Growing food isn't about producing bushels of vegetables or becoming self-sufficient—it's about cultivating connection, wonder, and daily rituals that nourish both body and soul. In this episode, Brit Sastrawidjaya and Bethany Rydmark talk with garden writer and cookbook author Willi Galloway about integrating edibles into landscapes, discovering overlooked plant parts, and building a breakfast routine centered around garden-fresh vegetables.

Willi shares her unconventional journey from college English major to test garden manager at Organic Gardening Magazine to two-time cookbook author. Along the way, she challenges yield-obsessed gardening culture, celebrates the magic of nasturtium leaves on avocado toast, and explains why growing a single bean plant that reaches eight feet tall in a few months is a profoundly life-affirming act.

Chapters:

00:00 Start

00:39 Meet Willie Galloway: From Organic Gardening to Cookbook Author

01:54 Willie's Early Gardening Influences

03:19 Journey to Organic Gardening Magazine

05:21 Discovering the Joy of Growing Food

10:17 Incorporating Edibles into Your Garden

19:13 Companion Planting and Garden Maintenance Tips

22:42 The Psychological Benefits of Gardening

23:27 Mindfulness in the Garden

25:11 The Joy of Growing Your Own Food

26:01 Designing Gardens for Wellness

28:24 Incorporating Food into Ornamental Gardens

29:15 Veggies for Breakfast: A New Perspective

33:08 Creating Rituals with Garden Herbs

37:11 Exploring the Northwest Floral Garden Festival

40:14 Connecting People Through Gardening Stories

44:23 Conclusion

Follow Willi:

Website

Willi Galloway on Instagram

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Land Language Website

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Connect with Us:

Got questions? Ideas for future guests? DM us on Instagram or visit our website to share your thoughts. We're building this together.

About Land Language:

Land Language is a podcast for landscape professionals, plant lovers, and anyone who wants to understand what it really takes to build regeneratively. Hosted by contractor/designer Brit Sastrawidjaya and designer Bethany Rydmark, each episode brings you expert insights, practical tools, and honest conversations about transforming the landscape industry from the ground up.

Regenerative landscape design isn’t just about plants — it’s about teaching people to be in right relationship with land. In this episode of Land Language, hosts Brit Sastrawidjaya (CEO, Blueprint Earth; stormwater expert) and Bethany Rydmark sit down with New Zealand landscape designer and author Xanthe White to talk about process-driven design, soil and water as living systems, and why restraint is one of the most sustainable design tools we have.

Xanthe has spent decades crafting gardens in Aotearoa/New Zealand, writing about “good dirt,” and leading a studio that treats makers, gardeners, and designers as a single ecology of practice. This conversation is a masterclass in how to practice landscape design that is regenerative, human, and site-honoring.

Chapters:

00:00 Start

04:25 Xanthe's Journey into Landscape Architecture

07:43 The Philosophy of Landscape Design

11:58 Challenges and Innovations in the Field

23:33 Water Management and Design Stories

38:51 Material Choices and Sustainable Practices

46:03 Future Projects and Inspirations

47:13 Closing

Follow Xanthe

Xanthe White Design

Follow Land Language:

Land Language Website

Follow on Instagram

Connect with Us:

Got questions? Ideas for future guests? DM us on Instagram or visit our website to share your thoughts. We're building this together.

About Land Language:

Land Language is a podcast for landscape professionals, plant lovers, and anyone who wants to understand what it really takes to build regeneratively. Hosted by contractor/designer Brit Sastrawidjaya and designer Bethany Rydmark, each episode brings you expert insights, practical tools, and honest conversations about transforming the landscape industry from the ground up.

Sustainable landscape construction isn't just about swapping one product for another, it's about questioning the entire system. In this episode, Land Language hosts Brit Sastrawidjaya and Bethany Rydmark talk with Jenny Jones, founder of Terremoto, a Los Angeles-based design studio challenging conventional construction practices through material reuse, labor visibility, and conservation-minded design.

Together they explore practical strategies for sourcing recycled materials, the hidden carbon costs of concrete, regional differences in client expectations, and why the most meaningful projects are often the smallest ones where designers maintain ongoing relationships rather than one-and-done builds.

Jenny shares candid insights on working with urbanite, the challenges of being labeled "unprofessional" when questioning industry standards, how tech culture influences landscape aesthetics, and why having a material storage yard transforms sustainable design-build practice.

Chapters:

00:00 Start

00:36 Introduction: Jenny Jones from Terremoto

01:45 Jenny's Journey into Landscape Architecture

03:36 The Influence of Education and Early Career

05:18 Challenges and Insights in Landscape Architecture

09:13 The Joys of Small Projects and Ecological Restoration

11:52 Materiality and Construction in Landscape Design

20:00 The Role of Technology in Modern Landscape Architecture

26:25 Material Reuse and Sustainable Practices

32:07 Challenges of Small Studio Operations

33:13 Inspiration from France's Reuse Legislation

34:37 Sustainable Practices in the Northwest

35:42 Innovative Materials and Techniques

38:55 The Importance of Repair and Care

42:47 Practical Approaches to Landscape Restoration

47:02 Recycling Green Waste

48:51 Celebrating Material Reuse

51:54 Final Thoughts

Follow Jenny:

Terremoto

Terremoto on Instagram

Follow Land Language:

Land Language Website

Follow on Instagram

Connect with Us:

Got questions? Ideas for future guests? DM us on Instagram or visit our website to share your thoughts. We're building this together.

