Episode-1592- Ben Hewitt on Nutrient Dense Food Production

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Ben and his wife, Penny, along with their two sons, have transformed a worn out Vermont hillside into a thriving homestead, which currently provides more than 90% of their food, along with most of their building materials, all their heating and cooking fuel, and many other essentials.

They call their style of homestead scale food production “practiculture,” reflecting the fact that they draw on many different methodologies while always striving to make this work “doable.” They are the authors of the recently-published book The Nourishing Homestead.

Ben’s previous book is Home Grown, which explores his experience with the public ed system (he’s a high school dropout) and his family’s experiences “unschooling” their two sons.

Ben joins us today to discuss Homestead-scale nutrient dense food production and what he calls practiculture. To go into how to make your food nutrient dense, what that actually means and why it is important. As well as discussing his new book, “The Nourishing Homestead“.

Join Us Today to Discuss…

What exactly is nutrient density and why it matters
The connection between soil health and human health
The relationship between big pharma and big food
What it’s like to grow and process 90%+ of your own food,
What Ben’s days and diet looks like
The difference between independence and interdependence
The essential role of livestock in a healthy homestead/farm eco-system
What the hell is “practiculture,” anyway do we really need another freaking word

Resources for today’s show…

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15 Comments

Insidious

11 years ago

I love the blueberry faceplant on the cover.. =)

(The New) Mike Cornwell

Reply to Insidious

That was my wife the other day on half a pint of blueberries the other day. I sat them down, and 5 minutes later looked down and they were all gone.

Oh well, she probably needed to gorge herself on spring / early summers bounty!

Ben Falk

We tilled one of our beds for the first time since it was established after 6-7 years of no till (but broadforking and weeding) and the result was insane weed pressure. Wont’ do that again!
I have not gotten the fully mulched no boradfork/soil disturbance approach to work, however.. Would like to for sure – but we’re so wet – heavy mulching often wreaks havoc on plants in my experience, here.

lukkas

Reply to Ben Falk

If you’re THAT wet, maybe you’re in one of the few places that seriously elevated raised beds [something like 2 feet above grade] are a good idea Ben?

Evelyn

Yes do an author show.

PowersProduce

Bulk seed MSB discount? Almost time to renew my lifetime membership. Thank you Jack.

Adam Moore

He mentioned fermenting the green beans. I wonder does he eat them raw through the winter or cooks them? I know its better not to cook fermented foods because it kills the lactobacillus. But maybe the main benefit of fermenting the green beans is not having to can? I cant imagine eating uncooked green beans? Great show though. Going to order his book.

Krystelle Ellaby

Reply to Adam Moore

HI, adam, just curious, you saying you have never eaten raw green beans?
You can eat green beans cooked for sure, my favourite is a lebanese recipe, kind of baked in a tomato and onion sauce (http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/green-bean-stew-loubyeh-bzeit) but just snipping them with scissors and dropping them raw into a mixed salad is great too. 🙂

mac

They do break down a bit and my thoughts are he is using whey (left over from making cheese from his cows) to ferment with. They will still have a crunch but they are amazing! Try just one pint on your counter and see if you like it :).

Ann

Great discussion on child/seniors as disposable consumers.

Ben’s book, The Town that Food Saved, is a must read on interdependence of local businesses.

Tim

So, this is kind of funny, I think:

I was listening to this podcast, and I thought to myself, that Damn Yankee is talking so fast, I can’t understand him. And, then I realized that because Ben is talking so fast, Jack is talking too fast, also. Like maybe unconsciously, Jack’s native Pennsylvania was creeping back in to keep up with Ben. I couldn’t listen to the whole thing. I kept thinking about all the people I went to school with in Oklahoma and longed for that slow, Southern Drawl.

It wasn’t until I started listening to the next podcast that I realized I had accidentally hit the “Speed @ 1.5x” button on my phone!

Great interview, Jack.