For The Wild

“I’d  like to propose a toast to the garden, to this beautiful planet, and to the gardener. You know,  some people have gardens, some people don t. But, they need to have a garden because Grandfather used to say, “We are all a garden in the world. So, I give thanks to the garden and the gardener.” —Carlo MontesantiAnd so, we have gathered to the final course in this banquet, Dolce. Dessert. Here at this table, we reflect on inheritance. Returning once more to conversations with Carlo Montesanti, Jessie Jowers, and Arianna Gelpke, this episode lingers on to ask if we can remember landscapes, and if we can do so over a shared meal. What does it mean to grow (food, family, and tradition), in a world that has increasingly been shaped by speed, extraction, automation and touristic ideals? Amidst these changes, what remnants will we be able to conserve? In Dolce, we continue our walk at Slow Life Family Farm, moving between memory, archaeology and rituals made at the dinner table and reflect on the legacy of slow food—that it is not a cuisine and, maybe even, not exclusive to the romantic imagings of Italian provincial life. Perhaps, it is about the way we attend to Earth and care for its continuity, asking not what we can take from it, but what we can give in return. We also join Arianna at Corzano e Paterno to discuss the process of reading the grapes and the factors that influence wine-making. This episode contemplates sweetness as something more than a flavour, as a longing for ways of living that keep us in relation to one another and the land which feeds us. Fat of The Land is a series that asks us what we mean when we look for connection between people and the land. Following a desire for real relation, for deliciousness, and for slowness, each episode traces what happens when we follow this desire. This episode is brought to you by generous sponsorships from Ritū and Terra Elaÿa. Music and sound design in this episode is brought to you from the For The Wild Studio.Thank you to Carlo and Jessie of Slow Life Family Farm and Arianna of Fattoria Corzano and Paterno  for joining us in conversation.BiographiesCarlo Montesanti: Born in Siracusa, Carlo is an esteemed English-speaking guide in Eastern Sicily, known for his work with BBC nature documentaries and Netflix’s Chef’s Table series.Jessie Jowers: With a passion for the traditional uses of plants, Jessie brings a wealth of knowledge about local crafts, foods, and medicines to our farm’s daily life. Arianna Gelpke: Arianna Gelpke is a representative of Fattoria Corzano and Paterno, working in the family farm, and wine, cheese and oil production. She is passionate for nature and working with the land in the pursuit of sustainable agriculture and high-quality artisan produce. Since Wendelin Gelpke purchased Corzano in 1971 and the subsequent addition of Paterno in 1974, the two-hundred-hectare farm has developed along three different lines: wine and oil production, artisanal sheep s cheese production, and “Agriturismo.”Partners RitūFat of The Land is a series about what it means to be in relationship with land, food, and the people who tend both across generations. Ritū was made with the same kind of care; six ancient plants, ground and blended into a morning cup that honors the land it comes from, delivered in a compostable bag that returns to the earth.Ritu built a custom landing page for us and would like to offer For The Wild listeners 25% their first month with a discount code FORTHEWILD25. To order yourself some Ritu, head to: drinkritu.com/forthewild Terra ElaÿaThanks also to Elaÿa for the support of this series. Terra Elaÿa is a sanctuary where ancient ways meet the needs of our time. We emerge at this time of crossroads, standing as a space for the transformation, renewal, and re-enchantment of the human spirit. Located in the heart of southern Italy, we provide a place to come into a deeper relationship with life: to slow down, listen, and restore embodied wisdom.Head to terraelaya.com to learn more upcoming Elaÿa experiences or to host an event.  Support the show

Fat of The Land, Episode 4, Contorni“Mother Earth is really asking us to touch the soil… it’s not just enough to pray. We need to put our hands in the soil.”  —Carlo MontesantiContorni. The side dishes, or the surroundings. In this fourth episode of our series Fat of The Land, we turn towards the question of taste: how it is cultivated and remembered. Through conversations with Carlo Montesanti and Arianna Gelpke, the episode traces the shifting contours of Italian food culture amid tourism, commercialisation, supermarket convenience, and the global appetite for an imagined “Italian cuisine.” What happens to taste when food becomes spectacle, an export or a brand? And, what tastes are lost? Can they ever be reclaimed?Moving across Sicily and Tuscany, this episode reflects on taste as not just as a matter of preference but as a way of reading the earth. Contorni provokes us to consider taste in all of its forms: sensorial, cultural, economic and ecological. What desires for taste reveal about hunger itself: hunger for nourishment, nostalgia, identity, and connection to a place past… or of the now. Fat of The Land is a series that asks us what we mean when we look for connection between people and the land. Following a desire for real relation, for deliciousness, and for slowness, each episode traces what happens when we follow this desire. This episode is brought to you by generous sponsorships from Ritū and Terra Elaÿa. Music and sound design in this episode is brought to you from the For The Wild Studio.Thank you to Jessie of Slow Life Family Farm and Arianna of Fattoria Corzano e Paterno for joining us in conversation.Biographies Carlo Montesanti, born in Siracusa, is an esteemed English-speaking guide in Eastern Sicily, known for his work with BBC nature documentaries and Netflix’s Chef’s Table series.Arianna Gelpke is a representative of her family's farm, Fattoria Corzano e Paterno. She is passionate for nature and working with the land in the pursuit of sustainable agriculture and high-quality artisan produce. Since Wendelin Gelpke purchased Corzano in 1971 and the subsequent addition of Paterno in 1974, the two-hundred-hectare farm has developed along three different lines: slow wine, olive oil, and artisanal cheese production, along with “Agriturismo.”Partners RitūFat of The Land is a series about what it means to be in relationship with land, food, and the people who tend both across generations. Ritū was made with the same kind of care; six ancient plants, ground and blended into a morning cup that honors the land it comes from, deliv

“Before I came here, I dreamt about this land.”  —Jessie Jowers, Slow Life Family FarmThe third course in our series, Secondi, brings us to the tensions of resistance and surrender. In this episode of Fat of The Land, Ayana speaks with Jessie Jowers of Slow Life Family Farm and Deborah Zapparrata of Cooking Sicily. Here, the episode asks us to consider what social and domestic roles do to us. Focusing on women’s stories, histories, and layers of expectations around femininity, the body, and even the earth, that come from this, the conversation considers the complexities of  lived and inherited wisdom; how they might be at odds, and where they may be reconciled. When women are told what we should desire, what we should have, what our expectations of life and family ought to be, are our experiences flattened? Asking questions of the land, the trading of spices and recipes, of the myths about women (from making ricotta from their breastmilk to liberate their cities to goddesses worshipped on the Sicilian coastline), Ayana, Jessie and Deborah contemplate how these histories may have been inherited (or, at times, rejected) by contemporary women. This episode grounds us in matrilineal connections that span generations Fat of The Land is a series that asks us what we mean when we look for connection between people and the land. Following a desire for real relation, for deliciousness, and for slowness, each episode traces what happens when we follow this desire. This episode is brought to you by generous sponsorships from Ritū, Terra Elaÿa, and Heyday Books.The featured music in this episode is “High Hill” by Evelyn Frances and For The Wild Studio.Thank you to Jessie of Slow Life Family Farm and Deborah of Cooking Sicily for joining us in conversation.Bios With a passion for the traditional uses of plants, Jessie Jowers brings a wealth of knowledge about local crafts, foods, and medicines to her farm’s daily life. Deborah Zapparrata, nearly a decade ago, founded Cooking Sicily. It is a project born from a profound love for my island and its ancient roots. Alongside her family, her mother, three children, and her son-in-law, she has worked to preserve and share the true soul of our land. Cooking Siciliy explores Sicilian identity through its authentic flavors, rooted in a millennia-old history. T

“Human hunger – not just for food, but for everything – drives us to do beautiful things, crazy things, horrible things, but that is the most human thing I can point to. We're a very hungry species, and that hunger moves us.” —Ayana Young, Host Episode two of Fat of The Land grounds us further in Sicily with Jessie and Carlo of Slow Life Family Farm and Mila of Bimbi Naturali. Across the conversation, themes of hunger, desire, and the allure of independence continue to unfold.   This episode asks us to consider the root of our desires and how they may draw us toward the land rather than away from it. Through reflections on patience and the wisdom of living within natural cycles, the conversations invite us to imagine beyond a world of instant gratification. As Mila reminds us, “nature needs time.” What kind of fulfillment becomes possible when we learn to move at nature’s pace?Let this episode nourish the desires and longings that draw us back into relationship with the land.Fat of The Land is a series that asks us what we mean when we look for connection between people and the land. Following a desire for real relation, for deliciousness, and for slowness, each episode traces what happens when we follow this desire. BiographiesAt Slow Life Family Farm, we carry on the legacy of a 2nd generation family of guides, deeply embedded in the history and nature of Sicily. Founded by Carlo, a renowned historical and nature guide, and Jessie, an expert in natural plant uses, our farm is a living testament to a life intertwined with the land. Our mission is to cultivate not just organic produce but to foster a community around the authentic Sicilian way of life, integrating age-old traditions with sustainable living.Mila is an educator and director at the nature school, Bimbi Naturali, located in rural Sicily.Thank you to our partners and sponsors for this series: RitūFat of The Land is a series about what it means to be in relationship with land, food, and the people who tend both across generations. Ritū was made with the same kind of care; six ancient plants, ground and blended into a morning cup that honors the land it comes from, delivered in a compostable bag that returns to the earth.Ritu built a custom landing page for us and would like to offer For The Wild listeners 25% their first month with a discount code FORTHEWILD25. To order yourself some Ritu, head to: drinkritu.com/forthewild Terra  ElaÿaThanks also to Terra Elaÿa for the support of this series. Terra Elaÿa is a sanctuary where ancient ways meet the needs of our time. We e

