The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

In 1992, John and Cecilia moved to a flat in a suburban area of Southern California, where there was no space in to grow a garden. Prior to that, they had always lived in rural areas where they had some acreage to grow a good-sized garden. John began to experiment with the container gardening concept on the front porch balcony, and it eventually became the Balcony Budeze™ Vertical Growing System, a DIY method for vertical gardening inexpensively. 

Claire is the co-author with two genetic engineers of the new book, GMO Myths and Truths: A Citizen's Guide to the Evidence on the Safety and Efficacy of Genetically Modified Crops, which is for sale on Amazon and in bookstores. GMO Myths and Truths summarizes the facts on GM crops and foods in simple terms that are accessible to the non-scientist but still relevant to scientists, policymakers and educators.

Kim began gardening using the original Square Foot Gardening method in the late 1980s. She became a square foot gardening Certified Instructor, taught by Mel Bartholomew, in 2010. She teaches the next generation of Certified Instructors and serves as one of Mel’s assistants. Kim is working on children’s versions of the All New Square food gardening book with her daughter-in-law and Mel. She is the owner of Square Foot Gardening 4 U, a woman veteran-owned business in Glen Burnie, Maryland where she teach

Lynn Pugh is the farmer at Cane Creek Farm in north Georgia. She has been sharing what she has learned in organic farming classes at her farm since 2007. She teaches adults from a curriculum she developed for Georgia Organics, introduces children to agriculture through farm camps and hosts a Lunch N’ Learn series on a variety of topics related to food, farming and gardening. Many alumni of her classes are farming and gardening organically across the southeast. 

Today on The Urban Farm Podcast we have Katrina Blair of Turtle Lake Refuge to talk about her experience with edible weeds.  Katrina Blair began studying wild plants in her teens when she camped out alone for a summer to focus on eating wild foods.  She later wrote “The Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants of the San Juan Mountains” for her senior project at Colorado College.  In 1997 she completed an MA at John F Kennedy University in Orinda, California in Holistic Health Education.   

In this fascinating, philosophically-rich episode, Greg and Tyaga discuss everything from permaculture, aquaponics, and stacking functions to building community, the formation & philosophy of SHE,and whether or not modern society is ready for sustainability.  His advice for others: "Cultivate a willingness to serve others."

56: Wardee Harmon on Traditional Cooking

Tony's current project at the St Vincent de Paul urban farm is responsible for providing over 50,000 pounds of fresh produce to the needy and working homeless. He has also started a composting initiative, diverting over 400,000 pounds of organic waste from the city landfills. Tony has partnered with former Maricopa County Manager David Smith to create an agricultural division to the charity for therapeutic and vocational purposes, as well as revenue generation. 

54: Carol Deppe on the Eat-All Greens Growing Method

Jennifer is the Director of the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, a project of Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. New Entry is a beginning farmer training program assisting limited-resource individuals to begin small-scale commercial agriculture in Massachusetts as a way to preserve farmland and to expand consumer access to locally-grown foods. Jennifer is also a vegetable and livestock farmer she raises chickens, eggs, pork, beef, rabbit, and specialty vegetables.

Anne-Marie, or Dash (for the hyphen in her name), is an urban farmer in Dallas, Texas. She raises chickens and rabbits on less than ¼ of an acre.  Plus, she has turned her front yard into a large stand-out-in-the neighborhood vegetable garden. In addition to the farming she does on her homestead, she helped create a community garden literally from grassy field to thriving garden. What stands out about her little urban homestead is her determined out of the box approach to overcoming obstacles.

51: Joe Urbach on Phytonutrient Gardening

Sam Coffman has over 10 years of military experience as a U.S. Special Forces Medic, an interrogator and a linguist. He studied botany and bio-regional medicine both privately and at several outdoor schools in Colorado, and during his military service as a Green Beret Medic he logged thousands of hours in the field as a team medic, military emergency rooms and troop medical clinics.

Roger is founder and director of Kitchen Gardeners International, a Maine-based nonprofit network of over 35,000 individuals from 120 countries who are taking a hands-on approach to re-localizing the food supply. Roger’s successful proposal and petition campaign to replant a kitchen garden at the White House gathered over 100,000 signatures and international media coverage. He was voted the  grand prize winner of the “On Day One” contest sponsored by the United Nations Foundation.  

At 11 years old, Doug began learning about the native plants of Colorado from his mother. He has gained a vast amount of knowledge about edible and medicinal plants through his experiences living in the Sonoran Desert and Gila Wilderness of Southern New Mexico. He lived primitively for over 20 years and now teaches about primitive skills, medicinal plants and wild edibles.