FarmHouse

This week on the FarmHouse it's time to say goodbye for now and reflect on what we've learned from the amazing women we've been so lucky to talk with on this podcast. We've spoken with roughly 80 women over the course of this show. They've ranged from farmers to educators, policymakers to influencers, but they all had one thing in common: They cared about agriculture. At the end of every interview we asked them all the same question: What does it mean to be a woman in ag? Their answers were varied, but over time several themes began to emerge. Our guests talked about empowerment, community, legacies and why it's important to keep challenging gender norms and taking a seat at the table. We're going to be discussing those themes and more on this episode and we'll be hearing from several past guests, because who better to tell you what it means to be a woman in ag than a real woman in ag? This will be the final FarmHouse podcast for the foreseeable future. Thank you to everyone who's been listening and an extra special thank you to the women who've been part of this show. So long, farewell and remember, in the words of Michelle Elston: "It's okay for a woman to be tough and strong and capable. And that can all be beautiful and good."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we speak with Julie Schroeder of Open Road Ranch. Schroeder started her Greenbush, Wisconsin, farm in 2024. She began raising lamb because she saw opportunity in her local market. "We've had great luck and love working with sheep and lamb," Schroeder said. "It's been really good for an entry-level farmer." Not long after starting her farm, she was offered two pigs that couldn't return to a pig farm for biosecurity reasons. Since then, pigs have become an important part of her farm. "Now pigs are my absolute favorite and I love them so much," Schroeder said. "I think they're so versatile in terms of a business and a farm." In addition to selling pork, Schroeder also makes and sells pork lard products, including a skin balm, laundry soap, dish soap and shampoo bars. "Lard is full of vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, oleic acid, linoleic acid, it's antimicrobial, it's anti-inflammatory — it's just chock-full of good stuff," Schroeder said. Schroeder also runs two local Reko rings, which are online farmers markets that run through private Facebook groups. "It's extremely farmer friendly," Schroeder said. As a new, first-generation farmer, Schroeder said she has had to learn a lot about livestock, business and marketing. But she's gotten plenty of help and advice from other farmers in her area. "Farmers are the friendliest lot. They'll open their doors and take their time and just take their whole day to help you when they don't even know you because they know how much we need farming," Schroeder said. "Everyone has been open doors, very helpful to me."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're speaking with Olivia Morrissey, the 2026 Pennsylvania Fair Queen. Morrissey, of the Lebanon Area Fair, was crowned state queen Jan. 24 during a competition with 64 other young women. "I was so honored to be chosen," Morrissey said. "There were a lot of qualified women there and it was great to meet all of them. It was definitely an honor." Morrissey didn't grow up farming, but she was involved with the Lebanon County 4-H Friends club, participating in a variety of projects and activities including photography and cooking. Her main project was sewing, which led her down her current path. Morrissey is studying fashion design and fiber at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. "I definitely wouldn't be interested in pursuing fashion design if I hadn't done 4-H and taken sewing," she said. Her minor in fibers was inspired by the national Make It With Wool contest. "There's a lot of misconceptions about wool," Morrissey said. "People think it's itchy, it's hot — and it can be. But there's also a glorious side of wool. It regulates temperature. You can hang it up if it gets dirty or if it smells bad and the smell will just dissipate on its own. It's so interesting and a lot of people don't know about that." Morrissey was also a member of the Little Dutchmen FFA at Annville-Cleona High School, where she served as her chapter's historian. Taking ag classes in high school inspired her to focus her royal reign on promoting agricultural education. "I want to be an advocate and teach people about what farmers do for us, and what agriculture as an industry means for our world," Morrissey said. While she is away in Georgia for part of her tenure, she will be home in Pennsylvania for the summer's busy fair season. Her goal is to visit all 65 fairs that were represented by a queen at the state contest. "I don't know if that's a reasonable number, but I would like to see all of (the contestants) again," Morrissey said. "It would be great to go to as many as I can."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're speaking with Beth Hoffman, author of "Bet the Farm." Before coming to farming, Hoffman worked as a journalist covering food systems and agriculture. She's also worked as an Associate Professor for the University of San Francisco. When she and her husband got the opportunity to move to his family's cattle farm in Iowa and begin farming, she decided to take the plunge and begin working firsthand in the agricultural systems she'd spent years writing about. "I covered a lot of farms, I'd been on a lot of farms but I'd never actually done the farming myself," said Hoffman. "There's a real mythology around farming and homesteading and it's going to be, you know, really back to the land and getting your hand in the dirt and that kind of thing." As Hoffman and her husband settled into farming, they found themselves dealing the same big issue many farmers face: the challenging finances that come with working in agriculture. "The economics of farming was something that I didn't really know much about. And I learned. We learned very quickly even before we moved out, just kind of doing spreadsheets and looking at the kind of business side of it," Hoffman said. "It's very, very difficult to make a living on a farm no matter what you do, no matter kind of farming." Hoffman realized that financial challenges were a commonality among most farmers and was inspired to write a book about her journey into agriculture. "Bet the Farm" not only covers the economics of farming, it also tackles environmental and cultural aspects of farming in the U.S.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're speaking with Audra Mulkern, the creator of "Women's Work," a documentary about the history of women in agriculture in the U.S. "Women's Work" chronicles women's roles and contributions to American agriculture starting with Indigenous farming practices and ending in the present day. Along the way, Mulkern explores the stories of women who farmed without recognition. "Women have always farmed, but their contributions and legacies have been buried by history's plow," Mulkern says in the film. The documentary dives into the stories of several female farmers and the challenges they've had to overcome. In one story, homesteader Marge Mullen moved to Alaska with her husband in 1947, chasing the promise of cheap land. After establishing their farm, her husband's health prevented him from working and Mullen took over as the sole farmer on their property. However, due to land ownership laws at the time, Mullen's name was never on the deed despite the fact she was performing all of the physical labor on the farm. "For so many years, women were relegated to 'wife,'" said Mulkern. "They were not honoring women with the title 'farmer.' And you know what I love about the word farmer is that it has no gender. The word is not gendered at all. But somehow we all think of men when we talk about the word farmer." Mullen's story is one of many reflecting women's journey to equality — both in regard to civil rights and in farming — and Mulkern is passionate about making sure these stories get told, from enslaved women to immigrant farmers bringing new ideas to American agriculture. "Everybody knows the story about the farmer passing his farm down to his son, but when do we ever hear about the grandmother, the mother and the daughter all farming together?" Mulkern said. "Those are beautiful stories and we need to hear them." "Women's Work" can be viewed on PBS.com.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're speaking with Megan Bogle, the owner of True North Farmstead in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Bogle raises East Friesian/Lacuane crossbreed sheep for dairy products, meat and fiber. She and her husband started True North after moving out of Philadelphia and into the country where they developed an interest in sheep farming. Their shift toward agriculture is reflected in the name of the farm. "In order to find true north, you have to adjust yourself to the world around you," Bogle said. "It has guided us in the sense of we can make decisions based on the needs of our family, based on our needs of our community, based on our farm and our land. So, it's always this constant moving and shifting and adjusting in the world." With that philosophy guiding their way, Bogle and her husband jumped into dairy sheep farming. There was a lot to learn, from animal husbandry to the regulations involved with making and selling dairy products. While they were able to learn some of it from reading, Bogle attributes a lot of their success to the supportive community they've found. "The shepherding community and the cheese making community are awesome. I mean, everybody is very much like, ask any questions, come see, we can talk. So it never feels competitive. It just feels like, hey, let's lift each other up. We're here together."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're speaking with Lauren Sattazahn, a commercial apiarist. Sattazahn and her husband John Tittle own Tittle Apiaries in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. The apiary has about 2,000 hives and makes a variety of honey as well as beeswax products. Additionally, Tittle Apiaries offers pollination services for farmers. "When we have larger crops — when you're talking hundreds of acres — you can break it down to a science of how many hives you need per acre to really pollinate what you're trying to get," Sattazahn said. One of the apiary's biggest annual pollination jobs is taking hives to Maine to pollinate the wild blueberry fields. And the blueberry honey made from that pollination is one of the best sellers. "I feel like Maine is just the place for blueberry honey. It just comes out much better there," she said. In addition to the blueberry honey, Tittle Apiaries sells spring, summer and fall honeys, all made from flower pollination in Pennsylvania. "The bees are pollinating different things throughout each season, so that's what's going to give your variation in color and flavor," Sattazahn said. Sattazahn said one of her favorite parts of the job is offering honey tastings while selling at markets — and the reactions that come from tasting the different varieties. "They say 'honey is honey.' But once you get them to try the differences, they're blown away." Sattazahn said. With the business growing to thousands of hives, the apiary partners with landowners to serve as hive hosts throughout the year. "We've had a lot of people that we've kept bees on their land that have said that they've noticed a big difference in their home garden or their flower bed," Sattazahn said. "It's nice to know that it's benefiting both of us." The bees are overwintered in Georgia to keep the hives thriving during Pennsylvania's cold season. Tittle Apiaries sells honey wholesale, online, at an on-farm stand, and at a variety of farmers market and vendor events. "Our foundation of sales really lies on wholesale," Sattazahn said. "But I've noticed that being a part of the community, like our market sales, that seems to just help really building relationships the most."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we spoke with Lulu Redder, the owner of Feral Woman Farm in North Bend, Washington. Feral Woman Farm is a pastured pig and chicken operation located within a historic farm park. The land is publicly owned and offers trails and play areas as well as a farmstead. This means the farm gets plenty of visitors, offering Redder an opportunity to interact with and educate the public on agriculture. "We get to work in this space which has a lot of history and a lot of public interaction, so it was kind of the perfect place for us to do a community-based farming operation, which I love," said Redder. Redder takes pride in the closed production loop she's created on the farm. It's important to her that all aspects of her animals' lives are managed on the property, from birth to slaughter. To keep everything on-site, she trained as a butcher and now processes her livestock on the farm. She also offers community butchery classes to those interested in following in her footsteps. "I did a lot of exploration and learning about butchery because I felt that I came to a point in my farming career where I was like, if I am going to raise animals for me, I really need to be comfortable with that whole process from start to finish to feel good about that," Redder said. Many of the people in her classes are women, which Redder appreciates given her own journey. "I have been a woman on a professional journey and some very typically male-dominated spaces," she said. "And I think it's important as a woman in ag to be pushing for our place at the table and to break the glass ceilings that are walling women in, in certain spaces."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we spoke with Annie Hasz of Broadwing Farm. The Berks County, Pennsylvania, farm started in vegetable production but now focuses on grass-fed lamb for meat and pelts. Hasz also co-runs Rooted Home Herbalism, an annual eight-month course that teaches growing and using herbs. "We achieved our original dream and we grew loads of produce. We sold at farmers markets and through CSA and then more and more to restaurants," Hasz said. "But I had other interests developing in herbalism. So, as time moved on, things shifted." Hasz developed an interest in herbalism early in her farming journey. After being mentored by an herbalist from the Lehigh Valley, Hasz pursued clinical herbalism education in Virginia. And while the term herbalism is relatively new, Hasz said the practice goes back many years. "It's the use of, or partnering with, plants for some sort of health or enhancement of your life," Hasz said. "I really love to teach basic botany and just help people get really familiar with any plants they're going to encounter." While Broadwing Farm no longer grows produce for commercial sale, Hasz still grows vegetables along with herbs. "There's just this feeling for being with plants," Hasz said. "I think that's really the core of my whole interest in all these things is any plants, I'll be into it." Now, the main part of Broadwing Farm's business comes from sheep. Hasz raises both Texel sheep and East Friesian sheep to sell both meat and pelts. "We definitely wanted the meat to be centered, and that they would be great at thriving on grass," Hasz said. "And then just to have nice wool — to be that all-purpose animal."