The Food Chain

One of the most effective ways to get rid of pesky competitors is to establish laws and regulations that make it very difficult for competitors to operate.  That leads us to ask: How did farmers regain the right to sell food directly to consumers?  The 1417th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts David Sanford, Commissioner, Santa Cruz California Department of Agriculture, for a conversation about the partnership that guarantees the authenticity of Certified Farmers Markets and the foods thereof.    Topics include how California’s small farmers won the right to sell their food directly to consumers; how the authenticity of farmers markets and the food thereof is guaranteed; and speculation as to what might be done to increase the awareness and utilization of Certified Farmers Markets.  

A FOOD CHAIN RELEASE FROM MICHAEL OLSON  Those on both sides of the political spectrum look at what has become of the great State of California and wonder: ‘What happened?’  This leads us to ask: Did California eat too much nonsense? The 1415th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Elaine Culloti, California’s “Lipstick Farmer,” for a conversation about food, trains, and her campaign to be California’s governor.  Topics include speculation as to why California has become the nation’s “U-Haul-Ass” state; The Lipstick Farmer’s proposal to use trains to deliver food from farmers to California’s cities; and why a full audit of government is needed to determine what happened to California’s missing money.  Show On-Demand Recording:  #1415 The Lipstick Farmer’s California Food Train Archive Host:  www.metrofarm.com  

In her novel The Good Earth, Pearl Buck wrote, “If roots are to bear fruit, they must be kept well in the soil of land.”  Her thought leads us to ask:    Which farmland is best for bearing one’s fruit?    We have been hearing a lot about farmland recently.  We’ve been hearing how very wealthy people like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates have been using the millions and billions pouring into and out of their businesses to buy up vast tracks of America’s farmland; how mysterious entities from China are buying up farmland near America’s military bases; and how entrepreneurs have been buying up farmland covered in greenhouses for the purpose of growing America’s cannabis. The true value of all that farmland is determined by what someone is willing to pay for it.  And there are a lot of reasons why people buy farmland. Today, we focus on those who want to obtain farmland to grow food, flowers and fiber as a business. And we are fortunate to have one who knows how to find the true value farmland for a business.  Please welcome…  Chuck Allen,  Chuck Allen Properties, Watsonville, CA   

Michael Olson hosts Danielle Flint - Danny the Nanny You would think a hungry child would want eat just about anything, but a lot of hungry children only eat what they want to eat.  And so we ask:  How do you get an obstinate child to eat what you want them to eat? The 1413th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Danielle Flint, Maryland’s Danny the Nanny, for a conversation about feeding the obstinate child. Topics include the ways in which children express their obstinacy about eating what they are supposed to eat; ways in which adults try to manage their obstinate children; and how a nanny must somehow justify the demands of obstinate child and frustrated parents.   

No kidding!  It's true.  Having had to catch a plane and fly away, we missed kiddentine in California's great Central Valley.   Our loss leads us to ask: Have you had the opportunity to play with the kids?  The 1412th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Margie Weber, Co-Owner, Rocky Oaks Goat Creamery, for a conversation about raising goats in a vertically integrated dairy.  Topics include why goat dairy; the raising of goats in a semi-rural environment; and the selling of goat dairy products direct via farmers markets.

Along the Food Chain with Michael Olson…   #1411 The Snack Chips Man Jake Stenton, President Natural Bridges Company     You stand in front of the grocer’s selection of snack chips and think, ‘A penny’s worth of potato in a bag that costs a buck!’    We Americans eat about $50 billion dollars worth of snack chips every year.  That pencils out to about $167 per person per year.  And the price of those bags of snack chips keeps going through the roof.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a bag of chips that cost $6.75 in 1977 would cost $33.39 today!  That so much money is spent on those bags of snack chips, leads us to wonder: What would it take to bag up some chips and sell them?

China Now, 26.1.29, Hour 1 Gang of Two Nan Su & Michael Olson CCP Coup Attempt at Zhongnanhai / A Trap is Sprung

China Now 26.1.29 Hour 2 Gang of Two:  Michael Olson & Nan Su CCP Coup Attempt at Zhanganhai, Xi gets away!

