Community Food Systems: What To Sell at a Farmers Market

John Moore: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Mother Earth News and Friends podcast. In this episode of Mother Earth News and Friends, we’re talking with April Jones, who’s been on the podcast before, and is one of the Mother Earth News Voices for 2023. We’ll be talking about urban farming and ways communities can be more sustainable, including farmers markets and food systems.

This is Mother Earth News.

[00:00:40] Mother Earth News Fair Ad

Jessica Mitchell: We here at Mother Earth News enjoy hosting in-person fairs. And you can see a list of upcoming locations at www.MotherEarthNewsFair.com. We are also excited to present you with the opportunity to get that self-reliant, can-do content for the whole family right from your own home. All [00:01:00] you have to do is go to Online.MotherEarthNewsFair.com and sign up for your favorite programs. Use the code FAIRGUEST for $5 off at checkout.

John Moore: Our last fair of 2023 is coming up in West Bend, Wisconsin, September 16th to 17th. And you can see April Jones there as well as many other speakers.

[00:01:26] Introducing April Jones

Kenny Coogan: Good day everyone, and we appreciate you for joining us on another exciting Mother Earth News and Friends podcast. I am Kenny Coogan, and joining me today is April Jones, founder of the Pinehurst Farmers Market. At Mother Earth News for 50 years and counting, we have been dedicated to conserving our planet’s natural resources while helping you conserve your financial resources.

Today, we are going to learn about urban farming and ways communities can be more sustainable. April is passionate about community gardens, [00:02:00] farmers markets, and creating a just food system. Welcome to the podcast, April.

April Jones: Thank you so much for having me.

Kenny Coogan: It’s always great to have you. And you are the founder of the Pinehurst Farmers Market in downtown Columbia, South Carolina, and I imagine that is one way to help the community be more sustainable.

So what would visitors experience when they visit the market?

April Jones: So I had the market going for over three years. Recently I’ve had to discontinue the market. I had some personal issues that I had to focus my time and energy on. But now I am working with groups across the country regarding farmers market, sustainability, ways that we can come together through food.

And so what I love about all farmers markets is that it really allows us [00:03:00] to change the calculus of our food system, and to become more localized, and to see our neighbors and our friends, and to really invest deeply in our community.

[00:03:16] Community Farmers Markets

Kenny Coogan: So how do farmers markets all over the country, can you talk a little bit more about how they build community? So they’re localized and then they’re investing in the community by just people buying produce and goods? Or is there other ways that it builds the community?

April Jones: So we all have experienced COVID. And COVID was very revelatory for all of us. And it also allowed us to see our supply chains and how fragile and delicate they are. They’re like delicate flowers. And I thought they were more like steel, you know, trucks, right? Indestructible, strong, robust, vibrant, you know, powerful. [00:04:00] Instead, they’re just a sweet little, delicate flower that can be blown by the wind, and poof! The pedals disappear.

And so, localizing our food system through farmers markets and other means allows us to have more resiliency in our supply chains. And it allows us to be stronger, more vibrant, more resilient and robust, and also allowing us to avoid these supply chain disruptors. Because we can see our neighbor. We know our neighbor. Hopefully our neighbor loves us. Hopefully we love our neighbor. And we are showing solidarity and care and empathy and exchanging produce and money, which is very powerful.

Kenny Coogan: To build the infrastructure of success in a [00:05:00] farmers market, you need to engage with the customer base. You gotta keep those customers coming back. So what are some ways you can kind of hook ’em and keep ’em?

April Jones: I think it’s important to think long-term investment, really strategizing it out all the way until the end. That helps you to overcome any barriers that you may encounter. The ebbs and the flows of customers, of the seasonality, of availability, of the things that you have. And it also allows you to have an expansive ecosystem. And when I’m saying, an expansive ecosystem, when you’re thinking deeply long term, you’re able to think about ways that you can preserve some of the things that you have that are additional in your seasonality of what you’re growing, and [00:06:00] then utilize that later on in your season.

So an easy thing to think about would be strawberries. Strawberries are spectacular and amazing, and they’re one of the first fruits of the season. And so in prior years, you may have had an a abundance of strawberries, and so you can think about ways you can preserve it. Jams and then resell that jam later on in the year so people can experience the bounty of beautiful strawberries.

Unfortunately, this year, most of the country has had drier weather, which has been extremely impactful to the sweet little strawberries. And so we aren’t gonna have an extra bountiful crop of strawberries this year, but we may have a bountiful crop of zucchini or corn. We don’t know yet, but we’ll see.

