The Permaculture Podcast

The Understory

In this episode, Chris Knapp, one of the founders of Maine Local Living School in Temple, Maine, returns to talk about their immersive educational experience, The Understory. During our conversation, Chris shares how this program came to be, his influences, and the knowledge, skills, and encounters he and his fellow instructors seek to impart to students during the multi-week, onsite program. If you are interested in permaculture and what permaculture education can look like beyond the Permaculture Design Course, or you are an instructor looking to build upon your existing curriculum and offerings, this is an interview to dive into.Find out more about Chris, the school, and The Understory at MaineLocalLiving.org.

Maine Local Living School

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My guest today is Chris Knapp, an instructor and one of the founders of Maine Local Living School, a homestead and education center in Temple, Maine.
 


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To Glimpse an Ancient Murrelet

This is the second in a series of three guest episodes from Shane Sater. A naturalist and writer based in Montana, USA, Shane shares his deep passion for nature and community through writing and recordings like this one, bringing together his education in environmental science, botany, and field biology with his experiential work in community, integrating the wonder embodied relationship with nature to the human experience. In addition to this work and with a love for all creatures, Shane feels a special affinity for silk moths, stinging nettles, cottonwoods, and meadowlarks. Read more of Shane's nature writing and view the photographs from his journey in the natural world at WhatsGoingOnBlog.org.

Foraging

My guest for this episode is Sam Thayer, the expert forager and author.You can find Sam's personal experience working with wild foods in his books, The Forager's Harvest and Nature's Garden. Resources Sam Thayer The Forager's Harvest Nature's Garden Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods from Dirt to Plate

Beginning Foraging

My guests for this episode are Violet Brill and her father “Wildman” Steve Brill. Violet and Steve are foragers from New York. Violet assists her father on his plant tours, leading groups of people and teaching them about wild edibles. You can find out more about Violet and Steve at wildmanstevebrill.com.

The Fruit Forager’s Companion

Chef and writer Sara Bir joins me to share her work as a foodie and author of The Fruit Forager’s Companion, from Chelsea Green Publishing.Using her book and those experiences as a place to start, we explore her interest in wild fruit and foods, including first falling in love with the paw paw, and about how shared experiences, in the forest or around the table, bring us together. You can find Sara on her website sausagetarian and her book at Chelsea Green. I also recommend following her on Instagram, if you’re on there, as she posts some really great pictures about food. Just as with her website, you’ll find her there as sausagetarian.ResourcesSara Bir (sausagetarian.com)Sara on InstagramThe Fruit Foragers Companion (Chelsea Green)

Into The Night on Furry Wings

This episode is the first in a series of guest permabytes from Shane Sater. Shane, a naturalist and writer based in Montana, USA, has a deep passion for nature and community which he explores through his writing where he brings together his training in environmental science, botany, and field biology with his lived experiences in his community, speaking to wonder and the embodied relationship with nature that all of us can have. Throughout his journeys, Shane feels a special affinity for silk moths, stinging nettles, cottonwoods, and meadowlarks - among many other of Earth’s creatures. Read more of Shane's nature writing at: https://whatsgoingonblog.org/ 

The Wild Wisdom of Weeds

My guest for this episode is Katrina Blair, author of the wonderful book The Wild Wisdom of Weeds from Chelsea Green Publishing. Katrina lives in Durango, Colorado at Turtle Lake Refuge, home to the Turtle Lake Community Farm and Wild Food CSA, and Local Wild Life Cafe.

Around the World in 80 Plants

My guest for this episode is Stephen Barstow, author of Around the World in 80 Plants. Together, we talk about his incredibly diverse garden in Norway where he grows over 2,000 edible plants in a rather small space. We begin with his background and how he came to have an interest in edibles, from his beginnings as a foraging vegetarian, to his beginning to eat and collect plants from wherever he traveled. He shares with us his love of edible ornamentals, or what Stephen calls edimentals, and he also recommends some to start with when first beginning to introduce more of these species into your garden. Resources Edimentals.com (Stephen’s Website) Around the World in 80 Plants (Chelsea Green Publishers) Around the World in 80 Plants (Permanent Publications) Sturtevants Edible Plants of the World (PDF. Large File)

Plants as People Care

My guest today is Nathan Carlos Rupley. A member of my permaculture community, he spends his time as a stay-at-home dad, self employed-artist, and aspiring hunter-gatherer.
When not hanging out with his family or walking in the woods, you can find him reading about a wide range of subjects including simple living, foraging, native agriculture, natural building, “primitive” technology, philosophy, applied ecology, theology, and much more. He brings this knowledge to the table today as we discuss what he’s learning from the native plants of his ancestors.
The exploration of these plants and the related cultures provide insights into his place in the world and where he comes from. This leads to a conversation that ranges around a variety of thoughts including how we can learn more about plants and their uses by studying folk and Latin binomial names. What understanding ancestral plants can teach us about our identity. The impacts of colonization, on the colonized and colonizer. And being good mentors and ancestors now and for the future.
You can email Nate at nathanrupley@yahoo.com, with any comments, or questions, if you want to rewild your yard, or, if you’re ever in Central Pennsylvania, would like to join him for a foraging class or plant walk.
ResourcesNathan Carlos Rupley (Website)Nathan Carlos Rupley (Patreon)Nathan_Carlos_Rupley (Instagram)Gathering on YouTubeSamuel Thayer / The Forager’s HarvestSteve BrillBackyard Medicine by Julie Bruton-Seal and Matthew SealWild Urban Plants of the Northeast by Peter Del TradiciFandabi Dozi (YouTube)Ron Eglash - The fractals at the heart of African designs (TED Talk)