The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

Keeping people at the core of small business success.In This Podcast: When an entrepreneurial opportunity came his way, Carl Atwell jumped on board with a passion. He is now president of Gempler’s and is building it again with a commitment towards his customers and employees. He shares the story of how Gempler’s was created with a focus on good values and how he connected with that. He also explains how the relationship with his customers and employees is so important to him and to his vision for the company.Carl has spent 25 years working toward the dream of someday owning a company centered around employees and customers.  In January he purchased Gempler’s, an 80-year-old farm-and-home-store that helps anyone who works outdoors.Gempler’s is an independent farming and outdoor-work supply company with a promise to treat you like a neighbor, not a number. They provide innovative products to make the hardest outdoor jobs easier with fair pricing, and friendly service every time.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/07/20/463-carl-atwell/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.463: Carl Atwell on Entrepreneurship and Valued Relationships

Turning garden pests into edible treats.In This Podcast: Her 9-year-old son wanted to eat snails while in France, and once home he wanted to eat the garden snails too – so food writer Molly Watson did the research and figured out how to harvest and cook the snails they collected. Her down to earth descriptions can help any gardener who wondered if the pests had an edible purpose. She also shares a lot about her research for her upcoming book about how to decide about being vegan.Molly is the editor-in-chief of Edible Communities, the flagship website for a network of 80+ hyper-local food magazines across the US and Canada. She is the author of Bowls! (2017) and Greens + Grains (2014), both from Chronicle Books, as well as the forthcoming Should We All Be Vegan? out this fall (2019) from Thames & Hudson. She lives in San Francisco where the winters feel colder than her native Minnesota, no matter what the local say.Molly hates to garden! She’s tried it, she wants to like it, but she just doesn’t! She wrote about it a bit in her award-winning piece “Cooking’s Not for Everyone,” about how people shouldn’t have to cook (garden) to have high-quality, locally grown, sustainable food. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/07/16/462-molly-watson/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.462: Molly Watson on Harvesting Garden Snails

Investing in small agriculture businesses.Production farming in America is not an easy business path to start on without some help or connections.  Appreciating the value of farming after his travels in the US Navy, Chris Rawley realized these challenges farmers face when trying start or expand small-to-midsize farms and decided he could help. He breaks down the basic process for agriculture investing outside of traditional bank loans and the benefits for both farmers and investors. Check out his article too!As a career naval officer, Chris has traveled the world. Over the course of visiting dozens of war-torn and poverty-stricken countries, he began to appreciate the importance of farming to every single person on earth. As a professional investor, he decided to invest in a farm, but discovered that these types of investments were inaccessible to the average person. He created Harvest Returns in 2016 to democratize investments in agriculture.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/07/13/461-chris-rawley/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests - and check out his article at www.urbanfarm.org/investinfoodsystem461: Chris Rawley on Alternative Funding for Urban Farmers

Making the hatching of backyard chickens easy and fun.In This Podcast:  If you are not careful, you might find that hatching eggs can quite easily develop into a passion, just ask Pascale Pearce! She took a job that needed her to hatch eggs at least once, so she knew what she was talking about – and now she loves to help others understand the process.  She shares some key points about incubating bird eggs and starting the chicks off right.We also include a link to a great article from her with even more info!A native of France, Pascale is a graduate of Bordeaux Business School where she earned an MBA specializing in International Trade. In 1994 in the UK, she started as Brinsea Export Manager and joined Brinsea USA in 1998 shortly after its creation where she was in charge of business development.Brinsea® is a family run business offering bird breeding and veterinarian products. Established in 1976 by an engineer with an interest in breeding birds it quickly became a passion, which coupled with his background and enthusiasm has produced the most innovative egg incubators and brooders available.With 25 years’ experience in the bird breeding and animal intensive care, Pascale enjoys sharing her knowledge of incubation with backyard breeders to make hatching an enjoyable experience they will want to repeat.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/07/09/460-pascale-pearce/ for more on this podcast, and www.urbanfarm.org/hatchingeggs for her article.460: Pascale Pearce on Egg Incubation for Beginners

