Episode 275: Deb Soule, Herbalist and Founder of Avena Botanicals

01/21/16 • 41 min

Deb Soule, herbalist and founder of Avena Botanicals in Midcoast Maine, joins The Farm Report to talk about her practice as an herbalist and biodynamic grower. Deb also delves into the challenges herbalists face in of complying with the FDA–which regulates herbs as part of a broad category of dietary supplements–including touching upon the tools necessary for helping future herbalists and small-scale herb producers navigate FDA regulation.

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Episode 274: Grounds for Dreaming: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the California Farmworker Movement

Lori Flores, PhD, Assistant Professor of History at Stony Brook University (SUNY), joins The Farm Report to discuss her book: Grounds for Dreaming: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the California Farmworker Movement. Grounds for Dreaming is “a sweeping critical history of how Mexican communities in agricultural California fought for equality and respect in a hostile climate of labor repression and xenophobia.” Flores, and host Holli Cederholm, explore the history of the farmworker movement in the U.S., while taking a pulse on present day farmworker conditions and the need for immigration and labor policy reform.

“The Farmworker Justice Movement has more to accomplish and we need more attention and support paid to this issue.” [18:45] “When you go to the farmers market ask about the workers too, not just the conditions that the food is grown.” [30:00] –Lori Flores on The Farm Report

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Episode 276: Revival of the American Guiniea Hog & Other Heritage Meats

As part of HRN’s lead-up to the Charleston Wine + Food festival, Chef Craig Deihl joins The Farm Report this week to tuck into meat that matters. Deihl is the Executive Chef of Cypress in Charleston, SC, and founder of the restaurant’s in-house charcuterie program, the Artisan Meat Share. Deihl is passionate about preserving meat and the requisite skills of the craft, from the farm to the butcher, and is a founding member of the Butcher’s Guild. Through a partnership with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy and Carolina Heritage Farm, Deihl became the first chef in over 100 years to utilize the rare American Guinea Hog. This seems like an awfully long time between meals, and Deihl explains the gap by diving further into what conservation looks like in the kitchen.