The Forest Garden

Join us for an engaging conversation with Jonathan Carr on the topic of regenerative orchard practices and a variety of other topics on the podcast today. To quote the writing on one of the hard cider bottles I've got on top of my fridge... "Preservation Orchard is the home of Carr's Ciderhouse, where we practice regenerative agriculture and evolutionary orcharding-- low input silvopa...

Black Walnut in alley cropping systems is the topic of today's podcast episode. With a very special guest who you may have heard of. Join us to learn all about Ben's thesis research in a fun co-host interview that we've been meaning to record for many months now. This species is so much more than the juglone, get over it non believers! Don't forget to follow us on instagram @forest...

Medlar is the topic of today's podcast episode! We've talked about this unusual and delicious fruit on the podcast in snippets here and there, but today it gets the attention it deserves. Join us for an in-depth interview with Jane Steward, author of Medlars: Growing and Cooking, on the fascinating history of the medlar, cultivation and harvest tips, and best ways to process or cook this f...

Join us for a deep dive into the Hazelnut, a tree crop that has not been discussed enough on this podcast! Today we primarily talk about European hazelnuts (Corylus avellana) and hybrids (Corylus avellana x americana) , and learn from Dr. Tom Molnar about the decades of germplasm collection, evaluation, and breeding research his lab has conducted at Rutgers University. In 2020, Rutgers released a...

It's 2024 and we're back! Marie Viljoen is our first guest on season four of the podcast. Join us as we discuss some of the underutilized edibles featured in Marie's book Forage, Harvest, Feast: A Wild-Inspired Cuisine. Marie Recommends: https://integrationacres.com/ to find spicebush listed as "Appalachian Allspice" Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Wild Edible Plants as a fan...

It's pawpaw season! So today we have a very timely episode for you all, an interview with Neal Peterson of Peterson Pawpaws. Neal has spent decades working with Asimina triloba , collecting fruits from orchards across the Eastern United States and improving the largest tree ripened fruit of North America into the seven named cultivars that we know so well today. Allegheny, Potomac, Rappahannoc...

With the chestnut harvest season approaching, we have our annual chestnut themed episode today with a true living legend in the field of tree crops research, Dick Jaynes. On today’s episode we discuss Dick’s decades of research on hybrid chestnuts, specific cultivars that emerged from his breeding work, limitations to commercial chestnut growing, Nut Tree Culture in North America (the handbook he...

Today's episode is all about the pomes! Tune in for our discussion with Matt Kaminsky, aka Gnarly Pippins, on the topic of wild/feral/seedling apples. Matt is a fruit explorer and orchardist who specializes in feral trees that kick it on the sides of highways, edges, and other forgotten places without any management from humans. Why are these trees important? Seedling apples and other pome fru...

In today's episode we consider ourselves very lucky to be interviewing Ken Asmus of Oikos Tree Crops. A mail order plant nursery specializing in seedling populations of a wide range of edible plants including trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and tuber crops. Join us as we learn about the many selections that Ken has made over the past forty years. If you are interested in rare or unusual...

Welcome back podcast listeners, today we have Nellie Ward & Alex Alvanos of the Boston Food Forest Coalition on the podcast. Boston Food Forest Coalition is a non profit organization that works to transform vacant lots across Boston into community orchards and edible parks. Nellie is a steward at the Eggleston Community Orchard in Jamaica Plain, and Alex is both a steward of the same orchard a...

You spoke up and we listened! Responding to a survey we put out earlier this year on our instagram page, which is @forestgardenpodcast, we decided to do an episode on ground covers in the forest garden. And who better to talk about this topic than the man who wrote the book on forest gardens in North America, Dave Jacke (with co-author Eric Toensmeier, who we have previously interviewed... and you...

Today's episode dives into the community fridge model, a concept that became common in the U.S. during the Covid-19 pandemic as more and more people in urban areas across america became food insecure. Join us today, as we learn about the origins of Fridgeport, the community fridge project based in Bridgeport, CT. Be sure to check out the links below, and consider making a peapod delivery donat...

