We are signing out of the Food Literacy Podcast for 2024 and anticipate having a wonderful 2025 with episodes and resources devoted to all things food literacy from gardening to cooking to consumer information and exciting programming being planned for 2025 in Chicago. Stay tuned!

December 2024 Food Literacy Podcast Show Notes

Urban Farmer Zone 6 Planting Calendar Guide

Farmers’ Almanac Seed Starting 101

The Garden Magazine 15 Tips for Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors

Botanical Interests Seed-Starting for Beginners the Complete Guide

In the Garden Budget Indoor Seed Starting Set Up (Video: Tell us what you think and share other budget ideas you may have.)

MI Gardener The Easiest Seed Starting Mistakes to Avoid

Food Literacy

Satisfying Fruit and Vegetable Recommendations Possible for Under $3 Per Day

Harvard Chan School of Public Health No One Size Fits All For Improving Longevity

Contact Orrin Williams at orrinw@uic.edu

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of Illinois at Chicago, the OCEAN-HP, or the CPHP. The material and information presented here are for general information purposes only. While the podcast is designed to promote the development of healthy communities through food literacy, we offer no health advice and encourage our listeners to seek guidance from their healthcare providers.

This is a very brief episode of the food literacy podcast so as usual pay attention to the show notes for what we hope is useful information. More importantly, I want to make sure to thank all of the people and organizations I work with throughout the year.

The new year is just about 7 weeks away and 39 days away from the winter solstice and the journey of the return of the sun and longer days. Spring arrives in just 128 days from the date of this recording. The last frost date is usually reported as April 15th for our USDA hardiness zone 6a but we know better and recommend using May 1st as the last frost date. There is no certainty about frost dates. See the chart here with a planting schedule for various crops and flowers you may find useful.

Here is an excellent article about the benefits of gardening that I think you will enjoy.

On the food as medicine front, I have a link to an American College of Lifestyle publication of 23 articles regarding food as medicine.

Finally, we have heard a lot about the impact sugar consumption has on health, so here is an article about how low sugar consumption early in life may cut the risk of developing chronic diseases later in life. Perhaps these offerings will help you and your family make food choices during the upcoming holiday season.

I will close this brief episode before returning in December and beyond with plenty of information regarding programs from Chicago Grows Food and our partners. Have a wonderful holiday, and if possible, spend quality time with family and friends. Peace!

Contact Orrin Williams at orrinw@uic.edu

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of Illinois at Chicago, the OCEAN-HP, or the CPHP. The material and information presented here are for general information purposes only. While the podcast is designed to promote the development of healthy communities through food literacy, we offer no health advice and encourage our listeners to seek guidance from their healthcare providers.

Hello, listeners to the October 2024 Food Literacy Podcast. Harvest time is upon us but as strange as it may seem it is also time to think about the 2025 gardening season. Get ready for winter and 2025!

Here are some resources I hope will inform your decision(s). In doing research for this episode, I came across the Gardenary YouTube channel and an episode that suggested we stop using fertilizers to grow our gardens. The title was a bit misleading, but I agreed well sort of. The host talked about synthetic fertilizers so check out the entire video for useful information.

That said for those of us using grow bags for our gardening projects I recommend using a bit of organic fertilizer with the techniques described in the video because containers need a bit more nutrient support. For some excellent information regarding organic fertilizers see the Ecofriendly Homestead site regarding organic fertilizers, I recommend reading the entire post. I repeat I agree with the Gardenary host about the importance of compost and in her words poop for fertilizing our gardens. The host recommended manure and worm castings, and I recommend worm casting and staying away from animal manure in our home gardens. Generally, I recommend organic fertilizers in the beginning stages of your garden such as when transplanting seedlings into the grow bags and when seed you direct sowed have germinated, after that you can get by with compost and worm castings although I mix a very small amount of organic fertilizer to the worm casting say 10% of the mixture.

I will provide information about local sources for local compost for those that are not making compost at home in an upcoming episode.

Gardenary, offered some additional information that I think you will find useful regarding potential growing opportunities to consider for October. Also see the Gardenary 2024 calendar and watch for the 2025 edition. The general information will not change regarding frost dates, seed starting schedules, etc.

Think of your budget for items such as amendments, hoses, garden tools, etc. you can usually find them at a lower price now and into the winter. Once, spring arrives the prices go up...

I saw interesting videos from America’s Heartland regarding cultural foods and the food as medicine benefits of cultural foods and gardening that resonated deeply with me as I have been promoting cultural food primarily from the African Diaspora this past season and we will be continuing the program in 2025 while adding cultural food from other cultures in the ethnosphere. What is the ethnosphere you ask? The ethnosphere according to Dr. Wade Davis is defined here.

