August 5, 2025 • 49 mins
In this episode of Regenerative Renegades, a little change of pace! While Matt Maier is busy on the farm, Melissa Larsen—his daughter and the show's producer—takes the host chair to interview Minnesota's media powerhouse, Elizabeth Ries.
Elizabeth has been co-hosting Twin Cities Live for 16 years and is a weekly contributor to Minnesota Live. She shares her passion for intentional living through her blog, Home to Homestead, and her podcast, Best to the Nest, where she explores how to bring your best self to your home life with her husband and their children. Beyond her media career, Elizabeth is a dedicated urban homesteader—growing her own food, raising chickens, composting, and cooking—all from her home in Minneapolis. She believes that every household, regardless of size or location, can embrace homesteading principles and live more sustainably.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to Regenerative Renegades.
In this episode, I'm delightedto welcome Elizabeth Reese, one
(00:21):
of Minnesota's most beloved andbold media personalities.
If you know about Elizabeth, youknow she's passionate about
understanding where her foodcomes from and what's in her
food and what's not in her food.
Case in point, she's been toThousand Hills Farm several
times doing her research.
(00:41):
As a mother, Elizabeth caresdeeply about providing for her
children with the best nutritionand teaching them food values
like farm to table andregenerative agriculture.
That's why for this episode, wehave a very special guest host,
my daughter, Melissa Larson.
She has also dedicated herprofessional life to public
(01:02):
health and nutrition.
It's her passion, along withparenting, much like Elizabeth,
so you know they'll have a lotin common and it'll be a great
conversation.
Hope you join us.
SPEAKER_02 (01:13):
Well, hello, Regenerative Renegades.
Welcome back to the RegenerativeRenegade podcast, where we are
talking to people focused onregenerative agriculture, guests
who are passionate and resilientpeople telling their stories of
trial, hope, resiliency.
And we are here with the amazingguest, Elizabeth Reese, who I
(01:36):
consider a local media Minnesotapowerhouse who has strong food
values and a wealth ofknowledge.
Elizabeth Reese has been theco-host of Twin Cities Live for
16 years, I think I just heard,and is a weekly contributor to
Minnesota Live.
(01:57):
Raised in Apple Valley, aMinnesota girl, Apple Valley
graduate.
And with all of that, she findstime to grow her own food,
raising chickens, composting,cooking in the city of
Minneapolis for more than adecade, living here in
Minneapolis.
She believes every home canincorporate some homesteading
(02:20):
principles, even if you have atiny yard, apartment, or
balcony.
She shares her adventures ingarden and kitchen on her blog,
Home to Homestead, and has apodcast called Best to the Nest,
bringing your best self to home.
Elizabeth is a proud parent tothree wonderful kiddos who I
just had the chance to meet, andshe shares her home with her
(02:43):
husband, Jay.
Welcome, Elizabeth.
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (02:47):
This is so fun.
It's kind of like interesting tohear all that stuff about
yourself.
You realize, wow, I do do allthat stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (02:53):
You are amazing.
Some
SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
days are better than others.
You're doing your best everyday.
That's the truth.
We can see it.
(03:27):
freedom to run is the bestthing.
SPEAKER_02 (03:30):
Well, they're city kids, but they understand
agriculture and food and wheretheir food comes from, which is
incredible.
So kudos to
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
you, mom.
Thank you.
They do.
That's a really important thingfor me.
It's an important value.
That is really the reason why wehave the chickens and the garden
and why we selfishly makefriends with farmers like you so
that I can be like, let's govisit.
Because I think...
That is just really one of ourcore values.
(03:57):
It's important to me.
It's important to my husband.
And they know where their foodcomes from.
They know what everything is.
We say our motto in our house isnobody works harder than a
farmer.
And so we really just have theutmost respect for what you and
your family does.
(04:17):
And it's just so important to meto not only share that with the
people who follow me on allsorts of different media areas,
but then to really integratethat into my home and how I
raise my children.
SPEAKER_02 (04:29):
What an honor.
Thank you.
Thank you for being here.
(04:59):
food journey.
How did you become soknowledgeable and engaged in
food and where your food'scoming from?
SPEAKER_01 (05:05):
Well, there's kind of, I mean, throughout my life,
there's been a few sort of ahamoments where I've, you know,
realized some things and thenmade some big shifts.
And one of them started, youknow, I grew up in the 80s and
90s in a real typical time whereI think a lot of our food was
from scratch.
And then it became cheaper andeasier to buy more convenience
(05:27):
food.
And so my parents definitely didthat.
But my parents were really biginto juicing.
They would juice.
They had an electric juicer onthe counter all the time.
And both of them lost parentsreally young to cancer.
So my mom's dad died at 48 ofcolon cancer.
My dad's mom died five daysbefore I was born of fallopian
(05:50):
tube cancer.
And I think, you know, myparents were really young.
I mean, they were in their young20s.
They really missed out on having– You know, we never got those
grandparents.
It was just a short relationshipwith those parents.
And so I think they sort oflooked at juicing as like this
insurance policy.
Like my mom was very intoreading about like alternative
(06:14):
cancer treatments and differentclinics in Mexico and Germany
and all these different things.
And so they sort of, even thoughI don't consider our, you know,
our diet to have been perfect byany means, I remember them
always like they would have thejuicer out and And it'd be first
we would start with apple carrotand then they would add a little
bit of greens and then theywould add some ginger.
(06:35):
And then it was just like youtake it down like a champ,
whatever they gave to you.
So that I think was was sort ofa core experience.
And then when I was in college.
I worked at Aveda part-time, andI just needed a job, and I
wanted a discount on products.
And so I got a job at Aveda, andthat was really interesting
(06:56):
because at that time, Aveda, Ithink there's still some values
there.
It's owned by Estee Lauder now,but it was owned by Horst
Ruckelbacher, who...
who is an Austrian native, butended up living much of his life
in Minnesota and was reallygroundbreaking.
And so much of the ethos of thatcompany was about, I remember
(07:20):
this book that you get when youfirst start working there and
one of his quotes was,everything we put in and on our
bodies must be nutritious andsafe.
And so they give you this bookand I thought, oh my gosh.
And I met people who workedthere who had that same value.
And that was a really big, shiftfor me when I started to really
(07:40):
pay attention and that was whenI was in college and then I'd
moved into my own apartment andso I started cooking I started
like understanding where foodcame from when I got to my first
job in television was in DuluthI was 21 years old I started as
a reporter and then I got themorning anchor gig six weeks in
and I had no idea what I wasdoing but I had to get up at 2
(08:02):
30 in the morning and I reallylearned how much what I ate and
like drank, like anything likethat, how much it contributed to
how I felt.
And I mean, it's just such ashock to have to wake up at that
hour and live your life andfunction.
And so that was another part ofjust learning like, okay, what
I'm putting in my body reallyimpacts me.
(08:23):
And then I read a couple ofbooks by John Robbins.
I had a boyfriend at the timewhose sister was vegan.
And he said, if you read thesebooks, you're probably going to
become vegan.
But it was Diet for a NewAmerica and the Food Revolution
And I'm not a point, it was likeall the co-ops were selling
(09:08):
tofu.
It was like veggie stuff.
And then it became just onething after another of just my
curiosity was just never ending.
And I became so curious and Ijust wanted to read everything
about food and learn.
Authors like Michael Pollan havebeen really influential on me
(09:32):
and learning about how foodimpacts us and how food impacts
the environment.
And then a lot of understandingthat maybe the narrative that we
have been told about what isgreat for the environment isn't
necessarily the truth.
And
SPEAKER_02 (09:45):
for our bodies
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
and for our food.
Yes, exactly.
And so it's been a long journeyand a long process.
And then just really getting toknow farmers.
I do remember as a kid, Growingup– and we grew up in the
suburbs, so we didn't grow uplike near farms or anything like
that.
And I remember going up tonorthern Wisconsin and staying
with my aunt and uncle, and myaunt took us to a farmer
(10:08):
friend's house, and we drankgoat milk, right?
Like literally milked the goatand drank the goat.
You know, milked it, drank it,and I was like, this is
unbelievable.
It's like a core memory for me.
And so it's just– Reallycontinued.
So I would say it's, you know,it's been well over 20 years of
like pretty intensive foodresearch.
SPEAKER_02 (10:29):
And it's all based on curiosity.
SPEAKER_01 (10:31):
All based on
SPEAKER_02 (10:31):
curiosity.
All based on curiosity.
Yeah.
Starting with a juicer.
I know.
And I think it's interesting youmentioned vegan and vegetarians
and those lifestyles.
Yeah.
What I find when I start havingconversations with people who
have those food values andchoose to become vegan or
vegetarian, we actually have alot in common.
Yes.
Because we care.
(10:52):
We care about what's happeningto the animals.
We care about what's happeningto people, our bodies.
We care deeply about, firstourselves probably, but then
beyond that and animal welfare.
And there's so many similaritiesin kind of regenerative
agriculture and And vegan,veganism, if that's a word.
SPEAKER_01 (11:13):
It is.
I think it's like a religion.
I mean, it's a whole thing.
But,
SPEAKER_02 (11:19):
you know, it's interesting because we, you
know, we are here raisingcattle.
We have grass fed beef, butthere are so many animals.
you know, when you start havingthose conversations, really
common ground
SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
there.
I totally agree.
There's, I mean, really when itcomes down to the core, for me,
it was about animal welfare andI cared more about the animal
welfare than I did about my own.
And, um, And I think that'sprobably true for a lot of
vegans and vegetarians who wouldsay, like, I want to sacrifice
what probably is, I know, is anutrient-dense food, but I want
(11:52):
to do that in the name ofwelfare.
Right.
For animals, I think it justgets a little bit wonky in terms
of execution, in my opinion.
For sure.
For sure.
Yeah.
Not interested in a BeyondBurger over here, I'll just say
it.
SPEAKER_02 (12:05):
Absolutely right.
Yeah.
Yes.
I think there's all kinds ofinteresting studies.
We don't need to go too far downthat path, but comparing certain
non-meat burgers with grass-fedbeef and the nutritional values.
So there's a lot to be saidthere.
And then who knows what else isin there from a chemical
(12:29):
compound
SPEAKER_01 (12:30):
perspective.
For sure.
Yeah.
And it really, to me, it's aboutlike, let's cut through the
noise and let's get more simple.
Let's just get...
to the base of what's good andutilize that.
I mean, we've justovercomplicated food so much.
We've industrialized,centralized, and overcomplicated
(12:50):
to a point where it's killingus.
And that's not an exaggerationto say that because you can look
at the statistics and I don'thave to have an MD behind my
name to be able to say that.
It is a real crisis.
SPEAKER_03 (13:01):
It
SPEAKER_01 (13:02):
is.
And the simplification isactually a really beautiful
thing.
I was just talking with thefounders of a cool cereal
company yesterday, and they'rejust doing something totally
different.
They left a major cerealmanufacturer and said, we don't
want to do this anymore.
We want to make somethingdifferent.
And I was discussing with theseguys kind of their journey, and
(13:23):
I was like so curious about it.
We were talking about how peoplecan get really overwhelmed with
the idea of shifting their dietinto what I like to call a
nutrient-dense philosophy oreating philosophy.
And But I've actually found itreally liberating because when I
go to the grocery store or a lotof my food dollars I spend
(13:47):
directly with farmers.
So I'll have certain farms, somethings I go pick up, some things
I get delivered to my house.
And then I certainly go to thegrocery store just like any
normal person.
But when you look in the aisleof anything, We are overwhelmed
with choices.
It's almost like paralysis levelwhere you stand there and you're
(14:07):
like, there's 45 yogurts.
Like, what are we doing?
There's so many things here.
And so...
And cereals, for that example.
Crackers, pastas, all thethings.
And when you really clearlydefine your food values and you
know...
which producers and brands alignwith those food values, it's
(14:27):
actually so freeing because I goin and I go, okay, I'm either
choosing between this pasta orthis pasta and that's it.
I'm getting this yogurt or thisyogurt and that's it.
I'm getting these eggs andthat's it because you know that
these are the ones that alignwith your food values.
I'd love to have it where I wentin and everything just aligned
because I think that would makeour system a lot better.
(14:48):
But in the meantime, instead ofthinking of it as this
overwhelming thing mountain toclimb, you can think of it as, I
just have fewer choices.
That is great.
SPEAKER_02 (14:58):
And so you're really far down that journey of
defining your food values,knowing where they are by food
category.
But what about somebody who'sthinking about, hey, I just need
to start somewhere?
Where do you recommend to start?
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
Well, I think starting local is really
important.
I think if you can startlocal...
and that can sort of be yourfirst food value, that really
cuts through the clutter becauseyou can choose where you're
shopping and what you're buying,and you can really contribute to
a decentralized food system.
I mean, I don't think anybodywould say, except for these
(15:33):
giant producers, that it's agreat idea to have a handful of
meatpacking buildings and that'sit in the entire country because
you see what happens when theyshut down or there's a problem
or there's something and when weare so heavily relying on just
one operation that operation hasessentially a monopoly and then
(15:54):
can get away with a ton ofmaltreatment of workers of the
environment they're too powerfulso thinking about local is great
and then you're immediatelycutting out stuff getting
shipped a really long distanceyou are You're saying miles.
(16:38):
choosing the one that's localversus not makes a really big
difference.
And then I think defining yourfood values is important.
I think defining your values inyour household is important for
all sorts of things.
We all think about that.
We look at like, okay, what'sour values for the schools that
we're going to send our kids to?
(16:58):
What are our spiritual practicesgoing to be?
And what are those values?
And food is something that'salmost...
overlooked in those other twoareas.
SPEAKER_02 (17:09):
Yeah.
At home and outside of
SPEAKER_01 (17:11):
the home.
Yes, for sure.
I mean, I grew up in the church.
My dad was a Lutheran minister.
Nobody talked about food valueswhen it came to churches.
And I think it's like a whitespace.
It's empty because it'ssomething that is so huge in
terms of our bodies and How canwe be mentally well if we're not
(17:32):
feeding our bodies well?
It's very difficult.
It's a foundational need foreverything.
Have you tried to survive off oflike cupcakes and cocktails for
a weekend?
You're not going to feel verygood.
And we all know that.
Try it.
You'll see.
It's not great.
So defining what your foodvalues are is important.
And maybe some of that is, Imean, it certainly, I think, can
(17:56):
be nutrient density.
It certainly can be makingthings from scratch, animal
welfare should be significant inthere.
And then as you start to makethose decisions about, okay,
what's important to us here,then you can make your buying
choices accordingly.
SPEAKER_02 (18:12):
Right, right.
And I think that's a greatpoint, local, starting there.
And then with that, ideally, orhopefully, those farmers or
local producers will be open tohaving you come in.
Maybe not always, but at leastyou can be comfortable asking or
(18:33):
saying, hey, can I see what'shappening here?
Or start asking questionsbecause then they become real
people.
SPEAKER_03 (18:40):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (18:40):
You know, there's people tied and associated with
the food and their livelihooddepends on you, us, purchasing
that food.
Totally.
Yeah.
And just I think peopleunderestimate the power that
they have in the dollar and whatthey're spending.
And it matters.
Spending a couple extra cents onanything, a couple pounds of
(19:03):
ground beef or your produce, andyou can and you could taste the
difference.
Kind of we like to say the wayfood was, but you can taste it
and you can you can.
it almost, it triggers a certainnostalgia sometimes when you
have high quality, nutrientdense foods.
(19:25):
And then your point of beinglocal you can make those
connections or do what you do.
The perfect role model ofbringing your kids and having
them see and experience what'sgoing on and making this a
community.
SPEAKER_01 (19:40):
Yeah, having those relationships is important.
And your dad said something thatI thought was really important.
Last time we were here and wedid an interview with him, And I
said, is it, you know, do youwant people to know your farmer?
And he said, it's not enough toknow your farmer.
You need to know your farmer'spractices.
And I was like, wow.
What is happening there?
It even pushes it even furtherbecause I'm kind of Minnesota
(20:00):
nice and I'm thinking like,well, I don't want to intrude.
And he said, no, you need toknow your farmer's practices.
You need to know what theirvalues are and then you choose
accordingly.
Right.
Yeah.
But it's, you know, the thing istoo, the bottom line is once you
start, once you start eatingwell and nourishing your family
this way, you can't go backbecause you realize the
(20:24):
difference that It makes.
And I see it all the time.
I mean, I see it with kids allthe time.
I have three little kids.
We're all the time with kids.
We're part of the community justlike anybody else.
We go to the pool and the otherkids are crushing ring pops and
all this garbage.
And you see the meltdowns.
You see the reactions.
(20:45):
And I'm not going to say that mychildren are perfect by any
means.
There's absolutely noexpectation of that.
But I do know that their littlebodies are fueled and their
little minds are even.
And you think about what that'sdoing to our children.
I mean, do you think that theywant to be losing their minds
(21:07):
and freaking out anddysregulated?
And I don't think that they do.
And it doesn't mean that they'renot gonna have a bad moment, but
it means that you could havemaybe 10% of meltdowns versus
60% of meltdowns.
And that's really significant.
And you think you're doing theeasy thing by just handing them
a package of Oreos or handingthem a package of this stuff.
(21:30):
And I don't think it'soverstating it to say that it's
not treating your children well.
It's just not.
And I know that's hard becauseit's like there can be some
guilt that goes along with it.
And I don't like the idea of...
necessarily demonizing food, butI also think we need to define
what food is.
And something that can sit on ashelf in a package that has been
(21:54):
completely denatured from whatits original plant or animal was
is not a food that's a food-likeproduct that's sitting out
there.
And the difference is important.
SPEAKER_02 (22:05):
Very carefully crafted to taste good in the
short term, right?
Yes.
very carefully but offering yourbody no no nourishment right
that's such a great point andthen you know that brings me to
thinking about what's served inour schools and and yeah making
you know and there are wonderfulwonderful people serving school
(22:30):
meals um but They're limited sotightly on budget and regulation
and meal components.
So...
what do you do?
How do
SPEAKER_01 (22:43):
you solve that with your kids?
Well, I send them to school withfood and I know that there are,
you know, and that's difficultbecause I, I'm really, I love
that in the state of Minnesotaschool lunch is included in the
cost of doing business.
I think that's just a recentchange.
And I think that's how it shouldhave been forever.
And so it, I mean, it getstricky because, you know, you're
like, oh, we don't necessarilywant to talk politics, but food
(23:04):
is political.
Access to food is politicalpolicy.
Political policy impacts how weeat.
And so, um, I consider this atotally bipartisan issue.
I think it should be an everyoneissue.
And so I send my children toschool with their food for the
day.
And then there are certain dayson school lunches that they
(23:27):
like.
So then we'll sign them up forschool lunches on those days.
And I really try to just makesure that we eat at home most of
the time.
So I set them up for successwith a really solid breakfast.
I do a lot of quick prep thenight before.
for.
We do sourdough waffles almostevery day.
And I make them a few times aweek.
Homemade waffles.
(23:48):
Homemade.
UNKNOWN (23:49):
Nice.
SPEAKER_01 (23:49):
I make them a couple days a week, though.
And then I pop them in there.
We might need to trade somejerky for waffles.
Listen, I am always willing tobarter.
And your jerky is worth morethan my waffles.
I'll tell you that right now.
That's totally true.
SPEAKER_02 (24:01):
You haven't met my daughter who loves waffles.
SPEAKER_01 (24:03):
They're so good.
So I do the I do you know,things like that where I'm
really setting them up forsuccess during the day.
And then because I have to leaveroom for the reality is that
there's going to be junk thatgets in there.
You know, I mean, my daughterjust the other day was like, I
tried Cheetos.
And I'm like, where are theseCheetos coming from?
You know, but it's happening atschool.
(24:24):
You know, how do drugs get intoprisons?
I don't know.
Cheetos are getting intoschools.
It's getting in there.
And then I think also, you know,just trying to crowd out the the
quote-unquote bad with the goodand then also really teaching my
kids to notice how they feelafter certain things and to
honor that when we have treatsor we have things that it's
(24:48):
totally okay to just be done imean i i baked brownies last
night they had sugar in them butthey had they also had sourdough
starter they had you know reallygreat pasture-raised eggs all
these things but it's still likea super sugary treat right and
then Heathcliff, myfour-year-old was– I gave each
kid their own brownie and thenHeathcliff got through about
half of it and was like, I thinkI'm done.
(25:09):
And it's like, it's great.
Just like honor that and let it
SPEAKER_03 (25:13):
go.
SPEAKER_01 (25:14):
And understanding.
We will go– here's an example.
So I make popcorn.
with butter all the time.
And we get great popcorn fromlocal farms and sometimes it's
purple and it's all thesedifferent things.
And then I do really greatbutter that I melt and put on it
and really great salt.
And then I took them to a movietheater Oh no.
(25:35):
And we got popcorn at the movietheater because I'm not going to
be like, you know, I guess Icould smuggle it in in a bag,
which would be one way to go,but I'm not a total lunatic.
I might be.
So I said, okay, we're going togo to see this movie.
We're going to get the popcorn.
And they ate the popcorn andthey were like, this is not
popcorn.
(25:55):
Like this doesn't Tastes likepopcorn.
This doesn't feel like popcorn.
And it was so interesting.
But those little lessons...
Next time, I probably willsmuggle in our own popcorn
because...
There you go.
My children were so averse toit.
But it was a cool opportunityfor them to learn, wow, like...
Popcorn isn't just popcorn.
And that's the thing about allfood.
(26:17):
An apple isn't just an apple.
Eggs aren't just eggs.
Strawberries aren't juststrawberries.
It matters where it's comingfrom, where it's grown, whose
hands have touched it, and howit's been produced.
SPEAKER_02 (26:27):
I love that example.
I love the popcorn examplebecause I've had similar
experiences where I bring mykids somewhere and they– Well, a
hot dog.
They'll see a hot dog and wantto get it.
And then now they'requestioning, wait, what kind of
hot dog is this?
Where does this come from?
What's in this?
And if we're at a concessionstand, usually the person
(26:50):
working at the concession standdoesn't know the answers.
And so we'll find somethingelse.
But they do.
They recognize it.
And their little senses can pickup probably a lot better than us
who have been trained for manyyears to have Anything,
SPEAKER_01 (27:06):
anything to fuel us up.
For the short term.
Totally.
I feed my kids hot dogs all thetime.
I mean, we have hot dogs all thetime.
They're Thousand Hills lifetimegrazed hot dogs.
They are in my fridge at alltimes.
We did not ask her to plug.
I'm a happy longtime customer.
You know, I've been buyingThousand Hills for years and
(27:27):
years and it is the best.
I tell everybody about it.
But that's another example.
It's like we put on this guiltof going– oh, I just fed my kids
hot dogs.
Well, you don't have to feelthat guilt if you're just making
the choice about hot dogs.
It's even, you know, you cansay, oh gosh, I did mac and
cheese for dinner.
Well, guess what?
I feed my kids mac and cheeseall the time and I use really
(27:49):
great pasta.
I use really great milk that Iget straight from the farm,
cheese straight from the farm, alittle bit of flour and butter,
and I make a roux.
It takes me maybe five minuteslonger than doing a box with a
powder.
And I feel absolutely zero guiltwhatsoever because I know it's a
really great food.
SPEAKER_02 (28:08):
And at the same time, for us, our family, we
have moderation.
We have a box of mac and cheeseevery once in a while.
That's what we have.
That's what's available.
And that's okay.
For us, that's okay.
We do have very similar foodvalues in our house of making
sure we know and we'rethoughtful about where it comes
(28:29):
from.
And just like you, local.
But you know what?
Sometimes We just go out and wejust order whatever because
we're really tired.
But to your point again, theyrecognize the differences of
those
SPEAKER_01 (28:44):
things.
Yeah, they do.
They totally do.
SPEAKER_02 (28:46):
Yeah, they do.
And sometimes we'll– going backto your senses, sometimes we'll
have our kids– well, my kidsactually encourage us.
They want to close their eyesand they'll do taste tests and
they will– Identify either whatthey're eating for maybe it's a
new produce or something or thedifferences in different types
(29:07):
of oranges.
And they'll really recognizethis one has more flavor.
This one's juicier.
And so they're really it's fun.
It's fun to see them grow anddevelop.
And their brains are working indifferent ways, too, by
changing.
increasing their senses.
I love
SPEAKER_01 (29:25):
that.
Oh, that's so fun.
The kids, it's so fun to bearound them.
You're totally right.
And I think it is important toothat when you're making those
convenience choices or you'regoing out to eat.
I mean, we just went out to eatas a family the other night and
we went to a great localrestaurant.
I mean, I don't know what kindof beef they're using.
I don't know if the bun isnon-GMO.
I don't know any of that, but weall sat together.
(29:45):
We had a really great dinner.
We had a wonderful conversation.
We were like playing tic-tac-toeand playing games.
And so that intentional time isimportant too.
I think it's just...
It is worth investing in.
It's worth investing your timeand your money in.
And I know that can be anunpopular thing to say because
of the economic climate andpeople feeling like everything
(30:09):
is so expensive.
But I will tell you there are alot of things that I forego and
that I did forego even when Iwas making$19,000 a year at my
first job in TV and feedingmyself.
I was making choices that, youknow, I don't go get my nails
done.
I don't go, you know, I'm notgetting like eyelash extensions.
(30:29):
I'm not doing things like thatbecause...
I want to be conscious about ourfood budget is definitely higher
than probably the averageAmerican families.
And Americans on average spend alower percentage of their income
on food than a lot of othercountries.
It's true.
And we're fed worse.
(30:49):
I mean, that's just the way thatit is.
You have to invest in what'simportant.
And there's a cost on eitherend.
If you're not paying for it,that means that somebody along
the chain is being takenadvantage of because the cost is
the cost.
So either it's being subsidized,we're having massive crops that
(31:11):
are subsidized by ourgovernment, so taxpayers are
paying for it, or you have farmworkers that aren't paid well,
that aren't treated well.
You have shortcuts in nutritionbecause it's a highly processed
cheap food that's being sold ata large markup.
You're lying to yourself ifyou're telling you that cheap
food is just cheap becauseYou're
SPEAKER_02 (31:30):
absolutely right.
And thinking about kind of onthe economic side of things,
back to our farmers.
If we cut out and decentralizesome of that system, we are
building up farmers.
And we need farmers.
I mean, farmers are retiring.
On average, they're, I don'tknow the exact statistic, but
(31:52):
they're, I think, creeping intothe 60s as an American farmer.
Now what?
What happens next?
And how can we help boost upthose who are emerging farmers
coming into the market, wantingto steward our land, steward our
bodies and raise good food?
We can have a direct impact onthem and building up the economy
(32:17):
of and the livelihood of farmerswho are wanting to do the right
thing.
SPEAKER_01 (32:21):
Well, and I almost think even to, you know, you
think about like, howcomfortable people feel going to
a farmer's market and beinglike, oh, would you take$2 for
that bag of potatoes instead of$3 for that bag of potatoes?
Sure.
Would you ever go into theTarget in your neighborhood and
say, hey, cashier, would youtake$2 for this bag of potatoes
(32:42):
instead of$3 for this bag ofpotatoes?
I would really encourage peopleto think that bartering with a
farmer, and I will go so far asto say is offensive, because it
is so devaluing to the work thatthey are doing.
Farmers should be exalted.
Farmers are absolutely a gift.
Without farms, we have no food.
(33:04):
And without small, diversefarms, we are on our way to
environmental disaster, which weare.
And so think about when you'regoing into a small business and
you feel okay asking them for adiscount, would you do that at a
big box store?
If you'll do it at a big boxstore and you're successful,
then maybe okay.
(33:24):
But if you're not, then I thinkpay the person what they're
worth or say to the farmer, ohmy gosh, these potatoes are so
beautiful.
It's$4 a bag.
Here's a five.
Keep the change.
Give the farmer a freakingbreak.
SPEAKER_02 (33:39):
Well, and I think we're safe to say no farmer goes
into this for money.
No.
To become rich.
I mean, that's not what they'redoing.
They're trying to make a livingfor raising good food.
And it's not about making thebig bucks anywhere.
So you're absolutely right.
Yeah.
Let's pay the true cost of food.
(34:01):
I mean, you mentioned subsidies.
We're already paying for thecheaper food indirectly through
SPEAKER_01 (34:07):
our subsidies.
You're right, though.
I mean, money is hard to talkabout.
And I think it can be difficultwhen people can, you know, and I
understand this when people go,oh, well, you're on TV.
You're probably making a ton ofmoney.
Well, yeah, I'm doing betterthan I was for sure.
Yeah.
If I was at an Oprah level,guys, we'd be in a whole
different ballgame.
We'd be
SPEAKER_02 (34:27):
sitting in this
SPEAKER_01 (34:27):
farmhouse studio.
I would have bought you a farm,a different farm, whatever.
I own my own farm that I'd belosing money on.
But I think you have to talkabout it and you have to think
about what your food values are.
And if you're in...
A severe poverty situation,obviously, that's a different
ballgame.
(34:49):
But even in those situations,there are a lot of
opportunities.
We work with tons oforganizations on Twin Cities
Live where we talk to food banksand food pantries who have tons
of fresh food, but a lot offolks come in and don't know how
to use it and don't know how toput it together.
And so the other element ofteaching people how to cook,
(35:10):
teaching people what real foodis, valuing that as a skill, and
not just a throwaway of, oh, youknow, I have to cook.
I think learning how to cook isby far the best skill that you
can possibly have when it comesto your health of your body and
the health of your finances.
SPEAKER_02 (35:29):
That's so true.
So what's your favorite thing onthe menu?
SPEAKER_01 (35:32):
Oh, gosh, all the things on the menu.
I do a lot of like kind ofstrategizing things.
Yeah, absolutely.
(35:57):
Brining chicken has totallychanged my life.
Are you brining your chicken?
SPEAKER_02 (36:01):
No, I have one ready for dinner
SPEAKER_01 (36:03):
tonight, but tell me more.
Okay.
So I buy pasture-raisedchickens, which can tend to be
like a little bit leaner, alittle bit smaller.
And so I do a brine and it'sreally simple.
It's just some sugar, salt, somespices, and then you just have
to heat up water a little bit tomake those dissolve.
You know, I'll do likepeppercorns and a bay leaf and
(36:23):
some thyme, whatever.
And then...
dilute that brine with extrawater and then put the chicken
in my Dutch oven and let it sitfor, you know, 12 hours.
And then I take it out and Ikind of pat it dry.
And then I do a compound butter.
So I just mix in some butterwith some garlic, some lemon
(36:44):
zest, salt, pepper, and herbs.
And then you got to get in therebetween the skin.
You got to get intimate with thebird.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (36:50):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (36:50):
So I rub that in between the skin and the flesh
of the chicken all over, eventhe thighs and the drummies.
You've got to wiggle in there.
SPEAKER_02 (36:59):
You're dedicated.
SPEAKER_01 (37:00):
This is how it's going.
Wash your paws regularly.
And then I just pop it in.
I usually stick the rest of thelemon in the cavity of the
chicken and then maybe cut up asmall onion or shallots or
something and put it in thecavity, tie the legs together,
and then pop it in the oven at400 for an hour until it's like
(37:24):
done, but the butter reallyhelps make it so tender and
juicy.
And then the moisture from thebrine, and then the brine also
seasons the bird all the waythrough.
I
SPEAKER_02 (37:34):
am hungry.
I know.
UNKNOWN (37:37):
I'm hungry.
SPEAKER_01 (37:37):
Now I can't go back to not brining.
It's changed my life.
SPEAKER_02 (37:40):
Okay.
I'm in.
Okay.
All right.
You're invested.
So that's a Sunday meal.
What's a quicker weeknight?
You got to run, you're doingsomething with...
Kids sports, activities.
SPEAKER_01 (37:51):
A lot of...
I'm not just saying this.
Last night, we had ThousandHills Burgers and I did some
really good buns.
And then I just did reallysimple oven fries with potatoes.
That was...
And then...
That's exactly what we had lastnight.
No way.
That's it.
That's it.
That's what we had.
And it was easy.
And it's easy.
And you feel good.
I know.
And I just pop them on thegriddle on my stove.
And then I toast up the buns andthen do like some pickles and
(38:15):
cheese or whatever we all want.
And then...
Really easy roasted potatoes.
And then my kids love frozenfruit.
Like they love frozen mango.
Yeah.
So I just put that in a littledish on the side.
Oh.
And that's, I mean, it took 20minutes.
Wow.
Maybe a little longer to get thepotatoes to roast, but I just
like pop them in and get itdone.
I do a lot of sheet pan dinners.
(38:37):
Sure.
I always keep like sausages onhand and I love to just put
those with some potatoes or withsome squash or sweet potatoes on
a sheet pan and then maybe addbroccoli or summer squash or
something and then just servethat up and serve like cheese on
the side or something.
I mean simplicity is really yourfriend.
(38:58):
Chicken thighs I like to do alot.
I love to do like chicken thighswith rice.
We do a lot of– We do sloppyjoes.
We do taco meat.
And for that, I've told you thisbefore, but I always use the– I
love to use the renegade blend.
There's also a bison that I buyfrom a farm in Cameron,
Wisconsin that I love, NorthStar Bison.
(39:20):
Shout out to all the farmersthat I love.
And then I will do– Then I mixin the organ meats in there and
no one has any idea.
My husband has no idea he's evereaten organ meat, just so you
know.
SPEAKER_02 (39:30):
Yeah.
So the renegade blend secret, ithas organ meat in it with the
ground beef.
So there's some heart and liverthat's worked into the renegade.
And you can't even tell.
No, you can't tell.
We have it for tacos, spaghetti,chili.
You can't tell for a burger.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's great.
It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (39:49):
Yes, we love it.
I do a lot of meatballs and alot of like other meals I like
to do are like ground chicken orground pork, kind of like an
Asian bowl that we could do withlike make a rice bowl.
I'll do just either the groundpork or the ground chicken
with...
Different, you know, lots ofgarlic, lots of ginger, some
(40:09):
green onions, some like soysauce, a little fish sauce, rice
wine vinegar.
I mean, sesame oil.
So like really simple things.
And then just serve that withrice.
I think it's it's tempting to golike dinner has to consist of
five different things on theplate.
Dinner really needs to consistof like two things on the plate,
(40:30):
if even that.
And then for kids, I think it'salways really great to serve
some fruit on the side becausethere's just one additional
thing that they– like I don'treally do fruit with dinner.
I'm not going to sit there withapples dinner or something dumb
like that.
UNKNOWN (40:42):
You know, my kids like it.
SPEAKER_01 (40:45):
Like I don't need blueberries with dinner, but
they like it.
Great.
UNKNOWN (40:52):
Eat it.
Eat it.
SPEAKER_02 (40:52):
And I think that's a really good point.
You said earlier cooking is oneof the easiest or best things
that we can do to help nourishour bodies and ourselves.
Well, cooking doesn't have to becomplicated.
No.
And you just proved that, thatit can be something very simple.
Applying your food values andthinking about and thoughtfully
(41:14):
sourced ingredients and puttingit in the oven.
And you can be quick.
It can be convenient.
And so good food doesn't have tobe inconvenient.
It can be very convenient forfamilies and lifestyles and the
way that we live and evendelivery services.
Right.
It's just thinking about whatdelivery service do I have?
(41:37):
What's coming into my house?
And so I hear sometimes thatit's overwhelming, but it
really, what you're saying, itcan be very simple.
It's
SPEAKER_01 (41:47):
very simple.
And sometimes I do a littletough talk with this kind of
stuff.
And I think that that's okay.
I come from a long line ofGerman Lutheran ministers, so a
little bit of Deutsche straighttalk of like things, you know,
this isn't that tough, you know,like that's good, I think.
And it is...
You are telling...
(42:08):
You're buying into a lie ifyou're believing that it's
faster and cheaper to always getfast food.
It's just not.
And I know this for a factbecause I'll buzz over and take
my kids to Shake Shack onoccasion if we're going back to
school shopping or something.
And then we go over there andhave it.
And we order burgers, a coupleorders of fries, and one shake
(42:30):
for everybody to share.
And it's$85.
I mean, it's simply...
not cheaper.
And when I drive home and I seethe Culver's down the street has
a lineup of 20 cars in line,it's not faster to sit in that
line and wait for the Culver's.
(42:52):
Now, I mean, I get if you'relike going from to and fro or
whatever, things can be a littlebit more complicated, but it
takes me 20 minutes to put mostof the meals together.
Like it's Get the rice to cometo a boil.
Set the timer for 15 minutes.
Do the other stuff in there.
We are eating in 20 minutes.
And then also just making some–sometimes you have to make some
(43:14):
hard choices based on your foodvalues.
Our food value is I want to eatdinner at home almost all of the
time.
And so when we started havingchildren, we– like I wanted to
live out on six acres in Aftonwith all of my heart.
And we had a purchase agreementsigned on this like really great
(43:36):
farmhouse.
SPEAKER_02 (43:36):
Oh, it was real.
SPEAKER_01 (43:37):
It was real.
And it was just down the streetfrom my pig farmers, Karen and
Sally, who lived out there.
So I mean, it was like all thethings, you know.
And then I had to really getreal with myself of going, okay,
I also...
Love my job.
I need to work at this job inorder to pay for the life that
we have.
(43:58):
My husband worked downtownMinneapolis.
My husband has to do a lot ofevening entertaining of like
taking clients to wild games anddoing things like that.
It's a hard job, I'm sure,unless it doesn't sound
exhausting.
And we had to really get realabout, well, how are we going to
do that?
How am I going to get off theset at 4.30 or whenever and have
(44:20):
a meeting?
get home with a child, get topick them up or wherever, start
dinner and I'm adding in a 45minute commute each way.
And it became, that's not gonnawork.
And so we made the choice, westayed in a really tiny house in
Minneapolis for a long time tosave up to be able to stay in
(44:42):
the city too.
And then we integrate our foodvalues into our life in the
city.
So we have a garden, we havechickens, we have those things.
And we try to find the best ofboth worlds because, and really
that decision was because ofdinner.
Food values.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (44:59):
It's all connected.
Yes.
It's a lifestyle.
Yeah.
But wow, good for you.
It's good for
SPEAKER_01 (45:05):
you and your
SPEAKER_02 (45:06):
family and
SPEAKER_01 (45:07):
you're doing that.
I pay that city of Minneapolisproperty tax bill.
Does it feel good?
No, I do it.
SPEAKER_02 (45:15):
So what gives you hope, Elizabeth, in our food
system or next generations offood and eaters?
SPEAKER_01 (45:23):
Okay, a couple things.
I think, well, the relationshipsthat I've built with farmers
really gives me hope because, Imean, even just getting to know
you over the last year, gettingto know, you know, I could like
start just saying the names offarmers who I've developed
relationships with.
And, you know, You're living it.
You
SPEAKER_02 (45:42):
know your farmer.
SPEAKER_01 (45:42):
I know my farmer.
I love it.
Because I'm the biggest– I'mlike a farm fangirl.
My co-host on Twin Cities Live,Ben Lieber, makes fun of me
because I'll be like, oh, he's avery– that's a very famous
farmer.
farmer.
And he's like, what is wrongwith you?
You talk about farmers likepeople talk about rock stars.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, JoelSalatin's like the biggest deal
ever.
Or even like food people.
(46:05):
If I ever met Michael Powell andI would lose my mind, he's like,
you talk about Michael Powelland people will talk about Mick
Jagger.
How about Alice Waters?
Oh, Alice Waters.
I mean, let's go.
I mean, all of the things.
So The more that I know farmersand the more that I know,
especially young farmers who aresaying, I want to raise my
(46:25):
family, food values are reallyimportant to me, or meeting
those guys who left the bigcereal company to do something
different and better.
And their dads, one of them waslike, I got a six-year-old, a
four-year-old, and atwo-year-old.
And I'm like, we can be friends.
So that totally gives me hopebecause I feel like people...
(46:47):
are out there on the grounddoing the work.
And I'm just trying to figureout how to elevate them and
amplify them and support them.
And then the second thing thatreally gives me hope, and I know
this is going to be shocking,but is social media.
Really?
Yes.
Because the amount of curiosityfrom people on social media...
(47:09):
I am not kidding, Melissa.
I spend...
I don't know, probably half anhour a day replying to messages
from people who say, hey,Elizabeth, where do you get your
salmon?
Hey, okay, so I want to do a CSAfor the first time.
Which one should I do?
And how do I do it?
Hey, you mentioned that youorder from this farm.
(47:31):
How do you do it?
Where do you get your eggs?
Hey, Elizabeth, I'm thinkingthat we're going to get chickens
in the spring.
We want to do this.
How do I do it?
And I am just like, my thumbsare tired from just writing this
back.
And it's the best form offatigue because I just go, oh my
gosh, everybody is waking up.
They are waking up and they aregoing, I'm going to make a
(47:54):
change.
And then once you make onechange and you realize that
wasn't that hard, then you makethe next change.
And then you go, then you makethe next change.
And it is amazing to see howmany people say, I don't want to
rely on big systems for myhealth and my nourishment and my
well-being.
I'm going to know that thatinnate wisdom is within me.
(48:17):
It's God given within me.
And I am going to listen to thatvoice.
And I'm going to seek out peoplewho can provide those things for
me and learn how to do it formyself.
Wow.
It's amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (48:29):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (48:30):
Did you think I was going to say social media?
You didn't think
SPEAKER_02 (48:33):
so.
No, I did not think we weregoing there.
Thank you for being a voice forfarmers and for...
so many people who are leaningon you as a resource.
Thank you.
Thank you for what you're doingfor all of us because we're all
part of this food community.
And you have the courage to saybold things.
(48:55):
So thank you for being a trueregenerative renegade.
Thank you.
I haven't
SPEAKER_01 (48:58):
gotten canceled yet, so we'll just
SPEAKER_02 (49:00):
see.
SPEAKER_01 (49:01):
There's still time.
And you're welcome
SPEAKER_02 (49:02):
back here anytime.
SPEAKER_01 (49:03):
Well, listen, I love coming here.
And I do want to let everybodyknow, too, that you did a
fabulous episode of my podcast,Best to the Nest, that came out
on Earth Day 2025.
You can find that podcastwherever you get your podcasts.
And we just had such a fantasticconversation with you.
And it was so fun and You're soknowledgeable and you're just so
(49:25):
generous to share.
