Posts by kfeterl
Season 3 Comes to a Close
Somehow we’ve already reached the end of our third season of Dirt Rich. This month we released two episodes with our staff, finishing out the year with some food for thought as folks plan for the next growing season. In Episode 61: What’s on your mind?, Jared Luhman, Doug Voss, Kent Solberg, and Jonathan Kilpatrick…
Read MoreConsults & Conferences
In this episode of Dirt Rich, Katie Feterl and Jared Luhman discuss SFA’s on-farm consulting offering, Give to the Max and SFA membership, and highlight two big upcoming events: Annual Conference and Midwest Soil Health Summit. Listen to Dirt Rich anywhere you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, YouTube, and on the SFA website.…
Read MoreDirt Rich: Wintering Cattle Roundtable
Winter can be the most expensive time to own a cow in the Midwest. As the season changes, we’re going back in the Dirt Rich archive to revisit a roundtable of five of our staff who also raise beef and dairy cows: Angie Walter, Jared Luhman, Doug Voss, Tyler Carlson, and Kent Solberg. Back in…
Read MoreSupporting Farmers and Giving to the Max
We’ve been the farmer-to-farmer network for over 30 years, and we know farmers learn best from other farmers. We also know that context is key. It can be challenging to return home from a workshop and figure out how to implement what you just learned! That’s why it’s important to us to be able to…
Read MoreSeeing the farm with fresh eyes
A wonderful aspect of our farmer-to-farmer network is the energy and idea generation that happens when we’re together. Sometimes getting a new set of eyes on a challenge that you’re experiencing can spur a sustainable solution. Beyond our group field days and workshops, SFA has a team of farmers that offer individualized, on-farm consulting to…
Read MoreSupport farmers like Kate, Amy, and Dayle
This Give to the Max season, our goal is to raise $15,000 for our on-farm consulting work. Community leaders have generously posted a $5,000 matching grant! Can you help us meet it? Give here! What’s an on-farm consult? Upon request, one or two of our farmer consultants spend several hours walking your farm to get the…
Read MoreDirt Rich: Enchanted Meadows – In Transition
Chad Crowley firmly believes that for those who want to get into dairy or farming in general, grazing is the way to go. That route has certainly gone well for him. He was told many times that he couldn’t find success in farming because he didn’t grow up on one. But today he and his…
Read MoreDirt Rich: Old Farm, New Visions
A new episode of Dirt Rich features farmer and SFA board member Scott Haase of Blue Earth, Minnesota. Haase grows crops with his brother Brent and raises pasture and woodland pork on Blue Dirt Farm. Their German ancestors “walked here from Wisconsin back in the 1860’s,” and they still farm some of the land where…
Read MoreComing Soon to Vergas: a Seed House
Earlier this year, Zachary Paige of North Circle Seeds and the Lake Agassiz Chapter got a lead from a friend on a grant opportunity from Ceres Trust. The deadline was coming up quickly, but he took a crack at a proposal. $25,000 could get the seed collective pretty close to covering the construction of a much…
Read MoreOrganic Pioneer: Carmen Fernholz
Carmen Fernholz, a pillar of Minnesota’s farming community, was recently honored with the Rodale Institute’s 2022 Organic Pioneer Award. Recognized for his leadership in “changing the landscape of regenerative organic agriculture for the better,” he is one of four recipients this year. Fernholz has long been a member of SFA, and even laid groundwork for the organization…
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