There are many day or or week of celebrations that seem to only fit a small niche of people, but this is National Ag Week and even if we don’t work in agriculture, that’s what produces the food that eventually lands in our grocery stores, restaurants and homes.

This week as spring starts, many farmers are entering the busy season or making final preparations for it. With that in mind, we checked in with a dozen farmers — nine of whom farm is different states coast to coast and north, south and in the middle. And a few of our past international guests as well! We asked them what they would be doing on the farm and to share a bit more of what is happening with them.

An AI generated transcript for episode 311 is available.

National Ag Week & A Presidential Proclamation

The week (March 20-26, 2022) is National Ag Week, and Tuesday is a day of focus on agriculture in Washington, DC. In fact, since the 1970s, this Tuesday has been National Ag Day. This year’s proclamation of ag day by President Joe Biden reads in part:

On National Agriculture Day, we recognize the invaluable contributions of American farmers, farmworkers, ranchers, fishers, foresters, and other agricultural workers, who have practiced their craft for generations and touch the lives of Americans every day.  Their tireless efforts growing crops, raising livestock, and distributing food, fuel, and fiber sustain America and the entire world.  They put meals on our plates, clothes on our backs, and roofs over our heads.  Along the way, America’s agricultural workers serve as stewards of the land; ensure the safety and health of animals, plants, and people; and strengthen our rural communities with economic opportunities. (continue reading here.)

Farmers We Hear From For National Ag Week

We heard from a diverse range of farmers, growing different crops in different conditions. Several have been on the show previously (we will link back to those episodes) but several haven’t yet. We decided to put together a short video showing where each of them is from & the crops they grow. If there is someone you really want to hear more from, be sure to let us know!

We put the audio in as we got each report so we do a bit of zig zagging around the country! Here’s who all is featured.

Rebecca Larson Talks Sugarbeet Processing & More

Some of you may remember Colorado’s Rebecca Larson from our episode on growing & enjoying sugar. I still want some of those fun cookies she makes! She’s getting ready for Easter but also updates us on last year’s crop & the prep for this year!

Watermelons Going in the Ground

Rachel Syngo with Melon 1 in Florida tells us her family farm is planted. Now they are working with their network of farmers to move up the East Coast through Georgia, the Carolinas and further up and west! She says they will begin harvesting US-grown watermelons in early April and keep going through Labor Day  and I am ready for it!

It Isn’t National Ag Week in England, But Flower Farming is Still Going Strong

The sun has been shining on Ben Cross’ part of the English coastline and that means he has lots of alstroemeria growing in the greenhouses! He says they don’t have an ag week, but he shares the story of sustainably grown flowers we discussed throughout the year.

You Will Hear the Peeps!

Chicken farmer Lauren Arbogast in Virginia decided to update us on her farm from the chicken house. She was checking on all the chickens and you can hear the peeps & chirps (or cheeps?) in the background. Lauren also works off farm as a teacher and looks forward to class projects for ag week. She’s excited for spring but like lots of us, dealing with rising prices.

A Lesson in English History & A Farming Update

We talked about a cheese-a-day with Farmer Tom, I knew he was cut from a different cloth. So in this update it doesn’t surprise me at all that he shows us his farm and gives us a history lesson. He’s got a community garden underway too!

Growing Grass Seed in the Pacific Northwest

We haven’t had Marie Bowers on the show yet, but love that we were able to get an update on what’s happening in Oregon and growing grass seed — the grass for pastures, lawns, etc. Marie talks with us about some of the challenges weather and rising fertilizer prices are giving farmers this year.

Things are Poppin’ in Indiana with TheFarmersLife

Growing almost every kind of corn there is (including popcorn & waxy corn) soybeans Brian Scott is still selling some of last years crop as he gets ready for the 2022 planting season. Weather for him has been fairly typical but he knows some folks not too far away have been dry. Although he hasn’t bee on the podcast before, he’s also a regular with videos (check out TheFarmersLife on Youtube) from time with his son to a tour at a new-to-their-farm 18 wheeler.

