407. GrowNow | Garden Designer, Author and Educator | Emily Murphy | Northern California

Olivia Shangrow is an Awesome Rockstar Millennial and the biologist and operations specialist for Rent Mason Bees. She completed her bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Washington. She’s passionate about teaching the public about wild bees and her research focuses on increasing the value of rural and urban habitats for native insects. I can share information on the mason bee lifecycle, what to grow in your garden to support them, and the best ways to care for/host them in your backyard We’re up north of Seattle in Bothel, we do some propagation in Oregon too! We travel a lot but when we’re actually hands on in Washington Tell us a little about yourself. I’ve always been interested in bees my whole life, myself have been hearing the bees are struggling and our bee populations are down.  I just decided when I was finishing school I wanted to do more to help bees and that’s how I ended up running a program where I rent bees. I have to back up a little what made you want to go to college and get a science degree and what about bees? Watching Bee movie? I think I’ve always loved all types of animals! I can’t remember when I first decided that I thought bees were awesome!  I had heard of the honeybee before but I ended up I took a class in between high school and college where I learned about the Mason bee.  That opened up my world to something I never knew existed. When I went to college I went back and forth between different programs, I finally settled on biology that coupled my love for nature but would help me get a job in the future. I wanted something that was applicable and hands-on Anytime I got to do any kind of independent focus where I got to pick what I was studying I always chose bees When I was senior research project went out to one of the power pollinator patches stuck my head in big bushes of flowers and counting the bees Identifying honeybees bumblebees anything I could find had so much fun with all of those projects it landed after I was in college I ended up with a job in bees. I always say you never know what you are going to learn in college what jobs that you will learn about, I always tell them take any job you can to travel. I got to take a class in Olympia in Washington where we studied starfish and all sorts of cool sea anenomes. I love how you picked places to learn about bees. I don’t actually know anything about mason bees other then their a native bee? So sure, they’re a native bee found in the US there are a lot in the pacific northwest, their range is pretty broad. a bunch of different...

27 Helmi 201942min

So, I heard Thom Hartmann read the actual wording from HR109 about the Green New Deal and thought that’s what I want but it’s taken me over 20 minutes to find the actual text so I’m going to share it with you and you can decide if you want to support it and the Sunrise Movement or not.  So I didn’t really mean to read it all but it was so good I couldn’t help myself and it only took 10 minutes.  Let me see if I can grab the highlights here especially as they apply to farmers and gardeners but the whole thing really applies to any environmentalist and if you listen to my show you probably are an environmentalist.  Based on: the October 2018 report entitled “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ºC” by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the November 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment report HR109 Recognizes the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal Goals: (1) it is the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal— (A) to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers; (B) to create millions of good, high-wage jobs and ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States; (C) to invest in the infrastructure and industry of the United States to sustainably meet the challenges of the 21st century; (D) to secure for all people of the United States for generations to come— (i) clean air and water; (ii) climate and community resiliency; (iii) healthy food; (iv) access to nature; and (v) a sustainable environment; and (E) to promote justice and equity by stopping current, preventing future, and repairing historic oppression of indigenous peoples, communities of color, migrant communities, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, the poor, low-income workers, women, the elderly, the unhoused, people with disabilities, and youth (referred to in this resolution as “frontline and vulnerable communities”); And then they lay out their plans to meet these goals by #1. Building resiliency against climate change #2 Upgrading our infrastructure including guaranteeing a right to clean water and ensuring any bill regarding the infrastructure addresses climate change. #3 Meeting 100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy sources For Farmers: Working collaboratively with farmers and ranchers in the United States to remove pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector as much as is technologically feasible, including— (i) by supporting family farming; (ii) by investing in sustainable farming and land use practices that increase soil health; and (iii) by building a more sustainable food system that ensures universal access to healthy food; I mean this is really general but reducing the pollution and negative affects of climate change. <h3...

25 Helmi 201912min

So this is our Organic Gardener Podcast Challenge for 2019: Complete Free Organic Garden Course in 6 weeks. Starting March 11, 2019 and ending on Earth Day April 22, 2019 Join the Private Secret Facebook Group of Green Future Growers and post all assignments each week by midnight Sunday. Complete all lessons, quizzes and bonus assignments. Submit midterm and finals for credit. Receive your certificate on Earth Day Monday, April 22, 2019 to celebrate! Do you want to learn how to improve your soil health? Do you want to know how we built our organic oasis over the years? Would you like extra help finishing Free Organic Garden Course? We know it’s a lot of material because we created it, but we’re here to help you finish and come out with a plan to create and most of all be able to enjoy your own organic oasis in 2019! 2019 Organic Gardener Podcast Challenge Tentative Schedule pdf Watch the video to see the tentative schedule Don’t forget the bonuses as a founding member of the first 2019 class! Get our List of Favorite tools for any homestead or oasis. Recommended resources ~ Reference Books every garden library should contain. You’ll also get a copy of my relationship building checklist already filled in so you know exactly what episode to listen to help you on your garden journey. And we’re also going to include for the first 25 people who sign up we’re also going to include a copy of both the Free Garden Course Workbook and a copy of the Garden Journal! (*hardcopies to US locations only ~ international students will get a digital pdf) Click here to read the tentative syllabus  Join here for only $37.00 by March 8, 2019 and let’s get growing! Remember you can check out the first few videos of Free Organic Garden Course here! If you just want to purchase the books on your own you can order them direct from amazon here! <img class="alignnone wp-image-5421 size-medium aligncenter"...

24 Helmi 201912min

I know you are going to love her because she was our Crossfit gardener of the year in 2015! And you have taught me so much! I love all that you do and your delicious food and what you do! And she’s gonna share their new LVFarm Academy Tell us a little about yourself. I am Mandy Gerth! Farmer and co-owner of Lower Valley Farm in Kalispell, MT my husband Jay and I are are going in our 7th year of full time farming. We run, I think we’re at about  4 acres of production all organic primarily sell through a CSA 2 acres of that is using the intensive model that was kind of  pioneered by JM Fortier! I know you had him on your show!  community supported ag winter squash sweet corn potatoes separate rotation then intensive I think that is new since I last talked to you. We go really hard may through oct we run a 20 week vegetable CSA Kalispell Farmer’s Market do a tiny sizable amount of wholesale food aggregate directly to small grocery store chains overview of the farm! We also have 3 school-age children 7,9,11 they have grown up on the farm very literally co-owners awesome crew really helped make this farm go under all of that is our community, we also couldn’t do this without our awesome customer base! I could talk about the farm forever! OK, I think, what we want to hear about what’s been going on and how does your journey go from gardeners to farmers. Back to the beginning? We started out thinking we would be running livestock vegetable operation would be what would help us make money while we get a livestock operation going. Before the beginning ~ what made us want to do this our family had a life changing experience eating nutrient dense We volunteered on farms a lot! We loved being a part of our farm community in that way in Indiana We were doing a raw milk share you can do in Indiana but not in Montana super local food ...

15 Helmi 20191h 3min

Hey everyone! So watching the news this morning, 1 year anniversary of the Parkland Florida massacre at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High. The interesting fact about Marjorie Stoneman Douglas for me is that she was a passionate environmentalist! She basically created the Everglades. I never heard of her till last fall, when we read about her in the incredible Wonders curriculum. So, IDK for me I have more of a connection there then to the other shootings in our schools. I wish I had some words of wisdom for you today. All I can say, is I feel like what we need more then anything is to teach kids proper use of social media. It should be our tool to teach them how to connect with like minded friends. I am not a fan of violent war games and I do think video games and television has a huge roll to play. Why we glorify violence? Sex and violence. Anyway off-topic. My mom actually told me about this, but my favorite musician Michael Franti wrote a new song and he was promoting it on the Morning Joe. It’s called a Flower in the Gun. I wish I could say Mike and I were ready to launch our Free Organic Garden Course today. We’re close that’s all I can say. I posted a pic on Facebook yesterday of Mike reading the workbook. That’s always a good sign, because he never reads anything online. He’s approved everything and I have almost finished all the recordings. We’ve aimed to use our place as a guidebook to help you take your garden journey to the next level using pictures to try to illustrate as many concepts as we can that have been taught on my show.  Today I am going to visit with the AMAZING Mandi Gerth! Can’t wait to share that with you! She also has a class coming out ~ The Lower Valley Farm Academy. If you didn’t get to catch the webinar  Steve (and I ~ haha ~ I could barely get on the line) put on was very informative. Something I could watch a few times to get the hang of all he said, but a lot of what he teaches is an in depth version of the same principles Patti Armbrister has shared so I know you are going to be super interested. He hasn’t released the replay yet but when he does I’ll make sure you get a link. So, wishing you all a very Happy Valentines! Stay warm and safe and thanks always for listening! I hope you have something growing, something you’re tending too, caring for watering, because really plants are more then just something to look at they become almost like family. I love my herbs growing in my windows. I look at them everyday with a little bit of love. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Spotify Ad Analytics - https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/ad-analytics-privacy-policy/

