Greenhorns Radio: Recent Episodes
Heritage Radio Network
Greenhorns Radio is radio for young farmers, by young farmers. Hosted by acclaimed activist, farmer and film-maker Severine von Tscharner Fleming, Greenhorns Radio is a weekly phone interview with next generation farmers and ranchers, surveying the issues critical to their success. We hold no punches. Greenhorns is a six year old grassroots cultural organization with a mission to recruit, promote and support young farmers in America by producing media, events and stunts that connect and and inspire.
Greg Hart farms 1500 acres in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. He works on the property with his wife and 3 young children, as well as 3 other workers and various WWOOFers from all around the world. The Harts practise regenerative agriculture and try to raise awareness about the urgent need to transition to a food production system based on nature that heals the earth and society.
Erika Rumbley is the Co-Founder and Director of The New Garden Society (TNGS). Each year The New Garden Society trains 100+ incarcerated students in the art and science of plants, building a bridge from Greater-Boston prisons and youth detention facilities to local careers in organic land care. Erika is also the Greenhouse Manager at Langwater Farm, a 50-acre, certified organic vegetable, fruit, flower and herb farm south of Boston. Her most formative experiences as an adult educator include her time with Southside Community Land Trust, The Trustees of Reservations, and growing food and flowers alongside students in prison gardens outside of Boston. A North Carolina native, Erika has farmed and found her home in southern New England for over a decade.
Ildi Carlisle-Cummins is Director of the Cal Ag Roots Project at the California Institute for Rural Studies. Cal Ag Roots puts historical roots under current California food and farming change movements by telling the story of California agricultural development in innovative, useful, and relevant ways. There is deep knowledge about the structures, driving forces, and key moments that have shaped California's food system among recognized experts; and those who have participated in the creation of CA farming, but this knowledge doesn't always inform food movement work. Cal Ag Roots shares stories from this wide range of people, opening new lines of communication among them.
Robert Olivier, founder of GrubTubs, Inc. invents and develops all aspects of insect based technologies, from conceptual design work to prototyping and final fabrication. Currently he is engineering a bioconversion facility in Austin, TX, to transform food waste into animal feed. Olivier holds a bachelor's degree in environmental sciences and business administration from Southern Methodist University. He received the Departmental Academic Excellence Award in Geological Sciences upon graduation.
Marie Hoff founded Capella Grazing Project in 2013. Using rare, heritage breed Ouessant sheep, she grazes in such unlikely spots as vineyards, orchards, on cover crop at local farms, and for landowners seeking holistic lawn-mowing services. In this unconventional manner of ranching, she blends ancient shepherding with modern day integrated agricultural and economic systems, stewarding both landscape and livestock genetics.
Locky Catron graduated from Iowa State University with an Agricultural Business degree and joined the three-person Cleber, LLC, team in Alabama. Her experiences working both in Big Ag and on organic farms led her to have a passion for regional food systems and a more diversified agriculture. Cleber's business model is one that encourages local/regional manufacturing by using an open system design approach. Their first piece of equipment is the Oggun Tractor - a simple, versatile tractor inspired by the Allis Chalmers G and made using off-the-shelf components. The focus is appropriateness of scale and affordability.
Tom Baldwin is the Farm Director of Ulua Palms Farm and Nursery in Makawo, HI. A permaculture designer and nurseryman, he is currently engaged in the development of a 5-acre homestead property on Maui in addition to maintaining an 18-acre farm on Big Island. This includes the current planting of a collection of roughly 50 avocado varieties, and an extensive renovation of an old family homestead built in 1906. Tom stewards an extensive collection of plants, including a repository of rare fruit and nuts. He also has a special interest in cacti.
Based in Kentucky and North Carolina, Sara Day Evans works through Accelerating Appalachia to advance the regenerative economy for North America's most diverse foodshed: the Appalachian region. She's a program developer, social entrepreneur, and living bridge who for over 20 years has delivered powerful impact through strong leadership, creativity, and collaboration. Launching Accelerating Appalachia was borne out of a variety of circumstances: a natural evolution of her ongoing commitment to people, place and prosperity in Appalachia; conversations with leaders in social enterprise and impact investing, the natural abundance and beauty of Appalachia; her connection to place as a 6th generation Kentuckian; her service to distressed communities in Appalachia to help rebuild the loss of their furniture, textile, and farming economies while with the NC Department of Commerce; her impactful work with Kentucky's Environmental Protection Cabinet; and the deep influence of her longtime Kentucky friends, bell hooks and Wendell Berry, and her activist, physicist parents and inspiring children. A hydrogeologist, community planner, entrepreneur, former truck driver, waitress, maid, and woodworker, Sara Day is also an accomplished musician, writer and poet.
Miles Teitge took his first steps in the old growth forests of Vashon Island, WA, and was transplanted to the Idaho high mountain desert in 1983. Graduating from the Community School, he took up surfing in Kauai, trekked India, and biked across the U.S. to study Anthroposophy for a year at Camphill Village in Copake, NY. This Rudolph Steiner inspired community serves those with special needs, and is also the home of Turtle Tree Seed, a producer of biodynamic seeds. He earned a Bachelor's degree in education at Antioch University, while volunteering at the Seattle Tilth Children's Garden. Miles interned at the Herb Pharm in Williams, OR, and continued his education at Seed School (with local legend Bill McDorman), and the Fungi Perfecti mushroom cultivation course (with visionary Paul Stamets). He joined The Mountain School shortly after it opened, inspired to learn and teach principles of permaculture and the gardening arts; be it cultivating vegetables, gathering medicinal herbs, grafting trees, laying out hugelkultur beds, bee-tending, greenhouse design, poultry care, humane composting, worm wrangling or the like, there is a lifetime of learning on this path! He and Sweet Clover teacher, Jessica Banks, are the proud parents of SMS student Edyn Crow Teitge. Miles is delighted to continue with the Syringa Mountain School's Sustainability Arts program and plans to share his deep reverence for the natural world, plant fruit for future generations, and grow the largest watermelon the Wood River Valley has ever seen in 2017!
Mike Bologna, CEO of Green Lion Partners, is a decisive and personable leader with a comprehensive background in supply chain technology consulting, process analysis, and operational strategy. Using this experience, Mike focuses on ensuring organizational success by improving efficiencies, minimizing waste, and bringing socially conscious processes to the forefront. Green Lion Partners is a Denver, CO based business strategy firm focused on early stage development in the regulated cannabis industry.
Jeff Conant directs Friends of the Earth's international forests program, which campaigns to protect forests and the rights of forest-dependent peoples by addressing the economic and political drivers of forest destruction. Prior to joining Friends of the Earth, Jeff ran communications and popular education efforts around climate and development justice with Global Justice Ecology Project, International Accountability Project, and other advocacy organizations, and co-authored A Community Guide to Environmental Health (Hesperian Health Guides, 2008), a comprehensive community education manual that covers issues from basic sanitation to big dams and from forestry to food sovereignty. The Community Guide has been translated into over a dozen languages.
Berkshire native Maddie Elling and her partner Abe Hunrichs run Hosta Hill, a Berkshire-based business growing and making lacto-fermented vegetables. A lover of the outdoors, food, and dynamic work, Maddie spent four years after high school WWOOFing and wandering. After meeting Abe, they both settled in the Berkshires: dabbling in odd jobs and raising various animals and crops. Inspired by the Berkshire landscape and food scene they were eager to create a business of their own. They settled on growing vegetables and making fermented vegetables and tempeh. Maddie and Abe are in their 5th year of running Hosta Hill, distributing their products from the Berkshires to Boston and beyond. When not fermenting or doing office work, you can find Maddie staying busy outside, walking in the woods with her dog Oso, swimming, and scribbling on paper.
Ben Dobson grew up in Hillsdale, New York, on a small organic farm and started his first agricultural business in 2001. After two years on his own, he joined forces with his father Ted Dobson and managed the fields at his salad and tomato farm in Sheffield, MA, from 2003 through 2006. Since then Ben has started, managed, and overseen the sale of two agricultural businesses: One of which, Atlantic Organics, founded in 2007, was the largest organic vegetable farm in the state of Maine. The other, a company called Locally Known LLC, founded in 2008, was a salad processing company that sold pre-packaged ready to eat salads to Whole Foods Market, Hannaford Bros. and Trader Joe's supermarkets in the Northeast and Mid Atlantic regions. In 2013, Ben joined Stone House Farm as the Organic Transition Manager, and in 2016 he became their Farm Manager. He planned and oversaw the implementation of an organic transition on the 2,200-acre Stone House Farm property, and developed a non-GMO feed and grain business to sell their grain. The farm is now expanding its grain operation to include organic grain from other farms in the region. Ben also heads Hudson Carbon: a research project conducting long term research across several sites on Stone House Farm and two neighboring farms. Hudson Carbon monitors the economic impacts and ecological effects of organic farming systems regarding carbon sequestration. Collaborators in this project include the Rodale Institute, The Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, and Scenic Hudson. This winter Hudson Carbon will be launching a website with sections dedicated to farmers, science, and the public.
Dorn Cox, PhD, is an agriculturist, and farmer working his 250-acre diversified organic family farm in Lee, New Hampshire. He is a co-founder of the FarmOS software platform, a founding member of the Farm Hack community, and is active in the national soil health movement to develop systems that improve global agricultural knowledge exchange and local regenerative production capacity. He has a PhD from the University of New Hampshire.
Erica Frenay manages 35 acres of sheep, cattle, ducks, orchard, apiary, and high tunnels at Shelterbelt Farm near Ithaca, NY, with her husband and two young kids. She has also worked for the Cornell Small Farms Program for 11 years, co-founding the Northeast Beginning Farmer Project in 2006. She is a certified educator of Holistic Management and has completed permaculture design training, both of which have informed the design and management of her farm. She is passionate about connecting people to soil. And about playing the upright bass.
Amanda Swinimer completed her BSc+ at Dalhousie University with an advanced major in Marine Biology and a minor in Oceanography. Amanda furthered her education by apprenticing for two years with a wise herbal teacher, Bernice Woolham, and studying with the ‘Kelp Doctor’, Dr. Louis Druehl. Her deep love of the ocean and the rainforest brought her to the west coast of Vancouver Island where she started her own business, Dakini Tidal Wilds, in 2003. For 15 years, Amanda has been sustainably harvesting, by hand, edible seaweeds, wild herbs and crafting products from these wild gifts. For most of these years, she has been sharing her passion for the wild gifts of our coastline with many people through a variety of hands-on teaching methods and with a focus of sustainability and respect for our rare coast. She has taught at the University of Victoria, Bamfield Marine Science Center, Royal Roads University, public schools and through private venues.
Graison S. Gill is the owner of Bellegarde, a commercial bakery and stone mill in New Orleans bound to local ingredients, heritage, and flavor. He has been baking professionally for eight years and was trained at the San Francisco Baking Institute under Michel Suas, Mac McConnell, Mike Zakowski, and Frank Sally.
Alexandra Hudson is a holistic chef, clinical herbalist, and regenerative food system advocate. In 2013 Alexandra founded Kaleidoscope Foods, a California Bay Area-based producer of bone broth infused kale chips, to provide deep on-the-go high integrity nutrition to her community. Alexandra is committed to weaving a food system that regenerates at every step of the process, from the vibrancy of the soil to the health of her customers.
Jonny leads Kiva's work to reach financially excluded and socially impactful small business owners, artisans and farmers in the United States with 0% interest loans. He first came to Kiva in 2009 as a volunteer, and joined full-time in 2011 to lead the Kiva U.S. team. Jonny graduated with a degree in History from the University of Cambridge. He is married to Ali, who he met at Kiva, and a few weeks ago he became the proud father of Felicity Grace Price!
Becky Brand, of Brandmoore Farm, joins today's episode of Greenhorns Radio. Becky grew up in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, and later attended University of New Hampshire– landing her on the New Hampshire Seacoast. After studying Environmental Horticulture at UNH, she worked in Massachusetts at Appleton Farms and New Hampshire at Meadow’s Mirth where she continued to learn about organic and sustainable farming practices. Becky and her husband Phil Brand started Brandmoore Farm in 2012. Brandmoore Farm is a diverse, organic farm with a focus on cow dairy and vegetables. Becky and Phil have a nearly one-year-old baby named Thomas, a dog called Ernie, and a cat named Mimi.
Tristan Gooley is a natural navigator and award-winning author of three of the world's only books covering natural navigation. The best selling books are: The Natural Navigator (2010), The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs (2014) and How to Read Water (2016).
Born and raised in Chicago, Alex Pino moved to New Mexico at age 20. After years working unfulfilling jobs and seeking solutions for the industrialized food system he began farming on a rocky Piñon & juniper covered hillside near Santa Fe. Pino now farms four properties from Pecos along the river to La Cienega, growing heirloom garlic on rented, drip-irrigated land. Pino sells at Santa Fe area Farmers' Markets year round. He organizes farmers through the National Young Farmers Coalition's local chapter, the Northern NM Young Farmers Alliance, and holds workshops and trainings to help educate next generation farmers.
Theo Wadman grew up on a small farm raising livestock and worked in conventional agricultural and food industry jobs operating equipment for local farmers, seed cleaning plants, and frozen food companies. Theo received a bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics from Oregon State University, built a small publishing company, a technical writing company, and then a successful translation and software localization company, which is now part of translations.com. Along the way, two of Theo’s sons and his wife, Kira, had serious health issues that stemmed from misinformation about diet, agriculture, and health. Theo and Kira were inspired to return to their agricultural roots four years ago, creating Helios Farms as an active response to misinformation campaigns about food, diet, agriculture, and health.
Together with his partner Johanna Davis, Adam Nordell runs Songbird Farm, an organic vegetable and grain farm in Unity, ME. The farm is built around wholesale vegetable sales to organic distributors and food cooperatives in Maine, and both wholesale and CSA marketing of heritage flint cornmeal, wheat and rye flour. Adam and Johanna also tour in the off-season as the folk music duo Sassafras Stomp, and perform high energy traditional fiddle music and original songs reflecting on farming and connection to place.
Brianna Bowman lives and works in Massachusetts, where she manages the National Incubator Farm Training Initiative, which supports the development and strengthening of programs that train new farmers. She is interested in how to promote an ecosystem of success for beginning farmers which extends well beyond their time in training and touches upon how we value, access, and enjoy food. Brianna studied Peace Studies and holds a Masters in International Development and Sustainable Agriculture. She is an aspiring herbalist and active fiber artist.
This week on Greenhorns Radio, Severine welcomes musician Robin Grey.
Inspired by the timeless work of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joanna Newsom amongst many others, Robin colours in his songs about love and life with guitar, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, piano, double bass, organ, percussion toys and any other instruments he can afford and fit into his little east London studio.
Robin devised and performs a show called Three Acres And A Cow, A History Of Land Rights And Protest In Folk Song And Story, has been undertaking musical cycling pilgrimages under the rubric of ‘Pedal Folk‘ and is starting to take a little interest in politics.
Nels Veliquette lives in Victoria, British Columbia with his wife Michelle and son Axel. Raised in Michigan in the tart cherry business, one generation removed from the dairy, he is active in business planning, policy development and education. Nels has direct experience in production, logistics, agri-tourism development, land preservation and finance. He has a Masters Degree in Administration and is a writer, educator and business consultant who does not fear the future.
This week on Greenhorns Radio, Severine is joined by JennaDee Detro, Co-Founder and Head of Production of Cat Spring Tea. JennaDee has 3 years of yaupon harvesting experience and has developed the production practices. Previously, she was a professional photographer and graphic designer. She loves that Cat Spring Yaupon Tea is a return to family values and pure American goodness.
Andre Entermann grew up in Southern California surfing, skateboarding, sailing and spearfishing. After a stint in the U.S. Coast Guard as a Helicopter Rescue Swimmer, he turned to food and farming and worked on many farms abroad. Andre landed his dream of running a goat dairy here on Lopez Island with his wife Elizabeth.
This week on Greenhorns Radio, Severine is joined by Dan Kittredge.
Dan is the Founder and Executive Director of the Bionutrient Food Association. Raised by parents who are prominent leaders in the organic food movement, Dan has been an organic farmer since childhood. His experience managing organic farms and developing sustainable agriculture techniques has connected him to farmers in Central America, Russia, India and the U.S. Dan lives in Central Massachusetts with his wife and three children on their 40 acre farm.
Jessika is a small business owner and food systems aficionado. As co-founder and CEO of Starvation Alley Social Purpose Corporation, a cranberry company located in Southwest Washington, Jessika spends much of her time building a new business that supports regional cranberry farmers through the organic certification process. Though she is passionate about farmers, her favorite part about her job is getting to partner with many other inspiring Pacific Northwest food producers to create collaborative value-added products. In 2012, Jessika aided in the design of Seattle's Bainbridge Graduate Institute's first Certificate program in Sustainable Food and Agriculture. Jessika's other experiences include a receiving her Master's in Business Administration, working as an urban community garden coordinator and consulting for outdoor trails expansion in her region. She lives in Ilwaco, Washington near Starvation Alley Farms with her partner Jared Oakes and two dogs.
Brendon Rockey is a third generation farmer from Center, CO. He is currently managing the farm that his Grandpa started in 1938, and he is returning to the same fundamentals that the farm was founded on. His Grandpa Floyd use to preach that you must take care of the soil before the soil can take care of you. Rockey Farms has eliminated their dependency on toxic chemicals and synthetic fertilizers by managing the farm as a complete system. Rockey Farms raises high quality specialty potatoes for fresh market sales and for certified seed by investing in their soil with carbon based fertility, reduced tillage, companion crops in the potatoes, flowering border crops, and rotational cover crops. They are also bringing livestock back in to the operation to enhance to impact of the cover crops even further. This Biotic approach has allowed Rockey Farms to maintain production wile improving the quality of their potatoes, all while reducing input costs and optimizing water use efficiency.
Natalie Kilmer lives in Oakland, California where she owns and is the lead gardener for a socially minded, mini-farming and consulting business called, The Little Acre. Natalie also works with Bay Area pioneer, Greywater Action giving lectures and leading hands on workshops across Northern California. Natalie graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Religious Studies. She continued her ongoing studies through Permaculture Design at Esalen Institute, a gardening internship at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, Ayurveda at the dhyana Center and a Chinese Herbal Farming Internship at the Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm.
Jack Motter and Jeff Kramer, owners of Ellwood Canyon Farms, are life-long friends who grew up in fourth generation farming families in the small town of Brawley, located in the Imperial Valley in the desert of Southeastern California. They each attended college in Santa Barbara and have lived there for the last fifteen years. Jack established Ellwood Canyon Farms in 2009, and Jeff has been on board since 2010. They currently grow mixed organic produce on 50 acres, focusing on organic methods of farming, building healthy soil and growing healthy crops.
Until his retirement last summer, Russ Cohen’s “day job” was serving as the Rivers Advocate for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Ecological Restoration, where he had worked since 1988, and where one of his areas of expertise was riparian vegetation. Now Russ has more time to pursue his passionate avocation, which is connecting to nature via his taste buds. He is an expert forager and the author of Wild Plants I Have Known…and Eaten, published in 2004 by the Essex County Greenbelt Association and now in its sixth printing. Mr. Cohen has been teaching foraging since 1974 and conducts over three dozen foraging walks and talks each year at a wide variety of venues throughout the Northeast. In addition, since his retirement, Russ is aspiring to become a “Johnny Appleseed” of sorts for native edible plants: collecting wild edible seeds and nuts for propagating and planting, and assisting and partnering with others in this endeavor.
Robert Bauer joined Southwest Badger Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc as the Grazing Broker on October 12, 2015. As Grazing Broker, Robert connects landowners of grasslands with livestock producers to increase acreage of well-managed grazing. He also assists in determining the fair market value of grasslands, writes grazing plans, and provides technical assistance to both producers and landowners. Robert works closely with a multi-agency team to coordinate educational events and network with landowners and grazing organizations to promote grazing and grass-based agriculture in Southwest Wisconsin.
Jacob James Marty is a young farmer from southern Wisconsin. Farming by the side of his father, Jim, he is continuing the farm's legacy into its sixth generation with Green Fire Farm. Historically, a dairy farm, Jacob is transitioning the farm into regenerative practices including grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork and poultry, and establishing silvopasture, pollinator habitat, and wildlife habitat. The mission of Green Fire Farm is to focus on direct marketing and instill a strong sense of connection, community development, and stewardship with all partners to the farm.
Learner Limbach a committed leader in the local food and agriculture movement. He has been a farmer, an educator, a community organizer, a business professional and a consultant. Through this work Learner has grown increasingly passionate about eliminating the barriers that make it difficult for farmers to be successful. In 2013 Learner spearheaded the creation of the Orcas Food Co-op, a consumer-owned co-op that he now manages as his full-time job. With a central goal of creating a sustainable local food system with strong regional connections, the Co-op has quickly grown to over 1000 members and $2.3 million in sales in 2015. In addition to running the Co-op, Learner also serves actively on numerous agriculturally focused boards and committees, with a strong focus on increasing inter-organizational collaboration and capacity building.
Born in the Central Valley of California, Nikiko Masumoto spent her childhood slurping over-ripe peaches on the Masumoto Family Farm (an 80-acre organic farm in Del Rey, CA). She has never missed a summer harvest. In 2007 she graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Gender and Women’s Studies. It was there that she realized she wanted to return to the Valley to farm. But first she completed a M.A. in Performance as Public Practice from UT Austin. Her research focused on the performance of memory and Japanese American history. Daily, she apprentices with her father on the family’s small organic farm whilst continuing work in arts and community. In 2013, she published her first book, co-authored with parents Mas and Marcy, a cookbook The Perfect Peach. She participated in the Catalyst Initiative, a civic practice cohort program of the Center for Performance & Civic Practice, Emerging Leaders of Color in the Arts program of WESTAF, and is currently a Creative Community Fellow with National Arts Strategies. She has served on various volunteer and nonprofit boards in the Central Valley (Central California Asian Pacific Women, Central Valley Community Foundation, Valley Public Radio, California State University Fresno’s College of Arts & Humanities). She currently serves on the board of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts and Western States Arts Federation. On most days you can find her on a tractor, dreaming of projects yet to be born and justice yet to be won.
The Masumoto Family Farm is also the subject of the documentary film Changing Season: On the Masumoto Family Farm.
Allie grew up in Ohio on her parents' farm shoveling poop, climbing trees, and playing in the dirt. These formative years were not easy to wash off and stuck with her. She ended up studying sustainable agriculture, herbal medicine, alternative energy and sustainable architecture at The Evergreen State College. Most of Allie’s life has been spent in the out-of-doors, mountain guiding and growing food. She naturally migrated to Chickaloon, Alaska, in the heart of the Matanuska Valley at the age of 21. Striving to have more time than money, Allie focuses on off-grid living, chainsaw milling, and a "hunt-fish-gather- grow" lifestyle, where she wildcrafts plants into medicine, harvests berries, catches salmon, and hunts moose. Allie, her husband Jed, and dog Dylan, run Chugach Farm. Chugach Farm is a modern day homestead farm that focuses on growing nutrient dense, human powered, beyond organic, and off grid vegetables. Chugach Farm grows enough food to feed the family year round, sells at the farmers market and to local restaurants, runs CSA and CSF (Community Supported Ferments) programs, and sells a variety of value added products.
Cory grew up ranching on her family’s fourth-generation ranch in rural Oregon. After graduating from Stanford University and working on Capitol Hill and in Los Angeles, she returned to the ranch to try a different production model and transitioned Carman Ranch to grassfed beef production. After a decade of successfully raising and selling grassfed beef, she joined the the Pasture One team to help create a national presence. In her role as the Director of Production, she leads the growing collective of pioneering grassfed ranchers. She is passionate about the ecological and human health potential of a robust grassfed beef industry as well as the potential to create economic opportunities for ranchers, more efficiently meet a consumer demand for healthy, humane beef, and put more carbon in the soil. She lives on Carman Ranch with her husband and three children.
Marc Millitzer is the owner and farmer of Tree of Life Gardens in Cuba City, Wisconsin. Marc grew up in the city moving around a lot with his family until the age of ten when his family settled in eastern Iowa. Marc grew up helping on other farms. His farming experience came mostly from his extended family and neighbors. After a small career in glassblowing Marc pursued healthy living in the country and discovered organic gardening was a passion. He then traveled to Belize receiving education from a permaculture design course at Mayan Mountain Research farm. After a few years of practice in small scale gardening Marc took a course in market gardening at U.W. Madison. This spawned his current farm Tree of Life Gardens. With the help of his retired parents and his Partner Jessica Paarmann, Marc farms over ten acres of vegetables a year. He also grows many different kinds of mushrooms. He has marketed his produce in diverse ways including CSA, large wholesale accounts, local groceries, restaurants, and farmers markets. Currently Marc specializes in salad greens and mushrooms. He plans to expand his farm in the next few years and wants to explore small grain, bean, and cover crop seed production.
On this week's episode of Greenhorns Radio, Severine speaks with Dave Oien, a third generation farmer who continues to work his family’s land in Montana. Dave transitioned the land to organics back in the 80’s and started an organic seed and edible legumes business in 1987, along with three business partners. Dave, as well as Timeless Seeds and its other Montana-based legume growers, recently became publicly visible after being the focus of Liz Carlisle’s recent book, The Lentil Underground.
