FarmHouse

Welcome to FarmHouse, a Lancaster Farming podcast where the resilient women of agriculture come together to share their compelling stories and discover shared experiences. Join your hosts, Candice Wierzbowski and Stephanie Speicher, as they engage in insightful conversations with remarkable women spanning the entire agricultural landscape. From the barn and fields to the classrooms, boardrooms and halls of government, women are making a big difference in agriculture. Hear their stories on FarmHouse. Dive deep into the narratives that shape the industry, as FarmHouse brings you the voices and experiences of women in agriculture. Tune in to be inspired, informed, and connected as we celebrate the incredible stories of these trailblazing women on FarmHouse.

Welcoming Visitors to the Farm With Kathy McCaskill 07/03/2025

Welcoming Visitors to the Farm With Kathy McCaskill This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re joined by Kathy McCaskill, co-owner and operator of in Rembert, South Carolina. McCaskill originally hails from upstate New York, where she grew up on an out-of-operation dairy farm. After marrying, she and her husband bought their South Carolina property and began slowly but surely setting up a livestock operation that sells directly to the local farmers market and from the farm store. Tragedy struck the farm in 2007, when the farmhouse burned down, but McCaskill now sees it as part of a larger plan for her family. “We lost 30 years in 30 minutes when we lost the house. And it took us to our knees,” she said. “But I always tell people, God had a plan. Look what we have now.” In the wake of the fire, the McCaskills rebuilt their home, now as empty nesters. After realizing they had more space than they needed, they transformed part of the home into a bed and breakfast. Welcoming guests to the farm isn’t limited to those staying at the bed and breakfast, though. Old McCaskill Farm routinely hosts school groups and visitors with tours and event days, like shearing day in the spring. It’s important to teach people about agriculture and where their food comes from, says McCaskill. The disconnect between consumers and farming can be surprising, she said, reliving an interaction she’d had with a woman who’d recently purchased her own chickens. “I said, ‘Don’t you love those fresh eggs?’ And she said, ‘Oh, we don’t eat the eggs.’ And I said, ‘You don’t, what do you do with them?’ She said, ‘We throw them in the woods,’” McCaskill recalled. “I said, ‘Ma’am, why do you throw your eggs in the wood?’ (She said) because the chicken poops them out.” In addition to educating the public about the farm, McCaskill also makes and sells prepared food at the farmers market and farm store and helps host a farm-to-table lunch at Old McCaskill’s farm every Friday. /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/37237155

Building the Real Organic Project with Linley Dixon 06/26/2025

Experimenting With Whole Milk in Schools With Krista Byler 06/19/2025

Experimenting With Whole Milk in Schools With Krista Byler This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Krista Byler, the food service director at Union City Area School District in Pennsylvania whose whole milk study caught the attention of the dairy industry. Byler’s district had been offering fat free and 1% milks with student lunches, but thanks to a study conducted by the student council, Byler was aware much of the milk students bought ended up in the trash. On top of that, many students weren’t buying milk at all. “It was kind of a double-edged sword. We had students no longer taking milk and a lot of those who did choose it were not drinking it,” Byler said. It made her want to take action. While still only offering fat free and 1% milk, Byler measured how much milk was being wasted. It came to about 3 gallons a day. After two months, the school began offering whole milk, both unflavored and chocolate. Again, Byler studied how much milk was being drunk and how much was being wasted. She found that when whole milk was available, the 3 gallons of milk being thrown out went down to 19 ounces — a 95% reduction in waste. Furthermore, the amount of milk students bought and consumed climbed 50% in that time. Byler then surveyed the students on how they felt about the expanded offerings. “Their overwhelming answer was we want a choice. We want what tastes good, what has a good mouthfeel, what is satisfying,” said Byler. “It’s not that we’re asking for everyone to have whole milk. We’re just asking to be able to offer a full variety so that they can choose.” Byler’s findings captured the interest of the dairy industry, and earlier this year where she addressed her study and its findings. Aside from milk, Byler is also passionate about providing nutritious and, just as important, tasty lunches for her students. Her district has won an HMI Award for innovation in school meal preparation, and much of the food her district serves is prepared from scratch. “Our students are way more food savvy than we were when we went to school,” said Byler. “It’s a lot like putting a puzzle together to make sure the nutrition lines up with the menu mix, which also lines up with student wants and needs. So it’s definitely an interesting process.” More Information /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/37039730

Digging Into Climate-Smart Dairy With Carolyn Beans 06/12/2025

Digging Into Climate-Smart Dairy With Carolyn Beans This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Carolyn Beans, a freelance science reporter with a focus on food and agriculture. Beans is currently an MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellow. Through the fellowship, she is writing a series on climate-smart dairy that is being published in Lancaster Farming. “The fellowship is designed to support journalists who are working on stories that explore environmental solutions specifically for local audiences,” Beans said. The term climate-smart is a bit of a newer buzzword, but Beans said despite the new terminology, there are a lot of practical ways to implement it on farms, many of which farmers are already familiar with. “What climate-smart means now is many of the things that a lot of dairies are already doing,” Beans said. “Things like cover-cropping counts, things like no-till farming counts. More of the newer technologies to bring down greenhouse gases also count. Things like methane digesters, or even something like a liquid-solid separator.” The term itself can be a bit polarizing, but Beans said she saw conservation practices at all of the many dairy farms she visited throughout Pennsylvania. “I think every single dairy farmer I spoke with had already done something to improve the sustainability of their farms,” Beans said. Beans didn’t start out heavily involved in the agriculture industry. She always had an interest in plants, and at one point worked at a flower farm. This led her to eventually studying biology and digging into the field of science reporting. “Talking about food is a thing that everyone is interested in. We all eat. We all have some feelings about food,” Beans said. “So it’s a topic that allows me to cover a lot of science while just meeting people at a topic that I think they really care about.” Listen here: You can find Carolyn Beans' series on climate-smart dairy here: You can find our FarmHouse episode with Emma de Long where we discuss the PA Flax Project here: /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/36939370

Empowering Women Through Education With Annie's Project 06/05/2025

Empowering Women Through Education With Annie's Project This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Doris Mold, co-CEO of , a national nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women in agriculture. Annie’s Project was founded in 2003 and named after Annette Kohlhagen Fleck, a woman who married into farming in 1947 and went on to take care of the business side of the farm. Annie’s Project honors her legacy by providing women with the knowledge and confidence to manage farms and agribusinesses successfully. The organization offers a mix of workshops, courses and online learning aimed at educating women in ag on the business end of running a farm. Topics include risk management, business planning, financial literacy, marketing and legal issues. “Our mission is to empower women in agriculture to be successful through education networks and resources,” said Mold, though she added that the courses are not limited to women participants. “We welcome all comers to Annie’s project. So we do have non-women that participate as well.” Still, Mold acknowledged that female-only or nearly female-only classes do help many women feel more comfortable and open to engaging in the learning process. Annie’s Project also prefers, when possible, to use female educators. “We think it is really important to model that women have knowledge in this area, expertise, and that we really want people to engage,” Mold said. “It doesn’t mean that a man can’t engage with women. There’s a lot of terrific men out there. But to really encourage that discussion and that people feel that connection, showing that women have knowledge, that kind of elevates that and says, ‘Oh, well, if she knows this, I can learn this too.’” Annie’s Project may be focused on equipping women with the tools to make the best decisions for their farming operation, but its impact goes beyond that: It’s making sure everyone, regardless of gender, is ready to take on the current and future challenges facing ag. “It is going to take the best and brightest of all of us — not just 50% of the population, all of us — to solve the problems and take on the opportunities that we had ahead of us,” Mold said. “We can be much better at what we’re doing if we figure that out and work collaboratively.” /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/36838060

Full Circle Flower Farming With Rebekah Mindel 05/29/2025

What's Up With the Bees? Protecting Pollinators With Susan Jones 05/22/2025

What's Up With the Bees? Protecting Pollinators With Susan Jones This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Susan Jones, a pollination expert in McCormick, South Carolina. Jones’ passion for bees grew from an unlikely source: a farrier and third-generation beekeeper visiting her family’s farm began nudging her to give beekeeping a try. He eventually gifted Jones her first two colonies. Those first bees didn’t make it through the winter, but that brief window of time was enough to get Jones hooked, especially when she saw the difference having pollinators made on her garden. “My garden went from OK to on steroids with pollination with the bees. I was just dumbfounded that there was such a difference. Then when I didn’t have bees the next spring, it was like, why am I even bothering to garden?” Jones said. In the two decades since, Jones has evolved from a hobbyist beekeeper to an educator and advocate. She is currently the Apiculture and Pollinator Specialist at the South Carolina Governor’s School for Agriculture and has served as the director of the Master Beekeeping Program of South Carolina. Her journey has afforded her plenty of opportunities to spread the word about pollinators and how we need to start protecting them, especially in the face of a recent uptick in colony losses. “I do a talk that shares the coordination between how pollinators need us, yet we need them, and they face so many different obstacles. I think it’s a death by a thousand cuts. There’s no one single contributor to these losses. There are so many,” Jones said. Part of the problem, she explained, is that because these challenges stem from various sources, there needs to be a collaborative effort to address the issue – and that’s not happening. “The problem is all the different factions, whether it’s environmental, whether it is pesticides and chemicals use or whatever it is, none of these entities are really talking and collaborating with each other,” she said. Jones also owns Susan Marie’s Bees, a honey production operation with 20-25 colonies, which she says helps continue to inform how she teaches about bees and allows her to stay connected to the strong beekeeping community in South Carolina. “The joke in beekeeping is if you ask 10 beekeepers a question, you get 12 different emphatic answers, and nobody seems to agree,” Jones said. “But I have found over the years that women in particular are detail oriented and they’re good observers and they are great problem solvers.” And that, according to Jones, is what makes a good beekeeper. More Information /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/36639720

