A show about relationships with the land
There are many ways to listen to the show: Listen live on CFRU 93.3 fm broadcasting from the University of Guelph Mondays at 6pm EST or listen to the podcast via Spotify, Apple, or just follow the rss feed.
Ep. 284 : Annika Wilcox, Salamanbro
For years I have been making my pilgrimage to visit the salamanders as they make their ways to their breeding pools. After I heard some friends had ran into a local salamander afficionado, Annika Wilcox, I asked if she would like to hang out on air for an hour to discuss her love for the Order Urodela.
I had so many questions of my own, along with questions from roommates, pals, and some of my students. I hope this helps us all learn a little bit more about those wild weird and wonderful amphwibians (see what I did there?).
Ep. 283 : Hibernacula and Brown Snakes
The other day, while out with my students, we came across four basking snakes on the side of a gravel road, one of which was a Brown Snake. We asked questions about the snakes but some of the questions I couldn’t help with. I was at a loss.
Do multiple species of snakes share a hibernaculum? What is a hibernaculum really? Do all snakes use them? What characteristics are the snakes looking for in a hibernaculum? Obviously had to look it up and learn more.
Ep. 282 : Spotted Salamander Migration
Two friends and I got in my car on a stormy night to drive 35 minutes through the thick rain to sneak around the woods looking for migrating Salamanders. This wasn’t the first time either. I have been doing this pilgrimage for a few years, and am still excited every time. This time I brought a recorder with us as well, to try and hold the moment to better convey over the radio.
Ep. 281 : Red-winged Blackbird Nest in Algonquin Park
On a very cold day in February, a fellow tracker and I came across a nest. I took out my phone and quickly took some measurements and moved on. It wasn’t too long, as it was -30°C and my hands we’re screaming at me, but this little discovery started itching my memory of the day and pestering me to figure out who it was.
This is the story of that discovery.
Ep. 280 : Holiday Tracking Stories
It’s always nice to have a few days off during this time of year. While a lot of folks are busy with family, or having cozy times at home, I can wander through the snowy woods looking for the signs and tracks of all the other animals who we share the land with.
Sharing some stories of some of the trails I have been on over the past week, detailing some of what I have been observing and learning. Fondling icy Coyote tracks, to learning about a new species of Poison Ivy (new to me), to finding a flayed Cottontail carcass, it’s been a ton of fun this past week.
Ep. 279 : Winter Solstice
As we get ready for the longest night of the year, it’s also a time to celebrate traditions and set our sights for the new year with the rebirth of the Sun. Making radio for me also holds traditions embedded within the episodes. Every Solstice I dig into the archives and pull out a rebroadcast which was originally aired December 21st, 1985 at 10:30pm on the BBC. And now, for the 8th year in a row, I get to broadcast one of my favorite pieces of radio.
Ep. 278 : Getting to know Southern Flying Squirrels
While out tracking in the new snow the other day I came across some relatively small tracks, reminiscent of a Chipmunk. It took a second before I recognized them as Southern Flying Squirrel tracks.
I have been encountering Southern Flying Squirrels in various ways for a few years, including tracks, scat, feeding sign, live sightings, and I even pet one once, but through all of this, I didn’t know much about them. Hence, inspired by my recent tracking outing, I figured I would take some time to get to know the Southern Flying Squirrel a little better. Hopefully we can learn a little more together.
Ep. 277 : Signs of the White-tailed Deer Rut
While tracking White-tailed Deer at Mono Cliffs with the Earth Tracks apprenticeship, we saw lots of signs of the rut and the subtle ways deer communicate. We studied three main signs: scrapes, rubs and lick branches. Together, these clues form a multisensory language of scent, sight, and even ultraviolet signals that share details of identity, territory, and mating readiness. These clues along the trail are a real insight into how deer express themselves across the landscape in ways most of us overlook.
Ep. 276 : Chinook Salmon along the Credit River
I have missed a few of the notable migrations this year; Salamanders, raptors, and until yesterday, the Chinook Salmon. The salmon are a unique one on this list for me though, special in a strange kind of way.
