One Bite is Everything

In this episode of “Talk Farm to Me,” host Dana DiPrima sits down with Michaela Mann, a Nebraska rancher and co-owner of D&D Beef. Together, they explore the diverse practices of raising and feeding cattle, debunk common myths surrounding cattle farming, and discuss the challenges faced by ranchers in the agricultural industry. Michaela highlights that ranchers have different approaches to raising...

Walnuts. The most delicious walnuts. They can lead you down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole on your darkest days, but can also make you scratch your head about why things are the way they are. Do we accept them as "the way we do things?" Or do we try something new? Fourth-generation walnut farmer Kaben Kramer and his wife Jenn are trying new things and making a go of it. But a look at the histor...

Meet Rick Clark, a soybean and corn farmer in Indiana. Rick is a leader in regenerative farming. In this episode, we'll hear about Rick's journey from conventional farming and over-tilling to increasing cover crops and decreasing chemical inputs. Rick Clark is digging in and putting things right on his 7000-acre farm. Back to the way his ancestors did it. Rick's vision, studiousness, and data coll...

Morgan and Jake couldn't convince their friends to farm seaweed, so they did it themselves. Now others are getting in the game too. From pinchy lobsters to sultry seaweed, Morgan and Jake have pioneered a sustainable new business that yields slimy green harvests for bath products, fertilizer, and delicious condiments and snacks. Not only is seaweed delicious and skin-softening, but it cleans the o...

Ever had a family joke that went too far? Paul has. And now he's knee-deep in chicken feathers. From the US Marine Corps to first-generation farmer, Paul is more innovator than farmer in some ways. I'm thinking he could probably do anything as long as it's really challenging. This is the story of Pasturebird and the journey from 50 to 1 million chickens, a week. Two other Talk Farm to Me episodes...

Take what you're doing right now and turn it on its head. I mean completely change the way you do it. Now add 1,000 external factors that Mother Nature throws at you and do it all on a horse, in the mountains. Well, that's what Glenn did. With seven daughters. And big ideas like possibility, and how to listen to the land, and observe everything. He challenged all the paradigms. And he's here to te...

From 5,000 Sugar Maple trees deep in the heart of Vermont's northeast kingdom to the Greenmarket in New York City's Union Square, sugar makers Stephan and Howie Cantor have dedicated the past 36 years to the ebb and flow of sap and market-shopping New Yorkers to bring a little more sweetness to the world. Through 9/11 and constant 6 1/2 hour commutes, the Cantors have persisted. Hear all about the...

Last episode we dove into deep water with Aubrey Bettencourt -- the president and CEO of California's Almond Alliance -- about nuts. That's what you think we would talk about, but we covered water policy (ok, relevant) and endangered species management (is that relevant? yes... listen to see how) and ended up with a better understanding of the complex systems we are a part of as consumers, farmers...

Meet Aubrey Bettencourt. She's nuts. For almonds and almond farmers, shellers and hullers. She's not blind to water shortages, politics, pollinators or problems with endangered species. She makes short work of the complexities that swirl around the 3.2 billion pounds of almonds produced each year in the California almond groves. Dive in, but fasten your seatbelt and see if you can keep up. Aubrey...

In three short decades between 1987 and 2007, the US lost nearly 100,000 small commercial dairy farms. The trend continues. In New Jersey, where the Lynesses now farm dairy, only 37 dairies remain. But there they are -- Dan and Sarah -- forging ahead with a love for Holsteins and Jerseys, and a passion for the dairy industry plus a new on-farm creamery to drive local sales. Find out how this dairy...

From "hocus pocus," to focus, herbalist and farmer Shannon Mayernik and I discuss farming herbs, the most sought-after remedies and the important role of the kitchen in the farm to table movement. Don't miss this holistic conversation about your own wellbeing. xo, Farm Girl www.mayernikkitchen.com and on IG @mayernikkitchen Interview: Dana DiPrima, Farm Girl / Make Hay Productions @xoxofarmgirl So...

What if a flower farm is more than just that? Flower farms grow flowers and the ones in the US -- big and small -- are making a resurgence in an industry that is mostly imports. How does that change things? Flowers that don't ship well are yours for the picking -- hyper locally -- for instance. And what if a flower farm breeds connection? In a community that needs it. A de-stressor. What about tea...

