Can you picture a warm spring day? The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and you are out in your new garden growing food for your family and your community. In this episode, Jackie Arnold gives us an honest look at growing veggies from the perspective of a beginner. Anne Gratto is looking forward to cottage life this summer, and is forming a garden plan that includes pots that can be transported. Cati Vanveen has lots of space and plenty of help at home to grow a big variety of vegetables. Krista Ritchie is the host of the Facebook group "Kinship Gardeners" and came prepared with plenty of tips for the group. Thanks to Paul Zammit for joining us. He is the Director of Horticulture at the Toronto Botanical Garden.
0:15...people are calm when they know what to do
0:45...challenges include time, money, fear of failure, space, sunlight, water, weeds, insects, rabbits, deer
2:18...Jackie Arnold
7:45...Anne Gratto
12:18...Cati Vanveen
17:11...Krista Ritchie
30:06...growing for your foodbank

If you have never gardened before, why not grow vegetables for your own use? If you're an experienced gardener grow extra vegetables and give them all away! You might also form a group and grow vegetables for your local food bank..this can be done while maintaining social distancing. Whatever you decide to do, this episode will help you to face the challenges that are coming your way and help your community while you're at it! Now get growing!
0:22...a nod to the past through the music and lyrics of Dougie MacLean (Another Time)
2:55...make a garden Canadian style
3:14...food banks will have increased demands
3:42...Canadian farms are reliant on migrant labour
4:35...our veggies are from California and Mexico
4:49...Mexico may have difficulty meeting the Covid-19 challenge
5:37...meet Richard from The Veg Grower Podcast
6:45...people tend to panic when they don't know what to do
10:01...choosing a location for a garden
11:16...dealing with the grass in your lawn and other practical things
14:59...grow these vegetables to feed your baby
26:48...experienced gardeners should be ramping up their production to help others
27:58...sharing your food without sharing Covid-19 while you're at it
30:47...growing in a community garden for food banks while still observing social distancing
34:02...the challenge of homelessness and Covid-19
37:28...growing indoors, microgreens
40:32...growing indoors, hydroponics
43:08...Pete Seeger (The Garden Song)

This episode is for you if you are a farmer, land manager, policy maker, or scientist. Dr. Jocelyn Lavallee (Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University) joins your host Tom Franklin to discuss all things "soil organic matter". We learn that testing for soil organic matter may offer an inadequate picture of your land as it changes in response to a climate change world. What then should be tested? .... "It's as easy as POM and MAOM".
2:59...how to say SOM POM MAOM and what they mean
4:02...measuring SOM by combustion is a thing of the past
6:10...measuring POM and MAOM based on density and size
14:35...Tom suggests using other acronyms and Jocelyn counters with "this is the most straight forward way"
18:56...what Jocelyn would like to see when farmers sample soil...standard practices
22:19...Earthworm castings are hot spots for biological activity
23:54...the 4 per mille initiative...when it comes to persistence MAOM is in it for the long haul
30:50...the quality of POM depends on the litter quality that it came from
32:38...could livestock create the highest quality POM without N P K fertilizer inputs?
34:08...nitrogen limits increases in MAOM...are some farmers exaggerating SOM progress or are their claims real?
40:49..."use POM and MAOM for pools in climate models"...the present models are limited in their usefulness

Thanks Jocelyn!

What would you say if the methane emissions from your cattle could be reduced by up to 50% in the very near future?
Yes please, bring it on! Dr. Karen Beauchemin joins your host Tom Franklin, and hints at the incredible influence of one tiny compound, named 3NOP, on the rumen of cattle.

In this episode we listen to a COP23 talk from late 2017. Before this event, it was widely believed that cattle were responsible for the dramatic increase in atmospheric methane in recent years. But now, you will be happy to know that...wait a minute....the world still believes that! That's one reason that I'm including part of a two year old presentation here. It's just that important. Enjoy and share.

Sunshine, pasture, soil, and cows...this may be the package deal that fights climate change!
Paige Stanley explains how keeping cattle on pasture will cause the soil to lock away carbon. How much?...6.65 kilograms CO2 for every kilogram of beef...but when will we hear about it in the news or in our classrooms? The answer is when more research in this area is done. We also talk about land-sharing versus land-sparing strategies for food production and biodiversity. Listen as Tom struggles to say "adaptive multipaddock grazing" and "soil carbon sequestration" while he talks about these important topics.
A great big thank you goes out to Paige Stanley for sharing her knowledge with us!

How can we have constructive, accurate, and meaningful discussions about Canadian beef and its impact on the environment? Kincardine area environmentalist, farmer, and teacher Tom Franklin intends to find out. His guest is Dr. Frank Mitloehner from the University of California Davis. Dr. Mitloehner is a highly regarded climate scientist, and the world authority in the realm of agriculture and the warming of the Earth.

www.peoplenaturefood.ca

Are you dreaming of summer? Sunshine, the smell of burgers on the BBQ, and......yard work? in this episode you will be encouraged to rethink your lawn and to appreciate the intrinsic value of native grasses. My thanks go out to Art Wiebe for enthusiastically sharing his knowledge and experience.

Thanks to Dr. Noah Perlut, Ray Ford, and Stan Eby for participating and being so generous with their time. Each of these men thoughtfully share their ideas about environmental stewardship and farming.
First we come to understand the world of a wildlife biologist, and as we do so we recognize the genuine interest and enthusiasm that Dr. Perlut has for the natural world and in particular the Bobolink. Next we meet Ray Ford, a farmer and writer who thoroughly describes his strategies for conservation haying and pasture management including the "songbird strip" . Later Stan Eby provides an interesting and informative account of the changes for the beef farmers of Bruce County and further abroad. Tom Franklin, the host of the People Nature Food Podcast, works to unpack the issue of the Bobolink as a threatened species in Ontario and how this relates to current farming practices.
(Bobolink In Grass Photo David Watkins)

Learn the significance of the Penetangore River to the first European Settlers in 1848, and how its natural state was almost immediately changed.
Are you ready for some facts? We'll review the geography of the area as a foundation for better understanding our "place".
Consider the watershed's most recent report card with Jo-Anne Harbinson from Saugeen Valley Conservation Authority .
What's missing? In a future podcast, I would like to examine the watershed before 1848. I think it will take some research, as the historical record focuses on locations to our north (Inverhuron, Port Elgin, Southampton, Saugeen First Nations, Owen Sound).
(Bobolink In Grass Photo David Watkins)