Send us a text This is the 2nd interview I did while in Sicily. This interview is with a dear friend Helen Cane Tarpinian. Helen and I reconnected recently around the same time I was researching WWOOFing farms in Italy and landed an opportunity in Marsala, Siciliy, about an hour south of Helen's Terrasini home. When I arrived at the Palermo Airport on Oct 11, 2025, Helen picked me up and we went back to her beautiful home in Terrasini Sicily. The bedroom I stayed in th...

Send us a text Ciao from Marsala, Sicily….and my first WWOOFING experience. I did it! I signed up for WWOOF Italy and found an amazing farm in Marsala, Sicily to spend a week volunteering. The farm name is Orto Infesta - run by Gianfranco and Nino. I have never felt so welcomed and so instantly part of a family as I did with Nino and Gianfranco. Gianfranco and Nino are building something very special at their farm….a place for people to visit, learn, volunteer, and ...

Send us a text I know we’ve gone rogue, off the normal podcast schedule. And it feels kind of liberating in a strange way! But it’s also given me the opportunity to reset a bit. I haven’t completely figured out how I want to approach the Agri-Tourist Podcast going forward, but it’s given me some time back and will allow me time to test some things out. One of those things is doing a video edit along with the audio edit. I’ve avoided that mainly because of the ti...

Send us a text This is a special episode for many reasons. We hit 70 episodes last week!! I can’t believe how fast 70 episodes went by - 70 weeks of my life and yours!!! This episode will be highlighting - very briefly - the top 3 most listened to podcasts. And what do I mean by highlighting them - I am pulling out some of the most meaningful sections - the part of the conversation that left an impact on me…and hopefully left an impact on you too! But I a...

Send us a text We have all heard about the impending cuts that will be impacting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - also known as SNAP. SNAP is a food program that provides assistance to more than 40 million people across America and also provide income to farmers who are able to accept SNAP. The program impacts 2 sets of people - those in need of assistance AND the farmers that feed them. Today’s conversation is with Amy Crone - founder of T...

Send us a text Today’s conversation is with an old friend, someone who’s been with me since my days in corporate america, has known my kids since they were really young, and someone who has been an active agritourist with me along my journey. His formal name is Thomas Chandler Werbe III, but I call him Tim! Tim and I were recently reflecting and reminiscing about many of our adventures together - many of which have been focused on agriculture, farming, education, and plenty of out...

Send us a text Luis Angel Mendez’s journey at Red Tomato began 21 years ago. In 2001 Angel met Michael Rozyne, Founder, and Kate Larson, former Operations manager.. Michael and Kate were searching for two things, warehouse space, and a warehouse manager! The potential Angel saw in Red Tomato outweighed any possible risk, he saw this organization was brand new, cultivating its path into the future. This was meaningful work. Angel took a leap of faith and joined Red Tomato as a warehous...

Send us a text Dana DiPrima is supporting hardworking small & mid-sized American farmers with small actions that have a big impact. She believes, and I wholeheartedly agree with her, that when farmers win, we ALL win. I found Dana’s podcast, One Bite is Everything, on Apple Podcasts a few months ago. I have been an avid weekly listener. Dana is tapping into many of the same themes that I have been hearing from farmers….and, although our podcasts and persona...

Send us a text About 3 years ago, Mike & Ray founded Toasted Oysters… a venture that started over some research and a couple of backyard drinks. And one that is also a part of the Farmer Veteran Coalition. I have to admit, Until we spoke, I didn’t really understand what an oyster farm really meant - that it was a physical farm location in the water where the farm owners grow oysters. Sounds intuitive, but the physical boundaries of the farm are hard to fathom. Aft...

Send us a text I can’t resist a great conversation about chocolate and cacao farming. I had the pleasure of interviewing someone I met at the beginning of her cacao journey, a real powerhouse and innovator at the time whom I met on my first chocolate trip to Belize - the one with the howler monkeys and the jungle cabana! Emily Stone came on the cacao scene in Belize in 2010, made a tremendous impact to the lives and livelihood of cacao farmers in Belize and 15 years later is now runnin...

