Today I, Mimi , am speaking with my good good friend Abby Rose of Vidacycle , a farmer, physicist, and soil health advocate. She is the co-founder of Vidacycle Tech which makes easy to use web applications that support farmers on their regenerative path wherever they are. I've used these apps, spent a lot of time with her, think the world of her, and I feel this episode is part two of where we left off with Jim of Red Shirt Farm where we exposed the tender underbelly of the systems we're all wor...
May 22, 2023•1 hr 34 min
Buckle up for another NERDY episode of the podcast. For this one, I--Natalie--spoke with Andrea Jilling, an assistant professor of environmental soil chemistry at Oklahoma State University. It's just coincidence that this one follows so soon after Mimi's interview with Dr. Cotrufo, as it's a nice continuation of that conversation about organic matter and carbon, but extending it to nitrogen, Andrea's area of research. Nitrogen is HUGE, it's in the air as both an inert gas and a greenhouse gas, i...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Hey football fans, it's Mimi. And lest you be confused, today we're speaking with Jim Schultz of Red Shirt Farm --get it?--a 13 acre livestock + no-till veg farm in western Mass. He's been farming for more than a decade and came to farming later than he had originally planned (hence, Red Shirt). It's a long conversation, but the main reason I want you to stick it out is that not only has Jim done some of the coolest things, but when I reached out to him I was also thinking about the idea of the ...
May 08, 2023•2 hr 15 min
Hey everyone, Alex Ball of Old City Acres , and today we sit down with Mat & Nina Ladegaard of Ground Stone Farm and Squash Blossom Local Food, respectively. Mat is a highly skilled high-elevation vegetable grower. Ground Stone Farm is a flourishing farm situated in the high-desert region of Nambe, New Mexico. Over the years, Mathew has developed and refined farming techniques that are specifically tailored to meet the unique demands of growing crops in a high-elevation environment, where we...
May 01, 2023•1 hr 10 min
Christine Sprunger is a soil scientist and head of the Soil Health and Ecosystem Ecology Lab at Michigan State University. With a deep-rooted passion for soil science, Christine's research doesn't shy away from the complexity of soil health and what it means for both the researcher and the farmer. Soil health is a laborious concept that requires a deep understanding of the ecosystem's overall functioning. To accurately assess soil health, it's crucial to identify relevant indicators that connect...
Apr 24, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Deeply inspired by her work in ecology, Dr. Francesca Cotrufo defied the traditional view on litter decomposition and soil organic matter dynamics. An internationally recognized ecologist, she has made great strides in understanding soil organic matter and its underlying processes. With a diverse research background spanning forests, grasslands, the Arctic, and the Tropics, her work has led to pioneering discoveries in regenerative soil health practices. Francesca's groundbreaking contribution t...
Apr 17, 2023•1 hr 34 min
Despite the risk of pivoting their business, Lindsay Steele of Garden Fort in Dexter, Michigan (outside of Ann arbor), chose to switch from farmers markets to direct-to-retail sales and ended up reaping unexpected rewards - from more time with his family to increased profitability. In this episode, Alex Ball of Old City Acres and Lindsay dig deep into successfully shifting from farmers markets to direct-to-retail sales, selecting profitable crops for year-round production, how clever packaging a...
Apr 10, 2023•1 hr 29 min
We all know how important it is to start with a quality plant. With a degree and experience in applied industrial ecology, Kurstin of Purple Springs Nursery discusses the transition from IPM to regenerative agriculture in the nursery space. Her work at Purple Springs allowed her to explore innovative ways to improve plant health and soil quality. Kurstin's dedication to sustainable practices and her understanding of the intricacies of soil health and plant nutrition make her a great guest on per...
Apr 03, 2023•1 hr 11 min
Hi everyone, it's Natalie again, and I am putting the ecologists back-to-back here on the podcast. This time with microbial ecologist Terry Bell of the Microbiome Manipulation Lab at the University of Toronto . He came highly recommended and did not disappoint. We talk about what is the soil microbiome, how can we manage or change it, whether soil microbial inoculants work, and why microbiome breeding is not analogous to plant breeding. If you one of those people who listen to podcasts to get to...
Mar 27, 2023•59 min
Hey everyone, it's Alex Ball , and today we sit down with Bill and Kathy of Argus Farm Stop in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We dig deep into running a consignment-only grocery store, working with farmers in the community, and building food access. Mentioned in the show... The Retail Edge Consignment POS Check out the Argus Farm Stop Website Follow Argus Farm Stop on Instagram Folks who make the show possible... RIMOL Greenhouses quality greenhouses and high-tunnels. Certified Naturally Grown grassroots,...