Tasting What Was Grown in Farm-Made Hot Sauces With Alyssa Adkins 05/15/2025

Tasting What Was Grown in Farm-Made Hot Sauces With Alyssa Adkins This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Alyssa Adkins, a produce farmer in Freeport, Maine. Adkins and her partner Nathan Broaddus own Farthest Field Farm where they grow produce and make their own jarred products. The farm specializes in peppers and hot sauces. “My partner and I decided to start with value-added products,” Adkins said. “There’s so many CSAs to choose from, there’s so many farmers selling vegetables at farmers markets. So it kind of made sense for us.” The farm sells five varieties of hot sauces as well as salsas and other products. Adkins does have a bit of a culinary background. She used to be a registered dietitian and worked in restaurants. This background — plus her own personal canning experience — led her to recipe development. For all of the jarred products, taste and flavor are the most important elements; the spice is secondary. “We don’t have any sauces where we’re melting your face off because we want you to taste things,” Adkins said. “We want you to taste what we grow. We put so much work into these hot sauces.” Adkins are Broaddus bought the property for Farthest Field Farm in 2022, and their goal is to work the land in a way that’s best for their business and for the environment. Adkins wants to rebuild the soil and pollinator habitat. To accomplish this, the farm is no-till and uses organic methods. While the farm is not currently certified organic, Adkins said it can sometimes work in their favor. “We have found that when you’re not organic certified people ask you more questions,” she said. “We like that. We really like that people are engaging with us in that way.” Adkins also engages people by hosting events on the farm “We see how interconnected farms are to everything that is around them,” she said. “We call it a community farm and we want it to be that in the fullest sense from the tiniest little microbes in the soil to the humans who might come here for events.” The Spicy Scoop: Can the Lancaster Farming Team Handle These Farm-Made Hot Sauces? The Lancaster Farming Team sat down to try five hot sauces from Farthest Field Farm and answer some questions about agriculture, journalism and what makes for a good hot wing. /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/36554470

Changing the World for That One Animal With Amy Marciano 04/10/2025

From Dietitian to Farmer With Jennie Schmidt 04/03/2025

From Dietitian to Farmer With Jennie Schmidt This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Jennie Schmidt, a grain and grape farmer on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Prior to farming at Schmidt Farms full time, Schmidt worked as a registered dietitian. “I was able to kind of meld my training,” she said. “I always tell people that farming is the front end of nutrition. They’re the same continuum.” Thanks to her knowledge in both fields, Schmidt was offered speaking engagements, at first with dietitian and nutrition groups. This then led to her speaking nationally at conferences held by groups such as the U.S. Grains Council and the U.S. Ag Export Development Council. While she said she enjoys the opportunities of speaking engagements, Schmidt spends most of her time farming. Schmidt Farms uses a lot of conservation practices and was doing so long before Schmidt joined the operation. “My father-in-law was always very progressive in adopting new practices and very cognizant of leaving the farm in better condition than you received it,” Schmidt said. “That’s kind of our philosophy to be able to do what we need to do to make sure the land stays intact and the nutrients stay in our soils and not in the waterways.” Initially, the farm was a hog and beef cattle operation but transitioned out of livestock and into grain. In the early 2000s, Schmidt contacted local wineries to see if they’d be interested in purchasing grapes in the next few years. Ever since, Schmidt Farms has grown hybrid grape varieties and is now also growing some vinifera varieties. “We probably have 12 different varieties now,” she said, and the diversity in the crop allows for different types of wine. While Schmidt never planned on being a farmer, she said it was the best decision she ever made, and she hopes to inspire others in the industry. “I’m trying to be a mentor to either girls that are in FFA or 4-H or younger women who are starting out in farming, because I’ve had several female mentors who have helped me grow in what I do and in my leadership roles,” she said. “I think that’s just sort of the path of women helping other women — empower them to do whatever they want to do.” /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/35937710

Having Hard Conversations About Farm Succession With Renee Wiatt 03/27/2025

Having Hard Conversations About Farm Succession With Renee Wiatt This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Renee Wiatt, a family business management specialist at Purdue University who specializes in farm transitions. Farm succession can be rife with challenges and hard conversations, but according to Wiatt, it’s not something farm families should wait to tackle. The process of transitioning the farm isn’t a single event, but a process, that can last for years. “If we look at data, on average, if we’re transferring a family business within the same family, it takes about six and a half years from the start of succession to the end,” Wiatt said. While ownership transfer often happens upon the owner’s death, Wiatt stressed that operational transition requires a more gradual approach. That can start with farmers documenting the whos, hows, whys and wheres of their operations. “Another thing we can do is write down job descriptions,” Wiatt said. “A lot of times farmers laugh at me when I say this. They say, I know what I do and I say, yeah, you know what you do, but does everybody else who works on your farm know what you do? No.” She encourages farmers to start documenting month by month, season by season, the things they do that other people might not know about, as well as the locations of tools, paperwork and names of businesses or people associated with that work. Wiatt acknowledges the conversations around farm transitions can be intimidating, especially when families are involved, and therefore advises keeping the business of the farm separate from home life. “We do not encourage those planning conversations to happen at dinner table, at family gatherings, at family holidays. We want those to be really thoughtful and mindful conversations outside of the family setting,” she said. It’s beneficial when the farmer can start these conversations, she added. Family members may be curious about the future of the farm but often hold back from bringing up their concerns to avoid potentially uncomfortable subject matter. “I like to put it this way: As the incumbent, as the owner, it’s a lot easier for them to say, hey, would you like to join my party than the potential successor to say, hey, I heard you’re having a party, can I join?” Wiatt said. More Info: /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/35857720

