The Ruminant: Audio Candy for Farmers, Gardeners and Food Lovers

By Jordan Marr

Arts Natural Sciences Food

What's The Ruminant: Audio Candy for Farmers, Gardeners and Food Lovers about?

For people passionate about farming, gardening, food politics, food security, and the intersections among these topics.

Jordan Marr, a certified organic farmer in British Columbia, interviews farmers, gardeners, academics, and journalists about stuff farmers and food system nerds care about. If where and how your food is produced matters to you, this podcast is produced for you!

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The Biggest Little Disappoi...

05.05.2022

This episode: to mark the release of an update (sort of?) to Netflix's big, farmy 2018 hit The Biggest Little Farm, herein we review both the original documentary (Netflix) and an update, called The Return of the Biggest Little Farm, ...

The Ruminant: Audio Candy for Farmers, Gardeners and Food Lovers episodes:

05.05.2022 The Biggest Little Disappointment This episode: to mark the release of an update (sort of?) to Netflix's big, farmy 2018 hit The Biggest Little Farm, herein we review both the original documentary (Netflix) and an update, called The Return of the Biggest Little Farm, ...
04.21.2022 I Hope You Die: Livestock Farmers on the Threats They Receive This episode, three farmers who slaughter animals reflect on the experience of encountering hate, vitriol and worse from animal rights activists. This episode was produced by Jordan Marr and Philippa Mennell.
04.07.2022 Did Certified Organic Pay a Price for its Success? This episode: Rebecca Kneen, a BC-based organic https://leftfields.ca/ (farmer) and https://www.crannogales.com/ (brewer), whose roots and activism in the organic sector go back decades, on the evolution of organic standards and oversight over time, some aspects of which she has misgivings ...
01.08.2021 Let's Whet Together Hi Everyone! Herein: four audio segments I think you'll enjoy. Each comes from a 25-episode podcast series I'm in the middle of producing for my province's annual organic conference. So yeah, this is a teaser for the conference, but be ...
07.16.2020 Drivecast No. 3 I've had it with trying to produce a show during the farming season so I cut out a lot of production & administrative BS by just cold-calling people to see what they have to say. Episode 3.
06.22.2020 Drivecast No. 2 Episode two of driving around and cold-calling people. Mainly farmers and extension specialists. A good mix of strangers and friends. Mostly to talk about the pandemic, but really to talk about anything food or farming related.
06.12.2020 Drivecast No. 1 In which your host catches you up on things as quickly as possible, and then makes some calls.
06.19.2019 Rotational Grazing Tips with Sarah Flack (e.111) Tristan Banwell, BC-based rancher and occasional co-host of the show, recorded this interview with Sarah Flack, author of The Art and Science of Grazing: How Grass Farmers Can Create Sustainable Systems for Healthy Animals and Farm Ecosystems. From Sarah’s website: ...
06.03.2019 Participatory Plant Breeding (e110) This ep: my interview with Alex Lyon, a UBC Postdoctoral Fellow focused on seed systems and plant breeding for diverse farm environments. Alex is involved in a number of projects that recruit commercial farmers to assist in the development of ...
05.20.2019 Farming is Gay This ep: a few perspectives from members of the LGBTQ community who farm This ep: a few perspectives from members of the LGBTQ community who farm Show sponsors: http://bcsamerica.com (BCS America) BC Small-Scale Meat Producers Association
02.22.2019 e108: Aliwawa? In which your host tells you all about his experiences sourcing certain farm equipment using Alibaba, the massive, China-based gathering place for buyers and manufacturers. He'll take you through all the steps, from confusion to suspicion to curiousity to impulsivity, ...
02.21.2019 e107: A Cynical Farmer Rebuffed My guest this ep is Stefan Morales, producer of the Working Together podcast. Stefan and I both care about food and farming. I brought my passions to farming; he took his into the non-profit and government sphere. We compare notes, ...
02.21.2019 e106: How to Gross 250K on 1/2 Acre This ep: my conversation with urban farmer Kevin Sturdy, author of a book getting a lot of buzz: You're Welcome: How to Crush Your Dreams By Grossing More Money on Less Land Than You Ever Thought Possible. Kevin claims that ...
02.21.2019 e105: Ramial Wood as Soil Amendment and More with Karl Hammer This episode I speak with Karl Hammer, founder of Vermont Compost and all-around soil fertility expert. We focus on the use of wood chips as a soil amendment, and Karl also shares his thoughts about managing soil fertility on bio-intensive ...
02.21.2019 e104: Silvopasture with Steve Gabriel This ep: Ruminant co-host Tristan Banwell interviews Farmer and Author Steve Gabriel about his book Silvopasture: A Guide to Managing Grazing Animals, Forage Crops, and Trees in a Temperate Farm Ecosystem. Bonus content (more conversation) should show up in your ...
09.20.2018 e102: Weed Management in the Pasture This episode my guest is Mark Renz, an extension weed specialist at the University of Wisconsin. He joins me to talk about weed management in the pasture.