And so it allows you to really think long-term. When you’re [00:07:00] also thinking long-term investment, you may think, well, next year I maybe I won’t have as many strawberries, and is there another berry that I can start planting and growing that’s more resilient and climate adaptable so that I can have a bounty so I can preserve for the next season.

[00:07:20] What to Sell at a Farmers Market: Value-Added Products

Kenny Coogan: Yeah, biodiversity in ecosystems and markets is definitely important. Can you just define what a value added product is?

April Jones: So a value added product would be like a jam or a jelly, anything that you are taking from its raw form and then processing in some sort of form, and then reselling. So it could even be a freeze dried strawberries. So that sort of thing.

Kenny Coogan: So I know you just mentioned like the jam and if you have a bumper crop, you wanna preserve ’em and then keep making money on that. Are there other ways that a value added product would [00:08:00] increase somebody’s market shares? Because I guess customers might think like, hey, I don’t have to jam it myself.

April Jones: Exactly. You could make tomato sauce, you could make salsa, you could, if you have mulberries. I love mulberries. They’re magical, and they’re native to most places. So you could make a mulberry wine. You could make mulberry scones and sell them. You could make a jam, you could make a jelly. You could, you know, dry them. You could make smoothies and sell the smoothies. So, I mean, there’s just really endless opportunities to use the items that you have, and it allows you to be creative.

Kenny Coogan: How important is crafting the message and educating the consumers about the value added products?

April Jones: I think it’s super important to do messaging. And culturally, messaging is gonna be very different [00:09:00] in different parts of the country.

Some parts of the country, like the South, they really are focused on the story that you tell. Like, what is this collard green gonna do for me? Is it gonna do something magical? What’s the story? Is it a old variety of a collard green, or is this a new fun variety? What color, et cetera. Now in the Midwest, we’re in the Great Lakes, we’re very price conscious, so do not overcharge on the price. And then the Northeast, they’re very aspirational. Like, is this going to help me in my career? Am I gonna be able to make more money? Are my children gonna be able to get better grades? And the West Coast is more about like, how’s this gonna make me look? Am I gonna look better? Am I gonna be sexier, more amazing?

So these are great generalizations, right? Of course. Like your little city could be totally different than what I said. [00:10:00] But, in general, that’s the sort of formatting that you have to think about and to really boost our domestic supply. These are the things that you have to take in mind.

Kenny Coogan: I, I was imagining social media influencers thinking, wow, if I buy this Georgia Southern collard green, or this Green Glaze collard green, I will be sexier than my neighbor. So I have to buy it.

April Jones: The nutrients will make my skin clear and beautiful.

Kenny Coogan: Yeah. So, so you did mention price, and different regions might be influenced by price differently. Do you have advice on how to price value added products? Because you have the tomatoes, and you turn ’em into tomato sauce, but it is a lot of setup and cleanup and processing and time. So do you have some tips on how to price it appropriately and how to get a good return on [00:11:00] investment?

April Jones: Yeah, I think it’s really important to look at your region and your area and to see what are other people pricing things at. That’s really important to kind of get a baseline of what’s going on. Also, it’s important to do the math. Do those numbers, love those numbers. Those numbers are your friend. Chart those numbers. Create a data notebook regarding the numbers and what customers are saying back to you regarding price, regarding the quality, any comments that they say.

Sometimes people say things and you’re like, whoa, that was a strange comment. Not sure about that. But when you chart it out, it takes all the emotion out. Then you can kind of see a pattern of what people are trying to communicate to you regarding your product. So with pricing, it’s important to know the marketplace, know your neighbors, but then also look a couple states over and see what that pricing is, making sure that you’re covering your [00:12:00] cost, your labor, your effort, your expertise. Super important.

And then I, there’s been some really great research out, particularly with women, is that we undercharge ourselves. So if you’re a woman producer, make sure you add a little extra confidence in your soul and spirit, and then raise the price a little higher than you may feel comfortable.

And so those are all things that are super important with pricing. It’s also important to do the messaging, to really inform your customer of the value that you are offering to them. You are part of the community. They’re investing in the community, they’re investing in their localized economy. And let me tell you, the flavor is gonna be spectacular. Right?