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we spoke with Lindsay Eshelman of Plow Farms. Eshelman grew up on the Plowville, Pennsylvania, farm that specializes in Christmas trees, and while she still does work with the farm today, she spends much of her time living in New York City. "I'm kind of the leading voice in PR and marketing, and more importantly experience," Eshelman said. "My role is to bring the experience to the farm and to create this capsule of joy and Christmas that we have." One of the biggest ways Eshelman creates joy on the farm is its annual Newfoundland Day. Each year, hundreds of Newfoundland dogs come to Plow Farms to haul Christmas trees for customers. What started as an event with a few dogs and handful of attendees has turned into a massive event with people coming from out of state to spend the whole day surrounded by huge, fluffy dogs and Christmas trees. "I took a video of it and I put it online and we got a million views on this video, which blew my mind. It was a 15-second clip of a dog walking through the snow," Eshelman said. "The Newfoundland has gone from being our pet to basically being the face of the farm." While Eshelman runs her family farm's marketing, she also works in marketing outside the farm, including previous jobs with celebrities and global food companies. These experiences led her to a lot of travel, where she's gotten to see firsthand how farming works around the world. "Seeing how other countries are fostering agriculture in a modern way but also keeping traditions is what I love to take back to the farm," Eshelman said. "One hand meets another. As I get all this global experience it makes me love my farm even more." Growing up on a farm has benefited her by teaching her the value of hard work. But her time spent living in the city has shown her how important it is to get people to visit farms. "The more things we can do to get people to the farm and to experience this agro-entertainment I think is really exciting," Eshelman said. "I want to build that as part of Plow Farms' identity and narrative."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Julia Inslee, owner of Locust Hollow Farm in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Inslee has lived on the farm since her parents purchased the property in the late 1970s. At the time, it was home to a farmhouse, a few rundown barns and several acres of untended land. Over the next few decades, Inslee's family transformed the property. In 2010, Inslee started a dairy sheep operation and now raises East Friesians for milk and fiber. "One of the major misconceptions about sheep is that they're all the same," Inslee said. "Every single ewe has a very different personality, and when you're with them on a daily basis, that really comes out." Though Locust Hollow sells fiber from its sheep, Inslee's main focus is dairy: sheep's milk, yogurt and cheese. Inspired by childhood trips to cheese shops in Philadelphia, Inslee taught herself how to make cheese with her sheep's milk, which she saw as an opportunity for additional income. "I started experimenting and those first batches of cheese, they were terrible," Inslee said of the learning curve. "I think it took about five years to really get a good routine down and really figure out which cheeses worked for me." Inslee now makes and sells a variety of sheep's milk cheeses, including feta and a Manchego-style cheese rubbed with rosemary grown on the farm and named "Rosy Morning." Inslee sells her products at several local markets and enjoys the opportunity to educate the public about sheep's milk products. "I think we're on the cusp of the general public being a little bit more aware of sheep's milk products," she said. "People in general, customers now are looking for something other than cheddar."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Brittany Peachey, the aquaculture operations manager at Hudson Valley Fisheries in Hudson, New York. Peachey's interest in aquaculture was born from an aquatic biology class in college. After earning her master's degree in aquaculture nutrition, she came to work at Hudson Valley Fisheries, a fish farm that specializes in sustainably raised steelhead trout. Peachey was recently awarded the New York State Fair Golden Hoof Award, which is given in recognition of outstanding animal care and husbandry. She acknowledges it's unusual for a fish farm to be considered for such an award and is grateful not only for the honor but for the opportunity for fish to be included in animal welfare discussions. "Fish welfare is increasingly important in the marketplace, not just from a business point of view but from an ethical point of view as well," Peachey said. "People will argue, do fish feel pain? And to be honest, I don't think from a producer standpoint we need to think that way. Let's assume that they do and then grow them in the best way possible." Peachey works in many aspects of Hudson Valley's operations, including its recirculating aquaculture system, or RAS, which allows the facility to reuse 95% of its water. "RAS farms tend to be more efficient with water resources as compared to more traditional forms of fish farming. So, we're producing more fish with less water," said Peachey. In addition to using an RAS, Hudson Valley sends fish waste to a composting facility to be used for fertilizer, continuing its emphasis on sustainability while catering to a growing market. Peachey argues that the comparison between farmed and wild-caught fish should be put to rest, particularly given sustainable aquaculture practices and the risks of overfishing. "With fish being such a healthy protein source, we want people to eat more fish. Where's that going to come from without the price skyrocketing? It's going to be aquaculture," said Peachey.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're ushering in the holiday season with a special seasonal episode featuring an interview with Kelly Piccioni, Penn State's Christmas tree-focused Extension educator. Piccioni comes from a family with roots in selling Christmas trees. Her great-grandfather began selling trees he bought off the Orange Car—a railway-side produce stand that opened in Reading, Pennsylvania, in the 1930s. Her grandparents continued the tradition when they bought what is now the family's Christmas tree farm, Geissler Tree Farms. "Christmas trees is pretty much where our family story really began," Piccioni said. As Pennsylvania's sole Extension educator who specializes in Christmas trees, Piccioni's work takes her all over the state as she works with growers to overcome challenges like recent droughts. "I've been out in Christmas tree fields more than I've really been in an office," Piccioni said, adding that she enjoys knowing her work contributes toward people's holiday traditions. "People are excited this year to find that joy in Christmas," she said. "And Christmas tree growers think so hard all year long about what they can add to their farm or the customer experience to make it magical." In addition to talking with Piccioni, we discuss family cookie-baking traditions, including German-inspired chocolate chip meringues and a debate over the correct thickness for sugar cookies. We'll also touch on a couple holiday traditions from around the world, so join us for the tales of the Belsnickel and St. Lucia.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're speaking with Denise Bosworth of Rohrbach's Farm. Bosworth is part of the farm's fourth generation and runs the farm market in Columbia County, Pennsylvania. Bosworth and her husband, Dan, returned to the farm in 2013 to begin a new culinary venture, Big Dan's BBQ. In 2015, Bosworth officially took over the farm market portion of the business and her brother, Mark Rohrbach, took over the farming operation. "I like to say my brother grows the food, Dan cooks the food and I throw the party," Bosworth said. "We all definitely bring our own strengths to the table but then work together to bring it all together." Bosworth gives a lot of credit to the farm's third generation — her parents, aunt and uncle. While the transition wasn't necessarily planned and executed perfectly, she said mutual respect and conversation led to the farm's current success. In addition to running the farm market, Bosworth also does community and educational outreach. She has written two agricultural-themed children's books, "Penelope Pumpkin" and "Are They Ready Yet: A Strawberry Story From a Pennsylvania Farm." "I always say, if I could only grow two things, it would be pumpkins and strawberries," Bosworth said. Additionally, she launched a nonprofit called Seeds of the Future to provide agriculture education and farm experiences that are accessible, affordable and relevant. The organization focuses on students and people with special needs with a goal of helping the community. "I think women represent agriculture incredibly well," Bosworth said. "If we want kids to be part of agriculture now and in the future, we have to represent it well." On Nov. 1, Rohrbach's Farm was announced as one of seven recipients of Lancaster Farming's The Farmer's Choice Award. Recipients were nominated and voted on by Lancaster Farming readers. "To be acknowledged on this platform with these other people is extremely humbling to me," Bosworth said.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Casey Wisch, co-owner of Long Stone Farm in Lovettsville, Virginia. Wisch's interest in farming began in college. After graduating, she spent time in New Zealand and Australia where she first encountered permaculture and experienced being part of an agricultural community. When she returned to the U.S., she and her now husband began working toward founding Long Stone Farm. "We wanted to start this grazing operation and we wanted to produce good clean meat for our community, and we wanted to pursue a better path forward for our own farm," said Wisch. "And so it was kind of those values and ideas that drove us to start Long Stone Farm." At Long Stone Farm, Wisch and her husband raise pastured beef, pork, poultry and eggs with a focus on sustainability. They were recently honored for their hard work with a Grand Basin Clean Water Farm Award. The award is given to Virginia farmers who have implemented conservation practices to protect water quality. "This is a lifetime achievement award for me," said Wisch. A meeting with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation further inspired Wisch to continue sustainable farming efforts. "They showed the different watersheds and we got a really clear understanding of exactly where our runoff goes and what that day-to-day work really means in terms of watershed health," Wisch said. "And it was really amazing to know that those day-to-day decisions are really impacting our overall region." When she's not focused on keeping her farm sustainable, Wisch is busy marketing the operation and raising the family's four children. She wears many hats but knows she's doing what she was meant to do. "There's multitasking happening all the time. There's things that need care and attention and details. And I think women are set up for this. We were made to do this," Wisch said.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're honoring the voices of farmers as we celebrate our 70th anniversary. This special podcast episode will feature a variety of voices from farmers and ag industry members who stopped by our pop-up recording studio at this year's Ag Progress Days. You'll hear voices of all ages — from a recent college graduate working her first job in the ag industry to a 92-year-old retired farmer who recalls exactly how his farm community came to his aid when he lost a leg in a farm accident. You'll even hear from Pennsylvania Ag Secretary Russell Redding about how farming has changed over the last seven decades and where the industry is headed. The audio essay was inspired by a Wendell Berry quote. He says, "Why do farmers farm, given their economic adversities on top of the many frustrations and difficulties normal to farming? And always the answer is: 'Love. They must do it for love.'" For 70 years, Lancaster Farming has worked to tell farmers' stories. In our special anniversary podcast, you can hear some of those stories from the farmers themselves.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're returning to the haunted farmhouse for some seasonal fun and spine-tingling tales from the farm. In this episode, we'll be sharing four spooky stories that take place on farms or in rural communities because, let's face it, scary stories from the city just don't have quite the same chilling effect as those set out in the country. For our first tale, we'll travel to Robertson County, Tennessee, where the Bell family came to farm in the early 1800s. Unfortunately for the Bells, a spirit that would become known as the Bell Witch wasn't happy with them and wasn't afraid to let them — and anyone else who visited the farm — know about it, including a future president. Next, we're stopping by the Brinton Lodge in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. The lodge is currently home to the Hidden River Brewing Co., but the building has been a host to plenty of spirits long before beer. Then we'll hear a spooky parable about a stingy farmer who refuses to rebuild his dilapidated barn, despite his wife's requests. When a stranger appears and offers the farmer a deal that seems to good to be true, it's up to his wife to save the day — and potentially his soul. Finally, we're headed to Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, to hear the legend of the hounds of Colebrook Furnace. Mistreated by their cruel ironmaster owner, the hounds allegedly pursue their revenge in the afterlife. According to local lore, you can still hear them howling around the area at night.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Katelyn Melvin, owner of Katydid Hill Farm. Melvin grows herbs and makes her own herbal tea blends in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. Her journey into herb farming started by growing herbs in high school. She later worked on a few vegetable farms and decided to take on farming full time. The farm grows multiple acres of herbs including chamomile, peppermint, lemon balm, anise hyssop and more. The teas are made only with herbs grown on the farm. "All the tea blends come from my love of the fresh herbs," Melvin said. She has three points of focus that she tries to incorporate into the farm: soil health, farmer health and supporting the community. Melvin enjoys talking to customers about the tea blends and how they make people feel. Drinking tea can often be a calming and stress-relieving experience, which is something Melvin tries to translate into the farm work. "Are we getting the benefits that I'm hoping that our customers get from the tea? Are we getting that from farming?" Melvin said. Not only is she hoping to find benefit in farming for herself and her family, she also wants all of her farm workers to get something positive out of working at Katydid Hill Farm. "I really owe it all to the farmers who I worked for who were so generous and sharing with their knowledge," Melvin said. "That has always been important to me to give back to the people who are working for us."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Tonya Van Slyke, the longtime executive director of the Northeast Dairy Producers Association. Van Slyke grew up on her family's 250-cow dairy farm in New York. "I think my quest to be a leader in the industry came from my involvement in both 4-H and FFA," she said. "That's really where my desire to utilize my voice and be an advocate for the industry came from." After working at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine as a project manager, Van Slyke joined the Northeast Dairy Producers Association as its first full-time executive director. During her tenure at NEDPA, Van Slyke helped launch the Ag Workforce Development Council and a labor roadshow, initiatives designed to strengthen farm labor education and communication. Van Slyke's work has also involved advocacy and making sure farmers have a seat at the table. A memorable event from her time partnering with the Grow New York Farms coalition involved parking a tractor on the front lawn of the New York State Capitol and welcoming hundreds of farmers to talk about the future of agriculture in the state. "Empowering people to have a seat at the table and to use their voice and be solutions-based," she said. "That's really what the success of NEDPA has been founded on." Recently, Van Slyke received the Leaving It Better Award from the New York State Fair, recognizing her lasting impact on the agricultural community. "What that award means to me is that it was a recognition of the partnerships that I've been part of throughout the last 13 years," she said. "And that is more meaningful to me than I can express in words because so many of my colleagues have become friends and we've done some really good work together, and it hasn't all been easy, but it's been meaningful."

This week on the FarmHouse, we're talking to Cathryn Pugh, a forestry educator with Penn State Extension. Pugh specializes in agroforestry, nontimber forest products and native plants. She is also the president of the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society. There are five main aspects of agroforestry: silvopasture, alley cropping, windbreaks, riparian buffers and forest farming. "Agroforestry can fit into a lot of different places," Pugh said. "It's essentially thinking about how to incorporate trees into agricultural spaces." While Pugh works with farmers to help them learn how to best incorporate trees and native plants into their land, she also works a lot with homeowners both through Extension and the Native Plant Society. "People want native plants," she said. Pugh has found that a lot of people want to add more natives to help provide for birds and pollinators. "Native plants are the foundation of your ecosystem," Pugh said. "Native plants have been here for so long, they have co-evolved with all of the native insects and birds." Another big pull for natives is that they are often easier to take care of. "Native plants are lower maintenance overall. They have evolved to be in this place," Pugh said. "It's going to save you a lot of time and energy in the long run to have native plants in your space." But while interest in natives is growing, not everyone can easily identify these plants and know which ones would work best in their landscapes. The Pennsylvania Native Plant Society is working to make finding native plants easier. "We have a program we're really proud of called the Green Seal Pledge," Pugh said. "This program encourages nurseries to sign and pledge that they will sell 50% or more of their nursery stock as native plants." Pugh also works with farmers to add nontimber forests products to their land, such as maple, ramps or ginseng. There are also native plants that can be used creatively, such as woody florals, willow for weaving and black walnut for dyes. "I'm trying to think about ways that we can really make things like riparian buffers enticing to farmers that have products that are easy enough to get into, that have markets that exist," Pugh said. "If we can make it accessible, maybe we can make a shift in this where it's a win-win situation for the environment and for the farmer." Learn More: Penn State Extension extension.psu.edu Pennsylvania Native Plant Society panativeplantsociety.org Forest Snapshot — September 2025 extension.psu.edu/forest-snapshot-september-2025 Forest Snapshot — July 2025 extension.psu.edu/forest-snapshot-july-2025 The Green Illusion extension.psu.edu/the-green-illusion Ramps (Allium tricoccum) extension.psu.edu/ramps-allium-tricoccum

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Aubrey Fornwalt, the founder and owner of Full Circle Bioconversion in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Full Circle uses black soldier flies to convert food waste from the surrounding community into manure and compost. Fornwalt also sells the black soldier fly larvae as feed to poultry operations. It's the first bioconversion operation of its kind in the state. Fornwalt didn't always want to be in the decomposition business. She began her career as a graphic designer, and although she was composting her own food waste, she felt she could be doing more. Fornwalt began researching permaculture and soon bought her first fly larvae. "I just looked up where to buy larvae online and the first batch came from eBay. That was in 2017, I think. And I just didn't stop. I didn't get grossed out. I thought it was pretty cool," she said. Fornwalt now collects food waste from several local restaurants and over 20 households and has become locally known for her bioconversion operation. "I do have the nickname 'The Fly Lady' around town," she joked. "And I wear that as a badge of honor." Once collected, the food waste is processed through a grinder and then fed to the fly larvae. The operation can manage between 250-300 pounds of food waste each day. While the larvae will eat any kind of food waste, Fornwalt noticed they have a preference for junk food. "The larvae themselves eat everything. They eat meat and cheese and bread, like the great American carby diet. They're not picky," Fornwalt said. "But they're more excited about the fat and the protein and the carbs. Definitely the higher fat content, they like that." Since its founding, Full Circle has successfully diverted over 200,000 pounds of food waste from landfills. While that waste would have eventually decomposed on its own, Fornwalt argues bioconversion is the better option. "I think the return on investment with the insects versus mechanical utilization, nature is so much more efficient than we are," she said. "And if we take the time to watch how it works and take cues from it and not necessarily try to outsmart it, I think we could do a lot of really cool things." You can watch the video about Full Circle Bioconversion mentioned in the interview here. 

