Podcasts

133 Trees of Power with Akiva Silver

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Food, Foraging, Gardening, Podcasts, Trees
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On this 133rd episode of the Root Simple podcast Kelly and I talk to Akiva Silver of Twisted Tree Farm, described in his author bio as a “homestead, nut orchard and nursery located in Spencer, New York where he grows around 20,000 trees a year using practices that go beyond organic.” Akiva’s background is in “foraging, wilderness survival and primitive skills.” He is also the author of Trees of Power: Ten Essential Arboreal Allies (Amazon, library) just published by Chelsea Green. In our conversation we discuss how trees could replace a lot of the staple crops in our diet. During the podcast we also rap about:

  • J. Russel Smith Tree Crops (Free download on Archive.org)
  • Kat Anderson Tending the Wild
  • Mulch, soil and water
  • Processing acorns
  • Exotics vs. natives – should we learn to love the invasives?
  • Tree of heaven!
  • Coppicing and pollarding
  • Arborist fails and #arboristfails
  • How to plant trees

If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. Closing theme music by Dr. Frankenstein. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.

132 Legalize It! A Conversation with Beekeeper Max Wong

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Animals, Bees, Podcasts

Photos: Jacob Dickinson

On this bee-centric episode of the podcast I talk with fellow “backwards” beekeeper Max Wong, in front of a live audience at a meeting of the Long Beach Beekeepers, about her techniques as well as her role in the successful efforts to legalize beekeeping in Santa Monica and Los Angeles. During the podcast Max mentions:

If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. Closing theme music by Dr. Frankenstein. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.

131 Learning to Smell the Roses with Kendra Gaeta

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Podcasts
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On this episode of the root simple podcast I talk to Kendra Gaeta about something you probably don’t think about too much–your sense of smell. As usual with the podcast, I have a bad habit of turning off the recorder too soon. After I recorded this interview with Kendra, who is a board member of the Institute for Art and Olfaction, Kendra pulled out a box of scents in tiny vials and proceeded to blow my mind.

Smelling all those vials was a reminder of the sheer range of smells we might encounter and, most likely, ignore in the course of a day. Paying attention to our sense of smell opens up a whole new reality. We think a lot about things we see, hear and taste but don’t give a lot of thought to the way we experience the world through our noses. Kendra will change what you know about your nose! During the conversation Kendra mentions:

If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. Closing theme music by Dr. Frankenstein. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.

Pollinators and Power

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Animals, Bees, Podcasts

Beekeeper and activist Terry Oxford has a great new podcast called Pollinators and Power. The premiere episode features Professor Dave Goulson of Sussex University. Goulson is the founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust and author of many books on native pollinators including A Sting in the Tale, A Buzz in the Meadow, Bee Quest and The Garden Jungle. You can read a transcript of the conversation and subscribe to the podcast using your favorite app.

Terry Oxford was a guest on episodes 107 and 109 of the Root Simple Podcast.

130 Farm Unfixed with Jessica Rath

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Animals, Bees, Gardening, Native Plants, Permaculture, Podcasts
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In her work artist Jessica Rath examines, as she puts it, “how human containment of the land effects non-human species from the propagation of agricultural plants to the sensoria of bees.” She is on the faculty of the Art Center College of Design and her previous projects include works about apple breeding, co-evolutionary communication between flowering plants and their pollinators and a long term project called Farm Unfixed that we spend most of this conversation discussing. During the podcast Jessica mentions,

You can look at Jessica’s work on her website at jessicarath.com. Sign up for her newsletter to find out about upcoming projects.

If you’d like to leave a question for the Root Simple Podcast please call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to [email protected]. You can subscribe to our podcast in the iTunes store and on Stitcher. Closing theme music by Dr. Frankenstein. A downloadable version of this podcast is here.