Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good artwork

Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good

78 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 26 ratings

Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good is a podcast with and about hobby farmers, small-scale farmers and sustainable farmers. More than that, it’s about the important work these folks are doing for themselves, their families and their communities on and off the farm. Each episode, host Lisa Munniksma sits down to chat with someone doing the good work to discuss how they started, what they're doing now, and what drives them to keep growing. (A presentation of Hobby Farms® magazine, an EG Media company.)

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Episodes

Episode 74: Hillarie Maddox

March 25, 2024 14:16 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MB

Homesteader Hillarie Maddox talks about returning to the land, building community and mental health for farmers. Hear about Hillarie’s upbringing visiting her family members’ original homesteads in South Dakota and how her life came full circle, back to the land herself on Whidbey Island, in Washington. She talks about how she and her husband are balancing their differing interests in landscaping versus gardening on their property, ultimately arriving at a food forest approach. Learn abo...

Episode 73: Kimberly Haire

March 13, 2024 14:48 - 29 minutes - 26.9 MB

Kimberly Haire talks with Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good host Lisa Munniksma about what it’s like to teach middle schoolers in Kentucky about growing food while she expands her own farming knowledge. Hear about how Kimberly uses the foundations of agriculture, local and global food systems, and hands-on work to get sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students excited about coming to class. In one of the most tangible examples of demonstrating the impact of agriculture, the lettuce and ra...

Episode 72: Sara Martin

March 01, 2024 03:00 - 39 minutes - 36.3 MB

Appalachian farmer Sara Martin asks us to put on our science hats and talks about farming at high elevation, running a truly diverse small farm, redistributing unsold produce and more. Hear about how Sara and her husband, Dustin Cornelison, became “accidental farmers,” as their homesteading endeavor just kept growing. Sara talks about how their Two Trees Farm and Sustainabillies business support their family and their community. With 3/4 acre in production, they’ve learned to grow vertic...

Episode 71: Holly Callahan-Kasmala and Chrisie DiCarlo, co-hosts of the Coffee with the Chicken Ladies podcast

February 14, 2024 09:00 - 39 minutes - 35.8 MB

The Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good podcast meets the Coffee with the Chicken Ladies podcast with this episode’s guests, Holly Callahan-Kasmala and Chrisie DiCarlo. Learn about how these best friends of 40+ years started the Coffee with the Chicken Ladies podcast and why it’s important to them to share their experience with and educate others about poultry.  Listen to the impressive list of heritage chicken breeds Holly and Chrisie keep on their farms and why. Also, they try to answer...

Episode 70: Anu Rangarajan, Cornell Small Farms Program director, talks about supporting farmers, a reduced-tillage technique and more!

January 31, 2024 16:58 - 40 minutes - 37.4 MB

Cornell Small Farms Program director Anu Rangarajan talks about supporting farmers as whole people, making farming communities more welcoming spaces, life as a strawberry farmer and a game-changing reduced-tillage technique. Hear about how the Cornell University Small Farms Program free classes and resources can support your farming—whether your farm in New York or elsewhere—and how they differ from and work in conjunction with Cooperative Extension resources. Anu emphasizes the importance ...

Episode 69: Chyka Okarter on practicing lean farming, creative financing and more!

January 03, 2024 10:00 - 33 minutes - 49.7 MB

Chyka Okarter talks about farming an Extension work in Nigeria, putting the lean farming concept into practice, and finding creative financing from within the food system. Hear about what agriculture looks like in Nigeria—a pursuit with huge potential that Chyka feels is not being met in this country that’s slightly larger than Texas. He talks about growing up in a farming family and wanting to go into agriculture to help farmers work more efficiently. Learn about the Feed the Future Pro...

Episode 68: Keisha Johnson talks career transitions, skill sharing, poultry keeping and more

December 20, 2023 10:00 - 39 minutes - 57.8 MB

Texas farmer Keisha Johnson talks career transitions, skill sharing, poultry keeping and more. Hear about Keisha’s career transition from administration and logistics to farming, and her advice for how anyone can take pre-farming-career skills into farm life—”turning your lifestyle into your livelihood.” Keisha talks about growing vegetables in Texas’s hot, arid climate through summer and more mild winter weather, plus her volunteer-potato-growing experiment. (Listen in for her prediction ...

