FREE MP3 DOWNLOADS ...
Gardening and Agriculture Audio Clips - Archive

NOTES:

This page is an archive of older gardening and agriculture audio clips. You can also see the page of current gardening and agriculture audio

Additional audio clips for related topics can be found on these pages
    - Food/Nutrition audio
    - Peak Oil/Resilience audio

You Bet Your Garden

Pollinators, Peppers, and Paths — 31 Mar 2012 — Topics include... pollinators beyond honeybees; dealing with poison ivy infestations safely; the difference between pimento, red bell peppers, chili peppers, and paprika; and growing your own saffron. Also, when is wood-chip mulch in a path composted enough to safely go in a garden bed?
Download/Listen   52:15
More YBYG

You Bet Your Garden

Termites, Terra Cotta, and Tomato Hornworms — 17 Mar 2012 — Mike McGrath's topics this time include ... dealing with termite infestation without toxic chemicals; a trick for getting the beauty terra cotta pots without their problems; controls for tomato hornworm; garden bed design; the timing of corn gluten applications for crabgrass control.
Download/Listen   52:14
More YBYG

Living On Earth

The Seattle Food Forest — 09 Mar 2012 — A team of interested citizens is turning seven acres in Seattle into a food-dense permaculture wonderland.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   7:00

Food Chain Radio

John Jeavons:  Farming—Big or Small? — 18 Feb 2012 — John Jeavons talks about the food-producing potential of intensive soil management and small-footprint gardening. If such techniques were used on a widespread basis, they would feed more people than large-scale industrial agriculture and at the same time save our quickly depleting topsoil.
Download/Listen   42:24
More Food Chain Radio

TUC Radio

The Culture of Seed Saving — 14 Feb 2012 — The saving of open-pollinated seeds (heirlooms) has enjoyed popular resurgence recently. But there are those who have been doing it all along. Davis Hollander recounts his experiences as a seed collector, touching on many of the pertinent questions around seed saving, such as the connection to history, culture and place, as well as the role seed saving plays in the resisting the onslaught of genetic engineering and corporate control of seeds.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:00

NPR

Farmers Take Back Land Slated For Housing — 23 Jan 2012 — The housing bust left a number of planned developments unstarted. Some of that land is finding it's way back to farmers.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   3:23

(GP comment:  Contrary to what everyone in this story seems to think, the reclamation will be permanent—there will be no next housing bubble in the US.)

Sustainable World Radio

Growing Color—How To Create Beautiful Dyes From Plants — Rebecca Burgess shares her techniques for "growing and harvesting color" She talks about her favorite dye plants and the impact that chemical dyes have on the environment. Plants, minerals, and insects can yield brilliant, vibrant hues, and the natural dyes produce little waste, are nontoxic, and are easy to make at home.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen    

Sustainable World Radio

How Keeping Chickens Can Fuel The Local Food Revolution — 24 Nov 2011 — Chicken expert Pat Foreman gives a very good review of the basics of backyard chicken raising and shares why she believes that hens are an integral part of the local food movement. Topics covered include how chickens are talented food-waste disposals, soil builders, and pest assassins.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   48:12

Radio EcoShock

Winter Gardening and Guerrilla Gardening—Got (Fresh) Food? — 07 Dec 2011 — In the face of potential disruptions, the smart prepper knows that gardening is of paramount concern. And just a summer garden isn't good enough. Hear master gardener Eliot Coleman discuss his proven techniques for growing food all year, even in northern climes. ~~ Also hear a report on guerilla gardening—spreading the joy of perennial food plants everywhere, even on property you don't own.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   59:59

Food Chain Radio

Is Government Making the Family Farm "Too Safe for Families"? — 10 Dec 2011 — Proposed government regulations may so restrict kids working on farms—ostensibly to protect them from harm—that the "family farm" may become a thing of the past. More broadly, can we train our future farmers without having them involved from an early age?
Download/Listen   42:51
More Food Chain Radio

TUC Radio

Bob Cannard:  Natural Process Farming — 30 Oct 2011 — Cannard gives a speech the lays bare the out-of-touch-with-nature techniques of modern farming, even modern gardening. He lists many ways we can use nature's awesome growing energy to advantage.
PART 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:01
PART 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:01

GroAction

David Holmgren:  The Upcoming Transition Away from a Fossil-Fuel-Based Society — 14 Nov 2011 — Ecological designer David Holmgren talks about how permaculture can be one of the essential ingredients in a successful transition to a post-peak world.  (Holmgren is spot-on, as usual. --GP)
No longer available from host site. 50:12

Fresh Air

Lester Brown:  Food—The Hidden Driver Of Global Politics — 18 May 2011 — Food prices are rising, but the impact is not being felt equally around the world, says Lester Brown. The world's rapidly expanding population has created elevated demand for grain, milk, cheese and eggs, but changes in climate and irrigation have made it increasingly difficult to increase production. As supplies tighten, food is becoming a new form of geopolitical leverage.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   25:26

Chelsea Green Radio

Eliot Coleman on Organic Farming — 02 Mar 2011 — Master organic gardener Eliot Coleman talks about his 30 years of experience as an organic farmer, experimenting with what works and what doesn't, and battling the ignorance of the mainstream farming-research community.   The format is a little confusing until you realize that this is a bunch of snippets of various speeches by Coleman sewn together. Still good, though. --GP)
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   29:30

               

CSAs & BIODYNAMICS
FOOD CONCEPTS FOR THE 21st CENTURY

Two Beers With Steve — 19 Feb 2011
Farmer Allan Balliett discusses the important concepts of biodynamics and community supported agriculture (CSA), both of which can be employed to improve the quality and resilience of the food on your plate.