“I really feel I was called here, and I really feel this land itself is calling for human touch.”  – Jessie, Slow Life Family Farm Embracing hunger, desire, and a calling for connection, we’re delighted to share the first episode of Fat of The Land with you.Fat of The Land is a series that asks us what we mean when we look for connection between people and the land. Following a desire for real relation, for deliciousness, and for slowness, each episode traces what happens when we follow this desire. This opening episode, Aperitivo, grounds us in Sicily with Carlo and Jessie at Slow Life Family Farm. Together with Ayana, they dive deep into the history of Noto, Sicily, and how it has sustained human life across centuries. What does it mean to be independent as growers and gardeners while also recognizing our interconnectedness with both the land and each other across time? Let this episode pique your appetite for more to come. This episode is brought to you by generous sponsorships from Ritū and Terra Elaÿa.BiographiesAt Slow Life Family Farm, we carry on the legacy of a 2nd generation family of guides, deeply embedded in the history and nature of Sicily. Founded by Carlo, a renowned historical and nature guide, and Jessie, an expert in natural plant uses, our farm is a living testament to a life intertwined with the land. Our mission is to cultivate not just organic produce but to foster a community around the authentic Sicilian way of life, integrating age-old traditions with sustainable living.Carlo: Born in Siracusa, Carlo is an esteemed English-speaking guide in Eastern Sicily, known for his work with BBC nature documentaries and Netflix’s Chef’s Table series.Jessie: With a passion for the traditional uses of plants, Jessie brings a wealth of knowledge about local crafts, foods, and medicines to our farm’s daily life. Thank you to our partners and sponsors for this series: RitūFat of The Land is a series about what it means to be in relationship with land, food, and the people who tend both across generations. Ritū was made with the same kind of care; six ancient plants, ground and blended into a morning cup that honors the land it comes from, delivered in a compostable bag that returns to the earth.Ritu built a custom landing page for us and would like to offer For The Wild listeners 25% their first month with a discount code FORTHEWILD25. To order yourself some Ritu, head to: drinkritu.com/forthewild Terra  ElaÿaThanks also to Terra  Elaÿa for the support of this series. Terra Elaÿa is a

We are so excited to share Fat of The Land, a new five-part series unfolding over the next five weeks. This series began with a kind of romantic impulse. I traveled to Italy with a longing to be among people whose relationships to land and food have been tended over generations, particularly within the traditions of Slow Food. As a settler of North America, I carry big questions around land and lineage and memory and loss... I imagine meeting grandmothers making ravioli, sitting with elders, absorbing something simple and intact about belonging, but what I encountered was far more complex and far more meaningful. The experience didn't feed me in the ways I expected. Instead, it unsettled me and expanded my understanding of tradition, of connection and of what it means to belong to a place I'm deeply grateful for that disorientation and for all that it revealed across this series. We'll move through conversations shaped by land, food, inheritance and the tensions and contradictions that live within them. Fat of The Land is made possible with the generous support of our sponsors. We're especially grateful to Ritū, whose delicious grounding ceremonial drink feels deeply aligned with the spirit of this series, nourishment that invites presence, connection and reflection. We're also thankful to Elaÿa, a retreat center in Italy that holds space for deep rest, learning and relationship with place. Thank you for listening and for being a part of this unfolding. Here we go, spring is here.- AyanaSupport the show

"The more I learn, the less I know. Sometimes learning more means accepting that we don’t really know." – Rachel MeadeIn the third episode of In The Company of Humpbacks, Rachel Meade joins Ayana to rethink what we mean by study, communication, and the goals of biology and conservation. What might change if we were more honest about our uncertainties and willing to admit what we don’t know? Could that openness lead to stronger relationships and better science?Rachel guides us into the vast, largely unseen world of whale sound, beyond what we usually define as “song,” and into forms of communication that may lie outside human understanding. How do we show respect for something that resists being fully known?About this series: With delightful insight from Dr. Fred Sharpe, Rachel Meade, and Joseph Olson, In the Company of Humpbacks contains a wealth of knowledge and beauty. We’re so excited to bring you along with us on this magical journey through the more than human world. Sounds and images collected under NOAA/NMFS Research Permit 26663.Learn more and support this work at thrums.org. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of our partners: Five Fingers Lighthouse, and the American Cetacean Society.Behind-the-Scenes ExtrasBy joining us on Patreon, you can get early access to episodes, reflection prompts, a bonus episode, and behind the scenes content. Patreon membership also gives you access to our zines, archives of extended episodes, and more. Join us at patreon.com/forthewild.BiographiesRachel Meade has long held a passion for marine mammal research. She has extensive hands-on experience in rehabilitation, response, and field-based research. She has worked across a range of species, including harbor and ice seals, sea otters, bottlenose dolphins, California sea lions, and humpback whales. Since joining Dr. Fred Sharpe’s research team in 2023, Rachel has developed a specific interest in cetacean bioacoustics, completing multiple remote field seasons in Southeast Alaska and presenting her work at the Society for Marine Mammalogy’s 2024 conference in Perth, Australia. Her background includes marine vessel operations, scientific diving, veterinary assistance, and acoustic and data analysis using Python, R, and Raven Pro. Rachel holds a BS in Marine and Coastal Science from Western Washington University and is seeking opportunities to continue her research and academic studies through a master’s program in marine mammal science.Support the show

In the second episode of In the Company of Humpbacks, take a walk with Dr. Fred Sharpe and Ayana as we get to know him and his research team more intimately. Together, they reflect on grounding scientific work in awareness and relationality, offering insight into the deeper purpose behind conservation. The episode explores how our pursuit of knowledge shapes and is shaped by our relationships with the more-than-human world, while also embracing the sensory, emotional pull of curiosity about nature.With delightful insight from Dr. Fred Sharpe, Rachel Meade, and Joe Olson, this series contains a wealth of knowledge and beauty. We’re so excited to bring you along with us on this magical journey through the more-than-human world. Learn more and support this work at thrums.org. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of our partners: Five Fingers Lighthouse and Puget Sound Chapter of the American Cetacean Society.*Sounds and images collected under NOAA/NMFS Research Permit 26663.Behind-the-Scenes ExtrasBy joining us on Patreon, you can get early access to episodes, reflection prompts, a bonus episode, and behind the scenes content. Patreon membership also gives you access to our zines, archives of extended episodes, and more. Join us at patreon.com/forthewild.BiographiesDr. Fred Sharpe has been studying the foraging ecology of humpback whales in SE Alaska since 1987. He received his Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University and is currently collaborating with the Cetacean Institute on the study of the humpback’s aerial sounds. Fred’s interest in conservation biology has led him to follow the whales south to their Hawaiian wintering to document their historical ecology and legacy impacts from commercial whaling. He has been awarded the Fairfield Award for Innovative Marine Mammal Research and the Society for Marine Mammology’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Communication. Fred volunteers with NOAA as a large whale entanglement responder. He is a naturalist in the classical tradition and enjoys botanizing and preserving native oaks grasslands. During his botany undergraduate days (University of Washington) he co-authored and illustrated Wild Plants of the San Juan Islands. After graduation, he continued his work in the archipelago and co-authored and illustrated Birding in the San Juan Islands.   Support the show

“Learning whale language is about being in right relationship.”In the first episode of For The Wild’s In the Company of Humpbacks, we hear from Joe Olson and Dr. Fred Sharpe about their approaches to analyzing whale sound. When we desire to understand whales, what more than human impulse are we activating? Immersing the listener in a world of exploration and investigation, this episode leaves us with the spirit of questioning and a hope for deeper relationality in our pursuit of understanding.With delightful insight from Dr. Fred Sharpe, Rachel Meade, and Joe Olson, this series contains a wealth of knowledge and beauty. We’re so excited to bring you along with us on this magical journey through the more-than-human world. Learn more and support this work at thrums.org. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of our partners: Alaska Whale Foundation, Five Fingers Lighthouse, and the Puget Sound Chapter. *Sounds and images collected under NOAA/NMFS Research Permit 26663.Behind-the-Scenes ExtrasBy joining us on Patreon, you can get early access to episodes, reflection prompts, a bonus episode, and behind the scenes content. Patreon membership also gives you access to our zines, archives of extended episodes, and more. Join us at patreon.com/forthewild.BiographiesDr. Fred Sharpe has been studying the foraging ecology of humpback whales in SE Alaska since 1987. He received his Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University and is currently collaborating with the Cetacean Institute on the study of the humpback’s aerial sounds. Fred’s interest in conservation biology has led him to follow the whales south to their Hawaiian wintering to document their historical ecology and legacy impacts from commercial whaling. He has been awarded the Fairfield Award for Innovative Marine Mammal Research and the Society for Marine Mammology’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Communication. Fred volunteers with NOAA as a large whale entanglement responder. He is a naturalist in the classical tradition and enjoys botanizing and preserving native oaks grasslands. During his botany undergraduate days (University of Washington) he co-authored and illustrated Wild Plants of the San Juan Islands. After graduation, he continued his work in the archipelago and co-authored and illustrated Birding in the San Juan Islands.   Joe Olson's love of cetaceans began when he was three years old and his grandfather routinely took him to visit Namu the killer whale at the Seattle Marine Aquarium. His concern for the general wellbeing of cetaceans started in fourth grade while

