February 22, 2024 • 22 mins
The conversation we have on tap for you today was a fun one to record. It features Tim Armstrong. Tim is the founder of Eat Your Yard Jax, and as the name suggests he’s on a mission to introduce the world to edible landscapes and the importance of local food. But don’t let the friendly nature of the conversation fool you! The topic is a critical one when it comes to sustainability. Agriculture accounts for 11% of carbon emissions in the US. But the importance of eating local when it comes to emissions reduction is not as straightforward as you might think. True, transportation is a big part of the carbon footprint when food travels by air. Berries and other foods that spoil quickly are often shipped this way. However, most of our food travels by boat or rail, and then transport is a relatively small portion of its total emissions. The big driver? Agricultural practices. So what does that even mean? Simply put, pesticides and fertilizers are a really big source of emissions. That is where the real benefits of eating local kick in. If you’re growing food in your yard, you can use more sustainable practices. You’ll likely reduce food waste, and if you transform part of your yard into an edible landscape, you are watering your lawn less. I hope you enjoy this conversation with Tim!
RESOURCES
IFAS North Florida Gardening Guide
Article on Impact of Local Food on Carbon Emissions
US Carbon Emissions by Sector
https://squarefootgardening.org/
CONNECT
https://eatyouryardjax.org/
email: info@eatyouryardjax.org
Facebook
YouTube
Instagram
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Sustainable North Florida.
I'm your host, LorianneSantamaria.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Imagine a neighborhood where fruit trees
and berry bushes are common,where pollinator plants bring in
and provide food forbutterflies and honeybees, where
good food can be as close asright outside your kitchen door
At EER Jacks.
I feel like that's really whatwe're trying to achieve and what
we bring to the community.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Welcome.
The conversation we've got ontap for you today was a really
fun one to record.
It features Tim Armstrong.
Tim is the founder of Eat yourYard Jacks and, as the name
suggests, he's on a mission tointroduce the world to edible
landscapes and the importance oflocal food.
But don't let the friendlynature of this conversation fool
you.
The topic is a critical onewhen it comes to sustainability.
(00:57):
Food accounts for 11% of carbonemissions in the US, but the
importance of eating local whenit comes to emissions reduction
is actually not asstraightforward as you might
think.
It's true, transportation is abig part of the carbon footprint
when food travels by air.
Berries and other foods thatspoil quickly are often shipped
this way.
However, most of our foodtravels by boat or by rail, and
(01:20):
then transport is really arelatively small portion of its
total emissions.
The big driver.
What does that even mean?
Simply put, pesticides andfertilizer are a really big
source of emissions.
That is where the real benefitof eating local kicks in.
If you're growing food in yourown yard, you can use more
(01:41):
sustainable practices.
You'll also be less likely toreduce food waste, and if you
transform part of your yard intoan edible landscape, you're
watering your lawn less.
We actually have quite a fewentrepreneurs here in
Jacksonville that are focused onurban agriculture, so we'll be
hitting this topic again infuture episodes.
For now, I hope you enjoy theconversation that I had with Tim
Hi.
Tim, welcome to SustainableNorth Florida.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Thanks, lori.
So glad that you invited me andI'm super happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Well, not to put too much pressure on you, but you
really are one of the stars inthe community when it comes to
sustainability, particularlywith respect to sustainable
agriculture, and I'm really gladthat we get this chance to
share your story with ourlisteners.
I do want to get into yourbackground and about how Eat
your Yard Jax came to be, butlet's start with just a brief
overview of your nonprofit.
What is the mission of yourorganization?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Our vision is to operate an edible plant nursery
and education facilities, usingveterans and other special needs
individuals as employees andwork with students in the
general population, teachingthem about good food and how
they can empower themselves.
So we do that by having ourbusiness here, our nursery, that
people can come in and buyplants.
(02:51):
We're open to the public everyFriday and Saturday and then we
educate people by having classeshere at the farm, also having
our YouTube channel and ourwebsite and bringing in school
groups, garden club groups andother social groups here to the
farm to do tours of the farm andto learn different ways that
(03:12):
you can use these plants thatyou can grow in your backyard.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Tim, did you start your career in agriculture?
I?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
didn't.
I grew up in a residentialneighborhood but there were a
lot of little backyard gardens.
I spent a lot of time muckingaround in my neighbor's backyard
gardens.
I took vocational agriculturein high school and worked in
several nurseries.
I've always had a passion forplants, but when it came down to
(03:37):
making my living, I ended up inthe steel business and worked
20 years with the steel workers.
