Ep 096 Galiceños: Spanish Horsepower, Torque, and a Great Turning Radius

And that's not the last time you'll hear those two words together, when you listen to the podcast. Maybe I'm purposely misdirecting you, as the wild ass was the origin of the breed we now know as the domesticated donkey, but it's fun to say and makes me feel like a more exciting girl. That said... The Donkey Welfare Symposium. The recipe is like this: 1. 200 (plus) people passionate about donkeys, from both a professional and personal perspective. ...

23 Sep 201957min

The Heirloom Expo. For a while now, this event has been held in Santa Rosa in the heart of a big community of artsy, crunchy, healthy people that like good food (and good wine, as all of you who have been to Napa and Santa Rosa can attest). People from around the world come to swap seeds, listen to experts in the field, and find interesting new things to grow. If you go to their Facebook page, you'll find that the mission of the Heirlo...

16 Sep 201948min

Where we learned that Pennsylvania is not only the home of Penn State, but it has green pastures, wonderfully gracious and generous people, and steak to die for (sigh). Dirt that made you want to take your shoes off and run wild. And Elara got to ride in the grain truck -- Rick the combine. Oh. Any by the way, there were big, beautiful, fluffy, majestic Scottish Highland Cattle in various colors everywhere -- one of our absolute favorite animals so far. As far as breeds go, ...

9 Sep 20191h 23min

Temple Grandin is one of the most well-known and professionally-respected names in livestock production today, and has become a pop-culture icon. And for good reason. You might know many things about her. She brought awareness to the general public of the issues relating to autism. She has such a great story that they made a movie out of her story (Claire Danes in the role). She is an author with numerous books to her credit.&nbs...

2 Sep 201930min

Yak Butter Tea -- Three words you never thought would go in a sentence together. And they do, albeit briefly, in this episode of the podcast. We visit the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado to meet up with Steve and Anita Hill, who hail from Sunny Hill Ranch, a self-sufficient farm specializing in raising yaks 100 wild miles outside of Anchorage, Alaska. At the show, we got to see these very hairy and very different anima...

26 Aug 201940min

Our food is alive - or can be. And it's often better for us if it is alive, as the popular rise of probiotics has shown. Science is now discovering that the human microbiome is an amazing place, and that each human being is a world unto itself for the creatures that inhabit it. Even if the little critters do tell us how to think sometimes (yes, that's a real thing). Christopher and Kristen Shockey, fermentistas extraordinaire, sat down with u...

19 Aug 20191h 21min

Of all the sheep we have seen, this one has to be the most unusual. With bold spots and two horns or four (varied shapes, but reaching up toward the sky on the top set, curling in loops on the bottom set), this animal looks very much like something you would see on the tram tour at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It is thought by some to be the sheep mentioned in Genesis 30, hence the origin of "Jacob" in the naming of the Jacob American Sheep. That Bibli...

12 Aug 201953min

Agricultural events - one of Elara's favorite things to do. Big or little, all shapes and sizes, there is usually no shortage of things to do, see, smell, pet, ride, eat and buy (but not necessarily in that order). A smaller fair of 10,000 to 40,000 people is a much difference experience than a large, elbow-crowding, junk food bonanza of 500,000 to 2 million. Both types of experiences have something wonderful to offer, but at a smaller fair ...

5 Aug 201945min