Hey, friends. Ayana, here. We are so excited to announce our brand new audio documentary series in the company of humpbacks. Three episodes. One goal to take you into the quiet the thrums and the wild rhythms of Southeast Alaska. How it started. Fred Sharpe, old friend, longtime explorer of these waters, and we're always running into each other at his field station in Chichagof Island. Now, every time I see him, he brings a smile and usually a little giggle because of his very Dr. Seuss like spirit, same place different years, and the conversations just keep getting longer. This summer, we ran into each other again, picking blueberries on a little boardwalk trail, and we just stayed there hours, talking about whales, politics, AI, the ocean, Alaska, life, everything just tangled together. A few months later, I'm at my neighbor's house picking cherries, hands full, not stopping very on brand for me. And Fred calls. He's got Joe Olson on speaker, and they say you've got to come to Five Fingers Lighthouse. Tiny island, remote cliff, storms, toddlers in tow, oldest lighthouse in Alaska, totally wild, and somehow I said yes.That yes turned into walks, recordings and hours of listening to whale thrums, wind and the subtle rhythms of life all around us along the way. Rachel Meade, Joe Olson, Fred and I shared stories that are funny, strange, challenging and often pretty magical.We couldn't have made the series without the generosity of the Alaska Whale Foundation, the American Cetacean Society, the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, Five Fingers Lighthouse and Barnacle Foods. Thanks to these organizations, we are able to listen deeper, wander further and bring these stories to you. This series is also the first in the new chapter for for the wild. We're now a studio, and we are loving this new way of relational storytelling, collaborating with constellations of people who want their stories heard. If you've got a story, a campaign, or a place that feels like it needs to be shared. Connect with us at [email protected] now. In the Company of Humpbacks drop soon, so step into the quiet, tune your ears to the thrums and come along with us.Support the show

“Connection to the land and knowing the plants that surround you and knowing what food your ancestor ate and trying to go back there is probably one of the most important things that we can do as resistance today.” - Aya Gazawi FaourIn For The Wild’s series in collaboration with Olive Oddessey, we hear from their co-founder, Aya Gazawi Faour, who shares about plants indigenous to the Palestinian landscape and their deep ties to culture, resistance, and enduring lifeways. In this concluding episode, Aya shares about both the symbols and material history of watermelon and prickly pear in Palestine, emphasizing the history of the plants as integral to their current uses. From reminders of resilience and patience to subtle efforts of resistance, plants can be helpful teachers on our paths towards liberation, and this episode leaves us with the sweet promise of freedom and liberation to come.  Let this conversation be an invitation to look more closely at the lands and living beings of Palestine. If Aya’s stories moved you, take the next step: learn from the farmers and stewards keeping these lifeways alive. Explore the work of Palestinian growers, deepen your understanding of their traditions, and support their harvests through Olive Odyssey. Every gesture of connection helps nourish a culture, a landscape, and a people rooted in resilience.Olive Odyssey brings together farmers from across Palestine with a shared purpose: to tell the story of the Palestinian people through the food they produce. Their mission is simple yet powerful — each bottle reflects a deep connection to the land and a commitment to sustainable, community-centered practices. To learn more about the farmers, their methods, and to source olive oil and recipes, visit https://oliveodyssey.com.Learn more about this episode by visiting https://www.forthewild.worldPlants Are Political is based on Olive Odyssey’s series by the same name.Learn more at https://www.forthewild.worldCreditsMusic for this episode was composed by Doe Paoro from her album “Living Through Collapse.” For The Wild is created by Ayana Young, Erica, Ekrem, Julia Jackson, and Victoria Pham. Support the show

“If you don't forage for Za’atar, how are you going to feel connected to the land? How are you going to understand what your ancestors have been doing for thousands of years here?” - Aya Gazawi FaourIn For The Wild’s series in collaboration with Olive Odyssey, we hear from Aya Gazawi Faour, their co-founder, who shares about plants indigenous to the Palestinian landscape and their deep ties to culture, resistance, and enduring lifeways. In this episode, Aya shares about the herb Za’atar and its role in Palestinian kitchens. Aya details the ban placed on foraging Za’atar by Israel and its selective enforcement against Palestinians. Despite encroachments on their land and these restrictive practices, Aya emphasizes connection to the land down to the very flavor of Palestinian food and the scent of Palestinian kitchens. Colonizing forces try to separate people and the land, but as Aya speaks, it is clear that this separation is neither sustainable nor wholly possible. Let this conversation be an invitation to look more closely at the lands and living beings of Palestine. If Aya’s stories moved you, take the next step: learn from the farmers and stewards keeping these lifeways alive. Explore the work of Palestinian growers, deepen your understanding of their traditions, and support their harvests through Olive Odyssey. Every gesture of connection helps nourish a culture, a landscape, and a people rooted in resilience.Olive Odyssey brings together farmers from across Palestine with a shared purpose: to tell the story of the Palestinian people through olive oil. Their mission is simple yet powerful — each bottle reflects a deep connection to the land and a commitment to sustainable, community-centered practices. To learn more about the farmers, their methods, and to source olive oil, za’atar, recipes, and more, visit https://oliveodyssey.com.Plants Are Political is based on Olive Odyssey’s series by the same name.CreditsMusic for this episode is “Rosa” and “Anima” composed by Doe Paoro from her album “Living Through Collapse.” For The Wild is created by Ayana Young, Erica, Ekrem, Julia Jackson, and Victoria Pham. Learn more at https://www.forthewild.worldSupport the show

“The moment people are disconnected from their land and from the plants around them, it's easier to control them because they don't feel the spiritual connection to the land.”  —Aya Gazawi Faour, Olive Odyssey Co-FounderIn For The Wild’s new series in collaboration with Olive Odyssey, we hear from their co-founder, Aya Gazawi Faour, who shares about plants indigenous to the Palestinian landscape and their deep ties to culture, resistance, and enduring lifeways. In this opening episode, Aya shares how olive trees shape Palestinian life through everyday routines and long-held traditions. Families structure their seasons around trips to the groves and the olive press, gathering to harvest, share meals, and pass down knowledge. Even in dense urban areas, many keep a single olive tree on a crowded balcony as a living reminder of home. Olives are rooted in memory, community, and resilience and remain deeply defining across the region. This powerful aspect of culture goes far beyond the material. It is a sacred connection to the land and its abundance, a means of making community both with neighbors and with the world, and a crucial reminder of resistance and resilience.       Let this conversation be an invitation to look more closely at the lands and living beings of Palestine. If Aya’s stories moved you, take the next step: learn from the farmers and stewards keeping these lifeways alive. Explore the work of Palestinian growers, deepen your understanding of their traditions, and support their harvests through Olive Odyssey. Every gesture of connection helps nourish a culture, a landscape, and a people rooted in resilience.Olive Odyssey brings together farmers from across Palestine with a shared purpose: to tell the story of the Palestinian people through olive oil. Their mission is simple yet powerful — each bottle reflects a deep connection to the land and a commitment to sustainable, community-centered practices. To learn more about the farmers, their methods, and to source olive oil and recipes, visit https://oliveodyssey.com.Plants Are Political is based on Olive Odyssey’s series by the same name.Learn more at https://www.forthewild.worldCreditsMusic for this episode was composed by Doe Paoro from her album “Living Through Collapse.” For The Wild is created by Ayana Young, Erica, Ekrem, Julia Jackson, and Victoria Pham. Support the show

ILLUMINATING WORLDVIEWS on The Art That Reclaims Us S1:4In this resounding end to our Illuminating Worldviews series, Ayana speaks with artists Dr. Aubyn O’Grady and Jackie Olson about collective art and creative processes. Aubyn and Jackie share about their work on The Willow Basket Project at the Yukon School of Visual Arts and explore the ways that art can root us in place, support mining reclamation work, and even build bridges with unlikely allies.Through this project, they invite dialogue between artists, miners, and community members, reimagining mined landscapes as spaces of regeneration and cultural reconnection. This episode serves as a homage to how creative work can support healing for the land and open new pathways of relationship and understanding. As we conclude this series, we sit in deep gratitude for the land that made this series possible and for all of the guests, community members, and team members with Illuminating Worldviews who brought it to life. This episode, and the series as whole, stand as a testament to the importance of this vital collective work.  Learn more at https://forthewild.world.CreditsThis series was produced thanks to the generous support of the team at Illuminating Worldviews, held by the RIVER collective and Northern Council for Global Cooperation.♫  The music from this episode is “After the Rain” by Cole Pulice courtesy of Leaving Records, “So Long Favorite” by Chaz Prymek, and “Spinning Sphere” by Lior Holzman.This episode was created by Ayana Young, Erica Ekrem, Julia Jackson, and Victoria Pham.Support the show

ILLUMINATING WORLDVIEWS on AI and Courting the Otherwise S1:3How might we face the end? Continuing our Illuminating Worldviews series, Vanessa Andreotti and Ayana delve into questions of what it means to live well during this fractured end of modernity. How can we best visualize the systems that have brought us to this point, and how might we bring ourselves out of them? Speaking to the complexity of birth and death in this moment, Vanessa sheds light on what she calls hospicing modernity – the act of bearing witness to a system that is unraveling. Vanessa and Ayana then explore the tools that may accompany us on our way towards existing differently. From efforts of grounding, to AI, to relationality, they consider how we may grow to think and move into the beyond. We have been conditioned to forget our belonging to Earth, to one another, to death itself. What thread might pull us back together? Learn more at https://forthewild.world.CreditsThis series was produced thanks to the generous support of the team at Illuminating Worldviews, held by the RIVER collective and Northern Council for Global Cooperation.The music from this episode is “After the Rain” and “In a Hidden Nook Between Worlds I” by Cole Pulice courtesy of Leaving Records and “I Believe in Being Ready” by Rising Appalachia.This episode was created by Ayana Young, Erica Ekrem, Julia Jackson, and Victoria Pham.Support the show

