Julia Skinner - how fermentation has shaped cultures and communities through time
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What do these foods have in common? Cheese, coffee, chocolate, wine, bread, beer and saurkraut. That’s right, they’re all fermented! We’re talking about lots more than kombucha, kimchi and yogurt.
Mild French sourdough with dried cherries and coriander
In fact, fermentation has been a critical strategy for preserving foods for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
In thisDeep Roots Radioconversation, historian Julia Skinner chats about her latest book, Our Fermented Lives. In it, she describes how this culinary skill has shaped cultures and communities all across the world. Dr. Skinner is the founder of Root: Historic Food for the Modern World.
I hope you enjoy this lively interview. Do you make fermented foods? Let me know.
Sometimes, it’s just too hot to be out in the garden or pasture for too long. And then when it starts to pour, well, outside work gets cut short.
Never fear. Whether you’re in the sun, in your tractor cab, or calming down for the night, you can stream or download a Deep Roots Radio podcast that helps connect the dots between what we eat and how it’s grown.
Connecting the dots between what we eat and how it’s grown
The weekly radio show features interviews with guests from all over the country. They provide a wide range of perspectives and experience. In fact, in the last 13 years, co-host Dave Corbett and I have chatted with lawyers and farmers, ranchers and policy makers, advocates and investigative reporters, scientists and educators.
Topics range from cookie laws to winter cooking, from cattle grazing to the tie between Napoleon and food canning (yes, there really is a link), from food waste to food salvation and distribution, farmers markets to farm adventures, making cider to the value of working with stock dogs. Then there are interviews with herbalists, chefs and environmental conservationists, and lots more in efforts to re-imagine a better, healthier agricultural/food system.
Here’s a link to the radio archive. It offers some of the several hundred shows we’ve done over the years. You can listen online or download to your phone, computer or iPad.
The growing season is in full swing: new calves are running across the pastures, the first CSA boxes have been delivered, corn is knee-high, and vegetables are growing more than an inch a day.
This year, most of us have been stressed and isolated by COVID-19, and we’re eager to enjoy the sights, smells, and open spaces of nearby farms. Visiting working farms – agritourism – is a rapidly growing interest all across the country. What does the term encompass? How can farmers enter this growing field? And how can you find a farm to visit for a couple of hours or a weekend?
This three-part series features Sheila Everhart, President of the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association (WATA). Although the focus is Wisconsin, there’s lots of information for farmers and food lovers in any state.
In Part 1, Sheila defines agritourism and describes how WATA provides useful info to farmers, advocates for agritourism regulations and policies, and helps the public find farms and activities throughout the state.
Part 2 is for farmers: the questions and issues to consider before launching an agricultural tourism activity.
Part 3 is for individuals and families searching for a farm to visit. How to find a nearby farm, and how to prepare for a successful visit.
Enjoy these informative conversations, and visit a farm soon!
Clay Coyote CEO Morgan Baum on the beauty and function of clay cooking vessels
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I’ve baked my sourdough hearth loaves in covered clay pots for years, and recommend that same strategy to the many baking students that travel to my Bull Brook Keep teaching kitchen. Why? because the covered vessels provide a blast of heat and moisture-saving enclosure that yields high rises, crisp crusts and tender crumb laced with glossy holes.
That said, I’m a newbie when it comes to cooking and roasting in clay, a culinary tradition that spans a couple of thousand years (at least) and is used in nearly every country on the globe.
My first attempt was making a whole chicken. I followed advice gleaned from a couple of cookbooks and comments on the Cooking with Clay Facebook group. It was also there that I became aware of Clay Coyote, and Minnesota pottery maker renown for its beautiful and functional clay cookware.
flameware pan
tagine
casserole
I hope you enjoy this Deep Roots Radio interview with Clay Coyote CEO/Owner Morgan Baum. She grew up amid the clay and firing at Clay Coyote and is taking it into the future.
About the chicken? Well, as I said, I followed instructions pulled from old books and offered by fellow enthusiasts.
