Today on Mushroom Hour we have the privilege of speaking with Jeff Lowenfels. Jeff is the author of the Award-winning books “Teaming With Microbes: The Organic Gardener’s Guide To The Soil Food Web”, “Teaming With Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition” and “Teaming With Fungi: The Organic Grower’s Guide to Mycorrhizae”. Jeff Lowenfels has become a leader in the organic gardening/sustainability movement because of these best-selling books. His “Guide to the soil food web” has been hailed as one of the most important gardening books in the last 25 years. His talks have converted tens of thousands of gardeners at venues throughout North and South America to follow the path of organic gardening. Jeff hosted Alaska public television’s most popular show, “Alaska Gardens with Jeff Lowenfels.” Most importantly for him, Jeff is the founder of the national program “Plant A Row for The Hungry.” This program is active all 50 states and Canada and has resulted in millions pounds of garden produce being donated to feed the hungry every year.    

TOPICS COVERED:   

• Transformation from “Chemical Head” to Organic Gardener   
• Discovering the Soil Food Web   
• Teaming with Microbes  
• Nematodes, Protozoa, Fungi and the Rhizosphere   
• Testing for Soil Health   
• Teaming with Nutrients   
• How do Plants Eat?   
• Biological Processes of Plant Cells   
• Roles of Mycorrhizal Fungi   
• Humans Controlled by Microorganisms   
• Spiritual Microbial Ecology   
• Chemical Agriculture & the Soil Food Web   
• Our Future Depends on Soil   
• Planting a Row for the Hungry   

EPISODE RESOURCES:   

• Jeff Lowenfels' Column: https://www.adn.com/author/jeff-lowenfels/   
• "Teaming with Microbes": https://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131   
• "Teaming with Nutrients": https://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Nutrients-Gardeners-Optimizing-Nutrition/dp/1604693142/   
• "Teaming with Fungi": https://www.amazon.com/Teaming-Fungi-Organic-Mycorrhizae-Gardeners/dp/1604697296/   
• Rudolf Steiner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner   
• Dr. Elaine Ingham: https://www.soilfoodweb.com/   
• Microbiometer (Test your soil biomass!): https://microbiometer.com/   
• Plant a Row for the Hungry: https://gardencomm.org/PAR