Living in the wilderness, fermenting on the road and facing the immediacy of death with Marissa Percoco
Release Date: 08/21/2021
We all eat the Colorado River: this watershed is a microcosm of our society with Jeff Wagner
The Ground Shots Podcast
full shownotes and maps to reference in this episode: 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. 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...
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Callie Russell on tending ecosystems with goats
The Ground Shots Podcast
for full shownotes to this episode, go to 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...
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Jason Hone on biblical ethnobotany and ecology of the holy lands
The Ground Shots Podcast
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...
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81: Ethan Bonnin on Ecological Degradation at the Borderlands
The Ground Shots Podcast
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...
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Elizabeth Yaari on regenerating desert land at the Night Owl Food Forest in Paonia, Colorado
The Ground Shots Podcast
Together with the insects, animals, plants and elements Elizabeth Yaari is transforming a dry patch of semi arid desert into a thriving regenerative seven layered food forest. “Anything is possible”, she says “even when you have 6 1/2 inches of rain a year.” To spend time with Elizabeth is to enter a realm where depth matters and play reigns. Her descriptions of life at Night Owl food Forest will take you on a journey you were glad you took. As an enthusiastic member of the Design School for Regenerating Earth, Elizabeth learns to create earthworks and microclimates which benefit not...
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Samantha Zipporah on radical fertility & the politics of birth
The Ground Shots Podcast
Samantha Zipporah is a midwife, author & educator in service to healing & liberation. Sam’s path rises from an ancient lineage of midwives, witches, & wise women with expertise spanning the continuum of birth, sex, & death. She is devoted to breaking the spells of oppression in reproductive & sexual health by connecting people with the innate pleasure, power, & wisdom of the body. Her praxis weaves scientific & soulful inquiry that integrate modern medicine & data with ancestral practices & epistemologies. Sam's most recent publications & offerings...
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Jacquie Hill on the medicine of Ponderosa Pine and botanical research ethics
The Ground Shots Podcast
Family loving, community enthusiast Jacquie Hill is a plant person doing planty things on the Western Slope of Colorado. After practicing her blend of story-rich, folk herbal medicine for 10+ years, she took her studies to academia, earning a bachelor’s degree in botanical sciences from Bastyr University in 2019. While there she made the most of the opportunities and gleaned from teachers, mentors, and nature taking, every field class offered and immersing herself in the wonders of western Washington. With a deep love of opposing forces, Jacquie keeps one foot in the scientific as well as...
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Calyx Liddick of Northern Appalachia School on the historical connection between ecological conservation and eugenics
The Ground Shots Podcast
Episode #76 is a conversation with Calyx Liddick of Northern Appalachia School in southern Pennsylvania. (trigger warning, this episode may contain content that could be triggering to some as we address the history of scientific racism and the eugenics movement) Calyx Liddick is a bioregional herbalist, ethnobotanist, holistic nutritionist, wildcrafter, writer of poetry and prose, wildlife tracker, and mother of two. She was born and raised in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania. She is an outspoken advocate for accessible education, social and ecological justice,...
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Sylvia Poareo on Planting Seeds of Collective and Inclusive Regeneration
The Ground Shots Podcast
(photo of Sylvia taken by Ricardo Nagaoka, used with permission from photographer. ) Episode #76 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Sylvia Poareo from Connecting Within, out of Ashland, Oregon. Sylvia Poareo is a gentle Curandera/Consejera (healer/spiritual counselor) whose work is rooted in guiding and supporting each individual in their own liberation within collective healing. Informed by the Chicano experience and growing up as an orphan in SoCal, her life was an initiation into deep trust in and reliance on Spirit/Creator. Connecting deeply into the heart, to the cosmos...
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Kelly solo on teaching riparian ecology, preparing for a season on the land
The Ground Shots Podcast
Hey ya’ll, This is a quick and dirty solo podcast episode where I update you on some of the things I’m doing this summer including offering in-person ecology immersions in western Colorado on the Grand Mesa. I give a little overview of some of what we did in my last immersion that was 4 days, focused on riparian ecology. Talk on travel, loneliness post-pandemic, the grief of ecological destruction, the importance of community around that grief Some talk on the ‘abodes’ geologic formation in the region Human impacts on riparian ecological zones Support the podcast! A few ways: Substack...
info_outlineEpisode #63 is a conversation with Marissa Percoco out of Barnardsville, NC.
Marissa (she/her) is an avid fermentation enthusiast who has spent the last 10 years exploring community and the wilds, as well as living deeply with various fermented cultures and local plants, and learning how it all comes together. Traveling through the wild places of Tennessee, Florida, the Southwest, California, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii and most everywhere in between with her four amazingly adventurous children, Marissa has gathered cultures from far and wide. Deeply rooted in the Earthskills movement and committed to co-creating a new culture within which we, our children and all beings thrive, they are now nesting in Barnardsville, NC, and she humbly offers her humorous experiences to you. She is also the Director of the Firefly Gathering.
In this conversation with Marissa, we talk about:
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rural Appalachia dynamics and gentrification in a valley outside of a hip city, Asheville, NC
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some stories of Marissa’s moving from the bay area of California to the rural south in the early 2000’s and what it was like initially, the culture shock
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shifting from years of nomadism to mainly tending one small place in community
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some of Marissa’s childhood experiences in California with chemically bonded parents and plant loving grandparents
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farming in west climates vs. arid climates
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tending tropical plants in a subtropical four season place, and pushing the edge of what is possible during rapid climate change
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the perspective gained from travel and having an awareness of the plants in those places
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Marissa’s time in the Gila wilderness doing walks and we geek on plants we found there
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the pros and cons of isolation living in wilderness areas, co-dependency, addiction and depression wrapped in idealism, and how can we contribute to society living ‘out there?’
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Marissa’s mead brewing practice on the road over the years, capturing place through brewing plants
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how facing the immediacy of death changes perspective