Now, some parts of the country are just really down with the amazing food quality. And when you’re buying [00:13:00] local, ah, so delicious. And you just really can’t put a price on it, it’s just, it’s paradise. And so really communicating that clearly with your customer really allows ’em to, to understand fully.

Kenny Coogan: I sell houseplants, and I love your idea about charting the comments. Because I also go to, I have sales every weekend for maybe six months of the year. And some sales, some farmers markets, some plant sales, I’ll have, you know, 50 customers. But on really busy days, I’ll have a thousand customers. And when they’re just like, you know, when you’re just in conversation, you’re like, oh, I’ll remember that Monday. But then after your two 14 hour days, you’re like, what did they tell me they liked and what did they tell me they didn’t? So I love that, having a little notebook, or even just using your phone, getting a little note app.

April Jones: Absolutely. Use that data for your advantage, for sure.

[00:13:59] Community Benefits of Shopping at a Farmers Market

Kenny Coogan: Do you [00:14:00] have some strategies of how to increase community engagement for your own company or for farmers markets in general?

April Jones: Yeah. I think that it’s really important to talk about moving our food supply closer to home because we know that we are dependable people, for the most part. We are malleable. We’re able to change really quickly on a dime, and we’re able to create peace and comfort and love in our communities. And you can call it friend shoring, right? We’re friend shoring. We’re making friends through the food movement. All those things are super important, and it’s really important to communicate those values and those ideals to your customers.

Kenny Coogan: Now, earlier you were talking about building resiliency. Do you have some tips on how to build resiliency [00:15:00] and partnerships with the local economy? So I imagine we’re talking about like keeping money in the community, moving it around.

April Jones: Absolutely. Super important. Keeping the resiliency in our communities. Keeping the buoyancy, like thinking of a boat, right? Canoeing, right. Keeping it going. Keeping it moving with the stream of the economy, which can be sometimes treacherous. And it can be sometimes really calm and sweet, beautiful waters. It just depends. And so what I’m seeing through my work of working with communities across the country is that some regions of the country are really good about being cooperative and caring, showing love and humanity to their neighbors. And — surprise, surprise — economically, they’re doing outstanding, right? [00:16:00] They’re killing the game. And that is what it’s all about in the food movement as well, is really incorporating those principles of love and care, dignity, patience towards others, allows us to build a stronger, more robust economic system that’s gonna be more resilient and strong through, you know, the ups and the downs.

Kenny Coogan: Can you just talk a little bit more about how the local farm base can increase the community vibrancy, like the enthusiasm?

April Jones: Yeah. Using our food system is a great way to leverage our own economic growth. It helps us to bolster our economic growth. And it gives us a united response and allows us to rally [00:17:00] around our greatest asset, which is our community, and the people in our community who are growing food that is going to be tasty and nutritious and amazing, and is available for us readily.

And so when we really are supporting these local assets in our community, we’re really supporting ourselves. And we’re bolstering our own opportunity to have more economic empowerment. When you have a community that’s focused on healthy food and are healthy food producers, you are lowering crime in your community, you’re upping test scores in your community. You are lowering, you know, people going to the hospital and having to go to the doctor, so you’re lowering your healthcare costs. All these things are super amazing and awesome. And it should be the goal of every community. And it allows us to [00:18:00] love our neighbor and to be kind to our neighbor and to have more understanding of our neighbor. And allows us to see that our neighbors are kind, sweet, safe people, and to really build our own community trust.

Kenny Coogan: Before we started recording, we were talking about zoos. And I do a lot of farmers markets, like I said, and mostly plant, like specific plant sales or plant popups. And in a couple of weeks I’ll be going to the local museum, selling my plants, doing like a little plant popup. Have you seen farmers or local farmers work with their cultural institutions? Like museums and zoos and boys and girls centers and hospitals. ‘Cause I would think that would be a easy way to connect the community with the local farmers. It makes sense. Like, Hey, we’re growing this great organic food. It’s great for the animals, but it’s also good for people. And hey, we’re at a hospital. If you don’t want to come here often, eat [00:19:00] a healthy vegetable.

April Jones: Exactly. Yeah. So the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota is working to work with local producers regarding their food system there, which I applaud. I think that’s amazing. And I encourage more institutions to think deeply about ways that they can support local producers as well.

And I think when we’re talking about partnerships and coming together, every community is gonna have a different scenario, because the cultural differences are so vast. And so when we’re thinking about partnerships, some areas it may be easier to partner because it’s part of the cultural legacy of communal goodness, mercy, and love, and grace extending to other people, thinking of other people first.