Today’s guests on Greenhorns Radio, Jason Angell and Jocelyn Apicello, came to farming later in life, transitioning from white collar jobs in NYC. They learned most of their methods on a small farm in Patagonia, Argentina and moved back to family land to start Longhaul Farm in 2011. They are a micro-farm (with one acre in vegetables, three in livestock, and a CSA of fifty families) — a model that they believe is accessible to those who want to grow their own food and live more sustainably. They believe the current food movement is incredibly hopeful; the start of a rising ecological consciousness that can be a springboard for a movement to promote progress across many sectors of our society – and this is what the Ecological Citizens Project is all about.
This week on Greenhorns Radio, our guests are Effie Rawlings and Todd Darling. Todd and Effie were both involved in the Gill Tract protest, and the film that came out of this conflict, “Occupy The Farm.” They are excited to talk about the Gill Tract, food justice and organization tactics, as well how they captured this work on film.
OCCUPY THE FARM tells the story of 200 urban farmers who walk onto a publicly-owned research farm and plant two acres of crops in order to save the land from becoming a real-estate development. This direct action set up a vibrant tent village on land destined to become condos, while their crops blocked the development plans of a cash-starved public institution, the University of California, Berkeley. Their confrontational, yet hopeful tactic raises important questions: What are the most effective ways to bring healthy food to hungry, urban neighborhoods? And, who should control research and education at the world’s most important public university: private interests or the public good?
Sage Dilts owns and operates Barn Owl Bakery alongside her husband, Nathan Hodges. After earning a B.A. in Community Planning and Development, Sage spent time in politics and the non-profit sector working on food and nutrition issues. Then, looking for a more direct way to manifest her ideals about functional food systems, she began her baking in the Headland Center for the Arts in the Marin Headlands, working with Eduardo Morel of Morel’s Bread. The focus on small scale wood fired naturally leavened whole grain bread was the inspiration for her own baking when she moved to Lopez Island in the summer of 2011. After baking out of a small apartment in a 100 year old barn she moved to a wood fired oven at Captain Kenny’s house. Then, in the summer of 2012, Nathan built the bakery and wood fired oven and Barn Owl Bakery was born.
Nathan Hodges is the baker and all-around business helper for Barn Owl Bakery. After earning a B.S. in Environmental Science and a M.L.A. in Landscape Architecture, Nathan got charmed into managing the oven, chopping all the fire wood and baking the bread when Sage was pregnant with Eden and hasn’t looked back ever since. Nathan heads the grain trials and works with farmers on Lopez to grow more and more of the bakery’s grain. He is also a land artist and environmental consultant, look for his work at nathanrhodges.tumblr.com and nathanhodges.net.
“It’s physically demanding work, and there’s a lot of variables that we deal with bake to bake…that makes it hard to scale up to a point of kind of an anonymous wholesale product.” [10:55] – Sage Dilts
On today’s episode of Greenhorns Radio, Megan Talley is coming to us from Spring Creek Farm in Alaska. Spring Creek Farm is a project of Alaska Pacific University, “which cultivates sustainable produce for a local market, and trains new growers.” Megan is excited to chat about what it means to farm in Alaska, and the food and agricultural context unique to the state. Megan also comes from a creative arts background, and has much to say on the role of farming and art in the community.
“Alaska needs farmers. Alaska is calling you if you’re feeling the pull.” – Megan Talley
This week’s featured farmer on _ Greenhorns Radio _ is Rianne de Beer. When Rianne de Beer was asked to come work as a ships cook for -what was supposed to be only- a month on sailing cargo vessel Tres Hombres ‘because they really needed one at the time’, little did she know she was going to sail the world for the following two years. This dynamic and organic way of evolving is distinctive for the expanding fleet of Fair Transport. The three bro’s, Andreas, Arjen and Jorne, started the whole project with such power full vision and energy, it is hard not to get swept and sailed away by the ‘Tres Hombres’. Even though the hundred feet long wooden Schoonerbrik Tres Hombres has more soul and sailing spirit then any other ship out there, it is also a vessel to carry the message of Fair Transport: Emission Free Cargo Sailing. During the transatlantic crossing of 2014/2015 Rianne was cooking three deserving meals for the fifteen hungry sailors in any kind of weather condition. With only a humble gas stove, no electricity or running water and a limited budget, it was a challenging task to endure. Not only at sea but also at port where provisions had to be purchased. Sailing to remote area’s madeRianne realize that at some places you can’t always get what you want, but more suprisingly at other places where you least expected it, you could. The huge pressure the consumers demand were painfully visible in the strain put upon the local eco system of the visited islands. Rianne de Beer is currently continuing to raise awareness of the importance and effects of consuming behavior in her hometown of Rotterdam. Graduated a BSc in Art Therapy in Leiden and a BSc in Cultural Studies at the University of Amsterdam, Rianne makes use of art and cultural platforms to spread the message of Fair Transport.
Tune in for this week’s episode of Greenhorns Radio with guest Evan Marks. With his formal education and background in permaculture and agroecology, and, having worked extensively in domestic and international domains, Evan knows that people have the ability to directly impact the environment through individual change. As the founder and Executive Director of The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano, Evan and his team focus on activating change through individual and collaborative effort to improve our cultural and ecological environments. As a leader of regional hub, focused on building ecological environments within our household, schools, and workplaces, Evan has the tools to transform just about any space, small and large. His work often focuses on the intersection between individuals, communities and their basic needs; food, water, waste, energy, and shelter, designing solutions to our current environmental and cultural challenges.
_ Greenhorns Radio _‘s featured guest this week is John Chester. While elbow deep in a cow assisting a difficult birth, you’d never guess that John spent the first 20 years of his career making documentary films. As the director of such critically-acclaimed films as Lost in Woonsocket (OWN) & Rock Prophecies (PBS), as well as the star and show runner of Random 1 (A&E) has built many teams in his career, which certainly helps to develop the amazing group of people at Apricot Lane Farms. John and his wife Molly run the elaborate and integrated operation. John focuses on the 213 acres of orchard floor (grass) and the Integrated Holistic Livestock Program. He also built their unique and active WWOOF program. Molly focuses on the fruit selection flavor and the culinary program that turns the fruit into product lines.
Today’s featured guest is Ryan Power.
Ryan Power farms where he grew up in Sebastopol, CA. He attended the apprenticeship in ecological horticulture at the Center For Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems in Santa Cruz, CA. He spent time on a small farm in New Mexico learning to use draft horses, which he then used for the first four years farming in Sebastopol. Now, as co-owner of New Family Farm, he manages 15 acres of diverse, organic vegetable production, and a side project growing quinoa.
This week’s featured guest is Sonoko Sakai. Soba noodle maker, advocate, cooking teacher, writer, film industry veteran-the diversely talented Sonoko Sakai has perhaps had an atypical career path, but it’s one that has provided multiple outlets for creativity, seeing the world, and having a voice. Born in New York but raised in many places. For the past 10 years ago, Sakai has focused on culinary arts education, studying soba making in Tokyo, teaching workshops, collaborating with chefs, and fueling her passion for the sustainable production of heirloom grains in Southern California. Sakai’s 2nd cookbook Ricecraft will be published in the Fall 2016 by Chronicle Books.
This week’s featured guest on _Greenhorns Radio _ is Matt Alward. Matt was born and raised in Berkeley, CA where he grew up working construction with his father. After graduating High School he drove up the Alcan Highway and ended up in Homer, Alaska. He supported himself with construction work and eventually apprenticed to one of the more respected fishing net builders on the west coast. In time he took over the business and founded Bulletproof Nets Inc. which has grown to 14 employees, a business partner, and is on the leading edge of innovation in design and materials in purse seine nets. His commercial fishing carrier began more than two decades ago. Matt purchased his first commercial salmon seine boat in 2004 and has been fishing salmon in the summers ever since. He and his wife Renee raised three children in Homer, all of whom have worked or are still working on the family commercial fishing boat. When not out fishing or home building nets, Matt is on many boards and committees in fisheries and marine trades; his current positions include Vice President of United Fishermen of Alaska, Vice President of Homer Marine Trades Association, Treasurer of North Pacific Fisheries Association, Director on Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association board, finance committee Co-Chair for Seafood Harvesters of America, and a member of the steering committee for Maritime Works: An Alaska Careers Partnership. He puts time into these organizations to help influence policy to protect and insure sustainable, accountable fisheries and the marine trades that go along with them for now and generations to come.
Suzanne Hunt founded Hunt Green LLC in 2007 in Washington DC and provides strategic advising on energy, agriculture, transportation, and the environment. Her clients have included private equity firms, UN bodies, government agencies, clean tech start-ups, Fortune 500 companies, and non-profits. In the spring of 2015 she moved the business to the Finger Lakes region of New York State to support the ongoing sustainability practices at her family’s seventh generation farm and winery (Hunt Country Vineyards and Italy Hill Produce), and to assist with the implementation of long-term sustainable energy solutions in the Finger Lakes region. Suzanne has helped a number of the region’s most respected wineries install large geothermal heating/cooling and solar power systems and is working with local banks, businesses, and other partners to accelerate the shift to distributed renewables across the region and state. She is focused on the critical connections between on-the-ground realities and national and international policy efforts.
This week’s featured farmer is Lisa Murgatroyd. Lisa and her husband Jesse are owner operators of First Light Farm CSA in Petaluma, Ca., a 150-member organic CSA, farm store, and Pick-Your-Own bouquet patch. They also sell at farmer’s market and wholesale to SF Bay area grocery stores. Lisa is also founder of Chica Bloom Farm and a founding member of North Bay Flower Collective, as well as former Advisory Board member of the Farmers Guild. Lisa has worked in the food movement for more than a decade launching the first farm-to-school program integrated into state curriculum The L.I.F.E. program in Lopez Island, Washington and many other food and education projects connecting people with the land and each other around building a bright food system future. Additionally, she is an organization development consultant recently finishing her M.A. in organization development at Sonoma State University.
Today’s featured guest is Maddie O’Laire. Maddie grew up in Dallas, Texas- a far cry from the Alaska wilderness. She booked a one-way ticket to Homer, Alaska in 2010 and immediately fell in love with the landscape, do-it-yourself mentality, groovy people, and cute, scruffy fishermen. After her first winter, her feelings about permanently living in Homer solidified when she met a commercial fisherman and carpenter named Mike. They married in 2013 and built their homestead on 5 beautiful acres in Homer. In 2014, Maddie started direct marketing wild- caught Alaska sockeye salmon to her family and friends in Texas. The business grew quickly and now she ships wild-caught Alaska sockeye salmon all over the country. She ships directly to individuals and also partners with CSAs and co-ops to bring wild salmon to large groups more affordably. She hopes to grow these partnerships before this year’s salmon season, which runs from early June- late July. Maddie is passionate about healthy living, sustainable seafood, and helping other producers develop markets for their products. She graduated from Loyola University in Baltimore with a B.A. in Communications and Business.
This week’s featured guest is Linda Behnken has been commercial fishing off Alaska for 30 years. She crewed on longline and troll boats for 9 years before buying her own boat in 1991. She lives in Sitka, Alaska but has fished the waters from Sitka to the Bering Sea. She now fishes with her husband and two sons on their 40 foot boat, Woodstock. Linda holds a masters in environmental science from Yale and combines this schooling with the at-sea experience of fishing to inform her work in fisheries management. Linda is the executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association and served nine years on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council. Her work is dedicated to promoting sustainable fisheries and thriving fishing communities through research, innovation and advocacy.
This week’s featured guest Duane Hyde. Duane Hyde has served as the Land Conservation Director at the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire for the last 1.5 years. He came to the Land Trust after working for nearly 13 years at the New Hampshire Chapter of The Nature Conservancy where he served as the Chapter’s Director of Conservation Programs and the acquisition agent and grant manager for the Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership. Prior to his work in conservation Duane was a professional town planner for almost 10 years and served as the Durham, NH town planner for 3 years. Duane holds a BS in Natural Resources Management from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning with a focus on environmental planning from Virginia Tech. Duane serves on the Board of Directors for the New Hampshire Land Trust Coalition and is the chair of the Coalition’s Outreach and Education Committee.
This week’s featured farmer is Mike Sommer. Mike Sommer is an organic farmer in the Treasure Valley in Southwest Idaho. He is the production manager for his family’s farm, Purple Sage Farms, and directs the employees, plans crop production and manages sales. Mike works side by side with his father, Tim Sommer, who grew up in the same town working in agriculture since the 1960’s. Tim has been growing fresh herbs and specialty greens on the farm in Middleton since 1988 and he helped create the organic certification program in Idaho, making Purple Sage Farms one of the oldest organic farms in the state.
Tim and Mike operate twelve, 3,000 sq. ft. greenhouses, and 38,000 sq. ft. of terraced outdoor vegetable fields where they grow everything from Basil and Rosemary to Arugula, Red Russian Kale, broccoli and beets, planted directly into the ground and irrigated by a well with drip lines and sprinklers. Animals are also a small but important part of the farm. A small herd of sheep grazes on 40 acres of pasture and they provide meat for family, and the manure and bedding from their winter feeding and lambing area is turned into compost for the crops.
The majority of their products are sold to Southwest Idaho wholesale accounts like restaurants, grocery stores and produce distributors but they also do some direct sales to retail customers at the Boise Farmers Market each Saturday in Boise and through an organization called Idaho’s Bounty Cooperative which has producer and consumer members in Southwest Idaho that have come together to improve the local food system by providing sales and logistics for farmers and by improving access to local food for consumers by providing a website and pick-up locations where they can purchase it.
Mike began helping on the farm as soon as he could count and the work he did there through middle school and high school helped pay for a part of his college education. He graduated from the University of Montana in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and an emphasis in botany and brought much of what he learned back to the farm in fall of 2009. Since then he has added many new aspects to the farm such as winter crop production, vegetable production, herb drying, blended herbal teas, kombucha brewing with herbs from the farm, medicinal herb production, farmers market sales and plant pressing, and many more new value-added products like fermented vegetables and pesto will be coming soon after construction is completed on the farm’s new commercial kitchen.
Mike serves his local food community by being a founding member on the board of directors for the Boise Farmers Market, serving on the board of Idaho’s Bounty Cooperative for the past 3 years, and participating in local agricultural organizations like Idaho Preferred, Idaho Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the Treasure Valley Food Coalition and Ag in the Classroom. The farm also participates in grant programs with the Xerces Society and Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides to improve pollinator habitat and use ecology and biodiversity to decrease weeds and pests and increase fertility. Many times throughout the year Mike and Tim host tours of the farm for groups of chefs, teachers, students, other farmers and anybody else who has an interest in local, small scale, organic agriculture and food and are able to share what they have learned with many others.
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This week’s featured farmer is Mike Miles. Mike started the Anathoth Community Farm in 1986 as a center for the study of nonviolence, community, and sustainable living. His love of farming came from spending summers on his grandmother’s dairy farm in Michigan. Anathoth Farm was built from the ground up and comes right out of the pages of Mother Earth News: buildings with solar heating and hot water, composting toilets, greenhouses, and a 10,000 watt photovoltaic grid tie. Produce and maple syrup have been staple crops from the beginning with animal husbandry arriving on the scene about six years ago. After becoming aware of management intensive grazing and permaculture, Mike became a soil carbon cowboy. Steers, chickens, pigs, and cover crops are the tools he uses to build soil microorganisms while producing the tastiest, healthiest meat there is. Together with his wife Barb, Anathoth sponsors educational events on the farm to promote good health,sustainability, and justice for all.
“I gotta save the world with my agriculture then I have to save the world with my activism. I’m a hopeless ‘save the world’ kind of guy.” [21:00]
This week’s featured farmer: Mark Ressl
Mark studied architecture in New York City focussing on restructuring the relationships among designers, builders, clients, and communities. He also travelled through the Midwest on foot studying historic routes and community redevelopments of post industrial America. Last year he joined the Long Spoon Collective, a group committed to making social change through mutual altruism. The LSC recognizes that the resources we need to build sustainable infrastructure and a viable society are already in our community if only we learn to share effectively.
This year, Ressl spear headed the collective’s Food Share project. The Saugerties Food Share is a bi-weekly “free farmers market” located at the collective’s model off-grid community garden. The community garden acts as a distribution center for extra produce from local gardens. Additionally it is an educational center to learn growing, foraging and processing techniques. Currently Ressl is leading the project of recruiting local residents to transform their lawns into gardens which will all contribute to the food share next year. Ultimately the goal of this work is to create active participants in a local, fossil fuel free, moneyless food infrastructure.
This week’s featured farmer on Greenhorns Radio is Jeremiah Vernon. Jeremiah is a tenth generation New Hampshire native, having grown up in New London, where his family still lives on the land his ancestors settled. After graduating from Bates College in Maine, Jeremiah started working on long-standing and accomplished farms throughout New England, collecting the skills necessary to start his own farm. In particular, his collaboration with Riverslea Farm in Epping taught him a lot. Jeremiah is happy to call the farmers of Riverslea, the Conrads, his farming mentors and family friends. Jeremiah, and his wife, Nicole, have now founded Vernon Family Farm in Newfields, NH, the culmination of these experiences and they could not be happier! Vernon Family Farm produces a wide variety of products including chickens, mushrooms, vegetables, dried flowers and Farmsicles™. Their products are currently available at regional farmers markets, restaurants and grocery stores and they are planning to open their farm store in 2016. Vernon Family Farm made significant improvements to its infrastructure in 2015 with the addition of grain silos, a cold room, walk in freezer, mushroom fruiting room, cold frame and irrigation pond. In 2016, the focus will be on opening their farm store, streamlining their production processes and continuing to produce high quality, locally produced goods. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
This week’s featured farmer on Greenhorns Radio is Anson Biller. Raised in Eastern Massachusetts, gone west, and now returning, Anson has been farming for five years. Initially managing the production at a Buddhist retreat center in Cazadero, CA, Anson then moved down to Sebastopol to operate a small CSA at the Permaculture Skills Center. He’s now making the leap to start his own farm, Full Fork, on five-acres of leased land in Whitefield, ME. (www.fullforkfarm.com).
“Growing for seed, the plants are in the ground far longer. There is a high need for seeds for growing, it’s definitely there.” [09:00] –Anson Biller on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured guest on Greenhorns Radio is Brian Dewan, a musician and visual artist living in Catskill, NY. He sings accompanied by accordion, autoharp, electric zither or other instruments. His recordings include Tells The Story, The Operating Theater, Words Of Wisdom, Ringing At The Speed Of Prayer and Grange Future. He is represented by Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn and has performed at the Whitney Museum, the New Museum, the Museum Of The Moving Image, the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum Of Jurassic Technology. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
This week’s featured farmer on Greenhorns Radio is Darby Weaver. After receiving her degree in Sustainable Agriculture from Sterling College in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, Darby packed up her Northern roots and transplanted herself deep into the Southeastern red clay of the state of Georgia. Being young landless farmers, Darby and her husband, Elliot, were forced to land hop from property to property for years, managing farms and starting small businesses in an attempt to save up enough money to purchase a farm of their own. All of this running around from Piedmont to the Coast and finally to the Mountains built character and gave them experience in a lot of different growing conditions. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“Biodynamics is seeing your farm as an entity where every living organism is an entity nesting in other living organisms. Everything is connected.” [10:00] “In farming there’s no such thing as failing, there’s only moving forward. you can make mistakes and the land is forgiving. [12:00]
–Darby Weaver on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured farmer on Greenhorns Radio is Tim van Berkel. Tim is from Dutch origin and came to the UK to study in 2008. The beauty, remoteness, people, clean ocean and waves made him decide to stay and adapt to the Cornish way of life.
Seaweed was not Tim’s first love, but starting the Cornish Seaweed Company followed naturally from his original interests.
Tim is a conservation biologist from origin, and is involved as Scientific Director in the conservation of the rainforests in Indonesia through a charity called Frontline Conservation.
Before embarking on the seaweed and rainforest journeys however, he gained ecological and scientific knowledge during a BSc in Environmental Sciences with Utrecht University and an MSc in Conservation & Biodiversity at the University of Exeter. His research interests in tropical ecology and conservation led him to conduct research and expeditions around the world including Indonesia, Cameroon, Uganda, Honduras, Peru and Bolivia.
When not at work he can still be found near the ocean, surfing along the beautiful Cornish coastline.This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
This week’s featured farmer is Gowan Batist. Gowan is a farmer, metalsmith and soil nerd. Born on the Mendocino Coast in California and raised pulling crab pots out of the ocean with her Grandfather who taught her that work is love. She studied metal fabrication until succumbing to the pull to farm. She completed an Oregon State University Certificate program and Master Gardener training and cut her teeth on a 150-acre farm outside Portland. She always wanted to return to Mendocino, which she did to manage a farm at a local nonprofit, Noyo Food Forest. Now, at the age of 26, she is the proud owner of Fortunate Farm, made possible by a unique partnership with North Coast Brewing Company. Her 40-acre coastal farm focuses on heirloom vegetables, invasive species management, and large-scale composting. Her goal is to feed her community in a way that sequesters carbon. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“The backbone of our farm is a lot of work and as much community integration as possible.” [12:00]
“I would love to see more young farmers using technology.” [14:00]
“I would love to do everything in my power to get more farmers established and supported here.” [15:00]
–Gowan Batist
This week’s featured farmer is Tyler Hess. Tyler has been an apprentice of various organic farms for several years, and is now growing produce at New Forest Farm in Wisconsin. A recent college graduate and avid traveler, he hopes to continue facilitating land-based projects as leverage points for the times ahead. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“We need people doing commercial market farming!” [18:00] “We [young farmers] need to collaborate and hold each other in this space!” [26:00]
–Tyler Hess on Greenhorns Radio
This week's featured farmer on Greenhorns Radio is Mike Lewis. Since 2009, Michael Lewis has been a busy man. From becoming a husband and father to contributing as a Kentucky Proud farmer who is a Veteran of the 3rd U.S. Infantry, The Old Guard, he has proven how invaluable honorable service can be. He began full-time farming in 2010 and, after supporting local farmer's market and community supported agriculture efforts throughout 2011, founded America's first Veteran Oriented food security organization, The Growing Warriors Project, in 2012. Growing Warriors, which has helped over 65 veteran families grow more than 18,000 pounds of organic food, exists to equip, assist, and train our nation's military veterans in agriculture production for themselves, their families, and the nation. In 2013, Michael was a celebrated recipient of Kentucky's Local Food Hero Award, an honor granted by Seed Capital Kentucky and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to exceptional individuals who promote local, farm-fresh food grown in Kentucky. Chosen from supporters who cast almost 2,600 votes, Michael stands out among 1,450 of his fellow Kentucky farmers for agricultural contributions he's worked tirelessly for over the past several years, giving so many access to Kentucky-grown food straight from the farm. He has also served as a member of the Kentucky Industrial Hemp commission and, with the help of fellow veterans, operates America's first federally permitted Industrial Hemp farm since 1934. At the close of 2014, Yahoo lauded Michael as one of eight people who "Made our World a Better Place," touting his efforts with Growing Warriors and its movement to promote projects across multiple states. Compassionate and unfaltering, Michael's impact is undeniable—even a brief conversation will show that his vision is contagious and will, as we work together, bring about the growth and change that Kentucky, the U.S., and our good green Earth so markedly needs.
This week’s featured farmer is Lea Zeise. Lea is the descendant of Oneida women who have worked to improve their community through activism and community organizing. Her mother taught her the value of a healthy environment at an early age, bringing her along to protests against mining on the Mole Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation in the 80s. Now an adult with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Lea has focused her energy on the improvement of agriculture on Tribal lands. Every day offers another opportunity to draw linkages between the health of the environment and her people, with food often playing a central role.
This week's featured farmer is Corrie Quinn of Goose the Market. Corrie Quinn is always hungry. After working in museums by day and restaurant kitchens by night, she moved a career in food to the front burner when she went back to Italy for a masters in food communication from the Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche. After graduation, the good folks at Goose the Market in Indianapolis fed her once and she never went away. She worked as a meat monger and wine and beer buyer there before managing the Goose Enoteca, or Italian-style wine and food bar, in the butcher shop's cellar. Over three years ago, Goose the Market grew to open Smoking Goose, a wholesale, USDA-inspected meatery that handcrafts slow-cured and smoked meats, salumi, and fresh sausages. Since then Corrie has been helping to share the Goose philosophy with an audience that stretches from coast to coast: because Smoking Goose believes real meat has a tale, we can all dine happily ever after. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
This week’s featured farmer is Louisa Conrad. Louisa Conrad owns and operates Big Picture Farm in Townshend, VT with her husband Lucas Farrell. On their hillside farm lives a herd of 37 goats, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 30 or so chickens and an incredible team of employees. Big Picture Farm makes the finest goat milk caramels in the world and for their efforts have been awarded 2 SOFI Awards from the Specialty Food Association, 2 Good Food Awards, & an American Cheese Society Award. This program was brought Heritage Foods USA.
