The Good Dirt: Sustainability Explained

In today’s episode, we’re talking to Melissa and Jaci from Pinetree Garden Seeds, a family owned and operated business since 1979. Pinetree Garden Seeds was founded with the simple mission of offering low prices on quality seeds to the home gardener. Over the years offerings have expanded to include over 1300 varieties of seeds, including many heirlooms & organics, a huge assortment of tools and gardening gear, books, and live plants. Located in rural Maine, they operate out of a 300 year old farmhouse and strive to offer the best service and products with a personal touch. In 2011, the company was passed down from its founder, Dick Meiners, to his stepdaughter Melissa. She and her family are excited to continue the mission of supporting the home gardener by offering affordable, high quality seeds and goods. In this conversation we delve into the story of Pinetree Garden Seeds, the complexities of GMO's, heirloom seeds and the practices of the company. Melissa and Jaci share their passion for helping others succeed in gardening, emphasizing the simplicity and joy of growing food that promotes the health of humans and the planet. 🌿 Podcast listeners can use the code DIRTPGS20 for 20% their seed order at superseeds.com ! Topics Introduction to Pinetree Garden Seeds History of the company Seed Selection and Catalog Creation Work environment at Pinetree Seed Packing technology Seed Sourcing Gardening Practices and Trials Understanding the Safe Seed Pledge Understanding the types of seeds: heirloom, hybrid and GMO The value of heirloom seeds Seed longevity and germination The seasonal flow and Pinetree Garden Seeds The value of gardening in community and connection 03:20 Meet the Pine Tree Team 04:11 The History and Evolution of Pine Tree Seeds 05:53 Learning the Business of Seeds 08:47 The Art of Seed Catalogs 11:06 Gardening Experiments and Trials 17:49 Understanding Seed Types and Safety 20:31 Understanding GMO vs. Hybrid 22:15 Heirloom Seeds: Stories and Significance 25:00 Seed Longevity and Germination 28:38 A Day at Pine Tree Seeds 31:31 The Concept of Slow Living 34:29 The Good Dirt: Meaning and Metaphor 36:04 Final Thoughts and Contact Information 🌿 Podcast listeners can use the code DIRTPGS20 for 20% their seed order at superseeds.com ! ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌻 About Lady Farmer: Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community Visit Our Website Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram Email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you! Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Fast Forward Production. 🌿 The Good Dirt Producers: • Wendy Gray

In this episode of The Good Dirt Podcast, hosts Mary Kingsley and her daughter Emma talk with Florence Reed, founder of Sustainable Harvest International, a nonprofit that has worked with smallholder farmers in Central America for over 27 years in adopting regenerative farming practices. Florence tells the story of how Sustainable Harvest International got its start, and highlights the importance of healthy soil, biodiversity, and the role of local technical assistance in fostering long-term agricultural transformation. She points out how these practices alone applied to small farms the world over could significantly contribute to the United Nations' goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Florence tells us that there are many inspiring success stories, including one that she shares about a farmerl who restored his land and sent both of his daughters to college as a result of his farming success following the SHI program. The conversation offers a hopeful message about the potential for individual and collective action in combating climate change. ,00:00 Introduction 00:31 Welcome to the Good Dirt Podcast 00:57 Guest Introduction: Florence Reed 03:25 Florence Reed's Background and Motivation 06:04 Early Challenges and Realizations 08:05 Founding Sustainable Harvest International 11:52 Initial Steps and Early Support 14:22 Challenges of Slash and Burn Farming 20:40 Sustainable and Regenerative Practices 27:42 Community Engagement and Program Implementation 30:48 Deciding Where to Work 31:32 Challenges and Demand 32:17 Global Impact of Small-Scale Farmers 33:40 Resistance to Change in Farming Practices 39:59 Success Stories and Long-Term Impact 46:02 Personal Reflections and Slow Living 49:16 Future Plans and Getting Involved LINKS Sustainable Harvest International Roots of Renewal: A Film on Farming for a Hopeful Future Eliot Coleman: The New Organic Grower Barbara Damrosch: The Garden Primer The Good Life: Helen and Scot Nearing's Sixty Years of Self Sufficient Living ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌻 About Lady Farmer: Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community Visit Our Website Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram Email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you! Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Fast Forward Production. 🌿 The Good Dirt Producers: • Wendy Gray

In celebration of the holiday this week, and upcoming "Black Friday", we're re-airing our favorite slow-living take on the matter...Slow Friday! RE-AIR FROM 11/26/21 You're in for something a little different this Friday...it's a solo show with Mary and Emma! At Lady Farmer, we're always thinking about ways to shift our thinking to live into a more slow and sustainable lifestyle, and today is a great opportunity to do just that. What if Black Friday became Slow Friday, and what would that look like? Join us on this week’s episode of The Good Dirt as we share a bit about our own Christmas memories and experiences with gift-giving as well as how we're thinking about being more mindful with our consumer habits during the holiday season. Enjoy this week's episode, let us know what you think, and we'll be back with another interview next week! Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podchaser, Simplecast, Podtail, or on your favorite podcast platform. Topics Covered: The negative impacts of consumerism and how to think differently about our consumer habits The importance that we have placed on gift-giving and receiving during the holiday season Slow Friday Challenge Resources: Unplug the Christmas Tree Christmas by Peter Spier ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌻 About Lady Farmer: Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community Visit Our Website Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram Email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you! Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Fast Forward Production. 🌿 The Good Dirt Producers: • Wendy Gray 

In this episode, Zandra Zuraw, founder of Slow Style Home, shares her insights on interior design. Slow Style Home is an interior design coaching platform for people looking to create a beautiful, meaningful home without breaking the bank, hiring a designer, or hurting the planet to get one. Zandra discusses her step-by-step framework, the importance of a vision for your space, and offers tips for decluttering and balancing aesthetics with functionality. Zandra also touches on the broader concept of slow living. She encourages everyone to find a personal and meaningful approach to home decoration and stresses the emotional satisfaction that comes from using and transforming what we already have. Listeners are inspired to appreciate and design their living spaces mindfully, focusing on beauty and personal expression.She's currently writing a book about her Slow Style approach to design, to be released in Spring 2025 .and is also the host of the popular podcast, Slow Style Home. 00:00 Introduction to Slow Style Home 01:23 Zandra Zuraw's Personal Journey 02:17 The Concept of Slow Style 02:54 Navigating Interior Design Challenges 06:37 Creating a Vision for Your Space 19:25 Balancing Sentimentality and Practicality 22:09 The Impact of Disposable Decor 26:18 The Emotional Weight of Objects 26:51 Struggles with Waste and Disposal 30:29 Decluttering Strategies and Challenges 37:18 The Concept of a Slow Home 40:04 Balancing Organization and Livability 46:56 The Importance of Good Dirt 49:17 Final Thoughts and Resources Zandra's Website Slow Style Home Podcast Peter Walsh: Let it Go Tracy McCubbin: Making Space, Clutter Free Monica Leed: Simply Spaced ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌻 About Lady Farmer: Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & Community Visit Our Website Follow @weareladyfarmer on Instagram Email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you! Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Fast Forward Production. 🌿 The Good Dirt Producers: • Wendy Gray