Farmer Veteran Coalition – bringing resources to veterans farming and feeding the nation

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Deep Roots Radio
Deep Roots Radio
Farmer Veteran Coalition - bringing resources to veterans farming and feeding the nation
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First, they served in posts and on battlefields across the globe. Then, they came home and are now striving to bring their skills and energies to America’s agricultural system. They are veterans working to reshape our food system as they build soil health, grow vegetables and crops, and raise livestock in rural communities in every corner of the nation.

Sarah R Cope

This podcast features our Deep Roots Radio conversation with Sarah R. Cope, retired United State Marine Corp, and President of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Farmer Veteran Coalition. She served 31 years, which included completing three combat deployments to Iraq and one combat deployment to Afghanistan. Fifth-generation military, Cope retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2016, but continued serving with several Federal agencies until January 2020.

Today, Cope lives in Wisconsin and farms 40 acres with her wife Heather Schumann and their five children. She brings this experience and perspective to the veteran farmers in Wisconsin.

In this interview, she mentions websites that may be of help, including a Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/farmerveterancoalition, and a link to the Ag Solidarity Network. You can also link to the national FVC organization here.

I hope you enjoy this interview.

Sylvia

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

Julia Skinner – how fermentation has shaped cultures and communities through time

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Deep Roots Radio
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 this Deep Roots Radio conversation, 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.

Sylvia

sylvia@bullbrookkeep.com

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

How Wisconet is building network of weather stations that update every 5 minutes with info free to public

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Deep Roots Radio
How Wisconet is building network of weather stations that update every 5 minutes with info free to public



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Have you found yourself checking your weather app every few minutes? (Often hoping that the forecast would change ;-).  I know I have. Well now there’s a network of weather stations being built out across the state of Wisconsin that’ll meet that need to know what the weather’s done this last five minutes.

It’s called Wisconet. I hope. you’ll enjoy this Deep Roots Radio interview with the program’s Research Program Manager Chris Vagasky. He describes how this expanding web of weather data collectors will help farmers, gardeners and the curious get weather info — for free — to help plan for the short and long term.

To learn more about the program, visit the Wisconet website. To contact Chris Vagasky, email him at vagasky@wisc.edu

Sylvia

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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

Apple River Farm Tour, July 15, 10AM – 4PM Visit our Farms!!

Well, we’re just one day out from our first annual Apple River Farm Tour – yahoo!!

Pack your sunglasses, grab your insect repellent, and your sunhat for a great day of self-guided tours of up to 9 local regenerative farms. We’re beekeepers, flower growers, humane livestock stewards, chicken keepers, and mushroom growers, apple and berry producers, maple syrup producers, and lots more!

Brochure & Map

Scan the code or click here for your brochure and map.

And after the day of tours, there’s a relaxing event at Dragonfly Garden, just south of downtown Amery.

 

 

 

The participating farms include:

  • Blackbrook Farm
  • Bull Broom Keep (that’s Dave and me)
  • Northwood Mushrooms
  • Schoen Valley Orchard
  • Threshing Table Farm
  • Turnip Rock Farm and Cosmic Wheel Creamery
  • Two Bees and a Bud
  • White Pine Berry Farm
  • Z-Orchard

See you soon!!