The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

Taking school lunches very seriously.In This Podcast: When you have a passion for food and teaching and helping your community as well as being creative and you find a group that melds all three, then you are going to find great pleasure in sharing about this group. Chef Molly Beverly tells us about Slow Food USA and their concept of changing our mindset about school lunches. We hear about The Ark of Taste, Food Literacy, and the Slow Food Movement. Chef Molly is Prescott, Arizona’s creative food activist and teacher. As Prescott College Food Service Director and Chef for 9 years, she built the food service into a showcase of sustainable, educational, and tasty food.Molly has taught cooking since 1976 to adults and children at Prescott and Yavapai Colleges, most recently Edible and Delicious Science for Kids. She is a regular writer for Edible Phoenix and she operates a small organic farm and catering business. As Chair of Slow Food Prescott, she champions school gardens and sustainable food education.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/03/17/337-molly-beverly/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Bonus Episode 12: Kerry Audisho on the Tour De CoopsA chat about organizing a tour of backyard chicken farms.In This Bonus Podcast: We chat with Kerry Audisho about an upcoming Tour de Coops in Phoenix, and she helps us understand what this event is and why it is something every city should have. She tells us about how she got involved in running the Tour de Coops and how she is ready to help other cities start their own. We also learn about Easter Eggers, the benefits of chickens, a garden program for kids, and getting kids to try Swiss Chard then ask for seconds.  Kerry is a Dr. Sears Certified Health Coach, founder of Your Farm Foods, Friending Farmers, and the non-profit organization Garden Play. She has been a practicing health coach since 2011, and on the health seeking journey for over 15 years.In Garden Play, she and her team establish and maintain gardens in schools, as well as teach students how to garden, about the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, and how to prepare the foods they grow. Garden Play is also the organizer for the Phoenix Tour De Coops taking place on March 25th 2018.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/03/13/bonus12/ for show notes and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Helping the community plant fruit trees successfully.In This Podcast: We catch up with Returning Guest Susan Poizner as she shares more about fruit tree care and the training that she offers through her podcasts as well as the courses at Niagara College.  She helps explain why pruning is important, especially when strong weather conditions come.  She has a lot of great information for anyone who is growing their own fruit trees.Susan is an urban orchardist in Toronto, Canada and the author of the award-winning fruit tree care book “Growing Urban Orchards” as well as the creator of an award-winning, online fruit tree care training course. In her in-person and online workshops, Susan has trained hundreds of students from across North America. Her students include Master Gardeners, arborists, and people who are completely new to gardening and fruit tree care.IF that was not enough, Susan is the host and creator of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast on RealityRadio101.com and an Instructor of Fruit Production Program at Niagara College in Ontario.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/03/10/336-susan-poizner/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Supporting local farmers with supplies and resources.In This Podcast: Having several years of corporate retail in his resume, and working at a books store, Bill Bezuk was intrigued when he noticed an uptick in the interest in books on raising chickens. He took this insight, combined it with his experience, and eventually opened a “boutique urban farming supply store” in Eugene.  Tailoring his store to fit the needs of local urban farmers, he has built up a dedicated customer base who have been coming for years. He tells us his story and includes a little story that Greg calls out as EPIC! Bill opened his store the Eugene Backyard Farmer in April, 2010.  There were already several traditional feed stores, yet he felt they did not understand the unique needs of the urban farmer. With that in mind, Bill created what he calls a “boutique urban farming supply store”, and has seen significant growth since opening.The Eugene Backyard Farmer helps people convert their back yard into a more sustainable and thriving place with supplies for small scale flocks, plus gardening and pollination items as well as chicks, custom feeds, garden plants, soil amendments, and bee hives.  Through his store, Bill shares knowledge and experience, and hopes to continue to be the center of the urban farming community in Eugene.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/03/06/335-bill-bezuk/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Knowing the joy of being a chicken parent.In This Podcast: Technology was the world he was most familiar with, until Kunal Sampat got introduced to the life of raising chickens.  He shares the story of how he started his flock, and how it did not take long for this to become a passion. He also helps break a few myths about backyard chickens. Kunal has regular tours of his farm to help others learn about keeping these flocks, teaches classes online and offers a special to Urban Farm listeners.   After living in urban neighborhoods for his entire life, Kunal wanted to experience a sustainable, rural lifestyle. In 2013, he welcomed a flock of 16 baby chicks at his home in San Jose, California. Since Silicon Valley kids knew a whole lot about technology and very little about raising chickens, he started to offer free farm tours in his backyard.A teacher at heart, Kunal recently launched a comprehensive online video course on raising chickens. He enjoys connecting like-minded people, introducing new ideas, and immersing himself in an environment of continuous learning.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/03/03/334-kunal-sampat/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Helping farmers think INSIDE the box!In This Podcast: Camping with her father in a old VW Van had a much more of an impact on Brandi DeCarli than her father could have realized. Keeping everything you need for your adventure in one van/box is now what she does for new farms. She tells us how Farm From a Box got started as a way to help communities build their own farms with a tailored package of “deliverable infrastructure” in a shipping container. And there is a way that you can be a part of the project right from home.Brandi is the Founding Partner of Farm from a Box, an off-grid farm system that uses modern technology to make farming more efficient, more productive, and more environmentally beneficial, all in one deliverable system. Built from a modified shipping container, it comes equipped with all of the technology needed to start and maintain a two-acre planted farm. It is specifically designed to conserve water, save energy, and help build a healthy soil. Their goal is to revolutionize local food production and enable communities around the world to grow their own nutritious food with clean technology.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/27/333-brandi-decarli/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Caring about local communities and their vegetable gardens.In This Podcast: Looking for a group to join so she could make a difference in her community, Barbara Masoner found a local group that wanted to start a garden project in the state capital.  Readjusting their focus after getting turned down, they got support from the mayor and started a project that is still making a difference more than ten years later. The simple idea now has a team of 400 volunteers all working to help feed food pantries and better their community.Barbara’s background is in environmental studies.  Her first garden was a 4-H project in 5th grade. Thanks to her many gardening mentors, including her great grandfather, she has found gardening rewarding, fun and inspirational.  