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http://www.earlskitchengardens.com/#!about/cf5y (Elizabeth Ann Rexer Leonard) (a.k.a EARL) grew up in Huntington, Long Island. She spent her high school years working on her brother’s organic vegetable and poultry farm. Later when she went to college in Rhode Island, she found herself once again yearning to get her hands dirty. She began working for Greenview Farm in Wakefield, RI.  Over EARL’s four year stay at Greenview, she gained integral knowledge in the practice of organic growing methods. Returning to Long Island, Elizabeth decided to further the good food movement in her community. http://www.earlskitchengardens.com (EARL’s Kitchen Gardens) now services over four dozen residences, three schools, as well as a summer camp for at-risk girls. Tell me about your first gardening experience? Being with Dad who shared his love of nature. Youngest of 8 kids and home with dad a lot. What does organic gardening/earth friendly mean to you? As a teenager, http://www.nols.edu (NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) )–  learned about “No Trace Camping” Working in harmony with nature, encouraging biodiversity, following the rhythm of the seasons, working with the land not against it, these things are all so important if we are going to have a healthy ecosystem and something we are going leave behind for future generations. Who or what inspired you to start using organic techniques? In high school brother started an organic vegetable and poultry farm. Went to University Rhode Island and there is tons of agricultural land there. Worked in a conventional farm for about a week everything was just a number, no integrity and wasteful. Found Green View Farm and loved it and got to learn the soup to nuts including installing deer fencing, tapping a water source, ways to irrigat  e the property, seeding, creating soil mixes, harvesting and distributing through CSA … How did you learn how to garden organically? By learning about practicing what she learned on farm, although gardening is a bit different then farming. Tell us about something that grew well this year. Heirloom tomatoes – 6 different kinds. The Queen of Tomatoes – Cherokee Purple, Black Prince, Straight German, Moskvich. Is there something you would do different next year or want to try/new? Personally more shelling beans, and water barrels to help heat hoop house. Fruit trees, figs and herbs and perennial plantings for clients. Cold frames to extend seasons. Tell me about something that didn’t work so well this season. One of the biggest challenges is empty spaces that creates a lot of hand weeding. Steve Ritz from the http://greenbronxmachine.org (Green Bronx Machine) Something that you find is easy to grow and is generally successful every-time. Cucumbers – prolific. Swiss chard. Lettuce. Start with just 3-4 things you want to grow and then add something a year later. Something you would steer new gardeners away from that you find is typically challenging to grow in your climate. People who have never grown food before want to grow Avacado trees. Italian zucchini – A cucuzza, or gagootz. A zuccini that grows on 50 foot vine! Fruits/zukes are like 3-5 feet. Tell us about the best crop you ever grew. Tomatoes. Make a priority to prune and inspect and overly nurture tomatoes plants. Last year grew lots of hot peppers – jalapeños, habaneros, ghost peppers … and eggplants. Eggplant tip – start inside as early as possible and then put out as early as possible for long growing season… pull of leaves, prune to get more flowers, fish emulsion and chicken manure produce a lot of leaf and not a lot of fruit. Trace minerals are important – oyster shells and crush them to boost calcium. Need to watch NPK. What is the best gardening advice you have ever received? At GreenView Garden boss was a sous chef and grew for restaurants. Would pick baby... Support this podcast