Bonus Episode 12: Kerry Audisho on the Tour De Coops

A chat about organizing a tour of backyard chicken farms.

In This Bonus Podcast: We chat with Kerry Audisho about an upcoming Tour de Coops in Phoenix, and she helps us understand what this event is and why it is something every city should have. She tells us about how she got involved in running the Tour de Coops and how she is ready to help other cities start their own. We also learn about Easter Eggers, the benefits of chickens, a garden program for kids, and getting kids to try Swiss Chard then ask for seconds.  

Kerry is a Dr. Sears Certified Health Coach, founder of Your Farm Foods, Friending Farmers, and the non-profit organization Garden Play. She has been a practicing health coach since 2011, and on the health seeking journey for over 15 years.

In Garden Play, she and her team establish and maintain gardens in schools, as well as teach students how to garden, about the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, and how to prepare the foods they grow. Garden Play is also the organizer for the Phoenix Tour De Coops taking place on March 25th 2018.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/03/13/bonus12/ for show notes and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Helping the community plant fruit trees successfully.

In This Podcast: We catch up with Returning Guest Susan Poizner as she shares more about fruit tree care and the training that she offers through her podcasts as well as the courses at Niagara College.  She helps explain why pruning is important, especially when strong weather conditions come.  She has a lot of great information for anyone who is growing their own fruit trees.

Susan is an urban orchardist in Toronto, Canada and the author of the award-winning fruit tree care book “Growing Urban Orchards” as well as the creator of an award-winning, online fruit tree care training course. In her in-person and online workshops, Susan has trained hundreds of students from across North America. Her students include Master Gardeners, arborists, and people who are completely new to gardening and fruit tree care.

IF that was not enough, Susan is the host and creator of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and Podcast on RealityRadio101.com and an Instructor of Fruit Production Program at Niagara College in Ontario.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/03/10/336-susan-poizner/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Supporting local farmers with supplies and resources.

In This Podcast: Having several years of corporate retail in his resume, and working at a books store, Bill Bezuk was intrigued when he noticed an uptick in the interest in books on raising chickens. He took this insight, combined it with his experience, and eventually opened a “boutique urban farming supply store” in Eugene.  Tailoring his store to fit the needs of local urban farmers, he has built up a dedicated customer base who have been coming for years. He tells us his story and includes a little story that Greg calls out as EPIC!

Bill opened his store the Eugene Backyard Farmer in April, 2010.  There were already several traditional feed stores, yet he felt they did not understand the unique needs of the urban farmer. With that in mind, Bill created what he calls a “boutique urban farming supply store”, and has seen significant growth since opening.

The Eugene Backyard Farmer helps people convert their back yard into a more sustainable and thriving place with supplies for small scale flocks, plus gardening and pollination items as well as chicks, custom feeds, garden plants, soil amendments, and bee hives.  Through his store, Bill shares knowledge and experience, and hopes to continue to be the center of the urban farming community in Eugene.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/03/06/335-bill-bezuk/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Knowing the joy of being a chicken parent.

In This Podcast: Technology was the world he was most familiar with, until Kunal Sampat got introduced to the life of raising chickens.  He shares the story of how he started his flock, and how it did not take long for this to become a passion. He also helps break a few myths about backyard chickens. Kunal has regular tours of his farm to help others learn about keeping these flocks, teaches classes online and offers a special to Urban Farm listeners.   

After living in urban neighborhoods for his entire life, Kunal wanted to experience a sustainable, rural lifestyle. In 2013, he welcomed a flock of 16 baby chicks at his home in San Jose, California. Since Silicon Valley kids knew a whole lot about technology and very little about raising chickens, he started to offer free farm tours in his backyard.

A teacher at heart, Kunal recently launched a comprehensive online video course on raising chickens. He enjoys connecting like-minded people, introducing new ideas, and immersing himself in an environment of continuous learning.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/03/03/334-kunal-sampat/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Helping farmers think INSIDE the box!

In This Podcast: Camping with her father in a old VW Van had a much more of an impact on Brandi DeCarli than her father could have realized. Keeping everything you need for your adventure in one van/box is now what she does for new farms. She tells us how Farm From a Box got started as a way to help communities build their own farms with a tailored package of “deliverable infrastructure” in a shipping container. And there is a way that you can be a part of the project right from home.

Brandi is the Founding Partner of Farm from a Box, an off-grid farm system that uses modern technology to make farming more efficient, more productive, and more environmentally beneficial, all in one deliverable system. Built from a modified shipping container, it comes equipped with all of the technology needed to start and maintain a two-acre planted farm. It is specifically designed to conserve water, save energy, and help build a healthy soil. Their goal is to revolutionize local food production and enable communities around the world to grow their own nutritious food with clean technology.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/27/333-brandi-decarli/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Caring about local communities and their vegetable gardens.

