Growers Daily

Manish Kushwaha is a fourth generation seed farmer who had no intention of following the family tradition, but after a period working as a software engineer and thinking about what was meaningful to him, Manish decided to start working with seeds and ultimately start his own seed company, Gaia Organic Seeds in Ottawa, Ontario. In this episode, Manish talks about getting set up on land in Ottawa's...

Welcome to episode 2 of Growers Daily! We cover: What it was like from a farmers perspective inside of hurrican Helene. We talk about some common garden pests like how to manage slugs, how to manage gophers, and how to manage whiteflies. And we discuss what is growers daily. Lyric's farm: http://wildeastfarm.com Videos we've done with Wild East Farm: Farm Tour: https://youtu.be/V_ZeuWAGBvw and Rou...

Welcome to Growers Daily, the daily podcast hosted by Farmer Jesse. You can also watch at our YouTube Channel.    You can support our work over at Patreon (you rule) Join the Discussion at our forum The Instagram page parties pretty hard sometimes as well.  Pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook or Pre-order Dan's new book The Seed Farmer. Also you need a hat . For sure.      Subscribe and fol...

Adam Schwartz from DirtCraft Organics has a background in farming. He saw the gap in the potting soil market in his area of North Carolina. He's filled this niche by blending and bagging potting soils and shipping in the southeast. Today, we get to hear about the equipment he's using, the challenges he's come across, and the exciting news about starting up his new compost operation. Check out dirt...

Today we are announcing Growers Daily, a new daily show with Farmer Jesse. It will come up at our YouTube Channel , or obviously on this feed.    You can support our work over at Patreon (you rule) Join the Discussion at our forum The Instagram page parties pretty hard sometimes as well.  Pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook or Pre-order Dan's new book The Seed Farmer. Also you need a hat ....

Emma Busby used to be the former Chapter Coordinator for the Southeast TN Young Farmers and has since moved on to be a board member of the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network . We met back at the '23 TN Local Food Summit whose focus that year was "cultivating cooperation" and she had some really interesting work and insights to share, particularly some work she facilitated with a group of smal...

For over 40 years, The Food Bank has served as the primary source of food for the Hunger Relief Network in the Miami Valley of Ohio. The Food Bank, the only one of its kind in the area, relieves hunger in the community through a network of partner agencies by acquiring and distributing food. The Food Bank provides the structure for more than 100 member food pantries, community kitchens and shelter...

Gabriel Bravo is one of the founders of the company Semillas Plantae and farms with Mima Picado at El Tablazo Farm in Costa Rica. In this episode, Gabriel talks about how Semillas Plantae is structured with 4 partners who operate the seed company and how they distribute their seeds. Gabriel explains how they source seeds from outside of Costa Rica and trial them to see what can grow in their biore...

Marvin Hayes from the Baltimore Compost Collective is one of the most passionate compost advocates out there, spreading his compost fever. It became apparent that his love and respect for the compost process is only matched by his celebration for empowering the young people of Baltimore through compost. Mentioned in the show... The Institute for Local Self-Reliance Follow Jayne & Earth Care Farm o...

Sara Mock has written two books that I absolutely love and have had a profound effect on how I view my own farming outside of just growing better carrots, Farm and Other F Words and Big Team Farms , about how we can begin to chart a path forward by… you guessed it… working together. She has a substack, People Eat the Land , and a much better podcast than this one, The Only Thing That Lasts . Folks...

Last winter, I went to Covington, Kentucky for the Acres USA EcoAG Conference. It was my kind of nerd fest. I listened to researchers sharing their newest findings, learned from farmers, and my ultimate favorite, connecting with people about compost. It's where I first learned about James White's research from Rutgers on the rhizophagy cycle. It blew my mind hearing and seeing how plant roots are...

In almost every interview on The Seed Farmer, my guests and I wind up talking about tools. And one tool that podcast guests have mentioned more than any other tool is the Winnow Wizard. We use the Winnow Wizard at Torne-Sol Farm to clean seeds, so I understand the love that folks have for this machine. But I really wasn't expecting it for it to just keep coming back, interview after interview. And...

I absolutely love how small the world is and how compost can connect us all! This March, I visited San Francisco and found myself at a party where I knew only one person. I got into a great conversation with an architect named Chabe, who grew up in Chile. After a rich chat about South America, architecture, school, and immigration, we talked about her family. It turned out her brother, Andreas, ru...

