The Good Dirt: Sustainability Explained

A few weeks ago, we sat down with Jill Demers and couldn't stop talking...so, we came back for part 2!
In this episode, we dig into the economics of small farming in America, and why the deck has been stacked against it for decades. Jill lays out the numbers plainly — most small farms operate at a loss, propped up by off-farm income, in a system that was never designed to sustain them. We talk about commodity crops, genetically modified seed, the vertical integration of the food industry, and what "get big or get out" actually did to the farms that used to feed us directly.
But this isn't a doom-and-gloom conversation. Jill's real subject is reconnection, what she calls "farm hospitality," and what we'd call remembering something our bodies never really forgot. Because underneath all of it is the same idea Jill's been chasing for over twenty years: food is our deepest connection to nature, and the fracture in that relationship is costing us more than we realize...in our health, our communities, and our sense of belonging to the land under our feet.
In this episode:
Why 86% of U.S. farms are classified as "small" — and why most of them lose money every year
How the "get big or get out" model took hold after WWII, and what it replaced
What a commodity crop actually is (and why that field of corn you're driving past isn't headed to anyone's dinner table)
The vertical integration of seed, chemical inputs, and distribution — and why it locks small farmers out
Genetically modified corn, glyphosate, and what it means for our gut health
Jill's concept of "farm hospitality" as a way to reconnect people to their food — and why many farmers resist it
The disappearance of farmland to development and, increasingly, to solar leases
Food deserts and systemic inequity on reservation land in Montana
Why Jill encourages people to "start at the top of the food chain" (and what that means)
The cultural narrative that food should be cheap — and why that narrative is doing real damage
How much less of our income goes to food today than it did in the 1950s, and what filled that gap
The "60 harvests" figure from Kiss the Ground — and what it means for how much time we actually have
Why Jill believes consumer dollars, not policy, will be what shifts the system first

Resources & Links Mentioned:
ReWild Ranch — Jill Demers' regenerative farm, glamping, and retreat space in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana
Kiss the Ground — documentary on regenerative agriculture and soil health, source of the "60 harvests" statistic
Listen to Part One: "Food As Our Deepest Connection to Nature with Jill Demers of ReWild Ranch" (Ep. 238)

We'd love to hear from you.
Has your own relationship to food or farming shifted this year, the way Mary's and Emma's has? Where do you land on "starting at the top of the food chain"? Send us a message or leave us a voicemail — we always love hearing what the good dirt means to you.
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community
Visit Our Website
Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram
Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you!
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer. The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.
🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:
Wendy Gray

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Our guest today on this week's episode is Julie Brams — an earth-centered psychotherapist, certified forest therapy guide, meditation teacher, and the author of The Nature-Embedded Mind: How the Way We Think Can Heal Our Planet and Ourselves. Julie states that her work is in helping restore the human mind to its rightful place within the living world. She is also co-founder of Elemental, an earth-centered learning community helping participants heal the division between humans and the rest of nature. This is a rich, unhurried conversation — the kind you might want to take on a walk, or sit with under a tree. We hope it meets you right where you are.
In This Episode
Julie's path from 34 years as a licensed marriage and family therapist into earth-centered psychotherapy and forest therapy guiding
Why she moved away from the term "ecopsychology" to "earth-centered" and "re-rooting."
The idea of "the rest of nature" — and how this small language shift addresses the human/nature divide
How Western civilization's model of extraction and domination differs from cultures built on kinship and reciprocity
The historical roots of mind/body/earth separation — from ancient Greek philosophy through Descartes and the Enlightenment
Why our bodies "cannot be separate from Earth" — from the air we exchange with plants to the physiological toll of space travel
Gloria Steinem's phrase "linked, not ranked" as an alternative to hierarchy
The story of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight and the moment it reshaped Julie's thinking about sustainability
What forest therapy actually looks like in practice — and Julie's own humbling first encounter with a tree
A story about a jumping spider that became an unexpected lesson in love versus ownership
Reflections on grief, reciprocity, and the idea that the more-than-human world may be missing us as much as we miss it
Language, indigenous wisdom, and the book Sand Talk as a guide to non-divisive ways of thinking
Why unlearning this division is, in Julie's words, "a group effort"
Resources & Links Mentioned
The Nature-Embedded Mind: How the Way We Think Can Heal Our Planet and Ourselves by Julie Brams (2026 Nautilus Gold Award winner)
Elemental, the Earth-Centered Learning Community co-founded by Julie Brams
The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, where Julie was certified as a guide
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartmann
Molecules of Emotion by Candace Pert
Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta
Paul Hawken, author of Carbon: The Book of Life— referenced from a past Good Dirt conversation
EcoCiv, an organization promoting earth-centered culture and economy
A Note From Mary
If this conversation stirred something in you — a longing, a memory, a small ache of recognition — we'd love to hear about it. Send us a note or leave us a voicemail. And if you try Julie's simple invitation this week (find a tree, sit with it for twenty minutes, see what happens), tell us how it goes.
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community
Visit Our Website
Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram
Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you!
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer. The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.
🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:
Wendy Gray

