The Regenaissance Podcast

Ep 120: Mike Callicrate
Mike Callicrate runs Ranch Foods Direct and Callicrate Beef out of Colorado Springs and St. Francis, Kansas. He built a fully vertically integrated operation involving raising cattle, slaughtering on-site, cutting, and selling direct to consumers. Our conversation follows his life story from his childhood on a small Colorado farm, a rodeo scholarship that led him into an animal science degree, and years running large-scale feedlots before he became one of ten ranchers who sued major meatpacker IBP in 1996 over market manipulation, a case that ended in a $1.28 billion jury verdict the judge later overturned.
We get into why that loss pushed him to stop selling livestock and start selling meat instead, how Ranch Foods Direct's on-site slaughter facility, composting system, and bone char/biochar production work together, and the economics that separate a small direct-to-consumer operation from an industrial one. 
Key topics
- From rodeo and animal science to building and later rejecting industrial feedlots
- The 1996 lawsuit against IBP, the overturned $1.28 billion verdict, and the Packers and Stockyards Act
- How producers' share of the consumer dollar collapsed since 1970
- Fraud, political influence, and market consolidation
What "pink slime" and lean finely textured beef actually are
- The grass-fed/grass-finished labelling problem 
- Declining Ogallala Aquifer levels and what it means for ranching's future
- Building local maker-owned marketplaces as an alternative to scaling up
Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro + backstory: rodeo, animal science degree, early feedlots
6:00 – Building industrial feedlots, growing concerned with market concentration
12:00 – Decision to sue IBP, being blackballed by buyers
18:00 – The lawsuit's path to trial and the $1.28B verdict
30:00 – The judge's reversal + Packers and Stockyards Act explained
36:00 – Shifting from selling livestock to selling meat direct
44:00 – Building the on-site slaughter facility and circular waste model
52:00 – The "story of the steer" and producers' lost share of the consumer dollar
1:02:00 – Scaling down vs. scaling up: why direct/local beats commodity
1:10:00 – COVID, empty shelves, and the case for local food resilience
1:18:00 – Batista brothers, JBS, and meatpacking consolidation
1:28:00 – What pink slime is and how it's made
1:38:00 – Grass-fed/grass-finished labeling and imported beef
1:46:00 – Ogallala Aquifer decline and water scarcity
1:52:00 – Vision for maker-owned marketplaces and local food hubs

Find out more: 
https://www.mikecallicrate.com/
The Regenaissance Podcast explores the people, farms, and ideas rebuilding our food system from the ground up.

Matthew runs Cottage Pastures on 26 acres in Switzerland County, Indiana, raising pigs, chickens, cattle, and sheep alongside garlic and herbs - everything sold under the name is raised on the farm itself. He and his wife bought the property in 2022 and built it up from a homesteading project into a full working farm. 
Our conversation centers on garlic: despite ideal growing conditions across the Midwest, most garlic sold in the U.S. is imported, and a soil-borne fungal disease can make land unable to grow garlic for 20 to 40 years once it takes hold. This is a risk Cottage Pastures is now soil-testing to get ahead of. We talk through how the farm accidentally ended up growing 20-plus garlic varieties, why the economics of commodity crops crowd out specialty ones like garlic, and what it costs to raise and ship chicken nationwide as a direct-to-consumer farm. 
Matthew also gets into why pre-orders rather than outside financing keep the farm's cash flow working, how he decides what to raise or cut as the operation grows, and what it looks like to raise kids alongside farm work without compelling them to help.
Key topics:
- Why most U.S. garlic and herbs are imported despite favorable growing conditions
- A soil-borne fungal disease that can end garlic production on a piece of land for decades
- How Cottage Pastures accidentally became a 20-plus variety garlic farm
- The real cost of raising and processing chicken for direct-to-consumer sale
- Grass-fed and grass-finished labeling: domestic vs. imported
- Deciding what to raise, expand, or cut as the farm scales
- Raising kids on the farm without compelling their help
- Plans for a 2027 regional farm-share model in Cincinnati/Louisville
Timestamps
0:00 – Intro + catch-up, farm rebrand to Cottage Pastures 
2:30 – Why the family moved to Switzerland County, Indiana 
15:00 – Daily schedule: full-time job plus farm work 
19:00 – Garlic harvest race against incoming rain 
27:00 – Cost of shipping meat nationwide 
31:00 – Why most U.S. herbs and garlic are imported 
44:00 – How the farm ended up with 20-plus garlic varieties 
48:00 – Fungal disease risk and soil testing plans 
58:00 – Real cost of raising and processing chicken 
1:07:00 – Grass-fed and grass-finished: domestic vs. imported 
1:12:00 – Deciding what to raise, expand, or cut 
1:16:00 – Plans for a 2027 regional farm-share program 
1:19:00 – Raising kids on the farm 
1:26:00 – Closing thoughts on local food and staying hopeful
Links:
https://cottagepastures.com/about/
https://www.instagram.com/cottagepastures/
https://www.facebook.com/CottagePastures/?ref=PROFILE_EDIT_xav_ig_profile_page_web#
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-6-interview-with-carissa-a-year-in-review/id1700604702?i=1000628016269
The Regenaissance Podcast explores the people, farms, and ideas rebuilding our food system from the ground up.

