190: Grace Gershuny on The Organic Revolution

Greg is impressed when he gets a chance to talk with Grace who tells about being part of the early organic food movement and her part in writing the first standards for organic food regulation. Her story is important for anyone who is interested in being active in writing food policy for our legislators.

189: Manuel Gonzalez on Innovation in Food and Agriculture

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.

185: Elaine Ingham on Life in the Soil

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.

179: Penn Parmenter on Passive Solar Greenhouses

Greg reconnects with Penn to talk about the greenhouse designs she and her husband create, sell and teach about. Penn tells how her husband Cord took passive solar concepts and implemented them into the first greenhouse they built from reclaimed and scrap materials, and how they have made many improvements over time.

Raising Rabbits on the Urban Homestead: How My Eleven-Year-Old Taught Me How to be an Entrepreneur

How My Eleven-Year-Old Taught Me How To Be An Entrepreneur
By Anne-Marie Miller. I was perusing the feed store shelves with my kids when we came upon some adorable baby rabbits. After my daughter finished giving each individual rabbit a little love, I commented causally to my 11 year-old son, “I wonder if you could raise rabbits to sell here at the feed store?”

171: Robbie Shell on Honeybees and Colony Collapse Disorder

Greg meets Robbie who is not a farmer or gardener but really has a story to tell that can make a difference. Robbie was inspired by some honeybees and decided to learn more about them. Her research eventually led her to write an environmental fiction book for middle school kids to help them understand and appreciate the honeybees and the challenge of colony collapse disorder.