The Urban Farm Podcast Private feed for Members

218: Nafsika Antypas on Living a Plant-Based Life.

Understanding the reasons and options for choosing a vegan lifestyle.

Nafsika is the Host and Creator of the world’s first plant based lifestyle TV series that focuses on a plant-based diet living.  She has studied about olive oil and the Mediterranean diet in Greece through her father’s business, Pilaros Inc, a Mediterranean food importer, where she has been involved for over twenty years.  She created the TV show, Plant-Based by Nafsika which aired nationally in 2016, to change the world through food. This has not only sparked the interest of viewers around the globe but has planted some seeds helping veganism become more “mainstream,”

In 2015, she founded, The Struggling Vegan, which helps people transition to a plant-based/vegan lifestyle while strengthening the community in a public forum called, Veg Room. The organization offers daily menu plans, recipes, health tips and direct messaging to plant-based doctors and coaches.

Nafsika spends her spare time with her family, which includes her two young boys. She and her husband both cook plant-based meals at home and she’ll educate just about anyone who would listen about why it’s healthier to switch to a plant-based diet and why veganism is not just a diet but a way of life.

In this podcast: Greg talks to television host Nafsika Antypas about living a plant-based life and how she was inspired to start her own television show all about living a vegan lifestyle.  She helps explain some of the core beliefs behind veganism as well as some of the basics of living a cruelty-free way of life.  Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/04/06/nafsika-antypas/ for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to hear from our other great guests.

217: Sine Lindholm on an Urban Farming 'Growroom'

Creating and sharing an open-sourced growing sphere to create poetic spaces. 

Sine is from Denmark and has a degree in architecture from Aarhus School of Architecture along with an emphasis on psychology. This shows in her projects where she is combining the two, with her main focus on the theoretical and abstract part of architecture.

She grew up on an organic farm with milking cows, however she had never worked with agriculture or urban farming before, until she won an architecture competition together with architect and carpenter Mads-Ulrik Husum. They had designed an Urban Farming pavilion, which received great attention that led to the further development of the project. They teamed up with SPACE10, a future living-lab, where they developed and released an open source design of their pavilion.  

Together they started the company Husum & Lindholm, where for the moment they primarily focus on further development of combining architecture with gardening. On the basis of a spatial experimentation with the Urban Farming concept, they strive towards creating architecture where atmosphere and sensuousness - acts as the primary design factors.  Their goal - to generate poetic spaces where a symbiotic relationship with vegetation arises.

In This Podcast: Greg sought out this interview with Sine Lindholm after seeing an article about a gorgeous growing sphere design and so today she tells us about the inspiration behind the design.  Sine also explains why they hope an open-sourced design will encourage others to improve on their model.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/04/04/sine-lindholm/ for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to hear from our other great guests.

216: Emiley Kight on Loving Natural Foods.

Making little changes towards more real foods and feeling better.

Emiley has always loved food, and wanting to share this passion she dove into a Culinology® degree to explore a role as an R&D chef at SW Minnesota State University. That was until her mom became sick and she put her career on hold to act as her mom’s caretaker throughout her treatment for multiple myeloma cancer.

To her surprise, the doctors provided little information on what to eat as a cancer patient, and so Emiley started doing her own research on the effects that food have on chronic disease. Through trial and error in the kitchen, she discovered how whole plants can be used to combat side effects of medication, create pleasure by surprising and challenging your taste buds, and help your body work as efficiently as possible. Completely changing her mother's eating habits (as well as her own) helped her develop a brand-new love affair with foods in their natural state. Now, she is devoted to sharing her story and this information with others to inspire anyone who eats, to fall in love with food again.

In This Podcast:  A chance meeting at the Farmers Market connected Greg to Emiley Kight, a Nutrition Consultant who tells about how she helps people to make little changes and enjoy natural foods.  She explains about how her focus on food was taking her towards the kitchens of large food corporations until her mom’s illness and the realization that real food information and options were not included in recovery discussions and she decided to work on changing that.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/04/01/emiley-kight/ for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to hear from our other great guests.

