Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson Todd Ulizio – Farming, Attention, and a Life Well Rooted
Todd Ulizio is the co-owner of Two Bear Farm, an organic vegetable farm in Whitefish, Montana, that's quietly become a cornerstone of the Flathead Valley's local food community. Alongside his wife Rebecca, Todd has spent nearly two decades growing food, building soil, and figuring out how to make a small, values-driven farm work in a world that doesn't always make it easy.
Todd's path to farming was anything but direct. He grew up in Connecticut and followed a traditional educational and career path, eventually becoming an accountant at a prestigious Big 6 Firm. Experiencing success but not fulfillment, he walked away from the business world to study wildlife biology and worked on projects ranging from brown bears in Alaska to wolverines in Montana. Over time, he began to see a common thread: most of the problems facing wildlife are really problems about how humans use land—and food, he realized, is where people interact with land every single day.
In this conversation, Todd and I talk about that winding path—from accounting to wildlife biology to farming—and what it's taught him about work, burnout, stewardship, and attention. We get into the realities of small-scale farming, the pressures of building a business with your spouse, the health wake-up call that forced him to rethink everything, and the quieter, more grounded philosophy that now shapes his life and work. This is a thoughtful, honest conversation about choosing a meaningful path, learning to let go of what you can't control, and finding a way to stay rooted in a rapidly changing world. Enjoy!
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- Two Bear Farm
- The Farmers' Stand
- Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/todd-ulizio
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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:
Mountain & Prairie is listener-supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Nature Conservancy, North Bridger Bison, and the Old Salt Co-op for their generous sponsorship.
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TOPICS DISCUSSED:
- 0:00 - Exciting updates
- 2:33 - Intro
- 4:14 - Patreon + Sponsors + Old Salt
- 7:24 – Where Todd grew up
- 11:38 – Todd as a kid
- 13:07 – Off to college
- 17:34 – Ditching accounting
- 21:57 – How change felt
- 24:18 – Post University of Montana to Alaska
- 27:49 – Alaska takeaways
- 31:36 – Choosing farming
- 37:05 – What helped Todd make an impact
- 40:08 – A relationship forged in fire
- 43:32 – Doubts in the moment?
- 47:39 – Food system frustrations and burnout
- 52:43 – How to lighten up
- 1:01:07 – Dexter cows
- 1:02:34 – Always going and stillness
- 1:09:02 – The farm
- 1:14:56 – What's next
- 1:18:06 – Wrapping up
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