Additional resources:

Can you still plant crops in October? Check it out.

Preparing now for your seed starting projects in the spring.

Thinking about growing an herbal apothecary? (Remember to consult with your health care provider.)

Orrin Williams contact: orrinw@uic.edu

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of Illinois at Chicago, the OCEAN-HP, or the CPHP.

Hello Listeners, this is a concise episode devoted to encouraging our listeners to establish a fall vegetable garden Longer episodes will begin in September 2024 where we will discuss myriad food literacy and wellness issues as well as follow up on fall vegetable gardening methods.

I am having a hard time believing that it is August but alas it is! But it is fall garden and crop time, personally because of early season illness the fall season will be crucial for us as we will be planting many cool weather crops. Also, I have had several conversations with growers of all types and there is a lot of interest in growing at least a fall crop. It is the beginning of August and in terms of the traditional garden season here in Chicago is about 70 days left before the first frost date of around Oct. 15th some estimates that I have seen suggest that it may be pushed back to Nov 1st.

You never know but early frost is not a problem for many crops such as green leafy vegetables like turnip, mustard and collard greens, kale, spinach, etc. There are a lot of wonderful sites for information but one I recommend is Harvest to Table with their wealth of information. Check the show notes for more information about crops to grow in August.

On that note, we are distributing seeds for fall crops to many of our partners as part of the African Diaspora Crop Project. We are contemplating changing the name to the Ancestral Crop Project as we will be adding seeds from around the world to the distribution for 2025 to integrate our friends and neighbors from various ethnicities. Are you South Asian, Latinx, or any other ethnic background please give us recommendations for next years project. This year’s pilot program is a success, and I will be discussing how it went and changes for 2025 in an upcoming episode.

Here are a couple of videos about fall gardening Growfully with Jenna and Chicago Gardener. There are advantages to growing a fall garden such as cooler days and reduced pest pressure to name a couple. Embrace the fall and extended gardening opportunities.

We have talked about it before and will cover season extension in more detail in the September episode. Season extension will lengthen your growing season making it possible to grow into the winter and even in some cases next spring.

Bonus: The Gardening Channel with James Prigioni and the same site...

Orrin Williams contact: orrinw@uic.edu

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of Illinois at Chicago, the OCEAN-HP, or the CPHP. The material and information presented here are for general information purposes only. While the podcast is designed to promote the development of healthy communities through food literacy, we offer no health advice and encourage our listeners to seek guidance from their healthcare providers.

The Food Literacy podcast resumes after a hiatus. I am better now and returning to the microphone with the July 2024 Food Literacy Podcast. This is probably more accurately described as a shortcast but we will cover some gardening topics for July and a few Food as Medicine items in the show notes. I hope you enjoy the episode!

I have commissioned carpenter friends Mike Reynolds and Rudy Taylor to design and build garden tables to enhance the gardening experience for elders and those with mobility challenges, that can be included in the home garden kits distributed by the CGF coalition.

Check out the videos included in the show notes. Remember there is plenty left of this season with things you can start in July and a selection of crops appropriate for the upcoming cool season. According to the tool at Almanac.com, the first frost date is predicted to be November 1, 2024, and our growing season is 197 days which may be increased with season extension and appropriate crop selection strategies.

Check out the Gardening Channel with James Prigioni for ideas about what to plant in July and July garden tasks. Near us in Michigan check out the MI Gardener video with suggestions for July, it is a little long so fast forward a bit. Remember you still have about 100 days of growing season left if you choose wisely. Reach out to Chicago Grows Food for technical support regarding what to plant in July and for fall, cool weather crops.

Check out this episode from Hollis and Nancy and Nancy’s Homestead about container gardening that inspired our decision to create an elevated table system for home gardening solutions or elders and those with limited mobility.

On the Food as Medicine front check out the Guardian article on how healthy childhood diets may mitigate cognitive problems as we age underscoring the importance of providing nutritious food and diets to our children.

However, it is not too late as a study reviewed in Eureka Alert suggests that eating well in your 40s is a boost to healthy aging influencing your life at and into your 70s. Here is more information about the NUTRITION 2024 conference held in Chicago, which is the source for the Eureka Alert article.

Stay tuned for the August 2024 Food Literacy podcast, happy warm season growing!

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of Illinois at Chicago, the OCEAN-HP, or the CPHP. The material and information presented here are for general information purposes only. While the podcast is designed to promote the development of healthy communities through food literacy, we offer no health advice and encourage our listeners to seek guidance from their healthcare providers.

Let's get going on the upcoming garden season for 2024!

Bill of Health Food is Medicine Approaches to Address Diet-Related Health Conditions.