Continuing our Illuminating Worldviews series, we hear from X̱ʼunei Lance Twitchell in conversation with Guná Jensen exploring the vital work of Tlingít language revitalization. Together, they reflect on the deep emotional resonance of speaking in one’s ancestral language, and how this practice opens an anti-colonial lens in which to see and feel the world. Set within the lands of the Yukon, this episode is a moving tribute to the power and significance of Indigenous language learning that honors the autonomy, expression, and sense of belonging it nurtures within the community. This episode includes an excerpt from the premiere of the powerful short film The River That Untangles One’s Mind by Skaydu.û Jules, Guná Jensen, and X̱’unei Lance Twitchell, produced by Douglas Joe/Creative Crow Media. Learn more at https://forthewild.world.CreditsThis series was produced thanks to the generous support of the team at Illuminating Worldviews, held by the RIVER collective and Northern Council for Global Cooperation.The music from this episode is “After the Rain” by Cole Pulice courtesy of Leaving Records, “Apple with Honey” by Cory Feder, and “Oro” and “ Voces que Ven” by Palo-Mah.This episode was created by Ayana Young, Erica Ekrem, Julia Jackson, and Victoria Pham.Support the show

Over the past months, For The Wild has journeyed to the Yukon in partnership with Illuminating Worldviews. Illuminating Worldviews is a space for examining the worldviews in which we find ourselves and to learn how they actively shape the material realities of our lives. This project, rooted and colored by the land of the Yukon invites questioning, examination, and future visioning centered in Indigenous ideology and the sentiment of journeying. In this conversation, Ayana is joined by Dr. Lee Brown and Elder Mark Wedge to discuss emotional competency and how we can regulate ourselves amidst all that this world brings. What does it mean to have a colonized heart? Is it to separate ourselves from our emotions? Touching upon the role of feeling in our overall wellbeing, they highlight how emotional regulation and connection are essential to the work of decolonization. This episode is a resounding testament to the healing that comes from embodiment and fully felt experience.Learn more at https://forthewild.world.CreditsThis series was produced thanks to the generous support of the team at Illuminating Worldviews, held by the RIVER collective and Northern Council for Global Cooperation. The music from this episode is “After the Rain” by Cole Pulice courtesy of Leaving Records, “Hyacinth and Apollo” by Carlisle Evans Peck, and “Marakaté” by Palo-Mah.This episode was created by Ayana Young, Erica Ekrem, Julia Jackson, and Victoria Pham.Support the show

On July 19th, Joanna Macy, beloved teacher and past guest, passed away peacefully at home in Berkeley, California. In honor of her legacy, we are rebroadcasting her episode “The World as Lover and Self,” originally released in 2015 when the show was titled Unlearn and Rewild.In this deeply resonant conversation, Ayana speaks with Joanna on grief, change, and connection – themes that remain ever-relevant. Joanna offers wisdom on emotional courage, allyship, and gratitude, inviting us to see the world as our larger living body. Her words are a balm for those navigating despair, helping us move through paralysis toward collective transformation and action.A renowned scholar and activist, Joanna Macy created Work That Reconnects, a transformative framework for facing ecological and social crises. Her legacy lives on through decades of writing, teaching, and deep spiritual and ecological insight.We invite you to listen again as we honor her enduring guidance and presence.Learn more at https://forthewild.world/listen/joanna-macy-on-the-world-as-lover-and-self-homageCreditsMusic by Anne Carol Mitchell, Roberta Flack, Pharoah Sanders, and Roy HarperThis episode was created by Ayana Young, Erica Ekrem, Julia Jackson, and Victoria Pham.Cover art: Vintage National GeographicSupport the show

We are rebroadcasting our extended conversation with Andrea Gibson as we honor their death on July 14th, 2025. The conversation, originally aired In September of 2023, was entitled “The Blessings of the Wound.” For so many of us who have been touched by Andrea’s work, their death is a deep wound, one that will stretch and expand our hearts in accordance with its depth.   In the episode, Andrea contemplates the deeply rooted societal fears of disconnection and of death. Facing fear, confusion, and loss head on, Andrea reminds us that healing is a return to the self, a return to community. Through poem and spirituality, Andrea draws us to see the beauty in being alive in this particular life, in our particular bodies, at this particular time. Their presence and attention is life-giving. As Andrea shares their journey connecting to the eternal, genderless “We,” they invite listeners to contemplate their identities beyond this life alone. As we let the need to know fall away, what miracles might reveal themselves to us?While you listen to this episode, we invite you to consider their words in the poem “Love Letter from the Afterlife.” Andrea writes, “ I know that to be human is to be farsighted. But feel me now, walking the chambers of your heart, pressing my palms to the soft walls of your living. Why did no one tell us that to die is to be reincarnated in those we love while they are still alive?” Learn more at https://forthewild.world/listen/andrea-gibson-on-the-blessings-of-the-wound-homageAs tribute to Andrea, we will be offering a free download of our zine, Grief, in our Friday, July 24th newsletter. The digital zine includes practice, ritual, and an extended reading of Andrea’s conversation with For The Wild. Sign up for the newsletter on our website.CreditsMusic by Katie Gray, John Carrol Kirby (Patience Records), and Kesia Negata. This episode was created by Ayana Young, Erica Ekrem, Julia Jackson, and José Alejandro Rivera with special thanks to Victoria Pham for the July 22, 2025 version Cover art by William Baxter Closson, titled "Night Moths" Support the show

Hey For The Wild community, it’s Ayana. It’s been a minute. Life has been moving—fast, deep, and full. I’ve grown, and with that growth, a clearer sense of what I want to share with you has come into focus.After nearly a decade of digital episodes, I felt a longing—an ache to be in person, on the land, and heart to heart with our guests. That’s why you may have noticed we’ve slowed down on weekly releases. Instead, we’ve been on the road, spending sacred, unhurried time with people we love—tending to conversations that are raw, intimate, funny, beautiful, edgy, and alive.We were hoping to keep it under wraps a little longer, but we’re just too excited: the first season of our new walking series will be released soon, and it features the luminous Sophie Strand. This series is an in-person, land-based conversation that is intimate, weird, raw, beautiful exploration of land, grief, myth, pleasure, and more. These aren’t studio-perfect interviews, they’re alive.But there’s more. We’re also creating an anthology—a wild and tender book featuring Sophie and 20 other contributors like Tyson Yunkaporta, Sylvia Linsteadt, adrienne maree brown, Dori Midnight, and Stephen Jenkinson. It’s an archive, an altar, a trail companion—a distillation of 10 years of For The Wild with essays, art, poetry, rituals, and deep questions. It asks us what it means to live in fragmentary times and still root deeply. We hope to print it later this year.To bring these projects to life, we need your support.We’re looking for funding partners, sponsors, and publishers—and we’re dreaming of a book tour from the West Coast to the East, and across the pond to Europe.If you’re an individual, foundation, or aligned company that wants to support the Sophie Strand series, reach out.If you’re a publisher or lit world comrade, I’d love to connect.If you’d like to host a live gathering for the book tour, let’s talk—we’d love to share good food, real talk, and tender moments with your community.Email us at [email protected] you for walking with us—whether you’ve been here since the beginning or just arrived. My heart is racing as I share this with you. It feels risky, but right. Vulnerable, but true. And I’m so grateful.In the meantime, you can spend some deep time with us through our Earthly Reads Series and Book Study or Bayo Akomolafe's We Will Dance with Mountains: Vunja! course—both on our website.And of course, we’ve got over 350 episodes waiting for you on your favorite platform.Here’s to what comes next. With love,Ayana♫ The music featured in this update is “Das Nuvens (Live)” by Fabiano do Nascimento, courtesy of <a href='http

In the sixth and final episode of our Earthly Reads series, we are honored to welcome back Prentis Hemphill, author of What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World. This episode offers a preview of the live Earthly Reads Book Study, join us there to access the full 75 minute episode.Offering embodied insight into the ways in which healing manifests in our personal and collective lives, Prentis Hemphill brings a thoughtful and empathetic perspective to this crucial conversation. Exploring what the process of healing looks like within movements and the trouble with only focusing on the individual, Ayana and Prentis bring much-needed nuance and humanity to the dialogue. Dive right in for a conversation that invites us all to imagine new possibilities for justice, community care, and wholeness—one that fosters deeper belonging with each other and the Earth. About the guestPrentis Hemphill is the bestselling author of What It Takes to Heal, a groundbreaking exploration of healing, justice, and transformation. A therapist, somatics teacher, facilitator, political organizer, and writer, Prentis is also the founder of The Embodiment Institute and a leading voice in embodied leadership and collective healing.About the seriesEarthly Reads is a podcast series and online book study featuring conversations with some of our favorite authors including adrienne maree brown, Marcia Bjornerud, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Prentis Hemphill, Tricia Hersey, and Céline Semaan. This episode is just a small glimpse into some of the incredible live conversations that take place throughout the book study. For more details about the series and to purchase access to the full study, visit forthewild.world/bookstudy.  ♫  The music featured in this series is “Nucleo (Live)” by John Caroll Kirby (featuring Logan Hone, Benny Bock, Paul Maramba, and Tamir Barzilay), “Joyous Dance” by Laraaji, and “The Rite Way” by Muwosi and Lionmilk from the compilation Staying: Leaving Records Aid to Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires courtesy of our partner Leaving Records. Compilation proceeds are directed back into the community of artists and families impacted by the fires. Learn more at staying.bandcamp.com.Support the show

