Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, hosted by Mary Swander, explores life among the Amish and the arts and agriculture in the wider rural community. These podcasts were produced and recorded by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Production.
Season #3, Episode #52: Bio-Sanctuaries
Host Mary Swander interviews agronomists Russ Mullen and Jill Mortenson about creating a bio-sanctuary movement of undisturbed places of refuge, shelter, and food for wildlife. Mullen reads from his non-fiction piece about exploring a wetland on his family farm during childhood, then reflects on the disappearance of such environments in an age of industrial agriculture. Mortenson suggests ideas for urban sanctuaries and how the arts might promote the movement. Read Mullen’s full essay at: https://www.agarts.org/special-places-farmland-sanctuaries/
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of our podcast Mary Swander’s Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, and poetry critiques. Have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Season #3, Episode #51: I Do
Host Mary Swander reflects upon the wedding customs in her Amish neighborhood-from the difficulties of finidng a mate, to the services in the barn, to the reception for 500 people under the tent. Wedding stories and jokes by Duffy de France and Monica Leo. Music: What Shall I Wear to the Wedding, John? by Aunt Fanny Rumble and Albert Collins.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of our podcast Mary Swander’s Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, and poetry critiques. Have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Season #3, Episode #50: Toxic Environmental History
Host Mary Swander interviews Environmental Historian Professor Heather Roller from Colgate University with her student assistants Anna Miksis and Katie Moser. Roller discusses her research in the Amazon and award-winning books on the region, then turns to her current project A Social and Environmental History of Agrichemicals. She travelled to Iowa to interview farmers, to take their oral histories and discover the reasons many have turned to organic farming. Roller is also working in the archives at both The University of Iowa and Iowa State University. She discusses her own family exposure to the fall-out from Chernobyl and the cancer both she and her mother experienced.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of our podcast Mary Swander’s Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, and poetry critiques. Have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Season #3, Episode #49: Squatters on Red Earth
Host Mary Swander provides background on the research and production of her new play Squatters on Red Earth, a peaceful encounter in the middle of the white settler land grab. Swander details her interactions with both the people of the Amana Colonies and the Meskwaki Settlement. These two groups, wanting nothing more than to remain hidden from the outside world, had a positive experience together in the early settlement days-all the while genocide whirled around them. Laura Hudson Kittrell sings Manifest Destiny. Rip Russell gives a short excerpt from the play. Brant Bollman, the director, speaks about the puppetry in the performance.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of our podcast Mary Swander’s Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, and poetry critiques. Have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #3, Episode #48: Special Announcement: Don’t Pass a Buggy on a Hill
Mary Swander announces a new logo and name for the podcast to coordinate with her Substaack page: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land.
Reflections on Amish elections and “The Lot.” Comments on raw milk and a gardening adventure burying art objects.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #3, Episode #47: The Weight Farmers Carry
Host Mary Swander interviews Christopher Weatherly, a licensed social worker and Ph.D. candidate at Washington University in St. Louis. Weatherley discusses his research on mental health issues for farmers and others in the rural environment. He details the social, economic, and atmospheric challenges farmers and rural youth face, and the availability of care they receive. Includes a discussion of the arts and how they serve as an emotional outlet.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #3, Episode #46: Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?
