A show about relationships with the land

There are many ways to listen to the show: Listen live on CFRU 93.3 fm broadcasting from the University of Guelph Mondays at 6pm EST or listen to the podcast via Spotify, Apple, or just follow the rss feed.

Ep. 205 : Eastern Screech Owl
ornithology, species profile byron murray ornithology, species profile byron murray

Ep. 205 : Eastern Screech Owl

I have a big affinity for the suburbs (I know, it’s weird), and the Eastern Screech feels like a suburban bird. They hang out along the riparian corridors with the tall older trees, hunting mice, crayfish, songbirds, and whomever else they can catch. I did the same when I grew up in Brampton, Ontario, but instead of mice, crayfish and songbirds, I was hunting for feral Apple trees, Wild Grapes, and anything else I could eat. I bet there were Screech’s along the Etobicoke Creek, too.
Last year, 2022, on January 4th, I recorded a show about Eastern Screech Owls which I only played on CFRU, 93.3 fm, which is the campus-community radio station where my show is broadcast. Turns out I never put it out online for some reason. Now this year, 2023, I was reading in bed when I heard the tell-tale monotonic trill of an Eastern Screech Owl out my window. This inspired me to record this new episode all about Eastern Screech Owls.

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Ep. 204 : Winter Solstice
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Ep. 204 : Winter Solstice

“Wither, wither, black flowering night. May your dark juices bleed, burn up like a pool on the summer plain, shrivel like a stain upon sand, dwindle to a basalt pebble, tiny as a slow-worms eye is. Vanish, to nothing.”

Personal rituals observing the season continue even if the public cannot. This is one of my favourite ways to use this platform, by honouring the creators who came before me and rebroadcasting their work. This the fourth? year that I get to play this radio play by Alison Mcleay, which was originally broadcast on BBC Scotland Saturday December 21st, 1985 at 10:30pm. I was two years old when this originally aired, and though my local CBC channel would sometimes play the BBC Wold News throughout the night, I don’t know if this would’ve been aired.

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Ep. 203 : I’ve Been Thinkin ‘Bout Yew..
plants, research, species profile byron murray plants, research, species profile byron murray

Ep. 203 : I’ve Been Thinkin ‘Bout Yew..

It started with a suggestion that I could learn a little about how to differentiate between Canada Yew, Eastern Hemlock, and Balsam Fir, but then it turned into a zany rabbit-hole of discovery, confusion and awe.
The Yew family, Taxaceae, is a beautiful family, holding long lines of mythos and medicines. I keep being challenged in my assumptions as I pull the threads of knowledge, and it excites me more and more the more I learn.

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Ep. 202 : Baby Bird Identification with Linda Tuttle-Adams
birds, ornithology, book, interview byron murray birds, ornithology, book, interview byron murray

Ep. 202 : Baby Bird Identification with Linda Tuttle-Adams

It can be really hard to identify a baby bird, and that can be problematic in trying to identify the exact care needs the bird requires to flourish. Some birds may only feed their nestlings seeds, where as others require insects. Identification is key to the survival of many of the species of birds found across North America/Turtle Island every year. There are few resources and fewer accessible texts outside of academia to turn to, but with Linda Tuttle-Adam’s new book “Baby Bird Identification - A North American Guide” things just got easier.

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

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Ep. 200 : Lessons From A Dead Owl
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Ep. 200 : Lessons From A Dead Owl

This episode is a bit of a vulnerable one. I talk about some profound lessons which really impacted me, and shook some of my self image. I also feel a bit exposed by acknowledging I have honestly received some profound lessons from interactions with a dead Great Horned Owl.
Essentially the show is about theft, and honouring our values & commitments to the world around us, and how we want to be in relationship with those we share this world with and with those whom we teach and mentor. I feel that this story telling is because I did something I believe to be a grievous and intentional act against another, but it is also about learning from my mistakes and working towards repair.

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Ep. 199 : Death and Decomposers
fungi, dead stuff, death, mushrooms, mycology byron murray fungi, dead stuff, death, mushrooms, mycology byron murray

Ep. 199 : Death and Decomposers

Tis’ the season to be considering the concepts of death and decay. We can smell it in the cool wet woods, and we can see it draped across the doorways along our streets. Skeletal trees sway with boney branches scratching at grey skies, and the dark is ever creeping in. Why not celebrate some of the most profound and interesting parties involved in this death and decomposition : Fungi!

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Ep. 198 : Understanding Ecopsychology with Memona Hossain
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Ep. 198 : Understanding Ecopsychology with Memona Hossain

“One of the things we tend to do culturally, the framework is to separate humans from the earth and to see them as two separate entities, rather then seeing that as an interconnected relationship..”
My experience with Memona is that she is all about challenging that feeling of separateness and working towards restoring and remediating that disconnect between the sacred Earth and us humans who may have forgotten it. She has described Ecopsychology in the past as “the area of study that explores the connective, holistic relationship between humans and the Earth,” and her passion really drives that home, albeit in a very open way, often allowing the land to lead in that remembering and reconciling.

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Ep. 197 : Sit Spots
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Ep. 197 : Sit Spots

It’s easy, pretty accessible and turns out to be a lot of fun and often full of learning. A sit spot, or magic spot, or secret spot or whatever else you might call it is simple. Just go find your sit spot, close to home, accessible and easy and then sit there, quietly.
Nature is everywhere, and we can notice it in all sorts of ways. Be it our balcony, backyard or a bench at the park. Find a spot you can go to reliably and find a nice place to sit.
Doesn’t really matter where you are even. Friends have done sit spots from their kitchen windows, from their prison cells, from balconies 9 stories up. It is an extremely valuable practice that I would wholly endorse to anyone seeking to learn more about the land.

