Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Food Garden Life Show: Helping You Harvest More from Your Edible Garden, Vegetable Garden, and Edible Landscaping
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Too Cold for Tender Fruit? Hear What this Prairie Grower Does | 06 Jun 2024 | 00:33:35 | |
Think your climate is too cold to grow tender fruit? Find out how this grower harvests peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, and more…despite winter temperatures that can dip to -38°C (-36°F) and a short summer. In this episode, Donna and Steven chat with Saskatchewan fruit grower Dean Kreutzer. We talk about:
Kreutzer and his wife run Over the Hill Orchards in Saskatchewan. If you’re looking for more on cold-hardy fruit, check out this post on Saskatoon Berries. *** -->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time! -->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates. -->And say hi—we love to hear what you think! Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Not Enough Space? Fit in More Crops With These Ideas | 30 May 2024 | 00:22:26 | |
Do you have more seeds and plants than you can fit into your garden? It’s a common problem for the enthusiastic food gardener! In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about finding more growing space so that you can fit more crops into the same space. Get ideas for:
If you’re looking for more on garden planning, check out these 7 vegetable garden layout ideas. *** -->Join the 5,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang who stay on top of home food-growing ideas with our weekly e-mail. We’re making the world a better place one garden at a time! -->Grab the free e-books: Small-Space Food-Gardening Hacks and Growing Figs in Cold Climates. -->And say hi—we love to hear what you think! Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Is Your Soil in Overdraft? Find Out How to Amend Soil | 28 Mar 2024 | 00:39:42 | |
When you make only withdrawals—no deposits—you eventually end up in overdraft. It works that way at the bank, with friendships—and with soil. And growing crop after crop in a garden is like making withdrawal after withdrawal. The crops use nutrients. Working the soil affects its structure. Amending soil is like putting money back into the bank. Soil amendments can improve soil structure, soil chemistry, and return nutrients to the soil. In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about practical ways home gardeners can improve soil quality with soil amendments. We discuss different types of manures, making compost, using leaves, wood chips, and common products such as bone meal, peat moss, and blood meal. If you’re looking for more on soil, check out this post about how and when to use wood ash in the garden. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Making Change One Garden at a Time | 02 Dec 2021 | 01:04:04 | |
Grow Now Emily Murphy believes individual gardeners doing small things can add up to big change. Murphy is a garden designer, educator, and author with a background that includes botany, ethnobotany, environmental science, and ecology. It gives her a unique vantage point to teach people about gardening and the environment. Murphy is the creator of the website passthepistil.com, and author of Grow What You Love, 12 Food Plant Families to Change Your Life. Her new book is Grow Now: How we can save our health, communities, and plant – one garden at a time. In it, Murphy looks at how individual gardeners can make change positive change in the world. Green Thumbs Growing Kids Sunday Harrison gets city kids gardening. She’s with Green Thumbs Growing Kids, which gives hands-on garden and food education to urban school kids. Along with school gardens, she talks about microgreens, a fast maturing crop for kids. And a new project is kids growing trees from seed — trees that will line Toronto streets. Since Harrison joined us on the show a year ago to talk about school gardens, demand for school gardens has been huge. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Food-Focused Homestead Life | 25 Nov 2021 | 00:46:15 | |
Have you ever thought of changing your relationship with food? Gary Dickenson put food front and centre in his new life as a homesteader. He tells us about his move from a seaside town in the UK, where he worked in marketing, to a remote corner of northern Latvia. Dickenson says that the thing he best likes about homesteading life is the freedom it offers him. Busy Homestead It’s a busy homestead. Projects include:
Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| School Food Gardens Open Career Horizons | 18 Nov 2021 | 00:34:09 | |
The Wateroo Region School Food Gardens project has built 35 school gardens, touching 20,000 students in this region of Ontario. Allison Eady, program co-ordinator, explains that it provides information and curriculum ideas to educators, grants for school gardens, and direct programming for youth. Garden-Based Learning Eady sees school gardens as an opportunity for teaching more than gardening. She says garden-based lessons can be used for many subjects, including art, math, and science. Launch a School Garden “The best chance for success is when there’s a network of people who support it,” says Eady as she talks about successful school gardens. She says it’s important to find allies in the community, whether it’s organizations or community members. That’s because school populations change fairly quickly: kids (and parents) move on, and staff are shuffled between schools. That makes the stability of community support important for the long-term success of a school garden. Eady says not to worry about being a garden expert when starting a school garden. “It’s about figuring it all out together,” she says. Youth Programming During the COVID pandemic Waterloo Region School Gardens has pivoted to provide more direct programming for youth, including career mentorship and student-run markets. Another initiative helps youth explore food-related topics of interest to them. Youth research a topic, and then create blog posts or videos to teach other youth, with the support of program staff. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Virtual Apple Tasting | 11 Nov 2021 | 00:42:13 | |
