What Did the Tastiest Pork Have for Dinner?

On Martha’s Vineyard, farmer Jo Douglas is quietly building one of the most creative small-scale food systems in the country.

Her farm, Fork to Pork, begins with a problem that defines the modern food system: nearly 40 percent of food produced is never eaten. Instead of letting that food become waste (and greenhouse gas emissions), Jo collects hundreds of gallons of surplus ingredients each day from restaurants, bakeries, hospitals, and dining halls across the island. Those scraps become feed for her pigs.

The result is a remarkable loop.

Restaurants help feed the animals. The animals grow on real food instead of commodity grain. And the pork returns to those same kitchens, where chefs cook it nose-to-tail.

But Jo’s work does not stop with pigs.

Through a second operation she calls Leaf to Beef, Jo raises cattle across a patchwork of leased pastureland on the island. Using rotational grazing, she moves her herd through multiple properties, turning underused grasslands into productive ecosystems while producing high-quality grass-fed beef for local customers.

In a place where farmland is scarce and land prices can reach millions of dollars, Jo has built a working farm by stitching together parcels of land, community relationships, and creative thinking.

In this episode, Dana speaks with Jo about:

Why pigs may be one of the most effective recyclers in the food systemHow restaurants became daily partners in feeding her animalsWhat makes scrap-fed pork taste differentThe logistics of farming on an island without a slaughterhouseHow rotational grazing supports both cattle health and pasture recoveryAnd what it takes to build a viable farm when you don’t own the land you farm

The conversation reveals something powerful about agriculture today: some of the most innovative models are not coming from large institutions, but from farmers willing to connect pieces of the system that can work well together.

In Jo’s case, that means turning leftovers into pork, a patchwork quilt of pasture into beef, and a small island into a living example of circular agriculture.

Find Jo and her pigs and cows here: https://www.forktopork.com

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