The Regenaissance Podcast

Hickory Nut Gap is a century-old family farm in Western North Carolina, now run by Jamie and Amy, who shifted the operation toward grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, and regenerative grazing. Their model connects soil health, animal welfare, and community resilience - from rotational grazing that builds biodiversity to supplying local restaurants and retailers. This tour looks directly at how they raise animals, manage land, and keep farming viable in the Appalachian mountains.

Key Topics 

1. How Hickory Nut Gap transitioned from an old dairy to a regenerative livestock operation
2. Rotational grazing, biodiversity, and carbon-building in mountain pastures
3. The economics of grass-fed beef versus grain-fed systems
4. How the farm navigated the 2023 Cane Creek flood and community recovery
5. Whole-animal butchery, pet food production, and reconnecting consumers with real food

Why Listen To This Episode

• A real-time look at how a regenerative livestock farm actually operates
• Clear explanation of rotational grazing, pasture rest, and soil-building
• Practical insight into animal welfare, handling, and daily farm management
• Firsthand account of flood recovery and community resilience
• Straightforward breakdown of grass-fed vs grain-fed economics and taste
• Cuts through marketing claims by showing the real work behind regenerative agriculture

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Timestamps

00:00:00 — History of Hickory Nut Gap and returning to the family farm

00:02:00 — Discovering direct-market pasture farming in the early 2000s

00:04:00 — Grass-fed movement and building a farmer-supported food system

00:06:00 — Taste, nutrition, and why fresh, local food matters

00:10:00 — Flood impacts and land recovery after the Cane Creek disaster

00:12:00 — Rotational grazing explained: density, rest, carbon, biodiversity

00:15:00 — Grass-fed vs grain-fed: economics, animal health, taste

00:17:00 — Talking with vegans and the ethics of reducing harm in ecosystems

00:19:00 — Regrowth after grazing and how mountain pastures respond

00:23:00 — Daily welfare checks: water, feed, injuries, antibiotics policy

00:26:00 — Whole-animal use, pet food demand, and underrated cuts

Ben Justman of Peony Lane Wine grew up on this Colorado orchard, returned in his mid-20s, taught himself winemaking, and now runs a small high-elevation Pinot Noir winery on his family’s land, built alongside his father. 

Key Topics 

• Childhood on a self-sustaining orchard and returning to family land
• Starting Peony Lane Wine and producing high-elevation Pinot Noir
• Winemaking as farming: soil, climate, and place
• Direct-to-consumer realities for small producers
• Why Ben accepts Bitcoin and why he places importance on it

Why Listen 

• Clear insight into how small wineries actually operate
• A grounded look at family land, legacy, and returning home
• Practical examples of direct-to-consumer sales for farmers
• Rare details about high-elevation Pinot Noir production
• Honest reflections on working with family while building a business

Website
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Timestamps

 00:00:00 – Arriving at Peony Lane and first impressions
 00:09:00 – Growing up on the farm
 00:18:30 – Leaving, travel, and returning home
 00:27:30 – Starting the winery
 00:36:30 – Pinot noir and site limitations
 00:45:30 – Small vs industrial wine
 00:54:30 – Stewardship and identity
 01:03:30 – Building the house with his father
 01:12:30 – Family, legacy, and land
 01:21:30 – Direct-to-consumer sales
 01:30:30 – Bitcoin and values-based customers
 01:39:30 – Money, sovereignty, and the future

JR Burdick of Nourishing Family Farm explains how losing his family’s farm in the 1980s and later being forced out of his dairy co-op shaped his path toward raw milk, soil-based farming, and local food independence. His story exposes how modern agriculture breaks families and communities - and how rebuilding begins one farm at a time.

