The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

Teaching how to garden with limited space.In This Podcast: Struggling with their children’s multiple food allergies convinced Nicky Schauder and her husband Dave to go organic. Dealing with the expense of all this organic food impelled them to start growing it themselves. Thus began their adventure with permaculture and gardening in small spaces. They’ve incorporated many techniques, which they call multipliers, to increase their yield, from 3-dimensional gardening to low tunnel gardening. Among the many bonuses of this lifestyle is the improved health of their children. Nicky and Dave now offer classes to help families just like theirs reap the same benefits. Nicky and her husband Dave are passionate about helping suburban families grow their own food.  Together, they run Permaculture Gardens a web portal to help you grow abundantly!In 2017, Permaculture Gardens won the grand prize at the Green Festivals in Washington DC for “Most Innovative Sustainable Brand.” Their work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Permaculture Research Institute - Australia and Green America.org.  They also volunteer at their local Title 1 school and started a permaculture garden after-school program for the elementary kids there.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/01/29/419_nicky-schauder/ for show notes and links.Nicky Schauder on Growing Food in Small Spaces

Promoting ecological diversity and preserving the health of our planet.In This Podcast: With a passion for growing in her genes, Kat Granger joined a horticulture group, became a Master Gardener, and went to seed school to learn all she could about her subject. Speaking to groups about her vegetables led to selling those vegetable seeds to her interested audience members. This eventually led to her seed business, Seeds of IMBOLC. Kat sees how a disconnection with the earth has led to so many problems with people’s health and well-being and works tirelessly to help reconnect people with nature with her authentically organic seeds. Kat is a Master Gardener and creator of Seeds of IMBOLC, in Fergus, Ontario, Canada where she grows heirloom organic seeds and plants and is a grower for a larger organic seed group. She has been featured on the TV show “Let’s Get Growing”, and in OMAFRA produce videos, spoken at Canada Blooms, the Pollination Guelph Symposium, and at Seedy Saturdays. She is an instructor with the Upper Grand District School District, hosts a monthly newsletter “Home on the Grange”, and enjoys sparking gardening addictions. Kat is a member of Seeds of Diversity, Seed Savers Exchange, and the Ontario Biodynamic Society – plus a graduate of Seed School Online.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/01/26/418-kat-granger/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.Kat Granger on Starting a Small Seed Business.

 Farming with an eye on the future.In This Podcast:  As a child Michael Foley visited a Montana ranch and dreamed of being a gentleman farmer one day.  His path however, took him into academia. After being estranged from the land for several years he eventually found his way back to farming. Today Michael, along with his wife and daughter, farm on their micro-farm, often trading goods with neighbors. He believes that farmers need to think of more than profitability when analyzing the bottom line.  Providing for themselves and their neighbors and building networks among themselves in order to help one another should also be priorities. Michael is very proud of his work with the School of Adaptive Agriculture and delights in helping to populate the farm scene in his area with young people from this farm training program. After twenty years in academia, Michael became a farmer. He started in southern Maryland, then moved to Willits, California, where he, his wife, and oldest daughter operate Green Uprising Farm.  He is a co-founder, board member, and teacher at the School of Adaptive Agriculture (formerly known as the Grange Farm School), a farmer training and education program.  Michael has helped create and manage a community kitchen and small farmers group, manage the local farmers market, and has served as both vice president of the Mendocino County Farmers Market Association & president of Little Lake Grange.  And with all that, he found time to write Farming for the Long Haul Published by our friends at Chelsea Green.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/01/22/417-michael-foley/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.The contest period of this episode has expired. Michael Foley on Building a Viable Small Farm Economy

Bonus Episode 23: Seed Saving Class November 2018. A chat with an expert on Seeds. In This Bonus Podcast:  There is always a bounty of information available in conversations with Bill McDorman. This is the November 2018 episode of a Seed Saving Class - learn about the seed paradigm and  seed history. Listen as the ethics of owning and naming seeds, and other interesting topics are discussed.Join the class! Register anytime for the next class.Register Here for the Seed Saving Class with Live Q&ABill McDorman is Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, Ketchum, Idaho. He got his start in the bio-regional seed movement while in college in 1979 when he helped start Garden City Seeds. In 1984, Bill started Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens, a mail order seed company he ran successfully until it sold in 2013. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/01/19/bonus23/  for more information and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Transforming waste into soil, jobs, and community.In This Podcast: Sarah Boltwala-Mesina, along with other parents, hoped to start a recycling program at their children’s school. This was the first step on her journey to creating Food2Soil, a business that collects food scraps from people and businesses in San Diego and turns those scraps into rich compost. Her company provides services helping homeowners become successful composting in their own backyard, provides hubs around the city for people to drop scraps off, and offers scrap pickup service to restaurants. There is even a wait-list of businesses and breweries hoping to participate.   Sarah is the executive director of  Inika Small Earth, a nonprofit that started Food2Soil where they train interns in good composting techniques. Food2Soil collects vegetative food scraps from local restaurants then composts the scraps at two urban farms in San Diego, selling the finished product to local gardeners looking for high-nutrient soil. Inika Small Earth is a charitable organization working to enhance the network of community composting hubs across San Diego.  Their aim is to build the collective capacity to transform food scraps into soil and jobs for the community.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/01/15/416-sarah-boltwala-mesina/ for more information and to find our other great guests.Sarah Boltwala-Mesina on Community Composting