Mar 20, 2023•1 hr 12 min
Hey fellow passengers, it's Mimi . My most sincere hope is that, by now, I'm growing on you, not unlike a fungus. You know what they say, falling in love is like eating mushrooms, 'you never know if it's the real thing until it's too late.' Today, my guest is Dr. Michael Beug. If you don't know who he is, you may be familiar with some of his proteges, including Paul Stamets , and many others who studied under Dr. Beug. He taught chemistry, mycology, and organic farming at Evergreen State Collage...
Mar 13, 2023•1 hr 25 min
Hi everyone, it's Natalie. It's hard to believe this is my sixth episode for The No-Till Market Garden Podcast. It felt super intimidating to commit to finding and interviewing ten people, but it turns out to have been a lot of fun to talk with people I've admired from a distance and also some of my friends. For this episode, I talked with my friend and colleague, Sonja Birthisel . She is a weed ecologist and agroecologist by training, but her interests and expertise are wide and varied. We get ...
Mar 06, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Hey everyone, it's Alex Ball , and on today's episode of the podcast we talk to Liana Glass who, along with her partner Duncan, run City Beet Farm on leased yards and lots in urban Vancouver. These first generation farmers are actually the third owners of this farm! We dig deep on buying & valuing their farm business, partnering with local organizations & businesses, & mobile wash/pack solutions. Mentioned in the show... Take Podcast Host Natalie's Survey! The Super Rad City Beet Far...
Mar 02, 2023•1 hr 17 min
You can grow seed on your farm. And it's easier than you think... Subscribe to The Seed Growers Podcast on Apple , Spotify , or wherever you listen to podcasts. This is the first of 5 mini-episodes to get ready for the season 2 of The Seed Growers Podcast. Today's episode is about getting into the mindset for your first seed crop. By starting small and taking your time, there is a greater chance that seed growing seems realistic on your farm and that you persist and develop your seed skills. Thi...
Feb 24, 2023•10 min
Oh hey, it's Mimi again. Gotcha two for the price of one today, because we're speaking with David Montgomery and Anne Biklé. I'm sure they don't need an introduction, because I know at least some of you all will have at least one of their books in your exhaustive libraries. If you haven't heard of them, David and Anne are married, live in Seattle, and are a pair of writers. To quote them, "Dave is a broad-minded geologist and Anne is a free-range biologist with a bad case of plant lust." If that...
Feb 20, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Hi everyone, it's Natalie, and for this episode I talked with Ryan Fitzbeauchamp of Evening Song Farm in Vermont. Ryan and his wife Kara have an incredible story to get where they are today with a thriving year-round CSA (yes, you heard that right, a year-round CSA in Vermont!). They include what is often called rotational no-till on the farm and this is a production system that is near-and-dear to my heart. What I mean by rorational no-till is that, while they haven't eliminated tillage altoget...
Feb 13, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Hey everyone, it's Alex Ball , and today I'm excited to talk with Doug Wolcik & Kayleigh Boyle of Bread Seed Farm in rural Vermont. We dig deep into using "no-till" to market your farm, building a farm with community at the core, and adding value with ginger and dried flowers. Mentioned in the show... Karl Hammer of Vermont Compost Company ( listen to him and Jesse on The No-Till Market Garden here ) Folks who make the show possible... RIMOL Greenhouses quality greenhouses and high-tunnels. ...
Feb 06, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Truth be told, I always wished to be a Jesuit monk, but kind of missed out on that opportunity on account of not being a dude. I wanted to live in a beautiful place and learn things and grow things without anybody asking me to do anything else. I imagine my life being like that of the great Baltasar Gracián , a Catalan jesuit monk. He famously said, "He that has satisfied his thirst turns his back on the well." Let me just say our guest today, Miguel Torres, is very thirsty. Miquel is the fifth ...
Jan 30, 2023•1 hr 22 min
Natalie here... and for this episode I want to talk farmer research! You may notice that research is a theme for me? SARE is a federally funded program for farmer centered research and innovation. Candice Huber works for SARE and Jennifer Wilhelm runs a no-till market garden near me in New Hampshire, Fat Peach Farm , and has received two SARE grants to pursue some of her ideas. Mentioned in the show... The SARE Projects Database Jennifer's SARE Projects: Exploring the Feasibility of Growing Micr...
Jan 23, 2023•1 hr
Hey everyone, it's Alex Ball with another episode of the No-Till Market Garden Podcast! I'm really excited to share a conversation with you all from Adam of Country Valley Farm in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In the interview we get into building new no-till beds with deep woodchips, animal pressure on the farm, the realities of farming with a full-time job, and producing garlic for the wholesale market. A big thanks to Adam for sitting down to share all the work he and his family are doing at CVF. He h...
