Gardens, Our Tiniest Farms

here and a cluck cluck. They've here a cluck, their cluck every cluck cluck. Old McDonald had a weird farm. My mom was a preschool teacher, so I've heard a lot of Old McDonald in my lifetime, and like many of you, I know all about the ducks over here and the cows over there, and how his animals are you know, everywhere. But recently I wanted to know more

about this farmer and his growing practices. I mean, the song says he's old, so he's probably got plenty to teach us, right, But despite that, there's not much history about the original Mickey d or his farming practices on the Internet. And while Old McDonald hasn't changed much over the years, the population and growing practices of farmers has.

In fact, over the last decade, we've seen a trend of young millennials ditching their city lives for a simpler, more sustainable way of living on small farms of their own.

According to US Census data, this trend of millennials abandoning their desk jobs for working the fields began in two thousand twelve, when we saw the number of Gen X and Baby Boomer farmers starting to decline and the number of farmers from age twenty five to thirty four increased by two and millennials are bringing new ideas and approaches to growing with them, while focusing on sustainable agriculture, the stuff that gives back to the earth rather than depleting it.

This is so important because traditional agriculture produces a significant amount of methane and nitrous oxide. In fact, according to the e p A, agriculture and forestry contributed to more than ten percent of greenhouse gas emissions in two thousand eighteen. What's also troubling is the fact that over farming and

tilling contribute to land degradation. And desertification. But with this new generation of farmers integrating practices like regenerative farming, which sustains biodiversity and restores nutrients in the soil, I feel hopeful that these little green farms can make really big and positive changes to our environment. So let's dig in.

Hey there, I'm Mongis Articular, co host of Part Time Genius, one of the founders of Mental Flaws, and this is Humans Growing Stuff, a collaboration from My Heart Radio and your Friends and Miracle Grow. Our goal is to make this the most human show about plants you'll ever listen to. Along the way, we'll share inspiring stories, tips and tricks to nurture your plan addiction, and just enough science to

make you sound like an expert. On this episode, we're taking a farming approach to the backyard, and specifically regenerative farming. We'll dive into the latest sustainable farming techniques and learn how to apply them to our own gardens to make our yards a little greener with the Greater Good Mind. Chapter twelve gardens our tiniest Farms. For most of my interviews on this show, I start by asking our guess

how they got into gardening. Or plant care. It doesn't always make it into the final cut, but I always love hearing our guests answer this question. Sometimes it's because they watched their parents or grandparents garden. Sometimes it's because they threw some popcorn seeds into the ground and we're surprised something grew from them and just found wondering at all. But one of the most common answers I've heard is

this pull to nature. That they discovered the stronger connection to the earth when they got their hands dirty and started growing things, and they just had to keep exploring it. But when I heard about the growing number of millennials starting small farms, I immediately wanted to learn more about who they are and what their motivations for growing seem

to be. According to the National Young Farmer Coalition, this group of young farmers is more diverse than ever, college educated, optimistic about the future of farming, and dedicated to more sustainable agriculture like regenerative farming. From the articles I've read and documentaries I've watched, their motivations aren't so different from the friends we've talked to here on the podcast from

Millennial Farmers. It's about creating a deeper connection to the earth, but it's also about changing agriculture for the better in a way that gives back. I wanted to learn more about life on a small farm and regenerative farming, so I called up Hannah Gongola. Within a week of graduating college, Hannah became one of the many millennials who decided to side step of career in corporate America and buy a farm.

Since then, she's dedicated her work to reconnecting people with their food and using these farming strategies to grow the most densely nutritious foods she can. Hey, Hannah, are you there? Yeah? Oh great, Well, it is so wonderful to have you on our podcast. The work you're doing is so inspiring. So so tell me. You get on this farm in college and you haven't done this even work before. Was it surprising to you? Where were there things that you did?

