The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

Latest Episodes:

192: Gene Baur on Protecting Farm Animals Feb 04, 2017

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192: Gene Baur on Protecting Farm Animals.

Making choices to help defend animals in industrial agriculture.

Gene is co‑founder and president of Farm Sanctuary, a national non-profit organization working to end cruelty to farm animals and change the way society views and treats farm animals. Hailed as “the conscience of the food movement” by TIME magazine and recently selected by Oprah Winfrey to join her Super Soul 100 dream team of “100 awakened leaders who are using their voices and talent to elevate humanity,” he was a pioneer in undercover investigations and instrumental in passing the first U.S. laws to ban inhumane factory farming practices.

He has traveled extensively, campaigning to raise awareness about the abuses of animal agriculture and our cheap food system. Gene is the author of two national bestselling books: Farm Sanctuary: Changing Hearts and Minds about Animals and Food, and Living the Farm Sanctuary Life: The Ultimate Guide to Eating Mindfully, Living Longer, and Feeling Better Every Day.

Gene has a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University, and is a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Vegan since 1985, he’s recently started competing in marathons and triathlons, including an Ironman, to demonstrate the benefits of plant-based eating.

In this podcast: The co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, Gene Baur, tells Greg about his life as a vegan and triathlete as well as what prompted him to create a safe facility for rescued farm animals. He has many helpful tips for those who are wanting to try the meatless lifestyle and diet, and he shares some insight on how to work with those you disagree with.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/02/04/gene-baur/y for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to hear our other great guests.

191: Petra Page-Mann on Certified Organic Seeds Feb 02, 2017

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191: Petra Page-Mann on Certified Organic Seeds.

Selecting bio-regionally adapted seeds and pursuing seed transparency.

Raised in the Finger Lakes of New York, Petra spent over a decade traveling the world studying agriculture before returning to her hometown to start her own farm, Fruition Seeds, in 2012. She has worked for one of the smallest seed companies in the world & also one of the largest. She passionately grows, breeds, saves, shares & eats the seeds of certified organic, regionally adapted vegetables, flowers & herbs. If she’s not farming she is singing, on her bike, hunting mushrooms or sharing a feast with a friend.

IN THIS PODCAST: Organic seed seller Petra Page-Mann chats with Greg about bio-regional adaptations in seeds, genetic purity in seeds, a special heatless habanero, and her seed company which is focused on organic seeds with genetic purity and transparency.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/02/02/petra-page-mann/ for show notes and links.

190: Grace Gershuny on The Organic Revolution Jan 30, 2017

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190: Grace Gershuny on The Organic Revolution.

Recollecting early food system activism.

Grace is widely known as an author, educator and organic consultant. In the 1990's she served on the staff of the USDA’s National Organic Program, where she helped write the regulations. She learned much of what she knows through her longtime involvement with the grassroots organic movement, where she organized conferences and educational events and developed an early organic certification program for the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA).

She currently teaches in the Green Mountain College online Masters in Sustainable Food Systems program and serves on the Board of the Institute for Social Ecology. She has a Masters in Extension Education from the University of Vermont, with a self-designed concentration in Ecological Agriculture.

Doing business as GAIA Service she works as an independent organic inspector. She also does consulting for private and non-profit clients on all aspects of organic certification, developing related standards and certification systems, and training programs. A reformed market gardener, Grace still grows her own veggies and chicken in Barnet, Vermont.

In this podcast: Greg is impressed when he gets a chance to talk with Grace who tells about being part of the early organic food movement and her part in writing the first standards for organic food regulation. Her story is important for anyone who is interested in being active in writing food policy for our legislators.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/01/30/grace-gershuny/ for show notes and links.

189: Manuel Gonzalez on Innovation in Food and Ag. Jan 28, 2017

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189: Manuel Gonzalez on Innovation in Food and Ag.

Pitching food and agriculture related business ideas to potential investors.

