The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

Latest Episodes:

212: Jenny Beasley on Community Gardening Mar 23, 2017

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212: Jenny Beasley on Community Gardening

Building a community revitalization garden project from scratch.

Jenny received her certification as a health coach at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City along with her Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Northern Arizona University. She is currently the Director of Heart for the City Community Garden located in Glendale, AZ.

She became involved with Heart for the City seven years ago, a non-profit that helps change lives of inner city at risk youth by walking life with them. She was asked to spearhead a 1/2-acre community revitalization project.... a community garden in which they educate Title 1 school children and their families on gardening and provide families ways of growing their own healthy foods.

She decided to become a health coach to fulfill her passion of working with individuals to enhance their own well-being.

In this podcast: Starting a community garden from scratch is no easy feat, and Greg talks with Jenny Beasley to hear about her work to bring a bare lot to life with a very thriving and highly appreciated garden resource in her community.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/23/jenny-beasley/ for show notes

211: Colin Austin on Wicking Beds and Healthy Food Mar 21, 2017

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211: Colin Austin on Wicking Beds and Healthy Food

Examining wicking garden beds and bio-intensive vegetables.

In this Podcast: We get to meet a gardening pioneer when Greg talks to Colin Austin who is known world-wide as the man who engineered a simple but highly popular garden bed called a wicking bed. Greg learns why Colin was motivated to create the beds and how the wicking process works. Then they go further to talk about why healthy food is so important to him and his family.

Many years ago, at the birth of the computer revolution Colin learned to write code and set-up a company which grew to become Australia’s leading exporter of technical software. Then twenty years ago, Colin developed a growing system, which is known today as wicking bed technology and has gone feral worldwide. He runs a website WaterRight.com.au and a newsletter which are leading sources of information on wicking bed growing technology around the globe.

Colin’s wife was very healthy and after moving to Australia from China she developed diabetes when she transitioned to a Western style diet. Consequently, he has spent many years studying the causes and remedies for diabetes. This complex disease involves many factors such as genetics and life style stress but the dominating one of course is diet. As a result of this research he is developing a new farming technology for growing in nutrient dense soil which is very biologically. He says living soils are based on recycling waste and are regenerative. He believes we have been destroying our soil and that we are now approaching peak soil.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/21/colin-austin/ for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to hear from our other great guests.

210: Don Titmus on a Synopsis of Permaculture Mar 18, 2017

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210: Don Titmus on a Synopsis of Permculture.

Chat with an Permaculture Expert

In this Chat with an Expert Podcast: Greg chats with Permaculture expert Don Titmus who has been teaching permaculture techniques for for more than a decade and working in landscape design for more than three decades. They talk about what Permaculture is, a synopsis of the key elements of Permaculture Design Course education and how it can change your perspectives on the world around you.

Don grew up in London and at age 16 spent 4 years being trained in horticulture through an apprenticeship and a college course. From there he continued landscaping in his hometown until he moved to Arizona in 1981, where he worked in landscaping and then starting his own business in garden maintenance.

In 2003 he attended a Permaculture Design Course, which was life-changing for Don. He knew right away that this was the path he’d been waiting for, and later attended two Permaculture Teacher Trainings.

He co-founded the Phoenix Permaculture Guild, started a Permaculture design company, redesigned his home site into a permaculture destination, and helped develop a thriving permaculture community in the Phoenix, Arizona area. He has presented in 5 cities, worked in several states, attended classes in 5 states, and pretty much lives and breathes permaculture.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/18/don-titmus-cwe/ for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to hear from our other great guests

209: Alastair Monk on The Future of Growing Food Mar 16, 2017

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209: Alastair Monk on The Future of Indoor Ag.

Creating technology to help gardeners and farmers control their greenhouse watering systems.

Alastair, or Ally, is the CEO and Co-founder of Motorleaf, which created the first wireless, automated, indoor growing system.