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Heidi Reed, an agronomy educator with Penn State Extension. Reed was recently part of a crop conditions tour across the state, and this year's corn and soybean yields are looking average to below average, mainly due the dry conditions. "Unless somebody has an irrigated field, I don't think any yield records are going to be broken this year," Reed said. The dry summer came on the heels of a very wet spring, making it a tough weather year for Pennsylvania farmers. Prolonged stretches of weather are becoming more common in the state. "When I talk to farmers who have been doing this for a long time, they're seeing less predictable seasons and more extreme weather events," Reed said. "When there's a drought, it's a very bad drought. And then when we get rain, it's 6 inches all at once." One thing Reed suggests to help mitigate the weather extremes is soil conservation. "Focusing on soil health is not necessarily something that you're going to see reflected in the checkbook," she said. "But every time we increase the percent of soil organic matter, our soil is able to hold onto more of that water when we do get it and store that water so it's available to the crop when we have a drought and stay intact instead of washing away when we get extreme, pounding rainfall." Reed has recently been doing some work on seeding cover crops using drones. She said drone use has become more commonplace and affordable in agriculture over the past few years. "It's a tool in the toolbox, right?" she said. "There's a time and a place where it can really effectively be used and other times where it just doesn't make sense." Reed is incorporating some of her Extension research into Lancaster Farming's Now Is the Time column that she recently took over after longtime columnist Leon Ressler retired. "I am enjoying carrying on the tradition," Reed said. While she plans on keeping the structure of the column the same, she does hope to add some of her own narrative and personality each week.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Kathy Smith, the program director for the Ohio Woodland Stewards Program at Ohio State University. Smith knew early on that she wanted to work outside and was interested in natural resource management. Forestry felt like a natural fit. "I appreciate being able to understand the trees and how we can utilize trees to solve problems, make things better, and also help landowners to deal with the issues that they have," Smith said. Smith spent the first 11 years of her career working as a watershed forester with the Ohio Division of Forestry before coming to Ohio State in 2001. As the program director, Smith works closely with farmers on how they can integrate trees into their operations. "A lot of times you're looking at things like windbreaks that would, if placed properly, increase crop production. Or riparian buffers where we can filter out nutrients and pesticides before they hit the body of water," Smith said. She also advises landowners, particularly farmers, on how to use trees to strike a balance between protecting wild animals and limiting their damage to crops. "Different tree species provide different things for wildlife. So you kind of have to think about is this something that is going to be highly desirable by certain species? Maybe that's not what I want to put in this location," Smith said. "You do have to pay attention to what the tree species are and what those benefits are." The key, according to Smith, is appreciating that woodlands are a living ecosystem. Living systems change over time, and property owners need to be prepared to tackle new challenges that may come up, like invasive species. She advises farmers to think of their long-term goals for their land and use those to direct their decisions. "I always tell landowners, whether it's on a napkin or a piece of paper or just in your head, you kind of need to think about what you want from the woods," Smith said.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Wendy Powers, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland. Powers is the first woman to serve in the role, effective July 1. She didn't grow up in agriculture, but her undergrad experience at Cornell University made her interested in the field. Since then, Powers has studied and worked in agriculture at land grant universities, coming to Maryland from Washington State University. "I am tremendously loyal to the land grant mission," Powers said. "When I look at the work we are doing in the land grant colleges, we are making a difference every day." Powers has worked in ag education all throughout the U.S. She's spent her first few months in Maryland getting to know both the university's ag college and the state's ag industry as a whole. "With agriculture being the largest economic driver for the state, it is highly diverse across the state," Powers said. "While the scale may be different than California and other states, the importance of agriculture and natural resources to the state of Maryland is really unparalleled compared to other states." Maryland's fall semester began Sept. 2, and Powers said she is looking forward to welcoming the largest class in the College of Agriculture to date. "The youth today are committed to solving some of the biggest problems," Powers said. "I'm just impressed every time I meet our students by how much they've accomplished, how much they've overcome, and where they want to be going forward." One of her goals as dean is to help students find their way into the ag industry — whether that be animal science, aquaponics or even fermentation. "I'm really committed to helping others who maybe didn't grow up in agriculture, don't have that background, figure out their path to an amazing career in agriculture and natural resources," Powers said.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Yemi Amu, the founder and director of Oko Farms, an outdoor aquaponics farm and education center in Brooklyn, New York. Amu is originally from Nigeria and belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group. Her Yoruba roots have influenced much of her work in the U.S., from the name of her operation to the style of farming. Oko is a Yoruba word that loosely translates to farm, but in fact has a deeper tie to agriculture. "The true meaning is a place where agriculture is the center of life and activity," Amu said. "And that's sort of what we're trying to to build at Oko Farms." Amu was drawn to aquaponics in part because water conservation, which is a pressing issue in Nigeria, is inherently integrated into its farming methods. "I was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, and water conservation was huge for us," Amu said. "So type of aquaculture that centered as a type of agriculture, food production that centered water conservation, was a big deal for me." Oko Farms grows a variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs, which are sold at farmers markets. It also grows fiber-producing plants like flax, which, along with indigo and dye plants, has drawn people interested in textile and fiber arts to the farm. The other side of the aquaponics operation is the fish. Oko Farms features a variety, including carp, catfish and tilapia. Some of the fish are used solely for farming while other are used for food, sometimes at farm-to-table meals or given away to community fridges. Community is at the heart of Oko Farms, which strives in its mission to educate the public. The farm offers classes on wellness, culinary education, textile arts and, of course, aquaponics. Amu and her team welcome visitors to the farm for tours and classes on how they can use aquaponics to grow food for themselves — even if it's on their windowsills or countertops. It's all about sustainability and addressing food justice. "Anyone, anywhere in the world should be able to grow food for themselves if they choose to," said Amu.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Fran Severn, a writer and equestrian whose passion for horses inspired her to write "Riders of a Certain Age: Your Guide for Loving Horses Mid-Life and Beyond." Severn grew up in downtown Baltimore where horses and barns were scarce, but that didn't stop her from developing an affinity for all things equine. "I think loving horses is in your DNA and I always wanted horses in my life," Severn said. She began riding after college and, as her journalism career expanded to covering the Kentucky Derby and events at the Kentucky Horse Park, she eventually purchased her first horse. However, life got busy and riding took a backseat until Severn was in her 50s. That return sparked a revelation: There were few resources available for older women getting back into horses. Severn saw an opportunity to combine her love of horses and her writing talents and published "Riders of a Certain Age." Severn's book tackles the physical, emotional and practical challenges of riding later in life, including health considerations, finances and long-term horse care planning. It's become a handy resource for an expanding group of riders. "It's pretty clear that the fastest growing demographic in the recreational horse world is women, 55 plus," Severn said. The notion that people are still interested in active recreational activities past middle age is still novel to some. "It was always presumed, you hit 65, you're going to play canasta, maybe take your kids on a Disney cruise, and not do much else," Severn said. "And I think maybe because some of the researchers are starting to hit our age, they're discovering that that's not the case. We can do pretty much everything." Severn has followed up "Riders of a Certain Age" with several publications. "Creating Your Journey" is a journaling guide for older riders, and "Barn Fires" is a practical guide to fire prevention inspired by her own experience with a barn fire. Her latest publication, "Barn Hacks," is the product of an 18-month labor of love that compiles over 1,000 tips from around the equine world — including how to use sauerkraut to treat abscesses. More Information Check out Lancaster Farming's newest podcast, Super Smart Farm Show! Kids have a lot of questions about farming, and the Super Smart Farm Show, Lancaster Farming's podcast for kids, has a lot of answers. Join us each week as we explore kid-friendly topics like why bees are important and why sheep need hair cuts. We here at the Super Smart Farm Show know it's fun to ask questions and wonder about the world we live in, especially when it comes to learning about how farmers feed and take care of us. Listen to the trailer here.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Michelle Elston, who owns Roots Cut Flower Farm in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Elston sells most of her flowers wholesale to grocery stores and local shops. She also offers bulk flower buckets and has a bouquet club flower CSA. Her 10-acre farm produces more than 25,000 bouquets for stores and 450 party buckets for events. "I really truly never imagined Roots to be the farm that it is today," Elston said. Elston's journey to Roots started when she studied plant science at Cornell University. She and her husband later moved to Massachusetts where they ended up buying a garden center. But after having their first child, they decided to move back to Elston's hometown, where she soon after started her own flower farm and grew Roots to the successful business it is today. "That's sort of been the fun part of my path is pairing business with ag or horticulture," Elston said. Most of the flowers grown at Roots are hot summer annuals like sunflowers, marigolds and celosias. Elston focuses on variety selection that will work the best with the climate and will yield the best production. "I really believe the best sustainability practice is choosing the right plant to begin with," Elston said. "We get super nerdy here on our farm with variety selection." She does a lot of trials to find out what works best. "Farming is like, there are a million variables all the time," Elston said. "And so if you can pay attention to that, it's like the whole process is a giant experiment where things are changing all the time and you're always learning." When Elston first started flower farming, she sold bouquets at a local farmers market. However, she realized that wholesale works better for her. She didn't want to cut her market customers off completely, which is why she began her CSA bouquet club, which has over 100 members. "A lot of our (CSA) sales are gifts," Elston said. "Flowers are a luxury, so it makes just a wonderful, wonderful gift because it is a slight indulgence." In addition to flower farming, Elston is the treasurer of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. She also offer consulting services to flower growers who are a few years into their farming journeys.  

