Dirt Rich

Kathy Zeman pasture-raises a veritable menagerie: goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, geese, turkeys, broilers, hens, meat rabbits, and honeybees graze her twenty acres at Simple Harvest Farm Organics. She grew up farming, and first got started on poultry with her brother for a 4-H project. “Nick’s Eggs” continues today, available at the Just Food Co-op in Northfield.  The array of animals she raises now e...

“We want a vast array of solar collectors out there.” Kent Solberg and Doug Voss are striving to get as much plant diversity in their pastures as possible. The benefits for animal performance, soil microbes, profitability, resiliency, and the function of the ecosystem as a whole are exponential.  Prairielands can have upwards of 150 varieties of plants, with a healthy balance of all three plant fu...

Kent Solberg has yet to see a piece of land that can’t be renovated, even an old gravel pit. With the right tools, vision, and management system, Kent Solberg and Doug Voss believe that we can almost always make a piece of land more productive. To get started they recommend “looking at the entire context” of the particular pasture, including physical characteristics like soil type, slope, and aspe...

“Minnesotans don’t like that garlic. They don’t eat that spicy stuff, dontcha know?” Jerry and Sunny and their sold-out-by-August harvest beg to differ! Jerry Ford and Sunny Ruthchild  are longtime friends in Minnesota garlic and organic farming. Sunny runs Merryweather Gardens near Walnut Grove, raising garlic, poultry, vegetables, and pigs who are happy to be the clean-up crew for her orchard. J...

Sarah Lindblom and Josh Reinitz join Dirt Rich to talk about how they’ve been growing food for their communities with food safety in mind--through the pandemic, and always. Sarah runs Solar Fresh Produce, a three acre 40-member CSA farm outside of Buffalo, Minn. and has a small flock of laying hens. An hour south, Josh has farmed with his family for 12 years on East Henderson Farm. They primarily...

Sarah Lindblom has always grown herbs for her CSA. She started off growing some popular favorites for her shares: basil, parsley, cilantro. A workshop with herbalist Connie Karstens soon sparked an interest in medicinal herbs. She began cultivating holy basil, marshmallow, calendula, and lemon balm--just to name a few. Now Sarah sells both fresh and dried herbs at the farmers market, as well as he...

*Note: Dirt Rich is going biweekly! Catch our next episode on August 19. Jared Luhman and Tyler Carlson return to further discuss Silvopasture: “the intentional integration of trees, forage, and livestock into one intensively managed system.” Formerly a trope to “keep livestock out of the woods,” now farmers have the tools to properly manage their impact.    By intensively managing trees to optimi...

Silvopasture: “the intentional integration of trees, forage, and livestock into one intensively managed system.”    New Dirt Rich voices Jared Luhman and Tyler Carlson give an intro to silvopasture practices, covering a little history, how silvopasture looks today, and the economic and biological benefits these systems can provide to Minnesota farmers. Stay tuned for next week’s episode, where Tyl...

Kent Solberg brings his expertise in energized fencing to Dirt Rich. Energized fencing is a psychological, rather than a physical barrier for livestock. Because of their portable nature, they are easy to modify, expand, and can be ideal for a rental scenario. They can be less costly than a barbed wire or woven wire fence as well.   Kent details the key considerations for energized fencing, the com...

It’s about that time to plant for late season grazing. Kent Solberg and Doug Voss discuss the biological benefits of grazing complex cover crops (nicknamed “biological primers”), and walk you through the process of designing a seed mix that will fit the unique context of your farm. As we know, things can change rather quickly, and remaining adaptable and having a “plan B” is always helpful. Sharin...

Garlic harvest is upon us! This specialty crop is growing as a premium product in Minnesota markets and pantries. Today we chat with Jerry Ford, a seasoned garlic grower who fell into it in 2002 and hasn’t stopped since. He walks us through his harvest and post-harvest processes, shares the conservation history of the fourth-generation Living Song Farm, and throws in a few garlic jokes for good me...

“To Clip, or Not to Clip?” SFA Soil Health Team staff Kent Solberg and Doug Voss give some clarity to this question. Clipping can be a wonderful management tool to build resilience in your pasture and boost animal performance, but depending on the context of your particular pasture, it may not be the best option. Kent and Doug discuss considerations, and the importance of keeping your management p...

Growing in a covered space seems to be a trend for many local vegetable growers and there is good reason in our northern climate. To help measure the soil health both inside and outside of a caterpillar tunnel, farmers can use a soil health report card with four easy soil health tests. SFA Crow River Chapter member Sarah Lindblom takes this on in her new project: La Vie en Rows. Using a Mill City...

Even midway through June, it’s not too late to start growing some of your own food this season. Growing a garden in your yard, your windowsill, and at any other scale can be empowering. Kent Solberg, SFA’s Senior Technical Advisor, returns to the show to share some tips and advice for growing in a manageable and rewarding way this summer. Kent’s Top Tips for Starting a Garden: You don’t need to bu...

Theresa calls up Troy to learn more about the NRCS's role in soil health work in Minnesota, how he sees livestock fitting into the picture, and how he wound up moving here from Texas. From a standpoint of land resiliency and the pandemic at large, Troy makes it clear that "we've always got to be in a healing mode, because there's always something that's going to break it down. That's just ecology....

Dirt Rich's debut features farmer, grazier, and SFA’s Senior Technical Advisor, Kent Solberg. Kent reflects on the “reset” nature of the pandemic, the challenges farmers and our agricultural system face, and the opportunities to move forward. Hosted by Katie Feterl, produced by the Sustainable Farming Association .   The viewpoints of the speakers expressed within or outside of this episode do not...