Maximizing farm production with a little help from some four-legged friends.
In This Podcast: Even if you live in a city, this podcast with DaNelle Wolford will have you checking your zoning regulations on backyard goats and pigs! Listen in to learn why she loves raising Nigerian Dwarf goats, all about their milk, and why it digests better than cow's milk. She shares all about animal care, breeding goats, milk production, and how they maximize all the functions of their farm animals. You'll be searching her videos for more about her cool setup before the podcast is over!
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DaNelle is an urban farmer & goat enthusiast located in Phoenix, Arizona. She runs a popular blog & YouTube channel called Weed 'em & Reap that boasts over 100 million views. She started to take an interest in a healthier lifestyle after being diagnosed with two debilitating chronic diseases.
On a mission to create a farm of her own, she & her husband purchased an acre of land in the city and transformed it into their very own urban farm. Together with their two children, they milk goats, gather eggs from their chickens, tend to a large garden, and raise fish in Arizona's first naturally filtered swimming pond. They share their hilarious farm adventures on their YouTube channel with over 400,000 subscribers and are passionate about inspiring others to grow food and raise animals, no matter the size of their yard.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/danelle for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
523: DaNelle Wolford on Making More with Goats.
Agriculturally inspired fiction with the power of a plant’s fragrance is steeped in mystery and danger.
In This Podcast: Plants inspire most of our listeners, but Karen Hugg used her horticultural inspiration to create mystery novels that capture the magic and possibilities of new plant varieties. Exciting storylines entwine with Karen's passion for plants as she talks about getting published and why she left the tech world to start a gardening business. Listen in to learn about her gardening experience, what she loves to grow, and how she uses that to inspire her characters.
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Karen is the author of The Forgetting Flower, a literary thriller about a dangerous plant in Paris. Most of Karen’s stories are set in worlds where plants, real or imagined, affect people in strange new ways.
Born and raised in Chicago, she later moved to Seattle and worked as an editor before becoming a certified ornamental horticulturalist and master pruner. She earned her MFA from Goddard College and has been published in the Rooted anthology, Minerva Rising, Garden Rant, and other publications.
When not writing, she digs in the dirt. When not digging in the dirt, she hangs out with her husband, three children, and four pets. When not doing any of those things, she sits outside and stares at the sky.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/forgettingflower for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
522: Karen Hugg on The Forgetting Flower.
521: Seed Saving Class January 2020.
A chat with an expert on Seeds.
In This Bonus Podcast:
This is the January 2020 episode of a live Seed Saving Class discussing seed catalogs, sourcing local seeds, building community, seed diversity, and so much more.
There is always a bounty of information available in conversations with Bill McDorman.
Join the class! Register anytime for the next event.
Register Here for the Seed Saving Class with Live Q&A
Bill McDorman is Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, Ketchum, Idaho. He got his start in the bio-regional seed movement while in college in 1979 when he helped start Garden City Seeds. In 1984, Bill started Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens, a mail order seed company he ran successfully until it sold in 2013.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/seedchat20jan for the show notes on this bonus episode, and access to our full podcast library!
Encouraging youth to bloom through off-grid farming on vacant lots.
In This Podcast: We usually speak with food farmers, however, Quilen Blackwell is doing something so amazing with flower farming we needed to get him on the show! Learn why he chose to farm flowers over food, got community buy-in, and how he eliminated much of the overhead cost of a farm by working with nature (even in the middle of a big city). The flowers are a product of his true passion, which is teaching skills to at-risk youth and giving them job skills to better their future.
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Quilen’s background in renewable energy and community organizing is well suited in his role as president of Southside Blooms where they serve over 70 youth a week at four sites in Chicago and one site in Detroit. Southside Blooms has the mission of using sustainability to alleviate inner-city poverty through a scalable social enterprise program that converts vacant city lots into off-grid flower farms.
Quilen’s organizing credentials include work abroad as a volunteer in the Peace Corp organizing rural farmers in Thailand all the way to helping working-class residents of suburban Milwaukee attain affordable housing. He later worked in the biofuels industry where he procured feedstock such as used cooking oil and soybean oil for biodiesel production. Quilen holds a bachelor’s degree with comprehensive honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree in environmental policy from the University of Denver.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/southsideblooms for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
520: Quilen Blackwell on Urban Flower Farms.
Growing enough food to provide for a family of four all year.