Spring returns to Freemartin on the wings of purple martins. Host Mary Swander describes the birds’ behavior and habitats, their houses and the ways the Amish feed these birds. A neighbor traces the journey of a button from an old factory on the Mississippi River to the beak of a purple martin, to South America and back. Scenes from an Amish reunion in a one-room school house and a Mennonite child’s discovery of a book on world mythology, a text that sends her on a journey of her own world travels.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #3, Episode #45: What Will Uncle Morris Say? You’ll Figure It Out
Two Practical Farmers of Iowa storytellers are featured-Arlyn Kauffman and DaQuan Campbell. Kauffman, from an Amish/Mennonite community, tells of crashing the manure tank on his Uncle Morris’ farm. And Campbell, from Waterloo, IA, tells how a regular customer gave him the confidence to start an urban cooperate vegetable production venture.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #3, Episode #44: Down in the Mines
Callers to the KLUU Radio Call-in Catastrophe show voice their concern about sink holes and the state legislature proposal to lift child labor and safety laws, allowing children to work in the meat packing plants and in the mines. Swander explores the use of manners in communal societies, then an Amish “greasy hand” gives tips on keeping an old Maytag washer running with vaseline.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #3, Episode #43: Liver and Walleye
In response to Mary Swander’s Amish home butchering stories, Buggy Land listeners tell their own tales of procuring and butchering meat and fish. Rebecca Hawkins Valadez, Denny Coon, Larry Harris and Gene Zdrazil take center stage, connecting their stories to home, food, family and community.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 42: Home Butchering
It’s home butchering time in Buggyland. Mary Swander visits her Amish neighbors, remembering the butcher shops of her youth, the making of braunschweiger, and the lost community of families working together to put up their own meat-all lost arts that stand in contrast to the practices of our modern food system. A four-legged furry creature comes to the party.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 41: Christmas Card from Buggy Land
Mary Swander writes of her Christmas with her Amish neighbors in Buggy Land, from attending their celebration in their one-room school, to singing carols with them on her porch. Music by the South East Iowa Symphony Orchestra and Iowa Wesleyan University Choir.
Connect with us on our new Substack pages where you will see photos and extras from the podcast:
Mary Swander’s Buggy Land
And Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, showcasing young, diverse writers on current topics:
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 40: Watershed
Host Mary Swander interviews Ranae Lenor Hanson about her new book: Watershed: Attending to Body and Earth in Distress. A personal health crisis, stories from environmental refugees, and our climate in danger prompt a meditation on intimate connections between the health of the body and the health of the ecosystem.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 39: A Nail Pulling Party
Host Mary Swander puts out a call to listeners for critter stories and gives instructions to make a pitch on the website: www. agarts.org. Swander tells the story of Old Order Amish neighbor Abram Yutzy demolishing a damaged room with just a hammer. Eventually, his large family joins him to pull the nails from the boards and romp with Swander’s puppy. Reflections on waste, co-operation and living in a communal society. Ask Ruby segment on “Amish Paradise” and harmonica bands.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 38: Finding Turtle Farm: an Interview with Angela Tedesco
Host Mary Swander interviews Angela Tedesco, author of the new book Finding Turtle Farm: My Twenty-Acre Adventure in Community-Supported Agriculture. (University of Minnesota Press). Tedesco traces her life as a vegetable farmer, from accessing land, to developing a viable CSA business, to transitioning her property at the end of her career. She discusses the nuts and bolts of a CSA, the organic methods she used and the way she improved her soil, the research she conducted, and how she turned to nutritional methods to heal from cancer.
Swander puts out a call for Critter Stories, asking listeners to make pitches on the website: www.agarts.org.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 37: The Ballad of the Freemartin Town P.O.
Farmer Levi Lyle tells of a visit from a crop inspector surveying hail damage. Lyle learns of the inspector’s service as a Navy Seal, and reflects on the healing of wounds, both in the flesh and in the soil. Host Mary Swander tells of Freemartin Town’s problems retaining a postmaster who can keep the names of the residents straight. With only 20 surnames with multiple spellings, it’s hard to keep the Schlabaughs and Schabachs, the Bontrager and Borntragers, and the Hostetler and Hochstetlers straight.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Music by Melissa Capezio.
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 36: The Reveal: The Great Grilling Mitt and Potholder Contest Winners
Host Mary Swander interviews textiles and clothing expert Susan Strawn, Ph.D., discussing the history and impact of potholders and how they reflect the time, interests, biases, and culture of their makers. Strawn then reveals the winners of our contest and the reasons for their selections. Slide show exhibits of both Strawn’s personal potholder collection and of our contestant entries can be found on our website: www.agarts.org.
