Start living more sustainably. The Good Dirt podcast explores all aspects of a sustainable lifestyle with healthy soil as the touchpoint and metaphor for the healing of our relationship with the planet. Mother and daughter team Mary & Emma bring you weekly interviews with farmers, artists, authors, and leaders in the regenerative and sustainable living space.
In this episode of The Good Dirt Podcast, Emma and Mary welcome back Janna Hockenjos, founder of We Are Earth Friends, an environmental education organization designed for children ages 3-8. Jana discusses the program’s impact on young learners' understanding of the interconnectedness of all of life on our planet and provides an update on the progress and expansion of the program. She also offers insights from the suburban food forest project. that she and her husband have been cultivating over the last few years.
In addition, Emma and Mary make the announcement that the podcast will take a sabbatical until next year to allow time for rest and the development of new ideas. In the meantime, they will be continuing with articles, ideas and inspiration in The ALMANAC, the online newsletter and community of Lady Farmer. See the Substack link below!
00:00 Reflecting on Slow Living Amidst Chaos
00:30 Embracing the Present Moment
01:35 Nature's Simple Joys
02:27 Recording Together and Taking a Sabbatical
04:10 Podcast Evolution and Future Plans
08:13 Introducing Jana and Earth Friends
12:25 Jana's Journey and Environmental Education
15:19 Earth Friends Curriculum and Impact
32:14 Making Environmental Education Accessible
36:33 Challenges in Implementing Earth Friends in Schools
37:04 Making Earth Friends Accessible to All
38:57 Homeschool Groups and Marketing Strategies
41:22 The Importance of Patience and Letting Go
42:00 Personal Reflections and Yoga Insights
51:23 Suburban Food Forest Project
54:09 The Healing Power of Growing Your Own Food
01:06:03 The Significance of Good Soil
01:10:33 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer.
The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.
🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:
• Wendy Gray
This episode was originally published on August 18th, 2023
In this episode we're talking to Leah Webb, author of The Seven Step Homestead about how to turn any yard into a primary food source with vegetables, fruits, chickens, pollinator plants and medicinal herbs. A mother of two children with unique medical needs, Leah utilizes food grown in her own backyard garden as an important part of her children's integrative care. She sees herself as a solutions-based Family Food and Garden Coach, with a goal of guiding families in making small yet impactful steps towards sourcing their own nutrition and achieving long term dietary, cooking, and gardening goals. She is also the author of The Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free Family Cookbook. In this conversation, we delve into the challenges and benefits of growing and preparing nutrient dense food, and the practicalities of creating your own microfarm in the space you already have. If you are one of many with a goal to connect with the land and create more independence from the industrial food system, Leah can guide you through, step-by-step.
Topics Discussed
• A Stormy Week in the DC Area
• Leah's Background in Nutrition Education and Her Path to Creating a Microfarm in her own Backyard.
• Being a Mom to Kids with Unique Medical Needs and the Role of Gardening and Home Grown Food in their Integrative Care.
• Learning the Basics of Gardening for Food
• Eating Home Grown Vegetables
• Food Preservation
• Convenience Foods
• Priorities & Food
• Investing in Homesteading
• Start Small for the Long Haul
• Which Plants to Start With
• Planting Charts
• Using, Measuring, and Creating Compost
• The Difference Between Homesteading and Gardening
• Homesteading , Self Sufficiency and Community
• Finding an Alternative to the Industrial Food Industry
• Consumer Awareness of Food
• Regenerative Growing Practices
Episode Resources:
•"The Seven-Step Homestead: A Guide for Creating the Backyard Microfarm of Your Dreams" by Leah Webb
Connect with Leah Webb:
• Website: https://www.leahmwebb.com/
• Instagram @leah_m_webb https://www.instagram.com/leah_m_webb/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeahMWebbWellness/
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
•Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram
•Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you!
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Fast Forward Production.
In this episode, Madison Murphy Barney, a two-Spirit Hoopa and Shoshone sister, author, doula, and public health storyteller, discusses the significance of the two-Spirit identity, historical roles, and the importance of maintaining cultural traditions. Madison delves into personal experiences growing up in North Dakota, the impact of indigenous boarding schools, and the generational transmission of pride and cultural knowledge. She also talks about the nature of stewardship, reconnecting with one's ancestry, and practical ways to slow down and embrace a more connected, mindful lifestyle. Highlighting the importance of personal and collective healing, Madison's insights offer deep wisdom and helpful guidance on how to engage with land, personal identity, and community.
