Joe and Professor Peggy O'Neil discuss how growing up on a farm shaped her worldview and career path. She shares insights about the intersection of agriculture, literature, and education, drawing connections between farming, food systems, and the humanities. As a professor teaching courses on food, design, and philosophy, O'Neil emphasizes the importance of helping students develop their own worldviews and understanding of food systems. She discusses the challenges of modern farming, including land ownership issues and food security, while highlighting the potential of urban agriculture and community-based solutions. O'Neil also explores the role of food literacy, cultural connections to food, and the importance of building community through local food systems. Throughout the conversation, she maintains an optimistic outlook on addressing food insecurity and creating sustainable food systems through diverse approaches and community engagement.

Links Mentioned

Peggy O'Neil at Western University: https://www.uwo.ca/fhs/fns/about/faculty/oneil_p.html

Peggy's Podcast: https://globalnews.ca/national/program/food-for-the-future-hosted-by-peggy-oneil

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Peggy's Bio

Peggy was raised on a family farm in rural Ontario with ten siblings, where she discovered her love of home economics through the completion of eighteen 4-H Homemaking Clubs. After finishing college, she worked as an educator and leader in health care for twenty years; and during the past five years, she has worked as a business development consultant to leaders in residential real estate brokerages across North America. She has been faculty at Brescia University College in Food Administration since 2008. The focus of her doctoral work and on-going research is women entrepreneurs in fields related to home economics. Peggy is in the process of launching her arts and entertainment company, called The Song Inside, that produces radio and television programs for women and entrepreneurs, with the purpose of helping individuals have more of the life they want by understanding how economics and ethics fit together. 

Episode Credits

GrowAbility is hosted by Joe Gansevles and Holly Pugsley, and produced by Joe Gansevles and Adam Caplan.

Special thanks to this week's guest, Peggy O'Neil.

Lighting and camera designed by Kevin Labonte with production support from Oliver Gansevles.

GrowAbility’s production was made much easier with the help of Jesse Chen, Terry Fujioka, Zach Grossman, Zachary Meads, Leo Shin, and Deborah Camargo from Fanshawe College's Broadcasting, Television and Film Production Program. Thanks to Janice Robinson from Fanshawe for arranging for these students’ invaluable participation.

Holly Pugsley of Just Keep Growing provided the plants and made sure they looked great.

Audience and Marketing Strategy by Doruntina Uka and Tess Alcock.

Our theme music is Wandering William by Adrian Walther and can be found on Soundstripe.

Thanks as well to Hubert Orlowski for providing technical and audio engineering advice to help our podcast sound great.

Adam Caplan is web.isod.es Executive Producer and Sammy Orlowski is our Senior Creator.

Special thanks to Jennifer Routly from Siskinds The Law Firm, for arranging to host us at their beautiful head office in downtown London, Ontario.

GrowAbility is a web.isod.es production and is produced with the support and participation of the team at The PAtCH and Hutton House.