The Regenaissance Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Pioneering a New Food Model Around Grass-Fed Cows - Hickory Nut Gap Farms (Live Farm Tour) | #95 Nov 27, 2025

Show notes

Hickory Nut Gap is a century-old family farm in Western North Carolina, now run by Jamie and Amy, who shifted the operation toward grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, and regenerative grazing. Their model connects soil health, animal welfare, and community resilience - from rotational grazing that builds biodiversity to supplying local restaurants and retailers. This tour looks directly at how they raise animals, manage land, and keep farming viable in the Appalachian mountains.

Key Topics

How Hickory Nut Gap transitioned from an old dairy to a regenerative livestock operation
Rotational grazing, biodiversity, and carbon-building in mountain pastures
The economics of grass-fed beef versus grain-fed systems
How the farm navigated the 2023 Cane Creek flood and community recovery
Whole-animal butchery, pet food production, and reconnecting consumers with real food

Why Listen To This Episode

A real-time look at how a regenerative livestock farm actually operates
Clear explanation of rotational grazing, pasture rest, and soil-building
Practical insight into animal welfare, handling, and daily farm management
Firsthand account of flood recovery and community resilience
Straightforward breakdown of grass-fed vs grain-fed economics and taste
Cuts through marketing claims by showing the real work behind regenerative agriculture

Website
Instagram

Timestamps

00:00:00 — History of Hickory Nut Gap and returning to the family farm

00:02:00 — Discovering direct-market pasture farming in the early 2000s

00:04:00 — Grass-fed movement and building a farmer-supported food system

00:06:00 — Taste, nutrition, and why fresh, local food matters

00:10:00 — Flood impacts and land recovery after the Cane Creek disaster

00:12:00 — Rotational grazing explained: density, rest, carbon, biodiversity

00:15:00 — Grass-fed vs grain-fed: economics, animal health, taste

00:17:00 — Talking with vegans and the ethics of reducing harm in ecosystems

00:19:00 — Regrowth after grazing and how mountain pastures respond

00:23:00 — Daily welfare checks: water, feed, injuries, antibiotics policy

00:26:00 — Whole-animal use, pet food demand, and underrated cuts

Low-Intervention Wine & Natural Winemaking - Ben Justman | #94 Nov 19, 2025

Show notes

Ben Justman of Peony Lane Wine grew up on this Colorado orchard, returned in his mid-20s, taught himself winemaking, and now runs a small high-elevation Pinot Noir winery on his family’s land, built alongside his father.

Key Topics

Childhood on a self-sustaining orchard and returning to family land
Starting Peony Lane Wine and producing high-elevation Pinot Noir
Winemaking as farming: soil, climate, and place
Direct-to-consumer realities for small producers
Why Ben accepts Bitcoin and why he places importance on it

Why Listen

Clear insight into how small wineries actually operate
A grounded look at family land, legacy, and returning home
Practical examples of direct-to-consumer sales for farmers
Rare details about high-elevation Pinot Noir production
Honest reflections on working with family while building a business

Website
Instagram
X

Timestamps

00:00:00 – Arriving at Peony Lane and first impressions
00:09:00 – Growing up on the farm
00:18:30 – Leaving, travel, and returning home
00:27:30 – Starting the winery
00:36:30 – Pinot noir and site limitations
00:45:30 – Small vs industrial wine
00:54:30 – Stewardship and identity
01:03:30 – Building the house with his father
01:12:30 – Family, legacy, and land
01:21:30 – Direct-to-consumer sales
01:30:30 – Bitcoin and values-based customers
01:39:30 – Money, sovereignty, and the future

Losing My Farm, Being Outed From Dairy, And Lessons For Future Food - Jr Burdick | #93 Nov 12, 2025

Show notes

JR Burdick of Nourishing Family Farm explains how losing his family’s farm in the 1980s and later being forced out of his dairy co-op shaped his path toward raw milk, soil-based farming, and local food independence. His story exposes how modern agriculture breaks families and communities - and how rebuilding begins one farm at a time.

Key Topics

The 1980s farm crisis and its generational impact
Industrial agriculture’s false promises
Losing and rebuilding the family farm
Founding Nourishing Family Farm and producing raw milk
Redefining farming as care for soil, cows, and community

Why Listen

Reveals how U.S. farm policy hollowed out rural America
Shows how raw milk and local food rebuild trust and health
Offers a firsthand blueprint for regenerating the land and economy
Traces 40 years of American farming through one family’s eyes
Ends with a powerful redefinition of what it means to be a farmer

Connect with JR:
Website
X
Facebook

References:
"The Jungle" (1906) by Upton Sinclair

Timestamps

00:00:00 – JR’s multi-generation farming roots
00:02:00 – 1980s farm collapse
00:06:00 – Debt, rates, and farm failures
00:10:00 – Starting over
00:14:00 – Ag education and GMOs
00:25:00 – Green Revolution and nutrition loss
00:33:00 – Regulation and consolidation
00:46:00 – Tornado and community response
01:00:00 – Rebuilding under financial strain
01:15:00 – Generational succession challenges
01:30:00 – Co-op shutdown and income loss
01:45:00 – Ethanol and insurance dependence
02:03:00 – Conventional dairying realities
02:10:00 – Identity, purpose, and faith
02:30:00 – Founding Nourishing Family Farm
02:45:00 – Food as medicine
03:00:00 – Stewardship and resilience
03:10:00 – Redefining the modern farmer

Why Most Farmers Don't Make It Full-Time - August Hortsmann | #92 Nov 05, 2025

Show notes

August Hortsmann is a first-generation Missouri cattleman and founder of Hortsmann Cattle Company, a regenerative ranch built on his family’s land near St. Louis.

What began as a childhood passion grew into a full-time operation which, over the past eight years, has integrated adaptive grazing, direct-to-consumer beef sales, and long-term soil-focused practices. His education was established through years of study, observation, and trial. August spent countless seasons working ranch jobs integrating regenerative practices, allowing him studying grazing systems and testing various methods.

Augusts story shares undertones of the uncertain, long road taken for each farmer to reach their dream of working full-time. For August, as you'll hear, he made it happen, but for 84% of farmers in America, they work other jobs. August shares his shift from conventional, university-trained agriculture to regenerative practice, the economic realities of running a small meat business, and his philosophy on scale, sustainability, and soil health.

Key Topics

Early life and the arduous path to founding Hortsmann Cattle Co
Transition from conventional to regenerative grazing
Why multi-species farming can break a business
What adaptive grazing actually looks like on the ground
'Breaking even' and the economic realities of cattle farming
Scaling regenerative agriculture for the future

Why You Should Listen

- What the path to full-time farming really looks like

- How farmers survive years before breaking even

- Building a regenerative cattle business from nothing

- Lessons from eight years of adaptive grazing

- The hard economics of small-scale beef

Connect with August

Instagram
Website

Timestamps

00:00:00 – Childhood roots and first memories on the family farm
00:03:00 – Starting Hortsmann Cattle Co in college
00:06:00 – University teachings vs. real-world economics
00:10:00 – Working off-farm while building a cattle business
00:13:00 – Discovering regenerative agriculture through Soil & Water
00:19:00 – Adding multi-species and the “death by diversity” lesson
00:29:00 – Burnout and the decision to simplify operations
00:31:00 – Quitting full-time work and going all-in on the farm
00:36:00 – Adaptive grazing and learning from nature’s rhythms
00:43:00 – Shifting from farmers’ markets to online direct sales
00:53:00 – Educating consumers on bulk buying and real costs
00:57:00 – Why small meat businesses struggle with margins
01:03:00 – Processing, scale, and the bottlenecks of small producers
01:09:00 – Is regenerative agriculture scalable?
01:13:00 – Advice for aspiring ranchers
01:17:00 – Social media, misinformation, and consumer trust
01:20:00 – Building a ranch that can sustain future generations

Humans, Extinction, And Nature - Will Harris | #91 Oct 29, 2025

Show notes

Will Harris is a sixth-generation cattleman and owner of White Oak Pastures, a 158-year-old family farm in Bluffton, Georgia. Since 1866, the Harris family has practiced land-based farming rooted in regeneration, humane animal husbandry, and zero-waste production.

In this episode, Will reflects on the farm’s evolution from industrial cattle operations to a living ecosystem. He discusses soil, community, balance, symbiosis in an ecosstem, rural farming communities, stewardship, organic matter, his family history, and more.

Key Topics

6 generations of farming - from industrial cattle to regenerative systems
Rebuilding Bluffton’s rural economy through local food
Soil carbon, organic matter, and ecological limits
The moral and generational lessons of land stewardship
Rethinking success: humility, balance, and long-term thinking

Why You Should Listen

How six generations turned an industrial farm into a living ecosystem.
Why killing pests and controlling nature backfired
What it takes to rebuild a town’s economy
The real economics of land, legacy, and long-term thinking.
Why humility- not technology - is the key to surviving the human dilemma.

Connect With White Oak Pastures

Website
Instagram

Timestamps

00:00:00 — White Oak Pastures and 158 years of family farming
00:05:00 — Industrial agriculture and losing balance
00:08:00 — The cost of control: chemicals and confinement
00:11:00 — Soil carbon, fertility, and organic matter
00:16:00 — Working within nature’s limits
00:25:00 — Rejecting tech fixes and restoring balance
00:34:00 — Internships, purpose, and community revival
00:42:00 — Bluffton’s renewal through local production
00:50:00 — Land, debt, and long-term stewardship
00:55:00 — Generational transfer and humility
01:08:00 — Observation, faith, and living with nature

The Miracle Of Rural America - Joel Hollingsworth | #90 Oct 22, 2025

Show notes

Ryan sits down with Joel Hollingsworth of Smoke River Ranch in Oklahoma, who lays out a clear, unflinching diagnosis of America’s decline.

He then takes you through the solution, step by step, exactly whats required. In short, the miracle ahead has only one path, and that is a restored and vitalized rural America.

Key Topics:

Collapse and renewal of rural America
Building culture through community and soil
Regenerative ranching and total grazing
Economic sovereignty and local production
Reclaiming health and vitality

Why You Should Listen:

- Learn how rural collapse happened.
- See how financialization hollowed America.
- Understand why soil and economy are linked.
- Discover how regeneration rebuilds communities.
- Hear a practical plan for renewal.

Resources mentioned:

Book: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Book: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink

Connect with Joel:

Smoke River Ranch Website
X

00:00:00 – America’s decline and lost vitality
00:04:30 – Joel’s story and Smoke River Ranch
00:11:00 – Finance replacing real production
00:20:10 – Centralization and moral decay
00:29:40 – What regeneration means
00:38:25 – Soil as civilization’s base
00:46:50 – Rebuilding local economies
00:56:30 – Tech and virtual fencing
01:05:00 – The real economics of farming
01:16:15 – Decentralization and freedom
01:28:10 – Work, dignity, and meaning
01:38:40 – Food, health, and strength
01:52:20 – Cultural cost of disconnection
02:09:00 – Rural vitalism in action
02:27:15 – Rebuilding soil, rebuilding America

Regeneration Starts From Within - Cindy Sheffield | #89 Oct 15, 2025

Show notes

When chronic illness left Cindy bedridden in her twenties, she began questioning everything she’d been taught about health - and later, about farming. What started as a search for healing led her and her husband to rebuild their land in Burneyville, Oklahoma, where TLC Ranch now stands: a regenerative bison ranch and certified organic pecan orchard rooted in living systems rather than chemicals. Through decades of trial, floods, and faith, Cindy discovered that the same principles that restore the body also restore the soil. This episode traces how her recovery became the land’s recovery - and what it really means to live and farm in alignment with nature.

Key Topics

- Healing through food and faith
- From chemical sprays to organic farming
- Bison behavior and herd management
- The challenges of organic certification
- Health, medicine, and trusting intuition

Timestamps

00:00:00 – Growing up outdoors and learning self-reliance
00:04:00 – Linking diet and chronic illness in the 1980s
00:08:00 – Healing through food and natural living
00:12:00 – From chemical farming to organic awareness
00:19:00 – Buying land and starting the ranch
00:27:00 – Discovering bison and learning their behavior
00:31:00 – Pecans as nutrient-dense local food
00:44:00 – Challenges of organic certification
00:53:00 – Replacing chemicals with biological inputs
00:58:00 – Managing herd health and natural balance
01:05:00 – Lessons from floods and renewal on the land

Website
Facebook
Instagram

Why a New Generation Is Choosing Farming, And How More Can Do The Same - Patrick & Caden (Family Cable Farm) | #88 Oct 08, 2025

Show notes

Caden and Patrick are first-generation farmers in North Carolina who started Cable Family Farm while still in high school. Together, they’ve built a small-scale regenerative farm focused on pasture-raised poultry and no-till market gardening, proving that young people can make a living from the land through hard work, curiosity, and faith.

