Mimi Casteel grew up on a vineyard in northwestern Oregon, where her family made wine as much for the passion as for the livelihood. She left home to study forestry and worked as a botanist for the forest service, but the pull of agriculture brought her back to the family farm, where she introduced regenerative practices and eventually started her own vineyard, Hope Well Wine. For Casteel, the practice of wine-making begins with the land—a complex ecosystem teeming with wildlife, cover crops, and livestock—all of which contribute to healthy soil. That soil is the basis for robustly healthy vines, which keep pests in balance without the use of chemicals, and keep the ground cool in the heat, warm in the cold, and resilient in the face of droughts and floods. Casteel is a scientist, a close observer of nature whose perspective pushes the limits of science, and an artist in the millennia-old tradition of wine-making. She's also a passionate advocate for regenerative agriculture and regional food systems.

Six college students are bicycling from Washington State to Washington, DC, stopping at farms, restaurants, truck stops, and classrooms along the way, and asking, "What is the future of food?" In this podcast we talk two of them, Augusta Halle and Molly Moore. Their plans are to make a portrait series and short documentary based on what they find.

Anthropologist Andrew Flachs's new book explores the food system through the lens of values like soil health, human health, biodiversity, and rural communities—not just profits and yields. In his new book, Feeding the World as if People Mattered: How Small Farms Produce Value Beyond Yields, he shows how we could, by expanding our accounting to include people and the biosphere, have a thriving food system that actually benefits life itself.

Nate Chisholm is in a lifelong exploration of the savanna ecosystem—the landscape in which the first human societies evolved, and some of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Savannas are where we learned to hunt and gather. Ironically, as human beings developed technology, starting with stone tools, we altered these landscapes by over-hunting large animals, leading to degradation of the land and eventually the loss of most of the savannas themselves. According to Chisholm, the degradation of land through technology is the root of all our modern problems—but we can return to balance by restoring savanna landscapes, and restoring the savanna roots of our own psyches. Chisholm is a livestock grazer, with a background in forestry and ecologically based land management. He started two ranching businesses in the US and is currently living in Kenya and working on a book called Savanna.

Mary-Charlotte has bronchitis, so this week we will be joined by Kristina Britt, the new podcast host of Regeneration Rising, as she interviews Taylor Muglia, the former host and previous New Agrarian Program manager. (Regeneration Rising is the other Quivira Coalition podcast; you can find it here, or wherever you get your podcasts.) In this heartfelt episode, Taylor shares her unique journey into regenerative agriculture, her experiences running and eventually closing a small farm, and the emotional struggles and triumphs along the way. While we talk a lot about how to get started in regenerative agriculture, it is also important that we talk about the challenges of working in agriculture as well as what it's like to make hard decisions to shut down your operation. We hope this honest conversation highlights the importance of community, resilience, and adaptability.

Trevor Warmedahl's new book, Cheese Trekking: How Microbes, Landscapes, Livestock, and Human Cultures Shape Terroir, documents natural cheesemaking practices in traditional communities. Warmedahl is a cheesemaker, educator, and founder of the Sour Milk School, where he teaches natural methods of milk fermentation suitable for the home, farm, restaurant, or commercial operation. The book recounts his travels to Mongolia, India, Norway, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Georgia, and Spain, where he met cheesemakers using practices that go back generations and result in cheeses with flavor and "terroir" far beyond anything he'd ever encountered. And the pastoralists who make them have deep connections to their land and animals, and are doing a kind of agriculture that heals the land and promotes biodiversity.

Steve Glass is board chair of Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District, which is hosting the annual Land and Water Summit: March 4-6 of this year at the at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Albuquerque, New Mexico. This year's theme is "Reciprocity with Nature," and it's all about turning even the most arid cities into oases of stewardship where every drop that falls from the sky is used for to nourish the soil, wildlife, and people.

Charlie Shultz is back on Down to Earth to update us on the thriving greenhouse programs in Santa Fe—and the explosion of interest around the world. He teaches aquaponics and hydroponics at Santa Fe Community College, and is helping people around the world not only to learn to do indoor agriculture, but also to run successful businesses.

Joe Heinrich comes from a multi-generation Iowa farming family. As executive director of the non-profit Farm-to-Power, he's helping farmers to navigate the new world of renewable energy. Solar and wind developers are looking for land, which farmers have; farmers are looking for extra income steams, which energy can provide. But what happens to land with utility-scale energy installations? Some farmers are making sure that the panels are high enough off the ground that cattle can graze under them—and take advantage of the shade they provide. Others are grazing sheep under the panels, providing landscaping services and keeping the land healthy. Still others are growing crops. All of these are examples of agrovoltaics, or what Heinrich calls "double cropping"—harvesting food and energy at the same time.

Dr. Caitlin Youngquist started out wanting to be a veterinarian, but then discovered soil science and was so taken by it that she got a PhD, and has devoted her career to serving farmers, ranchers, and rural communities. A practitioner and promoter of regenerative agriculture, she has worked with Conservation Districts, non-profit orgs, Extension, and her own small business, Dirt Works Wyoming, a company that provides compost statewide. She uses science as a tool to solve on-the-ground problems, which range from crops and livestock issues to mental health, family dynamics, and food insecurity. She also guides hunting programs for women, is a volunteer firefighter. TIMELINE 2'22 how Caitlin discovered agriculture and soil science 3'33 the value of applied science for solving real problems 4'23 what is Extension 4'52 the non-elitist focus of extension, taking academic research to the people 6'54 how extension actually works 8'40 food insecurity and food deserts in an agricultural state, starting a food garden 11'30 making sure initiatives last beyond their founder 13'17 taking the holistic/social work perspective as an extension educator 14'39 people get isolated on their farms 16'31 the importance of letting go of a scarcity/competition mindset and sharing knowledge 18'28 difficulty making generational transition of management 20'12 the difficulty in calling for help with family conflicts 22'17 the difference between complicated and complex systems 24'59 analogies between soil health and community health 27'17 efficiency vs resiliency 29'37 the one nation that feeds itself has high biodiversity and regenerative ag 30'21 making sure local food is not an elite activity 32'40 becoming a hunter 34'21 why hunting is so powerful for women in particular 40'05 whether hunting supports species conservation 42'29 compost company Dirt Works Wyoming 44'14 agriculture and soil science as a great career for young people to consider 45'47 drcaitlinyoungquist.com