Let Them Eat Grass

Episode 41: Two Missouri Counties & the Antipodes

The Invisible Things What lies beneath the soil is generally invisible unless we stick our hands into it. It doesn’t take much sifting of American soil before you run into one invisible thing: Race. Unsurprisingly, I learned about race from a very distant, middle-class, white perspective. Growing up in the upwardly-mobile suburbs of St. Louis, the son of a pharmacist and a lawyer, I had many privileges only now I can fully appreciate. There was always food in the fridge. Always a parent at ho...

Episode 40: Herbivore? Carnivore? Locavore? Find Good, Local Food in these 4 Free Directories

It’s easy to get lost in the interwebs looking for good food. You have enough to worry about between your job, bills to pay, going Beast Mode during CrossFit, soccer practice for the kids, and date nights with your spouse. Finding a directory of quality food so you can nourish your family AND support the local economy shouldn’t be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. What else are you going to do? Ask a farmer who their competitors are so you can browse their products? Yeah, I didn’t thi...

Episode 39: 7 Farmers You Should Know

Regenerative Agriculture is farming with nature rather than against it. Farmers who work regeneratively treat nature like a dance partner rather than a sparring partner. It’s mimicking on a small, human-directed scale what nature does on a large, wild scale. Regenerative farmers focus on building healthy ecosystems by replenishing the humus which has been lost by centuries of extractive and shortsighted farming methods. They focus on: Organic matter, hydrology, mineral cycling, ground cover, ...

Episode 38: Why Support Local Farms?

Episode 37: The Return of the Lunatic

Episode 35: Farewell

...and many, many thanks!

Episode 34: August 13, 2016

The true story of how I met my wife, Kelli Williams, on top of a mountain in Colorado. Narrated by Austin and Kelli Williams, Calvin Blaylock, Bradford Barnett, and Ashton Anderson. For your listening pleasure.

Episode 33: Spillin' the Tea

I became a youth pastor, started a new podcast, interviewed friends for a surprise episode on the story of how I met Kelli, and am considering phasing out this podcast. Listen for the full story!

Episode 32: Two More Weeks!

...just listen!

Episode 31: Dark Sky

Now, imagine that actually happened. Because it did. We've by and large lost the expectation to be able to see the night sky. It has become the exception rather than the rule. The night sky has been disappearing rapidly from the public consciousness, and it loss is extremely detrimental to more species than just ours. Birds need it to navigate and baby sea turtles need it to help them get from the beach to the ocean, as just a couple examples. Join me as I argue for responsible stewardship of...

Episode 30: Salvation in the Soil

Rashid Nuri started with a degree in political science from Harvard and ended up as an urban farmer in Atlanta. He's traveled across the post-colonial world to 36 different countries as he sought to aid in nation-building. He wanted a practical skill to help these fledgling nations get off their feet, and he could think of none better than farming. He's on a God-directed mission to bring natural food to communities so they can thrive. Listen to his story.

Episode 29: Happy New Years 2020!

Seriously, just listen.

Budgeting for Pasture-Raised Food

During the 2018 Christmas season, the average American family spent over $1000 on holiday-related expenses. Ironically, the average family surveyed a few month's prior believed they'd only spend around $700. That's a $300 gap between expectations and reality. One solution is a zero-based budget, and one way to budget is with an app called Every Dollar. I've been using this app for more than two years, and it's definitely the best budgeting app I've ever used. After all, pasture-raised food is...

Episode 28: Off the Record: The Farming Game

As a farmer, I've come to see just how complicated the world of farming is. Debt, severe weather events, and decades of convention have all helped turn the colloquial relationship with the farmer down the street to the world of globalized, commodity-based farming. Stay with me as I try to parse it out for you.

Episode 27: Come Health or High Water (with Mariah Boatright)

Diets can be overwhelming and confusing. It seems like a new one pops up every minute, and ones we thought were new are just rebranded ones from ten years ago. What do we believe? Especially what do we believe when we have people preaching extremes, and they both seem healthy? Can we be both fully vegan and fully carnivore? (Don't think too hard about it) In this episode I explore a possible middle ground for diet. The easiest answer to the question of whether or not I should eat meat is that...