See a photo of Susan Strawn’s new potholder quilt here.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 35: Scott Eickman, Farmer Sculptor
AgArts from Horse & Buggy Land travels to Manning, Iowa, this week to interview Scott Eickman, a farmer and metal sculptor. Eickman discusses the pieces that he makes in his garage from nuts, bolts, combine chairs and other farm implements. His latest work is a huge sculpture of a soldier carrying his wounded buddy out of a combat zone, reflecting Eickman’s experiences in the Marine Corps in in Afghanistan and Iraq. Music by Robert Stone. Photos on the website by Annie Chapman Brewer.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 34: Lost and Found Dogs
Milo, Iowa duck farmer Phrakhounmany “Air” Philavanh tells a story of the Laotian Water Festival, cooling down the Buddha, and losing his dog in Thailand. Host Mary Swander tells of three different dogs she has had, all found in Amishland. Grossmommie Ruby provides a recipe for hot dog hash and gives her opinion on the latest Supreme Court ruling.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 33: Taylor Brorby’s Boys and Oil
Host Mary Swander interviews Taylor Brorby about his new memoir Boys and Oil (Norton): Growing up Gay in a Fractured Land, about his life in rural North Dakota in the middle of the fracking boom. Brorby discusses how, as a child, he coped with bullying through his exploration of the prairie and through the arts. He describes the Bakken Oil Boom, his political activism, his disability , and his grounding in his identity as a gay man.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 32: Aparajita Sengupta: Rejuvenating a Small Farm in India
Through the help of a Cynipid grant, host Mary Swander interviews Fulbright Scholar Aparajita Sengupta who is presently in residence at the College of Agriculture at the University of Kentucky. Sengupta is writing a book about women farmers both in the U.S. and aboard. She tells of establishing a CSA, learning the science of permaculture, and rejuvenating a small farm near Calcutta, India.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on Spotify
Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 31: Into the Cosmos
In this episode we’re looking back and reflecting on the last two years-how we survived, what we learned, how we grieved, and how we’re recovering. Farmer Cathy Lafrenz of Miss Effie’s Country Flowers and Garden Stuff, recounts the death of her husband and the efforts of her community to support her through this difficult time. Host Mary Swander spins a tale of the night sky and all it took in-from the loss of a friend, to home haircuts, to Amish wash on the line, to the Roman candles the volunteer fire department shot into the dark.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 30: Two Beginning Farmers
Host Mary Swander interviews two young beginning farmers-Colton Anderson and Hannah Breckbill. They each tell how dedicated they are to farming and how fulfilling they find the job. After graduation from Central College, Colton Anderson will be returning to his 4,000 acre family farm where he will go into business with his father and grandfather. Hannah Breckbill, in contrast, had no family land but found a unique way to start her 25 acre vegetable farm through a land co-op.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 29: Ask Ruby
“Ruby, why do Amish men shave off their mustaches but still have beards? Do the Amish vote? Do they use binoculars? What are their favorite foods? What is Rumspringa? Can the Amish use solar panels? How do they observe Ascension Thursday?” Find answers to these and other winning questions in the “Ask Ruby Contest” with host Mary Swander and questioners from Iowa to New Mexico to Alaska. Music by Robert Stone.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 28: Springtime in Freemartin Town
Potholes are the first sign of spring in Freemartin Town and host Mary Swander describes how they are repaired in her neighborhood. Practical Farmer of Iowa members Maya and Carmen Black tell the story of going through the derecho on their farm, living 7 days without electricity. Swander reads her poem “Scheherazade” about hiding from storms in her cellar. And in the final segment of the podcast, the Call-in Catastrophe Show at KLUU (Get a clue) Radio features derecho nomenclature and how to disconnect from the world.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode 27: Behind the Scenes
