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.

For the Love of Farming: A 70th Anniversary Special 10/30/2025

Dare to Return to the Haunted FarmHouse 10/23/2025

Blending Herbs and Making Tea With Katelyn Melvin 10/16/2025

Empowering People, Empowering Ag With Tonya Van Slyke 10/09/2025

The Many Uses of Native Plants With Cathryn Pugh 09/30/2025

The Many Uses of Native Plants With Cathryn Pugh 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 incorporate trees and native plants into their land, she also works a lot with homeowners both through Extension and the Native Plant Society. “People want native plants,” she said. Pugh has found that a lot of people want to add more natives to help provide for birds and pollinators. “Native plants are the foundation of your ecosystem,” Pugh said. “Native plants have been here for so long, they have co-evolved with all of the native insects and birds.” Another big pull for natives is that they are often easier to take care of. “Native plants are lower maintenance overall. They have evolved to be in this place,” Pugh said. “It’s going to save you a lot of time and energy in the long run to have native plants in your space.” But while interest in natives is growing, not everyone can easily identify these plants and know which ones would work best in their landscapes. The Pennsylvania Native Plant Society is working to make finding native plants easier. “We have a program we’re really proud of called the Green Seal Pledge,” Pugh said. “This program encourages nurseries to sign and pledge that they will sell 50% or more of their nursery stock as native plants.” Pugh also works with farmers to add nontimber forests products to their land, such as maple, ramps or ginseng. There are also native plants that can be used creatively, such as woody florals, willow for weaving and black walnut for dyes. “I’m trying to think about ways that we can really make things like riparian buffers enticing to farmers that have products that are easy enough to get into, that have markets that exist,” Pugh said. “If we can make it accessible, maybe we can make a shift in this where it’s a win-win situation for the environment and for the farmer.” Learn More: Penn State Extension Pennsylvania Native Plant Society Forest Snapshot — September 2025 Forest Snapshot — July 2025 The Green Illusion Ramps (Allium tricoccum) /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/38410355

Turning Food Waste Into Compost With 'Fly Lady' Aubrey Fornwalt 09/25/2025

Turning Food Waste Into Compost With 'Fly Lady' Aubrey Fornwalt 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 she could be doing more. Fornwalt began researching permaculture and soon bought her first fly larvae. “I just looked up where to buy larvae online and the first batch came from eBay. That was in 2017, I think. And I just didn’t stop. I didn’t get grossed out. I thought it was pretty cool,” she said. Fornwalt now collects food waste from several local restaurants and over 20 households and has become locally known for her bioconversion operation. “I do have the nickname ‘The Fly Lady’ around town,” she joked. “And I wear that as a badge of honor.” Once collected, the food waste is processed through a grinder and then fed to the fly larvae. The operation can manage between 250-300 pounds of food waste each day. While the larvae will eat any kind of food waste, Fornwalt noticed they have a preference for junk food. “The larvae themselves eat everything. They eat meat and cheese and bread, like the great American carby diet. They’re not picky,” Fornwalt said. “But they’re more excited about the fat and the protein and the carbs. Definitely the higher fat content, they like that.” Since its founding, Full Circle has successfully diverted over 200,000 pounds of food waste from landfills. While that waste would have eventually decomposed on its own, Fornwalt argues bioconversion is the better option. “I think the return on investment with the insects versus mechanical utilization, nature is so much more efficient than we are,” she said. “And if we take the time to watch how it works and take cues from it and not necessarily try to outsmart it, I think we could do a lot of really cool things.” You can watch the video about Full Circle Bioconversion mentioned in the interview . /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/38337945

