The Ruminant: Audio Candy for Farmers, Gardeners and Food Lovers

Today's guest: Stephen Le, author of 100 Million Years of Food . Stephen is an anthropologist who argues that if we want to understand the role of diet in influencing our health, we need to ease off of our obsession with nutrutional science and focus more on the role that evolution has played in defining the relationship between what we eat and how we feel.  Canadian listeners: the Canadian publis...

This ep: Bob Siegfried of MidAtlantic Farm Sensors on wiring up your farm for better management, plus John McCauley of Chicken People  returns to recommend the best bird to start with if you're new to pasturing livestock. Interested in entering the contest mentioned in the episode? Use this link to participate. It's April 1, 2016 at time of writing; the draw will be held in a couple of weeks.

This episode, veggie grower and high tunnel ninja Adam Montri of Ten Hens Farm in Bath, Michigan, joins me to talk about the finer points of incorporating high tunnels into your market gardening.  Discussed: The limitations of 12' wide caterpillar tunnels compared to high tunnels What you can expect to pay for a high tunnel, and the bells and/or whistles you should consider Ideal tunnel layout Why...

This episode we're back to the practical aspects of farming. I speak with: Blake Hall of Prairie Gold Meats about his Winter bale-grazing program. PhD Candidate Shuresh Ghimire of Washington State University about his research on biodegradable mulches for field crops. Market Gardener Matt Coffay of Second Spring Market Garden about the value of regular soil testing and how he dealt with some reall...

Can organic agriculture feed the world? Well, no, probably not entirely. But a recent paper in Nature: Plants suggests that as a farming system, it scores better than conventional farming systems on many key indicators of sustainability. This, say the paper's authors, suggests organic systems should be playing a larger role in world food production than it currently is. In this episode, I talk to...

This week: over-wintered crops like green garlic, some easy-peasy cut flowers to try out, and a tip for keeping pastured poultry dry and warm when it's wet and cold. Plus: TCOG co-editor Amy Kremen joins me to talk about updates to the Canadian Organic Standards. Every other episode (starting now!), The Ruminant zooms in on practical tips for the farm or garden.  Guests today: Hermann Bruns of Wil...

In The Hidden Half of Nature ,  David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé suggest we are in the midst of a scientific revolution of our understanding of the role that microbes play in the health of many other life forms on earth, including plants, as well as our own. I devoured this book, and for this episode, David, a geologist, and Anne, a biologist, are my guests. Also: the winner of The Salatin Semes...

The Salatin Semester, a comprehensive course featuring the teachings of you-know-who, is the latest educational offering from Verge Permaculture. I review the course. After that: a conversation with Eric Barnhorst about his take on a home-made vacuum seeder, and some of his approaches to working with soil blocks. Eric submitted some photos of his vacuum seeder and his soil block trays. Check them...

This episode: submissions from listeners about the joys and travails (mainly the latter) of farming with children. Four farmers share their tips for staying sane when you add kids to an already hectic lifestyle. Eric's Farm Heather's farm and book Jason's Farm Seth's Farm   Cover photo for this episode was sourced here. I cropped it a bit.

In part two of my conversation with Craig Lehoullier, author or Epic Tomatoes , we focus on tomato variety selection. Craig explains how tomato colours are classified, recommends the best heirlooms for commercial gardeners to grow in each colour category, and explains why it's worth the extra effort to seek out specific varieties from trusted sources.  

I stumbled across Craig LeHoullier's book, Epic tomatoes, by accident one day when I was trolling the internet looking for episode ideas. I bought his book on a whim, and am I ever glad I did. Many years ago, Craig fell in love with growing tomatoes, and then, specifically, heirloom tomatoes, and he eventually put everything he learned about tomato history, and the art and science of growing beaut...

A brief summary of this episode

I recently had a chance to speak with Rochelle Eisen, who is an expert on all things organic in Canada. Rochelle has been an organic inspector, AKA organic verification officer, for years, and she's been involved in various levels of the organic farming certification bureaucracy throughout that time. Rochelle joined me to explain how the organic bureacratic machine works. Sounds boring, I know, bu...

Guts is a Canadian feminist magazine that recently published a piece by Natalie Childs called The Fruits of Unpaid Labour.  Natalie's article is a thoughtful consideration of the reality of low- and no-pay farm apprenticeships on many small-scale farms in Canada, and the implications for both the farmers and the apprentices involved. Natalie, who completed a farm apprenticeship a few summers back...

Jay McCaman has spent many years observing  and cataloguing the weeds on his and his clients' farms, and over this time, by also observing the soil types, conditions, and nutrient levels of the countless fields he's worked with, Jay has come up with, well, sort of a grand unifying theory of weeds, and what they're telling us about our soil. Jay has written a few versions of his book on the topic,...

I recently read  The Dorito Effect.  It's one of the best I've read in the ag/food politics genre. It's about what happened when food scientists figured out how to manufacture thousands of flavours at the same time that the flavour and nutrition of real food began a steep decline. It turns out that the flavour and nutrition of food are intimately linked, and that when we figured out how to divorce...

This episode features submissions that came in from listeners after I asked you all what you do in Winter to make ends meet, if not farming. Your answers? Snow removal. Substitute teacher or para-teacher. Organic inspector. Animal technologist. Plus more!  With thanks to Scott Humphries, who came up with the idea for this episode, I'm pretty sure.

This episode of the podcast features an interview with Arlene Throness, the coordinator of a rooftop farm operated by a Ryerson University Gardening club called Rye's Homegrown , out of Ryerson University in Toronto. The interview was recorded and edited by Ruminant Podcast collaborator Scott Humphries. You need to see photos of this farm to believe it. This is no indoor hydroponic setup or series...

A brief summary of this episode

At Blue Fruit Farm in Minnesota, Jim Riddle and Joyce Ford grow a range of perrenial tree fruit and berries of the blue and nearly-blue kind. In our conversation, Jim Riddle talks about why he and Joyce switched to perennial crops from annual market veggies, considerations for establishing a farm like his, and how he and Joyce have approached their marketing. You can find out more at bluefruitfarm...

This episode: Part 1 of 2 of my conversation with Dan Brisebois, editor of the seed production blog Going to Seed and co-author of Crop Planning for Organic Vegetable Growers. In this part, Dan talks about the basics of vegetable seed production and suggests how to begin incorporating it into a small scale farm business. In part two, Dan discusses marketing strategies once you're ready to sell you...

This episode I have a really helpful conversation with WSU Veggie Extension Specialist Carol Miles about grafting tomatoes, eggplants, and other veggies. We cover definitions, the reasons for doing it, and a few techniques. Thanks to Carol for making the time, and for providing links to her very useful publications on the subject , which you'll find if you scroll down on the page the link sends yo...

This episode, I'm joined by farmer and writer Forrest Pritchard, whose September 22, 2015 column in the Huffington Post suggests that the battle to prevent the widespread use and human consumption of GMOs was lost a long time ago, and that GMO opponents' energy could be better put to focusing on the negative effects of, for example, the massive amounts of glyphosates used in conjunction with GMOs,...

Go Jays!

This episode features two segments on hard-won insights from farmers.  My first conversation is with Delaney Zayac of Ice Cap Organics . His intensive growing practices and short season make it hard to maintain sufficient organic matter in his soil. His new approach? Delaney bought a tractor attachment that chops and spreads straw onto his beds and/or pathways. The resulting mulch is good for weed...