Welcome to this week’s episode of The Good Dirt Podcast where we talk about how technology may have a role in sustaining local regenerative agriculture with Dan Miller, founder of Steward, a platform that allows individuals to fund local farms. We also speak with Spike Gjerde, the visionary and chef of Woodberry Kitchen located in Baltimore, MD, and Steward advocate. Separately, Dan and Spike knew that they needed to find a way to support regenerative farmers and producers using their own natural talents and expertise. It wasn’t until Dan created Steward that the two found each other and realized their shared passion. Listen in as Dan and Spike use Woodberry Kitchen as a case study for why funding farms not only restores local ecosystems, it also makes good financial sense.

Welcome to this week’s episode of The Good Dirt Podcast, where we speak to the renowned chef and author Kate Hill, who shares with us the secrets of Gascon cooking and stories of her life in southwest France. Cooking has always come naturally to Kate, who was taught by her first-generation Italian-American mother and a country-raised farm boy father from Oklahoma. She was raised in Hawaii but landed in France thirty years ago, literally arriving by a river barge, and never left. She now shares her passion for cooking with locally grown foods with guests and students fortunate enough to visit her 18th-century farmhouse on the banks of the Canal de Garonne, as well as through her online cooking courses. Interested in learning more about Kate and her personal story? Join us on this week’s episode to find out more.

Welcome to this week’s episode of The Good Dirt Podcast where we speak about rethinking conventional notions of wellness and beauty with Nadine Artemis, entrepreneur and creator of Living Libations, a line of luxurious natural beauty products, and author of Renegade Beauty: Reveal and Revive Your Natural Radiance as well as Holistic Dental Care: The Complete Guide to Healthy Teeth and Gums. Her story begins with a school science fair project in her teens, when she first combined flasks of essential oils to recreate the wonderful aromas she encountered in her favorite beauty products. Since that time, she has evolved her own unique methods combining the magic of a holistic approach with scientific research, interweaving natural ingredients in organic beauty balms, reviving elixirs, and effective oral care-- and her company Living Libations is still thriving after thirty years! Curious to learn more? Join us on this week’s episode to learn more about Nadine’s story.

Welcome to this week’s episode of The Good Dirt Podcast where we dive into the topics of land conservation, local food production and environmental stewardship in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Join us as we speak to Caroline Taylor, a native Washingtonian and the executive director of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance, who shares with us all about this region's own unique land preservation project, the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve. We talk about the "Ag Reserve" as a national model for the shaping of environmental landscapes in the United States, its continuing success, goals and challenges as we move forward into an uncertain future.

Welcome to this week’s episode of The Good Dirt Podcast where we dive into the topic of reclaimed fabrics with entrepreneur and former costume designer Heidi Barr. As the founder of The Kitchen Garden Textiles, she speaks to us about the importance of shifting away from single-use plastics to ethically manufactured linen textiles designed to be used directly in the kitchen. Linen is one of the most biodegradable and stylish fabrics in fashion history. It is antimicrobial, durable, and made from flax plant fibers, so when untreated (i.e. not dyed) it is fully biodegradable. Heidi shares with us how her business continues to strive to change the narrative in the textile industry, using versatile fabrics to build a healthy and sustainable future. Join us on this week’s episode as we dive into this topic and learn more about Heidi’s personal journey as an entrepreneur.

In this week’s episode, Mary and Emma talk with Amanda Cather from The Million Acre Challenge, a nonprofit organization that helps Maryland farmers build soil health, increase farm profitability, and improve water quality – while making farms resilient and active in the face of climate change. Their farmer-focused collaborative uses soil health science, economics, education, and incentives to achieve their mission. Amanda's early training in pre-med led her from an interest in equitable food access to a career path in urban agriculture, and ultimately to running her own farm raising grass-fed livestock. Now, alongside the team at Million Acre, the goal is to achieve one million agricultural acres in Maryland using healthy soil techniques by 2030, while sharing best practices and making healthy soil connections throughout the Chesapeake watershed.Throughout the episode, Amanda shares her knowledge surrounding the effort. She educates us on the industrial versus ecological models, and introduces us to the multiple factors that affect the way farmers must approach soil improvement. She stresses the importance of listening to farmer’s voices and supporting their journey, as well as, fighting for systems that reward good stewardship and value biodiversity. She explains there are multi-pathways to healthy soil and no one way to achieve the goal. The key to progress in this effort is maintaining curiosity and communication along the way, and remembering that healthy soil (good dirt!) is the foundation of everything.

