Part 2: Eagle Song Gardener on using Hawthorn for delicious health
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I hope you’ll enjoy this second conversation with herbalist Eagle Song Gardener about the many ways we can use the thorny Hawthorn in foods and herbal medicines.
Eagle Song has traveled the world to learn about the adaptable and ever-helpful hawthorn tree. In this Deep Roots Radio interview, we chat about the many, many ways the very thorny Hawthorn can find its way to our tables, salads, lunch boxes and remedies.
In case you missed it, please enjoy our first chat in which Eagle Song introduced us the the hawthorn, a tree with many hundreds of species.
Winter activities and adventures on Wisconsin family farms.
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We love visiting farms during warm weather. But what about when the snow’s 2 feet deep and there are ice crystals in the air?
Winter’s a perfect time to enjoy great food, family activities and adventure on Wisconsin family farms. In this Deep Roots Radio interview, Sheila Everhart, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association, describes just how easy it can be to have fun and create lasting memories on any one of the scores of farms that regularly welcome visitors to their operations.
Find your next ag-adventure
I hope you enjoy this interview, and I urge you to visit the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association website to find your next ag-adventure, www.wiagtourism.com.
PS. You’re invited to visit my farm, Bull Brook Keep, for an afternoon of snowshoeing or cross-country skiing. Just give me a call, 651-238-8525.
EagleSong describes a helpful, if thorny, tree in your neighborhood.
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Hawthorn trees grow all across our farm, Bull Brook Keep. The ubiquitous Crataegus species is found all over North America and Europe, producing fragrant blossoms in the spring and firm red fruit — haws — in late summer and fall.
Buelingos and hawthorn
I came to recognize hawthorn – which on my farm grows as a tall, scraggly shrub – as I rotated my beef herd from field to field throughout the grazing season. My Buelingo cows shaded themselves under the scruffy trees and sometimes browsed on the lower leaves. I simply enjoyed their lovely pale pink flowers, but eventually became curious about the small red fruit – the size of a small crab apple. As it turns out, they are in the larger apple family.
Thorns from 1-2″ long
As I continue my herbal studies, I’ve came to learn hawthorn flowers and fruit have been used in herbal remedies and tonics for hundreds of years. And here there were, growing all across my farm! Yippee! Since then, I’ve gathered hawthorn for making tinctures and teas that support heart health, and lots more.
Eagle Song
EagleSong Gardener is an herbalist who has come to know and use hawthorn deeply for decades. She’s a lovely woman I met at a Wisconsin herbalists’ conference in September 2022. EagleSong has traveled the world visiting hawthorn hedges and conversing with the many men and women who have come to appreciate this amazing woody gift on our landscape. Fortunately for me, she visited Bull Brook Keep on her way back to her home state of Washington.
I hope you enjoy this interview, the first in a three-part series with this knowledgeable and enthusiastic teacher. You can also find EagleSong’s lessons on her website, Facebook, and many helpful videos on Youtube.
WI Agricultural Tourism -- ag-adventures for visitors & farmers year'round
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Autumn colors are on display all across the country. Kids are running through corn mazes and families are enjoying hay rides, picking apples and sipping cider at farms throughout Wisconsin. Wrap a scarf around your neck and you can still savor wine outdoors at a local vineyard or hard cider at one of the many thriving orchards now offering the best of local.
Pretty soon it’ll be sleigh rides or snowshoeing across pastures. And then there’s the cutting of your very own yule log.
All of these activities are parts of agricultural tourism — relaxation, education, adventure, a meal or overnight stay at a farm that welcomes visitors.
This Deep Roots Radio chat with Sheila Everhart takes a look at this growing form of tourism, and celebrates Wisconsin’s recognition of agricultural adventures. Sheila is the Executive Director of Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association.
July 16, 2022, 10AM - 4PM Come visit -- Eat Local Co-op Farm Tour
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Bull Brook Keep is once again part of this Saturday’s Eat Local Co-op Farm Tour.
Save the date and time: Saturday, July 16, 10AM to 4PM
It’s a high point of our summer and you’re invited to visit our cows and pigs, as well as the livestock and festivities at nearby farms. Make a day of it! At our farm, you’ll get a chance to meet the moos, sample our beef (and buy ground beef and delicious summer sausage), and learn about upcoming herb-hunting tours called Herbal Safaris.
Blue Vervain
Sylvia & Dave Toftness, and Coop Farm Tour volunteer Joe Henson.
21 farms from around the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area and western Wisconsin are part of this annual event sponsored and organized by a collaboration of natural food coops. These are many of the sustainable and organic growers who provide food for co-ops, farmers markets, CSAs, and direct sales in our region.
In this Deep Roots Radio interview, organizer Jennifer Dean describes why the coops launched this event a dozen years ago, and how its gained in popularity.
Go to coopfarmtour.com for a downloadable guide and colorful map you can use for your self-guided tour.
I grew up in Bronx, NY, in a city of 8 million, yet I couldn’t be more excited about Amery, Wisconsin’s launch of a special week dedicated to agricultural tourism. Agri what?
Looking for the Great Pumpkin
It’s a term that covers lots of things you’ve probably already done. If you’ve ever enjoyed an afternoon picking crisp apples or juicy strawberries, petted a little lamb or held a squirmy piglet, walked a corn maze or selected “just the right” pumpkin at a pumpkin patch, walked near grazing cattle, or sipped wine at a winery, helped gather eggs, or helped your farmer pick your CSA box — you’re an agricultural tourist. Maybe you’ve attended a wedding or special event at a repurposed barn, or fished at a trout or catfish farm, or cut down a Christmas tree. That’s agricultural tourism, too.
