The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

Ping Honzay is currently Member Programs Associate for the American Horticultural Society (AHS), where she coordinates national garden programs including the annual National Children & Youth Garden Symposium for educators and others who work to connect kids with plants and the natural world.  She has an M.S. in Natural Resources with a focus in environmental education, and has worked on a variety of organic farms and garden projects around the country.  When not in the office at AHS she enjoys keeping bees at River Farm, the AHS’s garden headquarters outside of Washington, DC. Founded in 1922, the American Horticultural Society (AHS) is one of the oldest national gardening organizations in the country.  AHS works towards its mission of “Making America a Nation of Gardeners, a Land of Gardens” by providing educational resources such as its award-winning magazine The American Gardener, programming and events both nationally and locally at its River Farm headquarters in Alexandria, VA, recognizing outstanding gardening practices through its awards program, and more.IN THIS PODCAST: Ping and Greg discuss the importance of teaching youth to garden. They compare notes about their garden experiences with kids and the miracles the kids believe are happening.  She shares her story of how she got started in working with kids helping them get excited about gardening and then explains about the resources of the AHS' Annual National Children & Youth Garden Symposium. She also introduces the Great American Gardeners Awards  Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/10/ping-honzay/ for show notes and links.

Ryan is a Golf Course Superintendent by profession, and a homesteader by passion.  He and his wife own the Live Simply, Live Richly Farm. His wife of four years works from home raising their two small children and supporting his farming addiction. They are pursuing a simpler, more natural, God-Centered lifestyle in west-central Ohio on their one-acre homestead.IN THIS PODCAST: Ryan tells Greg why he and his wife decide to start growing their own food and how that has developed into a virtually self-sustained homestead for his young family. Ryan explains about how he transformed his greenhouse, do their own canning and even raise their own meat birds so that they know exactly what they are eating. His story is one that is sure hit home for our listeners in one way or another.  Greg liked it so much that Ryan is one of our Featured Farmers!Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/06/ryan-leach/ for show notes and links. 

David grew up in the West in a small town working in the family toy factory and enjoying the rivers, mountains and sage covered hills. After earning his BA in Earth Sciences at UC San Diego in 1970, he headed to UC Davis to complete an MS in Ecology in the multidisciplinary Eco-Grad Program.  He started a company doing environmental impact analysis, then transitioned to a solar research and design firm, Living Systems, where he worked on community design, passive solar heating and cooling, building codes and solar rights.David’s research on passive solar heating and cooling led him to the California Energy Commission as a solar specialist, where he worked on the passive section of the state Solar Tax Credit program. He then established the Passive Solar Institute to continue research, education, and consulting on solar design and energy conservation. He worked in straw bale building systems and helped complete The Straw Bale House in 1994. He returned to academia and worked on desert restoration at UC Riverside and San Diego State University.  David’s current research involves micro-irrigation, cool pool design, and true cost accounting.IN THIS PODCAST: David shares his excitement with Greg about time tested techniques on gardening efficiently with less water. David explains some of what he learned over the past several decades researching traditional methods for collecting and using the precious resource in food production as well as in basic landscaping.  They discuss the olla method, and how he found it explained in a 2000+ year old textbook. There is something here for anyone who has a responsibility to water a plant.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/08/david-bainbridge/for show notes and links.

Missy Gable serves as director for the UC Master Gardener Program and co-director for the UC Master Food Preserver program, both statewide programs under University of California’s division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR). Missy earned a B.S. Biological Sciences and M.S. in Horticulture and Agronomy from UC Davis. She enjoys sharing her passion for home horticulture, sustainable landscaping and home food preservation with the 6,500+ UC Master Gardener and Food Preserver volunteers and program staff across California. She loves the direct impacts both programs make in local communities, from teaching communities about growing and preserving their own food, reducing food and water waste, improving pollinator habitats, beautifying landscapes, and so much more. IN THIS PODCAST: Missy introduces us to the Master Gardener Program and what the role and purpose of this program, as well as a new Master Food Preserver Program.  Then she educates Greg about two distinct climates zones maps and even teaches him a few things he did not know. We learn about weather, climate, microclimates, biomes, zone denial.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/03/missy-gable/ for show notes and links.

Tom has been involved in the nursery business since 1973. At that time, he was a freshman in high school and rode his skateboard to work. Since then he has worked for several different nurseries including Nogales Nursery where he learned landscape design, installation, irrigation and construction. Armstrong Nurseries where he worked with hybridizers, growers and retail on the weekends. La Verne Nursery which specializes in Avocado, Citrus, Sub-Tropical fruit trees and grafted ornamentals, where he was general manager for 20 years. And currently southwestern sales manager for Dave Wilson Nursery.Dave Wilson Nursery is the largest grower of fruit, nut and shade trees in the USA. They grow 10,500,000 plus trees per year and ships wholesale worldwide. Over the past 20 years Tom has also done television, video, radio, written, conducted workshops and lectured on the concepts of Backyard Orchard Culture and fruit growing in general. Tom's dedication and passion for quality fruit growing has taken him to dozens of states in the USA as well as several countries around the globe to consult and lecture on fruit trees and fruit growing concepts. IN THIS PODCAST: Greg and Tom share their passion for fruit trees and talk about some of the resources that home orchard growers have through Dave Willson Nursery and online. Tom talks about some of the learning experiences he has had over the years and a couple of pet projects at the Nursery including an online video library for backyard growers as well as a small orchard experiment with its real world challenges.  He also explains about hybridization and how that is different from genetic modification.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/09/01/tom-spellman-2/ for show notes and links.