Mary Moody is an organic grower and an organizer and activist around local food, food equity, and sustainable land use. She is a founder of Hope House where hospitality is offered to people who need shelter and communal meals are shared by the hungry and lonely. She is also a founding member of the Dubuque Food Co-op, the Driftless Farm Crawl and Farm to Table Dinners, and serves on the Local Food Systems Working Group and Farm To School Committee for Dubuque County. She lives at New Hope Farm near Dubuque, Iowa which she and her husband founded in 2000 to promote communal living and integrated learning through living on the land. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
This week’s featured farmer is Cebastien Rose. Cebastien Rose is the Collective Coordinator and Seed Project Manager of Owl Peak Farm Collective. Owl Peak Farm Collective is an agro-ecology farm providing affordable food, regionally adapted non-GE seed and starts, compost and sustainability education to our local community. We farm in a high desert salty floodplain in the company of beavers, grasshoppers, drought and epic floods. We are an incubator farm (first incubating ourselves), working to model sustainable agriculture enterprises to help revive farming and support self-sufficiency in our community. We are a non-profit organization. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA
“To be denied the right to name your chili, its like being denied the right to use your own name.” [16:15] “Three corporations control 50 percent of the worlds seed market.” [20:00]
–Cebastien Rose on Greenhorns Radio
Today’s featured farmer: Alice Melendez. Alice has found in Plowshares for Appalachia the chance to tie together threads from her life– learning and teaching, love of the earth, farming heritage, and practical interest in the social structures and cultural tendencies that have set us on a course to destroy so much of what is precious. She has returned to her rural Kentucky roots and the management of the family farm after a 10-year odyssey which took her through extended stays in and study of Central America, Dartmouth College and the “Ivy League” experience, tense times in Philadelphia at the height of the recession, and five years in the “PetroMetro” Houston, Texas where she worked both with established community development and refugee resettlement organizations and with post-Occupy activist groups- particularly focused on anti-extraction work. Today, her two small kids, Ana and Severo, and her husband, Emilio are all happy to be living with wild space and gardens, gone country again. And Alice now has the chance to join her mother, Laura and the other partners in the farm, on the project of making the family farm work– economically, ecologically, and socially. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“It takes more hands on the land to manage land for a profit.” [07:00]
–Alice Melendez on Greenhorns Radio
Today’s featured farmer is Hedda Brorstrom. Hedda Brorstrom is the owner, farmer and florist at Full Bloom Flower Farm in Graton, California. Full Bloom Flower Farm specializes in growing and arranging chemical free, local blooms for weddings, grocery stores, restaurants and events. Hedda grows 80 varieties of cut flowers as well as acting as a host to hundreds of pollinators and birds. Interest in agoecology took hold from a young age having grown up in agricultural rich Sonoma County. Hedda completed her undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley in Conservation and Resource Studies and later got a certificate in Ecological Horticulture from at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UC Santa Cruz. Inspired by the flower program at UCSC Hedda decided to leave her job as a garden coordinator in San Francisco and begin Full Bloom Flower Farm back in her home town of Graton, just outside of Sebastopol. Hedda is passionate about farmer advocacy and has helped to create the North Bay Flower Collective which provides monthly meetings on flower farms where florists and flower farmers share information, inspiration and work together to promote the Slow Flower Movement. A recent graduate from the California School of Herbal Studies, Hedda hopes to add herbs to production this coming season. Dahlias, rose geranium, and scabiosa stella must grows for Full Bloom Flower Farm, but Hedda changes favorite flowers as the flowers bloom and pass with the seasons. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
Today’s featured farmer: Emily Garrity. Emily Garrity was born and raised in Fairbanks, Alaska. There she found her love for farming in her late teens working in yard, garden, and flower maintenance.
At the age of 24, she moved to Homer, a seaside community at the end of the road in South Central Alaska. Her first solo commercial endeavor consisted of less than 1Ž4 acre of garden space on borrowed land and a small table at the Homer Farmers Market. In 2005, she began her first CSA season with four subscribing members. Later that year, just over nine acres of south sloping, spring fed, topsoil rich real-estate became home to the farm she now owns and operates as Twitter Creek Gardens.
Over the past nine years Emily has spent most of her waking moments and all of her income on the infrastructure of the farm. One 26’x96′ high tunnel, three homemade low tunnels, a large passive solar greenhouse, a root cellar, two work-shops, and a little farm house now make up the complex. Incorporating animals into the farmstead has been her newest endeavor. Small flocks of laying hens, broiler chickens, and hogs have made their way into the field rotations, providing much of the soil nutrients required to grow the current one-acre vegetable plot. The farm supplies food for a 20 member CSA, the Farmers Market, local restaurants, as well as the cast of characters who work the land.
Emily sits on the Homer Farmers Market board, Homer Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors, and heads a farm-to-school project at the Homer Flex High School. She looks forward to the expansion of local agriculture and food security in the state of Alaska.
This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA
“I was really interested in the CSA model initially. That’s where I got started, I used borrowed land and had four members just to get the ball rolling.” [04:00] –Emily Garrity on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured farmer is Ginger Edwards. Ginger Edwards is an organic farmer and owner of R-evolution Gardens. She began in 2008 as a market gardener on a 1/2 acre of heavy wet clay and tree stumps and since has grown her farm to serve a 65 member CSA, a weekly farmers market and many coastal wholesale accounts from a lush 2 acres of diverse organic vegetables. Farmer Ginger, in addition to being a full time food producer, is a passionate educator of young farmers and a founding board member of the Nehalem Valley Farm Trust, a nonprofit that expands the vision and practice of sustainable agriculture throughout the north coast of Oregon. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“If you don’t have access to investment capital you’re reliant on banks, and credit cards, etc.” [07:00]
“Not everybody can be a farmer, but everybody can be supportive and be a part of the food styem thats supporting farmers. Thats what we need more of anyways.” [17:00]
–Ginger Edwards on Greenhorns Radio
Jared Zystro is Organic Seed Alliance’s research and education assistant director. He has a master’s degree in plant breeding and plant genetics from the University of Wisconsin. Jared has worked in the organic seed industry for over 10 years, managing seed production at two farms and conducting research and education projects with OSA. In his work at OSA, he manages OSA’s regional development, conducts participatory breeding projects and variety trials, and teaches farmers about seed production and plant breeding through publication and at workshops, conferences and field days. Jared lives in the coastal town of Arcata, CA with his wife Lisa and son Toby. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“The word heirloom often makes you think it’s something that gets passed down from generation to generation. The reality is that seed and heirloom varieties do change – they are part of our global ecosystem.” [11:00] –Jared Zystro on Greenhorns Radio
Today’s featured farmer: Alice Melendez. Alice has found in Plowshares for Appalachia the chance to tie together threads from her life– learning and teaching, love of the earth, farming heritage, and practical interest in the social structures and cultural tendencies that have set us on a course to destroy so much of what is precious. She has returned to her rural Kentucky roots and the management of the family farm after a 10-year odyssey which took her through extended stays in and study of Central America, Dartmouth College and the “Ivy League” experience, tense times in Philadelphia at the height of the recession, and five years in the “PetroMetro” Houston, Texas where she worked both with established community development and refugee resettlement organizations and with post-Occupy activist groups- particularly focused on anti-extraction work. Today, her two small kids, Ana and Severo, and her husband, Emilio are all happy to be living with wild space and gardens, gone country again. And Alice now has the chance to join her mother, Laura and the other partners in the farm, on the project of making the family farm work– economically, ecologically, and socially. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“To get value out of the land, it takes more people on the land.” [13:00] –Alice Melendez on Greenhorns Radio
Today’s featured farmer: Rich Lee, Co – owner, Tender Soles Farm, Dresden, ME. Tender Soles Farm is a horse-powered, MOFGA certified organic, mixed vegetable, herb, and flower farm in Dresden, ME. Kate Del Vecchio and Rich Lee own and run the farm business on a leased farm and are currently in the process of closing on the purchase of a farm of their own in the neighboring town of Richmond where they plan to continue to sell through a farm stand, two farmers markets, a local buying club and coop, and several wholesale accounts. In addition to growing crops, they enjoy making their own hay loose, collecting eggs, and logging in the winter with their three draft horses Jess, Tony, and Molly. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“We’re just keeping out eyes on the prize. We know [owning land] is what we want to do.” [09:00]
“There’s definitely room for more value added products. People are excited to try different things – they are really opening up their palates” [12:00]
“I think there’s certainly a romantic side to working with horses – that’s definitely what threw me into it.” [17:00]
–Rich Lee on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured farmer on Greenhorns Radio is Rachel Britten. Rachel Britten was born to a farming family in the heart of Iowa. She made her way West to Washington where she farmed in the beautiful Port Townsend area and later completed her undergraduate degree in Agroecology at The Evergreen State College. Rachel now works for Ecology Action, a non-profit start 42 years ago by John Jeavons. She co-manages one of three research and education sites in Mendocino County, California. There, she trains interns from all over the world in the Grow Biointensive method–a set of principles developed to grow all of one’s caloric needs for a year on the least square footage possible while still improving the soil. Rachel’s other passions include biological nitrogen fixation and it’s role in agro-ecosystems, plant genetics (which she indulges with multiple breeding projects on the farm), and good old fashion cooking and hospitality– come on over! This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“We emphasize the use of crops that are very good at taking carbon out of the atmosphere.” [08:00]
–Rachel Britten on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s guest on Greenhorns Radio is Lorig Hawkins. Loris graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and soon after began her path to farming. She has worked on farms in Texas for the past five years and most recently accepted a position as Farm Director with Farmshare Austin, where she will manage the 3-acre educational farm and oversee the Food Access plan. In 2011, after learning about the National Young Farmer Coalition and noticing a dearth of information, resources and support for young and upcoming farmers in the Central Texas community, she rallied networks, friends and colleagues to co-found the Texas Young Farmer Coalition an organization that aims to build connections between young farmers and to increase food awareness, encourage the exchange of ideas, and create sustainable and long-lasting relationships. She is also currently enrolled as a Master’s student for Agricultural Education at Texas State University. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“I encourage anybody i come across who’s interesting in farming and agriculture to get involved in policy and be aware of what’s happening in your state or your city because it will really affect you in the long run.” [09:00] –Lorig Hawkins on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured guest: Michael H. Shuman.
Michael H. Shuman is an economist, attorney, author, and entrepreneur, and
Director of Community Portals for Mission Markets in New York City. He’s also a
Fellow at Cutting Edge Capital and Post-Carbon Institute, and was a founding board
member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). He has
authored, coauthored, or edited eight books. His most recent book, published by Chelsea
Green, is Local Dollars, Local Sense: How to Move Your Money from Wall Street to
Main Street and Achieve Real Prosperity. His previous book, The Small Mart Revolution:
How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition (Berrett-Koehler, 2006),
received as bronze prize from the Independent Publishers Association for best business
book of 2006. He regularly helps communities analyze economic “leakages” and
job-creation opportunities from expanded “LOIS” businesses (locally owned, import
substituting), particularly those linked to local food, energy, and finance. A prolific
speaker, Shuman has given an average of more than one invited talk per week, mostly
to local governments and universities, for the past 30 years. He has lectured in 47 U.S.
states and eight countries. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“It’s good to remind ourselves that many financial options exist.” [18:00] –Michael H Shuman on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s guest on Greenhorns Radio is Rachel Budde. She is the maker and creator of Fat and the Moon herbal body care. Budde’s practice is informed by herbalism, ethnobotany, feminism, ancestoral knowledge and the DIY philosophy. Her knowledge and interest in plant medicine span the practical and magical. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“Fat and the Moon is my livelihood and I’m very blessed and lucky for that to be the case.” [09:00] –Rachel Budde on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured farmers are Jonah Vitale-Wolff and Leah Penniman.
Leah Penniman is an educator, farmer, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. She is committed to dismantling the oppressive structures that misguide our food system, reconnecting marginalized communities to land, and upholding our responsibility to steward the land the nourishes us. In her dual capacity as a public secondary school science teacher and as a farm educator, Leah joyfully and reverently connects learners to the intricate miracle that is this living planet and to their own power as agents of positive change in the community. In recognition of the truth that food sovereignty is a global struggle, Leah is also a core collective member of Ayiti Resurrect, and coordinates an ongoing reforestation and sustainability project with farmers in Haiti, her ancestral homeland. Leah’s work as an educator has been recognized nationally by the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Program, the Teaching Channel, New Technology Network, College Board, National Science Teachers Association, Edutopia, Center for Whole Communities, and Rethinking Schools.
Jonah Vitale-Wolff is a farmer activist educator from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. He is committed to creating relevant and effective alternatives to the oppressive structures that result in gaping disparities in our food systems and larger communities. In his role as operations manager as Soul Fire, Jonah gets to exercise his love for land, community, and spirit through growing food for his communities of Albany and Troy, NY, organizing around building a just food system, facilitating workshops, teaching young people, and training the next inspired farmer activists. Jonah’s work holds central the profound ways in which the sacred connection to land creates a powerful vessel for social change and personal transformation. In addition to being a farmer, Jonah is also a proud dad, partner and dancer.
“There are so many ways that I feel this work is important for the liberation of our people. It’s not jut bout the food and the land but for sovereignty for all people.” [05:00] –Leah Penniman on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured farmer is Jim Joyner, Morning Side Farm, TN.
71 years of age. An electrical engineer by training; spent 10 years in the US Naval Submarine service; became a businessman, selling computers and services, and a gardener in Guam in 1970 and farmer in Tennessee in 1980. In 1983, he started Morningside Farm, a food buyer’s club which offers all manner of foods for over 600 families: proteins, grains, fruits and vegetables. Jim currently resides in Liberty, TN.
Today’s featured farmer: Peter Giles
After living in Wyoming for a few years, in 2009, Peter moved with his wife back to his home City of Rutland Vermont. He then started Two Bad Cats with his father, Rick, to manufacture niche products. Luckily at the same time the city was having a small scale agriculture and farmers market boom. After helping out on a small organic farm for a summer Pete was introduced to the difficulties of vegetable production. At the request of the farm owners, Pete and his father took some of the more tedious farm tasks and made products to help make them easier. Two Bad Cats most popular products are a rolling dibble wheel for plant spacing and a plant popper for getting plugs out of plug flats.
Ty was born in Taos, New Mexico, graduated high school from Goldthwaite High School, and College from Texas State University- San Marcos. After finishing graduate school at The University of Montana in 2008, Ty made the decision to move back to his Mom and Step Father’s ranch in Comanche, TX. Ty turned what was a operation that sold their stock at the auction into a retail operation called Windy Hill Farm. Ty began by changing the land to include an acre garden and orchard, a flock of pastured chickens, grass fed and finished beef operation, and all natural goat. The drought led Windy Hill Farm to butcher a large % of their stock and in turn pushed us into a surplus of goat meat. A bad turned into a good and Windy Hill Farm began sourcing goat from partner ranches to meet the demand. Windy Hill Farm now sources 75% of goat, eggs, and beef from partner ranches. For 2014, Windy Hill Farm is looking at approximately 700 goats processed for direct sales to customers, restaurants, wholesalers, and delivery services. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
For seven years Jon Magee worked on organic vegetable farms in the Northeast. In 2012 he published Small Farm Equipment, an introduction to working with tools and equipment on the farm. His current work as a writer and activist centers around the historical and social context of land tenure, industrialized agriculture, farm labor, and economic justice.
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“From the beginning I was skeptical of the idea of an apprenticeship. I didn’t think it would put you in a good place to own your own farm because it costs money to buy land.” [6:00] –Jon Magee on Beer Sessions Radio
Micaela O’Herlihy and her 3 kids run a small ultra diverse farm and single mother sanctuary in the wilds of southwest Wisconsin. Micaela has the skills of film and art making in her tool belt along with an insatiable desire to re-invent the wheel. Her newest project is is running an RSA providing rare, seasonal and high value produce and value added products to a small handful of chef’s in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This allows her to live out her lifelong dream of being robin hood as she donates a fair share of produce to moms in need. This program was sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“For people who want to be small and diverse [in Madison, Wisconsin], they have to go far to sell stuff.” [05:00]
–Micaela O’Herlihy on Greenhorns Radio
Ruthie King is the Farm Site Coordinator for the brand new Grange Farm School in Willits, California. She arrived in this position after cultivating a rich diversity of experiences ranging from design to agriculture. Upon graduating from Columbia University with a degree in Architecture and Sustainable Development, Ruthie moved back to the West Coast to practice sustainable and natural building techniques. Moving from farm to farm working with owners on historic rebuilds, sustainable retrofits, and natural building projects instilled in her a passion for holistic and diversified management of farm operations. She began by redeveloping a small historic raw milk dairy and immediately fell in love with cows and intensive grazing systems. Animal welfare and sustainable livestock management became her new focus, but her design background and creativity continues to influence her work. A proud member of three different Granges in the past few years, she is invigorated by local action and communal solutions to the crisis we are facing in agriculture. This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“I feel like everything I’ve done in my life has led up to this extremely eclectic opportunity.” [2:45] –Ruthie King on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured farmer: Rebecca Burgess
Rebecca Burgess is the Executive Director of Fibershed. She has 15 years of experience writing and implementing hands-on curriculum in ecologically focused textile subject matter. She is the author of the best-selling book Harvesting Color, a bioregional look into the natural dye traditions of North America. She owns and operates the first North American temperate climate indigo project, which currently provides the raw material for our nation’s first 90-mile radius denim supply chain. She has built an extensive network of farmers and artisans within our region’s fibershed to spearhead prototype development of bioregional textiles. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA
“Once you know the lay of the landscape then you have an understanding of what’s missing and what needs to be fulfilled.” [10:00] “Support industrial hemp research in your community!” [21:00]
–Rebecca Burgess on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured farmers are Marada Cook and Leah Cook, Owners of Crown O’ Maine Organic Cooperative. This cooperative provides distribution services to farms in Maine, delivering local and organic food to food stores, institutions, restaurants, and buyers clubs. Their innovative distribution model has helped realize their goal of improving access to locally grown products in Maine. Leah and Marada also both own Northern Girl and Fiddlers Green Farm. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
Annie Salafsky has been farming for over half her life now. She graduated from The Evergreen State College’s Sustainable Agriculture program in 1991 and has been farming ever since. In 1993 she and Susan Ujcic took over Helsing Junction Farm and have grown the business from a 75 member CSA to one that has over 1200 members and an online store for other locally raised products such as mushrooms, honey and meat. They remain true to the concept of CSA, in that everything they grow goes to their CSA and everything in their vegetable CSA boxes is grown on the farm. By focusing on developing healthy soils, their farm produces deeply nutritious produce, while maintaining higher yields and improved pest resistance. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“We’re trying to focus more on the quality of produce that we grow…and we try to grow the most nutrient-dense product that we can.” [38:15] –Annie Salafsky on Greenhorns Radio
Greg Schundler is an innovative and experienced sustainability professional. He founded the Cascadia Cargo Cooperative, which delivers fresh, local produce in and around Olympia, WA by boat. Prior to this, Greg worked for DHA Energy as a highly successful Business Development Specialist, leading their expansion into renewable energy markets. He worked for Fungi Perfecti, also out of Olympia, WA, selling mushrooms nationwide. A Renaissance Man of sorts, Greg has experience woodworking, foraging, gardening, managing livestock, studying neuroeconomics, among others. Today’s program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“We have a choice every day when we buy our food how to nourish the land and how to nourish people in a thoughtful way.” [10:45] Greg Shundler on Greenhorns Radio
Valerie Segrest is a native nutrition educator who specializes in local and traditional foods. As an enrolled member of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, she serves her community as the coordinator of the Muckleshoot Food Sovereignty Project and also works for the Northwest Indian College’s Traditional Plants Program as a nutrition educator. In 2010, she co-authored the book “Feeding the People, Feeding the Spirit: Revitalizing Northwest Coastal Indian Food Culture”. Valerie received a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Bastyr University in 2009 and a Masters Degree in Environment and Community from Antioch University. She is a fellow for the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy. Valerie inspires and enlighten others about the importance of a nutrient-dense diet through a simple, common sense approach to eating. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“Many tribal communities are experience epidemic levels of totally preventible diseases.” 04:00 –Valerie Segrest on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured farmer: Garl Germann, Montana Meat Collaborative, Bozeman, MT.
Garl Germann was raised on a small family cattle ranch in the Madison Valley of Montana. Having seen the cattle market decline over the course of four generations of producing calves for public auction, in 2005 Garl and his family decided to stray from the conventional path and entered into the niche market of grassfed beef. Though it has been a rocky road in learning how to market and sell wholesale and retail beef, this path has led Garl to create a new company called the Montana Meat Co. – a grassfed collaborative. Under this company, Garl has banded together many farms and ranches that use sustainable practices and produce grassfed beef, pork, and lamb without any of the nasty stuff (hormones, antibiotics, GMO’s). He networks with local processors in turning these animals into salable product, and procures local markets in distributing these wholesome meats.
Though raised in the most conventional means of cattle ranching, Garl has adopted Holistic Management principles in managing grazing lands. Last year he spearheaded The Rodear Initiative – an attempt at creating a new way of managing upland range in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem using a combination of livestock herders and temporary electric fence. This project has continued to make progress and is showing great promise.
Garl now lives in Bozeman, MT with his wife Kaelin and son Owen on a small acreage where they enjoy keeping chickens, family dairy cows, and producing their own food.
This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA
Michael Stenta is a computer programmer with a passion for farming, cultivation, and information. He has worked on farms in Connecticut, Maine, and Washington state, and is now settling into his own little homestead in Connecticut, helping local farmers set up their own websites and developing open source farm management and record keeping software. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA
For those unfamiliar with the concept of open source, it’s an idea that by sharing plans – from software to real world devices and tools – everyone benefits.” [08:30] –Michael Stenta on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured farmer: Dan McManus, Common Hands Farm, Hudson Valley, NY.
Dan has lived much of his life in and around biodynamic farm communities, first during his early years in South Australia, and then as a teen in New York, working on and apprenticing under numerous farms. After working and managing his own masonry business for ten years, he desired to put these skills to a more creative use, and began traveling with mentor and teacher Johannes Matthiessen building social sculptures all over the world. He has also studied tracking and primitive skills in VT and holds a certificate in Permaculture Design. Through his studies in associative economics, social-threefolding and peer-lead learning models, Dan’s passion for working and learning with others continues to grow. Now the owner and head farmer of a large CSA outside of Hudson, Common Hands Farm, he works with his partner Tess on 20 acres of land growing vegetables, fruit, herbs, flowers, small grains. Together they supply 5 farmers markets, local restaurants and wholesale accounts, and a 140 member CSA locally and in Brooklyn. There is so much beauty and possibility in merging organic farming with the health of our local communities, and Dan feels blessed to be part of this movement. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“The goal behind our entire farm is to help pave the road for not just our farms but many farms — to serve our most local communities.” [01:00] –Dan McManus on Greenhorns Radio
Jan Lundberg is a former oil industry supply analyst who left the industry to immerse himself in the environmental movement with an emphasis on energy issues. He founded the Fossil Fuels Policy Action Institute in 1988. Projects included the Alliance for a Paving Moratorium, the Auto-Free Times, Pedal Power Produce, and CultureChange.org. The organization formed in 1999 its most enduring project, Sail Transport Network (STN), promoting the use of sail for cargo and passenger transport. STN is now a Partner of SAIL MED. Jan sailed from California to Greece decades ago, and after touring Europe in 2012 realized that the continent is currently at the center of driving forward the new sail transport movement. He lives in Greece, where he is building projects and aligning interests for SAIL MED. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
This week’s featured farmer is Mike Sullivan:
Churchill Orchard Manager, picker, tour guide, weeder, legal counsel, bricoleur, grafter, security guard, fruit packer, and laborer, Mike Sullivan, loves his work. After doing less physically fulfilling, psychically rewarding, and mentally engaging work, he is at home caring for avocados, Ojai Pixie Tangerines, and Kishu mandarins in Ojai, California. Mike works with owners Jim Churchill and Lisa Brenneis, who continue to make the serious business of farming a fun and interesting venture for him. Today’s program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“My tasks are wide and varied. I did all the pruning, which is crazy considering I don’t have a background in this.” [07:00] –Mike Sullivan on Greenhorns Radio
Today’s featured farmers: Mary Bricker & Noah Jackson
Mary Bricker is an ecologist with a passion for natural history and and teaching. She has worked with students in the classroom, in school gardens and local natural areas, and on backpacking and sea kayaking wilderness trips. Her ecology research on species interactions has given her the perfect excuse to get her boots muddy in a wide range of locations and ecosystems: temperate rainforests in Oregon, tropical forests of Central America and East Africa, and western Montana prairies in all seasons.
Mary earned a B.A. in Biology from Lewis and Clark College and PhD in Ecology from the University of Montana. Before working with Forest Voices, she taught as an assistant professor of Biology at Pacific University in Oregon.
Noah Jackson is a conservation consultant and storyteller whose work combines photography, writing, and new media to document conservation and community issues. He has worked in Asia and Africa for over a decade, starting as a Peace Corps volunteer, and continuing through graduate work, a Fulbright fellowship, independent projects, and as an auditor and farmer trainer for the Rainforest Alliance. His storytelling work can be found in publications such as the National Geographic Traveler, the Rainforest Alliance Blog and Canopy newsletter.
Noah holds a BA in Anthropology and Environmental studies with a minor in Biology, from Bowdoin College, and a MS from the University of Montana School of Forestry.
