Good things have been happening at Mustard Seed Farm since it began in 2008. We talk with Alice McGary and Ami Adams about the MSF's commitment to community service, educational outreach and the growing of good food. Mustard Seed Farm provides food for a local medical clinic, Food at First and Romero House, in Ames. They thrive with support from volunteer workers and staff. Alice and Ami invite listeners to get involved with MSF events such as the annual "FunRaiser", a Seed Library, a "Swap-aloo...
Feb 29, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 89
Donna returns from a month in New Zealand with her report on food and farming. Sometimes it's nice to see how things are going in other places besides Iowa. Lonna welcomes Donna back into the studio and hears about New Zealand's dairy and beef production, water quality, the price of groceries, rich farmers, raw milk, a visit to a cider maker and a visit to a chocolate factory.
Feb 22, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 88
Conservation is often the "elephant in the room" that doesn't get talked about very much. Conservation agronomist Ruth McCabe shares her insights about the state of agriculture around the globe. Ruth studied farming systems in Australia, Canada, the Chesapeake Bay, Brazil and other locations as part of an international Nuffield Scholarship. She works with Heartland Cooperative in Iowa. Contrasting her observations about farmers' needs for short-term gains vs. long- term conservation efforts make...
Feb 15, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 87
Much depends on breakfast. Donna and Lonna explore pancakes and biscuits and gravy at a local Ames restaurant. We talk about the history of breakfast cereals, buckwheat crepes, waffles, brioche and French toast with a small detour into Donna's love affair with pudding.
Feb 08, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 86
Pesticides and herbicides are all over Iowa. These things have consequences. Donna and Lonna talk to farmer, Rob Faux about the lasting effects of pesticide drift on his farm and his work with the Pesticide Action Network to address the problem.
Jan 18, 2024•55 min•Season 85Ep. 85
Donna refuses to use the word "resolution," but we talk about good food, good habits and thoughts that are good to heal the excesses of the holidays and set the pace for a good new year. We talk about soups, collagen, miso, kefir, kitchen remedies for the common cold and a broader look at hopeful actions for earth care and people care.
Jan 04, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 84
We explore tastes and memories of many holidays past with Mike Murphy and Mike Meetz (friends from our community radio family). The discussion includes: Christmas music, the lemony taste of Yuzu, eggnog, cat ice, big snow and wet wool snowsuits, Donna's mother's oyster casserole, Lonna's winter chicken maintenance, opossum teeth, Mike Meetz's memory of the good luck German pickle ornament, and the ins and outs of the Christmas goose.
Dec 21, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Donna and Lonna talk to special guest, Monika Tucker about her experiences working in Antarctica. We consider (very) southern food and culture at the bottom of the world. Monika shares recipes from her German heritage: Rouladen, Rot Kohl, German Cheesecake and memories of her time spent working in a German Bakery. Monika also talks about her kitchen experiences at various Buddhist Retreat Centers. We learn about mindful eating, kitchen work as a Yogic discipline and her recipes for Tempeh Marbel...
Dec 14, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 82
Author Joseph Geha joins us to talk about his new book: Kitchen Arabic, How My Family Came to America and the Recipes We Brought With Us. The book is a story of family, food and the story of the Geha family immigration to America from Lebanon. Delightful stories and many recipes make this a fun read and a labor of love. Joe's wife Fern Kupfer, also a writer joins the discussion with many helpful insights and news of the Fern and Joe substack project. Lentils, Aleppo pepper, garlic, lamb, zaatar ...
Dec 07, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 81
Donna talks about make-ahead holiday ingredients: candied citrus peel, sugared cranberries and the ins and outs of her famous fudge. We explore the development of organic Christmas sprinkles. Donna gives much good advice on liquors and flavorings for cakes, candies, and traditional plum pudding. And we end with a poem about summer peaches.
