Hannah Breckbill joins us for this episode of the Taproot Project to explore the networks that support queer farmers in the rural Midwest. Hannah founded Humble Hands Harvest in Decorah, Iowa, in 2016 – a worker-owned organic farm cooperative that produces about 30 types of vegetables, fruit, nuts and grass-finished lamb on 22 acres. She talks with Kate about what’s helped her thrive in her life as a farmer, why so many queer people want to farm, and the importance of community.

The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [http://organictransition.org/].

You can find new episodes from The Taproot Project wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bio

Hannah Breckbill [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Xx1MW-Jqk-b38i1f1AkISIzRE9QWxOrT/view?usp=drive_link](she/they) loves to show up, to go deep, and to channel the power of relationships into right-sized action. She dedicates her community involvement to developing ever-better alternatives to conventional systems. She is a worker-owner at Humble Hands Harvest, a diversified direct-market farm in rural northeast Iowa, and is grateful for rain.

Helpful Links

 * Humble Hands Harvest [https://humblehandsharvest.com/]
 * Queer Farmer Network  [https://www.queerfarmernetwork.org/]
 * Wildcrafting Our Queerness Project: Metronormativity blog [https://maxwellcloe.com/education/wildcrafting/metronormativity]
 * Greater Minnesota Two-Spirit & LGBTQIA+ History Map [https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ff9c23776f1d4b729caac2d034f2a09f]
 * Surveying queer farmers: How heteropatriarchy affects farm viability and farmer well-being in U.S. agriculture [https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/1155/1127]
 * Mennonite Church USA [https://www.mennoniteusa.org/who-are-mennonites/faq-about-mennonites/]
 * Transition to Organic Partnership Program [https://www.organictransition.org/] (TOPP)

Credits

Music for this episode includes Chasin It by Jason Shaw, Tunez by HoliznaCC0, and Ghost Solos by Lucas Gonze– all from the Free music Archive.

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell.

Meet Hannah - A queer farmer thriving in rural Iowa

The prairie was once one of the largest and most ecologically complex ecosystems in the world. Today, most of that prairie has been replaced for farmland. Kate explores how the prairie is, and can be, part of our agricultural world through conversations with people who are restoring prairies in the Upper Midwest and advocating for the return of the prairie’s most important and iconic resident: the American Buffalo.

The Taproot Project is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance, and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [http://organictransition.org/].

You can find new episodes from The Taproot Project wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bios

Dawn Sherman [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uZzdnvAYb3FrXGhkb65EFzBpnExrwi6j/view?usp=drive_link] is passionate about returning Buffalo to Native lands, and improving the lives and economies of Native Communities. She brings more than 25 years of business expertise and entrepreneurial skills to her role as a founding board member and executive director of Tanka Fund. She is a member of the InterTribal Buffalo Council, where she represents her tribe, the Delaware Tribe of Indians of Bartlesville, serves as a founding board member of The Regenerative Agriculture Alliance, and represents her tribe on the board of the American Woolen Company.

David Wise [https://drive.google.com/file/d/18pWfZV1iFstLc23-Zi8bemsxk6Qug2De/view?usp=drive_link] is a descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the co-founder of Native Wise LLC, a farm focused on soil health, restorative farming and Indigenous agricultural practices. David and his wife Patra established a ranch in 2022 to establish their first bison herd and currently supply bison products to customers across the Midwest, with a focus on sharing cultural knowledge of bison with their community.

Mary Mallinger [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sjC_bIBpbB3kuGPbb_-DJW0NqWPD0d9L/view?usp=drive_link] is a Conservation and Engagement Biologist working for the Minnesota Zoo, with a master’s in Biological and Environmental Sciences from the University of Rhode Island. She has spent an extensive amount of time with the Minnesota Zoo researching bison and their effects on Midwestern land.

Helpful Links

 * Native Wise LLC and Dancing Crane Ranch [https://nativewisellc.net/dancing-crane-ranch/]
 * What Happened to the Bison? [https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/what-happened-to-the-bison.htm]
 * A Complex Prairie Ecosystem [https://www.nps.gov/tapr/learn/nature/a-complex-prairie-ecosystem.htm]
 * Minnesota Bison Conservation Herd [https://mnzoo.org/conservation/minnesota/bison-conservation-minnesota/]
 * Tanka Fund [https://www.tankafund.org/]
 * Transition to Organic Partnership Program [https://www.organictransition.org/] (TOPP)

Credits

Music and sounds in this episode include:

I Want to Destroy Something Beautiful by Josh Woodward, Free Music Archive, CC BY

Remnants of Effervescence by Brylie Christopher, Free Music Archive, CC BY

Bison bellowing - Yellowstone National Park by Nivatius -- https://freesound.org/s/519594/ -- License: Creative Commons 0

Bodhisatva_PBP_Common_Yellowthroat.wav by Bodhisatva -- https://freesound.org/s/81764/ -- License: Attribution 3.0

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell.



Restoring Midwest Prairies and Reviving Indigenous Traditions

There is a robust and growing network of grassroots organizations supporting Detroit’s urban farming and food sovereignty movement. Kate speaks with Erin Cole and Shakara Tyler, two farmers and organizers working closely with the Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network (DBCSFN), about their current projects and the values behind their vision.

The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [https://www.organictransition.org/].