You have this romantic vision of farming and then and then suddenly you have to work a different way. So I grew up in a small town in West Virginia, So I mean, I'm surrounded by you know, mountains and wildlife all the time. But I grew up in the center of a small town, so we had, you know, we could walk everywhere, but I didn't grow up knowing how to use any kind of like tools, like like

a lawnmower. So first day they were going through all the tools we would be using, like string trimmers, lawnmowers, just like basic things. And they were going through this this weed eater and they were like, yeah, so you just like started just like a mower. They're like, okay, everyone good, and then they're like yeah, yeah, And then I raised my hand. I was like, I don't know how to run a lawnmower. You clearly fell in love with farming, Like what what about that experience did you

really enjoy? There's something about going out in a field just in the morning and it being so quiet and you can just hear birds chirping. It's not hot, it's not cold. It's just pleasant. And you go and you just harvest a bunch of squash, or you just go sit and you just handweed, or you know, whatever it is you're doing, if it's fixing, irrigation or something you don't really enjoy doing, and it's just kind of like the solitude of being out in the space alone. It's

it's it's spiritual almost. Yeah, it sounds really beautiful. I think what's so remarkable about you is that you're a first generation farmer. Was that at all daunting? Like like, what what do your parents think of this? Um? So, I like to say I'm a first generation farmer by choice. Someone someone wasn't like threatening me saying like you have to go into agriculture because I mean people don't choose agriculture to like make money. That's definitely not something you do.

My parents are just kind of I guess, on board with anything if I'm like this is what I'm or if I'm changing a little bit of a direction, or I'm like, hey, I'm starting this new product. There like okay, is it proud of me? They're proud of me? Of course yeah. And I mean it's gorgeous, right, like the property you have, your your Instagram, the work you do

is is really really cool. But I am curious, like what was the learning curve like for you to to be a farmer, because it feels like you're you're doing this on your own? Do you do you have friends? You have resources? How how do you pick up things along the way? I learned every single day. I wouldn't I wouldn't even say that I've learned, Like there's there's no completion of learning something, especially in this in this field. Every season you learn, you know, a new trick to

something else. I learned about raising animals and little tweaks to make them healthier or stronger. But I have a great community of women behind me. So there I want to say, I have a group of twelve women that I have We have kind of a message board. For example, the other day one of my calves um had pink I and I've never dealt with that, and so I was like, guys, like, I need your help. What do I do? Immediately everyone chimed in and like sent me

what product to get there? Like you could do this, Like you could do an herbal remedy like this, that and the other thing. And so I don't know what I would do without them. And they're the kindest people I've ever met. They're the strongest women I've ever met. That's incredible. And and so tell us about regenerative farming and and why you've chosen to pursue those practices on your farm. There are a lot of reasons behind the

kind of regenerative movement. One is soil erosion, building healthy soil, and I think that is a major one for me, so natural natural sunlight, being in the ground. I'm grown in soil because you get so many nutrients, most of them from the soil. And so if it's if it's not grown on soil, what's what's the point. And so the first step is to make sure you have healthy soil,

and most places don't. Through you know, conventional agriculture, tilling is is huge, and so and so digging um which destroys soil and the soil health and the microbes in the soil and pretty much all the nutrients and everything that that creates a healthy system. And so through permaculture practices and and no till, no dig, I hope to someday produce the most nutrient dense food that you can get in this area. That's really cool. And and and so explain what um prima culture is for for a second,

Perma culture is permanent culture. So trees, shrubs, anything that's gonna continue to come back or never leave year after year,

corn and wheat they're absolutely not prima culture. And most most cash crops aren't because you dig them up when they're done and then usually the way they're disposed of is there may be made into feed, and then that that kind of leads into a whole another realm of things that people disagree with, but they should be you know, left on the ground for for composting or you know, green manure just a way to give the soil a little break um and have a natural pasture um which

then you can graze, of course, but but it needs it needs time to heal, and it doesn't get that time. And so so what is the um this process of regenerating the soil, like like like what what exactly um does that mean for for our listeners. So the way I'm doing it, there are several several, probably tons of different approaches to it. The way I'm doing it is I'm cover cropping. Cover cropping is essentially planting or in this case, scattering different varieties of seeds that have deep

root systems. They'll bring up essential nutrients to the top. And so I'll cover crop the entire pasture and then I'll graze it. And then I'll plant tons of trees and so I'll harvest and then what I'll do is I'll chop them down and let them totally compost on the ground, um, rather than dig them up and uproot

their their healthy soil. That's really cool. So one of the things we were wondering about is like climate change feels so overwhelming and kind of hopeless, and you know, it must feel good to be a part of that positive change that you see, Like do you feel that, like in in the processes and things that you're doing

on your farm? So I I don't yet. So sometimes people people ask me, they're like they're like, wow, like what you're doing is is awesome, Like this is so cool, And it doesn't feel like I've accomplished anything yet anyway, And so I feel like the only way I can can make any kind of change is just by doing

exactly what I'm doing. And when my little my little farm make any difference in the climate, like maybe a small, tiny minute percentage, but hopefully its more encourages and and kind of educates and in a way that's different than than what we see in in kind of like mainstream agriculture. Um. I saw it that you have an Etsy shop, and I love the Coffee than Cows t shirt, which I'm really tempted by. Though I'm nervous because I feel like I might have to get cows next. But I'm curious.

