The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

179: Penn Parmenter on Passive Solar Greenhouses.Designing greenhouses using the natural laws of nature as allies and resources.Since 1992 Penn and her husband Cord have been growing food just above the 8,000 feet level in the Wet Mountains of South Central Colorado. With many years of research and development, they founded Smart Greenhouses LLC and Miss Penn’s Mountain Seeds in 2013,Together they build smart greenhouses all over the Rocky Mountain West at even the highest elevations. Their greenhouses are 100% sustainable as they heat, cool and ventilate themselves without the use of fossil fuel. Penn and Cord are also co-instructors at the Denver Botanic Gardens teaching a slew of high-altitude growing classes there and around the region.  Their very popular day-long Sustainable Greenhouse Design class is held on their 43-acre property and at the Denver Botanic Gardens.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg connects again with Penn to talk about the greenhouse designs she and her husband create, sell and teach about. Penn tells how her husband Cord took passive solar concepts and implemented them into the first greenhouse they built from reclaimed and scrap materials, and how they have made many improvements over time. Their greenhouse once kept her precious tomatoes safe and growing during a week of temperatures 10 and 20 degrees below zero.  High altitude growing was the impetus for their greenhouse designs, and Cord’s skills and need for perfection have created some results that would make any gardener rethink their calendars.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/01/05/penn-parmenter-2/ for show notes and links.

178: Jayson Matthews on Solutions to Hunger.Discussing food insecurity in urban communities and how to improve resilience against hunger.Jayson is currently the Director of Ending Hunger for the Valley of the Sun United Way and has been with the organization since September 2014. Before joining the United Way, Jayson served as Executive Assistant to former Tempe Mayor Neil Guiliano, as the Assistant Director and Chief Program Officer of Tempe Community Council, and as the Chief Development Officer for United Food Bank.Jayson earned a Bachelors of Arts in English Literature and Political Science from the University of Arizona in 1999 and a Masters in Public Administration from Arizona State University in 2003.  He is also a graduate of Tempe Leadership, a trained facilitator specializing in nonprofit board development and community development, and recently became a Certified Poverty Coach.He is a fierce advocate for human services and public service and demonstrates this through his volunteer work on various municipal boards, commissions, and nonprofit boards in Phoenix and Tempe.  In his free time, he enjoys going on adventures with his dear wife and partner Emma and their adorable dog, Daisy.IN THIS PODCAST: The complex and oft misunderstood situation of food insecurity and hunger are the discussion focus in Greg’s interview with Jayson Matthews. Jayson’s personal history growing up as the son of a young single mother gave him the empathy he needed to fill his role at the United Way. Jayson helps to explain many of the distinctions of hunger as well as how prevalent the reality is in the urban communities in America.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/01/03/jayson-matthews/ for show notes and links.

177: Drew Taddia on Reducing Stress and Detoxing Smartly.Making long lasting changes a little at a time and using a plant-based diet to avoid toxins.Drew has traveled the world as a professional athlete coming from Canada, working through the US, and overseas into Australia and Germany following his dreams and passion of baseball.  He quickly became the ‘go to’ guy regarding fitness and nutrition as he continually experimented on his own body to find out what foods would help him recover quicker or build muscle more efficiently, and how to exercise to help him jump higher, run faster, and help him stand out on the field.He soon found out stress played a vital role in what he was putting both in and on his body. He learned that by reducing stress through a plant based diet and avoiding toxins both on and off the field, he could improve as an athlete and stand out from the competition.Using what he learned, Drew wrote the best-selling book Detoxify Yourself, which is a 30-day plant-based meal plan teaching readers how to avoid toxins, chose foods to help heal and recover, and how to prepare the meals with recipes and grocery lists.  Concerned about the toxins on the market in conventional protein supplements, he designed his own plant based protein powder made with quinoa and hemp hearts. Drew has also been on air for 5 years as a radio host (96.5 ckfm) where he interviews world renowned experts in health, fitness, nutrition, lifestyle and more.In this podcast: Greg interviews health and fitness advocate and radio show host Drew Taddia, and they talk about the importance of reducing stress and making sustainable lifestyle changes that work. Drew teaches about using a different mindset when making lifestyle changes, and how that can be the difference in succeeding or failing. He tackles health and fitness in three areas of nutrition, exercise and environment and explains how to keep it from becoming overwhelming.  “If you never start, you're never going to get anywhere”Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/31/drew-taddia/ for show notes and links.

176: Cory Williams on Tropical Fruit Trees.Growing a tropical fruit forest paradise in spite of a harsh climate.Cory lives in Chandler, Arizona and owns a video production company called Studio 9 Production. Prior to that, he spent 5 years in radio in Flagstaff, AZ, and 12 years on TV in Phoenix, as a Sports Anchor / Reporter for the local news channels. Cory got into farming and gardening after a trip to Napa Valley in Sonoma, California, about 15 years ago, at which time he was inspired to start growing his own grapes. Following that trip, every time he moved he planted more and more grapevines at each house.  Until 4 years ago, when he and his wife purchased a home on an acre and a half.  As soon as they moved in, they started planting. He began by just focusing on gardening and some vines, and then over the last couple years, he’s jumped head-first into full-fledged tree farming. He now has over 150 trees, vines and fruiting plants, and he is proud to claim that he planted every one himself and maintains them all. Cory is happily married and they have four kids ages 6, 4, 2, and just welcomed a brand-new baby to their family.IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg meets Cory Williams, a man who could not take ‘You can’t do that’ for an answer. Cory has transformed his home just outside of Phoenix to his own tropical fruit forest paradise using microclimates, observation, experimentation, and frankly ignoring naysayers.  His interest started with a few wine grapes and he got bit by the growing bug as he now has over 150 trees on his urban property and is not done trying new things.  His can-do attitude is infectious and you might have new goals after listening to this podcast.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/29/cory-williams/ for show notes and links.

175: Kaye Kittrell on Urban Gardening.Discovering organic gardening alongside a determined learner.In the fall of 2011, Kaye converted the front yard and parkway of her home in Pacific Palisades, CA, into an edible garden. She removed all non-edible grass, small trees and bushes that occupied approximately 300 square feet of valuable sunny area, and planted citrus trees and herbs. In April 2012, Kaye began her urban garden blog, “Late Bloomer Show”, sharing her results with other urban gardeners, food bloggers and family farmers. With her photography skills and on-camera likeability from 30 years as a working actor in New York and Hollywood, Kaye created a web show, also titled “Late Bloomer,” chronicling her discovering how to grow food. A year later, her summer garden produced over 150 lbs. of produce, about 40 percent of which was given away. She also wrote her first e-book, “10 Steps to a Great First Garden.”And, in 2015, Kaye created her first DVD, “Growing Heirloom Tomatoes,” a compilation of her five-part series on YouTube.  “Late Bloomer” now has 96 episodes on YouTube and in 2015 won Best Edutainment Series at Miami Web Fest 2015. In 2016, Kaye added a vlog to the channel, which includes 50 videos and offers Kaye an opportunity to visit and share other gardens and urban farms with her audience.  Kaye’s goal is to inspire anyone to grow their own food and take charge of their food security.IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg chats with a new friend Kaye, a recent convert to organic gardening who has been chronicling her challenges and amazing successes in her small garden.  Living in California on the beach has it benefits, but it also comes with a challenging microclimate due to early morning fogs that limit the sun to her small garden. Kaye shares how she was inspired to start a vlog about her learning curve and has won several accolades for her work. She is still learning, but she is willing to share both the challenges and the answers she is finding on this new journey to food security.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/27/kaye-kittrell/ for show notes and links.