About Land Language:

Land Language is a podcast for landscape professionals, plant lovers, and anyone who wants to understand what it really takes to build regeneratively. Hosted by contractor/designer Brit Sastrawidjaya and designer Bethany Rydmark, each episode brings you expert insights, practical tools, and honest conversations about transforming the landscape industry from the ground up.

In this episode of Land Language, hosts Brit Sastrawidjaya and Bethany Rydmark sit down with nursery owner, author, and plant ecologist Paul Bonine (co-owner of Xera Plants, paleoclimatology background, and longtime horticultural educator). Together, they go deep into the future of regenerative landscaping through native annuals, cover cropping, soil biology, and plant-driven weed management.

Paul brings decades of experience observing Pacific Northwest ecosystems up close—from clay soils that turn to concrete in summer, to the evolutionary role of native annuals, to the quiet intelligence of succession plants like ceanothus, clover, meadowfoam, and clinopodium. This episode reframes how designers and contractors think about weeds, soil, irrigation, and the plants we choose as tools — not just ornament.

This is a foundational conversation for any practitioner seeking to reduce carbon-heavy construction habits, increase biodiversity, and work with the land’s ecological timing instead of fighting it.

Chapters

00:00 Start

01:41 Using Plants as Green Mulch and Weed Management

03:07 Meadowfoam: A Natural Solution for Turf Grass

05:01 Cover Crops and Soil Health

09:47 Prairies vs. Micro Forests for Carbon Sequestration

12:51 Paul Bonine's Background and Early Influences

14:01 Soil Management and Mulching Practices

16:25 Cover Crops for Construction Sites

18:54 The Role of Ceanothus in Soil Health

21:01 Succession Planting and Soil Building

24:14 Challenges in the Nursery Industry

27:22 Native Vines for Shady Areas

29:05 The Dilemma of Using Roundup

30:08 Alternatives to Pulling Weeds

30:35 The Importance of Soil Health

33:20 Mulching and Leaf Management

38:19 Native vs. Non-Native Plants

39:23 Adapting Gardening Practices to Climate

42:48 Client Preferences and Garden Aesthetics

45:21 Climate Change and Gardening

51:14 Integrated Pest Management

52:06 End

Follow Paul:

Website: https://xeraplants.com/

Xera Plants on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xeraplants

Follow Land Language:

Land Language Website: https://www.landlanguage.org/

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelandlanguage/

Connect with Us:

Got questions? Ideas for future guests? DM us on Instagram or visit our website to share your thoughts. We're building this together.

About Land Language:

Land Language is a podcast for landscape professionals, plant lovers, and anyone who wants to understand what it really takes to build regeneratively. Hosted by contractor/designer Brit Sastrawidjaya and designer Bethany Rydmark, each episode brings you expert insights, practical tools, and honest conversations about transforming the landscape industry from the ground up.

What if the future of landscaping starts with a conversation?

Welcome to Land Language,the podcast where landscape contractor/designer Brit Sastrawidjaya and landscape architect Bethany Rydmark bring you the real, unfiltered conversations about building regenerative landscapes. No fluff. No greenwashing. Just practical tools, expert insights, and honest talk about transforming the industry from the ground up.

In this introductory episode, Brit and Bethany share their origin story: how they went from mutual Instagram fangirling to launching a podcast with a mission. They saw the same frustrating cycle everywhere: clients wanting sustainability, contractors building what they were taught, vendors producing what sells, and no one taking the first step toward change.

We cover:

1. The blame cycle: why clients, contractors, and vendors all point fingers
2. Collective power: how groups like WISE and Oregon Regenerative Alliance shift supply chains
3. Soil as foundation: what we're losing when we ignore soil health
4. Climate reality: why old methods don't work anymore (and what to do instead)
5. Education gaps: most contractors were handed a shovel, not a degree in soil science
6. The investment question: does regenerative practice have to cost more?
7. Building courage through community: how incremental steps create industry-wide change

Listen if you:

1. Want to build healthier, more resilient landscapes
2. Feel stuck between what you know is right and what's available/affordable
3. Wonder if anyone else is asking the same questions you are
4. Need practical steps, not just ideals
5. Care about the planet and want to align your work with your values

This isn't a prescriptive "do it this way" show. Brit and Bethany are learning alongside you, bringing in scientists, vendors, and practitioners to share what's working, what's not, and what's next.

Every episode ends with clear action steps. Because if we don't help you implement what you've learned, this is just information that sits in the back of your brain. We're here to help you make change happen.

New episodes drop every other Thursday. Subscribe now and join the community building better landscapes, one project at a time.

Follow us on Instagram: @landlanguagepodcast

Find the show notes on our website: landlanguage.org