Mike Schut audio interview: The deep connection between food, farming, social justice and spirituality.

Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
Mike Schut audio interview: The deep connection between food, farming, social justice and spirituality.
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The relationships between farming and food, health and nourishment, people and spirituality are tightly woven. They are interlaced and as old as time. Unfortunately, these deep connections have been ignored or denied in recent decades – much to the detriment of human and environmental health, local economies and community connections.

In this Deep Roots Radio broadcast, Mike Schut, Senior Program Director and Events Coordinator for the Farm Table Foundation, describes these linkages and their impact on food, sustainable farming, social and economic justice and spirituality in the United States.

I hope you enjoy this interview.

Sylvia

Shooting star

It was nearly midnight. I closed my mystery novel and pulled myself out of my red over-stuffed armchair to let the dogs out one last time before bed.

The night breeze was delicious. The day’s awful heat and humidty were gone, thank goodness. While working out in the pastures, it had felt as if I’d been breathing through a hot sponge. The chores, however, had to be done – my BueLingo herd needed fresh grass and filled water troughs. Three hours into it, I felt my face grow red beneath my wide-brimed straw hat. The temp had climbed to near 90, and the sun pressed unrelenting. I retreated to a shady deck chair and big glasses of cold water.

The hot afternoon slipped into a warm evening.

The dogs scurried into the dark. I walked away from the house lights and found myself under an umbrella of stars. The longer I looked, the more pin points of light popped into view. It was dizzying. The Milky Way draped to the southwest, and the Big Dipper was behind my right shoulder. Where was the Perseus constellation? I never remembered from year to year. I’d have to look that up tomorrow.

The dogs churned around my ankles, bringing me back to earth. Just as I turned to go in, I caught a shooting star flair east to west over the roof. A wondrous birthday gift.

Thank you God.

Sylvia

Aug. 12-13. 2018 meteor shower

 

New Cowgirl High Tea dates added!

The first several Cowgirl High Teas have been a blast! Such great coversation around the farm table. And, of course, the cows have been perfect hosts.

The next few teas are booked solid, so I’ve added a couple more to the calendar: Sept. 29th and November 3rd. Oh, and there are still a couple of seats available for the October tea. Each tea runs from 11:30AM to 3:00PM, and is held at Bull Brook Keep.

Just click here for more information and to reserve your spots for a three-course high tea featuring indoor comfort, fine china, crisp linens and full service:

  • Savories: select from among 100% grass-fed mini-burger on brioche bun, finger sandwiches, frittata, and other offerings as the season promotes
  • Scones: demonstration of scone making for this course
  • Bite-sized desserts: an ever-evolving assortment of mini-cakes, tarts, custards, semifreddo, etc.

Each course is paired to a delicious tea. The focus is always on quality and flavor. Local ingredients featured whenever possible. Vegetarian and gluten-free options always available.

I hope to pour a cup for you soon!

Sylvia

2018 Coop Farm Tour at Bull Brook Keep – Thanks for coming!

Boy, was it sunny yesterday! A perfect day for the Coop Farm Tour. Once again, Dave and I are glad our farm – Bull Brook Keep – was one of the 30+ rural and urban farms participating in this annual event, which is organized by a consortium of Twin Cities natural foods coops. (Thanks Allison Heitmiller!)

A big thanks to everyone who visited from near and far. Our cattle are grass-fed and grass-finished, so it was a pleasure to demonstrate how we rotate our BueLingo herd across our fields. We were proud to offer samples of our summer sausage (no artificial nitrates or nitrites), and our ground beef – in a savory chili. We enjoyed answering questions and explaining our sustainable practice as we walked up the pasture.

A big THANK YOU, to our farm tour volunteer, Joe Henson. Joe works at the Lakewinds Food Coop meat department, and proved a huge help on the farm. Not only personable and knowledgeable, he helped set up temporary paddocks, he welcomed visitors and helped tell our story. He was great! Joe, you were a huge asset to the day. We hope you’ll come back to visit with family and friends soon.

Sylvia & Dave Toftness, and Coop Farm Tour volunteer Joe Henson.