174: Shaun Keesee on Biointensive FarmingA beginner's experience converting to larger scale organic farming.Shaun has an upstart one-acre mini-farm called BioManna Farms in Warrenton, NC. On his farm he grows using a combination of conventional and bio-intensive techniques, slowly moving towards a completely organic set up and is growing in all four seasons, with majority of production coming during the typical growing season.He is planning to expand to three acres in the future, and into other ventures to diversify, such as beekeeping, vermicomposting, and nursery growing.  Shaun is in the process of starting a CSA, has taken agricultural entrepreneurship classes at his local community college, and has secured three local restaurants to buy his produce.IN THIS PODCAST:  In this podcast:  Greg talks to a newer farmer in Shaun who is having some success using biointensive farming techniques.  Shaun shares how he reclaimed the land his family was leasing out to a hay farmer and starting growing crops to sell to markets and restaurants. He is applying the skills he has learned through his reading, internet and agriculture courses at his local college.  His interest in organic farming is taking root in his community and he is gladly sharing a few tips here.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/24/shaun-keesee/ for show notes and links.

173: Brendan Gaughran on Liver and Gut HealthUnderstanding the sequence of food drive n diseasesBrendan holds a degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Connecticut and his MBA from Bentley University. He has spent 15 years in the Healthcare field and was an executive for a major nutraceutical manufacturer before starting multiple companies of his own, the latest being Liver Medic. He conducts health lectures to both physicians and the public. His research focuses primarily on gut health, liver health, endocrine system, adrenal fatigue and optimum diets.IN THIS PODCAST: Brendan teaches Greg a lot about the functions and dysfunctions of the liver and gut, and how a cascade of medical issues can be traced back to the health of the gut. Brendan explains why he gave up his well-paying career to focus on finding answers on the treatment of metabolic syndrome. He describes what his research has revealed and how our foods we eat are a huge contributor to our health, starting with our gut bacteria.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/22/brendan-gaughran/ for show notes and links.

172: Ocean Robbins on Changing our Food FutureFinding the motivation to make changes in our diets At 15, Ocean was a co-founder of the Creating Our Future environmental speaking tour, on which he and three other participants spoke in person to more than 30,000 students, presented for 2,000 people at the United Nations, and opened for the Jerry Garcia band in San Francisco.In 1990 at age 16, Ocean founded YES!, an organization he directed for the next 20 years with the goal of connecting, inspiring and mobilizing visionary young leaders worldwide.  He has since spoken to hundreds of thousands of people, led hundreds of retreats, workshops and Jams for leaders in over 65 nations, written books, mentored (and learned from) changemakers, and been a creative partner and lead editor for several bestsellers.In 2012 Ocean founded the Food Revolution Network, which now has more than 350,000 members working for healthy, sustainable, humane and delicious food.  He currently serves as adjunct professor in the Peace Studies department at Chapman University.  Ocean has personally spoken and facilitated leadership gatherings in Jordan, Israel/Palestine, Singapore, Costa Rica, Russia, Finland, Canada, the Netherlands, India, Peru, and across the USA.All this and he is also an active and proud father of special needs twins, a lover of life, and a human being who is trying to live in a good way on this earth.IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg chats with Ocean Robbins of the Food Revolution Network to talk about changing our food future and how important it is to make a change in today’s diets.  Starting at a very young age, Ocean had been motivated and inspired to help others eat better for their own health.  Now as an adult and father, his drive has only grown stronger and deeper to spread a message of education on the food choices being made today.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/20/ocean-robbins/ for show notes and links.

171: Robbie Shell on Honeybees and Colony Collapse Disorder.A researcher's perspective on the marvelous efficiency of honeybees.Robbie was a business journalist and co-author of a book on leadership, who turned her attention to honeybees when her brother, a beekeeper, brought her jars of honey harvested from his backyard hives. Inspired by the teamwork and efficiency displayed by these tiny pollinators, she left her job as a business editor/writer and wrote “Bees on the Roof.”The middle-grade environmental fiction novel tells the story of four seventh graders competing in a science competition but also educates young readers about the importance of honeybees to our environment and the dangers they face from the still mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder.Robbie, who graduated from Princeton University with a degree in history, grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Charlottesville, Va., Boston, Mass., New York City and Washington, D.C.  She and her husband now live in Philadelphia, where they raised their two sons.  She has never been stung by a honeybee (Wasps are a different story.)IN THIS PODCAST: Greg meets Robbie who is not a farmer or gardener but really has a story to tell that can make a difference. Robbie was inspired by some honeybees and decided to learn more about them. Her research eventually led her to write an environmental fiction book for middle school kids to help them understand and appreciate the honeybees and the challenge of colony collapse disorder. She shares with Greg some of the amazing details she learned through her research and talks about how adults and kids can help the bees.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/17/robbie-shell/ for show notes and links.

170: Don Tipping on Seeds and Plant BreedingCultivating the future through seed saving and educationDon has been offering hands-on, practical workshops at Seven Seeds Farm since 1997.  His farm is a small, organic family farm in the Siskiyou Mountains of SW Oregon; situated at 2,000 feet elevation on a 7,000-foot-tall-forested mountain with rushing spring fed creeks flowing through the land and nestled among old growth forests.Don helped to found the Siskiyou Sustainable Cooperative, which manages a 300 share CSA, a commercial seed growing operation, and an equipment co-op and internship curriculum among the 12 cooperating farms. He also co-founded the Family Farmers Seed Cooperative, a seed growing, marketing and distribution cooperative comprised of 10 western organic farms. He sits on the board of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance and is a regular contributor to the Oregon State University Small Farms educational program.  Don is also a charter member of the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) as a plant breeder and a seed company advocate. Don is regularly sought out as a teacher, collaborator and consultant in the Pacific Northwest.IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg chats with an organic seed farmer and educator Don  also explains how and why a couple cooperatives got started including the Open Source Seed Initiative.  He has been able to open his farm to host intensive seed academy classes and he guides Greg through the topics that are covered.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/15/don-tipping/ for show notes and links. 

169: Sarah Highlen on Farm MarketingOffering cost-effective marketing for small farms and food producersSarah spent 17 years in the marketing industry, working with clients across diverse industries. As her values evolved, her career in marketing became dispiriting — until she realized she could use her marketing skills for something she felt really good about: good food. Sarah founded Grapevine Local Food Marketing in 2016 to help small farms, local food producers, and other small food businesses.   In August, Katy Horst joined the Grapevine team, and together Sarah and Katy provide websites, logos, Facebook marketing, email newsletters, and other marketing services to clients in Indiana and beyond.When Sarah's not working on marketing projects, she's usually growing food, buying food, cooking food, photographing food, or eating food. Sarah also enjoys helping people develop an appreciation for real food through education and recipes, and she's a founding member and board president of her local food council (NWI Food Council).IN THIS PODCAST: Greg hears from a woman who got tired of marketing food “products” and figured out it was much more rewarding to market for small family farms and local food producers instead.  Sarah tells how her desire to eat better and be healthier led her to a farm that needed some help.  This led to a very satisfying career change and a chance to make a difference for local people who make real food and help regular people find the sources of the good food.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/13/sarah-highlen/ for show notes and links.