Episode 67: Ben Hartman talks doing less and getting more with lean farming

December 06, 2023 10:00 - 37 minutes - 54.4 MB

Indiana farmer and The Lean Micro Farm author Ben Hartman talks about the logistics of downsizing.  Hear about the CSA Ben started while still in high school and how this set him up for a career in farming. Ben shares the statistics that, by the end of this century, we will lose half of the farms that we have now, and the farms that are left will be twice as large. Statistics like this make him believe even more strongly that farmers need to increase their money-making potential. “We wer...

Episode 66: Li Schmidt talks Asian-heritage crops, small-scale farming in Taiwan and more!

November 22, 2023 10:00 - 35 minutes - 52.2 MB

Taiwanese-American farmer Li Schmidt talks about growing Asian-heritage crops, growing crops for seeds, small-scale farming in Taiwan and preserving cultural foodways. Hear about how Li started her Cultural Roots Nursery, in Northern California, in 2020, as a result of the pandemic rather than in spite of it. Most of Li’s customers are Asian American and have encouraged her to grow a broad range of plants from the diaspora community, leading to Li pursuing some creative seed sourcing in ad...

Episode 65: Susan Poizner talks fruit-tree care, community orcharding and more

November 08, 2023 10:00 - 38 minutes - 56.3 MB

Toronto orchardist Susan Poizner talks fruit-tree care, community orcharding and more with Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good podcast host Lisa Munniksma. Hear about the evolution of the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard in Toronto, now in its 15th year. Susan admits to knowing less than she should have about fruit-tree care when she undertook the development of a community orchard and shares her journey through an orcharding self-education. Hear, too, about the volunteers coming togethe...

Episode 64: Reeba Daniel talks farm to school, land access, leadership in food systems and more

October 25, 2023 09:00 - 52 minutes - 76.1 MB

Reeba Daniel talks farm to school, land access, leadership in food systems and more on this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good. Reeba talks about their business, Keep Growing Seeds, that allows them to create and manage school gardens, work with “learners” to grow and eat good food, and also examine culture and connection through food. They talk about the benefits and challenges of gardening and garden education in the Pacific Northwest climate of Portland, Oregon, and how they ...

Episode 63: Amy Glattly talks gleaning, fermenting, sheep shearing and more

October 11, 2023 09:00 - 53 minutes - 77.6 MB

Amy Glattly talks about gleaning, fermenting, sheep shearing and more in this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good. Hear about the Lawrence, Kansas, food and farming scene. Amy talks about how they and fellow farmworkers started a totally volunteer-run gleaning program that donated 3,000 pounds of produce during its first season and involved multiple farmers, restaurants and food-access organizations. Learn about the incubator farm where Amy grows corn, medicinal herbs and garli...

Episode 62: Frank Hyman talks gardening, chicken-keeping, mushrooms and more!

September 20, 2023 09:00 - 44 minutes - 64.9 MB

Chicken keeper, gardener and author Frank Hyman talks about his gardens, chickens, books and more. Hear about Frank’s books, Hentopia: Create a Hassle-Free Habitat for Happy Chickens and How to Forage for Mushrooms Without Dying: An Absolute Beginner's Guide. Hear about the design of Frank’s chicken pagoda—not just a coop—and some of the time-saving chicken-keeping projects in Frank’s book and his backyard. Learn about the origins of How to Forage for Mushrooms Without Dying and how Frank ...

Episode 61: Stephen Mackell has big thoughts about microgreens (and more!)

September 06, 2023 09:00 - 37 minutes - 55.6 MB

Ohio farmer Stephen Mackell talks with podcast host Lisa Munniksma about microgreens, actually sustainable (profitable!) small-scale farming and food access. Hear about how Stephen found his passion for farming through the magic of starting seeds. Learn about the Mission of Mary Cooperative Farm in Dayton, Ohio, where Stephen started out as a volunteer farm manager and went on to build their community programs for nine years. Stephen explains how the farm came to financially sustain itself...

