Buddy Buck Show

Buddy Buck (00:00)
What's up, friends and neighbors? Buddy Buck here, back with another episode of Community

This episode is brought to you by Dr.

at Premier Orthodontics, one of the proud sponsors of the Duvall Town Easter Egg Hunt.

All right. I am here with Janya Varanth. How are doing, Janya? Tell us a little bit about yourself and thanks for being on the show today.

Janya (00:27)
Hi, I'm great, I'm nervous. I've lived here since 2007. We moved out here when our oldest was nine weeks old. And I'm a Cedarcrest mom, freshman and a senior. And I'm a Cedarcrest wife, if that's a thing. My husband teaches math at the high school. And I'm a retired pig farmer. And now I'm a professional volunteer. Do a lot of stuff up at the school and now a lot of stuff with salmon for soldiers.

Buddy Buck (00:29)
You

haha

That's really cool. So a little icebreaker here, cause I know you mentioned you're nervous, which by the way, that is super common. And you are in the majority of people that come on a show like this So just give yourself a pat on the back for just saying yes in the first place. So that's a huge win.

All right, so what is your favorite smell, Janya?

Janya (01:09)
Hmm.

Salt air, when you can smell the sea. I love it.

Buddy Buck (01:14)
Okay, and is that like a core memory from childhood or is there something behind that?

Janya (01:17)
I did grow up in Hawaii, thank you U.S. Navy. So I'm sure. And I spent most of my time in California.

Buddy Buck (01:24)
water related, which is kind of perfect for what we're gonna talk about here a little bit later. How did you find Duvall in the first place? Because it's not a place you just kind of accidentally go by house in.

Janya (01:34)
Yeah, my husband and I got married in Kirkland and we were living there and he wanted to raise his kids in the country. And he was a real estate and land use attorney at the time. And he cold called farmers out here in the Valley. His cousin had grown up in Woodinville. So he was familiar with Duvall and had a friend whose dad lived out here when there was nothing.

So that's how we found this property and started developing it when I was pregnant with my first and yeah, 2007.

Buddy Buck (02:03)
Awesome, so you said pig farmer. Tell us a little bit about the pig farming chapter of your life.

Janya (02:09)
Now, so 2012, we started raising sheep and did that for a couple of years and then added pigs to the mix. And we were the only animal welfare approved pig farm in King County. And so we raised our sheep and pigs for meat, Berkshire hogs and cheviot sheep. And that was wonderful. And then got into the world of travel sports and became a little bit much.

But yeah, wonderful chapter. was a great way to raise our kids, having baby animals and unloading a thousand pounds of pig feed at a time. And it was incredible.

Buddy Buck (02:46)
Wow, that's very cool. So tell us a little bit about travel sports, why you had to get out of the pig farming business and get into more travel sports.

Janya (02:53)
Yeah, so my kids are baseball, wrestling, football, track. And at the time we were just kind of going all over with baseball and having to hire a farm sitter and then getting a call that the thousand pound boar is out. And there's a lot to juggle and just kind of wanted to be all in while all our kids were little. So yeah, retired from farming after several years.

Buddy Buck (03:08)
You

Janya (03:17)
But yeah, can always go back to it, which is great. Once I'm an empty nester, might have to. Yeah. Yeah.

Buddy Buck (03:21)
Yeah, right. Yeah. Get back to your, get back to the pig life.

So you mentioned a whole bunch of sports that your kids are playing. is that something that, you and your husband were like very proactive, saying, Hey, you should get into athletics or is that something they organically gravitated to or a little bit of both?

Janya (03:38)
Yeah, so just being out here back in the woods and running around just so active and we just have such a great little league and a great baseball community and Josh Polacek had Puget Sound Powerhouse PSP and got involved with his teams for both of our boys and

Yeah, it's just been, it's been a great outlet. And then once they got into the high school sports, that was incredible. I was able to go with my oldest son through his entire four years of high school football and being on the football booster club and being a team dinner captain and just going alongside him for that journey was incredible. And yeah, now wrestling and just the back to back to sports, high school sports.

Sports in general are so special, but high school sports in this community is extra special.

Buddy Buck (04:26)
Yeah, totally agree. We did that special, which we'll talk about in just a second, that mini doc with Ryan Miller and RMV PRO But just generally with being sports parents like What has sports done for your kids?

