Hello my friends, welcome back to the Epic Gardening podcast.

We have an Instagram gardening friend that we have connected with, I don't even know

for how long, maybe two years or so, Ashley Thomas on the show today, an organic gardener

in North Carolina is on 7B, she is growing for food security, health and wellness, and

her book just came out, it's called How to Become a Gardener.

So welcome to the show Ashley.

Thank you so much Kevin, thanks for having me here.

Yeah, congrats on the book, it's a big accomplishment.

Thank you, it feels pretty big, so I'm happy to have it out there.

What I liked about your sort of take, because everyone comes to gardening for different

reasons is you kind of just come out and say, hey, I'm doing this for food security, which

if you're not a gardener like myself or like you or many people listening, I don't think

anyone really even thinks of food security as a thing at all, and so how come that became

the focus for you?

That's a really great question, and I love to tell a little bit about where that comes

from, I was once asked which came first, this passion for food security or gardening

and I would say it's the passion for food security, but at the same time, I've always had

a passion for an interest in nature.

I love being outside, I was the kid that spent all day outside outdoors exploring, and I

found that gardening kind of combined this element of addressing a very real issue that

is very personal to me, but that is also very prevalent in the world and also kind of my

passion for the environment, and so food security is something that is applicable to every

...