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.
By Anne-Marie Miller. Every year I try to add some newcomers (things I have never grown before) to the garden. In 2016, some were a boom and some were a bust. Find out which ones you might like to add to your garden this spring. I always like to disclose my location up front when I write an article like this because I have often been so excited about something after reading an article, just to find out that the author gardens in Oregon or California.
By Melissa Miller. One great (and smelly) thing we do at my farm is our community compost. The farm is located right in the middle of our nation’s capitol, downtown Washington, D.C. It is about ½ acre and produces approximately 500 lbs of fresh produce a year, all of which goes directly back into the community.
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.
Our farmstead – Taproot Garden – is a 10-acre parcel. Those acres include 4 acres of woodland, 3 acres of native prairie which we reestablished 3 years ago with the help of the DNR and the Fish and Wildlife Service, a quarter-acre garden, a quarter-acre chicken yard (home to 30 laying hens), plus house, barn, small greenhouse, labyrinth and yard.
The complex and often misunderstood situation of food insecurity and hunger is the focus of discussion in Greg’s interview with Jayson. Jayson’s personal history growing up as the son of a young single mother gave him the empathy he needed to fill his role at the United Way. Jayson helps to explain many of the distinctions of hunger as well as how prevalent the reality is in the urban communities in America.
Greg meets Cory, a man who could not take ‘You can’t do that’ for an answer. Cory has transformed his home just outside of Phoenix to his own tropical fruit forest paradise using micro-climates, observation, experimentation, and frankly ignoring naysayers. His interest started with a few wine grapes and he got bit by the growing bug as he now has over 150 trees on his urban property and is not done trying new things.
Greg talks to a newer farmer, Shaun Keesee, who is having some success using biointensive farming techniques. Shaun shares how he reclaimed the land his family was leasing out to a hay farmer and starting growing crops to sell to markets and restaurants. He is applying the skills he has learned through his reading, internet and agriculture courses at his local college.
Brendan teaches Greg a lot about the functions and dysfunctions of the liver and gut, and how a cascade of medical issues can be traced back to the health of the gut. Brendan explains why he gave up his well-paying career to focus on finding answers on the treatment of metabolic syndrome.
I live in Columbus, Ohio on a .28-acre plot. I have a corner lot and it is mostly flat but I do have a slight slope at the East side of my yard. My front yard is larger than my back yard; therefore, I planted a vegetable and rain garden in my front yard.
