White Strawberries: Gardening for Wellness & Joy
Welcome to White Strawberries, where gardening, permaculture, and sustainable living nourish body, and spirit and the planet. I’m Sam—a gardener, mum and podcaster.
Each episode explores how growing and eating nutrient-dense, foods—from polyphenol-rich plants to adaptogenic herbs like ashwagandha—supports vitality and a joyful, vibrant life.
I cover garden design, soil health, mushrooms, animal integration, and seasonal growing insights. I am a self confessed lazy gardener, who aims to do things efficently with max returns.
🌱 Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced gardener, I hope you'll join me each week.
🌱 Let's connect on Instagram: @whitestrawberriespodcast
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White Strawberries: Gardening for Wellness & Joy
Growing Topicals in a Cold Climate | With Steve Fawcett
🌱 In this episode, I sit down with Steve Fawcett to explore Troppo — an urban tropical food forest in Te Puke. Yes, tropical plants… outdoors… in a place that gets frost and hail!
We dive into:
🍌 Bananas as mineral accumulators (and why banana lollies taste the way they do)
🌴 Air layering and how it can trigger early flowering in plants
❄️ Frost protection strategies and mulching like crazy
🌳 Why food forests build deeper community resilience than veggie beds alone
Steve’s casual style hides just how much knowledge he’s built through hands-on experimenting. From Papua New Guinea childhood memories of climbing fruit trees, to creating a lush, diverse, small-space forest garden in New Zealand, this conversation is a reminder of how much joy and abundance plants bring.
📚 Recommended for: food forest dreamers, experimental gardeners, permaculture enthusiasts, anyone curious about growing the “impossible” plants in their climate.
💡 Resources & References: