Rooted In Discussion

Rooted in Discussion is a podcast that focuses on the effects of nature on community and explores various ways in which engagement with the earth fosters and strengthens our connections to each other.

Season 1:

  1. Byron Brown: Director of Reentry for the New Mexico Corrections Department, whose unit recently obtained greenhouses to bring benefits of gardening to inmates to aid in rehabilitation and preparation for life outside prison.

  2. Noah Brennan: Manager of Education and Sustainable Initiatives at the Nature Center at Greenburgh in New York, who provides and oversees multiple programs to engage the local community with nature.

  3. Jess Lorden and Pam Millian: Founders of the Food Pantry at Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains, NY, which serves hundreds of people in the local community each week. The pantry relies on donations, including much-needed fresh produce.

  4. Courtney Tchida: Midwest Program Associate for the Wild Farm Alliance, with more than 20 years experience as an organic farmer, community organizer, educator, and researcher, who founded the Cornercopia Student Organic Farm at the University of Minnesota and co-created the MN SEED project to connect people to free, locally adapted native species.

  5. Ellen Birenbaum: Member, Board of Directors, North Fork Audubon Society, whose mission is to “Connect People with Nature,” through education, conservation and hands on experiences. Ellen is an avid gardener, who promotes the use of native plants and developed Berries for Birds, a program to help sustain birds in the face of diminishing habitat.

Season 2: Coming Soon!

  1. Charles Dowding, internationally recognized gardener and author based in the UK, who is the pioneer of the No Dig gardening method. Through his many books, newsletters, workshops, and extensive social media presence, Mr. Dowding uses his 40+ years of gardening experience to educate gardeners worldwide. 


  2. Anne M. Meore, Licensed Master Social Worker and Registered Horticultural Therapist​, serving as Garden Projects Coordinator for Bon Secours Charity Health System in Suffern, NY, where she designs and manages therapeutic garden spaces and conducts Horticultural Therapy programming. At the New York Botanical Garden, she is the Horticultural Therapy Program Coordinator for THRIVE (­Therapeutic Horticulture and Rehabilitative Intervention for Veteran Engagement), the first-ever therapeutic horticulture program offered at NYBG. She is the program advisor to and a faculty member of the Horticultural Therapy Certificate Program at NYBG and has been an instructor for NYBG’s Edible Academy since 2011.

  3. Mikayla Salmon-Beitel, Social worker with the immigrant and refugee communities Montreal who is passionate about ecosocial approaches that promote well-being by strengthening people's connections to nature, with significant experience in implementing collective garden projects.

  4. Regi Jones, Director of Curriculum and Professional Development at LifeLab, a national leader in garden-based learning based in Santa Cruz, California, where Regi focuses on engaging young people in discussions about how food can be used to connect people across cultures and how what we eat is shaped by our own ancestral connections.

  5. Stephen Bell, avid beekeeper and co-founder of Waterline Farm in Pryor, OK, a homestead demonstration site practicing regenerative agriculture with an emphasis on ecological stewardship, where his work centers around letting nature, plants, animals, water, and soil do the work.