Hi Everyone,

I know this is a crazy time for everyone, and we are globally experiencing something that we have never experienced before in our lifetimes. It is a wake-up call to how vulnerable we all are, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, poverty, or wealth, when it comes to catching the Coronavirus. However, depending on our job and where we are in life with children, parents, health, and financial security, it will impact us all differently. My heart goes out to all of the children who depend on school for their meals and daily stability, and to all of the hourly wage earners who see their lives caving in on them with no way to stop it.

I am uplifted by the signs of humanity, where people who are less at risk are offering help to those in the higher risk bracket, whether it is delivery of meals, runs to the pharmacy, grocery shopping, or offering childcare, and to all of the healthcare workers who continue to go to work and care for the sick, even though they know they are putting themselves in harms way.

May we all take this time to ponder what unifies us, and to hold life and the universe sacred. I personally, am sending you all my virtual love and the wish that we get through this together and that we come out the other side more loving, kind, and communally engaged.

My guest this week on the Progressive Radio Network is Philip-Ackerman-Leist. Philip is a farmer, author, and educator with decades of experience and expertise in founding and in leading sustainable agriculture and food systems programs for undergraduate and graduate students.

As an educator, Philip is intrigued by innovative approaches in helping students and communities develop more complex understandings of sustainable agriculture, food systems, and social change. Having founded a 23-acre organic college farm and also the first online graduate program in food systems in the US, he is an advocate of hands-on experiential education and the best of what online education can offer — and revels in the tension between those two radically different approaches. As a farmer, he is particularly interested in grass-based agriculture and livestock conservation. As an author, he is driven by digging into cutting edge issues and revealing the complexities of their lessons for a broad audience.

Philip is the author of A Precautionary Tale, Rebuilding the Foodshed, and UpTunket Road, published by Chelsea Green Publishing. Most recently, he has served as Professor of Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems and Sustainable Food Solutions Initiative Director at Green Mountain College, where he was instrumental to that college’s sustainability initiatives.

Philip teaches in and leads Sterling’s continuing education program, The School of the New American Farmstead, with its leading-edge short courses that inspire lifelong environmental stewardship for residential and non-residential adult students of all ages.

He and his wife, Erin, live in Pawlett, Vermont on UpTunket Farm, where they manage a grass-based herd of approximately 30-60 rare breed cattle, American Milking Devons. Please join us on Thursday for a lively discussion about our food system and what we can do to make sure it is here when we need it!

My radio show, iEat Green with Bhavani on the Progressive Radio Network is live, every Thursday, from 10-11 am, EST.  To tune in to the live show, just navigate to PRN.fm and listen in!

If you miss our live show please listen on iTunes by downloading the Podcast App.

If you want to call in during the show with any questions for me or my guest, the call-in number is 888-874-4888. If you are listening to the podcast after the live broadcast, you can still ask me a question by leaving me a voicemail message at 862-800-6805. Just remember to say your name, what show you’re calling about (iEat Green with Bhavani), and your question. The message will be passed on to me, and I will get back to you.

With Love and Gratitude,

Bhavani 

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