Dan Jaffe Wilder is an ecologist, horticulturist, and botanist with over twenty years’ experience working with native plants and their associated ecology. His work has ranged from classrooms to nurseries to botanical gardens to wildlife refuges and specializes in native plant ecology, propagation, wildlife habitat restoration and enhancement, and native edible landscapes. Dan is the Director of Applied Ecology at The Norcross Wildlife Foundation whose mission is to protect, enhance, and expand wildlife through conservation, education, and support. Dan’s book Native Plants for New England Gardens was released in 2018.

Mark Highland, The Organic Mechanic

As a young kid, Mark made his connection to the natural world early, digging around in his grandmother’s vegetable garden, pulling weeds, picking caterpillars off plants, and harvesting ripe fruit. The work was hard (but fun!) and he knew he was hooked from the moment he turned over that first forkful of rich Illinois soil.

Academic studies and work experiences

After high school, Mark earned a BS degree in Environmental Horticulture at the University of Florida. It was in Florida that Mark received the nickname, “The Organic Mechanic”. Employment ventures after graduating took him to the west coast, working for a landscape construction company and a certified organic farm.

Deciding to return to graduate school, Mark focused his MS degree studies on compost and potting soil. His academic work helped Longwood Gardens in southeastern Pennsylvania develop composts to use in their own potting soil. After the Longwood Graduate Program, Mark worked as a Compost & Soil Specialist at Longwood Gardens before starting The Organic Mechanic Soil Company, LLC, where he launched the first peat-free, compost-based potting soil in the United States!

Where in the world is Mark these days?

When he’s not out in the greenhouse or warehouse, Mark spends much of his time traveling to garden centers, trade shows similar venues to promote, educate and inspire others to the many rewards of organic gardening. He has taught classes at Longwood Gardens, The Tyler Arboretum, Mt. Cuba Center, The Scott Arboretum, Callaway Gardens, and speaks regularly at public events like The Philadelphia Flower Show, as well as to numerous garden clubs.

At Organic Mechanics, “We work on your soil!” ®

Edwina von Gal

Founder / President

A leading voice in sustainable gardening and landscape design, Edwina von Gal founded the Perfect Earth Project in 2013 to promote ecological land care for the health of people, their pets, and the planet. As principal of her eponymous landscape design firm since 1984, Edwina created landscapes with a focus on simplicity, sustainability, and beauty for private and public clients around the world. Her work has been published widely, including in The New York Times, Vogue, and Architectural Digest, and her book Fresh Cuts won the Quill and Trowel award for garden writing in 1998. In 2024, she was named one of the top 50 Creatives in America by Wallpaper* magazine. She has served on boards and committees for a number of horticultural organizations and currently serves on the board of What Is Missing, Maya Lin’s multifaceted media artwork about the loss of biodiversity, Longue Vue’s National Council, and is a member of the Native Plant Trust’s Council. Her awards include the LongHouse Visionary Award from LongHouse Reserve, the New York School of Interior Design’s Green Design Award, the Isamu Noguchi Award, and Guild Hall’s Academy of the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award for the Visual Arts.

Todays episode is all about the connection between soil health, human health and the health of the planet.

Dan has been an organic farmer for more than 30 years. He grew up on Many Hands Organic Farm in central Massachusetts with his parents, Julie Rawson, NOFA-MA Executive Director, and Jack Kittredge, publisher of Natural Farmer. After working globally in the late 90s and early 2000s with farmers, NGOs, and researchers across India, Russia, and Central America, Dan returned to the U.S. and in 2010 launched the BFA in order to ignite a movement around food quality.

Dan has become one of the leading proponents of “nutrient density,” and works to demonstrate the connections between soil health, plant health, and human health through workshops and speaking engagements around the world, the annual Soil and Nutrition Conference, and an increased presence online through social media, a YouTube channel, and numerous webinars and podcasts.

Dan launched the Real Food Campaign, now the Bionutrient Institute, that, with open-source science partners Our-Sci and FarmOS, are leading the effort to identify and increase nutrition in the food supply. The Bionutrient Institute has engineered and released a hand-held consumer spectrometer, the Bionutrient Meter, designed to test nutrient density at the point of purchase and bring transparency to the marketplace. Via the Bionutrient Meter, the goal is to empower consumers to choose their foods based on nutrient quality and thereby leverage economic incentives to drive full system regeneration.

