The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

It was after spending some time out of the country that Francey Slater woke to the poor American relationship with food. This motivated her towards food justice and making a difference in her community. With a belief that healthy food is a right for everyone, she co-founded a non-profit that is creating community and school gardens, and building a stronger, resilient community as a result. www.urbanfarm.org/millcitygrows

His first introduction to okra did not go over well, but years later Chris Smith was given okra seeds as a gift and he felt responsible to do his best with them. This prompted him to research, learn, and experiment with many varieties and recipes. He learned a lot and he shares part of his journey becoming fascinated with this often discounted vegetable. Check out the recipe for pickled okra he shared with us as well. www.urbanfarm.org/okra

Watching his coworker through her lunch scraps into a large bin under her desk was just too exciting for Bentley Christie and soon he was on his way to becoming the Compost Guy with a popular blog and website about worm composting. He shares his excitement and admiration for the legless wonders that produce a valued garden soil amendment. Not stopping there, he explains a new method of composting that transformed his garden into a bountiful wonder. www.urbanfarm.org/compostguy

The area Shannon McBride grew up in experienced a tumultuous change when the light rail was built down the middle. Instead of letting herself get angry, she started a collaboration for the area. Building around a vision for a safe walkable community, she started with a community garden. Through team work, donations, and community buy-in, the results are impressive. But she’s not done and there's so much more to this collaboration. 19North is not your typical garden by any means! www.urbanfarm.org/19north

After running the Cooperative Extension Program for Urban Gardening in Atlanta, and taking leadership roles in several other community organizations, Bobby Wilson was not going to stop when he retired! Instead he invested his retirement money into a farm and has transformed it in a community resource with education, support, and community plots along with the production agriculture. He has a huge vision for what his team can accomplish. www.urbanfarm.org/bobbywilson

While becoming a licensed acupuncturist and doctor, Nicole Finklestein felt the carbon footprint of the medicinals and botanicals in her practice was extensive. She drew on her family farming background to start growing herbs and flowers. She discusses holistic practices used on her farm, as well as regenerative agriculture used to rebuild the soil. She has great advice for those interested on jumping into the niche market of medicinal farming. www.urbanfarm.org/herbanaustin

When an entrepreneurial opportunity came his way, Carl Atwell jumped on board with a passion. He is now president of Gempler’s and is building it again with a commitment towards his customers and employees. He shares the story of how Gempler’s was created with a focus on good values and how he connected with that. He also explains how the relationship with his customers and employees is so important to him and to his vision for the company. www.urbanfarm.org/gemplers

Her 9-year-old son wanted to eat snails while in France, and once home he wanted to eat the garden snails too – so food writer Molly Watson did the research and figured out how to harvest and cook the snails they collected. Her down to earth descriptions can help any gardener who wondered if the pests had an edible purpose. She also shares a lot about her research for her upcoming book about how to decide about being vegan. www.urbanfarm.org/snails

Production farming in America is not an easy business path to start on without some help or connections. Appreciating the value of farming after his travels in the US Navy, Chris Rawley realized these challenges farmers face when trying start or expand small-to-midsize farms and decided he could help. He breaks down the basic process for agriculture investing outside of traditional bank loans and the benefits for both farmers and investors. Check out his article too! www.urbanfarm.org/harvestreturns

If you are not careful, you might find that hatching eggs can quite easily develop into a passion, just ask Pascale Pearce! She took a job that needed her to hatch eggs at least once, so she knew what she was talking about – and now she loves to help others understand the process. She shares some key points about incubating bird eggs and starting the chicks off right. We also include a link on our shownotes to a great article from her with even more egg hatching info! www.urbanfarm.org/brinsea

Studying the changes in shifting populations, Jason Bradford is predicting the trend for urban growth is going to reverse. He breaks down why our energy dependency is indicating a reversal, why technology is creating discounted problems, and more importantly why personal action toward energy literacy and resilience is critical. He talks about what to do as the approaching change draws near. www.urbanfarm.org/thereport

Her passion for bringing people together in educational garden summits is quite evident when you listen to Stacey Murphy tell us what she has planned this year. She explains why she started presenting her summits and some of the exciting results she’s getting in return. She also talks about how food dies, nutrients are lost every day and what you can do about it. Her collection of experts will be covering several topics related to growing superfoods in your garden. www.urbanfarm.org/superfood

Realizing that his apple trees were barely producing compared to his neighbors, Dave Hunter found the answer was mason bees. His hobby increased his harvest, and eventually his new passion developed into a brand-new industry and a new company. Now he is working hard to educate how mason bees and leaf cutter bees are a significant pollination solution. His goal is to build more native bee industries around the world. www.urbanfarm.org/crownbees

Taking a permaculture course as a young adult gave Raven Venturelli the confidence and inspiration to start her own farm. However, finding land in California to develop her nature-based farming concepts was difficult so she followed her parents and moved to Arizona. She has used her holistic design methodology to build a farming business the way she wants and the quality and diversity of produce at Blue Apple Farm has developed a following at the local farmer’s market. www.urbanfarm.org/blueapplefarm

Growing up in a plant based family and then struggling with health concerns it felt natural for Devon Young to turn to herbals remedies for wellness and relief. When she started noticing results, she focused on helping others as expanded her knowledge through studies and training. She shares some key details about how to make typical remedies and why her new book is jam packed with details on 50 North American herbs. www.urbanfarm.org/nittygritty