You know, you have so many sweet videos of all your animals. What do they bring to your farm? For you? It's just when you look out at the field and you're like, yeah, that's a that's a nice that's a nice pasture. You know, the grass is green. You might see a bird or a bee, you know, fly away, and you're like, yeah, it's not a stagnant piece of

land anymore slant, just green grass. It's like there's life seeing them graze and seeing them as happy cows and happy chickens, and you know those are those are my animals, and they're happy and and they're just grazing on on my land. And I mean it's joyous. Oh man. I just I sit outside and I just in the morning sometimes and drink coffee, and I watched them just just lay lay down. That is a good feeling. That's a

very good feeling. So do you see regenerative farming and eco conscious practices as the future of agriculture and and does that give you a sense of hope? Yes, absolutely. I think the way farms are so mostly conventional farms even beef farming, it all gets a bad rep and it's because the management of it and in the practices. So when beef is poorly grazed, that affects the climate. Beef and cattle, they're they're not bad that they're just

not supporting the climate that we need. And I think if we get those practices under control, people can still, you know, continue to to eat beef the way they want, and they could actually be a positive change for climate change. Overall, it will create healthier soil, it'll create healthier food, and it will create healthier people. Um. And so it's it's all one system. Everything affects everything, So I think it should be treated as such. And I hope other people

see it like that too. Yeah, I mean, I think with greater awareness there'll be more appreciation for it. Right do you think do you think you have to be an optimist to be a farmer. That's a very good question. I don't know. I never met my fellow farmer friends before they were farmers. I don't know what their upbringing was like. I don't know them pre farm Before I was I would say that I was an optimist. I

don't know. I think it helped for sure, because you can see the light at the end even when it's really dark. I don't know, that's a that's a great question. What do you think I think I think you do. I think you need to believe that your patients will bear out. And and I think you have to believe in the earth and and the seeds you're planning and and expect that things at the end of the day

will will go right. Even if they go hey, why a little bit, You're still going to have a bounty, you know, if not this year, next year, And and I think it is an optimistic practice. I think you're right. Well, Hannah, thank you so much for being on the program and talking about your farm. It's it's really inspirational and and I can't wait to order one of these T shirts. Definitely definitely get one of those T shirts. Humans growing stuff will be right back after a short break. So

here's a little tangent. When I was a freshman in high school, I made the Quiz Bowl team, and I was so excited because I got to go on TV. And when I did, the questions were so hard. There was a spotlight and cameras. I mean, I was supposed to be good at trivia, and you know, the host kept asking things and I didn't know one of them. And finally he asked this question, what national student club goes by the initials f F A. And in my head, I'm thinking, this is my shot. Right, here's what I

actually know, the future farmers of America. After a whole night under the spotlight and not knowing answers to things, I was gearing up to confidently press the buzzer. But did I buzz in in time? No, I was so nervous. I didn't buzz in and I didn't answer one question the whole night, and it was a total disaster. But this week I was reading about farmers and I stumbled into some facts about the future Farmers of America and

it made me smile wide. In Delaware, where I grew up, it's actually a pretty active club in the southern part of the state, and in their efforts to promote sustainable practices, they host an environmental and natural resources career development event every year, and using demonstrations on water testing, soil and environmental analysis, they're actually teaching the next generation of farmers how to better grow while caring for the earth, which

I realized is exactly what Hannah's doing too. After my call with Hannah, I felt so inspired that I decided to call up another farmed garden expert, Jamie Brennan, to hear how to take these ideas and implement them into our own backyards. Jamie runs Gold Feather Gardens, which is Boise, Idaho's first kitchen garden, coaching and consulting business, and when the pandemic began, Jamie traded in her full time job

as a travel writer and poured herself into gardening. And it wasn't long until Jamie found herself learning from farmers and then sharing what she learned with her clients who wanted to create their own kitchen gardens. Just like Jamie's goals are strongly rooted in connecting people to their own food source and by doing so, deepening their connections to the earth. Hey, Jamie, are you there? Hey man Gosh,