And you're just, you know,you're like me.
You're a mom kind of in thetrenches.
And I think the more that wesupport each other and share
what we've learned with eachother, the better off we're
going to be.
I'm humbled and honored.
Thank you.
Let's get some beef sticks.
Let's go.
Hello and welcome back to Regenerative Renegades.
In this episode, I'm delightedto welcome Elizabeth Reese, one
(00:21):
of Minnesota's most beloved andbold media personalities.
If you know about Elizabeth, youknow she's passionate about
understanding where her foodcomes from and what's in her
food and what's not in her food.
Case in point, she's been toThousand Hills Farm several
times doing her research.
(00:41):
As a mother, Elizabeth caresdeeply about providing for her
children with the best nutritionand teaching them food values
like farm to table andregenerative agriculture.
That's why for this episode, wehave a very special guest host,
my daughter, Melissa Larson.
She has also dedicated herprofessional life to public
(01:02):
health and nutrition.
It's her passion, along withparenting, much like Elizabeth,
so you know they'll have a lotin common and it'll be a great
conversation.
Hope you join us.
SPEAKER_02 (01:13):
Well, hello, Regenerative Renegades.
Welcome back to the RegenerativeRenegade podcast, where we are
talking to people focused onregenerative agriculture, guests
who are passionate and resilientpeople telling their stories of
trial, hope, resiliency.
And we are here with the amazingguest, Elizabeth Reese, who I
(01:36):
consider a local media Minnesotapowerhouse who has strong food
values and a wealth ofknowledge.
Elizabeth Reese has been theco-host of Twin Cities Live for
16 years, I think I just heard,and is a weekly contributor to
Minnesota Live.
(01:57):
Raised in Apple Valley, aMinnesota girl, Apple Valley
graduate.
And with all of that, she findstime to grow her own food,
raising chickens, composting,cooking in the city of
Minneapolis for more than adecade, living here in
Minneapolis.
She believes every home canincorporate some homesteading
(02:20):
principles, even if you have atiny yard, apartment, or
balcony.
She shares her adventures ingarden and kitchen on her blog,
Home to Homestead, and has apodcast called Best to the Nest,
bringing your best self to home.
Elizabeth is a proud parent tothree wonderful kiddos who I
just had the chance to meet, andshe shares her home with her
(02:43):
husband, Jay.
Welcome, Elizabeth.
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (02:47):
This is so fun.
It's kind of like interesting tohear all that stuff about
yourself.
You realize, wow, I do do allthat stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (02:53):
You are amazing.
Some
SPEAKER_01 (02:55):
days are better than others.
You're doing your best everyday.
That's the truth.
We can see it.
(03:27):
freedom to run is the bestthing.
SPEAKER_02 (03:30):
Well, they're city kids, but they understand
agriculture and food and wheretheir food comes from, which is
incredible.
So kudos to
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
you, mom.
Thank you.
They do.
That's a really important thingfor me.
It's an important value.
That is really the reason why wehave the chickens and the garden
and why we selfishly makefriends with farmers like you so
that I can be like, let's govisit.
Because I think...
That is just really one of ourcore values.
(03:57):
It's important to me.
It's important to my husband.
And they know where their foodcomes from.
They know what everything is.
We say our motto in our house isnobody works harder than a
farmer.
And so we really just have theutmost respect for what you and
your family does.
(04:17):
And it's just so important to meto not only share that with the
people who follow me on allsorts of different media areas,
but then to really integratethat into my home and how I
raise my children.
SPEAKER_02 (04:29):
What an honor.
Thank you.
Thank you for being here.
(04:59):
food journey.
How did you become soknowledgeable and engaged in
food and where your food'scoming from?
SPEAKER_01 (05:05):
Well, there's kind of, I mean, throughout my life,
there's been a few sort of ahamoments where I've, you know,
realized some things and thenmade some big shifts.
And one of them started, youknow, I grew up in the 80s and
90s in a real typical time whereI think a lot of our food was
from scratch.
And then it became cheaper andeasier to buy more convenience
(05:27):
food.
And so my parents definitely didthat.
But my parents were really biginto juicing.
They would juice.
They had an electric juicer onthe counter all the time.
And both of them lost parentsreally young to cancer.
So my mom's dad died at 48 ofcolon cancer.
My dad's mom died five daysbefore I was born of fallopian
(05:50):
tube cancer.
And I think, you know, myparents were really young.
I mean, they were in their young20s.
They really missed out on having– You know, we never got those
grandparents.
It was just a short relationshipwith those parents.
And so I think they sort oflooked at juicing as like this
insurance policy.
Like my mom was very intoreading about like alternative
(06:14):
cancer treatments and differentclinics in Mexico and Germany
and all these different things.
And so they sort of, even thoughI don't consider our, you know,
our diet to have been perfect byany means, I remember them
always like they would have thejuicer out and And it'd be first
we would start with apple carrotand then they would add a little
bit of greens and then theywould add some ginger.
(06:35):
And then it was just like youtake it down like a champ,
whatever they gave to you.
So that I think was was sort ofa core experience.
And then when I was in college.
I worked at Aveda part-time, andI just needed a job, and I
wanted a discount on products.
And so I got a job at Aveda, andthat was really interesting
(06:56):
because at that time, Aveda, Ithink there's still some values
there.
It's owned by Estee Lauder now,but it was owned by Horst
Ruckelbacher, who...
who is an Austrian native, butended up living much of his life
in Minnesota and was reallygroundbreaking.
And so much of the ethos of thatcompany was about, I remember
(07:20):
this book that you get when youfirst start working there and
one of his quotes was,everything we put in and on our
bodies must be nutritious andsafe.
And so they give you this bookand I thought, oh my gosh.
And I met people who workedthere who had that same value.
And that was a really big, shiftfor me when I started to really
(07:40):
pay attention and that was whenI was in college and then I'd
moved into my own apartment andso I started cooking I started
like understanding where foodcame from when I got to my first
job in television was in DuluthI was 21 years old I started as
a reporter and then I got themorning anchor gig six weeks in
and I had no idea what I wasdoing but I had to get up at 2
(08:02):
30 in the morning and I reallylearned how much what I ate and
like drank, like anything likethat, how much it contributed to
how I felt.
And I mean, it's just such ashock to have to wake up at that
hour and live your life andfunction.
And so that was another part ofjust learning like, okay, what
I'm putting in my body reallyimpacts me.
(08:23):
And then I read a couple ofbooks by John Robbins.
I had a boyfriend at the timewhose sister was vegan.
And he said, if you read thesebooks, you're probably going to
become vegan.
But it was Diet for a NewAmerica and the Food Revolution
And I'm not a point, it was likeall the co-ops were selling
(09:08):
tofu.
It was like veggie stuff.
And then it became just onething after another of just my
curiosity was just never ending.
And I became so curious and Ijust wanted to read everything
about food and learn.
Authors like Michael Pollan havebeen really influential on me
(09:32):
and learning about how foodimpacts us and how food impacts
the environment.
And then a lot of understandingthat maybe the narrative that we
have been told about what isgreat for the environment isn't
necessarily the truth.
And
SPEAKER_02 (09:45):
for our bodies
SPEAKER_01 (09:46):
and for our food.
Yes, exactly.
And so it's been a long journeyand a long process.
And then just really getting toknow farmers.
I do remember as a kid, Growingup– and we grew up in the
suburbs, so we didn't grow uplike near farms or anything like
that.
And I remember going up tonorthern Wisconsin and staying
with my aunt and uncle, and myaunt took us to a farmer
(10:08):
friend's house, and we drankgoat milk, right?
Like literally milked the goatand drank the goat.
You know, milked it, drank it,and I was like, this is
unbelievable.
It's like a core memory for me.
And so it's just– Reallycontinued.
So I would say it's, you know,it's been well over 20 years of
like pretty intensive foodresearch.
SPEAKER_02 (10:29):
And it's all based on curiosity.
SPEAKER_01 (10:31):
All based on
SPEAKER_02 (10:31):
curiosity.
All based on curiosity.
Yeah.
Starting with a juicer.
I know.
And I think it's interesting youmentioned vegan and vegetarians
and those lifestyles.
Yeah.
What I find when I start havingconversations with people who
have those food values andchoose to become vegan or
vegetarian, we actually have alot in common.
Yes.
Because we care.
(10:52):
We care about what's happeningto the animals.
We care about what's happeningto people, our bodies.
We care deeply about, firstourselves probably, but then
beyond that and animal welfare.
And there's so many similaritiesin kind of regenerative
agriculture and And vegan,veganism, if that's a word.
SPEAKER_01 (11:13):
It is.
I think it's like a religion.
I mean, it's a whole thing.
But,
SPEAKER_02 (11:19):
you know, it's interesting because we, you
know, we are here raisingcattle.
We have grass fed beef, butthere are so many animals.
you know, when you start havingthose conversations, really
common ground
SPEAKER_01 (11:31):
there.
I totally agree.
There's, I mean, really when itcomes down to the core, for me,
it was about animal welfare andI cared more about the animal
welfare than I did about my own.
And, um, And I think that'sprobably true for a lot of
vegans and vegetarians who wouldsay, like, I want to sacrifice
what probably is, I know, is anutrient-dense food, but I want
(11:52):
to do that in the name ofwelfare.
Right.
For animals, I think it justgets a little bit wonky in terms
of execution, in my opinion.
For sure.
For sure.
Yeah.
Not interested in a BeyondBurger over here, I'll just say
it.
SPEAKER_02 (12:05):
Absolutely right.
Yeah.
Yes.
I think there's all kinds ofinteresting studies.
We don't need to go too far downthat path, but comparing certain
non-meat burgers with grass-fedbeef and the nutritional values.
So there's a lot to be saidthere.
And then who knows what else isin there from a chemical
(12:29):
compound
SPEAKER_01 (12:30):
perspective.
For sure.
Yeah.
And it really, to me, it's aboutlike, let's cut through the
noise and let's get more simple.
Let's just get...
to the base of what's good andutilize that.
I mean, we've justovercomplicated food so much.
We've industrialized,centralized, and overcomplicated
(12:50):
to a point where it's killingus.
And that's not an exaggerationto say that because you can look
at the statistics and I don'thave to have an MD behind my
name to be able to say that.
It is a real crisis.
SPEAKER_03 (13:01):
It
SPEAKER_01 (13:02):
is.
And the simplification isactually a really beautiful
thing.
I was just talking with thefounders of a cool cereal
company yesterday, and they'rejust doing something totally
different.
They left a major cerealmanufacturer and said, we don't
want to do this anymore.
We want to make somethingdifferent.
And I was discussing with theseguys kind of their journey, and
(13:23):
I was like so curious about it.