Cable Family Farm practices regenerative farming focused on soil health, animal welfare, and local connection through small-scale, community-based food production.

Key Topics

Starting a regenerative farm as teenagers
Learning and adapting through trial and error
Making small-scale farming sustainable
Sacrifice, purpose, and faith in farming
Inspiring young people to reconnect with food

Timestamps

00:00:00 – Discovering small-scale farming
00:02:45 – Launching Cable Family Farm in high school
00:06:00 – Rekindling friendship and building together
00:09:00 – Visiting Polyface Farm for inspiration
00:10:30 – Selling produce and entering markets
00:14:00 – Lessons from larger conventional farms
00:17:00 – Partnership, long hours, and learning curves
00:21:00 – Sacrifice and fulfillment on the land
00:25:00 – Bringing younger generations into farming
00:35:00 – Faith and stewardship of the land
00:40:00 – Balancing college with farm life
00:42:00 – Reflections on growth and purpose

Connect

Instagram
Facebook

Justin Rhodes - Homesteading, Rotational Grazing, & Legacy (Live Farm Tour) | #87 Oct 01, 2025

Show notes

This episode is a little different: instead of a sit-down podcast, I join Justin Rhodes for a live tour around his North Carolina farm.

When you think of homesteaders, Justin Rhodes is the first person you think of. With over a million followers on YouTube and multiple successful books, Justin and his family have paved the way for new homesteaders through documenting their journey. A fourth-generation steward of his family’s land in North Carolina, Justin and his wife Rebecca raise their five children on it.

What we cover:

How rotational grazing restores pastures without seed or fertilizer
The challenges and realities of homesteading versus farming for profit
Balancing family life, children, and farm responsibilities
Why many new homesteaders burn out and how to avoid it
The generational legacy of farming the same land and what it means for the future

Timestamps:

00:01:30 — The breeds of cows on the farm and how milk is shared

00:03:00 — Family land history and what the farm cost in the 1930s

00:05:00 — Rotational grazing explained and why clover survives

00:09:00 — Homesteading vs farming: growing food for yourself or for sale

00:13:00 — Why most new homesteaders burn out and how to prepare

00:17:30 — Finding a deeper reason beyond money to keep farming

00:19:00 — Involving children in farm life and family teamwork

00:21:00 — The multi-generational connection to land and legacy

00:23:00 — Raw milk, safety, and family traditions

00:25:00 — Industrial milk history, swill dairies, and why pasteurization began

Justin's YouTube channel
Instagram
Farm Website

Josh & Jessica Guptill - We Want To Know Our Customers... Then Educate Them | #86 Sep 17, 2025

Show notes

Josh and Jessica Guptill run Rehoboth Farm in Suffolk, Virginia, where they raise pastured chicken, pork, lamb, beef, eggs, and turkeys. Neither came from a farming family - Josh left the Coast Guard and Jessica is a doula - but together they built their farm from backyard beginnings, guided by faith and a belief in producing “healing food.” Their path is unique: from DIY chicken pluckers and bartering for land to scaling up during COVID, they’ve made transparency and education central to their work. Today they not only provide nutrient-dense food but also host workshops and farm visits, giving their community a firsthand connection to how food is grown.

This episode we discuss:

What backyard chickens taught them about the realities of food production
How different animals (chickens, pigs, sheep, cattle) work together to regenerate land
Why transparency and on-farm visits build trust between farmers and eaters
The role of farmers’ markets, and what separates thriving ones from failing ones
How faith and community shape their vision of farming as a vocation

Timestamps:

00:00:00 Josh & Jessica’s backstory and first encounters with farming

00:07:00 Early challenges raising and butchering chickens

00:13:00 Deciding to leave the Coast Guard and pursue farming

00:19:00 Finding and moving onto their current Virginia farm

00:25:00 Scaling up chickens, pigs, and lamb during COVID

00:33:00 Why their farmers’ market works—and why others fail

00:40:00 Marketing, transparency, and building customer trust

00:48:00 The meaning behind the name “Rehoboth Farm”

00:53:00 Questions consumers should ask at farmers’ markets

01:00:00 Hosting on-farm classes and why visits matter

Website
Instagram
Facebook