I am here. Well, I'm excited to chat with you because I learned all about Gold Feather Gardens, and I think your service is so wonderful because you're just there to help at any stage. I am curious what is the difference between a sort of typical garden and a sustainable one, especially for someone who's growing in their own home. For me, a sustainable garden is all about the plants

and seeds that you put in your garden. When you really start to look into who's growing plants for your environment or who's growing seed especially, you untapped this whole potential for your garden in terms of you know, not only it's genetic diversity, but also it's ability to adapt

to the environment that you're in. We're really ucky we have this wonderful seed co op invoice you called Snake River Seed that's just globally known for the wonderful work that they're doing to bring back heirloom varieties to support local farmers growing seeds. You'd be surprised how many local farms don't just sell at the farmer's market. They grow food for seed, which is a huge income for them. That's a lot more sustainable than you know, selling at

the farmer's market, which can depend on the weather. That's fascinating. So, yeah, seeds hold this incredible memory of where they're grown, and so if you start saving those seeds, they become adapted to the environment and as our climate changes as we have hotter summers, things like that those seeds are just going to do better in your garden because they remember that growing season, um, and how they were able to survive it. That's incredible. It's like genetics or something. Yeah,

it's crazy. So, so tell me what are some of the most challenging things about making that shift to these organic practices and is it hard for someone to sort of like change their mindset about these things. Yeah. I would say the biggest challenge is probably convenience. Um. I find that for most of my clients they have been sourcing where they're sourcing just out of convenience, you know, And I think a lot of it is just lack of knowledge. And so for me, I think growing your

own food is something that's like super personal. All it takes is like a pot of soil and a seed. It can start super small, and so I was like, Okay, I'll just teach people how to do that, and then as they grow, they will get more and more invested in that local food community because that's how I started.

It's a slippery slope in my opinion. Once you see how hard it is to grow good spinach or grow a tomato, Um, it's one of those things you just have more appreciation for the people who put that food on your plate. In my opinion, No, I think that's true. So you know, we were talking about these small spaces and you said something about, like, I think seventy five square feet outside of your home, what you do with

that amount of space, you can do so much. So I have a kind of a standardized planting plan that I give my clients, and it starts at fifty square feet UM. If you're new to gardening and you really want to grow just a little of your own food, I think fifty square feet is a great place to start. So in my fifty square feet right now, we are

growing spinach, salad mix, onions. I just bought some cabbage, broccoli, kale, Swiss shard, and I'm basically growing just i don't know, maybe fifty to a hundred pounds of food in that space. So just a ton of yield um in just a really small space. So it's a way more active garden um.

But I also like to build it as sort of more low maintenance because the more you plant, the less weeds you get, less pest pressure that you get because you're constantly in your garden tending to it um So I say, basically, budget about a minute and a half per square foot in your garden. So if you have a one minute to two minutes in your garden per day at fifty square feet, that's like an hour a week hour and a half maybe of tending. So it

really doesn't have to be uh that much time. It's just kind of getting out there for fifteen minutes a day and just checking on things is really how you take care of that amount of plants. I love that you have a formula for the amount of time it will take you, you you know, like, because I I feel like, in addition to being intimidated by what to grow and all this knowledge, there's this unknown in terms of time commitment, right, Like I'm going to get into this hobby, but I

have no idea what it will take. Or I want food on my table, but I don't know what it'll take. That that's really incredible and I've never seen that anywhere. So what are some of the benefits of these sustainable practices in the garden. The reason that I grow in the most sustainable way possible. I don't really use plastic. I try to use wood or metal, things that can

be recycled or go back to the earth. Is because that I think that tending a garden and building a garden is kind of a way that we can recreate nature. I like to think of it in those terms of, if we can create more gardens, we can create people who are fostering the sense of local food and basically creating this self sustaining environment, then we can rely less on big farms, We can rely less on those things that otherwise we purchased to make us happy, kind of

fostering this really healthy lifestyle. For me, the garden is a holistic experience in terms of it touches my whole life. And so and I don't know if you've seen that movie, um Kiss the Ground, that new documentary that Woody Harrelson produced, Oh my gosh, Okay, so if you like the Biggest Little Farm, watch that movie again. I cried the entire

way through it. Um. I think that really speaks to how we, as human beings who may or may not have caused climate change depending on who you ask, can really take control of this situation with our purchases and with our practices. So bringing that sustainable mindset into the garden is it gives us that comfort of control. You know, you feel like there's nothing you can do to conserve the planet on your own. You feel a little bit

