An Interview With Martita Mestey
Beats, Beds & Browns is pleased to participate in this interview with Authority Magazine.
Good dirt equals great plants — composting is a win, win, win. You reduce waste, feed the worms and build great garden soil.
As we all know, inflation has really increased the price of food. Many people have turned to home gardening to grow their own food. Many have tried this and have been really successful. But others struggle to produce food in their own garden. What do you need to know to create a successful vegetable garden to grow your own food? In this interview series, called “5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Vegetable Garden To Grow Your Own Food” we are talking to experts in vegetable gardening who can share stories and insights from their experiences.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Joseph Skibbie.
A Hip-Hop Head who likes to garden and enjoy sippers of brown liquor. Recreating the magic tale of Jack and the beanstalk while sharing the tools necessary to achieve Food Freedom.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”?
I’m a ‘city’ boy in the fact that I grew up in residential areas with little to no farming and gardening going on. I did spend summers on an old goat farm while growing up and one of my favorite memories is of the old farmer coming out of a giant thicket of a garden with squash in each hand and proclaiming, “this is what’s for dinner tonight!” First thing I did when I had a home of my own was start a small 4ft x 6 ft garden plot.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I’ve had numerous opportunities to speak in front of groups to share what knowledge I’ve accumulated and was tickled when a Boy Scout Troop invited me to share my story. I brought samples of seeds and some potted plants, every one of them was interested and sharing stories about their home garden (or their mom’s), but it really focused on the community around gardening. No one is ever angry or irritated talking about gardening, it is the most calming and stress reducing activity I’ve found.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Lack of Fear — everyone is afraid of something, but you can’t be afraid of looking dumb. Not knowing isn’t a bad thing, not wanting to know is
Showing Up — so much of being successful is being in the ‘room’ You have to show up to be successful (whether that room is analog or digital)
Persistence — nothing ever happens when you want it to, or even when it should. Keeping after a goal until you achieve it, through failures, misses, and drops is vital.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Fall Down Seven Times; Stand Up Eight
Are you working on any interesting or exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
We are actively expanding our programming reach to grow vegetables for local food banks and healthcare system ‘Food is Medicine’ programs. We’re also looking to bring our Garden Advocacy/Education programming into those spaces as well as participate in more local Farmer’s Markets to sell out veggies, plants and seed kits.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about creating a successful garden to grow your own food. Can you help articulate a few reasons why people should be interested in making their own vegetable garden? For example, how is it better for our health? For the environment? For our wallet?
Garden grown vegetables have significantly higher nutritional values than commercially produced vegetables. Over time, the commercial farms have worked their land harder with less rest and less nutrients added than local gardens. The addition of composted material from table scraps adds micronutrients back into the soil and increases the overall nutritional value of garden grown vegetables.
Where should someone start if they would like to start a garden? Which resources would you recommend? Which plants should they start with?
I would start with a free, heirloom seed kit via beatsbedsbrowns.com, we also have videos on our YouTube channel highlighting ways to get started. From potting soil mix to potting seedlings and then transplanting them, we cover all of the necessary steps to turn seed into produce.
Can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Successful Vegetable Garden To Grow Your Own Food”? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
Good dirt equals great plants — composting is a win, win, win. You reduce waste, feed the worms and build great garden soil.
Overtending? — I’m out in my garden every day, pulling weeds, rubbing herbs between my fingers, watering and generally enjoying my garden haven. Some might say I’m an overtender… I say nonsense.
Weed Management — one of the best (cheapest and most effective) weed barriers we’ve found is spreading grass clippings under our plants. Being sure not to touch the stems of the plants, the grass clippings dry into an impenetrable barrier that keeps moisture and nutrients in the soil and weed seeds from sprouting through the dirt.
Seed Soaking — if you’re having trouble germinating seeds, try soaking them for a few hours. We’ve had increased success with as little as 1 hour and up to 36 hours before some seeds will start to degrade.
Crop Rotation — even on a small scale, the pests will gather in the soil and impact year over year success. If not insects, than microbes, fungus and bacteria can build up. If the plant you’re planting in a certain area isn’t built to resist that problem, catastrophic failure. We’ve had it happen numerous times. Bottom line, move your crops all over the garden.
What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they start a garden? What specifically can be done to avoid those errors?
Neglect — not checking in on your plants enough allows small problems to become much larger and more troublesome problems. Don’t neglect your garden.
Comfort with failure — it’s not always going to work out. Sometimes you’ll lose whole flats or beds due to some unforeseen malady. The weather is getting more extreme, water is always a challenge on any size farm. You won’t be successful 100% of the time. That’s OK!
What are some of the best ways to keep the costs of gardening down?
Composting and seed saving
Water capture
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Our mission is to put 100,000 free, heirloom seed kits in peoples hands over the next decade. We think showing people how easy and inexpensive it can be to grow your own food will spread Food Freedom to those who need it most. We hope to impact the great amount of food scarcity and insecurity in neighborhoods throughout the country.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Our brand interviews people from all walks of life, including emerging hip-hop artists, garden interests and distillers. If we had a list of people we’d like to connect with, it would probably look like:
Ron Finley
Ietef “DJ Cavem” Vita
Corey Paul, better known as “Gardening with Goo,”
How can our readers further follow your work online?
https://www.facebook.com/BeatsBedsBrowns
https://twitter.com/beatsbedsbrowns
https://www.instagram.com/beatsbedsbrowns/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpG10DzVACD5nXPSSnD1j3w
Thank you so much for the time you spent on this interview. We wish you only continued success and good health.