In the fifth episode of our Earthly Reads series, we dive into a conversation with the renowned Alexis Pauline Gumbs, author of Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde. This episode offers a preview of the live Earthly Reads Book Study, now available for purchase at forthewild.world/bookstudy.Throughout the conversation, Gumbs threads together her thoroughly-researched and deeply-felt knowledge of Audre Lorde with her own personal wit, observation, and openness. She also speaks to her understanding of Lorde’s work as “geological,” following the connection Lorde draws between Blackness and our existence at every layer of Earth’s interior. Reminding us of the value of the collective, Gumbs shares lessons for reciprocity, earthly embodiment, and the poetry of living. Earthly Reads is a podcast series and online book study featuring conversations with some of our favorite authors including adrienne maree brown, Marcia Bjornerud, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Prentis Hemphill, Tricia Hersey, and Céline Semaan.This episode is just a small glimpse into some of the incredible live conversations that will take place throughout the book study. For more details about the series and how to purchase access to the full study, visit forthewild.world/bookstudy.  Alexis Pauline Gumbs is a Queer Black Troublemaker and Black Feminist Love Evangelist and an aspirational cousin to all sentient beings. Her work in this lifetime is to facilitate infinite, unstoppable ancestral love in practice. Her poetic work in response to the needs of her cherished communities has held space for multitudes in mourning and movement. Alexis’s co-edited volume Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines (PM Press, 2016) has shifted the conversation on mothering, parenting and queer transformation. Alexis has transformed the scope of intellectual, creative and oracular writing with her triptych of experimental works published by Duke University Press (Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity in 2016, M Archive: After the End of the World  in 2018 and Dub: Finding Ceremony, 2020.) Unlike most academic texts, Alexis’s work has inspired artists across form to create dance works, installation work, paintings, processionals, divination practices, operas, quilts and more.  ♫  The music featured in this series is by Cool Maritime, Matt Baldwin, and Sharada Shashidhar and Caleb Bu

Join us for the fourth episode of our new Earthly Reads series. In this episode, we are joined by the incredible Céline Semaan, founder of Slow Factory and author of A Woman is a School. Sharing stories from her childhood in Lebanon and across her lifelong work towards justice, Céline gives us a look at what it means to be a hakawati (storyteller). Céline asks listeners what it means to have faith in times of crisis, how to commit to your morals in the face of suppression, and what it can mean to use learning as a tool for liberation. This conversation is a reminder of the role that reflection and memoir play in service to creating systemic change.Earthly Reads is a podcast series and online book study featuring conversations with some of our favorite authors including adrienne maree brown, Marcia Bjornerud, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Prentis Hemphill, Tricia Hersey, and Céline Semaan. This episode offers a taste into some of the incredible live conversations that will take place throughout the book study. For more details about the series and to purchase access to the full study, visit forthewild.world/bookstudy.  Céline Semaan is a Lebanese-American designer, writer, artist, speaker, and advocate working at the intersection of environmental and social justice. Céline, is the founder of Slow Factory, a 501c3 public service organization addressing the intersecting crises of climate justice and social inequity — filling the gap for climate adaptation and preparedness, building community power through open education, narrative change, and regenerative design.The music featured in this series is by More Eaze, Ohma, Cole Pulice and Maylee Todd from the compilation Staying: Leaving Records Aid to Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires courtesy of our partner Leaving Records.Support the show

Join us with Marcia Bjornerud for a brilliant conversation on a life dedicated to the physical Earth. This conversation is the third episode for our new Earthly Reads series. Together, Ayana and Marcia discuss Marcia’s new book, Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks, and contemplate a life lived in conversation with the very Earth that holds us. Marcia offers us her grounding presence and her awareness of geologic time cycles that churn beyond human perception.Earthly Reads is a podcast series and online book study featuring conversations with some of our favorite authors including adrienne maree brown, Marcia Bjornerud, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Prentis Hemphill, Tricia Hersey, and Céline Semaan. This episode is just a small glimpse into some of the incredible live conversations that will take place throughout the book study. For more details about the series and to purchase access to the full study, visit forthewild.world/bookstudy.  Marcia Bjornerud is a Professor of Geosciences and Environmental Studies at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. Her research focuses on the physics of earthquakes and mountain building, and she combines field-based studies of bedrock geology with quantitative models of rock mechanics. She has done research in high arctic Norway and Canada as well as mainland Norway, Italy, New Zealand, and the Lake Superior region. A contributing writer to The New Yorker, Wired, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times, she is also the author of several books for popular audiences: Reading the Rocks, Timefulness, Geopedia and the recently published Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks. The music featured in this series is from the compilation Staying: Leaving Records Aid to Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires courtesy of our partner Leaving Records. The songs are by Xyla, Mizu, Marine Eyes, and David Moses x Tristan de Liege. Support the show

Continuing the first season of our Earthly Reads series, we are thrilled to share a new conversation with beloved guest Tricia Hersey. Sharing sweet balm from her new book WE WILL REST! The Art of Escape, Tricia reminds us of the art of being alive. In this meditative episode, Tricia asks listeners what it might mean to have faith in mystery and to begin without knowing the full course. Throughout the episode, she shares wisdom about the power of attempt and what it means to try without the fear of being wrong. WE WILL REST! The Art of Escape is both book and sacred object, and Tricia shares with us her process of dreaming and creating the piece.  Her book offers serene moments of reflection and decisive calls to action, just as this episode does. Inspired by Tricia’s words, we "thank you for living" and for listening along with us. Tricia Hersey is a multidisciplinary artist, theologian, escape artist and founder of The Nap Ministry. She is the global pioneer and originator of the “rest as resistance” and “rest as reparations” frameworks, and collaborates with communities all over the world to create sacred spaces where the liberatory, restorative, and disruptive power of rest can take hold. Tricia’s work is seeded within the soils of Black radical thought, somatics, Afrofuturism, womanism, and liberation theology. She is a Chicago native who believes in daydreaming, porch sitting, and poetry.Earthly Reads is a podcast series and online book study featuring conversations with some of our favorite authors including adrienne maree brown, Marcia Bjornerud, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Prentis Hemphill Tricia Hersey, and Céline Semaan. This podcast is just a small sample of the incredible wisdom of the full book study. For more details about the series and to purchase access to the full study, visit forthewild.world/bookstudy.  The music featured in this episode is by Nailah Hunter, Aisha Mars, and V.C.R. from the compilation Staying: Leaving Records Aid to Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires courtesy of our partner Leaving Records. Support the show

We are excited to announce the first season of our Earthly Reads series featuring conversations with some of our favorite authors including adrienne maree brown, Marcia Bjornerud, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Prentis Hemphill Tricia Hersey, and Céline Semaan. This collection of books is meant to encourage grounded conversation that roots justice, imagination, and transformation within the soil and substance of the Earth. The series will focus on themes of resistance, embodiment, and connection to self and others in an era of alienation and isolation. Together, we will explore what it means to create compassionate community that is deeply attuned to our positions as human members of ecosystems.For more details about the series and to purchase access to the full study, visit forthewild.world/bookstudy.   We’re kicking off this series with our beloved returning guest, adrienne maree brown. In this heartfelt episode, adrienne shares more about her new book Loving Corrections and reminds us of what it means to value relationships and reflection across humanity. Access the full episode (65min.) by joining us on Patreon or the Earthly Reads Book Study.adrienne maree brown (she/they) is growing a garden of healing ideas. Informed by decades of movement facilitation, somatics, science fiction scholarship and doula work, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Loving Correction as ideas and practices for transformation. adrienne is the NYT-bestselling author/editor of several published texts, a ritual singer-songwriter, co-generator of the Lineages of Change Tarot Deck, and co-creator/host of How to Survive the End of the World podcast with Autumn Brown. adrienne's latest book Loving Corrections is now available from AK Press.♫  The music featured in this series is from the compilation Staying: Leaving Records Aid to Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires courtesy of our partner Leaving Records. Compilation proceeds are directed back into the community of artists and families impacted by the fires. Learn more at staying.bandcamp.com. The artists featured in this episode are M.A. Tiesenga, Hundred Waters, Alia Mohamed, and Arushi Jain. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

For The Wild is sending our deepest wishes for abundance and slowness as we enter 2025! Now especially, the future of independent media and critical, thought provoking content seems uncertain. In times like these, the For The Wild team is even more dedicated to providing our listeners with meaningful listening experiences and media that embraces slow, deep learning. We are only able to do this with your generous support. We are so grateful to you! This year, we are looking forward to offering new forms of media, conversations that dive deeper than ever before, and moments for vital pause, contemplation, and intentionality in our fast-paced world. Tune into this quick update for more information about what’s coming up for For The Wild.  Learn more about how to support us and to access exclusive content at forthewild.world/patreon. Music by Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau, and Carlos Niño. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

For The Wild is thrilled to share that we’re launching our second Slow Study with Bayo Akomolafe and The Emergence Network. These slow studies are a unique collaboration between The Emergence Network and For The Wild focused on making the We Will Dance With Mountains course accessible in an asynchronous, self-paced manner so you can embrace slowness and integration in your study. The segments featured in this Slow Study were recorded in 2023 as part of the We Will Dance With Mountains: Vunja! live sessions attended by over 1400 people around the world. We have edited the conversations and added supplementary materials so that you are able to go about this immersive, transformative course at your own pace.The full package includes eight audio sessions with lectures, practices, music, poetry, and conversation from Bayo and his brilliant crew of co-conspirators. These are accompanied by recorded practice prompts from Jiordi Rosales and a text-based coursebook with details on each session and additional extrapolations.For The Wild is deeply grateful to Bayo and our partners at The Emergence Network for this collaboration. We hope you enjoy this experience.Welcome to the carnival, let’s dive into the cracks! Presale for the course launches today! The slow study course will officially launch on December 30th, and those who order during presale will receive the digital download of the course then. To celebrate those ordering early- use code SLOWSTUDY10 to take 10% off of your purchase.  Visit forthewild.world/Vunja to learn more and purchase! Support the show