overwhelmed by the problem. And for me, my solution to overwhelm is to take an action, and an action that every single person can take is to start a garden and use sustainable methods to do it. I like that. So, you know, we had this other farmer that we talked to previously named Hannah um earlier on this episode, and she was talking about cover cropping on the farm. Can you tell us a little bit about what that looks like in a backyard? Sure? So, I have a saying

that bare soil is bad soil. Um So that's why I overplant in all of my beds in the garden. I think, especially the way that I plant, I am always looking for new places to plant a seed and basically just kind of thin things out as you grow. The other aspect of cover crops is their nutrition that they add to the soil. Um So mustard is a huge cover crop. Peas are a huge cover crop. Those families contribute to the soil. There are basically three types

of feeders. When it comes to vegetables, there's heavy feeders, light feeders, and then there's plants that actually add nutrition to the soil. And those are two that do that and they taste great. So it's one of those things that if you think about cover cropping in those ways of Okay, it's a new season, my soil needs some nutrition. I'm gonna put down some compost, but I'm gonna basically plant my peas on this trellis where my tomatoes are

going to grow this summer. And so when I plant those tomatoes, they're just going to be in this super rich space. So planting that and then instead of pulling the whole plant out, snippet at the rootline, um, so that those at the soil level. Snippet at the soil level, so that all those roots will kind of die back and contribute to the soil in terms of their nutrition. You know. Hannah the farmer also talked about the benefits

of having livestock uh and what it does for the soil. Obviously, cows aren't something that are easy to keep in the backyard in Brooklyn, but what kind of smaller livestock can be bringing to our homes instead. So we got chickens this year, which have been such a joy. They're like little dogs. Um. Some of them are not so nice, and some of them I want to bring into the house. I was so surprised at how low maintenance they are as long as they have kind of like a protected

area and food and water. Um, they are super happy. Quiet and clean. Ducks are another good option. Rabbits are awesome as well. Um. Rabbits knee very little space. They'll eat all of your garden scraps, and their manure is you can put it right into your garden without composting it. It's super safe. And the pet that nobody talks about, but that is my personal favorite is worms. I have a worm bin in our garage. You can have a worm bin anywhere in an apartment, a kitchen, if you

have a garage. They're great if you do them right, they don't smell. They you just have to feed them once a week, once every two weeks with whatever compost is in your compost bin. Um, and they give you worm castings which you can put right into your garden, which most farmers referred to as black gold. It is seriously the best thing you can put in your garden. To make it grow. And I am someone who buys a ton of organic produce and I hate throwing it away.

I don't even want to feed it to my chickens because I paid good money for that stuff, and so to turn it into something that I can use again for me is just a no brainer. And yeah, like I said, a workman, you can put it literally anywhere. Yeah, my kid Ruby had worms as their class pet and had fives, and they're like, we have more class pets than anyone else. The teacher bought every kid in the class. Teacher that said, asked me about my worms. Yeah, we're

informing is a huge thing. And those little guys are just workhorses. They do incredible work. So you know you've gotten more and more into gardening into this world. Do you feel like your relationship with the earth has changed

since you started? Yes? Absolutely. I I listened to a lot of oprah Um and she talks a lot about people relating to plants in this way of like we are we started as seeds and we grew into plants, and like we will one day go back to seed and this like cycle sort of starts all over again. And I think for me, especially in this time where we're lacking a lot of hope for the future. I think it's so refreshing and motivating to go outside and

see this cycle constantly repeating itself. Of these plants have this incredible resilience and our earth has this incredible resilience that if we, you know, tend to it just mindfully, we can really help it get back to its natural state just by planting a seed and so thinking about seeds as they germinate, there this really tender young thing like newborn babies, and then they grow into these super strong plants that experience stress, they experienced weather and pests,

and they have to really fight for their lives. And then they create this wonderful fruit, this wonderful edible thing for us to eat, and then they produce seeds and they do it all over again. And so I think for me, watching that life cycle has just been as helped me really get through, I guess, the darkest days of this year, and it just gives me so much hope for our planet and for um the future so much. So, Yeah,