In 2009 she was one of the founders of Grow Local Colorado (GLC).Since then GLC has grown over 23,000 pounds of fresh produce for dozens of Denver’s communities in need.  Each grow season Barbara oversees some 400 volunteers in ten garden sites, many of those volunteers are young people.  Her goal is to see as many vegetable gardens in Denver as there were Victory Gardens during WWII.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/24/332-barbara-masoner/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Bonus Episode 11: Seed Chat October 2017. A chat with an expert on Seeds, Bill McDorman. In This Bonus Podcast: This is the October 2017 episode with a Seed School Chat Class - continuing the conversation with some motivational quotes, adjusting for new weather norms, coming back from gardening disasters, and so much more.Bill McDorman is Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, Ketchum, Idaho. He got his start in the bio-regional seed movement while in college in 1979 when he helped start Garden City Seeds. In 1984, Bill started Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens, a mail order seed company he ran successfully until it sold in 2013.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/20/bonus-episode-11/ for show notes and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Turning waste into gold with off-the-shelf, readily available items.In This Podcast:Changing lifestyles to be more sustainable was something that Zach Brooks was willing to do with complete commitment, especially when it seemed fairly easy to do. He semi-retired young enough to realize he could make a difference so he bought some property and is creating a sustainability experiment to help others see how they can implement easy changes too. One main ingredient to his project is the worm farm and worm education and he shares key tips on how beneficial they are.  He wears the title of lazy gardener with comfort and wants to teach others how to be more efficient without working so hard at the process.Zach semi-retired from Healthcare Management at age 42 when his consulting company went public. And when his first of three grandchildren were born, he went back to Arizona State University to get a second Masters Degree, in Sustainability.  Frustrated that most causes of climate change were not only fixable – but fixable with “off the shelf” practices and technologies, Zach set out to prove that an off-the-grid lifestyle could be every bit as comfortable as a wasteful lifestyle and have a positive impact on the environment.He wants to show we don’t need some new invention, we just need to use the solar and wind power we have now and nature’s method of organic composting, natural mulching, smart growing, and less silly waste.  On his farm is worm composting is key with the worms turning garbage into fertilizer and serving as food for their chickens.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/17/331-zach-brooks/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Finding efficient processes to help make farming productive.In This Podcast: It takes a dedicated minimalist to try living without adding new items to the property, and Ben Hartman took this simplistic mindset to most areas of his early adult life. Then when he too a look at his 5-acre farm he realized he could do with less unnecessary stuff and he found it improved his productivity. The lessons he learned have helped many others become more efficient and he shares some of them here with us.Ben is the author of The Lean Farm (winner of the prestigious Shingo Award), and The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables, both published in 2017 by our friends at Chelsea Green.  In that same year he was appointed to the 2017 Grist 50, a list of emerging green leaders in the United States.He and his wife Rachel Hershberger own and operate Clay Bottom Farm in Goshen, Indiana, where they make their living on less than one acre by growing and selling specialty produce to restaurants, at a farmers market, and through cooperative CSAs.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/13/330-ben-hartman/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Putting fresh, organic food within reach of the kitchen counter.In This Podcast: When a millennial has too much time on their hands and is not feeling like they are making a difference, AND they happen to be the kind of person who like to design things, what can possibly happen?  We get to hear why Ryan Agrey is a millennial like that, and how he was motivated to take a game-system-designed farm to the next level and create something that could be used by any novice gardener to bring fresh, organic food within easy reach.Ryan is from a small town in Alberta Canada, just north of Washington.  Along with his father Brad and sister Tessa, he spent the last 2 years developing a simple “plug and play” indoor garden that allows anyone to grow food at home regardless of where they live. It requires no previous knowledge of growing food, and can pay for itself in just a few months.During this journey they developed a unique technology for hydroponics which is currently patent pending. With the use of this technology they then created an affordable and simple kit to provide you with everything you need to grow year-round, indoors from the comfort of your home. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/10/329-ryan-agrey/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Helping small farmers build their brands and grow their business.In This Podcast: A relaxing horseback ride with his wife helped motivate businessman Tim Young into the strange new world of farming. He didn't know much about farming, but he knew a lot about marketing so he used that knowledge to help build their farmstead into a successful one with award-winning products. Not content with being the only one to succeed, he has started a project helping other farmers learn the ways to become successful themselves, and shares some of those concepts here.Tim is a corporate executive turned modern homesteader and founded \ Nature’s Harmony Farm in Georgia, produced award-winning farmstead cheese, grassfed beef & lamb, woodlot pork, and pasture raised chicken. This is where he, his wife Liz and their young daughter, milk their own cow, produced all the cheese, soap, medicine, meat and vegetables - They truly enjoy a simple life.Tim’s also the founder of the Small Farm Nation Academy, an online resource devoted to helping family farmers learn skills to build their farm brands, attract more customers, and grow profitable farm businesses.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/06/328-tim-young/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

The September 2017 Q&A session with two experts on Gardening and Fruit TreesJake Mace the Vegan Athlete and Greg Peterson of The Urban Farm are both gardening educators offering classes, podcasts, and videos on a large variety of gardening topics. Every month they get together for a monthly gardening chat to discuss what is going on in their gardens and answer your questions. To dive in, get more information, and send us your questions visit AskJakeandGreg.com - so let's get on with the show... This is the September 2017 Q&A episode with a variety of questions addressed from prepping for fruit trees, raised garden bed soil layers, and much more.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/03/bonus-episode-10/ for show notes and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Paying attention to the pests and diseases that affect crops.In This Podcast: Science and the study of the biology of plants is a true calling for Robert Reeder, as he has been part of different projects at CABI for several decades; and his focus on the Plantwise Programme is something that is making a difference. He shares with us how the Programme is helping farmers in developing countries diagnose and tackle different crop issues, as well as their work to help counter the spread of soil born diseases that are affecting banana crops around the world.Robert is a plant pathologist working with the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI), based in the United Kingdom. His areas of interests are in international development and the management of pests and diseases of tropical crops. Having worked for CABI for nearly 25 years, he’s gained extensive experience in diagnosing pests and diseases of a diverse range of tropical crops. As part of his work he has traveled to many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.His current focus in the Plantwise Programme which aims to help farmers lose less of what they grow to plant-health problems. Plantwise operates in 34 countries and works closely with national agricultural advisory services to establish and support a sustainable network of plant clinics.