Podcasts

Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good

Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good is a podcast with and about hobby farmers, small-scale farmers and sustainable farmers.

More than that, it’s about the important work these folks are doing for themselves, their families and their communities on and off the farm. Each episode, host Lisa Munniksma sits down to chat with someone doing the good work to discuss how they started, what they’re doing now, and what drives them to keep growing. A presentation of Hobby Farms® magazine.

 

Growing Good Podcast #88: Mike Ghia, Maple Sugar & The Land for Good

Vermont Farmer Mike Ghia Talks Maple Sugar And The Land for Good Organization.

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Growing Good Podcast #87: Entomologist Ron Bittner

Entomologist And Farmer Ron Bittner Talks Pollinators And Soil Health

 
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Growing Good Podcast #86: Panha Suon, Cambodian agroecology educator

Listen As Panha Suon Talks About Farming In Cambodia, From Climate To Crops And The Challenges That Farmers Are Facing There.

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Growing Good Podcast #85: Lewis Hughes, land steward and local-food distribution pro

Hear about Lewis Hughes’s journey into farming, from conventional pig and corn farms to international agricultural research to organic farming and cooperative farming.

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Growing Good Podcast #84: Nasuha Lenuh, small-scale Thai farmer and entrepreneur

Small-Scale Farmer And Entrepreneur Nasuha Lenuh — Nicknamed R — Talks About The Tree Crops Grown In Her Region, The Southern Part Of Thailand....
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Growing Good Podcast #83: Melissa Stewart, director of the West Virginia National Guard’s Patriot Guardens

Military Service Members And Veterans Farming Program And Aeroponic Gardening

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Growing Good Podcast #82: Jenny Howard Owen, with the Organic Association of Kentucky

Flexibility In Farming, Connecting With The Natural World, And The Organic Association Of Kentucky With Jenny Howard Owen

 
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Growing Good Podcast #81: Robert Frew & Juan Carlos Arango, permaculture specialists

Robert Frew and Juan Carlos Arango Practice Permaculture and a Culture Of Sharing At Sobremesa Farm

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Growing Good Podcast #80: Sara Wittenberg, gardener and biologist

Sara Wittenberg Talks About Pollinators and How to Build a Pollinator Garden

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Growing Good Podcast #79: Pattie Baker, WWOOFer and author

Pattie Baker Talks About WWOOFing — Traveling To Work On Farms — Gardening And Finding Hope.

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Growing Good Podcast #78: Bonnie Warndahl, gardener and land steward

Gardener and Land Steward Bonnie Warndahl Talks About Finding Your Dream Farm. 

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Growing Good Podcast #77: Lauren Manning, Arkansas rancher

Arkansas Rancher Lauren Manning Talks about Responsible Grazing And More.

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Growing Good Podcast #76: Florentina Rodriguez, urban farmer and seed advocate

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Florentina Rodriguez Talks Seeds, Seeds And, You Guessed It, Seeds.

 
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Growing Good Podcast #75: Michele Thorne, farmer and executive director of Good Meat Project

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Michele Thorne Talks About Support And Resources For Livestock Farmers And Meat Consumers
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Growing Good Podcast #74: Black Girl Country Living podcast host Hillarie Maddox

TITLE SPONSOR: Sow Right Seeds
PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Homesteader Hillarie Maddox talks about returning to the land, building community and mental health for farmers.

 
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Episode 73: Kimberly Haire

TITLE SPONSOR: Sow Right Seeds
PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Agriculture teacher Kimberly Haire talks about what it’s like to teach Bullitt Lick Middle School students in Kentucky about growing food while she expands her own farming kn...

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Growing Good Podcast #72: Small Farm with Sara Martin

Keeping a small farm at high elevations, farm diversity and redistributing unsold produce are all topics discussed with Appalachian farmer Sara Martin in this Growing Good podcast.

