424: John Jeavons on Biologically Intensive Gardening & Farming (Part 2).
Plant personalities and crops everyone should grow.
John has been the Director of the Ecology Action Mini-Farming Program since 1972 and is the author of How to Grow More Vegetables a book on BIOINTENSIVE Sustainable Mini-Farming in use in over 150 countries in virtually all climates and soils. John advises on projects in countries such as Mexico, Kenya, Russia and India, as well as all corners of the US.
Ecology Action has been a non-profit since 1971 and currently has two research and demonstration sites in California. Their mission to teach people worldwide to better feed themselves while building and preserving the soil and conserving resources through the GROW BIOINTENSIVE closed-loop small scale agricultural system.Don’t miss an episode! Click here to sign up for podcast updates
In This Podcast:
This is part 2 of a great interview as 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.
Listen in and learn about:
- How he reaches and teaches a global audience
- The many initiatives that BioIntensive Gardening has inspired
- The vision that drives his efforts and teachings
- His favorite book
- The two crops everyone should grow in 100 square feet
- The best kinds of potatoes and corn to grow for a balanced diet
- Ways to make the biomass from your crops more beneficial after harvest
- The % of your crops that should be vegetable and income crops
- How to harvest tomato seeds
- Farmer’s average incomes and how to grow smart
- Plant personalities and how they change over time.
- How to get 4x the yield from leeks and know when to harvest them
- Tree Collards: what they are, where to get them and resources for growing
- What you can learn in the Biologically Intensive Gardening three-day seminar
- Maintaining genetic diversity within your crops
- Seed saving to enhance your next year’s crop yield
- How to change yourself to change the world
As well as:
- His failure – Establishing his global reach and effectively communicating with a world wide audience.
- His success – 152 countries are successfully using BioIntensive Gardening and there are many amazing initiatives that have spun off from it.
- His drive – The happy vision of seeing everyone thriving and living well. Empowering people to harness their energy, grow themselves
- His advice – The 200 square feet of two specific plants that everyone should plant to get the proper basis of calories and biomass.
Website: www.growbiointensive.org, www.ecologyaction.tv, www.johnjeavons.org
Email: ecologyactionom@gmail.com
UrbanFarm.org/johnjeavons2
To learn more about more about Growing Your Own Food visit IWantToGarden.com
And to see the I’m an Urban Farmer line visit ImAnUrbanFarmer.com
Note: You can also find these books mentioned above at one of our favorite local independent bookstores and have the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting a small business.
Hi,
We at Sundial Seed Company in Willits Ca. Sell the exact tree collards that John Jeavons talks about. Richard Jeske grows them from the original in Willits and we ship them out weekly.
https://www.sundialseed.com/products/42
thanks much,
luke