Episode 60: Jann Knappage talks part-time farming, farmers markets, Extension and more!

August 23, 2023 09:00 - 51 minutes - 74.8 MB

Kentucky farmer Jann Knappage talks with Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good podcast host Lisa Munniksma about part-time farming, farmers markets, working behind the scenes in Extension, and food preservation. Get to know Cooperative Extension’s Nutrition Education Program and the behind-the-scenes work that goes into bringing Extension programming to us as farmers and citizens. Jann explains the University of Kentucky’s Recovery Garden Toolkit, bringing gardening programs into substance-us...

Episode 59: Denà Brummer talks farming, gardening and building a life around food

August 09, 2023 09:00 - 35 minutes - 52.1 MB

Denà Brummer talks farming, gardening and building a life around food in this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good. Hear about Denà’s journey from reading the recipes in Seventeen magazine to throwing epic house parties that were all about the food to studying culinary arts and growing her own food. And now she teaches others about these things! Hear about her new On The Grow business, centered around educating folks about health, lifestyles and habits related to food, picking up ...

Episode 58: Barbara Lawson of Meet Me in the Dirt Talks Gardening Through Grief

July 26, 2023 09:00 - 41 minutes - 60.9 MB

In a Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good episode that’s just a little bit different than usual, Barbara Lawson talks about gardening’s place in moving through grief. Hear about how Barbara’s business, Meet Me in the Dirt, eventually grew out of her own grief over her mother’s death and the healing power of her own garden. She talks about healing gardens and shares a really special story about the tropical milkweed that brought home this concept to her. Learn about the progression of Meet ...

Episode 57: Miranda Duschack talks urban cut flower farming, supporting farmers and more

July 12, 2023 09:00 - 50 minutes - 72.8 MB

In the second episode of the two-part series with the farmers at Urban Buds City Grown Flowers, Miranda Duschack covers urban cut flower farming, supporting farmers through an 1890 land-grant university and the realities of being a part-time farmer. Hear about the history of the land that this farm sits on—it’s been a flower farm since 1870—and how it came into Miranda’s and Mimo Davis’ hands. Miranda gets honest about having to work off-farm to make a farm business work and her dream of f...

Episode 56: Mimo Davis talks growing flowers year-round, Black flower farmers and more!

June 21, 2023 09:00 - 34 minutes - 51.2 MB

St. Louis flower farmer Mimo Davis talks about growing flowers year-round, Black flower farmers, her work as vice president of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers and more! Listen to this episode of the Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good podcast to hear about Mimo Davis’ journey from being a social worker for homeless adolescent males in New York City to becoming a flower farmer in rural Missouri in just eight weeks. Mimo talks about what it’s like as an African American to f...

Episode 55: Marykate Glenn and Lindsey Melling on cooperative farming, sliding-scale CSAs, handcrafted herbal products and more

June 07, 2023 09:00 - 45 minutes - 65.5 MB

Farmers Marykate Glenn and Lindsey Melling join Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good to talk cooperative farming, sliding-scale CSAs, handcrafted herbal products and more. Hear about Marykate’s and Lindsey’s individual backgrounds, how they each became farmers, and how they came together for collaborative farming under the Mustard Seed Farm CSA umbrella. Learn how they farm individual pieces of rented land and share equipment, distribution systems, support and knowledge. Lindsey and Marykate...

Episode 54: Rachael Harrop talks agriculture in Isle of Man, the Manx Wildlife Trust, rare British sheep and more.

May 24, 2023 09:00 - 37 minutes - 55.5 MB

Rachael Harrop talks about agriculture in Isle of Man, the Manx Wildlife Trust, rare British sheep and more. Get to know the Isle of Man, a Crown Dependency island in the Irish Sea, which is the only UNESCO Biosphere Nation in the world (but is more famous for its TT motorcycle road races). Hear about how Rachael started raising rare British Teeswater sheep, which she grazes in a community orchard in Patrick and keeps for their wool. Learn about her breeding program, how to select sheep fo...