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/01/30/327-robert-reeder/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Adding some sweet and spice to life through delicious fruit jams.In This Podcast:A simple request to help fill a charity basket for cancer patients has turned into a small food-craft business for Jan McCarthy. Acting on the request of her son to help out a charity event, Jan made a few jars of jam.  Little did she realize how popular they would become, especially once she put her own special twist of adding hot peppers to some of her recipes. She tells about some of the steps she needed to go through to make her business legit, as well as some tips to making good jams.Jan worked in her parents’ bakery from age 12 until she was 32 when she went back to school to be a para legal which she has done for 30 years. Ready to put some of the high stress of the legal world behind her, she was willing to try something new so as a favor to her son she started making jams for community projects of the Joy Bus Diner. Now her specialty is making hot spicy jams.  Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/01/27/326-jan-mccarthy/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Operating a small-scale diversified farm.In This Podcast:Growing up in an urban community in Chicago would not normally lead a person to choose a farming lifestyle, but during her college years several things led her to the agriculture career she has now. Liz Whitehurst tells us about the nudges that pushed her this direction as well as the amazing opportunity that came her way at the right time.  She also shares some useful tips that can help any new farmer who is working their own CSA program. We also hear about a heartwarming story of her five-year old customer who missed his peashoots!Liz is the owner/operator of Owl’s Nest Farm, small-scale diversified vegetable farm 15 miles outside Washington, DC.  Before starting her farm, she worked on a wide variety of farms and gardens as a grower and educator, including the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Angelic Organics Learning Center.Owl’s Nest Farm grows unique, delicious, nutritious, diverse vegetables, herbs, flowers and fruit on four acres. Liz was recently featured in a Washington Post article about how young farmers are changing the food system.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/01/23/325-liz-whitehurst/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Bonus Episode 9: Seed Chat, September 2017A chat with an expert on Seeds, Bill McDormanIn This Bonus Podcast: There is always a bounty of information available in conversations with Bill McDorman. This is the September 2017 episode with a Seed School Chat Class continuing the conversation on Seed Saving Principles, Intellectual Property rights, Seed Saving policy history, and so much more.Bill McDorman is Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, Ketchum, Idaho. He got his start in the bio-regional seed movement while in college in 1979 when he helped start Garden City Seeds. In 1984, Bill started Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens, a mail order seed company he ran successfully until it sold in 2013.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/01/20/bonus-episode-9/ for more show notes and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Making the most of small spaces for gardens.In This Podcast: Returning guest Jessica Walliser opens our eyes and minds to working in small spaces with container gardens.  She worked hard to make a comprehensive book with important steps and key details for those who wish to make a container work for growing their vegetables, fruits and flowers too. And we get a few ideas for containers too.Our Returning guest Horticulturist Jessica co-hosts The Organic Gardeners, an award-winning program on KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of The American Horticultural Society.In addition. she is also the author of several gardening books including the Amazon best-seller Good Bug, Bad Bug: Who’s Who, What They Do, and How to Manage Them Organically, and her fourth book, Attracting Beneficial Bugs to the Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control, which was awarded the American Horticultural Society's 2014 Book Award.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/01/16/324-jessica-walliser/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Growing crops and raising livestock in urban spaces.In This Podcast: Returning guest Kari Spencer talks about her first book City Farming, and shares about some of the key aspects of farming in a city space.  She visited several farms to research other perspectives and methods and gathered all the data into this book. She also tells about how it is so jam packed with information that part of the book had to go digital.  There are several great ideas to help urban farmers gain confidence and overcome some challenges.Kari is a popular local gardening & homesteading speaker. As a Master Gardener and a Master Farmer, she enjoys sharing her passion for growing and raising food with others. In addition to teaching classes all over the city of Phoenix, she is the creator of Urban Farm U’s Growing Food the Basics & Backyard Livestock courses.She and her family operate The Micro Farm Project, a small farm in North Phoenix, where gardens and livestock animals provide her family with fun and food. Her new book City Farming: How-To Guide to Growing Crops & Raising Livestock in Urban Spaces, by 5MPublishing has just been released.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/01/13/323-kari-spencer/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Checking for the presence of pesticide in our food.In This Podcast:A youth spent on an organic sheep farm, and early adulthood spent traveling as a journalist led Henry Rowlands to the development of Sustainable Pulse – a news source dedicated to informing on sustainable agriculture. He now leads up the Detox Project which helps increase awareness of pesticide exposure in our foods and our bodies, and is spreading the word about a testing process that can determine pesticide levels in foods or bodies.  This is information that can be used to help determine the toxicity of chemicals in use today.Henry was raised on a family-run, organic sheep farm in Wales.  This led to his deep interest in issues related to sustainable agriculture, and he worked for a time as a news agency journalist in many countries across Europe.  He eventually moved on to set up Sustainable Pulse, a global news source focusing on sustainable agriculture and food, with a readership of over 500,000 people per month from over 125 countries.  He is also an adviser on sustainable agriculture to several governments in the European Union.Beyond their news platform, Sustainable Pulse is involved in several reference projects, all of which have the aim of educating the public on the problems surrounding the overuse of pesticides.  Henry is the Project Director for their program called The Detox Project, which has set up a unique pesticide testing platform for food and our bodies across America.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/01/09/322-henry-rowlands/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Attuning our minds to social permaculture solutions.In This Podcast:When given the opportunity to make an abandon greenhouse become useful Adam Brock and a few friends created the GrowHaus.  