Other communities may have different values regarding [00:20:00] people and coming together and being helpful, and how helpful should I be and the levels of helpfulness. And so I really encourage the community really to think deeply about the cultural values with the place that you’re living. And do they align with your own personal values of how you were raised? And really aligning ourselves with those value systems. Because when you’re in a value system that aligns with your spirit and your soul and the way you were raised, it makes it so much easier to navigate that cultural system. And you’ll be, it’ll be easier for you to find partners, ’cause they’re gonna have the same values, the same upbringing, the same outlook, same cultural values that are just really deeply embedded into our societies.

Kenny Coogan: We’re gonna take a quick break in our conversation to hear a word from our sponsor, and when we return, we will learn some [00:21:00] ways specific foods can make communities more sustainable.

Jessica Mitchell: We here at Mother Earth News enjoy hosting in-person fairs. And you can see a list of upcoming locations at www.MotherEarthNewsFair.com. We are also excited to present you with the opportunity to get that self-reliant, can-do content for the whole family right from your own home. All you have to do is go to Online.MotherEarthNewsFair.com and sign up for your favorite programs. Use the code FAIRGUEST for $5 off at checkout.

John Moore: Our last Fair of 2023 is coming up in West Bend, Wisconsin, September 16th to 17th, and you can see April Jones there as well as many other speakers.

And now back to our conversation with April Jones….

[00:21:54] How to Use Healing Herbs and Plants

Kenny Coogan: Urban farmer and educator. So we’ve been speaking about communities, and many people have [00:22:00] experienced a great deal of trauma during the last few years. Now we must move forward and find strategies to initiate healing. So April, do you have some plants that you like to utilize to improve mental health and trauma?

April Jones: Such a good question. I love it. Yes, I think it’s really important to think about your own native plants in your community. So I am really big on mulberries. Love them. They’re so delightful and delicious, and they’re all throughout my community and so I love it.

Kenny Coogan: And they’re usually difficult to find in the grocery store.

April Jones: I’ve never seen them in the grocery store. I’ve never. I mean, I’ve, I don’t even know if I want to see them in the grocery store, but they are magical, and they’re delicious and nutritious. Great boost of little energy. And just tasty. So I’ve been really finding [00:23:00] that joy.

Also growing your own herbs is super relaxing and amazing. Rosemary, mint, thyme. And you can do, you know, the native things in your community. So I think those are all really, really fun. You can make teas, you can put them in your bath water. There’s just so many ways to utilize, you can cook with them. The herbs, the native plants. And it really allows us to really like deeply root and ground ourselves in our own cultural identity and our states that we live in.

Each state is so incredibly different. Each state is gonna have different native plants and, you know, you get a chance to really experience the wonder and the joy of your own special community.

Kenny Coogan: Something else that you can do with herbs is you can just brush up against them when you’re outside in the garden, to get those essential oils out there in the air and [00:24:00] calm yourself.

April Jones: A hundred percent. I found, I found some lavender at a secret location. I harvested some and I’ve been delighting in it. It’s magical. So flavorful. Like nothing like the grocery store dried lavender. It’s like next level.

Kenny Coogan: So you just mentioned making a tea, and homemade teas can be very soothing. Do you have like one or two tea blends that you’re, kind of your go-to?

April Jones: Well, I’m originally from Akron, Ohio, and so we grew up doing the sun tea. I don’t know if that’s like a thing, but it’s definitely a big thing of Midwest. So basically what you do is you put some herbs in a glass jar. Then you put it out into the sun for like an hour, 30 minutes, or all day, depending on the time you have. Then you take it out, and it just tastes like sunshine in a bottle, and it’s so delicious. The sun [00:25:00] tea, there’s just something magical about the way it hits, the sun hits the bottle, and it’s really refreshing. And so I do a lavender mint sun tea, which is really great. And just put in mint, you put in lavender, you can strain it out. You can reuse it. So yeah, I really like a great sun tea. I think it’s relaxing and very healthy and beneficial.

Kenny Coogan: So I’m in the South, I’m in Florida and my neighbor also makes sun tea. But she’ll get like a black tea bag. She’ll put it in the glass jar, a couple hours in the sun, but then she’ll add her mints and her lavenders and her fresh herbs to that to make a tea.

April Jones: Nice.