 Ian McSweeney & Kristina Villa, co-directors of The Farmers Land Trust, are responsible for creating and supporting farmland commons, a vehicle for preserving farmland and ensuring its dedication to regenerative agriculture in perpetuity while respecting both the farmers and the communities they feed. I mean, what's better than that? If you like what you hear, are a farmer or a landholder, and wa...

Domingo Morales of Compost Power NYC was raised in New York City with little connection to nature until he was 22 years old and had a position at the Red Hook Farms through the Green City Force . That experience introduced him to farming, allowing him to see his connection to nature, and he developed compost fever. Domingo will tell you about his path into starting Compost Power NYC, which now has...

Kim Delaney farms with Aaron Lyons and Stephen Surgenessie at Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds in Mount Forest, Ontario. They grow certified organic seeds on two farm sites for their online store and to distribute through Seedy Saturdays and through their wholesale seed rack program. In this episode, Kim discusses how she began her seed journey working in tall grass prairie restoration and how that blo...

Wow, compost lovers, we made it to season three! Thank you. That's three years of compost love being shared and celebrated. This season is going to be awesome. It will be as wide and varied as the microbes in our piles. We'll be talking with composters of all scales, new technologies, legislation, science, and some about the second compost operation, my farm, Earth Care Farm, is opening up in the...

Dan Brisebois here, seed grower at Tourne-Sol Co-operative Farm , spreadsheet crop-planning enthusiast , and also host of The Seed Farmer Podcast. Wait... The Seed Farmer Podcast? Isn't this The Seed Growers Podcast feed? Well, you are right - but let me tell you why there is going to be a name change... Mentioned in the show... The Farmer Spreadsheet Academy Order The Seed Farmer: A Complete Guid...

Mark and Kristen Kimball of Essex Farm in Essex, New York, have farmed for over 20 years together. Mark and Kristen are known for their year-round, free-choice, whole-diet CSA model on 130 acres, with 22 acres and vegetables and access to 1,100 acres per grazing, haymaking, and sugaring, producing everything from veggies, fruit, grains, meat, dairy, eggs, and more. They balance the complexities of...

Farmer Sara Patterson of Red Acre Farm in Cedar City, Utah, was just 14 years old when she started her first CSA on her parents' land after they moved to Utah from LA. Now, 15 years later, she has built Red Acre Farm into a thriving one-acre certified organic farm with a year-round, full-diet CSA, farm stand, farm kitchen, AND farm stay, along with hosting farm dinners, workshops, and other commun...

Kate Woods, farm manager of Beetlebung Farm in Chilmark, Massachusetts, along with her partner Nick, are the co-managers of a two-acre regenerative and primarily no-till farm on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Before its current iteration, the land had a rich history in agriculture, something of which that has been important to carry on for the island community, as well as a commitment to year-ro...

As their farm name suggests, Montana farmers Max Smith and Katie Madden of Winter Kissed Farm focus on growing vegetable crops year-round, especially during the winter seasons. On 15 acres and at 3,500 feet in elevation, they use multiple high-tunnels and caterpillar-tunnels to grow crops and sell them through a CSA, an online store , and to some area restaurants. They've had an interesting journe...

Elizabeth Keen of Indian Line Farm in Western Massachusetts, has been farming for 27 years and began her farm with her husband on land that was the birthplace of the CSA model popularized by Robyn Van En in 1986. Stewarding this important property, Elizabeth started her CSA with 12 member shares in 1997, which has since grown to 250 members, plus sales at a farmer's market and some restaurants and...

Ellie Goldstein and Dan Bryant of Small Holding Farm in Morganton, North Carolina, were recommended by a fan of the show as young, new, year-round farmers. Ellie and Dan started their farm in 2020 during the early months of the pandemic. Ellie has a background in psychology and works part-time in the mental health field and Dan is a certified arborist and carpenter… skills that have undoubtedly he...

Aidan Feeney of Fog Town Farm is located on Nantucket Island, 30 miles off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Growing up on Nantucket as an outdoor enthusiast and working in landscaping and doing tree work during high school, Aidan became inspired to learn about agriculture and spent time in New York and in Vermont in college working on farms. In 2019, he returned to the island to start Fogtown Farm on l...