Janya (04:38)
It's the community. When they see this entire community come out for a wrestling match, for a football game, for a baseball game, for a track meet, they just know they're surrounded by so much support. It's incredible. When we go on the road, our visiting families are oftentimes bigger than the home families.

when we when we visit other schools. It's just a great just being surrounded like that. What a good feeling. They've just learned so much discipline and they see the commitment that our coaches have. It's incredible. they've just learned all those good things that you hope your kids will learn from other great adults in their life.

Buddy Buck (05:16)
So, Jayna what do you think it is that makes Duvall so special?

Janya (05:19)
Commitment. Commitment, for sure. The commitment of coaches to kids, the commitment of families supporting not just their own kids, but other people's kids. Just so much commitment.

Buddy Buck (05:32)
Yeah, and I know you mentioned earlier that community aspect is the baseline of, you know, this whole thing, right?

Janya (05:36)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, there's nothing like it. The Friday Night Lights, any sport, the outpouring of just showing up. Showing up is just really it, I think, in life sometimes. Who's showing up for each other, who's showing up for... Yeah, all of us. It's important.

Buddy Buck (05:55)
Yeah. Well,

it's like you today. said, gosh, I'm really nervous. I'm like, look, you just saying yes, that's you showing up. That's you being the answer to your own question right now. that's a congratulations on showing up for yourself today right now and for Salmon for Soldiers. So that's really cool. All right. So we ⁓ mentioned Ryan Miller from RMV PRO So how did you meet Ryan originally? Just give me the quick version of how you met Ryan and cause it's been a long time, like well before I knew him.

Janya (06:21)
Ryan Miller was our internet technician. Yeah, wave broadband. Yeah. And when COVID happened and everything was online and we only had cellular internet.

Buddy Buck (06:26)
Yeah

Janya (06:33)
We had to dig a 600 foot trench to get to the main stub to even be able to have work and school from home. And it was when we had Ryan on speed dial, he was an absolute saint. He saw me at my absolute worst and he was just helping us and just made such an impression on his commitment to getting us up and running. a great guy. So yeah, we've known him since, what is it, six years now, COVID.

So we've known him since 2020 and just so honored to be able to call him an absolute friend. Great. Yeah.

Buddy Buck (07:02)
Yeah, that's really cool. He's

definitely all those things for sure. So then tell me a little bit about what was the ask with Ryan? Because your son Glenn was QB one last year for the football team, right? So senior night, that's where you know, I got to see some of that magic happen. That was such a special night. did you just reach out to Ryan? because that thing turned out just absolutely gorgeous.

Janya (07:23)
It did. So I just know how talented Ryan is and I know how invested he is in this community and giving back in his history with this community. And I think I just texted him and said, Hey, would you be willing to come out and film the team, you know, maybe for homecoming, maybe for senior night and just two minutes of getting some highlights just because

Buddy Buck (07:45)
Two

minutes.

Janya (07:47)
You know, you've seen him on the Seahawks and you know, he knows football sideline captures very well. And I thought, Hey, what if we could just get him to come out a couple of minutes, get some video and, just have that archive for the parents who've gone all in for this team and the players and coaches and what can we do? And what he came back with was mind blowing. I

Can't watch it without crying, it's just beautiful. So he's given us something that 10 years from now we can look back on and go, wow, that was really something.

Buddy Buck (08:22)
Yeah, that's cool. yeah, if people want to watch that mini we'll put the link in the comments below. So people can go back and watch that. Cause working with Ryan over the last, handful of years now too, with Duvall TV and some personal projects, REF you know, the REF RUN 5k we've done so many cool, fun things together. And it's just, it doesn't even feel like we're really working. I mean, you know, number one, I'm a real estate agent. So this is kind of like my side fun thing is just to build community. And that's like.

one A one B and I don't know which is which, right? I just love building and working with this community like you do too, Janya. So when it came to Ryan's deliverable, meaning the produced video, I watched it and I was like 10 seconds in, I straight up paused it and I'm like, wow, this feels like a full blown like 100K documentary, just that initial feeling. And so I totally get what you're saying when it came to like his overproduction of

The two minute ask is like a full blown like mini movie.

Janya (09:15)
Yeah.

