Lifetimes of reciprocity
Zach Elfers was raised in the piedmont of the mid-Atlantic but has travelled widely around the lower 48. He is a student of the plants who has learned from mentors, elders, and most importantly, from living outside spending as much time as possible with the more-than-human world. His areas of interest include ancestral ways of subsisting, living, and knowing, and his work is focused on growing and promoting bioregional plants as food, medicine, and the foundations of our subsistence economies, rather than the imported and ecologically destructive colonial agriculture.
In this episode, I am joined by co-host, Nikki Hill. Nikki has a degree in environmental science and has worked in restoration and agriculture. Currently she invests her energy in wildtending efforts. We co-authored a zine together called, “The Troubles of ‘Invasive’ Plants,” which you can download for free at my blog.
We discussed ecological concepts that are popular but flawed; the racist origins of anthropology; the forests of Laurasia and the Arcto-Tertiary Geoflora; prehistoric and pre-agricultural human relationships with edible plants; the Wilderness Act; anthropogenic fire; the question of whether fire is good or bad; disconnection from nature in mind and in reality; the conceit that science is absent of value judgments; and his nursery work.
Episode introduction music is “Mastermind 07” by DaveJF
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