Producer Rick Brewer interviews host Mary Swander about the origins of “AgArts from Horse & Buggy Land.” Swander explains how the impetus for the show came from the owner of the local General Store. She tells how she created a recording studio, then during the pandemic, how she had to adapt the show to the circumstances. Ultimately, Swander created a fictional town (Freemartin Town) for the podcast and populated it with characters like Ruby, the grossmommie, reminding the listeners of the April 1 deadline for the “Ask Ruby” contest.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode #26: Grossmommies and Omas-Iowa to Ukraine
Host Mary Swander highlights stories of Ukraine from Annette Matjucha-Hovland, a listener in Muscatine, Iowa. Matjucha-Hovland tells how she learned to bake paska and cherry varenysky, traditional Ukrainian foods, from her grandmother, or oma. Swander recounts stories of Amish and Ukrainian grandmothers, then reminds the audience of the “Ask Ruby, the grossmommie” contest with a deadline of April 1, 2022.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode #25: River House on the Prairie
Host Mary Swander interviews hornist Annie Chapman Brewer about her composition River House on the Prairie. This beautiful piece-a sound journal– arose from Chapman’s AgArts Farm-to-Artist residency at the Whiterock Conservancy near Coon Rapids, Iowa. In her composition, Chapman responds to and answers the sounds that surround her at Whiterock-including red wing black birds, spring peepers, cardinals, and barred owls.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode #24: B&W Ointment
The Amish have no health insurance, little available cash, but a vast knowledge of herbs and other remedies. Learn about the invention of their healing B&W protocol for burns. Host Mary Swander recalls her personal experiences with B&W and browses other tales of healing in Plain Interests. Swander announces the Ask Ruby Contest! Winning entry receives $200. Music: How Great Thou Art.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode #23: The Winner of the Great Amish Belt Loop Bad Poetry Contest
Listen to the winning entry of the Great Amish Belt Loop Bad Poetry Contest and enjoy a selection of the other really terrific awful poems. Sample the collection of entries, from the political to the inane, full of bad rhythm and rhyme, overblown emotion, doggerel and catterel, all containing the phrases “a cat yowling on the back fence” and “a buzzard on a dead horse.”
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #2, Episode #22: I’m Getting Married in the Morning
Part #2 featuring immigrants from Muscatine, IA telling stories of their own cuisines. You’ll meet the professors of this MCC English as a Second Language class, then sample an armadillo in Mexico, a guinea pig in Equador, feijoada in Brazil, fufu in Togo, and fish in a Scandinavian restaurant in Chicago.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #1, Episode #21: Robert McConnell: Hog Farmer and Conductor
Host Mary Swander interviews Robert McConnell, accomplished musician, and unique director and conductor of the South East Iowa Symphony Orchestra. McConnell speaks of his upbringing on a farm, his musical family, his studies in Kirksville and St. Louis, MO, and his ventures into conducting. He now runs a hog farm and brings classical music to the rural region. Excerpts from his Christmas concert at Saints Peter and Paul Clear Creek Heritage Association, a church on the National Register of Historic Places near Harper, Iowa.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #1, Episode #20.5: The Great Amish Belt Loop Bad Poetry Contest: Enter Now
Immigrants from around the world tell stories of their own cuisines. Welcome a storyteller from Brazil eating venison Listen to a sample submission for the The Great Belt Loop Poetry Contest and hear host Mary Swander go over the rules for submission. Deadline: January 15, 2022. Submit through the AgArts website. Speak right into your computer and win $100 and a handmade leather belt fashioned by the Amish harness maker. Don’t forget to include a yowling cat on the back fence and a buzzard on a dead horse. And don’t forget to leave your belt size!