Most of that time was spent inmanagement work, and so I love
to solve problems, I love tohelp manage things and make
things happen, and that kind ofprocess engineering thought
waves has kind of followed methrough most of my life.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
That's really interesting.
So how did you make the shiftfrom working in the steel
industry to eat your yard jacks?
How did that come to be?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well, after I had stepped out of the corporate
world, I was doing differentthings, mostly flipping
properties, and I found a littlefire cell nursery.
The price was right and I knewI had loved the nursery business
when I was young.
I thought it was something thatmy kids and I could do together
and so I bought a little smallroute sales nursery business and
(04:25):
I started raising plants andselling them to independent
garden centers here in the area.
But my kids and I, you know,ate your yard.
Jacks kind of evolved out ofthat.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Your focus is on sustainable agriculture, but I
think, in order to understandwhy the topic is so critical,
it's important to know theimpact that the modern
agricultural system has on theenvironment.
Can you lighten us a little bit?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about sustainability
and agriculture, lorian.
So in the United States thereare 40 million acres of turf
grass, and this is according toScience Line.
There may be more lawn acresthan the eight largest crops
combined.
(05:07):
So you can see how climatechange is related to our use of
lawns.
So I think it's important.
If we're looking atsustainability and reducing our
(05:27):
waste, then I think we have tolook no further than out the
front door.
It's estimated that 800 milliongallons of gas is used to mow
and weed eat our lawns.
We know that lawns can beserved as a carbon sink, but the
heavy cost associated withmaintaining those lawns has
(05:49):
offset that balance.
To get those green lawns, thewater input, the fertilizer
input and the chemical input isvery high.
You can go into any box storeanywhere and go down the highway
where all those chemicals areand you can see and you can
(06:11):
smell for yourself just whatwe're introducing to the land
and we can make a difference.
We can make a difference byimproving our soil, by adapting
better methods to reduce thedisturbance of the soil and by
adding the leaves and materialback to the soil so that the
(06:32):
microbes can feed off of thatmaterial.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
So minimizing the amount of all this green grass
that we have growing in ourlawns would make a difference,
but I think what you'readvocating for is not just
getting rid of that andreplacing it with native plants,
but actually making that spacemore productive.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
More productive and better for the environment.
Better for you You're reducingfood miles and you're also
taking more control of your foodsecurity by being able to grow
more food yourself.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So eat your yard jacks.
I think that's a wonderful nameand basically that means we
should be growing our own foodin our own backyards.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And that's what we're shooting for.
You had mentioned in one of ourprevious conversations about
the little funny signs that Ihave coming in the driveway to
the farm.
Those little signs are cute andfunny, but they're meant to be
thought provoking.
One of the signs that's comingdown the drive talks about
bananas.
The average banana travels4,674 miles to get to your table
(07:40):
.
The banana bread that I sharedwith you this past week was
bananas that we picked in ourbackyards.
There's a myriad of things thatyou can grow in the North
Florida area, and that's kind ofwhat we're trying to encourage.
It's easy in this world oftechnology to become removed
(08:00):
from mother nature, and it isrewarding and beneficial to get
that connection back.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
You mentioned banana bread.
That was great, by the way.
Thank you.
And I think one thing peopleshould know about you is that
you never go hungry when you'rearound Tim.
Every get together he's gotoranges or banana bread or
persimmons.
I love that sign that you haveon that road coming into your
farm that talks about the banana, and one of the reasons is
because I think a lot of peopledon't realize that you can grow
(08:28):
bananas here in Jacksonville.
There's so many other thingsthat are at your farm that are
maybe surprising to some people.
What are some of the fruits andfoods that are grown there?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So around a lot of the old Florida homesteads you
would almost always find peartrees and you know, depending on
where in the United States theywere.
But fig trees and pear treesand plum trees these were super
common, especially down here inthe Southeast where we are.
We grow all these and we try tostretch the imagination a
(09:01):
little bit too with low chillhour peaches and apples and
bananas and avocados.
There's just a tremendousamount of food that can be grown
in the North Florida area thatpeople just haven't thought of
or don't think that maybe theywould fit in their yard.
But a lot of these plants arewonderful plants.
(09:22):
I was talking with one of ourvolunteers here at the farm this
morning and he was looking atthis beautiful bloom on this
tree and says, oh, are thesecherry blossoms?
And I says no, this is a peachblooming already.
I often tell people that peachesare like dogwood, with benefits
.
So they're just as beautiful asa dogwood tree.
(09:43):
They bloom at the same time ofyear.
They're just a prolific,gorgeous bloom.
But then I get the benefits ofwonderful peaches to eat
afterwards.
The University of Florida hasworked really hard to develop
strains of fruit trees that aremore appropriate for our
Southeast region, and so thoseare the ones that we work with.
