The Regenaissance Podcast

I speak again with Ashley Armstrong about farming, food freedom and rebuilding our food system.

We cover farm burnout, food labels, chicken feed and Michigan’s food freedom bill. Ashley shares how pasture and animal care shape food quality, and how Nourish Food Club connects farmers with families.

Thanks for listening.

What we cover:

• Farm burnout and better systems

• Food labels and online misinformation

• Pasture-raised chickens and their feed

• Michigan’s food freedom bill and raw milk

• Pasture, food quality and animal care

• Farmer cooperation and direct sales

Timestamps:

00:00 – Ashley returns

06:26 – Farm burnout and better systems

23:43 – Food labels and greenwashing

26:28 – Farming myths and chicken feed

41:16 – Michigan’s food freedom bill

55:51 – Reconnecting with food and farmers

01:00:04 – Pasture, phytonutrients and flavour

01:05:19 – Farmer cooperation and animal care

01:10:10 – Making farm-fresh food convenient

01:15:22 – Customer stories and food experiences

Links & resources mentioned:

Nourish Food Club — https://nourishfoodclub.com/

Angel Acres Egg Club — https://nourishfoodclub.com/pages/angel-acres-eggs

Strong Sistas — https://www.armstrongsisters.com/

Gunthorp Farms — https://gunthorpfarms.com/

Red Acre Center — https://www.redacrecenter.org/

Dr. Stephan van Vliet’s nutrient-density research — https://stephanvanvliet.com/nutrient-testing/

I speak with Courtney Feigl of Green Pastures Cattle Co. about her family’s Texas Longhorn farm in Wisconsin, a proposed 765 kV transmission line raising questions for local landowners, and the community work she has helped build through Ranch and Root.

Courtney shares how she and her husband started their Longhorn herd in 2019 and how she moved from healthcare into farming, running a local farmers’ co-op and podcasting. We also talk about local food, direct-to-community beef, and why sharing farmers’ stories can help people understand agriculture.

The conversation returns to landowner outreach around the proposed line, Courtney’s reasons for choosing Texas Longhorns, building Ranch and Root during a period of beef surplus, marketing with an authentic voice, raising children around farming, and finding ways for people with different views to listen to one another.

Thanks for listening.

What we cover:

• The proposed 765 kV line and local organizing

• Raising Texas Longhorns in Wisconsin

• Leaving healthcare for farm life

• Building the Ranch and Root co-op

• Authentic marketing and farmer stories

• Raising children on the farm

Timestamps:

00:03 – The proposed power line

08:41 – Community organizing

11:21 – Green Pastures beginnings

17:02 – From healthcare to farming

19:48 – Telling farmers’ stories

22:33 – Why Texas Longhorns?

25:57 – Ranch and Root co-op

28:38 – Marketing and starting small

32:12 – Authenticity online

35:30 – Family farm life

Links & resources mentioned:

Green Pastures Cattle Co. — https://www.greenpasturescattleco.com/

Courtney on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/greenpasturescattle/

No 765 Line — https://no765line.org/

Ranch and Root Farmers’ Co-op — https://www.facebook.com/p/Ranch-and-Root-Sauk-61560544507312/

Ag’s Most Okayest Farm Girls — https://open.spotify.com/show/6gK7PVhq2WX7vl2GA073SH

I speak with Kelsey Beck Fernandez about moving from restaurant and wine work into homesteading in Southern California, and how raising a family on one acre changed his view of self-sufficiency.

We talk about why communal sufficiency lasts longer than going it alone, building a local network, scaling back before burnout, whole-animal butchery, preserving food, and bringing family and community together around shared meals and work.

Kelsey Beck Fernandez is a husband, father, homesteader, and founder of Tenfold Tallow in Southern California. On his one-acre family homestead, Kelsey and his family raise pigs, chickens, rabbits, and ducks while pursuing a more resilient way of life centered on traditional food, whole-animal use, soil regeneration, and learning to produce more of what their family consumes.

