The Ground Shots Podcast

This episode of the Ground Shots Podcast is with Wind Clearwater, a horticulturist and permaculturist who lives near Hotchkiss, Colorado. For over 30 years, Wind Clearwater has been dabbling in horticulture, permaculture and landscape design. For the past 20 years, he has expanded his knowledge of these arts alongside skills like natural building, while living off grid in western Colorado at the Oasis. The Oasis is a land project that Wind has stewarded during this time where he has tended the 'Forest Garden,' a successful dry-land food forest over two decades. He propagates native and edible nursery stock for the Oasis Nursery, which sells desert adapted plants in the region. When he's not working with plants he finds joy playing music, creating art, raising children, growing and learning. We recorded this conversation in the heart of last summer on a hot day before monsoon season, though we didn't end up getting much monsoon rain last season and are gearing up for a dry summer again this year. We start this conversation informally in Wind's earthen home, and then we go on a land and garden tour for the rest of the conversation. There are chicken, water, wind, bug. bird and fly sounds - so be aware this this episode is very auditorily full! There is a little wind interference in a few moment but we tried to cut that down in audio editing as best we could. Links: Wind's website for Oasis Nursery Durango Wild Soul Support Francis of Mother Marrow's health journey! Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Ecologies Substack Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Music: Ted Packard "Holy as Dirt" Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody  

Morgan Sjogren writes about Western lands and water through a lens of history, culture, science, and adventure. She is the author of Path of Light: A Walk Through Colliding Legacies of Glen Canyon (Torrey House Press 2023); 2025 Utah Book Award Winner and Library of Congress "Great Reads from Great Places" selection. Read her stories in Archaeology Southwest, Arizona Highways, bioGraphic, Fast Company, Reasons to be Cheerful, Runner's World, and Sierra Magazine. Her work has been supported by the 2022 Water Desk Grant for reporting on the Colorado River and a 2024 Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Independent Research and Creative Works Award. She was the 2024 Entrada Institute Writer-in-Residence. Sjogren shares her Wild Words and explorations on Substack and on Instagram @morgan.sjogren. She is based in Utah's canyon country and migrates seasonally throughout the Southwest. In this episode of the podcast, we talk about: the importance of the context of the colonial history of the lands of the west when advocating for them some resonance I find in Morgan's work and our shared paths being nomadic, living on public land, being a similar age, and pulling together threads that weave culture, ecology and place in our work Morgan shares more about her book "Path of Light" and the goal of following Bernheimer's expedition through the desert to better understand his time and place contextualizing it to now. We reflect on what has changed with public lands in the west since Morgan wrote 'Path of Light.' We discuss issues of the Colorado river from Morgan's perspective, given her time on the ground in the field exploring this issue in her work (This will resonate with folks who are fans of the episode I did with Jeff Wagner of Groundwork 'We all eat the Colorado River' The importance of personal connections to landscapes even if our deep heritage is not from those lands, in order to be inspired to protect those places from extraction and privatization for energy industry, even 'green' energy Links: Support Francis of Mother Marrow's health journey! Morgan's website Morgan's substack: Wild Words Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Ecologies Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Music: original song for this episode! Lucy Wild:  Vocals and lyrics Ted Packard:  Uncle Steve's Acoustic Guitar, Bowed and Plucked Banjo, Semi-Sentient Pedalboard, recording and production in Logic, with gratitude to Luke Kantola  Annika Fae:  lyric and watercolor Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

Episode #88 of the Ground Shots Podcast is with Trevor Warmedahl, who tuned in to this conversation from Albania where he was mending from a broken leg. Trevor Warmedahl is a traveler who spends his time documenting the worlds cheesemaking, dairying, and pastoral traditions. In his work as a researcher and cheesemaker, he explores the intersections between traditional and modern practices, from nomadic herders to innovative cheesemakers on the forefront of artisan cheese.  Full show notes found here Links: Support Francis of Mother Marrow's health journey! Trevor's Substack publication: Milk Trekker Trevor's website where you can find Sour Milk School classes when they are scheduled, and where you can pre-order his new book "Cheese Trekking" : Sour Milk School Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Ecologies Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Music: various field recordings by Trevor in his milk trek travels. Milking and pastoral sounds, Sardinian music. Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody  

