DonnaLonna Kitchen Show

DonnaLonna Kitchen Show

Chef Donna Prizgintas and farmer, artist Lonna Nachtigal explore their rural Midwestern food community with lively discussion and good humor. On the DonnaLonna Kitchen show, their long-running and award-winning radio production turned podcast, the ladies talk about food, farming, recipes, and also offer listeners their advice and opinions. Local and nationally known guests join Donna and Lonna around the kitchen table to discuss how farmers grow our food, what is nourishing and healthy, and what tastes good in which season. Chef Donna and Farmer Lonna are here to encourage simple home cooking. read less

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Welcome to the DonnaLonna Kitchen Show. New Episodes Every Thursday

Welcome to the DonnaLonna Kitchen Show. New Episodes Every Thursday

Chef Donna Prizgintas and farmer, artist Lonna Nachtigal explore their rural Midwestern food community with lively discussion and good humor. On the DonnaLonna Kitchen show, their long-running and award-winning radio production turned podcast, the ladies talk about food, farming, recipes, and also offer listeners their advice and opinions. Local and nationally known guests join Donna and Lonna around the kitchen table to discuss how farmers grow our food, what is nourishing and healthy, and what tastes good in which season. Chef Donna and Farmer Lonna are here to encourage simple home cooking. This podcast is produced in partnership with Practical Farmers of Iowa. Practical Farmers of Iowa equips farmers to build resilient farms and communities. Check them out at practicalfarmers.org

Episodes

108: Drinks, Carrots, Recipes and Elderberries

108: Drinks, Carrots, Recipes and Elderberries

Hydrate! Donna talks about herbal drinks, watermelon, infusions, syrups, and mocktails. Lonna talks about carrot cake and the history of the carrot and the color orange. And we consider the elderberry.

107: Iowa's Water Quality and Quantity

107: Iowa's Water Quality and Quantity

Who is taking care of our water? Carolyn Raffensperger joins us to talk about the quality, quantity, and the speed with which water moves through our state. Nitrate levels are at an all time high in our rivers. Agriculture and industry are putting extreme demands on our water resources. Is anyone keeping track of the common good?

106: Chickens with Cynthia McClure

106: Chickens with Cynthia McClure

We take a light hearted look at backyard poultry with Cynthia McClure. Cynthia reports on her visit to the first ever Murray McMurray Chicken Festival, held in Webster City, Iowa. We talk about chickens, ducks, guinea hens and eggs. Cynthia shares her recipe for salt-preserved egg yolks.

105: Blueberries with Kim Anderson

105: Blueberries with Kim Anderson

Kim Anderson has a way with blueberries. We talk about growing, managing and marketing at the organic, U-pick - Blueberry Bottom Farm in Brighton, Iowa. Kim talks about the challenges of local wildlife, her enthusiastic customers and the growing demand for her berries. We also talk about recipes and her PFI field day in July.

103: Healthy Iowa Food Systems with Kamyar Enshayan

103: Healthy Iowa Food Systems with Kamyar Enshayan

Knowing what to eat is a tricky business. How do we learn to eat healthy food? Donna and Lonna are joined by Kamyar Enshayan, Director of the Center for Energy & Environmental Education at University of Northern Iowa. We explore the latest cancer study data for Iowa. We discuss Ultra Processed Food and health consequences of being able to access good food. Kamyar talks about the positive development of Iowa Food Systems and local action like the Garden in Every Lot project in Waterloo.

102: Recipe Review, Banjos, Kismet Recipe Book, Garden, Lime Pie, Wild Greens

102: Recipe Review, Banjos, Kismet Recipe Book, Garden, Lime Pie, Wild Greens

A review of a Rhubarb Upsidedown Cake recipe, thoughts on banjos, groundhogs, gardens and Lime Pie. Donna reviews Kismet, a new recipe book... and we explore edible wild spring greens.

101: Fire in the Kitchen, a History with Nick Land

101: Fire in the Kitchen, a History with Nick Land

How did humans figure out how to cook with fire? We talk to historian and grass fed meat marketer, Nick Land about the evolution of cooking, human development, the open hearth, the invention of matches, Henry Ford and charcoal briquets. And Nick talks about grilling techniques for grass fed meat.

100: Garlic, Garage Sales, Good Brownies

100: Garlic, Garage Sales, Good Brownies

A celebration of summer: garlic and other good things from the allium family, some thoughts on garage sales, and a good brownie recipe. Donna also reviews a cookbook for kids.

099: Reliable Street, Growing a Community

099: Reliable Street, Growing a Community

Donna and Lonna talk to Willa Colville and Maegan Bird about the Reliable Street Farmers Market in Ames, Iowa. Reliable Street is the site of many exciting community building activities: Lockwood coffee shop, a community garden, a thrift store, a community refrigerator, green space and playground. The new Farmers Market will host vendors and a free meal once a month during the summer. And Donna and Lonna talk about edible flowers.

098: No Mow May, Basil, Mint, Mushrooms, Nettle Soup

098: No Mow May, Basil, Mint, Mushrooms, Nettle Soup

We talk about spring lawn care, basil, and mint. Donna gives us the history of switchel. Lonna talks about harvesting and drying golden oyster mushrooms and we explore nettle soup recipes from Alan Bergo's book Flora.

097: Out in the Field with PFI 2024

097: Out in the Field with PFI 2024

We start the show with Lonna's review of food and festivities at the 33rd Annual Central Iowa Scottish Spring Ball: kilts, tartans, haggis and Scotch Eggs. Jacqueline Venner Senske joins Donna and Lonna to talk about Practical Farmers of Iowa and horticultural highlights of the upcoming Field Day season.

096: GMO Update, Rhubarb Time

096: GMO Update, Rhubarb Time

Lonna talks about her visit to the Ames Repair Cafe and Ames Seed Library. Donna gives us an update on GMO corn, our health, the farm economy and our trade relationship with Mexico. We celebrate rhubarb season with growing and harvesting tips, and recipes: rhubarb orange jam, custard pie, rhubarb beet soup, chutney, syrups, and shrubs. We end with a poem to honor workers that built cathedrals with a thought for International Workers Day.

095: Consolidation, Monopolies, Big Money in our Food System

095: Consolidation, Monopolies, Big Money in our Food System

The cost of producing our food affects all of us. Farmers are at the front line of price increases as big corporations take over the production of agricultural inputs. Donna and Lonna report on a Federal Trade Commission Listening Session event held in Nevada, Iowa where FTC chair, Lina Khan heard concerns from midwest farmers about the take over of the Iowa Fertilizer Co. by Koch Industries. The Iowa Fertilizer Co. received $545 million in local, state and federal tax dollars to provide more competition. Now that competitive element is threatened. We also review a book and hear a lecture by Austin Frerick, author of "Barons: Money, Power and Corruption of the American Food Industry". Frerick provides an eye-opening history of big money and big corporations that shape our food system.

094: Wild Green Things, Brown Bread

094: Wild Green Things, Brown Bread

Celebrating foraging and the first green things of spring: Donna and Lonna talk about motherwort, bluebells, nettles, ground ivy, linden flowers, the alder tree and dandelions. Lonna bakes some yeast brown bread from the classic cookbook by Darian Allen. We learn about how to make comfrey tea plant fertilizer. Donna talks about ramps and ramp farming and we go out with a poem about our human microbiome.

092: Spring Recipes, Gingerbread, Garden, Water News

092: Spring Recipes, Gingerbread, Garden, Water News

Falling down a rabbit hole, a salute to snakes, Donna talks about eggs, Lonna talks about gingerbread, we talk about the fish kill on the Nishnabotna River in Iowa. Lonna shares some spring suggestions for the garden and a reads a poem by Mary Oliver about a bear waking up after a long winter.

091: Workers that feed us - why we need immigrants

091: Workers that feed us - why we need immigrants

Dr. Jan Flora joins us at the DonnaLonna Kitchen table to talk about immigrant workers. Dr. Flora is professor emeritus at Iowa State University in the College of Agriculture. His recent opinion piece is entitled "Immigrants Serve the Common Good, Including in Iowa: Those are the Facts". We also talk about planting onions.

090: Iowa Eats Food & Drink Festival

090: Iowa Eats Food & Drink Festival

DonnaLonna Kitchen talks to Cara Miller and Jay Goodvin from the Silos and Smokestacks organization about the upcoming Iowa Eats Food and Drink Festival. This is the second year for the event. It will be held April 6, 2024 in Waterloo. Cara Miller talks about vendors, cooking demonstrations, and a pork cook-off. Jay Goodvin shares reviews of Iowa food favorites. Donna closes out the show with some words of wisdom on cabbage.

089: Community service and good food at Mustard Seed Farm

089: Community service and good food at Mustard Seed Farm

Good things have been happening at Mustard Seed Farm since it began in 2008. We talk with Alice McGary and Ami Adams about the MSF's commitment to community service, educational outreach and the growing of good food. Mustard Seed Farm provides food for a local medical clinic, Food at First and Romero House, in Ames. They thrive with support from volunteer workers and staff. Alice and Ami invite listeners to get involved with MSF events such as the annual "FunRaiser", a Seed Library, a "Swap-aloooza" celebration at Iowa State University and also many classes and work-share opportunities on the farm.

088: Donna's Food and Farm Report From New Zealand

088: Donna's Food and Farm Report From New Zealand

Donna returns from a month in New Zealand with her report on food and farming. Sometimes it's nice to see how things are going in other places besides Iowa. Lonna welcomes Donna back into the studio and hears about New Zealand's dairy and beef production, water quality, the price of groceries, rich farmers, raw milk, a visit to a cider maker and a visit to a chocolate factory.

087: Talking about the elephant with Ruth McCabe

087: Talking about the elephant with Ruth McCabe

Conservation is often the "elephant in the room" that doesn't get talked about very much. Conservation agronomist Ruth McCabe shares her insights about the state of agriculture around the globe. Ruth studied farming systems in Australia, Canada, the Chesapeake Bay, Brazil and other locations as part of an international Nuffield Scholarship. She works with Heartland Cooperative in Iowa. Contrasting her observations about farmers' needs for short-term gains vs. long- term conservation efforts makes a lively and informative discussion.