In This Podcast: If you had to exist just from the food in your yard, what would you be eating? Melissa Norris would have very few lifestyle changes. She is a professional homesteader who grows and preserves enough fruits, vegetables, and meat on her property to feed her family all year long. Here, she discusses what's growing in her garden, season extending for longer harvests, planning for a year's worth of food, the amount of space it takes to feed a family of four, and her new book.
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Melissa is a 5th generation homesteader and believes everyone can and should grow some of their own food. She’s the host of the Pioneering Today Podcast and founder of the Pioneering Today Academy where she teaches people how to live a homegrown and homemade life in a modern world.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/pioneeringtoday for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
519: Melissa Norris on Feeding A Family.
Balancing the larger world context with local, practical, and creative solutions.
In This Podcast: In the final part of our interview with David Holmgren, the co-founder of permaculture talks soil, owning your mistakes, and balancing food production in limited spaces. He also shares what it’s like to live a voluntarily simplistic life, and how children absorb knowledge just by being around parents in agriculture. Listen in for some of his failures and successes, as well as what drives him and his advice for others.
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We are very excited to have the co-founder of permaculture on the show today. When I got David on the call I just let him talk and it turned into a 90-minute chat, so we decided to split it into three shows. This is part 3 and if you enjoy our content please consider supporting the podcast at UrbanFarmPodcast.org
Since developing permaculture with Bill Mollison in the mid-1970s, David’s local and global influence has gone beyond permaculture networks. He is a public intellectual working outside of academia, government or corporate support. His depth of thinking, design practice and teaching has been continually informed by practical experience through a lifetime of household self-reliance, voluntary simplicity, and innovative action. He has received many awards including an honorary Ph.D. from Central Queensland University.
He has written 8 books about permaculture & related topics, been a part of at least 5 other books, written multiple articles, given numerous presentations, has over 40 years of practical experience, he is an authority on the permaculture concept and how to make it work and basically – he is the guy who penned it!
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/holmgren3 for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
518: David Holmgren on Downshifting to a Resilient Future. Part 3
Balancing the larger world context with local, practical, and creative solutions.
In This Podcast: In part 2 of 3 we hear from David Holmgren, the co-founder of permaculture, about his definition of permaculture, soil conservation and regenerative practices, creating civilization systems that can withstand the test of time, and creative reuse of resources instead of recycling or composting. Learn about David’s new book: Retrosuburbia and how to rebuild economies, habits, and biological landscapes on a household level.
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We are very excited to have the co-founder of permaculture on the show today. When I got David on the call I just let him talk and it turned into a 90-minute chat, so we decided to split it into three shows. This is part 2 and if you enjoy our content please consider supporting the podcast at UrbanFarmPodcast.org
Since developing permaculture with Bill Mollison in the mid-1970s, David’s local and global influence has gone beyond permaculture networks. He is a public intellectual working outside of academia, government or corporate support. His depth of thinking, design practice and teaching has been continually informed by practical experience through a lifetime of household self-reliance, voluntary simplicity, and innovative action. He has received many awards including an honorary Ph.D. from Central Queensland University.
He has written 8 books about permaculture & related topics, been a part of at least 5 other books, written multiple articles, given numerous presentations, has over 40 years of practical experience, he is an authority on the permaculture concept and how to make it work and basically – he is the guy who penned it!
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/holmgren2 for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
517: David Holmgren on Downshifting to a Resilient Future. Part 2
Balancing the larger world context with local, practical, and creative solutions.
In This Podcast: In part 1 of 3 we hear from David Holmgren, the co-founder of permaculture, about the birth of permaculture over 40 years ago. Learn about what inspired the concept of permaculture, permanent agriculture, working with nature, sustainability, and how to take new industry concepts and have them become widely accepted. David also discusses what it's like when your theory takes on a life of its own and the balance of being both a fan and critic.
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We are very excited to have the co-founder of permaculture on the show today. When I got David on the call I just let him talk and it turned into a 90-minute chat, so we decided to split it into three shows. This is part 1 and if you enjoy our content please consider supporting the podcast at UrbanFarmPodcast.org
Since developing permaculture with Bill Mollison in the mid-1970s, David’s local and global influence has gone beyond permaculture networks. He is a public intellectual working outside of academia, government or corporate support. His depth of thinking, design practice and teaching has been continually informed by practical experience through a lifetime of household self-reliance, voluntary simplicity, and innovative action. He has received many awards including an honorary Ph.D. from Central Queensland University.
He has written 8 books about permaculture & related topics, been a part of at least 5 other books, written multiple articles, given numerous presentations, has over 40 years of practical experience, he is an authority on the permaculture concept and how to make it work and basically – he is the guy who penned it!
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/davidholmgren for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
516: David Holmgren on Downshifting to a Resilient Future. Part 1
Mentoring cancer survivors through backyard vegetable gardens.
In This Podcast: Anyone who gardens knows the benefits, but Kerry Smith is proving it with her Harvest for Health program for cancer survivors. This experiment partners the Alabama Master Gardeners with Auburn University to track improvements in physical activity, diet, and stress markers for people who beat cancer. In addition to teaching them gardening basics and healthy food habits, they spread the love for plants through volunteers who are motivated by heartwarming experiences.
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Kerry is the Home Grounds team Co-leader in the Alabama Cooperative Extension System. Working with team members she develops, supports and delivers programs that inspire smart yards for home landscapes.
She is also the State Program Coordinator for the Alabama Master Gardener Program, a large volunteer group assisting the same mission of promoting sustainable, smart yard landscapes. Kerry has worked for the Education Department at Callaway Gardens, been a schoolteacher, an estate gardener, and many things in between.
Her current priority for the Master Gardener program is Harvest for Health, a 5-year garden mentor project in partnership with the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Through this project, Master Gardeners mentor cancer survivors learning to grow a backyard vegetable garden.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/harvestforhealth for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
515: Kerry Smith on Harvest for Health.
Maximizing the benefit of rainwater for both personal and community use.
In This Podcast: Have you ever considered capturing free water for your landscape? Brad Lancaster has pioneered rainwater harvesting in Tucson, AZ and around the world. He teaches how to reinvest rainwater into living systems that grow resources all for the cost of shoveling some dirt. Learn about rain gardens, zoning, benefits of rainwater, adjusting your mentality, developing your strategy, and integrating sun, shade, and gravity into your design. You'll never look at your yard the same way!
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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/rainharvest for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
514: Brad Lancaster about Harvesting the Rain.
Getting fruit and vegetables into and through a network of community support services.
In This Podcast: We know our food system is broken, however, the food bank system is surprisingly effective! April Bradham from the Arizona Food Bank Network explains how local, state and national food banks distribute huge amounts of fresh produce and food within days. Listen in to learn where the surplus food and food waste comes from, how they work to spread healthy food to people in need, and the new Arizona initiative that is helping both small and mid-size farms as well as the food banks.
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April is Vice President for Programs, of the Arizona Food Bank Network and oversees the Member Services and Innovation programs. April holds a B.S. in Business Administration from The Sage Colleges in New York, and an M.B.A. from Arizona State University. She has worked in operations and supply chain for over 17 years in a variety of industries. April and her team offer food banks - logistics and transportation support, plus they coordinate the “Southwest Produce Cooperative,” which was started to help with the sharing of produce between food banks in AZ, NM, and TX.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/azfoodbank for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
513: April Bradham about Moving Produce through Food Banks.
A chat with an expert on Seeds.
In This Podcast: This is the December 2019 episode of a live Seed Saving Class discussing seed catalog season, the best seed catalogs, what the terminology in the catalogs mean, and so much more.
There is always a bounty of information available in conversations with Bill McDorman.
Join the class! Register anytime for the next event.
Register Here for the Seed Saving Class with Live Q&A
Bill McDorman is Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, Ketchum, Idaho. He got his start in the bio-regional seed movement while in college in 1979 when he helped start Garden City Seeds. In 1984, Bill started Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens, a mail-order seed company he ran successfully until it sold in 2013.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/seedchat19dec for the show notes on this bonus episode, and access to our full podcast library!
512: Seed Saving Class December 2019.
Sharing good gardening information with others.
In This Podcast: Gardening in a new climate can pose challenges; however, Angela Judd did not let it stop her from becoming an inspirational gardener who regularly contributes to area publications. She reviews the classes and resources she used to take her from novice to knowledgable, and some of the things that make her hot climate garden successful in providing food for her family and friends. Planting times, soil, involving your kids, and trial and error are all part of her success story.
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Angela is an avid vegetable, flower, and fruit tree gardener. As a mother of five, she enjoys growing and preparing food from the garden for her family. She shares inspiration and tips on her blog GrowingInTheGarden.com and other social channels to help home gardeners successfully grow their own garden.
As a certified Master Gardener, Angela has been featured in Phoenix Home & Garden, San Diego Home/Garden, Edible Phoenix, Family Fun, Burpee.com, and is a regular contributor to Master Gardener publications. Her articles and videos are can be found in several well-known online publications including Better Homes & Gardens, Gardeners.com, and GardeningKnowHow.com.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/angelajudd for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
511: Angela Judd on Inspiring Gardeners to Grow.