birthday fundraiser for the podcast Episode #89 of the Ground Shots Podcast was recorded in the gallery at Dixza Farm and Rugs in Teotitlan de Valle, Oaxaca Mexico, in early February. It was recorded with Samuel Bautista Lazo, past podcast guest, and Mandalin Sattler, whose music has been featured on the podcast in the past. Rock Old Woman Samuel is Benizaa (Zapotec) and lives Xiguie'a (Teotitlán del Valle), located in the Central Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Samuel, his family and community come from a long line of weavers and farmers who have been tending the same land for thousands of years. This region is considered one of the cradles of civilization. Samuel has a Ph.d. in Sustainable Manufacturing from the University of Liverpool. Mandalin is an environmentalist focused on regenerative ecological living, direct action activism and community organization working through the lens of restoration, education and design. She enjoys helping communities, individuals, and families connect with the rhythms of Earth through hands-on land stewardship development & resiliency practices. She is a land steward, birth worker, teacher, artist, musician & nomad.   In this episode of the podcast, we talk about: culture, impermanence, being food for rock woman, thinking outside of dualities cultural contradictions in Mexico and beyond what ills us in modern culture: isolation and individualism to live you must live in the grief how do we trace the threads back in a system that oppresses us and free ourselves from it?   Links: Dixza farm and rugs Samuel's instagram Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop buy me a book! Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Music by: Mandalin Sattler and Samuel Bautista Lazo Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

In this episode of the podcast, we talk about: the biodiversity of agaves, some of the issues with cultivation under pressure of capitalism, and private land ownership complexity of the commons in Oaxaca under pressure of modernity agave use for textiles, wild and rare species, and benefit of planting in polycultures we speak to ideas about wild tending in Oaxaca and the issues that come up when trying to reintegrate old ways of tending land in modern times the fact that oaks are not wild tending here or eaten but used to be long ago, what could people here learn from indigenous peoples to the north and vice versa— who tend oaks or piñon pine for food this episode was catered to the local village audience of Teotitlan de Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico, on the local radio, so listen with this in mind. It is a language in Spanish and English, if you are a Spanish speaker, you will get a richer experience from this episode Dixza farm and rugs Samuel's instagram Damien's contact: Teléfono Celular: 9515196315 [email protected] Radio show facebook page where you can listen Buy me a coffee 2025 birthday fundraiser for the podcast Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Traditional Tanners online hide tanning courses, naturally tanned hides and tool supplier Ground Shots Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop buy me a book! Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Music by: Mandalin Sattler on flute, music from town Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

consider supporting the annual fundraiser for the podcast in celebration of my 38th birthday, here. This episode of the Ground Shots Podcast is with Dr. Cara Judea Alhadeff. We did this interview in person this past summer in Paonia, Colorado. I have been sharing studio space with her partner Wild, a woodworker. This summer I was working on some carpentry in my trailer in the yard of the shop, and we retreated here for this conversation out of the heat and the hubub of the wood studio. Cara is a Mother, Artist, Author, Professor, Action-Philosopher, Environmental-Justice Organizer (full shownotes found here!) Cara's website with writings, photography projects, performance art work Cara's substack with old and new writings Cara's youtube channel where you can view some of her performances and videos 2025 birthday fundraiser for the podcast Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Traditional Tanners online hide tanning courses, naturally tanned hides and tool supplier Ground Shots Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop buy me a book! Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Music by: Top Down Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

full shownotes and maps to reference in this episode: groundshots.substack.com Episode #84 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Jeff Wagner out of Paonia, Colorado, director of Groundwork, a regional nonprofit educating about food systems in a changing world and more. Sign up for my August 2-8 high country field ecology and ethnobotany course in Western Colorado on the Grand Mesa Groundwork is a place-based education program working to deepen our society's relationships with land, food, and water and to cultivate generative and regenerative ways of living and relating. Our mission is to inspire the cultural shifts needed for a sustainable future. Rising to meet the challenges posed by climate change, ecological decline, and environmental injustice requires more than new technologies and policies. At Groundwork, we believe it also requires profound shifts in the ways we relate to one another and to the world around us. Groundwork offers educational programs and publications that seek to shift the foundations of the ways we understand ourselves and our place in the world, in order to work towards more just and sustainable shared futures. A culture, like our planet, is a living ecosystem, constantly shifting and changing based on the values, attitudes, and practices cultivated within a particular community. Groundwork creates spaces to critically reflect upon, challenge, experiment with, and create anew those building blocks of culture. Our offerings create opportunities for the emergence of new kinds of relationships and ways of being within the human and more-than-human world. We believe that reimagined relationships and practices—in essence, emergent cultures—are the foundations of systemic change. Colorado Public Radio 'Parched' Series 'Chasing Water' movie Johnathan Thompson's Landdesk publication on Substack regularly writes on current issues of the Colorado River Cadillac Desert The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River by David Owen Thinking Like a Watershed: Voices from the West by Jack Loeffler and Celestia Loeffler Glen Canyon Institute Encounters with the Archdruid: Narratives about a Conservationist and Three of His Natural Enemies by John McPhee The Unlikely Peace at Cuchumaquic: The Parallel Lives of People as Plants: Keeping the Seeds Alive by Martin Prechtel The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler Water Education Colorado 'The uncompromising environmentalist behind the Sierra Club' by Joshua Zaffos High County News article about David Brower 'Western States Opposed TribesAccess to the Colorado River 70 Years Ago'. History Is Repeating Itself.' article by Mark Olalde, ProPublica, and Anna V. Smith, High Country News Colorado River Compact Elsewhere Studios  