(10:04):
We also work with some nativeslike the Chickasaw Plum and
mulberries are another great onefor North Florida.
They're like a blackberry on atree.
You were talking earlier,lurian, about sharing the banana
bread, so it's funny.
I can hardly talk or teachabout growing food without
(10:29):
sharing food.
It's a big part of my passionand my way of conveying things.
If you go to my YouTube channel, you'll often see us cooking on
the channel.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Thanks for listening.
If you're enjoying the episodeso far, please share the podcast
with your friends andcolleagues or, better yet,
subscribe on your favoritepodcast platform.
Those are the best ways tosupport our efforts to highlight
local sustainability stories.
And now back to the show.
Tim, one of the things that Inoticed when I go to your farm
is that the plants that you havereally are specific to our area
(11:07):
and it seems to be differentthan what I find when I go to
the big box stores or even otherlocal nurseries.
So this spring I decided that Iwanted to try to grow
strawberries.
I've never done that before andI did look on the IFAS website
and I think Maybe you couldcorrect me if I'm wrong but I
think that they said sweetCharlie was one of the varieties
that's good for northeastFlorida.
(11:28):
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
That is, and University of Florida has good
resources on their website fordifferent things that can be
grown at different times.
The Agriculture ExtensionOffice and Duval County and
Baker County both have goodplanting calendars, and so you
can sign up for the New Leafnewsletter, which is a free
(11:52):
newsletter through the ExtensionService, and I recommend that
for a lot of beginning gardeners.
Matthew Bartholomew's bookSquare Foot Gardening helps a
lot of people when they're firstgetting into gardening, and you
are correct.
Sweet Charlie and Chandler aretwo of the varieties that we
always carry here at the farm.
That are good varieties ofstrawberries for backyard
(12:16):
growers in the northeast FloridaArea.
They're fast and fun and one ofour first spring crops.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Once I read that on the IFAS site, I actually went
to a few local nurseries tryingto find that and they were
selling anything, but I couldn'tfind anything that was listed
on the IFAS website.
You've always got stuff thatactually is designed for this
area or is suitable for thisarea.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
But certainly one of the things that we really strive
for here.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Another observation that I've had when I come out to
visit you is that there areoften people from a lot of
different cultures that arethere looking for plants from
their homeland that might besuitable for growing in
Jacksonville, but they can'tfind it in any other place, like
, for example, my family.
You know, I'm Cuban American,my husband is from Nicaragua,
and there are some plants that Icould find with you that really
(13:02):
make us feel at home.
When I cook with the cilantroor we've got, you know, guava
that we can pick in the backyard, I feel like I'm not the only
one, because I do see peoplefrom different cultures going
there to get plants that makethem feel like they're at home.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
You're correct with that observation, lorraine.
I see that too, and I think alot of that falls back on.
You know my love for travel andseeing what other people are
eating, going to local markets,local stores and seeing what is
in there, and then trial anderror.
So the farm is over three acreswhere the nursery operation is,
(13:34):
and there's 43 acres total, andso we're able to experiment a
lot.
So that's one of the thingsthat I feel like separates us
from a lot of nurseries is thatwe get to plant.
Most everything that you seethat we sell is planted
somewhere on the compound here,and so you get to actually see
(13:57):
what the full grown plant lookslike, and if it's in fruit I'm
happy to share one with you andlet you taste it, and so that's
a.
That's a unique thing and itgives me a lot of enjoyment,
especially when you see a littleone pick his first mulberry and
taste mulberry for the firsttime, or peach.
It's just a wonderful feeling.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
So you have eat your yard jacks now, but there have
been other initiatives thatyou've been involved with in the
community.
Can you tell us a little bitabout Berry Good Farms?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yes, berry Good Farms is an urban farm at North
Florida School of SpecialEducation.
I was volunteering at theschool.
The oldest of my three sons hasDown syndrome and he
mainstreamed for the first fewyears of school.
But then we were looking for aplace that had a better teacher
(14:49):
to student ratio and we foundNorth Florida School and it was
such a wonderful fit.
As a parent I was volunteeringat the school.
They had a little garden behindthe school and I spent most of
my time volunteering in there.
I helped them a little bitplant some things in their
garden and it was just wonderfulseeing how much the kids
enjoyed and thrived and got alot out of working in that
(15:12):
garden.
As happenstance as it was, Iheard Will Allen speak at one of
the commercial agriculturalconferences around that time and
what he was doing with the kidsin Milwaukee and Chicago
teaching them about good foodand work ethics.
It just hit home with me.
