228. Adventures of a Bad Naturalist with Paula Whyman

Join Mary and Emma as they discuss a slow living Halloween, the second largest consumer season in the US. From the ancient traditions of the Celtic Samhain celebrations, to the modern day spook fest that dominates this time of year, you'll hear how you can embrace the special beauty and magic of nature during this time, letting go of much of the waste and frenzy but keeping all of the fun! Things Mentioned: Candy Alternatives The Scariest Thing About Halloween is the Plastic Waste National Retail Federation Prediction for Halloween Spending in 2022

It's the autumnal equinox as we record this one — rain all afternoon, a first cup of hot tea for the season, the kind of cozy day that makes you want to slow down and pay attention. Fitting, since Mary and Emma open this episode by pausing to say hello properly: a reintroduction, for anyone new to the podcast, of who they are and why they've kept this conversation going for years, even as the pace has slowed to something more sustainable than weekly. Then Mary sits down with Daniela Ochoa Gonzalez, a food systems circularity advocate who's spent more than fifteen years turning zero-waste ideas into real programs — from a green-barter pilot she built in her hometown in Michoacán, Mexico, to her current work here in the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve. Daniela's story moves through Cornell, a favela-inspired recycling exchange in Curitiba, Brazil, and a front-row seat to just how much food — avocados especially — travels a long, tender distance before it ever reaches an American kitchen counter. This conversation lands just ahead of Food Waste Prevention Week, and it's full of the kind of practical, no-guilt wisdom Daniela calls "food communion" — not just what we eat, but what we do with what's left over. Expect real numbers, real hacks, and a genuinely moving reframe of a habit most of us do without thinking twice. In this episode: Mary and Emma's reintroduction to the podcast — where Lady Farmer and The Good Dirt have been, and why the podcast has settled into a monthly rhythm Daniela's path from international relations and conflict resolution studies to food systems circularity, by way of Cornell, the Pan American Health Organization, and a green-barter pilot she built in Michoacán, Mexico The Curitiba, Brazil program that inspired her work: exchanging recyclables for fresh produce in low-income communities What "food systems circularity" means — from soil to plate to what happens after The scale of avocado waste moving through the DMV region, and what that waste costs the farmworkers and land it came from How Daniela ended up in the Montgomery County Ag Reserve, and what she learned about the incinerator eight miles from home The difference between landfilling, incinerating, and composting — and why methane from food waste is a bigger climate issue than most people realize A tour through the local composting landscape: decentralized vs. centralized composting, drop-off locations, and why "closer to home" matters Practical food waste prevention hacks: the three-list system (pantry, fridge, freezer), "remix night," market traps, proper storage (onions and potatoes should never share a bin!), freezing bread and bananas, and more Confusing food date labels — why "best by" doesn't mean "bad," and where to check if you're unsure Food Waste Prevention Week: what it is, when it runs, and how to find local and virtual events Daniela's monthly community group in Poolesville and how listeners can plug into food waste prevention where they live Resources & Links Mentioned: Food Waste Prevention Week — national campaign; this year runs September 28–October 4 Save the Food — NRDC's food waste tips, storage guides, and recipes Eat or Toss by Rachael Jackson — a science-based resource for deciding whether food is still safe to eat NourishNet — University of Maryland's NSF-funded food recovery initiative; free English/Spanish fact sheets available on the site Compost Crew — DMV-area food scraps recycling and composting service, with Compost Outposts at One Acre Farm, ECO City Farms, Butler's Orchard, and Greenbelt Red Wiggler Community Farm — Germantown, MD care farm with a CSA Koiner Farms (Charles Koiner Center for Urban Farming, Silver Spring, MD) Regenerative Solutions — Daniela's freelance practice and monthly community group in Poolesville, MD Eco City Farms One Acre Farm A note on the numbers: Daniela cites a number of statistics in this conversation (avocado waste tonnage, Montgomery County food insecurity figures, household

