Sustainable Dish Podcast

This pandemic has highlighted many weaknesses in our global food system, including food shortages and the need for more resilient, local food systems. For one artisanal cheese maker in the North East, however, these problems created a perfect opportunity to demonstrate how local food can solve pandemic-related food supply problems.

In today’s podcast, we speak with Pete Messmer, Head Cheesemaker at Lively Run Dairy in Interlaken, NY, about how Coronavirus has affected his business. The farm processes milk from roughly 600 goats from around the area into a variety of artisanal cheeses that it supplies to local restaurants as well as producing cow’s milk cheese.

The regenerative agriculture movement advocates for new ways to raise crops and livestock but what about the supply chain? In this episode of Sustainable Dish, we chat with Sam Garwin, a regenerative food business consultant whose role in the food system reaches far beyond consulting.

Take a listen to learn more about Garwin’s personal journey from vegetarianism and software sales to her life now as a meat-eater and butcher, working with big food companies, and a little daydreaming about what our ideal regenerative food system would look like.

Regenerative ranching is a balance between agriculture and nature, using mindful restoration methods and making space for the wild.

In the latest podcast, Lauren speaks with Doniga Markegard, a wildlife tracker, regenerative rancher at Markegard Family Grassfed and author of Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild and Wolf Girl: Finding Myself in the Wild.

They discuss how to retain, protect, and restore the wild spaces around them while nurturing the "wildness" that's innate within each of us and the habitats we influence.

In this episode, we talk to Jamie Ager of Hickory Nut Gap Farms outside of Asheville, North Carolina.

Jamie and his team at Hickory Nut Gap have created many of their own supply chain systems to keep their farm running, growing, and accessible to their community. We dive into how regenerative agriculture goes beyond regenerating soil and our climate and regenerates consumers' connection to their food, educates them to the costs of food production, the challenges farmers face and how they can be a part of the process for supporting better meat.

If you're a farmer looking to diversify your profits and connect with your customers or if you're a customer interested in the inner-workings of a regenerative farm, this episode is for you!

Learn more about Hickory Nut Gap here, and be sure to listen to our other episodes here.

In honor of Women’s History Month, our next podcast features Kate Estrade of Local Cooling Farms. In this episode, we discuss modern farming, the improvements on her soil's and animal's health as she's adopted rotational grazing and regenerative agriculture, farming with her husband, and the fulfillment she feels as a 1st generation "Farm-Her."

If you are interested in farming or starting your own homestead, listen to this episode! It may be just the inspiration you need to take the leap and become involved in your own food production!

Be sure to download this episode and let us know your favorite takeaways on social!

Know of a good resource for female farmers? Let us know by sending a note to [email protected]

In honor of Women’s History Month, our next podcast features Audra Mulkern, founder of The Female Farmer Project and forthcoming documentary film project Women’s Work: The Untold Story of America’s Female Farmers. Mulkern also hosts a podcast dedicated to featuring female farmers and providing a way for them to share their stories, struggles, and successes.

Be sure to give it a listen and let us know your key takeaways!

Our next podcast guest shines a light on black farmers in celebration of black history month. Justin Butts may be young, but he’s already accomplished an impressive resume. He’s served in the armed forces, studied at the Culinary Institute of America, and launched his own soap business, Butts Brothers, sourcing lard from the Kune Kune pigs that he raises. 

In his newest gig as livestock coordinator for Soul Fire Farm, Justin is working diligently to help the community learn more about livestock production, eating meat, and the joys of nose-to-tail dining. This work constitutes the culmination of so many skills and interests that he’s touched on throughout his career including juggling multiple projects, a passion for delicious food, and reconnecting people with the food that they eat. He also shares his experiences as a black farmer and offers advice for other people of color who are interested in getting involved in food system work through farming or other avenues.

This episode was a joy to record! Be sure to give it a listen and check out the work of Justin and Soul Fire Farm!

On this episode of the Sustainable Dish Podcast, I speak with Frank Mitloehner, a specialist in livestock air quality at UC Davis.

Learn more about him in my film, Sacred Cow.

This episode is sponsored by FOND Bone Broth, one of my favorite “better broth” companies. Their broths and elixirs are not only well-sourced, but they are delicious. Visit their website here and enter the code SUSTAINABLEDISH for 20% off your first order.

On this episode of the Sustainable Dish Podcast, I speak with Dr. Allen Williams a healthy soil consultant and rancher at Joyce Farms.