(15:33):
I made a presentation to theboard of directors at the school
about creating an agribusinessproject on the site and with
that we created Berry Good Farmsand it was just such a
wonderful experience for me anda transforming experience for
the school and just became a gemof the Arlington area.
(15:54):
We planted 200 blueberries and100 blackberries, and peaches
and pomegranates and avocadosand built a 30 by 60 greenhouse
with aquaponics in it and sowheatgrass and veggie starts.
We started Tower Gardens up andthey have a little market there
on Wednesdays during schooltimes and it's just been a great
(16:17):
and amazing project.
There's lots of wonderfulthings in the food world in
North Florida.
Just have to kind of glean themout.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
One of the things that any organization has to
deal with from a sustainabilityperspective is financial
sustainability.
So how is it that yourorganization keeps the door open
and, as a nonprofit, how do youfund your operations?
Speaker 2 (16:38):
We are a small nonprofit and I have attempted
to be as self-sustaining as Ican.
So our plant sales and ourclasses is the major source of
funding for the operations.
We're open to the public everyFriday and Saturday.
We do school tours during theweek.
(16:59):
But as a nonprofit we alsodepend on support from the
community as well and we've beenblessed with folks that have
recognized what we're trying todo and we depend on that
community support to continueour mission.
Recently, in the last threeyears, the first Sunday in
(17:20):
November we do a persimmonfestival.
It helps educate people about anative fruit, a kind of an
unknown fruit, because mostpeople don't think, oh, I'm
going to run down a buy bag ofpersimmons.
So this is a kind of a fruitoff of most people's radars.
But it's a way that it brings alot of the community gathered
(17:42):
out here to the farm to enjoy.
We invite chef friends,breweries, we do tastings all
day long, we have activities forthe kids all day long and we
have regional experts come inand do talks on different like
we had beekeeping this past year, we had solar, one year we had
(18:05):
overalls come talk about gettingyour garden started in your
backyard, and so that's one waythat we help support the
community as well.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
So, tim, what are some more specific ways that
people can get involved?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So we're doing volunteer days.
On Thursdays we let people comeout and help at the nursery and
work with some of the workersat the farm.
You can ask your school to setup a school group.
We love to do homeschool groupsout here at the farm.
High school students andcollege students are doing
student projects out at the farm.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
What are some of the workshops that you guys have at
the farm?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
So workshops are one of the ways that we share our
experiences out here at the farmwith the community.
One of our favorite workshopsis the tea workshop, where we go
into all sorts of differentteas that you can make with the
different plants that you cangrow in the North Florida area
and we try to go off of theregular like mint tea and things
(19:07):
like that.
We go into the deep dive on allsorts of unusual teas that you
can brew and make yourself, likethe Yupon Holley tea, which is
akin to the Yurba Mate.
We've been super excited aboutbeing able to get quite a few
instructors coming in andteaching at the farm.
(19:29):
I'm super excited about apottery class we have coming up
with one of the teachers fromFletcher High School.
We've had cob workshops.
Cob is an ancient buildingtechnique with sand, clay and
straw and many people that cometo the farm enjoy seeing our cob
oven burning.
We make pizzas and frittatasand cobblers on that cob oven.
(19:55):
We almost every week cook onthat oven and so that's a fun
workshop.
We do mushroom workshops.
People enjoy learning how togrow gourmet mushrooms in their
backyard.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Tim, thank you so much for chatting with us today,
but before we go, let's justmake sure everyone knows how to
connect with you.
How can they find you so?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
you can reach us online at our website,
eachyouryardjaxorg.
We would love to have you takea look at some of the plants we
have to offer.
You can order plants online.
You can make donations online.
We do have other social media.
We've got Facebook page andwe're pretty active on there.
(20:35):
We're very active on Instagram.
We have a TikTok channel and wehave a YouTube channel, so we'd
love for you to see some of ourvideos on our YouTube channel.
Our business hours are everyFriday and Saturday, 10 to four,
and we would love for you tocome by the farm and see what
we've got going on out there,and those are some great ways to
(20:57):
become involved with thebusiness.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Thank you so much, Tim.
It's really been a lot of funspeaking with you today.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
And speaking with you as well, Lorianne, I'm so glad
that you've decided to do thesepodcasts for the North Florida
community and you're muchappreciated.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
A big thanks to Tim for spending the time with us to
record this episode.
Encourage you to check out hisfarm.
It's a great place to take thekids as well.
They've got plenty of upcomingworkshops, including a few this
weekend that's February 24th and25th focused on herbs and one
focused on sustainable foodproduction.
You can also check them out atthe Jacksonville Home and Patios
show March 1st and 2nd.
