web02.fireside.fm Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:22:43 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Let Them Eat Grass - Episodes Tagged with “Chicago” https://letthemeatgrass.fireside.fm/tags/chicago Fri, 12 Apr 2019 04:45:00 -0500 "Let Them Eat Grass" follows one former suburbanite (me) turned farmer as I make sense in real-time of the interconnected world of farming, food, and the environment. Here, your insatiable curiosity can feast upon good food. Here, a good story only germinates in deep topsoil. Here, you'll get some questions answered you've always had and learn about others you never knew existed. I started this podcast on a shoestring budget in the basement of my 1950s farmhouse during my early days of farming from March 2019 through March 2020. The older episodes sound like a time capsule of pre-Covid urgency that rings still true today. I restarted this podcast three years later, in March of 2023. There is still so much I have left to say. And, we're losing 2000 acres of farmland a day to development or abandonment. The average age of farmers is only going up. And, the effects of climate change are only going to get stronger. If you're like me, you love this planet. You want to preserve it for future generations. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and we must be the change we wish to see in the world. Listen to the old episodes, but stick around for the new ones. PS--If you're a farmer, and you need some help marketing your good food to the world, message me via my website: https://www.seofarmmarketing.com en-us episodic A podcast about healthy farms, good food, and sustainable living. Austin Williams "Let Them Eat Grass" follows one former suburbanite (me) turned farmer as I make sense in real-time of the interconnected world of farming, food, and the environment. Here, your insatiable curiosity can feast upon good food. Here, a good story only germinates in deep topsoil. Here, you'll get some questions answered you've always had and learn about others you never knew existed. I started this podcast on a shoestring budget in the basement of my 1950s farmhouse during my early days of farming from March 2019 through March 2020. The older episodes sound like a time capsule of pre-Covid urgency that rings still true today. I restarted this podcast three years later, in March of 2023. There is still so much I have left to say. And, we're losing 2000 acres of farmland a day to development or abandonment. The average age of farmers is only going up. And, the effects of climate change are only going to get stronger. If you're like me, you love this planet. You want to preserve it for future generations. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and we must be the change we wish to see in the world. Listen to the old episodes, but stick around for the new ones. PS--If you're a farmer, and you need some help marketing your good food to the world, message me via my website: https://www.seofarmmarketing.com no Agriculture, Farming, Conservation, Food, Regenerative, Environment, Sustainability Austin Williams austin@letthemeatgrass.org Episode 3: The Danger of Labels (with Carrie Balkcom) https://letthemeatgrass.fireside.fm/3 ea57675d-d615-4360-bebb-74e02576cf7e Fri, 12 Apr 2019 04:45:00 -0500 Austin Williams 3 The Danger of Labels (with Carrie Balkcom) full Austin Williams So, what do labels actually mean? Probably not what you think... 35:17 no We see labels everywhere, to the point of immunity. Not that we're immune to their effects, but definitely to their presence. We see a label, like "USDA ORGANIC" or "CERTIFIED ANGUS BEEF", and we assume it means they are healthy for us. We feel like we've connected the mental dots. But we haven't. Labels haven't been around forever. Only since meat could be shipped nationwide year-round, which was 1867, did consumers begin to lose touch with their food supply. Leapfrogging to today, and we have no idea where 99% of our food came from. We go further to assume some things are inherently "pure", like wine, and couldn't possibly be contaminated with anything. A man named Rudy Kurniawan exploited this trust, and pumped over $550 million dollars of fake wine onto the marketplace before he was arrested in 2012. Oh, and one study found that 90% of french wines contained traces of insecticides. Labels don't have to be misleading though. Some labels don't just tell you what ISN'T in the meat, they also are affirming of good agricultural practices. I got to interview CARRIE BALKCOM, Executive Director of the American Grassfed Association. If you think I'm nuts, listen to her. She's been doing this for nearly 20 years. And she knows her stuff. Nutrition, Health, Farming, Society We see labels everywhere, to the point of immunity. Not that we're immune to their effects, but definitely to their presence. We see a label, like "USDA ORGANIC" or "CERTIFIED ANGUS BEEF", and we assume it means they are healthy for us. We feel like we've connected the mental dots. But we haven't.

Labels haven't been around forever. Only since meat could be shipped nationwide year-round, which was 1867, did consumers begin to lose touch with their food supply. Leapfrogging to today, and we have no idea where 99% of our food came from. We go further to assume some things are inherently "pure", like wine, and couldn't possibly be contaminated with anything. A man named Rudy Kurniawan exploited this trust, and pumped over $550 million dollars of fake wine onto the marketplace before he was arrested in 2012. Oh, and one study found that 90% of french wines contained traces of insecticides.

Labels don't have to be misleading though. Some labels don't just tell you what ISN'T in the meat, they also are affirming of good agricultural practices. I got to interview CARRIE BALKCOM, Executive Director of the American Grassfed Association. If you think I'm nuts, listen to her. She's been doing this for nearly 20 years. And she knows her stuff.

]]> We see labels everywhere, to the point of immunity. Not that we're immune to their effects, but definitely to their presence. We see a label, like "USDA ORGANIC" or "CERTIFIED ANGUS BEEF", and we assume it means they are healthy for us. We feel like we've connected the mental dots. But we haven't.

Labels haven't been around forever. Only since meat could be shipped nationwide year-round, which was 1867, did consumers begin to lose touch with their food supply. Leapfrogging to today, and we have no idea where 99% of our food came from. We go further to assume some things are inherently "pure", like wine, and couldn't possibly be contaminated with anything. A man named Rudy Kurniawan exploited this trust, and pumped over $550 million dollars of fake wine onto the marketplace before he was arrested in 2012. Oh, and one study found that 90% of french wines contained traces of insecticides.

Labels don't have to be misleading though. Some labels don't just tell you what ISN'T in the meat, they also are affirming of good agricultural practices. I got to interview CARRIE BALKCOM, Executive Director of the American Grassfed Association. If you think I'm nuts, listen to her. She's been doing this for nearly 20 years. And she knows her stuff.

]]>