413. GardenFit | Madeline Hooper and Jeff Hughes | PBS

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A new television show airing spring 2022 offers millions of people the opportunity to take care of their bodies, while taking care of their gardens.

Walking the garden

GardenFit is the first television show to help gardeners lead a healthier lifestyle though mindful movements they can use in the garden—and beyond. The show follows expert gardener Madeline Hooper and professional fitness trainer Jeff Hughes as they travel the U.S. visiting gardens and farms, sharing practical tips to help gardeners get ‘GardenFit.’

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Transcript

Here is the unedited computer generated transcript:

Welcome to the GREEN Organic Garden. It is Tuesday palindrome day, as everybody's been saying February 22nd, 2022. And I have two amazing guests on the wine. I think listeners, you are really going to benefit from this talk because they have an awesome TV channel. That's coming out called garden fit. And they're going to tell us a little bit about their journey and how you can help yourself, people to garden a little better by taking care of yourself a little better and doing some of the activities that they're doing and they lead you through. So here today, talk to us, our metal and, and Jeff from garden fence.

2m 58s

JackieMarie

So welcome to the show Madeline, and Super excited to have you guys and I'm going to go, I'm going to go ahead and mute my mic metal and it's all you, here we go.

3m 10s

Madeline

Okay. Well, well, we're excited to have a chance to talk about garden fit because Jeff and I had an amazing experience filming our episodes all over the country. Garden fit got started because I'm a really enthusiastic gardener. And for the last 20 years, I was sort of gardening hours every single day. And of course like most gardeners, I had particular aches and pains, my neck and my shoulder really bothered me. And I was sharing that with a fellow gardener who then tell me that he had his wife after he had sold her shoulder surgery, gave him a gift certificate to have three sessions with this personal trainer, Jeff Hughes.

3m 51s

Madeline

And that I should really go see him because it was two years after that, that this particular fellow was still enjoying and feeling healthy again, after that surgery and Jeff had really fixed his problem and taught him new techniques. So I thought, okay, that sounds great. And that is exactly what had happened to me. I went to see Jeff and he, you know, really interviewed me and he gave me some new techniques that I started to employ because they were things that I could do. And really within a month, Jackie, I found that the initial stress and ache was away within went away. And within three months I really had no aches and pains.

4m 32s

Madeline

And I, that was three years ago and I really Gordon without any pain whatsoever. So I'm very grateful to Jeff for that. And we started to talk, I kept telling him that I thought every single gardener on the planet should know about his techniques and his approach to being Gordon fit. So from there we went I guess,

4m 54s

Jeff

And we developed a, an idea for a show. We, we sat down and really started thinking about, well, how can we present this? And I, TV show seemed like the best way to, to, to offer it. And we came up with garden fit. It just, you know, that's that's mean Madeline garden and fit. And so we came up with an idea. We had a process, you know, gardening is very much, I've learned if I've learned anything. Gardening is a process and, and so is staying fit. So we came up with a process for the episode and it just kind of like, would you like us to just kind of take you through an episode, Jackie,

5m 36s

JackieMarie

I would love that, but can we just back up super quick? Cause I always start out my show asking listeners, I mean, asking my guests about, like, what was your very first experience in a garden? Like when you were a kid, were you an adult? Who were you with? What'd you grow? Can we just start there really quick? Like, can you give us a little more of like, you know, like a bio, who are you where you live? Like just a little more about your personalities?

6m 5s

Madeline

Okay. Well actually I lived in Westchester county in New York state. And my first recollection of being in a Gordon was with my father who loved to garden and we were planting tulips. I think I might have been about five or six and he showed me how to put these bulbs in the ground. And lo and behold, you know, that was sort of in the fall spring came and all these beautiful plants, flowers came up. I was just so taken by the Marvel of nature and how that happened. So I really never became a big gardener after that cause I moved to the city. But once I started to live outside of New York city, I really started to garden and I've made, you know, plans and read books and figured out what was going to bloom well and what was going to bloom after that bloom was done.

6m 58s

Madeline

And I just think I, I stumbled into gardening and it wasn't until I really became an adult much, many years later after I kind of retired from my real job and started to really take care and develop a garden. So I actually have a 10 acre garden that I enjoy every inch of, I love the soil. I love the birds. And I find that for taking lots of classes and reading, lots of books and meeting lots of gardeners. And I think most importantly, being inspired by gardens I've visited that it has created a real life for me that I just enjoy every minute of it.