Want some beer with your burger? 🍺 🍔 Meet Rob. He puts a little beer IN your burger. For real. But with Barley Beef in Bend, OR and rancher Rob Rastovich, the beef in the beer is only a small part of the story. Are you interested in technology? Business acumen? What it really takes to put a burger on your table? This episode is rich with the intersection of all of that. Plus beer. And conservati...

All farms have day to day problems. But then other serious problems crop up and throw a wrench in everything. No matter your current understanding of farms, this is an episode that sheds a light on what can happen to big or small farms if there's an interruption in the processing chain. Follow along with Carrie and her farm @blackwillowpondfarm on Instagram. To listen to the episode featuring sust...

Sharon Burns-Leader is the co-owner of Bread Alone, a pioneering organic bakery that sells its baked goods at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City. She serves on GrowNYC’s (the organization that oversees the market) Farmer and Community Advisory Committee. That’s where we start, but quickly you will see Sharon leads us through her evolution as a person, the evolution of the market and the...

A new series of episodes will feature the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City and the farmers and other producers who sell there. What an interesting combination — one of the biggest and most famous cities in the world and farmers and producers from within 250 miles. Here Talk Farm to Me dives in to how it operates, how it’s governed. Meet Grow NYC's Director of Greenmarkets, Michael Hurwitz...

Farmer Will Harris transformed his third generation family farm from a monoculture factory farm to a regenerative multi-species farm that is no longer dependent on commodity structures or industrial fertilizer. He learned a thing or two along the way that he's willing to share. Farmer Will Harris wrote an open letter to billionaire Bill Gates whose status as the largest owner of US farmland recent...

Farmer Franchesca Duval of Alchemist Farm in Northern California is pioneering humane practices for poultry hatcheries. She is working with her community to make sure the rooster chicks are going to good use for food. She thinks about the whole ecological and humane spectrum of raising birds. Alchemist Farm raises 13 different breeds of chickens that are bred for temperament and egg color. You can...

Hold on to your mushroom caps, folks. We are going straight into the mushroom world today. Mushroom farmer Matt Hall really wears a scientist hat in his work growing Maitake and Shiitake mushrooms for restaurants and retail outlets. But he's got a lot more going on in the laboratory that just might break the mold on mushroom cultivation -- especially with morels. But there's more. Just wait until...

Meet farmer Nicole Vernon of Vernon Family Farm in Newfields, New Hampshire where she and her husband, Jeremiah, are raising pastured meats and three young daughters. The Vernons produce 20,000 pastured hens a year and that is not even enough to keep up with demand. Join me -- your host, Farm Girl -- to meet Nicole, to find out what personality traits are necessary to be a farmer, the pros and con...

Maria Stewart is a dairy goat farmer. At Gorgeous Goat Creamery she processes her goats' milk, makes cheese and soap. She sells her products off the farm and at seasonal farmers markets. She welcomes visitors for farm tours. Maria is a 24-7, 365-day a year farmer AND also a scientist with a full-time off farm job. More than 80% of farm families rely on income and insurance from off farm jobs, but...

Farmer Kamal Bell and your host, Farm Girl, go back in history to Kamal's farming roots and look forward into what could be. Instead of food deserts and discrimination, a more sustainable world where young people lead the charge. Sankofa Farms in Efland, NC is supremely conscious of the depth of the issues the community faces and is making strides in connecting them to healthy foods by "going back...

This episode is the first in a series of several about the dairy industry, dairy farmers and their bovine producers. It's a 101 of sorts. In this episode you'll meet a lifelong dairy farmer from New York state, Rich Dirie of Dirie's Dairy Farm. Rich speaks frankly about his farm, how it started and how it got to where it is today. His commentary on his own farm is insightful to what's happening in...

Meet Sam Lustig, a jack of all trades on the business side of Swanton Berry Farm in Santa Cruz, California. Sam talks drippy, sweet, red-in-the-middle strawberries, why it's important that they are organic and why it's just as important as the fact that Swanton Berry Farm's Latino farmworkers are treated with respect and honored with fair labor practices. Swanton Berry Farm is a pioneering farm --...

Meet vegetable and cannabis farmer Ashton Zubal of Farmstock Farm in Kingston, NY. Ashton dishes on working with friends (the not so good side!), growing 365 days a year, the challenges of finding a consistent marketplace (and what he's doing to fix that), new products, the dream of autonomy and what CBD is really good for. Five LIVE is recorded from a live interview on Instagram Live. It's 5 ques...