215: Suzanne Bontempo on Gardening without Pesticides

Contemplating the best options for: If, when, and what type of insect control to use in the garden.

Suzanne has worked in the horticultural industry for over 20 years in a variety of capacities; as a landscape contractor, a fine gardener leading garden maintenance teams, and in retail nursery management.  Currently she is an environmental educator and IPM Advocate, where she mentors & educates people. She does this by providing IPM trainings at hardware stores & garden centers, providing educational programs for garden clubs, businesses & organizations, and presenting lectures for the public through government agencies.

Her message is focused around less-toxic pest problem-solving in the home & garden, pesticide reduction, and how to garden sustainably. She helps people see their home or garden as its own ecosystem, and that the real solution to their problem usually doesn’t require a pesticide at all. She enjoys raising the awareness of beneficial insects and how biological control methods in the garden are easy, effective and fun!

Suzanne was recognized for her excellence in her field winning the 2013 IPM Innovators Award and in 2016 received the San Francisco Green Business award.

IN THIS PODCAST: Insects and pesticides are challenging topics for gardeners and even more so for organic gardeners, so of course Greg loved hearing from Suzanne about how to make the best choice for controlling pests in the garden.  She breaks down the options in ways that make sense and loves to help others find the most beneficial way to manage their pest controls.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/30/suzanne-bontempo/ for show notes

214: Michael Miller on Poverty in the World.

 Examining the problems of poverty and solutions we need to reconsider.

Michael is a Research Fellow at the Acton Institute and the Director and Producer of Poverty, Inc. Previously, Michael was the Director of Media and Director of Programs International at the Acton Institute and has appeared in various videos including Doing the Right Thing. Before coming to Acton, he taught philosophy and political science at Ave Maria College in Nicaragua and was the chair of the philosophy and theology department. Michael holds graduate degrees in philosophy, international development, and international business.

He has lived and traveled in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America and speaks extensively on themes of international development, entrepreneurship, political economy, and moral philosophy. He has been featured on FOX Business, CNBC, numerous radio shows, and published in The New York Post, The Washington Times, The LA Daily News, The Detroit News, and Real Clear Politics.

IN THIS PODCAST: Greg gets a chance to talk about a serious social sustainability topic when he interviews Michael Matheson Miller, the Director-Producer of Poverty Inc.  Michael has examined this issue at great lengths and tells why some of the things we think are helping are really fostering additional problems and why we should be asking if we are part of the problem.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/28/michael-matheson-miller/ for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to hear from our other great guests.

213: Nikki Golly on Nutrition and Wellness.

 Recognizing the highly important nutrients that might be missing from our foods.

In this Podcast: We get to meet Nikki Golly who’s focus on micro nutrients gives her a detailed perspective on the essentials of good nutrition.  Her chat with Greg is a chance to break down the descriptions of some important food terms in today’s vocabulary and bring to light some very key details on the tiniest, but very powerful ingredients.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/25/nikki-golly/ for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to hear from our other great guests.

Nikki is a micronutrient coach on a mission to help people experience the healthiest and happiest version of themselves. She graduated with highest honors with a degree in nutrition from Arizona State University. She worked for 8 years in a vitamin store in Phoenix where she gained her vast knowledge of supplements.

Fuel Your Body is a coaching program, as well as, a series of products to help you reach your health goals. Everything you eat makes a difference in how you feel.  Your immune system starts in your gut and the foods you eat affect your whole body, from the bottoms of your feet to the top of your head. Through her simple tips, recipes and how to videos, she empowers others to reach their goals.

212: Jenny Beasley on Community Gardening

Building a community revitalization garden project from scratch.

Jenny received her certification as a health coach at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City along with her Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Northern Arizona University. She is currently the Director of Heart for the City Community Garden located in Glendale, AZ.