Tenfold Tallow grew naturally out of that lifestyle. What began as rendering animal fats from the animals they raised eventually became a skincare company built around simple, traditional ingredients, including regenerative suet tallow, pastured pork lard, and raw beeswax. The original products were created for Kelsey’s wife and their babies, and the brand continues to reflect his belief that agriculture, food, family, and personal care don’t have to exist as separate systems.

Through his homestead, Tenfold, and his online content, Kelsey documents the process of rediscovering practical skills, using the whole animal, working toward closed-loop systems, and creating a family economy more connected to the land.

Thanks for listening.

What we cover:
- From restaurant work and wine to homesteading
- Food, family and the search for a more resilient local food supply
- A one-acre family homestead with pigs, chickens, ducks and rabbits
- Self-sufficiency versus communal sufficiency
- Balancing farm work, a full-time job and family life
- Whole-animal use, food preservation and consumer expectations
- Ducks, shared meals and community ties

Timestamps:
00:16 – From wine to homesteading
03:08 – Food and family during the pandemic
05:32 – First pigs and a one-acre homestead
06:44 – From self-sufficiency to communal sufficiency
22:57 – Burnout, family and scaling back
24:19 – Whole-animal use and preserving food
39:22 – Why food is expected to taste the same
49:02 – Consumers and the food system
53:46 – Cooking and sharing what you raise
59:12 – Adding ducks to the homestead
1:02:13 – Focus, limits and farm plans
1:12:18 – Faith, family and homesteading

Links & resources mentioned:
Kelsey Beck Fernandez on Instagram
Tenfold Tallow

I speak with Jade Koyle of Grand Teton Ancient Grains about ancient wheat, regenerative farming, the economics of growing food, and why so many people are trying to understand what has changed about modern bread.

Jade is a sixth-generation farmer who runs Grand Teton Ancient Grains in eastern Idaho, where his family grows, mills and sells ancient grains including einkorn, spelt, emmer and khorasan, alongside other grains grown through regenerative organic practices.

We get into what makes a grain “ancient,” how the modern seed and commodity system evolved, and why Jade has invested in cleaning, storing and preserving his own seed. We also talk about farm subsidies, insurance, land prices, leasing farmland and why finding a viable business model matters more than simply owning acreage. From there, Jade explains how Grand Teton approaches crop rotations, companion crops, soil fertility and profitability, along with the reality of weather, pests, diesel costs and losing crops.

Towards the end, we get into modern bread and wheat more directly: glyphosate, grain storage, milling, the removal of bran and germ, fortification, preservatives and why Jade prefers whole-grain, fresh-milled bread.

What we cover:

• Ancient grains, einkorn, spelt, emmer and khorasan
• Seed saving, subsidies and how modern grain farming became centralized
• Land prices, leasing farmland and the economics of starting a farm
• Regenerative grain farming, crop rotations, soil health and profitability
• Modern bread, milling, additives, glyphosate and whole-grain flour

Timestamps:

Links:

Grand Teton Ancient Grains — Website
About the farm — About Grand Teton Ancient Grains
Shop grains and flour — Shop
YouTube — Grand Teton Ancient Grains YouTube
Farm story — How Grand Teton Ancient Grains Began
Jade's X - X handle

Resources mentioned:

• Grand Teton Ancient Grains — farm, grains and shop ancientgrains.com
• Grand Teton Ancient Grains — grain guide — einkorn, emmer, spelt, khorasan and other grains Ancient Grains Guide
• USDA FSA Beginning Farmer & Rancher Loans — the type of farm ownership financing Jade mentions for newer farmers Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Loans
• USDA FSA Farm Ownership Loans — land purchase, development and down-payment programs Farm Ownership Loans
• USDA Whole-Farm Revenue Protection — the farm-wide revenue insurance Jade discusses as an alternative when individual ancient-grain crops are harder to insure Whole-Farm Revenue Protection

I chat with Chaz Self of Grassway Organics about his fight to keep selling raw milk in Wisconsin, the decline of small dairy farms, and what the future of farming might look like amid consolidation, regulation and new technology.