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're joined by Kathy McCaskill, co-owner and operator of Old McCaskill's Farm in Rembert, South Carolina. McCaskill originally hails from upstate New York, where she grew up on an out-of-operation dairy farm. After marrying, she and her husband bought their South Carolina property and began slowly but surely setting up a livestock operation that sells directly to the local farmers market and from the farm store. Tragedy struck the farm in 2007, when the farmhouse burned down, but McCaskill now sees it as part of a larger plan for her family. "We lost 30 years in 30 minutes when we lost the house. And it took us to our knees," she said. "But I always tell people, God had a plan. Look what we have now." In the wake of the fire, the McCaskills rebuilt their home, now as empty nesters. After realizing they had more space than they needed, they transformed part of the home into a bed and breakfast. Welcoming guests to the farm isn't limited to those staying at the bed and breakfast, though. Old McCaskill Farm routinely hosts school groups and visitors with tours and event days, like shearing day in the spring. It's important to teach people about agriculture and where their food comes from, says McCaskill. The disconnect between consumers and farming can be surprising, she said, reliving an interaction she'd had with a woman who'd recently purchased her own chickens. "I said, 'Don't you love those fresh eggs?' And she said, 'Oh, we don't eat the eggs.' And I said, 'You don't, what do you do with them?' She said, 'We throw them in the woods,'" McCaskill recalled. "I said, 'Ma'am, why do you throw your eggs in the wood?' (She said) because the chicken poops them out." In addition to educating the public about the farm, McCaskill also makes and sells prepared food at the farmers market and farm store and helps host a farm-to-table lunch at Old McCaskill's farm every Friday.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Linley Dixon, an organic vegetable farmer in southwest Colorado. Dixon co-created the Real Organic Project, which is a label farmers can add onto the USDA's certified organic label. "The Real Organic Project is a very grassroots effort," Dixon said. "Many farmers felt like the USDA organic seal was no longer reflecting the way that they farmed. It started as sort of a rallying cry to make sure that soil health was still fundamental to what could be certified as organic." The project focuses on growing crops in healthy soils and raising livestock on diverse pastures. About 1,000 farms across the U.S. have been Real Organic certified, with 150 new farms signing up this year. "Farms of all types and scales are involved, and it's pretty exciting to see us all come together again and get that kind of grassroots movement back into organic," Dixon said. For farmers to get the add-on certification, they first need to have the USDA certification. Farms will then be inspected by someone from the Real Organic Project. Adding the certification is free. "It was very important to us that the burden of another label didn't fall on the farmers," Dixon said. She said many farmers have signed for the program because they believe in its goals and messaging, and the project has allowed for a sense of community to grow. "I wish that we could have more of this in agriculture in general," Dixon said. "More sharing, less competition. How can we work together? A rising tide lifts all boats. These are things that I really believe in." Listen here:

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Krista Byler, the food service director at Union City Area School District in Pennsylvania whose whole milk study caught the attention of the dairy industry. Byler's district had been offering fat free and 1% milks with student lunches, but thanks to a study conducted by the student council, Byler was aware much of the milk students bought ended up in the trash. On top of that, many students weren't buying milk at all. "It was kind of a double-edged sword. We had students no longer taking milk and a lot of those who did choose it were not drinking it," Byler said. It made her want to take action. While still only offering fat free and 1% milk, Byler measured how much milk was being wasted. It came to about 3 gallons a day. After two months, the school began offering whole milk, both unflavored and chocolate. Again, Byler studied how much milk was being drunk and how much was being wasted. She found that when whole milk was available, the 3 gallons of milk being thrown out went down to 19 ounces — a 95% reduction in waste. Furthermore, the amount of milk students bought and consumed climbed 50% in that time. Byler then surveyed the students on how they felt about the expanded offerings. "Their overwhelming answer was we want a choice. We want what tastes good, what has a good mouthfeel, what is satisfying," said Byler. "It's not that we're asking for everyone to have whole milk. We're just asking to be able to offer a full variety so that they can choose." Byler's findings captured the interest of the dairy industry, and earlier this year she spoke at a Senate Agriculture Committee meeting where she addressed her study and its findings. Aside from milk, Byler is also passionate about providing nutritious and, just as important, tasty lunches for her students. Her district has won an HMI Award for innovation in school meal preparation, and much of the food her district serves is prepared from scratch. "Our students are way more food savvy than we were when we went to school," said Byler. "It's a lot like putting a puzzle together to make sure the nutrition lines up with the menu mix, which also lines up with student wants and needs. So it's definitely an interesting process." More Information Read more about Krista Byler's study and testifying before lawmakers

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Carolyn Beans, a freelance science reporter with a focus on food and agriculture. Beans is currently an MIT Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellow. Through the fellowship, she is writing a series on climate-smart dairy that is being published in Lancaster Farming. "The fellowship is designed to support journalists who are working on stories that explore environmental solutions specifically for local audiences," Beans said. The term climate-smart is a bit of a newer buzzword, but Beans said despite the new terminology, there are a lot of practical ways to implement it on farms, many of which farmers are already familiar with. "What climate-smart means now is many of the things that a lot of dairies are already doing," Beans said. "Things like cover-cropping counts, things like no-till farming counts. More of the newer technologies to bring down greenhouse gases also count. Things like methane digesters, or even something like a liquid-solid separator." The term itself can be a bit polarizing, but Beans said she saw conservation practices at all of the many dairy farms she visited throughout Pennsylvania. "I think every single dairy farmer I spoke with had already done something to improve the sustainability of their farms," Beans said. Beans didn't start out heavily involved in the agriculture industry. She always had an interest in plants, and at one point worked at a flower farm. This led her to eventually studying biology and digging into the field of science reporting. "Talking about food is a thing that everyone is interested in. We all eat. We all have some feelings about food," Beans said. "So it's a topic that allows me to cover a lot of science while just meeting people at a topic that I think they really care about." Listen here: You can find Carolyn Beans' series on climate-smart dairy here: Pennsylvania Dairy Farmers Consider Return on Climate-Smart Milk Could Measuring Greenhouse Gases Increase Returns on Pennsylvania Dairies? Can Pennsylvania Dairies Profit From Carbon Markets? Who Will Pay for Climate-Smart Milk? You can find our FarmHouse episode with Emma de Long where we discuss the PA Flax Project here: 100% Women-Run Farms With Emma de Long

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Doris Mold, co-CEO of Annie's Project, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women in agriculture. Annie's Project was founded in 2003 and named after Annette Kohlhagen Fleck, a woman who married into farming in 1947 and went on to take care of the business side of the farm. Annie's Project honors her legacy by providing women with the knowledge and confidence to manage farms and agribusinesses successfully. The organization offers a mix of workshops, courses and online learning aimed at educating women in ag on the business end of running a farm. Topics include risk management, business planning, financial literacy, marketing and legal issues. "Our mission is to empower women in agriculture to be successful through education networks and resources," said Mold, though she added that the courses are not limited to women participants. "We welcome all comers to Annie's project. So we do have non-women that participate as well." Still, Mold acknowledged that female-only or nearly female-only classes do help many women feel more comfortable and open to engaging in the learning process. Annie's Project also prefers, when possible, to use female educators. "We think it is really important to model that women have knowledge in this area, expertise, and that we really want people to engage," Mold said. "It doesn't mean that a man can't engage with women. There's a lot of terrific men out there. But to really encourage that discussion and that people feel that connection, showing that women have knowledge, that kind of elevates that and says, 'Oh, well, if she knows this, I can learn this too.'" Annie's Project may be focused on equipping women with the tools to make the best decisions for their farming operation, but its impact goes beyond that: It's making sure everyone, regardless of gender, is ready to take on the current and future challenges facing ag. "It is going to take the best and brightest of all of us — not just 50% of the population, all of us — to solve the problems and take on the opportunities that we had ahead of us," Mold said. "We can be much better at what we're doing if we figure that out and work collaboratively."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Rebekah Mindel, a flower farmer and floral designer. Mindel owns Meadow Wilds, a full-circle floral design studio and flower farm in New York's Hudson Valley. For Mindel, full circle means starting the plants from seed, harvesting and conditioning the flowers and using them in the final designs. "Farming and design for me go hand in hand," she said. "I wouldn't want to do one without the other." Mindel designs floral arrangements for events and wedding using flowers grown on her farm plus purchased florals. Regardless of where the flowers come from, Mindel wants her designs to be inspired by nature and shaped by seasonality. "It's about connecting with the season and the plant specifically and bringing that forward," Mindel said. This focus on nature — plus a commitment to using as many local flowers as possible — means she can't always offer specific flowers. "What I can promise is tone, texture, shape, color," Mindel said. Mindel's favorites that she grows on her farm includes tulips and peonies. Another is one that grows well in the Hudson Valley. "Lisianthus is a flower farmer favorite," she said. "It's such an amazing crop because it comes in so many colors and it can really help support the design by anchoring that palette through color. I love lisianthus. We usually always have that flower."  