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Episode 71: Holly Callahan-Kasmala and Chrisie DiCarlo, The Chicken Ladies

PREMIER SPONSOR: Sweet PDZ

Backyard chickens, from breeds to chicken coop placement and more, are fair game topics in this Hobby Farms Growing Good podcast with Holly Callahan-Kasmala and Chrisie DiCarlo, the Go to Episode

Episode 70: Anu Rangarajan

PREMIER SPONSOR: Sweet PDZ

Cornell Small Farms Program director Anu Rangarajan talks about supporting farmers as whole people, making farming communities more welcoming spaces, life as a strawberry farmer and a game-changing reduced-tillage technique.

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Episode 69: Chyka Okarter

Chyka Okarter talks about farming an Extension work in Nigeria, putting the lean farming concept into practice, and finding creative financing from within the food system.

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Episode 68: Keisha Johnson

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Texas farmer Keisha Johnson talks career transitions, skill sharing, poultry keeping and more. Hear about Keisha’s career transition from administration and logistics to farming, and her advice for how anyone can take pre-farming-career skills into farm life—”turning your lifestyle into your livelihood.” Keisha talks about growing vegetables in Texas’s hot, arid climate through summer and more ...

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Episode 67: Ben Hartman

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Indiana farmer and The Lean Micro Farm author Ben Hartman talks about the logistics of downsizing. “We were really bad farmers,” Ben says about his and his wife, Rachel Hershberger’s, Clay Bottom Farm. Listen to his story of farming 5 acres on a growth tr...

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Episode 66: Li Schmidt

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Taiwanese-American farmer Li Schmidt talks about growing Asian-heritage crops, growing crops for seeds, small-scale farming in Taiwan and preserving cultural foodways. Hear about how Li started her Cultural Roots Nursery, in Northern California, in 2020, as a result of the pandemic rather than in spite of it and much more!

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Episode 65: Susan Poizner

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Toronto orchardist Susan Poizner talks fruit-tree care, community orcharding and more! Hear about the evolution of the Ben Nobleman Park Community Orchard in Toronto, now in its 15th year. Susan admits to knowing less than she should have about fruit-tree care when she undertook the development of a community orchard and shares her journey through an orcharding self-education. Hear, too, abou...

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Episode 64: Reeba Daniel

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Portland's Reeba Daniel of Keep Growing Seeds talks farm to school, land access, leadership in food systems and more. Reeba discusses how their business allows them to create and manage school gardens, work with “learners” to grow and eat good food, and also examine culture and connection through food. Plus, they get into value-added products and even vegan honey!

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Episode 63: Amy Glattly

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Amy Glattly, a Lawrence, Kansas, farmer and podcaster, talks about gleaning, fermenting, sheep shearing and more. Hear about Amy's incubator farm, gleaning initiative, fermented goods and entry into sheep shearing, as well as their Kansas-centric podcast, "Prairie Ramblings."

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Episode 62: Frank Hyman

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Chicken keeper, gardener and author Frank Hyman talks about his gardens, chickens, books and more. Hear about Frank’s books, Hentopia: Create a Hassle-Free Habitat for Happy Chickens and How to Forage for Mushrooms Without Dying: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide. You'll also learn about the design of Frank’s chicken pagoda and much more.

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Episode 61: Stephen Mackell

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Farmer Stephen Mackell of Greentable Gardens in Xenia, Ohio, talks with podcast host Lisa Munniksma about microgreens, actually sustainable (profitable!) small-scale farming and food access. Plus, you'll hear how Stephen, as a college student, was inspired to start a curbside-collection compost subscription company, which he then sold. It’s still in business today!

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Episode 60: Jann Knappage

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Kentucky farmer Jann Knappage talks about part-time farming, farmers markets, working behind the scenes in Extension, and food preservation. Jann also talks about her and her partner’s Fox and Hen Farm and the journey they took through a series of rental properties—including one that involved growing in 5-gallon buckets and another that flooded—for 3 1/2 years until they found a place t...

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Episode 59: Denà Brummer

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)

Denà Brummer talks farming, gardening and building a life around food in this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good. She discusses her new On The Grow business, centered around educating folks about health, lifestyles and habits related to food; the Garden of Hope community garden, which Denà manages for the...