We discuss Meadow creation and break dow the process of meadow installation with Nick Novick. Nick Novick (Small Planet Landscaping) has been building healthier landscapes in and around Ashland, Massachusetts for more than two decades. With a degree in Environmental Conservation and a deep bench of hands-on field skills, Nick has done it all, from dry stone walls and lawn care to invasive plant control and fruit-tree care. But these days, nearly all of his work centers on one thing: meadows, and how to create them in a way that actually lasts.

Nick also brings serious community and education chops to the table. He served on the Ecological Landscape Alliance board and edited the ELA newsletter for about seven years, and he supervised the original installation of the Washington Tower meadow at Mount Auburn Cemetery, along with other projects on site. With multiple land-care certificates and years of speaking at conferences and workshops, Nick is equal parts practitioner, teacher, and collaborator, always open to teaming up with other eco-minded people who want to move the work forward.

What if your landscape could feed you and support pollinators at the same time? In this episode of Peace, Love & Pollinators, we explore edible landscapes, wild edible plants, and foraging with legendary New England naturalist Russ Cohen.

Russ is a wild foods expert and lifelong forager from Weston, Massachusetts who has spent over 50 years teaching people how to identify, harvest, and enjoy edible native plants (and yes, mushrooms too). He’s the author of Wild Plants I Have Known… and Eaten (with proceeds benefiting the Essex County Greenbelt Association) and a former Rivers Advocate for the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, where he dedicated nearly three decades to protecting rivers and watersheds. Russ has been recognized for environmental leadership and education by organizations including the EPA, Mass Audubon, and the Native Plant Trust.

Together, we dig into how native edible plants can fit into regenerative landscaping, how to think about pollinator habitat while growing food, and why foraging can change the way you see your yard, your neighborhood, and the natural world.

If you’re curious about edible native plants in New England, sustainable foraging, wild food, ecological landscaping, or building landscapes that are both beautiful and functional, this episode is for you.

Keywords: edible landscaping, edible landscapes, foraging, wild edible plants, edible native plants, native plants New England, Russ Cohen, wild foods, sustainable foraging, pollinator habitat, regenerative landscaping, ecological landscape design, permaculture, food forest, mushrooms New England, Weston Massachusetts, rivers and watersheds, Mass Audubon, Native Plant Trust, Essex County Greenbelt Association.

Peace, Love & Pollinators — Episode 4

Small Roofs, Big Impact: The Boston Green Roof Bus Shelter Initiative

Episode summary

What if a bus stop could do more than keep you dry? In this episode, Trev breaks down Boston’s bus shelter green roofinitiative—an example of how small, visible pieces of green infrastructure can deliver outsized benefits for heat resilience, stormwater management, and urban biodiversity.

Boston completed the installation of green roofs on 30 bus shelters along MBTA Route 28 as a multi-year demonstration project focused on improving daily life for riders in one of the city’s hottest, highest-ridership corridors.

What you’ll learn

• Why Route 28 was chosen, and how climate + transit equity shaped the decision.
• What a “living roof” actually is, and why it matters on street-level infrastructure.
• The core benefits: shade, reduced runoff, and pollinator-supporting plantings.
• Who’s involved—from City departments to installation and workforce partners.
• What’s being measured (and why data matters if you want these projects to scale).

Initiative snapshot (quick facts)

• What: Green roof (living roof) retrofits on bus shelters.
• Where: 30 shelters along MBTA Route 28.
• Status: Installation completed August 2024; planned as a three-year demonstration period.
• Why it matters: Helps reduce extreme heat impacts, provides shade for commuters, supports stormwater management, and adds habitat value in dense neighborhoods.
• Installation detail (example): City materials show the use of a roof deck frame and sedum plant mat / plantingsin the build-out.

Key themes from the episode

1) Climate resilience you can see

Green roofs on buildings are often “out of sight.” Bus shelters make green infrastructure public and visible, turning the daily commute into a living demonstration.

2) Equity and exposure

Boston notes Route 28’s high ridership, connection to neighborhoods including Mattapan, Roxbury, and Dorchester, and the reality that lower-income riders can be disproportionately exposed to climate impacts like urban heat.

