Hi Everyone,

Welcome to another beautiful week! I am so thankful that I have a loving circle of family and friends to cushion the daily bombardment of horrendous things going on in the world. Whether it’s issues on immigration, gun control, climate change, food equity, mandatory vaccinations, fracking, endangered species, pipelines, wealth disparities, industrial agriculture, or 5G, there are plenty of issues to keep us busy and fighting for change. We can never lose hope that the power of the people will ultimately win out. In the meantime, find your people, find your tribe, surround yourself with love, and work towards making the change you want to see in the world.

My guests this week are Steffen and Rachel Schneider, the power couple behind the success of Hawthorne Valley Farm and the Institute of Mindful Agriculture. Both of them have decades of experience on the farm. Steffen is a biodynamic farmer and herdsman and is currently the Director of Farming Operations at Hawthorne Valley Farm.  Rachel is the Director of the Hawthorne Valley Farm Place Based Learning Center, which focuses on farm-based educational programming for children and families and professional training in the vocation of agriculture. Both of them are co-founders of the Institute for Mindful Agriculture. Steffen holds a masters degree in agriculture from the Justus Von Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, and Rachel holds a master’s degree in Waldorf education.

Since 2007, Steffen has served on the Board of Directors of the Biodynamic Association of North America, first as the treasurer, then vice president and finally president. He stepped down this year to focus on his other projects. Steffen has keynoted national and international biodynamic conferences in the US, Switzerland and New Zealand. Additionally, he has conducted workshops at organic and biodynamic conferences in the US, China, Switzerland, and New Zealand.  He is a member of the faculty at the Hawthorne Valley Farm Learning Center and serves as adjunct faculty at the Pfeiffer Center in Spring Valley, NY. 

As part of Rachel’s work at the Learning Center, she brought the Farm Beginnings Whole Farm Planning Program to the Hudson Valley from its original home with the Land Stewardship Project in Minnesota. She has organized a yearly Biodynamic Winter Intensive training program at Hawthorne Valley Farm and developed and initiated the “Kids Can Cook” summer camp, which is specifically targeted to under-served children in the Hudson community. Her most recent projects include creating the curriculum for the “Real Food Business Planning” course and working with the Bard Prison Initiative to bring a lecture series on the “Emerging Real Food Economy” to inmates at the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Sullivan County NY.

Rachel has been part of management at Hawthorne Valley Farm for the past 20 years. Prior to her current role, she held the position of market gardener and CSA coordinator for Hawthorne Valley Farm. During this time she was able to develop the CSA program and participated in founding the farm apprentice enrichment program called CRAFT (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training) both of which began in 1994. 

I hope you can join us on Thursday, and learn more about the Institute for Mindful Agriculture, and biodynamics in the world.

Remember, my show is recorded live, every Thursday, from 10-11 am, EST.  To tune in to the live show, just navigate to PRN.fm and listen in!

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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.

If you missed the show, you can listen to it in the PRN archives, or through my website.

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With Love and Gratitude,

Bhavani