The Agri-Tourist, My Journey Back to Agriculture

Send us Fan Mail Jim Sanders, farmer from Wildflower Lane Farm in NC, had an idea about growing vegetables and finding a distribution partner for those vegetables.  In my podcast interview with Jim ( podcast episode 54 ), he  told the story about walking into the office of a non profit called TABLE and proposing his idea to the women in the office. What struck me about that story was the fact that...

Send us Fan Mail Jim Sanders, an environmentalist and farmer, is the owner of Wildflower Lane Farm in North Carolina.  Jim has some great stories about how he came into farming and his fun and not so fun experiences with trying to build a farming business. All along, Jim knew and was reminded by some friends, that there had to be a better way, a more sustainable way. Jim decided to take another ap...

Send us Fan Mail So this is my 53rd episode…the 1st episode of Season 2 of the Agri-Tourist Podcast!  This episode is Part 2 of my interview with Marisa about coming full circle.    I have learned so much during the course of this year…and not just about farming and agriculture… I learned so much about life, about love, about passion and dedication, trusting the journey, making every day count, an...

Send us Fan Mail So this is my 52nd episode…Part 1! One whole year of podcast episodes…and I have to say that I learned so much during the course of this year…and not just about farming and agriculture. I learned so much about life, about love, about passion and dedication, trusting the journey, making every day count, and about taking that leap of faith. And I learned all of this from over 50 ama...

Send us Fan Mail When I became aware of The Farmer Veteran Coalition, I just had to learn more.   The Mission of Farmer Veteran Coalition is Mobilizing Veterans to Feed America.  They are cultivating  a new generation of farmers and food leaders, and developing viable employment and meaningful careers for veterans. They believe that veterans possess the unique skills and character needed to streng...

Send us Fan Mail Meg and Laura founded Full Well Farm located in Adams, MA in 2018.  Meg was brought up on the farmland they are now farming on. When chatting with Meg about their background, there seemed to be an initial resistance to farming and becoming a farmer.  However, the pull to being outside every March was too hard to resist.  And the pull to developing a business that provided access t...

Send us Fan Mail The USDA defines food security as having "access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members" and very low food insecurity is classified as " where one or more household members experience reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns at times during the year because of limited money or other resources."  In 2023, the U...

Send us Fan Mail She is a passionate farm entrepreneur from Maryland…driven to preserve her farmland and build a thriving Farmyard business. Renee Wilson was born to a teacher and dairy farmer, she was a 4H member and then earned an education in TV production and marketing during college…but her heart and passion was in agriculture. She returned to her roots and leveraged her skills to identify ho...

Send us Fan Mail Kristen Tool and I have something very important in common….we want to connect ALL people to real, healthy, nutritious food….sometimes that food is harvested right from the farm and other times it is made into nutritious soups.   Caring for and stewarding land has been a lifelong dream of Kristen’s. She and her husband Chris have been working to restore Olsen Farm, her husband’s f...

Send us Fan Mail Craft Beer and Cider….both wins for the agritourism industry.  And it’s actually less about the alcohol and more about the sense of community and connection that it brings.  Dr. Alison Feeney is a Professor in the Geography and Earth Science Department at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. She blends work with pleasure as she travels around her state of Pennsylvania and beyo...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever heard of the New River Gorge or the Gauley River?  Well, if you’ve ever been into the white water rafting scene, you have heard one of these West Virginia rivers and probably rafted it!  The New River Gorge is amazing in the spring, but there is nothing that compares to the fall dam releases of the Gauley River, entering into class 5 rapids right from the very start...

Send us Fan Mail Did you know that there are about 1.8 million tea growers around the world? The leading tea-producing countries include Argentina, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Taiwan. The U.S. trails behind the 6 million tons of global tea production,  producing only about 90 to 100 tons a year. And there are about 80 to 90 tea farms spread across 17 states in the U.S., with most of the te...

Send us Fan Mail I’ve taken leaps of faith in the past, but nothing like Giany Guedjo, the Executive Director at Carolina Human Reinvestment.  Giany was an accountant at an orphanage in Benin, West Africa.  But Giany wanted more for himself and his expanding family.  He entered an immigration lottery to come to the US….and he was selected.  And that’s when the leap of faith really began…showing up...