The 1410th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson Guest:  Matt Mulica, Senior Project Director, Keystone Policy Center  Imagine being in a business that loses 55 percent of its business in one year, and nearly that much in the previous year. Such is the state of the North American beekeeper.  And so we ask:    Is there a strategy to save the honey bee and its keepers? The 1410th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Matt Mulica, Senior Project Director, Keystone Policy Center, for a conversation about saving the bee, bee keepers, and the domestic business of honey. Topics include why a strategy is needed to save the western honey bee; how the North American bee industry decided what that strategy would be; and how a coalition of industry groups was fashioned into a cohesive group to implement the strategy.

Nan Su & Michael Olson President Donald Trump invades Davos and conquers Greenland.

Michael Olson & Nan Su Which will Xi Jinping invade first:  Taiwan or Siberia?

Michael Olson with Dr. Jeff Lester, Director, Trilogy Medical Center for Integrative Medicine Best laid plans!  When the government threw its food plate out the door and turned its food pyramid upside down, I called my doctor for his opinion on how the new food recommendations will affect our health. Instead, Dr. Jeff Lester took me on a fascinating tour of healing with homeopathy.  And so I asked, How does one heal the intractable diseases of modern times with homeopathy?

*. Arrest of Trump changes Taiwan invasion plans * China stands to lose Billions on Venezuela *. What is next for Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Russia and China

There are approximately 12.35 million people employed in the restaurant and food service industry.  Chances are good most of them, at one time or another, dreamed of owning a successful restaurant. This “Restaurateur Dream” leads us to ask:      Which is most important in determining the long-term viability of a restaurant:  food, service or location? The 1408th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Erick and Brian Johnson, the father & son owners of the Erik's DeliCafe franchise restaurant chain that serves the South San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas.    Topics include how father Erik built a small sandwich shop into a successful restaurant business; how that restaurant grew into a family-owned franchise chain; and how son Brian is building out the Erik's DeliCafe chain throughout the region.   

  When the daughter’s pet dog passed on after many years of friendship, she became very sad and teared up.  Hoping to ease her pain at the passing of her good friend, I said, “Honey, life is a succession of good dogs!”      Not too much longer, the daughter started pestering for a new dog.  After an extended search, we were presented with a choice between two Cocker Spaniel puppies.  One was black, the other was gold.  As you might imagine, the wife wanted the black one, while the daughter wanted the gold one.  Hoping to avoid having two puppies underfoot, I suggested a compromise.  “Why don’t we take the black one home and call her Goldie?” It worked, and we had many good years of friendship with Goldie before she, too, passed on.   But the compromise of that moment did not address the question of the day, which is, “Where should the family go to find its next good pet?”

The label on the meat package reads, “Product of USA.” But the meat in the package could have come from Australia, Brazil or China, and be from one animal or hundreds of animals.  This leads us to ask:    Should government be forced to accommodate local food farms?   The 1406th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Judith McGeary, Founder and CEO, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, for a conversation about the “Livestock Owned by Communities to Advance Local Foods Act” aka “Local Foods Act.”  Topics include how the consolidation of the nation’s food supply chain has resulted in the diminishment of food quality and selection; why government supports the consolidation of food into ever fewer sources; and how government might be forced to accommodate local food farms.

A recent review of U.S. special education data revealed a three-fold increase in autism and a four-fold increase in delayed development among public school children.  That leads us to ask: Can bad food make good genes go bad? The 1405th edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Dr. Renee Dufault, Executive Director and Principal Investigator, Food Ingredient & Health Research Institute, whose research points to one of the reasons for the three-fold increase in autism and four-fold increase in delayed development among public school children. Topics include how Dr. Dufault’s research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration led to her private research into the heavy metal contamination of ultra-processed foods; how nutritional epigenetics describes the deterioration of the brains of public school children; and how that mental deterioration is compounded through generations of people.

On August 10, 2018, a California jury awarded Benecia public school landscaper Dewayne Lee Johnson $289 million for the non-Hodgkin lymphoma he claimed was caused by exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller.  That award leads us to ask:   Should manufacturers be held accountable for the consequences of their pesticides?   The 1404the edition of the Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Attorney Brent Wisner, whose firm, Wisner Baum LLP, won the $289 million Monsanto Roundup lawsuit on behalf of public school landscaper Dewayne Lee Johnson. Topics include what Wisner told the jury that convinced them to believe Johnson instead of Monsanto; how the pesticide industry is fighting back with House Appropriation Bill 453 to grant pesticide manufacturers immunity from lawsuits; and whether manufacturers should be held accountable for the consequences of their pesticides.