I agree with you. I think I think bearing witness to that process and and contributing to it too is is just sort of a remarkable thing we can all do. So what do you think makes you passionate or keeps you passionate about sharing your knowledge with? Um? Not just your customers, but with people. I mean, I am someone I have discovered who really values authenticity and connection. UM. I really have this endless hope for people. UM. I'm a natural optimist, and so I do believe that everyone

is doing their best. UM. And so when I start to talk about gardening, I swear I like blackout because I just I am so inspired, honestly in what we can create with our gardens gardens I am. Before I was a gardener, I was a writer. I was a journalist. I traveled, I worked with people and food in so many different ways. When I got into journalism, I always said I had a passion for people with passion. And I swear you have never met people with more passion

than gardeners. And so I would say that's probably my motivation is just being inspired by all these people creating things. Yeah, it's it's easy to be evangelical about something like this, right, So I'm thinking you're so passionate about It's funny you were talking talking about optimism because um, Hannah the farmer and I were talking about whether you had to be an optimist to be a farmer, and I do think

there's something some certain amount of hopefulness and optimism. You need to put a seed in the ground and believe it will grow, you know. I I think there's something to that, and I think that ritual keeps you optimistic totally. And I think you're remembering to be kind to yourself when things don't grower when things die. That's really just part of our lives, is this kind of failure rate

and being okay with failure. I think that that's something that I have learned a lot in the garden that I did not learn in school and did not learn in my family. It is okay to fail because you can plant another seed, and you can take another step and take another action because you have now learned you know what works or doesn't work. Yeah, Jamie, this has been so wonderful and so nice to chat with you, and I love all the tips and I hope people will go check out your side because of what you're

doing is really wonderful. Thank you so much. I feel really grateful to have this opportunity and just be in this place, so thank you so much. I am now convinced that there's nothing cooler than owning small livestock. And should I be online at three a m. In the morning looking at how much baby Highland cows cost and trying to convince my friends to go have these with me? Probably doably not, But I'm dreaming big about a calf in the big city. Could I take it on the subway?

Could I try to institute a bring your cow to work day or pitch it as some sort of therapy animal. After too many hours, I've decided to downgrade my goals to ornamental chickens instead. And what sort of track suit I might buy for one, because I actually found a designer who makes track suits for chickens online. But other than my obvious interest in having a pet I can dress and walk around with, chickens actually have real value in the backyard. They produce good manure that is an

excellent soil amendment once composted, and they're definitely photogenic. Just ask Cody of the Instagram account Cody's chick Instagram. Cody is a member of the f A and has nearly seventy chickens. He's documented on Instagram to a very eager crowd. If you're down the chicken hole like me, check out the hashtag chickens of Instagram. You really won't be disappointed. It's incredible the amount of optimism and hope that Jamie and Hannah both have for growing as a relationship they've

forged with Earth. It actually reminds me a lot of Brooke Burke, the TV host and founder of the fitness app Brooke Brooke Body. Brooke is probably one of the most positive people I've met, and she's an avid home gardener. I wanted to share with her some of the lessons I learned from Hannah and Jamie, but I also wanted to find out how she's approaching sustainability in her own backyard and home. Hey, Brooke, are you there? I'm here. Oh,

it's so great to have you on the show. You know, it's funny, I think, if you have this incredible host and dancer and personality and this fitness expert, but it's only recently that I got to peek into your gardening uh journey online and and see some of your gardens, and so I was curious, how long have you been into well? First of all, I have to say, since you had a look inside, I'm surprised that we're still doing the show together, because you know, it's a hot mess.

To be honest, I this whole year has been such a conscious shift, and I feel like everyone is spending more time at home. But you know, I'm I'm a bit of a home chef, and I have four kids, and I love to be outside, and so I do so much. I spent so much time in my kitchen that I wanted to create sort of a sustainable, you know, project in my own backyard that I could plant with

my children and pick from. And I love spending time at the farmer's market, and I go to all these like bouge expensive organic grocery stores and I'm like, what am I doing? Let me just take advantage of the land and create what I have at home. And I gotta tell you, I had no idea how difficult this was going to be. I'm not proud of how my garden looks. I'm proud that I have it, but I am by no means a gardener. So I'm actually here to learn and to and to do better, you know,

to get better at it. So you know, you talked about ardening with your kids, which I really like, and I'm curious what are the things that they've gotten excited about in your garden. I think it's an opportunity for us just to do something together as a family and to have that project. I don't know that they get the meaning of it like I do, but I think they take the memories with them and it's just a matter of going out there and doing something simple and natural.

