Growing vegetables for fun and massive profit … really?
Paul and Elizabeth Kaiser went into farming because it seemed like an earth-friendly way to make a living–and they brought a lot of knowledge and innovation to the process. The result: Singing Frogs Farm is a thriving, productive place that has a new harvest every few months, pays good wages, and makes an order of magnitude more money per acre than other farms in the same area–even organic farms and vineyards. How do they do it? It’s all about understanding the big picture. Instead of, ‘I’m going to grow cauliflower,’ it’s more like ‘I’m going to cultivate a farm on which cauliflower will flourish because everything the entire living system around it–soil, bugs, worms, people, etc.–is healthy.’
More Episodes
Episode 132 – Innovative approaches to regeneration on a California ranch
The land and its creatures looked very different when the first people arrived on this continent. Dan Flores‘ book Wild New World traces human impact up to the present––and the choices we’re looking at now.
Episode 131 – Giant bison, mammoths, and eagles: a deep history of the American continent
The land and its creatures looked very different when the first people arrived on this continent. Dan Flores‘ book Wild New World traces human impact up to the present––and the choices we’re looking at now.
Episode 130 – Sustainable development, climate mitigation, and biochar
For decades Brando Crespi has been working in communities damaged by extractive industries. He makes the case that biochar can and should be part of a global strategy do reverse climate change and grow more food with less water.
Episode 129 – Bringing dead land back to life: a filmmaker’s perspective
In 1995 John Liu began documenting the Loess Plateau in China, a landscape ruined by poor agriculture practices. Over decades he documented its return to vibrant life, and filmed many other restoration projects worldwide.
Episode 128 – Sustaining Southwest Agriculture
Gary Paul Nabhan knows how to grow food that’s healthy and profitable––even during times of drought and climate disruption.
Episode 127 – A vibrant pecan oasis in the desert
Coley Burgess didn’t intend to do regenerative agriculture, but a series of happy accidents led him down a path toward healthier trees, a herd of animals, virtually no chemical or tractor use––and a more enjoyable life for himself and his family.
Episode 126 – The food-housing nexus
Professor Phil Warsaw noticed that in urban Black and Latino neighborhoods the price of housing near grocery stores was higher––but the same wasn’t true in more affluent White neighborhoods. Why? And how can planners balance food access and gentrification?
Episode 125 – Leveling the growing field: promoting a fair farm system
Both big ag and small family farms have their problems…but what’s the alternative? We talk with agricultural journalist Sarah Mock about the some possible models.
Episode 124 – Big Team Farms––a new economic model?
Both big ag and small family farms have their problems…but what’s the alternative? We talk with agricultural journalist Sarah Mock about the some possible models.
Episode 123 – The USDA goes after a small sheep farm
Linda and Larry Faillace imported milk sheep following USDA guidelines and started a cheese making business in Vermont––only to have their animals confiscated and killed by the USDA under the pretext of a disease that sheep don’t get. Listen to find out why.
Episode 122 – Making your tax dollars work after fires and floods
New Mexico Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez is working not only to help the people and businesses affected by fires and floods, but also to build back land that is more resilient. All of which is easier said than done.
Episode 121 – Place, Power, And Purpose: Pollinators On Western Landscapes
Bees and other pollinators are facing threats from industrialization and habitat fragmentation. Beekeeper, scientist, and indigenous teacher Melanie Kirby knows that bees are vital to the food we eat—and is showing the way forward.
Episode 120 – What’s good for the farm is good for the planet
Carol Ekarius has worked in both large- and small-scale farming, and has written many books for hobby farmers. And she’s led organizations devoted to watershed restoration and sustainable agriculture. She talks about the daunting challenges ahead—and gives us some reasons for hope.
Episode 119 – What is Your Foodprint?
You’ve heard of a carbon “footprint.” The idea of the “foodprint” broadens the vision from the single variable of carbon emissions to the full impact that your food has on the planet––animals, community, soil, water––and helps you to make better choices as a consumer and a citizen.
Episode 118 – Kiss the Ground: A project born of devotion to the earth
When Ryland Engelhart learned that restoring soil health was a key to reversing climate change, he became an advocate for regeneration –– resulting in a film that has been seen by over six million people in 26 languages.
Episode 117 – Food, forests, and farms: an intro to agroforestry
Trees are an important part of most ecosystems, and they can actually make a great contribution to agriculture by providing everything from shade to soil health, water retention, wind breaks, and marketable products.
