Blog Posts

Botanical Sexism Is Making You Sick

May 23, 2020November 2, 2020 Mike Nowak Allergy-Free Gardening, botanical sexism, CO2 and climate change, eco-influencer, Great Lakes beach erosion, male v. female plants, OPALS system, Peggy Malecki, record Midwest rains, The Mike Nowak Show, Tom Ogren

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31:38 — 41.6MB)

Tom Ogren, who has been studying how to create allergy-free gardens for more than 25 years, returns to the show to talk about the explosion of pollen and allergies as the world heats up. Bob Bertog of Bertog Landscape Co. and Roger Tietz. from Gillen Marine Construction are working together to prevent beach erosion in the face of unprecedented high Great Lakes water levels.

Podcast

Can Farmers Markets Survive COVID-19?

May 16, 2020November 2, 2020 Mike Nowak Advocates for urban Agriculture, Blazing Star Inc., COVID-19 Famer Support Grant, Dennis Warnecke, eco-influencer, Illinois Farmers Market Association, It’s the biology stupid, Janie Maxwell, Peggy Malecki, social distancing, soil biology, Tainio Biologicals Inc., The Mike Nowak Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:33:10 — 42.4MB)

Can farmers markets open safely during the COVID-19 and still survive? Janie Maxwell, executive director of the Illinois Farmers Market Association hopes to answer that question. Dennis Warnecke from Tainio Biologicals explains why soil health is all about biology. Sean Ruane of Chicago’s Advocates for Urban Agriculture announces the second round of COVID-19 Farmer Support Grants.

Podcast

Breaking Bread with Neighbor Loaves

May 9, 2020May 22, 2020 Mike Nowak Artisan Grain Collaborative, breaking bread, eco-influencer, flour and yeast shortage, Global Big Day, Hewn Bakery, International Migratory Bird Day, Neighbor Loaves, Pam Karlson, Peggy Malecki, Red Hill Birding, Sheryl DeVore, The Mike Nowak Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:35:53 — 43.7MB)

Alyssa Hartmann, Executive Director of the Artisan Grain Collaborative, and Ellen King, co-owner and head baker of Hewn in Evanston, talk about the Neighbor Loaves program to bring bread to people who need it. Backyard birders became citizen scientists on the annual Global Big Day on Saturday, May 9. Josh Engel of Red Hill Birding, writer Sheryl DeVore and birder Pam Karlson join us to celebrate the occasion.

Podcast

Volunteer Your Garden In a Food Crisis

May 2, 2020May 6, 2020 Mike Nowak AmpleHarvest.org, Bonnie Plants, COVID-19, eco-influencer, food insecurity, Gary Oppenheimer, healthy and sustainable homes, local food pantries, Meteorologist Rick DiMaio, Nate Kipnis, Peggy Malecki, The Mike Nowak Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:34:02 — 42.5MB)

Gary Oppenheimer from AmpleHarvest.org returns to the show to talk about his organization has teamed with Bonnie Plants to provide fresh produce to food pantries across the country. Architect Nate Kipnis talks about what a healthy home means in the time of COVID-19 and into the future.

Podcast

Clean Water Matters More Than Ever

April 25, 2020April 28, 2020 Mike Nowak clean water, Community Supported Fisheries, Debra Shore, don’t flush sanitary wipes, Dr. Nicolaas Mink, eco-influencer, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, overfishing our oceans, Peggy Malecki, Sitka Salmon Shares, The Mike Nowak Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:33:09 — 42.1MB)

Debra Shore, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, returns to talk about the importance of keeping our water systems functional during a time of pandemic. Nic Mink, founder and CEO of Sitka Salmon Shares, reports on the disruption to fisheries during the COVID-19 crisis.

Podcast

Victory Gardens for Pollinators and People

April 18, 2020April 22, 2020 Mike Nowak Advocates for urban Agriculture, Blumen Gardens, clean energy, eco-influencer, EcoBeneficial, essential businesses, Kim Eierman, Marta Keane, Peggy Malecki, recycling PPE, The Mike Nowak Show, The Pollinator Victory Garden, Tom Szaky of Terracycle, Ty Benefiel of Hero Power

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:35:47 — 43.8MB)

With COVID-19 as a backdrop, Kim Eierman discusses her new book, The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening. Ty Benefiel from Hero Power talks about how clean energy programs might be affected by the pandemic. Joel Barczak of Blumen Gardens in Sycamore, Illinois explains why he thinks garden centers need a little more consideration during the the stay at home order. Sean Ruane, new executive director of Advocates for Urban Agriculture, has information about the COVID-19 Farmer Support Grant. Tom Szaky from Terracycle and Marta Keane, Will County Recycling Program Specialist, talk about the difficulties of continuing recycling and reuse programs during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Mike's Dystopian Garden

Life Without Gardening

April 14, 2020April 14, 2020 Mike Nowak

There’s a famous New Yorker cartoon that pictures an old tire, a can, a bottle and a pencil on a flat, featureless landscape–save a few nondescript rocks–that stretches to dull gray clouds on the horizon. The caption reads, “Life without Mozart.” The most chilling part of this drawing (if you’re me), is that it uncannily evokes my own yard.

Mike's Dystopian Garden

Wake Up and Smell the Science!

April 14, 2020April 14, 2020 Mike Nowak

I’m not always the sharpest trowel in the garden bucket, but even I have noticed a recent trend in horticulture. Suddenly, gardening experts are getting all “sciencey” and stuff about growing things, and they’re debunking conventional wisdom left and right. If you do a search on the Intertubes for “garden myths,” you will see that there are more debunked myths about gardening than there are actual facts. And, as we all know, the Intertubes are the place you go for Science! and The Truth. And cat videos.

Podcast

Easter Sunday in the Church of Green

April 11, 2020April 15, 2020 Mike Nowak clean air and water, COVID-19, Dr. Allan Armitage, eco-influencer, gardening walkabout, gutting environmental protections, Natural Resources Defense Council, Of Naked Ladies and Forget-Me-Nots, Peggy Malecki, rollback of Obama clean car standards, The Mike Nowak Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31:58 — 41.7MB)

What’s Easter Sunday in the Church of Green? It’s a visit with garden expert and author Dr. Allan Armitage to talk about how COVID-19 has changed the way we grow things. Then it’s a visit from J.C. Kibbey and Mark Nabong from the NRDC, who report on the ways that our own government has forsaken the environmental health of its own lands, water and air for…what?

Keep Eating Healthy - Peggy Malecki and Jody Osmund

Podcast

Keep Eating Healthy and Grow Some Food Yourself

April 4, 2020April 15, 2020 Mike Nowak Bartlett Tree Experts, Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm CSA, Chicago Botanic Garden, eco-influencer, Green City Market Chicago, Keep Eating Healthy campaign, landscaping as essential business during coronavirus outbreak, Lisa Hilgenberg, Peggy Malecki, Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery, Regenstein Fruit and Vegetable Garden, The Mike Nowak Show

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:33:31 — 42.1MB)

Lisa Hilgenberg from the Regenstein Fruit and Vegetable Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden explains how 50,000 plants get maintained during a coronavirus outbreak. Scott Jamieson from Bartlett Tree Experts reports on the kind of essential tree care work that can still be done during a stay-at-home order. Jody Osmund from Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm CSA, Leslie Cooperband and Wes Jarrell from Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery, and Melissa Flynn of the Chicago Green City Market are all working to keep local farmers in business during this crisis.