Want to know how to grow tomatoes? What are the best varieties to plant? Want to learn how to breed your own? Our guest this week is farmer and tomato breeder Fred Hempel. Fred farms and breeds gourmet vegetables in Northern California. His focus is on tomatoes, peppers, squash, herbs and edible flowers. In the […]
Is your neighborhood not all it could be? Do people drive too fast? Does it feel lonely and anonymous? Is there no safe place for your kids to play? Mark Lakeman has some ideas for how all of us can transform the communities we live in. Hint: it starts with a potluck! Mark is the […]
A brief programing note here instead of a full podcast–the next few months are going to be busy ones around the root simple compound so I’ve decided to produce the podcast every other week–twice a month rather than four times a month. On next week’s episode we’ll have an interview with tomato breeder and farmer […]
Our guest this week is Peter McCoy. Peter is a self-taught mycologist with 15 years of accumulated study and experience, Peter is an original founder of Radical Mycology, a grassroots organization and movement that teaches the skills needed to work with mushrooms and other fungi for personal, societal, and ecological resilience. Peter is the lead […]
Our guest this week is Dr. Maurice Pitesky and our topic is keeping your backyard poultry flock healthy. Dr. Pitesky is an Assistant Specialist in Cooperative Extension for Poultry Health and Food Safety Epidemiology at the University of California Davis where he researches disease surveillance, food safety management, and other topics related to poultry health. […]
Our guest this week is architect Glen Small. If you’re not familiar with his work I’d really recommend taking a look at some of his amazing buildings, drawings and models while you listen to this podcast–you can see them on his blog which is Small at Large and at glenhowardsmallarchitect.com. Glen was one of the […]
Is there something wrong with the “war” on invasive plants? What are these resilient plants trying to tell us? Is there such a thing as a “natural” landscape? What’s wrong with Glyphosate? These are some of the topics we discuss in our conversation with Tao Orion, author of Beyond the War on Invasive Species: A […]
In this week’s episode we talk to Rachel Kaplan who is a somatic psychotherapist, permaculture designer, educator, and author. Rachel lives on a small urban homestead with her family and their many critters in Petaluma, CA. She is a co-founder of the 13 Moon CoLab, an all-woman teaching team offering an evolutionary training, Permaculture from […]
In our first podcast of 2016, Kelly and I review play back excerpts from New Year’s resolution show and discover why it’s a really bad idea to publicize your goals. We go on to discuss the “SMART” (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time Framed) way of setting goals. During the podcast we reference an article in […]
Wondering about the next generation of farmers? Meet Mai Nguyen. She grows grains and vegetables in Northern California using a no-till, dry-farming method with draft horses–all in the midst of a historic drought! During the course of the conversation we discuss: Southeast Asian vegetables Growing rice Dry farming No-till agriculture Growing wheat Sonora wheat Red […]
What happens to the organic matter you put in the green bin? Where does it go? What could we do with it that could save the world? Kreigh Hampel, recycling coordinator for the city of Burbank, is our guest once again to discuss thinking of organic “waste” as organic “nutrients.” Kreigh was on 042 of […]
What do roots tell us about how to take care of plants? That’s the topic of this week’s Root Simple Podcast with our guest Robert Kourik. Kourik is the author of many books including Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally and Drip Irrigation. The discussion begins with the remarkable tree root diagrams pioneered by […]
This week I interview Kelly about the ideas behind the remake of our front yard. We talk about why we took out a bunch of stone fruit trees and Kelly discusses how the principles in Thomas Rainer and Claudia West’s book Planting in a Post-Wild World inspired the new design of our yard. If you […]
Our topic this week is wildcrafted drinks and cocktails with writer, recipe developer, educator, and herbalist Emily Han. She is the author of Wild Drinks and Cocktails and the Communications Director for LearningHerbs.com. Emily’s website is EmilyHan.com. During the show we discuss the difference between “wildcrafting” and “foraging” and how you can use easily foraged […]
Want to know how you can save your own vegetable seeds? Develop your varieties? Start your own seed library? We talk to David King of the Seed Library of Los Angeles about these topics and more. During the podcast David mentions a few resources including the Organic Seed Alliance and Carol Deppe’s book Breed Your […]
On the podcast this week Kelly and I discuss the horticulture and philosophy of the Ridley Scott/Matt Damon film The Martian, which is based on the novel by Andy Weir. It’s apparent that the character played by Matt Damon has read both John Jeavon’s How to Grow More Vegetables and Joe Jenkins’ Humanure Handbook. We […]
On the podcast this week we interview Larry Korn, author of One-Straw Revolutionary and translator and editor of Masanobu Fukuoka’s The One-Straw Revolution and Sowing Seeds in the Desert. We talk about Larry’s experience living on Fukuoka’s farm and we delve deep into Fukuoka’s natural farming philosophy. During the discussion we cover how natural farming […]
On the podcast this week we interview William Powers author of New Slow City, 12 by 12, Blue Clay People and Whispering in the Giant’s Ear. We talk about living “slow” in the big city and his move from a 12 by 12 foot cabin to Queens and then on to Manhattan. Powers is a […]
On the podcast this week Kelly and I discuss my plantar fasciitis situation, our vegetable gardening disasters and what happens when it rains in Southern California. If you want to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to rootsimple@gmail.com. You can subscribe to our podcast in […]
This week we go to the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds in Northern California to the National Heirloom Exposition. The three day Expo is run by the folks behind Baker Creek Seeds and features speakers, a huge hall of heirloom fruits and vegetables, vendors, livestock, a biodynamic pavilion and live music. I’ve attended each year for five […]
Kelly has jury duty this week and I had no guest. Coincidentally, Eric Rochow of the Garden Fork Podcast also had no guest or host this week so we both agreed to be guests on each other’s podcasts. This is the second time we’ve had Eric on and in this episode he discusses tapping maple […]
This week Kelly and I interview Brad Barnes and Jenn Collins of the blog The Dew Abides-their mantra is: simple living doesn’t have to be boring. Jenn and Brad live in Columbus, Georgia. During our conversation we talk about decluttering, taking care of elderly parents, living on a food stamp budget and much more. Jenn […]
Today on the podcast Kelly and I head to a unique homesteading supply shop called the King’s Roost to talk to the owner, Roe Sie, about aquaponics. During the show we discuss: What kind of growing medium to use Types of fish Water quality What female fish look like How to get an aquaponics system […]
On the podcast this week we continue our conversation with Craig Ruggless who, along with his husband Gary Jackemuk, runs Winnetka Farms in Los Angeles’ San Fernando valley. In last week’s podcast, episode 56, we talked about Italian vegetables. This week Craig tells us about his double-laced Barnevelder chickens, Muscovy ducks and we complain about […]
Our guest this week is Craig Ruggless who, along with his husband Gary Jackemuk, runs Winnetka Farms in Los Angeles’ San Fernando valley. Craig and Gary grow heirloom Italian vegetables, breed standard double-laced Barnevelder chickens, bake bread, preserve food and much more. In the first part of our conversation we’ll talk about Craig’s Italian heritage […]
My guest this week is designer, craftsman, carpenter and educator Will Holman. Will is the author of Guerilla Furniture Design and many how-to articles for magazines and web sites. During the podcast we discuss: Arcosonti Rural Studio Making furniture out of cardboard Frank Gehry’s cardboard furniture and Shigeru Ban’s cardboard architecture Holman’s Instructables projects Guerilla […]
Our topic this week is using digital design tools such as Sketchup to conceptualize and build simple projects around your house or apartment. Our guest is designer John Zapf, proprietor of Zapf Architectural Renderings and the genius behind our chicken run. During the podcast we discuss: Why you should draw up plans before you build […]
On this week’s podcast Kelly and I discuss our recent breakfast nook remodel and conclude with Kelly’s ideas about how to choose paint colors. I’m so lucky to have a resident Master of Fine Arts! We’re also lucky to have a digital copy of Architectural Graphics Standards! If you want to leave a question for […]
An eclectic podcast this week. We discuss how “staying in is the new going out,” respond to Eric of the Garden Fork Radio Podcast’s love letter to toilet augers, listen to a comment on poultry health, debrief on Kelly’s sewing projects and go off on a rant about Erik’s plantar fasciitis problem. During the podcast […]
On episode 51 we listen to a comment about toilets from Eric Rochow of Garden Fork TV. Eric mentions a podcast episode of Tiny House Chat where they talk about composting toilets. Then we discuss poultry biosecurity lessons that “West Coast” Erik learned at a recent conference. So, yes, toilets and poultry! Take that Elon […]
