Summary: In today's episode I discuss how Thomas Jefferson gardened. This is a fair question since we can probably learn some things from a time when pesticides and herbicides didn't exist and it was probably a good idea to grow some of your own food. My how far we've moved from that! (http://theselfsufficientgardener.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/monticello_garden-300x220.jpg) So tune in today to hear: * What made Jefferson such a great gardener and unique among every president before and after. * Proof that Jefferson would rather have been in the garden than the White House or Europe or anywhere else on earth! * Why Jefferson was interested in new crops for the US. * Why Jefferson thought natives were important as well and how this seeming paradox is actually not one at all. * One of the most powerful lessons from Jefferson - teaching, advising, talking about and sharing seeds for gardening was paramount to his philosophy. * Why I call Jefferson the Permaculture President - 150 years before permaculture was put to paper. * Some examples of Jefferson's Permaculture - microclimates (walls and high spots), water management (terraces), soil management (integration of animals and rotations). He also didn't seem to believe in weeding or worrying about pests (sound like someone you know?) * The strange feeling you get when you look at the dates and realize that when Jefferson wasn't helping found our country (and sometime in spite of) he was gardening!
