Growing Beyond Organic: Exploring Biodynamic Farming with Rosalie Truong of Grand Army Farm

In this episode, our guest is Rosalie Truong, Chief Farmer and Owner of Grand Army Farm in Labadie, MO. Rosalie was raised in Vietnam and France, and came to the U.S. for medical school, to complete her MD and Ph.D. degrees at Washington University. Her farming career started with Angora rabbits, which was soon followed by acquiring her current animal roster of 500 chickens (20 different breeds), 200 ducks, 60 geese, 50 goats, quail, rabbits, farm cats, and a dog on 90 total acres.

You’ll hear about Rosalie’s relationship with food and preparation that began with her family in Vietnam, which progressed to providing unprocessed food such as eggs, rabbit meat, quail, duck, goose, and chicken to local farmers' markets and restaurants in Missouri. Rosalie is also the artist behind all the dyed socks, gloves, and silk scarves created from the angora wool fibers she gets from her rabbits and goats.

Most people only see the beautifully packaged, final food products at farmer’s markets and specialty grocery stores, but the Tangled Taproot podcast will showcase unique stories from small-scale midwestern farmers, entrepreneurs, and other thought leaders in regenerative agriculture. Guests will share their successes, challenges, and future goals for their own companies and for the sustainable farming industry. The podcast is brought to you by St. Louis-based sustainable food startup Mylk and Hummus, and hosted by M & H Founder John Cowan, Kitchen Manager and Recipe Developer Christin Jameson, and Jackson.

Founded in 2020 by John Cowan, Mylk and Hummus makes on-the-go, chickpea-based snacks that focus on flavorful hummus varieties and ready-to-drink plant-based lattes. Mylk and Hummus products nourish the physical and mental endurance needs of today while considering environmental goals for the future. At Mylk and Hummus, plant-based food is made with ingredients proudly sourced through sustainable and regenerative agriculture where farming principles and practices enrich soils, restore watersheds, and lead to healthy ecosystems. The company operates on these principles to significantly reduce our carbon footprint and contribute to the reversal of global trends in climate instability, habitat loss, and the vitality of the natural world.

Discussion Points:

Rosalie’s background - from Vietnam to a U.S. physician and animal lover
Angora (goat, rabbit) textile fiber was her first focus, and rabbit meat was the natural progression
Rosalie’s family and cooking history in her early life in Vietnam
The move to France and love of their cooking and baking methods and traditions
Combining nutrition with her medical training, it’s lifestyle not a diet
Rosalie’s medical schooling included only two hours of classes on ‘nutrition’
The next step on the farm - from rabbit meat to chicken eggs
The weight system for eggs, and how to prevent losses from avian flu
Monitoring work hours to calculate profitability
Covid was a boon to the small farming business
Farm labor, young people, and a less stressful chicken butchering process
The big farm animals - geese, ducks, chickens, 50 goats, rabbits, quail
Rotating in new animals to maintain a consistent supply of meat and eggs
The sensory experience and the enjoyment of food
Cooking, recipes, pressure cookers and instant pots
Growing great garlic with rabbit manure, currently at 300 lbs produced
Finding labor for farm work is always challenging
Inflation, the price of eggs, and a special goose named Tonga
Muscovy ducks, increasing duck egg production and eliminating quail in the future
What is biodynamic farming?