Take a look for yourself and study how your food choices may be good for you and the environmental health of the planet. Some cities while not banning meat, want to encourage us to eat more plants and have signed on to the Plant Based Treaty, see information about the treaty.

The Gardening Channel Seed Starting, MIGardener seed starting. Chicago Gardener March Tasks. Chicago Gardener flower variety for containers to start seeds for now.

MIGardener starting potatoes in containers. Search the keywords, “seed potatoes for sale” for vendors for seed potatoes.

See the Chicago Grows Food website to register for the monthly Lunch and Grow program at noon, the second Wednesday of the month.

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of Illinois at Chicago, the OCEAN-HP, or the CPHP. The material and information presented here are for general information purposes only. While the podcast is designed to promote the development of healthy communities through food literacy, we offer no health advice and encourage our listeners to seek guidance from their healthcare providers.

Since discovering the Food Institute website I have spent considerable time reading through the offerings and found the following to share:

Food Institute Food as Medicine Conundrum

https://foodinstitute.com/focus/the-food-as-medicine-conundrum/

No surprise here but the Food Institute shares insight about the causes of the global Type-2 Diabetes pandemic.

The Food Institute research found that food as medicine initiatives do improve health and save household consumer dollars. The conundrum is related to the impact of food insecurity.

Find the True Cost of Food: Food as Medicine Case Study report here.

There are three new books on our bookshelf:

Grow Big In Small Spaces: The Urban Gardeners Guide to Container Gardening & Home Canning by Luke Potter.

The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline by Kim Eierman

Forager’s Garden by Anna Locke

My fellow gardeners are anxious to get going so you may want to do the following in February. Videos produced by Chicago Gardener on garden tasks and planting schedule for February. The Chicago Gardener channel has videos specific to Chicago.

Also see:

MIGardener

The Gardening Channel is located in USDA Zone 7 but the information is still valuable I would wait about 3 weeks or so to adjust to our zone 6 requirements. Check out the information you should know before buying seeds.

I am excited to let you know that the March episode will include a session my co-host and co-producer soil enthusiast and scientist Dr. Akilah Martin and I did last year currently going through postproduction.

Also, I will have more details about how you may participate in the African Diaspora Collection and Collard Project collaboration we are organizing with the Urban Growers Collective, Community Food Navigator, Chicago Grows Food, Stein Learning Garden, Gardeneers, Openlands, Healthy Schools Campaign and the Chicago Partnership for Health Promotion at UIC, among others.

Contact: orrinw@uic.edu

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the University of Illinois at Chicago, the OCEAN-HP, or the CPHP. The material and information presented here are for general information purposes only. While the podcast is about food literacy, we offer no health advice and encourage our listeners to seek guidance from their healthcare providers.

The Roots Watering Hole podcast series is back after some life issues that kept us from publishing except for our food literacy podcast for several months. We return with a compelling interview with Dr. Gerald that we think you will enjoy,

Bio: "Dr. JPB Gerald is an educator and theorist with a day job in non-profit education management and a side hustle trying to dismantle these systems we're all in. He writes and speaks about the intersection between racism, language education, and ability, and lives on unceded Munsee Lenape territory (aka NYC) with his wife, toddler, and dog."

Dr. Gerald came to the Roots Watering Hole podcast series after my co-host and co-producer Dr. Akilah Martin shared a podcast episode where Justin appeared as a guest on the Integrated Schools podcast. To say the least, I was intrigued and picked up Justin’s book, Antisocial Language Teaching: English and the Pervasive Pathology of Whiteness. Dr. Akilah and I both read the book and reached out to Dr. Gerald, and he graciously agreed to be a guest on the RWH podcast. Thank you again, Justin! Tune in now for our episode with Dr. JPB Gerald.

Book: https://www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/?K=9781800413269

Podcast for All of Dr. Gerald’s Episodes: https://radiopublic.com/unstandardized-english-G27J3n/episodes

Website: https://jpbgerald.com/

Indie Bound Book Sellers

Additional Dr. Justin Gerald Podcasts

Language Teaching and the white Working Class, with Nicole Pettitt Podcast

Dr. Justin Gerald on Linked in

Again, thank you to Dr. Gerald, the aftermath of the episode led to an exploration of linguistics, especially as it relates to the use of language and dialects. The exploration that had its antecedents in earlier explorations of topics such as Ebonics and Black English also led to the exploration of how people speak in places such as Appalachia, the Caribbean communities, Gullah communities on the Atlantic coast.

Think deeply about language and words as it is important to how WE tell OUR stories.

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”

― Chinua Achebe


The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the Center for Urban Transformation or the Roots Watering Hole podcast series. The material and information presented here are for general information purposes only.