Episode 10: Talking Hyper-local Food, Regenerative Organics, and Farm-to-Crag with Professional Climber Kate Rutherford

Photo by Emily Murphy

It was an inspiring afternoon talking hyper-local food, regenerative organics, and Farm-to-Crag with professional climber, Kate Rutherford.

Talking Food, Growing, and Regenerative Organics in Kate’s Garden

Here’s a look behind the scenes with professional climber, Kate Rutherford. We get the inside scoop on her genesis as a climber and how (and why) she helped co-found Farm-to-Crag.

Farm-to-Crag is an organization dedicated to bringing the hyper-local, organic food movement to climbers around the world. In addition, Kate has also helped bring the first farmer’s market to the Yosemite Valley!

Listen in as we share the merits of regenerative organic agriculture in Kate’s garden before preparing a “garden medley” tacos straight from – you guessed it! – the garden.

Kate’s Story

Listening to Kate tell her story, it makes perfect sense that her many travels and experiences climbing has brought her full circle back to one of the most earthly endeavors — food and growing.

It’s interesting too how life unfolds for each of us. Kate has crafted a unique path for herself, traveling the world, and living a life of adventure. What we hear is that her love of climbing and strength of character is tempered by her generous heart and deep love of nature.

Regenerative Growing = Healthy Food = Healthy You = Healthy Planet

Soil is where it all begins. When we take care to foster soil health utilizing regenerative organic principles we — amazingly — foster health above ground too. And in the process, we support the natural rhythms of the carbon cycle which helps move carbon from the atmosphere back into the ground — truly a win on so many levels and Kate explains how it works during the course of our conversation.

What’s really cool is the principles of regenerative organic agriculture can be scaled for use in our home gardens and cityscapes.

Garden-to-Table

Like in the Season 1 episodes of the Grow What You Love podcast, Kate and I make time to do some garden-to-table cooking. We make one of my favorites, tacos with veggies and herbs from her garden (plus a few ingredients I brought with me from my garden). It’s a wonderful window into the life of a dear and inspired person, incredible athlete, and Patagonia ambassador.

Learn more about Kate and her jewelry here.

Learn more about Farm-to-Crag here.

And find Kate on Instagram here (so many incredible photos!).

Other podcast episodes you might enjoy:

Lilly Padilla, Chinese Nutritional Therapist & Cook

A Visit to the Home and Studio of William Ryan Fritch

Part 2 of My Visit with William Ryan Fritch