3) Biodiversity in unexpected places

Even a small roof can contribute to habitat—especially when repeated across a corridor as a network.

4) Partnerships make it real

The City describes a broad coalition—including the Office of Climate Resilience and other City departments, plus partners like Social Impact Collective, Weston Nurseries, YouthBuild Boston, the MBTA, and JCDecaux.

Practical takeaways (for designers, municipalities, and land stewards)

• Think in networks: One green roof is nice; 30 on a corridor starts to behave like infrastructure.
• Design for maintenance from day one: Living systems succeed or fail based on long-term care, not ribbon cuttings.
• Measure what matters: Boston is tracking items like stormwater retention and temperature comparisons—exactly the kind of proof that helps programs expand.

Links and resources (for listeners)

• City of Boston project page: Bus Shelter Green Roofs
• City announcement: City of Boston Unveils 30 Green Roofs on Bus Shelters
• Social Impact Collective: Living Roof Bus Shelter Initiative (project overview)
• Background / history: early Boston-area pilot work on bus shelter living roofs (Fairmount area)

Listener challenge

The next time you’re waiting at a bus stop (or walking your neighborhood), pick one piece of infrastructure you see every day—bus shelter, curb extension, sidewalk tree pit, parking lot

Peace, Love & Pollinators — Episode 3

Plastic’s Impact on the Horticulture Industry (with Marie Chieppo)

Plastic pots are the elephant in the room in the green industry. In this episode, Trev sits down with ecological landscape designer and researcher Marie Chieppo to unpack how we got here, why “recycling” isn’t solving the problem, and what a realistic path forward could look like for nurseries, landscapers, municipalities, and home gardeners.

Marie draws on years of on-the-ground experience and her research into horticultural containers to explain the real bottlenecks: inconsistent materials, contamination, lack of collection infrastructure, and the economics that keep most pots headed for landfills. The conversation stays practical, naming what’s broken without pretending there’s an easy fix, and highlighting where momentum is building, from task forces to emerging alternatives and redesigned systems.

What you’ll learn

• Why plastic pots became the default, and why that “convenience” now carries a massive downstream cost.
• Why most horticultural containers don’t get recycled in practice, even when people try.
• The difference between “recyclable” and “actually recycled,” and what needs to change to close that gap.
• What industry groups and task forces are exploring right now (and what tradeoffs still exist).
• What landscapers and gardeners can do immediately without waiting for perfect solutions.

Key conversation themes

1) The uncomfortable math of horticultural plastics

Marie’s research and public education work points to a hard reality: the vast majority of plastic horticultural containers end up in landfills, not true recycling streams.

2) Why “just recycle it” isn’t working

This isn’t about individual effort or good intentions. The conversation centers on structural issues: materials variability, contamination, sorting limits, and lack of consistent take-back systems.

3) Alternatives aren’t automatically better

Paper, fiber, bioplastics, compostables, and reusable systems all come with tradeoffs. The episode leans into the real question: which option reduces total harm when scaled?

4) The future is likely a systems redesign

Instead of pinning hopes on a single miracle material, the discussion points toward redesigned logistics: standardized formats, take-back programs, and industry coordination.

Practical takeaways

If you’re a homeowner

• Ask where your plants come from and whether the seller offers take-back.
• Consolidate purchases to reduce container volume.
• Repurpose containers intentionally (seed starting, sharing, returning to growers) instead of stockpiling.

If you’re a landscape professional

• Start tracking how many containers you generate per job (it adds up fast).
• Pilot a client-facing option: “low-waste plant sourcing” as an upgrade.
• Build relationships with growers who are experimenting with returns or alternative packaging.

If you’re in nurseries / growers / municipal purchasing

• Standardization + reverse logistics will likely outperform “new materials only.”
• Purchasing policies can shift markets faster than awareness campaigns.

About the guest

Marie Chieppo is a native plant designer and horticulturalist and the principal of Eco Plant Plans. She’s known for her work helping clients and communities create resilient landscapes that support wildlife, and for her research and education around the impacts of plastic containers in the green industry.

Suggested listener challenge

Pick one action you’ll implement this month:

1. Ask your favorite nursery if they have (or would pilot) a pot take-back program.
2. Track your own container waste for two wee