The Urban Farm Podcast With Greg Peterson

169: Sarah Highlen on Farm Marketing Offering cost-effective marketing for small farms and food producers Sarah spent 17 years in the marketing industry, working with clients across diverse industries. As her values evolved, her career in marketing became dispiriting — until she realized she could use her marketing skills for something she felt really good about: good food.  Sarah founded Grapevine Local Food Marketing in 2016 to help small farms, local food producers, and other small food businesses.   In August, Katy Horst joined the Grapevine team, and together Sarah and Katy provide websites, logos, Facebook marketing, email newsletters, and other marketing services to clients in Indiana and beyond. When Sarah's not working on marketing projects, she's usually growing food, buying food, cooking food, photographing food, or eating food. Sarah also enjoys helping people develop an appreciation for real food through education and recipes, and she's a founding member and board president of her local food coun

168: Kerry Audisho on Locally Grown Foods Connecting a community to a healthier diet and access to locally grown foods. Kerry is a wife, mother, certified Dr. Sears health coach, local food advocate, and lover of food growing. She spends her time visiting various farms and gardens in and around Phoenix, and connecting consumers directly to local growers. She organizes three Meetup groups, Your Farm Foods, Arizona Natural Food Group and Food as Medicine. She blogs at yourfarmfoods.com and has created an online open marketplace, friendingfarmers.com that allows users to buy, sell and share our locally grown foods. IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg talks with Kerry to find out why she is so committed to helping others improve their diets and connect with locally grown foods.  Kerry shares the story of her conversion to healthy foods and then how even that diet was improved after a trip to a restaurant with a friend.  Her experience giving up sugar is a startling one. She also explains how she started her meet-up group to h

Kristin Nikodemski on the Grow it Yourself Revolution Encouraging growth in the community of organic gardeners As the Product Marketing Manager for Arborjet and The Dirt on Dirt, Kristin divides her time between marketing, supporting, and developing products for the horticulture industry. From her early days helping her father in the yard, working for garden centers, and professionally managing consumer garden brands since 2010, Kristin brings a wealth of experience. In her free time, Kristin is an avid indoor & outdoor gardener, artist, and foodie. She is a graduate of Salve Regina University. IN THIS PODCAST: Greg learns more about some organic gardening resources from Kristin who tells her story of how she joined a sustainability focused horticulture company. Kristin has found a way to blend her love of gardening with a care of community by helping create the Dirt on Dirt community. She also helps explain some of the Arborjet products and why they work. Go to www.urbanfarm.org/blog/podcast/ to see our

166: Susan Poizner on Fruit Tree Care Nurturing relationships with community and nature through orchards and fruit trees. Susan is an urban orchardist in Toronto, Canada. She is the author of the award-winning fruit tree care book “Growing Urban Orchards” and the creator of an award-winning online fruit tree care training course. In her in-person and online workshops Susan has trained hundreds of students from across North America. Her students include Master Gardeners, arborists and people who are completely new to gardening and fruit tree care.  Susan is also the host and creator of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast on RealityRadio101.com. IN THIS PODCAST: Greg meets another lover of fruit trees with Susan who founded a community orchard in her home town and found her calling as well. Susan tells how she got the idea to start an orchard in her neighborhood park, and how learning everything she could about fruit trees has morphed into her popular education program.  Her down-to-earth nature is very a

165: Penn Parmenter on High Altitude Tomatoes Growing and saving seeds for extreme or challenging climates Since 1992 Penn and her husband Cord have been growing food just above the 8,000 feet level in the Wet Mountains of South Central Colorado.  With many years of research and development, they founded Smart Greenhouses LLC and Miss Penn’s Mountain Seeds in 2013, Miss Penn’s Mountain Seeds is a small, high-altitude, bio-regional seed company servicing the mountain people.  As a tomato specialist, she offers over 200 varieties of adapted tomatoes – the Holy Grail of the mountains; as well as around 50 native wildflowers along with a mix of garden flowers, herbs and wild foods. Penn and Cord have three famished sons, Maximilian, Beauregard and Wulfgar who help them in all aspects of their work. IN THIS PODCAST: we hear an enthusiastic and fun guest as Penn chats with Greg about her passion for growing and saving seeds.  Penn tells how she got started in the seed business and why she enjoys her job so much.  B

164: Jeff Moyer on Organic Farmers Association Giving a larger voice to organic farmers in national policy discussions. Jeff is a world-renowned authority in organic agriculture. His expertise includes organic crop production systems with a focus on weed management, cover crops, crop rotations, equipment modification and use, and facilities design. Jeff is perhaps most well-known for conceptualizing and popularizing the No-Till Roller Crimper for use in organic agriculture. In 2011, he wrote Organic No-Till Farming, a publication that has become a resource for farmers throughout the world. In September 2015, Jeff was appointed as Executive Director of Rodale Institute after spending the last four decades there, helping countless farmers make the transition from conventional, chemical-based farming to organic methods. IN THIS PODCAST:  Author Jeff Moyer chats with Greg about the importance of organic farming, the role and purpose of the Rodale Institute, and the new Organic Famers Association.  Jeff has a grea

163: Melinda Adkins on Learning Homesteading Skills Rekindling skills of past generations and sharing thrifty gardening tips Melinda’s Urban Homesteader journey began as a child watching her mother and grandmother tend their gardens which instilled in her a love and appreciation for gardening.  After college she purchased a home in the city and secured employment with the local school district as well as a part-time Park Ranger.  The park had an 1880's working farm on the property which gave her the opportunity to visit and observe vintage skills.  It was during her time as a Park Ranger that her love for the outdoors and living a simpler life really grew. She has a great love of nature, has earned a Wildlife Habitat Certification as a result.  Eventually, she began incorporating skills she learned from the farm staff into her own urban homestead. Somehow she finds time to watch documentaries in her spare time to continue her learning. Melinda is highly invested in helping her community and is the founder of

162: Jesse Sparks on Neighborhood Harvesting Harvesting fruits and friends from your neighborhood community Jesse is a sixth-generation Arizona native. His great-grandfather owned and operated a farm in Tempe, AZ, and Jesse’s mother’s side comes from farming heritage in Iowa, so he has been surrounded by gardens, fruit trees, and fresh produce his entire life.  He and his wife had a townhouse where they started growing food by converting the lawn area in the back into a little 5ft square garden. Then, after moving and expanding to a larger area with more garden space, he noticed he physically felt better after eating home-grown produce. He travels a lot for work and is constantly on airplanes with recirculated air, but he credits having never come home with “travel crud” to his healthier, home-grown eating style. Jesse lives in the Northwest valley of Phoenix Arizona with his wife Heather, their 2 sons, and is expecting twin daughters due early 2017. IN THIS PODCAST: An inspiring young father Jesse shares his

161: Vanessa Simkins on Juicing Deliciously Connecting healthy and flavorful juicing combinations for health and a good diet Vanessa, is the founder of AllAboutJuicing.com: a website and newsletter serving up fresh, tested juicing advice for getting a hot body, glowing skin, and lifelong health through a straw. She is also the founder of Vanessa’s Juice Club and the author of the Juice Lover’s Big Book of Juices: 425 recipes for super nutritious and crazy delicious juices. Her newsletters, products and site reach over a quarter-million readers each month – a veritable army, inspired to juice for better health.  A juicing trendsetter known for her inventive and tasty juice recipes, Vanessa has an undying thirst for connecting people back to what makes them healthy, one drink at a time. IN THIS PODCAST: Greg finds many connections with Vanessa as she shares why she started juicing and why she runs her own business helping others learn about juicing. Vanessa tells about how she got started with her blog and her

160: Jim Loomis on Lifestyle Medicine Connecting a plant-based diet and lifestyle to positive health benefits  Jim Loomis Jr., M.D., M.B.A., received his medical degree from the University of Arkansas, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and graduated with honors.  He subsequently completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital/ Washington University in St. Louis, MO. and received an M.B.A. from the Olin School of Business at Washington University. Jim is the medical director at the Barnard Medical Center in Washington DC.  He is board certified in internal medicine and has also completed the certification program in Plant-Based Nutrition from Cornell University.  Before coming to the Barnard Medical Center in Washington, DC, Jim practiced internal medicine and was the director of prevention and wellness at St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis.  Jim is on the clinical faculty of the department of internal medicine at Washington University School of Me