Farm to Fork (with Ben Parks)

Farm-to-Fork is a loosely affiliated restaurant movement that champions close relationships with local farmers instead of nationwide distributors. Wherever you live, there are likely restaurants nearby that practice this philosophy. Farm-to-Fork is part of a groundswell of popular support away from processed food and towards wholesome eating. I interviewed Ben Parks, the chef/owner of a farm to fork restaurant in Columbia, MO. He talks about the movement, the struggles, and the future of good...

Farm-to-Fork Restaurants (with Ben Parks)

Farm-to-Fork is a loosely affiliated restaurant movement that champions close relationships with local farmers instead of nationwide distributors. Wherever you live, there are likely restaurants nearby that practice this philosophy. Farm-to-Fork is part of a groundswell of popular support away from processed food and towards wholesome eating. I interviewed Ben Parks, the chef/owner of a farm to fork restaurant in Columbia, MO. He talks about the movement, the struggles, and the future of good...

Episode 26: Redux: Interview

Recently I got interview on the podcast "Faith and Family Fellowship" by Pastor Chris Buscher. I go deeper into the theological underpinnings of why I do what I do than normally happens on my episodes. I hope all who listen can be strengthened and encouraged. Whether or not you're a brother or sister in Christ, I think you'll find it interesting.

Backyard Animals (with Janet Garman)

Across the US, farm animals have been creeping into formerly suburban spaces. There has been an incredible interest in keeping backyard poultry for the many ecological benefits they offer. Trash disposal plus fresh eggs every morning? Sign us up! Chickens do everything from helping control tick populations to recycle biomass. It's a win-win situation. Goats and sheep aren't as common, but they are equally valuable. In fire prone countries like Portugal and states like California, tribes of go...

Episode 23: Double Episode Featuring Coming Soon

Seriously, just listen for a minute.

Episode 22: Leave A Trace

Leave No Trace (LNT) is a backcountry wilderness ethic preached in many of our national parks. It makes sense. Don't litter, respect wildlife, stay on the trail, etc. But it has blind spots. It encourages an ecological disconnectedness with actions in our daily lives. We might not litter in the park, what what happens to the plastic wrappers that covered our food when we bought it at the store? See? Trash has to go somewhere, too. Conscious Impact Living (CIL) will hopefully be the replacemen...

Episode 21: Could Localism Cure Globalism?

Our penchant for global travel is destroying the very places we're trying to see. Whether it's going off trail for the perfect instagram picture, or it's more invisible like carbon dioxide melting around 90% of the world's glaciers, these fragile environments are breaking down right in front of our eyes. Tourism isn't new. Even the Pharoahs of ancient Egypt visited monuments like the Great Sphinx built 1000 years previously. But we aren't going for these grand, month-long tours of different c...

Episode 20: Are Beef Cows Making the Amazon Burn?

We've heard a lot about the Amazon Rainforest in the news recently. "The lungs of the world are burning!" Well, first off, they really aren't the lungs of the world. And the amount of fires this year in the Brazilian Amazon is actually slightly BELOW the 20 year average for fires by this time of year. So why are we hearing about it now? We're hearing about it because the media are famous for histrionics and over-simplification of complex ecological issues. Having no oxygen might scare us, bu...

Episode 19: Lessons from Sheep

Sheep aren't complicated animals. They eat, sleep, and poop just like we do. But they are the most mentioned animal in the Bible. We are compared to them more than any one other animal. So, what can we learn about ourselves from sheep? Sheep are vulnerable, wayward, and need a mentor. After a year of observing our biological weed control (aka sheep) at work, I have a pretty good idea of what makes them tick. There is a certain nuance to sheep that only becines clear from being around them for...

Episode 18: An Important Announcement!

This is too short for a description! Just listen to it!

Episode 17: Das Sheep

The average American ate around 5 pounds of lamb as late as the 1960's. Now the average American eats less than 1 pound of it. Concurrently, there used to be herds of 40-50 million sheep in the US prior to WW2. In 2019, there were around 5 million. Sheep are honestly my favorite animal on the farm. They love eating anything with deep taproots, which provides them with nutrients from deep soil sub-layers. This makes their bones incredibly good to boost your immune system in the form of a bone...