Priyanka is Moving Countries & Crops

Priyanka Gupta talked to us about the humble grasspea and the potential it has in a shifting climate previously. At the time she was in Morocco, but she’s recently moved to Canada where she will be working with wheat. She gives us an update on how things are going with both important food crops.

Cleaning Up After Storms in Tennessee

Farming with his brothers in West Tennessee, Bob Walker grows cotton, corn, soybeans and has some cattle. They are working in the fields getting ready for planting, making sure the fields will drain well, and more. They are still feeding cows as they wait for pastures to green up and still looking for some calves to be born. He’s like family, so eventually I’ll drag him on the podcast. LOL.

Selling Hay, Straw & Teaching about National Ag Day

New Jersey farmer Caroline Etsch says they are keeping busy selling hay & straw to some of their neighbors in the Garden State. They also have some corn go out each week to feed chickens — so she says she helps with our chicken nuggets! Like Lauren, Caroline plans to spend some time talking with schools about ag week.

Working with Cameras for Live Feeds

Cattle rancher Derek Klingenberg goes by Farmer Derek on YouTube and it sounds like that is keeping him busier than the farming side of things this week. He’s got a series of live cameras on the Kansas farm, some of them allow for people to feed either the cows or wildlife! Sometimes there isn’t much going on and then you see something dramatic. Lots of us had been checking in on the live owl feed as there was a precious egg in the nest but sadly nature (and at least a raccoon) had other ideas. He also has a bunch of fun videos — playing trombone for cows, doing parodies of pop songs, etc.

Lots of Challenges But It’s Spring & that Brings Potential

Several farmers have mentioned price increases and John Peterson echoed that saying that since their family farm sells directly to folks (remember the episode about turkey farming?), they are having that conversation with people one-on-one. He also mentioned the anxiety that poultry farmers around the country are feeling with the avian flu threatening flocks. Biosecurity efforts are tight as they seek to keep the turkeys in top health. But spring also gives John a lot of reason to have a positive outlook, and he looks forward to getting the birds outside and to start working toward our Thanksgiving dinners!

Wrapping Up Produce Season in Arizona

With his farm in Yuma, Arizona, Jon Dinsmore’s busy season is winter when he and others are busy growing all the types of lettuce and other greens! He’s getting crops on the group to provide cover through the summer — he grows wheat, sudangrass (wonder if Marie grows that seed?) and more. He also mentioned schools sharing info with his kids.

Want to learn a little something more?

I wish I had thought about making this offer in the audio, but it didn’t occur to me until everything was finished. If you would like to share more of the learning experience with a young person in your world, please choose one of the lesson plans we have available on our food and farm education page (or in our TPT Grounded by the Farm store). Just let us know via the Contact Us page which one you would like before midnight April 1 and we will email it to you at no cost!

The post Celebrating National Ag Week and the Start of Spring! appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

Growing up with cattle, Ryan Goodman got a good look first-hand at cattle care and feeding. But working cattle in half a dozen states and visiting ranches in the vast majority of the U.S., Ryan has had the chance to compare and contrast various environments and some of the things farmers and ranchers have to take into consideration.

The transcript for this episode about caring for cattle can be accessed here.

We talk with Ryan about the full spectrum of experiences he’s had in working with cattle and I have to tell you, it always makes me feel better to know the food I’m eating was produced by people who care about plants, animals and people. That’s clear whenever I talk with Ryan and then look at beef. It also isn’t missed that Ryan is an endurance runner and anyone who is fit enough to run a 100 mile race, must be doing something right with his nutrition. (Though he understands I question his sanity!)

Ryan is a big believer in learning as much as you can when you are in college and early in your career. That constant desire to learn and experience more has taken him on some amazing journeys.