00:00 Introduction to Madison Murphy Barney
04:01 Understanding Two-Spirit Identity
05:11 Historical Context and Personal Background
07:35 Family Heritage and Cultural Pride
11:17 Impact of Residential Schools
14:55 Journey to Vermont and Community Building
18:22 Stewarding the Land and Personal Growth
21:59 The Role of Humans in Healing the Earth
23:40 Madison's Upcoming Book and Its Themes
25:33 Final Reflections on Connection and Responsibility
30:44 Exploring the Concept of 'Away'
30:55 Connecting with Our Own Medicine
34:42 Practical Steps to Reconnect with Ancestral Wisdom
39:36 Astrology and Past Lives
43:20 Navigating Challenging Times on Earth
47:04 The Importance of Slowing Down
50:46 Offerings and Final Thoughts
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer.
The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.
🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:
• Wendy Gray
This is an ENCORE EPISODE, originally published on August 5, 2022
In this episode, Mary and Emma are talking to Julia Skinner of Root: Historic Food for the Modern World. Root was born from Julia's deep love for community and a belief in the power of food to tell stories, connect us to place and to each other, and to build a bridge to the past.
Julia's work is all about food, history, food stories, where it comes from and the people behind it. She loves fostering connections with other people and with the earth around us. Julia is especially interested in learning and teaching about fermentation, demonstrating to people the ease and accessibility of preparing delicious and healthy food using this ancient and powerful food preservation technique.
Topics Covered:
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Julia:
About Lady Farmer:
Lady Farmer is a sustainable apparel and lifestyle brand, with education around sustainability and sustainable living at the forefront of our mission. Lady Farmer is proud to produce The Good Dirt podcast.
In this episode, Mary is talking with Eve Schaub, an internationally published author and humorist. Known for her year-long experiments, such as 'Year of No Sugar' and 'Year of No Clutter,' Eve’s latest endeavor is 'The Year of the Dress,' where she attempts to grow, harvest, spin, and weave flax into a wearable linen dress in her backyard. The conversation covers the challenges of growing flax, the environmental impact of fast fashion, and the importance of community and sustainability in textile production. Listen to Eve’s inspiring journey towards slow living and sustainable crafting, and learn about resources such as Fibershed and the Pennsylvania Flax Project that support local textile production.
00:00 Introduction to Big Ideas and Projects
00:33 Guest Introduction: Eve Shaw
01:07 Personal Projects and Sustainable Gardening
04:30 Long-Term Planning and Sustainability
05:52 Eve Shaw's Year-Long Experiments
08:02 The Year of the Dress: Growing a Linen Dress
11:42 Challenges and Inspirations in Sustainable Fashion
21:32 Community and Resources for Flax Growing
29:18 Overcoming Initial Challenges in Sustainable Clothing
32:10 The Thrill of Thrift Shopping
35:06 The Spirituality of Handmade Items
37:02 Starting the Flax Growing Journey
41:05 Learning and Experimenting with Flax
46:15 Community and Resources for Sustainable Living
RESOURCES:
Eve O Schaub Website and Books
Cindy Conner, Homegrown Flax and Cotton Website and Book
Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer.
The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.
🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:
• Wendy Gray
This is an ENCORE EPISODE, originally published on July 7, 2023
In this episode, Emma and Mary sit down to talk to Smruti Aravind, who oversees fundraising, donor communications, and grants at the Story of Stuff Project. Smruti brings over a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector, with an emphasis on digital storytelling and network-building to drive systemic change. Prior to joining the Story of Stuff, she led communications at Faith in Action East Bay, a federation of the largest faith-based organizing network in the U.S. Smruti shares about her work and her perspective on creating meaningful social impact, as well as the campaign work that Story of Stuff is doing in order to create policy change. She introduces the Bottle Bill project as well as the Reuse Revolution, and why burning plastic is not the solution that you may believe it to be. Smruti also touches on what other countries are doing to deal with their waste, the impact on The Global South, and how we can all flex our citizen muscles and advocate for plastic reduction laws to be codified.