[00:25:42] Benefits of Bone Broth

Kenny Coogan: And you’re right, sunshine in a bottle. Now, bone broth is said to have multifaceted benefits to your health. What do you believe bone broth is good for?

April Jones: Everything. I like bone broth [00:26:00] ’cause it gives you a really good boost. You know, if you’re older, it’s good for the joints. It helps you move. It’s also like great fat. The marrow’s in there, the marrow’s super delicious and good for you. And it’s also scriptural, and so I like that. You can drink it, you can make it in a stew. You can make it with your beans, which I really like and enjoy. You can also bury it into your….

Kenny Coogan: Okay, back, back up. So how do you make it with the beans? You’re making bones and beans, and then, go ahead.

April Jones: Okay. I’ll give you my special recipe. So I like to use like black-eyed peas. Those are really good. You can use like a native bean that you’re more familiar with, a pinto bean, a red bean, a black bean, et cetera. So you just soak it overnight, and then you basically put in broth, and it gives it great flavor. And the other [00:27:00] thing is it’s like a two-for, it’s a two for one, the bones. You can use chicken bones, you know, you have chicken thighs or drum sticks. You eat the drumsticks, you save the bones, then you make your bone broth, and then you can actually cook the beans with the bones in it. And it creates the bone broth, and you can just strain out the bones later on. So that’s the way that I like to use my bone broth. I personally don’t normally just drink the bone broth. I normally use it in beans or in a soup and stew, that sort of thing.

Kenny Coogan: Do you have any other tips about the bone broth?

April Jones: Yes. I think it’s a great way for you to economically buy from a farmer. I saw a farmer that had 30 pounds of bones for $28, so that’s a great deal. And it’s something that you can freeze the bones, you can freeze, and then pull them out as you make the bone broth. You can give it to friends, people [00:28:00] are really into bone broth. I think it’s a, a great thing to utilize fully.

[00:28:04] How to Make Dandelion Wine

Kenny Coogan: So, earlier when we were talking about the teas and medicinal plants and native plants, we did not mention dandelions. And dandelions are very nutritious, and I hear you make a refreshing dandelion wine. So how do you, how do you make that?

April Jones: I call it also sunshine in a bottle. So the dandelion wine, you can make it so it actually ferments into more of like a alcoholic beverage. I never personally wait that long. I just utilize it in its light form. So you just take dandelions first thing in the morning as they’re opening up. You just take the flowers, pop them off. Put them in a basket. Then you put water in a large pot. Then you put the dandelions in, and you can boil for [00:29:00] an hour, 30 minutes, 20 minutes, three hours, depending on how much flavor you wanna get out of the dandelions. Then you strain, you let it cool, you add sugar and a little bit of yeast. You can use brewers yeast, or you can use just whatever yeast you have. And then you bottle it up and let the magic occur. After about three days, you’ll have a carbonated beverage. And it’ll taste sweet and flavorful, and you’ll get a lot of nutrients and vitamins from the dandelions.

Key tip is make sure that you are not spraying your land with any pesticides, because that would be in your dandelions. If you’re picking at another location, make sure that they aren’t spraying. Those are the key tips. And you have to bottle it in a glass with a, a lid on top. Kind of like one [00:30:00] of those kombucha, if you’re making a kombucha, or any sort of carbonated beverage.

Kenny Coogan: Like a flip top?

April Jones: A flip top. Yes.

Kenny Coogan: So like we mentioned earlier, I’m in Florida, and those yellow dandelions are actually very hard to grow in central Florida. I have really good experience with two different Japanese dandelion species. So they look just like a dandelion, except one of their flowers is all pink. And then the other one is almost all white with just a little bit of yellow in the center. And yep, they are dandelions, they’re native to southern Japan. They’re not really considered aggressive or weedy. And I grow both of them in like a 24 inch terracotta pot. And they are biennials, so I’ve had them for many years until they flower, and then I collect the seeds. And yeah, they taste just like dandelion. I mean, they are dandelion. You can eat the [00:31:00] flowers, you can eat the leaves, but I’ve never made wine or a drink out of them yet.

April Jones: Yeah, they’re delicious. And you can make those sort of drinks out of a lot of different things. So that’s the beauty of your natural environment, for sure.

[00:31:14] Growing and Harvesting Green Beans

Kenny Coogan: All right. The last question I have for you is, because I also hear that you’re good at growing and enjoying a bounty of green beans, do you have tips on how to harvest them or how to get a bounty?

