Nick Lubecki's guest appearances

Nick Lubecki

GREEN Organic Garden Podcast

Ellen Polishuk

Mike Lewis

Elizabeth Leonard

Jennifer Smith

Patti Armbrister

David Salman

Infrastructure Banks

Shandy Carroll

Dushan Batrovic

Alethea Vasilas

Jill Blog

Pheobe Lyttle

Susan Harris

Nick Schneider

Lem Tingly

OwlTail

I know you are a going to love this interview I did with RockStar Millennial  Nick Lubecki as much as I did because I listened to it today as I drove to work. So the shownotes are  completely raw from the day we actually spoke. I didn’t have time to fix them but they are great! I have 20 episodes in the bank I can’t wait to share. In an ideal world, I would share them all right away! But in reality it’s all I can usually do to produce one a week. I will try though to get them caught up so they are current! In the meantime I hope you enjoy as much as I do. I’ve been having some sound problems too it seems in Andony’s podcast last week I thought I was too loud, this one I feel like I am can’t always hear everything I say? I’m as frustrated as you are that way, as I just copy and save everything, the settings don’t really change? I feel like ever since January 2018 I’ve been struggling with my sound? But I think you will love the content as much as I enjoyed recording it! Happy Spring Everyone! Tuesday February 5th, 2019 Today we have a rockstar millennial Nick Lubecki from Grow Pittsburgh who is giving a presentation on Learning Circle: Weed Management in Intensive Veggie Production.  Tell us a little about yourself. Right now I am the Farm Manager which is a project of Grow Pittsburgh   urban nonprofit help people start community gardens around the county we have 2 urban farms  Currently I manage the Braddock farm about an acre or so borough of Braddock town just outside  Pittsburgh last remaining steel mill in the next door It reminds me of the Brooklyn Grange on your website with the urban mill and the farm together. Yeah! It’s a great photo shot for sure! Tell me about your first gardening experience? my first memory visiting grandparents in northern PA They had a huge garden  fruit trees sunflowers all that sort of thing  as a kid I was really excited about that! at our home, my grandmother helped put together our first big garden, Imust have been 5-6 years old.  Do you have brothers and sisters? Yeah, we were all involved at first, eventually became me and my brother and we’re still growing together today! we are about an hour about north of the city! I’ve been gardening for a while! Tell us about that. How does a millennial come to be growing as an adult. grow  subsistence crops corn  I had that as a background as a child the thing I liked to do with my free time was hangout out in the garden and in the backyard When I moved to Pittsburgh to go to school I missed it. As soon as I could I got gardening again gardens a couple of years then got a couple of urban community gardens growing At some point, I remember working at a grocery store not being very satisfied with my life.  I’ve always been into homesteading and wanted to grow all your own food and preserve it decided to try to work on a farm so I quit my job and got a job on a farm in central PA been doing that every sense big step from gardening to working on a 6 acre vegetable farm what I wanted to do love watching the plants grow and being able to take it back and cook with it worked on farms start my first farm in 2012 had an urban farm with a couple of friends in the city and did that for a year some one had an urban farm hadn’t been used in a bit. They weren’t using Got a start out there after that season I was sold on it. Later started a bigger farm equipment great way to get a taste of doing our own thing after that season sold  did that for a couple of years I know my listeners are wondering, our goal is to grow enough food for us to eat to supplement our produce at least. do you have any tips for going through that curve.  I found it really valuable to work for somebody else already doing it so many things you don’t even think of farmer has already thought of them Weather working or work trade for a farmer valuable insights What’s a good example of one thing you learned? logistics  of having produce for market having knowing when to harvest before your market depending day of week do I do it that morning or the day before? Depending on the time of market how to wash everything in an efficient way presentable at a a market stand bunches of herbs like cilantro and then at the market stand they just wilt into hour put in a plastic bag most significant things working for someone who was able to have a consistent offering as much as possible throughout the season  lettuce the whole season carrots the whole season customers used to the grocery store where they have everything all the time expectation that people are disappointed if you don’t have tomatoes in May  beyond our capacity How do you sell your produce? CSA or Market or  I’ve done all three in the past Braddock biggest goal is to grow produce for the town of Braddock no grocery store  farm stand sell to some stores in the town as well  That’s the main goal for vegetable farm We also use our space to fundraise for our efforts of providing produce for the neighborhood We also sell to restaurants 2 outlets We’re members of a farmers coop called Penn’s Corner here in western PA They handle the ordering and the logistics of that. We just drop everything off at the warehouse, it’s worth it for us! Do you get a smaller profit then? yeah. That’s definitely true   it can be nice depends on how you do it planning for a market stand vs planning for wholesale different  took me a while market want it to be pretty diverse thin margins handful of crops for wholesale grow things like salad we’re not weather here is all over the place usually last week we had couple of days of highs in the single digits today highs in the 50s yesterday in the 60s 30s and 40s for highs maple sugaring  How did you learn how to garden organically? well my grandparents had a big compost pile thought it was a magical process scraps turned into what looked like dirt mom had a copy of the rodale envy read that when I was a kid before the internet resource for gardening info then  also I didn’t really know what I was going just reading ab look trying to figure it out on my own working on a farm helped me learn the practical application of a lot of those things when to do something about a problem  Tell us about something that grew well this year. Ok! I’ve been trying to figure out for a couple of years celery pretty wet here, get a lot of fungal disease  tried a couple of different varieties really good celery for the first time one people buy don’t often see at the farm stand we also had  did red, yellow, orange bell peppers started different colors that really turned our farmstead into a rainbow looked really nice I also, tried out transplanting green beans did that last  it worked really well that kind of  plant green beans every couple of weeks to have them all season buys us extra weeks by transplanting them planted them at the time at the direct sow  pretty excited more space on an acre trying to cycle through crops one or two more crops first crop double triples  faster too Is there something you would do different next year or want to try/new? I like trying things out every year something trying right now overwinter strawberries plant in the fall for us was sept cover with row cover supposed to produce first June with good yields have them in the ground see if it works along those lines try to have as many crops as we can as early as possible more things in June our last frost date middle of may couple of high tunnels June is like the least exciting farm stand green things radishes as much as we can add to that  better anyway good luck getting  zucchini and cucumbers earlier red yellow orange some green  ready in June weren’t picking them waiting to turn colors customers more fruit planted some blackberries and red raspberries should produce for this season red raspberries in high tunnel should have a longer picking season rains a lot off of the berries rot right when you pick it red raspberries grown outside fruit flies pick look forward  ever bearing ones i have tried those before bigger farm my experience you get a little bit at a time backyard garden too snacking thing Tell me about something that didn’t work so well this season. Every couple of years I try to do some broccoli as long as I can had a couple of weeks of good broccoli people  got too hot hotter weather ones broccoli didn’t do so well I think I sold about a handful of units not gonna grow it sales weren’t there okra transplanted did really well at first early okra did great got about 2 feet tall  stopped growing used to okra getting 7 feet tall do some transplanting some transplant and some direct get 2 rounds apart from each other direct seed root system can get bigger yeah, yields suffered it was still ok able to bring it to market every week till the season was over lot of demand for okra could have had more half the plants just stopped growing struggled some plants have tap roots okra has a tap root damage the root I was thinking along those lines stopped a certain point doing it 2-3 rounds separated by a couple of weeks could be good spread out the damage whenever gets to that point great cucumber...