159: Brandon Peterman on Natural Building Constructing buildings and materials from locally sourced ingredients  Brandon grew up in Southern California and went to University of Southern California Riverside.  Always feeling a connection to nature, he has been living on homesteads in the woods for the past four years and has been actively doing natural building for the past three years.  He has participated in the building of over two dozen natural structures from cottages to bread ovens, garden walls, to covered benches and other homestead based structures. His goal is to create a fully functioning working farm with a gardening education program and a year-round school program.  After his own apprenticeship, Brandon joined Kirk Mobert at the Sundog School of Natural Building which is based on 50 acres in Gualala, California. The school offers classes and on a rotating basis and apprenticeships in natural building. IN THIS PODCAST:  Greg gets to hear about a new topic on the podcast when he chats with Brandon

158: Andrew Millison on Scaling up Permaculture Sharing a regenerative design system and the medicine our planet needs. Andrew has been studying, teaching and practicing permaculture since he took his first design course in 1996. He began teaching permaculture design at the college level in 2001 and has been an instructor at Oregon State University in the Horticulture Department since 2009. Andrew currently teaches the Permaculture Design Course at OSU on campus and online. Andrew first learned permaculture design in the drylands of Arizona, where he studied for his undergraduate and master's degrees at Prescott College focusing on rainwater harvesting, greywater systems and desert agriculture. In recent years, his focus has been more on broad scale farm planning, permaculture housing developments and obtaining water rights. In 2015 he founded Permaculture Design International, a collaborative design firm that works on large-scale global projects. And, he runs a free Intro to Permaculture course that has had

Elena Ortiz on Nature Education for Adults Making connections to nature through working in a college garden. Elena has been teaching with the Phoenix College Biosciences Department in the Maricopa Community College System for eleven years. She has taught environmental biology and general biology for non-majors. Her newest class is Plants and Society, a basic botany course for non-majors. As part of teaching this class, she brings her personal interest for gardening into the classroom. She says the garden is a great place to introduce, or reintroduce, students to nature and ecology. Elena has a PhD in Plant Biology from ASU, a Master of Science in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico, and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Her interests in ecology and gardening were both heavily influenced by her maternal grandfather who was a family doctor and gentleman farmer in Puerto Rico who retired on his farm. As a young girl, she would follow him around as he would spen

Keri Fox on SPIN Farming Starting a farming business in an urban area and making it work. Keri grew up on an organic farm in a small Saskatchewan community when organic wasn’t cool or trendy. After feeling like an outcast, and perceiving her parents as “poor,” she decided to pursue a more profitable career.  After getting her electrician journeyperson license, she ran an electrical contracting business for 8 years and made good money doing this. However, she felt her business was contributing to the destruction of the planet.  Knowing she needed a change, and having recently been introduced to permaculture, she took a leap of faith and sold her business to search for a lifestyle that would help heal the planet. Keri took a series of permaculture based workshops over the next couple of years and eventually found herself in a SPIN farming workshop. Having found what she was looking for, she immediately returned home with a “crazy idea” to farm in the city. The idea got around and she started her new business wi

155: Lawrence Parkhill of the Veteran Farmers of America  Helping our returning veterans heal through farming and agriculture. Lawrence signed up for the infantry at age 16 when the towers fell, and left at age 18 to go to Camp Pendleton. He was deployed twice to Iraq with India Company, Third Battalion, First Marines.  Lawrence extended his contract by six months or so to deploy with the Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command (MARSOC) to Afghanistan. He has a total of five year’s active duty as a machine gunner and got out as E5 (sergeant) with two Purple Hearts, and a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with V device for valor.  Lawrence is the President and Co-Founder of Veteran Farmers of America. He is also the National Maintenance Support Manager at Mission Produce in Oxnard where he lives. IN THIS PODCAST: Greg is honored to talk to Sargent Lawrence Parkhill who shares his story of how he founded a new non-profit which is helping veterans reintegrate into non-combat life with jobs in agric