Promoting the local food scene and building the local food community in an accessible, affordable, and original way.
In This Podcast: Food brings people together, and David Tyda specializes in creating events and festivals that build relationships between local restaurants and the community. If you've ever wondered how food festivals become a reality or considered starting your own, listen in to learn how he creates affordable events for 10,000 people! David shares things he considers, ways to maximize the event space and infrastructure, and how he makes fun, original events that people attend year after year!
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David is always busy, which is why he requires so many calories to pull off all the projects he has going on. 10 years ago, he co-created the Arizona Taco Festival - which was the first taco festival in the world. Now there are over 200 of them!
Over the years he’s created many food festivals, including the Annual Phoenix Pizza Festival and Downtown Donut Festival. If you are in Phoenix this spring, catch his 2nd FRIED, A French Fry & Music Festival.
David prides himself on two things: making sure every event is original - he despises copycats; and making sure the events are inclusive - he’s not a fan of high-ticket price events. Having moved on from the Taco Festival, he is opening an agave bar in Downtown Phoenix to help keep him connected to the “taco lifestyle” he so identifies with.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/phxfest for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
510: David Tyda about Food Festivals.
Giving nature a helping hand by restoring vegetation.
In This Podcast: How can we revitalize arid areas in a logistically feasible way? Dr. Elise Gornish walks us through the process of working with land and stakeholders to restore their land using seed balls. Learn about seed balls: making them, how they work, and strategies for small or large scale production. She also gives tips on creating invasion resilience and deterring invasive weeds while encouraging native plants. Full of great info for teachers, parents, and environmental enthusiasts!
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Elise is a Cooperative Extension Specialist in Ecological Restoration at the University of Arizona. Her research and outreach program largely focuses on identifying strategies for successful restoration in arid land systems and integration of restoration approaches into weed management.
Originally from New York, she received her MS and PhD from Florida State University in 2013. She then completed two years of a post doc at the University of California, Davis before becoming a Cooperative Extension Specialist in Ecological Restoration at UC Davis. Then in 2017 she moved to Tucson AZ!
Seed ball super hero Elise is an early career leader in the fields of arid land restoration and weed management, and has published over 40 papers and has presented over 150 times at various venues.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/seedballs for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
509: Dr. Elise Gornish on Seed Balls.
Committing to sustainable resourcing and zero waste, while supporting local agriculture.
In This Podcast: How do you go from teaching yoga with no culinary experience to a culinary leader implementing sustainable change within our food system? When Danielle Leoni jumped into fine cuisine, her journey was shaped by her patrons inquiring where the food was sourced. She soon discovered the true cost of inexpensive food and is now actively engaged in the good food fight and influencing traceable sourcing. This episode will inspire everyone to follow their dreams and live their values!
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Chef Danielle is the Executive Chef & Owner of The Breadfruit & Rum Bar in Phoenix, Arizona. Hailed as a champion of sustainability and green restaurant innovation, Chef Danielle has distinguished herself with an avant-garde approach to blending the best of the southwest with the tropical traditions of Jamaica. She has explored the islands of the Caribbean and immersed herself in seaside food cultures with a keen eye on responsible fishing practices. Under her stewardship, The Breadfruit and Rum Bar has introduced an entirely new cuisine to Arizona while redefining perceptions of tropical and green dining.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/breadfruit for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
508: Danielle Leoni on Serving up Good Food.
Bringing life into your home.
In This Podcast: The OGarden, a high tech way of bringing indoor gardening into a small space in your home, is Pierre Nibart's labor of love to improve people's well being. With his OGarden, you can grow 90 plants in a self-lit, 29" by 53" space with minimal involvement. Learn how to start seeds, use the plants in your daily meals, and teach kids about gardening. Plus, it's a great way to get your kids to eat more vegetables when they play a part in growing the plants!
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Pierre has a life that, like his vision of the world, is largely out of the ordinary. At 11 years old, he left his parents' home, traveling and living in more than 20 countries, which allowed him to learn about many different cultures.
He studied hotel management in a prestigious school in Belgium to finally discover his true passion, entrepreneurship. As president of Manufacture OGarden, Pierre delights in helping his customers bring all the benefits of growing food and plants into their home.
Visit www.urbanfarm.org/ogarden for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!
507: Pierre Nibart on Indoor Gardening.