Exploring Nature Based Land Care with Edwina von Gal

This episode delves into the evolving art of ecological gardening and landscaping with Edwina von Gal, founder of the Perfect Earth Project. Edwina shares her journey from traditional landscape design to championing nature-based solutions, recounting her 'aha' moment with chemical-free gardening. The conversation broadens to discuss the cultural shifts in gardening aesthetics and the move towards living lands. Key topics include challenges and strategies for managing meadows and various invasive plants without chemicals, and the importance of community and professional education in ecological landscaping. Edwina also highlights upcoming events and resources offered by the Perfect Earth Project to support ecological land care. 00:00 Introduction to Gardening Philosophy 01:36 Exciting Symposium on Invasive Plants at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture 02:36 Understanding Restorative Landscaping 06:14 Meet Edwina von Gal: Landscape Designer 09:07 The Evolution of Gardening Practices 13:05 Challenges and Realizations in Eco-Friendly Gardening 16:39 Rewilding and Partnering with Nature 29:25 Closing the Loop: Sustainable Gardening Practices 34:48 Sustainable Seaweed Harvesting 35:15 The Importance of Natural Leaf Decomposition 36:23 Understanding Land Succession 37:11 Maintaining Open Spaces 39:10 Managing Invasive Species 39:42 Effective Mugwort Control Techniques 42:39 Event Announcement: Managing Meadows Symposium 46:17 Perfect Earth Project Initiatives 50:58 The Therapeutic Value of Gardening 53:07 Embracing Slow Gardening 55:28 Cultural Expectations and Natural Gardens 59:01 The Future of Sustainable Landscaping The Perfect Earth Project Doug Tallamy Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy Discovering the Spiritual Wisdom of Trees by Beth Norcross and Leah Rampy Wilding: Returning Nature to our Farm by Isabella Tree We Are the Ark by Mary Reynolds Bad Naturalist by Paula Whyman Carbon: The Book of LIfe by Paul Hawken ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🌻 About Lady Farmer: Subscribe to The ALMANAC, a Lady Farmer Newsletter & CommunityVisit Our WebsiteFollow @weareladyfarmer on InstagramEmail us at thegooddirtpodcast@gmail.com or leave us a voicemail! Call 443-459-1950 and ask a question or share what the good dirt means to you! Original music by John Kingsley. Editing and podcast production by Lady Farmer.  The Good Dirt podcast is proudly part of the Connectd Podcasts network.  🌿 The Good Dirt Producers: • Wendy Gray