She became involved with Heart for the City seven years ago, a non-profit that helps change lives of inner city at risk youth by walking life with them. She was asked to spearhead a 1/2-acre community revitalization project.... a community garden in which they educate Title 1 school children and their families on gardening and provide families ways of growing their own healthy foods.

She decided to become a health coach to fulfill her passion of working with individuals to enhance their own well-being.

In this podcast: Starting a community garden from scratch is no easy feat, and Greg talks with Jenny Beasley to hear about her work to bring a bare lot to life with a very thriving and highly appreciated garden resource in her community.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/23/jenny-beasley/ for show notes

211: Colin Austin on Wicking Beds and Healthy Food

 Examining wicking garden beds and bio-intensive vegetables.

In this Podcast: We get to meet a gardening pioneer when Greg talks to Colin Austin who is known world-wide as the man who engineered a simple but highly popular garden bed called a wicking bed.  Greg learns why Colin was motivated to create the beds and how the wicking process works. Then they go further to talk about why healthy food is so important to him and his family.

Many years ago, at the birth of the computer revolution Colin learned to write code and set-up a company which grew to become Australia’s leading exporter of technical software.  Then twenty years ago, Colin developed a growing system, which is known today as wicking bed technology and has gone feral worldwide. He runs a website WaterRight.com.au and a newsletter which are leading sources of information on wicking bed growing technology around the globe.

Colin’s wife was very healthy and after moving to Australia from China she developed diabetes when she transitioned to a Western style diet.   Consequently, he has spent many years studying the causes and remedies for diabetes.  This complex disease involves many factors such as genetics and life style stress but the dominating one of course is diet.  As a result of this research he is developing a new farming technology for growing in nutrient dense soil which is very biologically.  He says living soils are based on recycling waste and are regenerative.  He believes we have been destroying our soil and that we are now approaching peak soil.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/21/colin-austin/ for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to hear from our other great guests.

210: Don Titmus on a Synopsis of Permculture.

Chat with an Permaculture Expert

In this Chat with an Expert Podcast: Greg chats with Permaculture expert Don Titmus who has been teaching permaculture techniques for for more than a decade and working in landscape design for more than three decades. They talk about what Permaculture is, a synopsis of the key elements of Permaculture Design Course education and how it can change your perspectives on the world around you.

Don grew up in London and at age 16 spent 4 years being trained in horticulture through an apprenticeship and a college course. From there he continued landscaping in his hometown until he moved to Arizona in 1981, where he worked in landscaping and then starting his own business in garden maintenance.

In 2003 he attended a Permaculture Design Course, which was life-changing for Don. He knew right away that this was the path he’d been waiting for, and later attended two Permaculture Teacher Trainings.

He co-founded the Phoenix Permaculture Guild, started a Permaculture design company, redesigned his home site into a permaculture destination, and helped develop a thriving permaculture community in the Phoenix, Arizona area. He has presented in 5 cities, worked in several states, attended classes in 5 states, and pretty much lives and breathes permaculture.

Go to https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/18/don-titmus-cwe/ for more information, photos and links on this podcast and to hear from our other great guests

Creating technology to help gardeners and farmers control their greenhouse watering systems.

Alastair, or Ally, is the CEO and Co-founder of Motorleaf, which created the first wireless, automated, indoor growing system. 

A native from the UK, Ally has lived and worked in North America since 1999.  He has a history of success within the technology sector, providing his 3 children, wife and Husky Dog (Shadow) a rich life filled with nature and opportunity.

Ally loves to keep it simple and he says he wakes up each morning feeling hungry. Hungry for company growth, hungry for new product features, and hungry for new happy customers.

In This Podcast:  Greg talks to Ally and finds out what it is like to be a founding partner in a brand-new company that is focusing on making indoor gardening easier.

Visit https://www.urbanfarm.org/2017/03/16/alastair-monk/ for show notes and links.