843: Planting in the Fall Garden with Nika Forte- A Rosie Replay

The Urban Farm Podcast with Greg Peterson

843: Planting in the Fall Garden - A Rosie Replay

A Rosie On The House Radio Show Replay

In This Podcast: Rosie on the House features Farmer Greg and special guest Nika Forte discussing urban farming and the importance of fall gardening. Nika details her role as the Urban Farms Director at St. Vincent de Paul's Urban Farm and their efforts in combating food insecurity through sustainable practices. They also emphasize the significance of healthy soil, appropriate garden placement, and choosing crops that are both enjoyable and cost-effective, with insights into seed preservation. Additionally, Nika introduces her children's book series aimed at promoting diversity in agriculture.

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Rosie. Rosie on the house. Every Arizona homeowner's best friend.

Come on around. Back Arizona Saturday morning, eight o'clock. The outdoor living hour of Rosie on the house. Your Saturday morning tradition since 1988. Here in eight o'clock hour, our outdoor living hour, So we've got Farmer Greg and the urban farm hour talking about fall garden.

I'm planting if you're following along and you're Rosie on the House Homeowner handbook and Farmer Greg you've brought in a special guest. I have and I'm very excited to have Nika with us. I've known her for quite a few years and she does some really cool work in the world. Nika Forti is a wife. and mother and loves spending time with family, serving others and working in her garden.

She served two years in AmeriCorps program under Public Allies and is currently the Urban Farms Director at St. Vincent de Paul's Urban Farm where she worked for almost nine years. Her mission in life is to advocate for communities that are experiencing food insecurity. And to work every day to educate others on how to grow and give back to the environment in a sustainable and compassionate way.

Welcome, Nika. It's nice to have you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's good to be here. Quite an introduction. Great. Couldn't have done it better myself. Put you on the spotlight. So for nine years at St. Vincent de Paul, there's been a lot of growth to the urban farm program. It was probably about that long ago was the last time I visited.

At that time it was just that one little farm right there on the south side of 10,past the Durango Curve, and you guys have multiple locations now.

Yeah, absolutely. We have three locations. And so actually the first location was started at the human services campus. It's a, was a smaller one than the main campus. And then we started the main campus location and then the, urban farm and Mesa. And all of them are located next to a dining room that were St.

Vincent DePaul serves meals to homeless and needy families around the valley. And. I know coming through the summer, this isn't your peak production time, but when we get into that, what kind of food are y'all producing on those three locations? So we're absolutely growing things that are in season in Arizona.

So right now we're prepping to put in all of our fall and winter crops that includes our cauliflower, our broccoli, cabbage, anything you would basically put in a soup. because Mother Nature knows exactly what needs to be grown and when it's needed. So during the winter, it's everything you would put in a soup.

And during the summer, it's everything that you would need to hydrate your body, like your cucumbers and your watermelon and cantaloupe and things like that. And how many people does it take to keep these St. Vincent de Paul urban farms going? The crazy part is that each one of our farms only have one staff.

And so 98 percent of the work is done by community members that come in and help us grow the food for the people that we serve. Is that individuals? Is that schools? Is that other clubs? Yeah, it's all of that. It could be an individual. It could be a school, football teams. It could be a corporation or organization that wants to do team building activities.

it's a number of different things. Different groups, different people from different walks of life, even the individuals that stay in our shelters come out and help us in the gardens as well. And up to how many people can y'all take at one time if a, an executive was listening to this and oh, that'd be a great.

I've got 200 people on my staff. Is that too big? Is that too small? It's not too big. We've had 300 people in the farm at one time. So we'll take as many people as you can bring. We'll put them all to work. You weren't thinking big enough, Romy. No, I wasn't. You should have said 400. Give him a challenge.

RightWe like challenges. thank you for joining Farmer Greg this Saturday morning and talking with us about fall garden planting. Where do we start? one, I would say, make sure you have all the tools that you need. everything is working and fixed. two, you want to make sure that your soil is ready for you to plant in.

Sometimes that takes you maybe getting some compost soil to put as a top layer before you plant in for the fall to make sure your soil is ready. nutrients or food available to last them, as they're growing in space. two is just basically making sure you're going over your planting calendar and making sure you're putting in the right things during the right time of year.

making sure that you have a drip system set up, making sure that you have mulch and, also making sure that you have things like,your shade or stuff to cover your trees when it gets too cold in Arizona. around January, February, we hit frost. And so we cover the trees during that time.