for full shownotes to this episode, go to our website post here or our substack post here Episode #83 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Callie Russell, an interview recorded in the field on a goat walk in New Mexico this past March. You may know Callie from the Alone show, though I have never watched it. We have known each other for many years and this past Spring we camped together for a few weeks by a river, with friends and her goats. We took time to record a conversation together for the podcast. The episode starts with us at camp with Rain, an old friend, and our banter getting ready to leave for a walk. If you want to skip that part you can fast forward 10 minutes or so past the field recording beginning. It's funny though- to get a glimpse into life at camp. Most of the convo is of us walking with the goats and talking while on a walk. We eventually sit down to finish the interview. On our way back, one of the goats pushes me off a cliff and abruptly stops the recording, and you hear the incident in the episode. Thankfully I catch a root and Callie grabs me and all is ok. What we do for podcast recordings.. Become a paid subscriber to Ground Shots extras on Substack to hear an extra story from Callie not included in the main interview. She tells a story of saving a goat from a mountain lion when she lived in the wilderness years ago. Its quite a story! Callie's website where you can find classes and updates Traditional Tanners online hide tanning courses Episode 10 : Adam Stolte and his Goats My August 2nd-8th field ecology course - sign up here! Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders  Bookshop buy me a book! Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Theme Music: Mother Marrow Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

  Episode # 82 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Jason Hone on medicinal herbs of biblical times and the historical ecological transformation of the holy lands. Jason Hone practices as a holistic provider for patients of all walks of life. He has worked in various disciplines of healthcare since 1996. His experience includes emergency and sports medicine, wilderness medicine, home health and hospice, and specialized pediatric care for children with medical frailties. Prior to becoming a nurse practitioner, Jason earned his Bachelor's of Science in nursing (BSN) at Ameritech College of Healthcare in Draper, Utah and his Masters of Nursing (MSN) in Family Nurse Practitioning through Frontier Nursing University in Kentucky. In both programs he was selected by his peers to represent them in a leadership position. He loved these opportunities to interact with other nurses, students, and faculty. With considerable experience in holistic, alternative, and complementary medicine, Jason has training in many modalities, including but not limited to nutritional assessments, ozone joint injections, cupping, massage therapy, holistic wound management, herb care and ethnonobotanical lore. Jason was raised in Idaho and Israel and has lived in Utah for the past 11 years. When he is not working, he loves spending time with his wife, Kristina, and their seven kids. He enjoys traveling and exploring, and loves practicing and teaching primitive skills. He and his wife are the founders of the CASK Gene Foundation, working to promote knowledge of this rare, genetic disorder faced by their youngest daughter. Jason maintains national certification and professional membership through the American Association of Nurse Practitioners; he is a member of the American Holistic Nurses Association, Sigma Theta Tao International, and the Utah Nurse Practitioners' Association.   birthday fundraiser for the podcast Whole Health Team - Jason's health clinic website Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders  Ground Shots Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop buy me a book! Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Amazon wishlist for Kelly's airstream trailer renovation Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Theme Music: Mother Marrow Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

Ethan graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation. Currently, he works in the advocacy world for habitat protection and restoration on public lands that face various resource extraction industries. He homesteads on a piece of desertified land In southern Arizona and is attempting to reverse desertification processes to help build food/habitat. Beyond his focus in biology, over the last 12 years he has been involved with local organic agriculture systems in the places he has lived. Ethan has worked at many different organic produce farms/apiaries and is currently working more with sustainable livestock use on different landscape levels. He is also interested in foraging, food processing/preservation, processing/use of animal fibers for clothing, wildlife tracking/trailing, erosion reversal/desertified landscape restoration, music, wildlife tracking. Ecology and ecological advocacy has been his passion and focus through his adult life and many of these hobbies have helped him to connect with his local ecological systems. He believes that healthy human communities and landscapes are integrally tied and there is no environmental protection/advocacy without supporting the communities that live in those places. Ethan works with mutual aid networks in his area and has been involved in several direct action campaigns surrounding the border wall and local ecological issues. He has a wonderful dog companion, Tuck, who keeps him company at his desert homestead and on many adventures. Working to re-wild and decolonize the world around us starts within and Ethan hopes to continue this journey with the wonderful community of folks he's met along the way. Links: Sky Island Alliance Contact Ethan on Instagram: @ dopa_surge_nature_turd Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop buy me a book! Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Amazon wishlist to support the host Kelly Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended show notes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com