Libsyn Directory

Brendan Leonard Returns – On Writing, Teaching, and Staying Weird

Release Date: 07/08/2025

Jason Gardner Returns – Fire, Leadership, and What Really Matters

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Jason Gardner is a retired Navy SEAL who now works as a top-level leadership instructor with Echelon Front. Over his thirty-year career in the SEAL teams, he served in combat operations in Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, later becoming Command Master Chief of SEAL Team Five and Training Detachment. Since retiring from the Navy, Jason has worked with hundreds of organizations as a leadership instructor and strategic advisor, helping teams apply high-stakes leadership principles to business and life. He now lives in a remote corner of northeastern Washington with his wife, Iris, and their two...

Todd Ulizio – Farming, Attention, and a Life Well Rooted

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Todd Ulizio is the co-owner of Two Bear Farm, an organic vegetable farm in Whitefish, Montana, that’s quietly become a cornerstone of the Flathead Valley’s local food community. Alongside his wife Rebecca, Todd has spent nearly two decades growing food, building soil, and figuring out how to make a small, values-driven farm work in a world that doesn’t always make it easy. Todd’s path to farming was anything but direct. He grew up in Connecticut and followed a traditional educational and career path, eventually becoming an accountant at a prestigious Big 6 Firm. Experiencing success...

Sammy Matsaw Jr. – Salmon, Sovereignty, and the Long Work of Healing

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Sammy Matsaw Jr. is the Director of the Columbia Basin Program at The Nature Conservancy, where he works at the intersection of salmon recovery, tribal sovereignty, and large-scale river restoration across one of the most complex watersheds in North America. In this role, Sammy helps guide conservation strategies that span state lines, political boundaries, and cultural histories—while keeping people, relationships, and responsibility at the center of the work. Sammy grew up on the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation, surrounded by salmon stories, land-based learning, and a deep sense of...

Ed’s Appearance on “My Favorite Things”

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from the usual format. I’m re-sharing a recent conversation I had on my friend Brendan Leonard’s new podcast, . I’m sure most of y’all are already familiar with Brendan’s work, but for those of you who aren’t, he’s an author, illustrator, filmmaker, and creator of . Brendan’s new podcast is built around a simple but fascinating premise: conversations about the books, films, art, and creative works that have helped shape a person’s life and career. In this conversation, we spend less time on what I do, and more time on what’s...

Mike Schaedel - Restoring Balance to Fire-Adapted Landscapes

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Mike Schaedel is the Western Montana Forest Restoration Director for The Nature Conservancy, where he leads some of the most ambitious and collaborative forest restoration work happening anywhere in the West. Based in Missoula, Mike works at the intersection of science, community partnerships, and land stewardship—helping restore fire-adapted forests, reduce wildfire risk, and improve the health and resilience of landscapes across the region. Mike’s career path is super interesting and anything but traditional. He grew up in Portland, fell in love with the mountains through rock climbing,...

SHED SESH: September & October 2025 Book Recommendations

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

This month marks ten full years of my bimonthly book-recommendations project—a decade of weird little paragraphs about the books that grab my scattered attention. Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or signed up five minutes ago, thank you. I’m still baffled anyone reads these things, but I’m grateful all the same. To mark the occasion, I recorded a late-night solo episode from The Shed, diving deeper into each of my September & October picks: why I chose them, what stayed with me, and the sometimes-unexpected lessons I gleaned from each of them. Or you could just describe...

Devon O’Neil — On Nature’s Power and the Price of Adventure

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Devon O’Neil is a journalist, author, and longtime friend of mine whose new book "The Way Out: A True Story of Survival in the Heart of the Rockies" is one of the best pieces of outdoor nonfiction I’ve read in years. The book tells the harrowing true story of a backcountry ski trip near Leadville, Colorado, that turned tragic—and the years-long process of understanding what really happened, and how a mountain town wrestled with loss, resilience, and the complicated relationship we all have with risk and wild places. It’s gripping, deeply reported, and beautifully written—equal parts...

