Sign in
Arts
Society & Culture
The Local Food Report can be heard every Thursday on WCAI, the local NPR station for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the South Coast. From farmers' markets to backyard gardens, wild forage to home kitchen recipes, the Local Food Report explores the Cape, Islands, and South Coast to find out what's in season and what to do with it.The Local Food Report airs Thursday at 8:35 AM and 5:45 PM and Saturday at 9:35 AM and is made possible by our Local Food Report sponsors.
Total 21 episodes
1
A Falmouth shepherd, his dog, and their sheep
Until the other day, I’d never thought about how an animal’s diet affects the ways farmers control them. When we talk about the differences between farm animals raised on grass versus grain, we usually focus on health. But there’s also a set of relationships that’s lost when these animals follow the sound of grain in a bucket instead of grazing.
05:1821/11/2024
A tiny squash that's packed with flavor
When Brewster farmer Ron Backer first read about honeynut squash, he knew he wanted to grow it.
03:4114/11/2024
Farmers, gardeners, and landscapers on adapting their growing practices and crops as our climate changes
This summer, farmer Dave Dewitt of Truro told me he’s growing something I’ve always thought of as a southern crop — okra.
04:1307/11/2024
Harvesting dinner and jewelry from the sea
Harvesting Dinner—and Jewelry—from the Sea.
04:2024/10/2024
A farm educator in Truro gets kids excited about fruits, veggies and voting
For years now, farmer Stephanie Rein of the non-profit Sustainable Cape in Truro has been teaching kids about growing food. She does this in multiple elementary schools on the Outer Cape, and when she first started, she had the kids make something she called a seed wish list.
04:1617/10/2024
100 years of tree crops in Pennsylvania
A few years ago, a Philadelphia arborist named Max Paschall read an article about a man named John Hershey. Hershey ran a tree nursery and experimental farm in Pennsylvania in the 1930s.
04:5410/10/2024
A fizzy fermented drink made from leftover bread
Helen loved kvass. The flavor, the fizz, everything about this drink made from fermenting stale bread with water and sugar. But when she got home, she forgot about it for almost forty years.
04:2912/09/2024
The underappreciated Cornelian Cherry
I have a friend in Barnstable who’s always telling me about unusual edible plants, particularly perennials. Recently, he told me he’s planting something new called a Cornelian Cherry.
05:0029/08/2024
A fig tree grows in Wellfleet
To plant a fig tree in our climate is an act of faith. Most figs are native to the tropics—and in the heat and sweat of this world they do amazing things. They’ve co-evolved with a wasp that crawls into the fruit and pollinates it from the inside out.
04:0422/08/2024
How abundant shellfish help create healthy waters
As a fisheries and aquaculture specialist at the Barnstable County Cooperative Extension, Abigail Archer spends a lot of time trying to help the public connect the dots between shellfish, nitrogen, and healthy estuaries. This relationship starts when nitrogen travels through freshwater streams and runoff into our marine environment.
05:1015/08/2024
Support plants to help a fruit tree
In 2015, Jess Tsoukalas was living in Wellfleet at a rental property that the tenant before her had planted with an abundance of fruit trees.
04:3808/08/2024
One farmer’s love affair with garlic
Carrie Richter of Peach Tree Circle Farm in Falmouth is a self-proclaimed garlic fanatic."It makes every dish better. There's nothing about garlic that I don't like."
03:4101/08/2024
Bibbs, Bostons, and Caesers: Local farmers talk about growing great lettuce
This time of year at the farmers markets, lettuce is the variety queen. It comes in heads and leaves, reds and greens, crisp hearts and soft butter leaves. Over the past few weeks, I’ve spoken to farmers about growing lettuce, and what varieties they like.
03:5425/07/2024
A common wild berry brings a range of delicious flavors
It’s high season for a common wild berry with a whole lot of names.
03:4018/07/2024
Saltwater fish return to Wellfleet’s Herring River floodplain
I’ve been hearing about the Herring River Restoration Project since I moved to Wellfleet in 2004. Restoring tidal flow to the 1100-acre saltwater estuary, which was diked in 1908, is an effort that’s been decades in the making — and hands-on work finally began in early 2023.
05:0211/07/2024
WIC program is helping more Martha's Vineyard families thanks to grant
Have you ever been in a grocery store and seen items marked “WIC approved”? It stands for “women infants and children.” It’s a federally funded state run supplemental nutrition assistance program.
04:5727/06/2024
Tuning into plant flowers to manage fruit and vegetable productivity
Over the past few years, I’ve started noticing how much I can control certain plants’ productivity by managing their flowers and seeds.
05:1120/06/2024
The magic of weeds
A New Jersey forager visits Falmouth to give a talk on the magic of weeds.
04:3213/06/2024
Exciting new vegetables for your summer garden
It’s that time of year where many of us are getting summer seedlings in the ground. And I don’t know about you, but my excitement is usually bigger than my garden — I can’t fit everything I want to plant.
05:0906/06/2024
Kale Rabe: A local spring delicacy
Most cooks have heard of broccoli rabe. But what about other rabe varieties? This week on The Local Food Report, Elspeth Hay talks with growers at the Orleans Farmers' Market about this spring delicacy from the Brassica family.
04:4023/05/2024
These indoor-outdoor houseplants are edible
This week, the joys of keeping indoor-outdoor food plants.
04:5009/05/2024