And it's really hard, like you know, it's it's it's hard with their generation. You know, it's a very digital world. I celebrated, I respect it, but I also try to maintain it for them. And also this year of the digital classroom, my kids have missed an entire year. I've had a daughter graduate from high school on a zoom. I have a daughter graduating from college on a zoom where you like click a button are graduated. It's like

what really? So it brings us back to a simplicity I think of real life, and that's a really hard thing to teach. So what's new in the garden and what are you excited about now that it is spring? Um? Sadly nothing, because I'm getting ready to plant. So I'm looking in to you know, proper soil, which I really don't know the science behind that, and again it's going to be one big experiment. And you've also got roses, right, I saw a photo of like, like a beautiful rose garden.

What do you love about that? And and are they perfumed? Like, like do you does it smell amazing to walk through that area? It does? I mean, one of my favorite things to do is to pick garden roses, even though sometimes they look funny, and every season develops, you know, a new look. I love the color, I love the fragrance.

And an impossibly romantic little background story, you know, in my ex husband David and I built the home that I'm still in, he had a jeep that he was his sixteen year old childhood jeep and he saved this jeep for decades, and when it came time to start landscaping our property, he traded the jeep in for I think it was like three hundred rose bushes. And I love that idea of gift giving to right, Like, there's something really really lovely and special about giving something from

your backyard. So, you know, in addition to the story of trading in the jeep for the roses being something that's really romantic. There's also something strangely like ecological or sustainable about that idea, right, trading in a car for plants. I think so so, so tell me a little bit about I love that you've moved these classes outside and and that you feel this like real connection to the earth and the land. And I'm curious, like does that

relationship feel more tangible than it did before? And and uh and do your do the people in your classes feel that connection as well? I? I think so. Opening up my backyard was something that I never really thought about doing. And I never thought about the possibility of laying in my backyard with people like on the grass, Like who would want to do that? I really thought that who would want to come to a fitness class

and lay on the grass? You know? You want a sound system your studio, That's how I've been teaching for years. You want that visual experience. And I gotta tell you, I don't know when I want to go back to a classroom ever again. And I know we're going to get back to type of normal whatever that looks like. But I have seen people outside in my backyard cry release fall asleep, stay longer. You know, there's usually you're rushing out of a class and new classes coming in.

That's why I end with my sound bowls and with meditation, because it gives people an opportunity to just stop and check out of their head spice headspace rather and tap into their body space and just lay there and look at things that they haven't paid attention to. I really appreciated that. Yeah, so we we've talked a lot about food, and you mentioned that you visit local farmers markets. So I'm guessing it's safe to say that eating organic is

important to you. But why has that been important and and would you say it's been a driving force behind your own gardening practices? Well, I think so. I mean, I also love the experience of farmers markets because I'm supporting our local farmers. But there's also certain things that you just you're just not going to find in a grocery store, like I learned when I go to the farmer's market, because you're going to discover something or some what's think funny or a different flavor. So but it's

such a great experience and I discover things. Yeah, I mean, I we used to live in when I lived in Atlanta, three blocks from the farmers market, and and we would walk there every Sunday morning, and you know, the whole community would come out. But but you'd come home with this like bounty of strange vegetables, and there's excitement around

like what to do with them? Right, It's like it's like being back from a candy shop or something right, and everyone's you know, evangelizing about like how excited they are about this new this new fruit, or this new vegetable or this thing you've got to try or you know, And and I love that. I love that. I mean the visual. I'm very visual. So for me, if I come home with all these beautiful things, first of all,

it makes me want to cook. It makes me want to eat healthier, It makes me want to experiment with salads. So makes me want to make a colorful food. And that's a really simple visual that I wrote a blog about it a long time ago and her mom about

eating the colors of the rainbow. You know, I did this recipe of what I call it junk salad, and it's literally like taking all the leftovers and everything that you have that you're not going to waste, and make a colorful and crunchy from nuts to seeds to different vegetables and salads and different types of lettuce. And it's

really fun. And I feel like this was a year of being aware of how much we waste figuring out how to be creative and and make I mean, I make these delicious we calm junk salads, and everybody loves them. This year we did realize how much we waste, not just because because of the pressures of the pandemic, but also um composting stopped in New York, like the city stopped composting, and so you suddenly realize how much more trash you were throwing out without um, you know, with

all the food scraps in there. And and I was curious, do you compost in in your gardener your yard? I don't because I I but I'm going to this year, and I really am going to do a little research progress project with my family because you know, even recycling takes time and discipline and it's super important. So I'm in the process of doing all that and just learning. Rather, I'm in the process of learning how it can be better. And you know, at that whole that whole process Yeah.

