside of my own person Ribeye. The variety of meats that NW Premium offers paired with the right recipe is truly incredible. Check them out if you’re curious! And...

Alison Rabe is a District 16 Senator and passionate about addressing the housing crisis in Idaho. Idaho prices have skyrocketed in recent years, but rents have also jumped up as well making Idaho and specifically the Treasure Valley one of the most unaffordable housing markets in the nation. Senator Rabe has several ideas about addressing this issue, and rent control is NOT one of them. Enjoy! The...

Brandy Furiani is the Executive Director of the Eagle Chamber of Commerce, and she brought in a gluten free, vegan brownie with some kind of witchcraft in it. It was incredible. We had a great time as always and are winding up to showcase more incredible local options for all us Treasure Valley folk. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast Legislative Session episodes are supported by Truth In Media Foundation,...