A few weeks ago, we sat down with Jill Demers and couldn't stop talking...so, we came back for part 2! In this episode, we dig into the economics of small farming in America, and why the deck has been stacked against it for decades. Jill lays out the numbers plainly — most small farms operate at a loss, propped up by off-farm income, in a system that was never designed to sustain them. We talk about commodity crops, genetically modified seed, the vertical integration of the food industry, and what "get big or get out" actually did to the farms that used to feed us directly. But this isn't a doom-and-gloom conversation. Jill's real subject is reconnection, what she calls "farm hospitality," and what we'd call remembering something our bodies never really forgot. Because underneath all of it is the same idea Jill's been chasing for over twenty years: food is our deepest connection to nature, and the fracture in that relationship is costing us more than we realize...in our health, our communities, and our sense of belonging to the land under our feet. In this episode: Why 86% of U.S. farms are classified as "small" — and why most of them lose money every year How the "get big or get out" model took hold after WWII, and what it replaced What a commodity crop actually is (and why that field of corn you're driving past isn't headed to anyone's dinner table) The vertical integration of seed, chemical inputs, and distribution — and why it locks small farmers out Genetically modified corn, glyphosate, and what it means for our gut health Jill's concept of "farm hospitality" as a way to reconnect people to their food — and why many farmers resist it The disappearance of farmland to development and, increasingly, to solar leases Food deserts and systemic inequity on reservation land in Montana Why Jill encourages people to "start at the top of the food chain" (and what that means) The cultural narrative that food should be cheap — and why that narrative is doing real damage How much less of our income goes to food today than it did in the 1950s, and what filled that gap The "60 harvests" figure from Kiss the Ground — and what it means for how much time we actually have Why Jill believes consumer dollars, not policy, will be what shifts the system first

Our guest today on this week's episode is Julie Brams — an earth-centered psychotherapist, certified forest therapy guide, meditation teacher, and the author of The Nature-Embedded Mind: How the Way We Think Can Heal Our Planet and Ourselves. Julie states that her work is in helping restore the human mind to its rightful place within the living world. She is also co-founder of Elemental, an earth-centered learning community helping participants heal the division between humans and the rest of nature. This is a rich, unhurried conversation — the kind you might want to take on a walk, or sit with under a tree. We hope it meets you right where you are. In This Episode Julie's path from 34 years as a licensed marriage and family therapist into earth-centered psychotherapy and forest therapy guiding Why she moved away from the term "ecopsychology" to "earth-centered" and "re-rooting." The idea of "the rest of nature" — and how this small language shift addresses the human/nature divide How Western civilization's model of extraction and domination differs from cultures built on kinship and reciprocity The historical roots of mind/body/earth separation — from ancient Greek philosophy through Descartes and the Enlightenment Why our bodies "cannot be separate from Earth" — from the air we exchange with plants to the physiological toll of space travel Gloria Steinem's phrase "linked, not ranked" as an alternative to hierarchy The story of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight and the moment it reshaped Julie's thinking about sustainability What forest therapy actually looks like in practice — and Julie's own humbling first encounter with a tree A story about a jumping spider that became an unexpected lesson in love versus ownership Reflections on grief, reciprocity, and the idea that the more-than-human world may be missing us as much as we miss it Language, indigenous wisdom, and the book Sand Talk as a guide to non-divisive ways of thinking Why unlearning this division is, in Julie's words, "a group effort" Resources & Links Mentioned The Nature-Embedded Mind: How the Way We Think Can Heal Our Planet and Ourselves by Julie Brams (2026 Nautilus Gold Award winner) Elemental, the Earth-Centered Learning Community co-founded by Julie Brams The Association of Nature and Forest Therapy, where Julie was certified as a guide The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartmann Molecules of Emotion by Candace Pert Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta Paul Hawken, author of Carbon: The Book of Life— referenced from a past Good Dirt conversation EcoCiv, an organization promoting earth-centered culture and economy A Note From Mary If this conversation stirred something in you — a longing, a memory, a small ache of recognition — we'd love to hear about it. Send us a note or leave us a voicemail. And if you try Julie's simple invitation this week (find a tree, sit with it for twenty minutes, see what happens), tell us how it goes. 🌻 About Lady Farmer: Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community Visit Our Website Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram Email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you! Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer. The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network. 🌿 The Good Dirt Producers: Wendy Gray

This episode initially aired on June 19th, 2021