Episode 53: Helga Garcia-Garza talks crippling drought, cooperative organic farming and more!

May 10, 2023 09:00 - 1 hour - 90.5 MB

Helga Garcia-Garza talks about the farmer opportunities offered by Agri-Cultura Network and La Cosecha CSA, dealing with crippling drought in the Southwest US, and cooperative organic farming. Hear about how the community-led Agri-Cultura Network began in 2009 with just three small-scale farmers who wanted to build capacity, aggregate products for larger markets and work cooperatively. Helga talks about how the organization has grown into a coalition of 57 farms—the majority less than 3 ac...

Episode 52: Nathan Harkleroad talks discovering farming, cover cropping, peppers and more!

April 19, 2023 09:00 - 40 minutes - 58.8 MB

On this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good, Nathan Harkleroad, Program Director at Agriculture and Land Based Training Association, talks with us about his path to farming, the value of agricultural work, helping people get their own farms going and more.   A San Diego kid and product of Southern California's surfing scene, Harkleroad had no plans for a career in farming growing up. (He didn't even have 4-H in his urban community.) But opportunities to work on farms abroad in Pa...

Episode 51: Maya Marie talks land, education, irrigation and more!

April 05, 2023 09:00 - 44 minutes - 65.1 MB

New York urban farmer Maya Marie talks about building your relationship to land, her Deep Routes educational project, irrigation and more. Hear about how various family members, educational settings and even Sesame Street have contributed to Maya’s life path. She talks about farming Afro-Indigenous crops at East New York Farms, including trying her hand at growing rice and keeping the pollinators in mind. Maya gets into what she sees as the current challenges of growing food for urban and ...

Episode 50: Pantaleon Florez returns to talk about the Farm2School program, seed breeding, the "death of farming" and more!

March 22, 2023 12:00 - 48 minutes - 69.4 MB

In our 50th episode of Hobby Farms Presents, Maseualkualli Farms' Pantaleon Florez pays the podcast another visit to update listeners on what he's been up to since episode 16. Listen as the Lawrence, Kansas, farmer and food-systems thinker shares changes to the priorities he's working toward and much more. Listen in as Panta discusses the important work he's doing with the local Farm2School and Work-based Learning programs as an experiential learning specialist with Lawrence County Schools...

Episode 49: Angela Kingsawan talks gardening, health care and all things herbs!

March 08, 2023 10:00 - 28 minutes - 42.8 MB

Indigenous urban farmer and herbalist Angela Kingsawan talks about gardening in Milwaukee, translating ancient knowledge into modern reality, connecting health care with healthy foods, and more. Learn about Angela’s early introduction to land stewardship and multicultural approach to herbalism and food production. She tells us about her long-term plan for Yenepa Herbals as a local tea company using vacant lots around her house. Also hear about all of the plants—wild and cultivated—that thr...

Esisode 48: Denzel Mitchell talks urban farming in Baltimore, heirloom Baltimore Fish peppers and more!

February 22, 2023 10:00 - 44 minutes - 64.9 MB

Denzel Mitchell talks about urban farming in Baltimore, bringing up new farmers, the heirloom Baltimore Fish pepper and more. Hear about how food and farming have been part of Denzel’s whole life, from his extended family’s 600-acre homestead in Oklahoma to his college English professor’s homestead. His experience running farms in Baltimore—the city and the county—helped to prepare him for his current role of co-executive director of Farm Alliance of Baltimore. You’ll learn about Farm Al...

Episode 47: Christina Joy Neumann talks beekeeping, honey sustainability and more

February 10, 2023 10:00 - 54 minutes - 77.8 MB

Pittsburgh apiarist Christina Joy Neumann talks with Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good host Lisa Munniksma about beekeeping, sustainability in the honey industry, and more. Learn about the evolution of Christina’s Apoidea Apiary and how she sees her career in architecture and her work with bees as intrinsically related. (Think about bees as natural architects!) She shares her fascination with bees as eusocial creatures and with their ability to efficiently make their own food and homes.  ...

