Alan Bergo: Chasing A Mushroom High, Sustainable Ramp Harvesting, and Why You Need to Grow Weeds in Your Garden | Ep.16
Release Date: 03/28/2017
AHR 32: How to Use Deep Connection and Holistic Resistance as Tools for Inclusion and Equality with Aaron Johnson
Ancestral Health Radio
Although making up 13 percent of the population, African Americans own less than 1 percent of the rural land in the United States. White Americans, however, own a staggering 856 million acres, which is about 98 percent of all rural property in the United States. Wild, right? So it's not crazy when I say that communities of color, low-income residents and other historically marginalized groups have traditionally faced barriers to accessing nature. That's why Ancestral Health Radio is dedicated to, and promotes, inclusivity and social justice through transitional lifeways. ...
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AHR 31: Privilege, Identity Politics, and the Transhuman Agenda with Daniel Vitalis (Part 2)
Ancestral Health Radio
Is the first person to live to 1,000-years-old, alive today? And if that's true, what does that inevitably mean for the future of the human condition? One of the world's leading anti-aging researchers, Aubrey De Grey, (and strangely—my neighbor) believes that to be 100% true. Because, well, Aubrey's the one who said it. And if what Aubrey says is true, would you then believe Arthur C. Clarke's third law, which states: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic? Meaning that modern technology can seem like literal witchcraft to the...
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AHR 30: Privilege, Identity Politics, and the Transhuman Agenda with Daniel Vitalis (Part 1)
Ancestral Health Radio
Did you know that some scientists say that oaks produce more nuts annually than every other nut tree—both wild and commercial—combined? Nuts, right? (Yeah, yeah—laugh it up. The pun was intended.) Acorns, or oak nuts, are nutritional powerhouses. Depending on the species, a single acorn can contain up to 18% fat, 6% protein, and 68% carbohydrate—with the rest just being water, minerals, and gut-healthy fiber. Acorns are also great sources of both vitamins A and C, as well as having a long list of essential and nonessential aminos acids. With those numbers, it’s easy...
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AHR29: The Beginner's Guide on How to Hunt, Field Dress, Skin, and Butcher Wild Game with Fisher Neal
Ancestral Health Radio
Think about this for a second: More Americans hunt and fish than play baseball. What a trip, right? That's more than 38 million Americans. And if that doesn't surprise you, this will: Hunting—overall—brought in more revenue ($38.3 billion) than Google ($37.9 billion) or the Goldman Sachs Group ($36.8 billion). Now ask yourself this question: "Why don't I hunt?" Really think about this for a second. Mull it around for a few minutes, hours, days, whatever. But really think. Is it because of the blood, guts, and sinew? Is it your ethics or...
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AHR 28: How to Understand and Use Practical Animistic Rituals for Personal and Family Healing with Daniel Foor, PhD
Ancestral Health Radio
Is it possible to heal trauma in our personal and family lives by connecting with our well, deceased ancestors? Well... Provided you possess a beginner’s mindset equipped with the right animistic framework, my guest today, Dr. Daniel Foor of, would say yes—you absolutely can. This week, Daniel and I delve into practical animism: where ritual and ceremony are used as tools for personal, family, and cultural healing. A few months ago I was surprised to receive an early copy of Daniel's magnum opus, aptly titled Ancestral Medicine: Rituals for Personal and Family Healing. Since then,...
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AHR 27: Homesteading Skills for Abundant, Sustainable, and Regenerative Living with John Moody
Ancestral Health Radio
Have you ever thought of starting a homestead on your journey towards ancestral health? How about composting or gardening? Well... Today is a special opportunity to help a community member whose passion is about dismantling the industrialization of people and food through the acquisition of abundant, sustainable, and regenerative homesteading skills. Enter: John Moody of . John and I share a very similar mission, in that we understand there are skills and wisdom that need to be shared from the first-hand experience of elders within our community. And that today is an amazing opportunity...
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AHR 26: Holistic Land Management, Desertification, and Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild with Doniga Markegard
Ancestral Health Radio
Can agriculture be a sustainable path forward? This is the main question surrounding today's episode: Can we use the same technology that, arguably, has been one of the single-most destructive advents in the epoch of human history to move or usher us forward into a time where we're projected to hit an all-time population density of 9.5 BILLION people by 2050? With global desertification, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, glacial retreats, decreased snow cover, rising sea levels, declining arctic sea ice, ocean acidification, and extreme weather events… What tools do we have...