Merging Science and People With Heidi Reed 09/18/2025

Merging Science and People With Heidi Reed 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 more common in the state. “When I talk to farmers who have been doing this for a long time, they’re seeing less predictable seasons and more extreme weather events,” Reed said. “When there’s a drought, it’s a very bad drought. And then when we get rain, it’s 6 inches all at once.” One thing Reed suggests to help mitigate the weather extremes is soil conservation. “Focusing on soil health is not necessarily something that you’re going to see reflected in the checkbook,” she said. “But every time we increase the percent of soil organic matter, our soil is able to hold onto more of that water when we do get it and store that water so it’s available to the crop when we have a drought and stay intact instead of washing away when we get extreme, pounding rainfall.” Reed has recently been doing some work on seeding cover crops using drones. She said drone use has become more commonplace and affordable in agriculture over the past few years. “It’s a tool in the toolbox, right?” she said. “There’s a time and a place where it can really effectively be used and other times where it just doesn’t make sense.” Reed is incorporating some of her Extension research into Lancaster Farming’s column that she recently took over after longtime columnist Leon Ressler retired. “I am enjoying carrying on the tradition,” Reed said. While she plans on keeping the structure of the column the same, she does hope to add some of her own narrative and personality each week. /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/38239085

Woodlands Don't Manage Themselves: Foresty Planning With Kathy Smith 09/11/2025

Woodlands Don't Manage Themselves: Foresty Planning With Kathy Smith 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 the Ohio Division of Forestry before coming to Ohio State in 2001. As the program director, Smith works closely with farmers on how they can integrate trees into their operations. “A lot of times you’re looking at things like windbreaks that would, if placed properly, increase crop production. Or riparian buffers where we can filter out nutrients and pesticides before they hit the body of water,” Smith said. She also advises landowners, particularly farmers, on how to use trees to strike a balance between protecting wild animals and limiting their damage to crops. “Different tree species provide different things for wildlife. So you kind of have to think about is this something that is going to be highly desirable by certain species? Maybe that’s not what I want to put in this location,” Smith said. “You do have to pay attention to what the tree species are and what those benefits are.” The key, according to Smith, is appreciating that woodlands are a living ecosystem. Living systems change over time, and property owners need to be prepared to tackle new challenges that may come up, like invasive species. She advises farmers to think of their long-term goals for their land and use those to direct their decisions. “I always tell landowners, whether it’s on a napkin or a piece of paper or just in your head, you kind of need to think about what you want from the woods,” Smith said. /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/38146165

Helping Students Find Their Ag Paths With Wendy Powers 09/04/2025

Helping Students Find Their Ag Paths With Wendy Powers 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 work we are doing in the land grant colleges, we are making a difference every day.” Powers has worked in ag education all throughout the U.S. She’s spent her first few months in Maryland getting to know both the university’s ag college and the state’s ag industry as a whole. “With agriculture being the largest economic driver for the state, it is highly diverse across the state,” Powers said. “While the scale may be different than California and other states, the importance of agriculture and natural resources to the state of Maryland is really unparalleled compared to other states.” Maryland’s fall semester began Sept. 2, and Powers said she is looking forward to welcoming the largest class in the College of Agriculture to date. “The youth today are committed to solving some of the biggest problems,” Powers said. “I’m just impressed every time I meet our students by how much they’ve accomplished, how much they’ve overcome, and where they want to be going forward.” One of her goals as dean is to help students find their way into the ag industry — whether that be animal science, aquaponics or even fermentation. “I’m really committed to helping others who maybe didn’t grow up in agriculture, don’t have that background, figure out their path to an amazing career in agriculture and natural resources,” Powers said. /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/38072550

Aquaponics and Giving Back to the Community With Yemi Amu 08/28/2025

Aquaponics and Giving Back to the Community With Yemi Amu 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 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. /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/37977525

