The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

Bonus Episode 19: Seed Saving Class June 2018. A chat with a seed expert about where our seeds come fromIn This Bonus Podcast: Seeds are grown all over the world and we don't always know where our seeds come from when we buy. This is the June 2018 episode of a Seed Saving Class - Bill McDorman discusses seed origination, land race seeds, finding unique seed varieties, and so much more.Join the class! Register anytime for the next event.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/2018/08/21/bonus19/ for show notes and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Bringing gardening knowledge to your fingertips.In This Podcast:It was a need to become more mindful and eat the healthier foods he needed that led Dale Spoonemore to the garden.  It did not take long for him to get hooked on the flavors of homegrown vegetables.  But a conversation in line waiting to vote alerted him for a need to make it easier to garden. This inspired him to teach himself coding to write an app that is going to bring success to many more new gardeners.  His passion and drive continue to build this mobile tool, and his family are big parts of the whole project. Dale and his family converted their urban Oklahoma backyard into a food farm to feed their family and built the “From Seed to Spoon” mobile app that makes it easy for others to do the same. The app will guide you through planting, growing, harvesting, and cooking over 70 different foods with information customized for your location. Dale and his family live in OKC with their four children.  You can learn more about them on their From Seed to Spoon social media pages and on their website at seedtospoon.netGo to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/08/18/377-dale-spoonemore/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Preparing school meals with gut health in mind.In This Podcast:After growing up believing the only healthy way to eat was “fat-free”, Hilary Boynton was not prepared for the fertility and health issues that plagued her family. Seeking the best for her children, she educated herself on “real-food”, the GAPS diet, and eventually wrote a cookbook with gut health in mind. This path led her to becoming a school lunch lady cooking and educating for gut health to the students.Hilary is a certified holistic health counselor, with a BA in psychology from the University of Virginia and trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Inspired by her experience of "food as medicine," she dedicated herself to helping others on their path to wellness as a cook, coach, and professional educator.Seeing our chronic global health problems opened her eyes. The lessons she learned along the way helped to fuel her project LIVE YUM YUM and inspired her to co-author the bestselling The Heal your Gut Cookbook, released in September 2014.Hilary’s passion and determination to empower people to take control of their own health and prevent disease is tireless.  Plus, along the way she has earned the title of The Lunch LadyGo to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/08/14/376-hilary-boynton/ for more information and links on this podcast, her blog articles, and to find our other great guests.

Finding nature is an ally for waste disposal.In This Podcast: He is always on the lookout to find ways to have a better relationship with nature, so when Eddy Garcia noticed that some beetle larvae were eating the polystyrene cup he put them in, he jumped into experiments to learn more.  Using a surfboard in a science experiment, his achieved some exciting and astonishing results. All of this tied into his work to educate others about regenerative systems, and even aspiring surfers in Iowa are learning about earth systems through his projectsEddy, has an E.B.N. or as he likes to call it Educated By Nature degree. With over 30 years of living off-grid on a remote Hawaiian island he has developed a deep connection to Nature. It has taught him fundamental truths that are woven into Living Earth Systems: Observation, Consistency & Patience. Eddy is the lead designer for Living Earth Systems which designs and builds holistic agriculture systems for the future. He is also one of the founders of  R.E.C. (Regenerative Education Centers) which demonstrates alternative technologies and approaches to solve some of our planet’s current problems. Eddy educates and inspires to promote regenerative lifestyles.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/08/11/375-eddy-garcia/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Seeking out answers about food labeling.In This Podcast: Returning from a trip to Europe it became clear to Aube Giroux, that food labeling in North America was controlled by a very different set of rules and she sought to learn why. Documenting the process on video, she and her mother set out to learn about the labeling of genetically modified food ingredients, a journey that took a turn when her mother developed cancer. Instead of closing the project, she persisted and the resulting film garnered many indie awards.Aube (pronounced ōb) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, organic gardener, and food blogger. She is the creator of “Kitchen Vignettes”, an online farm-to-table cooking show on PBS which received the 2012 Saveur Magazine Best Food Blog Award and is a two-time James Beard Award nominee. Aube holds an MFA in Film Production from York University. Modified is her first feature-length documentary, which she wrote, directed and produced.In Modified, the filmmaker and her mother embark on a personal and poignant investigative journey to find out why genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not labeled on food products in the United States and Canada, despite being labeled in 64 countries around the world.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/08/04/373-aube-giroux/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests. #modifiedthefilm