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AHR 25: Botanical Biotics, Renegade Beauty, and Holistic Body and Dental Care with Nadine Artemis
Ancestral Health Radio
Did you know... That the average woman uses 12 products per day containing over 168 ingredients (absorbing close to 4 and a half pounds of toxic chemicals a year)... A man goes through 6 products with 85 ingredients... A child is exposed to 5 products with 61 ingredients... Whilst a teenage girl is exposed to a whopping 17 products with over 230 ingredients, every day... Most of which are untested, unsafe, and scientifically and clinically unproven. -- That's why it's important we pay close attention to what we put on our bodies just as much as what we put in our bodies,...
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AHR 24: Endangered Languages, English-Prime, and the College of Mythic Cartography with Willem Larsen
Ancestral Health Radio
Guys, listen up... About every two weeks, another language dies. Or, perhaps, a dialect. There are over 231 completely extinct languages and 2,400 of the world’s languages are considered to be in danger of dying out. That's why today's guest—Willem Larsen of the College of Mythic Cartography—joins me on the Season 2 Premiere of Ancestral Health Radio. Willem shares ways at how to look at story and language from an indigenous people perspective and how, if we wish to be heard in today's culture, the types of stories we need to build for ourselves. In today’s episode, you’ll...
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AHR 23: How the Paleo Thyroid Solution Can Stop You From Feeling Fat, Foggy, and Fatigued with Elle Russ
Ancestral Health Radio
Did you know that more than an estimated 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease? And up to 60 percent of those with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition. Crazy, right? Not only that, but women are five to eight times more likely to develop thyroid problems than men. And one in eight women will develop some form of thyroid disorder during her lifetime. This is just another clear example of an evolutionary mismatch disease... And the problem with trying to heal yourself and your thyroid is that most of the information will have you running in circles, including the...
info_outlineWhat are the "rampy-ramps" and why are they so coveted among foodies and chefs?
Alan Bergo and I join forces on today's episode to discuss the obsession over wild leeks, mid-western matsutakes, and edible weeds.
We also talk about how Alan grew up in Minnesota, how Alan's style of mushroom picking has evolved over the years, and how Alan jokingly says he's been supporting his local Amish children since 2013.
In today's episode, you'll learn...
- How to sustainably harvest springtime ramps,
- Why you should grow an invasive weed garden,
- Two popular wild condiment recipes, and...
- Much, much more.
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Episode Breakdown
- Alan talks about his first and most precious experience with wild foods early in his culinary career
- Why Alan says adding wild food to a restaurant's menu is becoming a fad
- Alan talks about his early years growing up in mid-west Minnesota
- How ForagerChef.com came to be
- How digging through David Arora's work led Alan to more research about mushrooms
- Alan gives a few suggestions on people he follows within the fungi community
- Why Alan says he wants to write an article about mushrooms and pokémon
- Alan's discovery of matsutake mushrooms in the mid-west
- Why Alan trims the stems of his mushrooms
- Alan describes the nutty situations people will put themselves into over mushroom hunting
- The difference between North American and European porcini
- Why Alan says you shouldn't eat bitter boletes
- How Alan's style of mushroom picking has changed over time
- Alan explains what he calls "the neanderthal instinct"
- Why Alan says you really cannot over-pick mushrooms
- Why you need to do your research to be aware of your local and/or state foraging laws
- Alan explains what the "rampy-ramps" are and why chefs (at least in the mid-west) obsess over them
- Why Alan sees over-harvesting of these wild foods as being an issue in the years to come
- Alan explains the different parts of a ramp
- How the Iroquois sustainably forage ramps
- Why Alan says he won't purchase ramps from anyone other than two people
- Why Alan plants ramps in grandma's garden patch
- What Alan says is the customer favorite ramp recipe (and you don't need to use the bulbs)
- How to make ramp ranch and ramp siracha
- Why Alan's favorite invasive species are thought of as weeds by many of Alan's farmers
- Where Alan sees the future of food
- How Alan sources wild food for his restaurant
- The interesting and unique way Alan is sourcing spruce tips
- What Alan says is the best part of picking greens yourself
- Why Alan says picking weeds from your garden is a win-win
- Why you might see Alan and his work featured on major television networks