In this week’s episode, Mary and Emma dive deep into the world of plastic consumption and waste management with Lauren Olson, a Zero Waste Manager at World Centric, exploring the world of compostables and the use of plastic in our daily lives. The discussion covers several aspects of the topic, including the difficulties of “zero-waste," how plastic sneaks into our homes even when we are consciously trying to avoid it, and all the ways in which existing systems make it difficult to create true sustainability in our homes. Lauren explains the science behind bioplastics, as well as the difference between industrial vs home compostables. She also shares how to determine genuinely compostable products and helps us imagine a cradle to cradle world where waste equals food for the earth, and not the other way around! Mary and Emma ask the vital questions, what can we do to work through this monumentally large plastic problem, and is it really possible to achieve the ultimate goal of a zero-waste economy? Lauren gives practical tips for individual action, while encouraging all of us to use our voices as paying consumers to demand change from the top down.

Mary and Emma have an enlightening conversation this week with grower and legal educator Eva Moss, discussing an aspect of the homestead dream that is too often overlooked. Knowing farm law and preparing for unexpected issues through healthy communication before they come up creates legal protection for all parties involved. Eva shares with us the story of how a life transition left her and her farm legally vulnerable. With help, she found her way through that experience all the wiser, and now uses her voice and legal knowledge to educate the farming community through her work at Farm Commons. Throughout the episode, Eva speaks to the power of finding healthy pathways forward in our relationships within the business, with each other and with the land. She reminds us that we have the power to create our own solutions and that we have significant creative power to (legally) cultivate the lady farmer life we’re dreaming of if we take the time to talk about our needs and goals. Mary, Emma and Eva also discuss how to cultivate a slow life as a hardworking homesteader and the important distinction between self-sufficiency and community resiliency.

This week, Mary and Emma have a wonderful conversation with photographer, chef, cookbook author, educator and entrepreneur turned homesteader, Eva Kosmas Flores. Eva shares her journey to the slow living lifestyle, led by an ancestral pull and deep familial ties that have guided her back to a connection with home, the garden, food, family and community. Always leading with curiosity, Eva talks about her new adventures as a homesteader and what she’s learning from the land. Throughout the episode, Mary, Emma and Eva talk about the pursuit of the creative life and how to make it work, native species, permaculture gardening and the complexity of our forest ecosystems. They also discuss their sustainable home projects, and the complicated decisions one must face throughout that process. Eva reminds us that real life is an intersection of all the things we love, and we have permission to pursue all the parts of ourselves.

We have a special BONUS episode for you this week, in celebration of our newest national holiday--Juneteenth! Mary and Emma reunite with author, historian and farmer Tony Cohen for an exploration into the history of Juneteenth and the holiday’s complex folklore and origins. Tony takes us back in time to examine how this monumental declaration of freedom spread in a variety of ways depending on the geographic, economic and social landscape of the time. Mary, Emma and Tony discuss what freedom means and looks like in the modern era, grappling with some hard truths about freedom itself, and the work still left to be done. Tony explains the transition from enslavement to the tenant farming system, and points to how that system affects us still today. He also shares how he celebrates Juneteenth at Button Farm and rejoices in community as he reflects upon the precious ability to gather and take new found enthusiasm into the world.