Episode 46: Roy Kady talks traditions, sheep flocks, fiber arts and more

January 25, 2023 10:00 - 50 minutes - 72.9 MB

In this episode, shepherd and Diné fiber artist Roy Kady talks about the importance and traditions of the Navajo-Churro sheep breed, flock management, fiber arts, and more. Recorded on Winter Solstice (in the Northern hemisphere), Roy explains the importance of solstice in Diné lifeways. Learn about the Slow Food USA Navajo-Churro Sheep Presidium, a group created to support and promote endangered foodways—in this case, this rare breed of sheep. Roy tells us what it means to have just 5,000...

Episode 45: Celina Ngozi talks food-sovereignty work, earth-based practices, fam meals and more!

January 11, 2023 10:00 - 36 minutes - 53.2 MB

Celina Ngozi is a Black/Igbo agrarian and the founder of Ala Soul Earthworks/Dry Bones Heal Bottomland, joining Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good today to talk about her food-sovereignty work and earth-based practices. Hear about the Central Texas land that has been in Celina’s family since 1876 and how she, her mother and other members of their family are coming together there. Learn about heirs property and the complexities of owning, enjoying and improving the land, particularly for Bl...

Episode 44: Dr. Mehmet Öztan of Two Seeds in a Pod

December 21, 2022 10:00 - 47 minutes - 68.2 MB

In this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good, Dr. Mehmet Öztan talks seed justice, selecting seeds for saving, the Seedy Talks speaker series, and more about his work as an underrepresented minoritized farmer in West Virginia. Hear about how Dr. Öztan went from receiving a PhD in civil engineering to starting Two Seeds in a Pod heirloom seed company with his wife, Dr. Amy Thompson, all because he wanted to recreate the flavors he remembered from his childhood in Turkey. He shares ...

Episode 43: Reingard Rieger talks all things compost!

December 07, 2022 10:00 - 41 minutes - 59.3 MB

Master Composter Reingard Rieger, Ph.D., breaks down composting, urban gardening and Seattle’s Master Composter Sustainability Steward program in this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good.  Learn about Tilth Alliance’s Master Composter Sustainability Steward program, which trains 30 to 35 volunteers each year to go into the community and educate others about composting, soil health, recycling, stormwater management and more. From mandatory food-waste composting to mandatory recycl...

Episode 42: Jeff Tober talks ecology, pastured pigs, farm planning and more!

November 23, 2022 10:00 - 44 minutes - 63.5 MB

New Jersey farmer Jeff Tober talks farming for ecological and community health, pasture-raised pigs, farm planning, and more with host Lisa Munniksma in this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good. Hear about how a potato growing in a compost pile in the Philadelphia suburbs sparked a curiosity in Jeff as a young person that put him on a winding path to farming and eventually to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance’s Rancocas Creek Farm. Learn about the Pinelands Preservation Allianc...

Episode 41: Tiffany Bellfield on family land and legacies, pollinator habitats and more!

November 09, 2022 10:00 - 42 minutes - 61.8 MB

Kentucky farmer and community organizer Tiffany Bellfield covers family land and legacies, pollinator habitats, Community Farm Alliance, and more on this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good. Hear about the deep history of Ballew Estates, the land that Tiffany’s great-grandfather, Atrus Ballew, who was born an enslaved person, eventually bought and Tiffany now stewards with her cousin, Jim Embry. Learn about how you can build up a natural pollinator habitat on your own farm. Tif...

Episode 40: Arwen Donahue Talks Balancing Creativity With Farming & More!

October 26, 2022 09:00 - 39 minutes - 57.5 MB

This episode features Arwen Donahue, her life on a Kentucky farm and her new book, Landings: A Crooked Creek Farm Year. Arwen tells us about her and her husband, David Wagoner’s, Three Springs Farm. You’ll hear about how they searched for their niche and revived themselves from burnout in small-scale farming, from 18 years of having a vegetable CSA to growing food for a local restaurant group. Learn about some of the foragable goodies on Arwen’s farm and how you can incorporate foraged ite...