Julian Awad on Backyard Riches and SPIN Farming Taking a Small Plot and with Intensive Farming generate income. Julian experienced entrepreneurship early at the age of 12 when he first started importing candy from Singapore to Malaysia where his family was living at the time. At 19 he started his first company in real estate. Since then, his interest for business and social responsibility has taken him from refugee trips in Sumatra, Indonesia to driving new innovative genetic risk assessments. It was while working with Google on marketing and advertising, that Julian realized the need for marketing agencies which focused on a Return On Investment or were performance oriented.  Eventually he formed JSA Interactive Inc. to meet the growing demand for his marketing and commercialization services. Julian has over 15 years of professional experience in marketing, strategic planning, project management, and internet technologies. He also has 10 years of entrepreneurial experience in marketing companies, launching c

Forest started urban farming in 1969 in Berkeley, California. Through the People’s Park Movement, he was launched into gardening and got the basic training and motivation for becoming a seedman.  He has been a full time, independent, professions seed provider since 1972 and has owned, led, or helped launch at least four seed companies, and founded the nonprofit Abundant Life Seed Foundation which produced and distributed up to 600 types of open-pollinated vegetable, herb and flower seeds Since 1974 Forest has been giving workshops on seed saving and the importance of genetic diversity, and was the keynote speaker for the 2012 Northwest Permaculture Convergence and, also the Regenerations Seed and Plant Exchange in Hawaii.  Forest had a radio show for a couple of years with 30 minute interviews featuring a variety of people including many permaculturists. IN THIS PODCAST: Greg is enthralled by the story telling of Forest who brings us along on the adventures of a seedman.  Forest felt the pull of his calling i

Making a difference through social permaculture and gardening. Matt is an experienced teacher, family guy, author, consultant, farmer, seed saver, plant breeder, musician, blogger, & permaculturist. He frequently speaks at conferences, colleges, schools, and events about permaculture and education. Applying his years of working as a teacher writing curriculum from scratch using online classrooms, Matt has opened an online program to accompany his textbook series The Permaculture Student. Focused on starting resilient small businesses and homesteads from scratch, students of all ages and families learn through weekly collections of videos, worksheets, coloring pages, projects, activities, & critical thinking with teacher's guides, recipes, plant focus, seed saving, & Q&A. IN THIS PODCAST: Greg meets another permaculture enthusiast in Matt, who after a significant wake-up call regarding the health of his wife decided to pursue a healthier lifestyle for him and his family. This decision led him o

Saskia is a passionate gardener who believes everyone can grow some of their own food. She is trained in Permaculture, Environmental Science, and Regenerative Entrepreneurship. After turning a house in Anchorage, Alaska into an abundant urban homestead, she created a successful business teaching others how to garden. She recently turned her hands-on food gardening course into a curriculum and manual to help others teach gardening in their own communities.  IN THIS PODCAST: Greg meets Saskia, a young woman who was motivated enough to transform her life and career to encompass the ideals of permaculture. However, she was not happy just making her own garden, Saskia has a goal of having everyone or every yard have the chance to garden. So as she started making the changes to a gardening lifestyle she was determined to find a way to make a living with this new mode of living.  She has done this partly by helping others become teachers of gardening in their own areas.  Here she explains how she is preparing her ar

Transitioning to a plant based diet for a healthy lifestyle. Karine was once an extreme carnivore and she happily ate sweetbreads, blood pudding, lots of meats including game, and all kinds of raw meats. Food was her life. She had a catering business and organized dinner parties that would have made a vegan faint. Life was spent in the kitchen, and life was good. Then she embarked on her vegan journey just over year ago to combat significant skin issues. She started by first eating fruits and vegetables in large quantities but she struggled from low energy levels. Then she tried a paleo diet which did not work out for her, so she started educating herself about plant-based protein. Education was the key to her success, and two pillars of veganism became important to her: mercy for animals, and protection of the environment. Grains, seeds, and nuts are now the biggest part of her diet while she is striving to achieve a complete plant-based diet.  She loves whole and natural ingredients, and wants to show other