7m 40s

JackieMarie

Yeah. Like an amazing career. Right? Like I was reading your biography, like, does it say you worked for like Bergen for what is it Birdmen

7m 50s

Madeline

I'm Jeff Goodman. Oh yes. Sorry. No, I I've had two jobs really in my life. And one was at Bergdorf Goodman when the Goodman still owned the store. And that was just an amazing environment. And I'm privileged to be working for this family really. Although Mr. Goodman senior did run the store. I was there for seven years until my first child was born and I can honestly say I loved every second of that job and learned so much. And I ended up being in charge of their public relations department, which was just three of us, not a lot of people. And then after I had this child, I needed to go back to work and I, because of my experience at Bergdorf's, I was actually able to start doing freelance public relations.

8m 37s

Madeline

And that ended up being a company quite to my surprise. And so the rest of my business life, which was for 25 years, I ran de-brief public relations. And that was again, really like I couldn't wait to get to the office. I think I was very lucky that I worked for wonderful people, had wonderful people working with me. And really when it was time, my daughter was graduating high school and I felt like we were ready for a change and she was going off to be on her own. So that's when fortunately I was able to sell my business and move to the country full time and started gardening. So that's my story.

9m 18s

JackieMarie

Well, my, so I'm an elementary educator by trade. I was telling you, but my dream is to be like a children's book illustrator that writes biography. So I am just fascinated by all of that. That was awesome. Thank you for sharing. And I grew up outside of New York city and moved to Montana when I was 21. So I'm familiar with all of that. So to interrupt you, Jeff, we're sure,

9m 40s

Jeff

Oh, there's not much thinner up done. I've never really considered myself a gardener, but I I'll give you the history. I, my first recollection of a garden was when I was really little, my, when we'd go visit my grandmother, she had a wonderful little garden. She grew strawberries and all kinds of stuff, and it was always a really full, it was always a summer when we'd go to visit her. And I just really enjoyed going out in her garden and just eating right off the fine that that's my initial memory of that. She had a tomato farm and I'd go out there with a salt shaker and just eat tomatoes, like an apple. And, but, you know, growing up, my father always had a little garden in the backyard and he would, he would always work really hard.

10m 23s

Jeff

My memory of that was he was just always working hard at it. I, I can picture him sweating with his rake and a shovel. And, and then as I, you know, grew up, I went to college. I, I got my degree in fitness and I never really had a chance for a while there to, to garden or anything. I always said houseplants, but fitness wise, I started, you know, I learned in college, you could have a free membership at a gym if you taught aerobics. So I had a class just so I could go to the gym. So I, I started learning how to be an instructor early on in my, like at 20.

11m 4s

Jeff

And, and then, you know, as time went on, I moved around the country a little bit. I lived in Texas for awhile, down in Miami for a while. And, and I always liked to have, I'm kind of bridging my whole life here of, of, of gardening and fitness for you. I always had love to have, you know, plants and flowers and stuff like that around, and I kept them alive somehow. And at the, in the meantime I always had, I had a fitness business. I, I actually worked for a really prominent yacht club down in Miami and learned how to train.

11m 44s

Jeff

Well, I was cutting my teeth, learning how to be a better trainer at that point. And then I moved out to Los Angeles and I started own business and I had a, quite a nice clientele. And I also had a beautiful balcony in my apartment in Burbank that the light just hit just right. And I had, I just started buying flowers and they would grow and they would, they were bigger and bigger. I'd have to report them. I buy more and I had a, a 15 by nine foot balcony. That was about 50% of it was just floral, was beautiful and everything grew. I didn't really have to work too hard. I felt like I knew what I was doing. And so anyway, I ended up moving from California back to Florida and I maintained my business out on the west coast of Florida for, for five or six years, and then moved up to New York city and all along.

12m 35s

Jeff

You know, I always enjoyed a little bit of dabbling. I, I think I'm a dabbler. I always had a little garden. I didn't do the normal thing of tomatoes and corn, or actually down in St. Pete, where I had a house. I, I actually propagated something about that. I went down and I went to key west and I had some friends with a key lime tree. They gave us key lines. I came back and we made a Keyline pine. I took the seeds and I sprouted them and I potted them. And I actually had a key lime bushes growing up. That was my hedge on the side of my house. So you didn't know that I actually knew from seed.