We’re calling in slow media.Feeling into the need for slow, emotionally grounded, and resonant content, we’ll be pausing weekly episodes to fully embody a slow media approach. The past ten years of interviews have shown us how media should be slow, rooted, and steadying, and this shift to slow media will honor all that we have learned from years of beautiful conversations. Over the coming months, we will be bringing you print, film, long form media, deeply focused podcast series, and in-person events that will center community and connection. We invite you to dive in deep with us. Stay tuned to our socials, newsletter, website, and podcast feed for updates and announcements! We’re embracing content that is deeply-rooted, resourced rather than reactionary, and that offers perspectives based on lived, tangible experiences. Society is moving at an inhuman and inhumane pace right now. Rather than submitting to a culture of constant productivity, we are focusing on moving at the earth’s pace. We’re answering to nature, spirit, and community, not to the clock.  We need our community of support more than ever to make this happen. Join us on Patreon at patreon.com/forthewild where you’ll get special updates on our projects, or make a one time donation at forthewild.world/support  Music by noah klein. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full description, references, and action points.Support the show

This  week we are rebroadcasting our episode with Dori Midnight, originally aired in October 2022.“With a prayer to imagine beyond the current structures and systems, and kind of weave ourselves into, and be wrapped inside of, the invisible cloak that is interdependence, that is mutual aid, that supports us to reach towards each other and reach towards a vision of mutually flourishing life.” This powerful vision is shared by this week’s guest, Dori Midnight. In this sweet, meaningful, and meandering conversation, Dori discusses magical and liberatory practices, ancestral Jewish healing traditions, and the necessity of reclaiming Judaism from Zionism in the name of collective liberation. She shares sweet stories of garlic and cedar, the generosity of belonging, and the blessing of our collective and intricate work as we stretch toward liberation. Dori Midnight practices intuitive healing, weaves collaborative, liberatory ritual spaces, makes potions, and writes liturgy, spells, prayers, and poems. For over 20 years, Dori has been practicing and teaching on ritual and remedies for unraveling times, reconnecting with traditions of Jewish ancestral wisdom, community care work, and queer magic and healing. Music by 40 Million Feet, Katie Gray, and Aviva Le Fey. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

This week we are rebroadcasting our episode with Kimberly Ann Johnson originally aired in April 2023. Feeling into the state of our nervous systems and our relationships with each other and ourselves, this episode offers a powerful perspective on the importance of recognizing and tending to how life feels. Together, Ayana and this week’s guest Kimberly Ann Johnson discuss the depths of pleasure and the dimensions of healing. Kimberly brings deep knowledge regarding reproductive and sexual health, especially paying attention to the often untended somatic nature of sexual boundary repair and the complicated nature of what we bring into sexual relationships. This conversation is steeped in trust and intimacy. Kimberly’s focus and understanding offers a guide to the ways we might come to handle and regulate our own nervous systems in order to act in alignment with our desires, rather than with the prescribed roles we have been put into through societal conditioning. Kimberly Ann Johnson is a Sexological Bodyworker, Somatic Experiencing practitioner, yoga teacher, postpartum advocate, and single mom. Working hands-on in integrative women’s health and trauma recovery for more than a decade, she helps women heal from birth injuries, gynecological surgeries, and sexual boundary violations. Kimberly is the author of the Call of the Wild: How We Heal Trauma, Awaken Our Own Power, and Use It for Good, as well as the early mothering classic The Fourth Trimester, and is the host of the Sex Birth Trauma podcast.Join us on Patreon at patreon.com/forthewild for an extended version of this episode.Music by Lake Mary & Talk West and Katie Gray. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

This week we are rebroadcasting our episode with Sophie Strand which originally aired in November 2022. In this winding and lucid conversation, guest Sophie Strand invites us to investigate our relationality, to embrace rot and decay, to welcome our demons to the dinner table, and to prepare for uncertain futures with tenderness. Sophie brings to light the wisdom of the compost heap. What myths do we need for modernity, what wisdom is sedimented within our bodies? Sophie and Ayana tap into deep lines of thought and myth, weaving together conversations and concepts from thousands of years of human history. As the interview asks, “What is it to be human on our most basic level?” To be a human is to be in complicated and compromising relationships – relationships that implicate us within the other, that show us that love is a process of altering and of deep work. Purity is not an option. Sophie Strand is a writer based in the Hudson Valley who focuses on the intersection of spirituality, storytelling, and ecology. Her first book of essays The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine will be published by Inner Traditions on November 22, 2022 and is available for pre-order. Her eco-feminist historical fiction reimagining of the gospels The Madonna Secret will also be published by Inner Traditions in Spring 2023. Subscribe for her newsletter at sophiestrand.substack.com. And follow her work on Instagram: @cosmogyny and at www.sophiestrand.com.Music by Tan Cologne and Mitski. Cover image by Alexandra Levasseur. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

This week we are rebroadcasting our interview with Maya Khosla which originally aired in November 2022.What can the forest teach us of grief, of joy, of humanity? This week, poet and scientist Maya Khosla invites listeners into the forests of Northern California to find deep reverence for the power of biodiversity. Maya’s expertise on wildfires shines through this deep and well-informed conversation as she and Ayana share a love for the forest and deep-seated awe for the complexity of forest life. Maya introduces listeners to the science behind forest fires and urges us to see fire as not simply “destructive,” but rather as one of the many cycles of earth. From practices of cultural burning to current studies on post-fire diversity, the creative and regenerative power of the forest cannot be overlooked.Maya Khosla is a wildlife biologist and writer. She served as Sonoma County Poet Laureate (2018-2020), bringing Sonoma’s communities together through poetry gatherings and field walks after the 2017 fires. Sonoma County Conservation Council (SCCC) selected her as one of the 2020 Environmentalists of the Year. Her poetry books include “All the Fires of Wind and Light” from Sixteen Rivers Press (2020 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award), “Keel Bone” from Bear Star Press (Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize), and “Web of Water: Life in Redwood Creek”. Her writing has been featured in documentary films including “Village of Dust, City of Water,” about the water crises in rural India.Music by Lake Mary, Forest Veil, and Bird By Snow. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

Inviting listeners into his deep connection with the forest and the natural world, Ross Reid brings an inspirational energy and commitment to this interview. Connecting around their shared love for old growth and wild places, Ross and Ayana consider what it means to get people interested in protecting the places that sustain us. How can we inspire the connection with the land that brings people to defend it? Ross shares the journey behind his work as “Nerdy About Nature,” and the passion for education, science, and the outdoors that drives the project. Breaking down what he wants people to get from his content, he considers how to get people to pay attention to the issues that matter without feeding into the seemingly endless loop of the attention economy. Ross and Ayana delve into critical questions about advocacy and activism in times of social media, and consider what it would truly mean to engage in action that connects and protects.This conversation brings together rooted optimism, an understanding of the importance of education and knowledge sharing, and a dream of better systems that protect both people and the land. Ross leaves listeners to investigate their own connections to the land and to consider the many ways it is mediated by cultural and political intervention.  Based in the Cascadian bioregion, Ross runs a passion project called Nerdy About Nature in which he shares fast-paced, fun, informative videos about nature and the world around us as a means of breaking down barriers to access factual science-based education, while providing critical insight and constructive conversation on environmental and social issues to encourage positive changes in this world to create a more diverse, inclusive, equitable and just future for us all.Music by Green-House courtesy of Leaving Records. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

This week we are rebroadcasting our interview with Jarod K Anderson, originally aired in January 2023. Bringing us into his world of nature, awe, and magical poetry, guest Jarod K. Anderson reminds us that our human journey is worthy of just as much love and affection as the natural world around us. When we come to nature with intention, how might it guide us towards love and inspiration? In a time where so many of us are feeling lost, confused, and not connected to a purpose, we often abdicate our power to make meaning in favor of buying prepackaged narratives about who we are based on what we consume. Tapping into the beauty of telling our own stories and making our own meaning, Jarod and Ayana counter what we have been taught about worth. This episode highlights the power of the humble in the face of the grandiose and attention seeking. We are people of a place, Jarod reminds us, and the intimate, internal, and local work we do matters, just as our small bodies in this vast universe matter infinitely. Writer, Poet, and podcaster Jarod K. Anderson (creator of The CryptoNaturalist Podcast) has built a large audience of readers and listeners with his strange, vibrant appreciations of nature. Ranging from optimistic contemplations of mortality to appreciations of single-celled organisms, Jarod is forever writing love letters to the natural world. Music is “Pine Chant” by Sara Fraker and Lachlan Skipworth. “Inspired by tree-ring growth data from the University of Arizona’s Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, Pine Chant is a sonic embodiment of twelve Arizona trees and an emotional response to climate crisis.” Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

