AgArts from Horse and Buggy Land: Recent Episodes
Mary Swander
AgArts from Horse and Buggy Land, hosted by Mary Swander, explores life among the Amish and the arts and agriculture in the wider rural community.
Host Mary Swander reflects upon the wedding customs in her Amish neighborhood-from the difficulties of finidng a mate, to the services in the barn, to the reception for 500 people under the tent. Wedding stories and jokes by Duffy de France and Monica Leo. Music: What Shall I Wear to the Wedding, John? by Aunt Fanny Rumble and Albert Collins.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander's Buggy Land
maryswander.substack.com
And Mary Swander's Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
swander.substack.com
Become a premium member of our podcast Mary Swander's Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, and poetry critiques. Have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Host Mary Swander interviews Environmental Historian Professor Heather Roller from Colgate University with her student assistants Anna Miksis and Katie Moser. Roller discusses her research in the Amazon and award-winning books on the region, then turns to her current project A Social and Environmental History of Agrichemicals. She travelled to Iowa to interview farmers, to take their oral histories and discover the reasons many have turned to organic farming. Roller is also working in the archives at both The University of Iowa and Iowa State University. She discusses her own family exposure to the fall-out from Chernobyl and the cancer both she and her mother experienced.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander's Buggy Land
maryswander.substack.com
And Mary Swander's Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
swander.substack.com
Become a premium member of our podcast Mary Swander's Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, and poetry critiques. Have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Host Mary Swander interviews Ranae Lenor Hanson about her new book: Watershed: Attending to Body and Earth in Distress. A personal health crisis, stories from environmental refugees, and our climate in danger prompt a meditation on intimate connections between the health of the body and the health of the ecosystem.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Host Mary Swander puts out a call to listeners for critter stories and gives instructions to make a pitch on the website: www. agarts.org. Swander tells the story of Old Order Amish neighbor Abram Yutzy demolishing a damaged room with just a hammer. Eventually, his large family joins him to pull the nails from the boards and romp with Swander's puppy. Reflections on waste, co-operation and living in a communal society. Ask Ruby segment on "Amish Paradise" and harmonica bands.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Host Mary Swander interviews Angela Tedesco, author of the new book Finding Turtle Farm: My Twenty-Acre Adventure in Community-Supported Agriculture. (University of Minnesota Press). Tedesco traces her life as a vegetable farmer, from accessing land, to developing a viable CSA business, to transitioning her property at the end of her career. She discusses the nuts and bolts of a CSA, the organic methods she used and the way she improved her soil, the research she conducted, and how she turned to nutritional methods to heal from cancer.
Swander puts out a call for Critter Stories, asking listeners to make pitches on the website: www.agarts.org.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Farmer Levi Lyle tells of a visit from a crop inspector surveying hail damage. Lyle learns of the inspector's service as a Navy Seal, and reflects on the healing of wounds, both in the flesh and in the soil. Host Mary Swander tells of Freemartin Town's problems retaining a postmaster who can keep the names of the residents straight. With only 20 surnames with multiple spellings, it's hard to keep the Schlabaughs and Schabachs, the Bontrager and Borntragers, and the Hostetler and Hochstetlers straight.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/.
Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Host Mary Swander interviews textiles and clothing expert Susan Strawn, Ph.D., discussing the history and impact of potholders and how they reflect the time, interests, biases, and culture of their makers. Strawn then reveals the winners of our contest and the reasons for their selections. Slide show exhibits of both Strawn's personal potholder collection and of our contestant entries can be found on our website: www.agarts.org.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
AgArts from Horse & Buggy Land travels to Manning, Iowa, this week to interview Scott Eickman, a farmer and metal sculptor. Eickman discusses the pieces that he makes in his garage from nuts, bolts, combine chairs and other farm implements. His latest work is a huge sculpture of a soldier carrying his wounded buddy out of a combat zone, reflecting Eickman's experiences in the Marine Corps in in Afghanistan and Iraq. Music by Robert Stone. Photos on the website by Annie Chapman Brewer.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Milo, Iowa duck farmer Phrakhounmany "Air" Philavanh tells a story of the Laotian Water Festival, cooling down the Buddha, and losing his dog in Thailand. Host Mary Swander tells of three different dogs she has had, all found in Amishland. Grossmommie Ruby provides a recipe for hot dog hash and gives her opinion on the latest Supreme Court ruling.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Host Mary Swander interviews Taylor Brorby about his new memoir Boys and Oil (Norton): Growing up Gay in a Fractured Land, about his life in rural North Dakota in the middle of the fracking boom. Brorby discusses how, as a child, he coped with bullying through his exploration of the prairie and through the arts. He describes the Bakken Oil Boom, his political activism, his disability , and his grounding in his identity as a gay man.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Through the help of a Cynipid grant, host Mary Swander interviews Fulbright Scholar Aparajita Sengupta who is presently in residence at the College of Agriculture at the University of Kentucky. Sengupta is writing a book about women farmers both in the U.S. and aboard. She tells of establishing a CSA, learning the science of permaculture, and rejuvenating a small farm near Calcutta, India.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
In this episode we're looking back and reflecting on the last two years-how we survived, what we learned, how we grieved, and how we're recovering. Farmer Cathy Lafrenz of Miss Effie's Country Flowers and Garden Stuff, recounts the death of her husband and the efforts of her community to support her through this difficult time. Host Mary Swander spins a tale of the night sky and all it took in-from the loss of a friend, to home haircuts, to Amish wash on the line, to the Roman candles the volunteer fire department shot into the dark.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Host Mary Swander interviews two young beginning farmers-Colton Anderson and Hannah Breckbill. They each tell how dedicated they are to farming and how fulfilling they find the job. After graduation from Central College, Colton Anderson will be returning to his 4,000 acre family farm where he will go into business with his father and grandfather. Hannah Breckbill, in contrast, had no family land but found a unique way to start her 25 acre vegetable farm through a land co-op.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
"Ruby, why do Amish men shave off their mustaches but still have beards? Do the Amish vote? Do they use binoculars? What are their favorite foods? What is Rumspringa? Can the Amish use solar panels? How do they observe Ascension Thursday?" Find answers to these and other winning questions in the "Ask Ruby Contest" with host Mary Swander and questioners from Iowa to New Mexico to Alaska. Music by Robert Stone.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Potholes are the first sign of spring in Freemartin Town and host Mary Swander describes how they are repaired in her neighborhood. Practical Farmer of Iowa members Maya and Carmen Black tell the story of going through the derecho on their farm, living 7 days without electricity. Swander reads her poem "Scheherazade" about hiding from storms in her cellar. And in the final segment of the podcast, the Call-in Catastrophe Show at KLUU (Get a clue) Radio features derecho nomenclature and how to disconnect from the world.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Producer Rick Brewer interviews host Mary Swander about the origins of "AgArts from Horse & Buggy Land." Swander explains how the impetus for the show came from the owner of the local General Store. She tells how she created a recording studio, then during the pandemic, how she had to adapt the show to the circumstances. Ultimately, Swander created a fictional town (Freemartin Town) for the podcast and populated it with characters like Ruby, the grossmommie, reminding the listeners of the April 1 deadline for the "Ask Ruby" contest.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Host Mary Swander highlights stories of Ukraine from Annette Matjucha-Hovland, a listener in Muscatine, Iowa. Matjucha-Hovland tells how she learned to bake paska and cherry varenysky, traditional Ukrainian foods, from her grandmother, or oma. Swander recounts stories of Amish and Ukrainian grandmothers, then reminds the audience of the "Ask Ruby, the grossmommie" contest with a deadline of April 1, 2022.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Host Mary Swander interviews hornist Annie Chapman Brewer about her composition River House on the Prairie. This beautiful piece-a sound journal-- arose from Chapman's AgArts Farm-to-Artist residency at the Whiterock Conservancy near Coon Rapids, Iowa. In her composition, Chapman responds to and answers the sounds that surround her at Whiterock-including red wing black birds, spring peepers, cardinals, and barred owls.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
The Amish have no health insurance, little available cash, but a vast knowledge of herbs and other remedies. Learn about the invention of their healing B&W protocol for burns. Host Mary Swander recalls her personal experiences with B&W and browses other tales of healing in Plain Interests. Swander announces the Ask Ruby Contest! Winning entry receives $200. Music: How Great Thou Art.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Listen to the winning entry of the Great Amish Belt Loop Bad Poetry Contest and enjoy a selection of the other really terrific awful poems. Sample the collection of entries, from the political to the inane, full of bad rhythm and rhyme, overblown emotion, doggerel and catterel, all containing the phrases "a cat yowling on the back fence" and "a buzzard on a dead horse."