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Episode 58: Barbara Lawson

PREMIER SPONSOR: Sweet PDZ

Barbara Lawson talks about gardening’s place in moving through grief. Hear about how Barbara’s business, Meet Me in the Dirt, eventually grew out of her own grief over her mother’s death and the healing power of her own garden. She talks about healing gardens and shares a really special story about the tropical milkweed that brought home this concept to her. Go to Episode

Episode 57: Miranda Duschack

PREMIER SPONSOR: Sweet PDZ

In the second episode of the two-part series with the farmers at Urban Buds City Grown Flowers, Miranda Duschack covers urban cut flower farming, supporting farmers through an 1890 land-grant university and the realities of being a part-time farmer. Miranda gets honest about having to work off-farm to make a farm business work and her dream of farming full-time. Learn about agricultural census and National Agricu...

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Episode 56: Mimo Davis

PREMIER SPONSOR: Bobcat®

St. Louis flower farmer Mimo Davis talks about growing flowers year-round, Black flower farmers, her work as vice president of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers and more! Mimo talks about what it’s like as an African American to farm flowers in rural Missouri and the dearth of Black flower farmers in the state. Also get to know the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers and how you can tap into the educ...

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Episode 55: Marykate Glenn and Lindsey Melling

PREMIER SPONSOR: Bobcat®

Farmers Marykate Glenn and Lindsey Melling talk cooperative farming, sliding-scale CSAs, handcrafted herbal products and more. Hear about Marykate’s and Lindsey’s individual backgrounds, how they each became farmers, and how they came together for collaborative farming under the Mustard Seed Farm CSA umbrella. Have your slid...

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Episode 54: Rachael Harrop

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)
PREMIER SPONSOR: Bobcat®

Rachael Harrop talks about agriculture in Isle of Man, the Manx Wildlife Trust, rare British sheep and more. Get to know the Isle of Man, a Crown Dependency island in the Irish Sea, which is the only UNESCO Biosphere Nation in the world (but is more famous for its TT motorcycle road races). Hear about how Rachael started raising rare ...

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Episode 53: Helga Garcia-Garza

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)
PREMIER SPONSOR: Bobcat®

In this episode, Helga Garcia-Garza, Executive Director of Agri-Cultura Network and La Cosecha CSA, talks about the farmer opportunities offered by organizational networks, dealing with crippling drought in the Southwest US, and cooperative organic farming. She shares how how the community-led network began in 2009 with just three sma...

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Episode 52: Nathan Harkleroad

PREMIER SPONSOR: Bobcat®

On this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good, Nathan Harkleroad, Program Director at Agriculture and Land Based Training Association, talks with us about his path to farming, the value of agricultural work, helping people get their own farms going and more. 

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Episode 51: Maya Marie

PREMIER SPONSOR: Bobcat®

New York urban farmer Maya Marie talks about building your relationship to land, her Deep Routes educational project, irrigation and more. She talks about farming Afro-Indigenous crops at East New York Farms, including trying her hand at growing rice and keeping the pollinators in mind. Maya gets into what she sees as the current challenges of growing food for urban and rural farmers and how to be flexible, and then she gives her be...

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Episode 50: Pantaleon Florez Returns

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)
PREMIER SPONSOR: Bobcat®

In our 50th episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good, Maseualkualli Farms’ Pantaleon Florez pays the podcast another visit to update listeners on what he’s been up to since episode 16. Listen as the Lawrence, Kansas, farmer and food-systems thinker shares changes to the priorities he’s working toward, the importan...

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Episode 49: Angela Kingsawan

PREMIER SPONSOR: Home Fresh® Poultry Feeds (Kent Nutrition Group)
PREMIER SPONSOR: Bobcat®

Indigenous urban farmer and herbalist Angela Kingsawan talks about gardening in Milwaukee, translating ancient knowledge into modern reality, connecting health care with healthy foods, and more. Learn about Angela’s early introduction to land stewardship and multicultural approach to herbalism and food production. She tells...

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Episode 48: Denzel Mitchell

Denzel Mitchell talks about urban farming in Baltimore, bringing up new farmers, the heirloom Baltimore Fish pepper and more. Hear about how food and farming have been part of Denzel’s whole life, from his extended family’s 600-acre homestead in Oklahoma to his college English professor’s homestead. His experience running farms in Baltimore—the city and the county—helped to prepare him for his current role of co-ex...