Nov 30, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Side dishes and pie thoughts for the holiday table. Donna and Lonna talk about fun and fancy things to do with potatoes: brown butter/sage and spiralized baked potatoes. Donna gives her recipe for candied fresh cranberries and pumpkin cobbler. Lonna talks about pie crust and reads a poem about being thankful for locally baked bread.
Nov 23, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 79
We talk turkey with farmer, Rob Faux from Genuine Faux Farm. Donna has the opportunity to show off her turkey calling skills while Rob teaches us about the ins and outs of turkeys. We talk about raising, marketing and cooking the holiday bird and learn about jakes, jennys, free range birds, and how to get turkeys into a pickup truck.
Nov 09, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 78
Donna and Lonna celebrate fall and Halloween with thoughts of sweet things. Ben Hoksch joins us to tell us about his experience making sorghum. Ben enjoys working with sweet things. He is a botanist, a beekeeper and local maker of maple syrup. Donna talks about gingerbread and taffy. Lonna shares a poem by Alice Walker for the old women, wise women, grandmothers and witches in all of us.
Nov 02, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 77
The Farm Bill sets priorities for our nation's farms, food systems, environment and communities. donna and Lonna talk with Aaron Lehman from the Iowa Farmers Union. The IFU has been advocating for farms and rural communities since 1915 and is a voice for conservation, education, research, and sustainable farm policy that affect us all.
Oct 26, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Squash, pumpkins and the tastes of fall! Donna moves way beyond pumpkin spice mix with an exploration of cinnamons, ginger, anise and a wide variety of tasty spice mixtures. These spices are not just for pumpkin pie. Use them for cakes, cookies, stews, coffee and more. Lonna shares a poem about Weiners and a recipe for Spicy Paprika Tomato Jam. We end the show with advice for storing fall vegetables.
Oct 19, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 75
Donna and Lonna get to know some local nuts with Joe Lynch, farmer, forager, and long time partner with Lonna at Onion Creek Farm. We celebrate the joy of tree crops: black walnuts, butternuts, hickory nuts and acorns. Donna talks about her long time love of chestnuts. Joe also talks about his homemade version of an apple cider press using a garbage disposal and a hydraulic jack.
Oct 12, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Explore what the nose knows. Donna and Lonna discuss the book Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World's Smells by Harold McGee. We find out about the chemistry, anthropology and environmental factors that influence how we experience our world. We talk about the importance of smell in the kitchen, herbs, wine tasting and the science behind it all.
Oct 05, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 73
A birthday cake for Lonna and a good frosting recipe from Donna. Barry McDonald joins us at the kitchen table to talk about his life in Australia. We talk about frogs, colorful language, kangaroo meat and the history of the Granny Smith apple. It's jam and jelly season. Tips and tricks including preparing fruit, jelly bags, pectin, the joy of using a maslin pan and hot packing. Donna shares her recipe for Oriental Plum Sauce.
Sep 28, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Salt! An important part of our lives. Donna and Lonna talk about the book The Miracle of Salt by Naomi Duguid . We talk about weight, density and what constitutes 'saltiness'. We share salt harvesting stories and recipes. Also we talk about the book All the Presidents' Pastries: Twenty-Five Years in the White House by master pastry chef Roland Mesnier. Peaches and pine trees are also part of the mix....
Sep 21, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 71
What do we know about food? We talk to Kate Gilbert from the Iowa State University Food Science department about the current state of food literacy in academia and on our plates. Kate talks about her family farm, her career and her passion for good, local food. We also explore the Iowa Food Systems Coalition, Iowa food hubs, a Local Food celebration on the Iowa State University campus, the nutritional value of Ramen noodles and how we all learn to feed ourselves.
Sep 14, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Wendy Johnson joins us at the kitchen table to talk about her farm ( Joia Food Farm ) her farm journey and her joy of growing local food. We explore Kernza, the new, perennial grain that Wendy is trialing on her farm and helping to introduce to the market. Donna gives a history of perennial grain breeding at the Land Institute by Wes Jackson and her experience in baking with Kernza. Wendy talks about her sheep flock, how sheep are integrated into the crop and grazing rotation at Joia Farm and he...