Cattle Care in Various Geographies & Operations

We recently sat down with Ryan in southern Virginia — his home since July to hear about the various places he has worked as well as some of the types of operations he’s worked with. Ryan’s lived in a lot of states, learning about cattle all the while. Since the conversation takes some turns, I thought a timeline may be helpful.

Arkansas Cattle Ranch / Auction

Ryan talks with us about his family’s running a ranch and livestock auction in Arkansas…. between the Mississippi River and the Ozark Mountains. He said the plentiful rain made growing grass so easy, that feeding cattle was a cinch! Growing up the family would take vacations to see other operations and it gave Ryan a wider view of the cattle business, one that would encourage him to learn a lot more through school and work.

Oklahoma State

The interest to learn more about livestock, especially focusing in on cattle nutrition and reproduction is what led Ryan to Oklahoma State University. His time in Stillwater also was punctuated by internships with operations in other states.

Time on a Picturesque Wyoming Ranch

I met Ryan via Twitter while he was in college and can remember the photos he would occasionally post on his blog or Twitter stream. People on horseback with incredible mountain views and small rivers running through valleys. Cattle dotting the view. He says the nature of ranching Wyoming is a total shift from what he was used to as cattle graze immense areas to find the grass they need.

Texas Panhandle Feedlot

Pretty sure the thought of a feedlot with lots of cattle is as far as I could have gone from the ranching life Ryan lived in Wyoming, but part of that is because I hadn’t visited one at the time and seen how they are managed. Appreciate Ryan talking to us about some of the things he learned about what cattle are fed and how they are managed. He even wrote a series of blog posts on feedlots.

His helping us understand the role of feedlots as a place that brings cattle together from lots of smaller farms & ranches as the beef cattle are nearing processing into beef is something that’s easily overlooked. Cattle are only in feedlots a short time, and while there, they have regular health checks and all. Diets are overseen by nutritionists to include all the kinds of fiber, calories and protein cattle need. This Instagram post Ryan did gives you some info as does our post that includes insight from a veterinarian on what cows eat and why.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ryan Goodman | Beef Runner (@beefrunner)

University of Tennessee

Offering a depth of studies in animal science, University of Tennessee at Knoxville drew Ryan in for a master’s program where he studied reproductive health and the diets cows need to a level I get lost in. You can hear one of his talks on fetal development related to supplemental feeding in the video he posted. He worked with various farms in the state on his cattle care research too!

Montana Stockgrowers & National Cattlemen

Ryan took a few years off the farm and ranch to work with cattle ranchers in Montana first and then throughout the US. He worked as a communicator, practicing a lot of the social media pieces he had worked on throughout college and grad school and married them with the in-depth knowledge he had built. These jobs gave Ryan a chance to meet beef producers in every state, many times helping each of them find their voice online to connect different audiences about how beef is produced.

Colorado Ranching to Virginia

More recently, Ryan returned to the production side of agriculture, first spending a bit over a year as a herdsman with a Colorado ranch and then settling into the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. And the shift in those operations is big geographically and in terms of the natural landscape, but Ryan says the focus remains on care and feeding of livestock to provide healthy beef for our plates!

And I may be wrong, but it is every bit as picturesque as Wyoming!

Beef as A Part of a Balanced Diet

Ryan has gotten used to talking with people who have various diets for various reasons. He gets that people choose what to eat based on what they enjoy, their personal nutrition focuses as well as trying to make environmentally-responsible decisions.

And he’s like Meredith Bernard in that beef is a major portion of the protein in their diets. He says it’s not only what’s always available in the freezer and tasty, but he’s spent a lot of time talking with registered dietitians and other health professionals and knows how to use it as a part of a balanced diet. Not just a fan of meat and potatoes, Ryan may have a salad with beef or make street tacos or something.

Want to Learn More?

Ryan is a regular on Instagram, sharing photos and video from the pasture or a barn as BeefRunner. And that’s the name he uses across platforms thanks to his love of both beef and endurance running. His website beefrunner.com includes posts answering questions like how many calves can a cow have or  what are cattle guards? 