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Ep. 196 : Hair Scale Identification Guide to Terrestrial Mammalian Carnivores of Canada with Justin Kestler
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Ep. 196 : Hair Scale Identification Guide to Terrestrial Mammalian Carnivores of Canada with Justin Kestler

Justin Kestler and I got to talk about his new book The Hair Scale Identification Guide to Terrestrial Mammalian Carnivores of Canada. This concise book is a quick guide to interpreting the origin of hairs based on the morphology of scales along the cuticle (outer side) of the hair. It’s not like a fingerprint per se, which attempts to identify an individual human, but instead may help to identify a species. This is because the scale structure is different across species but not so much individuals of that species. Make sense?
We talked about the process of documenting the hair scales, acquiring the hairs, and a bit about ecological traits which might be indicated through the characteristics of the hairs. It was really fun to nerd out about the finer details of hairs. The book, and the interview have really pushed me to keep a hair journal and begin looking for a microscope. Maybe in the future…

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Ep. 195 : Gallformers.org
galls, interview, insects, plants byron murray galls, interview, insects, plants byron murray

Ep. 195 : Gallformers.org

Gallformers.org has been referred to me by a few friends over the past few months as they helped me to identify some unknown galls I have found in the field. I have written about galls on this website many times as well, usually having to refer back to gallformers.org finally figure out who made them.
My appreciation and curiosity surrounding galls and their ecologies could just go nowhere if I didn’t have tools and resources to help me find answers to my curiosities, but because of Adam and Jeff at gallformers.org I have been able to keep going down the gall makers emergence hole and am consistently learning so much as I go.

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Ep. 194 : Song of the Night ii
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Ep. 194 : Song of the Night ii

“It was a clear night, and the stars were as visible as they get around this area within the city. I made out Polaris and the Big Dipper earlier while looking for a place to record. I noticed a faint breeze, coming from my neighbourhood blowing down towards the river…”
Just over a year ago I went for a walk along the river by my house and I pressed record and put my recorder down. The first recording was successful in sharing a piece of the night with a broader audience. It captured the Summer with the beauty I was truly hoping for, and so, I tried it again. This time with a little more magic…
Sit back, relax and enjoy the sounds of the night.

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Ep. 193 : Spiders of North America with Sarah Rose
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Ep. 193 : Spiders of North America with Sarah Rose

I am overwhelmed sometimes by the sheer diversity and quantity of Spider species I encounter. So many! I take a ton of photos and bring them up on my computer hoping to try and identify a couple, and maybe write about who I am seeing out there, but the precious few who I have been successful in identifying are just that, the precious few.

It has been hard to find a good field guide to Spiders. When I recently I got a copy of Spiders of North America by Sarah Rose I was stoked.

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Ep. 192 : Daniella Roze on the harm in our work

Ep. 192 : Daniella Roze on the harm in our work

Daniella Roze lives this stuff. Seriously. She has spent years living off grid in a small community of folks learning how to live in closer connection with their land base out West. She has done month long adventures with a crew of women living with only the hides on their backs and whatever they could harvest from the land. She is also the founder, and was the former director and lead instructor at the Thriving Roots Wilderness School. Land based learner, educator, ecopsychologist, and PhD candidate, Daniella is well acquainted with the healing and possibility in the work of helping folks connect with the land, but she is also aware of the harms.
Together we discuss how can our nature based organizations work towards “justice” when we have blinders imposed by the dominant culture? When we replicate racist hiring practices, when we speak of the land in ways that erase the indigenous histories of the places where we work? How can we do the work to be more equitable, inclusive and welcoming to black, indigenous and other folks of colour?

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Ep. 191 : Scat Finder with Dorcas Miller
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Ep. 191 : Scat Finder with Dorcas Miller

Finding and identifying scat is definitely part of a trackers repertoire as scat is a gateway into the natural history of the animal who left it. It highlights which species the animal is in relationship with, can help identify where the animal has been, and more generally can teach us more about our land base, which really is the point of this show.

Dorcas and I share stories while I ask questions about her awesome new book. It was an honour to get to talk with Dorcas.

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Ep. 190 : Jenna Rudolph on the harm in our work

Ep. 190 : Jenna Rudolph on the harm in our work

Jenna Rudolph has been running an nature school on unceded territories on the West coat of the continent. What does it mean to support students in developing connections to a land base that is stolen from indigenous people? It would be easy to shy away from the question, as many have for so long, but Jenna and her colleagues at Soaring Eagle Nature School are trying to explore this question directly, with humility, patience and deep care.

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Ep. 189 : Jessica Reznicek Is Not A Terrorist

Ep. 189 : Jessica Reznicek Is Not A Terrorist

On July 24, 2017, Jessica Reznicek admitted to engaging in acts of sabotage to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Her actions resulted in 4-month delay in pipeline construction. Despite the fact that the pipelines were not running at the time so there was no chance of a spill and no one was hurt during the acts of sabotage U.S. federal Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger later applied a domestic terrorism enhancement to Jessica’s sentences doubling her prison term to 8 years locked up, followed by 3 years supervised probation. Last week, Reznicek's attorneys argued an appeal that the district court had inappropriately decided that her actions constituted a federal crime of terrorism. They are now awaiting a decision concerning the appeal.
For this show I got to talk with Charlotte from the Support Jessica Reznicek Network about Jessica’s case.

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Ep. 188 : Ways of Being Alive by Baptiste Morizot
book, review, philosophy, interspecies communication byron murray book, review, philosophy, interspecies communication byron murray

Ep. 188 : Ways of Being Alive by Baptiste Morizot

Baptiste Morizot has changed the way I look at the world. He has offered a depth to the nuance of my relationships by giving them words and concepts to draw from. He examines in great detail how we relate (in the familial/ancestral sense, and the geopolitical sense) to other life forms with whom we share the planet.

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