Building simple, cost-effective solutions for conserving water resources.In This Podcast: When looking into how water was being cycled in her community, and then looking at other desert-like cities in other states and countries, Brook Sarson was intrigued. California was in a drought and she realized there was a lot of potential ideas and processes implemented elsewhere that could help her community. Brook shares what she discovered about the ‘ethics of place’ and the significance that small changes in a community can have on a whole watershed.Brook is co-owner and CEO of CatchingH2O and H2OME. She started H2OME in 2008 with the mission to be a resource to the San Diego Community for water harvesting. She was determined to create change from the ground up by showing homeowners, educators, and policy makers how simple and effective rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling can be.  Her continued mantra has been that individual contributions create tremendous impact toward a larger water conservation strategy.  Since H2OME’s inception Brook has directly installed or facilitated hundreds of thousands of gallons of water conservation between rainwater tanks, greywater systems, and landscape design changes.  Her engineering background perfectly complements the permaculture design framework she uses to approach design problems.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/07/31/372-brook-sarson/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Documenting the first town-wide pesticide-free ordinance in the world.In This Podcast:On a trip overseas, a professor of Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems stumbled onto a story worth telling about the first community in the world to ban pesticides. Philip Ackerman-Leist was able to document this endeavor from almost the very beginning and he shares the reasons why anyone who cares about their community needs to understand what happened and why it is so important.Philip is Professor of Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems at Green Mountain College in Vermont, where he established the college’s organic farm, sustainable agriculture curricula, and the first online graduate program in Sustainable Food Systems in the United States.He and his wife Erin live on a remote off-grid farm in Pawlet, Vermont with their three children, where they raise grass fed American Milking Devons cattle. He is the author of Rebuilding the Foodshed: How to Create Local, Sustainable, and Secure Food Systems and Up Tunket Road: The Education of a Modern Homesteader.  His newest book is A Precautionary Tale: How One Small Town Banned Pesticides, Preserved its Food Heritage, and Inspired a Movement, Published by our friends at Chelse Green Publishing.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/07/28/371-philip-ackerman-leist/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Guarding forests as a valuable part of the agriculture system.In This Podcast: Being a farmer in these days of changing climate can be challenging, so when a severe drought threatened the livelihood of sheep farmer Steve Gabriel, he resorted to using previously ignored wooded areas. Examining the forest near his home he realized the bounty that he had been overlooking, and sought out more information about forest farming. He now teaches others how to do this natural farming process.  There is a bonus on mushrooms too!Steve is an ecologist, forest farmer, and educator living in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State. He passionately pursues work that re-connects people to the forested landscape and supports them to grow their skills in forest stewardship.He is an Agroforestry Extension Specialist for the Cornell Small Farm Program and co-owns Wellspring Forest Farm & School with his wife Elizabeth, where they produce mushrooms, maple syrup, duck eggs, pastured lamb, and elderberry extract, all from forest-based systems.The school hosts several educational programs each season with the goal of increasing people's understanding of healthy forests and how they can play a critical role in their stewardship. He is the author of two books: Farming the Woods, and Silvopasture, both published by Chelsea Green.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/07/24/370-steve-gabriel/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Actively teaching through growing food at school.IN THIS PODCAST: With a strong desire to share her love of planting, Lanita Perry has brought a Garden Based Education program to her elementary school. Starting with her pre-k kids and all the way up the grade ladder, the students at her school can participate in the planting, growing, harvesting and eating of truly local vegetables. She share with us tricks to making a school garden successful.Lanita is a Special Education teacher at Irving Elementary in Cleeeburne, Texas and teaches in a Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities.  She’s very excited about garden-based education and the opportunities it gives her students to learn across all academics in every grade level.  Her school garden is funded through grants so she is able to work with teachers and students to create their own garden.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/07/21/369-lanita-perry/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Having the perspective and impact of younger generations on growing food.In This Podcast:Early childhood impressions of environmental pollution led Matthew Kozuch to seek out solutions, and while at UC Berkley he worked on several projects with Engineers for a Sustainable World.  After graduation he continued with them and became the National Build Day Coordinator. This is the first of hopefully an annual event in more than 50 chapters across the United States.Matthew currently serves as the Build Day Coordinator for Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) which he’s been a part of since joining the UC Berkeley chapter as a project leader in 2014. He graduated in May 2017 with a B.S. in Energy Engineering and is facilitating solar photovoltaic maintenance for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.Build Day is an initiative started by ESW creating local sustainable change by bringing together technical expertise and community organizing.  During the ESW Build Day event this past April, the chapter met with about seventy other volunteers to help construct a chicken coop, plant a strawberry patch, and create sheet mulching for expanding the Hoover Hawks Victory Garden.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/07/17/368-matthew-kozuch/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.