Please post photos of your visit to our farm. Miss the farm tour? No problem. We welcome visitors every month of the year. Just give a call. We’d love to hear about your food journey.
Sylvia

 

WCCO TV shines light on Saturday’s (July 14th) Eat Local Coop Farm Tour – quick video

Wedge Coop’s Allison Heitmiller preps for TV

It was fun on the WCCO TV set this morning. A big thanks to the Mid Morning Team, to the Twin Cities’ natural food coops, and to Allison Heitmiller from the Wedge Community Coop for helping food lovers learn about this weekend’s Coop Farm Tour. Here’s the video.

Our farm, Bull Brook Keep, is again glad to be one of the 30 rural and urban farms on the map. We’ll be moving cows to fresh grass at 10AM, 1PM and 3PM, offering samples and taking short pasture walks. We’d love to hear about your food journey. There are also five other farms within a short circle of us that are part of the tour, making it easy to visit a range of operations – a grass-fed dairy and cheese-making creamery, CSA vegetable, and trout farm – within a few quick miles. These are wonderful, sustainably operated farms producing delicious and highly nutritious foods. At the end of the day, you can relax and enjoy a great meal at the Farm Table Restaurant in downtown Amery, WI.

I hope you enjoy this morning’s interview.

Sylvia Burgos Toftness & Dave Toftness

From veggies to flowers. Sourdough to cakes and mini-tarts.

I know better; I should never take a book to bed. Although I tell myself that I’ll read for just 15 minutes, suddently it’s 1:05AM. Drat – I’ve done it again.

Today’s sources


I can’t help it – I love researching recipes, the histories of spices and teas, national foodways, and cuisines at different times in history. Right now, I’m finding and testing new recipes for my Cowgirl High Teas. Exciting savories, seasonal scones, unique curds and jams, off-the-chart gluten-free tarts. These high teas are informed by our farm, our commitment to sustainably grown local foods, the teas I’ve enjoyed in many parts of the world, and foods enjoyed by many cultures.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) there are a gazillion books (So glad the Amery Public Library is part of the state’s extensive lending network). Then there are the hundreds of blogs and thousands of Pinterest posts. And I’ve got to do this in between farm chores. (Can’t keep our BueLingo beef herd waiting to be moved to fresh pastures, after all!)

This intense investigation and trial reminds me of a time, decades ago, when I was planting my first garden in south Minneapolis. Copies of Organic Gardening magazine, Rodale books, and John Jeavon’s More Vegetables lay open by my new raised beds. Within weeks, their pages were dog-eared and smudged. I was determined! I tore up lawn and pulled up flower beds. You can’t eat flowers! And I needed space for all those healthful vegetables to eat and freeze for my husband, our two young children, and me.

I was a zealot. But after several years, I began to yearn for flowers. I’ve always loved them. I gift them all the time, and love getting bouquets from husband and kids. And if I’m feeling particularly generous, I’ll buy some for myself. After five or six years of nothing but edibles, I started planting a few tulips and irises. Then came the bachelor’s buttons, pincushion flowers, and rugosa roses. When I sold my house, I planted hundreds of gladiola bulbs for the new owners to enjoy that summer.

Verbena and vinca flowers among rosemary branches

I see the cycle repeating itself. I started baking bread in the 1970s, along with everyone else searching for alternatives to that white squishy stuff sold at the grocery store. My first attempts were doorstops, but I I kept plugging.

My obsession with mild French sourdough began over a dozen years ago. Again, I plunged into research, trials, sacks of flour and burbling jars of sourdough starter. Six years ago, I started teaching others how to bake artisan loaves in their home kitchens. All fall and winter, these classes focus on strategies using time, temperature and hydration to create lofty, chewy crusts, and open tender crumb. We have a good time filled with lots of conversation, flour up to our elbows, and yummy sampling.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I know woman cannot live by bread alone. I will not turn down a chewy, home-made chocolate chip cookie. I can, and have, eaten them by the dozen. But cakes and pies? Nah, not so much. At least, not until recently.