Michael Olson hoss Professor Catherine Keske, Ag Economist, University of California, Merced & Author, “Fast Food is Comforting, But…,” It does not take long for weeds to take over one’s garden.  The same can be said for how quickly fast food can displace good food in one’s diet.  And so we ask:   How does fast food displace good food? Topics include the extent to which poor communities, like college students, rely on fast foods; how fast foods displace good foods; and what might be done to bring good foods back into the community’s diet.

Guest: Mark Cushing, CEO of Animal Policy Group and author of Pet Nation Twenty years ago, Duke the Dog lived out in the backyard.  Now he lives in the house and sleeps in a bed.  And so we ask: How did the United States become  a Pet Nation? Topics include a look at how animals became pets that fly on planes with us; how the transformation from working animals to pets was made; and how pets are now transforming the nation’s economy.

A decade-long study of baby food released by Healthy Babies – Bright Futures claims that 95% of commercial baby food contains heavy metals that can result in autism spectrum and attention-deficit disorders.  And so we ask…   Should grocers be allowed to sell baby foods that contain toxic heavy metals? Topics include how heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury pollute 95% of the nation’s baby food; what government and industry are doing to reduce the heavy metal pollution in baby food; and how attorney groups are putting the red-hot poker of litigation to the efforts of government and industry to reduce the pollution.     

Michael Olson with Washington State Congressman Dan Newhouse China is buying up America’s farmland…  with the money we send it to manufacture stuff for us in their coal-burning factories.  Some say this a good deal because we don’t have to work in those factories.  Others say it’s a bad deal because we are selling out our future.  And so we ask:  Should China be allowed to buy up America’s best farmland? Topics include why China is having trouble feeding its people; how China is buying up America's farmland; and whether Congressman Dan Newhouse and fellow legislators can stop China from buying up America's farmland.

Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson features Michele Thorne, Executive Director of The Good Meat Project Given the economies of consolidation, 99% of chickens, 98% of hogs and 70% of cows are now grown and processed on industrial-scaled farms, most all of which use antibiotics, pesticides and pharmaceuticals.      Topics include how the production of meat has been consolidated into the hands of very few, very big businesses; the consequence of that consolidation on the quality of food and environment; and how one might localize one’s meat supply chain with ethical meat from ethical farmers.   Have you ever purchased meat from its farmer?  

Before the horse we walked everywhere, and it was a downright slog to get there.  But 4,750 years ago, a mutant gene began working its way through the horse herds of the Eurasian Steppes.  Then, about 800 years ago, Genghis Khan raced those horses throughout the World to conquer one and all.  And so we ask: Have you ridden a horse? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Ludovic Orlando, Molecular Archaeologist, Founder of Anthropology & Genomics Institute, and Author of Horses: A 4,000 Year Genetic Journey Across the World, for a conversation about the search for the World’s first horses. Topics include how the search for the World’s first horses was conducted; where the most likely birth place of the horse was found; and how the evolution of the horse was directed by the various needs of people.

The fight is on for one-third of the food we eat.  On one side is a ferocious vampire mite, on the other side is human ingenuity.  The battleground is Apis mellifera – the Western Honeybee.  This fight leads us to ask:   Can human ingenuity save the honey bee and our food?

Michael Olson hosts Bonnie Kaplan, PhD, Co-Author, The Better Brain The Golden State of California appears to be losing its collective mind.  You can see evidence of that loss on the streets of San Francisco, and that leads us to ask: Can we eat our way out of mental dystopia? Topics include how San Francisco uses bureacracy to care for people who can’t care for themselves; how the bureacracy’s efforts always seem to exacerbate the problem; and whether nutrition might prove to be the real solution to society’s mental dystopia.