Audio no longer available from host site.

Related resources:
-- Food Gardening Books
-- Article on CSAs

               

Sustainable World Radio

Doug Weatherbee on Healthy Soil Ecosystems—In Your Garden or Elsewhere — 21 Feb 2011 — Weatherbee gives an excellent overview of how soil ecosystems work and why they are critical to plant health. In part 2, he offers soil tips for home gardeners.
Part 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   42:24
Part 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   43:24

Two Beers With Steve

Heirloom Seeds and Swaps — 24 Jan 2011 — Johnny Max reviews seed saving basics, and describes his seed swap site, which also allows purchases by people who are just getting started with heirloom seeds (i.e. have nothing to swap yet).
Audio no longer available from host site.

The Lifeboat Hour

The Lawn Police — 16 Jan 2011 — Michael Ruppert and Bob Waldrop discuss how local ordinances can often be at odds with good resilience practices.
Download/Listen   58:26

Food Chain Radio

Food Without Electricity — 28 Aug 2010 — A discussion of preservation technologoies that work around situations where electricity has failed.
Download/Listen   41:42
More Food Chain Radio

Agroinnovations

Ecological Imperialism — 26 Jul 2010 — A collage of interview clips and readings from Alfred W. Crosby's book Ecological Imperialism, covering various ventures of colonial Europe in foreign lands over the last 500 years, with a particular focus on food and agricultural reasons for success or failure.  (This is pretty interesting, along the same lines as Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel. --GP)
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   51:56

Referenced items:   (on Amazon.com)
Crosby book:  Ecological Imperialism:  The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900
Diamond book Guns, Germs, and Steel:  The Fates of Human Societies

Two Beers With Steve

Nelson Lebo:  Tools, Techniques, and Timing — 24 Jul 2010 — Lebo discusses methods to improve gardening efficiency by using the right tools and techniques at the right time.  (The meat starts around 15:00. This is part 1; part 2 is not yet available. --GP)
Audio no longer available from host site.

One Radio Network

NOTE: You need free One Radio Network account to listen/download their MP3s.

Sustainable Gardening and Backyard Food Production — 19 Jul 2010 — Once a person understands that the long-distance food system has vulnerabilities and that local and regional food-growing operations are insufficient to meet local needs should a disruption occur, the logical thing to do is to get ye to growing your own in a substantial way.
Download/Listen   1:05:50

Agroinnovations

Pasture Cropping — 19 Jul 2010 — Colin Seis has invented a new way to grow annual cereal crops. "Pasture cropping" involves the direct seeding of annual crops into perennial pastures that are grazed at high densities prior to sowing. Seis explains the functional and economic benefits, as well as the improvements in soil health and biodiversity.  (Fairly agro-technical, but interesting. --GP)
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   45:48

               

AQUACULTURE
THE FUTURE OF SEAFOOD OR A FISHY FIASCO?

The show:
Quirks & Quarks — 19 Jun 2010
This is a very good primer on the subject of aquaculture, a.k.a. fish farming. With 90% of major wild fish stocks depleted and 50% of seafood now farm-raised, aquaculture is having more and more impact on the health of the oceans, with remaining, smaller wild fish stocks getting vacuumed up to feed farmed fish. Is this path sustainable?

Download/Listen   34:47

               

Agroinnovations

Wild Farming — 06 Jul 2010 — A discussion of "wild farming," an approach that can reduce erosion and polluted runoff, increase biodiversity and native pollinators, and better manage predator and pest-animal problems.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   36:15

Survival Podcast

Start Thinking about Fall Gardening (Really?) — 30 Jun 2010 — September may still be a ways off, but it's a good idea to at least start thinking about what you will be planting to take advantage of the change of seasons. With proper planning and execution, you can eat fresh vegetables right into the first snow.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   57:31

Food Chain Radio

The Pink Gold of Vegas — 26 Jun 2010 — The Western world wastes huge amounts of food, both as past-the-expiration throwaways and as food scraps from our plates. Farmer Bob Combs raises several thousand pigs using the food scraps from the restaurants on the Las Vegas strip. Why doesn't every municipality have a system like this?!?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   42:33

Diet Soap Podcast

Fair Food Fight, — 20 Jun 2010 — Anderson and host Doug Lain discuss farms, chickens, and the real food movement. ~~ Also featured is a weird, funny audio collage about cryogenics and a childhood trip to Disneyland.
Audio no longer available from host site.   39:40

               

FOOD STORAGE BASICS
INCREASE RESILIENCE AND SECURITY, DECREASE COST AND WORRY

The show:
Survival Podcast — 15 Jun 2010
Jack Spirko does an excellent job of covering the basics of food storage and food security—the logic of it and how to do it safely, in a way that saves you money in the long run. He calls it a "holistic approach to survival food storage."

Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:00:26

Background:
Food storage is not just a nutty thing twitchy-eyed loners do. It's a basic approach to making sure our households can sail though troubled waters without undue hunger or time wasted standing in lines at grocery stores (or FEMA camps). It takes a little more effort to start a rotational food storage system than it does to buy groceries each week as you need them, but the security and long-term cost benefits are clear.

Related GP pages:
-- Food Security Actions
-- Food-Gardening Books

               

KunstlerCast

Agrarian Urbanism — 03 Jun 2010 — Rising energy prices, poor growing weather, and other problems may lead to global food shortages. But James Howard Kunstler believes that the idea of the US feeding its city populations with rooftop gardens and skyscraper terrariums is absurd. We may see a big return of urban gardening, but Kunstler believes that it is important to be realistic.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   23:21

Food Chain Radio

All (Farm) Animals Equal? — 29 May 2010 — If one decided to move beyond that simple backyard garden and set up a homestead, complete with a small amount of livestock, what animal species would be best?
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   42:50

Science Friday

The Hanging Gardens of Tomatoland  (a.k.a. "Turn it Upside Down") — 28 May 2010 — Some neat ideas for hanging/upside-down tomato systems and other techniques for using vertical space when you don't have room for a garden patch.
Download/Listen   17:48

Peak Moment

Bag It! — Packaging Bulk Foods with Nitrogen — 27 Apr 2010 — There are many ways to preserve food for storage. Here's a high-tech approach brought down to earth for us average folk.  (GP comment:  The MP3 can give you an idea of what it's about, but if you're really interested, you'll need to watch the video.)
No longer available from host site.  

Survival Podcast

Barter, Conspiracies, Seed Saving, Fluoride, Buying PMs — 16 Apr 2010 — Based on listener questions, Jack Spirko gives his take on a variety of subjects, including the tax liabilities that may be incurred when bartering; the "going too far" principle of conspiracies; tips on seed saving; fluoride as a topical antimicrobial but internal toxin; buying precious metals from a local dealer vs. online.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:07:14

Survival Podcast

Food Storage + Seed Saving — 23-25 Mar 2010 — Two episodes related to household food security—food storage and seed saving.
Food Storage:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:04:40
Seed Saving:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   1:03:14

Available on Amazon.com:
Organic Heirloom Seeds

Sustainable World Radio

David Holmgren:  Permaculture in an Energy Descent World — Feb 2010 — David Holmgren talks about the relationship between permaculture and "peak everything"; and he discusses four possible future scenarios as resource constraints force difficult choices: Brown Tech, Green Tech, Earth Steward, and Lifeboats. Even the Mad Max scenario gets a little air time.
PART 1:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   43:54
PART 2:  Go to page  |  Download/Listen   44:48

Referenced items:  (on Amazon.com)
Book:  Future Scenarios:  How Communities Can Adapt to Peak Oil and Climate Change
DVDs:  Mad Max movies

Survival Podcast

CSAs and Modern Survival Philosophy
Feb 2010 — CSAs are a good way to get fresh, local food. An established CSA relationship with a local farmer not only supports local agriculture but might prove to be a valuable asset if we encounter food scarcity in the future.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   56:41

Agroinnovations

The Edible Acre Project
Jan 2010 — Think a school-based food garden could be part of a good risk-mitigation strategy for future food shortages at the same time it strengthens your community? Start here.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   35:39

Related Agroinnovations podcast:
Felder Farm School  (go to podcast page)

Peak Moment

The Heart of Permaculture – Getting Beyond the Artificial World
Dec 2009 — We're reliant on fossil energy, trapped in a disjointed society, existing in sterile subdivisions, eating industrial food. Permaculture is part of the solution.
Watch   27:52
Due to technical problems with Blip, the audio is not available.

KunstlerCast

Food in a World Made By Hand
Oct 2009 — In James Howard Kunstler's novel World Made by Hand, the characters in the post-peak-oil world must overcome many obstacles but nonetheless manage to eat food that is in general delicious and a vast improvement over the current American diet. Kunstler talks about the lost ceremony of eating with family and friends as well as the tragic result our "fast food nation" has brought about.
Go to page  |  Download/Listen   30:57

If you find Grinning Planet's feed of free gardening/agriculture audio clips valuable... so might others — please  tell a friend

Or share via your favorite social media platform:

Current News Download for all topics

AUDIO BY TOPIC:
  - Financial, Empire, Elites
  - Corporations, Corporate Power, Globalization
  - Media, Communications, Internet
  - History & Learning
  - Energy, Peak Oil, Resilience
  - Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Waste
  - Environment
  - Animal Welfare, Species, Biodiversity
  - Food, Nutrition, Organics, GMOs
  - Health
  - Gardening & Agriculture
  - Music
  - Cool & Cosmic, Transformation, Consciousness