The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

Helping students have better access to healthier foods.In This Podcast: After earning his PhD, an academic career was not going to work for him, so Andrew Nowak pivoted his passions and experience into improving the lives of his kids. This eventually led him to take on changing the protocols and processes of helping school cafeterias source food from school gardens and local farms. This broke ground for school districts around the country to implement new protocols themselves. This is a MUST listen for any parent wanting healthier food in their school’s cafeteria!Andrew is the former Director of the National School Garden Program for Slow Food USA where he was responsible for building capacity of nearly 150 Slow Food chapters to be partners in school garden projects.  For 12 years he was the co-director of Slow Food Denver’s Seed-to-Table, School Food Program and developed protocols for Youth Farmers’ Markets and Garden to Cafeteria programs.Since 2009, Andrew has been the District Partner for Denver Public Schools and Jefferson County Schools helping to source local fruits, vegetables and meats for the cafeterias, to develop scratch cooking and salad bars in schools, and the development of school farms to grow organic vegetables for school kitchens.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/05/08/350-andrew-nowak/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Building healthy bodies and minds through good nutrition.In This Podcast:After getting a card from her youngest child and he said that he loved her but not her cooking, Jennifer Johnson set out to change that. She eventually became a Chef and now focuses on cooking healthy and nutritious food, as well as teaching others how to make those selections for their own dishes.  She shares some of her secrets with us in this podcast.Jennifer became a Chef 23 years ago after her son told her he hated her cooking in a Mother’s Day Card. At the time she managed seven manufacturing facilities around the world in Corporate America; now she is a full-time Eco Conscious Organic Chef with a passion to help people learn that health is wealth and it is not limited to those who can afford it.  She uses distinct ingredients, organically grown, and cleanly made in all aspects of her business: catering, meal plans, food prep, cooking and food education. Chef Jennifer’s style of cooking is a French and Italian Fusion influence on American Food, using her international training to make quick nutritious meals. She will tell you Good Nutritious Food empowers you to have your best day!Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/05/05/349-jennifer-johnson/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Helping agricultural technology startups.In This Podcast:Working at a startup company through the process of growing and its IPO was informative and provided Megan Vollstedt with invaluable insight for helping other entrepreneurs and startups get off the ground. She shares how having resources and mentors can help new companies find a path to a successful launch. She also explains how the program at Iowa AgTech is open to business all over to apply with their ideas for admission applications. Megan is the executive director of the Iowa AgriTech Accelerator, bringing with her more than six years of experience in the startup community. She has developed a deep knowledge and understanding of best practices for managing and growing a startup from infancy.Outside of the office, Megan stays engaged as a member of the Young Professionals of Ames, Young Professionals Connection, and volunteers for organizations that promote the arts, health and community betterment.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/05/01/348-megan-vollstedt/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Keeping critters and pests at bay humanely and safelyIn This Podcast: Dealing with pests in your garden or farm can be overwhelming unless you can change your perspective.  Having her yard become a wildlife habitat gave Theresa Rooney a chance to reconsider what was bringing the small visitors into her space and why they may or may not be welcome. For those wishing to find more humane ways of controlling the critters, she has some suggestions that will help.Theresa is a self-taught, life-long gardener. She is a Master Gardener who has turned her small urban yard into a Certified National Wildlife Habitat, home to an increasing number of welcome and unwelcome critters. She has written articles for Minnesota Gardener Magazine, teaches gardening classes, and is the author of "The Complete Guide to Humane Critter Control" published by Quarto Publishing.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/04/28/347-theresa-rooney/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Emphasizing simplicity with self-discovery.In This Podcast: Growing up between two worlds and two lifestyles, Justin Ehrlich realized working behind a desk was not his calling. The Asian influence in his youth, and the environmental awareness he gained from his father’s business, blended naturally into a calling to be an acupuncturist.  He now seeks to help educate and empower about the connection Chinese medicine has with nature and how true healing can take place.Drawn for most of his life to many of the mystical practices that originated in ancient China, Justin has been a California state licensed acupuncturist since 2002 and a student of the Jade Purity branch of Daoism since 2001.After many years of questioning the nature of reality, then using these practices to work through his own struggles, heal old wounds, and find a deeper connection to the Divine, he can attest to how powerful and transformative this path can be.