Joel Hollinsworth runs Smoke River Ranch in Oklahoma, where he's built a herd-share community of about 40 families co-owning cattle together - a model that's taken his herd from 15 animals to 425 in four years. But, this could all be taken away, as he's fighting two subpoenas from the Oklahoma Department of Securities on claims his shares are unregistered financial securities. In this episode, Joel breaks down exactly how that herd-share structure works economically, and then walks through the legal fight he's currently in.
He gets into why that claim doesn't hold up, who's helping him fight it (including USDA's Brooke Rollins' office and the American First Policy Institute), how they're fighting it, and what's at stake for other ranchers running similar models. Ultimately, this challenge threatens not only Joel's ranch, but the broader idea that people should be able to support and participate in local food systems without facing unnecessary regulatory burdens or government overreach.
We also talk through the broader pattern of regulatory overreach in agriculture, and close with Joel's advice for young people looking to get into ranching - namely, don't try to do it alone.
Key topics
How the herd-share model works (co-ownership, calf splits, time horizons)
The Oklahoma securities subpoenas and the case against them
Legal support and path forward (Rollins' office, state legislation)
Advice for young ranchers on doing this in community
Timestamps

0:00 – Intro + catch-up
2:00 – Herd-share model origins
5:00 – Scaling to 425 head + genetics program
13:00 – First subpoena
17:30 – Second subpoena, securities claim explained
21:30 – Why it's not a security
26:00 – Comparisons to other ag regulatory fights
31:00 – Legal support and path forward
47:30 – Herd-share financials + time horizons
58:30 – Advice for young ranchers + close
Connect with Joel
Support Joel's Gofundme
Smoke River Ranch Website
Herdshares
Apply for Herdshares
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Francine is a farmer, mom of four, and co-founder of the Mulberry Tree App - a farm-to-fork platform that lets consumers buy ingredients directly from local farms, with no listing fees, no middleman, and no data selling. She and her husband built it from scratch, self-funded, while navigating mold illness, alpha-gal syndrome in their family, and a bunch of scammers! They launched the app in January 2025.
We talk through how the app works, why convenience is the real barrier between consumers and local farms, and what it actually takes to build something like this without outside funding or corporate backing. Enjoy :)
What we talk about:
- How the Mulberry Tree App works - farm-to-fork recipes, local farmer discovery, 24/7 farmers market
- Why they don't charge farmers listing or marketing fees
- Facebook censorship of farm products during COVID and why it pushed them to build their own platform
- The grassroots marketing approach: vendor events, merchandise, one-on-one outreach
- Alpha-gal syndrome - what it is, how misinformation is hurting people, and why the app has 300+ alpha-gal-safe recipes
- Mold illness, raising four kids on a farm, and the tribulations behind building the business
- The case for food sovereignty and why 77 farms closing per day is a national problem
Timestamps:
0:00 — Intro
1:10 — What is the Mulberry Tree App?
6:45 — How it handles the convenience problem for consumers
12:00 — The origin story - a dream, a husband, and no coding experience
18:30 — Facebook censorship and why decentralization matters
26:00 — Grassroots marketing: vendor events, shirts, 400 downloads in two weeks
32:00 — Consumer patterns and what makes the app experience different
39:00 — The town square, courses, live animal listings, and cottage industry sellers
47:00 — Growing up on farms, moving to Arkansas, raising kids outside the system
54:00 — Mold illness, alpha-gal, and the year their son was on steroids
1:04:00 — Why most businesses fail and why they didn't
1:09:00 — Final thoughts: know your farmer, know your food
How to Support Francine:
Download the app via their website
Connect with her via X

Ashley Armstrong is a first-generation regenerative farmer and co-founder of Strong Sistas, a health platform born out of her own autoimmune diagnosis. She built Angel Acres Farm in Southwest Michigan from the ground up, producing corn- and soy-free eggs, and went on to found Nourish Food Club - a cooperative network of small regenerative farms supplying clean, transparently raised food directly to families.

What We Cover
How Ashley went from graduate school to building a regenerative farm from scratch
Why conventional chicken and pork now have a fatty acid profile closer to seed oils than real meat
The 100-year shift in dietary fats and what it's doing to human metabolism
How Nourish Food Club is reviving the farm cooperative model to support small farmers
The bureaucratic bullying small farms face daily - and why the system is designed against them
Timestamps

00:00 – Ashley's health crisis and path to farming
06:30 – Building Angel Acres from scratch
13:00 – Lessons from 12 years of competitive golf
18:45 – How Nourish Food Club works
26:00 – Why cheap and quality food can't coexist
33:30 – The 100-year shift away from saturated fat
42:00 – How corn and soy changed pork and chicken
49:30 – Phytonutrients in pasture-raised meat
56:00 – Why grocery labels are meaningless
01:03:00 – The problem with indoor farming
01:09:30 – Bureaucratic bullying and the jerky incident
01:17:00 – Why small farm costs are structurally higher
01:28:00 – Where consumers can start
Links
Website
Instagram
YouTube
Regenaissance YouTube Channel

About The Podcast: The Regenaissance Podcast explores the people, farms, and ideas rebuilding our food system from the ground up.