He has traveled many places focusing on the invisible structures of permaculture design and has crafted a course that teaches how to see the needs and make a difference in your community. He tells us how this came about and why he was encouraged to write a book on a topic that is not well known. Adam helps explain many permaculture concepts that are important but often left undeveloped when discussing the stages of design.    Adam is a facilitator, author, and designer working at the intersection of urban agriculture, sustainable business, and social change. As co-founder of The GrowHaus, Adam helped transform an abandoned half-acre greenhouse in Colorado's most polluted zip code into an award-winning hub for urban agriculture. The GrowHaus engages thousands of low-income residents per year, grows 1500 heads of lettuce per week, and has a million-dollar annual budget.A certified permaculture designer since 2008, Adam is active in the local and national permaculture communities. In May 2017, Adam released his first book, Change Here Now: Permaculture Strategies for Personal and Community Transformation (North Atlantic Books). It is a “recipe book” of solutions for social change grounded in ecological principles.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/01/06/321-adam-brock/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Documenting the histories of seeds in Baker Creek Catalogs.In This Podcast: Traveling the world to get the unique seeds and document their stories – a dream job for a writer and gardener like Shannon McCabe.  She tells us a little more about how she got started working for Baker Creek Seeds and some of the perks of working for a visionary like Jere Gettle. She also shares about the upcoming Seed Expo in California in the Fall and the donation program for non-profits and school programs.Shannon is a writer who found her passion melded beautifully with farming and growing heirloom vegetables when she landed the perfect job as the farm manager and catalog writer at Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.  She has traveled the world as a seed explorer for Baker Creek, from cycling the tulip fields in Netherlands in search of rare bulbs, to the remote jungle markets of the Peruvian Amazon in search of rare fruit.Shannon co-writes the award winning Whole Seed Catalog, and dreamt up the Baker Creek children’s gardening book. She has enjoyed bringing the arcane heirloom vegetables of our past back to the foreground of the gardening discussion.Shannon strives to make growing heirloom varieties approachable to every gardener, from the children who read her kids books, to the large scale organic farmer reading her variety descriptions in the catalog.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/01/02/320-shannon-mccabe/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Translating fowl language for urban farmers.In This Podcast:After moving all the way across the country, Melissa Caughey shares why she added chickens to her family.  She tells about how, with her science and teaching background, she eventually started teaching people about chickens. Always learning, she discovered there is a fowl language that could be understood and started teaching others how to Speak Chicken. She coaches Greg through a few key calls that, once translated, will be obvious to anyone who keeps chickens.Melissa is the author of How to Speak Chicken and A Kid’s Guide to Keeping Chickens published by our friends at Storey Publishing. She is a backyard chicken keeper, beekeeper, and gardener who writes the award-winning blog Tilly’s Nest. She writes for HGTV, DIY Network, and the magazines Grit, Chickens, Community Chickens, and Country Living. She also gives presentations on chicken keeping at events across the country. She lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/12/30/319-melissa-caughey/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Recognizing the connections between insects and plant life.In This Podcast:Several years into running a landscaping company, a few key employees opened Jessica Walliser's eyes to the importance of avoiding pesticides. Taking the time to educate herself, she converted to a whole new mindset and is now an avid teacher about natural pest control. She tells us about the predator-prey cycle and why we need to stay out of the process as much as possible, and shares a few tips on how to help the population of beneficial bugs grow in your space. We hear descriptions of several types of insects and bugs that are part of healthy ecosystems in gardens and farms.Jessica earned her degree in Horticulturist from Penn State University and co-hosts “The Organic Gardeners”, an award-winning program on KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of The American Horticultural Society. She is a regular contributor to Fine Gardening, Urban Farm, and Hobby Farms magazines, and her two weekly gardening columns for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review have been enjoyed by readers for over ten years. Jessica also blogs weekly for both SavvyGardening.com and HobbyFarms.com.She is also the author of several gardening books including the Amazon best-seller Good Bug, Bad Bug: Who’s Who, What They Do, and How to Manage Them Organically (St Lins Press), and Attracting Beneficial Bugs to the Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control (Timber Press), which was awarded the American Horticultural Society's 2014 Book Award.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/12/26/318-jessica-walliser/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Breaking down some factors in the science of studying soil.In This Podcast: It was not her first thought when she went college, but after an inspiring study abroad trip, Mary found her passion in the science of studying soil. She tells us how this life path change occurred, and how she not only found a topic she could literally dig into, but also a society that she would enjoy and now represents through her blog articles.  She also tells us more about the factors involved in the formation of soil and how to keep it healthy in our raised bed gardens.Mary is a soil scientist and Agro-ecology PhD student at Florida International University in Miami. Originally from Iowa, she received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Environmental Science and Agronomy at Iowa State University. Her master’s research was on ants and the ways they influence prairie soil formation.Her passion for soils has taken her across the globe, from the Alaskan to, tropical rainforests –and many places in between - all in hopes to better understand soil functioning in different ecosystems. When not chipping away at her dissertation, Mary is a volunteer blogger for Soils Matter, a blog run by the Soil Science Society of America which is working to share soils information with broad audiences.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/12/23/317-mary-tiedeman/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Stacking beekeeping businesses with alternative energy for everyone's benefit.In This Podcast: Chiara and Travis Bolton are not just any regular beekeepers, they are also changemakers in that they have devised an innovative way to help several aspects of their local community in environmentally friendly and the area of sustainable energy.  They realized they could stack the functions of beekeeping with the land intensive areas of solar panels for mutual benefit and provide a product that was healthy, local, and in demand.  Then they decided to expand this concept to help others do the same thing and have set up a business just to help in this process.Chiara and Travis are beekeepers in Minnesota.  In their business, Bolton Bees they sell Minnesota-Hardy bees adapted to survive Minnesota's harsh northern climate and distinct location specific honey.They have been featured in National Geographic, Martha Stewart, Smithsonian Magazine, and Modern Farmer for their innovative partnerships with solar developers.  They formed a public benefit corporation called “The Solar Honey Company” and have trademarked the term. They are a mission-based company promoting the stacking of multiple benefits to farmland including clean solar energy, pollinator-friendly habitat, and local beekeeping. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/12/19/316-chiara-and-travis-bolton/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Embracing simplicity and starting a new life.In This Podcast: After spending some time completing an earthen building project and maintaining two mortgages and many of the standard life trappings, Leanne Phillips realized this was not the lifestyle she was looking for and decided to simplify.  She moved to a remote property off a 10-mile dirt road and started over without the infrastructure many people take for granted.  She tells how she got solar power set up, established a new well, and even planted 100 new fruit trees before those were done.  Her experiences are fortifying her classes that she teaches and her story telling helps to make it all really interesting!Leanne, creator of Wisdom ooh Zivaat, is an organic lifestyle and holistic health Educator, and an inspired advocate for creating clean, deeply nourishing foods.  She extends this into a full organic lifestyle and teaches classes in Living foods, Gardening, Essential oils and more. Wisdom ooh Zivaat is an off grid 34-acre Food forest/Full spectrum natural living demonstration that was born in January of 2017. Leanne feels that humanity is in an unnecessary place of stress and decay and that we are being called to embrace that aspect of ourselves that is simplicity and wisdom.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/12/16/315-leanne-phillips/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Finding amazing seeds and becoming a seed storyteller.In This Podcast: Her young life was spent on a small island near a 300-year-old farm, with a family that loved to share history through storytelling.  Then Shannon McCabe got a chance to work for Baker Creek Seeds and now she documents the stories of seeds from around the world. She explains just what an heirloom seed is, and why they are special. She also shares a couple seed stories, including one for garden berries in Peru, and another about an ancient, crooknecked watermelon from a cave in Arizona.  We cannot spoil this, you must listen for yourself!Shannon is a writer, seed explorer and horticulturist for Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. After earning a degree in Environmental Horticulture from the University of Rhode Island, she worked on mixed-vegetable farms and a fruit orchard before starting her own small-scale farm on historic farmland.She combined her life-long love of writing with her passion for farming when she began working as the farm manager and catalog writer for Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  Through co-writing the award winning Whole Seed Catalog, hosting instructional videos and dreaming up the Baker Creek children’s gardening book, she has enjoyed bringing the arcane heirloom vegetables of our past back to the foreground of the gardening discussion.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/12/12/314-shannon-mccabe/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Seeking natural solutions for food waste recycling.In This Podcast: It was his grandmother’s principles about not wasting food or resources in rural Georgia that influenced Dr. Jeff Tomberlin’s philosophies on his life. He found his calling in college and has dedicated much of his energies to teaching others about nature’s extremely effective recycling tool – the Black Soldier Fly. Growing and harvesting this insect is actually quite easy once you know the steps, and he wants everyone to do it at home. He tells why this insect could prove to be a solution to not just dealing with food waste, but providing a source of food for both chickens and fish, closing a loop in the food-waste cycle.Dr. Tomberlin has been working with the black soldier flies for almost 20 years. His PhD research with Dr. Craig Sheppard resulted in methods for mass-producing the black soldier fly for use in recycling food or animal waste and the subsequent use of the larvae as feed for livestock, poultry, aquaculture, and reptiles. Companies around the world use these methods to protect the environment, create jobs, and increase protein availability.Dr. Tomberlin is currently the Director of EVO Conversion Systems, which has a primary mission of building food and waste management facilities that utilize the black soldier fly.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/12/09/313-jeff-tomberlin/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Getting to know more about the popular culinary fungi.In This Podcast: His space was limited and he wanted to start a small food growing business, then Kevin Fitzgerald found his perfect match in growing mushrooms and selling them at the farmers market.  He talks with us today about the mycelium that is a favorite of many foodies, and has such potential to nourish while also helping the environment. He has even started selling mushroom kits that can help the home grower start off on their own mushroom adventure.After spending years in communications contracting and feeling unfulfilled Kevin decided to start farming and settled on mushrooms as something that fit his interests and could be profitable on small scale. Starting on a hobby scale he has grown from mini green house and small humidifier to full size room fully climate controlled. He grows mushrooms for both culinary and medicinal uses.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/12/05/312-kevin-fitzgerald/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Bringing exotic flavor to local food systems.In This Podcast: Starting off at age 18, Joshua Burman Thayer was headed in the direction of working with plants and nature. He took his time before getting his permaculture certificate, but he packed a lot of learning and hands-on experience in during that period. Now, he is sharing that training, knowledge, and passion as he builds food forests, educates his clients, and writing articles about permaculture and food forest design.  Joshua has a degree in Community Engineering from Humboldt State University. He proudly admits he has always had his hands in the Earth, especially through his extensive travels throughout the Americas working with communities around plants and food.  He worked as a WWOOF volunteer on organic farms throughout Latin America, and as a laborer on organic CSA farms in California. He gained even more experience while apprenticing and working in ecological landscape design, as well as doing native plant field research with renowned mentors.Joshua has become a lead designer and advocate for uniting ecology with aesthetic, creating beautiful, productive, natural systems that work with nature to foster bounty.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/12/02/311-joshua-burmanthayer/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Chatting with a Sustainable Farming giant.In This Podcast: Having three generations of regenerative and sustainable farmers to learn from, Joel Salatin was very immersed in the philosophies of farming that rejected the use of chemicals.  Their efforts over the years on the virtually barren land his father purchased in the early 60’s has resulted in a vibrant, and productive farm that Joel now runs. He shares several key lessons he learned about farming and soil generation, and throws out some gems worth quoting!Joel and his family own Polyface Farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Featured in the iconic foodie book Omnivore's Dilemma and award-winning film FOOD INC., the farm's moniker is "healing the land one bite at a time." A prolific author (12 books to date) and speaker, he promotes local food systems, freedom of food choice, and farming systems that build the commons.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/11/28/310-joel-salatin/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Getting ready to raise chickens from eggs with your kids.In This Podcast:Raising chickens for eggs has been a joy of Fresh Eggs Daily author Lisa Steele’s for quite some time, so it was natural for her to write a book about raising chickens from eggs too.  She tells us how she decided to write a book for kids and why it is so special.  