“I think our approach is: making it better–improving the land every time we have a chance. 

We are benefited by the sweetness of the maple, right? So, that’s a source of sweetness for us and for the people to come after us. And hopefully the pawpaws will be. One of these days, somebody can enjoy that fruit. Yeah.” 

This week on the show we explore what it can look like to have a vision for your land that extends beyond yourself and even your family. We speak with Larry Gillen and Helen Vasquez about their decision to gift their farm to a tribal college. 

And Josephine McRobbie visits with a Regenerative Farmer building soil in the sandhills of North Carolina with the help of some four-legged(and winged) “teammates.” 

“...Call them tamale pancakes, stuffed

of a quesadilla y calzone…”

This week on the show, we’re celebrating 15 years of Earth Eats with favorite stories reaching back to 2018. We visit a midwest chocolate factory crafting world-class chocolate and a poet making pupusas in his kitchen. We talk with Suzanne Babb, an urban farmer with La Finca del Sur in South Bronx and hear about how home canning is making a comeback (that last one is from Harvest Public Media, and it’s new!) 

 “For me it feels like we live in an age where you look on the news and it just feels like everything is going wrong. And so gardening feels like a small way we can have an actual, tangible, positive impact on the world around us. In a world where it’s easy to feel like everything is just falling apart, it’s a small way to actually see progress.”

“Society has gotten so far disconnected from where their food comes from, that if we can begin with the students, start with children, teaching them how to grow food, they will be much more interested in where their food comes from as they get older. I think that’s a very important part of the process”

This week on the show, we talk with Kendall Slaughter, he’s the farm-to-school coordinator for Springfield Public Schools in Southern Missouri. We’ll tour an elementary school designed as a sundial, meet the bunnies and the chickens and hear about how the school system is building a sustainable school garden program and moving towards local food sourcing in school lunches.

“When you think of literacy and you think of what does that mean and what are all the parts of it– think about reading a recipe. Think about measuring the ingredients. Think about learning how to cook.  Think about planning a meal, or budgeting for that meal.There are so many things that are learning-through-play, learning-through-doing-it, in a teaching kitchen. That’s the reason  why we call it a teaching kitchen. It really is about learning literacy as well as some skills that are very specific to cooking.”

This week on the show, conversations with an architect, a library director and the head of a food pantry about how a teaching kitchen found its way into a public library and what it means for the community.

“Double zero refers to the fineness of the grind–so it’s super fine because of that designation, which also helps make it be as smooth and glutenous as possible in the final dough. I buy it in these 55 pound bags through a restaurant store and I just have it shipped to me.”

This week on the show we talk with Pete Giordano about what it takes to make the perfect, Neapolitan-style pizza at home.

And we learn how to make persimmon pudding using a recipe from Clara Kinsey.

“I love cookies. They’re hands-on, there’s a lot of technique involved in them,  they’re really fun and easy to do with kids,  they bake quickly,they’re perfect for gift giving any time of year, and they’re great.”

Holidays and baking go hand in hand. Join us for a collection of favorite wintery stories for the holiday season with Earth Eats. 

We drop in on a cookie baking workshop with kids at a food pantry, we enjoy a hot cup of coffee on a chilly bike ride, and we toast up a batch of maple granola for holiday gift giving. 

All that, plus CHESTNUTS on the Earth Eats Holiday Special.

“And that’s why we call it a food value chain.You know, it’s a supply chain but it’s based on the values that you have as far as how the land is treated, how people are treated, what kind of nutrition contents in your food–all those things [that] people up and down–from the farmer to the consumer have an interest in. And so, this system that we’re developing is about addressing those values and making sure they happen.”

This week on the show, an uplifting conversation about organizations and coalitions working together for stronger rural economies and robust local food systems. We talk about micro lending, food hubs, farm-to-school programs and more. 

This week on the show, producer Toby Foster visits with one of the owners of Tacotarian in Los Vegas. They talk about the vision behind this vegan taco spot and explore the possibilities of both fake meats and vegetable-forward options. 

Plus, East Coast style bagels come to Indiana, and a story from Harvest Public Media about a new farm to food bank program.

“And so I really love to be able to see how other BIPOC farmers in the community are doing good with the land.”

This week on the show, we talk with recipients of a fellowship that brings BIPOC farmers together to build community in Monroe County, Indiana. The farmers also receive funding for farm projects. We talk about what the fellowship has meant for the three farmers and how they will put the funds to use enhancing the local food system