Peace, Love, and Pollinators 🐝

What if growing food could also help people grow into a new chapter of life? On this episode of Peace, Love & Pollinators, Lawrence, Heather and Richard share their vision for Holistic Agriculture Academy and its future home at Easthampton Town Lodging and Farm. We explore how regenerative agriculture, hands-on education, and community support can help veterans find renewed purpose while caring for the land and strengthening local food systems.

Jasmin Callahan brings nearly two decades of hands-on experience in plant production, having worked in settings ranging from an organic vegetable and flower farm with a large annual plant sale to a wholesale nursery. These roles shaped her understanding of how propagation methods, scheduling decisions, and production timelines directly affect both plant quality and business viability.

In 2024, Jasmin founded Dragonfly Natives in response to a growing demand for locally grown native plants, with a focus on plug trays. Working with ecotypic seed and regionally adapted species, Dragonfly Natives aims to provide high-quality plants for landscapers, designers, and restoration projects. 

John Engwar is the owner and president of Groundscapes Express, Inc., he has been providing innovative, environmentally responsible erosion control, stormwater management, and ecological landscape solutions since 1998. His work is rooted in stewardship, clean water protection, soil health, and the belief that construction and land care can work with nature rather than against it.

A pioneer in the use of biodegradable compost-based erosion control products, he patented the FilterMitt system and helped introduce compost tubes as a sustainable alternative to synthetic erosion control materials. His company was among the first in New England to use compost products extensively for erosion control and stormwater management, helping reduce runoff, stabilize slopes, protect soils, and improve water quality without leaving plastic waste behind.

Groundscapes Express has worked across highways, railroads, parks, athletic fields, golf courses, residential and commercial developments, municipal projects, and sensitive environmental sites throughout New England. The company’s work includes erosion control, stormwater treatment, invasive plant management, native planting, soil restoration, compost applications, ecological landscape design, and sustainable construction installations.

He has collaborated with MassDOT, engineers, developers, regulators, inspectors, and municipalities to create practical solutions that meet environmental standards while improving long-term site performance. His approach combines field experience, compost science, native plant knowledge, invasive species management, and a deep commitment to protecting natural resources.

With decades of project experience, he is recognized as a leader in biodegradable erosion control, sustainable site work, water conservation, and ecological land management. His mission is simple: build better landscapes, protect cleaner water, restore soil biology, and leave the land healthier than he found it

Darryl Newman is the co-owner of Planters' Choice, alongside his father and founder, Chuck. It is a diverse operation with large-scale field, propagation and container production in Western Connecticut. They are increasing production of both ecotypic and larger, specimen size natives that are difficult to not only locate, but also produce.

He has presented to numerous state and regional trade associations on a variety of topics, including proper horticultural practices, superior plant selection, Green Industry trends, and financial business management. A proud multi-generational farmer on both sides of his family, Darryl is professionally passionate about working with plants and educating others to become more effective businesspeople and horticulturists.

Kristen Nicholson and Britt Drews are the co-founders of Blue Stem Natives, a 

woman owned native-only nursery based in Norwell, Massachusetts.                 

Since launching in 2021, they’ve been helping gardeners and land stewards 

across New England access high-quality native plants while promoting wildlife-

friendly landscapes, straight-species selections, and sustainable growing 

practices. Their work is rooted in a simple but powerful mission: making native 

plants easier to learn about, easier to buy, and easier to use in everyday 

landscapes.

Dan Jaffe Wilder is an ecologist, horticulturist, and botanist with over twenty years’ experience working with native plants and their associated ecology. His work has ranged from classrooms to nurseries to botanical gardens to wildlife refuges and specializes in native plant ecology, propagation, wildlife habitat restoration and enhancement, and native edible landscapes. Dan is the Director of Applied Ecology at The Norcross Wildlife Foundation whose mission is to protect, enhance, and expand wildlife through conservation, education, and support. Dan’s book Native Plants for New England Gardens was released in 2018. 

Mark Highland, The Organic Mechanic

As a young kid, Mark made his connection to the natural world early, digging around in his grandmother’s vegetable garden, pulling weeds, picking caterpillars off plants, and harvesting ripe fruit. The work was hard (but fun!) and he knew he was hooked from the moment he turned over that first forkful of rich Illinois soil.

