Ep. 258 : The Gifts of Tracks

I spent the day out tracking, when ! got to thinking about gifts that are the tracks which are left behind without consideration of how the tracker might feel or what we may want out of the experience. I was struck by awe and wonder when I came across the bed and was truly grateful for this gift left behind by the animal that was there so recently.

Ep. 246 : Healing Relationships with Land Through Help of Red Clover

I have been feeling a little bit distant lately. Like some sort of anxious attachment distant. Avoidant even. While trying to not be too clingy or handsy with the land, I have slipped into a disconnection, being one that just observes but doesn’t participate in the ways that brought me into relationship with so many plants in the first place. I have been feeling this disconnect, and recognizing something had to be done. Then along comes Red Clover.

Ep. 201 : Harvesting for Conservation with Sarah Nilson and Eric Burkhart

“Fewer ramps per pound means more ramps in the ground”.

Ramps? Wild Leeks? Allium tricoccum? Whatever you call them, they are a type species for foraging and everyone wants to be in relationship with them. Often that means everyone is looking for them and trying to bring some home, or sell them at markets or fine restaurants, sometimes without care or consideration as to what is best for the Ramps themselves. But when we slow down, study, and learn the best ways to know and be in connection with a plant then it may even be possible to support plant populations while harvesting from them.
Sarah E. Nilson and Eric Burkhart join me for a conversation around when is the best time for commercial growers to be harvesting and why we it might be better to be harvesting at certain phenological stages rather than others. We talk about Ramps, their general ecology, why it is important to maintain relationships through harvesting, but in good ways that give the plants the best chance at sustained growth and genetic diversity.