Stop and smell the roses? Community event helps people to stop and smell…apples. Susan Poizner recently helped 50 Torontonians to stop and smell…apples. Poizner, a fruit-tree-care educator and college instructor with a passion for growing fruit trees, organized a virtual apple-tasting event as a fundraiser for her local community orchard. Virtual Apple-Tasting Event Poizner visited an orchard specializing in heirloom apple varieties to get enough apples for 50 participants. Participants received a paper bag containing the six apple varieties for the tasting. Each was marked with coloured stickers for identification. To help participants think about what they were tasting, the event was facilitated by an apple sommelier, a researcher specializing in taste perception. Poizner explains that researchers testing new apple varieties for consumer acceptance might consider upwards of 50 things. For this event, participants were asked to share feedback on four things: overall apple intensity, honey, floral, green-herbaceous. Apple Varieties The tasting event took attendees to different parts of the world with six heirloom apple varieties. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Grow Quince and Garden Journal | 04 Nov 2021 | 01:01:32 | |
Grow Quince in Cold Climates Imagine a job that revolved around a plant you’re passionate about. What plant would it be for you? For Nan Stefanik that plant is quince. She first tasted quince as an adult, on an overseas trip. After returning home, she was surprised to learn it grew locally in New England. With a long history of its cultivation in New England, knowledge of quince had receded over time. #GrowQuince Stefanik’s business, Vermont Quince, makes quince paste, quince preserves, and other specialty quince products using New-England-grown quince. Along with food products, she has made it her mission to collect and share quince information. Using a specialty-crop grant, she started a #GrowQuince campaign to share quince-growing information. Find more information about how to grow and how to cook quince on the Vermont Quince website. What’s next? Stefanik and her son have acquired land for a quince education centre where they can combine a shop, demonstrations, and hold scion exchanges. A fabric showing the different types of quince used in a recent quince taste test. Toronto & Golden Horseshoe Gardener’s Journal Our second guest today is also passionate about what she does. Helen Battersby produces the Toronto and Golden Horseshoe Gardener’s Journal. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the journal, which includes information about frost dates, seed-starting dates, plant and seed sources — and also has space to record garden successes and failures. There’s a deeply human story behind the journal, the story of a mother helping a son. Battersby shares that story, and talks about what’s new in the 2022 edition. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Compost Heater Heats a Hot Tub | 28 Oct 2021 | 00:31:24 | |
A wood-chip compost pile steams up this hot tub. Today we visit a Colorado garden at an elevation of 6,500 feet. Tom Bartels harvests 1,000 pound of fresh produce a year from his 1,300-square-foot garden, even though he has only 130 growing days. Bartels uses a large amount of compost in his garden to maintain healthy soil. Much of that compost comes from wood chips. But wood chips do more than feed his soil: They generate heat as they decompose. He can heat an outdoor hot tub through two Colorado winters with a pile of wood chips. No combustion is needed. Heat from Wood Chips Bartels says that many arborists pay to discard wood chips. By composting them, he removes them from the waste stream and gets both heat and compost for free. The wood-chip pile used to heat the hot tub is approximately 6 feet tall and 12 feet in diameter. As he builds the pile, Bartels wets the wood chips and coils plastic piping within the pile. The added moisture makes conditions suitable to microbial growth, while the water-filled plastic piping collects heat generated within the pile as microbes break down the wood chips. Over two winters, the decomposing pile of wood chips generates the heat equivalent of burning 7 cords of wood. The temperature inside the pile gets as high as 150°F, and it stays warm enough to heat the hot tub for about 18 months. From Heater to Compost As microbial action slows down and the temperature within the pile drops, Bartels adds worms to speed up the composting process. After another two or three months, the wood chips have been transformed into finished compost—worm castings—ready for the garden. The wood chips that heated the hot tub for two winters are turned into 50 wheelbarrow loads of worm castings. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Grow Bamboo in Cold Climates | 21 Oct 2021 | 00:41:42 | |
Fred Hornaday is bullish about bamboo and it’s many uses. From fuel to food to fibre, he sees it as a versatile crop with environmental benefits. He shares his passion for bamboo through his bambubatu website, which has information about bamboo, how to grow it, how to use it, and its lore. Many Uses of Bamboo Bamboo is an extremely versatile crop that be be made into:
Bamboo in Cold Climates There are many types of bamboo that survive in cold climates. Many of these cold-hardy bamboos are in the gemus Phyllostachys or Fargesia. Bamboos in the former are “running” bamboos. Hornaday says most cold-hardy bamboos are running bamboos…those fast-spreading types that gardeners either love or hate. But the Fargesia bamboos are clumping, making them desirable for gardeners not interested in containing their bamboo patch. Bamboo as an Agricultural Crop Hornaday is hearing from a lot of people interested in farming bamboo commercially in North America. At the moment, he says, there’s a need for processing infrastructure. Farmers growing bamboo for commercial processing could also harvest shoots as a specialty food crop. As a perennial crop that can grow on marginal land, it can be used to stabilize soil. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Grow and Cook Bamboo | 14 Oct 2021 | 00:27:35 | |
Wendy Kiang-Spray’s children don’t recognize canned bamboo shoots. That says a lot about the difference between fresh bamboo and its canned cousin. Kiang-Spray, author of The Chinese Kitchen Garden, grew up eating fresh bamboo, one of the many crops her father grows in his large garden. She talks about growing, harvesting, and cooking bamboo.
