Tilling Tales: Stories From the Kate Farm

Where did the word "mulch" come from? Your host Thomas Golladay knows--and is excited to share this wisdom with you! In this episode of Tilling Tales, Thomas takes a much-ignored yet much-needed component of organic farming--mulch--and breaks it down, discussing its etymology, its history, its ingredients, and even (fleetingly) its taste. Thomas also tells a story of spreading some mulch at the Kate Farm towards the end of a stressful spring semester, only to find that mulching not only helped to prepare the plots for planting, but it also helped Thomas to feel less stressed. Your host then explains what Attentional Restoration Theory is, and how you might incorporate its benefits into your own life--especially if you're feeling uptight and might want to try spreading a little mulch out at the Kate Farm.

The essence of nightshade, a teaspoon of lavender buds, one tablespoon of dried cosmos leaves, a sprig of rosemary, and a sprinkling of soil. These are the ingredients for a protection spell, and they are also all foodstuffs that are grown at the Kate Farm. Rachel Cardwell, your host for this episode of Tilling Tales, wants you to remember that every aspect of food production—from planting and raising food to harvesting, preparing, and cooking it—has a magical quality, saturated with millennia of history and folklore. Through a series of interconnected stories taken from Rachel’s own memories out at the Kate Farm, she weaves together her own magic spell, one that brings together a farm-sourced jar of tomato sauce, a bouquet of purple and yellow flowers, a collaboratively created mandala, a sprig of rosemary, and a bit of dirt. With these simple ingredients, Rachel spins her spell of words, reminding all of us of the power of everyday magic.

With this episode of Tilling Tales, your host Mason Lipczenko--a long-time barista at the Daily Grind (a beloved coffee shop at St. Mary's)--tells a story of the Kate Farm Stand. This Stand is now part of the Daily Grind, and it's where many college students buy eggs, vegetables, and fruits produced by the Farm alongside other locally made foods. For many members of the St. Mary's community, the Stand is where they learn about and get interested in the Kate Farm: a dynamic that Mason has witnessed many times. In addition to detailing the mouthwatering foods that this repurposed library cart offers up each season, Mason also provides the ins and outs of how the Stand operates, making the invisible labor of running a farm stand visible. Yet Mason's stories of the Stand don't just come from his own observations; he also infuses his podcast with the voices of Professor Barry Muchnick, Chair of Environmental Studies and a chief steward of the Farm, as well as former Kate Farm Club member Lily Riesett, and also former Sustainability Fellow Sarah Grzyb--all of whom were instrumental in launching the Stand and helping it to flourish.

In this episode of Tilling Tales, your host Holli Kobialka spotlights one of the Kate Farm's community partners: Farming 4 Hunger, founded by Bernie Fowler. Farming 4 Hunger is a non-profit organization in Southern Maryland that addresses food insecurity by growing and distributing local produce and partnering with other farms, including the Kate Farm. In her interview with Bernie, Holli learns about a particular partnership called 2nd Chances that's run through Farming 4 Hunger, where formerly incarcerated individuals gain hands-on work experience at local farms. Participants in 2nd Chances have planted and harvested food out at the Kate Farm alongside St. Mary's students and faculty. In addition to talking with Bernie, Holli also gets to hear from Bernie's dear friend Rico--a former inmate--about how 2nd Chances builds lasting relationships. Holli's conversation with Bernie and Rico is inspiring, highlighting the friendships that can grow alongside tomatoes, lettuce, blueberries, and herbs at the Kate Farm.

While the Kate Farm is a place for growing produce and raising chickens, as your hosts Ingrid Boshoff and Erin Rhodes explain in this episode of Tilling Tales, it's also a community space for people to gather. The Farm hosts a film series as well as regular pizza nights, and it has been the site of creative readings, music performances, and various workshops. In the spring of 2025, artistic expression met eco-activism out at the Farm when a group of students from Professor Parisa Rinaldi's "Affective Ecologies" class collaborated with a Theater professor, Diego Villada, as well as the Paperhand Puppet Project to write, design, and perform "Making the Invisible Visible" with giant handmade puppets. The aim of this performance was to leverage the arts to initiate a climate dialogue about the St. Mary's River and its environs. Ingrid explains what it was like to help design the enormous River Deity puppet, while Erin connects this performance to the power of eco-artivism across the globe: an artistic practice that shifts awareness of environmental issues into action. And prepare to be amazed when Ingrid and Erin tell you what the giant puppets were made from!

Did you know each month has its own birth flower? Or that the Victorians used flower arrangements as a kind of language to convey messages to their dinner guests? Or that there are many kinds of flowers that you can eat? Learn all about flowers in this episode of Tilling Tales hosted by both Dakota Mazuzan-Blackwell and Emily Feldman. Specifically, you'll hear about the varieties of flowers that are grown out at the Kate Farm and how certain flowers encourage pollinators to buzz their way through the fields. You'll also learn about some of the ways flowers have been incorporated into desserts and drinks--which might inspire your own dinner parties--and also get to play a fun flower game with your hosts.

Casper Kinzie--your host for this episode of Tilling Tales--is intrigued by the idea of "waking up," whether that's a human body waking up with the sun or the Earth itself waking up from winter dormancy into spring vibrancy. In addition to reflecting on ancient festivals that celebrate the arrival of spring (such as Holi, Easter, and Passover), Casper details spring celebrations that happen out at the Kate Farm, from working the land to plant spring and summer crops to hosting pizza nights that showcase ingredients made with the Farm's produce. Though Casper is no fan of the bugs that arrive each spring, he is an enthusiast of the beautiful plants and flowers that arrive in April as students return to the Kate Farm to help grow good things.

Have you ever wondered about the differences between annual and perennial plants--or why someone might choose to plant one or the other...or both? Your host Caden Connolly has thoughts on these questions, which he shares with you in this episode of Tilling Tales. A biology student himself, Caden offers both personal and scientific insights on the pleasures and frustrations of growing certain annuals, such as tomatoes and sunflowers, as well as certain perennials, such as blueberries--which are all grown and harvested at the Kate Farm. And yet, since Caden is also poet as well, he suggests a rather perfect metaphor between these foods and the workings of the Kate Farm itself, particularly how the perennial needs of the Farm are met each year with an annual "crop" of St. Mary's students.

Calling all birders! In this episode of Tilling Tales, your host Brynn Desmond tells stories of the Kate Farm’s feathered friends. Brynn starts by explaining the workings of what’s affectionately called the “Chicken-verse” out at the Farm, including a Chicken Bus, a Chicken Schooner, and not one but two Chicken Tractors that all support the Farm’s egg production and the raising of broiler hens. Then Brynn turns to conservation biologists to explain how the rise of industrial agriculture in the U.S. has resulted in a decline in certain bird species before showing how the Kate Farm does the opposite. How? By providing a diversity of vegetables, fruits, and flowers, the Farm allows native bird species such as meadowlarks, tufted titmouses, Eastern bluebirds, and house finches to flourish. So get out your binoculars and “flock” to the Farm!

This episode of Tilling Tales is all about why people may choose to volunteer their time rather than get paid for it, as your host Bryce Carlin did out at the Kate Farm. Bryce muses about why many of us may say we want to do good in the world and yet don't volunteer--which, Bryce argues, is because we feel as though we don't have the time. Yet when Bryce herself made the time to dig in the dirt, she came to understand the benefits of volunteering beyond helping to grow good food. As it turns out, volunteering can be good for our health! And yet it's also good for forging ties with other people and building a strong community, which is precisely why the Kate Farm thrives.

A former intern at the Kate Farm, Charley Flowers has stories to tell about the chickens they fed and the eggs they collected--and in this episode of Tilling Tales, they do just that. In particular, Charley explains why they struggle to interact with nonhuman animals such as chickens, given their dissociative identity disorder or DID. In addition to describing their less-than-easy relationship with the Kate Farm’s chickens, Charley also reveals moments of grace, when they are soothed by watching them, as well as moments of laughter, particularly when a certain hen caught Charley by surprise.

In this episode of Tilling Tales, your host Athena Wheatley provides a history of the Kate Farm, including how this vibrant farm got started back in 2010 when a former English and Environmental Studies professor, Dr. Kate Chandler, collaborated with students to create a campus community garden. Athena then reaches back even further to the Indigenous people who first tilled this land before providing a rich history of the many other farmers who have planted and harvested food on the same site as the Kate Farm, including current students, faculty, and community members.

What do food justice and disability justice have in common? In this episode of Tilling Tales, your host Arin Wilson explores parallels between these two movements, connecting this backstory to how the Kate Farm is a site that supports both by providing sustainably grown food to a rural population and by offering a space for people to find their own comfort level to participate in the Farm’s activities. As a multiply disabled person themself, Arin weaves in stories of their own experiences out at the Farm to demonstrate their wish that accommodations be built around allowing disabled folk to act independently, according to their individual needs.

Lavender: you've probably seen it sold in stores as a fragrance in perfumes, soaps, or lotions. But have you ever thought about lavender as food? In this episode of Tilling Tales, your host Annika Kumwembe discusses the many ways that lavender, grown at the Kate Farm, may be incorporated into different kinds of foods, from pound cakes and custards to lemonade and chicken. Annika also touches on lavender's medicinal properties and provides advice for how to grow your own lavender.