We were talking about how peoplecan get really overwhelmed with
the idea of shifting their dietinto what I like to call a
nutrient-dense philosophy oreating philosophy.
And But I've actually found itreally liberating because when I
go to the grocery store or a lotof my food dollars I spend
(13:47):
directly with farmers.
So I'll have certain farms, somethings I go pick up, some things
I get delivered to my house.
And then I certainly go to thegrocery store just like any
normal person.
But when you look in the aisleof anything, We are overwhelmed
with choices.
It's almost like paralysis levelwhere you stand there and you're
(14:07):
like, there's 45 yogurts.
Like, what are we doing?
There's so many things here.
And so...
And cereals, for that example.
Crackers, pastas, all thethings.
And when you really clearlydefine your food values and you
know...
which producers and brands alignwith those food values, it's
(14:27):
actually so freeing because I goin and I go, okay, I'm either
choosing between this pasta orthis pasta and that's it.
I'm getting this yogurt or thisyogurt and that's it.
I'm getting these eggs andthat's it because you know that
these are the ones that alignwith your food values.
I'd love to have it where I wentin and everything just aligned
because I think that would makeour system a lot better.
(14:48):
But in the meantime, instead ofthinking of it as this
overwhelming thing mountain toclimb, you can think of it as, I
just have fewer choices.
That is great.
SPEAKER_02 (14:58):
And so you're really far down that journey of
defining your food values,knowing where they are by food
category.
But what about somebody who'sthinking about, hey, I just need
to start somewhere?
Where do you recommend to start?
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
Well, I think starting local is really
important.
I think if you can startlocal...
and that can sort of be yourfirst food value, that really
cuts through the clutter becauseyou can choose where you're
shopping and what you're buying,and you can really contribute to
a decentralized food system.
I mean, I don't think anybodywould say, except for these
(15:33):
giant producers, that it's agreat idea to have a handful of
meatpacking buildings and that'sit in the entire country because
you see what happens when theyshut down or there's a problem
or there's something and when weare so heavily relying on just
one operation that operation hasessentially a monopoly and then
(15:54):
can get away with a ton ofmaltreatment of workers of the
environment they're too powerfulso thinking about local is great
and then you're immediatelycutting out stuff getting
shipped a really long distanceyou are You're saying miles.
(16:38):
choosing the one that's localversus not makes a really big
difference.
And then I think defining yourfood values is important.
I think defining your values inyour household is important for
all sorts of things.
We all think about that.
We look at like, okay, what'sour values for the schools that
we're going to send our kids to?
(16:58):
What are our spiritual practicesgoing to be?
And what are those values?
And food is something that'salmost...
overlooked in those other twoareas.
SPEAKER_02 (17:09):
Yeah.
At home and outside of
SPEAKER_01 (17:11):
the home.
Yes, for sure.
I mean, I grew up in the church.
My dad was a Lutheran minister.
Nobody talked about food valueswhen it came to churches.
And I think it's like a whitespace.
It's empty because it'ssomething that is so huge in
terms of our bodies and How canwe be mentally well if we're not
(17:32):
feeding our bodies well?
It's very difficult.
It's a foundational need foreverything.
Have you tried to survive off oflike cupcakes and cocktails for
a weekend?
You're not going to feel verygood.
And we all know that.
Try it.
You'll see.
It's not great.
So defining what your foodvalues are is important.
And maybe some of that is, Imean, it certainly, I think, can
(17:56):
be nutrient density.
It certainly can be makingthings from scratch, animal
welfare should be significant inthere.
And then as you start to makethose decisions about, okay,
what's important to us here,then you can make your buying
choices accordingly.
SPEAKER_02 (18:12):
Right, right.
And I think that's a greatpoint, local, starting there.
And then with that, ideally, orhopefully, those farmers or
local producers will be open tohaving you come in.
Maybe not always, but at leastyou can be comfortable asking or
(18:33):
saying, hey, can I see what'shappening here?
Or start asking questionsbecause then they become real
people.
SPEAKER_03 (18:40):
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (18:40):
You know, there's people tied and associated with
the food and their livelihooddepends on you, us, purchasing
that food.
Totally.
Yeah.
And just I think peopleunderestimate the power that
they have in the dollar and whatthey're spending.
And it matters.
Spending a couple extra cents onanything, a couple pounds of
(19:03):
ground beef or your produce, andyou can and you could taste the
difference.
Kind of we like to say the wayfood was, but you can taste it
and you can you can.
it almost, it triggers a certainnostalgia sometimes when you
have high quality, nutrientdense foods.
(19:25):
And then your point of beinglocal you can make those
connections or do what you do.
The perfect role model ofbringing your kids and having
them see and experience what'sgoing on and making this a
community.
SPEAKER_01 (19:40):
Yeah, having those relationships is important.
And your dad said something thatI thought was really important.
Last time we were here and wedid an interview with him, And I
said, is it, you know, do youwant people to know your farmer?
And he said, it's not enough toknow your farmer.
You need to know your farmer'spractices.
And I was like, wow.
What is happening there?
It even pushes it even furtherbecause I'm kind of Minnesota
(20:00):
nice and I'm thinking like,well, I don't want to intrude.
And he said, no, you need toknow your farmer's practices.
You need to know what theirvalues are and then you choose
accordingly.
Right.
Yeah.
But it's, you know, the thing istoo, the bottom line is once you
start, once you start eatingwell and nourishing your family
this way, you can't go backbecause you realize the
(20:24):
difference that It makes.
And I see it all the time.
I mean, I see it with kids allthe time.
I have three little kids.
We're all the time with kids.
We're part of the community justlike anybody else.
We go to the pool and the otherkids are crushing ring pops and
all this garbage.
And you see the meltdowns.
You see the reactions.
(20:45):
And I'm not going to say that mychildren are perfect by any
means.
There's absolutely noexpectation of that.
But I do know that their littlebodies are fueled and their
little minds are even.
And you think about what that'sdoing to our children.
I mean, do you think that theywant to be losing their minds
(21:07):
and freaking out anddysregulated?
And I don't think that they do.
And it doesn't mean that they'renot gonna have a bad moment, but
it means that you could havemaybe 10% of meltdowns versus
60% of meltdowns.
And that's really significant.
And you think you're doing theeasy thing by just handing them
a package of Oreos or handingthem a package of this stuff.
(21:30):
And I don't think it'soverstating it to say that it's
not treating your children well.
It's just not.
And I know that's hard becauseit's like there can be some
guilt that goes along with it.
And I don't like the idea of...
necessarily demonizing food, butI also think we need to define
what food is.
And something that can sit on ashelf in a package that has been
(21:54):
completely denatured from whatits original plant or animal was
is not a food that's a food-likeproduct that's sitting out
there.
And the difference is important.
SPEAKER_02 (22:05):
Very carefully crafted to taste good in the
short term, right?
Yes.
very carefully but offering yourbody no no nourishment right
that's such a great point andthen you know that brings me to
thinking about what's served inour schools and and yeah making
you know and there are wonderfulwonderful people serving school
(22:30):
meals um but They're limited sotightly on budget and regulation
and meal components.
So...
what do you do?
How do
SPEAKER_01 (22:43):
you solve that with your kids?
Well, I send them to school withfood and I know that there are,
you know, and that's difficultbecause I, I'm really, I love
that in the state of Minnesotaschool lunch is included in the
cost of doing business.
I think that's just a recentchange.
And I think that's how it shouldhave been forever.
And so it, I mean, it getstricky because, you know, you're
like, oh, we don't necessarilywant to talk politics, but food
(23:04):
is political.
Access to food is politicalpolicy.
Political policy impacts how weeat.
And so, um, I consider this atotally bipartisan issue.
I think it should be an everyoneissue.
And so I send my children toschool with their food for the
day.
And then there are certain dayson school lunches that they
(23:27):
like.
So then we'll sign them up forschool lunches on those days.
And I really try to just makesure that we eat at home most of
the time.
So I set them up for successwith a really solid breakfast.
I do a lot of quick prep thenight before.
for.
We do sourdough waffles almostevery day.
And I make them a few times aweek.
Homemade waffles.
(23:48):
Homemade.
UNKNOWN (23:49):
Nice.
SPEAKER_01 (23:49):
I make them a couple days a week, though.
And then I pop them in there.
We might need to trade somejerky for waffles.
Listen, I am always willing tobarter.
And your jerky is worth morethan my waffles.
I'll tell you that right now.
That's totally true.
SPEAKER_02 (24:01):
You haven't met my daughter who loves waffles.
SPEAKER_01 (24:03):
They're so good.
So I do the I do you know,things like that where I'm
really setting them up forsuccess during the day.
And then because I have to leaveroom for the reality is that
there's going to be junk thatgets in there.
You know, I mean, my daughterjust the other day was like, I
tried Cheetos.
And I'm like, where are theseCheetos coming from?
You know, but it's happening atschool.
(24:24):
You know, how do drugs get intoprisons?
I don't know.
Cheetos are getting intoschools.
It's getting in there.
And then I think also, you know,just trying to crowd out the the
quote-unquote bad with the goodand then also really teaching my
kids to notice how they feelafter certain things and to
honor that when we have treatsor we have things that it's
(24:48):
totally okay to just be done imean i i baked brownies last
night they had sugar in them butthey had they also had sourdough
starter they had you know reallygreat pasture-raised eggs all
these things but it's still likea super sugary treat right and
then Heathcliff, myfour-year-old was– I gave each
kid their own brownie and thenHeathcliff got through about
half of it and was like, I thinkI'm done.
(25:09):
And it's like, it's great.
Just like honor that and let it
SPEAKER_03 (25:13):
go.
SPEAKER_01 (25:14):
And understanding.
We will go– here's an example.
So I make popcorn.
with butter all the time.
And we get great popcorn fromlocal farms and sometimes it's
purple and it's all thesedifferent things.
And then I do really greatbutter that I melt and put on it
and really great salt.
And then I took them to a movietheater Oh no.
(25:35):
And we got popcorn at the movietheater because I'm not going to
be like, you know, I guess Icould smuggle it in in a bag,
which would be one way to go,but I'm not a total lunatic.
I might be.
So I said, okay, we're going togo to see this movie.
We're going to get the popcorn.
And they ate the popcorn andthey were like, this is not
popcorn.
(25:55):
Like this doesn't Tastes likepopcorn.
This doesn't feel like popcorn.
And it was so interesting.
But those little lessons...
Next time, I probably willsmuggle in our own popcorn
because...
There you go.
My children were so averse toit.
But it was a cool opportunityfor them to learn, wow, like...
Popcorn isn't just popcorn.
And that's the thing about allfood.
(26:17):
An apple isn't just an apple.
Eggs aren't just eggs.
Strawberries aren't juststrawberries.
It matters where it's comingfrom, where it's grown, whose
hands have touched it, and howit's been produced.