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This episode initially aired on June 19th, 2021

We have a special bonus episode for you this week in celebration of our newest national holiday-- Juneteenth! Mary and Emma reunite with author, historian and farmer Tony Cohen for an exploration into the history of Juneteenth and the holiday’s complex folklore and origins. Tony takes us back in time to examine how this monumental declaration of freedom spread in a variety of ways depending on the geographic, economic and social landscape of the time.
Mary, Emma and Tony pause to reflect upon what freedom means and looks like in the modern era and why society continues to resist a hard look at injustice. Tony points to how altering behavior can feel like giving up our own freedoms and comforts and reminds us that the fair trade movement has deeply historic roots. He also reflects upon the transition from enslavement to the tenant farming system and points to how that system affects us still today. The trio grapples with some hard truths about freedom itself and acknowledges the work still left to be done. 
Tony shares how he celebrates Juneteenth at Button Farm and rejoices in community as he reflects upon the precious ability to gather and take new found enthusiasm into the world. 
 
Let’s get into the episode:
1:30 - Emma introduces this week’s special episode
3:00 - Tony Cohen on the history of Juneteenth
15:00 - The transition into freedom
20:00 - The shift to “waged” labor and the evolution of slavery
28:00 - Fair trade
31:00 - Local emancipation
41:00 - Celebrating Juneteenth
42:30 - The happenings at Button Farm
48:00 - Creating Community
 
Things Mentioned: 
Button Farm
Oprah’s visit 
The Menare Foundation
HipCamp - Camp at Button Farm 
Anthony Cohen
The Good Dirt - Episode 31 
The AG Reserve - Montgomery County 
The Underground railroad in Montgomery County, Maryland: A history and driving guide
Juneteenth becomes a federal holiday 
Lift Every Voice and Sing
DC Emancipation Day 
Montgomery County Historical Society 
13th Amendment 
14th Amendment
15th Amendment

Stay in touch & keep the conversation going:
Have thoughts on this episode? A question for Mary and Emma? We'd love to hear from you — send us a message at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 443-459-1950. Tell us what the good dirt means to you.
And stay tuned — Jill and Mary and Emma have so much more to explore together. Part Two is coming.
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community
Visit Our Website
Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram
Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you!
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer. The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.
🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:
Wendy Gray