Sep 07, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 69
A potpourri of food topics! Donna talks about attending the annual Niman Ranch Farmer Appreciation Dinner. Tips for preserving the summer harvest, Lonna visits a local food potluck/picnic and shares a recipe for fermenting hot peppers and raw okra salad. Writer, cook and world traveller Gheeta Iyer joins Lonna at the DonnaLonna Kitchen table. She shares her thoughts on Indian food and explains why curry is a verb.
Aug 31, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Donna and Lonna visit with Carmen and Maja Black, farmers at Sundog Farm and Local Harvest CSA in Solon, Iowa. Sundog Farm grows vegetables, flowers, sheep, goats, and chickens for the local market. The farm has spread across five locations thanks to creative cooperation with other farmers and innovative use of season extension. The Black sisters talk about scaling up their farm with size-appropriate tools, tractors and good humor.
Aug 17, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Donna and Lonna talk with Jennifer Knox, co-owner of the business Saltlickers located in Nevada, Iowa. With great skill and good humor, Jen and her husband, Collin Switzer, bring salt and herb blends to the farmers markets of central Iowa and also retail outlets and mailboxes across the nation. We talk about creating a product, selling an idea and tickling taste buds across the state and beyond.
Aug 10, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 65
Tomatoes and sweet corn - fresh from the garden. We look ahead to the Iowa State Fair and DLK's upcoming cooking demonstration at the fair. Donna reviews the recipes. We celebrate Iowa food with polenta with candied tomatoes and lard pound cake with berries and whipped cream. Also some thoughts on gazpacho, zucchini, carrot top pesto and elderberries. Lonna reads about the Automat, a short food history from the book Food of a Younger Land.
Jul 27, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 65
The summer garden is a good time to resolve to eat healthy. Get away from processed food and be cautious about using the sweetener, aspartame. We talk about garlic and beets with recipe advice from Donna. Lonna talks about bush beans, pole beans, the first garden tomatoes of the season, harvesting and drying herbs and some of the science behind breeding the Cherry Plum. We explore edible flowers and Donna gives her sure-fire recipe for keeping squirrels out of her nasturtiums.
Jul 20, 2023•49 min•Season 1Ep. 64
From a 2018 interview with Fred Kirchenmann, we revisit a talk about the state of modern agriculture: What we have done, what we have learned, and what we can learn to do better. Fred Kirchenmann is the past director of the Leopold Center, board member of the Stone Barns Center for Renewable Agriculture, organic grain farmer, philosopher and proponent of thoughtful choices regarding our relationship to our world.
Jul 13, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 63
The DonnaLonna Kitchen show talks about everything cherry: harvesting cherries, pitting cherries, cherry pie, and a very good cherry ice cream recipe. Pitting cherries can be quite a messy adventure but as Donna says, it is well worth the effort. We also explore the book Pulp: A practical guide for cooking with fruit written by Abra Behrens. We explore sweet, savory and unexpected recipes for fruit.
Jun 29, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Shelley Buffalo is The Colonial Pathfinder for the Meskwaki Tribe. She is an advocate for local food sovereignty, food justice and rematriation. Donna and Lonna talk with her about the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge in Iowa, indigenous management of the prairie, food ways and thoughts on colonization. Join Shelley at her upcoming Practical Farmers of Iowa field day on June 28, 2023: Rematriating Iowa’s Historical Prairie: Combining Historical Management Techniques to Foster Modern Conservat...
Jun 22, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 61
We start our podcast with talk about honey berries and a recipe for Creamy Sorrel soup. Then our guest Diana Smith from Simple Life Farms in Winterset, Iowa, joins us to tell us about dairy goats. Diana talks about making great goat cheese, soap and lotions.
Jun 15, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 60