She also shares some tips and techniques for making the transition to raising the chicks from eggs and how to introduce new chicks to your flock.Lisa is a 5th-generation chicken keeper, top-selling author and the creative mind behind the Better Homes & Gardens award-winning blog Fresh Eggs Daily® (www.fresheggsdaily.com). Lisa inspires both the newcomer as well as the seasoned chicken keeper and engages fans worldwide on her Facebook page of the same name with her easy, fun and accessible approach to raising backyard flocks naturally. She is the author of several books and has a new one for kids coming out 1st Quarter 2018 called Let’s Hatch Chicks by Voyager Press.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/11/25/309-lisa-steele/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Recognizing the seasonal commonalities in different areas.In This Podcast: It was the timing of it all that needed to be addressed, so author and farmer Ann Larkin Hansen realized she needed to write a book about how to recognize the right time to do things on the farm no matter where you lived. She took the time to identify the seasons in ways that would make sense in every area because it compiled the common factors that affected when to plant which type of crops. Her interest in writing and farming also helped with a few other books that she wrote and she shares a few more useful tips. Go to urbanfarm.org/annlarkinhansenAnn is a homesteader and small-scale organic farmer, as well as a farm journalist specializing in sustainable farming and forestry. After she retired from farm reporting, she authored a number of books. Her latest book The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner – what to do and when to do it by Storey Press is in bookstores now.  She lives with her family on a farm in northern Wisconsin.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/11/21/308-ann-larkin-hansen/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Tackling local food waste and hunger through team effort.In This Podcast: Retirement does not mean you no longer contribute to your community, in fact retired teacher Steve Knight has taken advantage of his free time to do the make a huge difference for local food charities, and create a new club in his area. When he realized local farms had leftover produce after the harvest, he organized volunteers to go through the fields and orchards to gather the remnants for local food pantries. His volunteers are truly making a difference on two fronts! Steve taught high school science for 40 years and then retired. He spent the past few summers teaching chemistry for Upward Bound at the University of Maine at Farmington.  But what he is excited about is after he retired, he started a volunteer organization called Central Maine Gleaners Group. In the first 3 years, Steve and 15 volunteers have gleaned over 21,000 pounds of food from 7 local farms and back yards and he then gives this food to various food pantries in his area. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/11/18/307-steve-knight/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Harvesting sustainable and nourishing foods found growing in the wild.In This Podcast: Taking the skills handed down for generations, Mark Lewis is very comfortable eating foods he finds in the wild. He teaches about these foods and their history to the next generation as well as to the people he meets while working at local farmers markets.  He is also starting a private farm hoping to save and expand on some of the wild plants that were once a primary source of food for local cultures.Mark is a Wildcrafter extraordinaire. Wildcraft harvesting provides ¾ of his family’s food supply on a daily basis, additionally Mark demonstrates sustainable foraging of 200 indigenous plants and 50 mushrooms at Phoenix area farmers markets, universities, schools, and regional conferences.Mark is now embarking on a new endeavor The Farm – growing 100 of the plants that he wildcrafts, introducing them and their culinary potential to area chefs, and sharing them and a library of First Nations’ language ethnobotanical materials with the native American Communities.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/11/14/306-mark-lewis/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Finding healing in gardening and peace in helping others grow healthy foods.In This Podcast: Uprooted as a very young child with her widowed mother from a familiar routine to a chaotic new and foreign world across an ocean, Lee Stewart eventually found healing and health through her gardening hobbies.  It made sense that she eventually focused on a career of health and wellness, and it was even more natural for her to find ways to help others start gardening at home so they can find the same healing she did.Lee, the owner of Veg Up Get Dirty was only 4 years old when she made the 2-year journey from Vietnam to the United States. She has been gardening since she came to the US, and believes in the health benefits that come from clean eating.She is a certified personal trainer, corporate wellness coach, and has over 15 years’ experience in nutrition and the health and wellness fields. She knows the importance of gardening, clean eating, and is passionate about educating others about the many health benefits of gardening. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/11/11/305-lee-stewart/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Recognizing the feminine nature within all and how this benefits farming.In This Podcast: Seeking out the things that felt the most important and right to her sent Karen Lanier on a journey through several states and quite a few learning adventures. Earning a degree in Environmental Documentation kept her circling around natural surroundings and she found herself with the opportunity to interview women farmers about their experiences and insights. Her reflections and awareness that are worthwhile to any farmer regardless of gender is shared in her new book The Woman Hobby Farmer.Karen is a naturalist, documentarian, teacher, artist, and gardener who explores the interconnections of nature and culture. She holds degrees in photography, foreign language, conservation studies, and documentary studies as well as a professional environmental educator certificate. She worked as a seasonal park ranger in state and national parks across the US before settling in Kentucky and her Americore volunteer experience with Seedleaf, a community gardening nonprofit. This experience helped her shift her migratory perspective on life toward putting down roots.Karen writes a regular column for Hobby Farms online magazine. She edited and co-authored the book, Wildlife in Your Garden (Lumina, 2016), and authored the book, The Woman Hobby Farmer (Fox Chapel, 2017).Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/11/07/304-karen-lanier/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Learning about how food gets to our tables and where it comes from.In This Podcast:Serendipity was in play when Greg waived a stranger to his table during a conference and met another farming related podcaster named Rodger Wasson.  Rodger has spent the last several decades gaining experience and contacts in a variety of farming areas, from the fields to the markets, the advertising offices to policy making ones, and many versions of radio and television as well.  The theme in his life appears to be him making a difference in this community of growing food.Rodger is a graduate of Illinois State University and a food and agriculture veteran. He comes from a family with five generations of American farming in their blood. And although he was the first to leave their Central Illinois grain and livestock farm, he’s continually works for and with farmers though-out America and around the world. He has managed State, National and International Councils and Boards for agricultural industries covering over a dozen commodities.Rodger is presently building a consulting firm Idea Farming Inc., and his ‘Farm to Table Talk’ podcasts have been created for anyone interested in their individual journey within the food movement, the modern food system, and the stories behind our every bite.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/11/04/303-rodger-wasson/ for show notes and links.

