Episode 2: Real Dirt Podcast: EVERYTHING TOMATOES!

With Emily Kern Swaffar - Gardener, landscape architect, organizer

This is a podcast where we talk local food with Missoula-based cooks and gardeners. We talk about cooking it, eating it, and growing it. Listen in as these local mavens reveal their cheats, their tricks, and their go-to methods.

In this episode, EVERYTHING TOMATOES, we cover one of the garden’s beloved megaFLORA. That juicy, red, luscious harbinger of the peak of harvest season, the one that makes CSA farm share members go starry eyed, the one that gardeners cover lovingly if the air gets a bit chilly, cage and support and coddle and cradle. The one that gets pruned, trellised, and tenderly harvested. 

For this subject, I sat down with Emily Kern Swaffar, my longtime colleague and the director of Garden City Harvest’s Community Gardens Program. She covers tomato care from beginning of the season to the end — what varieties, how to prune, how to trellis (even in small spaces!) and more…Even revealing what her absolute favorite variety is!

Who is Emily Kern Swaffar?

If you don’t already know (and love!) Emily, here are a few fun facts about her, and why she is the perfect person to talk tomatoes. Emily has the dreamy background that brings together practical knowledge, a deep care about people, place, and connection, and the joy of growing food. She honestly is a community garden unicorn!

Part of what makes her a unicorn is that she has a landscape architecture degree that is seasoned with plenty of creativity and a passion for native plants.

She’s owned a native and edible landscaping business, she’s lived and worked on a permaculture farm on Orcas Island…She’s farmed and gardened for over 10 years. She’s our go-to for how-to videos and a long time Real Dirt Blog writer — because she’s so darn articulate and thoughtful.

She also was a community gardener on the Northside, one of the places she learned, experimented and got her start as a gardener. 

I sat down with Emily over the winter to record this interview and am so excited to share it with you now. Listen in, comment with questions, or write us with your thoughts!

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