 7-11 BEGETS TRADER JOE'S Michael Olson with Benjamin Lorr, Author, The Secret Life of Groceries It is a $700 billion dollar a year business, and Americans spend about 2% of their lives shopping in them.  Their story leads us to ask: How did 7-Eleven give rise to Trader Joes? Topics include the transformation of food into Store Keeping Units (SKUs); the transformation of general stores into supermarkets; and the story of how 7-Eleven gave rise to Trader Joes. |

Caroline Yelle, Owner & Queen Bee, Pope Canyon Queens I happened to be watching a honey bee working over a lemon tree blossom on the 19th of July, when I realized that it was the first honey bee I have seen this year.  That leads me to ask…   Can we breed a bee that can survive us?

The Golden State of California appears to be losing its collective mind.  You can see the evidence of that loss on the streets of San Francisco, and that City-by-the-Bay leads us to ask:   Can we eat our way out of dystopia? Bonnie Kaplan, PhD, Co-Author, The Better Brain: Overcome Anxiety, Combat Depression, and Reduce ADHD and Stress with Nutrition  

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Richard J. Sexton, Professor Emeritus, Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of California Davis & Author of Food Fight: Misguided Policies, Supply Challenges, and the Impending Struggle to Feed a Hungry World In 1973, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz told the nation’s farmers to, ”Get big or get out!”  Many farmers did get big or got out.  That leads us to ask: Are the nation’s small farms worth saving? Topics include why Earl Butz, and most of the nation’s ag economists, would tell the nation’s farmers to get big or get out; how the economic principal of economies-of-scale provides the impetus for getting big or getting out; and whether the nation’s small farms are worth saving?

China Now:  Friend or Foe?  War or Peace? Hosts Michael Olson & Nan Su  China tells Brazil Xi Jinping Will Miss Brics Summit in Rio Annual reshuffling of PLA Generals Putin will visit Beijing and join Xi Jinping for military marching on 9/3. CCP to curb fentanyl precursors Chinese gangsters arrested for shipping fentanyl precursors

Michael Olson hosts Michael Grunwald, Author of "We Are Eating The Earth" Some say the big problem is not fossil foods, it’s the food we eat!  If what they say is true, we simply must ask:  Are we really eating up the earth? Topics include why author Grunwald would say, “We are eating the earth;” how the production of food causes so much of the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere; whether agriculture can be made to reduce its pollution.

Michael Olson hosts Bob Vergidis, Chief Visionary Officer, PointOfSale.Cloud When, of a sudden, the $10 restaurant burger became a $20 burger, the battle for the remaining burger customers across the land became intense.  This leads us to ask: What is today's recipe for restaurateur survival? Topics include the ingredients needed to cook up a successful restaurant; how successful restaurants manage food trends; and the significance of information in providing restaurant diner satisfaction.

Guests:  Greg Peterson, Founder & CEO, Urban Farm.org & Belle Star, Co-Founder, SeedSchoolOnline In a deed, plant a seed, make a garden grow and transform the taste of city!  And so we ask:  Where can one obtain seeds to transform the taste of city? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Greg Peterson, Founder & CEO of UrbanFarm.org and Belle Star, Co-Founder of SeedSchoolOnline, for a conversation about seeds and cities. Topics include how the commercial seed industry has been consolidated into the hands of a few large corporations; how individuals can select, collect, save, trade and plant their own seeds; and ways in which carefully selected seeds might change the taste of the city.  

Michael Olson with Gary Bascou, Co-Founder, Staff of Life Natural Food Market Staff of Life is a locally-owned grocery store competing for consumer dollars in a market dominated by corporate giants.  And so we ask: How does a local grocery store survive in a marketplace of corporate giants? Topics include the culture that gave rise to “natural” and “organic” food markets; how those foods gave rise to Staff of Life Natural Foods Market; and how Staff of Life survives 56 years of competition with corporate food giants.

There was a time farmers grew food with shovels, hoes and horses.  As technology progressed, they used tractors, fertilizers and pesticides.  Today, farmers grow food by stringing together binary digits of “Yes” and “No.”  That leads us to ask: Can software sustain and regenerate agriculture? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Dan Ryan, CEO of CIBO Technologies, for a conversation about how digital software is transforming food and agriculture. Topics include how technology made it possible to farm our way out of the dire predictions of 1968’s The Population Bomb; how today’s software technology may make it possible to farm our way out of today’s dire predictions for our future; and whether digital technologies might open the door to a new “Green Revolution” in food and agriculture.