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Susan Jones, a pollination expert in McCormick, South Carolina. Jones' passion for bees grew from an unlikely source: a farrier and third-generation beekeeper visiting her family's farm began nudging her to give beekeeping a try. He eventually gifted Jones her first two colonies. Those first bees didn't make it through the winter, but that brief window of time was enough to get Jones hooked, especially when she saw the difference having pollinators made on her garden. "My garden went from OK to on steroids with pollination with the bees. I was just dumbfounded that there was such a difference. Then when I didn't have bees the next spring, it was like, why am I even bothering to garden?" Jones said. In the two decades since, Jones has evolved from a hobbyist beekeeper to an educator and advocate. She is currently the Apiculture and Pollinator Specialist at the South Carolina Governor's School for Agriculture and has served as the director of the Master Beekeeping Program of South Carolina. Her journey has afforded her plenty of opportunities to spread the word about pollinators and how we need to start protecting them, especially in the face of a recent uptick in colony losses. "I do a talk that shares the coordination between how pollinators need us, yet we need them, and they face so many different obstacles. I think it's a death by a thousand cuts. There's no one single contributor to these losses. There are so many," Jones said. Part of the problem, she explained, is that because these challenges stem from various sources, there needs to be a collaborative effort to address the issue – and that's not happening. "The problem is all the different factions, whether it's environmental, whether it is pesticides and chemicals use or whatever it is, none of these entities are really talking and collaborating with each other," she said. Jones also owns Susan Marie's Bees, a honey production operation with 20-25 colonies, which she says helps continue to inform how she teaches about bees and allows her to stay connected to the strong beekeeping community in South Carolina. "The joke in beekeeping is if you ask 10 beekeepers a question, you get 12 different emphatic answers, and nobody seems to agree," Jones said. "But I have found over the years that women in particular are detail oriented and they're good observers and they are great problem solvers." And that, according to Jones, is what makes a good beekeeper. More Information Year-Round Gardening With Edible and Pollinator-Friendly Perennials Choosing the Perfect Pollinator-Friendly Plants for Your Garden Attract Pollinators to Your Garden By Planting the Native Plants They Pref

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Alyssa Adkins, a produce farmer in Freeport, Maine. Adkins and her partner Nathan Broaddus own Farthest Field Farm where they grow produce and make their own jarred products. The farm specializes in peppers and hot sauces. "My partner and I decided to start with value-added products," Adkins said. "There's so many CSAs to choose from, there's so many farmers selling vegetables at farmers markets. So it kind of made sense for us." The farm sells five varieties of hot sauces as well as salsas and other products. Adkins does have a bit of a culinary background. She used to be a registered dietitian and worked in restaurants. This background — plus her own personal canning experience — led her to recipe development. For all of the jarred products, taste and flavor are the most important elements; the spice is secondary. "We don't have any sauces where we're melting your face off because we want you to taste things," Adkins said. "We want you to taste what we grow. We put so much work into these hot sauces." Adkins are Broaddus bought the property for Farthest Field Farm in 2022, and their goal is to work the land in a way that's best for their business and for the environment. Adkins wants to rebuild the soil and pollinator habitat. To accomplish this, the farm is no-till and uses organic methods. While the farm is not currently certified organic, Adkins said it can sometimes work in their favor. "We have found that when you're not organic certified people ask you more questions," she said. "We like that. We really like that people are engaging with us in that way." Adkins also engages people by hosting events on the farm "We see how interconnected farms are to everything that is around them," she said. "We call it a community farm and we want it to be that in the fullest sense from the tiniest little microbes in the soil to the humans who might come here for events." The Spicy Scoop: Can the Lancaster Farming Team Handle These Farm-Made Hot Sauces? The Lancaster Farming Team sat down to try five hot sauces from Farthest Field Farm and answer some questions about agriculture, journalism and what makes for a good hot wing.  Click here to watch!

This week on the FarmHouse podcast, we're talking to Amy Marciano, founder of Sugar Mutts Rescue and Skymeadow Farm Sanctuary, a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal rescue in Greentown, Pennsylvania. "I pretty much came out of the womb loving animals. It was just in my DNA," Marciano said. "There's a quote that I pretty much live by, it's basically you can't change the world by rescuing one animal, but for that one animal you change the world." Marciano started her work in Brooklyn, New York, where she founded the Sugar Mutts Dog Rescue in a warehouse. After about a decade in the city, she moved her operation to the Poconos region where she was able to give her dogs more room. She then expanded her rescue to include Skymeadow Farm Sanctuary, where she began taking in farm animals from owners who are no longer able to care for them or who have been rescued from neglectful situations. "I mean you spend any time around any farm animal, they're just like dogs and cats. They really are, they have personalities," Marciano said. "They're intelligent. So that's something that's a gift to be around and to see that and know that they're safe." In addition to traditional funding channels, Marciano helps fund Sugar Mutts and Skymeadow Farm by boarding horses on her property. She also owns two AirBnB rentals, the profits from which go toward funding the rescue operations. More Information Check out the on-farm Air BnB rentals available at Skymeadow Farms, which help generate income for the sanctuary: Rental 1 Rental 2 The story of the wandering nativity sheep mentioned in the interview.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Jennie Schmidt, a grain and grape farmer on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Prior to farming at Schmidt Farms full time, Schmidt worked as a registered dietitian. "I was able to kind of meld my training," she said. "I always tell people that farming is the front end of nutrition. They're the same continuum." Thanks to her knowledge in both fields, Schmidt was offered speaking engagements, at first with dietitian and nutrition groups. This then led to her speaking nationally at conferences held by groups such as the U.S. Grains Council and the U.S. Ag Export Development Council. While she said she enjoys the opportunities of speaking engagements, Schmidt spends most of her time farming. Schmidt Farms uses a lot of conservation practices and was doing so long before Schmidt joined the operation. "My father-in-law was always very progressive in adopting new practices and very cognizant of leaving the farm in better condition than you received it," Schmidt said. "That's kind of our philosophy to be able to do what we need to do to make sure the land stays intact and the nutrients stay in our soils and not in the waterways." Initially, the farm was a hog and beef cattle operation but transitioned out of livestock and into grain. In the early 2000s, Schmidt contacted local wineries to see if they'd be interested in purchasing grapes in the next few years. Ever since, Schmidt Farms has grown hybrid grape varieties and is now also growing some vinifera varieties. "We probably have 12 different varieties now," she said, and the diversity in the crop allows for different types of wine. While Schmidt never planned on being a farmer, she said it was the best decision she ever made, and she hopes to inspire others in the industry. "I'm trying to be a mentor to either girls that are in FFA or 4-H or younger women who are starting out in farming, because I've had several female mentors who have helped me grow in what I do and in my leadership roles," she said. "I think that's just sort of the path of women helping other women — empower them to do whatever they want to do."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Renee Wiatt, a family business management specialist at Purdue University who specializes in farm transitions. Farm succession can be rife with challenges and hard conversations, but according to Wiatt, it's not something farm families should wait to tackle. The process of transitioning the farm isn't a single event, but a process, that can last for years. "If we look at data, on average, if we're transferring a family business within the same family, it takes about six and a half years from the start of succession to the end," Wiatt said. While ownership transfer often happens upon the owner's death, Wiatt stressed that operational transition requires a more gradual approach. That can start with farmers documenting the whos, hows, whys and wheres of their operations. "Another thing we can do is write down job descriptions," Wiatt said. "A lot of times farmers laugh at me when I say this. They say, I know what I do and I say, yeah, you know what you do, but does everybody else who works on your farm know what you do? No." She encourages farmers to start documenting month by month, season by season, the things they do that other people might not know about, as well as the locations of tools, paperwork and names of businesses or people associated with that work. Wiatt acknowledges the conversations around farm transitions can be intimidating, especially when families are involved, and therefore advises keeping the business of the farm separate from home life. "We do not encourage those planning conversations to happen at dinner table, at family gatherings, at family holidays. We want those to be really thoughtful and mindful conversations outside of the family setting," she said. It's beneficial when the farmer can start these conversations, she added. Family members may be curious about the future of the farm but often hold back from bringing up their concerns to avoid potentially uncomfortable subject matter. "I like to put it this way: As the incumbent, as the owner, it's a lot easier for them to say, hey, would you like to join my party than the potential successor to say, hey, I heard you're having a party, can I join?" Wiatt said. More Info: Purdue's Code Red farm planning resource