Persistently Driving a Mobile Vet Clinic With Nicole Irizarry 03/20/2025

Persistently Driving a Mobile Vet Clinic With Nicole Irizarry This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Dr. Nicole Irizarry, a large-animal veterinarian who owns Kissel Hill Veterinary Services in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Irizarry opened her own mobile vet practice in the fall of 2023 after working in a large-animal group practice for seven years. She currently serves clients in about a 25-mile radius with most of her clients being horse owners. She also works on cows, sheep and goats, plus a few other species like donkeys and mini cattle. “I definitely used to have a favorite species,” Irizarry said. “Now I really don’t know that I do. I like different things about the different species.” In recent years, there has been a shortage of large animal veterinarians. Since studying at Penn State and Cornell, Irizarry knew she wanted to work on the large animal side, and many of her classmates initially did as well. “I think there’s a little bit more of a problem with retention than recruitment,” Irizarry said. The lack of a work-life balance and the demand for being on call can often lead to burnout in the large-animal field. While Irizarry lists business hours on her website, she often has days where she isn’t home until after 9 p.m. “For (my work-life balance) I am never a 50-50 split,” Irizarry said. “I am either 100% or 90% in on my business. Those things are fine with me. I think it is what I signed up for. For some people it would be a step too far, and that’s totally fine.” Irizarry didn’t grow up in agriculture, but she grew up always wanting to be a vet. She graduated vet school in a class of 100 — 82 of whom were women. Of the women in the class, 11 went into a career with food animals, but only three — including Irizarry — are still active in that field. “I am still here,” Irizarry said. “I am persistent about being in this area, in this profession, as a veterinarian that works in a broader agricultural community.” /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/35774555

Coast to Coast Organic Farming With Andrea Davis-Cetina 03/13/2025

Coast to Coast Organic Farming With Andrea Davis-Cetina This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Andrea Davis-Cetina, who owns , a certified organic produce farm on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Davis-Cetina grew up in Maryland but moved to California after studying sustainable agriculture at college. After working in landscaping and gardening, she was able to secure a lease on a quarter acre of land in Sonoma, where she then farmed for a decade, selling at farmers markets and to restaurants. It was the issue of long-term land access that fueled Davis-Cetina’s decision to move back to the East Coast in 2018. Davis-Cetina’s family had settled on the Eastern Shore, and she says farming there is surprisingly similar in some ways to farming in Sonoma. “The climate is different, but it’s not that different as far as the length of the growing season, the amount of sunlight, those types of things,” said Davis-Cetina. “And then also the clientele that I had grown accustomed to working with out in Sonoma was very similar to the clientele on the Eastern Shore.” Quarter Acre Farm’s Maryland location started its operations in 2019. Davis-Cetina grows certified organic vegetables, fruits and herbs. She has always farmed sustainably. “I want to leave a piece of land better than I found it,” she said. She also realized the economic benefits of being certified organic. “Once I had that organic label at the farmers market, it totally increased my sales. It made for a lot quicker transactions,” said Davis-Cetina. “This label that is highly regulated, it adds that level of trust that people who don’t know you or aren’t really familiar with your operation then go like, ‘Well, you must know what you’re doing.’” In addition to selling her produce at the Easton Farmer’s Market, Davis-Cetina also sells prepared foods, including guacamole and pico de gallo made from the tomatoes grown at Quarter Acre Farm. Davis-Cetina’s husband, a chef, helps her prepare the food and accompanies her to the market where he also cooks tacos and similar fare on-site. /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/35640330

A Cheese That Pairs Well with Agvocating with Christine Leonard 03/06/2025

A Cheese That Pairs Well with Agvocating with Christine Leonard This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Christine Leonard, a Minnesota dairy farmer and owner of , which specializes in cheese plates and cheese classes. Leonard is a sixth-generation farmer whose farm has been passed down through the women’s side of her family for the last three generations. Before coming to work on the family farm, Leonard spent time at an artisan creamery where she learned about making cheese. By the time she joined the family farm, she knew cheese was a good opportunity to diversify operations, and she launched The Grater Good. Leonard launched the business with curated cheese boards, but soon branched out into classes and tastings. “Slowly my business has expanded from just the cheese and charcuterie boards to a lot of cheese tasting and education classes. So just like people can do a flight of wine, they can do a flight of cheese,” Leonard said. Leonard uses those tastings not only to introduce people to cheeses they may not have tried before, but to talk to them about the dairy industry and put herself forward as an ag ambassador. “I like to ask before I even start the class, ‘How many of you guys know a farmer?’ And you know, usually it’s crickets,” Leonard said. “Not a lot of people have that connection to agriculture anymore. And so I always like to say, ‘Now you know at least one farmer. You know me.’” After that introduction, Leonard said she’s been able to field plenty of questions from her customers, who are often curious about how the dairy industry works. Though her days are busy between running the farm and The Grater Good, Leonard said she’s happy to have found her niche in the local dairy industry. “I really find a lot of fulfillment through my work, both the dairying side and the cheesemongering side,” she said. “That’s the thing about dairy farming, right? It’s a lifestyle. And my Grater Good work just fits right into that as well.” Mentioned in This Episode: /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/35528795