Key Topics

1. The 1980s farm crisis and its generational impact
2. Industrial agriculture’s false promises
3. Losing and rebuilding the family farm
4. Founding Nourishing Family Farm and producing raw milk
5. Redefining farming as care for soil, cows, and community

Why Listen

• Reveals how U.S. farm policy hollowed out rural America
• Shows how raw milk and local food rebuild trust and health
• Offers a firsthand blueprint for regenerating the land and economy
• Traces 40 years of American farming through one family’s eyes
• Ends with a powerful redefinition of what it means to be a farmer

Connect with JR:
Website
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Facebook

References:
"The Jungle" (1906) by Upton Sinclair

Timestamps

 00:00:00 – JR’s multi-generation farming roots
 00:02:00 – 1980s farm collapse
 00:06:00 – Debt, rates, and farm failures
 00:10:00 – Starting over
 00:14:00 – Ag education and GMOs
 00:25:00 – Green Revolution and nutrition loss
 00:33:00 – Regulation and consolidation
 00:46:00 – Tornado and community response
 01:00:00 – Rebuilding under financial strain
 01:15:00 – Generational succession challenges
 01:30:00 – Co-op shutdown and income loss
 01:45:00 – Ethanol and insurance dependence
 02:03:00 – Conventional dairying realities
 02:10:00 – Identity, purpose, and faith
 02:30:00 – Founding Nourishing Family Farm
 02:45:00 – Food as medicine
 03:00:00 – Stewardship and resilience
 03:10:00 – Redefining the modern farmer

August Hortsmann is a first-generation Missouri cattleman and founder of Hortsmann Cattle Company, a regenerative ranch built on his family’s land near St. Louis. 

What began as a childhood passion grew into a full-time operation which, over the past eight years, has integrated adaptive grazing, direct-to-consumer beef sales, and long-term soil-focused practices. His education was established through years of study, observation, and trial. August spent countless seasons working ranch jobs integrating regenerative practices, allowing him studying grazing systems and testing various methods. 

Augusts story shares undertones of the uncertain, long road taken for each farmer to reach their dream of working full-time. For August, as you'll hear, he made it happen, but for 84% of farmers in America, they work other jobs. August shares his shift from conventional, university-trained agriculture to regenerative practice, the economic realities of running a small meat business, and his philosophy on scale, sustainability, and soil health.

Key Topics

• Early life and the arduous path to founding Hortsmann Cattle Co
• Transition from conventional to regenerative grazing
• Why multi-species farming can break a business
• What adaptive grazing actually looks like on the ground
• 'Breaking even' and the economic realities of cattle farming
• Scaling regenerative agriculture for the future

Why You Should Listen

- What the path to full-time farming really looks like

- How farmers survive years before breaking even

- Building a regenerative cattle business from nothing

- Lessons from eight years of adaptive grazing

- The hard economics of small-scale beef

Connect with August

Instagram
Website

Timestamps

00:00:00 – Childhood roots and first memories on the family farm
 00:03:00 – Starting Hortsmann Cattle Co in college
 00:06:00 – University teachings vs. real-world economics
 00:10:00 – Working off-farm while building a cattle business
 00:13:00 – Discovering regenerative agriculture through Soil & Water
 00:19:00 – Adding multi-species and the “death by diversity” lesson
 00:29:00 – Burnout and the decision to simplify operations
 00:31:00 – Quitting full-time work and going all-in on the farm
 00:36:00 – Adaptive grazing and learning from nature’s rhythms
 00:43:00 – Shifting from farmers’ markets to online direct sales
 00:53:00 – Educating consumers on bulk buying and real costs
 00:57:00 – Why small meat businesses struggle with margins
 01:03:00 – Processing, scale, and the bottlenecks of small producers
 01:09:00 – Is regenerative agriculture scalable?
 01:13:00 – Advice for aspiring ranchers
 01:17:00 – Social media, misinformation, and consumer trust
 01:20:00 – Building a ranch that can sustain future generations

Will Harris is a sixth-generation cattleman and owner of White Oak Pastures, a 158-year-old family farm in Bluffton, Georgia. Since 1866, the Harris family has practiced land-based farming rooted in regeneration, humane animal husbandry, and zero-waste production. 

In this episode, Will reflects on the farm’s evolution from industrial cattle operations to a living ecosystem. He discusses soil, community, balance, symbiosis in an ecosstem, rural farming communities, stewardship, organic matter, his family history, and more. 