168: Kerry Audisho on Locally Grown FoodsConnecting a community to a healthier diet and access to locally grown foods.Kerry is a wife, mother, certified Dr. Sears health coach, local food advocate, and lover of food growing. She spends her time visiting various farms and gardens in and around Phoenix, and connecting consumers directly to local growers.She organizes three Meetup groups, Your Farm Foods, Arizona Natural Food Group and Food as Medicine.She blogs at yourfarmfoods.com and has created an online open marketplace, friendingfarmers.com that allows users to buy, sell and share our locally grown foods.IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg talks with Kerry to find out why she is so committed to helping others improve their diets and connect with locally grown foods.  Kerry shares the story of her conversion to healthy foods and then how even that diet was improved after a trip to a restaurant with a friend.  Her experience giving up sugar is a startling one. She also explains how she started her meet-up group to help her community connect with locally grown foods.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/10/kerry-audisho/ for show notes and links.

Kristin Nikodemski on the Grow it Yourself RevolutionEncouraging growth in the community of organic gardenersAs the Product Marketing Manager for Arborjet and The Dirt on Dirt, Kristin divides her time between marketing, supporting, and developing products for the horticulture industry. From her early days helping her father in the yard, working for garden centers, and professionally managing consumer garden brands since 2010, Kristin brings a wealth of experience.In her free time, Kristin is an avid indoor & outdoor gardener, artist, and foodie. She is a graduate of Salve Regina University.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg learns more about some organic gardening resources from Kristin who tells her story of how she joined a sustainability focused horticulture company. Kristin has found a way to blend her love of gardening with a care of community by helping create the Dirt on Dirt community. She also helps explain some of the Arborjet products and why they work.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/08/kristin-nikodemski/ for show notes and links.

166: Susan Poizner on Fruit Tree CareNurturing relationships with community and nature through orchards and fruit trees.Susan is an urban orchardist in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of the award-winning fruit tree care book “Growing Urban Orchards” and 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.  Susan is also the host and creator of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast on RealityRadio101.com.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg meets another lover of fruit trees with Susan who founded a community orchard in her home town and found her calling as well. Susan tells how she got the idea to start an orchard in her neighborhood park, and how learning everything she could about fruit trees has morphed into her popular education program.  Her down-to-earth nature is very apparent as she explains some highs and lows on this journey and how her love for her community of people and trees has grown beyond her expectations. Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/06/susan-poizner/ for show notes and links.

165: Penn Parmenter on High Altitude TomatoesGrowing and saving seeds for extreme or challenging climatesSince 1992 Penn and her husband Cord have been growing food just above the 8,000 feet level in the Wet Mountains of South Central Colorado.  With many years of research and development, they founded Smart Greenhouses LLC and Miss Penn’s Mountain Seeds in 2013,Miss Penn’s Mountain Seeds is a small, high-altitude, bio-regional seed company servicing the mountain people.  As a tomato specialist, she offers over 200 varieties of adapted tomatoes – the Holy Grail of the mountains; as well as around 50 native wildflowers along with a mix of garden flowers, herbs and wild foods.Penn and Cord have three famished sons, Maximilian, Beauregard and Wulfgar who help them in all aspects of their work.IN THIS PODCAST: we hear an enthusiastic and fun guest as Penn chats with Greg about her passion for growing and saving seeds.  Penn tells how she got started in the seed business and why she enjoys her job so much.  Besides making the act of saving seeds sound really fun, she also explains why it is so important.  Her upbeat and positive nature has a great effect, and with the way she describes her crops, it must be like adopting a loved one when you order seeds from her.  And if you have a garden, her explanation of how seeds adapt for the area they are grown might just be enough to encourage you to try seed saving on your own.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/03/penn-parmenter/ for show notes and links.

164: Jeff Moyer on Organic Farmers AssociationGiving a larger voice to organic farmers in national policy discussions.Jeff is a world-renowned authority in organic agriculture. His expertise includes organic crop production systems with a focus on weed management, cover crops, crop rotations, equipment modification and use, and facilities design.Jeff is perhaps most well-known for conceptualizing and popularizing the No-Till Roller Crimper for use in organic agriculture. In 2011, he wrote Organic No-Till Farming, a publication that has become a resource for farmers throughout the world.In September 2015, Jeff was appointed as Executive Director of Rodale Institute after spending the last four decades there, helping countless farmers make the transition from conventional, chemical-based farming to organic methods.IN THIS PODCAST:  Author Jeff Moyer chats with Greg about the importance of organic farming, the role and purpose of the Rodale Institute, and the new Organic Famers Association.  Jeff has a great passion for a change in food production to a healthier method, and it is obvious as he explains the history of the Rodale Institute.  He explains why it is important to have organic agriculture and how consumers change affect the whole food system with just a simple act. Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/12/01/jeff-moyer/ for show notes and links.

163: Melinda Adkins on Learning Homesteading SkillsRekindling skills of past generations and sharing thrifty gardening tipsMelinda’s Urban Homesteader journey began as a child watching her mother and grandmother tend their gardens which instilled in her a love and appreciation for gardening.  After college she purchased a home in the city and secured employment with the local school district as well as a part-time Park Ranger.  The park had an 1880's working farm on the property which gave her the opportunity to visit and observe vintage skills. It was during her time as a Park Ranger that her love for the outdoors and living a simpler life really grew. She has a great love of nature, has earned a Wildlife Habitat Certification as a result.  Eventually, she began incorporating skills she learned from the farm staff into her own urban homestead. Somehow she finds time to watch documentaries in her spare time to continue her learning. Melinda is highly invested in helping her community and is the founder of HPC-Community.com IN THIS PODCAST: Greg talks to community homesteader Melinda who founded a community group to share tips and experiences while learning about homesteading. Melinda was a bit of a groundbreaker in her town with some unorthodox thinking, so in order to find others with similar preparedness and vintage skills interests she created an online group.  Her goal is to share gardening and preparedness information affordably.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/29/melinda-adkins/ for show notes and links.

162: Jesse Sparks on Neighborhood HarvestingHarvesting fruits and friends from your neighborhood communityJesse is a sixth-generation Arizona native. His great-grandfather owned and operated a farm in Tempe, AZ, and Jesse’s mother’s side comes from farming heritage in Iowa, so he has been surrounded by gardens, fruit trees, and fresh produce his entire life. He and his wife had a townhouse where they started growing food by converting the lawn area in the back into a little 5ft square garden. Then, after moving and expanding to a larger area with more garden space, he noticed he physically felt better after eating home-grown produce. He travels a lot for work and is constantly on airplanes with recirculated air, but he credits having never come home with “travel crud” to his healthier, home-grown eating style.Jesse lives in the Northwest valley of Phoenix Arizona with his wife Heather, their 2 sons, and is expecting twin daughters due early 2017.IN THIS PODCAST: An inspiring young father Jesse shares his story with Greg about how he has started harvesting the unwanted fruit from his neighbor’s front yard and is developing a stronger community as well.  Jesse’s story is delightful, and uplifting as he and his young son collect fruit, make jellies, and bring the harvest back to share.  He shares how he started and it is not as hard as you might think. Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/26/jesse-sparks/ for show notes and links.

