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

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.

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 about the politics and practice of farm internships as a source of labour on farms. Charles and colleagues are hosting a one day workshop on the topic as a precursor to Food Secure Canada's 9th National Assembly in Toronto in October.

foodandlabour.ca is where you can find out more about the workshop, and register. Or, download this PDF.

Or go here to learn about the overall conference.

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 can be found here. 

Also: The Canadian Organic Grower Magazine co-Editor Amy Kremen returns to talk about the latest issue. 

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 producer to wean itself from this practice. 

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 post about his design here.

This ep is a shorty. 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 products--salad mix, tomatoes, pea shoots, etc. Which means: no fresh sheets! Predictable supply management! And a happier Matt. 

This ep, Lydia Carpenter of Luna Field Farm on Landscape Scale Hog Management. Then: flower grower Jessica Gale of Sweet Gale Gardens returns, this time to talk about selling flowers to florists and into the wedding industry. 

The image featured with this episode was grabbed from this greeting card website.

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 from journalists like her. 

I learned a lot. You will too.

This ep: 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.

This time: 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 essays.

Episode photo care of Lydia Carpenter of Luna Field Farm