Today's episode is all about the winter harvest, and the reality of starting a farm in New England where land is not affordable. Tune in for our interview with Dakota Rudloff-Eastman of River Ridge Farm to learn about what the land acquisition process looks like for a new farmer trying to set their roots, leasing vs. owning, how four season farming with the double cover method works, which veg...

How many of y'all have heard of the long root ale? Climate smart honey oats cereal? How about Kernza? The main ingredient in these products, and the perennial grain that has the potential to revolutionize our modern agricultural system. Tune in today for a deep dive into Kernza and the other perennialization projects taking place at the land institute. Tessa Peters fills us in on the history o...

Join us for our discussion with Linh Aven, regenerative farmer and chef extraordinaire. Linh has a fascinating background in both molecular biology and gastronomy, which she applies to her current practice as a regenerative farmer. Today we learn about her story and how it brought her to forest farming in Nottingham, New Hampshire. In today's episode, we cover a wide variety of topics including th...

Welcome back podcast listeners! This episode is jam packed with information about fruit and nut trees. We consider ourselves very lucky to have Buzz Ferver of Perfect Circle Farm on the podcast today, sharing his wealth of knowledge with us. Tune in to learn about Buzz's backstory, his introduction to tree crops and regenerative systems, the history of tree crop selection in the early 20th century...

Hey there podcast listeners. Today we have a very interesting interview for you with Henry Lappen, a member of the Cherry Hill Cohousing community based in Amherst, Massachusetts. Henry has been a part of this unique community in western Massachusetts for the past thirty years - ever since its establishment in the early 1990's. For those who aren't familiar, the cohousing model is a Danish concept...

Welcome back podcast listeners. In todays episode we are continuing our series on overcoming winter gloom, with some forest garden (or forest garden-adjacent) streamable content. Tune in to hear about some of our favorite youtube channels. Our hope is that you'll discover something new! Maybe a channel that inspires you to try something different this coming spring, or teaches you something you di...

Happy New Year podcast listeners, and welcome to season three of the podcast! We have a winter themed episode today featuring many documentaries that we have curated into a list separated by topic. Some of you may remember our interview with Lisa Fernandes from last season. In that interview Lisa mentioned how The Resilience Hub of Portland, Maine hosted movie nights to start building community ar...

It's December and winter is nearly here! For many of us, it probably feels like it has already started. Some might wonder what a plant nerd does in the cold winter months, at least for us - we start planning. What new trees are going in the ground in the spring, where will they be planted, and more importantly where will we get them from? Today's episode is meant to help with that last question. T...

Well folks the growing season is coming to an end, cold weather and family gatherings are quickly approaching. Or for many of us they're already here! Tune in today for some timely commentary on the dishes we make for our holiday family gatherings. If you're interested in medlars, pecans, chestnuts, or persimmons - and how they can make their way onto the dinner table of an upcoming communal meal,...

Hey there podcast listeners, Today we're running an episode from a podcast called Hot Farm. It's from our friends at the Food & Environment Reporting Network. The podcast is about what farmers are doing – or could be doing – to take on the climate emergency. In this episode, you’ll hear about a grain called Kernza, which might one day be a staple in your pantry. It can sequester carbon, build soil...

With chestnut harvest season in full swing in North America, we have a very timely episode for y'all today. Tune in for our discussion with Dr. Sandra Anagnostakis who for many years was a lead researcher in the department of plant pathology and ecology at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, CT. If someone has ever passed down a bit of folksy wisdom to you about how to tr...

Hey there podcast listeners, today we have a special treat for you - featuring voices other than our own! Tune in for a fantastic guest episode from the folks at Outside/In, a show from New Hampshire Public Radio. We chose to feature this guest episode because it poses a very important question for us (and probably for you too) "is the soil in my backyard safe to grow food in?". For those of us wh...

Fall is nearly upon us podcast listeners! Cooler temperatures and rainy days will soon bring a bounty to the forest floor. In other words, it's mushroom hunting season. Tune in today for our conversation with Dan Bensonoff, director of the Permaculture Initiative at UMASS Amherst. Dan has been collecting mushrooms for the majority of his life, having been blessed with a cultural background that is...