April Jones: I love intercropping with my beans. I think that’s really important. It allows you to get a two for one. It covers the ground so you don’t have to worry about weeds and pests as much. And you can also protect your beans from pests by intercropping preventative plants that prevent the past.

And I encourage you to do different varieties. I personally like heirloom varieties. I feel [00:32:00] like they do better. And I encourage you to buy from a local seed supplier. So if you’re in the Midwest, I encourage you to purchase from a Midwest seed producer because the seeds are gonna be acclimated to your climate, to your region, and are gonna be more readily available for your soil, things of that nature.

And also you can seed swap with other people. And saving your seeds is a, is a huge boon to your own self because you are, when you’re saving, you’re getting the best of the best that you have. And then you’re replanting it next year. It already knows what’s going on in the soil, who’s there, what’s up. And that is a really great way to really increase your supply of produce year after year and to have success.

Also, really incorporating beans that you like to eat. And I encourage you to harvest when your heart [00:33:00] feels right. Like if you like small, small beans, that’s okay. You know, harvest then. If you want extra large beans, harvest then. So just go with how you feel, what you like.

Kenny Coogan: Do you have some specific companion planting crops that you like to grow with the beans?

April Jones: I normally do marigolds, tomatoes, sometimes corn with my beans. Sometimes I’ll be do a bean in a squash or carrot. I like carrots because they really get in and kind of disrupt the roots all the way down. Maybe not the roots, but their roots go down and disrupt the soil. And so that’s really helpful.

And I like also doing like root vegetables, like doing potatoes in one section, and then putting in the beans ’cause it’s the same sort of principle, the sweet potatoes. And then putting in the beans, same principle. Just getting in some sort of root vegetables in the prior season to kind of get in there and get the [00:34:00] soil ready and prepared and aerated and ready for the, for the beans.

Kenny Coogan: Thank you so much, April, for speaking with us. Our conversation on urban farming and communities becoming more sustainable, has been very educational and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

April Jones: Thank you so much for having me. It’s been a pleasure.

[00:34:19] Podcast Credits

Kenny Coogan: We thank you, the listener, for joining our podcast and encourage you to share it with your friends, colleagues, and family. To listen to more podcasts, visit our website, www.MotherEarthNews.com. You can also follow our social media platforms from that link and ask questions for future podcasts. And remember, no matter how brown your thumb is, you can always cultivate kindness.

John Moore: You’ve just heard our episode about urban farms and sustainability with April Jones.

You can reach us at Podcast@OgdenPubs.com with [00:35:00] any comments or suggestions.

Our podcast production team includes Jessica Mitchell, John Moore, and Kenny Cogan.

Music for this episode is “Travel Light” by Jason Shaw.

This Mother Earth News and Friends podcast is a production of Ogden Publications. Learn more about us at www.MotherEarthNews.com.

[00:35:25] Mother Earth News Fair Ad

Jessica Mitchell: We here at Mother Earth News enjoy hosting in-person fairs, and you can see a list of upcoming locations at www.MotherEarthNewsFair.com. We are also excited to present you with the opportunity to get that self-reliant, can-do content for the whole family right from your own home. All you have to do is go to Online.MotherEarthNewsFair.com and sign up for your favorite programs. Use the code FAIRGUEST for $5 off at checkout.

John Moore: Our last fair of [00:36:00] 2023 is coming up in West Bend, Wisconsin, September 16th to 17th, and you can see April Jones there as well as many other speakers.

Until next time, don’t forget to love your Mother.

Meet April Jones

April Jones advocates for her community as part of the food justice and food sovereignty movement. She is a writer, photographer, blogger, YouTuber, recipe developer, and book reviewer who is passionate about community, gardens, and farmers markets.

Additional Resources

Find April at our Wisconsin Mother Earth News Fair, September 16 to 17! Learn more and buy your tickets here!

Read more about sustainable community development in April’s article on African-American food culture.

 Our Podcast Team

Jessica Mitchell, John Moore, Kenny Coogan, and Alyssa Warner
Music: “Travel Light” by Jason Shaw

Listen to more podcasts at MOTHER EARTH NEWS PODCAST.

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The Mother Earth News and Friends podcasts are a production of Ogden Publications.

Ogden Publications strives to inspire “can-do communities,” which may have different locations, backgrounds, beliefs, and ideals. The viewpoints and lifestyles expressed within Ogden Publications articles are not necessarily shared by the editorial staff or policies but represent the authors’ unique experiences.