Earth Eats: Real Food, Green Living Indiana Public Media

“And she brought two jars of lilacs, like [a] drink made of lilacs. She brought also cups and everybody could try it. It was really something like a miracle for me because I have never thought that it could be drunk in this way.”

This week on the show, a story about a community garden in Tallinn, Estonia. We talk with Jerry Mercury, a political immigrant from Russia whose encounter with the garden was transformative. 

And later in the show we have a recipe for quick, garden-fresh pickles, plus stories from Harvest public media about composting efforts in Midwestern cities and Federal investments in farm-to-school programs.

“And as the blade rotates and the interior cylinder freezes, it begins to churn the ice cream into a wonderful fluffy content that will be established shortly thereafter.”

This week on the show, let’s kick off the summer season with a story about ice cream.

Toby Foster talks with Jordan Davis and Elijah Lawson of the Chocolate Moose, Bloomington's classic ice cream stand, and so much more. And we go into the kitchen with Chris Manansala and Maria St. Claire of Pinoy Garden Cafe to learn how to make their vegetarian lumpia.

“You know, you’d wake up the day before, in the morning, and there was Grandma, already in the kitchen. You’d just get the smells, the aromas of the garlic and the citrus from the mojo, and you know it was just kind of ingrained in the memory of sitting there with my grandma while she was preparing it and just talking…”

This week on the show, we dive into a family recipe from Cuba with producer Alexis Carvajal. 

producer Daniella Richardson review the critically acclaimed show all about kitchen culture, The Bear.

Plus, are you wondering what to bring to your eclipse viewing picnic? We’ve got ideas and an original recipe for some special eclipse cookies.

“We’re not shooting for perfection, we’re shooting for richness of experience.”

This week on the show, we revisit a conversation at Groundwork Indy with then Executive Director, Phyllis Boyd. She gives us a tour of their on-site garden tended by teams of young people in their youth development program. Then we take a drive around Northwest Indianapolis to see more inspiring projects, including a community orchard.

Plus, from Harvest Public Media, we have reports on an increase in honey production, drought in the midwest, PFAS in crop fertilizer and a story about the forest floor as agricultural land.

“After the peace, whenever that comes, we will have land that will have to stay out of production for years because it is so heavily mined or full of cluster bomblets.”

This week on the show we talk with geographer Elizabeth Cullen Dunn about the current food landscape in Ukraine. We discuss what the future may hold for farmers and food producers in the region as the war with Russia drags on and as land policy shifts in Ukraine at the start of the new year. 

We also talk about ice cream! We look at current shipping challenges in Ukraine, and the meaning of an ice cream cone in former Soviet Bloc countries

“We know that there are all sorts of good chemicals that come out of the dirt and working with land–working with plants–that are beneficial to our mood and our health. For refugee populations that have had to be on the run or had to live in refugee camps for decades, having a little piece of land that you can tend to that you can take care of and then see the results and not feel like you’re gonna be bombed out the next day–it brings a kind of peace of mind and a little bit of healing.” 

This week on the show, Tammy Ho, Professor of Gender and Sexuality studies at University of California-Riverside, shares her research about refugees from Burma and their participation in the United States food system. We’ll learn about a supermarket sushi mogul, Burmese meatpackers as essential workers, and how a group of refugees saved a failing church by starting a community garden.