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #1, Episode #20: Rattlesnake with Hot Sauce
Immigrants from around the world tell stories of their own cuisines. Welcome a storyteller from Brazil eating venison for the first time in the U.S. Welcome a member of the Jewish community of Des Moines, IA, eating tongue, and a man from Cameroon who loves rice. You’ll travel to Togo for Fufu, to Sicily for Milanese. And you’ll find out what food Des Moines has in common with Ukraine. And finally, you’ll discover what Mexicans roast on a spit in when they settle down for a nice Sunday holiday picnic.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
Say hello on Facebook and Instagram
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Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #1, Episode #19: Bet the Farm
The Agitator, the Freemartin Town appliance shop, plugs in a washing machine and takes bets on how long it will run without repairs. The prize: a shoo fly pie by Ruby, the gossmommie, who gives the recipe. Host Mary Swander launches the Great Amish Belt Loop Bad Poetry contest. Poetry must be bad and include the phrases “a yowling cat on the back fence” and “a buzzard on a dead horse.” Music by the Deep Dish Divas.
Become a premium member of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land and gain access to bonus interviews, books, postcards, poetry critiques and have Mary join you and a small group for a reading. Visit: https://agarts.supercast.com/
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com/. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Music in this episode comes from The Deep Dish Divas. Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #1, Episode #18: Living the Good Life on the Yum-Yum Farm
Host Mary Swander interviews Geoff and Joanna Mouming at Yum-Yum farm near Wellman, IA, where the couple dramatically improved the soil through composting, cover crops, and prairie restoration. With the services of Seattle architect John DeForest, the Moumings built a house that reflected their ecological values gleaned from the writings of Scott and Helen Nearing and Aldo Leopold. Moumings have become known for their hospitality and delicious homegrown food. Yum!
Your donation to AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land helps make this podcast a sustainable business and allows us to do this work. We could not do it without you. Thank you for your support. Make your donation: https://www.agarts.org/donate/
AgArts is a non-profit organization based in Kalona, Iowa, whose mission is to imagine and promote healthy food systems through the arts. The Executive Director and host of AgArts From Horse and Buggy Land is award-winning author Mary Swander. https://maryswander.com. Learn more about AgArts: https://www.agarts.org/
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Music in this episode comes from Blue Dot Sessions. Today’s episode was produced and mixed by Rick Brewer of Brewhaha Audio Productions.
Season #1, Episode #17: Corn Is Not the Answer
Host Mary Swander makes a trip to Red Fern FarHost Mary Swander returns to Red Fern Farm and takes a tour with owners Kathy Dice and Tom Wahl. Swander reads three poems she has written about the farm, reciting them as she is guided past chestnut trees, to paw-paws and persimmons. Dice and Wahl describe the beginnings of their perennial plantings, their U-Pick operation and their Bosnian customers. Eventually, Swander’s poems will be anthologized in a book sponsored by SILT and the the Writing the Land Project. Features Meskwaki flute music.
Season #1, Episode #16: Red Fern Farm
Host Mary Swander makes a trip to Red Fern Farm in SE Iowa to interview Kathy Dice and Tom Wahl, visionaries in agroforestry. They talk about how they transformed a corn and bean row crop farm into one that will be forever preserved as a perennial paradise, emphasizing nuts, fruit, and vines.
Season #1, Episode #15: Down the River
Host Mary Swander tells the story of the “Bridge to Nowhere,” the antique structure that once spanned the Amish River and connected Bull Town and Freemartin Town. Swander follows with a reading of some excerpts of her book of poetry The Girls on the Roof, a Mississippi River saga of a mother and daughter stuck on top of the roof of a catfish dive for three days during the 1993 flood. While there, the two women discover that they have both had a affair with the same man. Music by Catfish Keith and Annie Chapman Brewer.
Season #1, Episode #14: Light and Variable Winds
In the final segment of the Farm-to-Fork Tales performance in Mt. Vernon, IA, farmer David Miller captures his runaway duck with a Mattel fishing net and puts out a wildfire burning through two acres of cover crops. Host Mary Swander then throws open the mic to two young volunteer storytellers–Eva and Alyssa–who have their own tales of ducks and crops. Music by Dale Beeks and the Mississippi String Band.
