Will Harris is a 4th generation rancher who has adapted his land to a regenerative agriculture system. The switch occurred after Will had an epiphany about the inherent problems of the industrial system of cattle ranching. Today, he uses the wisdom of his great-grandfather, and the cycles of nature to raise some of the best cattle around. 

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Will Harris is a fourth-generation cattleman, who tends the same land that his great-grandfather settled in 1866. Born and raised at White Oak Pastures, Will left home to attend the University of Georgia's School of Agriculture, where he was trained in the industrial farming methods that had taken hold after World War II. Will graduated in 1976 and returned to Bluffton where he and his father continued to raise cattle using pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics. They also fed their herd a high-carbohydrate diet of corn and soy. In the mid-1990s Will became disenchanted with the excesses of these industrialized methods. They had created a monoculture for their cattle, and, as Will says, "nature abhors a monoculture." In 1995, Will made the audacious decision to return to the farming methods his great-grandfather had used 130 years before.

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As an exclusive for listeners, use code THEBEET for 5% off your entire order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.

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Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin’s book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live!

He also wrote Grow Bag Gardening to provide you with specialized knowledge that can bring you success when growing in fabric pots.

Preorder Kevin’s newest book Epic Homesteading if you are looking to turn...

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Why do animals make sounds, and what kinds of sounds do they make? David Mann, PhD has created Haikubox in conjunction with his colleagues at Loggerhead Instruments to study just that! In this full episode of the Beet Podcast, hear him in conversation with Jacques about animal sounds, and gardening with birds. 

Learn More: 25 Top Plants to Attract Birds to Your Yard

Connect With David Mann, PhD:

David Mann, PhD earned his doctorate from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution by studying domino damselfish sounds at a Pacific atoll, and he was a faculty member at the University of South Florida. More recently, he is the Founder of Loggerhead Instruments which developed Haikubox, a tool that measures bioacoustics – the sounds that animals make to communicate. This consumer product is designed to automatically identify birds using their sounds. These boxes collect millions of birdsong recordings stored in a massive community science database which will be used for scientific discovery.

Facebook 

Instagram 

Threads 

LinkedIn 

YouTube 

Love Epic Gardening products? Apply to the Epic Affiliate Program. 

Shop the Store

As an exclusive for listeners, use code THEBEET for 5% off your entire order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.

Get Our Books

Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin’s book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live!

He also wrote Grow Bag Gardening to provide you with specialized knowledge that can bring you success when growing in fabric pots.

Preorder Kevin’s newest book Epic...

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Your locale is the primary determiner of the kinds of birds you can attract to the garden. However, the population of birds changes from season to season. Sure, you’ll have resident birds, but you’ll also have seasonal and migrating birds. After you invite them in, take some time to listen and observe their behavior. You may get a better sense of the larger cycles birds are a part of.  

Learn More: 25 Top Plants to Attract Birds to Your Yard

Connect With David Mann, PhD:

David Mann, PhD earned his doctorate from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution by studying domino damselfish sounds at a Pacific atoll, and he was a faculty member at the University of South Florida. More recently, he is the Founder of Loggerhead Instruments which developed Haikubox, a tool that measures bioacoustics – the sounds that animals make to communicate. This consumer product is designed to automatically identify birds using their sounds. These boxes collect millions of birdsong recordings stored in a massive community science database which will be used for scientific discovery.

Facebook 

Instagram 

Threads 

LinkedIn 

YouTube 

Love Epic Gardening products? Apply to the Epic Affiliate Program. 

Shop the Store

As an exclusive for listeners, use code THEBEET for 5% off your entire order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.

Get Our Books

Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin’s book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live!

He also wrote Grow Bag Gardening to provide you with specialized knowledge that can bring you success when growing in fabric pots.

Preorder Kevin’s newest book 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are many ways to provide a place for birds in the garden. Native gardens provide birds with food and nesting materials, and give gardeners some respite as they let native plants do their thing without much intervention. Grow some berries, think of seasonal timings, avoid poisons and pesticides, and watch the feathers flock!

Learn More: 25 Top Plants to Attract Birds to Your Yard

Connect With David Mann, PhD:

David Mann, PhD earned his doctorate from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution by studying domino damselfish sounds at a Pacific atoll, and he was a faculty member at the University of South Florida. More recently, he is the Founder of Loggerhead Instruments which developed Haikubox, a tool that measures bioacoustics – the sounds that animals make to communicate. This consumer product is designed to automatically identify birds using their sounds. These boxes collect millions of birdsong recordings stored in a massive community science database which will be used for scientific discovery.