Episode 16: Off The Record

Get ready for a faux-monologue featuring the central theme of HBO's Chernobyl: "What is the cost of lies?" I can't stop thinking about this question, so I thought I'd pawn some of my existential fears off on you. Excpet instead of bemoaning the shortcomings of communism, I turn my attention to something more familiar. Namely, our food. Once again, "Off the Record" is a more extemporaneous venture than my normal show. It will feature topics outside of the usual narrow categories of food, brok...

Episode 15: A Gallon of Pasteurized Milk

Milk is our our first food. It's sustained us since the beginning of time. The Lapplanders, Biblical Hebrews, Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, Spanish, and early American colonists all drank it. It's probably been the least controversial thing on the planet for the past couple thousand years or so. When cows eat grass in a pastoral setting, they produce good milk. But we've lost that logic somewhere along the way in modern America. We lock our cows in 6x6 foot stalls and make them stand on concrete...

Episode 14: Tesni Sojourner Williams

Last week I said I wouldn't make a new episode if my daughter was born. I had no idea it would be so fast! Well, she was born on July 18, 2019 at 10:42pm in Barnett, Missouri. She, in my ever so humble opinion, is absolutely perfect. Kelli labored for 23 hours, pushing for about 1.5 hours of that. My wife is nothing short of a superstar, and I'm so proud of her. The birth was pretty hairy. Kelli was losing a lot of blood and Tesni had secondary apnia--couldn't breathe right. This week has bee...

Episode 13: Raw Milk, So What?

Raw Milk is milk that hasn't been changed or adulterated in any way. It's been drunk by everyone from the Israelites of the Bible, to the Romans, to the Spanish Conquistadors, and finally, to us. But, somehow we've decided in the last 90 years or so that 4 millenia of milk drinkers had it wrong. Raw milk is actually super dangerous, or so the American medical and political establishment would have you believe. Today's episode is the first of a 3 part series. Today I just wanted to cover the b...

The Impossible Burger (with Will Harris)

The Impossible Burger is a burger made exclusively from plant protein. And, more specifically, genetically modified (GM) soy. Its creators claim we can do no less than save the planet if we eat them at scale. Its creators also claim that any and all forms of animal agriculture are not sustainable at scale, and that most of the environmental degradation on our planet is traceable to private herds of livestock. They cast a wide net... a bit too wide in my opinion. While CAFO's are objectively d...

Episode 12: Off The Record

"Off the Record" will be a thematically driven show I release from time to time. It's unscripted and pretty laid back. I envision the show as a catalogue of low moments and honest talk. All the stuff that happens to me, or other people I interview, that didn't go the way we thought or simply proved disastrous, will make it on here. Today's show theme is "time". I am shooting for Dan Carlin's contemplative vibe, but I wax lyrical on just how arbritary time is. But, arbitrary or not, time is im...

Wilderness Abandonment (with Joel Salatin)

The radical ideology of wilderness abandonment is getting misapplied to our public and private land. We are seeing the unfortunate consequences of the "hands off" ecological approach. Everything from beetlekill in Colorado to California burning wildly out of control. Still, we persist in our belief that we need to keep our hands off the land. Rather than use our opposable thumbs for good, we just need to stay off entirely. We are losing farmland to wilderness at a frightening pace in our coun...

Episode 11: The Stewardship Diet (with Kelli Williams)

Diets are usually about eliminating stubborn belly fat. That's reductionist, but hang with me. And they are usually recycled. What's in and what's out is really just repackaged every couple of years and given a fancy new name that millenials can get behind. But what I haven't seen is a diet that isn't just totally about you. Why can't our diets promote consistency in our often chaotic lives? So many diets just end up being short-lived fads because we can't maintain the impossibly high idealis...

Episode 10: Eat Mor Beef (with David Boatright)

Eating pasture-raised anything has better ecologically regenerative effects than grain-fed anything. But not all meat is created equal. We also run sheep and chickens on our farm, but our cow herd is definitely the backbone. In this episode I delve a little bit into how our production makes our pasture-raised beef different than meat you would find at the grocery store. Pasture Beef is the number one land-healing food you can eat. They get quite a bum rap in the news media nowadays, and I thi...