161: Vanessa Simkins on Juicing DeliciouslyConnecting healthy and flavorful juicing combinations for health and a good dietVanessa, is the founder of AllAboutJuicing.com: a website and newsletter serving up fresh, tested juicing advice for getting a hot body, glowing skin, and lifelong health through a straw. She is also the founder of Vanessa’s Juice Club and the author of the Juice Lover’s Big Book of Juices: 425 recipes for super nutritious and crazy delicious juices.Her newsletters, products and site reach over a quarter-million readers each month – a veritable army, inspired to juice for better health.  A juicing trendsetter known for her inventive and tasty juice recipes, Vanessa has an undying thirst for connecting people back to what makes them healthy, one drink at a time.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg finds many connections with Vanessa as she shares why she started juicing and why she runs her own business helping others learn about juicing. Vanessa tells about how she got started with her blog and her recipe book. She also tells about her love for mixing juices blends, and how she can serve up delicious drink combinations even from some normally challenging ingredient flavors.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/24/vanessa-simkins/ for show notes and links.

160: Jim Loomis on Lifestyle MedicineConnecting a plant-based diet and lifestyle to positive health benefits Jim Loomis Jr., M.D., M.B.A., received his medical degree from the University of Arkansas, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and graduated with honors.  He subsequently completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital/ Washington University in St. Louis, MO. and received an M.B.A. from the Olin School of Business at Washington University.Jim is the medical director at the Barnard Medical Center in Washington DC.  He is board certified in internal medicine and has also completed the certification program in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University.  Before coming to the Barnard Medical Center in Washington, DC, Jim practiced internal medicine and was the director of prevention and wellness at St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis.  Jim is on the clinical faculty of the department of internal medicine at Washington University School of Medicine and also serves on the board of directors of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.When not practicing medicine, Jim enjoys reading history books, cooking, and teaching plant-based cooking classes. He also enjoys running, biking, and swimming, and has completed numerous half marathons, marathons, and triathlons.IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg talks to a Doctor that he met a few months back.  Dr. Jim is fabulous at bringing the complexities of healthy eating to simple and memorable analogies. Transitioning from a standard American diet to a plant based one to improve health and vitality is something that Dr. Jim can talk about because he did just that.  He was one of the worst kind of patients because he already knew the side effects of the meds he was prescribed, and his search for a healthier lifestyle is now what he shares with others.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/22/james-loomis/ for show notes and links.

159: Brandon Peterman on Natural BuildingConstructing buildings and materials from locally sourced ingredients Brandon grew up in Southern California and went to University of Southern California Riverside.  Always feeling a connection to nature, he has been living on homesteads in the woods for the past four years and has been actively doing natural building for the past three years.  He has participated in the building of over two dozen natural structures from cottages to bread ovens, garden walls, to covered benches and other homestead based structures.His goal is to create a fully functioning working farm with a gardening education program and a year-round school program.  After his own apprenticeship, Brandon joined Kirk Mobert at the Sundog School of Natural Building which is based on 50 acres in Gualala, California. The school offers classes and on a rotating basis and apprenticeships in natural building.IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg gets to hear about a new topic on the podcast when he chats with Brandon who shares the basics about Natural Building.  A life-long lover of the outdoors, Brandon tells how he found what he had been looking for in a building process that has been around for many centuries. This process is one that embodies several permaculture principles and has many time-tested examples existing around the world. Brandon tells about this method and the school that offers apprentice positions.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/19/brandon-peterman/ for show notes and links.

158: Andrew Millison on Scaling up PermacultureSharing a regenerative design system and the medicine our planet needs.Andrew has been studying, teaching and practicing permaculture since he took his first design course in 1996. He began teaching permaculture design at the college level in 2001 and has been an instructor at Oregon State University in the Horticulture Department since 2009. Andrew currently teaches the Permaculture Design Course at OSU on campus and online.Andrew first learned permaculture design in the drylands of Arizona, where he studied for his undergraduate and master's degrees at Prescott College focusing on rainwater harvesting, greywater systems and desert agriculture.In recent years, his focus has been more on broad scale farm planning, permaculture housing developments and obtaining water rights. In 2015 he founded Permaculture Design International, a collaborative design firm that works on large-scale global projects. And, he runs a free Intro to Permaculture course that has had over 20,000 enrollments to date.IN THIS PODCAST:  Andrew catches up with Greg and brings him up to speed on what he has done since they took a permaculture class together 20 years ago.  This is an inspiring and EPIC story of someone who was ready to take permaculture to the next level and beyond.  The ultimate part of this adventure is that there is room for others to join in an online aspect.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/17/andrew-millison/ for show notes and links.

Elena Ortiz on Nature Education for AdultsMaking connections to nature through working in a college garden.Elena has been teaching with the Phoenix College Biosciences Department in the Maricopa Community College System for eleven years. She has taught environmental biology and general biology for non-majors. Her newest class is Plants and Society, a basic botany course for non-majors.As part of teaching this class, she brings her personal interest for gardening into the classroom. She says the garden is a great place to introduce, or reintroduce, students to nature and ecology. Elena has a PhD in Plant Biology from ASU, a Master of Science in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico, and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz.Her interests in ecology and gardening were both heavily influenced by her maternal grandfather who was a family doctor and gentleman farmer in Puerto Rico who retired on his farm. As a young girl, she would follow him around as he would spend the day working on projects, in his garden and orchid collection, or his farm. She credits him for most of the knowledge of the natural history of Puerto Rico that she still remembers today.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg chats with an old college friend who is now teaching botany at Phoenix College. Elena shares what she is doing now and how she has brought her classrooms outdoors and into the garden.  She describes how she believes it is important to make a connection with nature right outside your door, and how some of her students are surprised how easy it is to grow things in the desert.  She also depicts how her students make the connections and take ownership of the garden enough that they want to stay working even after the class ends.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/15/elena-ortiz/ for show notes and links.

Keri Fox on SPIN FarmingStarting a farming business in an urban area and making it work.Keri grew up on an organic farm in a small Saskatchewan community when organic wasn’t cool or trendy. After feeling like an outcast, and perceiving her parents as “poor,” she decided to pursue a more profitable career.  After getting her electrician journeyperson license, she ran an electrical contracting business for 8 years and made good money doing this. However, she felt her business was contributing to the destruction of the planet.  Knowing she needed a change, and having recently been introduced to permaculture, she took a leap of faith and sold her business to search for a lifestyle that would help heal the planet.Keri took a series of permaculture based workshops over the next couple of years and eventually found herself in a SPIN farming workshop. Having found what she was looking for, she immediately returned home with a “crazy idea” to farm in the city. The idea got around and she started her new business with veggies in 8 different yards in return for a weekly box of vegetables, and sold the rest at the local farmers market. Now, at the end of 5th growing season, she works 1/3 of an acre including 7 outdoor garden spaces, one hoop house style greenhouse and an indoor micro-green operation, offers a salad box subscription that delivers to 9 restaurants as well as the weekly farmers market.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg talks to Keri, a former electrician who quit to be a farmer because it was better for the planet. She tells why she left her successful business to run a small plot farm, and how she has developed that into quite the impressive and sustainable venture.  She describes how she rides her bike from plot to plot, sells to restaurants and farmers markets, and has a salad box subscription.  Farming with little-to-no land of your own can work, and she proves it in her story.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/12/keri-fox/ for show notes and links.