13m 15s

Jeff

I actually did that. So anyway, I'm pretty proud of that because Madeline thinks I have a brown thumb. So, so then I moved to New York city and, and believe it or not, I lived in a standalone apartment building in New York city, just off of central park west. And for $10 a season, we could have a four by eight foot plot and, and my wife at the time, and I actually had a little garden in Manhattan and, but my fitness business really grew in Manhattan. It was, it was doing really well. And then I moved upstate and gave all that up to raise my daughter and wound up opening my own business up state.

14m 2s

Jeff

I really didn't know how well it would go, you know, being two hours north of New York city, but it actually went really well. I had a great clientele. I have been there since 2004 and that's the, I had my own gym and that's where I met Madeline. That brings us right up to date.

14m 22s

JackieMarie

You guys have no idea how much I love all of this, Jeff, especially like, I keep thinking, like, I just want to go work at like a tennis court. Like, is the receptionist just like, as like in New York where I would have like access to be able to play tennis, you know, by working there and stuff like, and I also just feel like I argue all the time with my mom and people about like the importance of like having a trainer, like how much further they will take you, because I don't have that much background in training. And I love to run. Like I found out I love to run just not even 10 years ago yet, and I've done three half marathons, but it's a challenge.

15m 3s

JackieMarie

And, and the one season I worked with a trainer, I wouldn't show much further than I've ever gotten in my life and ever done. And so I just think that having a trainer like you is so essential. So I'm gonna let you guys go back to talking us through an episode. And then I was looking at all the guests and farms that you guys have planned. And just so tell us quickly, like, could I, I somewhere I've read, like, what station is this going to be on?

15m 32s

Madeline

Well, that's a good question. It's going to be on public broadcasting. It is

15m 36s

JackieMarie

On pass.

15m 39s

Madeline

And it also will be streamed on pbs.org. And our premier date is March 21st, but people should really obviously look at their local listings to see what station will be airing it. And at what time

15m 54s

JackieMarie

They also like reach out and make sure that their stations are going to Curie or did they have to worry about,

15m 60s

Madeline

Of course they should. I don't know. You know, I think that if people hear about the show and want to view it, it would be really an interest of their local station.

16m 9s

Jeff

Yeah. The, the way it's kind of working is it will stream on, on their pbs.org for smart TVs and stuff like that. You can start streaming it on March 21st, but all the different affiliates, they can, they have a choice to start airing it at a time of their choice. So most likely some of the stations in colder weather areas, they may not start showing a garden show until April or may, as opposed to March, just because they're trying to accommodate what their listeners want to watch. So he just, like Madelyn said, just look for your local public television listing. And they all have their own specific time.

16m 51s

Jeff

They've decided it was released on March 21st, but they had their own time that they can, can release it or start their

16m 59s

Madeline

One other thing, Jackie, you could, where they could find out exactly where these different in their different markets, where, what channel it's going to be honest, they could go to our website where we'll have it listed also in garden fit.fit. So that might help people just go directly to us. But

17m 17s

Jeff

Yeah.

17m 20s

JackieMarie

Perfect. Perfect. And cause I know listeners are going to be interested and they're not going to want to wait till after March because they're going to want to start getting their muscles in there and getting in shape and learning these things before that big, when you're too busy to watch us anyway, because you're out in the garden. Well, you're probably not going to be too busy because you're going to want to do this because it's going to make your whole garden year go better. You know,

17m 49s

Jeff

Jackie,

17m 51s

JackieMarie

I really believe in the importance of all of this. Like I really just, as soon as I saw that first video, I was like, oh my gosh, this is so awesome.

17m 59s

Madeline

It is that. And our vision really is to help people right from the get, go take care of their bodies while they're taking care of their garden. That, yeah. And that's our big mission.

18m 10s

JackieMarie

This goes hand in hand because the more like you're fluid in your body and you're flexible and you're able to do more out there, the more productive your garden's going to be. You're going to enjoy it more and maybe I'll end up not complaining as much as I did last year and feeling so overwhelmed. If I do some of those episodes,

18m 31s

Jeff

We just start the whole, every episode starts off with a really fun car ride. And it's, it's designed to kind of introduce Madeline and myself cause we're, you know, we're knuckleheads, we're in the car, we're having a good time going wherever, whatever our new destination is. And at the same time, she's I always ask her, where are we going today? Hey Madeline. And she'll tell me, you know, where are we going? What garden we're going to, who we're going to visit a little bit about the gardener. Sometimes she has this Mary Poppins bag. Sometimes she pulls this bag out and she starts pulling things out of it as as little visual tools to help me understand where we're going and it can, it can be a little comical.