A couple of years ago, the fragrance and almondy richness of fangipane caught my attention, and a recipe that included cranberries (my favorite fruit) demanded I buy a tart pan. Now, I’m baking miniature cakes and tartlets, lemon-infused bundt cakes, ginger shortbreads and cardamom cookies, strawberry scones, panna cottas, and mini-cheese cakes — bite-sized delectables just right for high tea. I’m loving the sweet end of the baking spectrum. There’s a balance they provide.

Bees hum in the garlic chives

Nutrient-dense produce and wonderful sprays of color and fragrance – a balance valuable in the garden and in the kitchen. In truth, you can’t be a vegetable gardener without flowers. It just isn’t possible because every fruit and vegetable begins with an often inconspicuous swirl of petals. Similarly, the plants we cultivate specifically for their glorious blooms are as important to the health of our natural and human landscape. They lift our hearts.

I think baking presents an analog. Bread is, I believe, a critical staple in our diet. But cakes and tartlets? Mini-muffins and tiny pies? I’m beginning to see them as the flowers in our cuisine.

Sylvia

You’re invited to a Cowgirl High Tea at Bull Brook Keep

China tea pots, linens, teas to match the food and the seasons. Flavors from around the world. Reserve now for July 28, Aug 25, Sept 22, and Oct. 20. Each tea goes from 11:30AM-3:00PM. Seating limited to 8.

I love tea, but enjoy it most when lifting a cup with good company. Come and enjoy a Cowgirl High Tea where the setting,and homemade sweets and savories are informed by travels near and very far, lucious local ingredients sustainably grown, and the love of good food.

Our BueLingo cows and I hope you’ll raise a cup with us soon!

High tea with our grass-fed herd of BueLingos at Bull Brook Keep.

Bull Brook Keep is just a stone’s throw from Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN.
Questions? Text, call or email – 651-238-8525, sylvia@bullbrookkeep.com

Sylvia

Success with Stockdogs Part 2 – Different herding breeds trained for different work

Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
Success with Stockdogs Part 2 - Different herding breeds trained for different work
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My Siggy is a Corgi, a herding dog. We practice rotation grazing on our farm because our commitment is to 100% grass-fed beef. Our practice is to move cattle slowly and calmly from pasture to pasture. No loud noises or running allowed! How do I train Siggy to work more gently with my BueLingo cattle?

In this second Deep Roots Radio installment, Denice Rakley, of Clearfield Stockdogs, describes how she trains herding dogs to bring out the special traits of their distinct breeds. She also stresses the importance of knowing the proven behaviors of the dog’s immediate parentage.

In Part 3, Denice will explain what to look for when acquiring your first stock dog or puppy.

I hope you enjoy this interview.

Sylvia

How international trade hits local farms and your grocery bill, with Josh Wise, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
How international trade hits local farms and your grocery bill, with Josh Wise, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
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NAFTA, TPP, TTIP – a puzzling alphabet soup of international policies that leave me scratching my head. What do they have to do with my farm – a 72-acre operation with a herd of 40 BueLingo beef cattle? How does international policy affect my very small family farm committed to 100% grass-fed beef, and sustainable practices, such as rotational grazing?

Our BueLingo cattle grazing lush pastures

How do these policies affect the operations and profitability of other small- to medium-scale family farms producing grains, vegetables, fruit or other livestock?

In this Deep Roots Radio interview, Josh Wise, Development and Communications Director for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, outlines how international policies, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) affect a family farm’s ability to compete in the local marketplace, and how this shows up in your grocery bill.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and with offices Washington, D.C., IATP was founded during the farm crises of the mid-1980s. The organization works at the intersection of policy and practice to ensure fair and sustainable food, farm and trade systems. It is committed to advancing policy solutions—locally and globally—to some of the world’s most complex problems in order to promote resilient food, farm and trade systems, and the agriculture and trade policies that benefit farmers, ecosystems, and social justice.

Prior to joining IATP, Josh was the Executive Director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, and most recently the Executive Director of One Voice Mixed Chorus. While with MNFTC, Josh led the organizing and lobbying effort in the Midwest to oppose the fast track for TPP and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

I hope you enjoy this interview.
Sylvia

Success with Stockdogs (herding dogs) Part 1: their value to the farm/ranch, and the unique dog-handler relationship

Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
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.

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.

Enjoy!
Sylvia