Tag Archives: Podcast

Deep Roots Radio interviews with ranchers, farmers, policymakers, teachers and scientists, film makers and chefs, authors and home-makers. They all help connect the dots between what we eat and how it’s grown.

Anne Stobart – designing and using the wealth of medicinal trees and shrubs

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Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
Anne Stobart - designing and using the wealth of medicinal trees and shrubs
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When we come across someone who is so overwhelmed by a situation’s details that they can’t see the bigger picture, we tend to quip, “they can’t see the forest for the trees.” Just the opposite is true when it comes to viewing nature. When we look over a lawn, row of shrubs or cluster of threes, most of us see globs of green. We appreciate the beauty and the setting, but lots of us don’t see much distinction among the grasses, shrubs or trees. What are they? Weeds? Junk trees? Why care?

Anne Stobart, Devon, England

It turns out most of us have a wealth of helpful plants in our own backyards! And it’s not just the basil and lemon balm that we planted near the kitchen door or on the patio. That white pine could help for your wet cough. The peppermint that comes up year after year packs more than just flavor. And some of those small shrubs? Well, they may be part of your volunteer medicinal garden.

This Deep Roots Radio interview with Anne Stobart is the first of five planned with her. Anne has a PhD from her extensive research into the history of medicine. She is registered clinical herbalist, permaculture designer, forest keeper, educator, author, and blogger. She joined me from her home and garden in Devon, England.

Her most recent book, Trees and Shrubs that Heal was released in the US January 2024. She is also the author of the Medicinal Garden Handbook, and of Household Medicine in Seventeenth-Century England.  She also posts newsletters to her blog, Medicinal Tree Woman.

Her books, and her manner, are so engaging I asked her to join Deep Roots Radio for a 5-part series. I hope you enjoy this first conversation.

 

Sylvia

 

How local beekeepers manage through winter’s cold

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Bees and Pollinators
Bees and Pollinators
How local beekeepers manage through winter's cold
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I love walking by the bee hives kept on my farm by Arlen and Mona Ziegler, owners and operators of Plum Branch Honey, Clear Lake, WI.

The hive boxes are stacked on top of one another, their area encircled by electric fence to ward off any curious bear.

During summer, hundreds of bees swirl around the hives and travel to the wild flowers and tree blossoms across the farm, and miles beyond. My husband Dave Toftness and I don’t use pesticides on the farm, so clouds of bees float through the succession of wild flowers and tree blossoms across the pastures. 

In the winter, the hives are wrapped in insulated pads that are silver colored on their outer surface. I caught up with Arlen during a winter-time visit to the bees. He generously opened the lid to show how the bees are kept in a supply of sugar for the cold months.

Dave and I really appreciate the work Arlen and Mona do to keep bees healthy and available despite the challenges of weather and pests. We need bees to pollinate the hundreds of vegetable, fruit and herb plants that feed us.

Co-host Dave Corbett and I enjoyed this in-studio chat, and we hope you’ll enjoy this podcast. You can message Arlen and Mona via Facebook.com/plumbranchhoney

Sylvia

Farmers on why they welcome visitors, and how to find ag-adventure near you during WI Agricultural Tourism Wk

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Agritourism
Agritourism
Farmers on why they welcome visitors, and how to find ag-adventure near you during WI Agricultural Tourism Wk



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I really enjoyed this Deep Roots Radio conversation with Tom Wisniowski of The Happy Earth Orchard, Ellsworth, WI, and Andrew Mommsen of Mommsen Produce and Pumpkin Patch, Rice Lake, WI. They are among the hundreds of Wisconsin farmer-members of the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association who invite visitors for you-pick produce, corn mazes, delicious foods and fresh beverages, relaxation, and a wide range of family-friendly activities.

Andrew Mommsen

While Tom is now in his third year opening his orchard to eager visitors, Andrew is celebrating 30 years of a growing interest in farm experiences. Both represent a range of lessons learned and rewards experienced as they’ve welcomed individuals and families to their farms.

You’ll also hear from Sheila Everhart, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Tourism Association (WATA). She describes how the public can go to WATA‘s website to find a wide range agricultural adventures near you. She also describes how farmers benefit from the educational, advocacy and promotional work WATA does for its members every day of the year.

I hope you enjoy this podcast.

Sylvia

Too hot? Rained out? Enjoy a cool Deep Roots Radio blast from the past.

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.

Enjoy!

Sylvia

Kriss Marion on Wisconsin Women in Conservation as educators for all farmers

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Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
Kriss Marion on Wisconsin Women in Conservation as educators for all farmers



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It’s not often you get in a room with over one hundred women educated, committed and experienced in farming and conservation of our soils and water. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it is occurring more and more as organization like the Wisconsin Women in Conservation bring the women, the issues and the opportunities to the challenges of restoring our soils, protecting our groundwater and encouraging all farmers across the state.

The Wisconsin Women in Conservation (WiWiC) is a state-wide collaborative effort led by the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute in partnership with Renewing the Countryside, Marbleseed (formerly MOSES), and the Wisconsin Farmers Union.

I hope you enjoy this Deep Roots Radio chat with Kriss Marion, a long-time powerhouse in efforts to empower farmers and women landowners to conservation efforts. Kriss is WiWiC’s Media and Communications Lead, Communication’s Specialist with the Wisconsin Farmers Union. She is a small-scale farmer using managed grazing practices with her cattle, goats and sheep. Kriss and her husband Shannon run the Circle M Farm BnB.

During our chat, Kriss described several upcoming meetings that’ll be a help to any woman farmer and landowner. They can be found on the WiWiC website.

Sylvia

 

Thorny Hawthorn, Part 3: EagleSong describes worldwide travels to visit helpful hawthorn trees

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Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
Thorny Hawthorn, Part 3: EagleSong describes worldwide travels to visit helpful hawthorn trees



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In this Deep Roots Radio chat, herbalist EagleSong Gardener describes the many trips she’s made to England, Europe, Mexico, and across the USA in search of hawthorn trees – a not-very-tall but very thorny tree that has helped cultures with food and natural remedies for hundreds of years. I’m so glad EagleSong visited the hawthorn thickets on my farm, Bull Brook Keep, in fall 2022. I use them for heart-healthy teas and tinctures.

Eagle Song Gardener and hawthorn fruit

This podcast is the third in a series of three with EagleSong about hawthorn. The first focused on how to identify this hedgerow plant, and the second looked into ways to use it in the kitchen and in your apothecary.

You can find out lots more about EagleSong’s work, lessons and products on her website, at herbal medicine conferences all across the US, and on her Youtube channel, @eaglesonggardener1893.

I hope you enjoy this interview.

Sylvia

Part 2: Eagle Song Gardener on using Hawthorn for delicious health

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Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
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.

Sylvia

Winter activities and adventures on Wisconsin family farms.

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Agritourism
Agritourism
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.

Sylvia

EagleSong describes a helpful, if thorny, tree in your neighborhood.

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Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
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.

Sylvia

July 16, 2022, 10AM – 4PM Come visit — Eat Local Co-op Farm Tour

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Agritourism
Agritourism
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.

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 hope to greet you on the farm this Saturday.

Sylvia