The County Edit Podcast

Put the Doula on the Registry, Not Another Onesie

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 04:00:00 GMT

It's National Midwifery Week (October 4 to 10), and we're marking it with a midwife. Haley Keely, a midwife from Boise, Idaho, found The Field School of Hvar on Instagram, decided it was too good to be true, picked the website apart for weeks, and brought her two little ones to the island anyway. (We mispronounce Hvar again. She lets it slide, like every other guest.)

First she tells us what the school's 2pm to 9pm day did to her family: no alarm clock, dinner ready before pick-up, and a four-year-old who asks every morning when she can go back. Then we turn to her work. At sixteen she volunteered on a labor and delivery ward and walked away certain that hospital care was not what she wanted to give women. Today she is in a group practice near Boise, about sixty percent birth center births and forty percent home births.

We get into what midwifery actually offers: unhurried appointments, informed consent and unbiased information, what a home or birth center birth costs next to a hospital bill, what a doula adds (and why one belongs on the baby registry ahead of another onesie), and why a birth plan built for only one kind of birth can fall apart. Her advice for anyone curious: book a free consultation, be honest about your risk level, clear the perfect parents out of your social feeds, and use the new national midwife directory at narm.org.

Happy National Midwifery Week to Haley and to every midwife listening.

FOLLOW HALEY

Treasure Valley Midwives, Boise, Idaho: @treasurevalleymidwives

Haley: @haleyhasitall

Find a midwife near you: narm.org

THE FIELD SCHOOL OF HVAR

fieldschoolhvar.org | @fieldschoolhvar

LISTEN AND FOLLOW THE COUNTY EDIT

Website: thecountyedit.com

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Email: podcast@thecountyedit.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A House Remodel or a Year Around the World? The Family Who Chose World Schooling

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

You know those families that close-up shop and take off to travel the world with their kids? Well they do exist and we found them. This week we sit down with Alex and Jelena, parents who were about to remodel their house and decided to spend the money on something else: a full year of world schooling with their two kids. We caught up with them two weeks into their stay at The Field School of Hvar, the island we have now mispronounced in every episode (and still nobody corrects us).

They tell us how Instagram's algorithm led them to the program, why the Adriatic feels close to home for a family with Serbian roots, and what "parent camp" looks like: a tour of the stone village of Humac, a hike to a cave some say belonged to the Cyclops, and a long peka dinner where strangers turned into friends.

We also get into how they are pulling off a year abroad: years of planning and saving, renting out the house, bringing two very different kids on board, and a family drawing night that put Japan on the itinerary. Their rule is slow travel, choosing small towns like Jelsa over Europe's greatest hits. They close with the independence they have watched their kids gain in just two weeks, from braver jumps off the pier to leading their parents through town, plus one very serious question about wine-country karaoke.

THE FIELD SCHOOL OF HVAR

fieldschoolhvar.org | @fieldschoolhvar

LISTEN AND FOLLOW THE COUNTY EDIT

Website: thecountyedit.com

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id6802501231

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/05BncYZ2STjx0WTDY5FbzN

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e78e3cfd-7428-45f2-82e7-4b79c323ec95/the-county-edit-podcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCountyEditPodcast

Instagram and TikTok: @thecountyedit

Email: podcast@thecountyedit.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the Dolomites to a Croatian Island: The Excursion Guide Who Never Hands Kids the Answer

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This week we sit down with Artemisia Buonerba, the excursion guide at The Field School of Hvar. She grew up in the Dolomites and was volunteering with migrants and teenagers in Greece when a friend sent her the Field School listing. There were no places left — then Carolyn texted her, and by the end of the call she had one.

Artemisia plans outdoor adventures for kids aged 3 to 12. They sail to Zečevo, identify eight plants to brew a pretend healing potion, and vote on which beach to go to. She tells us why she never hands a child the answer and walks them through the problem instead, compares memorising for exams in Italy with case-based learning in Germany, and describes the hesitant little girl who was diving into everything by week two.

We also talk about Svuotatasche — "empty pockets" — the all-arts magazine she founded to give young and first-time artists a kind place to publish. We close with her favourite spots in Jelsa, and why she thinks community is what makes the school work.

FOLLOW ARTEMISIA

Instagram: @in.arte_goodgrass_

Svuotatasche magazine: @svuotatasche_rivista

THE FIELD SCHOOL OF HVAR

fieldschoolhvar.org | @fieldschoolhvar

LISTEN AND FOLLOW THE COUNTY EDIT

Website: thecountyedit.com

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id6802501231

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/05BncYZ2STjx0WTDY5FbzN

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/e78e3cfd-7428-45f2-82e7-4b79c323ec95/the-county-edit-podcast

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheCountyEditPodcast

Instagram and TikTok: @thecountyedit

Email: podcast@thecountyedit.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Warm Demander Teaches by the Sea

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 04:00:00 GMT

Jordan Reese McClain calls herself a warm demander — an educator who leads with love, celebrates every win out loud, and then holds children to a higher standard because she knows they can meet it. In this episode, Annette and Yvonne sit down with the teacher their sons could not stop talking about, on a Croatian island where the school day happens on a beach.

Jordan traces the road that brought her there: a communications degree at USC, a first job in fast fashion that went against everything she believed in, a season of waitressing, and one afternoon with a neighbor’s three young children that changed the plan entirely. She talks about what learning looks like without a worksheet in sight, why every trip down to the sea starts with the kids writing their own safety rules, and how eleven- and twelve-year-olds leave two weeks of camp convinced their actions matter.

If you have ever wondered whether outdoor education can be rigorous, start here.

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From DuPont Circle to a Croatian Olive Grove: Building the World's Coolest Family Summer

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 14:56:30 GMT

Our premiere guest traded a DC zip code for a Croatian olive grove — and built a school out of it. Host Annette Schmitz, co-founder of The County Edit, sits down with former DMVer Carolyn Zelikow, founder of The Field School of Hvar, a nature-based, project-driven family slow-travel program on a small Croatian island. Carolyn — who spent years in Charlottesville and DC's DuPont Circle before an unexpected move to Croatia — shares how a walk through olive groves with her toddler became a full-blown school built on stewardship, enlightenment, and dignity. They talk eventful first summers, building trust with families, why the parent experience matters as much as the kids', and how word of mouth (and zero marketing budget) built a waitlist. If you're dreaming up next summer already, start here.

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