A native from the UK, Ally has lived and worked in North America since 1999. He has a history of success within the technology sector, providing his 3 children, wife and Husky Dog (Shadow) a rich life filled with nature and opportunity.

Ally loves to keep it simple and he says he wakes up each morning feeling hungry. Hungry for company growth, hungry for new product features, and hungry for new happy customers.

In This Podcast: Greg talks to Ally and finds out what it is like to be a founding partner in a brand-new company that is focusing on making indoor gardening easier.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/16/alastair-monk/ for show notes and links.

208: Chat with an Expert - Catherine Crowley "The Herb Lady" Mar 14, 2017

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208: Chat with an Expert - Catherine Crowley "The Herb Lady"

Catherine, The Herb Lady, is a self-taught, hands-in-the-dirt, Urban Farmer who experiments and researches constantly for new and interesting edibles as well as playing with old favorites. She was given the nickname "The Herb Lady" when vendors and customers at farmers markets would say "go ask the herb lady" for questions on herbs. It stuck. Catherine has taught many cooking and gardening classes at various locations private and public including the notable Boyce Thompson Arboretum which is an Arizona State Park, and Phoenix’s own Desert Botanical Garden. She has been a newspaper columnist for 4 years writing on growing and using edible herbs. Catherine has a blog online and is a regular vendor at her local Farmers Market.

In this Podcast: Chatting with Herb expert Catherine Crowley about growing herbs and using them in cooking other beneficial ways. She and Greg explore many of the different unique and awesome aspects of a myriad of herbs that can be grown in the home gardens and urban farms, with a special emphasis on garlic.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/14/cwe-catherine-the-herb-lady-crowley/ for show notes and links.

207: Megan Cain on Garden Planning Mar 11, 2017

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207: Megan Cain on Garden Planning

Joining a Legion of Gardening addicts through sensible preparation and design.

Megan grew up an urban girl in a row home in Philadelphia. She never saw a vegetable growing in the ground until well into her 20’s. A few years ago, she quit her job and traveled to Africa for two months to volunteer with a fair trade organization. Now, she is a garden educator, writer and speaker. She has developed one of the first youth gardening programs in Madison, designed and installed gardens in many homeowners’ yards, managed a quarter-acre youth farm, worked on CSA farms, created a series of gardening class that often have waiting lists, and tends to a large home garden. She knows what works and what doesn’t…and loves to share it.

Megan is setting out to create a legion of gardening addicts that successfully and passionately grow their own food. Through her gardening education business, The Creative Vegetable Gardener, she helps people get more from their gardens by first mastering the essentials and then indulging in the colorful details that make gardening not just a favorite pastime, but a lifestyle.

In This Podcast: Acquiring a love of gardening transformed Megan into a fully focused farmer and she tells Greg how she went from being an naive urbanite with no plant growing experience to a gardening educator and resource to kids and adults alike.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/11/megan-cain/ for show notes and links.

206: Allison Duffy on Food Preservation. Mar 09, 2017

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206: Allison Duffy on Food Preservation.

Canning and other preservation techniques to safely store foods longer.

Allison has been growing and preserving food for over fifteen years. She is a Master Food Preserver, trained through the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, and holds a Master’s Degree in Gastronomy from Boston University. She has written about food for various publications including the Boston Globe, Backpacker magazine, and Taproot magazine, and is the author of the book Preserving with Pomona's Pectin.

She regularly writes and develops recipes for the Pomona Pectin company, and blogs at her own website CanningCraft.com plus she teaches canning and preserving classes. Allison lives on several acres in Mid-coast Maine with her husband Ben and their two young boys, where they tend an apple orchard, look after a way-too-big vegetable garden, take care of chickens, and put up as much food as they can manage.

In this podcast: Canning food is a favorite topic of Greg’s so of course he was excited to talk to Allison about her experiences and get some tips from her as well. As a bonus, they also chatted about her ‘too big’ garden and how this homestead is so rewarding for her family.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/09/allison-duffy/ for show notes and links.

