The Forest Garden

It's September! This sweltering summer is coming to a close, and thank the heavens it's been raining a bit more in the past few weeks. (At least in our neck of the woods). With the coming drops in temperature and increased precipitation, we over here at The Forest Garden have our foraging baskets all set and ready for the weeks to come. But did you know you could experience a mushroom harvest in y...

Welcome back podcast listeners! Tune in today to learn from one of our personal heroes Eric Toensmeier, author of Paradise Lot, Perennial Vegetables, The Carbon Farming Solution (and co-author of Edible Forest Gardens written by Dave Jacke). We cover quite a bit in todays episode, prepare yourself for in depth descriptions of agroforestry practices, the incredible nutritional value of some of Eric...

Welcome back podcast listeners! Today we have a really good one for y'all, a deep dive into the in's and out's of how The Resilience Hub got started. If you have never heard of it, The Resilience Hub is 'a 501c3 organization dedicated to regenerating land, growing healthy food, and building strong, resilient communities.' But it didn't necessarily start out doing all those things! Tune in today to...

Today we have an extra special episode! We're lucky to be hosting Aaron Parker of Edgewood Nursery, Propaganda by the Seed, and most importantly - the Mount Joy Community Orchard Project. Mt. Joy is a food forest/community orchard located on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine. I first discovered it completely by accident. I stumbled into this magical landscape covered in herbaceous pollinator plants m...

The title says it all! Tune in today to learn about perennial vegetables and woody plants that are very undervalued in the U.S. and the west as a whole. Mmmm they're tasty, stick with us to the end to figure out where to acquire these highly nutritious but often hard to source plants! And as always, if you want to get in touch - find us @forestgardenpodcast on IG.

The title says it all! Tune in today for commentary on the ethical questions surrounding permaculture, some of its shortfallings, and problems you may encounter as a 'practicioner' designing with the permaculture toolkit. Today's episode sadly is a solo act, as Ben is busy moving again. We'll be back again soon enough with our long form podcast episodes. Be sure to check us out on our instagram @f...

Coming to you live from the back of Palolo valley on the Island of O'ahu - we have quite and exciting episode for you today. Passiflora is a genus that Ben and I are obsessed with. Back home, the Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) vines I have spread throughout my forest garden are likely just starting to pop up in the landscape. Until I get back to them, I'm spending my time taste testing all of the t...

It's foraging season! Time to grab ye olde foraging basket, a friend, a field guide, and hit the trails! Fill up those baskets to the brim with native wild edibles and then come home to... wait, should we really be doing this? Today's episode delves into spring foraging with tips and tricks for beginners, some thoughts about population decline in ramps (Allium tricoccum), and some forage-able plan...

It's our first ever guest episode! We're pleased to host an episode from a podcast that is very similar to our own, Propaganda by the Seed. Tune in to learn about how Brassica breeder extraordinaire Chris Homanics developed the Homesteader's Kaleidoscopic Perennial Kale Grex. Not sure what a grex is? Well stay tuned to find out! Today's episode is jam packed with information on the topic of breedi...

Spring is springing and we're back again with another informative interview. Jesse Marksohn of Yellowbud Farm (and Fungal Forest Farm) joins us today to introduce us to a tree that has been wholly overlooked by modern society; the Yellowbud Hickory (Carya cordiformis). You may have heard of this tree referred to as bitternut, due to its highly tanic nut content, but did you know that these nuts ca...

Spring is here podcast listeners! It's time to dust off ye olde gardening cap to prune those trees, get those bare root plants in the ground, and start planning that summer vegetable garden you've always dreamed of. In today's episode, prepare to delve into the world of perennial tree collards. Most people are familiar with collards that grow in your vegetable garden in the summer, but did you kno...

On today's episode of The Forest Garden, we have the pleasure of interviewing Lisa Depiano. Lisa has many years of experience teaching permaculture in the Northeast, where her practice is informed by a background in regional planning and ecological social justice. I was first introduced to Lisa's work through a documentary called Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective, where Lisa was promoting, and a...

On today's episode, we have the pleasure to host Jonathan Bates who several years ago, with his friend Eric Toensmeier, designed and stewarded a food forest made up of over 300 species of edible and medicinal plants on a 1/10th acre lot in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Join us as we talk to Jonathan about his experience living at Paradise Lot, and learn about some of the new work that he has been up to...

Our interview with Dan Furman of Cricket Hill Garden, a specialty plant nursery based in Thomaston, Connecticut that specializes in uncommon edible tree crops and ornamental tree peonies. Way back in the Spring of 2021, I stopped by Dan's nursery on a random Wednesday to inquire about some mulberry scion. I was absolutely blown away by the diversity of his demonstration garden. At least in my expe...

Well listeners it's winter here at The Forest Garden, and now that the days are getting longer we are looking forward to the warmer days ahead. Cozying up by the fireside with a cup of hot cider with our favorite podcast playing through the speakers has been keeping us going lately. Today we're giving you that very same opportunity via our interview with Dave Scandurra of Food Forest Initiative of...

Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to Season 2 of the podcast! We are super stoked to be here, and we hope you are too. On today's episode of The Forest Garden, we are lucky enough to talk to Matt Lebon. Matt is the owner of Custom Foodscaping based out of St. Louis, Missouri, and director of The Foodscaper, a community network of edible landscaping organizations united under a common goal of establ...

Happy Winter Solstice! On today's episode, we cover the various seed companies and organizations that we care about most. Or maybe just the ones that stood out to us in the moment, if we wanted to talk about all of our favorite places to source plant material - we would be making an episode that might be four hours long...  Some of the organizations mentioned in the episode! http://sacredsucculent...

It goes without saying that 2021 has been a year of climate extremes. Record rainfall and extended periods of drought really have been throwing our gardens through a loop. We can't help but ask ourselves, what strategies should we be taking to plan for our uncertain future? In other words, how can we take a more active role in mitigating climate change? What are the plants that might actually bene...

Prepare to be transported to the Big Island of Hawaiʻi! Adam Crowe of ʻĀina Exotics, based in Pāpaʻaloa, Hawaiʻi, joins us today to discuss the trials and tribulations of establishing a tropical forest garden system on the slopes of the shield volcano that is Hawaiʻi Island. Tune in for an exciting episode where we discuss swales in tropical systems, pests local to Hawaiʻi, and some of our favorit...

On this episode we cover all things sexual & asexual plant propagation. Are you interested in grafting techniques, air layering, or taking cuttings of woody perennial plants? Do you have a four year old hosta or rhubarb plant that is crowding out surrounding plantings? Consider dividing up the plant during the appropriate season this year, on this episode we'll walk you through all of these proces...

And you may tell yourself, invasive plants are the boogeyman. We tend to think they're mostly misunderstood. Today's episode is a mish-mash of us each playing devil's advocate, and sharing some of our personal experiences with plants that should potentially be avoided in Food Forest Systems. Not all invasives are evil, but some of them sure can be nasty. Join us as we thread the needle through thi...

Hark! The crisp air has cometh! Our water hath not turned into wine but into Pumpkin Spice! It's Fall y'all, and it's in full swing. Here in New England, the trees are putting on quite the display. Pumpkins are being picked, winter squash are ready for harvest, and the ground beneath the trees is covered in nuts and soon to be rotting fruit. The harvest is upon us! In today's episode, we'll cover...

Who says you can't have a Four-Season Garden? It might be October, but there are still lots of things to do in the backyard Food Forest. Join us as we contemplate different strategies for best practice in stewardship of your landscape during the Fall. And don't forget to follow our Instagram page @forestgardenpodcast! If you have any questions or concerns, shoot us an email at theforestgardenpodca...

Well podcast listeners, today marks the first day of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere. Soon enough, the leaves will drop in our cold climate landscapes. Fall is a team to spruce up your garden, build soil, and upgrade your composting game! The four season compost is possible, and can be bountiful. In this episode we describe some ways you can make it happen in your landscape. Shoot us an email if y...

On this episode of The Forest Garden, we discuss the importance of Nut Trees in food forests, edible landscapes, and natural systems. With Fall fast approaching, the time of year to reap the rewards of nut producing tree crops is upon us. Nuts are usually the last stop on the journey for permaculture enthusiasts, often being second or third to fruiting shrubs and trees. We think they are drastical...