Stay up to date with activitieson the farm by checking out
(21:38):
their website or following themon social media, and, of course,
we'll include links to all ofthat in the show notes.
And now our one good thing theSouthern Alliance for Clean
Energy is hosting an energyefficiency webinar on March 1st.
Volunteers there will besharing insights on the energy
efficiency measures that they'vetaken in their own homes, and
they'll also tell you how to tapinto available funding that can
(21:58):
make your home energyimprovements an affordable
option.
You don't have to be an expertto help reduce carbon emissions
in your community.
Just learning more is a greatway to start on your journey
towards making meaningful change.
For more information, head tocleanenergyorg.
Welcome to Sustainable North Florida.
I'm your host, LorianneSantamaria.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Imagine a neighborhood where fruit trees
and berry bushes are common,where pollinator plants bring in
and provide food forbutterflies and honeybees, where
good food can be as close asright outside your kitchen door
At EER Jacks.
I feel like that's really whatwe're trying to achieve and what
we bring to the community.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Welcome.
The conversation we've got ontap for you today was a really
fun one to record.
It features Tim Armstrong.
Tim is the founder of Eat yourYard Jacks and, as the name
suggests, he's on a mission tointroduce the world to edible
landscapes and the importance oflocal food.
But don't let the friendlynature of this conversation fool
you.
The topic is a critical onewhen it comes to sustainability.
(00:57):
Food accounts for 11% of carbonemissions in the US, but the
importance of eating local whenit comes to emissions reduction
is actually not asstraightforward as you might
think.
It's true, transportation is abig part of the carbon footprint
when food travels by air.
Berries and other foods thatspoil quickly are often shipped
this way.
However, most of our foodtravels by boat or by rail, and
(01:20):
then transport is really arelatively small portion of its
total emissions.
The big driver.
What does that even mean?
Simply put, pesticides andfertilizer are a really big
source of emissions.
That is where the real benefitof eating local kicks in.
If you're growing food in yourown yard, you can use more
(01:41):
sustainable practices.
You'll also be less likely toreduce food waste, and if you
transform part of your yard intoan edible landscape, you're
watering your lawn less.
We actually have quite a fewentrepreneurs here in
Jacksonville that are focused onurban agriculture, so we'll be
hitting this topic again infuture episodes.
For now, I hope you enjoy theconversation that I had with Tim
Hi.
Tim, welcome to SustainableNorth Florida.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Thanks, lori.
So glad that you invited me andI'm super happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Well, not to put too much pressure on you, but you
really are one of the stars inthe community when it comes to
sustainability, particularlywith respect to sustainable
agriculture, and I'm really gladthat we get this chance to
share your story with ourlisteners.
I do want to get into yourbackground and about how Eat
your Yard Jax came to be, butlet's start with just a brief
overview of your nonprofit.
What is the mission of yourorganization?
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Our vision is to operate an edible plant nursery
and education facilities, usingveterans and other special needs
individuals as employees andwork with students in the
general population, teachingthem about good food and how
they can empower themselves.
So we do that by having ourbusiness here, our nursery, that
people can come in and buyplants.
(02:51):
We're open to the public everyFriday and Saturday and then we
educate people by having classeshere at the farm, also having
our YouTube channel and ourwebsite and bringing in school
groups, garden club groups andother social groups here to the
farm to do tours of the farm andto learn different ways that
(03:12):
you can use these plants thatyou can grow in your backyard.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Tim, did you start your career in agriculture?
I?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
didn't.
I grew up in a residentialneighborhood but there were a
lot of little backyard gardens.
I spent a lot of time muckingaround in my neighbor's backyard
gardens.
I took vocational agriculturein high school and worked in
several nurseries.
I've always had a passion forplants, but when it came down to
(03:37):
making my living, I ended up inthe steel business and worked
20 years with the steel workers.
Most of that time was spent inmanagement work, and so I love
to solve problems, I love tohelp manage things and make
things happen, and that kind ofprocess engineering thought
waves has kind of followed methrough most of my life.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
That's really interesting.
So how did you make the shiftfrom working in the steel
industry to eat your yard jacks?
How did that come to be?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Well, after I had stepped out of the corporate
world, I was doing differentthings, mostly flipping
properties, and I found a littlefire cell nursery.
The price was right and I knewI had loved the nursery business
when I was young.
I thought it was something thatmy kids and I could do together
and so I bought a little smallroute sales nursery business and
(04:25):
I started raising plants andselling them to independent
garden centers here in the area.
But my kids and I, you know,ate your yard.