First, I soaked the bottom and lid of my terracotta roaster in a deep sink of water. After draining the pot, I placed sliced fennel bulb (another thing I don’t use much) onions and sweet peppers in the pot. I then added a couple of herbs I haven’t used much – tarragon and marjoram – and a good glug of very dry white wine. The whole chicken nestled on top of the veggies. I put on the lid and placed the pot in a cold – yes cold – oven.
I set the dial to 300F and let the oven sit there for five minutes. I then upped the oven to 450F and let her go for 1.5 hours.
The result? Every piece of that chicken was moist. The skin was crisp. The veggies were delicious. I was sold!
Since then, I’ve dived into making beans in clay, and to poaching eggs in savory sauces. It makes such sense: great ingredients cooked in pots shaped from the earth.
Ag economist John Ikerd - how better policies and smalls farms can move American farming to better food, soils, and economy
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In this Deep Roots Radioconversation, internationally-respected agricultural economist John Ikerd describes how America’s farming model isn’t set in stone, how fence-row-to-fence-row planing isn’t manifest destiny, and how farmers don’t have to “get big, or get out” to thrive.
John Ikerd, Agricultural Economist
Recorded February 1, 2020, this chat is a quick preview to the keynote presentation Ikerd will deliver at the 31st annual Organic Farming Conference, hosted by MOSES in La Crosse, WI, February 27-29, 2020. (MOSES stands for the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service.)
From a childhood on a Missouri dairy farm, Ikerd earned his undergraduate, Masters, and Ph.D. in agricultural economics at the University of Missouri. He has taught at four universities, has authored several books, and scores of papers and presentations. Among his books are Sustainable Capitalism: A Matter of Common Sense and Small Farms are Real Farms, and Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture.
In 2014, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization had Ikerd develop the North American report for the International Year of the Family Farm. In it, he made the case for multifunctional farms that protect and renew natural ecosystems and create and nurture caring communities that provide economic livelihoods for farm families.
For more information about Ikerd, visit johnikerd.com. To register for the Organic Farming Conference, and to learn more about MOSES, visit mosesorganic.org.
Jewelltown Roastery: brewing coffee, building community and raising music in farm country Wisconsin
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I haven’t done it often, but when I take Deep Roots Radio on the road, I’ve always loved it. This episode was filled with the sounds of a busy new coffee shop and music venue called Jewelltown Roastery, Star Prairie, Wisconsin, population 561.
Just 15 minutues from our farm, Bull Brook Keep, my husband Dave and I became fans with the first jingle of their front door. We stepped into a place where the espresso machine was busy, lunches were freshly made, and live music was captured by the tall tin ceilings and burnished wooden floors. We’ve become regulars for the excellent coffee, delicious meals, and growing sense of community rooted in friendly faces, local music and commitments to local foods and friendships.
Saturday morning jam session
Quinn Wrenholt and Liana Bratton at Jewelltown Roastery
Founder/director describes growing demand and struggle for Beijing organic farmers market
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The annual Organic Farming Conference held every February in La Crosse, Wisconsin never fails to deliver, and surprise.
Expertly organized by the nonprofit Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Services (MOSES), it attracts about 3,000 farmers and ranchers, researchers and policy makers, film makers, authors and chefs, vendors and advocates from the Midwest, across the country, and around the world. They brave the icy winds and occasional blizzards of deep winter to learn and advance sustainable farming practices, processing, and marketing. Why? For the health of the land and water, livestock and crops, and people.
Chang Tianle & Sylvia Burgos Toftness
I’ve attended this conference for several years, and now serve on its board of directors – an amazing privilege. This year, I had a pleasure to meet Chang Tianle, organizer/director of the Beijing Farmers Market, was well as a writer for Foodthink.
Although China is in the news every day, I know very little about it, or it’s capital city of Beijing. This Deep Roots Radio podcast provides some quick facts about the Peoples Republic of China. In the interview, Chang describes how the farmers market started, and how it’s growing despite struggles to compete with large corporations.