Tom has been involved in the nursery business since 1973. At that time, he was a freshman in high school and rode his skateboard to work. Since then he has worked for several different nurseries including Nogales Nursery where he learned landscape design, installation, irrigation and construction. Armstrong Nurseries where he worked with hybridizers, growers and retail on the weekends. La Verne Nursery which specializes in Avocado, Citrus, Sub-Tropical fruit trees and grafted ornamentals, where he was general manager for 20 years. And currently southwestern sales manager for Dave Wilson Nursery.Dave Wilson Nursery is the largest grower of fruit, nut and shade trees in the USA. They grow 10,500,000 plus trees per year and ships wholesale worldwide. Over the past 20 years Tom has also done television, video, radio, written, conducted workshops and lectured on the concepts of Backyard Orchard Culture and fruit growing in general. Tom's dedication and passion for quality fruit growing has taken him to dozens of states in the USA as well as several countries around the globe to consult and lecture on fruit trees and fruit growing concepts. IN THIS PODCAST: Greg and Tom share their passion for fruit trees and discuss some tips and suggestions for the backyard, or small orchard, grower.  With decades of experience they talk about some important lessons learned about growing fruit trees for personal harvest. They explain the three concepts of backyard orchards and talk about how to help newly planted fruit trees survive the crucial first couple years after planting.  Tom also shares some great stories including one about an epic grafting on a sad little lemon tree.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/08/30/tom-spellman-1/ for show notes and links.

Shelley has distinguished herself by meeting the personal and professional challenges of living and working with progressively disabling multiple sclerosis. An award-winning writer, author of 7 books, and professional motivational speaker, Schwarz uses her experiences to inspire and empower audiences to rise above challenges and teaches them how to bloom where they’re planted.Her focus is finding solutions to common everyday problems that people diagnosed with chronic illnesses face.  From getting yourself dressed and making meals to tending gardens and continuing recreational activities you enjoy, her philosophy is that a problem is only a situation waiting for a solution. IN THIS PODCAST: Shelley shares an account of life with Greg who recognizes her as having an “epic” story. She has refused to allow her life enjoyment to end with her diagnosis of MS and now works to help others keep living their lives as well. She shares some tips, hacks and encouragement for how to keep doing what you love despite the physical challenges of illness or age.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/08/27/shelley-peterman-schwarz/ for show notes and links.

Loretta lives with her husband and two children in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of north central Texas.  Having been gardening most of her adult life, she became intrigued with the urban homestead movement and is now on a mission to transform her little piece of the busy city into a thriving homestead.  Her passion was fueled even more when she discovered aquaponics and learned that she could combine her love of gardening with one of her other favorite things, fish!  Raising delicious tilapia in her aquaponics system only fed the fire and now their little homestead includes a small flock of laying hens with plans to add meat rabbits this fall.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg and Loretta have a great time sharing their love and appreciation of truly home prepared meals.  Loretta tells Greg all about how she has established her own aquaponics system on her homestead and now enjoys the health benefits of the love and care she has put into her organically based homestead.  Together they share some tips and advice on how to have success with aquaponics.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/08/25/loretta-messinger/ for show notes and links.

Mary was raised on a Holstein dairy farm in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York.  In 2008 she founded SEEAG, Students for Eco-Education and Agriculture, which teaches children about the farm origins of their food and connects them to the farmland in their own backyard.  After years of teaching thousands of local school children, Mary realized their parents also knew little about local agriculture.  So she founded Ventura County Farm Day, a county-wide agricultural education event, which includes over 20 local farms, tours and activities.  In This Podcast: Greg chats with Mary and learns how she recognized the need for agriculture education for both kids and adults in her community and how she started an organization to do something about it. Mary also teaches Greg something he did not realize about agriculture and education. Together they share an appreciation of the Do-er’s in the world. And she explains about the annual event she organized to help farmers in her county connect with the residents through a day-long open house at farms around the county.Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/08/23/mary-maranville/ for show notes and links

Morag loves living a permaculture life. She is a passionate permaculture teacher, an experienced designer, a permaculture blogger and film maker, a regular feature writer for the the Australian Permaculture Magazine and Correspondent for the new ABC Simple Living and Permaculture radio show.She lives at Crystal Waters a permaculture village in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast with her husband and young family, who she homeschools.  They designed and built their eco-home without going into debt, collect all their own water, deal with their own wastewater and produce their own power.  Morag loves teaching from her gardens - in this educational space she leads her Nature Kids programs, Young Ethos Scholar programs, Earth School camps for high school students and the Permaculture Life education series for adults.IN THIS PODCAST: Greg and Morag cross time to chat about the beauty of living a simple life in conjunction with nature. She tells an inspiring story of how she has implemented her permaculture learnings into her life and how she is now reciprocating by sharing that knowledge in a variety of permaculture education.  Listen to learn and be inspired, and perhaps bring a little bit of Crystal Waters into your own worldVisit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2016/08/20/morag-gamble/ for show notes and links.