Julia and Todd met in 2002 around a barbecue in the backyard of a Chicago apartment. Todd revealed his “not very ambitious” desire to become an organic vegetable farmer. They married in 2007 and started Peasants’ Plot. Seven years later, the couple is living in a trailer outside of Manteno with 20 acres, chickens, a machine shed/woodworking shop, three high tunnels, two “guest trailers,” two tractors, a corn crib, a skateboard ramp, a massage practice, and a dog named Merle. They have realized that their dream to grow vegetables sustainably is possibly one of the most ambitious career goals around. Funded by their own savings, a farm mortgage, an FSA Loan, USDA Specialty Crop Grants, the Frontera Farmer Foundation and a Kickstarter, they have built up their farm slowly and steadily from 60 CSA members in 2009 to 250 members. Todd’s background in house-building, carpentry, woodworking, basic mechanics and organic gardening compliments Julia’s inclination towards marketing, outreach and farm advocacy. In addition to building their own business, Julia has been a leader in the Chicago CSA community, organizing annual events that help spread awareness about Community Supported Agriculture. They are committed to proving the viability of sustainable farming with the help of an equally committed community! Thanks to our sponsor, Bonnie Plants.
“A lot of CSAs are going to be like us in that they will have to approach non-traditional forms of funding. Many banks won’t look at these kind of business plans because they haven’t seen them before.” [12:00]
— Julia McDonald on Greenhorns Radio
Nolan Thevenet is the owner of Stryker Farm in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. He is a first generation farmer, raising pigs and goats which he sells through grocery stores, restaurants, and off the farm at his brand new farm stand. His goal is to provide full transparency for those who want to learn more about their food and it’s origins. This program was sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“We’ll keep raising pigs until we use up the land we have here. We don’t want to overcrowd so the pigs don’t have land to forage.” 9:00 –Nolan Thevenet on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s guest on Greenhorns Radio is Peter Allen is an ecologist turned farmer focused on restoring functional and productive savanna ecosystems. He owns and manages Mastodon Valley Farm in Southwestern Wisconsin where he’s developing a farm and homestead, planting thousands of trees and grazing cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and poultry. He also runs Savanna Gardens, LLC, an education and consulting company focused on permaculture, restoration agriculture, holistic planning, and ecological design. Today’s program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA
Jeffrey Ellis and Rebecca Beidler, Peace of Earth Farm Owners, Albany, VT
Jeffrey Ellis and Rebecca Beidler have owned and operated Peace of Earth Farm in Albany, Vermont since 2010. At Peace of Earth they have a sprouting operation year round. Jeffrey and Rebecca also grow a mix of vegetables, herbs and small fruits for their CSA and local wholesale accounts. Peace of Earth Farm is a no-till animal powered farm striving towards growing healthy soil, healthy plants and health in those that eat them. Today’s show was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
This week’s featured farmer: Linda McCullough Decker
Linda McCullough Decker is currently serving as a trustee and board member of the Steve Trigg Ranch in eastern New Mexico. She is one of twenty-three heirs who, rather than choosing to inherit a portion of the ranch, created a perpetual trust to own and operate the ranch. Now one of the challenges is learning to work with all the other heirs to operate the ranch. The other challenge is to keep the ranch prospering in a prolonged drought. Her preparation for these tasks was childhood summer visits to her grandmother on the ranch, a college major in Renaissance history, a master’s degree in divinity, and ordination at age 73 as an Episcopal priest.
This week’s featured farmer: Rory Beyer, Co-Owner of Beyercrest, LLC, Rollingstone, MN.
Rory Beyer is a recently married 35 year-old Organic Farmer from Rollingstone, MN. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in Animal Science (2000). Together with his parents they formed Beyercrest, LLC. in the spring of 2008. Beyercrest is a Dairy and Crop enterprise where they have a partnership between Rory and his parents Richard and Sharon. Beyercrest consists of a 135-cow Organic Dairy. Altogether the land base is 600+ acres of organic land certified since fall of 2009. Beyercrests’ main focus is to farm organically and to be as sustainable as possible – economically as well as ecologically. They have integrated the use of cover cropping for fertilizer and weed management as well as rotational grazing in the dairy enterprise to maximize their efficiency and lower feed costs. Recently the cropping enterprise switched to more efficient means of fertilizing crops by using liquid fertilizer and foliar feeding. They began selling their milk to Organic Valley in the fall of 2009 and sell crops (other than what the dairy uses) to a local feed mill (Premier co-op, Westby, WI). This program was sponsored by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons
“80/90% of what you get off of your farm when it comes from production out of the cows is going to come from your management practices and how you actually deal with your animals – it’s only 10% that comes from genetics. To get attached to genetics is a false hope.” [15:00] “You have to show the math works – you have to prove what you’re doing makes sense. It’s not too hard to change somebody’s mind when you [show them numbers].” [13:00]
–Rory Beyer on Greenhorns Radio
Devin Shea, MSU Agriculture Grad Student, MI
Devin Shea is a 20-something that has dedicated his adult life to the exploration of Americana and its future. After a few years of in depth traveling by any means available, hitchhiking to air travel, Shea found himself with his original goal of traveling to all of the lower 48 states met. The thesis that Shea accrued from these years was that small town America and its agricultural roots were shifting drastically. He took a few jobs in the beef cattle industry to really see what it was all about and he fell in love, prompting him to seek higher education in beef production. Shea attended Michigan State University’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to gain a formal education in forages and cattle health and management. He has been actively discussing alternative management programs with industry professionals as well as those in academia to hypothesize where the livestock industry needs to be headed to utilize natural resources efficiently with animal and ecosystem welfare being of most importance. He will begin working with a ranch in Southwest New Mexico to improve the farm to table food system infrastructure as well as natural grassland restoration with nature conservancies. This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“When it comes down to it – what’s good for cattle is good for business.” [12:00] –Devin Shea on Greenhorns Radio
Jason Bradford’s journey to Farmland LP wound through college classrooms, South American forests, and California farm fields. A PhD in biology, Jason spent several years researching and teaching ecology at the university level. It was then that he became serious about sustainability and reversing the impacts of overconsumption and a global economy. Inspired to take action, he left academia and started a non-profit that championed local economies and an organic farm and CSA. At that time he experienced first-hand the enormous barriers to entry for farmers and the challenges individual farms face in attempting to scale a more diversified farming system. He and co-founder Craig Wichner formed Farmland LP to buy land and test the theory that, with the right management, sustainable agriculture can happen at scale. Jason oversees the management of its 6750 acres in Oregon and California. Jason received his Ph.D. in Evolution and Population Biology from Washington University in St. Louis and a B.S. in Biology from the University of California, Davis. He is a board member of the Post Carbon Institute and an Economic Development Commissioner for the City of Corvallis. This program was sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
It’s a lot of work to get to know a farmer –what their interest are, their capacity.” [22:00] –Jason Bradford on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s farmer: Wes Jones
Wes Jones got his first taste of organic farming in 2012 while traveling through South America with his girlfriend, Nitana. For two months he and Nitana worked and lived on an organic, shade grown coffee farm in the cloud forest of Ecuador. Upon returning stateside they set off on a mission to find a place to settle and grow roots. They landed in the valley of Ojai, CA. The Farmer and the Cook, a local restaurant, market, CSA and farm, extended the opportunity to volunteer in the fields and help harvest veggies. Volunteering led to a job in the market for Nitana. Wes worked for Patagonia’s retail store in Ventura. Together they befriended Steve Sprinkel and Olivia Chase, the owners of The Farmer and the Cook. Six months later, suffering from a bad case of restlessness, they planned a grand bike tour/rock climbing trip, riding bamboo bicycles from Canada to Mexico via the coastal route. Steve and Olivia supported their journey by hiring Wes at the store and allowing he and Nitana to pitch a tent at the farm while preparing for the tour. Upon completion of the 2,800 mile bike ride, Wes and Nitana slipped into an opening at the farm house for two new people to take over as the new farm hands in exchange for room and board. They now live at the farm and work alongside the green thumb tutelage of Steve Sprinkel. They also work in the market/restaurant performing various tasks ranging from hot sauce making, pepper grinding, serving at the weekend cafe, cooking on the line and learning the ins and outs of running a successful business from the ever- insightful Olivia Chase. When Wes isn’t farming or working in the restaurant he spends his time rock climbing, surfing, riding his bike and enjoying the outdoors.
This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
Antonia Partridge is Director for the newly formed California State Grange School of Agricultural Arts. She began teaching agriculture at Mendocino College in 2001, and from 2008-2012 Antonia managed 4 acre Willits High School Farm and 1 acre Brookside School Farm. She led students in farm production of diverse crops and livestock as well as linking the farm to practical business and marketing experience. School garden curriculum also included nutrition education classes linking gardens and kitchens. Antonia Partridge’s education includes a BS in sustainable agriculture from the University of California at Davis. In 2001 she started a homestead scale farm of her own, Living Hills Homestead, where she hosted WWOOFers for 10 years. Antonia now lives in Willits, CA, with her husband, Josh, and daughter, Flora, in the 100 year old Craftsman Bungalow the family is restoring. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“I see what we’re doing as throwback to the way our grandparents farmed…creating the balance on the farm that it’s a self-sustaining organism.” [5:30] –Antonia Partridge on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s featured young farmer: Dan Hobbs
Dan Hobbs is a cooperative development specialist with the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Cooperative and Economic Development Center. He has twenty years agricultural and rural development experience in the United States and South America and formerly served as executive director of Organic Seed Alliance, NewFarms and Nuestras Raices, all 501(c)(3) organizations. He is trained and skilled in the organizational aspects of setting up producer cooperatives and other member-driven organizations and businesses. He is a founding member of the Family Farmers Seed Cooperative, Colorado Farm and Art Market Cooperative, and the Arkansas Valley Organic Growers. Dan is a fifth generation Coloradan, holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies, and owns and operates a 30 acre organic seed and vegetable farm in Pueblo County Colorado.
“There’s a very vibrant effort now to take the seed back and produce it in a bio regional basis” [18:00] –Dan Hobbs on Greenhorns Radio
This week’s young farmer is Tyler Henderson. As Farm Manager at Growing Places Indy, Tyler oversees all aspects of our farming operation as well as the educational components of our Summer Apprenticeship Program related to agricultural systems and food entrepreneurship. Tyler began his urban farming work in 2009 by creating micro-garden sites at restaurants in Indianapolis and then worked as a farmer for Big City Farms for two seasons. Like many farmers, Tyler has an off-farm job and is the Director of North American and North European Operations for the Bocconi University School of Management in Milan, Italy. In late fall and early spring, he travels extensively in North America, Asia and Europe to interview candidates for a Global MBA Program. Tyler has master’s degree in Education Policy from University of Oslo (Norway) and wrote his masters thesis in Tampere (Finland) and Aveiro (Portugal). This episode was sponsored by Edwards VA Ham.
Jean-Martin Fortier and his wife Maude-Hélène Desroches are the founders of Les Jardins de la Grelinette, a micro-farm located in Eastern Quebec, just north of the American border. Growing on just 1.5 acres, they are able to feed more than 200 families through their thriving CSA and seasonal market stands as well as supply vegetables to dozens of local establishments. Jean-Martin Fortier is a leading practitioner of biologically intensive cropping systems with more than a decade's worth of experience in organic farming. He is a graduate of the McGill School of Environment and is a passionate advocate for strengthening local food systems, notably working with Montréal's Équiterre to help create Canada's most important network of CSA farms. He has also facilitated more than fifty workshops and conferences in Canada, France, Belgium and the United-States promoting the idea of micro-scale farming as an alternative lifestyle. He is also the author of The Market Gardener, where he shares his knowledge on low-tech, high-yield production methods. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
"We've been managing by always focusing on little things and how to make things better." [11:00] –Jean-Martin Fortier on Greenhorns Radio
Josh Volk been farming in the Northwest, Southwest, Northeast and California for the past 15 years since branching out from his start in mechanical engineering and home gardening. He has been a regular contributor to Growing For Market, writing about farm tools, and also works to develop tools for small farms through his Farm Hand Carts project. Currently he is managing vegetable production at Our Table, a startup farm cooperative outside of Portland, OR. He also teaches workshops on vegetable production and consults around the US and in Canada under his old farm name, Slow Hand Farm. In his spare time maintains the informational website joshvolk.com and is an active participant in several NW farmer networks. This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“The creative part [of Farm Hand Carts] is really interesting and really exciting to me.” [24:10]
–Josh Volk on Greenhorns Radio
Cameron Molberg joined Coyote Creek as General Manager in April 2010, after several years in restaurant management including the founding of two organic restaurants in Austin. His educational background in institutional management, animal science, and food technology has proven to support his work in various ways at Coyote Creek Organic Feed Mill and Farm. He is frequently invited to give educational talks on a variety of topics including beginning and advance poultry-keeping, GMOs in our food system and in livestock feed, organic farming and gardening, and organic certification processes. Cameron has served as Treasurer of the Texas Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association since mid-2010. He is committed to the organic movement and to supporting others in their quest to support local organic agriculture and food systems. This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“We really just try to produce the best product available – and that means no pesticides, no herbicides, no fillers, no byproducts…basically what it comes down to is impeccable and specific nutrition for each species.” [4:00]
Cameron Molberg on Greenhorns Radio
Sam started farming the family land in 2010 after working on several farms around the state of Maine. One of those farms grew grain for their dairy herd as well as for human consumption, and after a couple of seasons there Sam learned about the lack of regional organic grain production in the Northeast. The path was clear – Maine needed regionally produced certified organic cereals and beans! This year will be Sam’s third season growing grains and dry beans, continuing his focus on growing out and multiplying rare and heirloom varieties for seed stock as well as for stone ground flours and meals. In the coming years Sam wants to integrate livestock and fruit growing into his small-scale grain operation. His goal is to provide the local community with a diversity of regionally adapted grains and dry beans as well as to educate and inspire people to cook with these local products. This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“That’s one of the hurdles – the first year I harvested grain I didn’t have any way to dry them.” [20:00]
“[The kneading conference] is really fantastic. I would try to go to the one here in Maine, or out on the west coast”. [25:45]
Sam Mudge on Greenhorns Radio.
Bob McFarland, is serving his 3rd term as President of the California State Grange. Formed in 1867, the Grange is the oldest agricultural organization in the nation, with 10,000 members serving 215 communities in California. Since taking office in 2009, Bob has shepherded a return to the Grange’s agrarian roots, spurring unprecedented membership growth and an increased awareness of the Grange as a driving force supporting California farmers and consumers, and championing such causes as sustainable agriculture, GMO labeling and awareness, legalization of industrial hemp, agritoruism, anti-fracking and farmers rights. This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“It’s all about making healthier communities where our granges are located.” [8:45]
Industrial hemp is a sturdy useful plant, and it’s very easy to grow.” [9:30]
—Bob McFarland on Greenhorns Radio
Nathan McClintock is Assistant Professor of Urban Studies & Planning at Portland State University. A geographer focusing on urban agriculture (UA) and food systems and urban political ecology, he integrates qualitative and quantitative methods (from social theory to soil sampling and spatial analysis) to understand food systems, cities, and the environment. He is currently conducting research on UA in Portland (with some comparative work in Canada and the Pacific NW), and is particularly interested in the relationship between UA, sustainability policy, social movements, race and class. He draws on more than fifteen years of sustainable agri-food systems work in North America and the Global South wearing a number of different hats along the way: researcher, trainer, journalist, Peace Corps volunteer, food policy council member, and farmer. He received his PhD from UC Berkeley (Geography, 2011) where his dissertation focused on the rise of the UA in Oakland and opportunities for its expansion. He completed a MS at NCSU (Crop Science/Agroecology, 2004) where he conducted research on compost use and nutrient cycling at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems. This program has been sponsored by Cain Vineyard & Winery.
“It’s the era of big data now, and we can collect it with all this new technology.” [17:10]
Nathan McClintock on Greenhorns Radio
Charlie Johnson is the director of the Community Integration for Training and Employment (CITE) program at Toledo GROW’s Botanical Garden in Toledo, OH. He developed the program to employ adjudicated youth in urban agriculture, helping them to gain the skills they need to get jobs when they finish the program. For the past 10 years, Charlie has been involved in implementing an urban agriculture training center, introduced small chickens and small livestock to Toledo, and helped start dozens of community gardens. This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“What better way to deal with vacant lots than to turn them into gardens and teach people how to grow? [9:10]
Charlie Johnson on Greenhorns Radio
Heather Retberg and her husband Phil first met as young children in Mexico, where their fathers were missionaries. Led through many twists and turns by their faith and values, they now have children of their own and live on a small, diversified, grass-based farm in Penobscot, ME. The farm is conserved under the Blue Hill Heritage Trust’s Farmland Forever program and is a Maine Farmland Trust ‘Forever Farm’. Heather home-schools their three children, Alexander, Benjamin, and Carolyn. When the state Department of Agriculture began re-defining small-scale farms according to federal rules for processing chickens and selling raw milk, threatening the family’s livelihood, a community farm and food rights advocate was born! She is now looked to by farmers across the state and country as a leader in the fight for local control of local food systems. This program has been sponsored by The International Culinary Center.
“When going back makes sense, you’re going forward!”
Severine von Tscharner Fleming on Greenhorns Radio
Neil Bertrando lives with his family in Reno, NV on the edge of the Great Basin and the Sierra Nevada mountains on a 1.3 acre homestead. He is passionate about promoting and developing the synergies between resource production and regenerative land management. He is trained in Keyline Design and Permaculture, recently became a registered teacher with the Permaculture Research Institute, and studied Biology (BS) and Environmental Science (MS) in University. His passions are people, water, soil, and plants. To engage these passions he runs RT Permaculture–a consulting, design, and education business–and partners with Loping Coyote Farms–a local micro nursery and farming enterprise. He also collaborates with Permaculture Northern Nevada (a local community group), Urban Roots to implement an agroecology and Permaculture education program and Nevada Bugs and Butterflies which opened Northern Nevada’s first public butterfly house last year. Neil is excited about collaboration and has been honored to work with several groups over the past year including Mindful Generations, Holzer AgroEcology, Dryland Solutions, The Quivira Coalition, ABC Acres, Locavore Farm, Perennial Solutions, Owen Hablutzel, Cosmic Goat Creamery, and PRI Tipuana Farm in a wide range of climates and settings. This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“That’s my larger goal, to really just get to know people, building on those relationships, and being as honest and truthful and generous as possible. [21:30]
“We all really have the same goal, which is to create a positive impact on the land within our communities.” [26:30]
Neil Bertrando on Greenhorns Radio
Cari Rincker is the owner of Rincker Law, PLLC, a national general practice law firm concentrating in food and agriculture law. She is licensed to practice law in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Washington D.C. She is currently the Chair of the American Bar Association’s General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Division’s Agriculture Law Committee and serves on the New York State Bar Association’s Agriculture & Rural Issues Committee. She is a prolific writer and blogger on a myriad of food and agriculture law topics and has been recognized as an author of a Top 100 Blawg from the American Bar Association.
Cari’s passion for agriculture issues is deeply rooted. She grew up on a seedstock Simmental cattle operation in Shelbyville, Illinois where she spent significant time working on her family’s farm. Cari went on to receive her Associate in Agriculture Science from Lake Land College and Bachelors of Science from Texas A & M University, where she had a successful career livestock judging at the collegiate level. Afterwards, Cari went back home to the University of Illinois to complete her Masters of Science in Ruminant Nutrition. Due to her passion for agriculture law and policy, Cari decided to complete her Juris Doctor from Pace University, School of Law, in White Plains, New York. At Pace, Cari completed certificates in both Environmental Law and International Law.
Cari continues to have her boots planted firmly in agriculture -she enjoys judging livestock shows around the country and is the co-owner of Rincker Cattle Co., a SimAngus operation in Shelbyville, Illinois. She is the Past-President and Founding Member of New York Agri-Women, a Director for the New York Simmental Association, and Past-Secretary of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Young Producers’ Council. Cari is a recognized leader in the agriculture industry and the recipient of the Outstanding Early Career Award from Texas A & M University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Lake Land College, the Vision Award from American Agri-Women and has been twice selected by the livestock industry as the “Best Agriculture Lawyer” in the Best of the Barns Competition. This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
Robin is the Coordinator and lead instructor for the Sustainable Agriculture Program at Central Carolina Community College. In this capacity, she has developed and taught an organic farmer education and training curriculum and worked directly with aspiring and beginning farmers since 1999. Thanks to our sponsor, Heritage Foods USA.
“The focus of the degree is to be an entrepreneurial program. The people who designed were first-time farmers, and they knew what they were lacking.” [7:00]
Owen Hablutzel is a consultant, educator, and group-facilitator performing international work with a range of clientele to radically amplify practical whole systems design, thinking, and management for increasing land health, at multiple scales. Living, working, and learning across multi-cultural contexts (North Africa, Australia, Mexico, Middle-East, Canada, Zimbabwe, and most of the western United States), Owen brings a diverse constellation of experiences and training to his work with broad-acre and regional systems. This work integrates bio-physical applications (Keyline, Permaculture, and Holistic Management) with Social technologies (participatory process facilitation), and with a wider spectrum of practical, flexible, leading-edge solutions (social-ecological systems science) beyond sustainability. Whether with farms, ranches, classrooms, non-profits, NGOs, government agencies/ministries, or other land-managing/policy groups, the core work remains empowering people and communities to enact transformations toward robust land health, adaptive capacity, and resilience through stewardship. Owen is a Certified Educator with Holistic Management International, holds a Masters in Eastern Philosophy (the original systems thinking & 'science of the whole') from St. John's College in New Mexico, and serves passionately as a director of the Permaculture Research Institute, USA. This program has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
"You don't really understand a system until you understand what's going on at at least 3 different scales and how those things are interacting." [20:00]
—Owen Hablutzel on Greenhorns Radio
Easy Bean Farm is owned and managed by Michael Jacobs, his wife Malena Arner Handeen, daughter Hazel (13), and son Arlo (10). He began managine the 120 acres of prairie, grove, pasture and cropland in the fall of 1996 after working as a furniture maker in St. Paul. In their first two seasons they sold produce mainly through farmers’ markets with the goal of learning enough about growing food to begin selling produce to restaurants, food co-ops, and through their (now) 280 member C.S.A. While Michael spends most of his time working in the fields, Minnesota’s cold winters also provide him with time away from the soil to explore other areas of interest. When not cutting firewood and restoring his old house, he can often be found in his woodshop designing and building custom made furniture and cabinets. Sometimes, if you’re sneaky, you can even catch him writing or baking bagels.
“If you’re someone who likes to make change, the number of people in a rural community that you have to convince is very small.” [13:00]
“Our community can’t survive if we keep consolidating farmland.” [17:50]
—Michael Jacobs Greenhorns Radio
Mike Kwasniewski is in his third year of farming in his hometown of Beverly, West Virginia. Coming back home after studying philosophy at Gonzaga University and working at a couple of diary farms on the West Coast, he and his mother, Pam Kwasniewski, began The Charm Farm with an emphasis on pasture-based meat production. Headquartered on the forty acres he grew up on, the farm also includes 220 acres of river bottom farmland while another 200 is rented for cattle and hay production. Along with livestock, the farm also raises produce, fruit, field crops, potatoes and eggs. In November 2012, Mike began a whole diet CSA, with on-farm pickups every week. The farm also supplies restaurants and retail stores, as well as the local farmers market. This program is sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“Land is cheap and there’s plenty available!” [10:50]
— Mike Kwasniewski on Greenhorns Radio
Rio Grande Community Farm is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that farms in Albuquerque on public land (the Los Poblanos Fields Open Space in the North Valley) since 1997. The farm grows Certified Organic fruit and vegetable crops (primarily annuals), as well as grows 25% or more of our acreage in wildlife habitat/feed such as corn, sorghum, sunflowers, and an abundance of other flowers and grains. We have a 2-acre community garden which offers neighbors and school groups a place to learn about and grow their own food, and we offer education programs such as farm camps and farm tours. Our most popular program is the annual Albuquerque Maize Maze which is 7 acres of corn and other cover crops cut in a maze pattern with an educational theme, that thousands of Burquenos attend during the fall season. We value the property’s status as Open Space land and are proud to participate in wildlife habitat preservation as well as offering accessible hands-in-the-dirt opportunities. This program has been brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“The whole network of farmers around the whole Rio Grande corridor are really connected with donating to food banks.” [17:00]
— Jamie Phillips on Greenhorns Radio
Tammy Horn was born in Harlan County, KY, on March 21, 1968. Her parents taught history and English; both maternal and paternal grandparents kept bees on their properties in eastern KY. All of these interests coalesce in my research and vision for a world in which there is, to quote J.R.R. Tolkien, “hope without guarantees.”When she was ten, her parents moved to Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The stark Badlands and their nuanced shadows continue to serve as her aesthetic ideal when writing. Tammy received a B.A. from Berea College, an M.A. from Ft. Hays State, and finished a Ph.D. in Modernism at the University of Alabama in 1997. This was the same year that her grandfather introduced me to his bees. The real education began. For three years, Tammy taught at the University of West Alabama, returning to KY to help her grandfather with his bees. In 2000, Tammy stayed in KY to teach at Eastern Kentucky University and in 2002, transferred to teach at Berea College. In 2005, Bees in America: How the Honey Bee Shaped A Nation was published by the University Press of Kentucky. In 2006, Tammy was named the NEH Chair of Appalachian Studies at Berea College. Tammy’s research from that year has resulted in a pilot project focusing on the relationship between coal mine reclamation sites and honey bees. Hear Tammy on KY Life! This program has been brought to you by Heritage Foods USA.