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Dr. Nicole Irizarry, a large-animal veterinarian who owns Kissel Hill Veterinary Services in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Irizarry opened her own mobile vet practice in the fall of 2023 after working in a large-animal group practice for seven years. She currently serves clients in about a 25-mile radius with most of her clients being horse owners. She also works on cows, sheep and goats, plus a few other species like donkeys and mini cattle. "I definitely used to have a favorite species," Irizarry said. "Now I really don't know that I do. I like different things about the different species." In recent years, there has been a shortage of large animal veterinarians. Since studying at Penn State and Cornell, Irizarry knew she wanted to work on the large animal side, and many of her classmates initially did as well. "I think there's a little bit more of a problem with retention than recruitment," Irizarry said. The lack of a work-life balance and the demand for being on call can often lead to burnout in the large-animal field. While Irizarry lists business hours on her website, she often has days where she isn't home until after 9 p.m. "For (my work-life balance) I am never a 50-50 split," Irizarry said. "I am either 100% or 90% in on my business. Those things are fine with me. I think it is what I signed up for. For some people it would be a step too far, and that's totally fine." Irizarry didn't grow up in agriculture, but she grew up always wanting to be a vet. She graduated vet school in a class of 100 — 82 of whom were women. Of the women in the class, 11 went into a career with food animals, but only three — including Irizarry — are still active in that field. "I am still here," Irizarry said. "I am persistent about being in this area, in this profession, as a veterinarian that works in a broader agricultural community."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Andrea Davis-Cetina, who owns Quarter Acre Farm, a certified organic produce farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Davis-Cetina grew up in Maryland but moved to California after studying sustainable agriculture at college. After working in landscaping and gardening, she was able to secure a lease on a quarter acre of land in Sonoma, where she then farmed for a decade, selling at farmers markets and to restaurants. It was the issue of long-term land access that fueled Davis-Cetina's decision to move back to the East Coast in 2018. Davis-Cetina's family had settled on the Eastern Shore, and she says farming there is surprisingly similar in some ways to farming in Sonoma. "The climate is different, but it's not that different as far as the length of the growing season, the amount of sunlight, those types of things," said Davis-Cetina. "And then also the clientele that I had grown accustomed to working with out in Sonoma was very similar to the clientele on the Eastern Shore." Quarter Acre Farm's Maryland location started its operations in 2019. Davis-Cetina grows certified organic vegetables, fruits and herbs. She has always farmed sustainably. "I want to leave a piece of land better than I found it," she said. She also realized the economic benefits of being certified organic. "Once I had that organic label at the farmers market, it totally increased my sales. It made for a lot quicker transactions," said Davis-Cetina. "This label that is highly regulated, it adds that level of trust that people who don't know you or aren't really familiar with your operation then go like, 'Well, you must know what you're doing.'" In addition to selling her produce at the Easton Farmer's Market, Davis-Cetina also sells prepared foods, including guacamole and pico de gallo made from the tomatoes grown at Quarter Acre Farm. Davis-Cetina's husband, a chef, helps her prepare the food and accompanies her to the market where he also cooks tacos and similar fare on-site.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Christine Leonard, a Minnesota dairy farmer and owner of The Grater Good, which specializes in cheese plates and cheese classes. Leonard is a sixth-generation farmer whose farm has been passed down through the women's side of her family for the last three generations. Before coming to work on the family farm, Leonard spent time at an artisan creamery where she learned about making cheese. By the time she joined the family farm, she knew cheese was a good opportunity to diversify operations, and she launched The Grater Good. Leonard launched the business with curated cheese boards, but soon branched out into classes and tastings. "Slowly my business has expanded from just the cheese and charcuterie boards to a lot of cheese tasting and education classes. So just like people can do a flight of wine, they can do a flight of cheese," Leonard said. Leonard uses those tastings not only to introduce people to cheeses they may not have tried before, but to talk to them about the dairy industry and put herself forward as an ag ambassador. "I like to ask before I even start the class, 'How many of you guys know a farmer?' And you know, usually it's crickets," Leonard said. "Not a lot of people have that connection to agriculture anymore. And so I always like to say, 'Now you know at least one farmer. You know me.'" After that introduction, Leonard said she's been able to field plenty of questions from her customers, who are often curious about how the dairy industry works. Though her days are busy between running the farm and The Grater Good, Leonard said she's happy to have found her niche in the local dairy industry. "I really find a lot of fulfillment through my work, both the dairying side and the cheesemongering side," she said. "That's the thing about dairy farming, right? It's a lifestyle. And my Grater Good work just fits right into that as well."  Mentioned in This Episode: Listen to the interview with Becky Collins Brookes mentioned in this episode. Read about the history of charcuterie boards. Behind the Scenes: Making Pretzels the Old Fashioned Way at Martin's Pretzels Learn more about our new podcast, Farmer Wants a Wife Afterparty.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Jenny Dittmar, a farmer in Kent County, Delaware. Dittmar and her husband own Dittmar Family Farms, where they grow produce and raise grass-fed livestock. "Growing vegetables and raising meat, they really do go hand in hand in terms of the soil," Dittmar said. "You really have to have livestock in order to grow vegetables well." Dittmar is working to strengthen the soil food web. She and her husband use a variety of practices to keep the soil healthy, like cover cropping and, polyculture cropping and limiting tillage. "If you take care of the soil, the soil tends to take care of the plants for you," Dittmar said. While the farm is less than a decade old, it has already seen plenty of changes. The initial plan was to grow, raise and sell as much as possible. "We wanted the model of a full-diet farm," Dittmar said. "We really wanted to try to provide as much of the food pyramid as we could for our customers." Now, Dittmar has honed in on the produce and livestock that work best. The latest change in the operation comes in the form of Dittmar's CSA model. This year, instead of a typical program where members receive boxes of produce, Dittmar is doing a farm membership program, where members will be able to purchase $50 of produce each week. "We've had to sort of evolve with our customers," Dittmar said. In addition to the livestock and produce, Dittmar makes and sells skin creams using honey from the farm's beehives. "I really enjoy the artistic side of farming," she said.

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Florence Becot, a rural sociologist and the lead for Penn State's Agricultural Safety and Health Program. Becot and her colleagues Shoshanah Inwood and Hannah Bridge recently published a study in the Journal of Agromedicine that explored common domestic stresses associated with women who live and work on farms. The study consisted of 68 women across 11 groups discussing the ways they dealt with raising children on the farm. Most of the participants reported feeling anxiety or stress related to the number of responsibilities they were juggling. "All of the groups, at one point or another, discussed stress," said Becot. "They also talked about depression, and mental illnesses, whether or not they had been diagnosed." Women in the study discussed feeling anxiety over raising children on the farm. Though many agreed they felt favorably about letting their children grow up on a farm, they acknowledged it comes with a unique set of challenges, especially for mothers who are responsible for performing farm work. "Raising children on the farm is wonderful. So many moms talked about how much they love having the children around. They wouldn't do it any other way," Becot said. "But the reality is, we've talked to women farmers who said if I was a nurse at the hospital, I wouldn't be allowed to bring my kid. Why is there this weird expectation that I should have my kid with me when I'm driving this really heavy piece of machinery?" Women aren't just responsible for child care, Becot explained. In addition to farm work and off-farm jobs, they're often responsible for cooking and household chores, and may also be responsible for caring for an older relative or for various community-related initiatives like church or social groups. It can easily build into a stressful situation where women feel overburdened. Researchers have been studying mental health in the farming industry for decades. However, Becot noted that it's only been within the past three to four years that they've started looking into how mental health manifests in women. "We really never have talked a whole lot about women and how women's mental health might be different than men. How the stressors might be different," said Becot. As more women join the agriculture industry, it's important to keep studying these differences, along with the unique stressors women on the farm and in rural communities are facing, to provide them with resources for help. At the end of the day, women should be able to balance their domestic and farm responsibilities in order to succeed in both arenas, Becot said. "That's what this work is about. It is about supporting women in agriculture, in their ability to both be a parent and a professional."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Vermont farmer Hilary Haigh. Haigh and her husband own Rolling Bale Farm where they raise grass-fed lamb and beef. In 2022, the Haighs bought Animal Farm Creamery, where they raise Jerseys and make their own butter. The creamery was initially opened in 2000 by Diane St. Clair, where she developed her butter into a high-end product that is used by chefs at restaurants like the Inn at Little Washington, Per Se and the French Laundry. "I work sort of directly with the chefs," Haigh said. "They know this product very intimately and are very supportive of the business." Adding on an already well-known dairy operation was a bit of a challenge at first, but in the past three years of owning both the livestock operation and the dairy, Haigh has found her rhythm. On the livestock side, the sheep and beef are intensely rotationally grazed. While the butter is sold almost completely wholesale to restaurants, Haigh's meat products have a bit of a humbler market. "I actually sell all of our meat through this very rustic self-serve farm stand here on the farm," she said. When Rolling Bale was first started in 2014, Haigh spent a lot of time selling at farmers markets. She transitioned to the self-serve stand when the dairy operation was added to the farm. "It's one thing to have an understanding how rigorous a dairy is," Haigh said. "It's another to be living in it and fully experience year after year the endlessness of it all." Haigh makes butter six days a week, and most of it is done by hand, which adds to the uniqueness of the flavor. But much of that specialty comes from grazing the cows. Because their diet changes with the season, the butter tastes and looks different depending on what time of year it is. "It's a whole system that creates this product and what makes it unique," Haigh said. "The quality of the cream is the No. 1 reason the butter is unique and delicious. But what goes into controlling the quality of the cream has to do with the size of our dairy, the breed of our cows, what we're feeding them, how we're managing them. All of those factors are what is controlling the quality of the cream."