Carli Kierstead – Wyoming Forests and the Work of Keeping Water Flowing

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Carli Kierstead is the Forest Program Director for The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming, where she leads efforts to understand and restore some of the West’s most critical—and often overlooked—ecosystems. From beetle kill and wildfire to drought, Wyoming’s forests face a range of challenges that ripple far beyond the state’s borders. These high-country forests are the headwaters of several major river basins, providing water to millions of people across the American West. In this conversation, Carli and I dig into the past, present, and future of Western forests—how management...

Bex Frucht — Story Wrangler! Vibe Steward! One of a Kind!

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Bex Frucht is a force of nature—a storyteller and community builder whose work blends performance, land, and small-town life in the American West. Based in Livingston, Montana, she’s the founder of TMI Live, a storytelling series that celebrates vulnerability, humor, and human connection, and for the past three years, she’s been the “vibe steward” of the Old Salt Festival, where her talent for bringing people together has become legendary. Whether she’s hosting a show, coaching storytellers, or emceeing a fundraiser, Bex radiates generosity, intelligence, and positivity in a way...

Yvon Chouinard – The Perpetual Pursuit of Simplicity

Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Yvon Chouinard needs no introduction. The founder of Patagonia, pioneer of clean climbing, co-founder of 1% for the Planet, and lifelong advocate for simplicity and wildness, he’s one of the world’s most influential environmental leaders. Now in his mid-80s, Yvon continues to live, work, and fish by the same principles that have guided him since his dirtbag climbing days: live simply, take responsibility for your impact, and keep finding meaning through deep, direct engagement with nature. His newest book, “Pheasant Tail Simplicity: Recipes and Techniques for Successful Fly Fishing,”...

More Episodes

Brendan Leonard is back for his third appearance on the podcast—this time recorded in person at his house in Missoula. Brendan’s the creative mind behind Semi-Rad, and over the years, he’s become a good friend and one of my most trusted advisors when it comes to creativity and building a life around the things you care about. He’s a writer, illustrator, filmmaker, ultrarunner, teacher, and all-around creative machine—someone who’s carved out a career by doing things his own way, with a healthy dose of humor and generosity.

This episode is pretty much two friends sitting at a kitchen table having a laid-back chat about our long list of shared interests. We talk about everything from teaching writing and designing online courses, to the pros and cons of Substack, to how to market your work without feeling like a sellout. We dig into the practical side of creativity—how to make things, share them, and make a living—without losing the joy and weirdness that made you want to create in the first place.

We also get into self-publishing vs. traditional publishing, why Brendan makes funny books like 15-Second Recipes, and why he believes that generosity, self-deprecation, and consistency matter more than flash or perfection. There’s a lot here for anyone trying to make meaningful things in the margins of a busy life… or build a creative life from the ground up.

If you’re new to Brendan’s work, be sure to check out his website, newsletter, and his earlier podcast episodes. I’d also specifically encourage you to check out his most recent book "Ultra-Something," his recent film "The Seven Summits of My Neighborhood," and the podcast he co-hosts, which is called "The Trailhead." There are links to everything in the episode notes.

Brendan is one of the most thoughtful, practical, and humble voices out there when it comes to creative work, and I’m always better off after talking to him. Hope you enjoy.

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Brendan Leonard
Semi-Rad
Ultra-Something
The Seven Summits of My Neighborhood
The Trailhead podcast
Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/brendan-leonard-3/

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

2:11 - Brendan blowing out the speakers
3:47 - How Brendan got into teaching and early days at Freeflow
8:06 - Brendan’s teachers
11:09 - The Feynman technique
14:10 - Substack versus a website
17:54 - The necessity of marketing yourself
20:53 - Keeping the voice
25:00 - Moving Brendan’s writing course online
27:23 - Keeping it low-key
29:40 - Abundance vs. scarcity mentality
33:56 - Publisher vs. self-publishing
38:39 - Nickels and dimes of self-publishing
42:31 - Talking The Seven Summits of My Neighborhood
50:23 - Digging into the niches
51:55 - Curing the male loneliness epidemic
55:44 - Helping people with humor
58:43 - Treating others with respect
1:00:07 - Book recs

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