“We’re losing 1 in every 3 beehives every year across the nation…and that’s because we haven’t regulated pesticide use at all.” [16:30]
“2013 will go down in history as the year when honey production will be at its lowest.” [21:30]
— Tammy Horn on Greenhorns Radio
Nolan Calisch is a farmer, photographer, artist, and educator, residing in Portland, OR. Nolan and his farming partner, Chris Seigel, own and operate Wealth Underground Farm, where they supply a CSA membership of 30 on their intensively cultivated plot of land. They also work with Portland State University to teach The Homesteader course, in which college students study agricultural practice and history at Wealth Underground. Nolan combines his interest in art, agriculture, and education with another course he teaches called The Farm School, where students “create site specific and participatory art projects in a wide variety of contexts from farms to schools to grocery stores to art museums.” Nolan runs a truly diversified farm – both food-wise and through the wide breadth of knowledge and experiences shared on his farm. Thanks to our sponsor, Heritage Foods USA.
“Our situation affords us the ability for other people to access our farm pretty easily, so we decided to set up some educational programs.” [7:20]
— Nolan Calisch on Greenhorns Radio
A Denton native who has been inspired by her family heritage in farming since early childhood, Amanda Austin earned her degree in Visual Arts from UNT. Between college semesters, Amanda completed a season as a farm educator at Hidden Villa, an organic farm and education center in Bay Area, CA. During her final semester, she worked as a farm hand at Cardo’s Sprout Farm, on the land where CFP was founded. In 2010, Amanda lived and worked as an apprentice on Common Ground Farm in Beacon, NY. She then moved home to establish Cardo’s Farm Project. Her work at CFP includes tending the fields, maintaining the farm business, and developing farm programming. Amanda believes in the significance of farming in our lives and works to use the farm to provide opportunities to learn about positive change. This program has been brought to you by Regional Access.
“I think in our area of Denton, TX, the small farm and local food movement is behind, and so is the local government on regulating these institutions.” [16:15]
— Amanda Austin on Greenhorns Radio
Lee Rinehart has been Pennsylvania Certified Organic’s Director of Education and Outreach since the summer of 2011, where he is responsible for educational programs and project development. Prior to PCO he worked with ranchers on weed and rangeland management in Texas and Montana, then moved to Pennsylvania in 2007 as NCAT’s Northeast Regional Director and ATTRA Specialist. Lee is also a prior board member for PCO. Thanks to our sponsor, S. Wallace Edwards & Sons.
“Agricultural education is not just a learning experience for the farmers and people getting involved with farming, but also for myself.” [3:00]
“True agrarianism is about living according the natural and ecological cycles of the seasons.” [26:45]
— Lee Rinehart on Greenhorns Radio
Wesley Bascom grew up on a working dairy farm in the verdant valleys of the Connecticut River. He studied Ecological Design and Environmental Science at the University of Vermont – graduating in 2010. After pursuing interests in sustainable food and resilient landscape development in West Virginia and abroad, he returned to Vermont to continue these explorations and deepen his connection to the local community. To earn his daily bread, Wesley builds all kinds of wooden structures (farm to finish carpentry).
David Huck grew up in the teeming suburbs of the San Francisco Bay Area. Upon decamping to Vermont, by way of Oberlin College, David followed his love of mountains and rivers to a hillside farm in Cabot where he manages a farm to table catering business. His fascination with complex systems and years of experience living in the rural landscape of Vermont and Ohio nurtured an interest in Lean, grass-based protein production. This program has been sponsored by Consider Bardwell.
“Geese are quite strong poultry; they generally don’t have as many problems as chickens or other weaker forms of fowl.” [1:50] — David Huck on Greenhorn Radio
Duke Phillips IV was born in Santa Fe New Mexico but has lived in Colorado for 23 years. Duke is a fourth generation cattle rancher and grew up immersed in ranching. He attended Fountain Valley School for grades 9-12 and graduated in 2010 with a degree in English from the University of Denver. He has traveled and worked all over the US and world, most recently a 13 month trip to Australia working on large scale cattle stations. Duke currently oversee the agricultural divisions of our family company, Ranchlands. Thanks to our sponsor, Fairway Market.
“We manage with the animals in mind, just not from a hunting perspective, but the whole ecosystem.” [4:00] “We are a minority out here on the ranch; we want to share our experiences.” [15:10]
— Duke Phillips IV on Greenhorns Radio
Little Peace Farm is a 20 acre, intensive family farm offering chemical-free produce, cut flowers, fruit and herbs, and pastured chicken and eggs through our CSA memberships, at our market locations and to several local restaurants. We employ organic and sustainable growing, pest management, and fertilization methods and offer our food year round (see our website www.littlepeacefarm.com). Our main season CSA and Farmer’s Market is 20 weeks long (first week in June until late October) and our Fall CSA runs from October through December. We grow in our high tunnels to offer customers fresh winter vegetables during the winter and spring months as well. Our goal is to raise “honest food” for our family of 11 and share this food with as many people as we can while striving for a sustainable (financially and environmentally) lifestyle. Our farm is located outside of Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. Thanks to our sponsor, White Oak Pastures.
“If farming is Kindergarten through PhD, I was held back in Kindergarten for 5 years and just graduated 1st grade.” [9:00] — Michael Scheidel on Greenhorn Radio
Muriel Olivares was born in Cordoba Argentina and moved to South Florida as a child with her family. She grew up in Miami studying art and eventually went on to the San Francisco Art Institute on a full scholarship. To support herself during collage she took a part time job at a flower shop, where the world of plants began to peak her interest. Becoming more interested in the horticultural and botanical side of flower arranging she enrolled in horticulture classes at San Francisco City Collage. Her career in floral design lasted 5 more years, eventually landing her jobs at the top design studios in New York City. Upon moving back to Miami in 2005 she was concerned about the liberal use of pesticides in the commercial cut flower industry and in an attempt to educate herself about organic alternatives she did her first internship on an organic farm. Growing food and sustainable land stewardship soon became the focus of her life and she went on to finish three years of apprenticeships on organic farms in Homestead, FL and upstate New York. In the summer of 2010 Muriel acquired a small plot of land in Miami and opened the Little River Market Garden, an urban farm with a small CSA as well as vegetables, herbs and flowers for sale to restaurants, food trucks and farmers markets. Although the gardens are not certified yet, she uses only organic and sustainable practices of agriculture. She believes that the health of the soil is directly related to the quality of the harvest so she takes as much care of the soil as she does any of the crops with a focus on composting, cover-cropping and no-till to sustain the micro-organisms and organic matter in the fields. Since the first growing season the garden has expanded and the CSA has sold out every summer. Muriel’s first daughter was born on January 2nd, 2013 so this upcoming season brings new challenges as she gets ready to run the farm with a toddler.
“There seems to be a ball rolling with permaculture. We’re really embracing it and it feels like a good direction for South Florida and Miami. We could really easily have little mini food forests all over the city – they could fill in food gaps [in the area.]” 20:00 –Muriel Aolivares on Greenhorns Radio
Jennie Merkel has always been interested in food. While in high school Jennie would look forward to the new issue of Bon Appetite arriving in the mail the same way that other girls would anticipate Seventeen Magazine. When having sleepovers, Jennie’s guests would stay up late, not gossiping, but baking an apple pie from scratch. However, it was not until she and her husband moved into their first house that Jennie started thinking about growing her own food. In the backyard there was a small plot of strawberries the previous owners had planted. The plants had been neglected, but they produce the most delicious strawberries Jennie had ever tasted. Eating perfectly ripe, super sweet strawberries still warm from the sun was the best breakfast a girl could have (that is, until she got chickens and had farm fresh eggs with potatoes so fresh they made a crunching sound when she cut them).
Finally Jennie decided to take the plunge into farming, and completed an apprenticeship at the Seed Farm where she leared how to farm organically. She is currently in her second season farming. She has a mixed vegetable, egg and chicken CSA, and also sells at a local farmers market. In the future she hopes to expand into value added products made from her own produce. Thanks to our sponsor, White Oak Pastures.
“Each tomato variety really does have a unique taste and flavor profile.” [12:00] — Jennie Merkel on Greenhorn Radio
Severine von Tscharner Fleming is talking with Kyla Smith and Willa Paterson about farming in Central Pennsylvania and FarmFest! Be a part of it! August 2-3, Friday 4-10pm and Saturday 10am-10pm. FarmFest is a fun, FREE, community-building event that fosters knowledge of organic agriculture and sustainable living through educational opportunities, local foods, lively entertainment and interactive family activities. The event includes a 5K, Silent Auction, Book Nook, Live Auction and much, much more! Speakers include: Gary Zimmer and Jerry Burnetti. For more info click here. Thanks to our sponsor, White Oak Pastures.
“Organic certification is hopping in Pennsylvania! We’re especially certifying a lot of dairy, and we’re also certifying a lot of processed products, as well.” [9:15] — Kyla Smith on Greenhorn Radio
Joel Salatin, 56, is a full-time farmer in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. A third generation alternative farmer, he returned to the farm full-time in 1982 and continued refining and adding to his parents’ ideas. The farm services more than 5,000 families, 10 retail outlets, and 50 restaurants through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs with salad bar beef, pastured poultry, eggmobile eggs, pigaerator pork, forage-based rabbits, pastured turkey and forestry products using relationship marketing. He holds a BA degree in English and writes extensively in magazines such as Stockman Grass Farmer, Acres USA, and Foodshed.
The family’s farm, Polyface Inc. (“The Farm of Many Faces”) has been featured in Smithsonian Magazine, National Geographic, Gourmet and countless other radio,television and print media. Profiled on the Lives of the 21st Century series with Peter Jennings on ABC World News, his after-broadcast chat room fielded more hits than any other segment to date. It achieved iconic status as the grass farm featured in The New York Times bestseller Omnivore’s Dilemma by food writer guru Michael Pollan and the award-winning film documentary, Food Inc. Thanks to our sponsor, Hearst Ranch.
“I think that this young generation, people from ages 17-30, is realizing that they are going to have to be the re-generation generation… many young people are ready to embrace a farming vocation if they feel like they can make a living at it.” [2:30] “If the young people can’t get into farming, then the old people can’t get out!” [5:30]
— Joel Salatin on Greenhorn Radio
Chuck Ross was appointed as the Secretary of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets by Governor Peter Shumlin and took office in January of 2011. Prior to his current role as Secretary, he served as U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy’s State Director for 16 years. Before joining Leahy’s staff, Ross was a farmer and legislator from Hinesburg, Vermont. During his six years in the Vermont State Legislature, Ross served as Chair of the House Natural Resource and Energy Committee. He has served on the Board of Directors at Shelburne Farms; on the Advisory Board of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont; as an advisory member of the Vermont Council on Rural Development; and as Vermont’s National Democratic Committeeman. Ross formerly served as a trustee at Fletcher Allen Health Care; a trustee at the University of Vermont; a member of the Hinesburg Planning Commission; and a member of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission. Born in Burlington, Vermont, he graduated from the University of Vermont with a B.A. in Geography in 1978 and from the University of Washington with an M.A. in Geography in 1982. Thanks to our sponsor, Hearst Ranch.
“If the 98% percent of people who are not involved in food production are not literate in agriculture, it’s going to be difficult to address the problems of our state, our country, and our globe when it comes to food issues.” [3:15] — Chuck Ross, Secretary of Agriculture (VT), Greenhorn Radio
Dr. Sasha Kramer is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL). Sasha is an ecologist and human rights advocate who has been living and working in Haiti since 2004. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology from Stanford University in 2006 and co-founded SOIL that same year while completing a postdoctoral research position with the Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects at Stanford. Sasha is currently an Adjunct Professor of International Studies and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Miami. She is also a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and an Architect of the Future with the Waldzell Institute and a member of the Clinton Global Initiative. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“The goal of our organization is to take things that are considered waste and turn them into resources.” [3:00] “Often, the Caribbean is often left our of larger networks.” [12:00]
— Dr. Sasha Kramer on Greenhorn Radio
Clare Sullivan of Feedback Farms is currently the Environmental Coordinator of the Millennium Village project in the Tropical Agriculture and rural Environment Program of Columbia University. Before that she worked in a variety of capacities in the food service industry – running a collective bakery in St. Louis, working as a pastry chef in New York and doing agricultural research at the International Potato Center in Lima, Peru. Clare is also a serial crew leader for the Student Conservation Association and has served on it’s advisory board. She has M.A. in International Affairs with a focus on Environmental Policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a B.A. in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis. Thanks to our sponsor, Heritage Foods USA.
“That’s the neat thing about urban gardens- there’s so many intersections with the communities that surround them.” [6:00] — Clare Sullivan on Greenhorn Radio
Sunnyside Organic Seedlings was founded in 2004 by Vernay ‘Pilar’ Reber, a graduate of the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems program. She and the rest of the Sunnyside crew are thrilled to be growing organic starts in the San Francisco Bay Area – a place where organic gardening is not only accepted, it is expected! Everything the crew at Sunnyside Organic Seedlings does is focused on providing quality certified organic plants that are produced in a socially and
environmentally responsible manner. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“The cool thing about an aquaponics system is that you’re building an ecosystem, not just pushing water through pipes… I think it’s the future of urban ag.” [7:00] — Pilar Reber on Greenhorn Radio
Joe Bossen is the founder of Vermont Bean Crafters. Originally interest in renewable energies while attending Green Mountain College, Bossen found an opportunity in agriculture to make an impact on how we relate to energy consumption through promoting locally available, sustainably grown foods lower on the food chain, like beans. After working several years on a variety of farms, Joe realized he wanted to grow staple food crops like beans and grains but being unable to capitalize a farm operation, he turned to value-added products as a more financially accessible means to that same ends of engaging with food in a way that looks to build soil and beget joy via less energy intensive foods. This episode has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“I chose this path through life because after working on many farms, I realized I wasn’t going to be in a position any time soon to access land.” [3:55] — Joe Bossen on Greenhorn Radio
Saundra Ball is in her third year of farming, having first apprenticed on a vegetable farm in Texas before moving to the Hudson Valley, where she’s worked on several small scale diversified farms. Saundra now works on a small dairy in Columbia County, milking Jerseys for direct market sales of fluid milk. While she pursues farming, Saundra is supporting herself in the meantime with a career in humanitarian aid. She hopes to have her own raw milk micro-dairy and a flock of sheep one day. Tune into this episode of Greenhorn Radio to hear more from Saundra! Thanks to our sponsor, Hearst Ranch.
“80% of dairy farming is about pasture management. Pasture is what your cows eat, and what you put into your cows, you get out of your cows.” [6:45] — Saundra Ball on Greenhorn Radio
Once again, Severine Von Tscharner Fleming is digging into the Greenhorn archives. In this episode of the “Young Farmer Policy Podcast,” von Tscarner Fleming talks to Luke Gran, Beginning Farmer Coordinator at Practical Farmers of Iowa, which is a farmer driven research and education group out of Iowa. This program has been sponsored by White Oak Pastures.
Once again, we’re digging into the Greenhorn archives, and revisiting the 2012 Farm Bill. Annette Higby, from the New England Farm Union, discusses Federal Farm Bill the various titles and programs, and the the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity act which is supported by the National Young Farmers Coalition. The National Farmer’s Union is one of the oldest and best Farm advocacy groups in the country, with a strong family farmer focus. They are critics of the way farm policies have subsidized certain parts of our farm economy over other more sensible choices. Public investment in agriculture isn’t going away, but we can shift the direction it points us, our food and our landscape. Tune in to learn how – and check out the New England Farmers Union, NEFU.org. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
This week on Greenhorn Radio, we’re digging into the archives of the Greenhorn Audio Almanac to bring you an interview with Charlotte Cater of the New York State Agricultural Mediation Program. Tune in to hear host Severine Von Tscharner Fleming talk with Charlotte about different legal issues that farmers face, and how representation can help young farmers in the realms of land access, leasing, and more. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
Viva Farms is a farm incubator for new and Latino farmers, but they also maintain a large production farm. Produce from the Viva farm and the incubator farms feeds into the Viva Farms “food hub” along with other local products, which is then distributed to a 1,200 member CSA and various wholesale accounts in the greater Seattle market. Chris oversees it all, helping to cultivate new farmers as a relatively young farmer himself. He has worked on farms and ecological preserves for over 10 years, farming in Montana, Ecuador, New Mexico and Washington. Chris is both a hardcore farmer and a teacher, managing production, interns, and a bilingual farm crew while troubleshooting in the field with new farmers. His experience and perspective would make for a great conversation about young farmers–particularly beginning Latino farmers! This program
has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“Most of the farmers in our program are Latinos that have grown up as farm workers, and now they have the chance to be farm owners.” [8:00] — Chris Elder on Greenhorn Radio
For the past 25 years Kelly has managed and consulted with vineyards, farms and ranches throughout the western USA, Spain, Australia and China. In 2012 he spent two months in Australia and New Zealand giving presentations and workshops on extended-season vineyard grazing. His studies include Ecological Horticulture at UC Santa Cruz (Farm and Garden Program), Viticulture at UC Davis and Holistic Management with The Center for Holistic Management. For the past 15 years his work has focused on combining his experience in farming and viticulture with holistic management in order to create more ecologically, socially and economically sound farming and grape growing practices. This usually involves a considerable amount of help from livestock. This episode has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“One of the reasons I got interested in viticulture is because it was a fairly progressive branch of agriculture.” [10:15] — Kelly Mulville on Greenhorn Radio
Burnt Rock Farm is owned by Justin Rich and Lindsay Lyman-Clarke. Justin runs the day to day operations of the farm, while Lindsay works in town and provides vital labor on nights and weekends. Justin was first introduced to farming as a summer job at a well-established organic vegetable farm. He went on to earn a bachelor’s in environmental geology and then a master’s in horticulture and soil science. He met Lyman-Clarke, originally from Richmond, in graduate school at Cornell and the couple decided to come home to Vermont where she now works for Burton. After purchasing the foreclosed property in 2008, Justin continued working at Full Moon Farm in Burlington gaining experience before moving to Hinesburg.
While Burnt Rock is known for its sweet potatoes, 2013 will see 7 acres of vegetable production and 5 acres of intensively managed cover crops on our glacially terraced soils along and above the banks of the Huntington River. All crops are certified organic by Vermont Organic Farmers (VOF) as they strive to grow the highest quality produce while also stewarding the soil. Burnt Rock makes use of organic amendments such as compost, wood ash, and rock mineral fertilizers, and to keep their soils as biologically healthy as possible though active management of cover crops. Produce is sold at the Burlington Winter Farmers’ Market, The Intervale Food Hub CSA in Burlington, City Market in Burlington, Healthy Living in South Burlington, Joe’s CSA in Montpelier, and through Pakeen Farm CSA in metro Boston. Thanks to our sponsor, Hearst Ranch.
“Farmers’ markets are available, but they might not be what you want for you business in the long term.” [10:20] — Justin Rich on Greenhorn Radio
Gavin Raders is a co-founder and Executive Director of Planting Justice, a social justice activist, and a permacuture demonstrator/teacher. He dedicates his time to practicing permaculture wherever he can, having gone through extensive training with some of the most inspiring and effective permaculture teachers in the world: Geoff Lawton, Penny Livingston-Stark, Brock Dolman, Darren Dougherty, and Nik Bertulis. Before his stint as an intern at the Regenerative Design Institute, he studied cultural anthropology at UC Berkeley, and organized on a range of anti-war, anti-nuclear, environmental and human rights issues both on campus and off. He has knocked on nearly 30,000 doors in California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada as a community organizer with Peace Action West.
He comes to permaculture and ecological design through a social justice framework which recognizes the right of all people to peace, security, housing, healthy food, clean water, jobs and healthcare, and the rights of future generations to a just and livable world. For this to happen, he believes that Americans need to understand and respect the intimate connection and the shared fate we have with all people and all life on this planet, and organize effectively on the local level to come up with replicable and effective solutions to the range of hardships and oppressions we currently face. When families, communities, bio-regions, and nations work with nature instead of against her to provide their own sustainable food, water, and energy, this not only makes us more resilient, but also makes us less likely to violently take what they need from someone else. He is still riding on the inspiration and jolt of passion he experienced in India, studying and advocating for the right to water and against its privatization by massive water corporations (such as Coca-Cola). Thanks to our sponsor, Hearst Ranch.
“We have a great deal of power to change our environment and the things that serve us.” [8:20] — Gavin Raders on Greenhorn Radio
Born and raised north of Boston, Anne Riordan spent her childhood highly invested in music, horses, and athletics. After her undergraduate experience at Cornell playing lacrosse, Anne spent a year working at the Cornell Veterinary Labs and returned for a Masters in reproductive biology. During that time, she began visiting the farm at Cayuga Pure Organics and fell in love with the outdoor, physical work, involvement with the earth, and like minded peers at CPO. Her commitment to the farm led to her full time employment at CPO and leaving behind the opportunity of Veterinary School for her true calling in agriculture. Anne spent time running the processing station (the beanery) before moving into managing the fields. She feels blessed to have the opportunity to have met the amazing community at Cayuga Pure and loves her job. This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch
“Anything that gets to be grown I get to decide where we put it and how much we’ll grow.” 01:00 –Ann Riordan of Cayuga Pure Organics on Greenhorn Radio
Answering the call of the Earth, Mary Russ decided one day to leave
college in order to become a farmer. She immediately developed a
passion for growing organic food and animal husbandry. She has worked
on several organic farms and formerly managed a large Certified
Organic CSA farm in Tallahassee, Florida. Currently she has embarked
on a new adventure and is managing Serenity Acres, an artisan goat
dairy and non-profit education center. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“One of the benefits of being out on the farm is that I’ve learned so much about making cheese… It’s definitely a farm focused on learning.” [9:30] “One of the things that I’ve helped with is assisting farmers sell and market their products- either direct to consumers, or to restaurants.” [18:15]
— Mary Russ on Greenhorn Radio
Julia Olmstead is a senior associate in the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Rural Communities Program. She works on domestic biofuel policy, climate change, and Mississippi River navigation policy. For the last decade Julia has worked on issues related to agriculture and biofuels as a researcher and journalist. She serves on the Organizational Council of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and was formerly a graduate fellow with the Land Institute in Salina, KS. She holds an M.S. in plant breeding and sustainable agriculture from Iowa State University, an M.J. in journalism from the University of California-Berkeley and a B.A. in botany and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Julia hails from St. Paul, MN and is excited to be transitioning to a new position soon with working to create farmer-led watershed councils in western Wisconsin with University of Wisconsin Cooperative Extension. This episode has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“I think that we right now are sort of in a status quo. Corn prices are so high, that I don’t think farmers can think about growing something else.” [16:00] — Julia Olmstead on Greenhorn Radio
Chaya Lipkind holds a B.S. in Liberal Arts from The New School and a Certificate in Sustainable Agriculture from the University of Vermont. A Brooklyn native, Chaya spent 7 years working in a financial company before transitioning into sustainable agriculture. In 2012, she founded Dreamland Harvest, a diversified organic vegetable farm located in Monticello, NY that sells fresh produce to local and New York City residents. Currently the principal farmer at Dreamland Harvest, Chaya is collaborating with friends to secure a larger tract of land in the upstate New York area that will become the new home for an expanded Dreamland Harvest farming operation within a larger healing arts and music community. In her free time, Chaya enjoys creative DIY projects, spending time with friends and family, yoga, snowboarding, and, of course, sharing fresh, hearty food with great company. This episode has been brought to you by White Oak Pastures.
“I’m trying to find out ways to better transport food into the city because I do see this urban-rural link…farmers need it to survive.” [10:30] — Chaya Lipkind on Greenhorn Radio
Sean Dembrosky, 32, owns and operates the ‘Edible Acres’ project just north of Trumansburg NY (www.edibleacres.org). Formally educated in the fine arts, but focused on agriculture for the last decade, Sean has developed a farming system based on permaculture principles and forest farming. Very low tech / no tech approaches to plant propagation, polyculture development, and a focus on long term perennial food and medicine crops has enabled Sean to begin the work of developing a resilient, high calorie out for calorie in food system that requires no external sources of electricity or fuel to function. This episode has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“If you’re 27 years old or younger, you’ve never experienced a colder-than-average month.” [14:30] — Sean Dembrosky on Greenhorn Radio
Solomon is a first generation, beginning farmer in Loyalton, CA. After growing up in the 70s exposed to small scale urban agriculture in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as agricultural communities in Pennsylvania, Solomon attended Feather River College for Equine Studies and Ecosystem management with the intention of entering range management. But because the forest service eliminated the position, Solomon instead fought fire for ten years while maintaining a homestead operation with a variety of animals and 10 acres of cultivation.