19m 13s

Jeff

It was, it was meant to be anyway, we have fun. And so at that point, that opening sets it up. So you really know where we're going, where we are and who we're about to meet. And then we get to the garden and we have our introductions and I get to meet the gardener. A lot of the times Madeline has already met them, but go ahead and take that part.

19m 34s

Madeline

Well, I not only had some of them, I knew Jackie had some of them. Obviously I had spoken to on the phone and the minute I told them about our concept of getting Gordon fit, they literally wanted to meet Jeff the next day. Nobody ever turned us down. They were so excited about abusing their bodies as their most important garden tool. And that sort of what we're really suggesting. But in any event, once we meet them and we've been lucky enough to be invited to their private gardens, which is great, what we're happy about in all our episodes, there's a big range of style. I mean, we go from desert gardens to English, lush, English gardens.

20m 15s

Madeline

We've been to a Japanese garden to heritage gardens, to really specialty pharmacy, which we can talk about. And I think what's really exciting to the garden world and probably to anybody who's interested in, in how creative people go about things. They really share with us what their inspirations were and how they started their Gordon. And I think that that's what begins the tour. And we actually start to go and look at what they've created.

20m 42s

Jeff

And then meanwhile, while this tour is going on, I'm watching the gardener. It gives me a chance to see, you know, do they live, do they walk with a turnout in their leg? Do they, how's their posture? Do they hunch when they bend over to get something, do they go, you know, I really get a chance to observe them in their environment. And it's, it's, it's, it gives me a chance to understand, you know, where I'm going with them when we get to the fix.

21m 12s

Madeline

And then as we're going through their gardens, it becomes really apparent that each one of them probably like most gardeners break the rules, they're really trailblazers. They have a vision in their mind about the environment that they want to create around them. And so whether we've gone to this particular farm up in Northern California, where they literally chose the most unique product to, to grow, which is saffron. And so that's very exciting to see people really on their own page. A lot of people like we visited a woman who started going to 30 years ago, an amateur gardener, and she wanted to do a parterre. And even though her Gordon was on a slope and she knew that park has go on level ground usually, or traditionally, she put it on a parterre is a garden.

22m 2s

Madeline

That's very geometric that usually has areas in it that are boarded by box woods or some kind of hedging device. And inside those hedges are a variety of different plants that are grown. And it just looks almost like a puzzle. It's just different geometric shapes that all go together. And it, it gives you a very formal frame for interesting plants to grow within it. And it's probably one of the most traditional features of English. Gordon's I think the French actually started it and they, they use them. Like if you see a picture of their side, you're going to see this amazing parterre in front of it.

22m 46s

Madeline

Once you see it, you would know it. But the point is, since it, even though it's such a traditional technique and idea, she used it in her own way, which I think made it very charming, oh, garden was traveling. And then we also visited a garden, for example, where this man inherited a slope, but he decided that he wanted to terrace it because he of the idea of terracing a garden. And he loves walking around his different Gordon rooms and areas. But once he gets there, he wants to be on flat land and that's how he wanted to set it up. So I think we go through all of this and it kind of gives Jeff a chance to see not only who they are, but how they're looking after their garden, how they're maintaining their go on what it takes to maintain that for.

23m 29s

Jeff

Right. Well, that's, that's a good keyword maintenance. So, so, so for further observation from myself, not only now, have I seen the large environment that they're in and what their garden has to offer, but now I'm starting to understand what tools they use and what, what they do to maintain their gardens. So I'm getting a really, even a better clearer picture of who they are and how they spend their time. And it, it, it gives me an understanding of what joints they're using, what, what, how they're using their arms and their hands and their legs and their backs by understanding some of that maintenance.

24m 10s

Madeline

And then, you know, in some cases, because again, I think while Jeff is watching everybody, I mean, they're so eager to talk about some of the features in there, Gordon, like whether they, why and how they put in pathways or how they prove their plans. You know, a lot of people had topiaries or interesting ways of pruning box wood, et cetera, or the plan choices, which were so important because obviously as you know, everybody's interested in native plants and really creating environments that are very specific to their region. Jeff gets to see literally the tools that they're using as he said. So it's pretty exciting. The, the, the one thing that I think probably is the most interesting part of everybody is that they all have created a habitat and they know that they want to work with nature or for nature rather than against it.

25m 4s

Madeline

So their methods and the techniques that they use to really make it livable for every creature in their garden, you know, they set up plans that that should be next to each other. So a caterpillar can have its cocoon on one, you know, on the right plant and get the right nourishment from those leaves and then grow up to be a butterfly and get nectar from the plant next to it. So it's pretty inspiring to see how these people have worked out, how to really sustain the earth and their garden so that I think we were very impressed by that commitment. And I think their approach and their philosophy was something that again, gave Jeff tremendous insight into who they were.