Episode 9: Why Bread and Why Wine?

I gave a communion talk at my church a couple months ago on the ingredients of communion. I decided that the content fit nicely into the parameters of "real food" we set for this podcast, so I wanted to share it with you. I heard many years ago that if Jesus instituted communion in 2019, we would probably be drinking soda and eating pizza. I disagree. I think that Jesus chose bread and wine because they communicated something very specific about himself. I think bread and wine teach us about ...

Episode 8: Dead Zone

Whenever farmers inject artificial fertilizer into their cropland where I live, almost all of it will end up in the Missouri River Watershed. It will be carried to the Mississippi River, and down to the Gulf of Mexico. All this fertilizer has created a dead zone the size of Delaware. And the worst part is that we don't even need artificial fertilizer. We only need it because we've decided cows like grains more than they like grass.

Episode 7: The State of Our Farms Address (with Lucinda Cramsley)

The average conventional farm sells their product on the commodity market. Corn, Beef, Soybean, etc. Some random trader in Chicago or New York sets the prices for the whole nation and farmers across the US feel the squeeze. They have to bet on intangibles like inflation and future events like the weather months in advance, which is really impossible to do. The loans they took out in the spring need to be repaid with the fall's harvest. Sometimes what they plant or slaughter isn't even worth t...

Episode 6: The Carnivore Bar (with Philip and Merry Meece)

I've eaten a lot of meal replacement bars in my life. Most of the ingredients on the back label are unpronouncable. Since becoming a regenerative farmer, I'd like to believe there is a better way. And, I believe that better way is through something called "The Carnivore Bar". Regardless of whether you've decided to live on a meat and water diet, the Carnivore Bar contains only two ingredients: beef and salt. And I think those are two things most discerning foodies can get behind. Philip and M...

Episode 5: Tame, Bountiful, and Blessed

If you want to make small changes, change how you do things. If you want to make big changes, change how you see things. And today, friends, we are focused on big changes. Our understanding of "wilderness" in America prevents us from having healthy relationships with the land. It pits farmers and conservationists against each other unnecessarily. It complicates categorizing my farm. In today's episode, I tap into my roots as a past English teacher. We look at a little etymology, and deconstru...

Episode 3: The Danger of Labels (with Carrie Balkcom)

We see labels everywhere, to the point of immunity. Not that we're immune to their effects, but definitely to their presence. We see a label, like "USDA ORGANIC" or "CERTIFIED ANGUS BEEF", and we assume it means they are healthy for us. We feel like we've connected the mental dots. But we haven't. Labels haven't been around forever. Only since meat could be shipped nationwide year-round, which was 1867, did consumers begin to lose touch with their food supply. Leapfrogging to today, and we ha...

Episode 2: Pasture-Raised Eggs (with David Boatright)

The majority of the hens in the United States lead monotonous and disgusting lives. From getting their beaks chopped off to prevent nervously pecking their friends, to living in a cage the size of an iPad for their entire lives, millions upon millions of eggs get produced in closely guarded facilities with are often cesspools of death and disease. The eggs are often washed in multiple chlorine baths, which end up leaching through the outer membrane into the egg itself. Yet, as Austin Williams...

Episode 2: Pasture-Raised Eggs

The majority of the hens in the United States lead monotonous and disgusting lives. From getting their beaks chopped off to prevent nervously pecking their friends, to living in a cage the size of an iPad for their entire lives, millions upon millions of eggs get produced in closely guarded facilities with are often cesspools of death and disease. The eggs are often washed in multiple chlorine baths, which end up leaching through the outer membrane into the egg itself. Yet, as Austin Williams...

Episode 1: Pilot

We have food amnesia. So often we can just buy food without ever thinking where it came from. This has terrible consequences for our bodies and the natural world. I am making this podcast not for other producers of food, but consumers of it. The main problem I had as a consumer of food was a knowledge-problem. I didn't know enough to feel like I could make a difference in my diet. This podcast seeks to arm consumers with the knowledge that makes them dangerous as critical consumers. We will c...