Solomon and his family now live and work a 60 acre ranch which they have leased land for the past 3 years with an additional 60 Acres of neighboring land that they graze in exchange for fire control. Seasonal off farm jobs help support the family as they grow their little herd of cattle and flock of sheep, grain, and hay cultivation. Solomon and his partner Bronwyn Olsen also have two daughters Sierra (16 years old) and Mariah (13 Years old). This episode has been sponsored by White Oak Pastures.
“We have more need for our product than we actually have product, so that feels great.” [14:55] — Solomon Sweeting on Greenhorn Radio
Adam Huggins is a collectivist, (im)permaculturalist, herbalist, musician, and analog filmmaker living in the Bay Area, a sweater of the salt of the Great Ocean and a busybody garlic-peeling hand-processing dumpster-diving propagator of plants and emulsions. You can explore his work at http://sunfishmoonlight.wordpress.com. This program has been sponsored by Tabard Inn.
“Why feed the world? The world can feed itself, if given the chance to.” [21:40] — Adam Huggins on Greenhorn Radio
Erik Andrus is farmer, writer, and inveterate tinkerer living in Vermont’s Champlain Valley. A lifelong student of traditional approaches to farming, craft, and community life across cultures, Erik has devoted his career to the discipline of creatively reintroducing skill and sweat to areas of the food economy not commonly considered. Erik, with his wife Erica and two young boys, farms at Boundbrook Farm, which showcases integrated rice and duck farming in irrigated rice paddies and is a leader in commercial-scale ecological rice production in the Northeast.
Erik initially conceived the Vermont Sail Freight Project as a one-off demonstration to raise awareness of regional food and energy issues while also having a great time with friends on the water. Over time this seed of an idea has grown and now the project includes a capable team of partners and collaborators who share the hope of creating an economically-viable zero-emissions distribution and marketing model, owned and operated by farmers, and powered by wind and tide. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“I’m interested in rice because it’s proven to be one of the most positive returns for energy in food considering energy invested.” [12:15] — Erik Andrus on Greenhorn Radio
Mike Bowman and Maria Reynolds named their Groundswell Farm after their farming ideology and the topography of the 7 acres they are leasing in Solon, Maine. Their 4 acres of MOFGA certified organic seed and market vegetable crops and 3 acres in cover crops crest in small hills, lending the landscape, in Reynolds’ words, likeness to the swelling sea. The name also harkens to the groundswell of general interest around sustainable organic agriculture, including seed production.
Bowman and Reynolds founded their farm business in 2010 after years of varied agricultural experiences. Bowman is the sixth generation to live on the family orchard in Cornville. Bowman and Reynolds both apprenticed on MOFGA certified organic farms before attending college together at the University of Maine. While there they worked at and then co-managed the Black Bear Food Guild, a student-run organic vegetable CSA and market farm. After graduation they pursued work at other farms and at Johnny’s Selected Seeds, where Bowman worked at the research farm in Albion and Reynolds worked in the sales department in Winslow. This episode has been sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
“I feel like there are all these cheap food and material costs that are hurting the rest of the world. And if we don’t pay for these costs, somebody has to…” [22:25] — Mike Bowman on Greenhorn Radio
Tristram Stuart is the winner of the international environmental award, The Sophie Prize 2011, for his fight against food waste. Following the critical success of Tristram's first book, The Bloodless Revolution (2006), 'a genuinely revelatory contribution to the history of human ideas', Tristram has become a renowned campaigner, working in several countries to help improve the environmental and social impact of food production. His latest international prize-winning book, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal(Penguin, 2009), revealed that Western countries waste up to half of their food, and that tackling this problem is one of the simplest ways of reducing pressure on the environment and on global food supplies. Tristram set up the 'Feeding the 5000′ (www.feeding5k.org) event and campaign, where 5000 members of the public are given a free lunch using only ingredients that otherwise would have been wasted. Held twice in Trafalgar Square (2009 and 2011), replica events have since been held internationally. Tristram continues to work with a range of NGOs, governments, and private enterprises internationally to tackle the global food waste scandal. This episode has been brought to you by White Oak Pastures.
"I've seen food waste go from being a non-issue when I started this campgain, to becoming a global issue." [31:00] — Tristram Stuart on Greenhorn Radio
Ryan lives in Asheville, NC and has spent past 2 years working at Hickory Nut Gap Farm where production was focused on grass-fed beef, pastured poultry and hogs, organic fruits, mushrooms, and asparagus. Ryan has also been working the past 3 years as an organic farm inspector, which he is now pursuing as a full time job. He is involved with the Young Farmer and Rancher program through the Farm Bureau. Ryan recently competed in a “discussion meet” that each state YF&R group holds annually, with the winners from each state moving on the compete at the national competition. There 2 other YF&R competitions that are available to all young farmers (under 35) in every state in the union. Ryan is also involved with A Growing Culture, an organization dedicated to empowering the sustainable agriculture movement by highlighting traditional and alternative farm practices used throughout the world. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“I think that in the past ten or fifteen years, farmers across the board- big or small- are seeing that diversification is essential to the success of their businesses.” [17:00] — Ryan Sitler on Greenhorn Radio
Nancy Grove is frequently asked why her farm is named Old Path Farm. "I chose that name because I am excited to remember the wisdom of old traditions—both in farming and in community life." Now entering her 9th season, Nancy and her two LLC partners attribute the success of their 80-member veggie CSA to the many helping hands who have given abundantly to the farm over the years. This is the Old Path— the path where needs are met, not by purchasing the latest technologies or innovative products, but through the interdependence and generosity of local people. Nancy's "Land-Father" has charged her with keeping alive the lineage of farmer-stewards on this quiet hillside in upstate NY. To this end, she is furthering her commitment to the long-term health and well-being of her place by broadening the mission of the farm to include permaculture principles, gardening workshops, a Land Trust, anti-hydrofracking efforts and nature immersion for children. She feels that traveling this path, in this place, is her destiny. $100,000 worth of college education almost landed her instead in a career as a clinical psychologist—Phew! That was a close call. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
"When I was born in the 1980s, there was an active, successful, and thriving dairy farm every quarter mile on every road… Now, there's one." [5:40] — Nancy Grove on Greenhorn Radio
The idea for Sprout Urban Farms germinated in 2009 when a citizen approached Jeremy Andrews (far right), a community organizer, about helping him start a community garden. After news spread throughout the city about the possibility of a new community garden, others expressed interest in community gardening. To better gauge the interest throughout the city, a like minded group of people decided to hold a community forum on community gardening. Attendees of the forum decided to collectively work on several issues and projects for that year. It was at that most wonderful gathering of over 100 citizens from all corners of our county, that Sprout Urban Farms was born.
For nearly two years, Sprout Urban Farms was a completely volunteer-ran, and unfunded organization of really cool people with all kinds of creativity, vision, and the drive to ACT towards accomplishing our goals.
In the spring of 2011, the Fair Food Network granted Sprout Urban Farms its first large sum of monies to continue our work in Battle Creek, Michigan. That funding was followed by funding from the Battle Creek Community Foundation. Now with funding, the organizer who helped develop Sprout, became its Executive Director. Under the direction of Mr. Andrews, Sprout has continued to garner regional and national attention for our work in improving food access and making our city that much better. This episode has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“If you’re successful at community organizing, the community doesn’t need organizing anymore. Everyone is then a community organizer.” [19:05] — Jeremy Andrews on Greenhorn Radio
John and his wife Amanda are new farmers who run a raw milk dairy which also produces ice cream, yogurt and cheese.
John & Amanda Place along with their two children, Mia & Mason, own and operate Keepsake Farm & Dairy. John and Amanda met while attending the University of Delaware where they studied animal science. Amanda went on to attend veterinary college at the University of Georgia and is now a veterinarian at a local animal hospital. This episode has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“I don’t think we’ve even begun to meet demands of the market… We have a group of consumers that are practically begging for more on-farm, organic products.” [8:30] “Preventative health is better than putting a Band-Aid on it, and all of that begins with nutrition.” [15:00]
— John Place on Greenhorn Radio
Danielle Nierenberg, an expert on sustainable agriculture, currently serves as Project Director of the Nourishing the Planet project for the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental think tank. She recently spent a year traveling to more than 25 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia looking at environmentally sustainable ways of alleviating hunger and poverty. Her knowledge of global agriculture issues has been cited widely in more than 3,000 major publications including The New York Times, USA Today, the International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, BBC, the Guardian (UK), the Mail and Guardian (South Africa), the East African (Kenya), TIME magazine, Reuters, Agence France Presse, Voice of America, the Times of India, and other major publications. Danielle worked for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic and also currently serves as the food security advisor for Citizen Effect (an NGO focused on sustainable development projects worldwide). She holds an M.S. in Agriculture, Food, and Environment from Tufts University and a B.A. in Environmental Policy from Monmouth College. This episode has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“The more that farmers are creating unions, cooperatives, and farmers groups, the better able they will be able to share those technologies, business practices, and environmental sustainability practices. They will be better able to do their job.” [16:45] — Danielle Nierenberg on Greenhorn Radio
Buster Creek Farm owns 160 acres but farm about 800 now, 100%
Angus/Hereford beef cattle. They mainly lease and restore busted dairy
farms for hay, clover, etc. and normally run a herd of about 200, soon
to be twice that. Just like Kinderhook and Grazin’ Angus, they’re in
the fairly rapid expansion mode. Roy Cowherd is from a 1700-acre beef cattle empire in the Bluegrass of Kentucky,
all Angus and Hereford, same as at Buster Creek Farm. In between that life and this
one, Roy did the Manhattan finance thing for 17 years. Berkeley,
Columbia MBA, still a CPA (no stereotypes please!), etc., but his main
thing is this life now. He’s also become quite the farm tax expert in
the tri-county area. Fundamentally, Roy’s goals are a combination of efficient farming, a certain lifestyle, and
brutal realism mixed in with excellent nature. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“If you can marry your situation to someone who can take advantage of the tax benefits- that’s very important.” [5:33] “If the land is used for farming, property taxes are one quarter of what they normally are.” [6:23]
— Roy Cowherd on Greenhorn Radio
Sarah Edmonds and Anton Shannon completed The Seed Farm Apprenticeship
program in 2010 and in 2011 launched Good Work Farm, a 60-member CSA
on Lehigh County-owned land. Good Work Farm also hosts events, workshops, volunteer days, and group gleaning harvests out at the farm in Emmaus, PA, open to all members
in the effort to help us reconnect to where their food comes from.
Good Work Farm is dedicated to food justice, making sure that people
of varying financial resources have access to quality food grown in
their community. To this end we will donate a portion of our surplus
to local food pantries. The CSA also offers a limited number of
reduced-price shares in exchange for a work commitment during the
season. If a work-share is not possible low-income families may
qualify for a reduced price share. A percentage of our profits go into
our Good Food Fund, which makes these programs possible. Sarah comes to Good Work Farm after
working for several years on other organic CSAs, vegetable, animal and
orchard farms in Berks and Lehigh Counties. She is also a past intern
at The Seed Farm where she received training from this agriculture and
business incubator program run though Lehigh County and Penn State
Extension. In addition to being a partner at Good Work Farm, Sarah is
an artist, and works as a clerk at Kutztown’s Louisa Gonser Community
Library and bakes sweet things for Betty’s, also in Kutztown. Sarah
holds some pretty big degrees, but she tries not to let her Bachelor
and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Printmaking hold her back as she
hoes the fields. Prior to this major farm venture, Ms. Edmonds was a
professor in visual arts at Lehigh University, Reading Area Community
College and at Kutztown University. This episode has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“The Seed Farm opportunity was there, and it’s such a good program and an interesting thing that’s happening in this area that hasn’t happened before.” [26:40] — Sarah Edmonds on Greenhorn Radio
Shelterbelt Farm is owned and managed by Craig and Erica and their young children Rowan and Phoenix. Started as a homestead in 2005, 2010 was their first year of operation as an official farm. The farm is located in the scenic rolling hills of Caroline, NY, in the Finger Lakes region just southeast of Ithaca. It is home to three generations of Modishers, and pigs, chickens, turkeys, bees, and geese. Next year Craig and Erica will add 100% grass-fed cattle and goats, and eventually produce greens through the winter in unheated hoophouses.
Craig and Erica are passionate about regenerating the health of the land and their customers, by managing animals in a way that builds soil and plant diversity, provides a low-stress, happy life for the livestock, and produces nourishing pasture-raised meats. All-natural production practices, superior taste and quality, and good environmental stewardship go hand-in-hand.
Craig also runs Ironwood Builders with his business partners, and Erica works at the Cornell Small Farms Program as the co-manager of the Northeast Beginning Farmer Project. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“When you’re homesteading you don’t have to worry about enterprise budgets, profits, efficiency or scale. These are some of the issues we’ve been dealing with since we began commercial farming.” [6:32] — Erica Frenay on Greenhorn Radio
Joe Morris, with his wife Julie, has owned and operated Morris Grassfed Beef since 1991 when Joe took over the management of his grandparent's 200-acre ranch near San Juan Bautista, just south of San Jose, California. Today, they lease an additional 7,000 acres and run 250 cows to serve their grassfed beef direct marketing business, as well as approximately 1,800 stockers. Joe comes from a lineage of ranchers stretching back five generations, the most recent of which was his grandfather who ranched into the 1980s. He is deeply influenced by the vaquero tradition that grew out of two complimentary influences — the indigenous skills of Native North Americans in using animals to take care of the land and the horsemanship of the Spanish settlers in California. The tradition emphasizes caring equally for the well being of the land, the animals and the people, recognizing their interdependence and its potential to produce beauty. Today's episode has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
"We first have to move from bare soil and annual grasses to coverage soil and perennial grasses. And that's when we can start seeing this real boost in productivity, and that productivity feeds a lot of diverse life." [16:35] —Joe Morris on Greenhorn Radio
Anastasia is back on Greenhorn Radio! Anastasia started her career as a seasonal agricultural worker at the age of 17 when a series of fateful events led her to the blueberry barrens of Downeast Maine. She raked berries every year for the next 8 years, and also did some apple picking, morel mushroom hunting, and tree-planting which eventually became her primary occupation. This lifestyle kept her on the road for the better part of 13 years and enabled her to become intimate with many parts of the country. She has been based out of Tucson, AZ (the city of her birth) for the past 10 years where her home has evolved into an urban, desert farm. Anastasia has just earned a degree in Rangeland Ecology and Management from the University of Arizona. She is looking forward to integrating her experiences and skills in ways that will help to produce food and other products from the land while sustaining and enhancing natural and cultural resources. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“People don’t control the agricultural system anymore, and the only way I can see to take it back is on the grassroots level.” — Anastasia Rabin on Greenhorn Radio
This week’s guest on Greenhorn Radio is Gretel Adams of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm in Ohio. Steve and Gretel didn’t grow up farming, they consider themselves serendipitous farmers. Steve had an apprenticeship at Anderson Orchards, which sparked their passion for farming. And, Gretel was blessed enough to inherit a 10 acre lot in Columbus that her father bought in the 80’s. They both loved to be outside playing in the dirt and being more connected with nature, and their passion for farming continues to blossom as the garden grows. Steve and Gretel are trying to live life as sustainably as possible by using organic practices, canning and preserving food, making their own soap, composting to make their own soil amendments, and heating their house with wood, among other things. Living a sustainable lifestyle includes trying to be as self- sufficient as possible, which is becoming especially important in our current times. They have a great desire to help their community and want to help bridge the generational gap by teaching kids how their elders used to live, and how to be more self-sufficient. This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“I think local flowers will become part of the conversation when restaurants that focus on farm to table realize flowers part of what they are trying to accomplish.” Gretel Adams of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm on Greenhorn Radio
Born in Saskatchewan, Canada on a big ag grain pig farm. Tina has a B.A in Native Studies and B.Ed in Adult Education. After teaching for 3 years in Patagonia, AZ Tina and her husband, Jim, started a business guiding and outfitting horseback trips into the Coronado National Forest in the San Rafael Valley. After closing that business, Tina and Jim moved to Tucson met a woman who wanted to buy our ranch in the valley but didn’t have the money to do so. Tina and her husband ended up trading properties with the woman and moved to Amado. They started out with grass-fed beef with a loose partnership with another family, Double Check Ranch, that had been doing markets and grass-fed beef for many years in Tucson. After one year of selling their beef and chickens under Double Check’s label, Tina and Jim created our own label and company, so Walking J Farm was born. Tina homeschools their kids, teaches a yoga class once every two weeks, and helps run the business. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“I think we need to educate people and start putting local food in our stores. I really think that the consumer drives the whole system.” — Tina Bartsch on Greenhorn Radio
Hannah Rae Murphy grew up on a small farm in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with a large garden, sheep, chickens, pigs and the occasional turkey or goat. Now a Conservation Biology student at Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT she is involved in the college’s organic farm and is an RA of the sustainable living house (Weybridge House). Weybridge House buys and preserves food from within a 100 mile radius each summer and fall for consumption throughout the year by the house’s 18 residents and many campus community members at free dinners several times each week. Weybridge House aims to highlight the attainability of eating a delicious all-local diet even with time constraints and a budget. She is unsure of her plans for after college, but will likely attend grad school for sustainable agriculture or food studies and return to a farming community as soon as possible. Today’s program has been brought to you by White Oak Pastures.
“I feel more fulfilled getting my hands dirty in the kitchen or the garden, and then getting to talk about it.” — Hannah Rae Murphy on Greenhorn Radio
Logan Beausoleil is the Farm Educator at Prairie Crossing Learning Farm in Grayslake, IL. The Learning Farm is part of the larger conservation community which was designed to combine responsible development, the preservation of open land, and easy commuting by rail. He joined the Learning Farm in April 2010 as Crew Leader in the Prairie Farm Corps Program, and joined full time as a Farm Educator in August 2011. He has a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Art from Augustana College, holds an Illinois teaching certification, and is currently working on his M.S. in Elementary Education at Quincy University. Logan works closely with the 5-8th grade teachers and students of the Prairie Crossing Charter School to integrate classroom learning with on-farm experiences. He also serves as an educator for the Prairie Farm Corps Program leading the educational workshops and team building activities, as well as assisting with the farm field work. Off the farm, Logan is an avid long distance runner and recently placed 55th out of 45,000 participants in the 2011 Chicago Marathon.
Eric Carlberg joined the Learning Farm in March 2009 as the Program Director. He holds a B.A. in Theology from Capital University and a M.A. in Theological Studies from Chicago Theological Seminary, completing coursework in urban ministry, non-profit leadership, and eco-justice as well as a thesis on subsistence farming in ancient Israel. Eric’s background includes 7 years experience in social services, having worked as case manager for low-income senior citizens and as supervisor of a drop in center for people suffering from homelessness and addiction. Outside of his experience in the social service sector, Eric has spent much of his life doing physical labor, restoring back-country trails, managing the wood lot and labor team at Holden Village, and leading the harvest crew at Sandhill Organics. Eric strives to create meaningful and empowering work and educational opportunities at the Learning Farm, and believes in the power of food to create community. He expanded the Montessori School of Lake Forest’s adolescent farm program, shaped the Prairie Farm Corps from its inception, and collaborated with local churches to create the Community Gleaning Project. Eric also speaks Spanish.
Zamir Mendez is a Prairie Farm Corps Crew Leader in his fourth summer working at the farm. He has continued to take on more leadership roles every year that he has come back and was a member the first year Prairie Farm Corps was established. He enjoys growing and harvesting organic vegetables. His future have been greatly influenced by working on the farm; he will be a freshman at Earlham College this fall and hopes to major in agriculture or environmental studies. In addition to farming, Zamir is passionate about photography and is an avid runner and diver. He is also fluent in Spanish and French. Today’s episode is sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“People today are really interested in where food comes from. It doesn’t matter what demographic you come from.” — Eric Carlberg on Greenhorn Radio “The opportunity to be outside and immersed in what we are teaching is something that I find very valueable.” — Logan Beausolei on Greenhorn Radio
This week’s guest on Greenhorn Radio is Grant Schultz. Grant is a farmer, farmhacker, and writer known for his seed garlic, caveman tweets, and occasional essays. Grant is currently growing ideas in his prairie permaculture experiment at VersaLand Farm. Tune in to hear Grant’s opinions on starting a farm, and why he thinks that legislation is only one consideration for beginning farmers. Hear about some of Grant’s farm hacks, and learn about Iowa’s young farmer culture. This episode has been brought to you by White Oak Pastures.
“I’m so against depending on policy and depending on the FDA…you can’t let it be a limitation on your beliefs and the things you choose to do.” — Grant Schultz on Greenhorn Radio
Sebastian Aguilar is the Farm Program Director and Course Instructor at the Greenbank Farm Training Center. He and his wife have three children and have been managing organic vegetable farms for the past 14 years in New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Washington State. Sebastian's passions for top-quality produce, healthy soils, biodynamics and social outreach guide his farming practices. Sebastian has hosted apprentices on his farms since 1999 and always provided them a weekly class exploring the concepts behind the practical work. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) and is involved in several OSA variety trials and seed projects. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
"How can we get organic seeds back to the point where they are a competitor for conventional hybrid seeds?" "I feel like there has been a lack of communication between farmers… we need to rekindle that and help each other out and not see each other as competition."
— Sebastian Aguilar on Greenhorn Radio
After five years as an outdoor educator Dan Fillius changed careers to organic farming. He is glad he shifted, and experiences a deeper connection to the cycles of nature because of it. Dan has been the Production Manager at the Michigan State University Student Organic Farm since December 2009. Before that he farmed in Wisconsin and New York, with stints on farms in California and Pennsylvania. Dan was also a student in the Farmer Training Program at Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in East Troy, WI. Originally Dan is from San Diego, CA, but with family from both the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, he is enjoying getting back to his roots in MI. Today’s episode has been brought to you by The Heritage Meat Shop.
“Out of all of the states, Michigan is second only to California in the number of crops grown in the state.” “We’re preparing our students to be farmers right out of the gate.” — Dan Fillius on Greenhorn Radio
Vivian Lehrer Stadlin is a founding director of Eden Village Camp
in Putnam Valley, New York. She grew up in Jewish and outdoor camps and believes in camps’ power for good. She graduated from Columbia University and Columbia Law School, carried out a two-year legal fellowship at the Urban Justice Center, served as adjunct professor at Boricua College, and led Jewish service-learning trips for teens in Israel and New Orleans. Her interest in wellness led her to attend the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, and she brings a holistic perspective to Eden Village. She is thrilled to help create an experience for campers and teens that is fun, dynamic, and, just maybe, life-changing. Today’s episode has been brought to you by HeritageRadioNetwork.org.
“One of the tenets of Judaism is that all people are created equally…and if we take that seriously, we think, ‘Wow, we really need to do something about this climate crisis.'” “One thing that we often say here is that we’re using Jewish means for universal ends.”
— Vivian Lehrer Stadlin on Greenhorn Radio
Jessie Schmidt is a coordinator for the UVM Extension New Farmer Project and the Vermont Women’s Ag Network. The Vermont New Farmer Project is a collaborative of organizations around Vermont that serves new farmers. The project aims to streamline access to resources and services that shorten the timeline between start-up and success for beginning farmers. For more information, please visit www.uvm.edu/newfarmer. Today’s episode has been brought to you by HeritageRadioNetwork.org.
“Talking to new farmers, I’ve heard amazing stories about communities coming together to support them, either through offering them land, offering support, or helping farmers find new locations.” — Jessica Schmidt on Greenhorn Radio
Greg Asbed is a Co-Founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a worker-based human rights organization. He works with farmworkers and their student, labor, and religious allies to organize the national Campaign for Fair Food, a breakthrough worker-based approach to corporate accountability in the agricultural industry known for its creativity and effectiveness. He writes and designs the CIW’s main communication tool — the website (www.ciw-online.org) and also coordinates the CIW’s negotiating team in talks with food industry leaders, negotiating “Fair Food” agreements with nine multi-billion dollar retail food corporations to date, including McDonald’s, Subway, Sodexo, and Whole Foods. He is currently leading the effort to develop and implement innovative new farm labor standards in collaboration with two of Florida’s largest tomato growers, paving the way for the implementation of the CIW’s Fair Food Code of Conduct across the entire Florida tomato industry in November, 2011. Greg is one of the authors featured in the textbook Bringing Human Rights Home: Portraits of the Movement (2008). He has an M.A. in International Economics and Social Change and Development from Johns Hopkins SAIS and is fluent in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. He has also spent the past 15 seasons harvesting watermelons in the states of Florida, Georgia, Missouri, and Maryland. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“Most farm workers were farmers back home, and I’m sure they’d love the opportunity to use more than just their arms and legs to work.”– Greg Asbed on Greenhorn Radio
Courtney Banach has been spending time around Shelburne Farms for almost her whole life. About to enter her junior year of high school, her love of farming began when visiting the Farmyard in Shelburne, Vermont when she was very young and subsequently attending their summer camps. Her first summer camp experience led her to volunteering on the farm, when she became a Steward in Training (SIT for short) for both the animal side and the educational side of the farm. Courtney later became a weekly volunteer helping with chores on Saturdays and school vacations. Her volunteer work led her to joining the Farm’s 4-H club which in turn led her to a paid farm job. Working on a farm has become her life; she loves the work and how rewarding it feels, and she plans to pursue an agricultural field in college. Today’s show has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“If farming is something you’re interested in, you should definitely explore all of your options…It’s all about exploring and finding out what you want, and sticking with it even if it gets rough.” — Courtney Banach on Greenhorn Radio
Stacey is the founder of BKFarmyards, a coalition of experienced urban farmers dedicated to expanding food justice through agricultural production & education in Brooklyn. They manage 2 acres of farmyards spread across several farm sites and consult on new urban farm development. In addition to agricultural production, their educational agenda includes something for all ages: training programs, apprenticeships, free workshops, farm visits, and volunteer days! Stacey is leading efforts to build BK Farmyards capacity to grow lots of food and flowers in Brooklyn through the development of new urban farms and organization of community resources. As a real food advocate, she speaks to audiences of all ages about food, farming, and culture. Stacey also runs a backyard farm CSA with a Backyard Farmer Training Program. This program has been brought to you by The Heritage Meat Shop.