08.06.2018 e101: Beneficial Insects on the Farm This ep: I wanted to learn more about maintaining and increasing bug biodiversity on my farm so I contacted the Xerces Society, a non-profit that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats. They connected me with Eric ...
04.23.2018 Foliar Feeding w/ Steve Solomon Steve Solomon is back to talk about what's turning his crank in the garden these days: foliar feeding. Steve is the author of numerous gardening books including one of my faves, The Intelligent Gardener.
04.06.2018 e.99: Incubating your own eggs My guest today, Pascale Deffieux Pearce, is a vice-president with Brinsea, a producer of egg incubators for the farm and home. She joins me to talk about ins and outs and pros and cons of hatching your own eggs, or ...
03.30.2018 e.11: Adding seed production to your veggie operation (re-run) This episode: Part 1 of 2 of my conversation with Dan Brisebois, editor of the seed production blog Going to Seed and co-author of Crop Planning for Organic Vegetable Growers. In this part, Dan talks about the basics of vegetable ...
03.23.2018 e.98: Breeding for Better Flavour and Row 7 Seeds Have you read The Third Plate by chef Dan Barber? Great Book. This episode explores one of the legacies of that book: a brand new seed company, representing a collaboration between chefs and plant breeders, that aims to improve the ...
03.19.2018 e97: Jean Martin Fortier! Cocaine! Compost Tea! This ep: Jean-Martin Fortier returns for a quickie. We talk about fame, semi-fortune, cocaine, compost tea, the tool he's most obsessed with at the moment, and a few other tidbits. One of JM's recent projects is an online course. He's ...
03.16.2018 e.96: A Critique of Compost Tea Linda Chalker-Scott is an extension specialist at WSU with a https://puyallup.wsu.edu/lcs/ (penchant for horticultural myth-busting. ) One of her targets has been the use of compost tea as a disease-preventer/pest-abater/all-around garden panacea. Seeing as your podcast host is about to ...
03.09.2018 e.95: The Farmers Aren't All Right pt II Episode 92, about farmer mental health, really resonated with lots of listeners. This episode features a follow-up conversation with Javan Bernakevitch, http://allpointsdesign.ca/ (a farmer and permaculturalist) who emerged from his own depression with insights that he now shares with others. ...
03.03.2018 e.94: Better GH Practices This ep: First I speak with Andew Mefferd, author of The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower's Handbook (superb!), about making the most out of caterpillar tunnels. After that, Cornell Extension Specialist Judson Reid joins me to talk about avoiding and managing ...
02.25.2018 2018 Season Launches Friday! But first: a teaser. Coming Friday, March 2: the first episode of the next season of The Ruminant Podcast. To tide you over, I've produced a microsode. I hope you enjoy it!
03.18.2017 e93: Stop Washing Your Children So Much! The microbes that colonize us when we're in the womb and as infants have lasting impacts on our health later on. My conversation with Claire Arrieta, author of Let Them Eat Dirt. Marie-Claire is the co-author with B. Brett Finlay ...
03.04.2017 e.92: The Farmers Aren't All Right Farming is tough work. The unpredictability of the job and the pressure to present a curated, bucolic version of the work can easily lead to various kinds of mental health problems: despair, feeling overwhelmed or like a failure, or even ...
02.17.2017 e.91: The Origins of Artisanal Food in America Patric Kuh, James Beard award winner, Food Critic for LA Magazine, and author of Finding the Flavours We Lost: From Bread to Bourbon, How Artisans Reclaimed American Food, joins me to talk about his book. I ask Patric about the ...
02.02.2017 e.90: Our Agricultural Heritage is At Risk First, my conversation with Simran Sethi on her book Bread Wine Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love, which describes the increasing threat to the biodiversity within our food system, and how a better appreciation for the diversity of ...
01.20.2017 e.89: America Does Too Have a Food Culture! \| Successful CSA Pickup This ep: a conversation with Sophie Egan, author of Devoured: From Chicken Wings to Kale Smoothies--How What We Eat Defines Who We Are Then, Robin Turner of Roots & Shoots Farm provides tips for setting up a good pick-up point ...
12.13.2016 Just when you really need it: The Zone A new season of The Ruminant Podcast begins in January 2017. For now, I hope you enjoy this ode to gettin'er done around the farm.
07.25.2016 e88: Cut Flower Maintenance, Farm Internship Workshop This ep: Jessica Gale of Sweet Gale Gardens is back with suggestions for taking good care of your cut flowers throughout the season: soil fertility management, pruning tips, deadheading, and harvesting. After that: Dr. Charles Levkoe joins me to talk ...
07.15.2016 e87 Insights on Leasing Farmland This ep: I've spliced together the best clips from a couple of webinars about leasing farmland. One was given by me, your host; the other by Blake Hall of Prairie Gold Pastured Meats. The webinars were produced by Farmstart, and ...