We may cover some of the plants so that they don't get frostbite. but it's just making sure that you have everything that you need in space and ready for you to plant in and pretty much, fight any mishaps or anything that may come up during that time. And a lot of that comes from observation, paying attention, and one of the things we probably should look at is where do we put a garden at?

when you're looking at a space, Nika, what are you looking for garden placement? So when I'm looking for areas where we could get natural shade, whether that's from trees or from buildings or things around, I'm looking for spaces where, we don't have a lot of runoff so that we can make sure we have water that stays in that area.

We're looking for ways to. I guess get around maybe other land structures that may be in place. So that's what permaculture is about, It's like working with the land as it is not doing too many changes to it, but actually like working with the elements that you have in space to make sure that you have a thriving garden.

And so a lot of times we're putting grow beds around trees. to make sure that they have shade. And we don't have to buy shade for that area. we may notice an area where there's a lot of water that runs off into that area, that's going to be an area where we want to plant stuff that needs a lot more water, so that, cause we know the water is going to be in that area or, maybe putting something that doesn't need.

as much water in the area where water soaks up faster and things like that. We also put chickens in our space and we use chickens as a way to help us fight pests as fertilizer. They're basically little volunteer growers, whether they know it or not. So when we're looking at our space, we're definitely thinking of ways that we can set up grow areas without doing too much damage to the area or bringing in too much natural structures and things into a space.

Wow. One of the things on garden placement is where you put it in your yard and how much sun it gets. you mentioned looking for trees so you can shade that would be for afternoon shade. Planting a garden bed on the north side of a structure might not be the best idea because it may not get any sun at all there.

I've always said that. So yeah, that's an observation too. A lot of times I tell people before you even start a garden in your backyard, you need to go and spend a day just sitting in your yard looking at where the sun hits. Looking at the visitors that you have in your city. space and really like delving into what your design is going to look like and how it's going to benefit not only the environment, your food, but also the space as a whole.

Yeah. and I love how you called them visitors. What kind of visitors might we expect? Oh, in the fall? there's. You get, cabbage loopers come into the garden. Aphids are in the garden during this time of year. But then you also have visitors like birds and bees and butterflies and things like that.

So you want to make it a really welcoming space for some parts of nature and visitors from nature. But then you also want to make it towards a deterrent for things like rabbits or,Other things, mice that burrow. We had to fight mice for a while in the garden. and the way we got around that is by putting dog hair around the outer rim of the garden because it deters rabbits from current coming into your space.

And I have a Husky that sheds a lot. So it just works. That's a new tactic. new to, I think this broadcast, I haven't heard that, dog hair for deterrent of rabbit. Rabbits and mice. Yes. And mice. All right. New to me too. Wow. Yeah. So if you know a dog groomer, sprinkle some dog hair around your garden beds and keep the pests out.

Dogs and cats are one of the hard things to marry in with the garden because the dogs like to dig and roll and the cats like to turn into a litter box. So usually I'm trying to keep both of those things away from my garden. I hadn't thought about just taking their hair and bringing sprinkling it around.

I like that. I wonder if that would work for deer. It's supposed to work for deer. All right. I have a new challenge now to find dog hair. I love dog hair. To surround the urban farm from deer. Don't get crazy. All Greg's neighbor's dogs are all naked. In two months. Right. And then the other thing that you mentioned was watering.

Yes. And,so I always like to encourage people to pay attention. in their space and see where water comes from because it's not just necessarily the tap. You want to speak to that? Absolutely. rain gutters. I know that people put up systems to collect water from rain gutters. Some people put up systems to collect water from their washing machines.

Yeah. So water one is a very important resource, especially here in Arizona and thinking about how we set up our watering systems and how we can collect water should definitely be a priority for anybody that's trying to grow anything in the state of Arizona. Being mindful of how you're using water, how you're collecting water, how you're reserving water.

It's so important. When I, and I love what you said a little while ago, you're about directing that rainwater. Yes. one of the things that Brad Lancaster talks a lot about is, directing that water and sinking it in, and then in basins and then planting,more native things in those basins.

Absolutely. All right, we were in the Urban Farm Hour with Farmer Greg and his special guest Nika Forte of St. Vincent de Paul. Is it Forte? Do you put a little French accent on the end of that? Yeah, it is Forte, yes.thanks for being here. We'll be back right after this. Back in

the Urban Farm Hour with Farmer Greg and Nika Forte. Nika had mentioned, sitting in your yard observing. And Farmer Greg has recommended sometimes, if you're going to be there a long time, spend a whole year observing just because of where the sun is, seasonally as it shifts through the sky.

But past observing, gardening really comes down to, you're not really a grower. you're a soil cultivator is what you need to put in your mind. that's your priority. Yeah, that, that is the big thing. In fact, I've often told people for a raised bed garden, I'll spend 30 on the wood and 300 for the soil to go in it because you get what you pay for number one, and when you get good quality soil, your plants are healthier and tastier and they thrive a lot more.

