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Ep. 125 - The Rural Woman Podcast with Katelyn Duban Dec 06, 2022

Show notes

Throughout the month of December we’re going to do something a little different around here. I am going to treat you to several episodes of some other podcasts where I was invited to be a guest. I hope you’ll enjoying hearing some honest conversations about different topics related to farming and gardening as I speak with other podcasters within the Positively Farming Media podcast group on their shows, some of whom you’ve heard interviewed on this podcast.

So, without further ado let’s jump into this week’s episode. You heard Katelyn Duban of the Rural Woman Podcast on this show back on episode 88, where we talked about the ups and downs she went through while expanding her garden as a new gardener. I was a guest on Katelyn’s show talking at length about how I got started in gardening and farming and I’m super excited to share that episode with you here. I will link to the Rural Woman podcast in the show notes so you can find more of Katelyn when you’re through here. Let’s dig in!

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The Rural Woman Podcast

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Ep. 124 - Q & A: Is market gardening worth it? Is it too late to plant garlic? How do I know if my strawberries are dormant? Nov 29, 2022

Show notes

Let's do a Q & A! We’ll talk about whether or not market gardening is worth it, both from a personal satisfaction standpoint and from a monetary one, explore whether or not it’s too late in some areas to plant garlic, find out how to tell when your strawberries have gone dormant, and talk about a very interesting tip I learned about growing fruit trees in colder climates. You bet I’m going to be taking advantage of this little tidbit of information!

Let’s dig in.

Grow Guide Podcast E146: Inspiration For Adding Figs, Lemons and Olives to Your Northern Garden with Steven Biggs — The Grow Guide (thegrowguidepodcast.com)

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Ep. 123 - 2022 Gardener's Gift Guide Nov 22, 2022

Show notes

‘Tis the season! We’re moving into the time of the year when gift giving is on everybody’s mind. Whether you’re looking for gift ideas for the gardeners in your life or if your loved ones are asking for gift ideas for YOU, I’ve got a bunch of ideas in a variety of price ranges. Some of these are things that are on my own wish list and some of them are things I already own that I swear by or I upgraded to this year. This is a fun episode and hopefully you’ll come away with some great gift ideas for your favorite gardeners and maybe even yourself.

Let’s dig in!

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Ep. 122 - Planning a Drought-Resistant Garden: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques Nov 15, 2022

Show notes

This week we’re talking about how to use less water in the garden. We are still in drought conditions here in west central Missouri, it was a hard gardening year for sure, but I also know when I lived in northern California that water conservation was always a topic of discussion and that was 30 years ago. Many of you live in areas where water is just naturally scarce, and restrictions are always in place. So how do we, as gardeners, balance a need to grow our own food and in some instances food for others with the need to use less of a very precious resource. We’ll talk about tips, tricks, and techniques to keep your garden growing with less water input from the gardener.

On that same note, the question of the week involves choosing drought-tolerant varieties of plants and whether or not that benefit has any drawbacks, specifically how well the plant is then able to tolerate very wet conditions. So, if your garden is full of drought-tolerant plants and you’re suddenly inundated with several days of rain are you sunk?

And in the DRL, it’s serious freeze protection, the Moth, and a flashback to the 80s.

Let’s dig in!

Resources:

Book: “How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth”

Soil Texture Analysis “The Jar Test” | Home & Garden Information Center (clemson.edu)

80’s Pop Playlist on Spotify

Ep. 108 - Basics of Saving Seeds

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Ep. 121 - Transitioning from Military to Farming, with Arcenio Velez Nov 11, 2022

Show notes

There’s something to be said for military life. It’s regimented. There’s a strict hierarchy, there’s a chain of command, there are orders to follow, and you know day in and day out what your duties are. And if you’re someone who fits well into that sort of lifestyle and the mindset that’s necessary to take on the demands of being in that lifestyle, it can often be very, very difficult to transition back to civilian life where those things don’t always hold true.

There are a lot of military servicemembers who have seen and done things that make it almost impossible to functional in regular society. Working in agriculture in some way, whether it’s with crops or livestock or machinery or whatever, can help with the transition. It’s been proven.

In today’s interview we talk a little bit about why the unexpected parts of farming, that just don’t seem to meet the definition of a regimented lifestyle, actually fall right in line with what a veteran may be comfortable with.

Let’s dig in!

