Raising Kale Podcast

This week, I speak with Kara Heckert, a regional director at the nonprofit American Farmland Trust. Its mission is to save America’s farms and ranches. Kara works there on agricultural sustainability and natural resource conservation in California. America’s farmers are facing some very real challenges right now. Wildfires, drought, loss of farmland, and a history of discrimination. In this episode, we look more closely at all these issues. 

“Supporting our local agriculture and farmland needs to be looked at as a public health issue. Local food is seen as healthier… local farming is better for the climate… there’s all sorts of benefits.” 

Sn. 2 Ep. 7: Kara Heckert

This week’s episode, I speak with Joan Smith, a date farmer whose fruits are so delicious they’ve been featured in magazines! She shares her favorite date recipes, fun facts about date plants, tales of her farm dogs, and how she makes a point to give back to her community! 

Dates are such a fascinating desert fruit. They grow on date palm trees, which may be one of the oldest cultivated trees in the world, dating back over 5,000 years. They’re not only tasty, but they’re a pretty cool food to learn about, too.

Today’s guest teaches us all sorts of fun facts. I learned so much talking to her! 

Sn. 2, Ep. 5: Joan Smith

Today’s guest is one of these Americans–a busy mom who wanted to leave a better food legacy for her family, so she started a meal planning company, The Fresh 20. In this episode, we talk about her tips for being practical in the kitchen, how she raises healthy children, and how she feels inside her healthier body. 

Melissa Lanz is a former marketing executive who quit her day job to focus on healthy food. She’s an author of the book The Fresh 20, and runs a meal planning service with the same name. She’s been featured in The New York Times, Instyle, among others, and as a contributing editor for Shape Magazine. She’s also a wonderful cook, a mother, and a good human. 

Sn. 2 Ep. 3: Melissa Lanz

We start Season 2 in America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, Sacramento, California. Our farmer, Sara Bernal, works on an urban farm that’s run by the nonprofit, Center for Land-Based Learning.  

Sara Bernal is a farmer, a community activist, a rad human, and a true Kale Raiser! She has lived and worked around the world from Bangladesh to Italy, but it’s in West Sacramento, California where she’s transforming her community through food. She’s the program manager for the nonprofit Center for Land-Based Learning, where she runs an urban farm program that trains new farmers, feeds the hungry, and tirelessly makes the world a better place.

Sn. 2, Ep. 1: Sara Bernal

David Lebovitz started his culinary career at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, working with Chef Alice Louise Waters (episode 4 guest). He’s been featured in Oprah, Bon Appetit, and many more culinary publications. In 2019, Saveur magazine awarded his website their first-ever Blog of the Decade. David shares his journey from washing dishes in a strip mall steakhouse to living and cooking in Paris.

Sn 1, Episode 12: Promo

In this episode we hear from scientist Michael Mazourek, who’s designing new vegetables. He’s doing something radical with our food–he’s making it taste better! He is an actual kale raiser–as in, he breeds the seeds that grow vegetables. It all started with a challenge from chef Dan Barber to build a better butternut squash. 

Sn 1, Episode 10: Promo

In this episode we speak with Robert Egger, an original nonprofit kale raiser. He has started multiple nonprofits in his career, including DC Central Kitchen and LA Kitchen. He flips the script on what solving hunger looks like. His work is responsible for feeding seniors, giving jobs to the homeless, and training the formerly incarcerated–all in an effort to improve our food system. He describes a visit from President Obama, where formerly incarcerated culinary trainees were giving the President instructions in the kitchen. 

Sn 1, Episode 8: Promo

Since 2014, Lisa Lin of the recipe site, Healthy Nibbles, has featured healthy recipes like avocado toast with orange honey shrimp or easy blueberry smoothies. Hailing from America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, turning farmers market crops into healthy meals comes easily to her. 

A few years ago, Lisa started including something special on her website: her mom! Some of Lisa’s most popular recipes are classic Chinese dishes she’s learned from her mom, like scallion pancakes. 

Sn 1, Episode 6: Promo

Alice Waters is widely known in California for her pioneering efforts to create California cuisine at her restaurant Chez Panisse, which focuses on farm-fresh, seasonal ingredients. She also established one of the first school-based programs, Edible Schoolyard, to inspire children to cook and eat this way. She’s an author, an activist, and a true kale raiser. 

Sn 1, Episode 4: Promo