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Jill Demers is the founder of ReWild Ranch in Montana, a one-of-a-kind regenerative farm, wellness destination, and educational space, rooted in the one question she's been asking for over two decades: Why are Americans so disconnected from their food — and at what cost? As a regenerative farmer and certified nutrition therapy practitioner, Jill has built ReWild as an answer to that question — a place where the farm is the center point, and guests leave changed in ways that they will never forget.
This conversation is rich, wide-ranging, and deeply resonant with everything Lady Farmer stands for. It's also the kind of talk that makes you want to go outside and put your hands in the dirt.
In this episode, you'll hear about:
Mary's return to growing her own vegetables — tomatoes, seeds, and all — as she and Emma transition away from their longtime CSA
Emma's reflections on joining a new CSA and what food rhythms look like in a young family
Jill's origin story: childhood memories of fresh-shucked corn, a lifelong obsession with food and ecology, and graduate school research on the Dust Bowl
What ReWild Ranch is — a regenerative farm, glamping destination, and women's retreat space in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana
The three ways guests can experience ReWild, from passive glamping to immersive hands-on workshops and women's retreats
How Jill's son Alder's autism diagnosis became the catalyst for her deep dive into nutrition therapy — and how dietary and lifestyle changes led to the eventual loss of his clinical diagnosis
The Dust Bowl: what caused it, what it revealed about soil health and industrial agriculture, and why Jill argues we may be living through something even more catastrophic today
Glyphosate, the gut microbiome, and the parallel between soil health and human health
The "60 harvests" statistic — where it comes from and what it means for the future of food
Why Jill believes feeding the world is not America's job — and what a "checkerboard" model of small-scale agriculture could look like instead
The concept of "accidental education" and why ReWild is designed to connect people to food, nature, and each other in ways they can't unlearn
Wendell Berry, John Steinbeck, and the long literary tradition of writing about humanity's relationship with the land
The genuine constraints of local, seasonal eating vs the cultural reality of a food system that allows almost limitless food choices — and how to navigate that without guilt or rigidity
Resources & Links Mentioned:
ReWild Ranch — Jill's regenerative farm, glamping, and retreat space in Montana
Kiss the Ground — documentary film on regenerative agriculture and soil health
The Nature-Embedded Mind by Julia Plevin — mentioned by Mary; a psychotherapist's exploration of humanity's innate connection to nature
Zach Bush, MD — physician and researcher who speaks extensively on the shikimate pathway and glyphosate's effects on the microbiome
Wendell Berry — essayist and farmer whose writing on agriculture and community Mary has been revisiting
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck — Jill's graduate thesis subject; discussed as an early work of ecological criticism
My Story as Told by Water by David James Duncan — mentioned by Jill as a formative read
Stay in touch & keep the conversation going:
Have thoughts on this episode? A question for Mary and Emma? We'd love to hear from you — send us a message at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail at 443-459-1950. Tell us what the good dirt means to you.
And stay tuned — Jill and Mary and Emma have so much more to explore together. Part Two is coming.
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community
Visit Our Website
Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram
Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you!
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer. The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.
🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:
Wendy Gray

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week, in honor of International Compost Awareness Week, we're joined by Ben Parry, CEO of Compost Crew — a small but mighty business in the DC metropolitan area helping thousands of households and businesses turn their food waste into something good for the soil. Ben's story is a quiet revolution in itself: a journey from renewable energy to regenerative soil, from powering the grid to feeding the ground beneath our feet.
In this conversation, we dig into how composting is transforming what we throw away into a vital resource, the very real challenges of scaling community-based systems, and what it takes at the household, neighborhood, and policy level to shift our cultural relationship with food waste. Ben shares Compost Crew's growth from a small food-scrap hauler with a handful of customers to a regional force serving thousands of homes, the partnerships with local farms that bring composting full circle, and his vision for a future where dropping your food scraps into a compost bin is as ordinary as not littering on the highway.
It's a hopeful, grounded conversation about the patient work of building better systems one bucket, one alley, one farm at a time.
Main topics covered:
The evolution of composting in the Washington, DC metro area
The role of systemic infrastructure and community engagement in waste recycling
Strategies to overcome perceived barriers to food scrap composting
The importance of local, transparent food systems and grassroots momentum
Future developments in composting technology and policy
In this episode:
Ben introduces Compost Crew and its mission to keep food waste out of the landfill
The story of DC's curbside composting pilot and the ambitious plans to expand it citywide
Why systemic infrastructure and visibility matter when it comes to building participation
How social perception, education, and regulation shape compost adoption
The Compost Outpost model — bringing composting to local farms like One Acre Farm in Dickerson, MD
The ripple effects of crises like COVID-19 and global conflicts on recycling supply chains and the case for local self-reliance
The cultural shift needed to treat composting as everyday normalcy — much like the "Don't Be a Litterbug" campaigns of decades past
Future opportunities: composting in schools, hospitals, and wedding venues
Resources & Links Mentioned:
Compost Crew — Ben's company, serving the DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia region
Compost Outpost at One Acre Farm — The farm partnership model bringing composting full circle
BPI (Biodegradable Products Institute) — How to identify certified compostable bags and packaging
The Energy Switch by Peter Kelly-Detwiler — The book that shaped Ben's understanding of energy and resource transformation
Montgomery County Food Scraps Recycling — Local food scraps recycling programs and resources
Keep America Beautiful & "Don't Be a Litterbug" — The cultural campaign Ben references as a model for shifting norms

Connect with Compost Crew:
@_compostcrew
Listen, Subscribe & Share
If this episode stirred something in you, share it with a friend who's curious about composting — or who's still on the fence about that bucket on the counter. We'd love to hear your own composting story: email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or call our voicemail line at 443-459-1950 and tell us what the good dirt means to you. Your voice might just end up on a future episode.
🌻 About Lady Farmer:
Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community
Visit Our Website
Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram
Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you!
Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer. The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.
🌿 The Good Dirt Producers:
Wendy Gray

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy