Transforming waste into soil, jobs, and community.
In This Podcast:
Sarah Boltwala-Mesina, along with other parents, hoped to start a recycling program at their children’s school. This was the first step on her journey to creating Food2Soil, a business that collects food scraps from people and businesses in San Diego and turns those scraps into rich compost. Her company provides services helping homeowners become successful composting in their own backyard, provides hubs around the city for people to drop scraps off, and offers scrap pickup service to restaurants. There is even a wait-list of businesses and breweries hoping to participate.
Don’t miss an episode!
Click here to sign up for podcast updates
or visit www.urbanfarm.org/podcast
Sarah is the executive director of Inika Small Earth, a nonprofit that started Food2Soil where they train interns in good composting techniques. Food2Soil collects vegetative food scraps from local restaurants then composts the scraps at two urban farms in San Diego, selling the finished product to local gardeners looking for high-nutrient soil.
Inika Small Earth is a charitable organization working to enhance the network of community composting hubs across San Diego. Their aim is to build the collective capacity to transform food scraps into soil and jobs for the community.
Go to www.urbanfarm.org/food2soil for more information and to find our other great guests.
416: Sarah Boltwala-Mesina on Community Composting
From green lawns to green vegetables.
In This Podcast:
As his wife and youngest daughter began struggling with celiac disease, John Brubaker believed that the pesticides used on vegetables were perhaps weakening their immune systems. This was his entry into organic urban farming. He began small with 20 beds and has been expanding ever since. John is growing numerous crops in his small space, including artichokes and cantaloupe for home, and kale, spinach, beets, radishes and glass gem corn for the Farmers Market. He is finding great success with his natural farming.
Don’t miss an episode!
Click here to sign up for podcast updates
or visit www.urbanfarm.org/podcast
John has been working on golf courses for over 35 since the age of 16. He planted thousands of trees and just for fun, would typically have an organic vegetable garden on the golf course for the enjoyment of customers and staff. Along the way he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Utah State University in Horticulture.
In 2013 his wife and daughters developed digestive issues. Because of this he started growing his own vegetables, built a compost pile, implemented no dig methods, planted for pollinators, introduced beneficial predator insects, and so on.
Soon he was giving vegetables to his neighbors and he had become an urban farmer. In 2018 he named his micro farm ‘Straw Hat’, rented a booth at a Farmers Market and started selling organic produce. The success was beyond his expectations, incredibly rewarding and now he is planning on retiring from the golf course and going into urban farming full time.
Go to www.urbanfarm.org/strawhat for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.
415: John Brubaker on Micro Urban Farming.
Challenging the mono-CULTURE of farming.
A passion for the soil, the earth and her community started when Leah Penniman began farming at the age of 16. Through the years she has continued to work towards ending racism and injustice in our food system, and also on land reparations for people of color. She and her family have built Soul Fire Farm where they raise culturally important food, delivering it to people in need. They give tours and help train future activists. Leah channeled her passion into writing a book, Farming While Black.
Don’t miss an episode!
Click here to sign up for podcast updates
or visit www.urbanfarm.org/podcast
Leah is a Black Creole farmer who has been tending the soil for twenty years and organizing for an anti-racist food system for fifteen years. She currently serves as founding co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York—a people-of-color led project that works to dismantle racism in the food system.
Through Soul Fire Farm’s innovative programs such as the Black Latinx Farmers Immersion; a sliding-scale Farm Share CSA; and Youth Food Justice leadership trainings – she is part of a global network of farmers working to increase farmland stewardship by people of color, restore Afro-indigenous farming practices, and promote equity in food access.
Leah has been recognized by – the Soros Equality Fellowship; NYS Health Emerging Innovator Awards; and Fulbright Distinguished. IF that was not enough, she is the author of Farming While Black published by our friends at Chelsea Green Publishing.
Go to www.urbanfarm.org/soulfirefarm for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.
414: Leah Penniman on Liberating the Land.
Mixing up a health drink for soil organisms.
In This Podcast:
When Ben Klempner and his family moved from Jerusalem to the holy city of Tiberias, he researched how to make the soil healthy in order to grow his vegetables. Finding information that was beneficial wasn’t the only hurdle—he was so far away from the products he needed. He kept researching online and seemed to end up with the suggestion of Korean Natural Farming at the end of his searches. He took it as a sign. As Ben began creating products that utilized the fermenting process he realized that perhaps creating these nutritious, sustainable soil amendments for others was what he should be doing instead of growing his own vegetables. Thus, the Galil Soil Farm was born.
Don’t miss an episode!
Click here to sign up for podcast updates
or visit www.urbanfarm.org/podcast
Ben lives in the Holy City of Tiberias with his wife and children where he owns and operates Galil Soil Farm. Believing that good soil grows good food, Ben is passionate about growing the best soil and helping others to do the same. When not at the farm he can be found spending time with his children in the woods, paddling a kayak on the Sea of Galilee, or immersed in Bible Studies.
Go to www.urbanfarm.org/galilsoil for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.
413: Ben Klempner on Fermented Soil Amendments
Growing an herbal antibiotic.
In This Podcast:
Bill Bruneau suffered from what eventually was diagnosed as a leaky gut caused by using pharmaceutical antibiotics. Knowing that plants had medicinal powers he searched out which ones were natural antibiotics and came upon limited but intriguing information on the genus Sida. He waited for someone to write a book about this super-weed and when no one did, Bill knew he had to do it. Listen as Bill lists just a few of the many illnesses he uses Sida to treat or prevent.
Don’t miss an episode!
Click here to sign up for podcast updates
or visit www.urbanfarm.org/podcast
In 1982, Bill and his wife started Bountiful Gardens Seeds, which is part of the small non-profit Ecology Action of the Mid-peninsula. Ecology Action is an organization that has been diligently working to save the world’s soil for the last 45 years, refining and promoting a bio-intensive farming method that actually creates soil while being very productive.
While Bill is an herbal hobbyist, medicinal herbs and preventative medicine have been at the core of his family’s health for at least 50 years and when he discovers one that is as good as Sida appeared to be, he wanted to know everything about it. A scientist at heart, he did intensive research into the known benefits of Sida for over a year, seeking out peer-reviewed research on Sida, and in particular studies on Sida acuta. The results have exceeded his wildest expectations.
Go to www.urbanfarm.org/sida for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.
412: William Bruneau on the Genus Sida