Chaz is a first-generation dairy farmer who runs Grassway Organics with his wife in East Troy, Wisconsin, managing roughly 640 acres and milking around 50 cows in a grass-based, seasonal dairy system.

A lot has changed since Chaz was last on the show. Grassway is now in an ongoing dispute with Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection over how the farm sells raw milk, with Chaz preparing for a legal fight that he believes could become extremely expensive. We get into how his ownership model works, why he believes the farm has operated legally, and why he has decided to keep pushing rather than step away. 

We also look at what has happened to Wisconsin dairy more broadly: fewer farms producing more milk, increasing consolidation, overproduction, subsidies and whether relatively simple changes like putting more young cattle back onto pasture could begin moving the system in another direction. We talk about Farm Bureau, social media and the growing political divide around food, before getting into the future of agricultural technology. 

Thanks for listening. 

What we cover:

• Grassway Organics’ raw milk fight with Wisconsin
• The decline and consolidation of Wisconsin dairy
• Subsidies, grazing and possible paths forward
• Farm Bureau, social media and polarization around food
• AI, farm technology and what farming is actually for

Timestamps:

00:00 – Catching up with Chaz Self
02:01 – The raw milk fight in Wisconsin
10:07 – The cost of fighting regulation
19:48 – Lobbying for raw milk
26:28 – What happened to Wisconsin dairy?
29:23 – Could grazing help fix dairy?
34:31 – Does Farm Bureau represent farmers?
37:28 – Social media, politics and agriculture
44:52 – Rebuilding community around farms
53:41 – AI and technology on the farm
57:58 – Agricultural data and automation
1:01:29 – What is farming actually for?

Links & resources mentioned:
 
Website
Instagram
Facebook
Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI) — rawmilkinstitute.org

Mark McAfee / RAWMI team — RAWMI team page

Vernon Hershberger raw milk case — Wisconsin Court of Appeals case

Green Lake Association / John Strauser — Green Lake Association team

Joel Salatin / Polyface Farm — Polyface Farm

Wisconsin DATCP — Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection

Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation — Wisconsin Farm Bureau

Wisconsin Farm Bureau policy page — Farm Bureau agricultural policy

I chat with Mark Ellison of Grandad Farms in Emmett, Idaho, about how a health-driven search for better food eventually led him to start raising his own chickens, pigs and laying hens.

Mark started with a borrowed patch of ground and a few hundred meat chickens. Today, Grandad Farms is raising animals on pasture, developing corn-and-soy-free feed, working toward organic certification and trying to build a farm to guide people to know exactly how their food was raised. 

We get into the economics behind his roughly $35 chickens and why comparing that directly with a $5 Costco rotisserie chicken misses a lot of what goes into each system. Mark explains his argument around subsidized corn and soy, labor costs and why he is willing to raise a slower-growing, more expensive bird.

We also talk about why he moved away from Cornish Cross chickens toward Freedom Rangers, what organic certification does and doesn’t tell you about how an animal was raised, the surprising reality of pasture-raised pigs, and what he has seen happen to his land after repeatedly moving poultry across it. 

Towards the end, the conversation gets into broader topics around raising children in a family business, Mark’s Christian understanding of stewardship, and why producing food for his neighbors is tied closely to how he thinks about faith and responsibility. 

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: Mark Ellison, Grandad Farms
00:17 – Why Mark started farming
04:18 – Processing chickens and animal stewardship
06:29 – Corn-free, soy-free chicken feed
10:35 – Why a pasture chicken costs $35
18:47 – Labor and immigration in agriculture
25:01 – Stewardship and regenerative farming
27:00 – How chickens improve pasture
29:08 – Cornish Cross vs. Freedom Rangers
32:26 – What organic certification actually means
36:15 – Pasture pigs and factory pork
44:42 – Growing Grandad Farms
45:35 – Raising a family on the farm
48:00 – Farming, faith and Christianity
53:08 – Why customers seek out their food

Links

Website
X

I chat with Jesse Zimmerman, owner of Renick Valley Meats in Renick, West Virginia, to get into the butchering side of our food system - something I hadn't covered that deeply on the show yet.