Expecting that ruralization is the next evolution.In This Podcast: Studying the changes in shifting populations, Jason Bradford is predicting the trend for urban growth is going to reverse. He breaks down why our energy dependency is indicating a reversal, why technology is creating discounted problems, and more importantly why personal action toward energy literacy and resilience is critical. He talks about what to do as the approaching change draws near. Jason has been affiliated with Post Carbon Institute since 2004, first as a Fellow and then as a Board Member. He graduated from U.C. Davis with a B.S. in biology before earning his doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis, where he also taught ecology. He’s worked for the Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development at the Missouri Botanical Garden, was a Visiting Scholar at U.C. Davis, and co-founded the Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research Group.After all that, Jason shifted from academia to learn more about and practice sustainable agriculture. completed training with Ecology Action (aka GrowBiointensive) in Willits, California, and founded Brookside School Farm.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/07/06/459-jason-bradford/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.459: Jason Bradford on Rural Living as our Future

Bringing concentrated, jam-packed garden education to life.Her passion for bringing people together in educational garden summits is quite evident when you listen to Stacey Murphy tell us what she has planned this year.  She explains why she started presenting her summits and some of the exciting results she’s getting in return.  She also talks about how food dies, nutrients are lost every day and what you can do about it. Her collection of experts will be covering several topics related to growing superfoods in your garden.Stacey has helped tens of thousands of new gardeners from six continents grow vegetables and herbs in small spaces, and enjoy a green lifestyle nourished with fresh, homegrown food. With her holistic garden system, she teaches what to grow in any climate. Stacey is a garden geek, growing food since 1979, and her superpower is packing, literally, tons of vegetables and herbs into tight spaces.Featured on Martha Stewart Radio and PBS’s Growing a Greener World, Stacey believes growing food organically is the best health plan for people, communities, and the earth.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/07/02/458-stacey-murphy/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.458: Stacey Murphy on the Superfood Garden Summit

Developing a relationship between primary pollinators and growers.Realizing that his apple trees were barely producing compared to his neighbors, Dave Hunter found the answer was mason bees.  His hobby increased his harvest, and eventually his new passion developed into a brand-new industry and a new company. Now he is working hard to educate how mason bees and leaf cutter bees are a significant pollination solution. His goal is to build more native bee industries around the world. Dave is the founder and owner of Crown Bees, a native bee company in Woodinville, WA that sells bees and products online, to nurseries and farmers. His experience with mason bees extends over two decades. Dave founded the commercial mason bee industry, Orchard Bee Association, and works with researchers to ensure that what Crown Bees practices is both ethical for the bee and efficient for the farmer/gardener.  He co-authored the book The Mason Bee Revolution, and speaks to gardeners, farmers, and researchers throughout the year.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/06/29/457-dave-hunter/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.Also - Check out Dave’s post on our Blog: The Future of Food ~ Native BeesThis contest period has expired. 457: Dave Hunter on Native Bees

Bringing a whole system approach of design and nature to the farm.In This Podcast: Taking a permaculture course as a young adult gave Raven Venturelli the confidence and inspiration to start her own farm. However, finding land in California to develop her nature-based farming concepts was difficult so she followed her parents and moved to Arizona. She has used her holistic design methodology to build a farming business the way she wants and the quality and diversity of produce at Blue Apple Farm has developed a following at the local farmer’s market. Raven is a small farmer and activist for environmental and social justice. She has been studying Permaculture Design for ten years and manages Blue Apple Farm in Cornville, Arizona. She is on the board of the Sedona-based non-profit, Gardens for Humanity, on the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance Teaching Team, and runs the Verde Valley Seed Library. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/06/25/456-raven-venturelli/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.456: Raven Venturelli on Permaculture for the Small Farm

Creating healing tonics from common and locally foraged plants.In This Podcast: Growing up in a plant based family and then struggling with health concerns it felt natural for Devon Young to turn to herbals remedies for wellness and relief. When she started noticing results, she focused on helping others as expanded her knowledge through studies and training. She shares some key details about how to make typical remedies and why her new book is jam packed with details on 50 North American herbs.Devon, founder of the holistic lifestyle blog Nitty Gritty Life, is a trained herbalist and is well practiced in developing and implementing herbal remedies. She has a degree in Complementary and Alternative Medicine from The American College of Healthcare Sciences, and is the author of THE BACKYARD HERBAL APOTHECARY.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/06/22/455-devon-young/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.This contest period has expired.455: Devon Young on Medicinal Remedies

Bonus Episode 28: Seed Saving Class May 2019. In This Bonus Podcast: Once again we join a conversation with Bill McDorman and Greg Peterson to learn about growing from seed, growing for seed, and why our seeds are so important in these changing times. This is the replay of the May 2019 Seed Saving Class - In this class he covers seed school, how to become a teacher, allowing plants to go to seed, and of course a few more things as well.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/06/18/bonus28/ for more information and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.