25m 47s

Jeff

Yeah, well, that's, that was like the third key for me, you know, not know, I understand their environment, understand what they're doing with tools and they're using their body. And by just what mental is just talking about their understanding of, of nature and habitat, their philosophy gave me an understanding of how they think. And that leads us to the next section of the show, which is where I sit down with them. One-on-one and I get to talk to them or actually correct myself. They get to talk to me. I asked them about what aches and pains their, their, their dealing with while working in their garden.

26m 31s

Jeff

And I already have an understanding pretty much of what they might be because I've watched how they walk, how they move, where they are and what they do and how they think. And they get a chance to do a little talking now, and they'll tell me, you know, whether it's, or neither back their elbow, their wrist, or hip, you know, fatigue, weakness, whatever their issue is. And it helps me with all of this information that with all that observation, I get to really truly understand not only what their problem is, whatever their aching pain is. But now I get to understand what the cause of that is. And this is the, this is the key to, you know, how Madeline and I just got started out and how she felt so much better.

27m 18s

Jeff

If you understand a problem completely where it's coming from and everything then yet means you understand the cause. And when you understand the cause of a problem, if you really truly understand it, it will lead you straight to the solution. So just by listening first observing, and then listening to the gardeners, I could understand exactly what we could do, what I could give them to do for their unique problem to uniquely fixed it. And it was always really fun. It was, it was a great experience for me to just not know what I was getting into and have to sit down and be quiet and listen to, to be able to do my job. And it really worked.

27m 59s

Jeff

It was a, it was a, it was a wonderful experience and, and the idea of how I would fix them. We kind of call it the fix is to give them a solution that makes so much sense to them that they really understand it. Then it would become a habit.

28m 17s

Madeline

I just want to add that. I think that was the thing that really got me so excited about Jeff's approach was that even though I know he can talk about and knows a bazillion solutions, he picks the one that you will do, and that makes it the best solution. So

28m 33s

Jeff

Yeah, that's really the case. I forget that I do that, but that's exactly what I do. I mean, I, well, I had a great mentor a long time ago when I was becoming a trainer and I asked him one time, you know, what's the best thing I can give somebody for something. And he said, the one little boop. And I was like, oh, well that's. And that, that just, that was such an epiphany for me that just plugged. And that's, what's made me a better trainer is understanding that there's a variety of solutions for most problems for people to fix themselves. But if you give them the one that they won't do, it's not a very good solution. And so if you understand them and you give them something that they, they understand and that they will do with excitement and fervor, then that's the best, that's the best solution you can give them.

29m 20s

Jeff

And that's, that's kind of what I've learned to do that. That's more of my expertise in anything it's understanding how to set somebody up for success.

29m 28s

Madeline

So I think what's exciting about that little moment. Then once Jeff is completed giving them their FedEx, we decide he gets a promise from them that over the next four weeks, they will practice this and that we will come back. So we actually really, Jackie come back in four weeks and I think Jeff should talk about this, why we need this four week period before we come back again and how he's challenged them to really correct their issue and fix that problem. So, yeah. So,

30m 0s

Jeff

Well you want to, you want to stay with the show and go to the gym or go right to the four weeks, the habit, the habit. Okay. Yeah. Well, that's where it kind of correlates, you know, the, how I teach them what I'm choosing to give them. It's a habit. I have it as, you know, we all have habits and where did we get them? And we got them from repetitive use, repetitive doing something so many times that our body just does it without thinking. I mean, when you pick up a ballpoint pen and you don't think to yourself to push the, the knob down to the top and hold it in the correct hand with a point, aiming at paper is do it because become an autonomic habit. So if I, somebody an exercise or a stretch or a, or a movement or an understanding of doing something differently, like how you hold your body when you're pruning or how you spread your feet.

30m 49s

Jeff

When you go to bend down and pick something up, if you do that for a long enough time, your body would do it without thinking. And so that's why we put the four week gap in the show. I won, I get a promise from our gardeners to do what I asked them to do what I showed them to do for four weeks. And when we come back, lo and behold, not only are they, you know, they're excited, they're excited, their aches and pains are gone, but they're really, it was interesting for me, they're really excited because they don't think about it anymore. It's become a part of their life. It's, it's, it's just become this thing they do.

