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ReWild Yourself

Welcome to the ReWild Yourself Podcast! I’m Daniel Vitalis, and I’ll be your guide through the world of human ecology and lifestyle design. We’ll explore the strategies that our ancient human bodies and minds need to thrive in a modern world — awakening our instincts and freeing ourselves from the degenerative effects of human domestication.
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Now displaying: December, 2017
Dec 13, 2017

North America’s Forgotten Fruit — the Pawpaw — is an excellent reminder that adventures in wild food are still available to us! Andrew Moore is here to share his journey seeking out the largest edible fruit native to the United States. In Andrew’s book Pawpaw: In Search of America’s Forgotten Fruit, he explores the past, present, and future of this unique fruit, traveling from the Ozarks to Monticello; canoeing the lower Mississippi in search of wild fruit; drinking pawpaw beer in Durham, North Carolina; tracking down lost cultivars in Appalachian hollers; and helping out during harvest season in a Maryland orchard. Along the way, he gathers pawpaw lore and knowledge not only from the plant breeders and horticulturists working to bring pawpaws into the mainstream (including Neal Peterson, known in pawpaw circles as the fruit’s own “Johnny Pawpawseed”), but also regular folks who remember eating them in the woods as kids, but haven’t had one in over fifty years.

Andrew’s hunt for the wild pawpaw led him on quite the adventure, and in this episode, he gives us the lowdown on the pawpaw, its history and its modern-day revival. We take a look at pawpaw culture and discuss how it’s being cultivated and used today. Andrew certainly inspired me to hunt down the wild pawpaw, and I hope you’ll consider pursuing a wild food adventure of your own in the new year! Enjoy, and I’ll see you next week for the final episode of our podcast season!

EPISODE BREAKDOWN:

  • Show Introduction
  • Introducing Andrew Moore
  • How Andy became acquainted with the pawpaw
  • What is a pawpaw?
  • The history
  • The pawpaw revival
  • Uncovering the mystery of the pawpaw
  • The varying personalities in pawpaw culture
  • Historical cultivation and use of pawpaw
  • Growing pawpaw
  • Origins of the name
  • Hunting the wild pawpaw
  • Where to find Andrew
Dec 7, 2017

Brian Fagan — one of the world’s leading archaeological writers — is back on the show! Brian was born in England and studied archaeology at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was Keeper of Prehistory at the Livingstone Museum (Zambia) and, during six years in Zambia and one in East Africa, was deeply involved in fieldwork on multidisciplinary African history and in monuments conservation. He was Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, from 1967 to 2004, when he became Emeritus. He is regarded as one of the world’s leading archaeological and historical writers and is a widely respected popular lecturer about the past.

In this episode, Brian talks to us about his latest book Fishing: How the Sea Fed Civilization and shares the fascinating insights he uncovered on the history of fishing. In his research, he found that fishing (for sustenance, not sport) rivaled agriculture in its importance to civilization. We discuss the historical timeline of fishing, early fishing equipment and how fishing became a commodity. Brian also shares his thoughts on the future of wild fisheries and the ocean ecosystem. Enjoy!

EPISODE BREAKDOWN:

  • Show Introduction
  • Introducing Brian Fagan
  • Brian’s prolific writing career
  • A history of fishing
  • Defining fishing - recreational vs subsistence
  • Establishing our timeline
  • Early fishing equipment
  • Fish as a commodity
  • The loss of large-scale fisheries
  • Future of wild fisheries
  • The future of the ocean
  • Will recreational fishing and hunting be a realistic practice in the future?
  • Brian’s prognosis for the future of the human species
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