I know you are a going to love this interview I did with RockStar Millennial  Nick Lubecki as much as I did because I listened to it today as I drove to work. So the shownotes are  completely raw from the day we actually spoke. I didn’t have time to fix them but they are great! I have 20 episodes in the bank I can’t wait to share. In an ideal world, I would share them all right away! But in reality it’s all I can usually do to produce one a week. I will try though to get them caught up so they are current! In the meantime I hope you enjoy as much as I do. I’ve been having some sound problems too it seems in Andony’s podcast last week I thought I was too loud, this one I feel like I am can’t always hear everything I say? I’m as frustrated as you are that way, as I just copy and save everything, the settings don’t really change? I feel like ever since January 2018 I’ve been struggling with my sound? But I think you will love the content as much as I enjoyed recording it! Happy Spring Everyone! Tuesday February 5th, 2019 Today we have a rockstar millennial Nick Lubecki from <a href="https://www.growpittsburgh.org/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Grow Pittsburgh</a> who is giving a presentation on Learning Circle: Weed Management in Intensive Veggie Production. <a href="https://www.growpittsburgh.org/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank"></a> <h3>Tell us a little about yourself.</h3> Right now I am the Farm Manager which is a project of <a href="https://www.growpittsburgh.org/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Grow Pittsburgh</a> <a href="https://www.growpittsburgh.org/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank"></a> <ul> <li>urban nonprofit</li> <li>help people start community gardens around the county</li> <li>we have 2 urban farms</li> </ul> Currently I manage the Braddock farm about an acre or so borough of Braddock town just outside  Pittsburgh last remaining steel mill in the next door It reminds me of the Brooklyn Grange on your website with the urban mill and the farm together. Yeah! It’s a great photo shot for sure! <h2>Tell me about your first gardening experience?</h2> my first memory visiting grandparents in northern PA They had a huge garden <ul> <li>fruit trees</li> <li>sunflowers</li> <li>all that sort of thing</li> </ul> as a kid I was really excited about that! at our home, my grandmother helped put together our first big garden, Imust have been 5-6 years old.  Do you have brothers and sisters? Yeah, we were all involved at first, eventually became me and my brother and we’re still growing together today! we are about an hour about north of the city! I’ve been gardening for a while! Tell us about that. How does a millennial come to be growing as an adult. grow subsistence crops corn I had that as a background as a child the thing I liked to do with my free time was hangout out in the garden and in the backyard <h3>When I moved to Pittsburgh to go to school I missed it. As soon as I could I got gardening again</h3> gardens a couple of years then got a couple of urban community gardens growing At some point, I remember working at a grocery store not being very satisfied with my life.  I’ve always been into homesteading and wanted to grow all your own food and preserve it decided to try to work on a farm so I quit my job and got a job on a farm in central PA been doing that every sense <h3>big step from gardening to working on a 6 acre vegetable farm</h3> what I wanted to do love watching the plants grow and being able to take it back and cook with it worked on farms start my first farm in 2012 had an urban farm with a couple of friends in the city and did that for a year some one had an urban farm hadn’t been used in a bit. They weren’t using Got a start out there after that season I was sold on it. Later started a bigger farm equipment great way to get a taste of doing our own thing after that season sold did that for a couple of years I know my listeners are wondering, our goal is to grow enough food for us to eat to supplement our produce at least. do you have any tips for going through that curve.  I found it really valuable to work for somebody else already doing it so many things you don’t even think of farmer has already thought of them Weather working or work trade for a farmer <h2>valuable insights</h2> What’s a good example of one thing you learned? logistics of having produce for market having knowing when to harvest before your market depending day of week do I do it that morning or the day before? Depending on the time of market how to wash everything in an efficient way presentable at a a market stand bunches of herbs like cilantro and then at the market stand they just wilt into hour put in a plastic bag most significant things <h3>working for someone who was able to have a consistent offering as much as possible throughout the season</h3> <ul> <li>lettuce the