In My Backyard
Food and neighborhood DIY (do-it-yourself) projects go hand in hand for Lisa Bralts, who lives in an east Urbana neighborhood with her family and is surrounded by great neighbors and several gardens, including her own. She's amazed at the possibilities and practices that exist just underneath the surface here in Central Illinois - you just have to poke around a little. Her blog is at majorprogression.wordpress.com.
Listen to In My Backyard live on WILL-AM the second and fourth Thursdays of the month at 2:22 p.m.
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Bug Travels
air date: Thursday, May 10, 2012
Weather and insects can influence what we have to eat locally during the growing season. In My Backyard’s Lisa Bralts discovers that while they’re two distinctly different issues that farmers must wrangle, they’re much more closely related than she realized.
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Reeping What You Don’t Sow
air date: Wednesday, April 25, 2012
While we're babying our seeds in the garden or waiting for the farmers markets to open, it's easy to forget there are plenty of fresh things to eat that just kind of show up in the most obvious of places. Some call them weeds, but others call them dinner. In this episode of In My Backyard, Lisa Bralts discovers she doesn't have to go far to find food. She also learns why time is of the essence.
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Slow and Steady
air date: Thursday, April 12, 2012
Investments don't have to be electronic transactions with faceless people involving companies based far away from home. In this segment of In My Backyard Lisa learns a few things about Slow Money, risk, and investment in small, local food enterprises from Woody Tasch, the guy who wrote the book on it. For more on Slow Money go to: http://www.slowmoney.org
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Shear Madness
air date: Thursday, March 29, 2012
Just like us, sheep stop wearing their wool when the weather gets warmer. In this segment of In My Backyard, Lisa Bralts visits a small farm in Sidney to watch a sheep shearing guru teach the craft to some novice shearers - and a few novice sheep.
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DIY Cheese Please
air date: Thursday, March 08, 2012
Lisa gets a lesson in cheese making in this edition of In My Backyard
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Pass the NON-Yellow Mustard
air date: Friday, February 17, 2012
One way to get past the blahs of late winter and to get some food inspiration for spring is to arrange a food swap with some friends and neighbors, especially if the focus is on bright flavors and lots of laughing. In this episode of In My Backyard, Lisa Bralts dishes out her best mustard recipe spicy stout mustard and comes home with much more than that.
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Ahead of the 2012 Growing Curve
air date: Wednesday, February 08, 2012
This winter's mild weather notwithstanding, it's a bit hard to believe the next growing season is already right around the corner. In this week's segment of In My Backyard, Lisa Bralts discovers that local growers aren't just thinking about the 2012 growing season - they're way ahead of the rest of us.
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Be It Resolved…..2012
air date: Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Though the calendar and the weather aren't necessarily matching up this year, it doesn't matter - the holidays are upon us, whether we're ready for them or not. For In My Backyard's Lisa Bralts, it's all about balance - taking stock of what happened in 2011, but looking ahead to the New Year, with its plans and possibilities.