Episode 39: Lilian Hill discusses dryland farming, traditional foodways & farming systems

October 12, 2022 09:00 - 36 minutes - 53.1 MB

Listen in on this conversation with land steward, Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance Executive Director and Hopi Tribe member Lilian Hill as she talks about dryland farming, traditional foodways, farming systems and more.  Hear about Lilian’s family and community heritage and how she connects with traditional agriculture methods, foodways and food sovereignty work. She tells us about her and her husband’s founding of the Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture Institute—which provides outlets to ...

Episode 38: Pete Charlerie talks free farming equipment, USDA incentives, financial stability and more!

September 28, 2022 09:00 - 34 minutes - 49.6 MB

In this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good, Pete Charlerie dives into financial sustainability for small farms, free equipment and information resources, USDA incentives and more. Pete tells us about his journey from his family’s citrus grove in Trinidad to the University of Maryland, where he earned a degree in ag economics, setting the stage for his farm consultancy work today. Hear about the value of niche farm products, from cut flowers to sweet potato greens to value-added ...

Episode 37: Kirstin Bailey talks intergenerational farming, farm transitions and much more!

September 14, 2022 09:00 - 34 minutes - 50.5 MB

Nebraska farmer Kirstin Bailey talks intergenerational farming, farm transitions, and the free support for farmers offered by the Center for Rural Affairs. Hear about the four generations of Kirstin’s family living on Fox Run Farms, where they grow fruits and vegetables and keep bees. Kirstin talks about planning a farm business in a rural area, accessing nearby urban markets and bringing the community to the farm. Learn about what it’s like to farm in a place that swings from 100-degree-F...

Episode 36: Demetra Markis talks medicinal herbs, community sheep grazing and more!

August 24, 2022 09:00 - 48 minutes - 69 MB

Farmer Demetra Markis joins Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good for a chat about her farm, Milleflora Farm, where she and her partner grow medicinal herbs for natural medicine clients and a small vegetable harvest to share with neighbors. Demetra talks about this farming endeavor, as well as sharing about her community grazing efforts, where she and neighbors graze sheep to reduce tall, dry grass that can contribute to wildfires in her home state of California. Demetra digs into participati...

Episode 35: Emily Trabolsi talks cooperative farming, connecting growers and more!

August 10, 2022 09:00 - 47 minutes - 67 MB

Filipino-Hawaiian farmer Emily Trabolsi joins Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good to talk about what farming in the Pacific Northwest looks like from a cooperative perspective. Learn about growing upland rice just outside Seattle. Hear about the Agrarian Trust organization and their concept of land and resource sharing, and then Emily shares examples of successful cooperatives from around the world.  Washington Farmland Trust expanded to have a statewide presence in fall 2021, and that’s wh...

Episode 34: Meighen Lovelace is back to talk community food, the Farm Bill and more

July 27, 2022 09:00 - 37 minutes - 54.2 MB

Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good brings you part two of the conversation with Colorado farmer Meighen Lovelace. In this episode, Meighen talks about the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger and John Ikerd’s work in bringing to life a community food utility—like a rural electric cooperative, but for regionally produced food. Learn about zoning, what you need to know about these rules that dictate how you are allowed to use your property, and who you need to know to change the law, whether you f...

Episode 33: Meighen Lovelace talks water issues, permaculture, food systems and more!

July 13, 2022 09:00 - 38 minutes - 31.9 MB

On this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good, Colorado farmer Meighen Lovelace talks water issues in the West, empowering people to grow food in community, and your chance to speak truth to power with the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. This is episode one of two with Meighen. Check back in for the rest of the conversation in two weeks! Listen in for Meighen’s take on how to work with your land, including the hard decision she’s made to put her San Luis Val...

Episode 32: Felicia Bell

June 22, 2022 09:00 - 40 minutes - 57.6 MB

In this episode, fourth-generation Mississippi farmer Felicia Bell talks about traditional agriculture, family business, farmers helping farmers, and more.  Find out how you can get free sustainable farming advice and technical assistance from the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) from a specialist like Felicia.  Felicia explains what she means by “traditional agriculture” and why she prefers this phrase to describe popular agricultural methods instead of saying “sustaina...