Jacks kind of evolved out ofthat.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Your focus is on sustainable agriculture, but I
think, in order to understandwhy the topic is so critical,
it's important to know theimpact that the modern
agricultural system has on theenvironment.
Can you lighten us a little bit?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, so let's talk a little bit about sustainability
and agriculture, lorian.
So in the United States thereare 40 million acres of turf
grass, and this is according toScience Line.
There may be more lawn acresthan the eight largest crops
combined.
(05:07):
So you can see how climatechange is related to our use of
lawns.
So I think it's important.
If we're looking atsustainability and reducing our
(05:27):
waste, then I think we have tolook no further than out the
front door.
It's estimated that 800 milliongallons of gas is used to mow
and weed eat our lawns.
We know that lawns can beserved as a carbon sink, but the
heavy cost associated withmaintaining those lawns has
(05:49):
offset that balance.
To get those green lawns, thewater input, the fertilizer
input and the chemical input isvery high.
You can go into any box storeanywhere and go down the highway
where all those chemicals areand you can see and you can
(06:11):
smell for yourself just whatwe're introducing to the land
and we can make a difference.
We can make a difference byimproving our soil, by adapting
better methods to reduce thedisturbance of the soil and by
adding the leaves and materialback to the soil so that the
(06:32):
microbes can feed off of thatmaterial.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
So minimizing the amount of all this green grass
that we have growing in ourlawns would make a difference,
but I think what you'readvocating for is not just
getting rid of that andreplacing it with native plants,
but actually making that spacemore productive.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
More productive and better for the environment.
Better for you You're reducingfood miles and you're also
taking more control of your foodsecurity by being able to grow
more food yourself.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
So eat your yard jacks.
I think that's a wonderful nameand basically that means we
should be growing our own foodin our own backyards.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
And that's what we're shooting for.
You had mentioned in one of ourprevious conversations about
the little funny signs that Ihave coming in the driveway to
the farm.
Those little signs are cute andfunny, but they're meant to be
thought provoking.
One of the signs that's comingdown the drive talks about
bananas.
The average banana travels4,674 miles to get to your table
(07:40):
.
The banana bread that I sharedwith you this past week was
bananas that we picked in ourbackyards.
There's a myriad of things thatyou can grow in the North
Florida area, and that's kind ofwhat we're trying to encourage.
It's easy in this world oftechnology to become removed
(08:00):
from mother nature, and it isrewarding and beneficial to get
that connection back.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
You mentioned banana bread.
That was great, by the way.
Thank you.
And I think one thing peopleshould know about you is that
you never go hungry when you'rearound Tim.
Every get together he's gotoranges or banana bread or
persimmons.
I love that sign that you haveon that road coming into your
farm that talks about the banana, and one of the reasons is
because I think a lot of peopledon't realize that you can grow
(08:28):
bananas here in Jacksonville.
There's so many other thingsthat are at your farm that are
maybe surprising to some people.
What are some of the fruits andfoods that are grown there?
Speaker 2 (08:37):
So around a lot of the old Florida homesteads you
would almost always find peartrees and you know, depending on
where in the United States theywere.
But fig trees and pear treesand plum trees these were super
common, especially down here inthe Southeast where we are.
We grow all these and we try tostretch the imagination a
(09:01):
little bit too with low chillhour peaches and apples and
bananas and avocados.
There's just a tremendousamount of food that can be grown
in the North Florida area thatpeople just haven't thought of
or don't think that maybe theywould fit in their yard.
But a lot of these plants arewonderful plants.
(09:22):
I was talking with one of ourvolunteers here at the farm this
morning and he was looking atthis beautiful bloom on this
tree and says, oh, are thesecherry blossoms?
And I says no, this is a peachblooming already.
I often tell people that peachesare like dogwood, with benefits
.
So they're just as beautiful asa dogwood tree.
(09:43):
They bloom at the same time ofyear.
They're just a prolific,gorgeous bloom.
But then I get the benefits ofwonderful peaches to eat
afterwards.
The University of Florida hasworked really hard to develop
strains of fruit trees that aremore appropriate for our
Southeast region, and so thoseare the ones that we work with.
(10:04):
We also work with some nativeslike the Chickasaw Plum and
mulberries are another great onefor North Florida.
They're like a blackberry on atree.
You were talking earlier,lurian, about sharing the banana
bread, so it's funny.
I can hardly talk or teachabout growing food without
(10:29):
sharing food.
It's a big part of my passionand my way of conveying things.
If you go to my YouTube channel, you'll often see us cooking on
the channel.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Thanks for listening.
If you're enjoying the episodeso far, please share the podcast
with your friends andcolleagues or, better yet,
subscribe on your favoritepodcast platform.
