The Urban Farm Podcast With Greg Peterson

Recognizing the feminine nature within all and how this benefits farming.In This Podcast: Seeking out the things that felt the most important and right to her sent Karen Lanier on a journey through several states and quite a few learning adventures. Earning a degree in Environmental Documentation kept her circling around natural surroundings and she found herself with the opportunity to interview women farmers about their experiences and insights. Her reflections and awareness that are worthwhile to any farmer regardless of gender is shared in her new book The Woman Hobby Farmer.Karen is a naturalist, documentarian, teacher, artist, and gardener who explores the interconnections of nature and culture. She holds degrees in photography, foreign language, conservation studies, and documentary studies as well as a professional environmental educator certificate. She worked as a seasonal park ranger in state and national parks across the US before settling in Kentucky and her Americore volunteer experience wi

Learning about how food gets to our tables and where it comes from.In This Podcast:Serendipity was in play when Greg waived a stranger to his table during a conference and met another farming related podcaster named Rodger Wasson.  Rodger has spent the last several decades gaining experience and contacts in a variety of farming areas, from the fields to the markets, the advertising offices to policy making ones, and many versions of radio and television as well.  The theme in his life appears to be him making a difference in this community of growing food.Rodger is a graduate of Illinois State University and a food and agriculture veteran. He comes from a family with five generations of American farming in their blood. And although he was the first to leave their Central Illinois grain and livestock farm, he’s continually works for and with farmers though-out America and around the world. He has managed State, National and International Councils and Boards for agricultural industries covering over a

Tailoring a green build project to address food insecurity, nutrition, and other community needs.In This Podcast: Diana Cuy-Castellanos and Stephen Mackell share the story of Lincoln Hill Garden, a 5-acre community green space that was built on the site of a demolished public school. This property is serving the community with gardens, an urban farm, and a natural playground.  They share the background of how three organizations came together and listened to the community to build a project to fit the community as well as provide much needed assistance with healthy local produce.Diana holds a Ph.D in nutrition and food systems and is a registered dietitian teaching courses in community nutrition and food justice at the University of Dayton. Her research interests include community-based participatory research, food insecurity and food environments.Stephen started volunteering for Mission of Mary Cooperative as an undergraduate at the University of Dayton and joined the staff full-time as the production a

A chat with a farmer about her transition from the city girl. In This Bonus Podcast: Returning guest Scottie Jones is back to talk about her new book and making a transition back to the simple life.  She shares a bit about how the inspiration came to write the story of this adventure to start farming.  She also tells why she opened her farm up to vacationers looking for a taste of the country life, and how that has helped her farm.  And, we get an excerpt reading from her new book!Scottie lived in Arizona for a while where she worked at Arizona State University for over a decade.  Then she and her husband gave up the busy urban life by moving to Oregon, starting Leaping Lamb Farm and becoming sheep farmers. She loved this lifestyle very much and has opened her home to visiting families through her other passion of Farm Stays.  This journey and the transition to a farming lifestyle became the basis for her new book Country Grit, A Farmoir of Finding Purpose and Love through Skyhor

Digging into the invisible structure behind The Urban Farm.In This Podcast:  Running any successful business or project requires some good help behind the scenes.  This is true for The Urban Farm as well, and Janis Norton is one of the people who help Greg Peterson manage his dreams to change the local food system, create 10,000 seed banks in the local area, plant 100,000 fruit trees, and empower others to grow their own food.  She shares about the surprise of finding her place in this non-stem field, the rewarding role of helping her community build its resilience, and opens up about some challenges of starting her own urban farm.Janis earned her degree in Sustainability from Arizona State University. Her previous experience in working classrooms, running youth programs, and Boy Scout Council Training and Camp leadership were all community and education focused.  However, she did not realize how much she could do with the local food system until her Sustainable Food and Far

Identifying the nutrients that your body needs.In This Podcast: A pre-med organic chemistry class showed Joy Stephenson-Laws that she was not on the right path. She did not waste that pre-med education as she now fights for patients’ rights as a health care attorney. She also tells us why she started the non-profit health information company Proactive Health Labs to help people understand what is happening in their bodies with their nutrition.  An often-overlooked aspect of nutrition is the minerals in the foods and she explains why this is an important part of getting and staying healthy.In both her personal and professional life, Joy is dedicated to enhancing consumer health and positively impacting the health care industry in the United States.  She is the founding and managing partner of Stephenson, Acquisto & Colman, the health care industry’s premier litigation law firm.  She is also the founder of Proactive Health Labs (www.phlabs.org), a national non-profit health information c

Keeping backyard chickens healthy through simple steps.In This Podcast: Sometimes helping a neighbor out can truly change your life in ways you never expected. Kathy Shea-Mormino changed her path from attorney to now running a successful business sharing advice through her Facebook page and blog about raising chickens. She says keeping backyard chickens should not be over-complicated and shares her simple steps to keeping the hens happy and healthy.Known as The Chicken Chick, Kathy brings an informative style and fresh perspective on raising backyard chickens to millions of fans around the world. An attorney by profession, Kathy is the founder and one-woman creative force behind her wildly popular and award-winning Facebook page and blog, The-Chicken-Chick.com.Her practical approach and sense of humor allows her to connect, educate and share an appreciation for keeping chickens as family pets as well as for their eggs. With a following of over 700,000 Facebook fans, she has become the person folks interested

