Podcast appearances and mentions of steve ritz

“When you teach kids about food, you teach them about life. You teach them that you can't rush growth. You can't go from seed to harvest without cultivation in the middle.”  - Stephen Ritz    Today, we’re delighted to have a powerful conversation with Steve Ritz, an internationally acclaimed award-winning educator, best-selling author, and founder of Green Bronx Machine. Education has always been an excellent avenue for creating the transformation we want. But like any path, it has some obstacles of its own. What if we can solve some of these barriers through the power of food? Steve talks about the benefits of bringing vegetable cultivation as a part of the curriculum in terms of student performance, teacher satisfaction, and parent engagement. Amazingly, we're also speaking about reaping these advantages for a long time. He also narrates the inspiring experiences of kids who benefited from this project. Food is not only created to fill and satisfy an empty stomach. Listen as Steve talks about how the process itself of growing, cultivating, and nurturing it can also unlock the greatness in all of us and awaken the spirit of equality and unity. Truly, food is a language we all should start learning and using more often. Check out today's episode and be amazed at how food is changing schools one vegetable garden at a time.       Connect with Justine:  Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn   Connect with NextGenChef: Website  Facebook  Twitter  Instagram  YouTube NextGenChef App   Episode Highlights:   02:18 It All Started With A Dream 06:01 Food Justice Is Racial Justice 12:09 Unity In The Community 16:32 Scaling All Over The World 24:55 Farming Is The New Sexy 27:54 Growing A Greener World 32:46 Start In Order To Be Great 35:00 Sustainable Gangster

So, with the gyms closed during the pandemic, how can we stay fit?  Steve Ritz of Fitness First gives us some tips to make your home a fitness hub.

Steve Ritz (sritz[@]fitnessfirstmn.com) is an exercise physiologist and founder of Fitness First of MN Inc. Steve has been involved in the fitness field since 1991 working with a wide variety of people ranging from cardiac rehab patients to professional athletes. Steve earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gustavus Adolphus College, and a Master of Arts degree majoring in Exercise Physiology from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Steve is also certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Some highlights in his career as a fitness professional include Assistant Strength and Conditioning coach for the Minnesota Vikings and training both major and minor league players for the Cleveland Indians. Steve has also had involvement in various college and high school settings including: Villanova University, North Dakota State University, Gustavus Adolphus College and Anoka High School. Fitness is a way of life for Steve, and he enjoys educating and making it a priority in other people's lives. In this podcast, we discuss the story of Steve's business, Fitness First MN, how to retain great trainers, marketing strategy, productivity, his personal workouts, and much, much more. Learn how to recruit great trainers, generate referrals, and grow your HIT business in the HIT Business Membership here For all of the show notes, links and resources - Click Here

EARL’s Kitchen Gardens (http://www.earlskitchengardens.com)  now services over four dozen residences, three schools, as well as a summer camp for at-risk girls. Tell me about your first gardening experience? Being with Dad who shared his love of nature. Youngest of 8 kids and home with dad a lot. What does organic gardening/earth friendly mean to you? As a teenager,  NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School)  (http://www.nols.edu) –  learned about “No Trace Camping” Working in harmony with nature, encouraging biodiversity, following the rhythm of the seasons, working with the land not against it, these things are all so important if we are going to have a healthy ecosystem and something we are going leave behind for future generations. Who or what inspired you to start using organic techniques? In high school brother started an organic vegetable and poultry farm. Went to University Rhode Island and there is tons of agricultural land there. Worked in a conventional farm for about a week everything was just a number, no integrity and wasteful. Found Green View Farm and loved it and got to learn the soup to nuts including installing deer fencing, tapping a water source, ways to irrigat  e the property, seeding, creating soil mixes, harvesting and distributing through CSA … How did you learn how to garden organically? By learning about practicing what she learned on farm, although gardening is a bit different then farming. Tell us about something that grew well this year. Heirloom tomatoes – 6 different kinds. The Queen of Tomatoes – Cherokee Purple, Black Prince, Straight German, Moskvich. Is there something you would do different next year or want to try/new? Personally more shelling beans, and water barrels to help heat hoop house. Fruit trees, figs and herbs and perennial plantings for clients. Cold frames to extend seasons. Tell me about something that didn’t work so well this season. One of the biggest challenges is empty spaces that creates a lot of hand weeding. Steve Ritz from the  Green Bronx Machine (http://greenbronxmachine.org) Something that you find is easy to grow and is generally successful every-time. Cucumbers – prolific. Swiss chard. Lettuce. Start with just 3-4 things you want to grow and then add something a year later. Something you would steer new gardeners away from that you find is typically challenging to grow in your climate. People who have never grown food before want to grow Avacado trees. Italian zucchini – A cucuzza, or gagootz. A zuccini that grows on 50 foot vine! Fruits/zukes are like 3-5 feet. Tell us about the best crop you ever grew. Tomatoes. Make a priority to prune and inspect and overly nurture tomatoes plants. Last year grew lots of hot peppers – jalapeños, habaneros, ghost peppers … and eggplants. Eggplant tip – start inside as early as possible and then put out as early as possible for long growing season… pull of leaves, prune to get more flowers, fish emulsion and chicken manure produce a lot of leaf and not a lot of fruit. Trace minerals are important – oyster shells and crush them to boost calcium. Need to watch NPK. What is the best gardening advice you have ever received? At GreenView Garden boss was a sous chef and grew for restaurants. Would pick baby squash. He would say “Soft hands.” Work with nature don’t work against it. Which activity is your least favorite activity to do in the garden. Shutting it down. Would love to have all gardens growing 4 seasons. What is your favorite activity to do in the garden. Looking at it at the end of the day and thinking about what to do different in the following year. A favorite tool that you like to use? If you had to move and could only take one tool with you what would it be. My shovel because it is everything … it can scrape boots,... Support this podcast

Ein Wirbelwind voller Energie und Ideen, das ist Steve Ritz. Er ist Lehrer in der schwierigen New Yorker South Bronx, wo er und seine Kinder üppige Gärten anlegen mit Essen, Vegetation – und Jobs. Versuchen Sie mit diesem New Yorker Schatz mitzuhalten, wenn er von den vielen, vielen Möglichkeiten berichtet, um Hoffnung in einer Gemeinde zu säen, die abgeschrieben wurde, oder in Ihrer eigenen.