Podcast

Water.

How we divert rivers, tap lakes, draw down aquifers, and taint our groundwater affects us all because water is a shared commodity. It’s fragile and it’s powerful. The questions, proposals and debates over how to use and protect our watersheds will grow – and grow quickly – in the near future.

Are there shared experiences, memories, and values that can help us enter into healthy conversation about this very hot topic? Yes, and one of them is Anna Metcalfe’s Upstream Tea project.

Upstream Tea cup

For the past two years, Anna has encouraged groups large and small — academic and practical, city and rural — to share personal experiences about water — oceans, streams, lakes, creeks, rain, flood, drought, etc. And it’s all done while sipping tea served in handcrafted cups inked with memories, values, hopes and fears about our shared water resources, our water sheds.

Anna continues looking for groups of individuals to share their stories and ideas. If you’re interested, contact her through her website. I hope you enjoy this Deep Roots Radio chat about Upstream Tea.

Sylvia

Dessa’s Time & Distance bourbon

Together, they collaborated on Time & Distance, a certified organic bourbon that’s as smooth as silk.

Sylvia

So good in grilled cheese

I admit it, I love kimchi with my huevos rancheros and sauerkraut in my grilled cheese sandwiches. I often make these fermented veggies myself, but when I run out, I turn to the raw deliciousness from Angelica’s Garden.

In this Deep Roots Radio conversation, Angelica – herself – describes the journey into the business of creating and selling raw kimchi, sauerkraut and kvass into the natural food coops of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, as well nearby Wisconsin. She keeps it local – and raw – to keep nutrition and flavor high.

I hope you enjoy the interview.

Sylvia

My Siggy is a Corgi, a herding dog. We practice rotation grazing on our farm because our commitment is to 100% grass-fed beef. Our practice is to move cattle slowly and calmly from pasture to pasture. No loud noises or running allowed! How do I train Siggy to work more gently with my BueLingo cattle?

In this second Deep Roots Radio installment, Denice Rakley, of Clearfield Stockdogs, describes how she trains herding dogs to bring out the special traits of their distinct breeds. She also stresses the importance of knowing the proven behaviors of the dog’s immediate parentage.

In Part 3, Denice will explain what to look for when acquiring your first stock dog or puppy.

I hope you enjoy this interview.

Sylvia

Border collie at work!

The American Kennel Club recognizes 18 breeds of herding dog. There are dozens more, however, used throughout the world. These dogs help move flocks of sheep, cattle, and even geese. My Siggy, a Welsh Corgi, needs lots of training, but even now, his instincts help by keeping cattle at a distance so that I can move hay or tend to a calf. He’s part of our sustainable farming effort!

Herding dogs are divided up into three general categories, and Siggy is a driver, nipping at heals to get the cattle moving. The border collie is an example of a gatherer, rounding up flocks of sheep and moving them through gates. And still others, like German Shepherds, act like living, moving fences making sure their livestock charges stay within certain pastures and out of crop land. We’ll chat more about the differences among the breeds in Part 2 of this series.

Part 3 will focus on the key attributes to consider when purchasing your first herding dog or puppy.

You can enjoy dozens of Deep Roots Radio podcasts by listening online or downloading from this website or iTunes. Deep Roots Radio is broadcast and streamed live from the studios of WPCA Radio, 93.1FM (in and around Amery, WI) and via the Internet at www.wpcaradio.org.

Enjoy!

In this Deep Roots Radio interviewed, Jessica “Turtle” Manderfeld describes the pictures and skills displayed by 3rd, 4th and 5th graders excited by the insects, animals and birds of their native Wisconsin. The exhibit, which runs until the end of April, is sponsored by the Farm Table Foundation in partnership with the Amery School District’s Amery Inquiring Minds program, the Natural Heritage Project, and the local Power Up 4 Kids effort. The young artists used this project to develop their research skills, work in teams to create their art works, and then learn how to describe their work to a small jury, and well as to all the adults who attended the exhibit’s opening night reception at the Farm Table Foundation.

I hope you’ll enjoy the interview, and urge you to visit the exhibit. I’m really glad about this collaboration to connect activities and values that make learning fun.

Sylvia

You’re invited to savor the dozens of sweet and savory foods featured at the 5th Annual Dandelion Honey Pastry Chef Challenge, and event created to train a spotlight on the critical role bees and other pollinators play in American agriculture. (Details)

Unfortunately, honey bees, along with the more than 400 native Minnesota bee species and many types of flies, are suffering shrinking numbers due to pesticides and herbicides used on farms and gardens, disappearing habitat, and disease. Without them, dozens and dozens of food crops wouldn’t be pollinated, and we couldn’t enjoy almonds and other nuts, apples and pears, watermelon and squash, strawberries, cotton and tomatoes, just to name a few.

I hope you’ll enjoy this Deep Roots Radio conversation with Kristy Allen, founder/CEO of Beez Kneez Delivery LLC, the Minneapolis-based organization that created and runs this event, and offers beekeeping classes, equipment and local honey.

See you on March 28th!

Our BueLingo cattle grazing lush pastures

In this Deep Roots Radio interview, Josh Wise, Development and Communications Director for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, outlines how international policies, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) affect a family farm’s ability to compete in the local marketplace, and how this shows up in your grocery bill.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and with offices Washington, D.C., IATP was founded during the farm crises of the mid-1980s. The organization works at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems. It is committed to advancing policy solutions—locally and globally—to some of the world’s most complex problems in order to promote resilient food, farm and trade systems, and the agriculture and trade policies that benefit farmers, ecosystems, and social justice.

Prior to joining IATP, Josh was the Executive Director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, and most recently the Executive Director of One Voice Mixed Chorus. While with MNFTC, Josh led the organizing and lobbying effort in the Midwest to oppose the fast track for TPP and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

I hope you enjoy this interview.

Uniform grasses, manicured farms, absolutely clean fence rows, monocultures as far as the eye can see, bare ground, all-hybrid plantings – these artificial landscapes are robbing us at least twice. Once, because they don’t supply bees and other pollinators with the food and shelter they need. And again because without pollinators, we humans won’t have the diversity of fruits and vegetables we need for our food supply.

So, what to do?

In this Deep Roots Radio interview, Erin Rupp, founder and executive director of Pollinate MN shares observations about the population declines of bees and other pollinators, and why this matters to us – gardeners, farmers and food lovers. She also describes the types of plantings and habitats needed to encourage pollinator growth and health.

I hope you enjoy the interview.

Sylvia

The average age of the American farmer is nearly 60. An entire generation of growers – of commodities, specialty crops, dairy, and livestock – are staring retirement in the face and the transition is often a tough one for many reasons. Not only does the older farmer confront the end of a loved career, but perhaps a dislocation from the land he or she has lived on for decades, or an entire lifetime.