Enriching the community, becoming the next generation of hope.In This Podcast: We meet the well-spoken farm manager Casey Holland who explains why she cares so much about her community and providing healthy food to her customers.  She also introduces us to the National Young Farmers Coalition and tells us what they have been doing in her area.  She has gained a lot of wisdom in a short amount of time as a farmer, and her vision and drive gives us a lot of hope for the future.Casey is a native New Mexican and young farmer committed to affecting positive social change around small-scale sustainable agriculture in the Rio Grande Valley. She graduated in 2012 from the University of New Mexico with dual degrees in Psychology / Peace Studies, and Sociology. As a requirement for her minor she did an internship with the SouthWest Organizing Project's: Project Feed the Hood. There, she found her calling when she realized the importance of the way in which our food is produced in addressing many of the i

Growing quality grapes and wines in the Grand Canyon State.In This Podcast: At a point in their lives where they were ready for something new, Peggy Fiandaca and her husband decided to take their interest in wines to the next level.  They decided to become vintners to make high quality wine and got serious about it.  Now they have a 40 acres winery and a wine tasting gallery.  She explains some of the wine growing history for the state and even some of the processes that vintners use to make wines. Like everything they do, they do it with style!After a slight detour through urban planning, Peggy found her true calling in growing and producing wines.  With her Italian family heritage and a grandfather that produced alcohols during prohibition, this path was in her ‘vines’ so-to-speak.She and her husband Curt Dunham own a vineyard in south eastern Arizona and the LDV Wine Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Here she enjoys watching someone taste wine and identify the flavor chara

Bringing healthy food and education to urban tables through community engagement.In This Podcast: Creating a successful community health hub is no small feat, and Emily Mickley-Doyle has been part of doing just that in her part of New Orleans using an empty grocery store building, a desire to teach others how to grow food, and some fabulous ideas. The space now has several programs including a community garden, a teaching kitchen for doctors, a farmers market, and programs for the community youth to learn gardening and cooking skills. SPROUT NOLA is amazing, inspiring, and basically EPIC!Emily earned her degree in Sociology from Loyola University New Orleans in 2008. In 2011, she cofounded SPROUT NOLA, an urban farming organization that spreads the love of growing fresh, healthy food through community engagement and outreach, partnerships with local food vendors and food justice organizations, hands-on training programs, and advocacy. SPROUT NOLA grows market gardens throughout New Orleans, publicly advo

Running a machinery-free farm with nature inspired principles and techniques.In This Podcast: As one of two new millennial farmers, Lyndsay Jacobs and her business partner Lauren are working their farm using their own labor rather than rely on technology. With the exception of removing some sod in the early days, they are growing and harvesting the crops on their small farm without the use of any typical industrial machines.  As they bring their vegetables to market they know they are doing the right thing by all the positive feedback they are getting from their customers!Lyndsay is a graduate of the Zenger Farm Internship Program where she learned how to address food justice issues, develop efficiency and endurance in farming methods, and best chicken husbandry practices. She earned her degree in Graphic Design & Interior Architecture from James Madison University and is using that on marketing, branding, craftsmen experience, and design expertise for farm infrastructure. She received her Permacultu

Starting a successful herb and vegetable farm business with a friend.In This Podcast: A taste of permaculture and agriculture in college was enough to help Lauren Krug go across the continent and try WWOOFing. That experience and some Americorp work gave her the connections to find an amazing new friend and like-minded future farming partner. So, when the opportunity happened to start a farm business on some property owned by a supportive couple, the two friends jumped. Now she and Lyndsay run an herb and vegetable farm and are making a difference in their community.Lauren earned her degree in Community Entrepreneurship from the University of Vermont. Shortly after graduation, she headed west to work on a small veggie farm. After two seasons on this farm, Lauren joined the team at the Clark County Food Bank where she served as their Americorps VISTA Local Produce Coordinator. There, she coordinated the Farming & Gleaning program delivering fresh, locally-grown produce to those in need.Lauren and her

Appreciating the relationship between plant roots and the life in the soil.In This Podcast: We meet Jake Mowrer and understand what brought him to his studies on soil and the relationships between crop roots and the complex community of life in the world beneath us.  This often-invisible world is so essential to the foods that we eat, and the interaction between the subterranean portion of crops and the microbial lifeforms there are easily overlooked. We learn more about what is happening between these elements and why this is crucial to our semi-finite resource of soil.   Jake was raised on a farm in north Georgia where his family produced broiler chickens and beef cattle.  Growing up, the work was often hard, but the food was always good.  Life on the farm is a good way to gain an appreciation for the connectivity of food production in our daily lives. Jake now works with farmers in Texas as a Texas A&M faculty member in the Soil and Crop Science Department, and as an Exten

