Common Ground Radio 2/8/24: Seed Saving and Fruit Tree Grafting

Host: Holli Cederholm
Editor: Clare Boland

Common Ground Radio is an hour-long discussion of local food and organic agriculture with people here in the state of Maine and beyond.

This month:
In advance of MOFGA’s annual Seed Swap & Scion Exchange, held in Unity, Maine, the February 2024 episode of Common Ground Radio explores saving seeds and fruit tree grafting, both of which are useful skills for the garden, farm and homestead. With Will Bonsall, author of “Will Bonsall’s Essential Guide to Radical Self-Reliant Gardening,” we talk about the importance of saving seed, as well as seed saving basics for beginners. Later in the show, we are joined by C. J. Walke, MOFGA’s orchard program manager, to discuss fruit tree propagation via grafting, including bench grafting, top working, and bud grafting techniques.

Guest/s:
Will Bonsall
C.J. Walke

FMI:
MOFGA’s Seed Swap & Scion Exchange — www.mofga.org/trainings/annual-events/seed-swap-and-scion-exchange
“Will Bonsall’s Essential Guide to Radical Self-Reliant Gardening” by Will Bonsall —
chelseagreen.com/product/will-bonsalls-essential-guide-to-radical-self-reliant-gardening
“Seed to Seed” by Suzanne Ashworth — chelseagreen.com/product/seed-to-seed
“Seed Saving: An Introduction” by Roberta Bailey — mofga.org/resources/seeds/saving-seed
“A Spring Grafting Primer” by Roberta Bailey — mofga.org/resources/orcharding/grafting-primer
Maine Heritage Orchard — mofga.org/our-community/the-maine-heritage-orchard
MOFGA apple database — mofga.org/maineheritageorchard

About the hosts:
Holli Cederholm has been involved in organic agriculture since 2005 when she first apprenticed on a small farm. She has worked on organic farms in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Scotland and Italy and, in 2010, founded a small farm focused on celebrating open-pollinated and heirloom vegetables. As the former manager of a national nonprofit dedicated to organic seed growers, she authored a peer-reviewed handbook on GMO avoidance strategies for seed growers. Holli has also been a steward at Forest Farm, the iconic homestead of “The Good Life” authors Helen and Scott Nearing; a host of “The Farm Report” on Heritage Radio Network; and a lo0ng-time contributor for The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, which she now edits in her role as content creator and editor at MOFGA.

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Around Town 2/8/24: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Guest: Jana Herbener, Community Relations and Marketing Manager, The Strand, Rockland, with details about a free training on Valentine’s Day, presented with OUTMaine, called “Main Street Maine: Building Welcoming and Inclusive Businesses and Public Spaces”, and 100 years ago today in the news in Maine.

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.

Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Climate & Community 2/8/24: Nature-Based Solutions & Community Values

Host: Brianna Cunliffe
 
Description: Climate & Community continues a conversation with the Community Resilience Training series, this time focusing on nature-based solutions to climate impacts and their relevance and resonance for Maine communities. We hear from Gayle Bowness, Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Municipal Climate Action Program Manager. To learn more about nature-based solutions, visit crsf.umaine.edu/forest-climate-change-initiative/ncs/ or www.maineresiliency.org/post/the-power-of-wetlands-an-overview-of-current-nature-based-solution-projects-in-maine.
 
Johannah, Brianna, Tanvi, Gus, Corey, and Beth are the team at A Climate to Thrive, a nonprofit working to build a model of community-driven, solutions-focused climate action. Since its origins around a potluck table as concerned neighbors gathered to take action on climate change, A Climate to Thrive, or ACTT, has been supporting solutions on Mount Desert Island and beyond since 2016. Learn more at www.aclimatetothrive.org.

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Healthy Options 2/7/24: Teens to Trails

Host/Producer: Rhonda Feiman
Co-Producer: Petra Hall
Technical assistance: Joel Mann & Amy Browne

Healthy Options: For Well-being & Being Well

Program Topic:
TEENS TO TRAILS, an organization connecting Maine students to life-changing outdoor experiences.

This month:

What is Teens to Trails and what is their mission?
How does Teens to Trails work with parents, students and schools?
What are the health benefits of being in the outdoors?
How can these outdoor experiences help kids improve their well-being, emotional resilience, and reduce stress & anxiety?
Is there a difference between outdoor education and outdoor recreation?
What are the benefits of outdoor play and how do students respond to their outdoor activities?
What do you see in the kids when they’re part of an outdoor club? How do they interact with their peers?
What do we mean by “unstructured time”, and why is this time so important for all of us?
What impact are personal devices such as phones having on the health of our children- and when they are connecting with the outdoors, what changes may occur?

Guest(s): Alicia Heyburn, Executive Director of Teens to Trails, and Miles Bisher, social studies teacher and outdoor club advisor.

FMI: teenstotrails.org

About the host:
Rhonda Feiman is a nationally-certified, licensed acupuncturist practicing in Belfast, Maine since 1993. She primarily practices Toyohari Japanese acupuncture, using gentle and powerful non-insertion needle techniques, and also utilizes Chinese acupuncture and herbology. In addition, Rhonda is a practitioner of Qi Gong and an instructor of Tai Chi Chuan in the Yang Family tradition.

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Around Town 2/7/24: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Guest: Lisa Ladd, Library Director, Buck Memorial Library joins us to talk about their events this month – which happens to be “Love Your Library” month.

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.

Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Around Town 2/6/24: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Guest: Jessica Seavey, Program Director, Loaves and Fishes Ellsworth, with information about their program to address hunger during February school vacation week.

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.

Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

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Outside the Box 2/6/24: “Savior Too?”

Producer/Host: Larry Dansinger

About the host:
Larry Dansinger (no pronouns) of Bangor came to Maine in 1974 and has been here ever since. Some of Larry’s activities since then: Done community organizing on numerous issues through INVERT and then Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC), committed civil disobedience several times, grown a garden yearly since 1977, joined various food cooperatives and two men’s groups, refused to pay federal income taxes for war, lived on a community land trust for 23 years, and met a wonderful partner whom Larry has loved for over 40 years. Larry has produced Outside the Box features on WERU since 2007 and continues to look for unique ways of seeing almost any problem or situation.

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Around Town 2/5/24: Local News, Culture and Events

Host/Producer: Amy Browne

Guest: Shawn Keeley, Dean of Institutional Advancement at the College of the Atlantic, with information about their annual 24 hour fundraising event, which starts tomorrow

About the host:
Amy Browne started out at WERU as a volunteer news & public affairs producer in 2000, co-hosting/co-producing RadioActive with Meredith DeFrancesco. She joined the team of Voices producers a few years later, and has been WERU’s News & Public Affairs Manager since January, 2006. In addition to RadioActive, Voices, Maine Currents and Maine: The Way Life Could Be, Amy also produced and hosted the WERU News Report for several years. She has produced segments for national programs including Free Speech Radio News, This Way Out, Making Contact, Workers Independent News, Pacifica PeaceWatch, and Live Wire News, and has contributed to Democracy Now and the WBAI News Report. She is the recipient of the 2014 Excellence in Environmental Journalism Award from the Sierra Club of Maine, and Maine Association of Broadcasters awards for her work in 2017 and 2021.

Theme music: BreakBeat Chemists I, 2015
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License

Podcast: Play in new window | Download