We had um Thurston on the show and he was saying that his mornings, he you know, metadates and journals and then he gets a cup of coffee and goes out and spins this cylinder he's got for compost and it's just and then checks on his garden in the mornings and there's something it's it's funny because you think a compost and there's nothing romantic about it. And then the way he described it was like it's like a ritual.

Now I'm in you know, we've been talking a lot on the show about how about how the world needs more empathy and whether or not caring for plants can make us better humans, and I was wondering your thoughts on that. Well, I think so. I I think it's I mean, it's not not everybody can really really understand it. I mean sometimes my friends come over there like, how can your indoor plants are so amazing? I'm like, well,

I always play music in the house. It's not like I'm walking around talking to my plants, but I might. I'm like, I love them, you know, I mean I dust the leaves on my on my fig trees in my house because I know they need to breathe, you know. Um, I see how they change shape because I know that they're moving towards the light. So I think that experiences is really important. And you know what if you neglect your plants, yeah they're gonna die. Yeah they're gonna die.

But like bring that back to the center, right, So are we like if we don't take care of our body. And not to be more abid, but you don't take care of your health, you don't get outside and you know, get some fresh air or get some vitamin D. You know, maybe you live somewhere where you don't have that that often find something that feels good. Movement, rhythm, breath, those are the things that change you, you know. And and so I think we we need to take advantage and

kind of lean into that. You know, it's it's really important. I love that, you know, Brook, It's been such a pleasure talking to you. And I know that we're talking about time being precious, but thank you so much for spending time with us. Well, I appreciate it. And I'm going to make you proud of me when you see the new garden, the new garden that's about to take place. I'm really excited about this season. That sounds wonderful. We're looking forward to checking it out. Thank you so much.

I really enjoyed this time. If Old McDonald was rewritten today, it would be less old McDonald and more millennial McDonald. And if the women I spoke to on this episode or any indication, we also wouldn't be so quick to gender farmer McDonald as mail either. I'm a little too old to be a millennial myself, but I do like

how this generation has broadly tackled the world. As Malcolm Harris's book Kids These Days described it, they faced a hostile job market, soaring tuitions and declines and wages, but growing up connected and tapped into technology has imbued millennials with a different sense of purpose and as a Goldman Sachs survey showed their self starters. They care more about

exercise and wellness, They smoke less than previous generations. They help spawn the sharing economy, valuing experiences over possessions, and

they're focused on solutions to community and global issues. And while there's a whole lot of work to be done to repair things like climate change, I have to admit I find comfort in hearing about these movements of sustainable growers, people like Hannah and Jamie, people who see the plants we care for as our direct connection to Mother Nature and a way to give back and make our footprints

just a little smaller. If millennials can make an entire industry think more sustainably, imagine the model they're setting for the next generations. When I hear about things like tree planting campaigns reaching its goal to plant twenty million trees, and and that ecosystem restoration camps are popping up around the world with volunteers showing up to get her hands dirty for a cleaner earth, I wonder what will Ruby

and Henry's generation do to build off this momentum. Will they create their own organic kitchen gardens with the chicken coop and compost bins out back? Will they figure out new ways to farm and protect our earth? Or maybe they'll rewrite the song completely? What two? What to for Young McDonald is sustainable firm. Yeah, yeah, you and on that phone he had organic milk, yeah, yeio, with healthy soil here at happy cows there here yep, they're yeah everywhere, yep. Yeah.

Young McDonald had a sustainable form. Let's say the Earth. I oh, that's a today's episode. Don't forget no matter what season it is or where you're at in your gardening journey, there's some incredible resources waiting for you on the Miracle Grow website. Next time on our show, we're exploring the world of tiny plants. If you like what you heard, don't forget to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. Also, we want to hear from you.

What are your inspiring plant stories, relatable struggles or growing questions? Taggers in your post or tweet using the hashtag Humans Growing Stuff, and don't be surprised if you hear your story featured on an upcoming episode. Humans Growing Stuff is a collaboration from My Heart Radio and your friends at

Miracle Grow. Our show was written and produced by Molly Sosha and me Mongy Chatigler in partnership with Ryan Ovadia, Daniel Ainsworth, Hayley Ericsson, and Garrett Shannon of Banter Until next time, Thanks so much for listening.