Manuel is the North America Head of StartUp Innovation at Rabobank, where he leads the growth of their start-up platform build through FoodBytes! and new Accelerator, Terra. At the same time, he focuses on developing plans around how relationships with startup firms can benefit corporate clients. Manuel has been Head of the San Francisco Office of StartUp Innovation since 2012, where he led a process that greatly strengthened relationships with corporate clients in the Western Region of the US.

He joined Rabobank in 1996 as a project manager. In 2003, he was named Head of Credit, and a year later became Head of Credit and Legal. Manuel was appointed Deputy General Manager in 2007, and just a year later promoted to General Manager in 2008.

Under his leadership, the Mexico franchise significantly strengthened business performance, achieving considerable increases in revenue, cross-sell and net income. Manuel was instrumental in building a strong local investment banking team, and in fostering a high-performance culture focused on enhancing client relationships.

In this podcast: Manuel is someone who works to help people with food-and-ag related business ideas connect with investors and start the process towards funding those ideas. He tells Greg about the FoodBytes business pitch event that is focused on food and ag, as well as Terra and Rabobank with their focus on innovation in this business field. His take on how to deal with failure is something every person who runs or hopes to run their own business should hear.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/01/28/manuel-gonzalez/ for show notes and links.

188: Megan Whatton on The Urban Habitat Network Jan 26, 2017

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188: Megan Whatton on The Urban Habitat Network.

Mapping the habitats of wildlife around the world a section at a time.

Megan is the Urban Habitat Network Manager for The Nature Conservancy. She works with scientists, partners, private landowners, citizen scientists and volunteers to re-imagine their properties as habitat for the benefit of wildlife and people. Most recently she was the volunteer coordinator for the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute on the eMammal project to monitor mammal populations in the mid-Atlantic region. Megan has a M.S. Degree in Environmental Science and Policy from George Mason University and B.S. Degree from Ball State University.

In this podcast: Megan introduces Greg and his listeners to the Nature Conservancy and the Habitat Network Project. This project creates citizen scientists around the globe and is working to map the globe with their data to paint a picture of the wildlife in every part of the world. Megan explains how this project got started and how easy, fun and rewarding being a member of the network can be.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/01/26/megan-whatton/ for show notes and links.

187: Sherrie Pelsma on Macro Photography in the Garden Jan 24, 2017

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187: Sherrie Pelsma on Macro Photography in the Garden.

Looking at garden wildlife from a whole new perspective.

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 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 quickly blossomed into the love that drove the founding of the project Pollinator Parkways.

In this podcast: Greg gets a chance to talk with Sherrie about her garden photography. Sheri has been developing her skills with macro photography and loves to share the results with her projects and her community. Here she helps explains the basics of garden photography, and tells how looking through the camera lens has given her a whole new perspective on the tiny lifeforms around her.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/01/24/sherrie-pelsma-2/ for show notes and links.

186: Robin Kelson on Seed Saving-Resiliency. Jan 21, 2017

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186: Robin Kelson on Seed Saving-Resiliency.

Keeping the strength of genetic traits through community sharing of seeds.

Robin is the owner of the Good Seed Company - “heirloom seeds for common use,” a small heirloom vegetable, flower and herb seed company based in Whitefish, MT and dedicated to helping re-establish the community practice of selecting, saving and sharing seeds for common use.

The Good Seed Company envisions becoming a model for cultivating community-grown resilient seeds, seed savers and gardeners, and offers “workshops from soil to seed” under the trade name: “DIY:GROW”, including a one-year “seed steward” internship. DIY:GROW seeks to reduce the barrier to entry for anyone wanting to take control of their food.

A biochemist and attorney by training, Robin has spent over 30 years exploring human vitality, resiliency, and patterns in the natural world. In support of cultivating a sustainability perspective for our common future, she also offers "The Resiliency Dialogues", presentations for all audiences that introduce simple tools from nature for practicing resiliency in any context and to invite dialogue on this subject.

In this podcast: Greg talks to a former lawyer Robin Kelson who now runs The Good Seed Company. She shares her story about the unexpected transition in her life leading her to her work around seeds. One of the big events in her new life is an epic community event focused on seed saving and sharing. She also explains why the company is using seeds from backyard growers.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/01/21/robin-kelson/ for show notes and links.