They have a fascinating story: Jesse and his wife bought a struggling custom butcher shop four years ago and have since transitioned it into a state-inspected facility.

We get into the real differences between custom-exempt and inspected processing, the regulations that sound reasonable on paper but make no sense on the kill floor (the single-shot rule, a mandated 90-degree turn in holding pens), and why that complexity isn't accidental - it's a barrier that favors the big four packers over small shops like his.

We also cover the current imported-beef controversy, country-of-origin labeling, what actually happens to the 40% of an animal that isn't meat, and the specific questions you should ask any butcher shop before you trust them with your meat.

We debate whether policy alone can fix this system, and the importance of direct relationships built on trust in solving the matter.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: Jesse Zimmerman, Renick Valley Meats
04:45 – Custom-exempt vs. inspected processing
07:53 – The single-shot rule and inhumane-handling write-ups
15:23 – The real reason for the 90-degree pen turn
19:15 – Big four packer control and regulatory barriers to entry
22:20 – The 300,000-metric-ton imported beef controversy
26:46 – Country-of-origin labeling and how easy it is to skirt
38:58 – What happens to the ~40% "waste" of an animal
49:37 – Questions to ask before trusting a butcher shop
1:00:21 – Grass-fed/grass-finished nuance and imported "grass-fed" beef

Links

Website
Instagram
TikTok
YouTube
Facebook

Who's Jason?
Jason Hansen spent 14 years with the NRCS watching conservation rules bend for bigger, better-connected operators, and running cost-share programs structurally set up to fail the farmers they were meant to help. In 2018, he left USDA and founded Yield Unlimited.

What is Yield Unlimited?
Yield Unlimited is Jason Hansen's nonprofit that pays farmers directly, long-term, to run five core conservation practices - crop rotation, no-till/strip-till, cover crops, nutrient management, and (for a higher payout) prescribed grazing.

The model:
- Farmers apply for a land rental contract (30-second application, Jason's goal)

- Up to $2,000/acre over 10-30 years, 50% paid upfront

- Funded by donations, not federal money - pitch is $5/person/month covers the country

- Treasury notes lock in and grow the later payouts (years 10 and 20)

Why it matters:
USDA cost-share caps at 5 years, right when farmers hit the yield dip during transition.Yield Unlimited's long-term contracts are built to carry them through this period.

__________________________________________________________________________

Key Topics

• 14 years inside the NRCS, wetlands to DC headquarters
• Uneven enforcement of drainage rules for connected operators
• Why USDA's 5-year contracts fail farmers mid-transition
• The 2018 moment that led to founding Yield Unlimited
• The model: up to $2,000/acre, 10-30 year contracts
• Funding it outside the federal system

Timestamps 

• 00:00 — Intro
• 02:15 — Jason's background
• 08:40 — Certifying wetlands in ND
• 15:20 — Drainage enforcement issues
• 24:00 — Utah, then district conservationist
• 31:10 — The moment with his daughter
• 36:30 — Why the RCPP grant failed
• 44:15 — Hawaii, then DC headquarters
• 50:00 — Leaving USDA, founding Yield Unlimited
• 55:30 — How the model works
• 1:01:00 — Funding conservation nationwide
• 1:07:00 — Where to follow along

Connect with Jason

Website
X
Linkedin

In this episode we cover why beef and dairy prices are climbing for reasons that go far beyond inflation, and what three decades of farm policy have cost rural America. 

JR Burdick runs Nourishing Family Farm in north-central Missouri, milking dairy cows and raising hogs, and has sold direct-to-consumer since 2023 after leaving conventional commodity markets and USDA subsidy programs in 2022. This is his third appearance on the show.