Key Topics

• 6 generations of farming - from industrial cattle to regenerative systems
• Rebuilding Bluffton’s rural economy through local food
• Soil carbon, organic matter, and ecological limits
• The moral and generational lessons of land stewardship
• Rethinking success: humility, balance, and long-term thinking

Why You Should Listen

• How six generations turned an industrial farm into a living ecosystem.
• Why killing pests and controlling nature backfired 
• What it takes to rebuild a town’s economy 
• The real economics of land, legacy, and long-term thinking.
• Why humility- not technology - is the key to surviving the human dilemma.

Connect With White Oak Pastures

Website
Instagram

Timestamps

00:00:00 — White Oak Pastures and 158 years of family farming
 00:05:00 — Industrial agriculture and losing balance
 00:08:00 — The cost of control: chemicals and confinement
 00:11:00 — Soil carbon, fertility, and organic matter
 00:16:00 — Working within nature’s limits
 00:25:00 — Rejecting tech fixes and restoring balance
 00:34:00 — Internships, purpose, and community revival
 00:42:00 — Bluffton’s renewal through local production
 00:50:00 — Land, debt, and long-term stewardship
 00:55:00 — Generational transfer and humility
 01:08:00 — Observation, faith, and living with nature

Ryan sits down with Joel Hollingsworth of Smoke River Ranch in Oklahoma, who lays out a clear, unflinching diagnosis of America’s decline. 

He then takes you through the solution, step by step, exactly whats required. In short, the miracle ahead has only one path, and that is a restored and vitalized rural America. 

Key Topics:

• Collapse and renewal of rural America
• Building culture through community and soil
• Regenerative ranching and total grazing
• Economic sovereignty and local production
• Reclaiming health and vitality

Why You Should Listen:

 - Learn how rural collapse happened.
 - See how financialization hollowed America.
 - Understand why soil and economy are linked.
 - Discover how regeneration rebuilds communities.
 - Hear a practical plan for renewal.

Resources mentioned:

Book: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Book: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink

Connect with Joel:

Smoke River Ranch Website
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00:00:00 – America’s decline and lost vitality
00:04:30 – Joel’s story and Smoke River Ranch
00:11:00 – Finance replacing real production
00:20:10 – Centralization and moral decay
00:29:40 – What regeneration means
00:38:25 – Soil as civilization’s base
00:46:50 – Rebuilding local economies
00:56:30 – Tech and virtual fencing
01:05:00 – The real economics of farming
01:16:15 – Decentralization and freedom
01:28:10 – Work, dignity, and meaning
01:38:40 – Food, health, and strength
01:52:20 – Cultural cost of disconnection
02:09:00 – Rural vitalism in action
02:27:15 – Rebuilding soil, rebuilding America

When chronic illness left Cindy bedridden in her twenties, she began questioning everything she’d been taught about health - and later, about farming. What started as a search for healing led her and her husband to rebuild their land in Burneyville, Oklahoma, where TLC Ranch now stands: a regenerative bison ranch and certified organic pecan orchard rooted in living systems rather than chemicals. Through decades of trial, floods, and faith, Cindy discovered that the same principles that restore the body also restore the soil. This episode traces how her recovery became the land’s recovery - and what it really means to live and farm in alignment with nature.

Key Topics

- Healing through food and faith
- From chemical sprays to organic farming
- Bison behavior and herd management
- The challenges of organic certification
- Health, medicine, and trusting intuition

Timestamps 

00:00:00 – Growing up outdoors and learning self-reliance
 00:04:00 – Linking diet and chronic illness in the 1980s
 00:08:00 – Healing through food and natural living
 00:12:00 – From chemical farming to organic awareness
 00:19:00 – Buying land and starting the ranch
 00:27:00 – Discovering bison and learning their behavior
 00:31:00 – Pecans as nutrient-dense local food
 00:44:00 – Challenges of organic certification
 00:53:00 – Replacing chemicals with biological inputs
 00:58:00 – Managing herd health and natural balance
 01:05:00 – Lessons from floods and renewal on the land

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Caden and Patrick are first-generation farmers in North Carolina who started Cable Family Farm while still in high school. Together, they’ve built a small-scale regenerative farm focused on pasture-raised poultry and no-till market gardening, proving that young people can make a living from the land through hard work, curiosity, and faith.

