Green

Greenhorn Radio

Hosted by: Severine von Tscharner Fleming

Produced by: Jack Inslee

Engineered by: Nat Weiner

Subscribe: SubscribeRSS SubscribeiTunes

Thursdays at 2:00PM EST

Greenhorn Radio is radio for young farmers, by young farmers. Helmed by acclaimed activist, farmer, and documentarian Severine Fleming, Greenhorn Radio is a weekly phone interview session, surveying America's cutting edge, under-forty farmers.

For more info: www.thegreenhorns.net

Severine is an agriculturalist, activist and organizer based in the Hudson Valley, NY. She is the director and chief logistician of the Greenhorns project. The Greenhorns is a small, land-based non profit for young farmers.

Recent Episodes

Greenhorn Radio - Episode 55 - Richard Wiswall

Greenhorn Radio - Episode 54 - Growing Washington

Greenhorn Radio - Episode 53 - Falling Sky Farm

Previous episodes


Episodes:
Greenhorn Radio - Episode 54 - Growing Washinton
First Aired - 08/19/2010 02:00PM

This week on Greenhorn Radio Sev speaks to Clayton Burrows of the non-profit Washington State organization Growing Washington. Growing Washington has an extremely far reach in terms of their goals for the state, but the unifying theme behind all the work is helping resident Washingtonians. Clayton works to help spread sustainable agriculture, environmental and societal health, and whatever help Washingtonians need. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of grass-fed beef from the coast of California.

Photo: Clayton Burrows, Growing Washington Director

Whole Episode:
You must enable JavaScript and install the Flash plugin to view this player
Sponsored by Hearst_logo
Hosted By Green

Segments:

Greenhorn Radio: Clayton Burrows (19:18)

You must enable JavaScript and install the Flash plugin to view this player
Tags:
Clayton Burrows, Washington State, Growing Washington, growingwashington.org, 501c3 that was incorporated in 2003, Vashon Island, an organization of young mostly latino farmers that run small farms west of the cascades, in addition to growing food GW has community programs, its mission is to raise and represent farmers, a mix between new generation farmers who did not grow up on  a farm and traditional ag background farmers, as the country becomes more urbanized less people have access to a farm, the drive and thritiness of latino farmers, the Seattle market, diversified and sustainable farms, a lot of people come in with no experience whatsoever, some people come in with 30+ years in the fields, Growing Washington attends over 20 farmers markets a week, GW has 3 CSA programs, GW sells to restaurants and grocery stores and has a u-pick operation, GW sells to public and private schools ranging from pre-k to colleges, all of the aforementioned operations are joint marketing ventures comprised of all the farms together, a 22 year old college grad who wants to get into farming has a huge amount of barriers to entry, GW is a leader among their peers and often the top vender by working together, the growing and selling of food supports the non-profit aspect of Growing Washington, GW has a food bank farm where all the food grown goes to a food bank, the power of collaboration, the cultural preservation of agriculture, Clayton feels the entire food pyramid rests on the shoulders of immigrant farmers, promoting and supporting the immigrant farmers that are stocking our grocery store shelves, Washington State has a very large indigenous population, GW has worked with various tribes and works to get healthier food into the diets of local tribes, the diet of foragers, what we think of agriculture and what Native Americans think of agriculture is not as diferent as one might think, young farmers usually can't purchase farms unless they inherit it, most young people that grow up on farms want to leave the farm these days, its an awful of work, the work is exciting enough to keep everyone going, Clayton's begining and first moment of inspiration, growing up both sides of Clayton's farmers were dry land farmers, Clayton's parents are right-leaning conventional farmers, at the end of the day all farmers' goal is to feed the family, at first Clayton ddin't want to go into farming seeing how much work his parents and grandparents did, working on environmental policy and agriculture idoes not have to be mutually exclusive, Clayton wanted to have an organzation that is not an advocate group in a high-rise in the city, rather than thinking of farmers as constituents or members GW thinks of farmers as their peers, GW knows whats in season what the going price for crops are because they operate within agriculture, farmers know GW means business because they farm too, growingwashinton.org clearly lays out each aspect of the organization and how commited each farmer is to making it work, young farmer mixer, if you're ever in the Puget sound region stop by and say hi!,

To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments

Greenhorn Radio - Episode 53 - Falling Sky Farm
First Aired - 08/12/2010 02:00PM

This week on Greenhorn Radio Sev speaks to Cody Hopkins of Falling Sky Farm in Marshal Arkansas. Cody speaks on everything from the spark that inspired him (Joel Salatin and Michael Pollan) to his efforts to inspire others (leasing his own land to jump start interns who want to farm). Tune in for an in-depth conversation on what infrastructure is and isn't there for a small sustainable farmer. This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch: purveyors of fine grass-fed and finished beef from the California coast.

Photo: Falling Sky Farm

Whole Episode:
You must enable JavaScript and install the Flash plugin to view this player
Sponsored by Hearst_logo
Hosted By Green

Segments:

Falling Sky Farms & On-Sight Buying vs. Farmers Markets (17:41)

You must enable JavaScript and install the Flash plugin to view this player
Tags:
Hearst Ranch, Island Meadow Farm, Falling Sky Farm, Marshal Arkansas, Cody Hopkins, pasture livestock farm, the origin of the name Falling Sky, Cody started with chickens, Chicken Little, sustainable farming can be a way to mitigate climate change and the use of non-renewable resources, Cody and Andrea Todt started in 2006, The Omnivore's Dillema, Joel Salatin, an economically challenged area of the Ozarks, per-capita income where Cody is is below 15,000 dollars, Cody wanted to make a living in a way that was envornmentaly responsable, Joel Salatin was the main impetus to see if they could farm and make it economically viable, started with 40 acres, broilers (meat chickens) then laying hens then beef then turkeys then ducks and pigs, plucking ducks is very frustrating!, the key is getting a good scald at 148 degrees, a rotary scalder, let the chickens run in the scalder for a minute, ducks run in the scalder twice then stay in the plucker longer then go into the scalder and plucker again!, central and northwest AK are the populated areas, farmers in less populated areas of AK have to team up, Cody has to market to central AK, when Cody started the local food movement was just starting in central AK, opportunities to construct the local food system, a lot of farmer's markets in AK didn't have meat, being in a nascent local food system comes with opportunities to offer products for the first time but people may not be accustomed to how you deliver it, Certified Arkansas Farmers Market Association, allowing only AK-grown products, people were bringing in tons of stuff from Florida and flooding the market, farmers discouraged by outside farmers in warmer climates formed their own market, Eric Wagoner, Locally Grown, LocallyGrown.net, Conway, an online farmer's market with centralized pickup, donating twenty percent of a membership fee to a local food pantry, over time customers meet their farmers and build relationships,

Infastructure or Lack Thereof (7:52)

You must enable JavaScript and install the Flash plugin to view this player
Tags:
the infastructure of Falling Sky Farms, Cody has to drive 2 hours to get the closest USDA facility, Cody can do chickens on the farm under the USDA exemption, the USDA exemption says a farmer can process up to 20,000 birds (sometimes rabbits) on site and distribute them only within state, the USDA exemption is state-specific but must be at least as stringent as federal guidelines, you are still subject to inspection, Cody would like to plant soybeans or corn or wheat in the future, the Ozarks plateau, netiher Cody nor Andrea have any business background, Cody has a degree in physics, Cody is wondering what size is appropriate for the farm to grow to, cash flow is often a problem, there is a baby on the way!, Southern Sustainable Agricultural Working Group, ATRA is a great resource online, Hiefer International,

To comment on this episode click here. There are currently Comments