31m 30s

Jeff

And they they're, they're thrilled to death that it's just working just simply working.

31m 35s

Madeline

So that's exciting. And it was so after Jeff gets the promise and we leave for four weeks, we have a segment next in the show where we're actually in a gym together, and Jeff gets a chance to really reiterate and talk about, and we both talk about the fix and what was his suggestions for that particular problem. But then

31m 55s

Jeff

That's why I love this part in the show, because it's back in my element, you know, she's the gardener, I'm the fitness trainer. So we're in a gym like where we met and I'm in a tank top instead of a t-shirt. And yeah, we revisit that. What, like Menlo was the same. We get to revisit what I taught the gardener. And sometimes we add a little something more to it just for the beach. This is purely for the viewer really is it's a little something more, and then every review it. Yeah. And then sometimes there's even some extras we throw in some, some something that's very related to that episode or that gardener that wasn't necessarily their fixed, but would definitely benefit the viewer that who happens to be a gardener because in so many cases,

32m 43s

Madeline

Because you know, a lot of their causes happen to be things that they do that are tasks that most gardeners do. So it's really informative, I think, to the viewer, which is nice.

32m 52s

Jeff

So anyway, in the show, we go back four weeks later, like we said, and we have this wow moment where they, they're just, they're just feeling better. They're, they're thrilled the death of, of how the, the fixed set into their body.

33m 6s

Madeline

The thing that, you know, looking at their faces, you can just see how they feel different and how their pain has really gone away. So that transfer

33m 16s

JackieMarie

Like an example of

33m 19s

Jeff

Sure. I would love to. Okay. A very simple example. Let's say that you're you have your, your Clippers and you're, you're either deadheading or you're just trimming your Trubs. Okay. Pruning, pruning. There's the word I'm looking for a printer. Thank you. And what you'll tend to do is bring your feet together and make your body tall and lean over and throw your arm out there in front of you and try to get as much as you can. And if you were just to stop, take a picture of that and look at it, you're just punching over and you have the weight of your tool.

34m 5s

Jeff

You have the weight of your arm, you have the weight of your head, all hunched over in front of your hip. And when you get done, your shoulder hurts, your back hurts. You know, your hip hips hurt, but you don't care because the Bush looks better, but there certainly could be a better way. So if you think of balanced, balanced is like one of the key elements I use in everything I do. If you think of the weight, like I said, the weight of your hand and the tool in your arm, out in front of you, it's, it's pivoting off of where your shoulder is. So if you can go on the other side of your shoulder, for instance, your shoulder blade and pull that shoulder blade down towards your, your back pockets, think of sliding that shoulder blade down your back into your back pockets, to counter, like, use the strength of your back and pull it down to counter the weight of your arm out in front of you.

34m 58s

Jeff

Now you've balanced out your shoulder and your shoulder just feels better. It's just like simply a regular scale, but a six ounce weight on one side, you put a six hour wait on the other side. And the stress has gone from the center.

35m 11s

Madeline

It's like instant

35m 12s

Jeff

Gratification. Did that, did that, was that a good, did that make sense?

35m 18s

JackieMarie

It does. And, and deadheading and performing is something that definitely my listeners all talked about that they do a lot. Somebody just told me the other day was their least favorite activity was deadheading. And just, you know, it, it, I know my mom never goes anywhere without her pruners in her back pocket. And so, and that is definitely something I would never think of. And that's why I, yeah, like I said, I just think that trainer or somebody who's like looking at you, like you talked about looking at the video, you know, there's no better way to improve than having somebody help you analyze what you're doing.

35m 56s

Madeline

I know. I think everybody again, will see themselves in each one of these episodes. Just what you're saying, because it's very visual and Jeff's common sense approach makes it very doable.

36m 8s

Jeff

That's it? I mean, what makes it common sense? It's just body awareness. I'm just helping you be aware of what you're doing.

36m 14s

Madeline

So this is why I think that people will become Gordon fit and will really enjoy using their body correctly and then be able to really enjoy maintaining their garden and doing whatever they want to do. You know, I think we have come across something that doesn't seem to be shared in any way to gardeners. And again, we're hoping, and there are a lot of young, new gardeners and there are a lot of people of every age. I think one of the things that impressed me about what Jeff does, and certainly my friend who introduced me to him, these become lifelong habits. I mean, you never go back once you make your body feel good, but like, I wouldn't go back hunching over the way I used to. So I think he,

36m 55s

Jeff

Yeah, you've got it. It's now a habit. And so your body's making the choice because it likes it better.