Episode 116 – Western Wildfires: Facing a hotter and drier future
Wildfires across the West are burning out of control and causing catastrophic losses to landscapes and communities. How did we get here, and how can we better manage fire in the future? Lesli Allison walks us through the complexities and dangers––and the critical importance of land management.
Episode 115 – The path to positive food policy: Making the case for a more regenerative farm bill
For the US to have a resilient food system at a large scale will require changes in national policy. Aria McLauchlan and Harley Cross of Land Core lay out how the Farm Bill, which will be reauthorized in 2023, can stimulate healthy–and long-term sustainable–farming practices.
Episode 114 – Making the regenerative transition
Healthy-soil agriculture has the potential to solve a lot of big problems from climate to nutrition. But how do you bring it to scale within the realities of a competitive market system with narrow profit margins? Jessica Chiartas of Regen1 tells us––and it’s not easy or fast.
Episode 113 – Restoring Landscapes…with Goats and Sheep
Landscapes evolved with animals and need animals to thrive. “Goatscaping” substitutes animals for machines and toxic chemicals to produce more resilient and healthy soil, plants, and even beneficial insect populations. They’re also incredibly cute.
Episode 112 – Restoring Resilience on Native Land
For over 25 years Santa Ana Pueblo has been engaged in a large scale project to restore wildlife, plants, and watersheds long degraded by invasive practices. The results for agriculture, culture, and the land itself have been dramatic.
Episode 111 – The Sequestration Solution: Soil
Cooling the earth’s climate is not just about cutting emissions––it’s about removing masses of carbon from the air. Karl Thidemann of Soil4Climate makes the case that the secret of sequestration is in the soil––with win-win benefits for ecosystems, nutrition, profitability, and community.
Episode 110 – Restore the water cycle, revive the planet
Zach Weiss has seen land so degraded that even weeds couldn’t grow…and helped transform it into healthy, living landscapes by changing the flow of water and letting nature do most of the work. The implications for agriculture, wildlife, and climate are huge.
Episode 109 – This earth to which we belong
The name of Pamela Tanner Boll‘s new film, To Which We Belong, comes from the great naturalist and conservationist Aldo Leopold, who understood the interconnection among all living beings, and the need to treat land with respect––and a deep sense of belonging.
Episode 108 – Science Meets Compost
Biologist Eva Stricker works with hog farmer Zach Withers and rancher Emily Cornell to study—and quantify—how compost works to heal degraded agricultural lands. So far the results are promising.
Episode 107 – Cultivating the People-Planet-Profit model on an urban farm
Minor Morgan and Matt Draper are intergenerational farmers in Albuquerque’s North Valley. Cultivating diversity and healthy soil, their goal is to grow food that’s healthy for people and the earth.
Episode 106 – Planetary regeneration on a community scale
Tejinder and Juliana Ciano founded Reunity Resources on land in Santa Fe where a veteran had grown food for the hungry. Now they have a thriving compost, farming, educational, and community organizing operation—all founded on regenerative principles.
Episode 105 – Growing pecans in the desert? Yes—with regenerative ag practices
Soil microbiologist David Johnson has been collaborating with pecan farmer Josh Bowman to cultivate healthy soil that retains water and produces a more abundant—and more profitable—harvest. Josh in turn works with other growers to help them improve their operations.
Episode 104 – Got goat? The Vanguard Ranch does, and it’s ready to eat
Renard Turner and his wife are agrarian entrepreneurs who produce local, sustainable, regenerative food at their Virginia goat farm–and they provide a model for future farmers and homesteaders.
Episode 103 – Tribal food renaissance
Latashia Redhouse helps Native American food producers get their products out into the world—and supports their traditional and regenerative agriculture practices.
Episode 102 – From despair to care: a high mountain view of our ailing earth
Author Bill deBuys reflects on what people are doing to land, water, and climate from high in the Himalayas, in his new book, The Trail to Kanjiroba, and how we can begin letting go of despair and do our part for the earth’s restoration.
Episode 101 – Stepping back from the abyss: James Rebanks’ return from industrial to traditional farming
Farmer James Rebanks comes from a thousand-year old farming tradition—which was almost destroyed in one generation. He tells the story of how he worked out how “improvement” was wreaking havoc on the soil, food, and wildife—and how he’s rebuilding his farm to be long-term sustainable.