Facebook 

Instagram 

Threads 

LinkedIn 

YouTube 

Love Epic Gardening products? Apply to the Epic Affiliate Program. 

Shop the Store

As an exclusive for listeners, use code THEBEET for 5% off your entire order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.

Get Our Books

Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin’s book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live!

He also wrote Grow Bag Gardening to provide you with specialized knowledge that can bring you success when growing in fabric pots.

Preorder Kevin’s newest book 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Birds are excellent pest controllers for gardens. Chickadees, for instance, feed their chicks caterpillars every 3 minutes. That’s hundreds of caterpillars per day, some of which may have been feeding on your favorite brassica plants. Larger birds of prey manage rodent populations as well. Each bird has its own role to play in your garden.  

Learn More: 25 Top Plants to Attract Birds to Your Yard

Connect With David Mann, PhD:

David Mann, PhD earned his doctorate from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution by studying domino damselfish sounds at a Pacific atoll, and he was a faculty member at the University of South Florida. More recently, he is the Founder of Loggerhead Instruments which developed Haikubox, a tool that measures bioacoustics – the sounds that animals make to communicate. This consumer product is designed to automatically identify birds using their sounds. These boxes collect millions of birdsong recordings stored in a massive community science database which will be used for scientific discovery.

Facebook 

Instagram 

Threads 

LinkedIn 

YouTube 

Love Epic Gardening products? Apply to the Epic Affiliate Program. 

Shop the Store

As an exclusive for listeners, use code THEBEET for 5% off your entire order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.

Get Our Books

Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin’s book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live!

He also wrote Grow Bag Gardening to provide you with specialized knowledge that can bring you success when growing in fabric pots.

Preorder Kevin’s newest book 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The ways animals make sounds may surprise you! Unlike humans, vocalizations aren’t always localized in the mouth. These may emit from muscles inside their bodies. Different sounds have different purposes too, and upon observing you may find there are many sounds you weren’t aware of before. 

Learn More: 25 Top Plants to Attract Birds to Your Yard

Connect With David Mann, PhD:

David Mann, PhD earned his doctorate from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution by studying domino damselfish sounds at a Pacific atoll, and he was a faculty member at the University of South Florida. More recently, he is the Founder of Loggerhead Instruments which developed Haikubox, a tool that measures bioacoustics – the sounds that animals make to communicate. This consumer product is designed to automatically identify birds using their sounds. These boxes collect millions of birdsong recordings stored in a massive community science database which will be used for scientific discovery.

Facebook 

Instagram 

Threads 

LinkedIn 

YouTube 

Love Epic Gardening products? Apply to the Epic Affiliate Program. 

Shop the Store

As an exclusive for listeners, use code THEBEET for 5% off your entire order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.

Get Our Books

Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin’s book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live!

He also wrote Grow Bag Gardening to provide you with specialized knowledge that can bring you success when growing in fabric pots.

Preorder Kevin’s newest book Epic Homesteading if you are looking to...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David Mann, PhD invented the Haikubox with his colleagues at Loggerhead Instruments in order to learn more about animal behavior. The way they do this is by collecting bioacoustics, or the sounds produced by living organisms. This information has given researchers a better understanding of the species in an area, and their movements within the ecosystem.

Learn More: 25 Top Plants to Attract Birds to Your Yard

Connect With David Mann, PhD:

David Mann, PhD earned his doctorate from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution by studying domino damselfish sounds at a Pacific atoll, and he was a faculty member at the University of South Florida. More recently, he is the Founder of Loggerhead Instruments which developed Haikubox, a tool that measures bioacoustics – the sounds that animals make to communicate. This consumer product is designed to automatically identify birds using their sounds. These boxes collect millions of birdsong recordings stored in a massive community science database which will be used for scientific discovery.

Facebook 

Instagram 

Threads 

LinkedIn 

YouTube 

Love Epic Gardening products? Apply to the Epic Affiliate Program. 

Shop the Store

As an exclusive for listeners, use code THEBEET for 5% off your entire order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.

Get Our Books

Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin’s book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live!

He also wrote Grow Bag Gardening to provide you with specialized knowledge that can bring you success when growing in fabric pots.