SPEAKER_02 (26:27):
I love that example.
I love the popcorn examplebecause I've had similar
experiences where I bring mykids somewhere and they– Well, a
hot dog.
They'll see a hot dog and wantto get it.
And then now they'requestioning, wait, what kind of
hot dog is this?
Where does this come from?
What's in this?
And if we're at a concessionstand, usually the person
(26:50):
working at the concession standdoesn't know the answers.
And so we'll find somethingelse.
But they do.
They recognize it.
And their little senses can pickup probably a lot better than us
who have been trained for manyyears to have Anything,
SPEAKER_01 (27:06):
anything to fuel us up.
For the short term.
Totally.
I feed my kids hot dogs all thetime.
I mean, we have hot dogs all thetime.
They're Thousand Hills lifetimegrazed hot dogs.
They are in my fridge at alltimes.
We did not ask her to plug.
I'm a happy longtime customer.
You know, I've been buyingThousand Hills for years and
(27:27):
years and it is the best.
I tell everybody about it.
But that's another example.
It's like we put on this guiltof going– oh, I just fed my kids
hot dogs.
Well, you don't have to feelthat guilt if you're just making
the choice about hot dogs.
It's even, you know, you cansay, oh gosh, I did mac and
cheese for dinner.
Well, guess what?
I feed my kids mac and cheeseall the time and I use really
(27:49):
great pasta.
I use really great milk that Iget straight from the farm,
cheese straight from the farm, alittle bit of flour and butter,
and I make a roux.
It takes me maybe five minuteslonger than doing a box with a
powder.
And I feel absolutely zero guiltwhatsoever because I know it's a
really great food.
SPEAKER_02 (28:08):
And at the same time, for us, our family, we
have moderation.
We have a box of mac and cheeseevery once in a while.
That's what we have.
That's what's available.
And that's okay.
For us, that's okay.
We do have very similar foodvalues in our house of making
sure we know and we'rethoughtful about where it comes
(28:29):
from.
And just like you, local.
But you know what?
Sometimes We just go out and wejust order whatever because
we're really tired.
But to your point again, theyrecognize the differences of
those
SPEAKER_01 (28:44):
things.
Yeah, they do.
They totally do.
SPEAKER_02 (28:46):
Yeah, they do.
And sometimes we'll– going backto your senses, sometimes we'll
have our kids– well, my kidsactually encourage us.
They want to close their eyesand they'll do taste tests and
they will– Identify either whatthey're eating for maybe it's a
new produce or something or thedifferences in different types
(29:07):
of oranges.
And they'll really recognizethis one has more flavor.
This one's juicier.
And so they're really it's fun.
It's fun to see them grow anddevelop.
And their brains are working indifferent ways, too, by
changing.
increasing their senses.
I love
SPEAKER_01 (29:25):
that.
Oh, that's so fun.
The kids, it's so fun to bearound them.
You're totally right.
And I think it is important toothat when you're making those
convenience choices or you'regoing out to eat.
I mean, we just went out to eatas a family the other night and
we went to a great localrestaurant.
I mean, I don't know what kindof beef they're using.
I don't know if the bun isnon-GMO.
I don't know any of that, but weall sat together.
(29:45):
We had a really great dinner.
We had a wonderful conversation.
We were like playing tic-tac-toeand playing games.
And so that intentional time isimportant too.
I think it's just...
It is worth investing in.
It's worth investing your timeand your money in.
And I know that can be anunpopular thing to say because
of the economic climate andpeople feeling like everything
(30:09):
is so expensive.
But I will tell you there are alot of things that I forego and
that I did forego even when Iwas making$19,000 a year at my
first job in TV and feedingmyself.
I was making choices that, youknow, I don't go get my nails
done.
I don't go, you know, I'm notgetting like eyelash extensions.
(30:29):
I'm not doing things like thatbecause...
I want to be conscious about ourfood budget is definitely higher
than probably the averageAmerican families.
And Americans on average spend alower percentage of their income
on food than a lot of othercountries.
It's true.
And we're fed worse.
(30:49):
I mean, that's just the way thatit is.
You have to invest in what'simportant.
And there's a cost on eitherend.
If you're not paying for it,that means that somebody along
the chain is being takenadvantage of because the cost is
the cost.
So either it's being subsidized,we're having massive crops that
(31:11):
are subsidized by ourgovernment, so taxpayers are
paying for it, or you have farmworkers that aren't paid well,
that aren't treated well.
You have shortcuts in nutritionbecause it's a highly processed
cheap food that's being sold ata large markup.
You're lying to yourself ifyou're telling you that cheap
food is just cheap becauseYou're
SPEAKER_02 (31:30):
absolutely right.
And thinking about kind of onthe economic side of things,
back to our farmers.
If we cut out and decentralizesome of that system, we are
building up farmers.
And we need farmers.
I mean, farmers are retiring.
On average, they're, I don'tknow the exact statistic, but
(31:52):
they're, I think, creeping intothe 60s as an American farmer.
Now what?
What happens next?
And how can we help boost upthose who are emerging farmers
coming into the market, wantingto steward our land, steward our
bodies and raise good food?
We can have a direct impact onthem and building up the economy
(32:17):
of and the livelihood of farmerswho are wanting to do the right
thing.
SPEAKER_01 (32:21):
Well, and I almost think even to, you know, you
think about like, howcomfortable people feel going to
a farmer's market and beinglike, oh, would you take$2 for
that bag of potatoes instead of$3 for that bag of potatoes?
Sure.
Would you ever go into theTarget in your neighborhood and
say, hey, cashier, would youtake$2 for this bag of potatoes
(32:42):
instead of$3 for this bag ofpotatoes?
I would really encourage peopleto think that bartering with a
farmer, and I will go so far asto say is offensive, because it
is so devaluing to the work thatthey are doing.
Farmers should be exalted.
Farmers are absolutely a gift.
Without farms, we have no food.
(33:04):
And without small, diversefarms, we are on our way to
environmental disaster, which weare.
And so think about when you'regoing into a small business and
you feel okay asking them for adiscount, would you do that at a
big box store?
If you'll do it at a big boxstore and you're successful,
then maybe okay.
(33:24):
But if you're not, then I thinkpay the person what they're
worth or say to the farmer, ohmy gosh, these potatoes are so
beautiful.
It's$4 a bag.
Here's a five.
Keep the change.
Give the farmer a freakingbreak.
SPEAKER_02 (33:39):
Well, and I think we're safe to say no farmer goes
into this for money.
No.
To become rich.
I mean, that's not what they'redoing.
They're trying to make a livingfor raising good food.
And it's not about making thebig bucks anywhere.
So you're absolutely right.
Yeah.
Let's pay the true cost of food.
(34:01):
I mean, you mentioned subsidies.
We're already paying for thecheaper food indirectly through
SPEAKER_01 (34:07):
our subsidies.
You're right, though.
I mean, money is hard to talkabout.
And I think it can be difficultwhen people can, you know, and I
understand this when people go,oh, well, you're on TV.
You're probably making a ton ofmoney.
Well, yeah, I'm doing betterthan I was for sure.
Yeah.
If I was at an Oprah level,guys, we'd be in a whole
different ballgame.
We'd be
SPEAKER_02 (34:27):
sitting in this
SPEAKER_01 (34:27):
farmhouse studio.
I would have bought you a farm,a different farm, whatever.
I own my own farm that I'd belosing money on.
But I think you have to talkabout it and you have to think
about what your food values are.
And if you're in...
A severe poverty situation,obviously, that's a different
ballgame.
(34:49):
But even in those situations,there are a lot of
opportunities.
We work with tons oforganizations on Twin Cities
Live where we talk to food banksand food pantries who have tons
of fresh food, but a lot offolks come in and don't know how
to use it and don't know how toput it together.
And so the other element ofteaching people how to cook,
(35:10):
teaching people what real foodis, valuing that as a skill, and
not just a throwaway of, oh, youknow, I have to cook.
I think learning how to cook isby far the best skill that you
can possibly have when it comesto your health of your body and
the health of your finances.
SPEAKER_02 (35:29):
That's so true.
So what's your favorite thing onthe menu?
SPEAKER_01 (35:32):
Oh, gosh, all the things on the menu.
I do a lot of like kind ofstrategizing things.
Yeah, absolutely.
(35:57):
Brining chicken has totallychanged my life.
Are you brining your chicken?
SPEAKER_02 (36:01):
No, I have one ready for dinner
SPEAKER_01 (36:03):
tonight, but tell me more.
Okay.
So I buy pasture-raisedchickens, which can tend to be
like a little bit leaner, alittle bit smaller.
And so I do a brine and it'sreally simple.
It's just some sugar, salt, somespices, and then you just have
to heat up water a little bit tomake those dissolve.
You know, I'll do likepeppercorns and a bay leaf and
(36:23):
some thyme, whatever.
And then...
dilute that brine with extrawater and then put the chicken
in my Dutch oven and let it sitfor, you know, 12 hours.
And then I take it out and Ikind of pat it dry.
And then I do a compound butter.
So I just mix in some butterwith some garlic, some lemon
(36:44):
zest, salt, pepper, and herbs.
And then you got to get in therebetween the skin.
You got to get intimate with thebird.
Yes.
SPEAKER_03 (36:50):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (36:50):
So I rub that in between the skin and the flesh
of the chicken all over, eventhe thighs and the drummies.
You've got to wiggle in there.
SPEAKER_02 (36:59):
You're dedicated.
SPEAKER_01 (37:00):
This is how it's going.
Wash your paws regularly.
And then I just pop it in.
I usually stick the rest of thelemon in the cavity of the
chicken and then maybe cut up asmall onion or shallots or
something and put it in thecavity, tie the legs together,
and then pop it in the oven at400 for an hour until it's like
(37:24):
done, but the butter reallyhelps make it so tender and
juicy.
And then the moisture from thebrine, and then the brine also
seasons the bird all the waythrough.
I
SPEAKER_02 (37:34):
am hungry.
I know.
UNKNOWN (37:37):
I'm hungry.
SPEAKER_01 (37:37):
Now I can't go back to not brining.
It's changed my life.
SPEAKER_02 (37:40):
Okay.
I'm in.
Okay.
All right.
You're invested.
So that's a Sunday meal.
What's a quicker weeknight?
You got to run, you're doingsomething with...
Kids sports, activities.
SPEAKER_01 (37:51):
A lot of...
I'm not just saying this.
Last night, we had ThousandHills Burgers and I did some
really good buns.
And then I just did reallysimple oven fries with potatoes.
That was...
And then...
That's exactly what we had lastnight.
No way.
That's it.
That's it.
That's what we had.
And it was easy.
And it's easy.
And you feel good.
I know.