155: Lawrence Parkhill of the Veteran Farmers of America Helping our returning veterans heal through farming and agriculture.Lawrence signed up for the infantry at age 16 when the towers fell, and left at age 18 to go to Camp Pendleton. He was deployed twice to Iraq with India Company, Third Battalion, First Marines.  Lawrence extended his contract by six months or so to deploy with the Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command (MARSOC) to Afghanistan. He has a total of five year’s active duty as a machine gunner and got out as E5 (sergeant) with two Purple Hearts, and a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with V device for valor. Lawrence is the President and Co-Founder of Veteran Farmers of America. He is also the National Maintenance Support Manager at Mission Produce in Oxnard where he lives.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg is honored to talk to Sargent Lawrence Parkhill who shares his story of how he founded a new non-profit which is helping veterans reintegrate into non-combat life with jobs in agriculture. Veteran Farmers of America is working with returning servicemen and women to find internships and jobs in various aspects of the agriculture industry.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/10/lawrence-parkhill/ for show notes and links.

Julian Awad on Backyard Riches and SPIN FarmingTaking a Small Plot and with Intensive Farming generate income.Julian experienced entrepreneurship early at the age of 12 when he first started importing candy from Singapore to Malaysia where his family was living at the time. At 19 he started his first company in real estate. Since then, his interest for business and social responsibility has taken him from refugee trips in Sumatra, Indonesia to driving new innovative genetic risk assessments.It was while working with Google on marketing and advertising, that Julian realized the need for marketing agencies which focused on a Return On Investment or were performance oriented.  Eventually he formed JSA Interactive Inc. to meet the growing demand for his marketing and commercialization services.Julian has over 15 years of professional experience in marketing, strategic planning, project management, and internet technologies. He also has 10 years of entrepreneurial experience in marketing companies, launching consumer focused internet startups, and financing small businesses. He states his greatest achievements are finding and marrying his wife/best friend and having his new son and twin daughters.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg talks to Julian Awad of Backyard Riches, who breaks down some of the intricacies of turning a backyard plot into a profitable urban farm business.  As an entrepreneur who has figured out how to turn ideas into businesses, Julian describes the models that he offers to help urban farmers become successful in a sustainable way.  The method of Small Plot Intensive Farming is the new way of being a farmer – especially in urban areas.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/08/julian-awad/ for show notes and links.

Forest started urban farming in 1969 in Berkeley, California. Through the People’s Park Movement, he was launched into gardening and got the basic training and motivation for becoming a seedman. He has been a full time, independent, professions seed provider since 1972 and has owned, led, or helped launch at least four seed companies, and founded the nonprofit Abundant Life Seed Foundation which produced and distributed up to 600 types of open-pollinated vegetable, herb and flower seedsSince 1974 Forest has been giving workshops on seed saving and the importance of genetic diversity, and was the keynote speaker for the 2012 Northwest Permaculture Convergence and, also the Regenerations Seed and Plant Exchange in Hawaii.  Forest had a radio show for a couple of years with 30 minute interviews featuring a variety of people including many permaculturists.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg is enthralled by the story telling of Forest who brings us along on the adventures of a seedman.  Forest felt the pull of his calling in the late 1960’s and has been actively gardening and harvesting seeds ever since. Moving through a few seed company projects over the years, he has also harvested skills, friends, experiences, and an appreciation for the importance of native seeds.  With so much experienced focused on the tiny seeds that are essential to all gardeners and farmers, Forest’s story connects with everyone in one way or another.  Listen in and harvest your own kernels to save.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/05/forest-shomer/ for show notes and links.Go to www.urbanfarm.org/blog/podcast/ to see our list of podcast and to sign up for weekly updates.

Making a difference through social permaculture and gardening.Matt is an experienced teacher, family guy, author, consultant, farmer, seed saver, plant breeder, musician, blogger, & permaculturist. He frequently speaks at conferences, colleges, schools, and events about permaculture and education.Applying his years of working as a teacher writing curriculum from scratch using online classrooms, Matt has opened an online program to accompany his textbook series The Permaculture Student.Focused on starting resilient small businesses and homesteads from scratch, students of all ages and families learn through weekly collections of videos, worksheets, coloring pages, projects, activities, & critical thinking with teacher's guides, recipes, plant focus, seed saving, & Q&A.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg meets another permaculture enthusiast in Matt, who after a significant wake-up call regarding the health of his wife decided to pursue a healthier lifestyle for him and his family. This decision led him on the path to education and gardening which he combined with a new understanding of regenerative design to become an activist of permaculture education. Now he tells how he is bringing permaculture teachings to new areas and students.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/03/matt-powers/ for show notes and links.

Saskia is a passionate gardener who believes everyone can grow some of their own food. She is trained in Permaculture, Environmental Science, and Regenerative Entrepreneurship. After turning a house in Anchorage, Alaska into an abundant urban homestead, she created a successful business teaching others how to garden. She recently turned her hands-on food gardening course into a curriculum and manual to help others teach gardening in their own communities. IN THIS PODCAST: Greg meets Saskia, a young woman who was motivated enough to transform her life and career to encompass the ideals of permaculture. However, she was not happy just making her own garden, Saskia has a goal of having everyone or every yard have the chance to garden. So as she started making the changes to a gardening lifestyle she was determined to find a way to make a living with this new mode of living.  She has done this partly by helping others become teachers of gardening in their own areas.  Here she explains how she is preparing her army of educators and how they can make a living teaching others how to garden.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/11/01/saskia-esslinger/ for show notes and links.

Transitioning to a plant based diet for a healthy lifestyle.Karine was once an extreme carnivore and she happily ate sweetbreads, blood pudding, lots of meats including game, and all kinds of raw meats. Food was her life. She had a catering business and organized dinner parties that would have made a vegan faint. Life was spent in the kitchen, and life was good. Then she embarked on her vegan journey just over year ago to combat significant skin issues. She started by first eating fruits and vegetables in large quantities but she struggled from low energy levels. Then she tried a paleo diet which did not work out for her, so she started educating herself about plant-based protein.Education was the key to her success, and two pillars of veganism became important to her: mercy for animals, and protection of the environment. Grains, seeds, and nuts are now the biggest part of her diet while she is striving to achieve a complete plant-based diet.  She loves whole and natural ingredients, and wants to show others how a vegan diet can be fun, easy, and delicious!IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg gets to chat with new friend Karine who has a mission to help others cook delicious vegan meals.  Karine shares her experience of going vegan and explains why she was she was motivated to make that change. With her experience running a catering business, it makes sense that cooking would be a passion that continues even with a dramatic lifestyle change. She is committed to helping others by sharing her journey and sharing many tasty and healthy vegan recipes and she explains why this is so important to her.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/29/karine-kuchipudi/ for show notes and links.