Episode 100 – Restoring the global water cycle
With the best of intentions and technological innovation, we have broken the world’s water cycle. Now, says water expert Sandra Postel, we need to work with nature in order to restore it—if we want to survive, thrive, and, well, eat.
Episode 99 – How—and why—to be good to your microbes
Dr. Emeran Mayer connects the human and soil microbiomes—both stretched to their limits and beyond by today’s diet, lifestyle, and industrial practices. And he tells us how we can eat and grow food in a way that heals the body, the economy, and the planet.
Episode 98 – Lush and Abundant Biodiversity—in a Desert City
Reese Baker has a vision for greening urban landscapes—and he wants to make Santa Fe an example of how to do it, by catching rainwater from roofs, streets, and parking lots, and channeling it into gardens, trees, and soil.
Episode 97 – The deep history of apples
Orchardist Gordon Tooley knows apple trees–and has been cultivating rare and heirloom varieties for three decades. But for him it’s as much about the landscape and lifestyle as about the product. We talk about living slowly, observing closely, and promoting healthy land, water, wildlife, and human communities.
Episode 96 – Pests, pathogens, and porcupines: thwarting the marauding hordes in an apple orchard
New England is lush and green—and all kinds of creatures want to eat a farmer’s crops. Apple grower and cider maker Steve Wood talks about Integrated Pest Management and its challenges.
Episode 95 – Rockweed: underwater forest or industrial commodity?
Seaweed has always been used for food, fertilizer, and medicine. But now, off the coast of Maine, over-harvesting threatens rockweed and the many species that depend on it.
Episode 94 – Designing systems that improve as they age
Jesse Smith‘s work aims for the opposite of planned obsolescence—the goals at Jalama Canyon Ranch are resilience and perennial productivity, through restoration of ecosystems and a truly regenerative vision of agriculture.
Episode 93 – Into the Pasture: Grassfed Goes Mainstream
Getting certified for grassfed meat can be challenging–but the American Grassfed Association supports producers in regenerative practices that are good for the earth, the farmer, and the eater.
Episode 92 – Busting myths about beef
Nicolette Hahn Niman was an environmental lawyer and vegetarian when she married a rancher—so she has a unique and broad-based perspective on agriculture. We discuss the new edition of her book, Defending Beef: The Ecological and Nutritional Case for Meat.
Episode 91 – Transforming the American Prairie, one strip at a time
Native Americans used fire and other methods to cultivate food on the prairie. In the 20th century it was plowed under for endless rows of monocrops. Omar de Kok-Mercado is part of a team that is working to make prairie land ecologically–and economically–sustainable.
Episode 90 – Welcome to Cowgirl Camp!
Beth Robinette grew up on a ranch but didn’t expect to stay there. But then she got so interested in food system and regenerative practices that now she’s ranching, developing new business models, and teaching the ropes to the next generation of ranchers.
Episode 89 – Lipan Apache: Bringing back the buffalo in Texas
Lucille Contreras calls buffalo her relatives. She’s a Lipan Apache and founder of the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project, which brings together food, culture, and language around this animal to reestablish its homeland.
Episode 88 – Regenerative production of…seaweed
Kristina Long is a ship captain and an artisanal kelp farmer in British Columbia. We talk about kelp ecosystems, food, and keeping sustainable practices in a growing market.
Episode 87 – Living and farming inside a closed system—for two years
Mark Nelson and Starrlight Augustine talk about the lessons learned from the ambitious experiment of 30 years ago, in which eight people lived in a sealed space and grew all their own food–recycling water, air, and waste.
Episode 86 – Starting a ranch–from the ground up
Rachael and James Stewart saw a lack of Black and Brown farmers and ranchers–and an opportunity to serve communities with unusual meat products. So they sold a classic car and started a ranch.
Episode 85 – Acclaimed chef Deborah Madison on her new food memoir
Author of fourteen books on food and pioneer in vegetarian cooking, she talks about her new memoir, An Onion in my Pocket, and her adventures during fifty years as a chef.
Episode 84 – Shifting our food system to benefit farmers and eaters–not corporate monopolies
Joe Maxwell is a farmer and policy leader, and he knows that consumer demand is not enough to make the shift toward a healthy food system. He lays out the problems–and some ways forward.
Episode 83 – From Journalist to Butcher: Camas Davis and the Good Meat Movement
Camas Davis had what she calls an “early onset midlife crisis” when she was around 30–and it led her to study butchering in France. But when she came home she found that the market for good, local meat needed to be cultivated.