185: Elaine Ingham on Life in the Soil. Jan 19, 2017

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185: Elaine Ingham on Life in the Soil.

Examining the biology of healthy soil to improve plant growth.

Dr. Elaine Ingham is the Founder, President and Director of Research for Soil Foodweb Inc., a business that grew out of her Oregon State University research program. Behind her user-friendly approach to soil lies a wealth of knowledge gained from years of research into the organisms which make up the soil food web. Her goal is to translate this knowledge into actions that ensure a healthy food web that promotes plant growth and reduces reliance on inorganic chemicals. Elaine also offers a pioneering vision for sustainable farming, improving our current soils to a healthier state, without damaging any other ecosystem.

In her spare time, Elaine publishes scientific papers, writes book chapters and gives talks at symposia around the world. Elaine and her husband Russ (who also has a Doctorate from Colorado State University in Zoology, emphasizing nematology,) live in Corvallis Oregon.

In this podcast: Greg talks with one of the foremost experts on soil health Dr. Elaine Ingham and learns a lot about the world of microbiological life in the soil. Her studies have been amazing and it is easy to see how being a student in one of her classes can be quite informative. She tells about how she became so focused on the microbiological life in the soil and educates us on the importance of those first few dozen inches of earth our food is grown in. This is a mini course of science in just one podcast.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/01/19/elaine-ingham/ for show notes and links.

184: Michael Phillips on Holistic Orcharding Jan 17, 2017

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184: Michael Phillips on Holistic Orcharding.

Growing fruit trees by creating a healthy ecosystem.

Michael is known across the country for helping people grow healthy apples and understand the healing virtues of plant medicines. The “community orchard movement” he helped institute can be found at GrowOrganicApples.com and provides a full immersion into the holistic approach to orcharding. His farm, Lost Nation Orchard, is part of a diversified medicinal herb farm in northern New Hampshire. There, two acres of trees supply local families with many varieties of organic apples, and has a cider mill in the planning stages.

Michael is the author of The Apple Grower: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist, and The Holistic Orchard and co-author with his wife Nancy for The Herbalist’s Way: The Art and Practice of Healing with Plant Medicines. His newest book, Mycorrhizal Planet: How Symbiotic Fungi Work with Roots to Support Plant Health and Build Soil Fertility, will be available in March 2017. Michael was honored by Slow Food USA to receive the first Betsy Lydon Ark Award for his work promoting healthy ways to grow fruit.

IN THIS PODCAST: Greg has found an east coast twin when he talks to a fruit tree farmer named Michael Phillips who has been growing apple trees in New Hampshire with a care that works for the health of the trees and the ecosystem in which they live. Michael grows and sells fruit trees and he focuses a lot of offering tree growing education as well. He shares his main points of growing healthy fruit trees and explains why some of the steps are so beneficial to trees.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/01/17/michael-phillips/ for show notes and links.

183: Shawn Jadrnicek on The Bio-Integrated Farm. Jan 14, 2017

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183: Shawn Jadrnicek on The Bio-Integrated Farm.

Maximizing functions from landscape elements to save time, energy and money.

Shawn has nourished his interest in sustainability through work as an organic farmer, nursery grower, extension agent, arborist, and landscaper, and now as the manager of Clemson University’s Student Organic Farm. From his earliest permaculture experiments with no-till farming in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California to his highly functional bio-integrated designs in the Southeast, Shawn has learned how to cultivate food in a variety of climates and landscapes. He shares his creative solutions through teaching, consulting, design work and his book The Bio-Integrated Farm: A Revolutionary Permaculture Based System Using Greenhouses, Ponds, Compost Piles, Aquaponics, Chickens and More - Published by Chelsea Green.

IN THIS PODCAST: Greg meets Shawn who explains a key permaculture concept of having multiple functions from one element. Shawn tells how he has designed many projects focusing on elements that have at least seven functions each. With his experience, he has brought together several examples in his new book and so he shares some ideas in this interview.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/01/14/shawn-jadrnicek/ for show notes and links.