Talkin’ Dirt is a podcast about farming, soil, and the people working to grow real food today.
Host Robert Peters travels to farms big and small, sitting down with growers, ranchers, and agricultural innovators who are rebuilding soil, feeding their communities, and finding creative ways to make farming work.
Each episode is an honest conversation about the challenges, traditions, and surprising successes happening in agriculture right now.
If you care about food, land, and the future of farming, you’ll feel right at home here.
Biodynamics and Cowichan Valley Water Rights at Alderlea Farm
In this episode of Talkin’ Dirt, I sit down with John and Katy Ehrlich at Alderlea Farm in Duncan, British Columbia. For more than 20 years, they’ve been growing vegetables on their 10-acre farm, running a CSA, and building a community around local food. Right on the property is the Alderlea Farm Cafe, where food grown on the farm makes its way directly onto the menu.
John and I get into biodynamic agriculture and some of the ideas that have shaped the way he farms. We talk about Rudolf Steiner, burying manure in cow horns, planting with lunar cycles, biodynamic preparations, soil health, pest management, and the importance John places on simply observing what’s happening on the farm.
Katy also shares the struggle they’re facing over agricultural water access in the Cowichan Valley. We talk about water licensing, restrictions on farmers, the decisions being made around water use, and the larger questions those decisions raise about local agriculture and food security.
It’s a conversation about looking at a farm as a living system, paying attention to the land, and what it takes to keep a small farm viable when some of the biggest challenges are coming from outside the farm itself.
Alderlea Farm & Cafe: alderleafarm.com
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20 Sept 2026
Speedy and Flo’s Sweet Corn: Fifty Acres and a Montana Following
In this episode of Talkin’ Dirt, I sit down with Flo and his dad, Speedy, from Speedy & Flo’s Sweet Corn in Hardin, Montana.
Speedy came to the United States from Mexico in the late 1970s and has spent most of his life working in agriculture. What started with a few acres of sweet corn has grown into a family operation with around 50 acres of corn, a greenhouse, vegetables, flowers, and three generations of the family involved.
We talk about Speedy’s journey from Mexico to Montana, how the sweet corn operation grew, and what it takes to plant, harvest, and sell that much corn during a short Montana growing season. Flo and Speedy explain how they stagger their planting to keep fresh corn coming throughout the summer, load up their vans, and sell directly to customers across the area, including plenty of regulars who wait for Speedy & Flo’s corn every year.
We also get into working alongside family, dealing with hail and unpredictable weather, their approach to pesticides and pests, and why they still love farming despite the long days and hard work. Speedy’s story also leads us into a conversation about immigration, agricultural labor, and how the process of coming to the United States has changed since his own experience decades ago.
Speedy & Flo’s Sweet Corn: https://www.speedyandflosweetcorn.com/ (https://www.speedyandflosweetcorn.com/)
🌱 Connect with Talkin’ Dirt
(https://twitter.com/TalkinDirtPod?utm_source=chatgpt.com)Instagram: @Talkin.Dirt (https://instagram.com/TalkinDirtPodcast?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
Website: TalkinDirt.farm
7 Sept 2026
Flowers, Farming and a Healthy Dose of Optimism with Aimee Miklovic
In this episode of Talkin’ Dirt, I sit down with Aimee from Full Bushel Farm in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. Aimee didn’t grow up farming, but after finding her way into working with plants, she discovered she had a knack for growing things and eventually decided to turn that into a farm of her own.
We talk about how Aimee got started growing flowers, what it was like building a business on rented land, and some of the challenges that came with trying to figure out flower farming as she went. We also get into the commercial flower industry, why locally grown flowers are so different from the bouquets most of us see at the grocery store, and what goes into growing and selling flowers on a small scale.
Full Bushel is about more than flowers. Aimee also raises dairy cows, chickens, ducks, turkeys and goats, and we talk about the ways she’s trying to connect all of those pieces through composting, food scraps and other waste streams that can be put back to work on the farm.
We also get into the importance of local agriculture, what Aimee sees for the future of small farms, and why a certain amount of optimism might just be necessary if you’re going to make a living planting things in the dirt.
If you enjoy the show, follow Talkin’ Dirt and leave a rating or review wherever you listen. It’s one of the easiest ways to help more people find the podcast.
Learn more about Full Bushel Farm:
https://fullbushelfarm.com
🌱 Connect with Talkin’ Dirt
(https://twitter.com/TalkinDirtPod?utm_source=chatgpt.com)Instagram: @Talkin.Dirt (https://instagram.com/TalkinDirtPodcast?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
Website: TalkinDirt.farm
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