Encouraging Equine Enthusiasts of All Ages With Fran Severn 07/17/2025

Encouraging Equine Enthusiasts of All Ages With Fran Severn This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Fran Severn, a writer and equestrian whose passion for horses inspired her to write “” Severn grew up in downtown Baltimore where horses and barns were scarce, but that didn’t stop her from developing an affinity for all things equine. “I think loving horses is in your DNA and I always wanted horses in my life,” Severn said. She began riding after college and, as her journalism career expanded to covering the Kentucky Derby and events at the Kentucky Horse Park, she eventually purchased her first horse. However, life got busy and riding took a backseat until Severn was in her 50s. That return sparked a revelation: There were few resources available for older women getting back into horses. Severn saw an opportunity to combine her love of horses and her writing talents and published “Riders of a Certain Age.” Severn’s book tackles the physical, emotional and practical challenges of riding later in life, including health considerations, finances and long-term horse care planning. It’s become a handy resource for an expanding group of riders. “It’s pretty clear that the fastest growing demographic in the recreational horse world is women, 55 plus,” Severn said. The notion that people are still interested in active recreational activities past middle age is still novel to some. “It was always presumed, you hit 65, you’re going to play canasta, maybe take your kids on a Disney cruise, and not do much else,” Severn said. “And I think maybe because some of the researchers are starting to hit our age, they’re discovering that that’s not the case. We can do pretty much everything.” Severn has followed up “Riders of a Certain Age” with several publications. “Creating Your Journey” is a journaling guide for older riders, and “Barn Fires“ is a practical guide to fire prevention inspired by her own experience with a barn fire. Her latest publication, “Barn Hacks,” is the product of an 18-month labor of love that compiles over 1,000 tips from around the equine world — including how to use sauerkraut to treat abscesses. More Information Check out Lancaster Farming's newest podcast, Super Smart Farm Show! Kids have a lot of questions about farming, and the Super Smart Farm Show, Lancaster Farming's podcast for kids, has a lot of answers. Join us each week as we explore kid-friendly topics like why bees are important and why sheep need hair cuts. We here at the Super Smart Farm Show know it’s fun to ask questions and wonder about the world we live in, especially when it comes to learning about how farmers feed and take care of us. Listen to the trailer . /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/37402520

Growing Wholesale Flower Bouquets With Michelle Elston 07/10/2025

Growing Wholesale Flower Bouquets With Michelle Elston This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we’re talking to Michelle Elston, who owns in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Elston sells most of her flowers wholesale to grocery stores and local shops. She also offers bulk flower buckets and has a bouquet club flower CSA. Her 10-acre farm produces more than 25,000 bouquets for stores and 450 party buckets for events. “I really truly never imagined Roots to be the farm that it is today,” Elston said. Elston’s journey to Roots started when she studied plant science at Cornell University. She and her husband later moved to Massachusetts where they ended up buying a garden center. But after having their first child, they decided to move back to Elston’s hometown, where she soon after started her own flower farm and grew Roots to the successful business it is today. “That’s sort of been the fun part of my path is pairing business with ag or horticulture,” Elston said. Most of the flowers grown at Roots are hot summer annuals like sunflowers, marigolds and celosias. Elston focuses on variety selection that will work the best with the climate and will yield the best production. “I really believe the best sustainability practice is choosing the right plant to begin with,” Elston said. “We get super nerdy here on our farm with variety selection.” She does a lot of trials to find out what works best. “Farming is like, there are a million variables all the time,” Elston said. “And so if you can pay attention to that, it’s like the whole process is a giant experiment where things are changing all the time and you’re always learning.” When Elston first started flower farming, she sold bouquets at a local farmers market. However, she realized that wholesale works better for her. She didn’t want to cut her market customers off completely, which is why she began her CSA bouquet club, which has over 100 members. “A lot of our (CSA) sales are gifts,” Elston said. “Flowers are a luxury, so it makes just a wonderful, wonderful gift because it is a slight indulgence.” In addition to flower farming, Elston is the treasurer of the . She also offer consulting services to flower growers who are a few years into their farming journeys. /episode/index/show/d8412bcd-927c-4426-8a26-bdf3b3f21a45/id/37337320

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

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