The Prairie Farm Podcast

Molly Pickering, Policy Director for Illinois Stewardship Alliance, joins Nicolas and Kent for a wide-ranging conversation on what's actually broken in America's food system. From monopoly meat packers to cottage food laws to pesticide drift hitting small farms, Molly brings the policy perspective that most farmers never get to hear. hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, native pastures, native habitat mixes, and more) BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supply needs)

Welcome back to another riveting episode of Coffee Time Wednesday! The Nebraska Sandhills just went through the largest wildfire in state history. What does that mean for the prairie and the cattle on that prairie? Then the conversation shifts to Iowa's water. Two new reports just tied nitrates and pesticides to Iowa's extremely high cancer rate. Who's responsible? Who pays? hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your backyard prairie, native pasture, and native seed mixes) Iowa Cover Crop (for all your cover crop and alternative crop needs) McKay Insurance (for all your insurance and financial planning needs)

Ray Geroff is a district heritage biologist for the Illinois DNR and has burned over 100,000 acres of prairie. 3,900 were just the day before the podcast. In Episode 344, Kent and Nicolas break down burn safety, proper weather windows, what each season of fire does to your landscape, using fire against sericea and brome, and what happens when a prairie never burns. This is burning 101 from someone who does it for a living every single year. hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed needs. And we also do prairie restoration and management and site visits.) McKay Insurance (for all your insurance needs) BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supply needs, as well as bird dog gear, and more!)

Nicolas and Kent start this one recanting how a man tried to steal two tractors from them through their recent farm auction. Tim Brown, The Bearded Uplander, is back, and this one gets real fast. His bird dog Mac nearly died from a grass awn that migrated through his body — and it happens way more than people think. The guys break down which wild ryes are dangerous for hunting dogs, how to protect them at the tailgate, and then get into building pheasant habitat that actually works. Informative, honest, and a little terrifying if you run a bird dog. hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your CRP, backyard prairie, and pollinator mixes) Iowa Cover Crop (for all your cover crop and alternative crop needs)

Eddie Andrews joins us to discuss the riff between republicans and democrats in Iowa, property taxes, school ESA's, and of course water quality. We enjoyed this conversation and believe you will as well! hokseynativeseeds.com (for CRP mixes, backyard prairie mixes, native pasture mixes, and hunting habitat mixes) Iowa Cover Crop (for all your cover crop needs) McKay Insurance (for all your insurance and financial planning needs)

Kent, Riley, and Nicolas talk about what's going on with the Farm Bill today, and what status it has in the legislative pipeline. They also discuss what would need to happen for Iowa to have a higher tax bracket for out of state land owners. There's a lot of uncertainty for the rural United States, especially with farming. What can we do to enhance it? What needs to change? hokseynativeseeds.com (for backyard prairie mixes, habitat mixes, CRP mixes, EQIP mixes, and a lot more)

Justin Meissen, Research and Restoration Program Manager at the Tallgrass Prairie Center, joins the Prairie Farm Podcast to talk prairie establishment from the ground up — literally. Why native annual weeds aren't always your enemy. What months to plant and which ones to avoid at all costs. How seed size predicts establishment success. And what "coefficient of conservatism" actually means. This one's packed. hokseynativeseeds.com (for backyard prairie, CRP mixes, hunting habitat mixes, native pasture mixes, and more) Iowa Cover Crop (for all your cover crop needs)

Kent's very own father, Alan Boucher, joined us to discuss a journal entry from a woman in the 1800's. We also discuss whether or not someone should burn a prairie field now or in May to eliminate brome. hokseynativeseeds.com (for CRP, Backyard Prairie, and Hunting Mixes) Iowa Cover Crop (for all your cover crop needs) Bird Hunter Supply (for all your bird hunting supplies)