The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

A Garden Chat with Don Titmus
In This Episode: Noel Ruiz shares his journey from urban Southern California to rural Southern Oregon, where he and his family run Homestead Culture. What began as a struggling backyard garden evolved into a life centered on permaculture, seed saving, perennial crops, and heart-centered homesteading. Noel explains grexes, seed diversity, and multi-generational thinking—while reflecting on failure, renewal, and cultivating culture from the inside out. This episode explores how growing seeds can also grow resilience, connection, and joy.
Our Guest: Noel is a gardener, homesteader, seed saver, lover of plants and a proud father. Together, he and his sweetheart offer homestead grown seeds of perennial vegetables, flowers, herbs in diverse mixes and grexes, through their family business Homestead Culture. Noel shares free resources and online education around seed saving through HomesteadCulture.com. He enjoys writing articles that explore changing culture, personal transformation, gardening and seeds all while blurring the lines between work and life, as he practices homesteading from the heart.
Key Topics
Homestead Culture (family-run seed and education business)
Permaculture design & soil regeneration
WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms)
Seed saving on a homestead scale
Grex breeding & genetic diversity
Landrace adaptation
Perennial vegetables, herbs, and flowers
Multi-generational thinking in homesteading
Homesteading from the heart
Cultural transformation through gardening
Protecting fruit and nut trees from deer and rodents
Landrace Gardening by Joseph Lofthouse
One-Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka

Key Questions
What happens when your garden fails—and what can it teach you?
Noel’s first larger garden struggled due to depleted, scraped topsoil. A permaculture consultation revealed the real issue: soil health, not personal failure. That shift reframed his mindset and launched his journey into regenerative practices.
What is WWOOF, and how can it accelerate learning?
WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) connects learners with farms and homesteads in exchange for room, board, and hands-on education. Noel spent two years immersed in diverse homesteads, gaining practical skills and mentorship.
What does “homestead culture” mean?
For Noel, “home” extends beyond a house to watershed and region. “Stead” means to stand firm. “Culture” means to cultivate. Together, it represents rooting deeply in place and tending life in ways that foster abundance, cooperation, and multi-generational resilience.
Why plant trees from seed instead of grafted stock?
While grafted trees fruit faster, seed-grown trees offer deep relationship and long-term legacy. Noel values the joy of growing plants from infancy and stewarding trees that may outlive him.
What is a grex—and why grow one?
A grex allows multiple varieties to cross-pollinate, saving seeds from diverse offspring. This increases adaptation, resilience, and joy in diversity. It’s both a practical breeding strategy and a celebration of natural cross-pollination.
What is the difference between a seed farmer and a seed producer?
Noel distinguishes himself as a homestead-scale seed producer, honoring full-time seed farmers who grow at commercial scale. His focus is small-batch perennial vegetables, flowers, herbs, and grexes.
How can personal failure become transformation?
After divorce and job loss, Noel entered a period of growth through volunteering and WWOOFing. The journey led to emotional...

In This Podcast: Gigi shares how permaculture extends far beyond gardening into communication, community resilience, and social systems change. From EcoVillage living and military service to composting toilets after Hurricane Helene, Gigi explores earth care, people care, and fair share as a lived philosophy. This conversation dives into resource-based economies, repair culture, and the power of collective action. It’s a joyful, grounded exploration of how permaculture shapes both land and relationships..
Our Guest:  Gigi White was introduced to permaculture and foraging in college at Ithaca, New York in 2007 while studying acting and living at the Eco Village Ithaca. Which launched the rocket ship of figuring out how we can begin to work together in groups to live sustainably. After serving as an officer in the US Air Force with a tour in Iraq, she became a lifelong student of connecting nature to people sustainable. And joyful living through Improvisational music and acting.
Key Topics & Entities
Permaculture principles: Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share
EcoVillage at Ithaca
United States Air Force service and sustainability
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Transition Towns movement
The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins
Humanure and composting toilet systems
Hurricane Helene disaster response in Asheville
Tool libraries and repair cafés
Nonviolent Communication (NVC) in permaculture
Resource-based vs. capitalistic economies
Rocket mass heaters and appropriate technology
Grafting fruit trees and perennial agriculture