Considering design in architecture and it’s impact on urban agriculture.Sean complements his design practice with research in green building technologies including, among other things, urban and vertical agriculture. Sean is a Lecturer at Danube University Krems, Austria, was an Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong, and is a frequent lecturer at international universities and conferences.For the past several years, Sean has led research in Urban & Vertical Farming, and developed a prominent exhibition on urban ecology and biomimicry at the Hong Kong-Shezhen Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. His research has been presented to key stakeholders at the United Nations, as well as for multiple international governments, diplomatic, private, and non-profit organizations. Sean believes that urban agriculture can provide a multi-faceted solution to the health and resilience of cities while catalyzing community and economic growth.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg gets to interview Sean Quinn, who works to meld sustainable architectural design with urban agriculture for one of the largest global design firms. Sean talks about how this field has changed over the years and is tackling the issues of food systems and just connection to nature in highly urban landscapes like Honk Kong and San Francisco. Just by focusing on these issues, he has developed a sincere passion for designs that build solutions combining flora and human interaction.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/27/sean-quinn/ for show notes and links.

Growing Food, Jobs, and Hope on the Urban FrontierMichael Ableman, the cofounder and director of Sole Food Street Farms, is one of the early visionaries of the urban agriculture movement. He has created high-profile urban farms in Watts, California; Goleta, California; and Vancouver, British Columbia. Michael has also worked on and advised dozens of similar projects throughout North America and the Caribbean, and he is the founder of the nonprofit Center for Urban Agriculture.His newest book is called Street Farm: Growing Food, Jobs, and Hope on the Urban Frontier and is out now by Chelsea Green Publishing. Michael lives and farms at the 120-acre Foxglove Farm on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia.IN THIS PODCAST: This is an interview that Greg has wanted to do since before he even started the podcasts. A epic urban farming project more than a decade ago inspired him greatly, and now Michael brings Greg up to date with his Street Farm project he’s been working on for the past several years and it is just as epic and inspiring. With a natural ease, he tells us the story of an urban farm that is situated in the heart of one of the worst parts of a large city and is farmed by a group of the lost and disenfranchised. This project takes the hopeless and the discarded, plants them on the unwanted and unworthy land with a box and some soil, and magic happens.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/25/michael-ableman/ for show notes and links.

Utilizing managed intensive grazing for maximum benefit for land and animalsShawn and Beth have been farming together since the 1980’s, for the last twenty years in eastern Ohio, where they manage 24 acres designated by the state as ‘not suitable for agriculture’.  Using intensive grazing as the primary source of food energy, they raise dairy and beef cows, sheep, farm-fed hogs, and a variety of poultry, producing most of the food, and feed, on the farm. Concerned that farming is so often dependent upon multiple off-farm resources, from feed, fuel and fertilizer to water and electricity, their ongoing project is to identify and test the means by which farming was done for centuries with a minimum of off-farm inputs. Their research has led them to identify grass conversion, especially the daily conversion of grass into milk by dairy ruminants, as a key to whole-farm sustainability, combined with the integrated nutrient feed-backs that are possible with a community of diverse animal and plant species, domestic and native. They are the authors of The Independent Farmstead, Chelsea Green Publishing 2016.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg is thoroughly impressed with the transformational successes of Shawn and Beth on their “really trashy” plot of land to the diverse, beautiful, and healthy pasture they now enjoy.  They tell their story of how they bought what they could afford were prompted to do research and replicate the methods of grazing that preceded the modern day mass production farms. They explain why managed grazing is important and so beneficial to both the animals and the land they occupy. Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/22/shawn-and-beth-dougherty/ for show notes and links.

Robert is a scientist, author, and environmental entrepreneur who founded several leading market-based environmental concerns. Currently he serves as host of Green Sense Radio Show and Founding Farmer/CEO of Green Sense Farms.  Robert is recognized as a national expert and an authoritative source on brownfield redevelopment, sustainability and indoor vertical farming.He is the author of several books and numerous reports and articles on the subjects. He has appeared on national and local TV and radio programs, been quoted in national and local newspapers and has testified in congress in support of environmental legislation.  IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg gets to chat with Robert, an environmental entrepreneur who is transforming indoor farming and finding economic solutions in farming. Robert has been seeking out and creating solutions for environmental issues for many years and this has led him to the business he has now which is producing crops year-round. He also talks more about his radio show and introduces the Equity Crowd Funding project he is currently working on and how to find more about it.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/20/robert-colangelo/ for show notes and links.

Storm lives on the South Fork of the Cosumnes River in Northern California with her husband Allen and her youngest child Savannah. She is the founder of “Wings on the Wind Healing Arts Center and Sanctuary.” The center is located on her organic farm, where they raise food, herbs, alpacas, and chickens.She has a bachelor degree in Metaphysical Science, is an ordained minister, a natural health practitioner, artist, author, herbalist, and Reiki Master. She has certifications in Advanced Pastoral Psychology, Herbology, Reflexology, Acupressure, Crystal Healing, Vibrational Healing, Flower Essences, and Survival Skills. She authored the book “A Pocket Full of Angels” and self-published in 2014.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg meets another kindred spirit in Storm with her connection to gardening, making a difference in the community, trusting in nature, and making a choice to be happy every day. Storm shares her story of how she started gardening with no skills or experience and is now the founder of a very special place for healing and learning.  Storm worked to build a connection in her community so that even the front entrance evokes wonder and peace. Her organic gardens are central to her program teaching self-sustainability and her animals have many duties including helping guests heal. Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/18/storm-kirk/ for show notes and links.

Marianne is the co-host/co-producer of the Sustainable Living Podcast, the co-organizer of the San Diego Permaculture Meet up group and the founder and organizer of the TOP Organic Edibles Garden Club. Top stands for Transition, Organic and Permaculture. She also is a wife, mother and grandmother who is very much involved in the life of her 3 grandchildren. Marianne teaches Yoga and other subjects and keeps working on developing her writerly self.IN THIS PODCAST: Marianne shares her story and motivations that have moved her to transform her 1/3 acre into a food forest. She shares her passion for permaculture with Greg and tells him how she has really put to use the water harvesting techniques she has learned. She explains how her upbringing in postwar Germany truly gave her a different perspective on nature and food, and now that she lives in an area that has a year round growing season as well as drought conditions she is really putting all her experience and learning to good use.  She tells of the many techniques she is using to harvest water, and how she is trying to make a difference in her community.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/15/marianne-west/ for show notes and links.

Cara is passionate about the tradition of supper and takes Civil War history very seriously; So it made sense for her to couple her food passion with membership in MidStates Living History Association. In the tradition of Dutch oven cooking during the civil war, “a supper was served at four o’clock in the afternoon, a good plain and substantial meal, with nothing fanciful” according to Goedy’s Magazine, dated 1863. As a living historian, and owner of U-Relish Farm, Cara enjoys guiding others on low cost ways to store your urban farm harvest and offers secrets from the “Apothecara”.N THIS PODCAST: We venture back in time with Cara to learn how the women homesteaders of the mid 1800’s cooked, gardened, nurtured, and survived during the trials of the Civil War.  She explains to Greg that as a history buff she was intrigued enough to try to replicate many of the processes in use during the time period of when the Civil War directly affected her community. She does not hold back as she taught herself how to do many of the period’s permaculture type processes and she shares some of those tips in this podcast.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/13/cara-dafforn/ for show notes and links.

Craig’s love of the landscape was a natural progression of his upbringing in central Minnesota where he grew up at a youth camp. When he attended college in Chicago, he maintained his connection with the outdoors which he soon realized his career path needed to encompass.  In a confluence of events, Craig was hired as the Operations Manager at Chicago Christian Industrial League managing the landscaping job training program. Most of the landscaping contracts were with the city of Chicago where they maintained many of the city’s green spaces, median strips and public schools. Eventually, Craig joined D. Foley Landscape as Construction Manager in Massachusetts where he continued to fine tune his plant knowledge, installation skills, and design esthetic. It was here that the vision of an urban landscaping business was formed and in early spring of 2003, he returned to Chicago to start Topiarius. Craig’s first landscaping job was completed out of the back of his Ford Focus wagon using 5 gallon buckets and a shovel. Originally, during the landscape season they hired local college students to help out with the labor; however, now they have gone from a 2½ employee operation to an 11-person operation with an office and landscaping yard on the west side of the Chicago.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg chats with Craig, a landscaping artist who bring his dedication for a job well done to ensure his customers get long lasting value. With Craig’s natural understanding of basic permaculture techniques, he shares how he has developed a process for his employees to observe and adjust based on those observations. And with years of experience Craig also has a lot to share about best practices for planting trees of all kinds. There are many important tips and techniques discussed that will help anyone who is getting ready to plant in their yards. Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/11/craig-jenkins-sutton/ for show notes and links.

Sherrie Pelsma on Pollinator Parkways.Bolstering pollinators in urban spaces and expanding safe habitats.Sherrie grew up on the rural Oregon Coast before moving to Portland to finish her degree. She has spent the last 10 years in Community Education, and runs a program where participants learn learn Do-It-Yourself skills to make homes safer and more energy efficient. As an environmentalist who loves macro photography, she took a special interest in pollinators and other insects which blossomed into the love that drove the founding of Pollinator Parkways. IN THIS PODCAST: Sherrie shares her passion for the bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other animals that serve such a vital purpose in the lifecycles of plants including the food we rely on every day.  Greg gets a chance to talk to her about how a simple interest grew into a passion and how she has turned that into a project that is truly making a difference in her community.  Sherrie is inspiring as she explains what she is doing to extend habitats and at the same time educating community members about pollinators.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/08/sherrie-pelsma/ for show notes and links.

Jack Wolfson D.O., F.A.C.C., is a board certified cardiologist who uses nutrition and supplements to prevent and treat disease. After ten years performing angiograms, pacemakers, and other cardiac procedures, Dr. Wolfson started Wolfson Integrative Cardiology in 2012 to offer patients the ultimate in holistic heart care.Raised in Chicago, he attended Midwestern University for his D.O. degree and completed a 3 year Internal Medicine residency and 3 year cardiology fellowship. He was selected as the chief fellow of his class. Together with his wife, Dr. Heather Wolfson DC, they are The Drs. Wolfson. Their website TheDrsWolfson.com is an excellent resource for holistic health and lifestyle information. The Drs. Wolfson have two beautiful boys who were born at home, nursed for over 3 years, and they are still co-sleeping.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg chats with Dr. Jack about the paleo diet and how it affects heart health. Dr. Jack shares why he changed the way he practices cardiology and what he has learned about eating natural foods.  He explains more about how important it is to remove pollutants, improve nutrition, and even how eliminating gluten can make a difference in 24 hours. Greg asks many of the questions that come up when you are learning about the paleo diet and Dr. Jack helps make it a lot easier to understand why it works.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/06/jack-wolfson/ for show notes and links.

Whitney is a teacher, trainer, and author with tremendous commitment to, and expertise in, inquiry- and place-based education; strategies for engaging diverse learners; school gardens; and the intersection between environmental education and public schools. She is the Education Director of Life Lab and a lecturer at UC Santa Cruz.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg is excited and a bit envious of the kids who have participated in the natural world learning experiences explained by the Whitney in this podcast. She paints a beautiful picture of the resources of Life Lab’s gardens and how the programs offer many unique and awesome natural world laboratories for kids to learn. Their discussion ventures into the world of school funding and how garden based education can fill multiple needs of the schools, yet seems to on budget cutting blocks often. Life Lab has developed a potential resource for school interested in keeping a natural world option in their curriculums and Whitney explains how they hope to share this program nationally. Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/04/whitney-cohen/ for show notes and links.

Today's specials include healthy foods, great meals, dignity, education and community.A childhood spent on a farm in northeast Ohio shaped Lyn’s views on community and how neighbors can help and support one another through sharing food and resources. He believes this is a forgotten way of living in America.Thirty-plus years spent as a chef in world-class restaurants taught Lyn the importance of creating beautiful food for people to enjoy and gather together to share. In recent years, he spent time helping others open community kitchens and supporting local sustainability. This led him to open Seeds Community Café in September 2013.As a nonprofit that is based on a “pay it forward” model, Seeds’ patrons can partake of healthy, nutritious, locally-sourced and creatively crafted meals, regardless of their ability to pay. Lyn is a huge supporter of Community Cafes, Kitchens and local gardens as a Social Enterprise and way of life.  He believes this concept of sharing local great food around a community table can change the world we live in by impacting food insecurity and building community in our own neighborhoods! It also enhances our local economies.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg takes the time to get to know Lyn and is moved by his persistence and dedication to making a difference in his community. Lyn tells how he has always been doing something with food, and how he has worked with some well-known chefs over the years until he was finally able to open his own very special restaurant. With an idea in his head about a café where people pay what they think the meal is worth, and those who can’t pay have a chance to work off the meal through service, Lyn worked until he got enough support to open the doors to this very epic, community centric, aptly named, Seeds Community Café. Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/10/01/lyn-harwell/ for show notes and links.

Heather co-created Stetson University’s garden and farmers market and served as the founding Community Director of Orlando's East End Market. After interning with the USDA, researching food systems in Central Florida and abroad, Heather returned to her hometown to help rebuild Orlando’s local food system in 2011, where she helped bring Fleet Farming to life. She now works on sustainable agriculture and rural development projects abroad while consulting new branches of Fleet Farming around the world.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg gets a chance to meet Heather who is leading a transformative new community farming program called Fleet Farming. You might have heard about the new idea of community gardening through donated front lawns and volunteers traveling on bikes to farm the plots. Heather explains how the program was created and how far it has expanded at this point. It all started with a brainstorming event looking to help localize the food system, and it now is to be replicated in cities across the United States and around the world.  Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/29/heather-grove/ for show notes and links.

Tim grew up in West Texas, the younger son of a local church pastor and his Christian educator wife.  After graduating from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX with a BFA in speech communications, he went on to seminary, graduating with a Master of Divinity degree. After graduating, he served churches in Texas communities in Houston, Athens and Lufkin; and then he moved to a historic urban congregation adjacent to Drake University in Iowa. During the course of that 19-year ministry, Tim became captivated by questions about food, our global food system, and the need for a strengthened circle of memory around how to grow food on simpler terms.  So, at 55 years of age, he quit his job and with his wife moved to a 10-acre farmstead they’ve named “Taproot Garden” located south of Des Moines where they cultivate a large garden and raise laying hens – an enterprise he refers to as a writing project with an outdoor classroom. IN THIS PODCAST: Greg interviews Tim and finds out what motivated Tim and his wife to move to the country and start focusing on growing food through simple techniques some of which are those which were used a couple generations back. Through experimentation, they have increased their harvests dramatically, and even Greg is blown away by how many tomatoes they got this year.  And there is a great story about a kindergartner's comment after visiting his farm which is awesomely rewarding to any farmer.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/27/tim-diebel/ for show notes and links. 

