The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

Understanding the living matrix that affects the quality of our food.In This Podcast: Having been drawn to the wonders of soil quality early on, Elizabeth Murphy has studied this living matrix in great detail.  She wants to make soil care an intuitive concept that all growers have. Today she shares some of the basics and with us including the make-up of soil, why cover crops are important and a few important DOs and DON’Ts of creating healthy soil. Elizabeth has a passion for growing food which led her to a master's degree in soil science from University of California, Davis, where she researched soil's organic matter storage and a farmer's ability to improve it. She was a faculty instructor for Oregon State University Extension's Small Farms Program, where she taught and consulted with gardeners and farmers about best management practices to build healthy soils.Since 2006, Elizabeth has owned a half-acre garden in southern Oregon, which she considers her laboratory for experimenting with sustainable soil management and gardening practices for landscapes and vegetables. She is the author of Building Soil: A Down to Earth Approach and currently, she lives in Tacoma, Washington. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/09/05/283-elizabeth-murphy/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

            Understanding a gentle and helpful creature  essential to our food production.In This Podcast:  It was a simple and unexpected class that ignited Stephanie Elson Bruneau’s passion for beekeeping and many others are benefiting from this as well.  She takes the time to explain some of the key aspects of bees and beekeeping, as well as clear up some common misconceptions about a gentle and helpful creature of the natural world. Her story includes a couple of EPIC moments that hopefully will inspire you to seek out something for your own passion!Stephanie is a beekeeper, herbalist, and artist. She runs The Benevolent Bee, where she spends her time educating all of us about bees. At the Benevolent Bee "Teaching Apiary" Stephanie observes, learns, and teaches about bees and bee behavior to students of all ages.Stephanie also teaches classes about bees and their products at Northeastern University, The Cambridge Center for Adult and Community Education, The Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, The Boston School of Herbal Studies, and Temple University.  She is also the author of an aptly named book titled The Benevolent Bee.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/09/02/282-stephanie-elson-bruneau/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Making gardening easier through a series of simple shortcuts, and changing your life through gardening.In This Podcast: Initially we thought this might be an episode that focused on gardening hacks, and Shawna Coronado has over 100 hacks to share, so we did get to hear some cool ideas. Yet there was so much more to the conversation as important mindsets to help make gardening and life in general less stressful and more enjoyable became a topic that stole the show.  Her infectious attitude is sure to help put you at ease and might help you focus on the things you love too!Shawna is an author, columnist, blogger, photographer, and spokesperson for organic gardening, green lifestyle living, and culinary preparation, as wells as and avid campaigner for social good. Her goal in authoring gardening and green lifestyle books is to promote a world initiative to encourage healthy and sustainable living. Shawna was featured as a Chicago Tribune "Remarkable Woman" and speaks internationally on building community, simple urban garden living, and green lifestyle tips for the everyday person.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/08/31/281-shawna-coronado/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Using native plants to creatively interact with wildlife and avoid landscaping conflicts.In This Podcast: If you are a person who really cares about all wildlife and creatures great and small then it probably bothers you a lot if an animal is killed through human carelessness.  This is the podcast for you.  Nancy Lawson writes about smart gardening choices that can reduce the problems of invasive animals and insects, thereby reducing the need to cull or harm bothersome animals.  Even if you are not particularly protective of animals, she has ideas that can help reduce problematic visits and save your garden plants and veggies.Nancy is a columnist for All Animals magazine, as well as the founder of Humane Gardener - an outreach initiative dedicated to cultivating compassion for all creatures great and small through animal-friendly, environmentally-sensitive landscaping methods.She speaks frequently to local & national audiences, and volunteers as both a master naturalist and master gardener in central Maryland.Nancy is the author of The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife, published by Princeton Architectural Press in April 2017 and highlighted in Oprah magazine, the Washington Post, and Library JournalGo to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/08/29/280-nancy-lawson/  for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Helping one city understand the realities of food insecurity.In This Podcast: Finishing her master’s degree required a semester project and Cindy Tran’s had fallen through since the city food policy she was going to evaluate had not been passed yet. Realizing the city leaders either did not fully understand what food security was or how significant the issue of food insecurity was for their own citizens, she developed a new project to fix this.  Cindy spent her semester gathering all the evidence, including what city already commissioned, and helped frame it in a report that convinced them there was an issue and that it could be tackled. This helped the city take action and the resulting food system strategy is one worth emulating in many other cities.Cindy completed a Bachelor of Biomedicine degree at the University of Melbourne with a major in Pathology and matured her quantitative research skills at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute as a research student. She subsequently completed her Masters of Public Health at the University of Melbourne.  Cindy specialized in health policy & promotion, and developed a good understanding of the Australian Health Care System.  She has a strong interest in obesity and diabetes and how these are influenced by our cities and food system. Cindy produced a background report collating local evidence about the issue of food security within the City of Moreland.  This report contributed to the endorsement of the Moreland Food System Strategy in May 2017.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/08/26/279-cindy-tran/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Inspiring creativity in communities everywhere.In This Podcast: It was a lucky find that inspired Margret Aldrich to change her direction and motivated her to write a book about how the finding or creating that same thing has affected many others. The Little Free Library project is going worldwide and with each little one there is more community building, inspiration ignited, and enlightenment coming to pass. Learn how you can partake of this through the Little Free Library Movement!Margret is the author of The Little Free Library Book through Coffee House Press, and has published her work with The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Experience Life, and beyond.  From Little Free Libraries to tiny houses, integrative medicine to introverted kids, digital detoxing to co-op bookstores, her writing hunts for happiness, community, and what makes humans thrive.A former editor at Utne Reader, longtime book editor, and seasoned news producer, Margret is now the programming manager at the Little Free Library nonprofit organization and is a regular contributor to Book Riot. She lives in Minneapolis, MN with her husband, two entertaining young boys, a little garden, and of course her own Little Free Library.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/08/24/278-margret-aldrich/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Building a business on the tiniest greens.In This Podcast: As a young adult with an unfocused passion, Joseph Martinez was looking for something that he could feel good doing.  His travels gave him little nudges in the right direction, but things did not really come clear until he decided to start a business with his brother and got some unexpected advice from a client. Just a few years later, they have a thriving business growing microgreens and he’s loving the difference he is making and the meaningfulness that exists in his life.Joseph is a co-founder of Arizona Microgreens, an urban farm in Phoenix which produces microgreens for restaurants, schools, and individuals throughout the state of Arizona. Using a DIY approach of starting small and growing incrementally, Joseph and his brother built their start-up from a 200-square-foot self-built greenhouse, to a social enterprise model operating out of a 13,000-square-foot greenhouse today.Initially focused on the fine-dining market, Arizona Microgreens is now producing microgreens for farm-to-school programs, naturopathic clinics, and a much broader range of diverse customers. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/08/22/277-joseph-martinez/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Bonus Episode 5: Seed Chat July 2017A chat with experts on Seeds, Bill McDorman and Julia Coffey. In This BONUS Podcast:Bill McDorman brings a friend and fellow seed enthusiast Julia Coffey to the chat to help explain about running a seed business.  Together they talk to Greg about being a seed grower, germination testing, maintaining seed projects,  running a seed business and much more in this the July 2017 episode of Seed School Chat. Julia Coffey is the president of Seeds Trust: an incredible company dedicated to encouraging customers to save seeds and reverse the loss of biodiversity not only in our backyards but around the world. She is from Denver, Colorado and when not measuring out seeds, printing packets, growing tomatoes, hunting down the most resilient and special seed varieties, she likes to take full advantage of the magnificent swath of Rocky Mountains by hiking, backpacking, climbing, and breathing fresh air. She likes to sing and is a member of the Colorado choir, an 80s a cappella group, a hip hop a cappella group, and a rock and roll/blues band. She graduated from the University of Colorado, Boulder with degrees in Linguistics and French and lived in France teaching English and learning about local food market economies vs. the global industrialized food model.She met Bill McDorman while visiting a permaculture farm in Lyons, CO. He was giving a lecture on seeds and seed diversity and it genuinely changed her life. She immediately found him after the lecture and told him she wanted to be involved in whatever way she could. She ended up attending one of Bill and Belle's first Seed School workshops and continued to apprentice with him in Cornville, Arizona. Julia helped Bill and Belle run Seeds Trust until she bought the business from him in 2011. She then returned to Denver to provide high altitude adapted seed to mountain growers.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/08/21/bonus-episode-5/ for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to find our other great guests.