And you may have missed two episodes talking with Marybeth Feutz cattle farmer and veterinarian as we talked about how she cares for cattle as well as some of her tips on buying and cooking with beef.

The post Cattle Care and Feeding: What You Should Know If You Like Beef appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

With agritourism on the rise, there has been a lot of diversification of efforts and one niche is agritainment. That’s where the Leonard family found themselves after dealing with the challenges of urban sprawl and rising land prices and we talk with Patty Leonard about it in our latest episode of Grounded by the Farm. And it felt like this episode was a great followup to the recent conversation about farm stays!

Getting to Know the Family & Farm

Patty and her family have a long history of dairy farming. In fact, her grandparents were dairy farming in the area now consumed by Washington DC’s Dulles Airport until plans to build Dulles came together. That led the family to relocate to Warrenton, a small farm town on Virginia’s piedmont. But with the continued growth of the metro area, the Leonards faced rising land prices and looked for ways to diversify years ago.

Patty, who has always loved sharing the farm experience with families, found agritainment offered great potential though her first year fell flat as the country reeled from the 9-11 attacks and the second year found Northern Virginia residents sheltering out of fear of the DC sniper who shot several people in the communities nearby. But Patty and the family were convinced of the potential and kept putting in the work to get it to grow. She kept finding people wanted to know and be more connected to the source of their food. It definitely wasn’t easy, but looking at the farm today, there is a lot of joy going around for visitors and the family too!

Agritainment Brings Agriculture & Entertainment Together

When you talk about agritourism, there are always ways to learn about agriculture. As we talked with Dana, it was clear farm stays offer guests a chance to see and sometimes participate in farm chores, etc. But what Patty and family are doing seeks to be more entertaining while offering the chance to learn. For instance, they have a puppet show on site, but you will also pick up some facts about different protein sources. And she says it never ceases to amaze school groups and families how everyone of all ages enjoys the day at the farm.

Although the arm started with just a few elements focused on dairy & corn (it was even called Cows-n-Corn for years!) fall pumpkin picking and decorating came quickly as did the corn maze. Now they have grown added various seasonal activities for Christmas and Easter as well as a haunted maze for Halloween!  That growth and a shift from dairy farming led them to move locations to a farm they had that was better suited for the traffic agritainment can bring — it’s Maple Tree Farm VA. If you are in the area, you can even get photos with Santa taken on the farm!

Here’s a short video where you will see Patty talking about some of the fun they offer and some shots of my wandering around the farm — I narrowly avoided hundreds of school children!

You can find the transcript for this episode at Patty Leonard Talks Urban Sprawl & Resulting Impacts on a Family Farm (Episode 303 Grounded by the Farm Podcast Transcript)

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Have you ever been on a farm tour? If so, what stood out for you? I will say I have been on a lot and they seem to range dramatically. What farmers call a farm tour may be really different than what some of us think of or want to go on…. it may also differ among the types of farms. So let’s get the lowdown on some of the different types of farm tours that can be given.

General reminder:  right now we have a regularly changing landscape in travel so always call to check for times & dates the farm is open for visitors and whether tickets are available.

Farm Tours for Everyone

Seeing how our food is grown is so much fun for food lovers like me! And the number of farms that have opened their doors to their communities to come see what is happening has been consistently rising. And while I’d like to go see all of the farms, I understand it takes some dedicated time and effort and people want to be sure guests are safe, that the farm business continues.

Here are a couple of farms I’ve visited that host guests regularly.

Darden Farms

I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you that Dee Dee Darden, who talked with us about Virginia ham several months ago, hosts a lot of guests on their farm outside of Smithfield, Virginia. They share lots of different animals and crops in fun ways and even take classrooms on hay rides and folks can get a peek into the smokehouse where hams hang if they are lucky!

Etsch Farms (NJ)

I recently saw some photos from a farm tour I took several bloggers (including Janis from MommyBlogExpert) in the metro New York area on. It was a fantastic day on the farm with Caroline & Jim Etsch of Etsch Farms in Monroe Township, NJ. They tend to have small groups in as well as local sales of bakery items, etc.