Send us Fan Mail They believe that great craft chocolate is “true to the bean,” – that the flavors apparent in the bar reflect the flavors hidden in the cacao bean. Like coffee beans and wine grapes, different cacao beans have different flavors. Discovering those flavors is one of the joys Tom & Monica feel when making (and eating) single-origin craft chocolate! Tom and Monica are the owners o...

Send us Fan Mail As I speak to farmers from around the US and beyond, I am always interested in where they are garnering support from.  Farmers enter into farming from all different backgrounds. Some need help securing land, some need financial support, some need marketing and accounting support, and some need help with farming skills.  And we would assume that those support systems would be avail...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder how to creatively bridge art and agriculture together…Donna Neuwirth and Jay Salinas have mastered this creative bridge.. And they not only have mastered integrating art and agriculture, they have also set the stage for lifelong connections to form, way beyond their company’s many inspiring projects. After many years working in art and theater in Chicago, Donna Neuwirt...

Send us Fan Mail When I was a kid I did not like history class, or as we called it, social studies.  For me, it felt like the classes were about memorizing textbook material and dates.  I was not lucky enough to have teachers that made it more exciting to learn about history and its importance, relevance, and connection to the now.  However, as an adult, I have a whole new appreciation for history...

Send us Fan Mail The farmer - Jamie.  And the chef- Madison.  A few years ago, they were both in Rome, Italy, independently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Food Studies and Policies for Sustainable Production and Consumption. During their time in Italy and while hiking through olive trees in Tuscany, they became friends and contrived this farm plan that involved creating a space to grow food, partne...

Send us Fan Mail I had the pleasure of speaking with a mother daughter team…well actually, in real life,  they are a mother daughter father team, but dad likes to stay behind the scenes.  Thea Hall is the Owner, Vintner, and Farm Caretaker of Broken Spoke, a boutique winery and vineyard on Maryland’s Eastern Shore with a unique focus on animals and communication or conversation styles- you will un...

Send us Fan Mail Today we are speaking with Margaret Moulton, Executive Director at Berkshire Grown.  Berkshire Grown, based in Great Barrington, MA,  works toward an equitable and resilient local food system by supporting and promoting farmers, connecting people to local food, and building community partnerships around local food security.   Margaret and I explore the impact of Berkshire Grown on...

Send us Fan Mail I had a very inspiring and deeply insightful conversation with Richard Andres, owner of Tantre Farm in Michigan.  Richard is a farmer, a philosopher, and former carpenter.  Well I say former carpenter but I am sure his carpentry skills come in super handy on the farm. Those are one set of skills I wish I had more of.  So when I say my conversation was deeply insightful that is pro...

Send us Fan Mail Today I am chatting with Tracy Mitchell Griggs from AgVenturesUS.  Tracy is the ultimate connector when it comes to everything agritourism.  Growing up in south Jersey, Tracy developed a love of farmers veggies from local farmers markets. She also spent a lot of time on the eastern shore of Maryland where she enjoyed Chesapeake Bay Sailing adventures with her family.  Tracy spent...

Send us Fan Mail I am so excited for you to hear from my very dear friend and fellow entrepreneur, Waldo Cabrera.  Waldo is an Emmy-Winning, Emmy-Nominated, and extremely talented video producer.  I have known Waldo for many years. We have collaborated on many work projects, I have conducted many interviews for a TV show he produced, and we have had many thrilling times like riding the Cyclone in...

Send us Fan Mail It’s not every day we see an agriculture professional turned banker! Today we will meet one!  Many of us bank at some of the large banking institutions with branding we are very familiar with. If not one of the large banks, some bank with credit unions or invest in local and regional banking institutions. But do you think about how your money is used and invested after it is depos...

Send us Fan Mail “It is never too late to take the first step toward our dreams, no matter how big or impractical - or seemingly outrageous.”  This is a quote from Jane Lee Rankin from her compelling memoir called Farm Family. This is a book about the adventure that created Apple Hill Farm in North Carolina. It’s all about how a solo mom with a broken heart and no farming or livestock experience c...