On today’s episode of The Good Dirt, Mary and Emma have a conversation with artist, teacher and “sorceress of the stitch” Christi Johnson. Christi’s art reflects communion and connection with plants, revealing the hypnotic beauty of botanicals. Her work includes alchemy, herbalism, and images which are stitched slowly and methodically into fabric. Christi is dedicated to rejoining the art of embroidery with its complex and meaningful origins.Throughout the episode, Christi discusses her own history within the fashion industry. Mary, Emma and Christi remind us that “cheap is never a bargain” and discuss how many of the problems with manufacturing in the fashion industry are hidden from the consumer. Christi also dives into the concept of images as language, and talks about allowing the creative process to be a conversation between you and the work that is ever-changing and not predetermined. Christi discusses her dedication to experimentation, exploration and evolution in her work, shares her dream of bringing art and meaning back into traditional craft and how giving our art power in turn allows us to empower ourselves. Christi’s new book is entitled “Mystical Stitches: Embroidery for Personal Empowerment and Magical Embellishment”. THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY PLAINE PRODUCTS. USE CODE LADYFARMER FOR 20% OFF.

In this episode, we talk with Lady Farmer and chef Michelle Aronson, creator of Farmbelly, an educational platform dedicated to sharing the love of growing, cooking, and eating wonderful food. Although Michelle wasn't particularly interested in cooking while growing up in the suburbs of the Midwest, once she moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia for college, she I discovered her love for food and farming. After several summers apprenticing on different small-scale farms, and after managing an educational farm in Charlottesville, complete with laying hens, bee hives, and lots of eager student volunteers, she recognized that she needed to level up her cooking skills in order to enjoy the hard-earned fruits and veggies she was learning to grow. In the spring of 2013 Michelle attended culinary training at the Ballymaloe Cooking School, located on a 100-acre organic farm on the coast of Ireland, where almost all of the dairy, meat, vegetables, and herbs come straight from the fields into the teaching kitchens. Inspired by the incredible teachers, fresh ingredients, and straightforward culinary ethos at Ballymaloe, Michelle returned home to work in many sectors of the food/farming world, and ultimately to where she now lives on a beautiful 10-acre farm near Saxapahaw, North Carolina, cultivating a diverse market garden + farmstand, and teaching gardening + cooking classes. Michelle shares about her journey and her mission to make farm-fresh food accessible and less intimidating for folks...and to help everyone get a “farm belly." What's that? Listen in to find out!

On today’s episode of The Good Dirt, Mary and Emma sit down with artist, writer and teacher Katrina Rodabaugh to discuss her slow fashion journey, sustainability as a process, embracing imperfection and mending as healing. Katrina dives into her own outlook on embracing a more sustainable lifestyle, a process that takes place over time and many small steps. The three discuss the importance of accessibility in the movement, and how remembering the values of the past doesn't have to mean giving up the progress we have made as a society. They also talk about how slow fashion practices such as thrifting, mending and making are important as a disruption of the industry and a positive step towards change. A poet and fiber artist at heart, Katrina has published three books, Make Thrift Mend (2021); Mending Matters (2018); and The Paper Playhouse (2015). Her writing and artwork has appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Mother Earth Living, Sewing Magazine, Sunset magazine, Sweet Paul Magazine, Taproot magazine, and more. Katrina currently lives with her artist husband and their young sons on a two-hundred-year-old farmhouse in Hudson Valley, New York where they grow dye plants, flowers, herbs, fruits, and vegetables while caring for chickens and honeybees.

On today’s episode, it's Mary and Emma catching up on what’s currently captivating their interest, and the latest happenings on the farm. Mary shares her experience and knowledge gardening by the moon, and reflects on the use of the lunar cycle as a framework for the things we want to cultivate in our lives. The mother and daughter duo discuss the mesmerizing emergence of the seventeen-year cicada, and embrace the nostalgia as well as the celebratory nature of this phenomenon, drawing the parallel of a cultural emergence that's unfolding a year after a worldwide lockdown.