Meeting the first 'Poultry Personality' of Backyard Poultry.In This Podcast: His hobby of raising chickens developed into helping others succeed in raising their own. This led Andy Schneider into becoming the first well known "poultry personality" in the world of backyard poultry and eventually running a business that he loves.  He uses this notoriety to help correct misinformation through science and fact.Better known as The Chicken Whisperer, Andy has become the go-to guy for anything chicken related. He has helped countless people start their own backyard flocks and has assisted in changing more laws around the country to allow backyard chickens than anyone else.  He is a well-known radio personality as the host of the Backyard Poultry with The Chicken Whisperer radio show, as well as the Editor-in-Chief of Chicken Whisperer Magazine, the National Spokesperson for the USDA-APHIS Biosecurity for Birds Program, and author of The Chicken Whisperer’s Guide to Keeping Chickens.  Andy travels around the U.S. educating people through science-based, fact-based, and study-based information about the many benefits of keeping backyard chickens and how to ensure they stay healthy and free from disease. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/08/19/276-andy-schneider/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Covering some basic questions about making cheese at homeIn This Podcast: Having a small dairy farm is very helpful if you are going to make cheese at home, and Gianaclis Caldwell shares some of the truths she collected as she learned to make her own cheeses.  She helps explain some of the differences between common cheeses as well as how slight changes in the process can change the resulting cheese.  Gianaclis is the main cheese-maker, milker and owner of Pholia Farm, a licensed dairy located on 24 acres in southern Oregon.  Her farm is well known for its artisan, aged raw milk cheeses; as well as classes on small-dairy, goat husbandry, and cheese-making at all levels.Her book, Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking by Chelsea Green Publishing, has received praise and awards from all levels of the cheese world for her writing and photography. Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/08/17/275-gianaclis-caldwell/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.