Urban Farming to Build Community
Zawadi Farm
Our in-studio guest is Jessey Njau, who left a corporate job to farm his Toronto backyard. Originally from Kenya, Jessey explains that the name of his farm, Zawadi, means “gift” in Swahili.
His motivation to change careers stemmed from a desire to refocus on family and community. He talks about the relationships he has grown and the generosity he has encountered. Jessey sees food production as a powerful opportunity for social change. “The regenerative context means a lot to me,” he says.
“I love it! My blood boils if I’m not in the land”
As Jessey enters his fourth year of growing, his operation has grown to include more yards, as neighbours see what he is doing and offer him their yards.
“I’m close to having about a quarter acre collectively of backyards”
But it hasn’t all been easy. When first selling at a local market, many people said, “I can find this produce cheaper.” Not sure how to handle the price objection, Jessey remembered the advice of a friend, who told him that to succeed in business, “you need to be crazy.” He decided to be crazy—to break the rules—and sent shoppers home with free vegetables, saying, “Talk to me when you come back next time.” When those shoppers came back, they didn’t talk about price any more. “Once they tasted it, they flew,” he says.
“He was rejuvenating a city by growing food”
Jessey Njau talking about inspiration he felt after Michael Abelman’s book, Street Farm: Growing Food, Jobs, and Hope on the Urban Frontier
Tomato Talk Segment
In Emma’s Tomato-Talk segment, she describes some of her favourite tomato varieties that she has written about in her Harrowsmith Magazine blog.
”It looks like a brain…or a whole bunch of cherry tomatoes fused together.”
Broadfork Dance
Do you use the broadfork? Check out Jessey’s video below…maybe you can help with his project.
Tomato breeding, High-Altlitude Growing, Passive Solar Greenhouses, Mountain Figs
In the first half of the show we chat with tomato breeder Fred Hempel, who has been breeding tomatoes on his small farm in California since 2006. His breeding business, Artisan Seeds, has produced a number of varieties that are grown by farmers and gardeners around the world. Most of these are striped cherry tomatoes, known for their flavour and aesthetic appeal. His current breeding work is focused on extended shelf life and disease resistance.
In the second half of the show, we chat with Penn and Cord Parmenter, who grow food in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado at an elevation of 8000 feet. They discuss bio-intensive gardening methods, passive solar greenhouses, and cold-hardy crops and vegetable varieties.
In the Biggs-On-Figs segment, Steven chats with Tony Christini, a fig grower in West Virginia. Tony’s focus is on hardy and early-ripening figs.
Breeding Tasty Tomatoes
Our first guest is tomato breeder Fred Hempel. Fred has been breeding tomatoes on his small farm in California since 2006. Before that, he bred tomatoes in his backyard and in a community garden. Fred first grew tomatoes with his mother, as a child in Michigan. Fred’s son and daughter have been involved in his tomato breeding projects since the beginning. Both of them will visit Mexico with him this winter to help with breeding work. Fred trained as a plant biologist with a general background in genetics. His breeding business, Artisan Seeds, has produced a number of varieties that are grown by farmers and gardeners around the world. Most of these are striped cherry tomatoes, known for their flavor and aesthetic appeal. In his current breeding work, Fred is working on extended shelf life and disease resistance.
Tomato Seed-Starting Guide
Here’s our guide to growing tomato plants from seed.
High-Altitude Growing
“Adaptation is one of our best tools up here in the clouds.”
In the second half of the show, we chat with Penn and Cord Parmenter, who grow food in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado at an elevation of 8000 feet. They share tips on passive solar greenhouses, biointensive gardening methods, and cold-hardy crops and cold-hardy vegetable varieties that they grow in their high-altitude garden. Penn’s seed business, Miss Penn’s Mountain Seeds, focuses on mountain-adapted varieties.
“We fail as much as we succeed!”
Biggs on Figs
In the Biggs-On-Figs segment, Steven chats with Tony Christini, a fig grower in West Virginia. Tony’s focus is on cold-hardy and early-ripening figs. Tony created the Mountain Figs website, where he has information about cold-tolerant fig varieties, and comparisons of fig flavour and appearance. See below for another chat with Tony, where he talks a bit more in details about his top 5 fig varieties for cold climates.
Click below to hear more about cold-tolerant fig varieties, with Tony Christini from Mountain Figs
Growing Figs in the Mountains
Figs harvest from Tony Christini’s fig trees in West Virginia
West Virginia Fig Grower Shares Top Varieties
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, November 2019
In The Biggs-on-Figs segment, Steven talks with Tony Christini, a fig grower in West Virginia whose focus is hardy and early-ripening fig varieties suited to his mountain growing conditions.
Grow Figs in Seattle
Seattle Fig Grower Creates Ultimate Fig Breba List
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, October 2019
In The Biggs-on-Figs segment, Steven talks with Ben Nguyen from Seattle Garden & Fruit Adventures about growing figs in Seattle and about Ben’s Ultimate Fig Breba List.
Ocracoke Fig Festival
A Festival to Celebrate Figs
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, July 2019
Tune in for a chat with Sundae Horn, who helps to organize the Ocracoke Fig Festival on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. This two-day festival takes place this year on August 16th and 17th, and celebrates figs through food, history, music, and all sorts of fig stuff. Find out more about the festival—and find the recipe for Ocracoke fig cake—on the website for the Ocracoke Preservation Society.
Greenhouse Figs in Pennsylvania
A Greenhouse Grower Switches from Bedding Plants to Figs
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, June 2019
Tune in for a chat with John Biberich, a greenhouse fig grower in Grove City, Pennsylvania.
John and his wife Sue started growing figs and citrus as they were looking for unique crops that give them a place in an industry that’s increasingly reliant on automation and dominated by discount and big-box stores.
It’s a neat idea to consider for people thinking of how to carve out a niche in horticulture.
Springtime Fig Shuffle
Springtime Fig Tree Care
Ross Raddi
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, May 2019
Tune in for a chat with Ross Raddi. Ross is a 27-year-old backyard orchardist in the Philadelphia area who is passionate about growing his own fruit and vegetables. Ross talks about what to do with figs trees in the spring, as they start to come out of dormancy.
Greenhouse Figs in Massachusetts
Fresh Figs as a Crop
Excerpt from The Food Garden Life Show, April 2019
Tune in for a chat with Trish Crapo and Tom Ashley at Dancing Bear Farm in Leyden, Massachusetts. They got into figs by accident a decade ago—and now they sell fresh figs at farmers markets and sell fig trees to other cold-climate gardeners.
Hi, We’re Steve and Emma!
We help people grow food on balconies, in backyards, and beyond—whether it’s edible landscaping, a vegetable garden, container gardens, or a home orchard.