Grow Bamboo There are two groups of bamboo:
Kiang-Spray points out that running bamboo might not be suited to small yards—at least not without measures to contain it. “It would be a big mistake in my suburban backyard; all my neighbours would hate me,” she says, as she talks about how quickly running bamboos can spread. A running bamboo spread to her yard from a neighbour’s yard over 100 feet away…not exactly a slow-growing plant. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Urban Growers + Gardening Under Cover | 07 Oct 2021 | 01:03:31 | |
Today on the podcast we hear how one person’s journey into food gardening evolved into a documentary film — and then we find out how to use garden covers to take vegetable gardening to another level. In My Backyard: A Documentary about Urban Growers Torontonian Jamie Day Fleck converted her entire suburban backyard into a kitchen garden. That was the starting point of her documentary, In My Backyard, where she looks at ideas that urban growers have dreamed up in her hometown of Toronto. Fleck talks about the urban growers she met while filming, how their gardens were different — and what they had in common. She also reflects on the future of urban growing. Growing Under Cover with Niki Jabbour We head to Halifax for food-garden inspiration from author, broadcaster, and vegetable gardening expert Niki Jabbour. Jabbour talks about gardening in a polytunnel, reflects on her 2021 garden, and shares tips about how to use covers in the garden to grow more, protect crops from weather, and minimize pest problems. Her newest book is called Growing Under Cover. It’s a must-have for serious vegetable gardeners. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Pawpaw in Ontario with Paul DeCampo | 30 Sep 2021 | 00:40:02 | |
Pawpaw. It’s a fruit that has a long history in Ontario. Yet it’s not well-known, nor do most people realize it grows wild in some parts of the province. Paul DeCampo, Toronto’s pawpaw ambassador, planted his first pawpaw trees in 1994. “Nobody I knew had ever heard of this fruit,” he says. Working in the food industry, he has had the opportunity to share his pawpaw fruit with chefs. Describing how, years later chefs will still talk about a fruit he gave them, he says, “Even if you’re someone who spends all day tasting the most interesting things, these are particularly astounding.” Why Grow Pawpaw? Besides the fact that the fruit is almost never available for sale, DeCampo says a pawpaw tree is a good fit for the challenges of a city yard. That’s because:
DeCampo’s Pawpaw Tips DeCampo suggests thinking of a forest-edge garden when planting pawpaw. For urban gardeners, the shade of the forest is replaced by the shade of buildings. Other tips:
Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Where to Grow Herbs: Herb Garden Layout and Design Ideas | 21 Mar 2024 | 00:35:01 | |
Looking for herb garden layout ideas? If you’re planning a herb garden, there are many ways to add herbs to the landscape. You can have a stand-alone herb garden, a herb lawn, herbs mixed with paving, use herbs as bedding plants, weave them into a perennial border, or make a herb container garden on a patio, deck, or paved space. In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about ideas for using herbs in home garden landscapes and share their favourite perennial herbs, annual herbs, and exotic herbs. If you’re looking for more on planning a kitchen garden, check out this post on kitchen garden planning. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Doug Oster uses Newspaper Boxes to Share Seeds | 23 Sep 2021 | 00:38:50 | |
Where have all the newspaper boxes gone? If you’re in western Pennsylvania, don’t be surprised if you find a dark green newspaper box with a sign in the window that says “Doug’s Free Seed Shack.“ Pittsburgh garden expert Doug Oster, a newspaper industry veteran, is using old newspaper boxes to get seeds to as many people as possible. He wants more people to garden. And he wants vegetable seeds easily available in communities where access to fresh produce is limited. Having seen pictures online of seed-library boxes, he thought about doing something similar in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Oster, who jokes about not being handy, decided building boxes wasn’t his thing. Instead, he repurposed old newspaper boxes. All it took was spray paint and a trip to the print shop for signs. After the first summer of the project, Oster says he’s pleased with the results. The seeds are getting into the community. He’s getting good feedback. And people are asking if they can share seeds in the boxes, which is exactly what he wants. He wants the seed shacks to be like a library, where people can take seeds—but can also return seeds if they wish. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| A Windy Newfoundland Homestead with a Sustainable Focus | 17 Sep 2021 | 00:50:53 | |
Old becomes new. When David Goodyear began to think about food costs, sustainability, and how he and his family ate, he sat down with older relatives to hear how people used to eat. “Everybody ate root crops because they grew it themselves,” he was told. Goodyear says there are many root crops that grow well in Newfoundland. It didn’t seem right when his grocery store had carrots from abroad. Nor did it didn’t seem sustainable. Change in Diet Turns to Growing Goodyear and his family started by changing their diet and eating more root crops. The food bill went down. They found more locally raised choices. Then they decided to grow their own root crops. Today they grow root crops, greens, tomatoes, strawberries…even figs. The next project? A food forest. As Goodyear explains, his is a challenging climate. His town, Flatrock, is close to St. John’s, the third windiest city in the world. He has 110 frost-free days a year. “Winter starts in November; it doesn’t end till the end of May,” he says. The focus on growing their own food led to an interest in storing the harvest. “If you’re going to grow a massive amount of root crops you need somewhere to put them,” says Goodyear as he talks about his root cellar. Goodyear and his family switched up their diet; and have now switched up their life. Their homestead includes the gardens, a root cellar, a greenhouse, and a passive home. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| How to Use Fig Leaves in the Kitchen | 09 Sep 2021 | 00:31:23 | |
Coconut. Almond. Green fig. These are some of the flavours people use to describe what they taste when Chef David Salt serves something flavoured with fig leaves. Salt cooked with fig leaves in London, England, where he had a ready source of fig leaves in a nearby churchyard. Upon relocating to Toronto, he didn’t know where to find them. And that’s when host Steven Biggs received an enquiry that read: Salt got some fig leaves, and invited Biggs to the restaurant to taste his fig-leaf ice cream, fig-leaf cheese—and a fig leaf grappa! Cooking with Fig Leaves Salt says that the most classic method of using fig leaves is in the same way as banana leaves — as a wrap. When used as a wrap, they protect the enclosed meat or fish, keeping it moist. They also impart a unique flavour. When cooking with fig leaves, the leaf is used to wrap food, or an infusion used to pull out the fig-leaf flavour. The flavour is delicate. Salt finds it pairs well with light-flavoured meats or fish; and light-flavoured fruit such as strawberries and blueberries. But he says to be creative: He’s paired fig leaves with hot chocolate, a strong taste, and found worked well. His favourite dish made using fig leaves is ice cream. For people using fig leaves for the first time, he explains that heat can help to bring out the flavour—but to avoid boiling, which results in a stewed-vegetable flavour. When time permits, a cold infusion is best. Drifter’s Solace Salt is gearing up to create fig-leaf flavoured foods this fall at his brand new chef’s-table style restaurant in Toronto. It’s called Drifter’s Solace. Toronto has lots of big restaurants. Drifters Solace is at the opposite end of the spectrum: It’s small and personal, for groups of 6-8 people. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| How to Forage for Mushrooms without Dying | 02 Sep 2021 | 01:02:21 | |