Those are the best ways tosupport our efforts to highlight
local sustainability stories.
And now back to the show.
Tim, one of the things that Inoticed when I go to your farm
is that the plants that you havereally are specific to our area
(11:07):
and it seems to be differentthan what I find when I go to
the big box stores or even otherlocal nurseries.
So this spring I decided that Iwanted to try to grow
strawberries.
I've never done that before andI did look on the IFAS website
and I think Maybe you couldcorrect me if I'm wrong but I
think that they said sweetCharlie was one of the varieties
that's good for northeastFlorida.
(11:28):
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (11:29):
That is, and University of Florida has good
resources on their website fordifferent things that can be
grown at different times.
The Agriculture ExtensionOffice and Duval County and
Baker County both have goodplanting calendars, and so you
can sign up for the New Leafnewsletter, which is a free
(11:52):
newsletter through the ExtensionService, and I recommend that
for a lot of beginning gardeners.
Matthew Bartholomew's bookSquare Foot Gardening helps a
lot of people when they're firstgetting into gardening, and you
are correct.
Sweet Charlie and Chandler aretwo of the varieties that we
always carry here at the farm.
That are good varieties ofstrawberries for backyard
(12:16):
growers in the northeast FloridaArea.
They're fast and fun and one ofour first spring crops.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
Once I read that on the IFAS site, I actually went
to a few local nurseries tryingto find that and they were
selling anything, but I couldn'tfind anything that was listed
on the IFAS website.
You've always got stuff thatactually is designed for this
area or is suitable for thisarea.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
But certainly one of the things that we really strive
for here.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Another observation that I've had when I come out to
visit you is that there areoften people from a lot of
different cultures that arethere looking for plants from
their homeland that might besuitable for growing in
Jacksonville, but they can'tfind it in any other place, like
, for example, my family.
You know, I'm Cuban American,my husband is from Nicaragua,
and there are some plants that Icould find with you that really
(13:02):
make us feel at home.
When I cook with the cilantroor we've got, you know, guava
that we can pick in the backyard, I feel like I'm not the only
one, because I do see peoplefrom different cultures going
there to get plants that makethem feel like they're at home.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
You're correct with that observation, lorraine.
I see that too, and I think alot of that falls back on.
You know my love for travel andseeing what other people are
eating, going to local markets,local stores and seeing what is
in there, and then trial anderror.
So the farm is over three acreswhere the nursery operation is,
(13:34):
and there's 43 acres total, andso we're able to experiment a
lot.
So that's one of the thingsthat I feel like separates us
from a lot of nurseries is thatwe get to plant.
Most everything that you seethat we sell is planted
somewhere on the compound here,and so you get to actually see
(13:57):
what the full grown plant lookslike, and if it's in fruit I'm
happy to share one with you andlet you taste it, and so that's
a.
That's a unique thing and itgives me a lot of enjoyment,
especially when you see a littleone pick his first mulberry and
taste mulberry for the firsttime, or peach.
It's just a wonderful feeling.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
So you have eat your yard jacks now, but there have
been other initiatives thatyou've been involved with in the
community.
Can you tell us a little bitabout Berry Good Farms?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Yes, berry Good Farms is an urban farm at North
Florida School of SpecialEducation.
I was volunteering at theschool.
The oldest of my three sons hasDown syndrome and he
mainstreamed for the first fewyears of school.
But then we were looking for aplace that had a better teacher
(14:49):
to student ratio and we foundNorth Florida School and it was
such a wonderful fit.
As a parent I was volunteeringat the school.
They had a little garden behindthe school and I spent most of
my time volunteering in there.
I helped them a little bitplant some things in their
garden and it was just wonderfulseeing how much the kids
enjoyed and thrived and got alot out of working in that
(15:12):
garden.
As happenstance as it was, Iheard Will Allen speak at one of
the commercial agriculturalconferences around that time and
what he was doing with the kidsin Milwaukee and Chicago
teaching them about good foodand work ethics.
It just hit home with me.
(15:33):
I made a presentation to theboard of directors at the school
about creating an agribusinessproject on the site and with
that we created Berry Good Farmsand it was just such a
wonderful experience for me anda transforming experience for
the school and just became a gemof the Arlington area.
(15:54):
We planted 200 blueberries and100 blackberries, and peaches
and pomegranates and avocadosand built a 30 by 60 greenhouse
with aquaponics in it and sowheatgrass and veggie starts.
We started Tower Gardens up andthey have a little market there
on Wednesdays during schooltimes and it's just been a great
(16:17):
and amazing project.
There's lots of wonderfulthings in the food world in
North Florida.