And I just pop them on thegriddle on my stove.
And then I toast up the buns andthen do like some pickles and
(38:15):
cheese or whatever we all want.
And then...
Really easy roasted potatoes.
And then my kids love frozenfruit.
Like they love frozen mango.
Yeah.
So I just put that in a littledish on the side.
Oh.
And that's, I mean, it took 20minutes.
Wow.
Maybe a little longer to get thepotatoes to roast, but I just
like pop them in and get itdone.
I do a lot of sheet pan dinners.
(38:37):
Sure.
I always keep like sausages onhand and I love to just put
those with some potatoes or withsome squash or sweet potatoes on
a sheet pan and then maybe addbroccoli or summer squash or
something and then just servethat up and serve like cheese on
the side or something.
I mean simplicity is really yourfriend.
(38:58):
Chicken thighs I like to do alot.
I love to do like chicken thighswith rice.
We do a lot of– We do sloppyjoes.
We do taco meat.
And for that, I've told you thisbefore, but I always use the– I
love to use the renegade blend.
There's also a bison that I buyfrom a farm in Cameron,
Wisconsin that I love, NorthStar Bison.
(39:20):
Shout out to all the farmersthat I love.
And then I will do– Then I mixin the organ meats in there and
no one has any idea.
My husband has no idea he's evereaten organ meat, just so you
know.
SPEAKER_02 (39:30):
Yeah.
So the renegade blend secret, ithas organ meat in it with the
ground beef.
So there's some heart and liverthat's worked into the renegade.
And you can't even tell.
No, you can't tell.
We have it for tacos, spaghetti,chili.
You can't tell for a burger.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's great.
It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01 (39:49):
Yes, we love it.
I do a lot of meatballs and alot of like other meals I like
to do are like ground chicken orground pork, kind of like an
Asian bowl that we could do withlike make a rice bowl.
I'll do just either the groundpork or the ground chicken
with...
Different, you know, lots ofgarlic, lots of ginger, some
(40:09):
green onions, some like soysauce, a little fish sauce, rice
wine vinegar.
I mean, sesame oil.
So like really simple things.
And then just serve that withrice.
I think it's it's tempting to golike dinner has to consist of
five different things on theplate.
Dinner really needs to consistof like two things on the plate,
(40:30):
if even that.
And then for kids, I think it'salways really great to serve
some fruit on the side becausethere's just one additional
thing that they– like I don'treally do fruit with dinner.
I'm not going to sit there withapples dinner or something dumb
like that.
UNKNOWN (40:42):
You know, my kids like it.
SPEAKER_01 (40:45):
Like I don't need blueberries with dinner, but
they like it.
Great.
UNKNOWN (40:52):
Eat it.
Eat it.
SPEAKER_02 (40:52):
And I think that's a really good point.
You said earlier cooking is oneof the easiest or best things
that we can do to help nourishour bodies and ourselves.
Well, cooking doesn't have to becomplicated.
No.
And you just proved that, thatit can be something very simple.
Applying your food values andthinking about and thoughtfully
(41:14):
sourced ingredients and puttingit in the oven.
And you can be quick.
It can be convenient.
And so good food doesn't have tobe inconvenient.
It can be very convenient forfamilies and lifestyles and the
way that we live and evendelivery services.
Right.
It's just thinking about whatdelivery service do I have?
(41:37):
What's coming into my house?
And so I hear sometimes thatit's overwhelming, but it
really, what you're saying, itcan be very simple.
It's
SPEAKER_01 (41:47):
very simple.
And sometimes I do a littletough talk with this kind of
stuff.
And I think that that's okay.
I come from a long line ofGerman Lutheran ministers, so a
little bit of Deutsche straighttalk of like things, you know,
this isn't that tough, you know,like that's good, I think.
And it is...
You are telling...
(42:08):
You're buying into a lie ifyou're believing that it's
faster and cheaper to always getfast food.
It's just not.
And I know this for a factbecause I'll buzz over and take
my kids to Shake Shack onoccasion if we're going back to
school shopping or something.
And then we go over there andhave it.
And we order burgers, a coupleorders of fries, and one shake
(42:30):
for everybody to share.
And it's$85.
I mean, it's simply...
not cheaper.
And when I drive home and I seethe Culver's down the street has
a lineup of 20 cars in line,it's not faster to sit in that
line and wait for the Culver's.
(42:52):
Now, I mean, I get if you'relike going from to and fro or
whatever, things can be a littlebit more complicated, but it
takes me 20 minutes to put mostof the meals together.
Like it's Get the rice to cometo a boil.
Set the timer for 15 minutes.
Do the other stuff in there.
We are eating in 20 minutes.
And then also just making some–sometimes you have to make some
(43:14):
hard choices based on your foodvalues.
Our food value is I want to eatdinner at home almost all of the
time.
And so when we started havingchildren, we– like I wanted to
live out on six acres in Aftonwith all of my heart.
And we had a purchase agreementsigned on this like really great
(43:36):
farmhouse.
SPEAKER_02 (43:36):
Oh, it was real.
SPEAKER_01 (43:37):
It was real.
And it was just down the streetfrom my pig farmers, Karen and
Sally, who lived out there.
So I mean, it was like all thethings, you know.
And then I had to really getreal with myself of going, okay,
I also...
Love my job.
I need to work at this job inorder to pay for the life that
we have.
(43:58):
My husband worked downtownMinneapolis.
My husband has to do a lot ofevening entertaining of like
taking clients to wild games anddoing things like that.
It's a hard job, I'm sure,unless it doesn't sound
exhausting.
And we had to really get realabout, well, how are we going to
do that?
How am I going to get off theset at 4.30 or whenever and have
(44:20):
a meeting?
get home with a child, get topick them up or wherever, start
dinner and I'm adding in a 45minute commute each way.
And it became, that's not gonnawork.
And so we made the choice, westayed in a really tiny house in
Minneapolis for a long time tosave up to be able to stay in
(44:42):
the city too.
And then we integrate our foodvalues into our life in the
city.
So we have a garden, we havechickens, we have those things.
And we try to find the best ofboth worlds because, and really
that decision was because ofdinner.
Food values.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (44:59):
It's all connected.
Yes.
It's a lifestyle.
Yeah.
But wow, good for you.
It's good for
SPEAKER_01 (45:05):
you and your
SPEAKER_02 (45:06):
family and
SPEAKER_01 (45:07):
you're doing that.
I pay that city of Minneapolisproperty tax bill.
Does it feel good?
No, I do it.
SPEAKER_02 (45:15):
So what gives you hope, Elizabeth, in our food
system or next generations offood and eaters?
SPEAKER_01 (45:23):
Okay, a couple things.
I think, well, the relationshipsthat I've built with farmers
really gives me hope because, Imean, even just getting to know
you over the last year, gettingto know, you know, I could like
start just saying the names offarmers who I've developed
relationships with.
And, you know, You're living it.
You
SPEAKER_02 (45:42):
know your farmer.
SPEAKER_01 (45:42):
I know my farmer.
I love it.
Because I'm the biggest– I'mlike a farm fangirl.
My co-host on Twin Cities Live,Ben Lieber, makes fun of me
because I'll be like, oh, he's avery– that's a very famous
farmer.
farmer.
And he's like, what is wrongwith you?
You talk about farmers likepeople talk about rock stars.
And I'm like, oh my gosh, JoelSalatin's like the biggest deal
ever.
Or even like food people.
(46:05):
If I ever met Michael Powell andI would lose my mind, he's like,
you talk about Michael Powelland people will talk about Mick
Jagger.
How about Alice Waters?
Oh, Alice Waters.
I mean, let's go.
I mean, all of the things.
So The more that I know farmersand the more that I know,
especially young farmers who aresaying, I want to raise my
(46:25):
family, food values are reallyimportant to me, or meeting
those guys who left the bigcereal company to do something
different and better.
And their dads, one of them waslike, I got a six-year-old, a
four-year-old, and atwo-year-old.
And I'm like, we can be friends.
So that totally gives me hopebecause I feel like people...
(46:47):
are out there on the grounddoing the work.
And I'm just trying to figureout how to elevate them and
amplify them and support them.
And then the second thing thatreally gives me hope, and I know
this is going to be shocking,but is social media.
Really?
Yes.
Because the amount of curiosityfrom people on social media...
(47:09):
I am not kidding, Melissa.
I spend...
I don't know, probably half anhour a day replying to messages
from people who say, hey,Elizabeth, where do you get your
salmon?
Hey, okay, so I want to do a CSAfor the first time.
Which one should I do?
And how do I do it?
Hey, you mentioned that youorder from this farm.
(47:31):
How do you do it?
Where do you get your eggs?
Hey, Elizabeth, I'm thinkingthat we're going to get chickens
in the spring.
We want to do this.
How do I do it?
And I am just like, my thumbsare tired from just writing this
back.
And it's the best form offatigue because I just go, oh my
gosh, everybody is waking up.
They are waking up and they aregoing, I'm going to make a
(47:54):
change.
And then once you make onechange and you realize that
wasn't that hard, then you makethe next change.
And then you go, then you makethe next change.
And it is amazing to see howmany people say, I don't want to
rely on big systems for myhealth and my nourishment and my
well-being.
I'm going to know that thatinnate wisdom is within me.
(48:17):
It's God given within me.
And I am going to listen to thatvoice.
And I'm going to seek out peoplewho can provide those things for
me and learn how to do it formyself.
Wow.
It's amazing.
SPEAKER_02 (48:29):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_01 (48:30):
Did you think I was going to say social media?
You didn't think
SPEAKER_02 (48:33):
so.
No, I did not think we weregoing there.
Thank you for being a voice forfarmers and for...
so many people who are leaningon you as a resource.
Thank you.
Thank you for what you're doingfor all of us because we're all
part of this food community.
And you have the courage to saybold things.
(48:55):
So thank you for being a trueregenerative renegade.
Thank you.
I haven't
SPEAKER_01 (48:58):
gotten canceled yet, so we'll just
SPEAKER_02 (49:00):
see.
SPEAKER_01 (49:01):
There's still time.
And you're welcome
SPEAKER_02 (49:02):
back here anytime.
SPEAKER_01 (49:03):
Well, listen, I love coming here.
And I do want to let everybodyknow, too, that you did a
fabulous episode of my podcast,Best to the Nest, that came out
on Earth Day 2025.
You can find that podcastwherever you get your podcasts.
And we just had such a fantasticconversation with you.
And it was so fun and You're soknowledgeable and you're just so
(49:25):
generous to share.
And you're just, you know,you're like me.
You're a mom kind of in thetrenches.
And I think the more that wesupport each other and share
what we've learned with eachother, the better off we're
going to be.
I'm humbled and honored.
Thank you.
Let's get some beef sticks.
Let's go.
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