36m 60s

Madeline

So it's very cool. So

37m 2s

JackieMarie

To like pay attention to their shoulder blade, like, or try to get it, like, I can totally picture that. And at the same time, like it's something you just would never think of it. You wouldn't even think that there wouldn't be an option that you would just think like, oh, I have to do it this way, because the way I've always been doing it, but it's just like you said a habit. And it reminds me of like, James, I just read James clears atomic habits. And he taught me that like, to make a new, good habit, make it like moose possible thing that you will do. Like maybe you want to run five miles a day, but if you make it to your habits going to be, I'm only going to run a mile, you know, once you get your shoes on, probably once you're out there doing that one mile, you know, you're going to go ahead and run all five.

37m 46s

JackieMarie

But if you at least do that mile every day, or I don't usually like tell people to run every day, but like every other, or you're going to walk 45 minutes every day. And then once you get that habit, then you can expand on it. But he, he says that same thing about what you were saying, like make it something that you will do the minimal tiniest, like you develop the, the mindset of like, I am a Walker or I am a gardener, right. You know, a fit person and you will, and you can, you can expand those goals. But the first thing you would do is get that habit down.

38m 27s

Jeff

That's it? That's exactly it. That's, that's really where the basis of this country.

38m 31s

Madeline

And I think that's why when we go back and we get what we call the wow, I mean, this reaction of, of scales falling off of people's eyes, that it's doable, that they can do it. And that they have really succeeded in relieving themselves of pain and aches. And so sometimes they take us and show us what's new in the garden, but pretty much at the end of every episode, when you have this wonderful opportunity for them to teach us something or show us something. So they've taught us how they make tea. We've cooked with a lot of the gardeners. We have one vegetarian gardener who had an amazing variety of vegetables. They never wanted to eat the same meal every night. So he cooked just the most ridiculous banquet.

39m 14s

Madeline

That's just fantastic. I mean, there's just so many techniques like transplanting cactuses, or, you know, how they break corn to dry it. And, you know, obviously techniques in pruning, topiary and special techniques for plants that need special care.

39m 35s

Jeff

We

39m 35s

Madeline

Just have a great time with them and it's sort of our chance to really enjoy what they've created and their knowledge. So it's pretty exciting for us. Wonderful.

39m 45s

Jeff

You know, what's, what's really best about the end of our show too, is it shows that we always ended up making a new special friend. Every episode we got, we, we actually spent so much nice time with them, just even though it was just that one episode that one day. And then when we come back, they, they became very attuned to us and us to them. And it always seemed that Matt Linda went out and I would always be driving off to the airport to go do the next episode. And we were like, like excited. We were giddy. Like we made new friends today.

40m 20s

Madeline

They were great. All gardeners are great. You know, that probably

40m 25s

JackieMarie

I hear like I made new friends today. My show is a total success, thanks to amazing guests like you. And I think people like I'm so excited, especially like I said, that you guys went to soul fire farm. Like it didn't say you talk to Leah Penniman, but that's her place. Right. And farming while black is like, if not my all time, favorite gardening book ever. Definitely my favorite gardening book I read in 2021. Like I just, I love that book so much. There's so much more to it than just gardening. And I, I just think she is such an amazing woman and I'm so excited to see the farm and just, and all the things that you guys are do. And she's like a hard worker. So I'll bet, like I'll be thinking of some pains there.

41m 7s

Madeline

They worked so hard. We, we worked for the time that we were there with Brooke and broke her is the only other person that really runs a farm every single day with Leah. And I think it's just amazing as a gardener realized how much work they have to put in to keep that farm going. I mean, they have volunteers and they do these amazing educational programs. So they have lots of kids and sometimes with their parents and work the farm with them. But the responsibility that they've taken on is enormous, but they're so motivated in this such charming people that they really have found a way to live on this form and have the farm live for the whole community.

41m 50s

Madeline

It's really brilliant.

41m 54s

JackieMarie

I know, I feel bad cause I, I interviewed her and I hadn't read her book. And then somebody came on and told me about her book and I finally splurged and bought it. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is just, I just want every single thing she shared about that. Like heritage and, and the education pieces and the songs that you sing. And, and just, I dunno, and she has so much information on how to grow like down to like, you know, this is where you plant the seeds and this is like, these are the, you know, it's just a comprehensive manual, everything, but it's, it's done in this like hopefully way.

42m 34s

JackieMarie

Yeah.