Topics Discussed
•Smruti's Work in the Nonprofit Sector
•How the Story of Stuff Came to Be
•Using the Power of Media to Influence Policy Change
•Content Creation & Advocacy
•The Story of Microbeads & The Story of Plastic
•Founder Annie Leonard's Inspiration for the Documentary
•Increasing BIPOC Voices in the Search of a Solution
•Systems Thinking for the General Public
•The Break Free From Plastic Movement Treaty
•How Millennials and Gender Z Approach Environmental Activism
•Shifting From Individual Responsibility to Systemic Change
•Real Solutions vs. False Solutions
•The Great Pacific Plastic Patch
•Why Burning Plastic & Buying Plastic Clothes Doesn't Work
•Stopping the Tap with Campaign Work: The Bottle Bill & The Reuse Revolution
•What Other Countries Are Doing
•The Impact of Waste on the Global South
•Flexing Our Citizen Muscles
•What Corporations are Able to Change
•Moving to Florida & the Way that Different States Handle Plastic Waste
•Cloth Diapers
•Slow Living in a Big City
•The Impact of the Individual
Episode Resources:
•Watch The Story of Stuff Documentary
•The California Plastic Incinerator
Connect with Smruti Aravind:
•Website: https://www.storyofstuff.org/blog/people/smruti-aravind/
•YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/storyofstuffproject
•Instagram: @storyofstuff https://instagram.com/storyofstuff/
•Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storyofstuff
•Links: https://linktr.ee/storyofstuff
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
•Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram
•Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you!
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Fast Forward Production.
In this episode, Dr. Bill Schindler discusses the impact of modern diets on health and the importance of ancestral dietary practices. He shares the journey of the Modern Stone Age Kitchen, a restaurant dedicated to using ancestral approaches to make nutritious and sustainable food accessible, and his family's personal evolution in food preparation and consumption. Dr. Schindler also highlights the significance of seasonal eating, shares fascinating stories from his global travels to learn traditional food practices, and provides practical advice for people looking to improve their health and relationship with food. He emphasizes the necessity of flexibility in diets, understanding cultural and emotional connections to food, and making small, manageable shifts towards more nourishing eating habits.
00:00 The Best Diet Myth
00:27 Seasonal Eating Made Easy
04:34 Introducing Dr. Bill Schindler
07:19 Understanding Ancestral Foods
17:52 The Impact of Technological Revolutions on Diet
18:37 The Cold Chain Revolution
26:02 Personal Journey and Aha Moments
43:31 The Birth of the Sourdough Bread Company
49:11 The Reluctant Restaurant Owners
50:25 Struggles of Homemade Nourishment
52:26 Community and Outreach
53:52 The Food Lab and Educational Programs
55:31 Documenting Indigenous Food Practices
57:56 Traditional Cheese Making in Norway
01:01:34 Exploring Manioc Processing in the Amazon
01:04:38 Adventures in Kenya: The Ash Yogurt Story
01:14:35 Embracing Slow Living and Health Tracking
01:17:52 The Philosophy of Good Dirt
01:19:15 Advice for the Average Family
01:26:33 Celebrating Birthdays with Healthy Desserts
01:30:45 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Resources:
Bill Schindler's Website modernstoneage.com
Eat Like a Human: Nourishing Foods and Ancient Ways of Cooking to Revolutionize Your Health by Dr. Bill Schindler
Fire the Spark that Ignited Human Evolution by Francis D Burton
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race by Jared Diamond
The Pulse Cure by Dr. Torkil Faero
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer.
The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.
🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:
• Wendy Gray
This is an ENCORE EPISODE, originally published on July 9, 2021
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.
1:30 - Mary and Emma catch up and talk about plastic problem solving!
10:30 - World Centric
Let’s get into the episode:
11:30 - Introducing Lauren & the world of World Centric
16:30 - Is zero waste really achievable?
22:00 - Bioplastics
30:00 - Landfills as coffins for waste
35:00 - What can we do?
36:00 - Greenwashing
43:00 - Facing this massive issue
50:00 - What does the Good Dirt mean to you?
USE CODE: "thegooddirt" for 10% off online at World Centric. Valid for 30 days.