It lives alone, and mostly hidden, in its magic kingdom.  Its members are said to include the largest living organism on earth.   That so many down-to-earth people become its ardent devotees leads us to ask: What is the magic of mushrooms? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Ian Garrone, CEO & Founder Far West Fungi, Moss Landing, CA, for a conversation about the magic kingdom of specialty mushrooms. Topics include a look into the variety of life in the kingdom of fungi; reasons why so many down-to-earth people become devotees of mushrooms; and how the Garrone Family built a specialty mushroom business by selling person-to-person at farmers markets.

The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Patrick Montgomery, CEO & Founder, KC Cattle Company & Valor Provisions Cooperative, for a conversation about finding real value when buying meat. Topics include how a small producer of meat competes against America’s Big Four producers; how a cooperative of like-minded producers can increase the ability of each to survive; and the value that may be found in grass-fed labeled beef.

Michael Olson hosts Tobias Yeh – Doctor of Pharmacy, Doctor of Medicine and Author of Clinical Truths: How to Not Be Misled by the FDA, Big Pharma & Your Doctor, for a conversation about the use of statin drugs to manage cholesterol. Cholesterol is the waxy stuff of life that floats through the rivers of our blood veins. To manage this flow of cholesterol, people take $16 billion of statin drugs every year.  That leads us to ask: Should we take statin drugs to manage our cholesterol? Topics include why – upon doctors’ orders – 50% of men and 38% of women over 60 take statin drugs to control cholesterol; what is the net result of statin use on mortality; and what alternatives are there to statins.  

There is, one hopes, a little call-of-the-wild left in all of us – even those of us who live in a concrete box stacked 40 stories high in a city sky!  That call leads us to ask:   Where can one get a good taste of wild meat?   The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Daniel Laggner, Owner & Butcher, Wild Stag Provisions, for a conversation about food that is as close to the wild as commercially possible.   Topics include why one would want to eat wild meat when domestic meat is so readily available; how the business of wild meat works; and the best way for one to get a good taste of call of the wild meat.

They live where we can’t see them for a very good reason! They come in the night – and during the day– to steal the precious fruits of our labor. Their unrelenting assault on our good nature leads us to ask: How can we get that #%*%# gopher? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Thomas Wittman of Gophers Limited, for a conversation about controlling gophers in the farm and garden. Topics include why gophers make farmers and gardeners so frustrated; the ways in which gophers are controlled on the farm and in the garden; and reasons why gophers should be managed without poisons.

Michael Olson hosts Dr. Jacob Manlove, Assistant Professor of Ag Economics, Arkansas State University MSN recently served up some news that caught my attention.  The headline read, “Venezuela triples wages but still not enough to buy food.”   The writer went on to say that Venezuela’s new minimum wage of seven million bolivares per month is not enough buy two pounds of meat.   Shortly after reading this story I enjoyed a leisurely meal with my lady at a nearby sit-down restaurant.    The meal was very good, but nothing special, just a couple of burgers and beers.  What did make the meal special was the check that, with tip, approached a hundred dollars! Yes!  Almost a hundred bucks for a couple of burgers and beers! It is becoming increasingly evident that more money is buying less food.  And that leads us to ask: Can what happened to the price of food in Venezuela happen to the price of food in the US?

Michael Olson host Nutritionist / Author Jill Troderman Some facts:  One in five children are obese.  Two in five adults are obese.  The rate at which we are becoming obese has doubled since 1990.  A question:  What should we feed the family? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Jill Troderman, award-winning nutritionist and author of The Food Tree, for a conversation about how best to feed one’s family. Topics include why so many are so overweight; the health dangers of eating too much of the wrong foods; and how best to feed the family for a healthy future.

Michael Olson with Executive Chef Avram Samuels, Director of Culinary and Food & Beverage Operations, Chaminade Resort and Spa, Santa Cruz, CA In 1963, California native and World War II veteran Julia Child showed up on Boston’s PBS television to tout her book on French cuisine.  It took her over a decade to get off that station!  During that time, Child’s “The French Chef” changed America’s taste in food.  And so we ask:    What makes French cuisine so French? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Executive Chef Avram Samuels for a conversation about being a classically-trained chef of French cuisine. Topics include the essential difference between French and Italian cuisines; the difference between classical and modern French cuisine; and how a classically-trained French chef combines his artistry with the business of feeding Silicon Valley techies business banquets.  