Mushroom identification can be daunting for beginners, with Latin names and spore prints used to differentiate hard-to-identify mushrooms. In his new book, How to Forage for Mushrooms without Dying: An Absolute Beginners Guide to Identifying 29 Wild Edible Mushrooms, Frank Hyman focuses on edible mushrooms that are easy to identify. Easy-to-Identify Edible Mushrooms Hyman suggests starting with easy-to-identify mushrooms when learning to forage — mushrooms that can easily be distinguished from non-edible ones. Here are some of the mushrooms that he talks about in this episode:
More than Dinner Hyman points out that along with the culinary uses of foraged mushrooms, there’s another reason people might consider foraging: It’s a fun outdoor activity; it’s time outdoors, in nature. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Are You Frightened of Landrace Gardening? | 26 Aug 2021 | 00:41:38 | |
Joseph Lofthouse had hundreds of jars of seed around his house when he began market gardening. He saved seeds from each variety…a time-consuming task. Today he has far fewer jars of seed. Today he practices landrace gardening. Lofthouse no longer focuses on keeping pure varieties, but instead uses genetically diverse lots of seed. His is the author of the book, Landrace Gardening: Food Security through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination. What is Landrace Gardening Landrace gardening is not new. It’s a traditional method of growing using locally adapted, genetically variable seeds. The genetic variability makes it more likely that some plants will perform well even if there are adverse conditions. “What I’m doing was standard practice through all of human history up until about 60 years ago, until people started farming with machines instead of human effort,” explains Lofthouse. How to Start Landrace Gardening Not having pure varieties feels strange to some gardeners. But Lofthouse points out that uniformity isn’t important in small-scale operations or home gardens. Here are his tips for gardeners who want to try landrace gardening:
Lofthouse notes that there are some crops for which he avoids certain mixes. For example, he does not mix his popcorn with his sweetcorn; or his hot peppers with his sweet peppers. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Helping Other People Eat through Gardening | 19 Aug 2021 | 00:43:40 | |
Julie Brunson didn’t garden as a child, but began to garden and grow food as an adult. When her husband was in a dark place and found solace in their garden, the garden not only fed them, it helped him to heal. That was the start of a journey into teaching kids about regenerative gardening, and also using the garden as a way to touch on a host of other topics including social justice, mental health, and nutrition. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Container Gardening with Hot Peppers – REWIND | 12 Aug 2021 | 00:24:13 | |
What is the ideal plant for a small yard? The ideal plant for someone wanting something ornamental – yet edible too? And, just to complicate things, it has to be good for a garden where there are lots of squirrels. Claus Nader found that hot peppers were that ideal plant. Nader was gardening in a small yard that was frequented by marauding squirrels. While the squirrels sampled many of the things he grew, they didn’t eat his hot peppers. So Nader made hot peppers the focus of his garden, growing them in pots on his balcony, deck, and dotted around his small yard. Along with a passion for growing peppers in containers, Nader is also interested in unusual varieties and culinary uses and traditions. (His “Tummy Torch” sauce is magic on a piece of barbecued chicken.) Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| What's to Hate? A Look at the Whole Okra | 05 Aug 2021 | 01:02:10 | |
Chris Smith remembers his first okra encounter well. It was at a diner in Georgia. A native of the UK, where growing conditions are not conducive to heat-loving okra, the vegetable was foreign to him. So was the cuisine of the American south. His recollection of that first taste of okra? Slime and grease. While not enamoured by his first okra experience, a later gift of a dry okra seed pod—a pod with a story—ignited his interest in okra. He began to grow it and to experiment with it in his own kitchen, using pods, leaves, flowers, stalks—even the seeds. As that interest and his knowledge of okra grew, Smith started to teach others about it. In his quest for even more okra information, he’s spoken with food historians, researchers, farmers, and chefs. He brings it all together in his book, The Whole Okra, A Seed to Stem Celebration. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Edible Front Yards and Sensory Gardens | 29 Jul 2021 | 00:45:28 | |
Jennifer Lauruol weaves together permaculture concepts, native plants, food plants, forest gardening, and educational elements in her regenerative-garden design work in Lancaster, England. Her passion is edible ornamental gardening—especially in front yards. Lauruol also uses many native plants in her designs. She finds that effective design helps people interpret the use of native plants as a garden. Edible Front Yards Lauruol recalls a neighbour’s concern that children might steal the fruit that Lauruol was growing in her front yard. Yet that was exactly her goal: that children would enjoy the fruit and learn where it comes from. She says that a well-planned garden can have a succession of edible fruits and ornamental plants. Another way to weave edible plants into a landscape is to create an edible hedge. While edible front gardens might not appeal to everyone’s taste, Lauruol does have a tip for gardeners worried about sceptical neighbours: “I do know what to do about the diehards: give them strawberries,” she says. Native Plants Lauruol explains that having a mown strip around plantings of native plants helps people understand it as something intentional. “If you create a frame around it then people can understand it,” she says. Her own design with native plants is strongly influenced by Brazilian artist, painter, and landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx, who used big blocks of colour in his work. She says planting native plants in large drifts, as opposed to mixed plantings, is an approach that is less likely to be interpreted as sloppy. Sensory Gardens Lauruol creates sensory gardens for people with special needs. Her focus on sensory gardens stems from her own experience with her daughter Marie, who has special needs. “She comes alive when she is in nature,” says Lauruol, adding, “For me, the base of a sensory garden really needs to be a wildlife garden.” Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Meet the Indiana Jones of Pawpaw | 22 Jul 2021 | 00:48:59 | |
