Common Ground Radio 8/12/21: “The Organic Farming Revolution,” a new book by MOFGA

Producer/Host: Holli Cederholm, MOFGA

This episode of Common Ground Radio commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). To celebrate this milestone, MOFGA put together a 50th anniversary book called “The Organic Farming Revolution: Past, Present, Future.” In this episode, guest host Holli Cederholm dives into the pages of the essay collection — and, more specifically, focuses on essays that conjure up Maine’s harvest season and agricultural community — in conversation with two of the book’s contributors: Eli Berry, a member of MOFGA’s Common Ground Country Fair steering committee, who contributed an essay about creating common ground through the country fair, and apple historian John Bunker, whose essay talks about the democracy of the apple tree.

FMI links:

Pre-order “The Organic Farming Revolution: Past, Present, Future” here
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association
Common Ground Country Fair
Crystal Lake Farm & Nursery
Maine Heritage Orchard
John Bunker’s books on apples
Fedco Trees

About the hosts:

C.J. Walke has been involved in Maine agriculture for over 20 years and has worked in numerous capacities for the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) starting in 2006. Since 2012, C.J. has worked as farm manager for College of the Atlantic’s Peggy Rockefeller Farms in Bar Harbor, Maine, where he works with students to grow organic fruits, vegetables and livestock products. He holds degrees in park management/environment education and library science. Common Ground Radio debuted in June of 2010 and C.J. has been the show’s host since 2014.

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 long-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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Essential Rhythm 8/12/21: Sea Slugs in Maine

Producer/Host: Sarah O’Malley

This episode introduces one of the groups of sea slugs found in the Gulf of Maine region: the dorid nudibranchs. Their general anatomy and reproductive signs are discussed.

About the host:
Sarah O’Malley is an ecologist, naturalist and science communicator passionate about deepening her listeners’ experiences with the natural world. She teaches biology and sustainability at Maine Maritime Academy and is currently collaborating on a guide book to the intertidal zone in the Gulf of Maine.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 8/12/21: Summer ’21 Encore 4 -Computerized Cars- What We Don’t Know

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

New cars come with lots of amazing features – including over 100 sensors and cameras and, by the way, over a hundred million lines of computer code. Here are as few things all those sensors and lines of computer code are doing, probably without the car owner’s knowledge or consent.

About the host:
Jim Campbell has a longstanding interest in the intersection of digital technology, law, and public policy and how they affect our daily lives in our increasingly digital world. He has banged around non-commercial radio for decades and, in the little known facts department (that should probably stay that way), he was one of the readers voicing Richard Nixon’s words when NPR broadcast the entire transcript of the Watergate tapes. Like several other current WERU volunteers, he was at the station’s sign-on party on May 1, 1988 and has been a volunteer ever since doing an early stint as a Morning Maine host, and later producing WERU program series including Northern Lights, Conversations on Science and Society, Sound Portrait of the Artist, Selections from the Camden Conference, others that will probably come to him after this is is posted, and, of course, Notes from the Electronic Cottage.

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The Technoptimist Show 8/11/21: Will Power Plants Move Into the Cloud?

Join Teresa Carey as she breaks down the latest news on the technology that is solving the world’s biggest problems. In today’s show, Teresa covers how a power plant could become cloud-based, the U.S.’s first electric tugboat, and what editing sugarcane’s genome means for the planet.

To learn more about the topics:
Will power plants move into the cloud?
The first U.S. electric tugboat will replace a tug that burns 30,000 gallons of diesel per year
Researchers edit the sugarcane plant’s genome for the first time
Should We Genetically Engineer Carbon-Hungry Trees?
This Genetically Modified Grass Can Clean Up Toxic Pollution

About the host:
Teresa Carey is a senior staff writer at Freethink.com, where she covers genetics and the environment. She is also a US Coast Guard licensed captain and a NatGeo Explorer. In addition to Freethink her work can be found in BuzzFeed, Scientific American, PBS NewsHour, NPR Weekend Edition, Smithsonian and more. @teresa_carey

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BoatTalk 8/10/21: Ocean’s Dream, Wooden Boat School videos, Maine Boats and Homes Show

Producers/Hosts: Mike Joyce, Alan Sprague, Jon Johansen

Guests: Megan Frey, Greg Rossel, Rich Hilsinger, John Hanson

About the hosts:

Alan Sprague a.k.a. Flounder of the Soul Show, has been a programmer at WERU since the glaciers receded. For thirty years at community radio he has worked his way from being an unpaid volunteer to being an unpaid volunteer today, and he says he’s worth every cent of it. In 2003 he and Mike Joyce started the monthly call-in show Boattalk which has become a boating related show without piers (pi). Mike and Alan met many years ago while both were working at the Hinckley Company. Alan was the head service carpenter at the Hinckley skunkworks called Bass Harbor Marine or sometimes Kibbee’s Kennels. He worked there for nearly thirty years and saw yachts of stories to tell yawl. As part of Boattalk they organize the annual WERU Boattalk Cruise in late June for a fun pot-luck trip up Somes Sound, America’s former fiord. Quite cunning Mike and Alan are to work a free scenic boat trip with fine food for themselves.

Mike Joyce bio to follow

Jon Johansen bio to follow

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Outside the Box 8/10/21: “The End of Jobs”

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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