            Connecting with nature in gardens and farms to promote hope, joy and healing.In This Podcast:  It was after her cancer treatments and when she was feeling very low, that Jenny Peterson was encouraged to go into her outdoor space.  The hope and healing she found during her recovery was enough that she now guides and encourages others to find their wellness through gardening and connecting with the natural world.  Her experience has been a spring board to helping many others find their hope through the dark times.Jenny is an Austin, Texas-based garden designer with her own firm, J. Peterson Garden Design, as well as a writer, author and speaker. She specializes in designing, writing and speaking about gardens that enhance the quality of life, heal from the inside out, and help to create balance and wellness.She is a breast cancer survivor and the author of “The Cancer Survivor’s Garden Companion: Cultivating Hope, Healing & J

Telling the story that helps build business in a local market.In This Podcast: After spending some time in Major League Baseball, Chris Gruler recognized the benefit of a personal story and owning your own branding. He now works with companies big and small to help identify and promote their brands, a process that one of his projects is using to help promote the restaurants in his home town.  This essential of building a marketing strategy is valuable to local food businesses as well.Chris has been in the branding/internet game for close to 12 years, using his strengths in branding, storytelling, website development, and online strategy for growth. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies, professional athletes, and small businesses who are looking to expand or protect their brand online.He started ProtegeBranding.com in 2007 with the intent to assist companies and brands with their online presence. One such project dedicated to restaurants and local dining is ScottsdaleRestaurants.com where they cr

Appreciating America's forgotten fruit.In This Podcast: Amazed upon being introduced to a delicious tropical fruit that grew in temperate areas of the Americas, Andrew Moore delved into some heavy research to learn more about it. He found that this fruit has been growing on the continent for a very long time, has a rich history with both ancient fauna and early human civilizations. He tells us some of what he learned and why it has been forgotten.Andrew grew up in Lake Wales, Florida, just south of the pawpaw’s native range. He is a writer and gardener, and now lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  His first book, Pawpaw, In Search of America's Forgotten Fruit was published through Chelsea Green in 2015 as a hardback and this year in paperback.  It was also nominated for the James Beard Foundation Award.Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/09/19/289-andrew-moore/ for show notes and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.Andrew Moore on The Pawpaw Fruit

Bonus Episode 7: Seed Chat August 2017A chat with an expert on Seeds.In This Bonus Podcast: There is always a bounty of information available in conversations with Bill McDorman.  This is the August 2017 episode with a Seed School Chat Class covering Seed School Teacher Training, a proposed Seed Saving Principles list, disaster planning, breeding program preparation, and so much more.Bill 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/2017/09/18/bonus-episode-7/ for show notes and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Connecting a community to its farmers and local food resources.In This Podcast: The community of farmers that she lived in was rich with interesting people and stories, so Elvira Di’Brigit took the time to get to know them. She shares her story of how she started farming as well as introducing a few interesting farms from her valley. Their cooperative methods of working and providing food for their community are great examples of thinking outside the box.About 17 years ago, Elvira moved her family to Capay Valley, where her passionate interest in sustainable living took hold. While teaching she explored curricula surrounding farming, environmental preservation and nutrition - all in support of sustainable living.She is the editor of CapayValleyGrown.net and the author of Why We Farm. She also serves on the organizing committee for the Hoes Down Harvest Festival, a fund-raiser for the Ecological Farming Association.Elvira holds a BA in international relations from UC Davis, a teaching credential and a Waldorf/

Educating and empowering the upcoming generation to be part of their food system.In This Podcast: After spending some time working at a farmers market, volunteering on an educational farm, and as a middle school science teacher, Dani Replogle has found her way to law school.  Now she studies environmental law and food law and has some insight on how millennials are taking part in not just local food, but also food activism.  Her passion comes through with her story and the other information she shares, which gives hope that the next generation is paying attention to where their food comes from and how the environment is being cared for.Dani is a second-year law student at Lewis & Clark in Portland, Oregon. She fell in love with the sustainable food movement while working as an eighth-grade science teacher in Colorado and spending her Saturdays managing a stand at the Boulder Farmers Market.Dani spent the past summer working toward a sustainable food system model at Center for Food Safety, and wi

Breaking down the recipe for good, healthy soil.In This Podcast: The ingredients for healthy soil make up an essential recipe for gardeners and farmers, and is worth describing a few times until the perfect connection is made. Emily Rockey appreciates good soil so much that she earned the nickname "The Dirt Girl" and she loves helping others appreciate compost and soil. She has something important to say to those who think they have a ‘black thumb’!Emily received her degree in Plant Sciences from the University of Arizona.  In the past, she worked at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, Walt Disney World's Epcot Center, and the Tucson Botanical Gardens.  She is currently the Director of Sales and Marketing for the tank's Green Stuff in Tucson, which specializes in "green" landscape debris recycling, construction debris recycling, and more. Emily brings her passion for both plants and recycling to the company’s composting operation. This is where they convert landscape debris into organic comp