Teaching about the personal and community benefits of harvesting rainwater.
In This Podcast: Returning guest, Brad Lancaster, recently taught us about Harvesting the Rain and is back to teach about Planting the Rain. If you've ever considered capturing rainwater directly in your landscape, this episode will teach you about rainwater planting methods and strategies, how captured water impacts thermoregulation, and water as a lubricant for exchange. Get inspired by a village in India that changed their water planting culture and learn how to create healthier soil.
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Brad runs a successful permaculture consulting, design, and education business in Tucson, Arizona. He is focused on integrated and sustainable approaches to landscape design, planning, and living. Growing up in a dryland environment, water harvesting has long been one of his specialties and a true passion.
He is the author of the permaculture bible for water harvesting: Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond Volumes I & II and he has just released new full color revised and expanded editions of both.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/plantrain for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
540: Brad Lancaster on Planting the Rain.
Bringing green waste to your driveway.
In This Podcast: Organic matter builds soil, and Bryan Kappa has a free service that allows nationwide users to quickly build the quality of their soil. Learn about ChipDrop, the program that connects gardeners with tree companies and benefits everyone. Not all mulch is created equal, and you'll learn the difference in mulch options, how to properly wood chip your yard and improve your soil Ph. There are some exciting improvements coming to ChipDrop, as well as creative ways to use it!
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Bryan is a Portland native who combined his love of trees and technology into the ChipDrop web service. While hauling brush for a local tree company he realized the potential cost savings of delivering the freshly chipped trees to neighbors and homeowners, as opposed to driving long distances to the dump (and paying their fees). He also knew that people loved free things.
Bryan has a history of creating life hacks to combine urban living with environmental sustainability. In 2014 he was granted permission by the Portland Water Bureau to keep 2 goats and a pig on a small lot in North Portland to help clear brush and Ivy without the use of pesticides. He and his roommates kept a composting toilet in his residential North Portland home, only a mile from downtown. In his spare time, he serves on the board as a technical lead for Cascadia Wild, helping build and maintain their database of images of rare and threatened species in the Pacific Northwest wilderness.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/chipdrop for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
539: Bryan Kappa on ChipDrop.
Supporting a teaching farm in Africa.
In This Podcast: Some people know their mission from a young age. Others, like Erin Douglas, find their direction as they go. With a desire to travel as her guide, Erin left her corporate job and traveled through Africa. An epic moment in Ghana inspired this novice farmer to create a non-profit farm that feeds residents, provides jobs, funds education, and supports an orphanage. Erin shares how she created a sustainable community model that could benefit societies all over the world.
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Erin is the founder of US non-profit Learn Grow Lead and helped birth a sustainable farm project in Ghana, Africa to support the local community. The Helper’s Farm, is an organic, community teaching farm that works in partnership with local agriculture school programs to encourage farmers to farm naturally, without the use of pesticides, transitioning farms in the surrounding communities to a healthier environment and a healthier food system.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/learngrowlead for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
538: Erin Douglas on Sustainable Farming in Ghana.
Clearing up illusions about the substances we use to grow our food.
In This Podcast: We've all bought plant-specific fertilizer or used leaves to diagnose what additives we need for our plants. But according to Robert Pavlis, building great soil needs a different approach. After all, how can you know what to add if you don't know what's already there? Listen in for common soil and fertilizer myths, the easy additive that fixes anything over time, your ideal soil ratios, and how to distinguish fact from urban legend. You'll never think the same about fertilizer!
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Robert is a well-known speaker and educator with over 40 years of gardening experience. He is the author of three books, Building Natural Ponds, Garden Myths, and Soil Science for Gardeners and publishes the popular gardening blogs; GardenMyths.com and GardenFundamentals.com. As the owner and head gardener of Aspen Grove Gardens, a six-acre botanical garden, he grows 3,000 varieties of plants.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/soilmyths for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
537: Robert Pavlis on Garden Soil Myths.