“In all of our training programs we really talk about community issues surrounding the land, historical issues surrounding land access, and what people can do to start partnering.” — Stacey Murphy on Greenhorn Radio
Megan Paska grew up gardening with her mother and grandmother in Maryland, and spent her summers on her family’s 450-acre farmstead in rural Virginia. When she moved to Brooklyn, NY in 2006, she found that her landlords were enthusiastic about her putting up a raised bed vegetable garden in the backyard. Soon after came bees and honey, then the chickens and fresh eggs. She created the Brooklyn Homesteader blog to chronicle her backyard and rooftop adventures in agriculture, as well as her experiences with urban farming organizations like BK Farmyards, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, and Brooklyn Grange, with whom she coordinates educational Beekeeping workshops. Megan also hosts workshops and classesfrequently from her backyard garden and in local businesses as well as private classes on subjects like gardening, mushroom growing, food preservation and beekeeping. She is currently in the planning process of starting a farm, The Homestead at Seven Arrows, on 20 acres of leased land just outside the city. This program has been sponsored by The Heritage Meat Shop.
“I love beekeeping…you never stop learning, and that’s a humbling feeling.” “That’s why we started Hayseed’s. We were having a hard time finding good quality things like chicken feed, soil, and soil amendments for a reasonable price.” — Megan Paska on Greenhorn Radio
Ginny Moore hails from the suburbs of Philadelphia. She studied agriculture and the environment (among other things) at McGill University, and has spent the last two seasons apprenticing on farms—in 2010, at Skunk Hollow Community Farm, a small vegetable CSA in her hometown, and in 2011, at Hawthorne Valley Farm, a biodynamic and organic vegetable and dairy farm in the Hudson Valley. For the last 6 months, she has been working with the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program, interviewing new farmers in the region for the New Farmer Narrative Project. This fall, she will be starting her master's degree in agroecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. There, she will be working for the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, assisting with their Beginning Farmer Program.
Anna Duhon grew up in the Berkshires Hills of Western Massachusetts, where she first became passionate about the intersection of agriculture and community life. She's been following that interest ever since through experiences living, working and researching on farms and in agricultural communities. She completed a Bachelor of Arts in Social Anthropology from Harvard University with a thesis exploring a therapeutic farm community near her childhood home, and a Masters of Arts in Natural Resources and Peace from the University for Peace in Costa Rica with a thesis on the local food system in the Southern Berkshires. These days she lives just over the border from the Berkshires in Columbia County, New York. Through her work as a social scientist with the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program, she does social and cultural research on the interconnections between people, nature, and agriculture. Recently, she has especially enjoyed the opportunity to explore the paths of new farmers in the County through the New Farmer Narrative Project. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
Paul Cross is the founder and head grower of Charybda Farms in Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico. He grows organic heirloom hothouse tomatoes, microgreens, flowers, and herb and vegetable transplants, irrigated from rain catchment in a region with an average of 12″ annual precipitation, an 87 day growing season, at an elevation of 7,300 feet. His work in innovative sustainable agricultural techniques has been recognized in American Vegetable Grower, New Mexico Magazine, Edible Santa Fe, and many other publications. His products, marketed under the brand name of Chef’s Edition, are distributed by Sysco Foods, Whole Foods Market, and many smaller retailers. This episode has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“When I built the first greenhouse [on Charydba Farms], I designed a system that would catch all of the rainwater off the residential house, as well as the greenhouse. So in an area where we only get twelve inches of rain, we can capture 45,000 gallons in an average year.” — Paul Cross on Greenhorn Radio
Steph Larsen lives in Lyons, Nebraska, where she works full time for the Center for Rural Affairs, a non-profit that seeks to engage farmers in advocating for the policies that will strengthen the future of their rural communities. Steph is also a “part-time farmer,” growing food for herself and her community. Steph holds a master’s degree in geography from her home state of Wisconsin and serves on the board of the Women, Food and Agriculture Network. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“I used to work in D.C., and in D.C. there are two ways to get things done: one – you have to have a lot of money and hire a lot of lobbyists, and two – you need to have a lot of people.” “Contacting legislators is not like voting- you can do it early and you can do it often.” — Steph Larsen on Greenhorn Radio
Owner of the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, Co Cork, Ireland, Darina Allen is a teacher, food writer, newspaper columnist, cookbook author and television presenter. The Ballymaloe Cookery School is situated on her family’s organically run farm, and they believe that good food, good health and good farming practices are an inseparable part of the same process. Darina was the founder of some of the first farmers markets in Ireland, is a tireless advocate for artisan producers, and is involved on an ongoing basis in helping set up new markets. The winner of countless awards for her leadership in slow food and sustainability, she is currently chair of the Middleton Farmers Market, is a councillor for Ireland in the Slow Food Movement and President of the East Cork Convivium of Slow Food. This program has been brought to you by Fairway Market.
“We have to shock people out of thinking that food is something that comes wrapped in plastic off a supermarket shelf.” — Darina Allen on Greenhorn Radio
Anastasia started her career as a seasonal agricultural worker at the age of 17 when a series of fateful events led her to the blueberry barrens of Downeast Maine. She raked berries every year for the next 8 years, and also did some apple picking, morel mushroom hunting, and tree-planting which eventually became her primary occupation. This lifestyle kept her on the road for the better part of 13 years and enabled her to become intimate with many parts of the country. She has been based out of Tucson, AZ (the city of her birth) for the past 10 years where her home has evolved into an urban, desert farm. Anastasia has just earned a degree in Rangeland Ecology and Management from the University of Arizona. She is looking forward to integrating her experiences and skills in ways that will help to produce food and other products from the land while sustaining and enhancing natural and cultural resources. This program was sponsored by White Oak Pastures.
“I think what I really loved about it [seasonal agriculture] was the bizarre social scene that grew around it… I also got really into the physical aspects of it… grueling, repetitive work out in the hot sun… But I don’t wanna paint a rosy picture of seasonal agricultural work because it’s not that way for many people.” “The fact that we can make food from animal products without altering the land is really important to our food security.” — Anastasia Rabin on Greenhorn Radio
Tim is a Change Agent, Cultural Creative, and Nature-based Mentor. He currently serves as co-Director of Twin Eagles Wilderness School, an organization he co-Founded with his wife, Jeannine Tidwell, in Sandpoint, Idaho in 2005 as a vehicle to support his life’s work of facilitating Deep Nature Connection Mentoring and Cultural Restoration. Tim is a certified Wilderness First Responder, a graduate of the Kamana Naturalist Training Program, and a graduate of the Vermont Wilderness School’s five-year Apprenticeship Program. Since 1999, Tim has studied closely with a variety of nature-based mentors throughout the country including Tom Brown Jr., Jon Young, Mark Morey, Ingwe, Tony Ten Fingers, Gilbert Walking Bull, Paul Raphael, Jake Swamp and Barry Moses. Men’s Work, Permaculture, Primitive Skills, Holistic Rites of Passage for boys, healing the cultural rift between the White and Native cultures, Inner Tracking, the Spiritual Journey and Family are all deep, heart-centered commitments in his life. Find out more about Tim and Twin Eagles Wilderness School here. This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“I work with youth and adults facilitating a deep connection to the natural world, and what emerges from that is deep connections between people, and a deep connection to self.” “When we go about tracking animals, it’s a multi-sensory and multi-disciplinary experience that connects us archetypically to this really old part of ourselves.”
— Tim Corcoran on Greenhorn Radio
Reba Epler grew up on her family’s ranches and farm in Tie Siding and Hillsdale, Wyoming. They raise commercial cattle, sheep, hay, beans and sunflowers. She has always loved agriculture and aspires to continue to build upon what her family has worked for so many generations to build. She is also a lawyer specializing in agriculture issues and conflicts, estate planning, business planning and water law. Reba specializes in implementing succession plans for family farms and ranches to help older generations pass their land on to the people they choose and advocates for honesty and open lines of communication between farming generations.
This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“I encourage farm and ranch kids to go to law school. It opens up a lot of opportunities for people; it’s incredible what doors it can open.” — Reba Epler on Greenhorn Radio
Wellspring Farm is owned and managed by farmer Mimi Arnstein (pronounced “Mi-mee”; rhymes with “Jimmy”). Mimi has been growing organically for CSA & wholesale markets for over 10 years. Despite the obvious pitfalls of pursuing a line of work in which one relies on nature, she feel grateful every day for the opportunity to grow food for her community and is thankful to her CSA members and community supporters for keeping her farm in active agriculture. Mimi’s favorite tools are large cheater bars, a mini sledgehammer, an Allis Chalmers G cultivating tractor, and a wood-fired hot tub at the end of a long day. She serves on the board of NOFA-VT and the Vermont Vegetable and Berry Growers Association. This episode has been brought to you by Fairway Market.
“Sustainability also includes what is sustainable to the farmers, the workers on the farm, and what’s sustainable financially.” “We have to be really creative in finding new ways to get access to land in order to grow more food.”
—Mimi Arnstein on Greenhorn Radio
David and Melinda Rowley, along with their daughter Sorrel, are the farmers at Monkshood Nursery and Gardens. David attended Hadlow College in England studying commercial horticulture while Melinda attended Cornell University and studied horticulture. Together, they started a potted herb nursery in 2001. Two years later, they leased an 82 acre parcel of land in Stuyvesant, New York and began growing vegetables for farmers markets. Since then, they have erected three greenhouses to expand their
growing season. With the addition of a CSA, the garden keeps on growing. Tune in to hear David discuss the many facets of maintaining a greenhouse. This program has been brought to you by Cain Winery.
“If you choose to spray in the greenhouse, of course you’re going to eliminate the pests, but you’re also going to eliminate the predators of the pests.” —David Rowley on Greenhorn Radio
On this episode of Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Michael Meier from the Brooklyn Grange Farm in Long Island City, Queens. Michael is a south Florida citrus country native who was introduced to farming as a youngster spending summers at his grandparents’ farmstead in the North Carolina Smokies. He moved to New York City in 2005 and quickly became a part of the local food scene there. He spent a few years working in the ad industry and honing urban homesteading techniques to grow food on the side, before taking an apprenticeship position in 2011 at Brooklyn Grange, a one-acre rooftop farm in NYC. As farm manager with Brooklyn Grange this season, Michael is learning what it takes to run a quickly expanding farm business and is working towards a lifetime career in agriculture, whether on city rooftops or in the country like normal folks. Tune in to hear Michael talk about the Grange’s role in the urban farming landscape, and how it serves as a model for a for-profit farm that can help feed the city. Hear about some of the factors that make Brooklyn Grange different from a traditional rural agricultural farm. This episode was brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
“The point of our farm isn’t to try to provide every last vegetable or leafy green people need in the city, but to help create a business model for a sustainable urban agriculture that works and can generate jobs and revenue… Looking at the environmental benefits and the educational and social impact that we have, it’s a constellation of things, but we are a farm and our main priority is producing food… We’re hoping that by constantly testing, working, and spurring innovation in this space that we’ll help grow an industry.” —Michael Meier on Greenhorn Radio
This week on Greenhorn Radio, Severine talks with Amy McMillin. Amy grew up on the front range of Colorado and spent five years learning sustainable grass-based farming in Vermont. She has been back in Colorado for a few years now, and runs a raw milk dairy as part of a diversified farming project in Buena Vista called the Cottonwood Creek Dairy. While not weighing beans and bagging beans at the Buena Vista Roastery, you can find her out grazing her cows and promoting local food production around the valley. This program has been brought to you by Fairway Market.
“If there are any women out there questioning [whether to start a farm], I say do it. Start your farm and do what you love because that’s what’s most important.” —Amy McMillin on Greenhorn Radio
This week on Greenhorn Radio, Severine talks with Dan McManus of Common Hands Farm in Hudson, NY. Dan has lived much of his life around biodynamic communities, both from his early years in South Australia, and moving to New York working and apprenticing on numerous farms. Dan began to realize for himself, after desiring a more direct connection to what nourishes himself and others, that there is no art more beautiful or important right now than growing food and designing effective and low impact systems of living from and supplying healthy, organic vegetables. Dan studied regenerative community design at Goddard College in Vermont, has managed a community garden project in low-income areas of Detroit, and has focused his masonry skills by working on transformational social sculpture with mentor and teacher Johannes Matthiessen throughout the world. He has
also studied tracking and primitive skills in Vermont and holds a
certificate in Permaculture Design. Through his studies and interests in
associative economics, social-threefolding and peer-lead learning models, Dan seeks to continue learning through farming and working with
others. This program was sponsored by White Oak Pastures.
“The work that people are doing with food culture- and just documenting what is going on is amazing. And these resources are what have really kept us going…the amount of stuff going on in the community is what really makes it possible to be a starting farmer today.” — Dan McManus on Greenhorn Radio
This week on Greenhorn Radio, our hostess Severine von Tscharner Fleming interviews Jacob Cowgill of Prairie Heritage Farm outside of Conrad, Montana. Prairie Heritage Farm is in the tradition of old-time Montana farms that existed decades ago: diversified, small-scale, and locally-based. Listen in as Jacob discusses the challenges of starting a farm with a full-time job and a family, selling in a small direct market, and some of the upcoming grain ventures of Prairie Heritage Farm. This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“When the winter hit, we started thinking about the next season and how we were going to make it work. We made the nonsensical decision that I would quit my full-time job with benefits.” —Jacob Cowgill on Greenhorn Radio “It’s really amazing to see whats going on elsewhere, and see that we’re part of something larger going on in the U.S.”–Jacob Cowgill on Greenhorn Radio
Ben is a full-time and part-time organic farmer. By day he works as the Organic Farm Manager for the University of Kentucky’s Organic Farming Research and Education Farm, a job he has held for the previous five years. The university farm is home to a 80-member CSA, grant-funded research, and extension and education efforts relating to organic vegetable production in Kentucky. By night he operates his own (leased) farm in Fayette County, Kentucky where he grows organic sweet potatoes, cabbage, winter squash, and watermelons on 10 acres.
“What’s been so great about having the farm is because it has created a visual component to the organic agriculture program [at the University of Kentucky].” “I’ve found this movement of young farmers is very inclusive. There’s a lot of passion.”
— Ben Abell on Greenhorn Radio
CJ Sentell is a farmer at Ecotone, just outside Nashville, Tennessee. At Ecotone farm, they raise pastured eggs and poultry, heritage hogs, and grass-fed beef and lamb, all in an Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) manner. In addition to farming, C.J. is a doctoral student in the philosophy department at Vanderbilt University, where he is completing a dissertation entitled Freedom and Food, Slavery and Agriculture. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG). This program was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“There are more slaves alive today than there ever have been in human history. There are still agricultural slaves, for example, in Florida.” “For a vibrant agrarianism to come back in this country, we have to deal with this issue of [servitude and] slavery.”
–CJ Sentell on Greenhorn Radio
This week on Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews 15 year-old Orren Fox, a chicken farmer and beekeeper from outside of Boston. Orren has been raising chickens since the 4th grade, and he currently has 32 heritage breed hens, four ducks, and four bee hives. He also writes his own blog called Happy Chickens Lay Healthy Eggs. Tune in to hear Severine and Orren discuss topics such as starting a chicken farm, visiting The White House, and various beekeeping literature. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“[My blog] started off with me talking about my first few baby chicks, and since then my flock has grown and shrunk over the years. Two years ago I got a few beehives, and that has become another main component of my blog.” — Orren Fox on Greenhorn Radio
Roots & Wisdom, an urban organic gardening, youth and community development program of Cornell Cooperative Extension in Schenectady, New York, sparked Catherine Winters’ interest in the environment. The summers before her junior and senior years of high school, Catherine worked for Roots & Wisdom as a youth (teenage) worker where she got firsthand experience growing vegetables organically, working at farmers markets, teaching children about plants and health, and passing her knowledge to adults as well. The youth workers also participated in workshops each week on topics including community, diversity, food justice, sustainability, and local food. Last summer, Catherine joined the Roots & Wisdom family again as the special events crew leader, where she enjoyed working with visitors and helping the new youth have a great Roots & Wisdom experience too. She will be returning to Roots & Wisdom this summer as an intern so she can gain experience with other aspects of non-profit organizations. Catherine is currently an Environmental Chemistry major with a minor in Environmental Science and Policy at Hartwick College. She hopes to apply her hard science background from undergraduate studies to an interdisciplinary graduate school program that will prepare her for a career in Environmental Policy or teaching the public about sustainability.
“Most of the youth [at Roots and Wisdom] have never left the urban scene, but by the end of the summer, they love the outdoors.” — Catherine Winters on Greenhorn Radio
Learner has been farming and gardening on Orcas Island for the past 7 years, where he is now homesteading, grazing French Alpine goats for milk, cheese, and meat, growing his own vegetables and seed, processing seaweed and other wildcrafted food and herbs, hunting, and bartering with his surplus. He is the director and founder of Food Masters, an organization working to increase sustainable food production and food security on Orcas Island, and to build community around a culture of local food. They strive to share information about growing, gathering, hunting, preserving, and preparing food, saving seed, and making medicine. Learner believes that by preserving and increasing knowledge about how to feed ourselves, we contribute to the health of our community, our land, and the future generations that will inhabit it. F.E.A.S.T. is a community supported and community-taught sustainability education program for youth also directed by Learner. The program focuses on teaching positive, simple solutions to some of the largest global problems we face. The F.E.A.S.T. program seeks to empower youth with sustainable living skills such as blacksmithing, permaculture design, wild harvesting, organic farming, animal husbandry, bee-keeping, alternative energy, mycology and more.
Genio Bertin and Sara Faull own and operate Mandala Farm in Gouldsboro, Maine, 8 miles from the Schoodic section of Acadia National Park and 1 mile from the ocean. They have been farming there since 2002 and are committed to running a sustainable, low impact farm and providing healthy, organic food for their animals and the community. Mandala Farm is a hundred acres with about 17 acres of pasture, 20 acres recently reclaimed for pasture, a 60 acre woodlot, and a little over 3 acres cultivated. They run a 75 member organic vegetable CSA and specialize in breeding, training, and using Norwegian Fjord draft horses in cultivation. They also raise sheep, laying hens and broiler chickens, beef and dairy cows, Tamworth pigs, and cashmere goats. This episode is sponsored by White Oak Pastures.
“We only have one family cow so if I was going to turn that cow into a viable commercial option, what would that mean?” “Since so much of our input is generated right here on the farm we have the potential for high quality compost.”
–Genio Bertin on Greenhorn Radio
Bob is the director of Food for Maine’s Future and a family farmer living in Sedgwick, Maine. He serves on the boards of the National Family Farm Coalition and Family Farm Defenders. As an activist and farmer living near East Penobscot Bay, Bob identifies with peasant and indigenous people worldwide who struggle to maintain access to land on which to grow their food. In his food sovereignty advocacy he has initiated a seedsaving campaign and writes frequently on the need to oppose the patenting of seeds and other life forms. He spends much of his time these days trying to stop state and federal agencies from shutting down farms in his community. This episode is sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“Rural communities have been feeding themselves for a long time and offering sales to neighbors and markets. . . and that is an important part of the local economy.” –Bob St. Peter on Greenhorn Radio
Sleeping Frog Farms is an intensive 75-acre farm nestled in the Cascabel corridor of the San Pedro River Valley. Founded on permaculture design and biodynamic growing principles, Adam Valdivia, Debbie Weingarten, CJ Marks, and Clay Smith are dedicated to providing their community with seasonal heirloom fruits and vegetables through farmer’s markets, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Farm to School, Food Coop, and restaurant sales. Their laying hens, dairy goats, honey bees, and earthworms are integral to pollination, soil-building, and recycling crop waste into food and fertilizer. They harvest a diverse selection of produce daily and at its peak ripeness, in order to bring the finest taste and nutrition to Southern Arizona. This episode is sponsored by White Oak Pastures.
“Our hope is that in 10-15 years that we can be doing a small scale grain operation to feed the animals.”
–Adam Valdivia on Greenhorn Radio
Peteh Muhammad Haroon, affectionally known as Brotha’ P, is an inspirational Spoken Word Performance and recording artist and native of New Orleans, LA. Brotha’ P has been performing his unique style of poetry since 1995 as a member of Nommo Literary Society. After leaving Louisiana in 2005, Brotha’ P moved to Jonesboro, Arkansas, where he was reconnected to the world of agriculture–a world he was introduced to as a child. As a student of Arkansas State University, Brotha’ P, along with others who were interested in growing their own food, established a Student Garden Organization. The intentions of the organization were for the garden to grow into a place where students without an agricultural background could have a place to experience a hands-on food growing course and learn to start and maintain a home garden. After being elected and serving as the first President of the organization for a year, Brotha’ P decided to return to New Orleans to pursue his burning passion to establish gardens throughout local neighborhoods. Spending countless hours under the sun volunteering at the Village Ova da River and the Teche Street Garden, he was offered the opportunity to serve as a landscaper with Common Ground Health Care Clinic. Currently, Brotha’ P is working with New Orleans Food and Farm Network and others local organizations such as the Backyard Gardener’s Network to create sustainable green spaces throughout the city of New Orleans. For more information, Brotha’ P can be reached by email at anotherfamilyproduction@yahoo.com. This episode is sponsored The Hearst Ranch.
“I’m looking forward to getting back into [New Orleans] and helping them, I grew up with those people . . .it is my full intent to help any backyard garden in the lower 9th Ward.” –Brotha’ P on Greenhorn Radio
Andy doesn’t think he’s a farmer in the sense that most people would recognize, but he cares about compost as much as most people care about their pets. He has been working the earth in the low country from Savannah,GA to Cumberland Island for about 5 years. He did not receive a formal education in agriculture, but grew up in the middle of rural Indiana surrounded by massive fields of corn and soybeans and studied tourism development in college. These days he spends most of his time working in urban garden plots, his back yard, local schools, and restaurants. Andy hopes to start his own business in Savannah in the near future that will allow him to provide healthy food to the local market as well as provide a substantial income. He digs what the Greenhorns are doing across the country and is proud to be a young farmer. This episode is sponsored by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons.
“There’s definitely a huge demand for small farmers, and young farmers, in Savannah . . . Georgia’s ripe and ready, the people are here and ready to do the work”
–Andy Schwartz on Greenhorn Radio
An Idaho farm girl, Marci found her roots after meeting her partner Greg and traveling the world together. After graduating from the University of Idaho with a degree in Conservation Social Science and a certificate on Sustainable Small Acreage Farming and Ranching, as well as several apprenticeships each, they decided to venture out on their own and launched Deep Roots Farm & Design. Selling vegetables at the Tuesday Grower’s Market in Moscow, ID and directly to restaurants in the area has created a solid foundation for the future. Marci’s favorite part of farming is the satisfaction that comes from pulling weeds and thinning rows of young carrots. She also loves educating others and planning new garden designs for clients. As co-chicken wrangler, she hopes to see volunteers coming to the farm over the season to share creative ideas for innovation and help move chicken pens. This episode is sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
“[Farmers] want to stop exporting all their goods to China . . .it’s exciting with all these large farmers looking more locally” –Marci Miller on Greenhorn Radio
Tim Biello began farming in 2006 at a vegetable CSA in the Hudson Valley of New York. For the past 3 years, he has farmed using draft horses at Essex Farm – a full-year, full-food CSA in Essex, NY. He is currently a farm manager at Greyrock Farm in Cazenovia, NY, which is also a full-year, full-food and draft-powered CSA. Tim is in the midst of an on-going search for a farm of his own in eastern NY or western MA. This program has been sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
Henry Lau is 17 years old and in Grade 12 at Windemere Secondary School in Vancouver, British Columbia. He belongs to the Windermere Organic Garden, a student-led initiative that provides food for the school cafeteria while focusing on the importance of organic practices and educating students about food and agriculture. The garden has a 16×20 foot greenhouse, 13 garden beds, an aquaponics system, and an industrial-sized composter. When senior students started the project 5 years ago, Henry knew nothing about gardening, but the plants starting to pop up in his teacher’s office caught his eye. He found that agriculture was an art, and watching something as small as a seed turn into a meal was an amazing experience that gave him a better appreciation of food. He credits his experience with the garden to a great deal of personal growth and admires that it can be an open and peaceful space for everyone at the school. Henry feels fortunate to live in a community dedicated to food security and the growing green movement, and when he graduates, he hopes to continue studies in food and nutrition while working in the local community garden and tree orchard. This episode was sponsored by Jones Family Farms.
