to know the land

00:53:05

Ep. 288 : Appreciating Apples

to know the land ·

2026/09/28

In this wonderful season of harvest and plenty I wanted to share some gratitude for my favorite fruit. Like most everyone, I have long appreciated Apples (Malus domestica). They are fairly ubiquitous and common, but, as with many of the forms of life I like to talk about on this show, I feel like they are also underappreciated. We notice the fruit, but do we know how the flowers grow? The growth habit of the tree? The history? Some of us might need a refresher. Hope you enjoy!Photo by NatTo learn

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00:58:35

Ep. 287 : Considering Crayfish

to know the land ·

2026/09/09

Crayfish have fascinated me all my life. My mother told me stories of finding bright blue crayfish in streams as she was growing up. I see them now everyday in the river I live and work alongside. Crayfish are plentiful and seem to be throughout the Great Lakes bioregion, but I still don’t know enough about them. I want to know more. Summer is pretty much through, and Autumn is in the air. I can smell it. And really, it’s been a while since I have released a new show, but I have been thinking about

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00:57:25

Ep. 286 : Considering Plantain

to know the land ·

2026/06/25

When we see certain things everyday, we start to encounter them with routine and we can sometimes begin to overlook them. They become mundane and the magic is forgotten. This is tricky in human-human relationships as well as human-plant relationships. Sometimes it is good to remember the qualities that got us stoked in the first place, that filled us with awe and wonder, and bring us back into good relationship with those we once desired to know more and saw as significant in our lives.This is one

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00:59:23

285 : Migration of Vegetation Post Glaciation in...

to know the land ·

2026/06/05

I have been out with my students a lot in the past month and a half and it seems that every time we go out we are looking to the trees and shrubs that are growing in disturbed areas and likening these disrupted habitats to post glacial landscapes. Some of my students are able to recognize the similarities between an urban construction/destruction site, and some are still picking it up. I always do my best to explain what I am seeing, I still don’t know much and wanted to go a little bit deeper, as

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00:46:34

Ep. 284 : Annika Wilcox, Salamanbro

to know the land ·

2026/04/20

After my recent jaunt to go visit some migrating salamanders, I had so many questions. For years I have been making my pilgrimage to visit the salamanders as they make their ways to their breeding pools. All the while, I have been reading about “Unisexual Ambystomas” and was confused by the complexity of “the complex”, a small group of closely related salamanders and sperm stealers. Yeah, sperm stealers. After I heard some friends had ran into a local salamander afficionado, Annika Wilcox, I asked

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00:52:02

Ep. 283 : Hibernacula and Brown Snakes

to know the land ·

2026/04/13

The other day, while out with my students, we came across four basking snakes on the side of a gravel access road cutting through an Eastern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis) forest. Two Eastern Garters (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis), a single Red-bellied (Storeria occipitomaculata), and a Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi). Three of the four stuck around and we watched, told a story, and asked questions about the snakes. Some of the questions I could help the students find the answers, but some I was at

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00:40:41

Ep. 282 : Spotted Salamander Migration

to know the land ·

2026/04/06

Two friends and I got in my car on a stormy night to drive 35 minutes through the thick rain to sneak around the woods looking for migrating Salamanders. This wasn’t the first time either. I have been doing this pilgrimage for a few years, and am still excited every time. This time I brought a recorder with us as well, to try and hold the moment to better convey over the radio. Thanks to all the Spotted Salamanders and frogs and worms for just doing their thing. Also to Nat and Dani for coming

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00:43:02

Ep. 281 : Red-winged Blackbird Nest in Algonquin Park

to know the land ·

2026/02/23

On a very cold day in February, while trailing a Algonquin Wolves (Canis lycaon) across the frozen Lake of Two Rivers, South of highway 60 running through Algonquin Provincial Park, a fellow tracker and I came across a nest. I took out my phone and quickly took some measurements and moved on. It wasn’t too long, as it was -30°C (-22°F/243K) and my hands we’re screaming at me, but this little discovery started itching my memory of the day and pestering me to figure out who it was. I did a little bit

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00:49:53

Ep. 280 : Holiday Tracking Stories

to know the land ·

2025/12/29

It’s always nice to have a few days off during this time of year. While a lot of folks are busy with family, or having cozy times at home, I can wander through the snowy woods looking for the signs and tracks of all the other animals who we share the land with. For today’s show I am just telling some stories of some of the trails I have been on over the past week, detailing some of what I have been observing and learning. Fondling icy Coyote tracks, to learning about a new species of Poison Ivy (new

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00:39:34

Ep. 279 : Winter Solstice

to know the land ·

2025/12/15

Winter Solstice has returned. Technically it’s in a few days but with the longer nights, it’s certainly being felt. This year I have been out tracking, indoor climbing and baking up a storm at home. It’s been a lovely, snowy descent into the dark.Again, like last year, I have been reading, writing, listening to a lot of film soundtracks and watching silly movies. But I also try to make space for the reverence. Of course, this comes through the tracking, learning and sharing naturalist knowledge, and