Buddy Buck (09:18)
The mini documentary was about senior night. what were the emotions like that night when you were watching, Glenn QB one. So QB one is starting quarterback and seeing that final game like take me through that.

Janya (09:29)
It happens so fast. remember him being a freshman walking out the door to his first day of high school football practice and seeing through the years the senior nights of the people who'd gone before him and it just happens so fast. And as soon as they go to spring football and central Washington camp, it just takes off. So it comes so quickly.

And again, another reason I'm so grateful, because when it's happening, you're so in the moment that you're aware of it. So I'm glad there's evidence that we did go through that.

Buddy Buck (09:59)
You

Janya (10:00)
We had a torrential rainstorm, which made it even more kind of magical in its own special way. And everyone just banded together and we were all out there just drowning and just huge smiles. I'm just so proud of these kids. Some of the injuries they've had battling through illness, injury, and the way they just never stopped lifting each other up and wow, what a band of brothers. Amazing. Yeah.

Buddy Buck (10:23)
Yeah,

really cool. I don't know if you know this, but I just had Aiden Valentine on the podcast last week. he's such a great interview. What a great leader and I'm sure great friend to Glenn too. But yeah, he's a real special kid

Janya (10:35)
Yeah. So it was very difficult because then you knew that it was over. It was on its way to being over. It's very sad. mean, the whole senior year is a kick in the teeth, but beautiful, but really hard.

Buddy Buck (10:48)
Yeah, you're

I just think about you know growing up and my parents you know the kind of the same thing they were like super dedicated multi sports a lot of our you know my brothers and sisters and it's just like my mom and dad I mean they did not miss games and it's just so it's just special I'm gonna say it's normal or not normal I'm just saying it's very very special to have that experience

even as the son, right? having your parents show up and support you over and over. It's like, dude, I get choked up right now. Just thinking about like their commitment to, their kids and just special.

Janya (11:15)
Wow.

You're killing me, buddy.

Buddy Buck (11:22)
I know, I know, my bad. Sorry, not sorry.

All right, so let's shift gears from senior night to really one of the main things that you were going to come on and talk about and tell us a little bit about Salmon for Soldiers, Janya like, what is this all about?

Janya (11:28)
and

Salmon for Soldiers The Mission is Fishin' It was started in about 2011 by Randy and Penny Shelton. And Randy was an Army veteran. And he came home and there was no safety net. There were a lot of unmet needs. And...

People come home from war with ⁓ injuries that you can't see, traumatic brain injury, PTSD. And when Randy's son came home from war, over three and a half years of combat, he got most of him back. They didn't get all of him back. So, Randy was sitting in the driveway with Rob Endlsey who's a fishing captain, and said, what can we do? And said, let's take him fishing.

we want them to just be okay for a day. So.

They started it back in 2011 and now it's grown into something huge and beautiful. Our flagship event every September in Everett is the Day of Honor. And last year we had over 125 volunteer boat captains and over 400 veterans served. So Salmon for Soldiers is for active duty military and veterans.

and we take them fishing completely at no charge, no cost. We have our main chapter and they do the Port of Everett every September. We have several charity golf tournaments throughout the year. I work mostly with the chapter out of CQ, which is way, way up in the corner by Neah Bay, the furthest most point of Washington. We have every August our

CQ Salmon Slam is about 100 veterans and about 35 volunteer boat captains. And now we've got a chapter in Pensacola, Florida and Moses Lake. So we're growing tremendously. We got involved in 2021. So when COVID happened.

We got a boat because they said you can't go anywhere. So I said, well, we're to go fishing. And our kids taught themselves how to fish during COVID just by watching YouTube videos. And they did a deep dive on how to salmon fish. So we started going out in the Puget Sound and we were homeschooling. So we were able to go fishing a lot. Thank God. And this opportunity just kind of fell in my lap. Salmon for soldiers and for me.

Thank

My dad was in the Navy for over 20 years and he died before my kids were born.

I felt like I could take this Navy service and my being a Navy brat and my kids love of fishing and kind of build a bridge between those two worlds. And I just really wanted to be involved with something that supported our

military members and show my kids that part of service. And so we started the Everett Day of Honor event in 2021. And it was just an incredible opportunity for my kids to show what they had learned all about salmon fishing to people who had served and

Buddy Buck (15:14)
Hmm.