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Episode 47: Christina Joy Neumann

Pittsburgh apiarist Christina Joy Neumann talks with Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good host Lisa Munniksma about beekeeping, the honey industry and more. Learn about the evolution of Christina’s Apoidea Apiary and how she sees her career in architecture and her work with bees as intrinsically related. (Think about bees as natural architects!) She shares her fascination with bees as eusocial creatures and with their ability to efficiently make their own food and homes, discusses urban beeke...

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Episode 46: Roy Kady

Shepherd and Diné fiber artist Roy Kady talks about the importance and traditions of the Navajo-Churro sheep breed, flock management, fiber arts and more. Recorded on Winter Solstice (in the Northern hemisphere), Roy explains the importance of solstice in Diné lifeways. Learn about the Slow Food USA Navajo-Churro Sheep Presidium, a group created to support and promote endangered foodways—in this case, this rare breed of ...

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Episode 45: Celina Ngozi

Celina Ngozi is a Black/Igbo agrarian and the founder of Ala Soul Earthworks/Dry Bones Heal Bottomland, joining Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good today to talk about her food-sovereignty work and earth-based practices. Hear about the Central Texas land that has been in Celina’s family since 1876 and how she, her mother and other members of their family are coming together there. Learn about heirs property and the complexi...

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Episode 44: Dr. Mehmet Öztan

Dr. Mehmet Öztan talks seed justice, selecting seeds for saving, the Seedy Talks speaker series, and his work as an underrepresented minoritized farmer in West Virginia. Hear about how Dr. Öztan went from receiving a PhD in civil engineering to starting Two Seeds in a Pod heirloom seed company with his wife, Dr. Amy Thompson, all because he wanted to recreate the flavors he remembered from his childhood in Turkey. He shares the challenges of tracking down seed...

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Episode 43: Reingard Rieger

Master Composter Reingard Rieger, Ph.D., breaks down composting, urban gardening and Seattle’s Master Composter Sustainability Steward program in this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good. Learn about Seattle Public Utilities’ Master Composter Sustainability Program managed by Tilth Alliance, which trains 30 to 35 volunteers each year to go into the community and educate others about composting, soil health, rec...

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Episode 42: Jeff Tober

TITLE SPONSOR: Sweet PDZ®

New Jersey farmer Jeff Tober talks farming for ecological and community health, pasture-raised pigs, farm planning and more. Hear about how a potato growing in a compost pile in the Philadelphia suburbs sparked a curiosity in Jeff as a young person that put him on a winding path to farming and eventually to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance’s Rancocas Creek Farm. Learn about the Pinelan...

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Episode 41: Tiffany Bellfield

TITLE SPONSOR: Sweet PDZ®

Kentucky farmer and community organizer Tiffany Bellfield covers family land and legacies, pollinator habitats, Community Farm Alliance, and more on this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good. Hear about the deep history of Ballew Estates, the land that Tiffany’s great-grandfather, Atrus Ballew, who was born an enslaved person, eventually bought and Tiffany now stew...

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Episode 40: Arwen Donahue

TITLE SPONSOR: Sweet PDZ®

This episode features Arwen Donahue, her life on a Kentucky farm and her new book, Landings: A Crooked Creek Farm Year. Arwen tells us about her and her husband, David Wagoner’s, Three Springs Farm. You’ll hear about how they searched for their niche and revived themselves from burnout in small-scale farming, from 18 years of having a vegetable CSA to growing food for a local restaurant group. Learn about some of the foragable good...

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Episode 39: Lilian Hill

TITLE SPONSOR: Sweet PDZ®

Listen in on this conversation with land steward, Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance Executive Director and Hopi Tribe member Lilian Hill as she talks about dryland farming, traditional foodways, farming systems and more. Hear about Lilian’s family and community heritage and how she connects with traditional agriculture methods, foodways and food sovereignty work. She tells us about her and her husband’s founding of the Hopi Tutskwa...