Preorder Kevin’s newest book 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Merlin Tuttle, Founder of Bat Conservation International is here to educate us about bats in this full episode of the Beet Podcast. He and Kevin discuss how bats are an important aspect of agriculture, pest control, and ecosystems in general. They even discuss how to attract bats to your garden!

Learn More: 9 Ways To Attract Bats To Your Garden

Connect With Merlin Tuttle:

Dr. Merlin Tuttle is widely recognized as the father of modern bat conservation; he is an ecologist, wildlife photographer, and conservationist who has studied bats and championed their preservation for over 60 years; widely recognized as the father of modern bat conservation. He's the founder of Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation, home to his legacy and devoted to research, education and the conservation of bats, where he is currently and solely active. Through MTBC he provides the world's finest bat photo gallery, the most up-to-date responses to exaggerated disease speculation, and it is the only place to access his more than 60 years of unique experience or support his continuing efforts.

Joined by Teresa Nichta ("nikta"), Outreach and Collection Manager at Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation. Teresa manages Merlin’s extensive photographic collection as well as social media, video production, field planning, development, correspondence and all things in between.

Love Epic Gardening products? Apply to the Epic Affiliate Program. 

Shop the Store

As an exclusive for listeners, use code THEBEET for 5% off your entire order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.

Get Our Books

Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin’s book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live!

He also wrote Grow Bag...

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may have heard that bats drink blood, carry diseases, and get caught in human hair, but the truth is much more interesting!

Learn More: 9 Ways To Attract Bats To Your Garden

Connect With Merlin Tuttle:

Dr. Merlin Tuttle is widely recognized as the father of modern bat conservation; he is an ecologist, wildlife photographer, and conservationist who has studied bats and championed their preservation for over 60 years; widely recognized as the father of modern bat conservation. He's the founder of Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation, home to his legacy and devoted to research, education and the conservation of bats, where he is currently and solely active. Through MTBC he provides the world's finest bat photo gallery, the most up-to-date responses to exaggerated disease speculation, and it is the only place to access his more than 60 years of unique experience or support his continuing efforts.

Joined by Teresa Nichta ("nikta"), Outreach and Collection Manager at Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation. Teresa manages Merlin’s extensive photographic collection as well as social media, video production, field planning, development, correspondence and all things in between.

Love Epic Gardening products? Apply to the Epic Affiliate Program. 

Shop the Store

As an exclusive for listeners, use code THEBEET for 5% off your entire order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.

Get Our Books

Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin’s book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live!

He also wrote Grow Bag Gardening to provide you with specialized knowledge that can bring you success when growing in fabric pots.

Preorder Kevin’s newest book 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Believe it or not, bats are pollinators who transfer pollen from plant to plant, feeding on flower nectar. You can include certain plants in your garden to attract them. 

Learn More: 9 Ways To Attract Bats To Your Garden

Connect With Merlin Tuttle:

Dr. Merlin Tuttle is widely recognized as the father of modern bat conservation; he is an ecologist, wildlife photographer, and conservationist who has studied bats and championed their preservation for over 60 years; widely recognized as the father of modern bat conservation. He's the founder of Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation, home to his legacy and devoted to research, education and the conservation of bats, where he is currently and solely active. Through MTBC he provides the world's finest bat photo gallery, the most up-to-date responses to exaggerated disease speculation, and it is the only place to access his more than 60 years of unique experience or support his continuing efforts.

Joined by Teresa Nichta ("nikta"), Outreach and Collection Manager at Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation. Teresa manages Merlin’s extensive photographic collection as well as social media, video production, field planning, development, correspondence and all things in between.

Love Epic Gardening products? Apply to the Epic Affiliate Program. 

Shop the Store

As an exclusive for listeners, use code THEBEET for 5% off your entire order on our store, featuring our flagship Birdies Raised Beds. These are the original metal raised beds, lasting up to 5-10x longer than wooden beds, are ethically made in Australia, and have a customizable modular design.

Get Our Books

Looking for a beginner's guide to growing food in small spaces? Kevin’s book, Field Guide to Urban Gardening, explains the core, essential information that you'll need to grow plants, no matter where you live!

He also wrote Grow Bag Gardening to provide you with specialized knowledge that can bring you success when growing in fabric pots.

Preorder Kevin’s newest book 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices