Farm-to-Ear Production

cheesemaker, farmer, and TV host Inga Witscher's latest venture is an 'Around the Table' podcast

Rebecca Mennecke

INGA WITSCHER.
CUDDLY CALF. Inga Witscher of PBS Wisconsin's "Around the Farm Table" has a new podcast.

Embrace the seasons and embrace nature. That’s the biggest lesson Inga Witscher – the host of the PBS Wisconsin series Around the Farm Table – has learned as a dairy farmer near Osseo, where she has been making raw milk bandaged cheddar for about 20 years. And it’s a lesson she’s bringing to her new podcast, Around the Farm Table – a companion to her television show.

Witscher co-hosts the podcast with Matt Kendziera, and together they hope to introduce listeners to area farmers and give locals a sense of their passion for growth – literally.

"My greatest passion in life is dairy farming and eating really delicious cheese."
-Inga Witscher, farmer and podcast host

Witscher begins each of her podcasts by reading excerpts from her journal because she wants to convey what dairy farming is really like.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Witscher and her production team had to hit the pause button on their show, so they officially launched their podcast Sept. 9. In the first episode, Witscher chats with farmer Helen Kees of Wheatfield Hill Organic Farm in Durand.

“We can’t have healthy people without healthy food,” Witscher said. “We really get a sense for her absolute passion in growing the most nutrient-dense food possible.”

Witscher will also chat with Tony from Sacred Blossom Herb Farm in Mondovi. “He teaches us the importance of diversity in the fields,” she said. “By growing a vast variety of plants, he is providing habitat and food for … important pollinators.”

Dairy farming is something that Witscher is passionate about, having grown up on a farm and owning her farm for 14 years. “My greatest passion in life is dairy farming and eating really delicious cheese,” she said. “So it was a no-brainer to combine the two on my farm.”

In the past few years, Witscher said Wisconsin has lost more than 800 of its family dairy farms, mostly due to low milk prices. She hopes the new podcast will serve as a reminder that supporting local farmers means supporting our local economy, our downtown, our environment, and our own bodies.

“We should all know the people that grow our food,” she said.


You can find the Around the Farm Table podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever else you listen to your podcasts.