Vinnie has been farming in the Washington, DC beltway, in Prince George’s County, for five years. He started designing and building school gardens for a number of elementary and middle schools, and co-wrote Growing Healthy Habits, a gardening and nutrition curriculum that is aligned with the Maryland State Standards for elementary education. He has been involved in designing and building a number of educational farm projects and organizations, such as the Master Peace Community Farm in 2007, a 1/2 acre farm with community plots and entrepreneurial vegetable production where hundreds of middle school students use the farm to learn nutrition, science, math, and writing.
Vinnie’s most recent project, Seed and Cycle, is an effort to push urban agriculture and composting further along to areas explored only by the most innovative or adventurous urban agriculturalists. He wants to help urban farmers to get more yield out of their land using low-cost hoop houses and is building a business assisting other farmers in quickly and cheaply constructing them on their farm.
Clinton is a young farmer interested in bringing sustainable farming practices to his farm in Corvallis, Oregon. He and his family are grass-seed farmers who are transitioning to organic bean, grain, and seed crops to supply local markets.
Jake has been working on farms since he was thirteen. He lives on his own family’s farm, raises beef cows for show and for meat, and has a horse farm were he and his family do every thing. Jake has been working with Brookford Farm since their beginning when they were milking only 17 cows and had just a few chickens. He’s seen amazing growth at the farm, and has been there to help out with just about all of it, from milking cows to cutting firewood. Jake is currently in high school and when he graduates, he wants to continue farming. He plans to go to the Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI) in Ohio to major in dairy sciences so that he can own and operate his own dairy farm some day. This episode was sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.
In August, Jeremy and Trish bought a three acre piece of land just outside of Spearfish, South Dakota. What was historically a truck farm providing veggies to the mining communities in the Black Hills, it probably hasn’t had vegetables on it for the last twenty years. Trish is currently working in New Mexico and Jeremy is learning to build utility bikes in Oregon, but they will both be moving to South Dakota in January to get things going, building bee hives, planning crops, and working out business specifics. They plan to sell from an on-site farmstand, through the Spearfish Farmers Market, and eventually through a CSA. They are also both enthusiastic about bicycles and are planning to develop and use human-powered farm equipment on site in addition to building cargo bikes in the winter to diversify income. Neither of them come from a farming background, but they started gardening in a friend’s front yard three years ago and have been getting more and more wrapped up in the food system since, especially the thought of using food to build community and land health. They are excited to get Cycle Farm off the ground and say they picked the farm’s name because it’s short, replete with double meanings, and will be easy to come up with some sort of bicycle-vegetable logo. This episode is sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
Anna E. Evans-Goldstein grew up watching her father garden and her mother keep their house green with plants. She spent time in Madagascar, where she witnessed a culture transitioning away from agricultural living, and Cambodia, where farming is a fatal occupation as mines from the Khmer Rouge still litter the countryside. In Portland, OR, for college, Anna experienced what can happen in a city where everyone has a green thumb and the rain never stops. Now she is back in her home town of Baltimore working for the City Mayor’s Office on an initiative called Power In Dirt. This new program builds capacity in blighted city neighborhoods for communities and residents to adopt vacant lots and turn them into community-managed green spaces.
McKenzie and her fiance Jamie have been trying to start a farm for three years, but due to troublesome landlords, Canada Thistle, ravenous deer, and lack of money, it’s taken time to realize the things they don’t know about agriculture. But they haven’t given up, and this past July they finally landed on a beautiful place in Finksburg, Maryland that they are returning a working farm. They have six sheep, two alpacas, bees, chickens, and 25 acres to transform. Things are taking shape quickly, but they’re going easy this time around because they know how much work being a farmer really is. Jamie works at a local CSA called Breezy Willow, and the family who runs it has been endlessly helpful in teaching them the ropes. McKenzie works at a Montessori preschool and gets to spend her days teaching children how to plant veggies, tend to chickens, and treat each other with empathy. It’s basically her dream job, so she has lots of energy when she comes home to play “Farmer Brown.”
This week on Greenhorn Radio, Severine talks with Taryn of Sheepscot General, a general store in Maine, and who also owns Uncas Farms. They talk raspberries, renovations, and going from farming into retail. They also learn that sometimes police publicity can be the best kind of publicity. This episode is sponsored by The Hearst Ranch.
Molly Nakahara founded Dinner Bell Farm in 2010 with Paul Glowaski and Cooper Funk. She is an educator, urban agriculture advocate, and as a Ninth generation Californian, she has a strong connection to the Golden State. Molly’s original Californian ancestors were the Peraltas, a Mexican Spanish ranchero family that raised cattle on the green hills of the East Bay Area from El Cerrito to San Leandro. In the 1930s and 40s, Molly’s great-grandparents, immigrants from Japan, farmed green onions and lettuce in the Salinas Valley. Their children, Molly’s grandparents, moved to Berkeley following the internment camps of World War II and built an agricultural oasis in their urban backyard. Molly spent countless hours looking for earthworms, picking green beans, and spraying cabbage moths with water in their garden on Harmon St. Prior to farming with the Dinner Bell crew, Molly worked with the Alameda County Office of Education Project EAT to bring nutrition education and food production gardens to urban public schools. Along with many dedicated students, teachers and staff members, she founded the Tennyson High School Farm at Tennyson High School in Hayward, CA. She believes that food production is a wonderful way to connect people to the land that we all live on. Sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
Tomm Becker started farming due to his desire for adventure and loved it from the moment he began. While he studied to earn a degree in English Literature from Michigan State University, he worked at the MSU Student Organic Farm and at Owosso Organics, Pooh Stevenson’s farm in Owosso, MI. After graduation, he began working as the Production Manager at the Student Organic Farm. It was through growing in all seasons for that CSA, training and guiding the student farmers, and teaching three cohorts of students in the Organic Farming Certificate Program, that he gained the skills and confidence he felt he needed to endure as a farmer. Tomm started Sunseed Farm with his partner, Trilby, in the Fall of 2009 and started their CSA in May of 2010. They came by their land through our friends and CSA members who own it and live in the barn up the road. They are in the process of working with Ann Arbor Greenbelt to place a conservation easement on the property which would preserve it as farmland forever. They see this as an important step in conserving farmland near Ann Arbor, and it will be instrumental in enabling them to purchase the land.
Renae’s interest in food began while working summers in Alaska in the commercial fishing industry. Although very different from growing and tending to crops, she discovered the importance of where and how our food gets to our plate. After her college graduation, Renae decided to take a 10 month apprenticeship on ALM Farm in Sooke on Vancouver Island, BC. She took a season off to work back in Alaska before returning to agriculture at the Sunshine Farm (made famous by the documentary film Broken Limbs) in Chelan, Washington. She is now in her 3rd season as the field manager of 6.5 acres of vegetable production providing produce to an on site market, a CSA, the Chelan Farmer’s Market and numerous restaurants and grocers. In the near future she sees herself bridging the gap between agriculture and education. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
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Matt Volz was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Cazenovia, NY and Philadelphia. He attended Middlebury College in Middlebury, VT, where he studied philosophy and began working on farms. In his junior year of college, he connected with a crazy couple from across Lake Champlain in Essex, NY. He worked with Mark and Kristin Kimball at Essex Farm (made famous by Kristen’s book, The Dirty Life) during his last two years of college and continued to work there for another two years after graduating. In 2009, he moved back to VT and worked on a few farms there before beginning a search for his own farm. In the Spring of 2010, he was introduced to Kaye Osbourne, and a few months later he moved back to Cazenovia to start the Greyrock Farm CSA.
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Zach Zink graduated with a bachelor’s degree in religion from Saint Olaf College in 2003. He worked at Holden Village in Chelan, WA for 2 years as a lead cook, developing a passion for cooking with fresh, local foods and wholesome ingredients. From Holden he went to Growing Things Farm in Carnation, WA for an organic farm internship, then to Bennett’s Bistro on Mercer Island where he continued to cook with pure, natural whole foods. In 2007 he was hired by Pike Place Market’s Preservation & Development Authority where for 2 years he was part of the team that coordinates the day to day crafters and farmers markets. Zach currently works for Cloudview Eco Farms as a “focalizer” of the CSA, Sales, Farmers Markets, and Cooking. He also tends a small herd of milk and meat goats and a flock of chickens. He is a former board member and continues to volunteer for the non-profit Tilth Producers of Washington, an association of several hundred organic and sustainable farms in Washington state.
Noah Shitama has been cultivating his knowledge of sustainable, community-based agriculture for over 8 years now, practicing on a small scale in Gainesville, and learning through visiting and volunteering on exemplary farms here and throughout the country. He is a father of two wondrous little ones, and has worked as a carpenter and builder. As a founding steering committee member of Citizens Co-op, he is committed to the creation of a local food system grounded in locality and community.
Michael Tevlin grew up in Lake Oswego and worked in many varied jobs before becoming interested in agriculture, including being a bus driver, delivery driver, concierge, camp counselor, and Americorps Volunteer. In 2006, he interned at Dancing Roots Farm in Troutdale and became interested in running a small farm. He traveled through Ireland volunteering on organic farms, then came back and spent some time with other Portland urban farmers getting ideas. He found the plot for Cully Neighborhood Farm in November 2009. Michael also works as an inclusion specialist for people with disabilities.
Tanya Tolchin and her husband Scott Hertzberg run a small diversified vegetable, flower, and herb farm called Jug Bay Market Garden (www.jugbaymarketgarden). The farm is located 20 miles outside Washington, DC and markets primarily through a CSA that delivers to Capitol Hill. Her first farm experience was on the Food Bank Farm in Western Massachusetts and later she worked on farms in Connecticut, England, and Israel. Tanya also worked for 10 years as an organizer and lobbyist for Sierra Club on issues ranging from protecting national forests to protecting workers and communities from toxic chemicals and forming alliances with labor unions. Now she is focused on her role as a full time mother of two young children and the farm’s bookkeeper, marketer, cheerleader and writer. Sometimes she can even be caught getting her hands dirty like the good old days, planting, weeding, picking and packing. Tanya is also trying to actualize her long time dream of being a writer, starting with freelance farm writing, blogging, and the occasional poem. You can read her blog at www.thelettuceedge.com.
The farm is the oldest organic farm in the state of Missouri, and possibly even west of the Mississippi. Settled in 1883, the 3rd generation is now 89 years old, with no one to carry on the farm. Surrounded by a low-income neighborhood, this 14 acre farm has resisted the surrounding development and an experienced tenant farmer on the land says that it\’s the best soil he\’s ever seen.
This week’s guest on Greenhorn Radio is Molly Rockamann of EarthDance Farms. EarthDance takes a unique approach to small-scale farming in that it fuses the celebration of art and music with organic farming education on the land. The five year plan includes an artist-in-residence program as well as a musician-in-residence program on the property. This season arts and music will be grown on the farm via an Open Space – Open Studio program, inviting local artists and musicians of all types to come on the farm to create together.
Scott Chichester, Production Manager at Nash's Organic Produce, was raised in Sequim. He liked to garden and was curious about where food comes from, so it was natural for him to find a job at Sunny Farms after he graduated from high school. He worked there for three years, acquiring skills in retail sales, produce displays, and customer service. Organic agriculture was what really intrigued Scott, and he also realized that he wanted to find work that would allow him to be outdoors most of the time, so in 1996 he started working at Nash's. Scott had an Associate of Applied Science degree from Peninsula College but still wanted to complete a bachelor's degree. He took the 1997-98 academic year to go to Olympia and study at The Evergreen State College where he received a Bachelors of Science degree. At Evergreen, students create their own programs, and Scott took the opportunity to study fungal biology and taxonomy and soil microbial ecology—how microbes and other life forms interact in soil environments. Another of Scott's goals is learning how to produce seed, not just for the farm's use but to protect genetic diversity for organic agriculture in general. He says, "Farming can be hugely stressful, but amazingly rewarding. It's incredible to do such important work outdoors in this beautiful place."
Karyn Williams is the owner and operator of Red Dog Farm. Karyn has been farming since 1998 and first started running her own farm in 2005. Red Dog Farm was established in 2008. Karyn is aided by a crew of awesome workers and her faithful red border collie, the farm’s namesake, Rupert Dandelion.
Matthew Jose got his first taste of the farming life while tending livestock and running various educational programs at Overlook Farm in central Massachusetts. After his stint there, he moved way out west to Portland, OR to work in a fancy French bakery, making croissants and other delectables. While there, Matthew began to get involved with small-scale community garden projects. Tired of waking up at 2 a.m., Matthew made his way back east to assist community garden groups in New York City. He returned to Overlook Farm in 2005 to focus on growing vegetables, working as an assistant grower on the farm's 3 acre veggie operation.
After all of the travelling, Matthew returned to his hometown of Indianapolis. He eventually began working for the Purdue University- Marion County Extension Service and Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, helping to organize community gardens, garden education programs, and school beautification projects. During that time, he developed the short-lived Urban Farm Project – a program that used vacant lots for vegetable production in addition to training local high school students in small-scale farming practices. At the beginning of 2009, Matthew created Big City Farms in an effort to try and meet the growing demand for fantastic-tasting, locally-grown produce. He'll talk a good talk about wanting to change the fabric of cities and alter our society's concepts of where food 'should' come from – in reality, he just likes being able to bike down the street for coffee or a drink after tending his 'fields' too much to quit the city life.
Eric Herm grew up on a cotton farm near Ackerly, Texas. He left the farm to pursue other interests, traveling to various places across the world before returning to his roots. Upon arriving back on his family farm, he noticed many changes in not only the landscape but the methods of commercial agriculture that were causing more long-term problems. He began searching for answers to these problems, slowly discovering healthier organic methods which provided the inspiration for his book, Son of a Farmer, Child of the Earth.
Greenhorn Radio is back! Tune in this week Severine is joined by Josh Morgenthau of FishKill Farm. Fishkill Farms is an apple orchard and diversified fruit and vegetable farm in the town of East Fishkill, New York. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch – the nations largest single source supplier of grassfed and grass finished beef.
This week’s guest on Greenhorn radio is farmer Amber Reed. Severine met Amber at the Young Farmers Conferene @ Stone Barns, and the two get a chance to catch up on the radio! Amber explains why Colorado is such a tough state for raw dairy, how byproducts can be best utilized, and how beer is sometimes used to wash cheese. This episode was sponsored by our good friends at Hearst Ranch: the nations largest single source supplier of grassfed and grass finished beef.
Join Severine for another episode of Greenhorn Radio; chronicling the life and times of the young farmers in our country. This week she sits down with Kristin Kimball of Essex Farm. Kristin is also an author, her latest book being "This Dirty Life" – which is, as she puts it "the story of the two love affairs that interrupted the trajectory of my life: one with farming—that dirty, concupiscent art—and the other with a complicated and exasperating farmer." This episode was brought to you by Hearst Ranch.
This week Severine checks in with Erin Bullock of Mud Creek Farm in Victor, NY. Tune in and hear the awesome story of how Erin became a young farmer, how she realized that you CAN make a living as a farmer, and what her day to day life is like right now. This episode was kindly sponsored by our friends at Hearst Ranch.
This week on Greenhorn Radio Sev spoke to Sandor Katz from Tennesee, a internationally recognized master of fermentation. Sandor’s goal is to stress to people that fermentation should NOT be intimidating, and is a great way to not just preserve foods at times of bounty, but to bring out flavors in foods that might not otherwise be available. Learn how Sandor used daikon radishes and cabbage to ferment and create 70 gallons of “kraut chee”, plus why fermentation can be a way for people to connect to their farmers and create great value-added products with produce. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of grass-fed beef from the California coast.
This week on Greenhorns Radio Sev speaks to agro-ecologist Houston Wilson. Wilson discusses the primary goal of his science: eliminating “off farm” input. This essentially means designing your farm in a way that encourages nature to do the tasks we often leave up to chemicals or people. With enough crop diversification farmers will find that controlling pests, nutrient cycling, and dealing with diseases can all be executed internally if the farm is designed appropriately. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of fine grass-fed beef from the coasts of CA.
Photo 1: The Altieri Lab at UC Berkeley has been conducting cutting edge research in vineyard agroecology over the past decade. Recent efforts focus on the management of non-crop vegetation to enhance the natural regulation of key insect pests in vineyards. We strive to conduct comprehensive research spanning landscape-level dynamics to specific within-field insect interactions. We also believe in the importance of collaborating with growers to conduct research in real-world settings where the system designs that we are developing will be employed.
This week on Greenhorns Radio Sev spoke to Ann Larkin Hansen, author of “The Organic Farming Manual”. Hansen was frustrated that there didn’t seem to be a single “one-stop-shop” source of information for someone who wanted to grow food organically–so she wrote one. Listen to hear Ann’s journey from a kid growing up in the suburbs to a full fledged livestock and vegetable farmer, and how the Wisconsin Women’s Sustainable Farming Network was a vital friend during her journey. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of fine grass-fed beef from the coast of CA.
This week on Greenhorn Radio Sev speaks to Marguerite of Mother Plants Nursery in upstate NY. Mother Plants specializes in baby plants that are green-roof ready, so you can jump start the “green” part of your green roof. They have a seemingly infinite amount of low maintenance, draft tolerant, “plug-size” plants and can deliver anywhere UPS is willing to trek. Their goal is to be a catalyst for the public’s growing interest in green roofs, and facilitate not only the start of new roofs, but to ensure current roofs are the botanical wonderlands their owners had envisioned. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of all natural grass-fed cattle from the coast of California.
Photo: A green roof w/Mother Plants Nursery plants
This week on Greenhorns Radio Sev speaks with Jarrett Man of Stone Soup Farm in Belchertown, MA. Jarret speaks on the hurdles of working with volunteers–separating the dedicated vikings of the earth from the lackadaisical volunteers who disappear after the first bead of sweat. He and Sev praise The Small Farm Institute, an organization responsible for starting the farming career of Man and many, many others. Man also speaks on learning about farming; his school-born, formal, explicit education versus his on-sight, subtle, experiential wisdom. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
This week on Greenhorn Radio Sev speaks to Clayton Burrows of the non-profit Washington State organization Growing Washington. Growing Washington has an extremely far reach in terms of their goals for the state, but the unifying theme behind all the work is helping resident Washingtonians. Clayton works to help spread sustainable agriculture, environmental and societal health, and whatever help Washingtonians need. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of grass-fed beef from the coast of California.
Photo: Clayton Burrows, Growing Washington Director
This week on Greenhorn Radio Sev speaks to Cody Hopkins of Falling Sky Farm in Marshal Arkansas. Cody speaks on everything from the spark that inspired him (Joel Salatin and Michael Pollan) to his efforts to inspire others (leasing his own land to jump start interns who want to farm). Tune in for an in-depth conversation on what infrastructure is and isn’t there for a small sustainable farmer. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of fine grass-fed and finished beef from the California coast.
Photo: Falling Sky Farm
This week on Greenhorn Radio Sev spoke with Sarah Petranek, former radiologic technologist and current blueberry farm proprietor. Sarah conveys the story of her drastic decision to put her and her husband’s love of hard work and the outdoors to use by moving their family 400 miles away to rural Kentucky. There she eventually fulfilled her dream of living off the land, leaving behind the material world, and having time to spend time with her family. Now she is a successful blueberry farmer looking to expand to strawberries, and despite some lingering monetary issues, as happy as she’s ever been. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of grass-fed beef grazing on the beautiful coast of San Simeon, CA.
This week on Greenhorn Radio Sev celebrated her 50th show and spoke to Andrew Mariani of Scribe Winery. Learn about the rich history of this Sonoma Valley vineyard stretching back to the 1850’s, through a sordid prohibition past of Road Ridge bootlegging, into a sustainable and delicious future. Tune in to learn how Scribe is breaking up the standard vineyard monoculture, rebuilding the local ecosystem for the better, and how it all stretches back to a life-changing trip to Europe. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of grass-fed beef grazing on the beautiful coast of San Simeon, CA.
This week on Greenhorns Radio Sev speaks to Sarah Jane of Green Gulch Farm in Marine County, CA. Listen to Sarah describe why farming skills are not always transferable from climate to climate, and hear her speak on the “cradle” of a non-profit.
This week on Greenhorn Radio Sev speaks to Kasey White and Jeff Brodey of Lonesome Whistle Farms plus Andrew Still and Sarah Seger of Seed Investors Project.
Sev speaks to Natsuko Uchino about her Green County farm in Cornwallville, and about the link between being an artist and a farmer.
Severine speaks to Judith Winfrey of Love is Love Farm about her harrowing experience with a storm that put 5 feet of water over her entire farm!
Severine talks with Kipchoge Spencer of of Xtracycle and Worldbike this week on Greenhorn Radio.
Sev speaks to Dan Machin of Lone Acre Farm, a farm in Long Island that is literally a lone acre!
On this week’s episode of Greenhorns Radio, Severine interviews Alex Gifford of Wilton, Connecticut about his baseball field-turned-farm.
On this week’s episode of Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Suko Presseau to talk about the intersecting worlds of farming and art.
On this week’s episode of Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Casey Knapp of Cobblestone Valley Farm.
On this week’s Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Arion of Mustard Seed Farms about starting a small farm in Iowa, and about the Christian Farmers Network.
On this week’s installment of Greenhorn Radio, Severine takes us to Missouri to visit with Melanie Crawford of Butterfly Hill Farms. The two discuss seed saving, bumper crops, and re-purposing the Missouri landscape.
On this week’s episode of Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Tom Stearns of High Mowing Organic Seeds in the field from the 2009 Young Farmers’ Conference.
On this week’s episode of Greenhorn Radio, Severine takes the show to upstate New York to visit with Tycho Dan of Cayuga Pure Organics to talk about changing America’s dependence on toxic, unsustainable foods.
On this week’s Greenhorn Radio, Severine takes the show to Athens, Georgia to visit with Olivia Sargeant, co-owner of Farm 255, a unique farm-to-table restaurant model.
On this week’s episode of Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Ray Sprague of Edgewater Farm, a family-owned and operated farm in Plainfield, New Hampshire.
On this week’s Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Brooke Silvaggio of Bad Seed Farm in Kansas City, Missouri. The two discuss the burgeoning urban farming scene in Kansas City, Bad Seed’s Farmers’ Market, and getting recent grads excited about farming.
On this week’s Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Benjamin Shute, co-owner of Hearty Roots Farm in Tivoli, NY. Ben talks about CSA’s, the difficulty of obtaining high-priced land in the Hudson Valley, and shares some quick tips for would-be farmers.
On this week’s episode of Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Eric Hoffman of Hoffman Farms in Trenton, Missouri. Eric runs an elaborate grass-based dairy program and is struggling to maintain margins as milk prices plummet.
On this week’s Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Anya Kamenskaya, Greenhorn intern and event planner. Anya touches on her work at UC Berkley, its farm studies program, and a new way to combat pests without pesticides called Integrated Pest Management.
On this week’s Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Ambika Conroy, Australian crocheter and rabbit farmer, about creating Sports Illustrated cover bikinis, raising rabbits in upstate New York, and the future of fur co-ops.
On this week’s episode of Greenhorn Radio, Severine talks to Paula Manolo of Heart Arrow Ranch about biodynamic farming in California and her radical new winter CSA model.
On this week’s Greenhorn Radio, Severine visits with Amy Franceschini, artist, food activist, and new media guru.
On this week’s Greenhorn Radio, Severine talks with Ethan Roland of Appleseed Permaculture and John Good of Quiet Creek Farm about carbon and composting.
This week on Greenhorn Radio, Severine talks to hunting enthusiast Jules Emory about hunting traditions, & blood lust.
On this week’s Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews John Clark of Applecheek Farm in Vermont about raw milk, its soaring prices and super-food attributes.
This week’s Greenhorn Radio features Annie Novak of the New York Botanical Gardens, who also works on a Greenpoint roof top farm profiled in New York Magazine: http://nymag.com/guides/summer/2009/57477/
On this week’s Greenhorn Radio, Severine interviews Meg Gardner, of Pete’s Greens, about Vermont CSA’s, the burgeoning town of Hardwick, and startup land for young farmers.
Eat them to save them: Severine talks with Jude Becker, sustainable agriculture advocate and breeder of heritage pork.
Severine in conversation with Josh Harden of Laughingstock Farm in Arkansas. Talking points include big vs. small-scale production and the future of Arkansas farmers’ markets.
Severine scouts out a new talent in the young farming movement, Nora Saks, of the Poughkeepsie Farm Project.
Severine talks with seed scientist Ken Greene, co-founder of the Hudson Valley Seed Library
Severine interviews Nik Bertulis, an Oakland-based scientist and farmer researching and engineering ways to make use of urine in agricultural systems.
Severine interviews Kevin Skvorak of Regeneration CSA in High Falls, NY. Regeneration CSA is a community supported farm growing with permaculture based, no-till systems that use no chemicals and regenerate our soils.
Severine interviews Jacob Cowgill, innovative dryland vegetable grower and new farm owner!
Severine talks with Lisa Hamilton, author of “Deeply Rooted,” a survey of unconventional American farmers, due out in May.
Severine chats with Rusty Davis live from The Golden Gate Bridge! Rusty subverts conventional wisdom on topics ranging from permaculture, reforestation, biodiesel and veggie oil.
Our First Show! Severine interviews Antonio Roman Alcala, San Francisco based activist and farmer who spearheaded an effort to revive Alemany Farm, which had been deserted for two years.