14 Helmi 20197min

OK, for starters MY BAD! So, Steve Szudera who was my guest in episode 253 talked about nutrient rich soil is going to teach a much more in depth class on building your soil health.  He’s going to give a webinar on the 5 Principles of Soil Health I made the webinar post the other day, sent it out, sent the link to Steve and he said, but hey Jackie I told you it’s on Go-To-Webinar not Facebook. And I was like oh YEAH! So easier for you. You can register here if you haven’t registered yet! Click here to register for the ONLINE Soil Health Webinar Just enter your email and you’ll get an invite with all the info! I also mentioned a couple of things in the news. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s green new deal and the Sunrise Movement. I hope you’ll support and tell your Senators and Congressmen this week and be part of the OPERATION GREEN NEW DEAL BLITZ I also mentioned Comedian Lee Camp who talked with Ellen Brown about how Europe is leading the world in renewables because they have these things called infrastructure banks. You can watch the interview here. I think I also mentioned that when I was reading some old issues of Organic Gardening Magazine from years ago, there were lots of letters to the editor complaining about them mixing politics with gardening and they wrote back they were sorry they felt that way but Rodale’s felt politics and sustainable ag were interconnected. And Mike and I feel that way too. I hope you do to! That’s why you’re green future growers with me! Anyway. Happy Valentines! This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Spotify Ad Analytics - https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/ad-analytics-privacy-policy/

11 Helmi 20196min

I’m just thrilled to be back behind the mic it’s January 7th. I have a great guest that was recommended by Lem Tingley from Growing Spaces in episode 256 and here from the Whole Kids Foundation is Nona Evans! Whole Kids Foundation Facebook Page It’s always so much fun to see how seeds that you sprinkled about germinate. It’s so fun to know how we connected! Thank you so much! I reached out to you and you said you checked out the podcast and thought it’d be a perfect fit. Tell listeners about the Whole Kids Foundation  because I had never heard of it! We are on the order of things, a pretty moderate size non-profit organization. We are Whole Kids Foundation  and our mission to improve kids nutrition because we know when kids are well nourished they learn better have the opportunity to reach their full potential. we found 3 ways we are capable of reaching children. 1. salad bar equipment for schools Because the moment you put a salad bar in kids have the power of choice and kids get to choose the vegetables they want. 2. support school gardens which is how I connected with you. we have the honor and pleasure with supporting  5,000 school gardens in  USA, UK and canada we know when kids are connected to the roots of their food they make better school choices.  it’s not just kids The secret is: It’s not just kids it’s us adults too when we start understanding what the magic we all make good choices. Personally I’m a foodie I’ve worked in the food business my whole life but I didn’t meet vegetables until I was well into my 20s. Kids need to know...

11 Helmi 201943min

So, Steve Szudera who was my guest in episode 253 talked about nutrient rich soil is going to teach a much more in depth class on building your soil health.  He’s going to give a webinar on the 5 Principles of Soil Health By the time he’s finished you’ll not just know the difference between dirt and soil but how to make your garden feel like an enjoyable place not a second job! Many of my listeners have shared with me that time is the number one barrier they have to living in their ideal organic oasis.  Steve has secrets that you can learn to do in your garden that will reduce the amount of labor and energy you have to spend because he reduces the need to till the soil and do a lot of that back breaking labor that makes gardening difficult. He also helps you reduce the weeds in your garden which was another question I get a lot so I wanted to make sure if you want to learn more about soil health you knew about his webinar. Mike and I got a little preview yesterday and we were able to really see what he is talking about with the slides and photos he includes. He’s giving a live webinar on Tuesday February 12th morning at 12pm EST, 10am MST,  9am PST. So if you want to join us that would be great. You can ask questions and see his slides. Register here! I know we’re gonna do a couple of these, including another one the following Saturday morning because he’s got a  lot of info to share and the more people that learn these soil health techniques the happier mother earth will be. You can register for the webinar. I know he’s going to offer some bonuses just for my audience so let me know if we can do anything else! And let’s get growing! ps. if you haven’t seen my pics of my herb experiments I’ve been doing this winter trying to get some herbs growing in my windowsill, you can see those on Facebook or Instagram. I’ll try to get a blog post out about them. This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Spotify Ad Analytics - https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/ad-analytics-privacy-policy/

8 Helmi 20199min