Episode 32: Felicia Bell talks traditional agriculture, family business, farmers helping farmers and more!

June 22, 2022 09:00 - 40 minutes - 57.6 MB

In this episode, fourth-generation Mississippi farmer Felicia Bell talks about traditional agriculture, family business, farmers helping farmers, and more.  Find out how you can get free sustainable farming advice and technical assistance from the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) from a specialist like Felicia.  Felicia explains what she means by “traditional agriculture” and why she prefers this phrase to describe popular agricultural methods instead of saying “sustaina...

Episode 31: Aaron De La Cerda on becoming a "plant person," urban farming, natural-systems growing and more!

June 08, 2022 09:00 - 48 minutes - 69.3 MB

Aaron De La Cerda is on this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good to talk about the Acta Non Verba Youth Urban Farm Project, fruit gleaning, growing cannabis as a teenager, and why he prefers to be a “lazy” farmer. You’ll learn about how a life decision he was asked to make in third grade led to him being known as “the plant person” among his family and friends and shaped his career and life trajectory. Aaron talks about growing up with a family full of educators and how this, plu...

Episode 30: Chereen Leong Schwarz talks local food, from raising to serving and more

May 25, 2022 09:00 - 40 minutes - 58.5 MB

Chef and farmer Chereen Leong Schwarz is on this podcast episode to talk about “local” food from all perspectives. Hear about why Chereen has never eaten a McDonald’s hamburger and how that ties in to her from-scratch, locally sourced food philosophy and her love of cooking and eating country-style food. Chereen tells us about farming in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where they have just 59 frost- free days in the growing season. Listen in on the intimate details of what it’s like for Chereen...

Episode 29: Fatuma Emmad talks farming, foodways, food system politics and more!

May 11, 2022 09:00 - 38 minutes - 54.9 MB

Farming, political science and the food system intersect for Colorado farmer, organizer and professor Fatuma Emmad, the guest on this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good. Hear about how her family’s immigration and emigration shaped her understanding of the food system and how that led her to become a farmer herself, now at FrontLine Farming in Denver, Colorado. You’ll learn how Mile High Farmers, a coalition of 60-plus farmers and supporters, connects eaters and farmers with eve...

Episode 28: Cheryl Browne on permaculture, herbal wellness, urban sustainability and more

April 27, 2022 14:39 - 33 minutes - 48 MB

On this episode of "Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good," host Lisa Munniksma talks with permaculturalist, urban farming educator and New York City garden designer, Cheryl Browne. A co-founder of the Black Permaculture Network, Browne helps people bring the outdoors in through her business, Urban Permie, connecting them with opportunities to experience nature and connect with more natural living. Learn about what herbs you can grow indoors to enhance wellness in your life, how an effective ...

Episode 27: Mariel Gardner on urban farms, pollinator gardening and the “economy of decency”

April 06, 2022 09:00 - 27 minutes - 39.7 MB

Urban farmer Mariel Gardner talks about 5th Element Farms (aka Apocalyptic Acres), where Dope Beets, Dope Rhymes is the motto for the vacant city lot they reclaimed as a space to grow food for their community. Their food access model is to feed the people as best they can with the hope that others will want to support them in this “economy of decency.” Listen in for tips for finding and reusing discarded items for your farm and for starting your own pollinator garden, in the city or the co...

Episode 26: Zoe Fuller chats about Alaskan farming, root cellars, indigenous foodways and more

March 23, 2022 09:00 - 31 minutes - 45.2 MB

Young farmer Zoe Fuller talks about the growing agriculture scene in Alaska, where US farming statistics are being turned on their heads. You’ll hear about small-scale farmers coming together in the Matanuska Valley and creating a community-based economy in Alaska. Hear also about indigenous foodways and salmon-safe farming practices to protect salmon sources and waterways.  Learn about what it’s like to farm at Singing Nettle Farm in Southcentral Alaska’s short but productive growing seas...

Twitter Mentions

@sustainableag 1 Episode
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