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Part #2 featuring immigrants from Muscatine, IA telling stories of their own cuisines. You'll meet the professors of this MCC English as a Second Language class, then sample an armadillo in Mexico, a guinea pig in Equador, feijoada in Brazil, fufu in Togo, and fish in a Scandinavian restaurant in Chicago.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Host Mary Swander interviews Robert McConnell, accomplished musician, and unique director and conductor of the South East Iowa Symphony Orchestra. McConnell speaks of his upbringing on a farm, his musical family, his studies in Kirksville and St. Louis, MO, and his ventures into conducting. He now runs a hog farm and brings classical music to the rural region. Excerpts from his Christmas concert at Saints Peter and Paul Clear Creek Heritage Association, a church on the National Register of Historic Places near Harper, Iowa.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Listen to a sample submission for the The Great Belt Loop Poetry Contest and hear host Mary Swander go over the rules for submission. Deadline: January 15, 2022. Submit through the AgArts website. Speak right into your computer and win $100 and a handmade leather belt fashioned by the Amish harness maker. Don't forget to include a yowling cat on the back fence and a buzzard on a dead horse. And don't forget to leave your belt size!
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Immigrants from around the world tell stories of their own cuisines. Welcome a storyteller from Brazil eating venison for the first time in the U.S. Welcome a member of the Jewish community of Des Moines, IA, eating tongue, and a man from Cameroon who loves rice. You'll travel to Togo for Fufu, to Sicily for Milanese. And you'll find out what food Des Moines has in common with Ukraine. And finally, you'll discover what Mexicans roast on a spit in when they settle down for a nice Sunday holiday picnic.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
The Agitator, the Freemartin Town appliance shop, plugs in a washing machine and takes bets on how long it will run without repairs. The prize: a shoo fly pie by Ruby, the gossmommie, who gives the recipe. Host Mary Swander launches the Great Amish Belt Loop Bad Poetry contest. Poetry must be bad and include the phrases "a yowling cat on the back fence" and "a buzzard on a dead horse." Music by the Deep Dish Divas.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Music in this episode comes from The Deep Dish Divas. Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Host Mary Swander interviews Geoff and Joanna Mouming at Yum-Yum farm near Wellman, IA, where the couple dramatically improved the soil through composting, cover crops, and prairie restoration. With the services of Seattle architect John DeForest, the Moumings built a house that reflected their ecological values gleaned from the writings of Scott and Helen Nearing and Aldo Leopold. Moumings have become known for their hospitality and delicious homegrown food. Yum!
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agarts-from-horse-and-buggy-land/id1530218609
Listen on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/1UmqCaesIzGm4NlPdHGSBb?si=b194d9840ea149d4
Music in this episode comes from Blue Dot Sessions. Today's episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Host Mary Swander returns to Red Fern Farm and takes a tour with owners Kathy Dice and Tom Wahl. Swander reads three poems she has written about the farm, reciting them as she is guided past chestnut trees, to paw-paws and persimmons. Dice and Wahl describe the beginnings of their perennial plantings, their U-Pick operation and their Bosnian customers. Eventually, Swander's poems will be anthologized in a book sponsored by SILT and the the Writing the Land Project. Features Meskwaki flute music.
Host Mary Swander makes a trip to Red Fern Farm in SE Iowa to interview Kathy Dice and Tom Wahl, visionaries in agroforestry. They talk about how they transformed a corn and bean row crop farm into one that will be forever preserved as a perennial paradise, emphasizing nuts, fruit, and vines.
Host Mary Swander tells the story of the "Bridge to Nowhere," the antique structure that once spanned the Amish River and connected Bull Town and Freemartin Town. Swander follows with a reading of some excerpts of her book of poetry The Girls on the Roof, a Mississippi River saga of a mother and daughter stuck on top of the roof of a catfish dive for three days during the 1993 flood. While there, the two women discover that they have both had a affair with the same man. Music by Catfish Keith and Annie Chapman Brewer.
In the final segment of the Fork Tales performance in Mt. Vernon, IA, farmer David Miller captures his run-away duck with a Mattel fishing net and puts out a wildfire burning through two acres of cover crops. Host Mary Swander then throws open the mic to two young volunteer storytellers---Eva and Alyssa-who have their own tales of ducks and crops. Music by Dale Beeks and the Mississippi String Band.
