traditional skills

With the rise and resurgence of gardening, growing and folk traditions I explore the ancient practice of moon gardening. In this episode I provide an introduction to lunar phase gardening as well as some old folklore practices on bringing the power of the moon into your gardening habits and practices.




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Intro Credits:  Wanderlust by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au
Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

email the show at thenortherngrowerpodcast@gmail.com

#033. This week I’m chatting with Jesscy Dean (aka The Wild Homesteader) about foraging, food preservation, sourcing your own food, and old skills like that in general! Food seems to be the theme of this conversation, and why not? It is THE fundamental skill set that!

While a lot of our conversation revolves around food, Jesscy is involved in a number of other crafts and we talk about her felting, hide tanning, and general ethos of self reliance as well.

Links to resources mentioned can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/33

#031. -- Are you paying attention to the landscape around you? Can you explain the differences and changes you observe? Although it may seem foreign to many of us in the modern world, people around the globe have navigated for centuries using the clues found on the natural landscape around them.
In this episode I chat with Tristan Gooley who has made it his work learning and teaching how to interpret the signs we see. Or indeed, the signs we don't see, but are there if we learn to pay attention. We discuss good starting places for getting involved, why natural navigation (and nature awareness in general) opens you up to a deeper connection and fulfilling experience during your time outdoors, and how Tristan continues to practice and learn. 

Links to resources mentioned can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/31

#027. Janey joins us to do a quick dive into how to tan fish leather using tea leaves (or other tannin sources). We also chat about her introduction to fish skin tanning and ancestral skills in general, why she loves ancestral skills, oil tanned fish leather, natural dyes, teaching others and nature connection. I loved the enthusiasm that Janey brought to the conversation!

Links to resources mentioned in this episode can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/27

#025. Do you raise and butcher your own livestock? Process the game animals you hunt?

Regardless, this time of year would have been the traditional butchering season in northern latitudes and just about every rural family would have been processing their yearly meat in addition to putting up their harvest for the winter. Many of us no longer raise, slaughter, or butcher our own animals anymore (something I think keeps us too removed from the reality of what is going on with our food), but I thought that I would like to do an episode that revolves around home butchery and talk about some of the basics. 

I also believe that we (Americans at least) let too much of the animal go to waste these days, and that if we truly respected the life we were taking we would utilize more of the parts that often get discarded. Fortunately, Jake is a nose-tail butcher so we also discuss various cuts that often get overlooked and what you can do with them. Enjoy!

Resources mentioned in this episode can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/25

#018. We talk about a variety of fun topics in this episode including yurt building (and touch on some other traditional/natural building techniques), managing a coppiced hardwood forest, English green woodworking, and traditional lime wash and lime production in the UK. Alex and his wife run Little Foot Yurts which produces handmade yurts from coppice wood they've harvested themselves. Additionally, they also run an event catering business renting out the yurts they've made, and teach workshops on yurt building.

Links to any resources mentioned in the episode can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/18

#014. Want to learn to felt? Have wool and need something to do with it? Consider trying felting!
In this episode of the Folk Craft Revival podcast we discuss the basic method and theory behind wet felting wool as a way to create hats, boots, mittens, vests, rugs, etc. I was introduced to felting last fall when I took a class from Rosemary and made my own hat and I think it's the type of project many of you will enjoy!

Links to any resources mentioned in the episode can be found at:

folkcraftrevival.com/14

#010 - We discuss basic fingerweaving methods and what was most commonly made using this method. In addition, we talk about the some of the history surrounding fingerwoven materials (primarily belts and sashes) and what native materials were utilized in North America pre-contact and during colonial times. 

Most importantly, this sounds like a project that is portable and can be done somewhat distracted once you learn. . . I'm always glad to hear about projects like this since I don't always have the luxury of focusing completely on what I'm working on!

Links to references mentioned in this episode can be found over at:

folkcraftrevival.com/10

008- I had a great chat with Casey McFarland about the why's of wildlife tracking, getting started with tracking, connection with place, and overall getting to know and interact with the natural world. Casey has several decades of tracking experience, is co-author of several field guides/tracking books and is the current president of Cyber Tracker North America (an organization devoted to reviving and promoting wildlife tracking). Overall, this is a phenomenal episode where we discuss tracking as a high-level overview.

If you want to check out any of the resources mentioned in the episode go to:

folkcraftrevival.com/8

#007- What traditional skills and crafts are actually useful in modern life? In this episode we discuss the integration of traditional skills into modern life with Neal Ritter (who was kind enough to to come on and share his philosophy with us). I really enjoy his all around holistic and positive outlook on things.
We discuss subsistence living, what traditional & primitive skills he enjoys practicing in his life (without purposefully making it difficult), where he definitely prefers to go modern, and raising kids.

Grab links to anything mentioned in the show notes over at:

folkcraftrevival.com/7

#006- Some of my recent thoughts and reflections on knowledge vs experience. 
The difference between having an intellectual understanding of how something works or is done, and having DONE it before and what a difference that can make.

#003- Learn how to make mead using traditional methods! Mead is one of the simplest alcoholic beverages to make, and is perhaps one of the oldest as well. In this episode Jereme Zimmerman, author of Make Mead Like a Viking, joins us to discuss mead making using wild yeast and limited kitchen equipment. 

We go through the process from start to finish using a basic one gallon example batch to explain what is happening and why. Perfect introduction to traditional brewing for a beginner or someone who has only brewed using modern techniques!

If you'd like to see the show notes and get the links to things mentioned in the episode, go to:

https://folkcraftrevival.com/episode3