181: Quita Jackson on Thrifty Self Sufficiency.

Taking small steps to being green and making a difference.

Quita is one of the founders of GreenDesert.org,  and while some would call her an urban farmer or a gardener, she prefers to consider herself spiritually connected to mother earth and her environment.  She loves everything about nature! GreenDesert.org is all about showing people ways to be more self-sufficient, whether you’re gardening, making your own clothes, recycling, or making your own cleaning products… every little bit counts.
Quita is all about living the lifestyle…everything from maintaining a garden rich with herbs, vegetables and fruit, to raising chickens and tilapia, to using a water generator to make water from the humidity in the air, to collecting rainwater and The list goes on. She is quite passionate about this topic because she believes we are all in this together… and must recognize how our actions about the environment affects others.  In addition, saving money is a huge priority for her and of course that’s a huge part of being green.

In this podcast: Being green is all about having less of a negative impact on the planet and here Greg chats with Quita who has fully adopted a new lifestyle and loves helping others find their way into it as well. Quita tells how she got the courage to start gardening, and how that gave her confidence to try new ways to become self-sufficient even while living in a major city. Her encouraging attitude and caring nature helps as she spreads the word about little steps people can take in their own lives.

 Listen in and learn about:

• How she was putting off gardening from all the preconceptions until she was encouraged by Greg
• How she first started out and it has built up to her blog and videos
• One of the first videos that still stands out to her and showed how to do so much with being overwhelmed
• How her husband and teenage sons are participating in the process as well
• How her sons are benefiting from their garden responsibilities
• Her adventure into aquaponics, and how the gardens that are getting the pellets are truly growing better
• Why they no longer eat fish from the aquaponics garden anymore
• How they have lettuce and cilantro year-round right next to the kitchen
• The national average of food miles per food is 1500 miles
• Ollas in her garden and how much she loves them

Producer’s note: For more info on ollas, Check out this podcast: 127: David Bainbridge on Gardening with Less Water 

• How she is willing to try anything that will leave less of a footprint
• Some of the ways she is saving money including making gifts from home and recycling
• The water generator system that is collecting water from the air in Phoenix and providing enough for them for their cooking and drinking
• Favorite fruit trees for the Arizona desert
• Her new project of a radio podcast called “In the Green Room” with a motto of saving the planet one show at a time
• What she learned about Goodwill as she prepared for her interview with the CEO (airdate December 13, 2016)
• And an interview with a veteran and his story of coming home and adjusting to society

As well as:

• Her failure – losing some chickens to coyotes even after just hearing about recent losses in the valley and still not locking them up the coop.
• Her success – her sons and teaching them to love the lifestyle of gardening and self sufficiency
• Her drive – people and helping as many people as all improve their lives and to do her part to make the world better
• Her advice – Everyone should do their part and it can start small, don’t overwhelm yourself, spread the word, and be open minded.

How to reach Quita:

Radio show: Inthegreenroom.green

Facebook: @inthegreenroom.green, Live on Tuesdays at 6pm MST

Website: Greendesert.org

 UrbanFarm.org/greendesert