This week we are thrilled to bring you a special conversation from a dear friend of the podcast, Bayo Akomolafe. Recorded while in Ghana for the Three Black Men Tour, this conversation features the voices of Bayo Akomolafe, Resmaa Menakem, Orland Bishop, Victoria Santos and Okhiogbe Omonblanks Omonhinmin, all of whom were involved with the conversation and presentation of the Three Black Men tour. In 2023, Resmaa, Bayo and Orland shared space as they visited three cities across three continents, tracing a diasporic route in reverse from Los Angeles in The United States, to Salvador in Brazil, and finally to Accra in Ghana. Through the tour, these three visionary Black men, sharing their leading edges, are inviting us into a radical re/imagination of how we respond to our time. They sense into emergent possibilities, triangulating toward a synthesis of new forms, new magic, and new directions.This conversation touches on the community of care that Bayo, Resmaa, Orland, Victoria, and Omon contributed to and experienced across the tour, the lessons they learned from this undertaking, and visions for what is to come. As each conversation partner emphasizes, “Blackness” is about far more than pigmentation. It is a call to re-story the world, to reimagine possibilities. Together they discuss the cracks, callings and visions that invite us into a paradigm shift that none of us could imagine alone.Learn more about the tour at https://www.threeblackmen.com and https://www.centerforhealingandliberation.comThe music that opens and closes this episode is by 808 X Ri. And with courtesy of the Leaving Records record label, the music breaks you heard today are  by The Growth Eternal. Artwork by Jon Marro. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.For an extended version of this episode join us at patreon.com/forthewild.Support the show

This week we are rebroadcasting our interview with adrienne maree brown which originally aired in April 2019.adrienne maree brown begins this week’s episode by asking, “If we were not ashamed of our pleasure, what would become possible? If we started to understand that pleasure is something that everyone should have access to, what would become possible?”This week on For The Wild, we are exploring how to embody pleasure in its many forms with adrienne maree brown. Drawing upon Audre Lorde’s seminal publication, Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power, adrienne maree brown’s latest book, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, reiterates how once we truly know the pleasure of being alive, suffering becomes unimaginable. Above all, pleasure resides in our body, but many of us seem to forget this through lifetimes of social conditioning, performative identities, and the multitude of ways in which capitalism and patriarchy have filtered love and desire through the lens of ownership. Yet, whether we are cognizant of this or not, our pleasure and our liberation remain inextricably bound together.adrienne maree brown grows healing ideas in public through her multi-genre writing, her music and her podcasts. Informed by 25 years of movement facilitation, somatics, Octavia E Butler scholarship and her work as a doula, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Transformative Justice as ideas and practices for transformation. She is the author/editor of several published texts, cogenerator of a tarot deck and a developing musical ritual. Music by The Boom Booms, JB the First Lady, and Small Town.Support the show

Introducing listeners to his way of worship and connection to the Earth, this week’s guest Erik Assadourian offers insight into the religious framing and practical applications of the Gaian way. Erik shares his spiritual path of recognizing interdependence with the Earth and shares how he dreams towards a future where we exist in a mutualistic relationship to the Earth. Ranging from topics of degrowth to tangible spiritual practices for connection to the Earth and its seasons, Erik’s wisdom and groundedness is a balm for those tired by the rhetoric of our overculture. Together, Erik and Ayana consider the value of spirituality and theology while also reckoning with the complicated and often harmful ways such ideologies have been applied throughout human history. Taking this into mind, the conversation delves into our culture of consumerism and extraction while also considering the philosophies and paradigm shifts that may guide us out of it. Using religion and connection to the sustaining force of the Earth as a guide, how might we build communities of care not just for humanity, but for the Earth itself? In a time when so many of our environmental fights feel urgent, Erik calls listeners to consider how we might build a culture and framework of environmentalism meant to propel us through to a long future. Erik Assadourian is the director of the Gaian Way, a spiritual philosophy and practicing religious community. He is also a sustainability researcher and writer. Erik was a researcher with Worldwatch Institute from 2001 until its end in 2017. At Worldwatch, he directed or codirected seven books, focusing on consumerism, eco-education, global security, sustainable communities, and economic degrowth.Music by Algorhythm.Code. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

Winding through questions of philosophy, science, and meaning making, this week’s episode brings together vital thoughts on what it means to live an embodied life in an entangled world. Guest Merlin Sheldrake shares the motivations that drew him to study fungi and the complex ways this study has shaped his life and thought. As Merlin shares, “An account of life that doesn't include fungi is an account of a living world  that doesn’t exist.” Our relationship with fungi is non-negotiable. Merlin invites listeners to pay attention to what this relationship means and how it shapes not only our lives, but the entanglement of life across the world. With this, Merlin also shares the ways fungal life offers a diversity of expressions and possibilities – offering up the perspective that the diversity and complexity of relationship and expression is what makes life fertile. Across the episode, Merlin and Ayana contemplate the history and meaning of science, and come to see life as a process and a relationship. The meaning we make does not come out of a vacuum, but rather out of relationship. Life itself, in its many forms, is improvisational. Understanding this, we are left with the provocation: How might we speak to the world, rather than about it?   Merlin is a biologist and author of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures, a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller, and winner of the Royal Society Book Prize and the Wainwright Prize. Merlin is a research associate of the Vrije University Amsterdam, and works with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks and the Fungi Foundation. A keen brewer and fermenter, he is fascinated by the relationships that arise between humans and more-than-human organisms. (merlinsheldrake.com)Music by Matthewdavid. Visit our website at https://www.forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

This week, Ayana is joined by Sky Hopinka in a conversation that dives deep into the meaning of art and film and the stories and emotions we share between generations. Sky grounds the conversation in his incredible expertise and thoughtful approach to media. Touching on the very questions of who we are and how we make meaning, the questions in this conversation cut to the core of what it means to be human.  The conversation is a beautiful exploration of art, Indigeneity, intergenerational pain, and the way we make meaning in times like these. Weaving together the ephemeral worlds of emotion and identity with the grounding power of shared values and reciprocity, Sky reminds us that art is meant to provoke, inspire, and make the space needed for feeling to emerge. Sky Hopinka was born and raised in Northern Washington State and Southern California. He's a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and descendent of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. His video, photo, and text work centers around personal positions of Indigenous homeland and landscape, designs of language as containers of culture expressed through personal, documentary, and non fiction forms of media. His work has played at various festivals including Sundance, Toronto International Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival. Music by Arushi Jain. The artwork for this episode is Sky Hopinka; Breathings (2020). Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

This week we are excited to continue our collaboration with UC Berkeley's Othering and Belonging Institute to bring you a conversation from The Othering and Belonging Conference in Berlin, Germany.This conversation is introduced by Monica Jiang, is moderated by Cecilie Surasky and features the voices of Udi Raz and Yasmeen Daher. Speaking on the theme “Turning Towards Each Other, Not Against Each Other: Bridging in Times of Crisis” the panelists address what it means to build towards co-liberation in difficult times – especially in the context of the war on Gaza. Since this conversation was recorded on November 14, 2023, the genocide in Gaza has continued and worsened, and the loss of so many lives is tragic and incomprehensible. The words offered here aim to make space to honor pain and simultaneously to explore generative forms of allyship in the face of such violence.  Music by Amo Amo and Ariana Saraha. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

Tracing ancestry through the motherline, this week’s guest Sylvia V. Linsteadt introduces listeners to the world of matrilineal myth and wisdom. For Sylvia, story and myth are very much alive and can offer valuable insight especially as we consider what it means to inhabit a place. From stories of female monks, to the practical wisdom of weaving, to the veneration of The Virgin Mary, Sylvia reminds us of what it means to value the feminine. Throughout the episode, Sylvia and Ayana consider questions at the very foundation of our cultures. Winding through questions of patriarchy, religion, and violence, Ayana and Sylvia do not find singular answers, but rather a wisdom that arises from questioning the things that are deeply enmeshed in our culture. As we reckon with a violent and troubling world, how can we turn to stories that guide us to liberation? Sylvia Linsteadt is a writer and certified wildlife tracker from northern California, ancestral Coast Miwok territory. She currently lives in Devon, England. Her work—both fiction and non-fiction—is rooted in myth, ecology, ancient history, feminism & bioregionalism, and is devoted to broadening our human stories to include the voices of the living land. She is the author of the collections The Venus Year and Our Lady of the Dark Country, two novels for young readers, The Wild Folk and The Wild Folk Rising, and the post-apocalyptic folktale cycle Tatterdemalion with painter Rima Staines. Her nonfiction books include The Wonderments of the East Bay, and Lost Worlds of the San Francisco Bay Area, which won the 2018 Northern California Book Award for best general nonfiction. She is currently finishing a novel set in Bronze Age Crete, where she has lived and researched extensively. Sylvia also teaches occasional myth-oriented creative writing workshops, and shares her work out loud on her podcast Kalliope's Sanctum.Music by The New Runes. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

What beckons us, calls to us from beyond? Tuning into a magic that flows from the universe, not from an individualized self, Tyson Yunkaporta offers lucid insight into the current state of the world in this week’s episode. In maddening times of dissonance and disconnection, Tyson speaks to the need for the Right Story, for LORE. As he dives into his new book Right Story, Wrong Story, Tyson discusses rampant disinformation, the stories that prop up empire, and the need for lore that cuts through such propagandistic drivel. This convivial and expansive conversation is a brilliant exploration and critique of the  current cultural fabric, and it invites crucial questions of how we can disrupt cycles of violence, power, and greed. Throughout the conversation, Tyson contemplates how we may open ourselves up to being beckoned outside of the ego, and how we may resist the individualizing neoliberal urge. Decolonization is not just about poetry, or word, or aesthetics, and Tyson strikes at the heart of how we (the collective we) must be materially and fiscally decolonial for the real work to be done.  Tyson Yunkaporta is an Aboriginal scholar, founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne, and author of Sand Talk and Right Story, Wrong Story. His work focuses on applying Indigenous methods of inquiry to resolve complex issues and explore global crises.Music by Leo James generously provided by Patience Records. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