Growing a Full Diet With Jenny Dittmar 02/27/2025

Speaking Out About Mental Health and Ag with Florence Becot 02/20/2025

Speaking Out About Mental Health and Ag with Florence Becot This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Florence Becot, a rural sociologist and the lead for Penn State’s Agricultural Safety and Health Program. Becot and her colleagues Shoshanah Inwood and Hannah Bridge recently published in the Journal of Agromedicine that explored common associated with women who live and work on farms. The study consisted of 68 women across 11 groups discussing the ways they dealt with raising children on the farm. Most of the participants reported feeling anxiety or stress related to the number of responsibilities they were juggling. “All of the groups, at one point or another, discussed stress,” said Becot. “They also talked about depression, and mental illnesses, whether or not they had been diagnosed.” Women in the study discussed feeling anxiety over raising children on the farm. Though many agreed they felt favorably about letting their children grow up on a farm, they acknowledged it comes with a unique set of challenges, especially for mothers who are responsible for performing farm work. “Raising children on the farm is wonderful. So many moms talked about how much they love having the children around. They wouldn’t do it any other way,” Becot said. “But the reality is, we’ve talked to women farmers who said if I was a nurse at the hospital, I wouldn’t be allowed to bring my kid. Why is there this weird expectation that I should have my kid with me when I’m driving this really heavy piece of machinery?” Women aren’t just responsible for child care, Becot explained. In addition to farm work and off-farm jobs, they’re often responsible for cooking and household chores, and may also be responsible for caring for an older relative or for various community-related initiatives like church or social groups. It can easily build into a stressful situation where women feel overburdened. Researchers have been studying mental health in the farming industry for decades. However, Becot noted that it’s only been within the past three to four years that they’ve started looking into how mental health manifests in women. “We really never have talked a whole lot about women and how women’s mental health might be different than men. How the stressors might be different,” said Becot. As more women join the agriculture industry, it’s important to keep studying these differences, along with the unique stressors women on the farm and in rural communities are facing, to provide them with resources for help. At the end of the day, women should be able to balance their domestic and farm responsibilities in order to succeed in both arenas, Becot said. “That’s what this work is about. It is about supporting women in agriculture, in their ability to both be a parent and a professional.” /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/35342865

A Butter That Changes With the Season With Hilary Haigh 02/13/2025

A Butter That Changes With the Season With Hilary Haigh This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Vermont farmer Hilary Haigh. Haigh and her husband own Rolling Bale Farm where they raise grass-fed lamb and beef. In 2022, the Haighs bought Animal Farm Creamery, where they raise Jerseys and make their own butter. The creamery was initially opened in 2000 by Diane St. Clair, where she developed her butter into a high-end product that is used by chefs at restaurants like the Inn at Little Washington, Per Se and the French Laundry. “I work sort of directly with the chefs,” Haigh said. “They know this product very intimately and are very supportive of the business.” Adding on an already well-known dairy operation was a bit of a challenge at first, but in the past three years of owning both the livestock operation and the dairy, Haigh has found her rhythm. On the livestock side, the sheep and beef are intensely rotationally grazed. While the butter is sold almost completely wholesale to restaurants, Haigh’s meat products have a bit of a humbler market. “I actually sell all of our meat through this very rustic self-serve farm stand here on the farm,” she said. When Rolling Bale was first started in 2014, Haigh spent a lot of time selling at farmers markets. She transitioned to the self-serve stand when the dairy operation was added to the farm. “It’s one thing to have an understanding how rigorous a dairy is,” Haigh said. “It’s another to be living in it and fully experience year after year the endlessness of it all.” Haigh makes butter six days a week, and most of it is done by hand, which adds to the uniqueness of the flavor. But much of that specialty comes from grazing the cows. Because their diet changes with the season, the butter tastes and looks different depending on what time of year it is. “It’s a whole system that creates this product and what makes it unique,” Haigh said. “The quality of the cream is the No. 1 reason the butter is unique and delicious. But what goes into controlling the quality of the cream has to do with the size of our dairy, the breed of our cows, what we’re feeding them, how we’re managing them. All of those factors are what is controlling the quality of the cream.” /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/35240890

Falling in Love with Alpacas with Lee Rankin 02/06/2025

Falling in Love with Alpacas with Lee Rankin On this week’s episode of the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Lee Rankin, author and owner of Apple Hill Farm in Banner Elk, North Carolina. Rankin’s journey into agriculture began with an emotional encounter with an alpaca at the Kentucky State Fair. “It was a moment between the two of us where everything else fell away,” she said, describing the moment she looked into the alpaca’s eyes. “I was like, this is the coolest animal I’ve ever met.” Rankin followed her newfound dream to North Carolina, where she transformed a mountaintop orchard into an alpaca farm. In the two decades since, Apple Hill has become a successful fiber farm where Rankin and her team raise alpacas, llamas and angora goats. She sells her products at a store on her farm and at craft and fiber fairs and art festivals. In addition to the fiber operation, Apple Hill is an agritourism business. Rankin said she’s seen her own first alpaca experience mirrored in the faces of those who visit the farm. “There’s people that walk in and they pull me aside and they’re like, ‘this is like my dream.’ And I say to them, I’m not responsible for what happens now,” she joked, regarding the would-be farmers she and her animals have inspired. In 2024, Rankin’s community was dealt a challenging blow in the form of Hurricane Helene when it swept through the state. Apple Hill sustained damage to four buildings and suffered considerable tree damage, including 20 downed trees across one of its fences. The community is still rebuilding. It’s inspiring, she said, describing the way people have stepped up to clear debris, repair damage and take care of each other. “I’m so proud of our little town of Banner Elk, our little town of Valle Crucis and the way people came together and responded and are still responding on a daily basis,” she said. “The real story is what’s happened on a neighbor by neighbor basis, on a town by town basis. And I mean, it’s just amazing.” Rankin is also an author. She recently published “,” a book chronicling her experience of starting Apple Hill while raising her son as a single parent. “I was 40 when I started the farm, when we moved here. I was 60 when I published that book or started the publication process,” Rankin said of what she wants other women to take away from her story. “We’re never too old to do something and to live a dream.” /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/35151065

