The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

We are joined by Chad Chase, co-owner of Arrandale Farms and Urban Grounds Coffee Company. Chad has built his 2.5-acre farm from scratch, and now farms fruit trees, field crops, alpacas, and chickens. Listen in to hear how he’s building his urban farm dream and how he hopes to impact his community in the future! www.urbanfarm.org/arrandale

Zachery Berry from the Homestead Cactus Sanctuary teaches us about the edible cacti that grow naturally in Arizona. Listen in to learn about growing cacti at home and when and how to harvest them. Zach also shares tips on pollinating cacti, edible varieties of cactus, and glochids! www.urbanfarm.org/cactussanctuary

Join us for our conversation with Camille James and learn how she went from working in the tech industry, to owning a juice bar, to living off the grid in Hawaii. Camille shared what it’s like living communally on an off-the-grid farm and all the different foods they grow. Tune in to hear what her day to day life looks like, why she loves it, and how her successes and failures brought her to Hawaii. www.urbanfarm.org/camille

After a long career in retail, Katie Fiore knew it was time for a change. Part of her future vision was a backyard full of fruits and vegetables, the other part was a flexible, fulfilling lifestyle educating others. Katie discusses changing her life direction at 37 years old, how and why she is growing sweet potatoes, how her travels inspire her garden, and her advice to other novice gardeners wanting to start their own food forest. www.urbanfarm.org/sweetpotatoes

Today on the podcast, we continue our visit with John Jeavons. Part one of this two-part podcast discussed John’s journey into Biologically Intensive Gardening, crop planning strategies, and watering strategies. Today in Part Two we delve into his successes, failures, advice for future farmers, plant personalities, and some of the crops he believes everyone should grow for a nutritionally balanced diet.

Biologically Intensive Gardening allows farmers to grow more food, with less water, in a sustainable way. In this podcast, we speak with John Jeavons who has been a Bio Intensive pioneer for over 50 years. An Arizona native, his books have made an impact on our own Greg Peterson. He enthusiastically shares his journey, discoveries, and tools to create your own Bio Intensive Garden. www.urbanfarm.com/johnjeavons

Growing up gardening side-by-side with her parents helped Stacey Murphy have a solid connection with food. She lost this connection as a young adult, but found it while living in a studio apartment in Brooklyn when she realized how little fresh food was in her diet and neighborhood. She started growing food in her apartment and began working with a network of urban farmers. Now Stacey works online with gardeners in her Garden Freedom series and with people from 169 countries. urbanfarm.org/gardenfreedom

As Ricardo Aguirre was about to become a father, he took stock of his life. Would he continue to work as a civil engineer as he had for 15 years or would he do something that would have a positive effect on the earth? Which one would he be proud to tell his son about? The answer was to bring about more creative and natural approaches to improve conventional engineering. He tells us more about water management and holistic planned grazing to help avoid negative land management issues. www.urbanfarm.org/helm

Food revolutionary and visionary Ocean Robbins shares a healthy eating program that can work for anyone in just 31 days. Breaking down his plan into four sections, he helps simplify the process. He also discusses some of the major factors that lead to unhealthy eating, and offers some ideas on how to get people you care about engaged in a healthy eating discussion. www.urbanfarm.org/31dayrevolution

This is the January 2019 episode of a Seed Saving Class - Listen and learn about the importance of wild crop relatives and biodiversity, get a heads up on the the February 2019 Seed Summit, and so much more. urbanfarm.org/bonus24 

Struggling with their children’s multiple food allergies convinced Nicky Schauder and her husband Dave to go organic and the expense of organic impelled them to start growing it themselves. They’ve incorporated many techniques in their small space gardening to increase their yield, from 3-dimensional gardening to low tunnel gardening. Nicky and Dave now offer classes to help families just like theirs reap the same benefits. urbanfarm.org/growmyownfood

With a passion for growing in her genes, Kat Granger joined a horticulture group, became a Master Gardener, and went to seed school to learn all she could about her subject. Speaking to groups about her vegetables led to selling seeds and to her seed business, Seeds of IMBOLC. Kat sees how a disconnection with the earth has led to so many problems with people’s health and well-being and works tirelessly to help reconnect people with nature with her authentically organic seeds. urbanfarm.org/katgranger

As a child Michael Foley dreamed of being a gentleman farmer one day. His path however, took him into academia. After being estranged from the land for several years he eventually found his way back to farming. Today Michael, farms on his micro-farm, often trading goods with neighbors. He believes that farmers need to think of more than profitability when analyzing the bottom line. Providing for themselves and their neighbors and helping one another should also be priorities. www.urbanfarm.org/longhaul

There is always a bounty of information available in conversations with Bill McDorman. This is the November 2018 episode of a Seed Saving Class - learn about the seed paradigm and  seed history. Listen as the ethics of owning and naming seeds, and other interesting topics are discussed. urbanfarm.org/bonu23 

Sarah Boltwala-Mesina hoped to help start a recycling program at her children’s school. This was the first step on her journey to creating Food2Soil, a business that collects food scraps from people and businesses in San Diego and turns them into compost. Her company provides services helping homeowners with composting in their own backyard, provides hubs for people to drop scraps off, and offers scrap pickup to restaurants. urbanfarm.org/food2soil