Tailoring a green build project to address food insecurity, nutrition, and other community needs.In This Podcast: Diana Cuy-Castellanos and Stephen Mackell share the story of Lincoln Hill Garden, a 5-acre community green space that was built on the site of a demolished public school. This property is serving the community with gardens, an urban farm, and a natural playground.  They share the background of how three organizations came together and listened to the community to build a project to fit the community as well as provide much needed assistance with healthy local produce.Diana holds a Ph.D in nutrition and food systems and is a registered dietitian teaching courses in community nutrition and food justice at the University of Dayton. Her research interests include community-based participatory research, food insecurity and food environments.Stephen started volunteering for Mission of Mary Cooperative as an undergraduate at the University of Dayton and joined the staff full-time as the production and operations manager after completing his bachelor's degree in economics and philosophy. He is also the founder of Compost Dayton, a company working to expand food scrap composting efforts by city of Dayton residents.Together they have been working on Lincoln Hill Garden, a sustainable, multipurpose urban agriculture and community green space within Dayton’s Twin Towers Neighborhood. This five-acre site, located among the residents it will serve, is being transformed with educational and recreational elements that increase neighborhood access to fresh, healthy foods and offers open green space for community gatherings and nature play.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/10/31/302-lincoln-hill-garden/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

A chat with a farmer about her transition from the city girl. In This Bonus Podcast: Returning guest Scottie Jones is back to talk about her new book and making a transition back to the simple life.  She shares a bit about how the inspiration came to write the story of this adventure to start farming.  She also tells why she opened her farm up to vacationers looking for a taste of the country life, and how that has helped her farm.  And, we get an excerpt reading from her new book!Scottie lived in Arizona for a while where she worked at Arizona State University for over a decade.  Then she and her husband gave up the busy urban life by moving to Oregon, starting Leaping Lamb Farm and becoming sheep farmers. She loved this lifestyle very much and has opened her home to visiting families through her other passion of Farm Stays.  This journey and the transition to a farming lifestyle became the basis for her new book Country Grit, A Farmoir of Finding Purpose and Love through Skyhorse Publishing. It describes their first years on the farm: the mistakes, the drama, the community, and what it’s like to adopt the farming lifestyle if that’s not where you’re from.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/10/24/bonus-8/ for more show notes and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Digging into the invisible structure behind The Urban Farm.In This Podcast:  Running any successful business or project requires some good help behind the scenes.  This is true for The Urban Farm as well, and Janis Norton is one of the people who help Greg Peterson manage his dreams to change the local food system, create 10,000 seed banks in the local area, plant 100,000 fruit trees, and empower others to grow their own food.  She shares about the surprise of finding her place in this non-stem field, the rewarding role of helping her community build its resilience, and opens up about some challenges of starting her own urban farm.Janis earned her degree in Sustainability from Arizona State University. Her previous experience in working classrooms, running youth programs, and Boy Scout Council Training and Camp leadership were all community and education focused.  However, she did not realize how much she could do with the local food system until her Sustainable Food and Farms class. A class she took as a lark, since she had no interest in growing food. Soon after that class she became motivated to learn all she could about gardening and urban farming while using her organization and project management skills to help facilitate a couple of the Urban Farm’s larger events.From that point on, she has been an active part of the Urban Farm core team as the Program Manager as well as the Podcast Producer.  She is bringing her enthusiasm and cheerful attitude to her projects at the Farm especially the Urban Farm Nursery’s Fruit Tree Program and the Urban Farm Podcast, as well as partner projects like the Great American Seed-Up and the Permaculture Design Course in Phoenix.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/10/21/300-janis-norton/for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Identifying the nutrients that your body needs.In This Podcast: A pre-med organic chemistry class showed Joy Stephenson-Laws that she was not on the right path. She did not waste that pre-med education as she now fights for patients’ rights as a health care attorney. She also tells us why she started the non-profit health information company Proactive Health Labs to help people understand what is happening in their bodies with their nutrition.  An often-overlooked aspect of nutrition is the minerals in the foods and she explains why this is an important part of getting and staying healthy.In both her personal and professional life, Joy is dedicated to enhancing consumer health and positively impacting the health care industry in the United States.  She is the founding and managing partner of Stephenson, Acquisto & Colman, the health care industry’s premier litigation law firm.  She is also the founder of Proactive Health Labs (www.phlabs.org), a national non-profit health information company that provides education and tools needed to achieve optimal health. Joy just published her first book Minerals - The Forgotten Nutrient: Your Secret Weapon for Getting and Staying Healthy.  Her passion for motivating people to proactively protect their health comes from her personal experience of losing loved ones, colleagues and friends to diseases which, had they been diagnosed early enough and treated more effectively, could either have been controlled or cured. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/10/17/299-joy-stephenson-laws/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great

Keeping backyard chickens healthy through simple steps.In This Podcast: Sometimes helping a neighbor out can truly change your life in ways you never expected. Kathy Shea-Mormino changed her path from attorney to now running a successful business sharing advice through her Facebook page and blog about raising chickens. She says keeping backyard chickens should not be over-complicated and shares her simple steps to keeping the hens happy and healthy.Known as The Chicken Chick, Kathy brings an informative style and fresh perspective on raising backyard chickens to millions of fans around the world. An attorney by profession, Kathy is the founder and one-woman creative force behind her wildly popular and award-winning Facebook page and blog, The-Chicken-Chick.com.Her practical approach and sense of humor allows her to connect, educate and share an appreciation for keeping chickens as family pets as well as for their eggs. With a following of over 700,000 Facebook fans, she has become the person folks interested in keeping chickens, go to for information, advice and fun!  She is also the author of the bestselling book The Chicken Chicks Guide to Backyard Chickens, Simple steps for healthy Happy Hens by Voyager Press.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/10/14/298-kathy-shea-mormino/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Enriching the community, becoming the next generation of hope.In This Podcast: We meet the well-spoken farm manager Casey Holland who explains why she cares so much about her community and providing healthy food to her customers.  She also introduces us to the National Young Farmers Coalition and tells us what they have been doing in her area.  