Farm Walks
Farm Walks
Tilth Alliance & WSU Food Systems Program
Conversations for farmers, by farmers about organic, sustainable, regenerative, and direct marketing agricultural production in Washington State. For more than 17 years, Tilth Alliance and Washington State University Food Systems Program have been collaboratively organizing the traditional Farm Walks. Before COVID-19, they happened - well, on-farm… So, Farm Walks are going Podcast! In each episode, Farmer Nicole Witham, hosts lively interviews with Washington small farmers or ranchers, digging into their production and marketing methods, lessons learned, and current related research and resources. Visit farmwalks.org to learn more about upcoming interviews, submit questions to the ASK A FARMER form, and drop us your thoughts in the podcast evaluation.
Imad Ahmad of Olive Branch Ranch: Raising Custom Exempt Halal Meat
This episode of the Farm Walks Podcast is the first part of the WA Meat Up Double Feature.In this episode we talk with Imad Ahmad of Olive Branch Ranch. Imad is a diversified livestock farmer in South Puget Sound, providing custom-exempt, halal meats for his local community. We get to dig into all the meaty details with Imad about his operation and raising and harvesting halal livestock. Olive Branch Ranch was recently awarded a Local Meat Processing Capacity Grant from the Washington S...
Jul 25, 2022
53 min
Island Grown Farmers Cooperative with Shelley Muzzall of 3 Sisters Family Farm and Travis Stockstill
This episode is the second part of the WA Meat Up Double Feature!In this episode of the Farm Walks Podcast, we sit down with Shelley Muzzall of 3 Sisters Family Farm on Whidbey Island and her butcher Travis Stockstill of Island Grown Farmers Cooperative (IGFC). We cover a lot of ground from the unique Island Grown Farmers Co-op model (the first ever USDA Mobile processing unit of its kind!) and how it has impacted its members and the local meat economy. IGFC was recently awarded a Local...
Jul 24, 2022
1 hr 9 min
Osman Amador de Amador Farms: Prácticas de capacitación de empleados para la inocuidad de los productos agrícolas en los farmers markets
Osman Ruiz Amador, propietario de Amador Farms, dirige una operación con su familia de mercado directo de frutas y verduras diversificadas. Su granja se enfoca en vender directamente a los consumidores a través de los mercados de agricultores en todo el estado. Osman explica sus experiencias en la agricultura y cómo capacita a todos los que trabajan en la granja y en los mercados, sobre los estándares y prácticas de inocuidad de productos. Más adelante en el episodio, Jacqui Gordon Núñez...
Apr 27, 2022
1 hr 18 min
Haley and Zach of Dharma Ridge Farm: Produce Safety Improvements While Scaling Up a Farm Business
Haley Olson-Wailand and Zach Wailand, owners of Dharma Ridge Farm, run a certified organic, diversified, wholesale produce operation. Their farm is Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) certified, and they recently underwent their first WSDA Produce Safety Rule inspection. Haley and Zach discuss land access, produce safety improvements, and how they’ve scaled up their farm business over time. Later in the episode, Connie Fisk, manager of the WSDA Produce Safety Program, describes what farms ...
Apr 27, 2022
1 hr 15 min
Hilario Alvarez de Alvarez Organic Farms: Gestión de empleados y puntos de venta de marketing directo durante COVID-19
Hilario Álvarez y su familia dirigen Alvarez Organic Farms, una granja de vegetales diversificados orgánicos certificados en Mabton, WA, donde cultivan 200 variedades de pimientos y 300 variedades de verduras. Han estado en el negocio agrícola durante más de 30 años y hablamos con ellos sobre cómo su granja ha cambiado recientemente, incluso durante la pandemia de COVID-19, específicamente en lo que respecta a la gestión y las ventas de los empleados. Más adelante en el episodio hablamos con ...
Apr 12, 2022
1 hr 15 min
Bryan Mesa of De La Mesa Farms: Starting from Scratch
Bryan Mesa of De La Mesa Farms runs a 2.5 acre no-till, regenerative market garden in Tacoma, WA with his family. In this episode, we talk with Bryan about moving their farm all the way from Hawaii during the pandemic and the food safety factors he considered when setting up the farm on the new property. Later in the episode, we connect with Anita Adalja of Ashokra Farm who is a farmer and trained USDA GAP Auditor and also works on food safety trainings for small growers. Anita brings up...
Feb 21, 2022
1 hr 2 min
Grains to Glass: A Conversation with Big Sage Organics, LINC Malt, and Westland Distillery
In this episode, we are joined by Isaac Jahns of Big Sage Organics, Brian Estes of LINC Malt, and Matthew Hoffman of Westland Distillery as we follow the journey of a barley crop along the organic grain supply chain from farm to malthouse to distillery. We cover a lot of ground in this episode, discussing the formation of a valuable partnership, barley and its role in soil health, and elements that contribute to unique flavors in craft whiskey.The Farm Walks Podcast is collaboratively or...
Jan 24, 2022
1 hr 9 min
Val Wall of Whitehorse Meadows Farm: Management Strategies for Deterring Wildlife and Pests from Produce Fields and Packing Areas
In this episode, we talk with Val Wall at Whitehorse Meadows Farm about her most significant pest and wildlife issues, and how she protects her crops from animal intrusion and mitigates contamination issues when they arise. You’ll gain direct insight into her trials and tribulations and how she built an effective netting structure, ultimately increasing her marketable yield. Later, Karen Ullmann at the Washington State Department of Agriculture will discuss what animal mitigation pr...
Dec 20, 2021
54 min
Chelsey and Ben Mesman of Mesman Farm: Running a Certified Organic Dairy Farm
Chelsey and Ben Mesman are a fifth generation husband/wife farming team who, with Ben’s father Alan, are running Mesman Farm: a certified organic dairy operation and Organic Valley Co-op Member in La Conner, WA. We get to chat about how they run their operation, what it takes to be a dairy farmer these days, and learn about their robotic milker! Later in the episode, we connect with Ellie Stone, who works in the Marketing and Sales department at Organic Valley. She shares more about...
Dec 13, 2021
59 min
Lisha & Bradley Newhall of Windy N Ranch: Raising Certified Organic Livestock - What Does It Take?
Bradley and Lisha Newhall run Windy N Ranch, a certified organic diversified livestock operation and an on-farm butcher shop. On this episode of Farm Walks we talk to them about their reasoning for going certified organic, and how slaughter and wrap and pack challenges pushed them to pursue processing their own meat. Later in the episode, we talk with Matthew Cox of Green Bow Farm where we learn more about the USDA FSIS exemption and how they are now processing and marketing their m...
Oct 25, 2021
1 hr 3 min
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