Meet Neal Peterson, the Indiana Jones of pawpaws. He was so moved by the taste of pawpaw that it became his life’s work. There were improved pawpaw varieties in the early 20th century—but the fruit fell into obscurity. Peterson dug through the literature to uncover past pawpaw breeding work, and then set out to track down lost varieties for use in his own pawpaw breeding work. About Pawpaw Peterson says that in the wild, pawpaws are an “understorey” tree, often growing in shade of larger forest trees. When they are in shady locations they become lanky and do not produce a lot of fruit. But given more light, they produce much more fruit. Two genetically distinct trees are needed to produce fruit. Pawpaws sucker extensively, which can give rise to groves of pawpaw that are all clones from a single parent tree. Peterson says that in the wild, pawpaw fruit can be quite seedy, with up to 25% seed by weight. In his work he has bred varieties with more fruit and less seed. His best variety has 4% seed by weight. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Planting Greens for a Continuous Harvest: Crops + Tips for Growing Greens | 14 Mar 2024 | 00:46:19 | |
Leafy greens fizzle out in the summer? Does your lettuce bolt too soon? Find out how to grow more leafy greens in your garden and how to extend your harvest so you can pick fresh salad greens as long as possible. In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about crops ideas for leafy greens, how to plant leafy greens in a home garden or edible landscape, choosing greens crops for ongoing harvest, how to hurry up your spring harvest, and how to slow down bolting—even in hot weather. If you’re looking for more on leafy greens, check out this guide to 5 heat-tolerant salad greens. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Urban Farm Camp for City Kids | 15 Jul 2021 | 00:39:51 | |
Today on the podcast we head to Reno, Nevada to hear about Urban Roots, an organization that uses garden education to help change the way people eat. It takes gardens to classrooms…and uses the garden as a classroom at its urban teaching farm. Fayth Ross and Elsa DeJong talk about the summer farm camp, programming for home-schooling families, and collaborations with local schools. Farm Camp During the summer and school breaks, Urban Roots runs programming for children at its urban teaching farm. DeJong explains that there is a different theme each week. Themes include:
Woven into this farm camp curriculum are literature, art, engineering, music — and cooking. Farm School This program for home-schooling families takes place twice a week during the academic year, and includes lessons, games, and farm chores. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Approach to No Till | 08 Jul 2021 | 01:03:25 | |
In this rebroadcast of the radio show that aired live on July 7th, we talk about soil and no-till practices with market gardener, farm journalist, and podcaster Jesse Frost. He’s the host of The No-Till Market Garden Podcast, and he and his wife are no-till farmers at their Rough Draft Farmstead in Kentucky. Frost’s new book is The Living Soil Handbook. Choosing a No-Till Model Frost says that there is no one-size-fits-all model of no-till growing. It depends on the context — things such as soil, rainfall, climate, and the crops being grown. No-till is as varied as the growers using it. 3 Principles to Grow By A successful no-till system goes beyond not tilling. Frost suggests three principles growers and gardeners can use to guide their approach to tillage:
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| Coppices, Alcoholic Hedges, and Thoughts on Ecological Gardening | 01 Jul 2021 | 00:52:42 | |
Where is the sweet spot that gardening meets the natural world…so that gardening is ecological? Our guest today explains that ecological gardening is all about balance. Matt Rees-Warren says, “Your garden is a pocket of wild; it will never be purely wild, because it’s an interaction between ourselves and nature. But it can be much more regenerative.” Rees-Warren is a professional gardener and garden designer who’s passionate about the difference that individual gardeners can make to strengthen biodiversity and lessen environmental degradation. He says gardening is one way individuals can make a tangible difference to the environment. Don’t wait for governments to act, he says. Start making changes now, in your own garden. Rees-Warren is the author of The Ecological Gardener: How to Create Beauty and Biodiversity From the Soil Up. Ecological Gardening “If we design our gardens to be regenerative, the result will be functional, beautiful spaces full of life and vigour, robust enough to face the challenges of the future and elegant enough to beguile all those who walk among them,” says Rees-Warren. But ecological gardening is more than a philosophy. There are many practical things we can do in the garden. Here are some of the ideas discussed:
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| Sochan, Galinsoga, Squash Tips: Root-to-Flower Cuisine | 24 Jun 2021 | 01:02:59 | |
Our guest today, Chef Alan Bergo, looks at vegetables through the eyes of a forager. He’s passionate about using parts of the plant that are often overlooked. Chefs using a whole animals might use the term nose-to-tail cooking. Bergo takes this approach with his vegetables, using a root-to-flower approach. Bergo is the author of the new book, The Forager Chef’s Book of Flora: Recipes and Techniques for Edible Plants from Garden, Field, and Forest. Often-Forgotten Plant Parts Bergo talks about using squash tips in the kitchen. “The squash is a perfect example of how foraging and looking for different ingredients changed how I consider vegetables that I thought I knew,” he says. His advice for cooking squash shoot tips? Cook gently and delicately. Steam them, or blanche for one minute…or barely wilt them in a pan. Other often-forgotten plant parts include:
Foraged Ingredients
Thoughts on Flavour Bergo talks about flavours that are shared amongst plants in the same families, recounting the time he served dolmas made using galinsoga leaves, only to have people ask him if they contained artichoke. Another example of a shared flavour is the hint of almond that shines through in plum kernal oil or saskatoon berries. Bergo’s Top Tips
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| Garden in Your 90s | 17 Jun 2021 | 00:34:17 | |
“I can’t hold them back sometimes,” says physiotherapist Nancy Durrant as she tells us about the garden at the long-term care home where she works. The residents she’s talking about are mainly in their 90s. And the vegetables and herbs they grow and harvest become part of the menu at this Toronto long-term care home. An avid gardener herself, Durant says the home had nice grounds previously…but she saw the space and imagined a garden. The management agreed with her idea of a garden, and two years ago, Durrant, with the help of staff members who built raised beds, set out with a core group of residents to garden. She points out that gardens are an excellent fit for what she does as a physiotherapist because gardening is exercise. It’s good for the body, and good for the mind. Growing Interest There is a core group of residents who, along with staff, run the garden. Durrant says other residents take part, especially with harvest. Along with vegetables, they grow a number of herbs. “We have a few herbs which I think is really good because it hits more senses,” says Durrant. There are a number of ways they grow interest in the garden:
Age-Appropriate Garden Tips Durant says that the gardens are a combination of in-ground plots, raised beds, and containers. The desk-height raised beds make it possible for gardeners with differing physical abilities to take part.