She has gained a lot of wisdom in a short amount of time as a farmer, and her vision and drive gives us a lot of hope for the future.Casey is a native New Mexican and young farmer committed to affecting positive social change around small-scale sustainable agriculture in the Rio Grande Valley. She graduated in 2012 from the University of New Mexico with dual degrees in Psychology / Peace Studies, and Sociology. As a requirement for her minor she did an internship with the SouthWest Organizing Project's: Project Feed the Hood. There, she found her calling when she realized the importance of the way in which our food is produced in addressing many of the issues we face locally, nationally, and globally.In 2015, she started organizing with the local chapter of the National Young Farmers Coalition, which provided her numerous opportunities to speak with government officials and learn about policies that impact her community. Since then she strives to make access to nutritious, enriching food more affordable for underprivileged families and helping her community reconnect to its agricultural roots & culture.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/10/10/297-casey-holland/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Growing quality grapes and wines in the Grand Canyon State.In This Podcast: At a point in their lives where they were ready for something new, Peggy Fiandaca and her husband decided to take their interest in wines to the next level.  They decided to become vintners to make high quality wine and got serious about it.  Now they have a 40 acres winery and a wine tasting gallery.  She explains some of the wine growing history for the state and even some of the processes that vintners use to make wines. Like everything they do, they do it with style!After a slight detour through urban planning, Peggy found her true calling in growing and producing wines.  With her Italian family heritage and a grandfather that produced alcohols during prohibition, this path was in her ‘vines’ so-to-speak.She and her husband Curt Dunham own a vineyard in south eastern Arizona and the LDV Wine Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Here she enjoys watching someone taste wine and identify the flavor characteristics for the first time, or examine a vine closely with a new appreciation for its role in producing that wine.  Peggy has served two terms as the President of the Arizona Wine Growers Association, which represents wineries and vineyards statewide, and she cares deeply about all the vineyards in the state.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/10/07/296-peggy-fianadaca/ for show notes and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Bringing healthy food and education to urban tables through community engagement.In This Podcast: Creating a successful community health hub is no small feat, and Emily Mickley-Doyle has been part of doing just that in her part of New Orleans using an empty grocery store building, a desire to teach others how to grow food, and some fabulous ideas. The space now has several programs including a community garden, a teaching kitchen for doctors, a farmers market, and programs for the community youth to learn gardening and cooking skills. SPROUT NOLA is amazing, inspiring, and basically EPIC!Emily earned her degree in Sociology from Loyola University New Orleans in 2008. In 2011, she cofounded SPROUT NOLA, an urban farming organization that spreads the love of growing fresh, healthy food through community engagement and outreach, partnerships with local food vendors and food justice organizations, hands-on training programs, and advocacy. SPROUT NOLA grows market gardens throughout New Orleans, publicly advocates for sustainable agriculture, and coordinates the ReFresh Community Farm and market, a teaching garden that is located at the ReFresh Project. The garden offers educational resources to community members about home gardening and facilitates an on-site community garden where neighbors can grow and harvest food for themselves.  Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/10/03/295-emily-mickley-doyle/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Running a machinery-free farm with nature inspired principles and techniques.In This Podcast: As one of two new millennial farmers, Lyndsay Jacobs and her business partner Lauren are working their farm using their own labor rather than rely on technology. With the exception of removing some sod in the early days, they are growing and harvesting the crops on their small farm without the use of any typical industrial machines.  As they bring their vegetables to market they know they are doing the right thing by all the positive feedback they are getting from their customers!Lyndsay is a graduate of the Zenger Farm Internship Program where she learned how to address food justice issues, develop efficiency and endurance in farming methods, and best chicken husbandry practices. She earned her degree in Graphic Design & Interior Architecture from James Madison University and is using that on marketing, branding, craftsmen experience, and design expertise for farm infrastructure. She received her Permaculture Design Certificate in Portland.Lindsay and her business partner Lauren (who was our guest on episode 293) run Sprout and Blossom Farm in Vancouver, WA combining their social and environmental justice passions, with permaculture and sustainability inspired practices for animal, plant, and human systems on the farm.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/09/30/294-lyndsay-jacobs/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Starting a successful herb and vegetable farm business with a friend.In This Podcast: A taste of permaculture and agriculture in college was enough to help Lauren Krug go across the continent and try WWOOFing. That experience and some Americorp work gave her the connections to find an amazing new friend and like-minded future farming partner. So, when the opportunity happened to start a farm business on some property owned by a supportive couple, the two friends jumped. Now she and Lyndsay run an herb and vegetable farm and are making a difference in their community.Lauren earned her degree in Community Entrepreneurship from the University of Vermont. Shortly after graduation, she headed west to work on a small veggie farm. After two seasons on this farm, Lauren joined the team at the Clark County Food Bank where she served as their Americorps VISTA Local Produce Coordinator. There, she coordinated the Farming & Gleaning program delivering fresh, locally-grown produce to those in need.Lauren and her business partner Lindsay (who will be our guest on episode 294) run Sprout and Blossom Farm in Vancouver, WA combining their social and environmental justice passions, with permaculture and sustainability inspired practices for animal, plant, and human systems on the farm.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/09/28/293-lauren-krug/ for show notes and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Appreciating the relationship between plant roots and the life in the soil.In This Podcast: We meet Jake Mowrer and understand what brought him to his studies on soil and the relationships between crop roots and the complex community of life in the world beneath us.  This often-invisible world is so essential to the foods that we eat, and the interaction between the subterranean portion of crops and the microbial lifeforms there are easily overlooked. We learn more about what is happening between these elements and why this is crucial to our semi-finite resource of soil.   Jake was raised on a farm in north Georgia where his family produced broiler chickens and beef cattle.  Growing up, the work was often hard, but the food was always good.  Life on the farm is a good way to gain an appreciation for the connectivity of food production in our daily lives. Jake now works with farmers in Texas as a Texas A&M faculty member in the Soil and Crop Science Department, and as an Extension Specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension to communicate the importance of managing soil as a natural resource. His research has become focused on the way that crop roots behave in their soil environment to better understand the best practices for keeping soils continuously functional & productive, both for people and the ecosystems we inhabit.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/09/26/292-jake-mowrer/ for show notes and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.