For the Love of Farming: A 70th Anniversary Special
FarmHouse
This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re honoring the voices of farmers as we celebrate our 70th anniversary. This special podcast episode will feature a variety of voices from farmers and ag industry members who stopped by our pop-up recording studio at this year’s . You’ll hear voices of all ages — from a recent college graduate working her first job in the ag industry to a 92-year-old retired farmer who recalls exactly how his farm community came to his aid when he lost a leg in a farm accident. You’ll even hear from Pennsylvania Ag Secretary Russell...
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Dare to Return to the Haunted FarmHouse
FarmHouse
This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re returning to the haunted farmhouse for some seasonal fun and spine-tingling tales from the farm. In this episode, we’ll be sharing four spooky stories that take place on farms or in rural communities because, let’s face it, scary stories from the city just don’t have quite the same chilling effect as those set out in the country. For our first tale, we’ll travel to Robertson County, Tennessee, where the Bell family came to farm in the early 1800s. Unfortunately for the Bells, a spirit that would become known as the...
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Blending Herbs and Making Tea With Katelyn Melvin
FarmHouse
This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Katelyn Melvin, owner of . Melvin grows herbs and makes her own herbal tea blends in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. Her journey into herb farming started by growing herbs in high school. She later worked on a few vegetable farms and decided to take on farming full time. The farm grows multiple acres of herbs including chamomile, peppermint, lemon balm, anise hyssop and more. The teas are made only with herbs grown on the farm. “All the tea blends come from my love of the fresh herbs,” Melvin said. She has three...
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Empowering People, Empowering Ag With Tonya Van Slyke
FarmHouse
This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Tonya Van Slyke, the longtime executive director of the . Van Slyke grew up on her family’s 250-cow dairy farm in New York. “I think my quest to be a leader in the industry came from my involvement in both 4-H and FFA,” she said. “That’s really where my desire to utilize my voice and be an advocate for the industry came from.” After working at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine as a project manager, Van Slyke joined the Northeast Dairy Producers Association as its first...
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The Many Uses of Native Plants With Cathryn Pugh
FarmHouse
This week on the FarmHouse, we’re talking to Cathryn Pugh, a forestry educator with Penn State Extension. Pugh specializes in agroforestry, nontimber forest products and native plants. She is also the president of the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society. There are five main aspects of agroforestry: silvopasture, alley cropping, windbreaks, riparian buffers and forest farming. “Agroforestry can fit into a lot of different places,” Pugh said. “It’s essentially thinking about how to incorporate trees into agricultural spaces.” While Pugh works with farmers to help them learn how to best...
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Turning Food Waste Into Compost With 'Fly Lady' Aubrey Fornwalt
FarmHouse
This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Aubrey Fornwalt, the founder and owner of in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Full Circle uses black soldier flies to convert food waste from the surrounding community into manure and compost. Fornwalt also sells the black soldier fly larvae as feed to poultry operations. It’s the first bioconversion operation of its kind in the state. Fornwalt didn’t always want to be in the decomposition business. She began her career as a graphic designer, and although she was composting her own food waste, she felt...
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Merging Science and People With Heidi Reed
FarmHouse
This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Heidi Reed, an agronomy educator with Penn State Extension. Reed was recently part of a crop conditions tour across the state, and this year’s corn and soybean yields are looking average to below average, mainly due the dry conditions. “Unless somebody has an irrigated field, I don’t think any yield records are going to be broken this year,” Reed said. The dry summer came on the heels of a very wet spring, making it a tough weather year for Pennsylvania farmers. Prolonged stretches of weather are becoming...
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Woodlands Don't Manage Themselves: Foresty Planning With Kathy Smith
FarmHouse
This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Kathy Smith, the program director for the Ohio Woodland Stewards Program at Ohio State University. Smith knew early on that she wanted to work outside and was interested in natural resource management. Forestry felt like a natural fit. “I appreciate being able to understand the trees and how we can utilize trees to solve problems, make things better, and also help landowners to deal with the issues that they have,” Smith said. Smith spent the first 11 years of her career working as a watershed forester with...
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Helping Students Find Their Ag Paths With Wendy Powers
FarmHouse
This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Wendy Powers, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland. Powers is the first woman to serve in the role, effective July 1. She didn’t grow up in agriculture, but her undergrad experience at Cornell University made her interested in the field. Since then, Powers has studied and worked in agriculture at land grant universities, coming to Maryland from Washington State University. “I am tremendously loyal to the land grant mission,” Powers said. “When I look at the...
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Aquaponics and Giving Back to the Community With Yemi Amu
FarmHouse
This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Yemi Amu, the founder and director of , an outdoor aquaponics farm and education center in Brooklyn, New York. Amu is originally from Nigeria and belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group. Her Yoruba roots have influenced much of her work in the U.S., from the name of her operation to the style of farming. Oko is a Yoruba word that loosely translates to farm, but in fact has a deeper tie to agriculture. “The true meaning is a place where agriculture is the center of life and activity,” Amu said. “And that’s...
info_outlineThis week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Yemi Amu, the founder and director of Oko Farms, an outdoor aquaponics farm and education center in Brooklyn, New York.
Amu is originally from Nigeria and belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group. Her Yoruba roots have influenced much of her work in the U.S., from the name of her operation to the style of farming. Oko is a Yoruba word that loosely translates to farm, but in fact has a deeper tie to agriculture.
“The true meaning is a place where agriculture is the center of life and activity,” Amu said. “And that’s sort of what we’re trying to to build at Oko Farms.”
Amu was drawn to aquaponics in part because water conservation, which is a pressing issue in Nigeria, is inherently integrated into its farming methods.
“I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, and water conservation was huge for us,” Amu said. “So type of aquaculture that centered as a type of agriculture, food production that centered water conservation, was a big deal for me.”
Oko Farms grows a variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs, which are sold at farmers markets. It also grows fiber-producing plants like flax, which, along with indigo and dye plants, has drawn people interested in textile and fiber arts to the farm.
The other side of the aquaponics operation is the fish. Oko Farms features a variety, including carp, catfish and tilapia. Some of the fish are used solely for farming while other are used for food, sometimes at farm-to-table meals or given away to community fridges.
Community is at the heart of Oko Farms, which strives in its mission to educate the public. The farm offers classes on wellness, culinary education, textile arts and, of course, aquaponics.
Amu and her team welcome visitors to the farm for tours and classes on how they can use aquaponics to grow food for themselves — even if it’s on their windowsills or countertops. It’s all about sustainability and addressing food justice.
“Anyone, anywhere in the world should be able to grow food for themselves if they choose to,” said Amu.