A FOOD CHAIN RELEASE FROM MICHAEL OLSON   Yogi Berra once gave this piece of sage advise:  “When you get to a fork in the road, take it!”  And so we ask: Which way should we grow our food:  our way or nature’s way? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Dr. Felix Zu Lowenstein, farmer & author of Food Crash: Why Organic is the Only Way Forward, for a conversation about his insistence that growing food organically  is the only way forward. Topics include why human civilization is facing a major food crash in its immediate future; how this crash is consequent to the industrial technologies used to grow food; and why organic agriculture presents the only way to ensure a future of plentiful, healthy food.   Show Recording: “Food Crash: A Farmer on Offense” (#1384) Radio:  www.santacruzvoice.com  Host:  www.metrofarm.com   Sponsor:  TimeShare Media 

According to a University of Minnesota survey, 75% of people trust farmers, but only 24% trust food.  That leads us to ask: Why do so many people trust farmers, but so few trust food? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Dennis Bulani, 4rth Generation Saskatchewan farmer, CEO of The Rack Petroleum & Author About Food: What a Farmer Wants you to Know, for a conversation about the efficacy and safety of industrial agriculture’s food. Topics include: why so many people trust farmers, but so few trust food;  what the farmer would like people to know about the efficacy and safety of his food; and whether people can be made to trust food that comes from so far away.

Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson Infertility on the Menu They say men today have 60% less sperm than their grandfathers, and if the decline is not reversed, the sperm count in American males will drop to zero by 2045.  That thought leads us to ask: Can eating the wrong food cause our population to collapse? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Samantha LeJune, Researcher, Population Research Institute, for a conversation about the possibility that we are eating ourselves to infertility. Topics include the real life consequences of Paul Erhlich’s 1968 book, The Population Bomb; why America’s young adults are have trouble conceiving and carrying to term their offspring; and which foods might be causing this deadly infertility.      Radio:  www.santacruzvoice.com  Host:  www.metrofarm.com   Sponsor:  TimeShare Media 

Food now travels a long way from where it was grown to where it is eaten.  Sometimes bad things happen to good food along the way.  This leads us to ask: What happens when bad food gets eaten by good people? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Wiggs Civitillo, Founder & CEO | Starfish-Network, for a conversation about the tracking food as it travels the food miles from farm to fork. Topics include why the U.S. has three to five hundred food recalls every year; how all food that travels food miles will soon be tracked from farm to fork; and the technology that will– hopefully – make it possible to track food and keep people safe.      

Hippocrates is said to have said, “Let food be thy medicine, and let medicine be thy food.” What Hippocrates said so long ago leads us to ask:  Which food makes the best medicine? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Carin Fortin & Delmar McComb, Owners and Farmers, Blossom’s Biodynamic Farm, for a conversation about the biodynamic growing of food that that is medicine. Topics include why Fortin and Delmar employ biodynamic technologies to grow a hundred varieties of medicinal herbs; how their medicinal herbs are converted into lotions and potions; and how notions are used to sell their medicinal preparations directly to customers at farmers markets.  Radio Affiliation: The one-hour “Biodynamic Lotions, Potions & Notions” (#1380) is available as a market exclusive at www.foodchainradio.com.

Kaysea Clark, Owner & Farmer, Flowers by the Sea They say “The eyes are first to feast!”  If such is indeed the case, we wonder,  Which flower is best to feast on? The Food Chain Radio Show - Podcast with Michael Olson hosts Kaysea Clark, Owner & Farmer, Flowers by the Sea, for a conversation about growing and selling flowers to enjoy with food. Topics include Clark’s transition from gardener to farmer; why the technology of her biologically-intensive farming are important to the character of her flowers; and how Clark sells flowers at farmers’ markets. Show Recording: “Food with Flowers Farmer” (#1378) Radio:  www.santacruzvoice.com  Host:  www.metrofarm.com   Sponsor:  TimeShare Media