Celebrating Women: Live at the 2025 PA Farm Show 01/10/2025

Making Yogurt and Supporting Dairy Farms With Hayley Painter of Painterland Sisters 12/19/2024

Making Yogurt and Supporting Dairy Farms With Hayley Painter of Painterland Sisters On this week’s episode of the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Hayley Painter, half of the sister duo that created . Painter and her sister, Stephanie, are the co-founders and co-CEOs of the organic skyr yogurt brand. Skyr is an Icelandic style yogurt that the Painter sisters make with milk from their family farm and about 25 other organic dairy farms. “Most skyrs are higher in protein, naturally lower in sugar and are really thick and creamy,” Painter said. The sisters started the business to keep their dairy farm afloat during years of bad milk prices and have since made it their mission to support as many other dairies as they can. Painterland Sisters yogurt is organic. The sisters’ family farm made the switch to organic in 2003, and during the certification process, the family realized it had already been utilizing many organic and regenerative practices. “It’s not just about soil health,” Painter said. “It’s about the health of the animals and the health of the farmer and the health of the agriculture industry being able to sustain itself.” When Painter and her sister decided to branch out into the world of a value-added product, they met their fair share of challenges, many of them due to the fact that both are young women. During the early stages of the business, she said they’d have to hire an older gentleman to act as a spokesperson on their behalf for business deals. But as the business has grown in size and recognition, Painter said those specific challenges have eased. “I heard once that your biggest challenge is also your biggest strength,” she said. “That is equally true of being young women starting a business. We have this optimism about us. We have this young energy.” The Painterland Sisters were rewarded for their dedication by being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, a goal they envisioned long before becoming entrepreneurs. “We didn’t actually think we could make that list, ever. That was impossible in our minds,” Painter said. “Your biggest goals, even if they seem unreachable — keep them in your back pocket.” /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/34488845

Celebrating Five Generations of Farming With Asia Kalcevic 12/12/2024

Celebrating Five Generations of Farming With Asia Kalcevic This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Asia Kalcevic, a fifth-generation farmer at in Bennett, Colorado. Kalcevic joined her family’s grain operation after studying communications and ag literacy at Colorado State University. Since then, she’s grown into her role as the administrator and operations associate on the farm, where she’s responsible for a variety of tasks from data entry to running the farm’s social media and marketing. But all that hasn’t kept her out of the fields. Kalcevic has also been a grain cart operator during the wheat harvest for the past seven years. “That’s what we’re planning for the whole year. Those moments when we’re running 17 to 20 hour days in the field,” Kalcevic said of her farm’s harvest. “But you sit in your cab and you listen to some music and you go after it.” Kalcevic Farms has been in operation since 1898. Being part of a business rooted in her family’s history has given Kalcevic an appreciation for the generations of farmers who came before her — some of whom she’s been able to work with. “It’s something to not take for granted and to take the opportunity to learn from the past generation that was farming in the 1950s and was born in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl,” she said. “I love to see the difference between what they were doing then and what we’re doing now.” One of the biggest differences is the approach to equipment maintenance. “Back in their day, they if they didn’t have it, they built it. And now it’s like, if we don’t have it, we run to the park store or we buy it,” she said, also noting that today’s air-conditioned cabs and air ride seats seem like luxuries compared to the pared down seats and umbrellas earlier generations employed. Working with multiple generations on the farm means succession and transition are ongoing conversations critical to the operation’s success. Kalcevic said they’re very intentional about creating pathways within their operation to leadership and ownership. If an employee — family member or not — is interested, there’s a way forward. “It’s really been something that I’ve looked forward to growing up, that I have an opportunity to have a seat at the table,” she said. You can read the articles mentioned in the episode here: Are you interested in becoming a sponsor of the FarmHouse Podcast? Email /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/34359570

The Power of Community With Pasa's Hannah Smith-Brubaker 12/05/2024

Getting in the Holiday Spirit with Christmas Tree Farmer Shanelle Lee 11/26/2024

Getting in the Holiday Spirit with Christmas Tree Farmer Shanelle Lee This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Shanelle Lee, co-owner of in Rothsville, Pennsylvania. For the past 15 years, Lee has farmed with her family: blue spruce, concolor fir, Douglas fir and Fraser fir. She acknowledged that Christmas tree farming comes with unique challenges, starting with the length of time it takes to grow a tree until it’s ready for sale. Many customers don’t realize that it’s not as simple as planting a tree and leaving it alone to grow for a few years. “(It’s) seven to 10 years of us fertilizing and using herbicide and trimming and mowing around it. So, a lot of work goes into that one little Christmas tree that goes into someone’s home,” she said. Forecasting for the future can be difficult as well, starting with the fact that trees must be ordered before the farm starts selling for the season. “You have to order your trees in the fall, so you don’t really know how many you’re needing to plant in the spring,” she said, adding that it’s impossible to predict how conditions like drought and wet seasons might impact harvests nearly a decade in the future. On top of that, the window to make a profit on the farm’s crop of trees is short. “It’s very difficult when you have a month to make all your income,” Lee said. “Even though you make money for one month a year, you have to spend money pretty much every month of the year.” It may be challenging, but Heritage Tree Farm has found success, which Lee credits to trial and error and the help of the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association. The farm provides a combination of precut trees and the option to cut your own. Due to rising demand, visitors must now book appointments for the cut-your-own experience, which is limited to just one weekend each season. Lee understands why people still get excited to cut their own trees, even if it requires a little extra effort. “I think it is a magical part of the season because it allows you to feel a little bit rustic and a little bit like a farmer,” she said. “It’s a time that you get to be outdoors with your family. You get to pick a tree together, drink some hot chocolate and enjoy a little bit of farmland. It feels nostalgic.” More Info You can find the article on food safety for your pets here: You can find the recipe for Steph's tomato pie here: Go to to watch Steph making the tomato pie and the Lancaster Farming team trying it. /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/34139096

