Episode #50, Urban Homesteading Oasis with Sam Lopez

08/31/19 • 26 min

Today we meet a local backyard homesteader who shares his wisdom with us from over 10 years of natural farming in downtown Albuquerque. Sam Lopez has created an amazing and flourishing oasis in this desert city. In our chat, we cover a lot of ground such as keeping laying hens and rabbits in your back yard, raised bed gardens, composting systems, a special kind of beehive called the Warre Hive, his no-till farming practices that support the soil food web, methods he uses to make compost that keep the ecosystem balanced, water catchment and sustainability practices that relate to the home and garden, as well as how this lifestyle and philosophy affects his kids and family. Sam is a natural podcaster and he will tell us all about these things. I also toured his urban homestead and took videos which will be available on instagram @getinmygarden.

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Episode #49, LEHR Garden System, Modified Aquaponics with Ed Williams

Today we meet Ed Williams, creator of the LEHR garden. LEHR is an acronym for the system he has created that includes elements of aquaponics, hugelkultur, composting, mushrooms, the soil food web and basically as many natural components as possible; he is an engineer after all! Ed is very interesting to listen to as he describes his backyard systems, shares his engineering wisdom and talks about the backyard farm system he has created from start to finish. Ed’s vision is for a more involved and healthy human interaction with the foods we eat, with fewer labor hours and much greater ecological and social benefit. Towards the end of the episode, he shares his calculations about carbon sequestration and his ideas for remodeling the suburban landscape norms. You can see more of his work at lehrgarden.com

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Episode #51, Materials of the Future to Increase Greenhouse Yields

A couple months ago during my greenhouse visit at Growing Opportunities Hydroponics Farm, I learned about a new technology company, UbiQD (pronounced like ubiquity) with an amazing new product that greatly increases greenhouse yields. Since they are located about 30 minutes from Santa Fe where I live, I reached out to them to set up a little tour and to learn more about their research and what special material they are producing. I really enjoyed seeing their materials up close, taking a peek inside their secret laboratory and then learning from Damon Hebert, head scientist, about the many potential eco-friendly and economic benefits of the products and materials they are making. He share about what they are researching and what the future may hold for solar technologies.