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

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, things get mildly awkward, and a farmer's heart grows by a couple of sizes. Or: a guy with good insights about the workings of bureaucracy offers advice for reformers about how to engage with it.

Episode Sponsor: Dubois Agrinovation

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 by following his guide, you can gross 250K on a half-acre urban farm.

Episode Sponsor: Dubois Agrinovation

Many thanks to professional thespian Kirk Smith, who co-produced this episode with me.

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 market gardens.

Show Sponsors: BCS America and Dubois Agrinovation

In our conversation, Karl refers to research done by Laval University and Cornell University on this subject. Go google for it! But here's something to get you started.

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 podcast feed, otherwise: get it at theruminant.ca  Tristan and Steve discuss what to do with tree biomass you remove from your silvopasture system, a good approach to pruning, and current gaps in the knowledge of this topic.

Show sponsors: Dubois Agrinovation

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.

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 Mader, co-Director of their Pollinator Conservation and Agricultural Biodiversity program. Eric is my guest in this episode.

I grabbed this episode's artwork from The Pacific Northwest Bumblebee Atlas

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.

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 those of your hens'. 

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 seed production and suggests how to begin incorporating it into a small scale farm business. In part two, Dan discusses marketing strategies once you're ready to sell your seed.

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 flavour and performance of our plant varieties. My guest is Michael Mazourek, plant breeder at Cornell and a partner in Row 7 Seeds.