In This Podcast: Looking for a group to join so she could make a difference in her community, Barbara Masoner found a local group that wanted to start a garden project in the state capital.  Readjusting their focus after getting turned down, they got support from the mayor and started a project that is still making a difference more than ten years later. The simple idea now has a team of 400 volunteers all working to help feed food pantries and better their community.

Barbara’s background is in environmental studies.  Her first garden was a 4-H project in 5th grade. Thanks to her many gardening mentors, including her great grandfather, she has found gardening rewarding, fun and inspirational.  In 2009 she was one of the founders of Grow Local Colorado (GLC).

Since then GLC has grown over 23,000 pounds of fresh produce for dozens of Denver’s communities in need.  Each grow season Barbara oversees some 400 volunteers in ten garden sites, many of those volunteers are young people.  Her goal is to see as many vegetable gardens in Denver as there were Victory Gardens during WWII.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/24/332-barbara-masoner/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Bonus Episode 11: Seed Chat October 2017. 

A chat with an expert on Seeds, Bill McDorman. 

In This Bonus Podcast: This is the October 2017 episode with a Seed School Chat Class - continuing the conversation with some motivational quotes, adjusting for new weather norms, coming back from gardening disasters, and so much more.

Bill McDorman is Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, Ketchum, Idaho. He got his start in the bio-regional seed movement while in college in 1979 when he helped start Garden City Seeds. In 1984, Bill started Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens, a mail order seed company he ran successfully until it sold in 2013.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/20/bonus-episode-11/ for show notes and links on this bonus podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Turning waste into gold with off-the-shelf, readily available items.

In This Podcast:

Changing lifestyles to be more sustainable was something that Zach Brooks was willing to do with complete commitment, especially when it seemed fairly easy to do. He semi-retired young enough to realize he could make a difference so he bought some property and is creating a sustainability experiment to help others see how they can implement easy changes too. One main ingredient to his project is the worm farm and worm education and he shares key tips on how beneficial they are.  He wears the title of lazy gardener with comfort and wants to teach others how to be more efficient without working so hard at the process.

Zach semi-retired from Healthcare Management at age 42 when his consulting company went public. And when his first of three grandchildren were born, he went back to Arizona State University to get a second Masters Degree, in Sustainability.  Frustrated that most causes of climate change were not only fixable – but fixable with “off the shelf” practices and technologies, Zach set out to prove that an off-the-grid lifestyle could be every bit as comfortable as a wasteful lifestyle and have a positive impact on the environment.

He wants to show we don’t need some new invention, we just need to use the solar and wind power we have now and nature’s method of organic composting, natural mulching, smart growing, and less silly waste.  On his farm is worm composting is key with the worms turning garbage into fertilizer and serving as food for their chickens.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/17/331-zach-brooks/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Finding efficient processes to help make farming productive.

In This Podcast: It takes a dedicated minimalist to try living without adding new items to the property, and Ben Hartman took this simplistic mindset to most areas of his early adult life. Then when he too a look at his 5-acre farm he realized he could do with less unnecessary stuff and he found it improved his productivity. The lessons he learned have helped many others become more efficient and he shares some of them here with us.

Ben is the author of The Lean Farm (winner of the prestigious Shingo Award), and The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables, both published in 2017 by our friends at Chelsea Green.  In that same year he was appointed to the 2017 Grist 50, a list of emerging green leaders in the United States.

He and his wife Rachel Hershberger own and operate Clay Bottom Farm in Goshen, Indiana, where they make their living on less than one acre by growing and selling specialty produce to restaurants, at a farmers market, and through cooperative CSAs.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/13/330-ben-hartman/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.

Putting fresh, organic food within reach of the kitchen counter.

In This Podcast: When a millennial has too much time on their hands and is not feeling like they are making a difference, AND they happen to be the kind of person who like to design things, what can possibly happen?  We get to hear why Ryan Agrey is a millennial like that, and how he was motivated to take a game-system-designed farm to the next level and create something that could be used by any novice gardener to bring fresh, organic food within easy reach.

Ryan is from a small town in Alberta Canada, just north of Washington.  Along with his father Brad and sister Tessa, he spent the last 2 years developing a simple “plug and play” indoor garden that allows anyone to grow food at home regardless of where they live. It requires no previous knowledge of growing food, and can pay for itself in just a few months.

During this journey they developed a unique technology for hydroponics which is currently patent pending. With the use of this technology they then created an affordable and simple kit to provide you with everything you need to grow year-round, indoors from the comfort of your home. 

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2018/02/10/329-ryan-agrey/ for more information and links on this podcast, and to find our other great guests.