The Prairie Farm Podcast

Ep. 355 (Coffee Time) Does “No Mow May” ACTUALLY Help The Bees??

Nicolas, Kent, and Riley break in the new studio with a conversation about society's spring lawn routine. They dig into No Mow May, what actually started it, what a 2023 peer review found, and which common lawn weeds genuinely help native bees.
 
hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your backyard prairie, pollinator mixes, habitat mixes, and native seed consultation)
 
MckayInsAgency.com (for all your insurance and financial planning needs)
 
BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supplies)

Ep. 354 The Man Who Manages the Most Diverse Prairie We’ve Ever Seen

Keith Horn stopped for coffee and a donut on his way mushroom hunting. A real estate sign a block away changed the course of his life. The 50 acres he bought in 2001 turned out to be the most diverse prairie we have ever seen, hosting 665 native species across five prairie types.Hoksey Native Seeds (for all your backyard prairie, CRP mixes, and more)BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supplies and bird dog supplies needs)

Ep. 353 (Coffee Time) How Trees Affect Mental Health and A New Study on Agrochemicals and Cancer

Trees cut depression by a third, reduce crime, and make people spend more money. That's what the research says. Then the team brings a brand new Nature Medicine study linking Tordon herbicide to early-onset colorectal cancer, and the maps are nearly identical. 
 
hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your prairie, CRP, hunting mixes, and native seed needs)Iowa Cover Crop (for all your grains, cover crops, forage mixes, and more)Mckayinsagency.com (for all your financial planning and insurance needs)

Ep. 352 How to ACTUALLY Fix the Water Quality and Are Data Centers Good for Rural America

Johnathon Swanson from Polk County Conservation joins Nicolas and Kent talk about Iowa's water quality crisis. They dig into tile drainage, nitrates, saturated buffers, constructed wetlands, and what's actually working on the ground. Plus data centers, farm diversification, and quail nostalgia.
 
Hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your backyard prairie, hunting habitat mixes, CRP mixes, pollinator mixes, and more)
 
Mckayinsagency.com (for all your insurance and financial advising needs)
 
BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting needs, and for your bird dogs' supplies as well)

Ep. 351 (Coffee Time) The Pollinator Prairie Death Spiral and the Details on The Boundary Waters

A new ISU study is shaking up how we think about prairies. It turns out pollinators don't just need the prairie, the prairie needs them back. Kent, Nicolas, and Riley dig into what declining pollinator populations mean for plant diversity, then shift to the Boundary Waters mining fight and what's actually at stake ecologically.
 
Hoksey Native Seeds (for all your backyard prairie, CRP, Prairie Strip Mixes, Hunting Habitat and More)
 
IowaCoverCrop.com (for all your cover crop and small grain needs)

Ep. 350 She's Read More Midwest Pioneer Journals Than Almost Anyone

Val Van Kooten, administrator at the State of Iowa Historical Society, returns for her third episode. The conversation digs into pioneer journal entries, pre-tractor farm life, an April Fool's fact-or-fiction game, the phenomenon of declinism, claim jumper clubs, and what autonomous tractors might do to Midwest culture.hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your CRP mixes, backyard prairie mixes, hunting habitat mixes, and more)Oh and check out our new Prairie Farm Forum!Iowa Cover Crop (for all your cover crop needs)McKay Insurance (for all your insurance and financial planning needs)

Ep. 349 (Coffee Time) How Would Mandatory Set Aside Acres Economically Affect Your Rural County Today?

This week on Coffee Time Wednesday Nicolas breaks down what would actually happen if the Corn Belt set aside 10% of its acres for conservation. Using over 40 sources, he walks through the county level economics of lost grain sales, higher commodity prices, hunting revenue, and CRP payments. The math might surprise you.hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your CRP, native mixes, butterfly wildflower patches, hunting habitat mixes, and more!)
BirdHunterSupply.com (to give back to conservation while purchasing your bird hunting supplies)

Ep. 348 Why Native Plants and Few Chemicals Grow Better Deer

Thomas Mlsna is a habitat consultant and biologist who's spent 16 years rethinking how hunters manage land. In this episode, he breaks down the deer food pyramid, makes the case for smaller food plots in smarter locations, connects native plant diversity to EHD prevention, and challenges the entire model of chemical-heavy whitetail land management.hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, habitat mixes, perennial food plot, CRP, backyard prairie, and native pasture mixes)Iowa Cover Crop (for all your cover crop and small grain needs)

Ep. 347 (Coffee Time) Our Worst Days In The Field! And Why Is The US Forest Service Moving Out of DC?

Grab your coffee folks, it's time for another Coffee Time Wednesday!
This week Nicolas, Kent, and Riley kick off Coffee Time debating whether Nicolas's cargo pocket jeans are fashion-forward or a complete disaster. From there the guys swap their best farm mistakes. Tractors buried in mud, discs wrapped around power poles, and $5,000 worth of hand-collected seed dumped on gravel. Then the crew digs into the US Forest Service's move from DC to Salt Lake City and what it might really mean for conservation.
 
hokseynativeseeds.com (for CRP, backyard pollinator, native pasture mixes and more!)
 
McKay Insurance (for all your insurance and financial advising needs)
 
birdhuntersupply.com (for all your bird hunter supplies)

Ep. 346 Why We Can't Buy Our Way Out of a Broken Food System

Molly Pickering, Policy Director for Illinois Stewardship Alliance, joins Nicolas and Kent for a wide-ranging conversation on what's actually broken in America's food system. From monopoly meat packers to cottage food laws to pesticide drift hitting small farms, Molly brings the policy perspective that most farmers never get to hear.
 
hokseynativeseeds.com (for all your native seed, native pastures, native habitat mixes, and more)
BirdHunterSupply.com (for all your bird hunting supply needs)