205: Nancy Bailey on Prolific Vegetables in Small Spaces Mar 07, 2017

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Nancy Bailey on Prolific Vegetables in Small Spaces.

Increasing the yield of a small garden through planning and care.

Nancy had an idyllic childhood growing up in western New York State, right next door to her grandfather who she adored. He had a small farm where he raised a few head of beef cattle and always had a few dozen chickens. While much of the 10-acres was devoted to raising hay and grain to feed and bed the cattle, her father and grandfather also managed a large vegetable garden and an apple orchard.

The garden produced a considerable bounty which her mom canned and froze; and while young, it didn’t occur to Nancy to consider how special it was to be fed on free-range grass-fed beef and farm fresh eggs, and to eat organically grown fruits and vegetables year-round. Today she looks back and realizes how lucky and loved she was.

Although she’s always had a passion for ornamental horticulture, it wasn’t until retirement 2 years ago, that she got serious in raising vegetables and composting. By adding micro-nutrients and her own amendments, each season has yielded a more prolific harvest. Although her vegetable garden is less than 200 square feet, she reaps far more produce than she and her husband can consume. She says she raises vegetables for the joy of watching them grow as well as to consume and share with the neighbors.

In this podcast: Greg chats with Nancy, an urban farmer from Southern California who explains how she is maximizing the potential of her very small garden. She has faced off critters of various sizes with some ingenious tricks and she is using soil amendments to make her soil healthy and her plants happy and productive.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/07/nancy-bailey/ for show notes and links.

204: Vanessa Sardi on Farm over Pharma Mar 04, 2017

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204: Vanessa Sardi on Farm over Pharma.

Learning how to prevent health issues through achievable diet changes.

Vanessa is Certified Health and Nutrition Coach with a unique perspective on health and wellness. She has a Master's degree in Cardiopulmonary Physiology, a bachelor’s in Sports Medicine, clinical work in Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation, and research/sales positions in pharmaceutical and gene expression testing. Vanessa has a passion for nutrition & helping others to live healthy, fueled by her background and consistent studies.

When Vanessa realized that “more pills” wasn’t the answer to better health, she walked away from her cushy salary as an Executive Sales Rep for one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world to start her own business, Nutriception®. As a Certified Health and Nutrition coach, she is now driven to help people get off their meds, many of which she promoted herself, and improve their health via a whole-foods, plant-based lifestyle. Vanessa’s slogan says it all…FARM over PHARMA.

In this podcast: Greg finds another EPIC moment in this interview with Vanessa Sardi who tells why she decided to stop selling pharmaceutical drugs and instead is focusing on preventing issues through teaching about healthy diet choices. Tired of feeling like she was adding to problems, she wanted to be part of the solution and she went out and found a way to do just that.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/04/vanessa-sardi/ for show notes and links.

203: Anna Swanson and Meg Stratton on School and Community Gardens Mar 02, 2017

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Anna Swanson and Meg Stratton on School and Community Gardens

Helping kids and community members understand food origins.

Megan is a student at Binghamton University, and was drawn into the world of food and agriculture as a powerful way to address a range of current environmental, social, and ethical issues. After graduating with a self-designed degree focused on sustainable food systems, she moved to Glocester to join the FoodCorps. As a two-term FoodCorps service member, Meghan has been involved in all aspects of the Backyard Growers' school programs.

Anna graduated from the College of William and Mary with a BA in Africana Studies and a minor in Environmental Studies. Looking for a way to integrate her desire to work for social justice and her interest in environmental sustainability, Anna became Backyard Growers’ first FoodCorps service member in the fall of 2013. After her year of service, she moved back to her hometown of Philadelphia, where she taught farm, food, and nutrition classes on the farm and in Philadelphia schools.

In this podcast: Greg chats with an inspiring couple of women from Backyard Growers. Anna and Meghan help explain the purpose of this community organization and how satisfying it is to watch kids and community members learn about growing food and cooking the food they grow.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/02/anna-swanson-and-meghan-stratton/ for show notes and links.