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Episode 38: Pete Charlerie

TITLE SPONSOR: Sweet PDZ®

In this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good, Pete Charlerie dives into financial sustainability for small farms, free equipment and information resources, USDA incentives and more. Pete tells us about his journey from his family’s citrus grove in Trinidad to the University of Maryland, where he earned a degree in ag economics, setting the stage for his farm consultancy work today. Learn about Pete’s work as a farm consultant, rol...

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Episode 37: Kirstin Bailey

TITLE SPONSOR: Sweet PDZ®

Nebraska farmer Kirstin Bailey talks intergenerational farming, farm transitions, and the free support for farmers offered by the Center for Rural Affairs. Hear about the four generations of Kirstin’s family living on Fox Run Farms, where they grow fruits and vegetables and keep bees. Kirstin talks about planning a farm business in a rural area, accessing nearby urban markets and bringing the community to the farm. Learn about what it’s l...

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Episode 36: Demetra Markis

PREMIER SPONSOR: SmartPot

Farmer Demetra Markis joins Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good for a chat about her farm, Milleflora Farm, where she and her partner grow medicinal herbs for natural medicine clients and a small vegetable harvest to share with neighbors. Demetra talks about this farming endeavor, as well as sharing about her community grazing efforts, where she and neighbors graze sheep to reduce tall, dry grass that can contribute to wildfires in he...

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Episode 35: Emily Trabolsi

PREMIER SPONSOR: SmartPot

Filipino-Hawaiian farmer Emily Trabolsi joins Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good to talk about what farming in the Pacific Northwest looks like from a cooperative perspective. Learn about growing upland rice just outside Seattle. Hear about the Agrarian Trust organization and their concept of land and resource sharing, and then Emily shares examples of successful cooperatives from around the world. Listen as Emily enthusiastically talks about i...

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Episode 34: Meighen Lovelace (Pt. 2)

PREMIER SPONSOR: SmartPot

Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good brings you part two of the conversation with Colorado farmer Meighen Lovelace. In this episode, Meighen talks about the Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger and John Ikerd’s work in bringing to life a community food utility. She also offers some zoning tips and digs deep with a  Farm Bill primer! And listen to the end for Meighen’s favorite farm meal. (This is the first time we’ve heard this veggie as a fav...

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Episode 33: Meighen Lovelace

PREMIER SPONSOR: SmartPot

On this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good, Colorado farmer Meighen Lovelace talks water issues in the West, empowering people to grow food in community, and your chance to speak truth to power with the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. (This is episode one of two with Meighen.) Listen in for Meighen’s take on how to work with your land and the challenges of working with water rights of farmers and communities...

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Episode 32: Felicia Bell

TITLE SPONSOR: Purina
PREMIER SPONSOR: Smart Pot

In this episode, fourth-generation Mississippi farmer Felicia Bell talks about traditional agriculture, family business, farmers helping farmers and more. Find out how you can get free sustainable farming advice and technical assistance from the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) from a specialist like Felicia. Felicia explains what she means by “traditional agriculture” and why s...

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Episode 31: Aaron De La Cerda

TITLE SPONSOR: Purina
PREMIER SPONSOR: Smart Pot

Aaron De La Cerda is on this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good to talk about the Acta Non Verba Youth Urban Farm Project, fruit gleaning, growing cannabis as a teenager, and why he prefers to be a “lazy” farmer. You’ll learn about how a life decision he was asked to make in third grade led to him being known as “the plant person” among his family and friends and shaped his caree...

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Episode 30: Chereen Leong Schwarz

TITLE SPONSOR: Purina
PREMIER SPONSOR: Smart Pot

Chef and farmer Chereen Leong Schwarz talks about “local” food from all perspectives. Chereen tells us about farming in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where they have just 59 frost-free days in the growing season. Listen in on the intimate details of what it’s like for Chereen to help raise animals from birth to harvest and then, as a local-foods chef, to carefully prepare the meat and to be sure the people enjoy...

