The Ranch Podcast

Brandy Furiani is the Executive Director of Eagle Chamber of Commerce, and we spoke at length today about social media, how to find your voice, and what the Chamber does to try to help businesses find their voices on different mediums. She also brought in INCREDIBLE food from Tasso. Thank you TASSO!!!!! www.theRanchPodcast.org The Ranch Podcast is the premier source for long format interviews and...

Dr. Kyle Tobler is a reproductive medicine specialist at Idaho Center for Reproductive Medicine. Reproductive Medicine is a massively growing field as couples wait longer to have children, we focus on careers more, and we move away from the older paradigm of marriage and children in our late teens and early 20s. Dr. Kyle Tobler from the Idaho Center for Reproductive Medicine came in to speak about...

Marc Gee is the Middleton School District Superintendent and came in to speak about a bond measure that the district is running. Middleton is growing at a breakneck speed, and many people are moving there for better lives for themselves and their children, which, naturally, puts enormous pressure on the schools. The district has worked for years to revise and reduce the bond measure that they’ve t...

Kate Wilson is the Executive Director of Foster + Heart foster care that focuses on offering an emergency foster care service for large sibling groups that would otherwise be separated in the worst times of their young lives. She came in to speak about the incredible work they’re doing and also to let people know how they can get involved and help. There is a supply drive at the 10 Mile Walmart on...

Monica Church is an Idaho educator and an avid defender of Idaho’s culture and history. She spent a huge part of the legislative session extending olive branches to those on the other side of the aisle and believes that friendship and collaboration are truly at the heart of a pragmatic, functional Idaho. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast is supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-profit media organiz...

Kristen Jenson is a leading child safety advocate, author, and national voice for defending our young people. She has multiple best selling books about ways to talk to your young children about pornography and what they can do if they find themselves in a bad situation with a predator or even another child. These are difficult conversations to have, but these problems have become part of a nationa...

Mike Simpson is the District 2 US Congressman to Idaho and came in to speak about issues with the Equal Access to Justice Act, the Public Lands in Public Hands bill that he is co-sponsoring, and the DOGE initiative spearheaded by Elon Musk and supported by President Trump. I greatly appreciate his willingness to carve out time for these crucial conversations. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast is supported...

Nick Fasciano is the Executive Director of Idaho Wildlife Federation and came in to speak about wildlife distribution in the state of Idaho. Big game in particular is functioning in ways that are different from years past, and this shift in movement and migration patterns have many causes. Nick will also be speaking at the Rugged Idaho event in Caldwell on April 19th. If you’re interested in heari...

Parker Hargen started his So Good movement almost roughly ten years ago, and has led by example bringing the best, positive actions forward to his community. He drives around with a Nascar jack in his car to help with flats (in record time, mind you) and leans in to taking real, meaningful action in the real world. It’s humbling to be around someone who is so unabashedly pushing to be better every...

Matt Clifford is the Ada County Sheriff and is intimately involved with dealing with illegal immigrants in our area. Many people have asked recently if Idaho law enforcement offices and departments will cooperate with ICE in the coming months and years, and Matt came in to explain that this way of thought is a little backwards. Sheriffs in Idaho don’t have the power of deportation. They can only a...

Brett Wilder is an Agricultural Economist for University of Idaho and a local producer at Boise River Lamb. He came in to talk about the tariffs being placed on our imports and what that means for Idaho’s industries, its producers, its imports and exports. As Brett points out, these are not all good or all bad, and more than anything, if you have a “Buy Local” bumper sticker on your car and you DO...

Susie Keller is the CEO of the Idaho Medical Association and came in to speak about many things that came up in the legislative session. One in particular was the problem with Parental Consent laws that have issues when considering emergency situations found within recreation, foster care, and even assaults. We also spoke about the state of medical schools within Idaho and finished off with women’...

