Souder Station Farm Podcast

We're sitting down and chatting with my friend Ben Nelson of Calkins Farm in Hampden Maine. Calkins farm has been in Hampden Maine for over 100 years. Ben is the fourth generation of farmers continuing in his family's footsteps and we sit down to talk about the farm, changes over time, agriculture, and life. You can reach Ben at Calkins Farm at 207-862-3246.

Timestamps of our Topics: 00:00 Welcome to Calkins Farm 01:57 John Calkins, Ben's uncle, was born, raised, and died on the same farm his whole life 02:44 Trolley Lines down Main street. Ben's Grandfather driving his teachers to school when he was 13 05:42 Growing crops and growing for yourself first 10:45 Crops other than veggies? Livestock and the laying hens of the 70's 11:45 Egg Vending machine 13:45 Apples and the Orchard 16:11 The grocery store has twisted our perception of production and quality 22:53 Moving forward with greenhouses, seedlings, and flowers 25:25 How did Ben Nelson get started farming 30:00 Haying and loss of farmland 32:59 Future Plans 34:48 Covid and the changing markets 40:50 Tom Roberts of Snakeroot Organic Farm. "Pace of Life" a short film by Scott Julien. Pace of Life on Vimeo 41:28 Farm Life 43:55 Wreaths 44:43 Future of small farms, covid, climate, and sprawl 52:13 Finding happiness and purpose and paying the bills as a small farm 54:46 Modern technology: Spray paint 56:46 The seed industry 1:00:27 Outsourcing seed production to other countries with cheap labor 1:09:53 Encouraging folks to be more connected to the source of their food 1:10:44 Getting kids in the soil! 1:20:00 Reaching out to Ben at Calkins Farm. 207-862-3246 Calkins Farm Stand | Hampden ME | Facebook Timestamps are included both for ease of finding topics you're interested in, and to make it easy to return if you can't finish the video in one sitting.

We visited Eliot at his farm, Meadowsweet Farm in Swanville Maine to check the place out and talk farming. Eliot has been interviewed previously, but we wanted to get together again and try and show some of his farm to everyone and catch up on things. We ramble a little bit, but the conversation we had was a good mix of topics.

In this episode I had some time with my friend Eliot of Meadsweet Farm in Swanville Maine to sit down and talk casually about farming, sheep, worms, grass, and agricutlure in general.

Jaime from 7 Stands Farm in North Carolina is joining us today. While on vacation we were able to link up and talk farming. After an entire morning talking we finally sat down to record. The conversation was meant to be more focused on pigs, but quickly I got distracted and began asking about bees. It was a great conversation filled with information on bee keeping, goats, and pigs. Not necessarily in that clean of an order :)

This week we're discussing a few thoughts around gene therapies, genetic engineering, GMO's, Vaccines, Organic agriculture, farming, and societies relationships and acceptance of emerging technologies in our lives. Whether we want it or not.

In this issue we're coming back from a long break away from the mic. There's been a lot going on around the farm, but recently we had a big issue with the State of Maine threatening to destroy our perfectly good smoked products on account of mislabeling issue. Listen to hear more. Originally recorded in conjunction for youtube, so apologies on the sound.

We recently had some issue with the farm newsletter. This is just a real quick overview of instructions on how to go and get signed back up if you missed it elsewhere.

Then, we dig into some states of the farm and thoughts on breeding pigs and getting piglets on to the farm this coming season 2019.

On todays show we are answering questions form local Pre-K kids about what it's like being a farmer. They share with me what they know, and then have a bunch of questions. This episode is really geared for the parents who want to listen to what they learned in class. You can listen to this while your driving and dig deeper into farming and animals together.

SSF Podcast Episode 003: Pigs, Mud, Bedding, Pastures, and Common Misconceptions. In this episode we're looking at why and when pigs need mud. Spoiler: it's way less than you think. Long term antiquated notions of pigs wallow in muck all the live long day are toxic to promoting Happy, Healthy, and Strong animals. Especially when placed within a pasture based system. Listen in as pigs and mud are the main topics today.