An Organic Conversation

Today we are entering a world that many of us will never witness – the stunningly beautiful world of Coral reefs. Like tropical birds under the water, Corals are strange, incredible, and, as we will learn today, critical in the overall ecology of the oceans. And, they are as threatened as so many other ecosystems and animals today. However, if you are not a diver, there are not many other opportunities to see Corals up close. Perhaps in an aquarium you can get a glimpse of their colors and beauty, but anyone who has had a chance to dive through a Coral reef often speaks of it as if it was a outer-world experience. We now have a chance to see this amazing underwater world up close and personal – thanks to a new documentary Chasing Coral.

Guest: 

Richard Vevers, Founder & CEO, The Ocean Agency, & Underwater Photographer, Chasing Coral, Sydney, Australia [...]

American children spend four to seven minutes a day playing outdoors—that is 90 percent less time than their parents did. There is a significant physical, emotional, and mental price to pay for having such little exposure to Nature and unstructured playtime. What is at stake, how to bring Nature back into all of our lives, and specifically, How to Raise a Wild Child – that’s our topic in this hour of An Organic Conversation.

The summer months are here, with evening outdoor parties, and hopefully some leisurely slow weekends, perhaps with a glass of chilled Chardonnay, or a beautiful glass of Merlot – what ever your preference is. But do you know what’s in your glass, exactly? We are expanding the notion of “Know your farmer” or “Know where your food comes from” to “Know how your food is being made” in this episode. What does it take to make a bottle of organic wine, and what goes into non-organic wine? Most of us who are following an organic diet as much as possible know the differences between organic and non-organic produce, the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers in so called conventional production systems, and many other issues that organic production addresses, when it comes to fruits and vegetables. Today we are walking through every step of organic and non-organic wine production.

Guest:

Katrina Frey

Jonathan Frey

Frey Vineyards, Redwood Valle [...]

There are foods that suddenly become super hip, such as Kale, or coconut water, or Spirulina, or Avocados. And for good reasons, as these foods are so called super foods – that’s a category of foods with exceptional nutritional value and benefits for our health. One of these foods recently added, is a powerful spice, a root of the Ginger family, called Turmeric. It’s component, curcumin, has been hailed in nutritional circles for decades, but only recently has Turmeric gained public notoriety as an incredible anti-inflammatory plant medicine. New research shows, Turmeric even possesses cancer-fighting properties, as we will learn today.

Guest:

Dr. Ajay Goal, Professor and Director, Center for Translational Genomics and Oncology at Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX

Very few business areas are as close to our skin, literally, and as unregulated, as the bodycare industry. Even though our body is our largest organ, all of our shampoos, lotions, soaps, make-ups and other skin care products have little governmental oversight or production standards when it comes to our health. And right now in June, many of us begin to put vast amounts of sunscreen onto our bodies, and on the bodies of our loves ones. Children with their tendency to spend much more time outdoors than adults do, are especially at risk to get a sun burn, or to be exposed to unhealthy ingredients in our sunscreen products. What do we need to look out for, what products and ingredients are best, and how to decode the Sun Protection Factor (SPF)? We’ll speak with an expert today, a concerned mother and nurse-turned-entrepreneur.

Guest: 

Lisa McHugh, Founder, Bare Belly Organics, Burbank, CA

Today we are inviting you to come explore the world south of the border with us – the Mexican border, that is. We are taking it way beyond what is commonly known as tex mex food - Burritos, Enchiladas, Guacomole, and Tacos. Nothing wrong with that, but do you know what real, authentic Mexican cuisine looks like? Well, you’ll know after this hour! We are speaking with the author of a brand new beautiful cookbook on Real Mexican Food today.

Guest: 

Gonzalo Gonzalez Guzman, Chef & Owner, Nopalito, San Francisco, CA

Allyson Jossel, Owner, Nopa, San Francisco, CA

There is a deep reverence and respect for the Elements of Water, Sky, and Earth, Sun and Moon that we’ll find when we engage with cultures that have developed in the middle of the ocean, away from the speed of mainland societies. Hawaiian philosophy does not consider the physical and non-physical aspects of the world to be separate, therefore, to heal one aspect, all must be healed. Hear from an Hawaiian elder about key lessons in life - how to be of service, honor your family, and always practice kindness.

There are plenty of challenges to food production, including access to land, the availability of clean water, and, the right infrastructure so that the farm can be functional and productive for months and years to come, for example, access to electrical power for irrigation pumps, a cooler for appropriate post harvest handling, and so much more. Today we are exploring the intersection between ecology and technology in the form of a company that has developed a complete off-grid toolkit for operating a farm anywhere there is some land and some water.

Guest:

Brandi DeCarli, Founding Partner, Farm from a Box

In this life, in this world, you would think that we might run out of ideas, or stories, or goals - that the human capacity will at one point exhaust itself, that all songs might be written one day. Well, clearly not so. We’ve come across this incredibly wonderful movie, as slow as a wheel chair, and as deep as human inspiration can lead us – in this case up the mountain, into the heart and soul of the viewer. It’s called 4 Wheel Bob: A True Tale of Strength, Courage, and Wisdom. It’s filmed in the San Francisco Bay Area, where this show is produced, and it was nominated as one of the Bay Area’s most important Environmental Film Contributions this year at the San Francisco Green Film Festival. We are speaking with the film maker today, and with the star of the documentary.

Guest: 

Tal Skloot, Director, 4 Wheel Bob, SF Bay Area

Bob Coomber, Lifelong Outdoorsman,

A carrot seed is far less than a millimeter in size, a tiny speck of dirt, dust in the wind. And yet, it contains the DNA to sprout, and to grow big, orange, beta-carotene-rich carrots, given darkness and moisture and the right temperature. Seeds have been the foundation of life, and for life, for millions of years. Seeds are an incredible invention by Mother Nature – preserving life from generation to generation, often thousands of varieties of the same species, able to withstand and learn from draught, or other weather conditions, incorporate soil quality, and other environmental factors. Seeds are a living database of the growing history, to make sure the next generation of seeds is even better equipped than the generation before. Seeds are food, diversity, and resilience. There is a new film available that is talking about the role Seeds play for society, and for life itself. We are speaking with the directors and producers today in this insightful episode on life itself.