Building healthy soil in your garden is really, in my opinion, the biggest thing that we can do. and I do this all the time. You can probably do this too, Romy. The five components of healthy soil, dirt, airspace, water, organic matter, and everything that's alive in the soil. And if you just have dirt in your garden, the thing to do is add lots of planting mix and compost.

And where do we go from there, Nika? So, the first five years that I started urban farming, I basically was telling everybody, my job is a soil farmer. Like my job is to make sure I am creating the best possible soil for my plants, because you're only going to be able to get out of your plants, what you put into it and your, the soil that you provide and the nutrient content that you provide for your plants is going to be so important for them to be to grow healthy and produce a lot for you.

So definitely spending a lot of money on soil, sometimes may be the thing that you have to do to make sure that you are producing a good amount of food and you're not wasting your money. A lot of times we're bringing food from our kitchens and composting it so that we can create soil for the garden.

And like Greg said, sun. dirt, organic matter, water. All those things are super important for you to build healthy soil and also combat food waste in our community. composting is not just about creating soil, but it's also about us helping repair the planet and also reduce waste in our community.

And when you talk about food waste, one of the things that always come, comes to my mind when I think about it isn't necessarily the end of the celery that you don't eat, that you can recompose. But,The amount of packaging that goes into food distribution, cardboard boxes, plastic bags, the cellophane, the amount of stuff you throw away, cooking, from the food packaging, is, Insane.

It's absolutely insane, which is why I encourage people to grow food at home because you reduce that waste and packaging. you help, combat pollution in the air. You are building community with your neighbors and you're also feeding yourself healthy, nutritious food because a lot of times when you're buying food from the grocery stores, it's been harvested two, three, four weeks prior and Greg and I both know, and I'm sure you guys know too, as well, is that once you harvest a piece of fruit or vegetable, it instantly starts losing its nutritional value slowly and surely.

So if you harvest an orange from a tree, the Vitamin C that you were hoping to get from that is significantly diminished after a couple of days.But if you're growing it in your backyard, then you're getting all the nutritional value you can get from that by picking it and eating it almost immediately. And that's another magic of citrus is that it'll stay ripe on the tree for so long. There's a lot of other harvests when we come to our stone fruits where you don't have a big window.

Citrus, you could three, four months on there. That you can just pick as you need. You talked about, all the benefits of gardening in the community and whether it's mental or physical, some people call it grounding. There's just something about getting your hands in the soil that, just does something to your physical and mental state.

Absolutely. Yes. There, there have been scientific studies on how the microbes release, and, release. I don't, I can't say a pheromone, but it releases something into the air that helps stabilize moods. And even just putting a community garden in a neighborhood that may have crime in it reduces the crime rate, reduces the stress of the community, gets people involved, gets people working together.

So Yeah, like gardening and putting your hands on the ground is more than just about food. It's about people. It's about planet It's about community. It's about health all of that That's what we try to encourage here with the Urban Farm Hour every, month, the fourth Saturday of the month.

And with one minute left, I don't want to force these topics in, Greg, but you had two great points about, selecting what you grow. What, what you like to eat and what saves you money. Oh, yeah. if, often I will get people with our fruit tree program asking me, what should I grow? And I, I say to them, what do you love?

Yeah. Only grow what you love. I planted some cauliflower this year. We don't love cauliflower here and it did. Okay. Didn't do great. And it, ended up getting composted. And even after growing fruit trees and gardens for over 50 years, sometimes I make that mistake.

So if you're going to spend the time, money, and energy to grow something, Make sure you love it We can do a lot here, but we can't stop the clock that music indicates bottom of the hour news hang tight second half of the urban farm hour after the news

All right, welcome back to rosie on the house fourth saturday of the month urban farming with farmer greg and if you're just joining us He's has special guests in nika forte from st. Vincent de paul. And as we were going to the break,we threw it to Greg farmer greg aboutgrow what you like to eat and grow what saves you money.

But, and Nika, you had additional input you wanted to add to that. Yeah, absolutely. So when I'm teaching classes to community, the first thing I do is ask them, what is it that you eat a lot of, right? Do you eat a lot of carrots? Do you eat a lot of lettuce? Do you eat a lot of spinach? Do you eat a lot of eggplants?

And then based on that, that is exactly what you should be growing, right? Because that's going to save you money on your grocery bill. That's going to want to get you more connected to the food that you like the most. And you have a better respect for people who grow and harvest the food that you eat in the end.

So I definitely love to tell the families, choose the things that you guys eat the most of. If there's a certain vegetable, your kid only wants to eat. that and get them engaged in growing your food and growing their own food. And because the younger that you start them growing their food, the better food choices