Ep 236 Susan's Shire: Introduction

It’s Heritage Breeds week at The Livestock Conservancy. This organization is one that you hear about on our podcast frequently, and for good reason. They are on the front line in the battle against extinction for some of the traditional agricultural breeds in the U.S. and abroad. The Conservancy’s mission is to do “research, education, outreach, marketing and promotion, and genetic rescues,” so we have a backup in place for animals in our agricultural production system.&nbsp...

18 Touko 202042min

The Six Degrees of Separation concept didn’t start with Kevin Bacon, believe it or not. We can thank Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 for that idea. But regardless of who started it, it’s very much a home truth that humankind and all of the things in our periphery seem to be connected in some way with just a few steps, if you just look to see how. In walks Mary. Mary Carter McConnell, that is: Anthropologist, historian, research specialist, horse and dog breed...

11 Touko 202045min

Yep, it’s A Bug’s Life, come alive. Collecting seeds is a long-term gig, but it has to be done if the colony (that’s us humans) wants to survive. And even if you’re not on a little island or surrounded by hungry grasshoppers, there’s a reason to collect as many good seeds as you can, so the colony can be healthy and successful through the winter and the upcoming year. Everyone is finally having to pay attention, whether they want to or not, to the supply chain and th...

4 Touko 202056min

The whole planet is in the midst of an eruption of disease. Agricultural occurrences are no different than human epidemics, in terms of potential damage. The British Isles are on the list of places that come to mind when the words “agriculture” and “outbreak” are put together, not because they have any more than the rest of the planet, but because their battles over the last 30 years have been a particularly media-rich affair. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonl...

27 Huhti 202044min

We have to admit – sitting at home is much more tolerable with the cool weather and rain we’ve had in California this year so far. If California has a stay-at-home order in place, it’s much easier with a crackling fire and a warm sweater. But we’re in mid-April, and those days are soon to be gone, so we’ll take this last moment to remember warm wools and thick sweaters. We bring you a visit with Jeri Robinson-Lawrence. She and her daughter Irina run Flying Fibers, a b...

20 Huhti 202036min

We are constantly amazed at our agricultural system, and how fast and how far it seems to have come since the early days. And when people use the phrase “early days” with regard to agriculture in America, the usual mental picture has to do with Pilgrims, a multicultural exchange, squash, corn, and a turkey. But the turkey, although it is one of the few agricultural items in our food system that actually existed here before most of us, has not become the meat-producing animal that ...

12 Huhti 202036min

We are big fans of Wallace and Gromit, thank you, so we’d like to take this opportunity to say that “A Close Shave” is not going to be an issue here. Shaun (read, “Shorn”) can rest easy on this one, as there’s no Knit-o-Matic in this episode. How can that be, when we’re talking about sheep? The St. Croix, to the rescue. The St. Croix sheep is a hair sheep, which was a new thing for us. No wool at all. It therefore is the perfect breed for ranchers and farm...

6 Huhti 202029min

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address from November 1863 was a document that outlined Lincoln’s attempt to unify the country in a time of war. It might feel a little like that right now, during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, where we are discovering that we can work together, or not. As in the time of Lincoln, people are fighting a brave fight, and some are perishing. We often look to our governments to protect the public good, organize things and help us stay safe. That’...

30 Maalis 202029min