Key topics 

• Why beef and dairy prices reflect a 30-year supply crisis, not inflation
• How the 1994 Freedom to Farm Act shifted risk from government to farmers
• How Smithfield-style integrators used farmer equity to consolidate the hog industry
• The 2009 Dairy Depression and 2015 Holcomb fire's lasting effect on cattle herd confidence
• Why cheap fuel, money, and labor are gone — and what that means for small farms
• Direct-to-consumer dairy: correcting consumer misconceptions and building trust
• JR's shift to organic farming and leaving USDA subsidy programs

Timestamps

0:00 – Intro, reconnecting with JR

2:00 – Affordability crisis: inflation vs. supply

5:00 – 1994 Freedom to Farm Act and the shift to income-based policy

9:00 – Hog contracts and the Smithfield equity play

16:00 – Ethanol/biodiesel bankruptcies and the 2009 Dairy Depression

23:00 – BSE scare and the 2015 Holcomb fire's lasting impact on cattle herds

28:00 – Cheap fuel, cheap money, cheap labor — and why that era's over

33:00 – Selling direct to consumer: listening over convincing

37:00 – Consumer misconceptions: winter grass, family milk cows

45:00 – The dairy farm decline stat and JR's bullish case for small, local farms

58:00 – The lettuce recall, greenwashing, and knowing your farmer

62:00 – Leaving USDA payments, faith, and the calf-birth story that keeps it all grounded

Connect with JR Burdick / Nourishing Farms

Facebook
X
Website

JR's Previous Episosdes

#66
#93

Ep 120: Mike Callicrate

Mike Callicrate runs Ranch Foods Direct and Callicrate Beef out of Colorado Springs and St. Francis, Kansas. He built a fully vertically integrated operation involving raising cattle, slaughtering on-site, cutting, and selling direct to consumers. Our conversation follows his life story from his childhood on a small Colorado farm, a rodeo scholarship that led him into an animal science degree, and years running large-scale feedlots before he became one of ten ranchers who sued major meatpacker IBP in 1996 over market manipulation, a case that ended in a $1.28 billion jury verdict the judge later overturned.

We get into why that loss pushed him to stop selling livestock and start selling meat instead, how Ranch Foods Direct's on-site slaughter facility, composting system, and bone char/biochar production work together, and the economics that separate a small direct-to-consumer operation from an industrial one. 

Key topics

- From rodeo and animal science to building and later rejecting industrial feedlots
- The 1996 lawsuit against IBP, the overturned $1.28 billion verdict, and the Packers and Stockyards Act
- How producers' share of the consumer dollar collapsed since 1970
- Fraud, political influence, and market consolidation
What "pink slime" and lean finely textured beef actually are
- The grass-fed/grass-finished labelling problem 
- Declining Ogallala Aquifer levels and what it means for ranching's future
- Building local maker-owned marketplaces as an alternative to scaling up

Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro + backstory: rodeo, animal science degree, early feedlots
6:00 – Building industrial feedlots, growing concerned with market concentration
12:00 – Decision to sue IBP, being blackballed by buyers
18:00 – The lawsuit's path to trial and the $1.28B verdict
30:00 – The judge's reversal + Packers and Stockyards Act explained
36:00 – Shifting from selling livestock to selling meat direct
44:00 – Building the on-site slaughter facility and circular waste model
52:00 – The "story of the steer" and producers' lost share of the consumer dollar
1:02:00 – Scaling down vs. scaling up: why direct/local beats commodity
1:10:00 – COVID, empty shelves, and the case for local food resilience
1:18:00 – Batista brothers, JBS, and meatpacking consolidation
1:28:00 – What pink slime is and how it's made
1:38:00 – Grass-fed/grass-finished labeling and imported beef
1:46:00 – Ogallala Aquifer decline and water scarcity
1:52:00 – Vision for maker-owned marketplaces and local food hubs

Find out more: 
https://www.mikecallicrate.com/

The Regenaissance Podcast explores the people, farms, and ideas rebuilding our food system from the ground up.