Growing Home Podcast

Terry Therrien

Growing Home is a podcast that digs into the practices and products to help you take care of the place that means the most to you, your home. Each season, we'll be interviewing experts and experienced hobbyists for insights on pet care, lawn care, gardening, wild birds, backyard farming and more.

  1. The Farmer’s Almanac: Forecasting weather and life events with Peter Geiger

    12/06/2019

    The Farmer’s Almanac: Forecasting weather and life events with Peter Geiger

    Terry and Len get a chance to catch up with Peter Geiger, Editor of the Farmer’s Almanac. In our annual special, we talk about helpful hints for gardening and other tasks around the house, weather predictions for Terry’s wedding, and canoeing in a pumpkin. Join us for a meeting of old friends with new stories. Interview Notes: When it was founded, the Almanac was about teaching skills to immigrant populations. Now, it’s about teaching skills to younger people, who want to be more sustainable, and favor homemade solutions. The Almanac also features recipes, which come from reader entry contests. This year’s winners were required to focus on banana in their recipe. Other sections include famous firsts, life hacks, and weather. Geiger said that the 2019 Almanac gave a good prediction for this year’s weather. Almanacs, including the Farmer’s Almanac have secret methods for predicting the weather more than a year in advance. Terry shares his concern about the weather forecast for is September 2020, in which Geiger reveals his interpretation of the almanac’s prediction. Tips/ Life Hacks: Here are some of the Life Hacks that Geiger shared with us during the show: Wash your window vertically on one side, and horizontally on the other side, so you can tell which side still has dirt or streaks. To melt the ice of your windshield wipers, spray a mixture of half vinegar and half water. For better traction on ice, you can spread kitty litter or coffee grounds. To get moles to leave your garden, put a mesh bag with garlic cloves into a mole hole. Moles don’t like the smell of garlic, and will abandon that hole. Keep stud earrings together by keeping connected with a button. When cooking, boil water before putting above ground crops. Boil below ground crops with the water. Above ground crops have thinner membranes and need less cooking time.

    53 min
  2. An expert's perspective: Understanding the FDA’s investigation into dog food and heart disease

    11/22/2019

    An expert's perspective: Understanding the FDA’s investigation into dog food and heart disease

    In July 2018 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a statement titled, “FDA Investigating Potential Connection Between Diet and Cases of Canine Heart Disease.” As a retailer that specializes in pet nutrition supplies, both us and our customers have been looking for a better understanding of the reports and findings. To learn more about the FDA’s report and the studies that trace back to the 1980’s, we reached out to Ryan Yamka, PhD. Dr. Yamka is a pet food nutritionist with an extensive background in pet food formulation and regulation. In this episode of the Growing Home Podcast, Dr. Yamka breaks down the FDA’s statements, what facts we do know, and how we can make better decisions about our pet’s nutrition. Heart Disease -What is Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM)? -How is DCM diagnosed? Diet Related Dilated Cardiomyopathy -Why did the FDA start looking into the association of canine nutrition and heart disease? -What are the facts? What do we conclusively know about diet related DCM? -How are pet nutrition products monitored by the FDA? Has the FDA taken any action against pet food manufacturers? Have there been any recalls regarding diet related cardiomyopathy? Moving Forward -What information and data should we pay attention to? -How do we know the pet food we’re feeding is safe? -What you should do to identify or rule out nutrition related health concerns? Resources Dr. Ryan Yamka’s Blog “Debunking Pet Food Myths and Misconceptions”: http://bit.ly/ryanyamkablog FDA July 2018 Announcement: http://bit.ly/fdadcmjuly2018 FDA June 2019 Announcement: http://bit.ly/fdajune2019

    52 min
5
out of 5
16 Ratings

About

Growing Home is a podcast that digs into the practices and products to help you take care of the place that means the most to you, your home. Each season, we'll be interviewing experts and experienced hobbyists for insights on pet care, lawn care, gardening, wild birds, backyard farming and more.