Why am I excited? Because my husband Dave Toftness and I raise grass-fed-grass-finished just four miles from downtown Amery, and a major part of our mission is to welcome visitors to our farm, Bull Brook Keep. We chat with well over 200 people a year, every month of the year. We appreciate the opportunity for walks across our pastures, explaining why we’re committed to sustainable practices, introducing our moos, and learning about people’s food journey. It’s educational, fun and friendly.
Governor Evers’ Proclamation
In this Deep Roots Radio interview, Amery’s Mayor Paul Isakson describes how the city is marking the launch of this very special week set aside by proclamation by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. It runs from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, 2021. Many thanks to the Governor and to Sheila Everhart, Interim Executive Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association, for working for this recognition of the contribution agritourism makes to people’s lives and local economies.
Earlier this year, the Mayor established a new page on the City’s website just for agricultural tourism, making it easy to find an ag-based adventure in and around Amery, www.amerywi.gov/703/Agritourism. To find agricultural venues across the state, visit wiagtourism.com.
Happy cows at Bull Brook Keep
I hope you enjoy this interview. And I hope you’ll come visit us. The trees are turning glorious, and the moos would like to meet you.
John Govin welcomes thousands of visitors to cuddle new lambs and farm babies every spring.
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If it fits on your lap, we’ll help you hold it.
Is there anything cuter than a new lamb? Or softer than a day-old chick? Well, maybe it’s the curly tail of a tiny piglet, or the agile jumps of a week-old kid.
All will be on display, and ready for a cuddle, beginning this weekend on John and Julie Govin’s farm in Menomonie, Wisconsin. It’s their annual Lambing Barn and Farm Babies event . “Our motto is – If it fits in your lap, we’ll help you hold it,” said John during our Deep Roots Radio chat. An easy drive from the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota metro area, the Govins have welcomed thousands of visitors – young and old – to this event for the last 16 years.
The Lambing Barn runs four weekends in 2021: March 20-21; March 27-28; April 2-3, and April 10-11. This spring, he’s taken extra COVID-19 measures to promote wellness and fun on the farm. If you’re into agritourism, the Govin’s farm offers many activities through the summer and fall.
I hope you enjoy this interview with John, and go online to purchase tickets to this spring time event. I’m going Saturday, March 20th, and hope to see your there!
The first time I handed over a fresh loaf of my artisan mild French sourdough and received cash in exchange, I was amazing satisfied and proud of the transaction. I’d done it. People had sampled my home-baked bread, found it to their liking, and purchased several loaves!
That was a few years ago, and at that time, I didn’t realize I was joining a countrywide community of home-based food entrepreneurs. It’s a sector that’s growing rapidly as a part of the food freedom movement. And, interestingly, it took a jump because of the pandemic. More and more consumers were searching for local food, including baked goods. Who knew!?
Well, as it turns out, there’s a lot to know about, and to benefit from, when you decide to bake and sell hearth breads and muffins, or cook up and sell jams and pickles. Some states have really broad and welcoming regs, while a few others are somewhat restrictive. Still, both cases present lots of opportunity to build a cottage food business in your home kitchen.
Lisa Kivirist, eco-innkeeper, author, and long-time advocate for home-based baking businesses, is one of the four conference keynote speakers. With husband John Ivanko, she has co-authored several books about building businesses on farm-based/environmentally-anchored foundations, including the popular Homemade for Sale. In this Deep Roots Radio interview, Lisa describes the conference program, and reviews the current state of this sector.
I hope you enjoy this interview and sign up for the virtual conference. I hope to see you there.
Woman entrepreneur makes Wildflour - a small town natural foods store - rebloom in time of COVID
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There’s hope!
COVID 2020 – a year of pandemic, illness and isolation. We all learned about social distancing, working from home, and how to make sourdough bread. We clocked hundreds of hours on Zoom for professional meetings and family gatherings.
Lots of us dusted off our sewing machines and made face masks. Our hearts broke as we learned about the hundreds of thousands brought down by the coronavirus. Businesses shuttered, and schools closed, and opened and closed again. Home-schooling was redefined.
Vaccines are on their way, but it appears distribution may take many months, and lots of political haggling.
It was in this chaotic context that Tessa Ingham purchased the local natural foods store, changed its name to Wildfour Market and set to work for the health of her community – Amery, Wisconsin, population 2,902.
Wildflour joins the steadily growing movement of agriculturally-based businesses in this small city just 70 miles east of the Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minnesota metro area. In the last 10 years, numbers of organic farmers have moved to the area to grow and market produce, meats, eggs, artisanal cheeses, mushrooms, fleece and fibers, and certified organic herbs and medicinal herb products. The Amery area is also home to farm-to-table restaurant, microbrews, wineries, coffee roasters and distilleries using many locally-grown ingredients.
I hope you enjoy this Deep Roots Radio interview with Tessa Ingham about hope and imagination, investment and grit in the time of COVID.
What do you do when your annual conference is scheduled for February 2021, and COVID makes it impossible to gather the usual 3,000 attendees for three days of networking, workshops, shared meals, dancing, inspiring keynotes and more? Well if you’reMOSES(the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services nonprofit), you decide the break the mold.
This year, GrowingStronger2021is a collaborative effort put on by five powerhouse organizations with deep roots, long histories, and credibility in the organic and sustainable farming sector.
I hope you enjoy this Deep Roots Radio chat with MOSES Executive Director Lori Stern as she describes this break-the-mold event. As a farmer, and food lover, I can hardly wait.