Cable Family Farm practices regenerative farming focused on soil health, animal welfare, and local connection through small-scale, community-based food production.

Key Topics

1. Starting a regenerative farm as teenagers
2. Learning and adapting through trial and error
3. Making small-scale farming sustainable
4. Sacrifice, purpose, and faith in farming
5. Inspiring young people to reconnect with food

Timestamps

00:00:00 – Discovering small-scale farming
00:02:45 – Launching Cable Family Farm in high school
00:06:00 – Rekindling friendship and building together
00:09:00 – Visiting Polyface Farm for inspiration
00:10:30 – Selling produce and entering markets
00:14:00 – Lessons from larger conventional farms
00:17:00 – Partnership, long hours, and learning curves
00:21:00 – Sacrifice and fulfillment on the land
00:25:00 – Bringing younger generations into farming
00:35:00 – Faith and stewardship of the land
00:40:00 – Balancing college with farm life
00:42:00 – Reflections on growth and purpose

Connect

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This episode is a little different: instead of a sit-down podcast, I join Justin Rhodes for a live tour around his North Carolina farm.

When you think of homesteaders, Justin Rhodes is the first person you think of. With over a million followers on YouTube and multiple successful books, Justin and his family have paved the way for new homesteaders through documenting their journey. A fourth-generation steward of his family’s land in North Carolina, Justin and his wife Rebecca raise their five children on it.

What we cover:

• How rotational grazing restores pastures without seed or fertilizer
• The challenges and realities of homesteading versus farming for profit
• Balancing family life, children, and farm responsibilities
• Why many new homesteaders burn out and how to avoid it
• The generational legacy of farming the same land and what it means for the future

Timestamps:

00:01:30 — The breeds of cows on the farm and how milk is shared

00:03:00 — Family land history and what the farm cost in the 1930s

00:05:00 — Rotational grazing explained and why clover survives

00:09:00 — Homesteading vs farming: growing food for yourself or for sale

00:13:00 — Why most new homesteaders burn out and how to prepare

00:17:30 — Finding a deeper reason beyond money to keep farming

00:19:00 — Involving children in farm life and family teamwork

00:21:00 — The multi-generational connection to land and legacy

00:23:00 — Raw milk, safety, and family traditions

00:25:00 — Industrial milk history, swill dairies, and why pasteurization began

Justin's YouTube channel
Instagram
Farm Website

Josh and Jessica Guptill run Rehoboth Farm in Suffolk, Virginia, where they raise pastured chicken, pork, lamb, beef, eggs, and turkeys. Neither came from a farming family - Josh left the Coast Guard and Jessica is a doula - but together they built their farm from backyard beginnings, guided by faith and a belief in producing “healing food.” Their path is unique: from DIY chicken pluckers and bartering for land to scaling up during COVID, they’ve made transparency and education central to their work. Today they not only provide nutrient-dense food but also host workshops and farm visits, giving their community a firsthand connection to how food is grown.

This episode we discuss:

• What backyard chickens taught them about the realities of food production
• How different animals (chickens, pigs, sheep, cattle) work together to regenerate land
• Why transparency and on-farm visits build trust between farmers and eaters
• The role of farmers’ markets, and what separates thriving ones from failing ones
• How faith and community shape their vision of farming as a vocation

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Josh & Jessica’s backstory and first encounters with farming

00:07:00 Early challenges raising and butchering chickens

00:13:00 Deciding to leave the Coast Guard and pursue farming

00:19:00 Finding and moving onto their current Virginia farm

00:25:00 Scaling up chickens, pigs, and lamb during COVID

00:33:00 Why their farmers’ market works—and why others fail

00:40:00 Marketing, transparency, and building customer trust

00:48:00 The meaning behind the name “Rehoboth Farm”

00:53:00 Questions consumers should ask at farmers’ markets

01:00:00 Hosting on-farm classes and why visits matter

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