On this week's episode of the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Lee Rankin, author and owner of Apple Hill Farm in Banner Elk, North Carolina. Rankin's journey into agriculture began with an emotional encounter with an alpaca at the Kentucky State Fair. "It was a moment between the two of us where everything else fell away," she said, describing the moment she looked into the alpaca's eyes. "I was like, this is the coolest animal I've ever met." Rankin followed her newfound dream to North Carolina, where she transformed a mountaintop orchard into an alpaca farm. In the two decades since, Apple Hill has become a successful fiber farm where Rankin and her team raise alpacas, llamas and angora goats. She sells her products at a store on her farm and at craft and fiber fairs and art festivals. In addition to the fiber operation, Apple Hill is an agritourism business. Rankin said she's seen her own first alpaca experience mirrored in the faces of those who visit the farm. "There's people that walk in and they pull me aside and they're like, 'this is like my dream.' And I say to them, I'm not responsible for what happens now," she joked, regarding the would-be farmers she and her animals have inspired. In 2024, Rankin's community was dealt a challenging blow in the form of Hurricane Helene when it swept through the state. Apple Hill sustained damage to four buildings and suffered considerable tree damage, including 20 downed trees across one of its fences. The community is still rebuilding. It's inspiring, she said, describing the way people have stepped up to clear debris, repair damage and take care of each other. "I'm so proud of our little town of Banner Elk, our little town of Valle Crucis and the way people came together and responded and are still responding on a daily basis," she said. "The real story is what's happened on a neighbor by neighbor basis, on a town by town basis. And I mean, it's just amazing." Rankin is also an author. She recently published "Farm Family: A Solo Mom's Memoir of Finding Home, Happiness, and Alpacas," a book chronicling her experience of starting Apple Hill while raising her son as a single parent. "I was 40 when I started the farm, when we moved here. I was 60 when I published that book or started the publication process," Rankin said of what she wants other women to take away from her story. "We're never too old to do something and to live a dream."

We recorded this special episode of FarmHouse live from the 2025 Pennsylvania Farm Show, where we had the honor of participating in the Celebrate Women Powering Agriculture event. The event kicked off with a speech from Temple Grandin and was followed by a series of conversations and presentations from women working in agriculture.  We sat down Dr. Erin Luley and Dr. Hayley Springer to talk about what it's like to work as livestock veterinarians for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, why there are so few female livestock vets and what can be done about the vet shortage. Dr. Luley is the assistant director of the Dept. of Ag's Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services. Before coming to the Dept. of Ag, she spent several years in private practice and became board-certified in veterinary anatomic pathology.  Dr. Springer is the Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services' region five veterinary medical field officer. She has spent time in private practice and as an on-staff vet for a dairy operation. She's also served as a Penn State Extension Veterinarian.

On this week's episode of the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Hayley Painter, half of the sister duo that created Painterland Sisters. Painter and her sister, Stephanie, are the co-founders and co-CEOs of the organic skyr yogurt brand. Skyr is an Icelandic style yogurt that the Painter sisters make with milk from their family farm and about 25 other organic dairy farms. "Most skyrs are higher in protein, naturally lower in sugar and are really thick and creamy," Painter said. The sisters started the business to keep their dairy farm afloat during years of bad milk prices and have since made it their mission to support as many other dairies as they can. Painterland Sisters yogurt is organic. The sisters' family farm made the switch to organic in 2003, and during the certification process, the family realized it had already been utilizing many organic and regenerative practices. "It's not just about soil health," Painter said. "It's about the health of the animals and the health of the farmer and the health of the agriculture industry being able to sustain itself." When Painter and her sister decided to branch out into the world of a value-added product, they met their fair share of challenges, many of them due to the fact that both are young women. During the early stages of the business, she said they'd have to hire an older gentleman to act as a spokesperson on their behalf for business deals. But as the business has grown in size and recognition, Painter said those specific challenges have eased. "I heard once that your biggest challenge is also your biggest strength," she said. "That is equally true of being young women starting a business. We have this optimism about us. We have this young energy." The Painterland Sisters were rewarded for their dedication by being named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, a goal they envisioned long before becoming entrepreneurs. "We didn't actually think we could make that list, ever. That was impossible in our minds," Painter said. "Your biggest goals, even if they seem unreachable — keep them in your back pocket."

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking to Asia Kalcevic, a fifth-generation farmer at Kalcevic Farms in Bennett, Colorado. Kalcevic joined her family's grain operation after studying communications and ag literacy at Colorado State University. Since then, she's grown into her role as the administrator and operations associate on the farm, where she's responsible for a variety of tasks from data entry to running the farm's social media and marketing. But all that hasn't kept her out of the fields. Kalcevic has also been a grain cart operator during the wheat harvest for the past seven years. "That's what we're planning for the whole year. Those moments when we're running 17 to 20 hour days in the field," Kalcevic said of her farm's harvest. "But you sit in your cab and you listen to some music and you go after it." Kalcevic Farms has been in operation since 1898. Being part of a business rooted in her family's history has given Kalcevic an appreciation for the generations of farmers who came before her — some of whom she's been able to work with. "It's something to not take for granted and to take the opportunity to learn from the past generation that was farming in the 1950s and was born in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl," she said. "I love to see the difference between what they were doing then and what we're doing now." One of the biggest differences is the approach to equipment maintenance. "Back in their day, they if they didn't have it, they built it. And now it's like, if we don't have it, we run to the park store or we buy it," she said, also noting that today's air-conditioned cabs and air ride seats seem like luxuries compared to the pared down seats and umbrellas earlier generations employed. Working with multiple generations on the farm means succession and transition are ongoing conversations critical to the operation's success. Kalcevic said they're very intentional about creating pathways within their operation to leadership and ownership. If an employee — family member or not — is interested, there's a way forward. "It's really been something that I've looked forward to growing up, that I have an opportunity to have a seat at the table," she said. You can read the articles mentioned in the episode here: Great Gift Ideas for Farmers (From Farmers!) 6 Gardening Gifts That'll Please Even the Pickiest Gardeners on Your List Are you interested in becoming a sponsor of the FarmHouse Podcast? Email [email protected]

This week on the FarmHouse, we're talking to Hannah Smith-Brubaker, executive director of Pasa Sustainable Agriculture. Smith-Brubaker also runs Juniata View Farm where she raises pastured Shetland sheep for fiber. Her farm is participating in Pasa's Soil Health Benchmark Study, which includes a variety of farms from conventional row crop operations to pasture-based dairies to organic vegetable producers. "I think the study is an example of the power of the Pasa community in that we are a big tent organization," Smith-Brubaker said. "If you want to engage in the sustainable agriculture conversation, we welcome you to the table." Smith-Brubaker has a long resume in the ag sector including serving as Pennsylvania's deputy secretary of agriculture and testifying before Congress on sustainable agriculture. "I love being a part of agriculture," she said. "I hope that every endeavor I have for the rest of my life has some connection to agriculture." As Pasa's executive director, Smith-Brubaker is gearing up for the organization's annual conference that runs this year from Feb. 5 to 7 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The event, with speakers and over 80 sessions, attracts attendees with a variety of ag interests and backgrounds. "I know what it's like to be the only woman in the room," Smith-Brubaker said. "I want to make sure that every person who's in the room feels like they can step up to the table and have their voice be heard." Learn more about the Sustainable Agriculture Conference, Feb 5 -7, 2025, in Lancaster, Pa. Listen here: You can read the article mentioned in the episode here: Could Algae Be the Next Big Crop?   Are you interested in becoming a sponsor of the FarmHouse Podcast? Email [email protected]

This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we're talking with Shanelle Lee, co-owner of Heritage Tree Farm in Rothsville, Pennsylvania. For the past 15 years, Lee has farmed four varieties of Christmas trees with her family: blue spruce, concolor fir, Douglas fir and Fraser fir. She acknowledged that Christmas tree farming comes with unique challenges, starting with the length of time it takes to grow a tree until it's ready for sale. Many customers don't realize that it's not as simple as planting a tree and leaving it alone to grow for a few years. "(It's) seven to 10 years of us fertilizing and using herbicide and trimming and mowing around it. So, a lot of work goes into that one little Christmas tree that goes into someone's home," she said. Forecasting for the future can be difficult as well, starting with the fact that trees must be ordered before the farm starts selling for the season. "You have to order your trees in the fall, so you don't really know how many you're needing to plant in the spring," she said, adding that it's impossible to predict how conditions like drought and wet seasons might impact harvests nearly a decade in the future. On top of that, the window to make a profit on the farm's crop of trees is short. "It's very difficult when you have a month to make all your income," Lee said. "Even though you make money for one month a year, you have to spend money pretty much every month of the year." It may be challenging, but Heritage Tree Farm has found success, which Lee credits to trial and error and the help of the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association. The farm provides a combination of precut trees and the option to cut your own. Due to rising demand, visitors must now book appointments for the cut-your-own experience, which is limited to just one weekend each season. Lee understands why people still get excited to cut their own trees, even if it requires a little extra effort. "I think it is a magical part of the season because it allows you to feel a little bit rustic and a little bit like a farmer," she said. "It's a time that you get to be outdoors with your family. You get to pick a tree together, drink some hot chocolate and enjoy a little bit of farmland. It feels nostalgic." More Info You can find the article on food safety for your pets here: Can My Dog Eat Turkey? Holiday Dishes That Are Unsafe for Pets You can find the recipe for Steph's tomato pie here: Indulge Your Sweet Tooth With These 10 Must-Try Pie Recipes Go to our TikTok to watch Steph making the tomato pie and the Lancaster Farming team trying it.