Jan 16, 2023•1 hr 12 min
You know that feeling when you get to hang out with one of your heroes? Well I do, and you guys are going to get to hang out with us, too. Fred Provenza is a retired professor in rangeland science from Utah State University and is also a unicorn mixed with a phoenix. Not only is he an amazing human-being, he also has one of the deepest and most humble experiences working at the intersection between humans and landscapes, plants and animals. He has worked with farmers from all around the world, a...
Jan 09, 2023•2 hr 14 min
For this episode, I, Natalie, spoke with Iago Hale about kiwiberries, which I realize is a fruit that a lot of you have probably never heard of, much less tried. In my excitement, I forgot to have him introduce himself! Iago is an associate professor of agriculture, nutrition, and food systems department at the University of New Hampshire. When I first met him, he was in the beginning of his kiwiberry research program and it's really cool to see how far it has come in the last decade. As a resea...
Jan 02, 2023•1 hr 9 min
It's Alex Ball, and I'm excited to bring y'all a conversation with Jordan Scheibel of Middle Way Farm. Jordan and his crew are growing mixed veg for local wholesale, retail, and direct-to-consumer through a home delivery CSA and online farmers market out there in windy Iowa. We dig deep into selling to local specialty grocers, no-till tunnel production, the importance of consistent labor, and the growth they capitalized on during the pandemic. Jordan is building a community-centric model that is...
Dec 26, 2022•1 hr 16 min
Hey rebels, if you listen to this podcast you probably know that I, Mimi, am the lone wine person to date. So, since that's what I do, I thought I would poke some of my favorite people in wine and today I've got one of my BIG heroes. Eric Texier is a winegrower in the South of France. He's known for being an early leader in not just better practices in the vineyard, going beyond the adoption of biodynamics, but he went on a journey to figure out how his soils could be improved and how that could...
Dec 19, 2022•1 hr 52 min
*Update: The SeedLinked participatory variety trials are LIVE on their website and this year include cherry tomato and colored pepper trials AND a NO-TILL squash trial!* Nicolas of SeedLinked and Julie of University of Madison Wisconsin are leaders in participatory plant breeding. They are helping develop varieties that are regionally adapted to the traits that matter for direct market growers like most of you! They've developed a platform to make it easier to include farmers in variety trials t...
Dec 12, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Hey everyone, it's Alex, and I'm beyond excited to bring you all a very interesting conversation with Brian Bates of Bear Creek Organic Farm . Brian is one of my favorite farmers in the state of Michigan and I got the privilege to spend a day with him and his crew, learning how they grow food efficiently year-round. In this episode, we dive deep into the philosophy of farm growth, Spring plant sales, experiments in no-till, and investing in the most valuable asset of a farm. Surprise? It's their...
Dec 05, 2022•1 hr 28 min
Natalie here. When Jesse asked me to be a guest-host, I knew I wanted to dedicate an episodeto the subject of PFAS contamination, but I didn't think it would be a good first episode, because it's really not uplifting. It's one of those topics that makes it hard to keep sitting up straight. But, since I've been behind the ball on getting more episodes going--and Jesse tells me there's a lot of intrest in this topic--I decided to go for it. For the vast majority of growers out there, PFAS contamin...
Nov 28, 2022•1 hr 6 min
It's about to get real nerdy, folks. We at No-Till Growers have always wanted to bring in more of the research and science from someone who really understands it. Natalie Lounsbury , herself, is a no-till and cover crop RESEARCHER at the University of New Hampshire, a legitimate scientist, and you may remember her from the Priming for Production Podcast series on soil organic matter. Go back and listen to it if you haven't already, it's one of our favorite things on the internet. Ever. In this m...
Nov 25, 2022•23 min
Tell Dr. Mimi where it hurts, because I've got the cure. Be it bread or beer, it all starts with grain. Today, we get to do all of my favorite things, which is to combine bread, beer, and rock stars. Andy Cato, half of the band Groove Armada , is the co-founder of a super-rad farm project, Wildfarmed , growing no-till regenerative grains. It's taken a lot of trail and error, and we get into his systems and how he makes it all work: rotations, equipment, producer groups, etc. for facilitating the...
Nov 21, 2022•1 hr 19 min
Super excited to have Josh and Kelsey of Wild Prairie Flower Farm on The No-Till Market Garden Podcast! They're two super hard-working urban farmers in Columbus, OH, who grow about a quarter of an acre of cut-flowers and market them through a home-delivery CSA. Big thanks to Jesse and the No-Till Growers team for having me, Alex Ball, as a host. ~ Alex Ball, Old City Acres Mentioned in the show... Follow Wild Prarie on Instagram Check out the Wild Prarie GoFundMe Folks who make the show possible...
Nov 14, 2022•58 min