Academic studies and work experiences

After high school, Mark earned a BS degree in Environmental Horticulture at the University of Florida. It was in Florida that Mark received the nickname, “The Organic Mechanic”. Employment ventures after graduating took him to the west coast, working for a landscape construction company and a certified organic farm.

Deciding to return to graduate school, Mark focused his MS degree studies on compost and potting soil. His academic work helped Longwood Gardens in southeastern Pennsylvania develop composts to use in their own potting soil. After the Longwood Graduate Program, Mark worked as a Compost & Soil Specialist at Longwood Gardens before starting The Organic Mechanic Soil Company, LLC, where he launched the first peat-free, compost-based potting soil in the United States!

Where in the world is Mark these days?

When he’s not out in the greenhouse or warehouse, Mark spends much of his time traveling to garden centers, trade shows similar venues to promote, educate and inspire others to the many rewards of organic gardening. He has taught classes at Longwood Gardens, The Tyler Arboretum, Mt. Cuba Center, The Scott Arboretum, Callaway Gardens, and speaks regularly at public events like The Philadelphia Flower Show, as well as to numerous garden clubs.

At Organic Mechanics, “We work on your soil!” ®

Edwina von Gal

Founder / President

A leading voice in sustainable gardening and landscape design, Edwina von Gal founded the Perfect Earth Project in 2013 to promote ecological land care for the health of people, their pets, and the planet. As principal of her eponymous landscape design firm since 1984, Edwina created landscapes with a focus on simplicity, sustainability, and beauty for private and public clients around the world. Her work has been published widely, including in The New York Times, Vogue, and Architectural Digest, and her book Fresh Cuts won the Quill and Trowel award for garden writing in 1998. In 2024, she was named one of the top 50 Creatives in America by Wallpaper* magazine. She has served on boards and committees for a number of horticultural organizations and currently serves on the board of What Is Missing, Maya Lin’s multifaceted media artwork about the loss of biodiversity, Longue Vue’s National Council, and is a member of the Native Plant Trust’s Council. Her awards include the LongHouse Visionary Award from LongHouse Reserve, the New York School of Interior Design’s Green Design Award, the Isamu Noguchi Award, and Guild Hall’s Academy of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award for the Visual Arts. 

Todays episode is all about the connection between soil health, human health and the health of the planet.

Dan has been an organic farmer for more than 30 years. He grew up on Many Hands Organic Farm in central Massachusetts with his parents, Julie Rawson, NOFA-MA Executive Director, and Jack Kittredge, publisher of Natural Farmer. After working globally in the late 90s and early 2000s with farmers, NGOs, and researchers across India, Russia, and Central America, Dan returned to the U.S. and in 2010 launched the BFA in order to ignite a movement around food quality.

Dan has become one of the leading proponents of “nutrient density,” and works to demonstrate the connections between soil health, plant health, and human health through workshops and speaking engagements around the world, the annual Soil and Nutrition Conference, and an increased presence online through social media, a YouTube channel, and numerous webinars and podcasts.

Dan launched the Real Food Campaign, now the Bionutrient Institute, that, with open-source science partners Our-Sci and FarmOS, are leading the effort to identify and increase nutrition in the food supply. The Bionutrient Institute has engineered and released a hand-held consumer spectrometer, the Bionutrient Meter, designed to test nutrient density at the point of purchase and bring transparency to the marketplace. Via the Bionutrient Meter, the goal is to empower consumers to choose their foods based on nutrient quality and thereby leverage economic incentives to drive full system regeneration.

We discuss Meadow creation and break dow the process of meadow installation with Nick Novick.  Nick Novick (Small Planet Landscaping) has been building healthier landscapes in and around Ashland, Massachusetts for more than two decades. With a degree in Environmental Conservation and a deep bench of hands-on field skills, Nick has done it all, from dry stone walls and lawn care to invasive plant control and fruit-tree care. But these days, nearly all of his work centers on one thing: meadows, and how to create them in a way that actually lasts.

Nick also brings serious community and education chops to the table. He served on the Ecological Landscape Alliance board and edited the ELA newsletter for about seven years, and he supervised the original installation of the Washington Tower meadow at Mount Auburn Cemetery, along with other projects on site. With multiple land-care certificates and years of speaking at conferences and workshops, Nick is equal parts practitioner, teacher, and collaborator, always open to teaming up with other eco-minded people who want to move the work forward.