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Episode 29: Fatuma Emmad

TITLE SPONSOR: Purina
PREMIER SPONSOR: Smart Pot

Farming, political science and the food system intersect for Colorado farmer, organizer and professor Fatuma Emmad, the guest on this episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good. Hear about how her family’s immigration and emigration shaped her understanding of the food system and how that led her to become a farmer herself, now at FrontLine Farming in Denver, Colorado. Go to Episode

Episode 28: Cheryl Browne

TITLE SPONSOR: Purina
PREMIER SPONSOR: Smart Pot

Lisa Munniksma talks with permaculturalist, urban farming educator and New York City garden designer, Cheryl Browne. A co-founder of the Black Permaculture Network, Browne helps people bring the outdoors in through her business, Urban Permie, connecting them with opportunities to experience nature and connect with more natural living. Learn about what herbs you can grow indoors to enhance wellness in your life, how a...

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Episode 27: Mariel Gardner

TITLE SPONSOR: Purina
PREMIER SPONSOR: Smart Pot

Urban farmer Mariel Gardner talks about 5th Element Farms (aka Apocalyptic Acres), where Dope Beets, Dope Rhymes is the motto for the vacant city lot they reclaimed as a space to grow food for their community. Their food access model is to feed the people as best they can with the hope that others will want to support them in this “economy of decency.” Listen in for tips for finding and reusing discarded items fo...

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Episode 26: Zoe Fuller

TITLE SPONSOR: Purina
PREMIER SPONSOR: Smart Pot

Young farmer Zoe Fuller talks about farming at Singing Nettle Farm, in Southcentral Alaska’s short but productive growing season. You’ll hear about small-scale farmers coming together in the Matanuska Valley and creating a community-based economy in Alaska. Learn about indigenous foodways, salmon-safe farming practices to protect salmon sources and waterways, root cellaring and more!

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Episode 25: Tyler Eschleman

TITLE SPONSOR: Purina
PREMIER SPONSOR: Smart Pot

At Virsylvia Farm in the high desert of New Mexico, Tyler Eschleman and his wife raise goats for dairy and fiber; sheep for dairy, meat and fiber; alpacas for fiber; laying hens; and some vegetables. Hear about the realities of regenerative farming at 8,000 feet above sea level, from the challenging growing and land conditions to the cooperative workings of fellow farmers. Learn about Tyler’s innov...

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Episode 24: Missy Singer DuMars

Missy Singer DuMars tells us about her 13-acre Crown Hill Farm, outside Buffalo, New York. Learn about fiber production, the art of scaling up slowly, and how to choose the best varieties to grow and sell. Missy tells us about the evolution of her on-farm events and why it’s important to connect people to the source of their food. Find out about Missy’s Women in Food podcast and her favorite recipes to come from guests. (Don’t listen hungry.) And stay tuned to the end to take Missy’s ...

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Episode 23: Juliann Salinas

From her .25-acre mini farm in New Mexico, Juliann Salinas talks all about beekeeping; the fragility of the local food system exposed by the pandemic; the Women, Food & Ag Network; and more. Learn the challenges of farming in New Mexico and what is possible to grow on .25 acre! And stay tuned to the end for Jules’ tips for the beginning beekeeper—including how to expect the unexpected in a changing climate.

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Episode 22: Bevin Cohen

On this episode of "Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good," host Lisa Munniksma talks with herbalist, seed enthusiast and Hobby Farms contributor Bevin Cohen. Hear how Cohen left a marketing career for simpler endeavors in rural central Michigan. Learn about pressing your own cooking oils from nuts and seeds—a fresh, homegrown alternative to grocery-store options. And listen in as Bevin recounts some lessons he's learned while trying to keep things simple (sometimes despite his own ...

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Episode 21: Sharon Stone

Listen in as Sharon Stone—an urban farmer at Two Sons Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, and coordinator of the Woodhill International Market—tells us about serving the community through gardening education and increasing access to farm-fresh food.

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Episode 20: Rasheed Hislop

Listen as Rasheed Hislop, a Master Composter and "Farming in Color" host, offers you tips for small-scale vermicomposting. Hear how this Brooklyn-raised farmer’s grandparents instilled in him an interest in food production by way of gardening, fishing and scratch cooking. Rasheed talks about his work supporting farmers—particularly Black, indigenous and farmers of color—and the Black Zocalo cooperative’s efforts to teach about growing food, planting native plants and fostering farm-re...

