#112: Why We Should All Turn Lawns into Pollinator Gardens & How to Do It On A Budget
Bring joy to yourself and your neighbors as you break from the norm and support the birds, butterflies, and bees with this gardening-made-easy episode! Learn from veganic gardening expert Jimmy Videle how anybody, with whatever space you already have, can make huge strides in growing your own delicious, nutritious, and affordable food supply, all while helping your local wildlife and ecosystem.
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Hello friends!
Spring is in the air and we've got just the thing to bring you more green!
If you've been wanting to give back to the ecosystem around you, while also growing the most fabulous food in an affordable way, this is the episode for you! Listen in to farmer, researcher, and naturalist extraordinaire Jimmy Videle who joins us to show just how doable it is to start small with a veganic garden.
He wrote The Veganic Grower's Handbook: Cultivating Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs from Urban Backyard to Rural Farmyard from his experience growing his own food and homesteading for over twenty-five years, becoming a professional full-time farmer in 2005, and consulting on sustainable permaculture farms all over the world.
He is also the co-founder of the North American Veganic Certification Standard which certifies farmers in the US, Canada, and Mexico who are practicing 100% plant-based agriculture principles and practices, and he's here on this episode to share all his plant wizardry.
In this wild episode we examine just how bizarre it is that we’ve given up rich, native, vibrant, tasty, and eco-friendly gardens to grow lawns that guzzle water and don’t give anything back. Jimmy shows just how imperative pollinator gardens are, not only for the rapidly declining populations of butterflies and bees, but for our own food sustainability as well. But even better, he reveals just how feasible and affordable that gardening can be—regardless of your yard space or living situation!
In this episode, you can glean all sorts of practical gems for getting started today, from:
- Simple gardening practices that will feed happy soil
- How to get rid of grass, the easy, inexpensive, and soil-friendly way
- Saving money on gardening, from seeds to mulch to compost
- What plant-based products to use to avoid toxicity
- Buying plant starts vs. growing seeds from scratch.
Jimmy is so helpful in encouraging and enabling whatever small steps we can take that will make big differences. He teaches how we can jump into gardening in manageable ways without becoming overwhelmed. His wealth of knowledge is so inspiring, we know you’ll take away some great practices you can use in your own home garden—even if it's just a windowsill!—not to mention motivation to take part in a thriving ecosystem of flourishing plants and productive food growth!
Stick around to the end where we share all sorts of free resources for gardening veganically!
♡ Toni & Michelle
EPISODE SHOW NOTES
- Jimmy shares his massive mindset shift regarding gardening and animals
- Toni shares her family’s rich history in farming and what she learned in the process
- How we got to a place where pretty lawns were more acceptable than native, productive, eco-friendly plants
- How having a pollinator garden has totally shifted Toni’s perspective on and relationship with nature and creatures
- The benefits of gardening for mental and personal health
- How pollinator friendly gardens are crucial for biodiversity and keeping indispensable creatures like butterflies and bumblebees alive
- What gardening practices can feed soil microbiome
- What plants need what pollination methods
- How native pollinators are integral to worldwide food product
- The easy, inexpensive, and soil-friendly method to remove your lawn
- The best kind of plant-based compost
- How to avoid getting overwhelmed when starting a garden
- Ways to save money when getting your garden going, on everything from plants to mulch to compost
- The easy recipe for the best compost
- The fascinating role of mycorrhizae in soil
- What products to avoid, that are surprisingly toxic, and what plant-based products to use instead
- How to source healthy soil
- How to be prepared for and not intimidated by losses
- More free resources for gardening veganically
RELATED PODCAST EPISODES
PLANT-BASED ON A BUDGET GARDENING GUIDES
- The Best Raised Beds
- The Best Vegan Fertilizers
- Where to Buy Seeds Online
- Gardening Supplies at Dollar Tree
WORLD OF VEGAN GARDENING GUIDES
- Guide to Starting Seeds Indoors
- Building a Backyard Raised Bed Vegetable Garden
- Composting Options—Including Indoors With An Electric Composter
RESOURCES MENTIONED
-
The Veganic Grower’s Handbook by Jimmy Videle
*Ask your local public or university library to order it! - Sloats Garden Center: “no-poo” compost
- Sunflower and Sage Garden: remote consults
- Veganic Agriculture Network
- Vegan Organic Network
- North American Veganic Certification Standard
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!
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LET'S BE FRIENDS!
CONNECT WITH TONI OKAMOTO:
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CONNECT WITH MICHELLE CEHN:
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