Wally Schmidtke of Pesche's Garden Center in Des Plaines offers tips on how to prepare your garden beds for winter. Mike Mitchell, executive director of the Illinois Recycling Association, and Tom Outerbridge, General Manager of Sims Metal Management Municipal Recycling Division, talk about the managed competition recycling experiment in Chicago. Mike offers more information about healthy, local foods in advance of the WCPT Holiday Harvest food drive.

Chicago singer-songwriter Susan Werner joins Mike in studio to talk about her new CD Hayseed, perform a few songs, and chat about how her poignant, funny, irreverent and always entertaining music reflects the lives of many Midwesterners.

Lisa Albrecht talks about her testimony for an EPA listening session about the effects of carbon emissions in advance of new standards for existing energy producing facilities that will be announced in 2014. Inventor/entrepreneur Bryan Nooner explains how he created his Twist and Seal products, which protect outdoor electrical connectors from the elements. Sandra Henry, the Energy Doctor from ComEd, stops by with information about their Smart Ideas awareness campaign and offers tips for increasing household energy efficiency. She is joined by Brandon Smith of Maywood, who was one of the winners of the utility company's Smart Home Showcase contest.

Mike and Lisa Albrecht talk about their experiences at the Bioneers Chicago event. Mike urgers people to help The Plant construct a living foyer through their current Kickstarter campaign. Christy Webber, of Christy Webber Landscapes and Christy Webber Landscapes Farm & Garden Center, comes to the studio to introduce the International Network for Urban Agriculture (INUAg), and talks about the current direction of the landscaping and horticultural industries.

Mike and meteorologist Rick DiMaio discuss a new study about climate change. Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky promotes Food Day on October 24. Mike welcomes Margaret Haywood, Mike Webb, Sarah Batka and Anna-Maria Leon from Inspiration Kitchens and chats with them about their restaurants that provide training for the homeless, ex-offenders and other low income people. Commuter farmer Kim Marsin has the latest from Sweet Home Organics in the western suburbs of Chicago.