Host Mary Swander provides a continuation of the Mt. Vernon, IA, Fork Tales Performance. Suzan Erem, the Executive Director of SILT, a sustainable land trust that builds food security by circling cities with community-based food farms, recalls how she became a rural activist. Laura Krouse, owner of Abbe Hills Farm and a legend in sustainable agriculture, tells how she endured this season of erratic weather patterns to finally feed her CSA customers. Music by Dale Beeks and the Mississippi String Band.
A Fork Tales performance: The first of three live recordings. Host Mary Swander coached farmers to tell their own weather-related stories at the Mt. Vernon, IA, Farmer's Market. First, Allan Mallie tells of his optimistic approach to derecho damage on his farm. Then Kevin Woods recalls surviving adolescence on a farm where the farrowing house was warmer than the human house in the winter. Music by Dale Beeks and the Mississippi String Band.
It's the Quilt Show in Freemmartin Town. Host Mary Swander tells of her inclusion in an Amish come-as-you-are quilting bee. Ruby, the grossmommie, gives her recipe for Jell-o Postage Stamp Quilt Salad. A browsing of Plain Interests, the Amish newspaper, includes the care of a brood of bluebirds. Music by the Silver Trailer Girls, Laura Hudson Kittrell, Monica Leo, and Aleta Murphy. Underscoring by Marco Cacho.
Host Mary Swander interviews Vernon Ropp, a local Mennonite man who makes lawn art, converting sewing machines to toy tractors. Ropp tells of attending an Amish one-room school and struggling to learn English. During the Korean War, he became a conscientious objector, performing his service work at the Alexian Brothers hospital in Chicago. Ropp traveled the world with the Mennonite Disaster Service and other relief organizations, to return to his off-farm job selling John Deere tractors. Music by Dean Gray.
Host Mary Swander tells farm jokes and stories that she has garnered from her Amish and Mennonite neighbors, Practical Farmers of Iowa members, and her own experience of living in an old one-room Amish schoolhouse. Music by Alan Murphy from his album Hogs in the Cornfield.
Host Mary Swander tells a story about star gazing with the Amish and what it means to stay home for long periods of time. She explores the connections to the night sky in her poem "Heaven?" She reads about a universal cure from the Balm of Gilead tree when she browses Special Interests, the Amish newspaper.Music by Annie Chapman Brewer, Too Many String Band, and Marco Cacho.
Host Mary Swander explores the history and use of the harmonica, the one instrument that the Amish are allowed to play. Gospel tune: "We are Going down the Valley" Story of harmonicas as wedding presents. “Heavenly Harmonica Potatoes” recipe by Ruby, the grossmommie. Music by Patrick Hazell.
Mary Swander celebrates multi-cultural holidays by reading her classic Amishland Christmas story Adeste Fideles in Chinese, a tale of neighbors helping neighbors. Music includes Silent Night in German, Adeste Fideles in both Latin and Chinese.
Mary Swander interviews Iowa City landscape painter Marcia Wegman who captures the subtle beauty of the Midwestern farming landscape. Descriptions of realistic and abstract paintings emphasizing the contours of the land, the changing light and seasons, textures of the vegetation, and the wonders of the sky.
Rural churches get creative during the pandemic with drive-in-church services. "Angel Band" by Banjoy with Bob and Christy Black. Mary Swander delivers a monologue about local Amish, Catholic, Mennonite and Methodist church communities.
Mary Swander explains how she came to live among the Amish and the many gifts her neighbors have given her—including bear meat. She talks about Amish teenagers hunting bear in Colorado and plays The Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase on her banjo. Farmer Carlos Williams tells about hunting lightning bugs in a corn field. Swander’s perusal of Plain Interests focuses on the healthy benefits of good soil.
This episode focuses on selling livestock. From her book Out of this World: A Woman’s Life among the Amish. Mary Swander reads of taking her sheep to the butcher in the back of her neighbor Donna’s car. Musician farmer Paul Roberts and the Great Blue Grass Herons sing Selling Hogs. Swander tells of encountering a cattle drive while she is standing naked in the prairie. Finally, Swander peruses Plain Interests with stories of raising turkeys.
Mary Swander explains how she developed her online implement dealership among her Amish neighbors. Monroe Ropp uses one of those implements–his manure tank-- to put out a house fire, and Paul Roberts and the Great Blue Grass Herons sing The Ballad of Monroe Ropp. Swander reads excerpts from her drama Farmscape and peruses the Amish newspaper Plain Interests.