Olivia Hubert farms with her husband, Greg Willerer, at Brother Nature Produce in Detroit Michigan, as well as at a farm an hour north of the city. Specializing in salad mix and fresh herbs sold to farmers markets, grocers, and restaurants, Brother Nature provides a living for both Greg and Olivia.
Olivia grew up in Detroit, where she fell in love with agriculture as a high school student. After studying at the Royal Horticulture Society of London, Olivia returned to Detroit, where she met Greg and joined him on his upstart urban farm.
Olivia shares her experience farming with both sides of Detroit’s environment, where gunshots and extreme poverty are never far from health nuts and concentrated wealth. She digs into what she learned about urban farming from the World-War-II gardening ethos in England, how they’ve learned to manage flea beetles, and how she and Greg grow fresh salad greens in the city without active refrigeration.
Olivia grew up in Detroit, where she fell in love with agriculture as a high school student. After studying at the Royal Horticulture Society of London, Olivia returned to Detroit, where she met Greg and joined him on his upstart urban farm.
Olivia shares her experience farming with both sides of Detroit’s environment, where gunshots and extreme poverty are never far from health nuts and concentrated wealth. She digs into what she learned about urban farming from the World-War-II gardening ethos in England, how they’ve learned to manage flea beetles, and how she and Greg grow fresh salad greens in the city without active refrigeration.
Sponsors
Farmers Web: Making it simple for family farms and farm cooperatives to streamline working with their buyers. By lessening the administrative load and increasing efficiency, FarmersWeb helps producers save time, manage their business, and work with more buyers overall.
Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.
BCS America: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.
Vermont Compost Company: Founded by organic crop growing professionals committed to meeting the need for high-quality composts and compost-based, living soil mixes for certified organic plant production.
BCS America: BCS two-wheel tractors are versatile, maneuverable in tight spaces, light-weight for less compaction, and easy to maintain and repair on farm. Gear-driven and built to last for decades of dependable service on your farm or market garden.
Quotes from the Show
We like to be lean, and mean, and flexible, and to be able to do whatever we need to do and make changes.
We’re very solution-oriented people.
You can’t leave things to chance.
Pretty much the only benefit of farming in the city is being close to your markets.
The idea in life is to have as many options as possible.
Our rows are not all the same size because Greg made them before I came along and made him make things uniform.
Instead of thinking about the times when we have to harvest salad by hand as “oh, no, my back,” start thinking of it as an opportunity to stretch yourself.
We’re very solution-oriented people.
You can’t leave things to chance.
Pretty much the only benefit of farming in the city is being close to your markets.
The idea in life is to have as many options as possible.
Our rows are not all the same size because Greg made them before I came along and made him make things uniform.
Instead of thinking about the times when we have to harvest salad by hand as “oh, no, my back,” start thinking of it as an opportunity to stretch yourself.
Transcript
The transcript for this episode is brought to you byEarth Tools, offering the most complete selection of walk-behind farming equipment and high-quality garden tools in North America. And by Osborne Quality Seeds, a dedicated partner for growers. Visitosborneseed.com for high quality seed, industry-leading customer service, and fast order fulfillment. Additional funding for transcripts provided byNorth Central SARE, providing grants and education to advance innovations in Sustainable Agriculture.