Find a Way Durrant says that there are ways to help those with disabilities continue to garden. She gives the example of a resident who recently had a heart attack, but who can still cut herbs in the raised beds, and can drops bean seeds into a pre-dug trench. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Black Creek Community Farm | 10 Jun 2021 | 00:38:48 | |
Today on the podcast we visit the Black Creek Community Farm in Toronto. The farm is located along the northern boundary of the City of Toronto, in a densely populated neighbourhood where Toronto meets one of its northern suburbs, within walking distance of the Jane and Finch neighbourhood. If you’re from Toronto, you’ll know Jane and Finch — at least by name — from the media attention it gets. The good things going on in the area — and that there is a vibrant community here — don’t get a lot of media attention, so it might be a surprise for some people to connect Jane and Finch with urban farming, with growing food, and with growing community through food. “When you do something from the heart, when you’re passionate about what you do, I think you can do big things.” Mildred AgsaoayUnique Property Founded in 2012, the Black Creek Community Farm is on an eight-acre property that includes three acres of farmland, a heritage farmhouse and barn, and forest that extends into the Black Creek ravine. The property has a market garden, a food forest, greenhouses, an outdoor classroom, an outdoor brick pizza oven, a medicine-wheel garden, a mushroom garden, a chicken coop, and beehives. At the Farm There are a number of programs at the Black Creek Community Farm.
Sunshine Community Garden Beyond the farm site, the Black Creek Community Farm has been involved in the creation of the Sunshine Community Garden on the property of a nearby high-rise apartment building. Agsaoay explains that the garden is more than just growing food: It’s a way to build community. “Growing food is a great connecctor for people. It builds relationships and trust.” Mildred Agsaoay Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Grow Fruit in a Small Garden | 03 Jun 2021 | 01:02:26 | |
In a broadcast that originally aired live on The Food Garden Life Radio Show, we head to California to talk with Christy Wilhelmi, a self-described garden nerd with a passion for growing fruit and vegetables, and an expert at small-space edible-garden design. In the podcast she shares tips about:
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| City Farm School | 27 May 2021 | 00:27:45 | |
Today on the podcast we head to Montreal to hear about City Farm School, an urban-agriculture apprenticeship program. Jackie Martin, a co-ordinator with City Farm School, explains that this not-for-profit program uses space provided by Concordia University. In addition to greenhouse space on the 13th floor of a downtown building, the “farm” is located at the Loyola Campus, in a residential neighbourhood. She says that the market garden is roughly the size of a soccer field — and there’s a medicinal-plant garden too. Apprenticeship Program The program, which is open to anyone in the community, has two streams: a market-gardener apprenticeship and a medicinal-plants apprenticeship. The program begins in the greenhouse in March, with seed-sowing for transplants the farm and for a plant sale. In May there is transplanting and seeding at the market garden. The community market opens in June. Students take part in harvesting for the market, preparing the harvest for sale, and staffing the market. Later in summer they save seeds for the following year. Before graduating students are expected to teach a free workshop that is open to the public. Martin says that past topics have included seeding, fermentation, and pest control — with some of the more memorable topics being herbal medicine for pets and edible weeds. Community Outreach The weekly market has been an important way to connect with the community. “Our neighbours are our biggest supporters, and always have been,” says Martin. She explains that many of their neighbours now grow their own kale, after she sent them home from market with their own kale seed. It’s not a move that increases kale sales — but it’s in keeping with their mandate to encourage gardening in the city. Martin says former students have gone on to become farmers, teachers, and community organizers. Many of the organizations they now partner with were created by former students. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Foodscaping | 20 May 2021 | 00:31:30 | |
Today on the podcast we talk about “foodscaping,” gardening that combines the ornamental with the edible, also known as edible landscaping. Foodscaper Jeremy Cooper says he likes to work with plants that have multiple functions, including ornamental, herbal, medicinal, ecological, and edible. Cooper worked in a number of jobs before focusing on foodscaping. In hindsight, he sees that he was circling this intersection of food, gardening, and the environmental before he even realized it. Part of what he does as a foodscaper is to educate clients about smarter ways to garden. For example, many times he’ll find people battling plants that are edible. “That’s food!” he tells them, as he helps them see the plants in another light. Foodscaping Tips Cooper’s tips for gardeners interested in foodscaping:
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| Gardening and PTSD | 13 May 2021 | 00:38:52 | |
Today on the podcast we explore the idea of healing through growing. We travel to Israel, to meet Nachum Lamour-Fridman. He uses plants and growing as part of the programming at the Borgani community centre he founded for PTSD sufferers and their families. Lamour-Fridman’s dream is to create a model of a sustainability centre that can be used to help PTSD sufferers everywhere. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Lamour-Fridman realized the power of growing when, in the depths of his own PTSD, being outdoors and amongst plants was one of the things that helped him rise up and begin to heal. He says that he was sometimes unable to sleep or eat, making it difficult to function. Yet living in a kibbutz, where there is a strong culture of work, he says that those who can’t work can be ostracized. “It affected my soul; it affected my ability to engage reality,” he says as he talks about how PTSD affected his ability to live and work in his own community. He recently spoke to the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, where his key message was for it to act now to help those with PTSD, likening untreated trauma to a terminal cancer or an auto-immune disease. Borgani Lamour-Fridman explains that Borgani translates into “pit garden,” a fitting name given that the centre is located in a what was a stone quarry in Roman times. The old quarry had previously been used by the community as part of a cattle farming operation, but for the past 20 years was used as a garbage dump. Lamour-Fridman began to clean it out. At first, he wasn’t able to stay in the enclosed space for long, and might only stay 5 minutes. Now it’s become a place of comfort and healing for him. “Today when I go there it’s like a stone womb,” he explains. The Borgani sustainability centre brings together agriculture, technology, and education. It includes a greenhouse and farm, selling food baskets to the community. There is also a composting facility, and studios where participants make furniture and art. “It’s not a charity,” he explains, pointing out that participants take part in the full cycle of growing, tending, and selling. He notes the importance of participants seeing the value in what they do. Looking ahead, he says, “We have big plans.” These plans include yoga and therapy through movement and music. “When you start, it doesn’t matter if it’s a half-a-metre garden or 20 acres. When you start, don’t stop. Because nature doesn’t stop and life doesn’t stop.” Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Grow an Indoor Lemon Tree + MORE Exotic Potted Citrus Trees | 07 Mar 2024 | 00:47:13 | |
Tried growing a potted lemon tree but it didn’t thrive? Citrus expert Byron Martin has the solution. And it’s not difficult. AND he also has recommendations for other unusual potted citrus trees. We talk about finger limes, blood limes, pomelo, sweet lemon, sunquat, kumquat, citron, and more. For all of these citrus trees in pots, proper watering is the key to success. We hear how to water—and what to expect from potted citrus trees in the fall. (Spoiler alert: If your lemon tree drops leaves when you bring it indoors, you’re not alone!) We also find out about Byron’s favourite rootstock for citrus grafting. If you’re looking for more on indoor lemon trees, here’s a guide to growing a lemon tree in a pot (that actually fruits!) Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Backyard Honeybees | 06 May 2021 | 01:03:11 | |
In a broadcast that originally aired live on The Food Garden Life Radio Show, we head to North Carolina to chat with beekeeper Justin Maness. Backyard Honeybees Maness began working with honey bees after finishing college, when he joined a research team studying the links of neonicotinoid pesticides and honey bee mortality. After that, he worked in for-profit and non-profit ventures with bees, and eventually founded Buddha Bee Apiary. He says that at Buddha Bee Apiary his goal is to spark curiosity about bees, educate people about bees — and grow a crop of pollinator advocates. Buddha Bee Apiary places honeybee hives in urban and suburban backyards through its Host-a-Hive program. It also offers a mentorship program for those interested in one-on-one learning. Living Big in a Small Space We also hear about the life that Maness and his family live in their converted school bus. Maness says that their interest in the school-bus lifestyle started after his wife, Juby, bought a small school bus to ferry merchandise for her business to events. After a couple of nights on the road, they realized that they liked the mobility — and eventually bought a larger bus to convert into a home. Maness says that having a small home means they spend more time outside, whether working in the garden, eating, or hanging out. He and Juby share their approach to life and food in their new cookbook, Tiny Home, Big Flava’. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| It Takes One Person | 29 Apr 2021 | 00:40:17 | |
Today on the podcast we meet an avid gardener who grew up in downtown Toronto, in a family that didn’t garden. And for a long time she didn’t garden either. But then one person sparked her interest in gardening, and dropped by with a bucket of llama poo to help her make and plant her very first garden. Julia Dimakos hasn’t looked back. Her kitchen garden has grown to 7,000 square feet. Now, she is on a mission to spark the interest in gardening in other people. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Teachings to Guide Gardeners | 22 Apr 2021 | 00:47:28 | |
Today on the podcast we hang out here in Toronto to speak with Isaac Crosby. Isaac is the Urban Agriculture Lead at Toronto’s Evergreen Brickworks. During our chat, Isaac told us that, “Part of wisdom is not keeping it to yourself.” He shares with us wisdom that has come to him through Ojibwa teachings. Isaac is from the Ojibwa of Anderdon, a small farming community In south-western Ontario. He takes the seven grandfather teachings and explains how we can interpret them when gardening. His advice for new gardeners? “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, because that’s where you learn.” The 7 Grandfather Teachings The 7 Grandfather teachings are about:
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| Make a Potager Garden | 15 Apr 2021 | 00:35:04 | |
Today on the podcast we head to Ohio to find out more about potager gardens. Jennifer Bartley tells us about this traditional kitchen garden style from France, and how to create the same sort of food-producing garden with seasonality and a sense of intimacy at home. Bartley writes, “The potager is more than a kitchen garden; it is a philosophy of living that is dependent on the seasons and the immediacy of the garden.” Bartley is a landscape architect, whose firm, American Potager, designs gardens inspired by the grand French kitchens. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Learning to be a Home Herbalist | 08 Apr 2021 | 01:03:20 | |
In a broadcast that originally aired live on The Food Garden Life Radio Show, we chat with herbalist Bevin Cohen about using, growing, and foraging herbs. He talks about culinary, medicinal, and cosmetic uses. He also talks about his journey into the business of herbs and building his herb business. Cohen is also an author and seed saver. His new book is The Artisan Herbalist: Making Teas, Tinctures, and Oils at Home. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Civil Disobedience with Vegetables | 01 Apr 2021 | 00:40:01 | |
Today on the podcast we head to Quebec City to talk about civil disobedience: Civil disobedience with vegetables. Marie-Hélène Jacques from the not-for-profit organization Les Urbainculteurs – which translates into urban growers – joins us to talk about moving the needle on growing food in Quebec City. The urban agriculture scene in Quebec City is hot right now. Jacques says, “It’s not like a wave of interest that’s happening now in gardening — it’s a tsunami of interest.” Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Making Home and Corporate Vegetable Gardens | 25 Mar 2021 | 00:40:18 | |