Send us a text Farm Trails was founded in the 1970’s to connect the public to local farmers, ranchers, producers and purveyors in Sonoma County CA and is still aligned with the same mission and going strong in 2025. Over five decades ago, a group of forward-thinking farmers blazed trails in Sonoma County, creating a map & guide for local agriculture, inviting the public to meet their farmers and learn more about the origins of their food. These pioneers also produced the Gravenstei...

Send us a text One of my best trips ever….exploring Costa Rica…with my youngest daughter Abby…for her 18th birthday and High School graduation! This past April, Abby and I embarked on an adventure to Costa Rica….packed with ‘fake’ volcanic eruptions, ash clouds, rainforest hikes, stray dogs, serendipitous moments, magnificent sunsets, a cacao farm tour, chocolate and coffee tasting, delicious, clean, local meals, howler monkeys, the Pacific ocean, waterfalls, and so much more…. Taking i...

Send us a text I had the opportunity to interview 2 extremely dedicated and super insipring people who are veterans, farmers, educators, PHd students, and mentors for so many veterans who are considering a career in farming. This is career #2 for both of them. But Why did they pick Farming? With one-third of American farmers over the age of 60, there is a critical shortage of individuals entering the agriculture industry. At the same time, there is a record number of veterans exp...

Send us a text On Agri-Tourist Episode #4 we hosted Shelby Watson-Hampton, author of Grace, Grit & Lipstick and co-owner of Robin Hill Farm & Vineyards in Maryland. I was heading down to South Carolina and my half way point was Maryland. I reached out to Shelby to see if she would be available to connect at her vineyard on a specific evening and, lucky for me, she was available, and so were 10 other local farm women and entrepreneurs. Shelby created an evening of win...

Send us a text On Agri-Tourist Episode #4 we hosted Shelby Watson-Hampton, author of Grace, Grit & Lipstick and co-owner of Robin Hill Farm & Vineyards. I was heading down to a wedding in SC and my 1st stop was Maryland. I always say that I want to visit and connect in person…and I really do mean it. I reached out to Shelby to see if she would be available to meet at her vineyard. She was available, and so were 10 other local farm women and entrepreneurs. Shelb...

Send us a text Shalom Farms is a nonprofit working together to build healthy communities by growing and sharing healthy food. The food they grow is distributed through their network of programs and partnerships in communities where access to healthy food is limited. Shalom Farms is the evolution of the work of the United Methodist Urban Ministries of Richmond (UMUMR) which has a long history of social service work in Richmond VA. In 2009 UMUMR started a pilot project growing food on just hal...

Send us a text We did not grow apples at my farm. So during apple season we would purchase apples to have available for our customers. Finding organic apples was impossible so after some research we found Eco Certified apples from Fishkill Farms - a farm that was about a 2 ½ hour drive from us. However, it was worth the trip to stock up on healthier, more sustainably grown apples. At the time I read about the Eco Certification and it sounded in line with our values. Bu...

Send us a text Molly Comstock is now overseeing Many Forks Farm. Many from the Berkshires know her as the owner of Colfax Farm. Molly’s passion and tenacity for farming and to be a farmer definitely comes through in her story. And her story has a significant focus on the issues surrounding farmers and land access Molly didn’t own her land and had to move her farmland and business a few times. And, for a farmer who invests in their soil and farm infrastructure and inve...

Send us a text My conversation with Jim Sanders, farmer from Wildflower Lane Farm in NC, was far reaching. HIs idea around having food advocacy groups who are purchasing produce from retailers and wholesalers shift those funds to pay local farmers to grow for them, has had a tremendous impact on many non profits in the North Carolina area. Another one of the non profit organizations that Jim’s idea has reached is called PORCH. PORCH fights food insecurity by creating sustai...

Send us a text Jim Sanders, farmer from Wildflower Lane Farm in NC, had an idea about growing vegetables and finding a distribution partner for those vegetables. In my podcast interview with Jim (podcast episode 54), he told the story about walking into the office of a non profit called TABLE and proposing his idea to the women in the office. What struck me about that story was the fact that those women listened and took action immediately. They were open to Jim’s idea and t...