Success with Stockdogs (herding dogs) Part 1: their value to the farm/ranch, and the unique dog-handler relationship
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Border collie at work!
In this first of three Deep Roots Radio interviews, stock dog trainer and border collie breeder Denice Rakley describes the special human-dog communication needed to bring out the instincts of herding dogs, also known as stock dogs. Owner and operator of Clearfield Stockdogs, Bennington, Indiana. Denice will hold demonstrations on April 26, and a three-day workshop for all levels on April 27, 28, and 29. Another workshop is scheduled for the fall. To learn more, go to Clearfieldstockdogs.com, or Facebook, Success with Stockdogs. I hope you enjoy this interview.
The American Kennel Club recognizes 18 breeds of herding dog. There are dozens more, however, used throughout the world. These dogs help move flocks of sheep, cattle, and even geese. My Siggy, a Welsh Corgi, needs lots of training, but even now, his instincts help by keeping cattle at a distance so that I can move hay or tend to a calf. He’s part of our sustainable farming effort!
Herding dogs are divided up into three general categories, and Siggy is a driver, nipping at heals to get the cattle moving. The border collie is an example of a gatherer, rounding up flocks of sheep and moving them through gates. And still others, like German Shepherds, act like living, moving fences making sure their livestock charges stay within certain pastures and out of crop land. We’ll chat more about the differences among the breeds in Part 2 of this series.
Part 3 will focus on the key attributes to consider when purchasing your first herding dog or puppy.
Border collie pup
Old English Sheepdog
Corgi herding dog
Puli stock dog
German Shepherd
Rottweiler
You can enjoy dozens of Deep Roots Radio podcasts by listening online or downloading from this website or iTunes. Deep Roots Radio is broadcast and streamed live from the studios of WPCA Radio, 93.1FM (in and around Amery, WI) and via the Internet at www.wpcaradio.org.
There’s nothing like a gathering of like-minded people – especially when the get-together includes delicious foods created with highly nutritious ingredients. When it’s a meeting of Weston A. Price Foundation chapter members, participants share deep commitment to foods grown to restore the environment, cooked and baked to boost flavor and health.
Cattle grazing lush pastures
These are the hallmarks of the monthly meetings of the Minneapolis/St. Paul chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation, one of approximately 600 chapters worldwide. Held the second Saturday of each month, the Minneapolis/St. Paul meetings are organized and led by Becca Griffith and Susie Zahratka. Chapter members and guests travel from around the metro area to share a potluck, hear a short program, and purchase locally-produced vegetables, fruit, free-range chicken and eggs, wild-caught salmon, grass-fed beef, and pastured pork and lamb from local farmers.
I trust you’ll enjoy this Deep Roots Radio interview with Becca. And I hope you’ll look for the chapter closest to you.
I hope you enjoy this Deep Roots Radio chat with author and modern-day homesteader Ben Hewitt. An engaging storyteller, Ben pulls you right into his books and their characters. His most recent publication is The Nourishing Homestead: One Back-to-the-land Family’s Plan for Cultivating Soil, Skills and Spirit. Ben, his wife Penny and their two sons grow 90% of their foods and build their lives on 40 acres in Vermont.
What they’ve learned over the years “is readily transferable to any place — whether you live on 4 acres, 40 acres or in a 400-square-foot studio apartment.
On November 10, 2016, Hewitt be in Amery, Wisconsin to share a great meal, and to describe his experiences and ideas about the tie between growing your food and quality of life, environmental consciousness and rebuilding local community.
He’s also written:
– The Town that Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food
– Making Supper Safe: One Man’s Quest to Learn the Truth about Food Safety
– Home Grown: The Adventures in Parenting off the Beaten Path, Unschooling and Reconnecting with the Natural World
Enjoy a local organic dinner, and conversation with Ben Hewitt Nov. 10, 2015, 6:00-9:00PM
Farm Table Restaurant, Amery, WI For tickets, www.hungryturtle.net
