In this episode of Talkin’ Dirt, I sit down with my longtime friend Richie Stephenson, who’s been growing a home garden for his family for the past several years. Richie isn’t a farmer by trade, but we talk about what first got him into gardening, what his early years looked like, and how long it took before things really started to click. He shares what he’s learned through trial and error, why he’s considering raised beds, and how growing food at home has changed the way his family thinks about what they eat.

We talk about how Richie got into canning his food and preserving harvests for later in the year. Along the way, we talk about how gardening fits into family life with his wife and son, and how even a small backyard garden can shape habits, values, and perspective around food. This conversation offers a grounded look at what it’s really like to grow a little food at home—and why you don’t need a farm to get started.

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In this episode I’m joined by Lake Cowart Jr. of Cowart Seafood Corporation, one of the largest oyster operations on the East Coast. We talk about how oysters are grown today, the role hatcheries and triploid oysters play in modern aquaculture, and how factors like salinity, weather, disease, and predators shape production in the Chesapeake Bay. Lake also shares his perspective on regulation, why Virginia’s leasing system works, and how water quality and industry collaboration are improving conditions on the water.

This is my second recent conversation with an oyster farmer, and together the episodes highlight just how diverse and complex this industry really is.

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In this episode, I sit down with Glen, one of the founding members of Seattle’s Beacon Food Forest - a community-run, open forage garden built on public land with a mission rooted in food access, food sovereignty, and shared stewardship. Glen walks through how the project started, how they leveraged Seattle’s P-Patch program to get it off the ground, and how the Food Forest grew into a multi-layered landscape shaped by the community itself.

They discuss how planting decisions are made, how harvest practices guide the evolution of the land, and how similar projects across the region support one another. Glen shares how the Food Forest is funded, the impact it’s had on the neighborhood, and the policy conversations that have emerged around public foraging and food security.

The episode expands to bigger themes; the state of farming in Western Washington, the challenges local growers face, and what our food system and topsoil say about where things are headed. Glen closes with advice for anyone interested in starting a community driven project of their own.

A grounded look at what can happen when public land, community energy, and shared values all grow in the same direction.

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