The Forest Garden

The title says it all! Tune in today for commentary on the ethical questions surrounding permaculture, some of its shortfallings, and problems you may encounter as a 'practicioner' designing with the permaculture toolkit. Today's episode sadly is a solo act, as Ben is busy moving again. We'll be back again soon enough with our long form podcast episodes. Be sure to check us out on our instagram @forestgardenpodcast

Coming to you live from the back of Palolo valley on the Island of O'ahu - we have quite and exciting episode for you today. Passiflora is a genus that Ben and I are obsessed with. Back home, the Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) vines I have spread throughout my forest garden are likely just starting to pop up in the landscape. Until I get back to them, I'm spending my time taste testing all of the tropical species of passionfruit I can get my hands on. Tune in to learn all about them! Be sure to check out our Instagram @forestgardenpodcast for photos of some of the species we cover in today's episode. Enjoy!

It's foraging season! Time to grab ye olde foraging basket, a friend, a field guide, and hit the trails! Fill up those baskets to the brim with native wild edibles and then come home to... wait, should we really be doing this? Today's episode delves into spring foraging with tips and tricks for beginners, some thoughts about population decline in ramps (Allium tricoccum), and some forage-able plants you may have never heard of! Stay tuned for a thought provoking episode, and be sure to check us out on our instagram account @forestgardenpodcast where we are the most active/the most easily communicated with if you are looking to reach out. Enjoy!

It's our first ever guest episode! We're pleased to host an episode from a podcast that is very similar to our own, Propaganda by the Seed. Tune in to learn about how Brassica breeder extraordinaire Chris Homanics developed the Homesteader's Kaleidoscopic Perennial Kale Grex. Not sure what a grex is? Well stay tuned to find out! Today's episode is jam packed with information on the topic of breeding new kale varieties, and much more. Be sure to check out the rest of Propaganda by the Seed’s podcast library, available on all major streaming platforms! Relevant links from today's episode: https://store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/kaleidescope-perennial-kale-grex https://edgewood-nursery.com/podcast https://propagandabytheseed.libsyn.com/ http://www.soleone.org/

Spring is springing and we're back again with another informative interview. Jesse Marksohn of Yellowbud Farm (and Fungal Forest Farm) joins us today to introduce us to a tree that has been wholly overlooked by modern society; the Yellowbud Hickory (Carya cordiformis). You may have heard of this tree referred to as bitternut, due to its highly tanic nut content, but did you know that these nuts can be pressed into a golden 'liquid pecan' cooking oil? Think olive oil, but better. Produced locally, potentially better for you, and likely much better tasting because if it's local it's fresh! Get ready to have your mind blown wide open by today's conversation where we also learn about Jesse's experience gallivanting across country visiting every abandoned, or actively stewarded, nut orchard from New England to Tennessee. When I (Mike) first met Jesse, it was at a chestnut roast in Western Massachusetts where he had brought a fold out table - and it was covered from end to end with every named variety of pecan, heartnut, chestnut, and hickory that you haven't heard of. I thought to myself, "This guy is like a walking, talking, genetic repository!" Join us with your ears and attention today, we promise you won't regret it. See Jesse's links below:  https://www.yellowbud.farm/ https://www.instagram.com/fungalforestfarm/

Spring is here podcast listeners! It's time to dust off ye olde gardening cap to prune those trees, get those bare root plants in the ground, and start planning that summer vegetable garden you've always dreamed of. In today's episode, prepare to delve into the world of perennial tree collards. Most people are familiar with collards that grow in your vegetable garden in the summer, but did you know there are perennial relatives that can grow to the size of small trees and live eight years or longer? Sequoiah from Project Tree Collard joins us today to tell us all about it. Whether you're a forest gardener in chilly Zone 6 or enjoy the year-round warmth of Zones 9+, Perennial Tree Collards are a highly adaptable family of plants that can provide you with a bounty of highly nutritious food. Listen in to today's episode to learn all about them. Follow Sequoiah via her links below:  https://www.projecttreecollard.org/ https://www.instagram.com/projecttreecollard/ https://www.facebook.com/ProjectTreeCollard/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSti61Hw1btrsuB_10Z71hQ

On today's episode of The Forest Garden, we have the pleasure of interviewing Lisa Depiano. Lisa has many years of experience teaching permaculture in the Northeast, where her practice is informed by a background in regional planning and ecological social justice. I was first introduced to Lisa's work through a documentary called Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective, where Lisa was promoting, and a part of, a group called "Pedal People", an organization based in the Northampton area in Massachusetts which would transport compost via bicycles from family residences to municipal compost centers. These days, Lisa runs the UMASS Carbon Farming Initiative at UMASS Amherst. Join us for an in depth discussion in silvopasture, hybrid chestnuts in agroforestry systems, perennial vegetables and their culinary uses, pathways to community food security, and much more.  Lisa's Links: https://lisamariedepiano.com/ https://commonsharefood.coop/ https://stockbridge.cns.umass.edu/lisa-depiano

On today's episode, we have the pleasure to host Jonathan Bates who several years ago, with his friend Eric Toensmeier, designed and stewarded a food forest made up of over 300 species of edible and medicinal plants on a 1/10th acre lot in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Join us as we talk to Jonathan about his experience living at Paradise Lot, and learn about some of the new work that he has been up to in The Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. If you are at all interested in low tannin acorns, or cold hardy figs for USDA Zone 5/6 homesteads, then this episode might be of specific interest to you. Be sure to check out Jonathan's links below, and follow us on our Instagram page @forestgardenpodcast. Jonathan's links: https://www.foodforestfarm.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/FoodForestFarm

Our interview with Dan Furman of Cricket Hill Garden, a specialty plant nursery based in Thomaston, Connecticut that specializes in uncommon edible tree crops and ornamental tree peonies. Way back in the Spring of 2021, I stopped by Dan's nursery on a random Wednesday to inquire about some mulberry scion. I was absolutely blown away by the diversity of his demonstration garden. At least in my experience, it's pretty rare to find multi grafted paw paws and espalier grown mulberry only 20 feet away from one another in a designed landscape. That was when I knew we had to have Dan on the podcast, and luckily we were able to make it happen! This episode was recorded in December of 2021, in it we reference Lee Reich's book "Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden" which is a fantastic resource that we highly recommend acquiring if you want to learn more about the plants we talk about in this episode. Find Dan at https://www.treepeony.com/, and don't forget to follow us on our Instagram @forestgardenpodcast!

Well listeners it's winter here at The Forest Garden, and now that the days are getting longer we are looking forward to the warmer days ahead. Cozying up by the fireside with a cup of hot cider with our favorite podcast playing through the speakers has been keeping us going lately. Today we're giving you that very same opportunity via our interview with Dave Scandurra of Food Forest Initiative of Cape Cod & Edible Landscapes of Cape Cod. Tune in to learn about how Food Forest Initiative of Cape Cod got started, and maybe how you could start up a similar organization in your area. We also spend a great deal of time picking Dave's brain in today's episode, trying to wrap our heads around all the crazy perennial vegetables he cultivates in his front yard food forest in Barnstable, MA.  Dave is presenting at The Foodscaper Summit this week (Jan 20th & 21st, 2022)! So if you like what you hear in this episode, and want to learn more, be sure to check out his presentation. Find out more at https://www.thefoodscaper.com/summit. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram! @forestgardenpodcast Dave's links: https://www.ediblelandscapes.net/ e: contact@ediblelandscapes.net Instagram: @ediblelandscapes, @foodforestinitiativecapecod