The family does some agritourism on the farm alongside the hay & grain production they do. Just a short drive from the Holland Tunnel, they have a corn maze, run summer camp programs and I still dream of the apple cider slushies and doughnuts. They’ve done outdoor movies and some kiddie rides in the past — Caroline is always coming up with new ways to share information about plants, animals and farming.

Fair Oaks Farms (IN)

One of the farms that is set up to provide comprehensive tours is Fair Oaks Farms in northwestern Indiana. It has a large, modern dairy farm as well as pork and crops and they have a visitor’s center, a cafe and a restaurant as well as tours around the property to see how a bigger farm works. They have a lot of interactive displays, a playground and more!

My friend Natasha (who joined us for an episode on urban gardening) took her family there on a home schooling trip and had a blast while learning lots! She’s got great photos of the pig adventure part of the day so you can see all the awesome on her blog. One of the pieces that has always gotten attention is the center where calves are born. It’s amazing to see a calf being born or even just as it tries to get its legs under itself.

Virtual Farm Tours

As technology has grown, one way more farms have been able to open up to the public is virtually. With virtual tours, the safety of the guest and safety of the animals, etc much easier to do. And with covid-19, some in-person opportunities are harder for some people to get to right now.

But there are also in-depth farm tours that can be live or watched later too. I usually hear about them via Facebook event invites. This tour of a pig farm in virtual reality was put together by some friends. I love it! You can wear goggles or simply hold your phone up and the video will enable you to look in a full 360 degrees rather than simply straight ahead.

That one is a short 5 minutes but in this pig farm tour that Kansas Pork did for several schools, it’s a full class period of learning and conversation. That type of depth allows for some great explanations of how they get feed into bins and things as well as look inside the barns.

And as you may have seen, I hosted a virtual farm tour on Animal Crossing: New Horizons this past week!

There are farmers who do a lot of social media posting showing people their farms regularly — if you have a specific kind of farm or geography you are interested in connecting on, pop that in the comments and I will find you a farmer who shares that if I can!

Finding Farm Tours Near You

In the recent Q&A episode, one of the questions was about how people can find farm tours near them. One of the simplest ways is to search google for your state’s department of agriculture website. There will be a lot of information that is clearly details farmers need, but there are also state run programs to connect residents to agriculture. They usually have a dedicated website as we discussed and it frequently has a list of local farms that do agritourism, special events, etc.

Farm Tours Farmers Usually Take

For farmers and others in agriculture, touring other farms is usually geared toward finding new products or practices that they may want to try out too. There is a lot of discussion about how a type of seed works on one type of soil or another, or about whether this practice reduces fuel use and what customers may prefer.

Really, they talk about all the things. Equipment like tractors and the weather differences are always huge.

Wheat breeders from around the world take in a farm tour in Obregon, Mexico at CIMMYT

Most of the farm tours I have been on were for various crops and I got really used to doing tours of cotton & soybean fields. A few years ago I wrote a piece explaining why you may see a bunch of signs in a farm field along the highway. I still get excited about field days & farm tours even after going on hundreds of them. One is I love talking with people but I also always learn something.

I can’t lie, with the depth of interest and knowledge farmers have, I’ve been on a lot of farm tours that would bore my family to tears. Farmers work separately so often that the are some who will spend the whole day at a farm tour asking questions, some may arrive early and they may bring a vehicle full of people too! After years of being Grounded by the Farm, I’d say I’m more excited usually but 100 degrees and high humidity can temper my enthusiasm quickly.

Every vegetable farm tour I went on left to lots of new learnings and experiences.

One day I go to go out on a farm where they had planted more than two dozen spinach varieties! I had never even though about there being dozens of different spinach varieties. People asked about what is being seen with salad preferences with respect to color (how dark or bright the leaf is) and veining patterns (is it a deeply textured leaf or are veins more shallow).  There was discussion about leaf size and shape. I won’t lie, I needed a spinach salad, spinach enchiladas, and all the things that week!