Dr. Phil Gore is the Chief Learning Officer for the Idaho School Board Association and works nationally with school boards and leaders to improve public education. He came in to speak about the problems with school boards, the structure, the election process, and what to consider. As Dr. Gore points out, most people do not think about school boards until there are huge problems in the community, a...

Alexis Pickering is the executive director of the Conservation Voters of Idaho and a huge public lands advocate and educator. Idaho received statehood in part because of a deal we struck with the federal government and land that was inside our state borders. This land was in part designed to compensate the existing states for wrapping us into the union. Alexis did a masterful job of explaining wha...

Alexis Morgan is the Idaho State PTA President and is helping build and promote a community summit on April 26th. The More Social Less Media event will bring experts from across the field and country that are all dedicated to improving the relationship with tech and youth in our community. Tech safety experts, community building experts, tech companies and more will attend the event to present, an...

Marco Erickson is a District 33 Representative and program director at the LIV Teen Center. He’s incredibly engaged with Idaho youth and cares deeply for the health and welfare of our young people. He has also worked in other states dealing with the homeless crisis that has swept the west, and his explanations of programs, ROIs to taxpayers, and general strategies around youth and drugs were aweso...

Luke Ankeny is the manager at Marsing Ag Labor and works with agriculture employers to fill labor needs. Our ag system is dependent on a patchwork labor force made of foreign, domestic, and everything in between. Ag labor in particular has come under fire in the state of Idaho with some accusing ag employers of impropriety during the hiring process, but the employer side of the issue is not black...

Ben Gillenwater is a former Chief Tech Officer and current cyber security expert who has turned his focus onto the child tech world. There are many programs and pieces of tech that are marketed to parents and children as safe, fun, and generally innocuous. However, as Ben took a deep dive into the world of child facing tech, he realized how damaging and dangerous it really is. He has committed his...

Paul Arrington is the President of the Idaho Water Users Association and came in to discuss the future of water in Idaho. Gov. Brad Little requested a $30 million line item for ongoing water research and analysis to ensure the availability of this incredibly scarce and valuable resource in our arid, agricultural state. Paul came in to discuss where we’re headed, what the legislature did, and what...

Lauren Necochea is the leader of the Democratic Party in Idaho and came in to speak about the legislative session, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast is supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-profit media organization committed to unbiased, Idaho focused media.  www.theRanchPodcast.org The Ranch Podcast is the premier source for long format interviews and information...

Brian Jagger is the founder of GuardRailz AI, an AI company that helps integrate safe, effective AI tech with education systems. His insights about what AI can and can’t do, along with what schools are actually looking for in education was amazing. Enjoy! The Ranch Podcast is supported by Truth In Media Foundation, a non-profit media organization committed to unbiased, Idaho focused media.  www.th...

Jonathan Oppenheimer works for the Idaho Conservation League, and we spoke extensively about the timber industry in Idaho. Some have blamed the destruction of the timber industry on environmental preservation and also blamed the increased fuel load for the massive fires we are experiencing. Jonathan sees things differently, specifically from the lens of changing consumer needs with lumber and long...

Brandy Furiani is the Executive Director of the Eagle Chamber of Commerce. We were blessed to enjoy two vanilla lattes from the new Form and Function coffee spot on Eagle at Hill and 55 while we talked some trash and schemed for the summer months. Thank you Heather Ferguson Realty for helping bring this fun, informative, community episode to the people! www.theRanchPodcast.org The Ranch Podcast is...

Dr. Emily Wakild is a BSU professor, historian, and beaver expert. The beaver has an amazing and incredibly functional history in Idaho, which comes as no surprise considering our extensive network of rivers and creeks. This amazing creature helped in the past but is also currently still helping by creating surface water storage systems that our state desperately needs to continue capturing our pr...

Chris Danley is a civil and traffic engineer in and out of the state of Idaho. He has worked on projects in almost every major area of the state and came in to speak about the interesting trend of state legislation that is designed to control local traffic design. In Ada County, for instance, we have a highway district that has commissioners that are elected by the residents of Ada County, but the...