This episode was recorded along the banks of the Credit River, a river which has shaped me deeply and set me on a course I am wading my way through.
I am unfathomably grateful for the salmon and for the river for sharing so much with me and helping to shape this episode.
Ep. 275 : Once Upon a Black Bear Scat
It isn’t often that I get to see bear scat down here in Guelph, but in Parry Sound, there are many Black Bears, and while visiting the Sound for a trailing workshop, we came across some of their scat.
Even if we don’t get to see the bear, their scat was plenty enough to get me thinking about the plants their consuming, how their digestion works, and how their being themselves impacts and plays with the land they make up and inhabit.
Ep. 274 : Black Walnut, again.
Slowly colonizing the sunlit fields and edges, home to all sorts of creatures both large and small, these towering monuments tell of the abundance of the land. Black Walnuts are amazing allies in healing, mentors in boundaries, relative buffet in mast years, and year round marker of beauty. Who doesn’t want to sing their praises! Maybe by the end of the show, you’ll love them a little more too?
Ep. 273 : Canada Goldenrod
Over the years I have investigated Goldenrod on different levels, from the technical and scientific to the intuitive and relational. Both vantage points have served in getting to know these amazing and powerful plants better. I decided to head out with a makeshift milk crate studio to sit with the Goldenrod, Bumblebees and Crickets and make a show together. I hope this helps shed a warm golden glow on these essential components of the Great Lakes bioregion.
Ep. 272 : Minnow Magazine
Sisters Alex and Tasha Sawatzky’s knowledge of and growing appreciation for the land they lived on was tangible and real, so how could they tell the stories of the species they were coming to know and love, while also countering the dread of our modern world? They decided to start Minnow, a magazine about ecology, conservation and all sorts of species we share a home with.
I had to do an interview to learn more.
Ep. 271 : Sensual Engagement With the Land
Many of us have cut ourselves off from the natural world by “gating” our senses, only using what is needed to navigate an urbanized, mechanical, constructed and conditioned environment, and we end up isolating ourselves, and leaving the more than human world behind. In times of ecological, political, and climate horror, I wonder at how we can remain connected with the wilder places we love? How do we engage with the land with all of our bodies and minds, working and practicing the sensual gifts we have inherited from millions of years of evolution?
Ep. 270 : Rough Horsetail
Inspired by a fun workshop I got to host, along with such an amazing history of evolution though incredible cataclysmic epochs, chock full of climate upheaval, I really wanted to learn more about these amazing plants. Many of the Equisetum genera are now extinct yet there are about 9 species in my area, and of the species which persist in the area, I will be focusing mostly on Rough Horsetail.
Ep 269 : Listening to Grey Treefrogs
Grey Treefrogs are my favourite frog species at the moment. They are cute little colour changing, antifreeze laden, Lichen-Spirits who really belt it out when trying to find a date. I have been hearing them pretty much nightly lately, screaming their short trill all over nearly every wetland I encounter as long as it is fairly adjacent to trees. Because of their powerful calls permeating my late night waking life, I have been wanting to take a deeper dive.
Hope you enjoy!
Ep. 268 : Do Deer Mice Eat Birds?
It started with a little hole at the base of an Eastern White Cedar tree, and a couple of seeds. Who had collected and consumed the contents of the seeds? What about the feathers? And the boney remnants of bill?
Join me as I go deep down a Deer Mouse hole.
Ep. 267 : Listening to the Spring Peepers
Eardrum bursting calls of the Spring Peepers are a very welcome sound for me. To borrow a phrase from Kim Stanley Robinson, their “cascading recombinant chaos” preaches a promise of Spring, and it fills me with immense joy. So much so, that when I first heard it this year I dragged my students across the road to listen to the frogs scream their little hearts out. I later went back, twice, to record them. Once on my own, another time with my partner to capture the wailing, and read a little bit about them so as to learn more. That’s all this show is about. Praise for the choir.
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