Blending Agriculture and Technology With Christine Smart 11/21/2024

Blending Agriculture and Technology With Christine Smart This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking with Christine Smart, the director of Cornell AgriTech. Smart studies plant pathology and disease control at Cornell University’s center for agriculture and food research, and she works with farmers across New York to develop disease management options. Much of Smart’s work utilizes agricultural intelligence, which blends artificial intelligence with human research. “In many people’s minds, agriculture and technology don’t actually dovetail,” Smart said. “In reality, you can’t do ag without technology.” She also studies hemp. This research is aided by Cornell’s partnership with USDA to house the hemp germplasm repository. “It’s essentially like a giant vault where seed of all the different varieties of hemp would be stored,” Smart said. “It’s an incredible resource to the community.” Smart also teaches plant science courses and is a student adviser. “The students that are entering land-grant universities, they want to be part of a solution,” Smart said. “It’s completely inspiring to talk to undergraduates.” She also partners with elementary schools to bring ag education to younger children. “Having that connection to food, I think the younger we can start students, the better,” she said. Connecting the ag research community and general public is a priority for Smart, so she schedules as many speaking engagements as possible to explain her work and how it helps both the ag industry and the food supply. Smart didn’t grow up farming but she loves being part of the ag industry. “I think that farmers are the most creative, ingenious, entrepreneurial people I know because of the breadth of the work that they do,” she said. Learn more about the article mentioned in the episode here: View a photo of Candice's . /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/34004097

Advancing Agriculture Through Crop Research With Melissa Nelson Baldwin 11/14/2024

Advancing Agriculture Through Crop Research With Melissa Nelson Baldwin This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Melissa Nelson Baldwin, the owner of and co-owner of . Nelson Baldwin grew up in Kansas in a family of farmers and spent her youth participating in 4-H horse shows and advocating for agriculture in various student organizations. Her passion for farming drove her to get into crop research and in 2018, she founded Performance Crop Research, LLC, where she and her team work with global clients to study plant pathology and the effects of insecticides and bio stimulants on crop varieties in the developmental pipeline. Sustainability has also become a growing aspect of PCR’s research as its clients listen to consumers calling for more environmentally conscious farming methods. Nelson Baldwin acknowledged it can be difficult to strike a balance between sustainability and profitability. “Some of the things that they’re calling for aren’t 100% possible,” she said of the pressure from consumers to make farming more sustainable. “But you do see nitrogen reduction. You do see a lot of bio stimulants taking the place of conventional pesticides.” Nelson Baldwin farms alongside her husband and brother-in-law on their fourth-generation family farm, and together they co-own South Bend Industrial Hemp. They began growing hemp as a way to diversify their grain farming operation, but soon saw an opportunity in hemp processing. “We had a processor back out on us and we continued to see that as a problem across the industry. And so we decided to open our own processing facility and now we work with farmers from all over the Midwest,” said Nelson Baldwin. “We help them with a seed to final sale, agronomic support, really whatever they need throughout the season to be successful.” In addition to working at PCR and South Bend, Nelson also hosts a monthly radio show about farming on Eagle Radio 99.5 FM in Great Bend Kansas. “Right now I am on the express and I have a lot of things to accomplish in a very short amount of time,” Nelson Baldwin said of her busy schedule. “You never know. Every day is not given. And so I’m like, how do I maximize my day? How do I be the best that I can be? And ultimately do my job in the best way possible.” /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/33903902

Rural Ramblings With Sue Bowman 11/07/2024

Dare to Enter the Haunted FarmHouse: A Special Halloween Episode 10/31/2024

Bees, Trees and Ag Expertise With Amanda Bennett 10/24/2024

Bees, Trees and Ag Expertise With Amanda Bennett This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Amanda Bennett, an agriculture and natural resources educator with Ohio State Extension. Bennett, who grew up on a grain farm, specializes in raised bed gardening, native plant landscaping, as well as beekeeping. Working as an Extension educator means Bennett gets to be a life-long learner, as you never know what kinds of questions you’ll get. “When we get together we start telling stories and think that we could write a book on all the weird questions that we get,” Bennett said. One time, Bennett said, someone even brought a live mouse into the office worried that it may have bred with a rabbit because it could jump so high. But that’s just a typical day in the life of an ag and natural resources educator for Bennett, where she has to be able to field questions from livestock to bees and from conventional farming to native plants. The wide variety of topics is more similar than it may seem. “I do think there are a lot more connections than people think,” Bennett said. “I often say that I grew up on a grain farm, but it’s really just gardening on a huge scale.” Bennett’s interest in native plants grew alongside her interest in beekeeping, as a native landscape with plants that bloom in spring, summer and fall benefits pollinators. Native plants also require fewer nutrients and pesticides, making them relatively easy to incorporate into the landscape. “I always say I’m a lazy gardener, and they require a whole lot less work,” Bennett said. Bennett has been keeping bees for about 12 years and also teaches beekeeping courses with Ohio State Extension. Though her life now is filled with a wide variety of agriculture, that wasn’t always the plan. Initially, Bennett wanted to be a Spanish teacher, but after starting school at Ohio State, she realized a lot of people didn’t know much about agriculture, so she changed her major to go into that field instead. “I just appreciate the opportunity to be part of an industry that has been beneficial in my life, that has been beneficial to my upbringing, that has taught me a lot of values and hard work ethic,” Bennett said. “And I feel grateful to be able to represent that industry, and hopefully I’m doing that in a good way.” You can find more information on the Lancaster Farming article discussed in the beginning of this episode here: /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/33573237

