Episode 242 Susan's Shire: The Joy of Handmade Gifts

Every meet people who are just plain easy to be with, the minute you meet them? That’s Martin and Joy Dally of Shepherd’s Lane farm and Super Sire Ltd. We have decided to park Bessie on their front lawn to commune with the sheep at least twice a year, if we can get away with it. Okay, so maybe that’s too much to subject them to, especially when they were such wonderful hosts. But it was idyllic to be on their Oregon farm in the fall, with Teeswaters, Gotlands and Valai...

18 Jan 202140min

For some people, an idyllic childhood was all about birthday parties, sleepovers and soccer games. And while those are undoubtedly a fixture for many, for others it was also about cleaning manure out the rabbit hutches and picking green beans until your fingers won’t move anymore. Idyllic, you might question? Yep – one of the best ways to grow up, at least the future me has determined. Having agriculture as a part of daily life when you’re young teaches many great life...

11 Jan 202155min

Welcome to the New Year, and goodbye to the old. This is the time of year where we often look back on the past, even if it’s usually just in the form of the “best of and worst of” lists. We’re no different, but instead of the past year, we’re looking back to the last 500 (plus 1) years. Half a century is a long time, but it’s an anniversary to be commemorated for today’s podcast guest: The Galiceno horse. These little horses are little. Did we say that twice?&nbs...

4 Jan 202148min

Winter is a pretty bleak time most everywhere right now. And even though it just started, this year it seems like the gray skies are going to go on forever. Yes, there’s a none-too-subtle parallel to the difficulties on planet earth right now. But Spring is coming. Sooner or later, winter will end, and a new season will arrive. We can all take a lesson from those that have learned from the practice of agriculture, and gaze out at the bareness, but imagine things as t...

28 Dec 20206min

We’ve been waiting four years to say it: We’re done. Well, “done” once the technical, legal and distribution people have their say, but we’ll be handing it over to them within the next two weeks. We’ll make sure to keep you posted on how to see the film in the upcoming months. We’d like to thank you, our audience, for sticking with us here at Backyard Green Films, and for sharing the journey with us on this road. But as we wrap up this film and start to think about wha...

21 Dec 202028min

This week we take you back to one of our earliest interviews, and one of our most formative experiences in the Backyard Green Films universe. We learned the fundamental joy of buying handmade things, and doing so face to face. And when we say that, we actually mean face-to-face not only in the kitchen where the soap was made, but with the farmer who made it and the goat who produced the milk for the ingredients. Holy cow (or, in this case…okay, you get it). How often d...

14 Dec 202035min

We haven’t talked about horses for a while, and they’re definitely one of our favorite creatures, so today we’re off to Wisconsin, to talk about one of the most majestic animals in the equine world: The Friesian. Native to Holland and beloved by film producers everywhere for their striking looks, there’s a very long history on these animals, and they have gorgeous movement to boot. We met up with Nicole Porter Salvato and her husband Dan on their beautifully-remote hilltop ranch i...

7 Dec 202032min

When we went to Martin and Joy Dally’s Shepherd’s Lane Farm in Oregon last month for a Laproscopic A.I. Sheeping Bonanza last month, the one thing we didn’t think we’d come home thinking about was…cheese. Not that we’re complaining, of course. The people we met there were enough to keep us busy interviewing for days, and we’re going back for the lambing part, so we obviously didn’t get enough. Dr. Joe Klopfenstein, DVM, DABVP, sat down to talk with us in a bustling pasture w...

30 Nov 202029min