Women Land and Food

The Legacy of Place

If you know the work of Wendell Berry, you’ll recognize immediately the depth and expertise of his daughter, Mary Berry, our final guest for season one. For those new to his work, welcome to the seamless unfolding of Wendell Berry’s writing and thinking, into the deeply lived experience of his daughter. Mary takes Wendell’s life’s work to the world, in practice and perpetuity, through The Berry Center’s several projects, and as a center for living history. Documenting her family’s work while almost a century of small shareholder farms were systematically erased by our government and corporate ag, The Berry Center Library houses the papers of Wendell Berry, and generations of the Berry family, who worked and legislated on behalf of these same farmers. Though now repealed, those laws created predictability for farmers, stabilized prices, and left the ceiling of profitability wide open for free markets, all while protecting the supply chain for eaters and consumers, a win-win-win-win for us all. Our Home Place Meats is a model for how these powerful practices can be replicated through volunteer structures - though difficult, farms and farmers can still choose this practical solution set. Lastly, the Farm and Forest Institute is a school for mastering the essentials of practical, sustainable farming. From a hyper-local and deeply grounded perspective, Mary shares expert views that have a national and global scope. Her vantage point helps us tie together some of the most significant themes we’ve encountered in our inaugural season — and we are honored to share this conversation with you.

New Images of Farming

Episode 7 guest Chiara Hollender reveals how her deep connection to the land helped her clarify her passion for storytelling — and ultimately give herself permission to pursue her gift in a way that is life-giving and sustainable. That clarity has blossomed into something powerful for both us and the world: Chiara now directs and produces the documentary series Women of the Earth through her production company, Summer Moon Productions, in partnership with PBS Digital. Listen with us as this food-loving, garden-growing Vermonter, shares the unfolding life of a filmmaker and storyteller. She also tells beautiful stories of her grandmother’s Persian cooking! Chiara is committed to finding and sharing the stories of women creating solutions to climate change, through both ancient and innovative land and sea practices. In a critically important and different way, she shares these stories in the first person, allowing each woman she showcases to speak for herself and have her own voice amplified. In this she powerfully changes up narratives; expanding our intuitive recognition of roles women play in securing our food, wearing farmer overalls, healing the Earth, and innovating in science.

Loss and Leading

Catharine Noel, our Episode 6 guest, is an inspiring and generous leader, with a quiet authority born of lived experience. From her earliest days she has boldly embraced adventure, hard work, and choices that honor her heart. With characteristic, unfailing generosity, Catharine takes us through her quietly extraordinary life so far; from hilarity to heartbreak, through resolve and resilience, learned wisdom in love, and the courage required to choose a life of adventure. Fueled by her keen appetite for life, Catharine generously offers our listeners inspiration and encouragement. Her early faithfulness to her unfolding passions took her to Minnesota, where she began her culinary career. She studied, and later taught, at the famed Le Cordon Bleu. She was a chef at the beloved Lucia’s Restaurant, the “Chez Panisse of Minneapolis”, until it closed in 2017. All this while owning and operating an alfresco dining and learning center on her hobbyist farm, called The Roost. Currently, Catharine is the pastry chef at the Swift House Inn in Middlebury, VT, earning her master gardener certification, and recently joined the board of the renowned Clemmons Family Farm.

Brave Heart

At first glance, being a priest and a farmer may not seem like a life on the edge. Until you hear how our Episode 5 guest, Rachel Field, does it! Rachel walks us through what it’s like to inhabit two roles that, for millennia, were primarily controlled by men. Hear where compassion and courage can call us, and where deep empathy and connection with nature can lead. If you practice a traditional religion, you’ll be encouraged in your practice. If you find your spirituality in nature, you’ll be encouraged in your path. If you look to connection with your fellow humans across time and generations, you’ll be encouraged in your pursuits. Rachel helps open us to new understandings and tools to look for wisdom. Most of all, we take on realities so largely invisible to most of us in this country, but so shockingly vivid in other crisis-torn parts of our world - our very real dependence on food, and what can happen to our souls when we reconnect most honestly with that physical dimension of life. Find rest, connection, compassion and a bigger world, in Episode 5.

Farm to Cone

Since the beginning of time, farming has been a family business. With Episode 4 guest, Becky Castle, we get a glimpse of how that reality plays out in a modern family. In these “modern” times, it’s rarely enough for farmers just to farm. Almost all farmers have another income layer to make farming possible. For many, it’s an “off-farm” job — so they can do the real job, the harder job, the one that keeps their home and land in the family — farming. Becky and her husband, Bob, knew this when they came home to a family farm. So they chose ice cream as the value add! Their astute and fun-loving approach launched them into the challenges of adding industry to hard work. In this episode we see the innovations and adaptations their business requires, and the sweet outcomes it yields, for a business and a family. The Castle family’s dedication, cooperation and very hard work is a fascinating story - and make sure you listen till the end, for the real “sisters” bringing the anarchy (that is actually very well and beautifully organized chaos) when left to their own devices!