On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes takes a field trip to speak with Alex Booker at Badger Rock Urban Farm. Booker is the Madison Public Library’s naturalist in residence. The theme of his residency, Find Your Way Back to Nature, focuses on ways to reconnect with the ecosystems that surround us. Naturalist programming includes nature walks, tea blending, flower arranging, sound baths, and more. 

Booker walks Haynes through the farm, from the food forest to the chicken coup. They chat about using all your senses when you garden, how to make pesto with weeds, books like Working the Roots: Over 400 Years of Traditional African American Healing, and how gardening can lead to liberation. 

Alex Booker is a Madison native whose passion for nature began at a young age. Over the past four years, Booker has focused on food insecurity and urban agriculture. He has worked as the Manager of the Badger Rock Neighborhood Center, where he started out as an Assistant Farm Education Manager growing his skills as a program facilitator for all ages. 

Photo courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT.

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