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/04/24/346-justin-ehrlich/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Inspiration through film.In This Podcast:She’s had a “greenie” intuition as a youth but spent part of her adulthood pursuing a publishing career and a side venture as a tango dancer, but Antoinette Wilson found herself living in a permaculture-based community for a year and it changed her life.  She partnered up with another community member to write and make documentaries about the lifestyle they were experiencing, and even made some short films about others who were doing their best to have better impacts on their space.  These documentaries and short films are inspiring others to take steps toward change too.Tasmania-born and New Zealand-bred, Antoinette began her professional career in book publishing and dreamt of managing the editorial offices of Random House New York by the age of 40. Instead, just before her 40th birthday she took on the management of the harvest and labour at a CSA in rural New Zealand. She had begun studying towards a Permaculture Design Certificate and was committed to living a low-impact lifestyle.During a 2015 documentary project exploring simple living, she realized the extraordinary capacity of film to educate, and teamed up with Jordan Osmond in Happen Films. The pair write, direct and produce short films and more recently their new feature film, Living the Change: Inspiring Stories for a Sustainable Future. The self-taught filmmakers live in a 20sq/meter (folks that is 215 square feet) unplumbed but luxurious room on the end of a shed in a friend’s 3-acre food-forest and have a passion for sharing stories that educate and inspire about how we can all live beautifully on earth.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/04/21/345-antoinette-wilson/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Bonus Episode 15: Seed Saving Class February 2018.A chat with an expert on seeds. In This Bonus Podcast: There is always a bounty of info available in conversations with Bill McDorman. This is the February 2018 episode of a Seed Saving Class - patents, descriptions, regional adaptation, open sourced seeds, 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/2018/04/17/bonus-15/ for more information and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Making simplified gardening even easier.In This Podcast: New at gardening, the lackluster results of their first garden could have turned them off, but Jennifer Pratt and her husband decided there was an easier way.  Using their need for a simpler method of spacing seeds in the garden, they designed a guide to do the measuring for them.  This new tool is so easy to use that even Mel Bartholomew called to tell them how much he liked it. A kickstarter program has helped launched this simple idea into a new business for them.Jen is an entrepreneur and inventor. After a frustrating first attempt at growing a family garden, she and her husband saw the need for a tool that would simplify the process of both planting and tending their vegetable garden - and felt that the proper spacing of seeds was the ticket.  And they were right! Now, after crowd funding, patents and a few more gardens under her belt, she’s here to tell us her story and share more on the tool that is changing the way people grow food.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/04/14/344-jennifer-pratt/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Bonus Episode 14: Seed Saving Class January 2018.A chat with an expert on seeds. In This Bonus Podcast: There is always a bounty of info available in conversations with Bill McDorman. This is the January 2018 episode of a Seed Saving Class - discussing Grain School, original peanuts of South Carolina, inspiring gardeners, broccoli in Alaska 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/2018/04/12/bonus14/ for show notes and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Spreading the word about healthy and sustainable eating.In This Podcast: It is easy to notice the conviction of purpose as we hear an update from Ocean Robbins about the principles behind this year’s Food Revolution Summit. He also shares some news about some dietary trends, how food system and food choice awareness is making a difference in many parts of the world. Visit www.urbanfarm.org/summit for more detailsOcean is the CEO, Co-founder and Co-host of the 450,000+ member Food Revolution Network, and the co-host of the Food Revolution Summit since it started in 2012.  He has facilitated more than 50 week-long gatherings and 100 day-long workshops for leaders worldwide.  He is the co-author of Choices For Our Future and The Power of Partnership, along with the most recently released Voices of the Food Revolution: You can heal your body, and your world, with foodThe annual Food Revolution Summit has already reached 800,000 people; teaching what’s really going on with our food, and presenting information to help us take action for our health, and for a more ethical and sustainable world. The 2018 Summit will take place April 28-May 6 this year, featuring John and Ocean Robbins interviewing 24 of the world’s top food experts.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/04/10/343-ocean-robbins/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.