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

This episode: University of British Columbia grad student Jessica Dennis talks about her research on biochar and its potential as both a great soil amendment for agricultural soils and a carbon sink for climate change mitigation.

This episode: I speak with entomologist Tamara Richardson about strategies for insect pest control in the garden. We discuss the merits of crop rotation, the importance of knowing your pests' overwintering habits, and what to do with plant debris that's infested with insect pests.

This episode, a rerun from 2013, when Soil Scientist Clare Sullivan joined me to talk about managing nutrient cycles on the farm.

After that, I talk about the results of my effort to attract more beneficial insects to my garden using lots of mulched annual flowers.

Youssef Darwich joins me for this episode. Youssef is the farm manager for the Grand Valley State University Sustainable Agriculture project in Michigan. He has been playing around with stale seed-bedding techniques. We talk about that, and about the challenge of finding new customers in a market that appears to be saturated.

This week, organic farmer, advocate, and activist Linda Edwards joins me to talk about the recent approval of the Arctic Apple for production and consumption in North America. The Arctic Apple is a genetically modified crop that will not brown when cut open. There are naturally occurring apples that don't brown quickly, but in this case, a gene that causes browning has been silenced using genetic engineering. 

Linda explains why many organic and conventional orchardists are opposed to the Arctic Apple. We also discuss the organic industry's opposition to genetically engineered crops in general. 

Meg Grzeskiewicz is the owner of Rhinestone Cattle Company in NY State. A grass-fed animal producer who concentrates on breeding, Meg advocates a no-nonsense approach to breeding and managment that, over the long term, can produce a healthy, profitable, self-sufficient herd. In our conversation, we talk about the breeding and management rules she employs with her herd, and about the benefits of mob grazing. You can find out more about Meg's farming, speaking, writing, and consulting work at her website.

Friend of the show and past guest Dan Brisebois is back to share his insights about Tourne-Sol Co-Operative Farm in Quebec. Dan was a founding member and, with his colleagues, has built a thriving farm using careful planning, great communication, and lots of hard work. Dan explains how it all started, what the farm produces, and how the farm makes decisions. He also talks about some of the benefits he has enjoyed under this model, chief among them being a great work-life balance.

Dan blogs about seed production here.

The book he co-wrote on crop planning, a great one, is here.

Here's a past episode that, until now, hasn't been included in this podcast feed. I've added a new intro, as well as a brand new segment at the end of the episode.

In this long-form interview with gardening writer Steve Solomon, we discuss his new book, The Intelligent Gardener, which he co-wrote with Erica Reinheimer.

In it, Steve argues that the key to growing healthy crops is to combine the return of organic matter to the soil with a practice called remineralization, which involves assessing the mineral content of your soil and then adding the right mix of amendments to ensure they are in proper balance (Steve's contention: few soils are). Along the way, Steve provides an excellent beginner's entry into soil science, and challenges some of the organic movement's tightly held assumptions about sustainable crop production.

This is part 2 of our conversation. In this segment we focus on the assertions Steve makes in his book regarding healthy vegetables, how to achieve a nutrient-balanced soil, and why organic gardeners should be open to the idea of using certain synthetic fertilizers.

This week I'm delighted to feature my conversation with listener Bernie Woodford of Woodford Heiroom Farm. Bernie recently sent me a submission for the blog featuring the DIY Vacuum Seeder he built with simple parts for $20, for a savings of hundreds of dollars against the commercial version. Check out theruminant.ca for photos and a description of his project. Farmers for Liberty, a group Bernie started, can be found on Facebook. In this episode, we talk about the Vacuum Seeder Bernie built, as well as Farmers for Liberty. 

This episode: Australian farmer Colin Seis talks about the system of no-till pasture cropping he helped develop that allowed him to resurrect a 3000 acre farm on the edge of destruction and turn it into a thriving example of truly regenerative agriculture. Learn more about Colin here.