On today’s episode of The Good Dirt, Mary and Emma talk with dancer, writer and quiltmaker Marlee Grace to consider the question, what are we practicing and showing up for in our day to day lives? Throughout the episode, Mary, Emma, and Marlee dig into the concept of “personal practice” as they reimagine art forms as a practice rather than a performance. Marlee shares why she stepped away from social media, questions the role it plays in our lives, and addresses the platform’s inherently performative nature. She also shares where she finds encouragement and inspiration, and reminds us to take our work seriously (but not ourselves). Marlee’s work focuses on the self, rituals of devotion, creativity, and art-making. Her practice is rooted in improvisation as a compositional form expressed through dance, writing, quilting, teaching, and hosting artists. Her dance project Personal Practice has been featured in the New York Times, Dance Magazine, Vanity Fair, and The Huffington Post. Marlee is the author of Getting to Center: Pathways to Finding Yourself.THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY PLAINE PRODUCTS. USE CODE LADYFARMER FOR 20% OFF.

In today’s episode, Mary and Emma sit down with Lani Estill, founder of Lani’s Lana ~ Fine Rambouillet Wool; a commercial wool business and small yarn line based in Northern California. Alongside her family, Lani also owns and operates a vertically integrated diversified livestock ranch producing cattle, sheep, alfalfa and grass hay in the Northern California/Northern Nevada region. With the help of partners like Fibershed and the Carbon Cycle Institute, Lani’s family ranch is now running under a climate-fighting Carbon Farm Plan! Throughout the episode, Mary and Emma dig into Lani’s life on the ranch and chat about the complexities of owning and operating a truly sustainable supply chain. They also speak to the power of the consumer and talk about the soul satisfying decision to invest in climate beneficial products.

In today’s episode, Mary and Emma talk with Kirsten Shockey about her fermentation journey, the science behind fermentation, and how to dive fearlessly into this rich and nutritional practice. Kirsten and her husband began fermenting foods twenty years ago on the 40-acre hillside smallholding in southern Oregon where the were raising their family. Their passion has evolved into an expertise that they teach and share worldwide through experiential workshops and now online at fermentationschool.com, helping people to make, enjoy and connect with their food. Kirsten speaks to her deep connection with this process and shares her wealth of knowledge, encouraging all who listen to seek out the life-giving benefits of fermented foods. Kirsten K. Shockey is author of “Homebrewed Vinegar," coauthored with her husband, Christopher Shockey, “The Big Book of Cidermaking, "Miso, Tempeh, Natto & Other Tasty Ferments," “Fiery Ferments," and the best-selling “Fermented Vegetables." THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR PLAINE PRODUCTS: USE CODE {LADYFARMER} FOR 20% OFF YOUR PURCHASE

Liz Kimball (MFA, CPC) is a creativity catalyst, writer, coach, speaker, and founder of The Collective, a network of women creators and thought leaders dedicated to fostering cultural change through creativity. Her work has been featured at TEDx, Oprah.com, the NBA, The Guggenheim, NYU, and at universities and institutions throughout the country. In today's episode, we talk about the creative process from many angles, how pursuing our dreams might not be the straight path we imagine, how to foster our creative selves in a world that demands much from us, and how some of these things might be shifting from the pandemic year. Liz talks about the importance of detaching yourself from labels that you’ve placed on yourself since adolescence. Your work in the world is much more important than a title. We discuss how the ideas of slow living and "good dirt" are essential to cultivating the creative life, and building a future we can’t wait to wake up to!

Our guest this week is Elizabeth Cline, a New York-based author, journalist, and expert on consumer culture, fast fashion, sustainability and labor rights in the apparel industry. She is the author of Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, which was published in 2012, and which laid the foundation for the modern global ethical and sustainable fashion movement. Her most recent book, The Conscious Closet, published in 2019, describes how consumers can transform the apparel industry and change the world for the better by making more informed decisions about what they wear every day. In this episode, Elizabeth inspires slow fashion enthusiasts to move beyond the response of merely modifying their purchasing decisions, to come together with other individuals in the wider community to impact policy change through social activism. Elizabeth discusses campaigns such as Pay Up Fashion for direct relief for garment workers that have not been paid by American companies during the pandemic, and the Garment Workers Protection Act that will provide minimum wage for garment workers in California. Elizabeth encourages consumers to embrace their civic right in bringing the malpractices and inequities of the fashion industry to light, holding brands accountable for their unethical practices and therefore affecting real change in this broken system.