Janya (15:15)
just really beautiful and.

Our events are, you know, there are veterans who are in their 90s and there's active duty men and women who are in their 20s or teens. And there's members who are in wheelchairs and are disabled and our boats can accommodate

Any skill level a lot of these people have never they're from Kansas. They've never seen the saltwater. They've never seen the ocean. They've never gone fishing. They've never They don't know what a salmon looks like. So It's it's just really incredible Our our events are always no alcohol and we do not ever ask anybody about their service We if they want to talk about it, we will listen but it's really too

Buddy Buck (15:55)
Heh.

Janya (16:14)
recognize that the veteran community is oftentimes very isolated and the thing that's beautiful about fishing is that you can be doing absolutely something and everything and nothing all at once. So you go out and there's no crowds, there's no pressure, you're just on this journey out on the water that's so healing.

Well, that's how we got involved. And we've done seven different trips over the last six years and

It's, it's incredible. I want to do what I can, you know, originally kind of wanting to bridge that gap between my, my dad's service and my kids fishing. And now I want to bring more awareness to my do ball life and this community, which we've seen with the floods, how loving and supportive and rallying this community is. So just bringing awareness to the program.

I'm spreading the word.

Buddy Buck (17:24)
Yeah. Thanks for your transparency. I mean, it's

pretty clear how important this is for you. So thanks for that. Yeah. I didn't know that about your dad either. That's, First two people to cry on the show, by the way. Congratulations. Me, you. Yep.

Janya (17:37)
Woot Woot

Buddy Buck (17:46)
So, Salmon for Soldiers, how can people get involved locally and then also nationally?

Janya (17:46)
Right.

Yeah, so SalmonForSoldiers.org, just all spelled out, SalmonForSoldiers.org. There's a button to donate. There is a contact button to reach out.

You know, know that like when you take people fishing, is a a tax benefit. think with Microsoft, hours that you donate is matched somehow. Our events like our day of honor out of Everett, it's every single captain and crew member and guest gets a sack lunch. They get a barbecue lunch. So we have tons of food being donated so you have access to

prizes that we can auction, services, and a huge shout out to Josh and Crystal Polacek from JP Tree JP Landscaping who two years ago I was just talking with them about our involvement and Josh said, just what can I do? I'll do anything. And he, for the last two years, he and Crystal have

sponsored all the parking, boat launching fees, and moorage fees, which is incredibly generous and we're incredibly grateful. So thank you to them. It's a remarkable commitment. So really anything, I would just start at the website and reach out.

Buddy Buck (19:08)
Okay cool, yeah I got the website pulled up over here so I see the donate. By the way, gorgeous website, whoever built this, it looks beautiful.

you just kind of scroll down on the boat, shoots across the screen. very fun website. These are the things that I get excited about too. So for local community, let's start with Duvall is there any volunteer opportunities or is it more just donate and spread the awareness for the soldiers or is there something on a volunteer, like physically they can do?

Janya (19:32)
So a couple of things, I just, want any active duty or veteran service member in Duvall to know that they can go fishing. Everyone, every military member can bring a guest. So sign up and go fishing. There's women's only events out of Alaska and right here in the Puget Sound. So we would just love to take people fishing. We always need volunteer boat captains.

So that's a great way to be involved. a lot of times, I mostly help the board out of the CQ chapter. So we've got our big auction. it's collecting items to auction, donatable items. A lot of our fishermen are men, but they always have a woman in their life. They've got a mom, a sister, a daughter, a wife. So even women's items.

Facials, jewelry can also be donated to be auctioned. There's always something. Like in last year, it was pretty incredible at our CQ event. So the Friday before we went fishing on Saturday, the entire Clallam County lost power.

And the next morning, starting at 2 a.m., someone was out there with a black stone cooking scrambled eggs and making 200 breakfast burritos. And someone else was doing French press coffee one cup at a time for three hours. And so everyone bands together and there's, as you know, when it comes to volunteering, there's always something, there's nothing too small. So I would start at the website for sure.