From green lawns to green vegetables.In This Podcast: As his wife and youngest daughter began struggling with celiac disease, John Brubaker believed that the pesticides used on vegetables were perhaps weakening their immune systems. This was his entry into organic urban farming. He began small with 20 beds and has been expanding ever since. John is growing numerous crops in his small space, including artichokes and cantaloupe for home, and kale, spinach, beets, radishes and glass gem corn for the Farmers Market. He is finding great success with his natural farming. John has been working on golf courses for over 35 since the age of 16. He planted thousands of trees and just for fun, would typically have an organic vegetable garden on the golf course for the enjoyment of customers and staff.  Along the way he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Utah State University in Horticulture.   In 2013 his wife and daughters developed digestive issues. Because of this he started growing his own vegetables, built a compost pile, implemented no dig methods, planted for pollinators, introduced beneficial predator insects, and so on. Soon he was giving vegetables to his neighbors and he had become an urban farmer.  In 2018 he named his micro farm ‘Straw Hat’, rented a booth at a Farmers Market and started selling organic produce.  The success was beyond his expectations, incredibly rewarding and now he is planning on retiring from the golf course and going into urban farming full time.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/01/12/415-john-brubaker/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.John Brubaker on Micro Urban Farming.

Challenging the mono-CULTURE of farming. A passion for the soil, the earth and her community started when Leah Penniman began farming at the age of 16. Through the years she has continued to work towards ending racism and injustice in our food system, and also on land reparations for people of color. She and her family have built Soul Fire Farm where they raise culturally important food, delivering it to people in need. They give tours and help train future activists.  Leah channeled her passion into writing a book, Farming While Black. Leah is a Black Creole farmer who has been tending the soil for twenty years and organizing for an anti-racist food system for fifteen years. She currently serves as founding co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York—a people-of-color led project that works to dismantle racism in the food system.  Through Soul Fire Farm’s innovative programs such as the Black Latinx Farmers Immersion; a sliding-scale Farm Share CSA; and Youth Food Justice leadership trainings – she is part of a global network of farmers working to increase farmland stewardship by people of color, restore Afro-indigenous farming practices, and promote equity in food access.  Leah has been recognized by – the Soros Equality Fellowship; NYS Health Emerging Innovator Awards; and Fulbright Distinguished. IF that was not enough, she is the author of Farming While Black published by our friends at Chelsea Green Publishing. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/01/08/414-leah-penniman/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.Leah Penniman on Liberating the Land.

Mixing up a health drink for soil organisms.In This Podcast:When Ben Klempner and his family moved from Jerusalem to the holy city of Tiberias, he researched how to make the soil healthy in order to grow his vegetables. Finding information that was beneficial wasn’t the only hurdle—he was so far away from the products he needed. He kept researching online and seemed to end up with the suggestion of Korean Natural Farming at the end of his searches.  He took it as a sign. As Ben began creating products that utilized the fermenting process he realized that perhaps creating these nutritious, sustainable soil amendments for others was what he should be doing instead of growing his own vegetables. Thus, the Galil Soil Farm was born. Ben lives in the Holy City of Tiberias with his wife and children where he owns and operates Galil Soil Farm. Believing that good soil grows good food, Ben is passionate about growing the best soil and helping others to do the same. When not at the farm he can be found spending time with his children in the woods, paddling a kayak on the Sea of Galilee, or immersed in Bible Studies. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/01/05/413-ben-klempner/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.Ben Klempner on Fermented Soil Amendments

Growing an herbal antibiotic.In This Podcast:Bill Bruneau suffered from what eventually was diagnosed as a leaky gut caused by using pharmaceutical antibiotics. Knowing that plants had medicinal powers he searched out which ones were natural antibiotics and came upon limited but intriguing information on the genus Sida. He waited for someone to write a book about this super-weed and when no one did, Bill knew he had to do it. Listen as Bill lists just a few of the many illnesses he uses Sida to treat or prevent.  In 1982, Bill and his wife started Bountiful Gardens Seeds, which is part of the small non-profit Ecology Action of the Mid-peninsula. Ecology Action is an organization that has been diligently working to save the world’s soil for the last 45 years, refining and promoting a bio-intensive farming method that actually creates soil while being very productive.  While Bill is an herbal hobbyist, medicinal herbs and preventative medicine have been at the core of his family’s health for at least 50 years and when he discovers one that is as good as Sida appeared to be, he wanted to know everything about it. A scientist at heart, he did intensive research into the known benefits of Sida for over a year, seeking out peer-reviewed research on Sida, and in particular studies on Sida acuta. The results have exceeded his wildest expectations.  Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2019/01/01/412-william-bruneau/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.William Bruneau on the Genus Sida

Embarking on extreme tasks to bring attention to important issues.In This Podcast:Rob Greenfield lived a fairly normal American life until 2011 when he began reading and watching documentaries that helped him realize he was contributing to the destruction of our planet. That was enough to set him on a course of performing extreme actions in order to motivate others to change as well. Having already taken three separate bicycle rides across America doing good deeds and showing ways to make less of an impact on the planet, he’s embarking on his biggest adventure yet—going an entire year eating only what he produces or forages himself.Rob Greenfield is an adventurer, environmental activist, humanitarian, and dude making a difference. He is dedicated to leading the way to a more sustainable and just world.Rob has visited 6 continents and 40 countries, lived off-grid in a tiny house, wore a trash-suit for a month, dove in more than two thousand dumpsters, cycled across the U.S. twice on a bamboo bicycle, traveled over 7000 miles from Brazil to Panama relying on the goodness of humanity, participated in a cross-country good deeds bike trek, and shared all this to inspire change in others.His next project is going an entire year without eating food from grocery stores, restaurants, or even eating or drinking at a party.  He will be growing and foraging 100% of his food for an entire year.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/12/29/411-rob-greenfield/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.Rob Greenfield on Food Freedom Project.