42m 34s

Jeff

Yeah. There's some really special techniques in that episode that, that Brooks shares with us from their, from their farms. That was really fun. I learned something.

42m 43s

Madeline

Yeah. I think that's one of the episodes where we actually get to really plant because their techniques are so unique.

42m 51s

JackieMarie

And I think that's going to be one of the great things about your show is getting to see all these gardens. Like it's just so exciting. And I just, I think it's going to be a huge hit.

43m 1s

Madeline

Thank you.

43m 5s

JackieMarie

So is there anything else you guys wanted to say that we didn't mention? I feel like you've talked about a lot and I know this is going to be so good for listeners because anything that we can do to enable us to be more effective in our gardens is just so key. And, and my husband's going to be 69 this year. So he's certainly getting up there in age and does just, it is insane. The amount of work that he does to grow our food and, and work hard in the heavy buckets, us full of dirt or rocks, or, you know, bending over constantly and just constantly, you know, pulling this weed or digging that up.

43m 48s

JackieMarie

And we live in the Rocky mountains. So of course he's always like anytime he puts in a new fence post or anything, you know, pounding rocks into the hard, it's just, I think hopefully we'll find some cool things for him.

44m 3s

Jeff

Well, I think something that you, something that you mentioned there is worth just a quick little mention, you mentioned his age and a lot of people think that when you get older, you're supposed to have these aches and pains because of age. And I'm just going to clear that myth up a little bit. It's not necessarily that you're older. It has nothing to do with age. It has to do with birth time. If you do something that will eventually cause an ache and pain and you do it for a day or a week or a six months, it may not cause that and pain.

44m 45s

Jeff

But if you do it for a year or 10 years or 20 years, it's going to eventually surface as, as an anger pain. And so that's why sometimes these things show up. When people get older, they just been doing something causing a problem for a longer period of time. They just hadn't got, had to have gotten older during that longer period of time, but the aid campaign can, can come in at any age. So th th the real benefit of the fixes I give on this show is even though they are very unique to are, are specific to what the, the, that gardener, that episode has every, you know, they're, they're, they're, they're still relatively a universal with, with anybody that might be watching a show or anybody doing anything even other than gardening.

45m 32s

Jeff

And so the best way to understand this, take the fix, understand the fix and, and apply that fix. And you'll, you you've already started to stop not cause the problem. And if you're not causing the problem, you won't have one. And so it's really to just circle back around. It's not necessarily always age it's, it's really just continuing to cause a problem or continuing or beginning to stop causing the problem.

46m 2s

JackieMarie

Yeah. And back to what you were saying about people like bending over like awkwardly, like I think people are going to see things that are like, wow, I didn't even know I was causing this problem. Or you were saying about people's posture. Like, I think there's a huge piece for that.

46m 17s

Madeline

Yes. But I think awareness is so key. And that's why I was so excited that, you know, we can be on, on your show and that we can put Gordon fit out there. Because I think once gardeners hear about this and watch this show, it will change everything for them. And they, I mean, I'm just sort of living proof of every decade. I have less pain if no pain. So I really think learning how to do things the right way is really the key to enjoying any activity you want to do, including something as strenuous as gordonii.

46m 51s

JackieMarie

It reminds me of that show where the little girl is like with Hillary Delfin, she's like watches this little girl, who's a ballerina. And she's like, what does it, fundamentals is the foundation of fun. Like you have to like practice your belt and, you know, get everything perfect. So, well, thank you guys so much. So let's tell everybody your website, again, it's garden fit.fit, And you guys have like an Instagram channel or any social media. Can they find me there at all?

47m 21s

Madeline

You can find us in garden fit on Instagram and on Facebook.

47m 26s

JackieMarie

Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Jeff and Madeline for coming on today and sharing with us and, and good luck with your show. And, and we'll be watching March 21st for state spring, right? Yes. Thank you, Jackie. Have a great day. Okay. You too. Thank you so much. Okay. I am not shutting the recorder off. I usually do it this time, but I have lost too many golden seeds. So, but just, I will try to get this out right now. I'm out to about mid-March March probably come out, like they'll, I'll try to get it out. So it comes out like right before the 21st. So it's right in the episode, 413 and we've been pretty good for me being off my script.

48m 11s

JackieMarie

Usually I get a lot more nervous, but you guys were perfect. So thank you and have a great day.

About the author, Jackie Marie

I'm an artist and educator. I live at the "Organic Oasis" with my husband Mike where we practice earth friendly techniques in our garden nestled in the mountains of Montana.