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Episode 19: shiny Flanary

Alinee “shiny” Flanary shares her top three tips to improve your farmers market sales in this episode. She talks about what it was like to go from “zero to farmer” when she jumped into a farmer incubator program a few years ago. Now managing her Scrapberry Farm, as part of the Raceme Farm Collective, growing primarily herbs for medicine making. You’ll learn about shiny’s Come Thru Market, a BIPOC farmers market i...

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Episode 18: Michelle Howell

Four-season farmer Michelle Howell works at the intersection of farming, health, art and equity. She has woven these aspects together at her family’s diversified Need More Acres Farm in Scottsville, Kentucky. Learn from their creative, community-centric marketing approach and the ways they’ve created new opportunities to put their food into the hands of more people. Finally, get tips from Michelle about growing diverse crops year-round, not just for your own home use but as a marketing ou...

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Episode 17: Celiz Christy

Title Sponsor: Happy Hen

Celize Christy talks poultry-keeping with host Lisa Munniksma. Listen in for her tips for homeopathic care for our home flocks and the secret to the brightest egg yolks. Hear about her work with poultry farmers in Uganda and Rwanda and her thinking on the intersection of livestock and livelihoods. She shares with us some Iowa success stories coming from small-scale farmers, women farmers and farmers of color and more!

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Episode 16: Pantaleon Florez

Through his Maseualkualli Farms in Lawrence, Kansas, Pantaleon Florez has big ideas for farming and food systems equity. Starting out at Common Ground Incubator Farm just before the COVID-19 pandemic began required Panta to be creative in his marketing outlets, shifting away from farmers markets and toward value-added items, restaurant sales and mutual aid food support. We talk incubator farming, corn research, his food and farming security plan and more!

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Episode 15: Tara Rodríguez Besosa

How does a farming community recover after a disaster? By coming together. Tara Rodríguez Besosa talks about Puerto Rico’s agricultural and economic situation. Hear how they started their own food journey when their mother left the city to become a farmer, then sold sprouts they grew in their city apartment at the farmers market, and then started big-picture thinking about how to support farmers on the island with the business that they cofounded, El Departamento de la Comida.

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Episode 14: Nathan Harben

Nathan Harben is a farmer at Local Forage Farm in Glenora, British Columbia, a 2-acre homestead that grows ethically raised livestock, fruits and vegetables. He also works with the food recovery team of Cowichan Green Community, a non-profit organization that has focused on environmental sustainability in Vancouver Island's Cowichan Region since March 2004.

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Episode 13: Anita Ashok Adalja

Listen as farmer Anita Ashok Adalja lets us in on what it’s like to grow okra in the Southwest, including how to “convince” neighbors to try a new-to-them vegetable. Learn about the Not Our Farm farmworker visibility project, get food safety advice, think deeper about sustainability, learn how to beat the "sliminess" of okra and much more!

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Episode 12: Sinéad Fortune

Listen in as Sinéad Fortune, living in Scotland, explains how Brexit—Great Britain’s exit from the European Union—has left farmers in the United Kingdom in a precarious place. Sinéad, the seed sovereignty program manager in the UK and Ireland for The Gaia Foundation, talks about her work in training farmers and community gardeners, reviving and spreading traditional seed knowledge held by community elders, and network building among groups doing seed sovereignty work. Plus, herbs!

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Episode 11: Ariana Taylor-Stanley

You asked, and we found your answer! Everyone is looking for funding for farm projects, and this episode’s guest explains the ins and outs of popular and less-known USDA and NRCS grant programs. Ariana Taylor-Stanley talks about her work with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and why that matters to each of us farming. She also discusses her small farm, Here We Are Farm, and so much more.

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Episode 10: Garth Kahl

What’s it like to go from knowing nothing about farming to traveling around the world as a consultant to farmers? In this episode, organic farmer and farm consultant Garth Kahl tells us how that path unfolded in his life, how he came to love working with livestock and why he still believes the USDA organic label is the best baseline standard for responsible farm production.