Buddy Buck (20:50)
my gosh.

one other follow up on that. So you mentioned chapters. So how many chapters are there

Janya (21:05)
Yeah, so Randy Shelton, he started it. He just recently retired. Now it's been taken over by Sam Church, who is a 23 year Marine veteran and he's really helping to grow it to Moses Lake. Idaho Clearwater River where they're doing steelhead fishing. Pensacola, Florida where they don't have any salmon, but still salmon for soldiers. The CQ chapter.

the main chapter, so just lots of growth. And then out of Alaska, and then we do have the three charity golf tournaments. So even if you don't love fishing or don't love the water, lots of, just so many opportunities. Yes.

Buddy Buck (21:47)
Lots of land opportunities, right?

Yeah, there you go. For sure. I'm thinking, you know, people are popping in my head right now in different states. So have a really good friend in Eagle, Idaho that would just love this. I know locally I've talked to Cory Heston from Heston Door Service about this, too. He did our garage doors. the Heston's are awesome and they would.

Janya (21:57)
I'm here. I'm here.

Buddy Buck (22:06)
He already said he's excited about this project too. I'm just thinking, yeah, in Idaho, if they wanted to start a new chapter and, my friend Greg wanted to do it or, you know, be partnered, like they can just reach out and contact through the site and just say their interest. Is that kind of the best way to do that?

Janya (22:20)
I think so. Go from there, yes.

Buddy Buck (22:22)
Cool. Sounds good.

Sounds good. All right. Well, anything else on the salmon for soldiers that you want to mention today on the show?

Janya (22:29)
Spread the word, the mission is fishing.

Buddy Buck (22:32)
The mission is the fishing. I'm seeing it right

here. Good for a day. Good for life. There you go.

Janya (22:36)
Yeah.

Buddy Buck (22:38)
so circling back to Duvall and the community, you've lived here a long time, describe to everybody, what is your perfect day in Duvall Washington?

Janya (22:45)
well I will tell you my favorite day is when those Christmas lights come on downtown. That's my favorite day ⁓ Yeah, just when all those street lamps are lit up it's on that's my favorite day in Duvall ⁓ Gosh, what's my favorite day? Yeah

Buddy Buck (22:52)
Okay, light up Duvall, are we talking about light up Duvall? Yeah.

That's cool.

Janya (23:05)
going to the post office. I love going to the post office. We don't have a mailbox and so you know every couple of days I'll go to the post office in my little PO box. It's just like, what do we get? And I always run into Josh and Crystal there. I love running into them. It's just fun who you're run into and

Buddy Buck (23:05)
Like you're going to town, you go to town, go to the river. What do you do?

That's okay, that's a new one

my god.

Janya (23:33)
All those little signs that are up on the window. It's just a hoot. Bring the dogs. I love driving through the coffee stand and getting some pup cups And I love going to Thai Duvall. I love going to Ixtapa. I've been going to Ixtapa since 2006 when I was pregnant with my first.

Buddy Buck (23:49)
people that have been to Duvall, there's one main street, literally it's called Main Street. to see the posters and the flyers like Morgan Henley, what events is he pushing out? Duvall Days is coming up and all these flyers from all these different organizations. It's super small town vibes and it just feels awesome. It's like no place I've ever lived

Janya (24:04)
Yeah.

Well, I was at Corie's the other day celebrating with my girlfriend for her birthday and John Denver came over the speaker and she's like, and it was snowing, this was last Friday. She's like, just take a minute and savor this small town vibe. The snow is falling, John Denver's playing, we're in this tiny cafe, it's just beautiful, it's amazing. Super sweet.

Buddy Buck (24:28)
It's

So what's your favorite? What do you order at Corie's Cafe?

Janya (24:30)
I've gotten the same thing every every single time and it's that manila bowl that adobo chicken is off the chain. I can't deviate every time I get the same thing and like three diet cokes. I love it. The best. Just killing it. Just killing it.

Buddy Buck (24:46)
All right, Corie killing it. Yeah, Corie is awesome. She's she's so great.

She's actually one of the sponsors for the Duvall Easter event coming up, too. they did that 15 percent off for volunteers at Light Up Duvall like Corie and Bill Foreman. He's the President of the Chamber of Commerce. They partnered together on some stuff and they have been such great community leaders in just a short time. It's cool.

Janya (25:08)
Yeah.

