The Invisible Things
What lies beneath the soil is generally invisible unless we stick our hands into it. It doesn’t take much sifting of American soil before you run into one invisible thing: Race.
Unsurprisingly, I learned about race from a very distant, middle-class, white perspective. Growing up in the upwardly-mobile suburbs of St. Louis, the son of a pharmacist and a lawyer, I had many privileges only now I can fully appreciate. There was always food in the fridge. Always a parent at home when I was home. And so, so many more.
None of the buildings in my hometown were even old enough to have witnessed the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. There are no visible reminders of acrimonious race relations. But, as I've come to see, the reminders of the past are all around us.
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Episode 40: Herbivore? Carnivore? Locavore? Find Good, Local Food in these 4 Free Directories
It’s easy to get lost in the interwebs looking for good food.
You have enough to worry about between your job, bills to pay, going Beast Mode during CrossFit, soccer practice for the kids, and date nights with your spouse. Finding a directory of quality food so you can nourish your family AND support the local economy shouldn’t be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
What else are you going to do? Ask a farmer who their competitors are so you can browse their products? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.
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Episode 39: 7 Farmers You Should Know
Regenerative Agriculture is farming with nature rather than against it. Farmers who work regeneratively treat nature like a dance partner rather than a sparring partner.
It’s mimicking on a small, human-directed scale what nature does on a large, wild scale. Regenerative farmers focus on building healthy ecosystems by replenishing the humus which has been lost by centuries of extractive and shortsighted farming methods. They focus on:
Organic matter, hydrology, mineral cycling, ground cover, and plant spacing
NOT
Yield, weeds, disease, pests, artificial inputs, and chemicals
These are seven regenerative farmers who you should know about (or even buy food from).
"Let Them Eat Grass" follows one former suburbanite (me) turned farmer as I make sense in real-time of the interconnected world of farming, food, and the environment. Here, your insatiable curiosity can feast upon good food. Here, a good story only germinates in deep topsoil.
Here, you'll get some questions answered you've always had and learn about others you never knew existed.
I started this podcast on a shoestring budget in the basement of my 1950s farmhouse during my early days of farming from March 2019 through March 2020. The older episodes sound like a time capsule of pre-Covid urgency that rings still true today. I restarted this podcast three years later, in March of 2023. There is still so much I have left to say.
And, we're losing 2000 acres of farmland a day to development or abandonment. The average age of farmers is only going up. And, the effects of climate change are only going to get stronger. If you're like me, you love this planet. You want to preserve it for future generations. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and we must be the change we wish to see in the world. Listen to the old episodes, but stick around for the new ones.
PS--If you're a farmer, and you need some help marketing your good food to the world, message me via my website:
https://www.seofarmmarketing.com
Canada - english