AHR 26: Holistic Land Management, Desertification, and Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild with Doniga Markegard
Release Date: 09/27/2017
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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_outlineCan 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 at our disposal? How can we make an impact where it seems like none can be made?
That's what we're here to find out.
And why, in today's episode, my guest Doniga Markegard shares with us:
- Her amazing story of triumph as a child being taught traditional ecological knowledge through an experimental wilderness school in the Pacific Northwest,
- What holistic planned grazing is and what that means for the future of agriculture,
- Doniga dispels the jargon around grass-fed, finished, pastured, and free-range, and...
- Much, much, more...
Episode Breakdown
- Doniga talks about her past with wildlife tracking and permaculture
- Doniga explains an ah-ha moment that came from a time when she was young and thrown from her horse
- Doniga briefly speaks about her time as a teenager in an experimental wildlife school in Washington
- Why Doniga tracked wolves in Yellowstone and what that meant for the biodiversity of the ecosystem
- Doniga talks about her new book (Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild) that is being released this fall
- Why Doniga is excited to work with Proprioception Press
- Doniga briefly shares a few experiences she has while traveling alongside wolves and other wild animals
- Why Doniga says her culmination of past experiences has led her to discover holistic ways of stewardship
- How Doniga's particular style of land management mimics the trophic cascade of predator, prey, and plants
- Doniga makes a big distinction between traditional ranch lifestyle and traditional industrialized agriculture
- The similarities between Doniga and Allan Savory
- Why tracking is so important and how that helps you develop your personal awareness
- Doniga mentions what she believes to be the sixth sense
- Why the Bay Area has is so prolific and why it may be a wild food foragers paradise
- Why Doniga says it's important that people realize that these grasslands evolved with grazers
- Why holistic land management is about people, planet, and profit
- The difference between grass-fed and finished beef
- Why Doniga says Cowspiracy is extreme vegan propaganda
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Why Doniga has gripes about the word Organic
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The difference between traditional and conventional agriculture
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Doniga breaks down the problem of desertification and why we need grassland grazers to help build carbon in our soil
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Why practicing survival skills and challenging herself within the rigors of the wild helped shape Doniga into the steward she is today
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Doniga gives solid tips for the consumer to move forward with becoming a steward of the land herself
- And much, much more...