whole season</li> <li>carrots the whole season</li> <li>customers used to the grocery store where they have everything all the time</li> <li>expectation that people are disappointed if you don’t have tomatoes in May</li> </ul> beyond our capacity How do you sell your produce? CSA or Market or  I’ve done all three in the past Braddock biggest goal is to grow produce for the town of Braddock no grocery store <ul> <li>farm stand</li> <li>sell to some stores in the town as well</li> </ul> That’s the main goal for vegetable farm We also use our space to fundraise for our efforts of providing produce for the neighborhood We also sell to restaurants 2 outlets We’re members of a farmers coop called <a href="http://www.pennscorner.com/" rel="noopener nofollow" target="_blank">Penn’s Corner</a> here in western PA They handle the ordering and the logistics of that. We just drop everything off at the warehouse, it’s worth it for us! Do you get a smaller profit then? yeah. That’s definitely true it can be nice depends on how you do it planning for a market stand vs planning for wholesale different took me a while <h2>market want it to be pretty diverse</h2> thin margins handful of crops for wholesale grow things like salad we’re not weather here is all over the place usually last week we had couple of days of highs in the single digits today highs in the 50s yesterday in the 60s 30s and 40s for highs maple sugaring <h2>How did you learn how to garden organically?</h2> well my grandparents had a big compost pile thought it was a magical process scraps turned into what looked like dirt mom had a copy of the rodale envy read that when I was a kid before the internet resource for gardening info then also I didn’t really know what I was going just reading ab look trying to figure it out on my own working on a farm helped me learn the practical application of a lot of those things when to do something about a problem  <h2>Tell us about something that grew well this year.</h2> Ok! I’ve been trying to figure out for a couple of years celery pretty wet here, get a lot of fungal disease tried a couple of different varieties really good celery for the first time one people buy don’t often see at the farm stand we also had did red, yellow, orange bell peppers started different colors that really turned our farmstead into a rainbow looked really nice I also, tried out transplanting green beans did that last it worked really well that kind of plant green beans every couple of weeks to have them all season buys us extra weeks by transplanting them planted them at the time at the direct sow pretty excited more space on an acre trying to cycle through crops one or two more crops first crop double triples faster too <h2>Is there something you would do different next year or want to try/new?</h2> I like trying things out every year something trying right now overwinter strawberries plant in the fall for us was sept cover with row cover supposed to produce first June with good yields have them in the ground see if it works along those lines try to have as many crops as we can as early as possible more things in June our last frost date middle of may couple of high tunnels June is like the least exciting farm stand green things radishes as much as we can add to that better anyway good luck getting zucchini and cucumbers earlier red yellow orange some green ready in June weren’t picking them waiting to turn colors customers more fruit planted some blackberries and red raspberries should produce for this season red raspberries in high tunnel should have a longer picking season rains a lot off of the berries rot right when you pick it red raspberries grown outside fruit flies pick look forward ever bearing ones i have tried those before bigger farm my experience you get a little bit at a time backyard garden too snacking thing <h2>Tell me about something that didn’t work so well this season.</h2> Every couple of years I try to do some broccoli as long as I can had a couple of weeks of good broccoli people got too hot hotter weather ones broccoli didn’t do so well I think I sold about a handful of units not gonna grow it sales weren’t there <h2>okra transplanted</h2> did really well at first early okra did great got about 2 feet tall stopped growing used to okra getting 7 feet tall do some transplanting some transplant and some direct get 2 rounds apart from each other direct seed root system can get bigger yeah, yields suffered it was still ok able to bring it to market every week till the season was over lot of demand for okra could have had more half the plants just stopped growing struggled some plants have tap roots okra has a tap root damage the root I was thinking along those lines stopped a certain point doing it 2-3 rounds separated by a couple of weeks could be good spread out the damage whenever gets to that point great cucumber...

274.  Braddock Farm | Grow Pittsburgh | Nick Lubecki