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Episode 9: Nate Kleinman

Farmer, seed developer and activist Nate Kleinman talks with Growing Good host Lisa Munniksma about his work in the food system and advice for growing some unusual perennial crops. Hear about Experimental Farm Network’s development of perennial staple crops to adapt to various growing conditions—and about how you as a citizen scientist farmer can take part in developing these seeds. Learn about seed rematriation and the work of relationship building behind that effort. And find out how th...

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Episode 8: Bonnetta Adeeb

This episode’s guest, Bonnetta Adeeb, calls herself “an extended mom” as the advisor for youth programs and farmer support programs. As the director of Steam Onward and the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, she fosters the idea that anything you want to do in life, you can do through agriculture. Hear about how the youth in these programs are empowered to brainstorm (that’s “brain barf”) and put into practice solutions to real-world problems and how one particular brain-barf se...

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Episode 7: Monica Clark

Hear from Dig This! radio show host and book author Monica Clark about her work to dispel the myths surrounding food access. Monica speaks honestly about her experience of job loss and homelessness in Seattle and how growing her own food in a community garden sustained her during this time. Listen to an excerpt from Monica’s book, “Mentor the Garden Mentor: A 12-Month Gardenin...

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Episode 6: Amy Dawson & Mike Costello

Listen in as farmer-chef-storytellers Amy Dawson and Mike Costello talk with host Lisa Munniksma about using food and farming to reverse the narratives we’ve all learned about stereotypes of Appalachia. Hear about Amy’s realization that she should look at the ham her family kept in her childhood home (on top of their laundry dryer) with the same pride afforded to world-renowned Iberico hams hanging in homes, restaurants and storefronts across Spain.

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Episode 5: Kenya Abraham

Show host Lisa Munniksma talks with SLAK Market Farm’s Kenya Abraham, who just happens to be Lisa’s raw milk herdshare owner in Lexington, Kentucky. Listen in to hear about the journey that took Kenya from urban entrepreneur in Ohio to farmer in Kentucky. Hear about her creative land lease and land sharing arrangements, the ins and outs of a raw milk and halal meat herdshare, how everyone in the family plays a role on the farm, and the community at the heart of the work Kenya does. Kenya ...

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Episode 4: Olga Tzogas

Show host Lisa Munniksma talks with Olga Tzogas, a forager, mushroom grower and educator in Rochester, New York. Olga’s Smugtown Mushrooms has provided mushroom-cultivation supplies and education since 2014. Hear about the foraging trips Olga leads in her family’s home country of Greece, learn of the downside to the current foraging craze, and get excited about the return of Olga’s passion projects, the New Moon Mycology Summit and The Mycelium Underground. And near the end of the podca...

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Episode 3: Maria Elena Rodriguez

Lisa Munniksma sits down with Maria Elena Rodriguez of Puerto Rico's Cosecha Caribe to talk about growing food in Puerto Rico's, her craft Caribbean-inspired artisanal food products, and the community-based food work she does with El Departamento de la Comida and DAISA Enterprises. And make sure you stick around to hear her secret for harvesting coconuts!

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Episode 2: Jessica Walliser

Lisa Munniksma sits down with horticulturalist Jessica Walliser to talk about growing plants, appreciating bugs, writing (and editing) about gardening and more. As a writer, editor and co-founder of Savvy Gardening, Walliser is a leading voice in modern gardening, and she shares with us the chilling tale that led her to organic-only growing methods in this episode of "Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good." Make sure you stick around to hear her favorite from-the-garden meal!

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Episode 1: Angela Wartes-Kahl

In our premiere episode of Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good, host Lisa Munniksma sits down for a chat with Angela Wartes-Kahl of Oregon's Common Treasury Farm. As the co-founder of Fibrevolution, Wartes-Kahl has plenty of insight into growing fiber crops on the farm, as well as plant fiber uses (did you know you carry around linen in your wallet?). And as an inspector member of the International Organic Inspectors Association, she sheds some light on what, exactly, is going on with organic ...

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