The Good Dirt: Sustainability Explained

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

Spring has a way of pulling us back to the soil — and this season, Mary sat down with someone who has made the health of the soil and the well being of the pollinators and wildlife in her local ecosystem her first priority. Melanie Cutillo is the self-described Plant Wrangler in Chief at Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm in Mexico, New York, a backyard nursery nestled just east of Lake Ontario, where she grows native and wildflower plants entirely without plastic, peat, or synthetic inputs of any kind.

It was a cold January morning walk to the mailbox and a chance encounter with a dried circle of New England aster in the snow that sent Melanie on a quest to grow native plants. The result is a farm, a philosophy, and a way of tending the earth that she calls "Earth First Gardening."

This conversation is for every gardener who has ever come home from the nursery with a carload of beauty and a pile of plastic waste—wondering if there's a better way.

Melanie and Mary talk about what it really means to be not just a gardener, but a guardian of the earth’s abundance. Whether you have many acres or simply a front porch, a city window or a community garden plot, this episode will remind you that what matters is how we tend to the land we have.

In this episode, Mary and Melanie talk about:
What makes Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm different from a conventional nursery — small scale, field-grown plants, zero plastic, and a focus on local ecotype native species
The January morning that started it all: a circle of New England aster in the snow and a pair of tracks that changed everything
Why Melanie ditched plastic entirely — and how a 10-by-25-foot barn full of collected pots finally pushed her over the edge
The alternatives she found and invented: soil blocking, wool pots, burlap wrapping, and growing in native soil without bagged amendments or peat
Why avoiding peat matters and what's lost when we use it: carbon sequestration, living soil, and a non-renewable resource extracted from ancient bogs
The difference between a native plant and a nativar — and why it matters enormously to the pollinators and wildlife that depend on them
How to ask better questions at your local nursery: Where does the seed come from? Can I bring back my plastic pots? Do you grow from seed on site?
The concept of "tending" — and why you don't need land to do it. A street tree, a park path, a porch container can all be a place of care and relationship
Native hydrangeas, dahlias, echinacea, monarda, jewel weed, sweetgrass, and tulsi — stories of plant relationships that illuminate the beauty and intelligence of the natural world
Melanie's best tip for gardeners: make your seed list in July, at the height of the season, when you can see clearly what you have and what you truly need — then recycle the January catalog
The new paradigm: from consumer to guardian, from transaction to relationship, from gardener to grower of community

Resources & Links Mentioned:
Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm — Melanie's website, where you can also find wool pots for sale
Lazy Dirt Wildflower Farm on YouTube: youtube.com/lazydirtwildflowerfarm
Melanie's Substack: So Wild Garden — behind-the-scenes of growing a four-acre habitat garden
Garden Circles — Melanie's monthly Zoom gathering for gardeners; third Tuesdays at 6:30pm, with in-person farm gatherings during the growing season (find the link on her website)
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Wild Seed Project — native seed sourcing
Ernst Seeds — native seed supplier
Blossom and Branch Farm / Brianna Groh — inspiration for Melanie's no-till, native-soil approach
Mount Cuba Center — research on native plants and their relationship to wildlife
Mary Reynolds, previous Good Dirt guest, on the shift from "gardener" to "guardian"
Wool Pots — available on Melanie's website; made in Britain from wool that would otherwise be discarded

We'd love to hear from you!
Has this episode inspired you to try something different in your garden this season — a native plant, a plastic-free swap, or a new relationship with a tree on your street? We'd love to know. Send us an email at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com, or leave us a voicemail at 443-459-1950. Tell us what you're tending this spring.
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🌻 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

What happens when a listener writes in with the very questions your community is wrestling with? You invite her on the show.
Emily Hillman has spent 14 years in the fashion industry — from the artisan workrooms of Midtown Manhattan to the fast fashion corporate world. After purchasing a 19th-century farmhouse in rural New Jersey and becoming a mother, she found that her priorities had quietly shifted. Finding herself at a crossroads, Emily reached out to Mary and Emma, not looking for all the answers so much as a grounded, honest conversation. .
This is The Good Dirt's first interview back after a hiatus. Here we’re talking about the real tension so many of us feel: I want to live more simply, more slowly, more intentionally — but how do I actually do that in the life I'm already living?
If you've ever felt the push and pull between the values you hold and the demands of the world you live in, this episode will speak to you.
In this episode, we cover:
Emily's journey from Vermont roots to New York City fashion workrooms — and what she learned firsthand about the difference between artisan craftsmanship and fast fashion production
The "painful catch-22" of slow living: wanting a simpler life that costs money, while earning less because you're stepping back from the corporate grind
Why removing moral judgment from your daily purchasing decisions can actually free you to make more sustainable choices
Practical, accessible approaches to buying secondhand clothing for kids (and why our audience is already well ahead of the curve)
The economics of slow food: buying in bulk, finding local sources, joining a CSA, and why embracing constraints actually sparks creativity
Composting as one of the most powerful individual acts for the planet — and tips for making it work even in bear country
How small, cumulative changes add up — and why you're probably further along than you think
Book recommendations: Redefining Rich by Shannon Hayes, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, and Jen Sincero's You Are a Badass series
The concept of "blue sky thinking" — letting yourself imagine the life you want before the budget anxiety kicks in
Reconnecting with nature and the seasons as a compass for finding your authentic calling

Books & Resources Mentioned:
Redefining Rich by Shannon Hayes — [listen to our interview with Shannon here]
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
You Are a Badass and You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
Fibershed — a network for regional fiber systems and slow fashion
Local Harvest (for finding CSAs near you): localharvest.org

Want to chat with us? If Emily's story resonates with you — if you're somewhere in the middle of this same journey — we'd love to hear from you. Email us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 443-459-1950.
And if you're interested in joining our free, casual Slow Living Through the Seasons cohort, reach out to mary@ladyfarmer.com for the signup link.
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🌻 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