Just have to kind of glean themout.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
One of the things that any organization has to
deal with from a sustainabilityperspective is financial
sustainability.
So how is it that yourorganization keeps the door open
and, as a nonprofit, how do youfund your operations?
Speaker 2 (16:38):
We are a small nonprofit and I have attempted
to be as self-sustaining as Ican.
So our plant sales and ourclasses is the major source of
funding for the operations.
We're open to the public everyFriday and Saturday.
We do school tours during theweek.
(16:59):
But as a nonprofit we alsodepend on support from the
community as well and we've beenblessed with folks that have
recognized what we're trying todo and we depend on that
community support to continueour mission.
Recently, in the last threeyears, the first Sunday in
(17:20):
November we do a persimmonfestival.
It helps educate people about anative fruit, a kind of an
unknown fruit, because mostpeople don't think, oh, I'm
going to run down a buy bag ofpersimmons.
So this is a kind of a fruitoff of most people's radars.
But it's a way that it brings alot of the community gathered
(17:42):
out here to the farm to enjoy.
We invite chef friends,breweries, we do tastings all
day long, we have activities forthe kids all day long and we
have regional experts come inand do talks on different like
we had beekeeping this past year, we had solar, one year we had
(18:05):
overalls come talk about gettingyour garden started in your
backyard, and so that's one waythat we help support the
community as well.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
So, tim, what are some more specific ways that
people can get involved?
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So we're doing volunteer days.
On Thursdays we let people comeout and help at the nursery and
work with some of the workersat the farm.
You can ask your school to setup a school group.
We love to do homeschool groupsout here at the farm.
High school students andcollege students are doing
student projects out at the farm.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
What are some of the workshops that you guys have at
the farm?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
So workshops are one of the ways that we share our
experiences out here at the farmwith the community.
One of our favorite workshopsis the tea workshop, where we go
into all sorts of differentteas that you can make with the
different plants that you cangrow in the North Florida area
and we try to go off of theregular like mint tea and things
(19:07):
like that.
We go into the deep dive on allsorts of unusual teas that you
can brew and make yourself, likethe Yupon Holley tea, which is
akin to the Yurba Mate.
We've been super excited aboutbeing able to get quite a few
instructors coming in andteaching at the farm.
(19:29):
I'm super excited about apottery class we have coming up
with one of the teachers fromFletcher High School.
We've had cob workshops.
Cob is an ancient buildingtechnique with sand, clay and
straw and many people that cometo the farm enjoy seeing our cob
oven burning.
We make pizzas and frittatasand cobblers on that cob oven.
(19:55):
We almost every week cook onthat oven and so that's a fun
workshop.
We do mushroom workshops.
People enjoy learning how togrow gourmet mushrooms in their
backyard.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Tim, thank you so much for chatting with us today,
but before we go, let's justmake sure everyone knows how to
connect with you.
How can they find you so?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
you can reach us online at our website,
eachyouryardjaxorg.
We would love to have you takea look at some of the plants we
have to offer.
You can order plants online.
You can make donations online.
We do have other social media.
We've got Facebook page andwe're pretty active on there.
(20:35):
We're very active on Instagram.
We have a TikTok channel and wehave a YouTube channel, so we'd
love for you to see some of ourvideos on our YouTube channel.
Our business hours are everyFriday and Saturday, 10 to four,
and we would love for you tocome by the farm and see what
we've got going on out there,and those are some great ways to
(20:57):
become involved with thebusiness.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Thank you so much, Tim.
It's really been a lot of funspeaking with you today.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
And speaking with you as well, Lorianne, I'm so glad
that you've decided to do thesepodcasts for the North Florida
community and you're muchappreciated.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
A big thanks to Tim for spending the time with us to
record this episode.
Encourage you to check out hisfarm.
It's a great place to take thekids as well.
They've got plenty of upcomingworkshops, including a few this
weekend that's February 24th and25th focused on herbs and one
focused on sustainable foodproduction.
You can also check them out atthe Jacksonville Home and Patios
show March 1st and 2nd.
Stay up to date with activitieson the farm by checking out
(21:38):
their website or following themon social media, and, of course,
we'll include links to all ofthat in the show notes.
And now our one good thing theSouthern Alliance for Clean
Energy is hosting an energyefficiency webinar on March 1st.
Volunteers there will besharing insights on the energy
efficiency measures that they'vetaken in their own homes, and
they'll also tell you how to tapinto available funding that can
(21:58):
make your home energyimprovements an affordable
option.
You don't have to be an expertto help reduce carbon emissions
in your community.
Just learning more is a greatway to start on your journey
towards making meaningful change.
For more information, head tocleanenergyorg.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com