Today on the podcast we head to Montreal to hang out with Shawn Manning from Urban Seedling. He tells us how, 10 years ago, he channelled his love of growing vegetables into a business specialized in creating vegetable gardens. Along with helping people create and grow vegetable gardens, another goal was to improve food security in the city. He realized that installing gardens for people who can afford a gardener probably doesn’t move the needle much on food security…but he’s tweaked the business to include corporate gardens—and use that as a way to improve food security in Montreal. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Foraging as an Outdoor Classroom | 18 Mar 2021 | 00:39:09 | |
We chat with forager and a wild-food educator Mike Krebill in Iowa. Krebill shares foraging tips, his insights into teaching, his approach to outdoor education—and stories from the years he spent teaching a grade seven elective course on foraging. Krebill’s new book is A Forager’s Life: Reflections on Mother Nature and my 70+ Years of Digging, Picking, Gathering, Fixing and Feasting on Wild Edible Foods. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Forest Gardens and Fruit | 11 Mar 2021 | 00:38:08 | |
We chat with forest garden designer and edible landscaper Mark Lord in south-western Germany. “A garden should be a holistic experience, feeding all of your senses, and your mind,” says Lord. He believes food gardens can be about more than just eating—that they can also be visually appealing, bio-diverse, and appeal to other senses such as smell. We also digress into his experiments making liqueur including linden, serviceberry, cherry…and nettle! Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Step-by-Step Vegetable Gardening | 04 Mar 2021 | 01:02:53 | |
We chat with author, horticulturist, and plant breeder Joseph Tychonievich. Tychonievich shares his top tips for new vegetable gardeners. As an avid food gardener, he grows many different food crops. But every so often he focuses on a particular crop and grows as many varieties as he can. He recently emerged from a cucumber phase…and as a teenager, he went through a pineapple phase. He gardens in his own yard, a neighbour’s yard, and even inside in a closet. Tychonievich’s new book is The Comic Book Guide to Growing Food: Step by Step Vegetable Gardening for Everyone. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Hands-Off Crop: Growing Raspberries (they do FINE without your help!) | 29 Feb 2024 | 00:35:54 | |
Don’t have time to spend on fussy fruit crops? Then growing raspberries is something to think about. You can prune raspberries and manage the crop to maximize production. But this is one of those bulletproof crops that can do quite nicely without your help. In this episode, Donna and Steven talk about planting raspberries, how raspberries grow, how to prune raspberries, and how to care for them. If you’re looking for more on raspberries, tune in to our chat with Conrad Richter from Richters Herbs about the genus rubus (and learn about raspberry leaf tea!) And here’s more on how to tip-layer blackberries and black raspberries. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Backyard Urban Farming in Toronto | 25 Feb 2021 | 00:42:12 | |
We chat with Arlene Hazzan Green and Marc Green, co-owners of The Backyard Urban Farm Company (BUFCO) in Toronto about their mission to help people grow food at home. They are edible landscapers who help people plan, plant, and maintain food gardens. They have even ventured into wheelchair-accessible beds. From Film to Farming Hazzan Green explains why, after over 30 years in the film industry, they decided to venture into the business of edible landscaping, saying, “It was the lifestyle it was offering us that had such an appeal.” In hindsight, she realized that a lot of the film scripts she had been pitching had a farming theme. “I realized that what I was trying to do in my writing was create the life that I want to live,” she says. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Hunger Relief through Growing | 18 Feb 2021 | 00:41:52 | |
We head to San Diego, California to chat with Mim Michelove and Nan Sterman, who share a love of growing food and involvement in food activism. As unemployment in their community grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, and as the local food supply became shaky, they decided to use their connections with commercial growers, in the community, and with social service agencies to help people feed themselves. The result was the Grab & Grow Gardens program. Grab & Grow Gardens The Grab & Grow Gardens kits contain two transplant-size vegetable seedlings in a carry bag, along with growing instructions in English and Spanish. “We do this in Mim’s backyard,” explains Sterman, as she talks about assembling the kits with a small army of volunteers. Kits are distributed to those in need through hunger relief agencies, school districts, and affordable housing organizations. At the time of the interview in February, 2021, they had distributed over 8,500 kits. Initially, everything for the kits was donated. Securing donations of vegetable transplants was possible because they are located in an area with a large vegetable-transplant industry. As demand for the kits grew, and as they were able to access grants and donations, they began to purchase seed, allowing them to choose the most suitable crops and varieties. Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||
| Crater Garden, Regenerative Farm and Family | 11 Feb 2021 | 00:51:01 | |
We head to Montana to chat with Tim Southwell of ABC Acres, the permaculture homestead he and his his wife Sarah created. Southwell, who grew up in suburban Houston, explains that it was while living in Kansas City and growing a front-yard vegetable garden that he was introduced to permaculture and many of the concepts that he uses today on the farm. In addition to livestock, they have a crater garden, a food hedge, chinampas, and a sunken greenhouse with citrus, bananas, figs, and papaya. The unique microclimate created by the crater garden permits them to grow apples, peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots in their harsh climate. He explains, “Every fruit tree we have, we build with it a microclimate.” Join 6,000+ gardeners in The Food Garden Gang and get practical weekly tips to grow more food at home—free. It’s the best way to get started. [Join the newsletter] | |||