You can find new episodes from The Taproot Project wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bios

Erin Cole [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i9PpWejvuI8mbrV2pm5mF5jn1zfiAqLm/view?usp=drive_link\]is a long-time Detroiter, educator, and urban farmer. She co-founded Nurturing Our Seeds nearly 15 years ago, born directly from a community need and built through a community-supported initiative. Nurturing Our Seeds is grounded in values of food justice and self-determination. They currently operate a CSA serving over 30 families and lead various community-driven programs that center food education, wellness, and land stewardship

Shakara Tyler [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ygAp4twWg9Ti15Q6coxcykkuaQTKeHnb/view?usp=drive_link] is a returning-generation farmer, educator and organizer who engages in Black agrarianism, agroecology, food sovereignty and environmental justice as commitments of abolition and decolonization. She obtained her PhD at Michigan State University in Community Sustainability and works with Black farming communities in Michigan and the Mid-Atlantic. She explores participatory and decolonial research methodologies and community-centered pedagogies in the food justice, food sovereignty and environmental justice movements. She also serves as Board President at the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN), board member of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op (DPFC) and co-founder of the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund (DBFLF) and a member of the Black Dirt Farm Collective (BDFC).

Helpful Links

 * Nurturing our Seeds [http://nurturingourseeds.org/]
 * Detroit Urban Farming: Detroit Historical Society [https://archive.org/details/Detroit_Urban_Farming_with_the_Detroit_Historical_Society]
 * Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network [https://www.dbcfsn.org/](DBCFSN)
 * Detroit People’s Food Co-op [https://detroitpeoplesfoodcoop.com/]
 * Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund [https://www.detroitblackfarmer.com/] (DBFLF)
 * Transition to Organic Partnership Program [https://www.organictransition.org/] (TOPP)

Credits

Music for this episode includes Chasin It by Jason Shaw, Tunez by HoliznaCC0, and Ghost Solos by Lucas Gonze– all from the Free music Archive.

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell.

Digging into Detroit's Food Sovereignty Movement

The Midwest is sometimes called the breadbasket of America. But the infrastructure for local grain production and processing has largely disappeared, and most of the grains that are now grown here are used for animal feed. What does it take to restore a regional grainshed in the Midwest? Kate talks with folks at the Artisan Grain Collaborative about the future of grain, and with a brewer and a farmer who are bringing that future into being.

The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [https://www.organictransition.org/].

You can find new episodes from The Taproot Project wherever you get your podcasts.

Guest Bios

Elena Gutierrez Byrne [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C6APhWRCoPolQbvjhT2mt9gR9sH6pJbN/view?usp=sharing]is the Communications Manager at the Artisan Grain Collaborative. She holds a doctorate in nutritional sciences from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and has been an avid gardener for years with her husband on their 8 acres just outside of Madison, WI. She is enjoying seeing the local foods movement capture the hearts of consumers everywhere.

Jessica Jones [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bBRnDcPaKjkuEXBLzYthKB2lsEz1A9wR/view?usp=sharing] is the Brewer and co-owner of Giant Jones Brewing Company - an independent, women and queer-owned, certified organic craft brewery in Madison, Wisconsin. She is a Grand Master Beer Judge through the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) and an Advanced Cicerone®. Jessica loves Barleywine and providing extremely in-depth answers to what you believed was a simple question.

Willie Hughes [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fyVkhmsqVLqdY6Ax3Ki0U0BsRoTP0v2c/view?usp=sharing]is the sixth generation to operate the Hughes family farm in Janesville, WI. They have incorporated multiple conservation practices including diversified rotations, extensive cover cropping, improving soil health through compost and biologicals, variable rate applications, and automated irrigation water management. Hughes Farms consists of 5000 acres of food grade, NON-GMO and organic specialty crops.

Amy Halloran [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qf6bQi1C9gaqyfDEUi1IG6-j-XCQP0WT/view?usp=sharing] lives in upstate New York. Her love for food, and for the people who grow and make it, led her to write a book about the revival of regional grain production, The New Bread Basket. She's worked in emergency feeding programs, and believes that food insecurity and regional grain systems share a core American problem: of our not valuing the work of feeding each other. Amy is working on a book about the twinned histories of the modern American loaf and the modern American woman.

Helpful Links

 * Artisan Grain Collaborative [https://www.graincollaborative.com/about-us]
 * Giant Jones Brewing Company [https://giantjones.com/]
 * The New Bread Basket [https://amyhalloran.net/grains-book/]
 * Anatomy of a wheat kernel  [https://flour.com/anatomy-of-a-wheat-kernel/]
 * Transition to Organic Partnership Program [https://www.organictransition.org/] (TOPP)

Credits

Music by Ghost Solos by Lucas Gonze, Free Music Archive, CC BY

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell.



Midwest Grain Chain - Cultivating Relationships and Markets

Stories from changemakers in Midwestern agriculture, coming to you every other week starting this September. Subscribe now!

The Taproot Project is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program,  —a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance, and to grow the greater organic community.

The Taproot Project Trailer

Rows of corn, red barns, men in overalls. This is definitely part of the story of food and farming in the Midwest, but it’s not the whole story. The Taproot Project digs deeper. In each episode, you’ll hear about people across the Midwest who are reclaiming farming as a connector— to the land, to ancestors, and to a sense of purpose.

We talk with farmers, brewers, ranchers, conservationists, and historians about land, legacy, and what sustains their work.

The Taproot Project is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance, and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org [https://www.organictransition.org/].

Hosted and produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell.

Podcast art by Geri Shonka.