Episode 50: Pantaleon Florez returns to talk about the Farm2School program, seed breeding, the "death of farming" and more!

Hobby Farms Presents: Growing Good

In our 50th episode of Hobby Farms Presents, Maseualkualli Farms' Pantaleon Florez pays the podcast another visit to update listeners on what he's been up to since episode 16. Listen as the Lawrence, Kansas, farmer and food-systems thinker shares changes to the priorities he's working toward and much more.

Listen in as Panta discusses the important work he's doing with the local Farm2School and Work-based Learning programs as an experiential learning specialist with Lawrence County Schools. In addition to bringing locally grown food into school cafeterias, the Farm2School program seeks to make garden education systemic within the education system and already has 22 school gardens up and going in the Kansas county.

Hear what Panta means when he talks about "the death of the farm" (spoiler alert: He's not quitting farming) and how traditional beliefs led him to pivot his approach to agriculture. And as a new father, Panta talks about how the arrival of a child into his busy life prompted him to move toward a seed breeding program and other initiatives.

Panta shares his struggles with permanency, experience with no-till techniques, his favorite fruits to grow and much more.

• Maseualkualli Farms website
• Maseualkualli Farms Instagram
• Lawrence USD497 Farm 2 School Program