RESOURCES:

FARMER VETERAN COALITION (farmvetco.org)

Veterans & Beginning Farmers – National AgrAbility Project

Veterans to Farmers | Turning Protectors Into Providers

Veteran's Farming Initiative (veteransfarming.org)

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Ep. 120 - Growing for Farmers Market, Part Two: Planning, Planting and Pricing Nov 09, 2022

Show notes

This episode is the second of two parts talking about growing for farmer’s market. This week we’re digging into changes to your garden plan and other considerations around planning, planting, and pricing the produce you want to take to market. When I first started, I really thought it was just a matter of increasing the volume of what I grew, but it turned out to be a little bit more complicated than that. It’s not hard, but the amount of space you have to work with is going to dictate what you grow and how you grow it and that requires planning. Then once you get to harvest, how the heck do you decide what to charge?

Let’s dig in!

Resources:

Vegetable Crop Yields, Plants per Person, and Crop Spacing (harvesttotable.com)

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Ep. 119 - Growing for Farmers Market, Part One Nov 03, 2022

Show notes

This episode we’re going to get started with selling at farmer’s markets. This subject will be a two-parter. Planning a garden with the intention of selling some of it is different than just selling the extra you happen to grow, and we’ll talk all about all those details in part two. Today we’re going to walk through all the things I didn’t take into consideration before I started selling our produce in our CSA program and at multiple market stands. This is quite literally a “I did it all wrong so let me tell you how not to do it” episode!

In the question of the week, we’re talking green sweet potatoes. And in the DRL, it’s vintage camper life, crawdads, and a vegan running coach. Let’s dig in.

Camping, Campgrounds & Campsites | Camping Reservations | KOA

Podcast - The Planted Runner

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Ep. 118 - Cover Crops in the Home Garden Oct 25, 2022

Show notes

This episode we’re digging into how to use cover crops in our home gardens. I kept saying I needed to do a full episode on this and we’re doing it today. This is not reserved for just big farms with thousands of acres of land. Using a cover crop in the home garden is beneficial in all kinds of ways and can be tailored to what you need: improving soil structure, preventing erosion, as a living mulch, to add nutrients back into your soil, or all of the above. This is effective for both in-ground beds and raised planters. What you plant and when you plant it, and what you do with it when it’s done all depends on what you want to get out of it, so we’ll cover all the options and techniques for planting and terminating those crops and which crops work best for our individual garden needs.

And the question of the week is a two-parter! It’s about pruning nectarine trees and when to apply copper sprays or dormant oils. And how do you tell if a tree is dormant versus maybe, just dying? Let’s dig in!

Just Grow Something Gardening Friends Facebook Group

Cover Crop Collection for Planting - 9 Packets of Popular and Hardy Cover Crops

Black Rifle Coffee Club!

Blend of Gardening Cover Crop Seeds: Hairy Vetch, Daikon Radish and More

COVER CROP Premium Blend- Hairy Vetch, Crimson Clover, Peas, White Oats

Resources:

Terminating Cover Crops | Southern Cover Crops Council

Using Cover Crops and Green Manures in the Home Vegetable Garden – Wisconsin Horticulture

Tips for Planting Cover Crops in Home Gardens (psu.edu)

Cover crops and green manures in home gardens | UMN Extension

Farm Seed & Cover Crops | Comparison Chart (PDF) | Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com)

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Ep. 117 - Growing Cut Flowers in the Home Garden with Kathy Gormandy Oct 21, 2022

Show notes

This episode we are digging into growing cut flowers in our garden. I am not a flower farmer, I’m a mediocre flower grower at best, but I love having cut flowers in my house and I’m determined to grow my own at some point. And since right now is the time we should be preparing our beds for the spring, and flower beds would be no exception, I thought it was the perfect time to talk to an expert.

Kathy Gormandy is a cut flower farmer and the owner of P and K Farms, a 3-acre farmstead in southern Alabama. P and K Farms is a small sustainable family farm offering seasonal cut flowers, arrangements, and event work and Kathy got her start selling flowers at the farmers market just as a way to attract attention to her vegetable stand. She quickly realized the demand for those flowers outpaced any vegetable she could grow, and her flower farming journey began.

I sat down with Kathy to get advice on the easiest flowers to start with, perennials make good cut flowers, tips for how to keep blooms coming on all season long, the best soil conditions for growing flowers, and more. I got so much good information from this conversation and already have my wish list going for what I want to plant here for my own homegrown bouquets. Get ready to take notes because Kathy is a wealth of information and a joy to listen to. Let’s dig in!

P&K Farms (pkfarmlife.com)

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Kathy Gormandy (@kathyzitnik) • Instagram photos and videos

P&K Farms | Facebook

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