Ruwan leads product design at Replantable. While earning his Mechanical Engineering degree at Georgia Tech, he machined microfluidic devices and instructed students in the campus machine shop. He has used this fabrication knowledge to bring a hands-on design approach to startups like Intuitive Pickups as well as larger companies like Verizon Telematics.Costas is the director of the Center of Innovation for Energy Technology, where his mission is to help Georgia’s companies accelerate the development of new products, ideas and business models in the Energy ecosystem and maintain the State of Georgia’s leadership position in the fields of energy generation, transmission, distribution, storage and consumption.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg does a double interview with Ruwan, one of the inventors of a new appliance that grows food indoors, and Costas, the director of the Center that that helped bring the idea to the fruition. Ruwan shares the genesis story of the Nanofarm from Replantable and tells how they considered the purpose and function of soil as a growing medium. Costas explains the role of his agency and even how they were able to beta test the machines with the help of some high school classes in Georgia.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/24/ruwan-and-costas/ for show notes and links.

Cecilia is a Master Gardner, permaculturist, seed saver, a dowser and an herbalist.   Gardening has been a passion all her life.  She is the founder and owner of “Cecilia’s Garden” and has transformed her residence into an urban farm utilizing the front & back yards.  Her garden is a highly producing, self-sufficient sanctuary specializing in vegetables, fruit and eggs.  All of her produce is grown beyond organics – meaning she doesn’t use any of the approved 244 organic chemicals one can use and still be called organic.Cecilia’s produce is sold at local farmer’s markets and she also supplies produce for a local restaurant that supports locally grown veggies.The sense of community is strong in her neighborhood with neighbors dropping in to pick-up eggs, veggies, or fruit, or just for the opportunity to visit and enjoy the serenity of “Cecilia’s Garden.”IN THIS PODCAST: Cecilia opens up with Greg and shares her passion about…growing food as naturally as possible. Her garden is a local marvel with layers upon layers of permaculture techniques in use.  Even though they have known each other for years there is still many new things that Greg learns about Cecilia, including her epic number of compost bins.  Her thirst for knowledge is apparent and her willingness to put into action the nature based education she has gained over the years through various courses and sources is helping her produce dynamic results. Go to our Podcast page at https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/22/cecilia-nedelko/ to find photos, links, and more information on this podcast.

Simon grew up on a small farm in the hills of southwestern Pennsylvania before pursuing a degree in Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University. Soon after college, Simon helped a long-time western Colorado fruit farmer expand his operation to include vegetable production and a CSA program. The project grew to serve five area farmers markets and a 130-member CSA.During his tenure at the farm, Simon took advantage of his education in information technology to develop a highly interactive website for the CSA. In retrospect, this website was a prototype for what Small Farm Central would eventually become. After leaving the farm in the Fall of 2006, Simon started Small Farm Central with a core group of 10 farmers from across the country. In four years, Small Farm Central has grown to serve more than 1000 farmers (as of October 2015) across the U.S. and Canada.Outside of Small Farm Central, Simon is kept active by his two sons, Eliot (age 4) and Theo (age 1). He enjoys food experimentation projects like beer making, fermenting various vegetables, and whatever other challenges come up. The 70 acre family farm is still in the family, so there is a chance of returning to growing food some day!IN THIS PODCAST: Simon shares his story with Greg about how he went from avoiding the farm as a kid, to now using his technology skills to help farmers promote their farms online.  Farmers who are just starting out with a small farm, are the people that Simon is focusing on helping and he shares what some of the techniques and tools he has developed specifically for this unique market. With this they also discuss the differences between social media and email marketing.  Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/20/simon-huntley/ for show notes and links.

Denise is a grandmother of eight who was forced into retirement from a management position at the age of 57.  She and her husband rented a community garden plot of 1000 square feet to save money by supplementing their food and decided they could try to live on a lot less money since life was nicer without her working a 50-60 hour work week. Eventually they bought an old farmhouse on 1.7 acres 1-hour north of the city in southern Ontario, Canada and have developed raised beds, grow a good amount of their own produce and are starting with chickens this year.  They have found this has been a wonderful retirement solution for them.It has been a way to reduce expenses and yet create a lifestyle that is healthy, happy, and a wonderful example for their grandchildren who are learning all about where food comes from.IN THIS PODCAST: Denise tells Greg how one day she was unexpectedly retired and needed to start saving money.  After getting inspiration from a walk near a farmers’ market, she and her husband started with a small plot in a community garden and gained the confidence in what she could grow herself. A short time later they left that garden and moved to a larger property. Greg is moved by her story of her grandkids getting food from the garden. Then they share tips and suggestions on raising chickens. Denise has moved to the point of getting 60% of her food from her garden with a little from the farmers market.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/17/denise-stalder/ for show notes

Kami, author of The Herbal Kitchen, has spent the past 25 years helping people grow and use herbs so they can be more self-reliant in their health care needs. She is the creator of Herbal Kitchen Remedy Solutions, an online course that demystifies the world of herbal medicine and empowers people to use their garden for herbal self-care in the home to prevent illness and take care of common ailments.Kami has developed and taught herbal curriculum for the Complimentary and Alternative Medicine Department at University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing and the Integrative Health Master’s Degree Program at California Institute of Integral Studies. She has helped thousands of families to use herbs and natural remedies for their self-care to avoid the damaging effects of medications when not needed. She is dedicated to inspiring the Home Wellness Revolution where the use of home herbal remedies is a normal part of our cultural heritageIN THIS PODCAST: Kami joins Greg for an informative discussion on the value of herbs in our kitchens and our diets. She talks about how the garden and the spice rack are of central importance to the economy and health of a household. And she gives some great suggestions on how to use some common key herbs for improving and maintaining health. In addition, we have links to a free workbook with recipe instructions on how to use sage for health and wellness.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/15/kami-mcbride/ for show notes and links.

Catherine, The Herb Lady, Crowley is a self-taught, hands in the dirt, Urban Farmer who experiments and researches constantly for new and interesting edibles and old favorites.Catherine was given the nickname "The Herb Lady" when vendors and then customers at farmers markets would say "go ask the herb lady" for questions on herbs.  It stuck.Catherine has taught classes at various locations both private and public. She currently blogs and writes an irregular internet newsletter on greening, gardening and cooking in the Valley of the Sun and also participates in the Mesa Farmers Market.IN THIS PODCAST: Catherine shares with Greg some of her tricks that she has figured out for growing herbs in her garden in Phoenix. She explains how she learned about new herbs by asking her farmers market customers about their heritage, and how she experimented to expand her knowledge and skills. She talks about some of her favorites including nasturtium, stevia and Syrian oregano. She teaches Greg how to pick herbs for the best enjoyment and how to make a personal blend.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/13/catherine-crowley/ for show notes and links.