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00:47:48

Ep. 278 : Getting to know the Southern Flying Squirrel

to know the land ·

2025/12/01

While out tracking in the new snow the other day I came across some relatively small tracks, reminiscent of a Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) or Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), though small enough to be a Short-tailed Weasel (Mustela ermina). It took a second before I recognized them as Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans) tracks. I have been encountering Southern Flying Squirrels in various ways for a few years, including tracks, scat, feeding sign, live sightings, and I even pet one

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00:51:11

Ep. 277 : Signs of the White-tailed Deer Rut

to know the land ·

2025/11/17

While tracking White-tailed Deer at Mono Cliffs with the Earth Tracks apprenticeship, we saw lots of signs of the rut and the subtle ways deer communicate. We studied three main signs: scrapes, rubs and lick branches. Together, these clues form a multisensory language of scent, sight, and even ultraviolet signals that share details of identity, territory, and mating readiness. These clues along the trail are a real insight into how deer express themselves across the landscape in ways most of us

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00:58:43

Ep. 276 : Chinook Salmon along the Credit River

to know the land ·

2025/10/20

I have missed a few of the notable migrations this year; Salamanders, raptors, and until yesterday, the Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). The salmon are a unique one on this list for me though, special in a strange kind of way. Firstly, fish and I never sat well until I got to know the salmon. They changed how I saw all fish species, and now instead of a feeling of ick, I get a wonder, awe and reverence. Secondly, this migration back to the homeplaces of the individual salmon, while

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00:45:29

Ep. 275 : Once Upon a Bear Scat

to know the land ·

2025/09/22

It isn’t often that I get to see bear scat down here in Guelph, but in Parry Sound, there are many Black Bears, and while visiting the Sound for a trailing workshop, we came across some of their scat. For me, it was an event. A highlight of the weekend visit with friends and practicing our trailing together as a crew. Black Bears are pretty majestic, if that’s the right word, and carry a weight, beyond their materiality, in my imagination of what is “wild”. Even if we don’t get to see the bear,

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00:43:04

Ep. 274 : Black Walnut, again.

to know the land ·

2025/09/10

I am in love with Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) and I want shout all about it throughout the late Summer, early Autumn season. They are big, beautiful, and bountiful with their tennis ball sized fruit with bright green husks and nuts snug deep inside. Slowly colonizing the sunlit fields and edges, home to all sorts of creatures both large and small, these towering monuments tell of the abundance of the land. They are amazing allies in healing, mentors in boundaries, relative buffet in mast years, and

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00:56:21

Ep. 273 : Canada Goldenrod

to know the land ·

2025/09/01

Recently I was talking with one of my adult programs about successional and keystone species. Successional species are those early plants which come into disturbed landscapes, helping to knit the ecological neighbourhood back together. They are quick to come and quick to go, providing the land with nutrients to heal and grow. Keystone species are those species who are provide for many other forms of life. Their work in sustaining the community around them is vast relative to their abundance. They

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00:43:36

Ep. 272 : Minnow Magazine

to know the land ·

2025/08/25

Sisters Alex and Tasha Sawatzky’s knowledge of and growing appreciation for the land they lived on was tangible and real, so how could they tell the stories of the species they were coming to know and love, while also countering the dread of our modern world? They decided to start Minnow, a magazine about ecology, conservation and all sorts of species we share a home with. This magazine project has become a bit of a community space for the sisters and others to write of their own knowledge and care

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00:49:54

Ep. 271 : Sensual engagement with the land

to know the land ·

2025/07/29

Sight is the dominant sense in humans, followed close behind by hearing and perhaps touch. Many of us have cut ourselves off from the natural world by “gating” our senses, only using what is needed to navigate an urbanized, mechanical, constructed and conditioned environment, and we end up isolating ourselves, and leaving the more than human world behind.In times of ecological, political, and climate horror, I wonder at how we can remain connected with the wilder places we love? How do we engage

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00:44:32

Ep. 270 : Rough Horsetail

to know the land ·

2025/07/23

An ancient plant of the genus Equisetum, (the only extent genera of the family Equisetaceae, and only living member of the order Equisetales), Horsetails are some of the most primitive of fern species, being closely related to the Calamites of the Carboniferous era some three hundred million years ago. Inspired by a fun workshop I got to host, along with such an amazing history of evolution though incredible cataclysmic epochs, chock full of climate upheaval, I really wanted to learn more about

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01:00:02

Ep. 269 : Listening to the Grey Treefrogs

to know the land ·

2025/06/02

Grey Treefrogs (Hyla versicolor) are my favorite frog species at the moment. They are cute little colour changing, antifreeze laden, Lichen-Spirits who really belt it out when trying to find a date. I have been hearing them pretty much nightly lately, screaming their short trill all over nearly every wetland I encounter as long as it is fairly adjacent to trees. Because of their powerful calls permeating my late night waking life, I have been wanting to take a deeper dive. Hope you enjoy!To learn

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