The Agri-Tourist, My Journey Back to Agriculture
Agritourism involves travel, entertainment, adventure and agriculture, but, at its core, agritourism is really about connecting and educating. Join me to learn from experienced agritourism farmers and entrepreneurs, and help me build my future farm strategy.
Episodes
I can’t resist a great conversation about chocolate and cacao farming. I had the pleasure of interviewing someone I met at the beginning of her cacao journey, a real powerhouse and innovator at the time whom I met on my first chocolate trip to Belize - the one with the howler monkeys and the jungle cabana!
Emily Stone came on the cacao scene in Belize in 2010, made a tremendous impact to the lives and livelihood of c...
Farm Trails was founded in the 1970’s to connect the public to local farmers, ranchers, producers and purveyors in Sonoma County CA and is still aligned with the same mission and going strong in 2025.
Over five decades ago, a group of forward-thinking farmers blazed trails in Sonoma County, creating a map & guide for local agriculture, inviting the public to meet their farmers and learn more about the or...
One of my best trips ever….exploring Costa Rica…with my youngest daughter Abby…for her 18th birthday and High School graduation! This past April, Abby and I embarked on an adventure to Costa Rica….packed with ‘fake’ volcanic eruptions, ash clouds, rainforest hikes, stray dogs, serendipitous moments, magnificent sunsets, a cacao farm tour, chocolate and coffee tasting, delicious, clean, local meals, howler monkeys, th...
I had the opportunity to interview 2 extremely dedicated and super insipring people who are veterans, farmers, educators, PHd students, and mentors for so many veterans who are considering a career in farming. This is career #2 for both of them. But Why did they pick Farming?
With one-third of American farmers over the age of 60, there is a critical shortage of individuals entering the agriculture industry. ...
On Agri-Tourist Episode #4 we hosted Shelby Watson-Hampton, author of Grace, Grit & Lipstick and co-owner of Robin Hill Farm & Vineyards in Maryland. I was heading down to South Carolina and my half way point was Maryland. I reached out to Shelby to see if she would be available to connect at her vineyard on a specific evening and, lucky for me, she was available, and so were 10 other local farm women and en...
On the Agri-Tourist Episode #4 we hosted Shelby Watson-Hampton, author of Grace, Grit & Lipstick and co-owner of Robin Hill Farm & Vineyards. I was heading down to a wedding in SC and my 1st stop was Maryland. I always say that I want to visit and connect in person…and I really do mean it. I reached out to Shelby to see if she would be available to meet at her vineyard. She was available, and so were 10 oth...
Shalom Farms is a nonprofit working together to build healthy communities by growing and sharing healthy food. The food they grow is distributed through their network of programs and partnerships in communities where access to healthy food is limited.
Shalom Farms is the evolution of the work of the United Methodist Urban Ministries of Richmond (UMUMR) which has a long history of social service work in Richmo...
We did not grow apples at my farm. So during apple season we would purchase apples to have available for our customers. Finding organic apples was impossible so after some research we found Eco Certified apples from Fishkill Farms - a farm that was about a 2 ½ hour drive from us. However, it was worth the trip to stock up on healthier, more sustainably grown apples. At the time I read about the Eco Certification an...
Molly Comstock is now overseeing Many Forks Farm. Many from the Berkshires know her as the owner of Colfax Farm. Molly’s passion and tenacity for farming and to be a farmer definitely comes through in her story. And her story has a significant focus on the issues surrounding farmers and land access
Molly didn’t own her land and had to move her farmland and business a few times. And, for a farmer who invest...
My conversation with Jim Sanders, farmer from Wildflower Lane Farm in NC, was far reaching. HIs idea around having food advocacy groups who are purchasing produce from retailers and wholesalers shift those funds to pay local farmers to grow for them, has had a tremendous impact on many non profits in the North Carolina area.
Another one of the non profit organizations that Jim’s idea has reached is called P...
Jim Sanders, farmer from Wildflower Lane Farm in NC, had an idea about growing vegetables and finding a distribution partner for those vegetables. In my podcast interview with Jim (podcast episode 54), he told the story about walking into the office of a non profit called TABLE and proposing his idea to the women in the office. What struck me about that story was the fact that those women listened and took action im...
Jim Sanders, an environmentalist and farmer, is the owner of Wildflower Lane Farm in North Carolina. Jim has some great stories about how he came into farming and his fun and not so fun experiences with trying to build a farming business. All along, Jim knew and was reminded by some friends, that there had to be a better way, a more sustainable way.
Jim decided to take another approach to feeding local peopl...
So this is my 53rd episode…the 1st episode of Season 2 of the Agri-Tourist Podcast! This episode is Part 2 of my interview with Marisa about coming full circle.
I have learned so much during the course of this year…and not just about farming and agriculture… I learned so much about life, about love, about passion and dedication, trusting the journey, making every day count, and about taking that leap of faith.
And I...
So this is my 52nd episode…Part 1! One whole year of podcast episodes…and I have to say that I learned so much during the course of this year…and not just about farming and agriculture. I learned so much about life, about love, about passion and dedication, trusting the journey, making every day count, and about taking that leap of faith.
And I learned all of this from over 50 amazing people from all over the world. S...
When I became aware of The Farmer Veteran Coalition, I just had to learn more.
The Mission of Farmer Veteran Coalition is Mobilizing Veterans to Feed America.
They are cultivating a new generation of farmers and food leaders, and developing viable employment and meaningful careers for veterans. They believe that veterans possess the unique skills and character needed to strengthen rural communities and cre...
Meg and Laura founded Full Well Farm located in Adams, MA in 2018. Meg was brought up on the farmland they are now farming on. When chatting with Meg about their background, there seemed to be an initial resistance to farming and becoming a farmer. However, the pull to being outside every March was too hard to resist. And the pull to developing a business that provided access to healthy food was also too much to re...
The USDA defines food security as having "access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members" and very low food insecurity is classified as " where one or more household members experience reduced food intake and disrupted eating patterns at times during the year because of limited money or other resources." In 2023, the USDA reported national food insecurity ...
She is a passionate farm entrepreneur from Maryland…driven to preserve her farmland and build a thriving Farmyard business.
Renee Wilson was born to a teacher and dairy farmer, she was a 4H member and then earned an education in TV production and marketing during college…but her heart and passion was in agriculture. She returned to her roots and leveraged her skills to identify how to secure and access land ...
Kristen Tool and I have something very important in common….we want to connect ALL people to real, healthy, nutritious food….sometimes that food is harvested right from the farm and other times it is made into nutritious soups.
Caring for and stewarding land has been a lifelong dream of Kristen’s. She and her husband Chris have been working to restore Olsen Farm, her husband’s family farm in Lanesborough, M...
Craft Beer and Cider….both wins for the agritourism industry. And it’s actually less about the alcohol and more about the sense of community and connection that it brings.
Dr. Alison Feeney is a Professor in the Geography and Earth Science Department at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. She blends work with pleasure as she travels around her state of Pennsylvania and beyond to research craft brewerie...
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