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Episode 276: Unearthing

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

Release Date: 03/04/2024

Gardening for Amphibians show art Gardening for Amphibians

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

Will Johansen is from Froglife, a conservation group devoted to protecting amphibians and reptiles. Will’s here to discuss practical ways we can support amphibians in our gardens, from building simple ponds to creating safe spaces where they can thrive. Will gives tips and advice to help you make a real difference for these often-overlooked creatures. Links Other episodes if you liked this one: If you liked this week's episode with Will Johansen you might also enjoy this one from the archives:  - This week, my guest is Meg Skinner. Meg works as an invertebrate ecologist, surveying...

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Episode 311: Radical Rest show art Episode 311: Radical Rest

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

What if rest could be a radical act of resistance? In this episode, I talk with Evie Muir, author of Radical Rest, who challenges the myth that burnout can be cured by self-care alone. Evie offers a bold vision of rest as a communal, transformative practice grounded in Black Feminist and abolitionist thought. Tune in to explore how rest and time in nature can lead us from exhaustion and grief toward joy and resilience—and what it takes to build a world where we can all thrive. About ‘Radical Rest: Notes on Burnout, Healing and Hopeful Futures’ We’re burnt out—drained, anxious,...

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Episode 310: Designer Food Garden show art Episode 310: Designer Food Garden

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

Christian Douglas is redefining vegetable gardening with a focus on style and functionality. Drawing on examples from urban and rural gardens, including his own garden in Marin County, he offers practical advice on growing a variety of vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Christian talks about how to assess lighting and soil, pick plants suited to the climate, and discover creative edible alternatives to traditional landscape plants. Looking at spaces from small city gardens to large rural plots, and even a rooftop space, his new book 'Food Forward Garden Design' offers guidance on how to create a...

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Episode 309: The Seed Hunter show art Episode 309: The Seed Hunter

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

Mitch McCulloch is redefining how we grow and cook with plants. He’s is a former chef, turned seed hunter and gardener, who applies his culinary knowledge when choosing and cooking with the produce he grows. Not only does he select the most diverse and interesting varieties, he gets creative with how he serves up his produce. His new book The Seed Hunter is properly inspiring if you’re both a cook and grower and you want to get the absolute most out of your edible plants.  About Mitch McCulloch Author, seed hunter, and gardener with a passion for promoting and preserving rare heirloom...

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Episode 308: Gardening for Recovery show art Episode 308: Gardening for Recovery

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

Andy Mitchell believes gardening has the power to be a uniquely beneficial arena for the addiction recovery journey. In this interview, we discover why he feels this is the case and why we have much more to learn about this particular aspect of horticulture. Andy is Professional Addiction Recovery Coach and has conducted research into gardening as a tool to help people overcome addictions. Alongside having lived experience, Andy has extensive professional training within the field of Addiction. About Andy Mitchell Andy Mitchell is a Social and Therapeutic Horticulturalist (STH) and addiction...

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Episode 307: Trees and Humans: Intertwined show art Episode 307: Trees and Humans: Intertwined

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

If you’ve ever been even a little curious about the magic of trees, you won’t want to miss this conversation with the ultimate tree expert, Tony Kirkham. We’re diving into Tree: Exploring the Arboreal World—a seriously stunning collection of art, history, and culture, centred around the human-tree connection.  This book documents the historical significance of trees throughout human history, society and culture. This really is the coffee table book to end all coffee table books for anyone with even so much as a passing interest in trees. About Tree: Exploring the Arboreal World...

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Episode 306: The Soil Habitat show art Episode 306: The Soil Habitat

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

Want to know what the soil food web is, what inhabits the soil habitat, why soil health impacts on plant health and ultimately our health and what you can do to get the best out of your garden?   Eddie Bailey is a geologist, organic no-dig gardener, and soil food web specialist who runs Rhizophyllia. Eddie is passionate about soil health and growing healthy plants that are good for you and good for the planet. About Eddie Bailey Eddie Bailey is a geologist, organic no-dig gardener, and soil food web specialist who runs soil health workshops through his company . Links Other episodes if...

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Episode 305: Building on Nature show art Episode 305: Building on Nature

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

What feature does a wildlife supporting landscaper refuse to install in a garden? What is the most beneficial addition for wildlife? And how can hard landscaping be compatible with wildlife and nature? This week my guest is former ecologist and founder of NatureScaping, Nick Townsend, who sheds light on building greener gardens. Nick uses his knowledge of ecology and the environment in his landscaping business in order to make better gardens and outdoor spaces for wildlife. About Nick Townsend Nick holds a masters in Environmental Management and is a former ecologist. After working with...

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Episode 304: One Garden Changing the World show art Episode 304: One Garden Changing the World

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode which features garden writer , broadcaster and returning guest Kate Bradbury. Kate has a new book out One Garden Against the World: In Search of Hope in a Changing Climate. It’s been a while since we last spoke about Kate’s garden and with the opportune timing around the release of the book, I thought it would be the ideal time to catch up on what’s changed for Kate, her garden and nature in general since 2019. Links Other episodes if you liked this one:   If you liked this week's episode with Kate Bradbury, you might also enjoy this one...

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Episode 303: Slugs and Snails show art Episode 303: Slugs and Snails

Roots and All - Gardening Podcast

Think you know what slugs eat? And what eats slugs? You might be surprised...This episode my guest is retired academic and lifelong gardener Jo Kirby. Jo has written The Good Slug Guide, the first-ever book on slugs and snails that explains why the usual controls often don`t work, what slugs and snails really get up to, what they really eat and – importantly – what eats them. About the Good Slug Guide The Good Slug Guide is full of simple, practical advice on how to encourage your new-found friends and transform your garden into a beautiful, leafy and above all slug-resilient haven. It...

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Hello and welcome to this week’s episode where my guest is Kyo Maclear. Kyo is an author and her latest book is centred around family secrets, her mother and how gardening shaped their relationship and helped her frame their mutual experiences.

About Unearthing

Kyo Maclear's Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love & Family Secrets is published on 7th March 2024. It’s a gripping and emotionally eloquent memoir about a family secret revealed by a DNA test, the lessons learned in its aftermath, and the transformative possibilities of growing plants.

A memoir of inheritance that goes far beyond heredity, Unearthing is about what happens when we give up the watered, weeded, and pruned plots of our family histories and embrace a more expansive view of kinship. Told through the passage of seasons with exquisite illustrations by the author, it is a tender testimony to the ineradicable love between a mother and daughter for readers of Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart and Katherine May’s Wintering.

When Kyo Maclear receives the result of a DNA test showing that she and the father who raised her, whose death she is grieving, are not biologically related, she is suddenly a detective in her own life, desperately seeking answers from her ailing mother whose memories and English are failing.  Maclear no longer speaks Japanese, her mother's first language, so she turns to her mother's second fluent tongue: the wild and green language of gardening, to provide them with a way of connecting. This beautifully constructed, intricate memoir is a work as unique as its author, and yet, movingly, achingly relatable.

About Kyo Maclear

Kyo is an award-winning novelist, essayist, and children's author. Her books have been translated into eighteen languages and published in over twenty-five countries. She is the author of the hybrid memoir Birds Art Life (2017,) and winner of the Trillium Book Award. She holds a doctorate in environmental humanities and is on faculty at the University of Guelph Creative Writing MFA.

Links

Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love & Family Secrets by Kyo Maclear 

www.kyomaclear.com 

Other episodes if you liked this one:

A Rolling Stone Gathering Moss

All My Wild Mothers

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