Things Mentioned:
In this episode, Corinna Wood, a visionary teacher of women's wisdom, discusses her thirty year career with herbalism, teaching, and community building--all while embracing an earth-based, woman-centered approach to women's inner growth and healing. Corinna reflects on her early influences in herbal medicine and wise woman ways, her experiences founding the Southeast Wise Women Herbal Conference, her contributions to herbal medicine through Red Moon Herbs and her current work supporting women on their own healing journeys.
00:00 Introduction to Radical Self-Care
00:30 Catching Up with Emma
01:13 The Evolution of Air Conditioning
03:08 Reflecting on Hot Summers
05:32 The Impact of Climate Change
05:57 The History of Freezers and Ice
08:20 Appreciating Agricultural Workers
08:56 Introducing Corinna Wood
10:31 Corinna's Journey into Herbal Medicine
17:12 Founding the Southeast Wise Women Herbal Conference
23:09 Memorable Moments at the Conference
27:15 The Wise Woman Needs Wheel
29:14 Teaching Tools for Inner Growth
30:04 Introduction to the Wise Woman Needs Wheel
31:55 Seasonal Needs and Human Connection
38:30 Rituals and Herbal Practices
42:59 The Journey of Red Moon Herbs
47:29 Current Programs and Teachings
51:13 Addressing the 'Not Enough' Belief
55:18 Healing Through Earth-Based Practices
01:00:57 Embracing Slow Living and Cycles
01:06:17 Final Thoughts and Resources
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer.
The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.
🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:
• Wendy Gray
This episode was originally published on June 23, 2023
Meet Maria Rodale, an author and advocate for organic regenerative farming. An explorer in search of the mysteries of the universe, Maria is the author of "Love Nature Magic: Shamanic Journeys into the Heart of My Garden", "Organic Manifesto", "Scratch", and is the author of a children's book series called written by the under the pen name "Mrs. Peanuckle". Her book "Love Nature Magic" was featured as a part of the a recent selection for the Lady Farmer book club, so it was truly an honor to get to talk with her on The Good Dirt. Together, Mary, Emma, and Maria discuss her new book, her family legacy in the world of regenerative agriculture, as well as her evolution from a CEO to (in her own words) a “crazy gardener.” Maria is truly a voice for the power and magic of nature and a guide for all of us seeking to rekindle a meaningful connection to the earth.
Maria is the former CEO and Chairman of Rodale Inc, and has served on multiple nonprofit boards including the Rodale Institute, Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project, and the Pennsylvania Federal Reserve Advisory council. She has received awards for her lifetime of service and activism, including the National Audubon Rachel Carson Award and the United Nations Population Fund’s Award for the Health and Dignity of Woman Everywhere.
Topics Discussed
• Growing up on as 3rd Generation Farmer at the Rodale Institute
• Moving Out at 18 to Becoming CEO: Family Loss & Legacy
• The Implosion of the Publishing Industry
• Following Her Nose: How Maria Found Writing
• The Making of "Love Nature Magic"
• What is a Shamanic Journey?
• Dealing with Mugwort in Gardens
• Decolonizing Our Relationship with Nature
• A Garden's Desire to be Wild
• Why the Biggest Changes Come from a Change in Behavior
• Being Open to Hearing Nature's Message
• Changing the Future by Modeling What Could Be Over What Is
• Recovering from a Stroke
•"Regenerative" over "Sustainability"
Episode Resources:
•The Rodale Institute: 75 Years of Organic Agriculture Leadership
•"Love, Nature, Magic: Shamanic Journeys into the Heart of My Garden"
•"Organic Manifesto: How Organic Food Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe"
•"Scratch: Home Cooking for Everyone Made Simple, Fun, and Totally Delicious: A Cookbook"
•The Good Dirt: "The Urgent Need for Restorative Gardens with Mary Reynolds"
Connect with Maria Rodale:
• Website: https://www.mariarodale.com/
• Mrs. Peanuckle Website: https://www.mrspeanuckle.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariarodale/
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
•Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram
•JSign up to join The Lady Farmer ALMANAC
•Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you!
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Fast Forward Production.
Read less
Due to the nature of the event, all registrations are final and non-refundable. We appreciate your understanding.
© 2025 My Ag Life | JCS Marketing, Inc.