Key Questions Answered
What is permaculture beyond gardening?
Permaculture is a philosophy and design framework rooted in Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. It includes communication styles, economic systems, animal husbandry, energy design, and community-building—not just food production.
How can communities respond sustainably during disasters?
After Hurricane Helene disrupted water systems in Asheville, Gigi organized education sessions and materials for composting toilets. By mobilizing volunteers, sourcing buckets and sawdust, and partnering with a local tool library, she helped residents create safe, low-resource sanitation systems.
What is humanure and why does it matter?
Humanure is composted human waste managed safely through carbon layering (like sawdust) and proper aeration. When done correctly, it becomes soil after about a year in temperate climates, reducing strain on water systems and rebuilding topsoil.
How does permaculture apply to social systems?
Permaculture extends into communication (including Nonviolent Communication), collective decision-making, barter systems, repair culture, and resource-sharing networks. It asks, “Why are we doing what we’re doing?” and challenges systems like planned obsolescence.
What lessons come from failure in sustainable...

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In This Podcast: In this episode, Greg chats with sourdough baker, teacher, and cookbook author Amy Coyne of Amy Bakes Breadto demystify sourdough from starter to slice. Amy shares her personal journey into sourdough, explains the science and simplicity behind naturally fermented bread, and offers practical guidance for beginners and experienced bakers alike. The conversation covers fermentation, hydration, common mistakes, discard recipes, and how to make sourdough fit into busy family life. Throughout, Amy emphasizes patience, experimentation, and joy in the process.
Our Guest:  Amy Coyne is a sourdough baker, teacher and creator behind Amy Bakes Bread, where she shares tried and true sourdough recipes that are approachable, reliable, and fun to make. She's been baking for as long as she can remember, and sourdough has been part of her kitchen for over 13 years. Amy is the author of The Beginner's Guide to Sourdough, A cookbook made to help every home baker feel confident creating incredible sourdough bread from scratch.
Key Topics & Entities
Amy Coyne
Sourdough starter
Natural fermentation
Wild yeast and bacteria
Hydration levels in bread
Dutch oven baking
Sourdough discard
Inclusion loaves
Family-friendly sourdough
The Beginner’s Guide to Sourdough
Amy Bakes Bread
Home baking science

Key Questions Answered
What makes sourdough different from conventional bread?
Sourdough relies on natural fermentation rather than commercial yeast, resulting in improved digestibility, lower glycemic response, and better nutrient absorption due to reduced phytic acid.
How do you create and maintain a sourdough starter?
A starter is made by culturing wild yeast and bacteria from flour and water through regular feedings, watching for predictable rise-and-fall cycles, and adjusting temperature and ratios for consistency.
How does temperature affect sourdough fermentation?
Warmer temperatures speed fermentation while cooler conditions slow it down, meaning timelines must shift with seasons and kitchen conditions.
What is hydration, and why does it matter?
Hydration refers to the ratio of water to flour; higher hydration creates a more open, airy crumb, while lower hydration produces a tighter, more structured loaf.
What are the most common mistakes new sourdough bakers make?
Unrealistic expectations, discomfort with wet doughs, and misunderstanding fermentation timing are common early hurdles.
What can you do with sourdough discard instead of throwing it away?
Discard can be used in crackers, pancakes, biscuits, cookies, gravies, and more—adding flavor, texture, and reducing waste.
How can sourdough be adapted for busy schedules and families?
Using refrigeration, adjusting starter...

In This Podcast: Edmund Williams returns to discuss the LEHR Garden system and a breakthrough soil product emerging from it: LEHR Soil Amplifier. By combining ecological soil biology with engineered water flow, the LEHR system grows plants in primarily woody materials while composting beneath living roots. The resulting extracted soil behaves as a powerful biostimulant, dramatically improving plant growth, resilience, and heat tolerance. This episode explores living soil, stable carbon, and how feeding soil organisms transforms plant health.
Our Guest: Edmund is a civil engineer and innovator in the urban and sustainable agriculture arena. He has been working with various municipalities and nonprofits to transform the ways our society feeds itself. The Lear Garden was designed to be a low maintenance system using biology as a part of the automation. To do this, Edmond created a compost bin as the core technology, and like any compost bin, it needs to be emptied periodically, The finished compost that comes out is unlike anything on the market having some very surprising and beneficial properties.
Key Topics
LEHR Garden (Linking Ecosystem and Hardware for Regeneration)
LEHR Soil Amplifier
Biostimulants in agriculture
Living soil biology
Stable soil carbon
Glomalin and mycorrhizal fungi
Biochar as nutrient buffer
Urban waste stream composting
Flood-and-drain raised bed systems
Heat resilience in desert gardening
Soil food web
Tall pot tree propagation method

What makes a LEHR Garden different from hydroponics or permaculture alone?
It integrates both ecology and hardware, using a raised flood-and-drain system filled mostly with wood chips and organic waste, allowing plants to grow in living soil biology rather than inert media.
Why does the garden soil need to be removed and reset?
As woody materials break down, water flow slows, causing anaerobic conditions. Removing and resetting the soil restores oxygen flow and system performance.
What is LEHR Soil Amplifier?
It is the sifted, biologically rich soil produced inside the system, containing earthworm castings, biochar, microbial life, and multiple known biostimulant compounds.
How is this different from regular compost?
Unlike compost made separately, this material forms beneath living roots, encouraging creation of stable soil carbon compounds such as glomalin, which are critical to true topsoil structure.
How much is needed to see results?
Very small amounts are effective — about one gallon can treat roughly 1,000 square feet of garden space.
What plant responses have been observed?
Reports include greener lawns, higher vegetable productivity, improved pest and disease resistance, thicker rose petals, and rapid recovery of stressed trees.
Can it improve heat tolerance?
Gardeners observed lush summer growth during record heat, with plants surviving and producing through extreme desert temperatures.
What is the underlying mechanism?
The product stimulates soil biology, increases mycorrhizal activity, provides mineral buffering through biochar, and enhances nutrient cycling.
Episode Highlights
LEHR stands for Linking Ecosystem and Hardware for Regeneration
Gardens grow food in mostly wood chips enriched by composting beneath roots
Soil removal became the “problem that was the solution”
Sifted soil behaves as a high-density biological stimulant
Stable soil carbon forms directly through plant–fungal interactions
One gallon treats approximately 1,000 square feet
Gardeners report dramatic improvements during...

With Beatrice Nathan...Curious permaculture story
In This Podcast: Beatrice Nathan joins the podcast to explore how permaculture principles can be applied to family life, childcare, and community resilience. She shares her journey from home gardening to teaching permaculture, and launching a Village Roots childcare co-op. The conversation weaves together food production, social permaculture, and mutual aid as practical responses to modern parenting and systemic stress. This episode highlights slow, small solutions that build trust, connection, and long-term community health.
Our Guest:  Beatrice Nathan is a home gardener, permaculture teacher, turmeric farmer, and mom to two boys. She is passionate about reweaving the web of social support, empowering ordinary people to grow food and teaching practical design principles. She believes that we all have a part to play in creating a better future.
Key Topics & Entities
Beatrice Nathan
Permaculture ethics (Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share)
Social permaculture
Village Roots Childcare Co-op
Babysitting co-ops / time-based exchange
Front-yard food gardens
Community resilience
Parenting and childcare affordability
Permaculture zones applied to time and energy
Degrowth philosophy
Permaculture Design Course (PDC)
Ruby Ranch (Asheville, NC)

Key Questions Answered
What is permaculture beyond gardening?
Permaculture is a framework for living a good life, offering ethics and principles that can be applied to land stewardship, relationships, parenting, and community design—not just gardens.
How does a childcare co-op work without money?
Families exchange babysitting hours using a shared spreadsheet. Hours earned caring for one family’s children can be used with any family in the co-op, building trust and flexibility without cash.
Why is childcare so challenging for families today?
High costs, limited availability, misaligned schedules, and the emotional toll on young children make conventional childcare inaccessible or unsustainable for many families.
How does the Village Roots Childcare Co-op embody permaculture?
The co-op applies permaculture ethics and principles like slow and small solutions, stacking functions, feedback loops, and people care to meet real childcare and community needs.
How can permaculture help parents—especially mothers—avoid burnout?
By reframing priorities through concepts like zones of time and energy, permaculture helps parents let go of nonessential commitments and focus on connection during demanding life seasons.
What’s the value of front-yard food gardens?
Front-yard gardens invite conversation, sharing, and relationship-building with neighbors, turning food production into a social connector.
How can someone start a similar co-op in their community?
Start small, set a geographic boundary, clearly communicate expectations, onboard families personally, and use existing guides and templates to reduce friction.
Why is community-building increasingly important?
As larger systems become more fragile, hyper-local, trust-based networks like co-ops, time banks, and tool libraries help meet needs when institutions fall short.
Episode Highlights
Permaculture as a life framework, not just a land design tool
Applying permaculture ethics to childcare and family systems
Designing a babysitting co-op using time instead of money
Front-yard gardens as hubs for neighborhood connection
Reframing permaculture zones around time, energy, and life...