This year, more farmer tours are going virtual and that’s something that will be new for a lot of us. Kicking the dirt and seeing things close up…. well, I’m sure you can see why it is so popular. Most of us like to do it too!

The post Different Types of Farm Tours & How to Take One appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

This interview with Virginia farmer and ham expert, DeeDee Darden takes place in Smithfield, Virginia where the family raises cotton & corn and maintains the family smokehouse where they salt cure hams the way it was done decades ago.

She explains the almost year-long process of salt curing and smoking hams to get the color and taste that is so desirable. As well as some of the history around Virginia and Smithfield hams in particular.

DeeDee also shows us around the family’s farm, telling us about the fall visits by many school groups in the area. Hosting school groups provides a chance for children to learn about cotton (even checking out a cotton picker, playing in corn boxes, seeing various animals, taking a hay ride and picking out the perfect pumpkin in the field!

DeeDee mentioned an element of laughter with cotton underwear used to provide insight on where clothes come from. I have long blogged about cotton on a site called HundredPercentCotton.com and had to explain how other cotton farmers soil their undies to demonstrate soil health.

Taking a tour of the smokehouse is a highlight for my visit for sure! She also shows us around the farm — animals she shares with kids and we discuss crops planted. And you get to see the store inside.

You can check out the Darden Country Store Facebook page at visit the Darden Country Store website.

The post What makes Virginia hams so legendary? DeeDee Darden explains her family’s traditions appeared first on Grounded by the Farm.

There are few foods that have make me dreamy-eyed my entire life but ham and potato salad are definitely life-long loves. Consequently, a traditional smokehouse has had a near mystical quality my whole life. And going out to see DeeDee Darden at Darden’s Country Store and their smokehouse has captivated my imagination for years. I went several years ago and wrote abut it on my personal blog when I did a farms A to Z. And once I had the image and smells in my mind, I knew I had to go back as I started this website/podcast.

Getting out there immediately after Thanksgiving meant seeing the Dardens in their busy period — a big change from my previous visit in February as they had just started salt curing the hams which you can see in the photo here.

There have been quite a few updates at the store and farm in the years that passed. Some were cosmetic like new paint jobs on the store & smokehouse’s exteriors and some new ways to showcase the world of agriculture for school children. They also sell some of their homecooking — from greens to chicken pot pies and most! The aroma of ham, the sense of generations of tradition all served up on a roll…. and they incredible feeling of hospitality, those were all the same! So are all the local favorites like chocolate covered peanuts.

Touring the Smokehouse with DeeDee

During the calendar year, the Dardens salt-cured and smoked more than a thousand hams. All of that was done in a smokehouse that has served that purpose for decades. Seeing how that works is something that I’d never thought about when I was a child and chances are, I may not have believed hams taking most of a year to get cured & smoked!

She also shows the way a ham looks after it is cooked, deboned and is ready to go! And they have a world title slicer making sure there are all the paper thin slices a person could want available! I’ve eaten ham biscuits each time I went and have mercy they are fantastic!

Hosting School Kids for Tours

The Dardens aren’t actually pig farmers. In fact, DeeDee visited with me during the podcast recording about their sourcing quality hams from others. They have some cattle and grow corn & cotton as well as grow a pumpkin patch for fall visitors to the farm. That keeps the family really busy in fall with hosting school groups! DeeDee takes time showing us around the farm she shares with school groups & families. From a cotton picker to drive (stationary only) and a cotton trailer to jump in, to corn boxes, a Holstein calf named Moo-fasa and other stray farm animals they have adopted and more!

Looking at some of the photo backdrops they have made — I can only imagine how many families have posted photos from this place and love the photo the Darden Country Store Facebook page shared of the team for Halloween. I see the Lion King love is strong.

Listen to DeeDee’s Episode on the Podcast

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