Buddy Buck (25:09)
Last couple of questions. We'll bring it in for landing here. So you follow Duvall TV. Obviously you've supported our show for a long time now and LivingInDuvall.com is our new platform So it's the website version where people can go there and just search for things like who's a painter, who's this, who's that. And it's funny because we launched this website last year. I see on the community board, it's always like

Who knows a good painter? Who knows a good this? And it's like the same 10 or 12 questions all year long. And then everybody lists all the same, three or four people or whatever it is. I'm like, gosh, wouldn't it be cool if there was just a website instead of going to Facebook, if people aren't even on Facebook or don't want to be on social media, they could just go LivingInDuvall.com and then type in the search box and then all those people show up and then they can read about them, watch videos, all that stuff. So that was kind of the idea behind launching the website this last year.

We've had over 120 submissions for listings. So businesses, teams, sports, booster clubs, But is there something that you would like to see either Duvall TV or myself do to add into the show or add into any of the media that I'm doing?

Janya (26:14)
I'll probably come up with a good answer in five minutes.

Buddy Buck (26:17)
You'll text me. I thought of it. Cool. Well, I know

Aidan ⁓ Valentine. He's the wide receiver at Cedarcrest. Obviously friends with your son. He was like just more interviewing more of us, the community, the kids, the soccer, football, DECA, FBLA, whoever, just anybody that wants to come in and be a part of the community. You don't have to play a sport or fish You just need to be a part of the community that cares. And that's

really why I launched Community Connect. So Aiden was like, just yeah, more young people. I thought that was really cool. It was really fun.

Janya (26:45)
Yeah, I love that idea. Because people have really interesting lives and sometimes we get caught up in, we're just too busy to scratch the surface and people have so much to offer. People have so much to share. So just mold it.

Buddy Buck (27:01)
Yeah. And also

too, just to tie into that, you know, in a world that's so divisive, you know, most days, if you let it, it's like, they're this way and they're this way. But it really, at end of the day, people have more in common than anybody realizes. If you just slow down and zoom out, the baseline for our community specifically is numero uno. you care about our community. So do I. We're brothers and sisters right there. You know what I mean? So that's

Janya (27:07)
Bye.

Okay.

Buddy Buck (27:28)
That's the part I love too, is that human connection in real life.

Janya (27:31)
Yes, amen. And I just thought of another favorite thing I love to do and do well, go to Rocking E and see Hannah and bring your little dog and get some treats. And that's like, to me, that's the most Mayberry, just standing around the feed store chatting. I do love that. Shout out to you. Hello!

Buddy Buck (27:44)
Okay.

my gosh. how about when they get the chicks? Like I'm not a farm

person, but when they have that giant tub and all the little baby chicks, I've just like stare at them for like five, 10 minutes.

Janya (27:59)
Yes.

Well, and

when I went to the post office last week and I opened my box, I could hear chicks in the background because people have chicks mailed to the post office a lot and they're back there cheating.

Buddy Buck (28:12)
No way.

my gosh, I did not know that that was a thing. Wow.

Janya (28:15)
Yes! Yes, you have your chicks

mailed to the post office and they call you at 4 a.m. They're like, come get them. They're all cheaping.

Buddy Buck (28:21)
All right, well, we're gonna wrap this up with a little hot seat action. Janya Varanth with Salmon for Soldiers on the hot seat. Sunrise or sunset?

Janya (28:23)
Thank

Sunset.

Buddy Buck (28:31)
tacos or pizza.

Janya (28:33)
Tacos

Buddy Buck (28:34)
New construction home or vintage character?

Janya (28:37)
vintage.

Buddy Buck (28:37)
river float or mountain hike.

Janya (28:39)
River flow.

Buddy Buck (28:40)
texting or phone call? Feel passionate about that one, do we? All right, last one. ⁓ Home cooked meal or dinner on Main Street?

Janya (28:42)
Phone call.

Both.

Buddy Buck (28:52)
Both.

well thanks, for coming on the show. Appreciate your time and sharing a little bit about Salmon for Soldiers.

Janya (28:57)
Thank you, Buddy Thank you so much. Thank you.

Buddy Buck (29:00)
You're welcome. thanks for tuning in to another episode of Community Connect, real conversations with real people right here in Duvall, Washington, where tractors meet technology, small town, real life. Buddy Buck peace.