Season #1, Episode 13: How One Woman Became a Farm Activist and Another Weathered the Weather to feed her CSA Community
Host Mary Swander provides a continuation of the Mt. Vernon, IA Farm-to-Fork Tales performance. Suzan Erem, the Executive Director of SILT, a sustainable land trust that builds food security by circling cities with community-based food farms, recalls how she became a rural activist. Laura Krouse, owner of Abbe Hills Farm and a legend in sustainable agriculture, tells how she endured this season of erratic weather patterns to finally feed her CSA customers. Music by Dale Beeks and the Mississippi String Band.
Season #1, Episode #12: Flying Grain Bins and Baling Hay in a Bikini
A Farm-to-Fork Tales performance: The first of three live recordings. Host Mary Swander coached farmers to tell their own weather-related stories at the Mt. Vernon, IA Farmer’s Market. First, Allan Mallie tells of his optimistic approach to derecho damage on his farm. Then Kevin Woods recalls surviving adolescence on a farm where, in the winter, the farrowing house was warmer than the human house. Music by Dale Beeks and the Mississippi String Band.
Season #1, Episode #11: Quilting Bee
It’s the Quilt Show in Freemartin Town. Host Mary Swander tells of her inclusion in an Amish come-as-you-are quilting bee. Ruby, the grossmommie, gives her recipe for Jello Postage Stamp Quilt Salad. A browsing of Plain Interests, the Amish newspaper, includes the care of a brood of bluebirds. Music by the Silver Trailer Girls, Laura Hudson Kittrell, Monica Leo, and Aleta Murphy. Underscoring by Marco Cacho.
Season #1, Episode #10: Vernon Ropp: Sewing Machines to Tractors
Host Mary Swander interviews Vernon Ropp, a local Mennonite man who makes lawn art, converting sewing machines to toy tractors. Ropp tells of attending an Amish one-room school and struggling to learn English. During the Korean War, he became a conscientious objector, performing his service work at the Alexian Brothers hospital in Chicago. Ropp traveled the world with the Mennonite Disaster Service and other relief organizations, to return to his off-farm job selling John Deere tractors. Music by Dean Gray.
Season #1, Episode #9: Farm Jokes
Host Mary Swander tells farm jokes and stories that she has garnered from her Amish and Mennonite neighbors, Practical Farmers of Iowa members, and her own experience of living in an old one-room Amish schoolhouse. Music by Alan Murphy from his album Hogs in the Cornfield.
Season 1, Episode #8: Star Gazing
Host Mary Swander tells a story about star gazing with the Amish and what it means to stay home for long periods of time. She explores the connections to the night sky in her poem “Heaven?” She reads about a universal cure from the Balm of Gilead tree when she browses Special Interests, the Amish newspaper. Music by Annie Chapman Brewer, Too Many String Band, and Marco Cacho.
Season 1, Episode #7: Heavenly Harmonicas
Host Mary Swander explores the history and use of the harmonica, the one instrument that the Amish are allowed to play. Gospel tune: “We are Going down the Valley” Story of harmonicas as wedding presents. “Heavenly Harmonica Potatoes” recipe by Ruby, the grossmommie. Music by Patrick Hazell.
Season 1, Episode #6: Adeste Fideles in Chinese (Mary Swander’s book Adeste Fideles in Chinese is the third in a series of handmade books published by Timothy Fay of Route 3 Press in Anamosa, Iowa, depicting the author’s interactions with her Amish neighbors. This book captures a poignant Christmas story of multicultural exchange. More about Swander’s books here.)
Season 1, Episode #5: Marcia Wegman: Farm Country Landscapes (Images of Marcia Wegman’s artwork and her artist statements here.)
Season 1, Episode #4: Drive-In Church Services
Season 1, Episode #3: Hunting Bear and Bugs
Season 1, Episode #2: Taking Livestock to Market
Season 1, Episode #1: Online Implement Dealership