Wild Plant Culture

Drew Altland is a Senior Manager of Water Resources at RK&K. I saw him talk a few years ago on stream restoration and was fascinated by his historical perspective on streams and wetlands in Eastern North America. We talk about stream conditions prior to European arrival, about the impacts of the colonial area, about reading streams in the present day, and various restoration methods. I never thought about streams the same way after hearing Drew talk and I hope this podcast is just as revelatory for you.

Welcome to Season Three of the podcast! This episode brings us to sunny Tucson Arizona to speak with Katy Gierlach and Jared R. McKinley of Spadefoot Nursery. We talk native plant nursery shop - about being ecologists not horticulturists, getting people to buy ugly plants and weeds, accepting failure, why tomatoes are patriotic if you're Italian, and dumping chicken manure on people's heads. You'll want to tune in. And yes, that's a picture of them. Hey, if you're digging this podcast, find me on Instagram at @wildplantculture, it's the totality of my social life right now as NJ is snowed in and locked down.

My guest today is Shane LaBrake, talking about our relationship with the tools we use and how that relates to sustainability and earth care. With the winter dormant season coming on, many of us have time to sharpen shovels, fix roofs, change fluids and do other maintenance and repair tasks that we felt too busy for in the summer. So in this episode we're playing hooky from plants and talking about tractors, small engines, and the philosophy of maintenance and loving care. You can reach Shane at [email protected]. He's got some great videos on Tractor Maintenance on YouTube, produced by ATTRA. Here's a link to the first one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhVIewAsqi8 Music this episode is by Horse Graveyard. Check us out on Bandcamp. This episode is brought to you by Wild Ridge Plants.

Today we have a dispatch from the front lines of habitat destruction and deer overpopulation -- New Jersey. But don't despair! We're talking with Dr. Jay Kelly about some remarkable rare plant recoveries and prospects for restoration. This podcast is brought to you by Wild Ridge Plants, growers and stewards of native plants. The music at the beginning and end is "The Ship" by my once (and maybe future) band Horse Graveyard. If you like raw, dark, heavy music with a bit of blazing sunshine peering out from the dark clouds... check us out. Thanks for listening!

We explore the underworld with Liz Koziol of MycoBloom! Join me as we delve into the soil to uncover relationships between mycorrhizal fungi and native plants. Liz is a researcher and entrepreneur supporting ecological restoration by making available native prairie fungi, which dramatically aid specialist plant species growth, increasingly floristic quality and diversity.

My conversation is with Dr. Susan Leopold, Ethnobotanist and Executive Director of United Plant Savers. Here are some of the topics we discuss: • Medicinal parasitic plants • Sandalwood • United Plant Savers • Protections for rare plants, lack of in US • Not aligning with other parts of the conservation movement • Underworld smuggling • Trade in white sage • Migrant labor and herb harvests • Gypsy co-ops and ramps • Forest Grown Program • Supporting herbal companies doing right by plants and people • Harvesting ramps in Europe • Federal management of medicinal plant harvest -- in Europe, lacking in United States • Osha and disturbance • Anti-viral herbs and coronavirus. Shutdown in trade of medicinals • Forest service management and medicinal herb conservation. Overgrazing • FairWild plant trade issues due to coronavirus • Growing hemp in Virginia • Spagyric extraction of cannabis • Cannabinoids and Ginsenosides as diffusive herbs • United Plant Savers Goldenseal Sanctuary Find Susan’s herbal products at ParisApothecaryVA.com This podcast is brought to you by Wild Ridge Plants, offering medicinal and edible native plants from locally propagated seed. Shop our mail order native plants.

This episode is with Dr. Gerould Wilhelm. Few people can provide such a deep long-term perspective on wild plants, ecological restoration, and human culture. Jerry created the Floristic Quality Assessment method back in the 1970s. He’s written several floras of the Chicago area including the Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis.

This episode of the Wild Plant Culture Podcast features woodworker and landscape architect David Hughes. We talk about his use of wild plant materials in crafting rustic furniture, as well as his experience designing functional native plant landscapes.

Thanks for tuning in to the Wild Plant Culture Podcast! This episode features a conversation with ethnobotanist Kelly Kindscher. Kelly is an unusual combination, a skilled field ecologist deeply interested in the cultural uses of plants, historically and in contemporary application, spanning ethnobotany to chemical analysis. Kelly is a professor at University of Kansas, and Plant Ecologist for the Kansas Biological survey. He's a passionate advocate for native plants and wild places, and the author of several books, including Echinacea: Herbal Medicine with a Wild History, Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide, and Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie: An Ethnobotanical Guide. We talk about Kansas prairies, long-lived forbs and grasses, Floristic Quality Assessment and remediation of damaged sites, the reciprocal relationship native peoples had with Tipsin (prairie turnip),as well as plants such as American plum, wild bergamot, and groundnut, about early ethnobotanist Melvin Gilmore, and lots about echinacea.

Hi Everyone, thanks for joining me for another episode of the Wild Plant Culture podcast. This conversation is with Karl Anderson. Karl's an elder in the best sense -- someone who's lived a full life, delved deep, and come up smiling (and sometimes cursing, too). He's always been generous about sharing his wide interests and experience in natural history. Here, I ask Karl about his life story from a city kid to a draftsman to the director of a nature center. We talk about changes in botany and in the plant world, about sharing vs. secrecy when it comes to rare plants, about being an educator, and about some of his many travels to interesting natural places around North America and beyond. This podcast is brought to you by Wild Ridge Plants. We started Wild Ridge to offer a toolkit for the restoration of native plant communities, including a native plant nursery, botanical surveys and stewardship planning, as well as classes, hikes, presentations and publications. Check us out online at wildridgeplants.com Thanks everyone who has sent feedback or joined the Wild Plant Culture Facebook page. I'm looking forward to hearing from more of you sometime soon, so don't be shy! You can reach me at [email protected]. This conversation is with Karl Anderson. Karl's an elder in the best sense -- someone who's lived a full life, delved deep, and come up smiling (and sometimes cursing, too). He's always been generous about sharing his wide interests and experience in natural history. Here, I ask Karl about his life story from a city kid to a draftsman to the director of a nature center. We talk about changes in botany and in the plant world, about sharing vs. secrecy when it comes to rare plants, about being an educator, and about some of his many travels to interesting natural places around North America and beyond.