In a timely and heart-wrenching episode, returning guest Layla K. Feghali shares the power and perseverance of homeland, even in the face of colonial violence. As the genocide in Palestine continues and worsens, Layla offers a powerful call to listen to our rage and take real action against empire. Layla reminds us that in urgent times, action must come before grief and before healing. You cannot heal a wound that is still actively bleeding. Remembrance is a key part of liberation from the systems that tried to force disconnection from the land. As Layla shares throughout the episode “the land is in our bones.”  You can find a full list of recommendations for action from Layla on our website (forthewild.world). Layla Feghali lives between her ancestral village in coastal Lebanon and her diasporic home in California, where she was born and raised by her immigrant family. She is an author, cultural worker, and plantcestral medicine practitioner focused on the re-membrance of baladi (land-based/folk/indigenous) lifeways and ancestral wisdoms from SWANA (SouthWest Asia and North Africa). Her dedication is to stewardship of our earth's eco-cultural integrity, sovereignty, and the many layers of relational restoration and transformation that entails. Feghali's upcoming book The Land in Our Bones, documents ethnobotanical and cultural healing knowledge from Syria to the Sinai, while interrogating colonialism and its lingering wounds on the culture of our displaced world. The book re-maps Canaan (the Levant) and the Crossroads (the "Middle East"), while engaging nuanced conversations about identity, loss, belonging, trauma, and rematriation. It features her Plantcestral Re-Membrance methodology as an emergent pathway towards cultural repair for diasporic and colonized communities, and highlights the critical importance of tending the land and life where we are to restore the fundamental integrity, dignity, and regeneration of our earth's multispecies communities.Music by Lionmilk. Episode art by mirella salamé. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

What if we started with gratitude? With love? In this episode Ayana is joined by longtime mentor Molly Young Brown in a discussion that tends to what it means to be human in times of polycrisis and unraveling.Grounding the conversation in practice of group processing, activism, and relationality, Molly speaks to the reality of our time. We simply can’t go on like this, and it is dizzying to pretend anything else. This truth is illuminating, but does not need to be wholly devastating. At the peak of crises, how might we turn towards a world that imagines things differently, a world that is not driven only by profit, a world where we might center love? Molly encourages listeners to turn to deep time – our connection to our ancestors and to all who come in the future – and to root into a relationship with humanity and the earth that recognizes our interconnectedness. Molly Brown, M.A., M.Div. lives in Mt Shasta, CA with her husband Jim. In her work as a writer, educator, workshop facilitator, and life coach, she draws on the Work That Reconnects, ecopsychology, psychosynthesis, and systems thinking, and specializes in working with activists. She co-authored with Joanna Macy both editions of Coming Back to Life (1998, 2014) , edits the online journal, Deep Times: A Journal of the Work That Reconnects, and co-directs the Spiral Journey Facilitator Development Program. She is author and co-author of several books, including Growing Whole: Self-realization for the Great Turning; Unfolding Self: The Practice ofPsychosynthesis, Held in Love: Life Stories To Inspire Us Through Times of Change (co-editor Carolyn Treadway); and Lighting A Candle: Collected Reflections on a Spiritual Life.  Website: MollyYoungBrown.comMusic by Celia Hollander provided courtesy of the artist and Leaving Records.  Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

In the spirit of the solstice, we are taking a pause from our regular episode schedule. We’re also taking the time to express our immense gratitude for the wonderful community that makes For The Wild possible – our lovely team, our community of guests, our Patreon community, and our listeners all over the world. The past year has been one of beautiful synthesis. We released over 40 new episodes, and it is incredible to see the conversations, actions, and connections that have been sparked by For The Wild.Tune into this update for some messages from our team, reflections from Ayana, and updates on upcoming projects! In an effort to continue this work and support our small team we would deeply appreciate your support. As a grassroots, independent media producer, listener support is one of our main funding sources. If you have found value or meaning in our offerings, please consider making a one time donation at  forthewild.world/donate or by joining us on Patreon at patreon.com/forthewild.  Music by Proxemia. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

Continuing the conversation series, “The Edges in the Middle,” presented in collaboration with UC Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute, For The Wild is delighted to share this conversation between Báyò Akómoláfé, Sa’ed Atshan, and Cecilie Surasky. Starting from the premise that all people belong and all lives are grievable, Bayo, Cecilie, and Sa’ed will explore how honoring each other’s grief may allow us to reclaim each other’s humanity and perhaps shed light on a path forward to belonging in Israel-Palestine, for Muslims, Jews, and Christians, and for all people around the world. Bayo, Sa’ed, and Cecilie will journey into what it might be like to glimpse at the world through tears: what visions are possible when we postpone the compulsion to see everything clearly?“The Edges in the Middle” is a series of conversations between Báyò Akómoláfé and thought companions like john a. powell, V, Naomi Klein, and more. These limited episodes have been adapted from Báyò’s work as the Global Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute. In this role, Báyò has been holding a series of public conversations on issues of justice and belonging for the Institute's Democracy & Belonging Forum, which connects and resources civic leaders in Europe and the US who are committed to bridging across difference to strengthen democracy and advance belonging in both regions and around the world. Báyò's conversations encourage us to rethink justice, hope, and belonging by sitting amidst the noise, not trying to cover it up with pleasant rhythms. To learn more about the Democracy & Belonging Forum, visit democracyandbelongingforum.org.   Music by Sitka Sun generously provided by The Long Road Society Record Label. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

“No organism is an island.” As Sandor Katz reminds us in this delightful and informative episode, all life on earth is deeply interdependent. Though modern food systems alienate us from our environments and from the ways, we cannot totally sever ourselves from the environments and nutrients that make life possible. Sandor shows that alienation and disconnection will not free us. Rather, settling into the overlapping and diverse entwinement of the more-than-human world may bring connection and sustenance in close relation to our food production. The story of humanity is embedded in our food, embedded in the daily tasks and practical measures that sustain us. This conversation bubbles over with wisdom, as Sandor shares stories and lessons from his decades of experience experimenting with the art of fermentation. Fermentation is the manifestation of biodiversity, and as Sandor emphasizes, the study of fermentation is as much a study of our own tastes and cultural transitions as it is a study of our environments. Sandor Ellix Katz is a fermentation revivalist. He is the author of five books: Wild Fermentation; The Art of Fermentation; The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved; Fermentation as Metaphor; and his latest, Fermentation Journeys. Sandor's books, along with the hundreds of fermentation workshops he has taught around the world, have helped to catalyze a broad revival of the fermentation arts. A self-taught experimentalist who lives in rural Tennessee, the New York Times calls him “one of the unlikely rock stars of the American food scene.” Sandor is the recipient of a James Beard award and other honors. For more information, check out his website www.wildfermentation.com.Music by Matthewdavid. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

In this week’s episode we tap deep into the trust, desire, intimacy, and vulnerability that come from relationality. Betty Martin offers her vast knowledge of bodywork, somatics, and consent to give listeners insight into what she calls “The Wheel of Consent,” a quadrant that details a practice of giving and receiving. Betty reminds us that access is a gift. No one is born with the knowledge of how to give and receive in the “perfect” way, rather we must learn and feel together – navigating boundaries and allowing ourselves to find what feels right. Intimacy is a deeply vulnerable act, and Betty discusses how we can create a sense of acceptance and safety as we root in our bodies rather than societal expectations.Throughout the conversation, Betty emphasizes that consent should be the baseline for interaction, not just in intimate relationships but in the world writ large. The questions we ask and the people we include in conversations about consent matter. Only in knowing our limits as individuals, as a society, and as a part of the more-than-human world can we find the true meaning of trusting ourselves, of tapping into generosity, and of comfort. Dr. Betty Martin has had her hands on people professionally for over 40 years, first as a Chiropractor and upon retiring from that practice, as a certified Surrogate Partner, Sacred Intimate, and Somatic Sex Educator. Her explorations in somatic-based therapy and practices informed her creation of the framework, The Wheel of Consent®. She wrote a book about it, called "The Art of Receiving and Giving: The Wheel of Consent", and travels the world teaching other practitioners how to use the practices and the model to keep their clients safe, and their sessions effective and satisfying.Music by Roehind and Vaughn Aed.Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show

How can a relationship with one animal open the door to the depths of humanity? In this episode, returning guest Kurt Russo shares how he came to see the world through Tokitae, a Southern Resident Orca held captive in the Miami Seaquarium for decades. As he mourns Tokitae’s recent death, Kurt reflects on the ways nature gives us signs of the greater mysteries of life. This conversation is equally rooted in the material realities of protecting the Salish Sea, the Snake River, and the more-than-human kin that call those places home, and the spiritual questions that cruelty and disregard for the more-than-human provoke. How has humanity gotten to such a point? Kurt shares guided wisdom about the realities of commodification, ecocide, and the capacity of the human soul for intentional cruelty. How we fight against such darkness matters not just for humanity, but for all with whom we share this precious earth. Kurt Russo is currently the Executive Director of the Indigenous-led nonprofit, Se’Si’Le, that is dedicated to the application of ancestral knowledge to reimagine our relationship to the nature of nature. He worked for the Lummi Nation from 1978-2020 in the area of sacred sites and treaty rights. He also served as Executive Director of the Native American Lands Conservancy in California from 1998-2016 and was Senior Advisor to the Kumeyaay-Digueno Land Conservancy of southern California. He was the co-founder and Executive Director of the Florence R. Kluckhohn Center for the Study of Values from 1987-2002. He has a BS and MS in Forestry and a PhD in History. He has worked abroad with Indigenous communities in their efforts to preserve their ancestral lands and knowledge in Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.For an extended version of this episode, join us at patreon.com/forthewildMusic by Francesca Heart and Julius Smack. Visit our website at forthewild.world for the full episode description, references, and action points.Support the show