Alex Zubia on the importance of good food, community and love in Fresno, California
Release Date: 04/03/2023
#87: Samuel Bautista Lazo and Mandalin Sattler on becoming good food for rock woman in Oaxaca, Mexico
The Ground Shots Podcast
Episode #89 of the Ground Shots Podcast was recorded in the gallery at Dixza Farm and Rugs in Teotitlan de Valle, Oaxaca Mexico, in early February. It was recorded with Samuel Bautista Lazo, past podcast guest, and Mandalin Sattler, whose music has been featured on the podcast in the past. Samuel is Benizaa (Zapotec) and lives Xiguie'a (Teotitlán del Valle), located in the Central Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Samuel, his family and community come from a long line of weavers and farmers who have been tending the same land for thousands of years. This region is considered one of the cradles of...
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Episode #86: Wild Tending Series/ Samuel Bautista Lazo & Damián Jiménez Martínez on Tseé Xigie radio - ecology, wild tending, land politics (Español/English)
The Ground Shots Podcast
In this episode of the podcast, we talk about: the biodiversity of agaves, some of the issues with cultivation under pressure of capitalism, and private land ownership complexity of the commons in Oaxaca under pressure of modernity agave use for textiles, wild and rare species, and benefit of planting in polycultures we speak to ideas about wild tending in Oaxaca and the issues that come up when trying to reintegrate old ways of tending land in modern times the fact that oaks are not wild tending here or eaten but used to be long ago, what could people here learn from indigenous peoples to the...
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#85: Dr. Cara Judea Alhadeff: Viscous Expectations: Justice, Vulnerability, The Ob-scene
The Ground Shots Podcast
This episode of the Ground Shots Podcast is with Dr. Cara Judea Alhadeff. We did this interview in person this past summer in Paonia, Colorado. I have been sharing studio space with her partner Wild, a woodworker. This summer I was working on some carpentry in my trailer in the yard of the shop, and we retreated here for this conversation out of the heat and the hubub of the wood studio. Cara is a Mother, Artist, Author, Professor, Action-Philosopher, Environmental-Justice Organizer with writings, photography projects, performance art work with old and new...
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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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Episode #73 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Alex Zubia (XeF) out of Fresno, California.
Alex Zubia, who goes by “Xef” is a Chef by trade. Born and raised in Fresno, CA (yokuts Land). Alex attended The California Culinary Academy in San Francisco (Ramaytush Ohlone land) in 2007. His passion for cooking came with his passion for eating. From 2008-2015 he worked at Community Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Room as a Patient Liaison. During that time he witnessed people from his community dying from diet related issues. That realization led him to opening his food truck, which focused on healthier, farm to fork versions of familiar foods. In 2015, Alex moved to Santa Barbara (Chumash Land) to further his skills as a chef. There, he discovered that so much of the beautiful produce he was cooking with came from Fresno. He wondered why he never saw all this produce available in Fresno. Alex moved back to his hometown in 2021 to fight for food justice as a Food Sovereignty Director at Fresno Barrios Unidos. Alex’s goal is to bring his community back to eating and cooking their indigenous foods which are so plentiful in the Central Valley.
In this conversation with Alex, we talk about:
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food apartheid (or ‘food deserts’) in Fresno, California, which is in the Central Valley of California, a place where so much food is grown yet not a lot of local food is available for the folks who live there
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food is medicine, culturally and physically
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Alex’s journey doing work with food, cooking in Santa Barbara and Fresno
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the corporate industrial food complex as it intersects capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy
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Alex’s work as a patient liaison at the Community Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Room and how it changed their perspective and what they observed as harmful aspects of the hospital industrial complex
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The importance of love, community, and good food for good health
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Navigating the nonprofit world when trying to do food justice work
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some raving on TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) Chico and Ali Meders-Knight’s model of land tending in California
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regenerative agriculture stems from indigenous practices
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The four R’s and more on Transition US (Resist, Repair, Reimagine, Regenerate)
Links:
Sign up for Summer 2023 field ecology classes in the southern Rockies
Late Spring Terratalks Ecology study group, for late April and May