189: Manuel Gonzalez on Innovation in Food and Agriculture

Community, Podcast - Previously Patron Only (now free), Regenerative or Sustainable, Support systemsLeave a comment

Manuel is someone who works to help people with food-and-ag related business ideas connect with investors and start the process towards funding those ideas. He tells Greg about the FoodBytes business pitch event that is focused on food and ag, as well as Terra and Rabobank with their focus on innovation in this business field. His take on how to deal with failure is something every person who runs or hopes to run their own business should hear.

188: Megan Whatton on The Urban Habitat Network.

Bees and Beekeeping, Community, Education and Learning, Podcast - Previously Patron Only (now free), Pollinator Animals, Support systems1 Comment

Megan introduces Greg and his listeners to the Nature Conservancy and the Habitat Network Project. This project creates citizen scientists around the globe and is working to map the globe with their data to paint a picture of the wildlife in every part of the world. Megan explains how this project got started and how easy, fun and rewarding being a member of the network can be.

187: Sherrie Pelsma on Macro Photography in the Garden

Bees and Beekeeping, Podcast - Previously Patron Only (now free), Pollinator AnimalsLeave a comment

Greg gets a chance to talk with Sherrie about her garden photography. Sheri has been developing her skills with macro photography and loves to share the results with her projects and her community. Here she helps explains the basics of garden photography, and tells how looking through the camera lens has given her a whole new perspective on the tiny lifeforms around her.

186: Robin Kelson on Seed Saving-Resiliency

Community, Homesteading or Farmsteading, Podcast - Previously Patron Only (now free), Regenerative or Sustainable, Seeds, Support systemsLeave a comment

Greg talks to a former lawyer Robin Kelson who now runs The Good Seed Company. She shares her story about the unexpected transition in her life leading her to her work around seeds. One of the big events in her new life is an epic community event focused on seed saving and sharing.  She also explains why the company is using seeds from backyard growers.

185: Elaine Ingham on Life in the Soil

Education and Learning, Podcast - Previously Patron Only (now free), Regenerative or Sustainable, Soil Searching1 Comment

Greg talks with one of the foremost experts on soil health Dr. Elaine Ingham and learns a lot about the world of microbiological life in the soil.  Her studies have been amazing and it is easy to see how being a student in one of her classes can be quite informative.  She tells about how she became so focused on the microbiological life in the soil and educates us on the importance of those first few dozen inches of earth our food is grown in.  This is a mini course of science in just one podcast.

184: Michael Phillips on Holistic Orcharding

Fruit Trees, Homesteading or Farmsteading, Podcast - Previously Patron Only (now free), Soil SearchingLeave a comment

Greg has found an east coast twin when he talks to a fruit tree farmer named Michael Phillips who has been growing apple trees in New Hampshire with a care that works for the health of the trees and the ecosystem in which they live. Michael grows and sells fruit trees and he focuses a lot of offering tree growing education as well.  He shares his main points of growing healthy fruit trees and explains why some of the steps are so beneficial to trees.

183: Shawn Jadrnicek on The Bio-Integrated Farm

Aquaponics, chickens, Frugality, Greenhouse or Hoophouse, Homesteading or Farmsteading, Permaculture and Design, Podcast - Previously Patron Only (now free), Regenerative or Sustainable, Soil SearchingLeave a comment

Maximizing functions from landscape elements to save time, energy and money. Greg meets Shawn who explains a key permaculture concept of having multiple functions from one element. Shawn tells how he has designed many projects focusing on elements that have at least seven functions each. With his experience, he has brought together several examples in his new book and so he shares some ideas in this interview.

182: Matthew Shepherd on Planting to Feed Bees

Bees and Beekeeping, Permaculture and Design, Podcast - Previously Patron Only (now free), Pollinator Animals, Support systemsLeave a comment

Expanding the habitat of an essential pollinator through garden choices. Greg chats with Matthew of the Xerces Society to learn more about their latest book titled 100 Plants to Feed the Bees, as well as some of the projects the Society has been working on.  Matthew’s story of how he got to work for the Xerces Society is a little world tour and then he helps explain more about different bees and what they need.

181: Quita Jackson on Thrifty Self Sufficiency

Aquaponics, Community, Farm Animals, Frugality, Fruit Trees, Homesteading or Farmsteading, Kids and Gardening, Podcast - Previously Patron Only (now free), Prepping, Regenerative or Sustainable, Small Space Gardening, Support systems, Water WisdomLeave a comment

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.

180: Brian Smith on Biochar

Homesteading or Farmsteading, Podcast - Previously Patron Only (now free), Regenerative or Sustainable, Soil SearchingLeave a comment

Greg talks to Brian Smith, a transplant to Arizona who needed to improve his gardening results and found out about biochar. Brian explains the process that was used over 2000 years ago, to transform burned wood into a long lasting organic super buffet with nutrients galore. He tells how he was so interested in the results that he took his research to the point that he can now make his own biochar in his backyard.