Start living more sustainably. The Good Dirt podcast explores all aspects of a sustainable lifestyle with healthy soil as the touchpoint and metaphor for the healing of our relationship with the planet. Mother and daughter team Mary & Emma bring you weekly interviews with farmers, artists, authors, and leaders in the regenerative and sustainable living space.
A few weeks ago, we sat down with Jill Demers and couldn't stop talking...so, we came back for part 2! In this episode, we dig into the economics of small farming in America, and why the deck has been stacked against it for decades. Jill lays out the numbers plainly — most small farms operate at a loss, propped up by off-farm income, in a system that was never designed to sustain them. We talk…
Our guest today on this week's episode is Julie Brams — an earth-centered psychotherapist, certified forest therapy guide, meditation teacher, and the author of The Nature-Embedded Mind: How the Way We Think Can Heal Our Planet and Ourselves. Julie states that her work is in helping restore the human mind to its rightful place within the living world. She is also co-founder of Elemental , an…
This episode initially aired on June 19th, 2021 We have a special bonus episode for you this week in celebration of our newest national holiday-- Juneteenth! Mary and Emma reunite with author, historian and farmer Tony Cohen for an exploration into the history of Juneteenth and the holiday’s complex folklore and origins. Tony takes us back in time to examine how this monumental declaration of…
Jill Demers is the founder of ReWild Ranch in Montana, a one-of-a-kind regenerative farm, wellness destination, and educational space, rooted in the one question she's been asking for over two decades: Why are Americans so disconnected from their food — and at what cost? As a regenerative farmer and certified nutrition therapy practitioner, Jill has built ReWild as an answer to that question — a…
This week, in honor of International Compost Awareness Week, we're joined by Ben Parry, CEO of Compost Crew — a small but mighty business in the DC metropolitan area helping thousands of households and businesses turn their food waste into something good for the soil. Ben's story is a quiet revolution in itself: a journey from renewable energy to regenerative soil, from powering the grid to…
Spring has a way of pulling us back to the soil — and this season, Mary sat down with someone who has made the health of the soil and the well being of the pollinators and wildlife in her local ecosystem her first priority. Melanie Cutillo is the self-described Plant Wrangler in Chief at Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm in Mexico, New York, a backyard nursery nestled just east of Lake Ontario, where she…
What happens when a listener writes in with the very questions your community is wrestling with? You invite her on the show. Emily Hillman has spent 14 years in the fashion industry — from the artisan workrooms of Midtown Manhattan to the fast fashion corporate world. After purchasing a 19th-century farmhouse in rural New Jersey and becoming a mother, she found that her priorities had quietly…
Mary and Emma return to the podcast after over a six-month hiatus, reflecting on the evolution of Lady Farmer as a brand and their own experiences within it. They discuss how the cultural context around sustainability has shifted, how they don't want to present themselves as experts or frame sustainability in moral terms, and how systemic forces limit individual impact even as daily habits still…
In this episode of The Good Dirt Podcast, Emma and Mary welcome back Janna Hockenjos, founder of We Are Earth Friends , an environmental education organization designed for children ages 3-8. Jana discusses the program’s impact on young learners' understanding of the interconnectedness of all of life on our planet and provides an update on the progress and expansion of the program. She also offers…
This episode was originally published on August 18th, 2023 In this episode we're talking to Leah Webb, author of The Seven Step Homestead about how to turn any yard into a primary food source with vegetables, fruits, chickens, pollinator plants and medicinal herbs. A mother of two children with unique medical needs, Leah utilizes food grown in her own backyard garden as an important part of her…
In this episode, Madison Murphy Barney, a two-Spirit Hoopa and Shoshone sister, author, doula, and public health storyteller, discusses the significance of the two-Spirit identity, historical roles, and the importance of maintaining cultural traditions. Madison delves into personal experiences growing up in North Dakota, the impact of indigenous boarding schools, and the generational transmission…