06.05.2016 e86: Antibiotic Use in Poultry Production & Antibiotic Resistance My guest today is Tom Philpott, Food and Agriculture Correspondant for Mother Jones. Tom joined me to talk about his recent piece on the use and abuse of antibiotics in US poultry production, and the efforts of one major poultry ...
05.29.2016 e85 Assembling a Herd\| Mobile Hoophouse Design This ep, Susan Kerr of WSU extension returns to talk about the right way to build a healthy herd; Hermann Bruns returns to talk about a 30'x100' mobile hoophouse design that has worked really well for him. See the companion ...
05.21.2016 e84 Standing Orders with Restaurant Customers This ep is a shorty. http://secondspringfarm.com/ (Matt Coffay) returns to talk about setting up standing orders with restaurants. Approximately 1/3 of Matt's sales are to restaurants, and the majority of those sales come from standing orders of just a few ...
05.14.2016 e83 Pasturing your Pork and Selling Flowers to Florists This ep, Lydia Carpenter of Luna Field Farm on Landscape Scale Hog Management. Then: flower grower Jessica Gale of http://sweetgalegardens.com (Sweet Gale Gardens) returns, this time to talk about selling flowers to florists and into the wedding industry. The image ...
05.06.2016 e82: Media Training for Farmers This ep: Jennifer Cockrall-King, author of Food and the City: Urban Ag and the New Food Revolution and the just-released Food Artisans of the Okanagan, joins me to talk about how farmers can get the right kind of media attention ...
04.22.2016 e81: Connected Apprentices=Happy Apprentices This ep: http://youngagrarians.org/fawn-maritimes/ (the Maritime Farm Apprentice and Worker Network )is a great example of how to enrich the experiences of farm apprenties, incubator farmers, farm workers, etc. A conversation with Robin Johnston and Bernard Soubry.
04.16.2016 e80: Parasite Control for Small Ruminants This time: http://cahnrsdb.wsu.edu/newdirectory/individualDisplay.aspx?personID=446 (Susan Kerr) of Washington State University Extension Services joins me to talk about non-chemical forms of parasite control in small ruminants. I learned a lot. You will too. Also: in which your hosts reads one of his ...
04.09.2016 What our Ancestors Ate and Why it Matters Today Today's guest: Stephen Le, author of http://www.harpercollins.ca/9781443431767/100-million-years-of-food (100 Million Years of Food). Stephen is an anthropologist who argues that if we want to understand the role of diet in influencing our health, we need to ease off of our obsession ...
04.02.2016 e78: Affordable Farm Sensors \| Layers v Broilers This ep: Bob Siegfried of MidAtlantic Farm Sensors on wiring up your farm for better management, plus John McCauley of Chicken People returns to recommend the best bird to start with if you're new to pasturing livestock. Interested in entering ...
03.25.2016 e77: Smart High Tunnel Management This episode, veggie grower and high tunnel ninja Adam Montri of https://www.facebook.com/tenhensfarm/ (Ten Hens Farm) in Bath, Michigan, joins me to talk about the finer points of incorporating high tunnels into your market gardening. Discussed: The limitations of 12' wide ...
03.19.2016 e76: Winter bale-grazing, biodegradable mulch research, amending poor soil This episode we're back to the practical aspects of farming. I speak with: Blake Hall of http://www.prairiegoldmeats.ca/ (Prairie Gold Meats) about his Winter bale-grazing program. PhD Candidate Shuresh Ghimire of Washington State University about his research on biodegradable mulches for ...
03.11.2016 e75: Organic Agriculture in the 21st Century Can organic agriculture feed the world? Well, no, probably not entirely. Buthttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160203085855.htm ( a recent paper )in Nature: Plants suggests that as a farming system, it scores better than conventional farming systems on many key indicators of sustainability. This, say ...
03.03.2016 e74: Green Garlic, Easy Cut-Flowers, Keeping Birds Dry When It's Wet This week: over-wintered crops like green garlic, some easy-peasy cut flowers to try out, and a tip for keeping pastured poultry dry and warm when it's wet and cold. Plus: TCOG co-editor Amy Kremen joins me to talk about updates ...
02.26.2016 e.73: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health In http://www.dig2grow.com/ (The Hidden Half of Nature,) David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé suggest we are in the midst of a scientific revolution of our understanding of the role that microbes play in the health of many other life forms ...
02.19.2016 e72: The Salatin Semester/DIY Vacuum Seeder/Soil Blocks The Salatin Semester, a comprehensive course featuring the teachings of you-know-who, is the latest educational offering from Verge Permaculture. I review the course. After that: a conversation with Eric Barnhorst about his take on a home-made vacuum seeder, and some ...
02.13.2016 e.71: Farming with Kids This episode: submissions from listeners about the joys and travails (mainly the latter) of farming with children. Four farmers share their tips for staying sane when you add kids to an already hectic lifestyle. http://evamaefarm.com (Eric's Farm) Heather's http://saanichorganics.com/about/ (farm) ...

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