From First-Gen Farming to Agvocating in DC With Lindsey Shapiro 10/17/2024

From First-Gen Farming to Agvocating in DC With Lindsey Shapiro This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re joined by Lindsey Shapiro, a vegetable farmer from Bally, Pennsylvania, and the Farm Bill campaign organizer for Pasa Sustainable Agriculture. Shapiro is a first-generation farmer who discovered her passion for agriculture while helping her husband’s family on their urban farm in Philadelphia. “I was just so enamored with the tangible joys of growing food,” Shapiro said. “We’d harvest the food Friday morning. We had wheeled it out onto the sidewalk Friday afternoon, and it would end up in people’s dinners by Friday evening.” Inspired by their experience, Shapiro and her husband started their own operation, , in 2011, where they grow a variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs using sustainable farming practices. Root Mass Farm sells at two farmers markets and offers a Garden Stake CSA in which customers pay at the beginning of the season then deduct their purchases from their balance as they shop the farm’s stand at the markets. Shapiro explained this is often appealing to customers with smaller households or those who can’t commit to a weekly pick up. Having customers come to the farmers market for their CSA shares also allows Shapiro to interact with them on a more personal level and answer questions they might have about her produce. “I had a customer that was like, why is the celery so small? I was like, well, I had to harvest our celery a little bit earlier because it’s been so dry that we haven’t really been able to get it to size up very much,” she said while reflecting on some recent customer interactions. “But, it’s going to be delicious. It’s going to have a lot of flavor. It’s still going to make your potato salad or your soup just sing with celery goodness.” At her off-farm job at Pasa, Shapiro works to get farmers involved in the process. She stresses the importance of making sure farmers’ voices are being heard in spaces where decisions are being made that will affect agriculture. “I get to talk to a lot of farmers in that work and learn more about what their needs are, and try to be very solution-oriented,” she said, “and figure out how we can improve policies in this country so that farmers in Pasa’s network have a better shot at doing the incredible work that they want to do.” Shapiro also discussed why the new Farm Bill has been so difficult to pass, touching on the competing needs of many Americans who depend on the funding tied to the bill, from nutrition funding to climate change mitigation. “There’s just not enough money to go around,” she said. “So, there’s some hard decisions that have to be made. And I think it’s ultimately come to a matter of priorities.” You can find more information on the Lancaster Farming stories discussed in the beginning of this episode here: /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/33482632

A Roundtable Discussion With the Ladies of Lancaster Farming 09/12/2024

A Roundtable Discussion With the Ladies of Lancaster Farming This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re keeping it all in the family with a roundtable episode featuring some of the women who work at Lancaster Farming. Joining co-hosts Candice Wierzbowski and Stephanie Speicher from the editorial department are Kelly Thomas and Rebecca Schweitzer-Benner, and from the advertising department are Brittany Copenhaver and Torey Shotzberger. While most of the guests had an ag-adjacent background prior to working for Lancaster Farming, Shotzberger grew up on her dad’s hobby farm. “I grew up helping him with hay and other crops and sitting in the tractor and combine,” Shotzberger said. Now she’s working as an inside sales representative at Lancaster Farming, helping customers place ads each week selling items ranging from farm equipment to animals to hay. Copenhaver is also an advertising sales representative focusing on auction ads. “It’s very important for them to get (the ads) in to get the exposure that they do need for their client,” Copenhaver said. “I’m not just helping them. I am helping also their client reach the maximum visual of their ad and try to get their property sold, or their pieces, for the most money possible.” On the editorial side of the roundtable, Schweitzer-Benner is the special sections editor, a job she said fits nicely with her degree in professional writing. “I go and I learn about a topic that I might not know anything about beforehand, and then I figure out how to present it to people who also might not know anything about it,” Schweitzer-Benner said. “It’s been a lot of fun.” Thomas, who has a background in both print and broadcast journalism, joined the team at Lancaster Farming after being out of the news industry for a number of years. Now she edits the food and family section, the B Section. “It’s a lot of responsibility trying to put together B Section,” Thomas said. “This is the first time that I get to put together and see a finished product of my work. I think there’s a greater responsibility and accountability that comes along with that.” Though the advertising and editorial departments perform different jobs, there was one commonality between the departments — a focus on people. Whether ad customers, freelance correspondents or the subjects who are interviewed, the people of the agriculture industry were a favorite of all the guests. The FarmHouse podcast will be taking a short break from publishing. The next new episode will be out Oct. 17. Listen to the FarmHouse episode mentioned featuring Laura Zoeller here: Listen to the FarmHouse episode mentioned featuring Katie Dotterer here: /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/33006807

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