On this special live episode of The Good Dirt, Mary and Emma talk with Rebecca Burgess, the founder of Fibershed, a non profit organization that develops regional fiber systems that build soil and protect the health of our biosphere. Fibershed envisions the emergence of regional textile communities that facilitate soil-to-soil textile processes, and create opportunities for localized clothing production and supply. Rebecca speaks about the origins of the organization and its efforts in connecting wearers in numerous regions with local fields where the clothes are grown, working to build viable systems that can be sustained for generations to come.

In this episode, Mary and Emma have a wonderful conversation with Eliza Blue, a singer/songwriter who lives and works on a regeneratively-managed ranch raising grass-fed cattle and fiber sheep with her husband and two children. She talks about going from the life of a touring musician to a teaching job in South Dakota, and the pivotal moment when she walked into a friend’s lambing barn at lambing season and knew she had found her calling. Eliza's connection to the land is evident in her stories of life on the ranch and her daily involvement with the animals and the natural environment. She has written a book called "Accidental Rancher," which came out this past spring, and she writes and produces audio "postcards" about ranch life for the North Dakota and South Dakota NPR affiliates. In addition, she has just finished filming for a new series that celebrates rural life through stories and songs called Wish You Were Here.

Today's guest is Sharon Bailey of The Glow Emporium, a woman’s wellness education and empowerment community. As a homesteader, mother, entrepreneur, and educator living in a small mountain town, Sharon espouses a life lived in sync with nature, and helps other women connect with their own feminine rhythms for a happier and healthier lifestyle. Emphasizing the counter- cultural art of slowing down as a fundamental necessity for coping with the many demands on women today, Sharon offers empowering information and advice for dealing with exhaustion and burnout. In this conversation, Sharon shares her own story of challenges that led to destructive habits in early adulthood, and how through the experience of giving birth and early motherhood, she came to an understanding of the necessity for taking care of herself and her body. Her passion for supporting other women on the path to claiming full health and well being for themselves is evident in the work she does today.

Cynthia Main @sunhousecraft is an artisan maker in Berea, Kentucky who has built a thriving business hand making home goods. Inspired by the timeless traditions of Appalachian crafts, her wooden wares are hand made, often hewn with axe and knife. Brooms are hand woven, with a non-electric process, with utmost attention given to the details of each piece. The materials are sourced and harvested from local, sustainable materials. In this conversation, Cynthia discusses her lifelong passion for learning traditional agrarian skills and the arts of self sufficiency, from farming to building, wood working, furniture making and crafting the basic tools of everyday life. With many of these skills largely forgotten by our consumer culture, Cynthia shares the story of how she has made her way, rediscovering these skills for herself, teaching others, and demonstrating an alternative path through a life of making.

Alyson Morgan (@alysonsimplygrows) is an environmentalist, gardener, artist and photographer, as well as a slow living advocate and mother. Through this conversation, Alyson gives us a glimpse of conscious living through her lens, the realities of juggling a creative business and motherhood, the desire for activism alongside the need for slowing down and being present, and the power of plants in everyday life. Through her beautiful photography and her writing, along with the flower essences she creates for Earth Star Herbals, Alyson offers her gifts of healing to her audience and the world.

In today's episode, Mary and Emma talk with Kathy Hattori of Botanical Colors about natural plant dyes, and how she created a business from her desire to connect herself and others to the natural world. She talks about a personal wake-up call that led to her decision to quit her corporate job in pursuit of a more creative and personally fulfilling career, despite her fears around the uncertainties of such a move. Though at the time, Kathy couldn't imagine the career potential in the world of plant dyes, Botanical Colors is now the premier source for all things related to dyeing with plants, including sustainably sourced materials, supplies, information and education.