The Ground Shots Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Morgan Sjogren writes about Western lands and water through a lens of history, culture, science, and adventure. She is the author of Path of Light: A Walk Through Colliding Legacies of Glen Canyon (Torrey House Press 2023); 2025 Utah Book Award Winner and Library of Congress "Great Reads from Great Places" selection.

Read her stories in Archaeology Southwest, Arizona Highways, bioGraphic, Fast Company, Reasons to be Cheerful, Runner's World, and Sierra Magazine. Her work has been supported by the 2022 Water Desk Grant for reporting on the Colorado River and a 2024 Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Independent Research and Creative Works Award. She was the 2024 Entrada Institute Writer-in-Residence.

Sjogren shares her Wild Words and explorations on Substack and on Instagram @morgan.sjogren. She is based in Utah's canyon country and migrates seasonally throughout the Southwest.

In this episode of the podcast, we talk about:

• the importance of the context of the colonial history of the lands of the west when advocating for them

• some resonance I find in Morgan's work and our shared paths being nomadic, living on public land, being a similar age, and pulling together threads that weave culture, ecology and place in our work

• Morgan shares more about her book "Path of Light" and the goal of following Bernheimer's expedition through the desert to better understand his time and place contextualizing it to now.

• We reflect on what has changed with public lands in the west since Morgan wrote 'Path of Light.'

• We discuss issues of the Colorado river from Morgan's perspective, given her time on the ground in the field exploring this issue in her work (This will resonate with folks who are fans of the episode I did with Jeff Wagner of Groundwork 'We all eat the Colorado River'

• The importance of personal connections to landscapes even if our deep heritage is not from those lands, in order to be inspired to protect those places from extraction and privatization for energy industry, even 'green' energy

Links:
Support Francis of Mother Marrow's health journey! Morgan's website

Morgan's substack: Wild Words

Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Ecologies Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Music: original song for this episode! Lucy Wild:  Vocals and lyrics Ted Packard:  Uncle Steve's Acoustic Guitar, Bowed and Plucked Banjo, Semi-Sentient Pedalboard, recording and production in Logic, with gratitude to Luke Kantola  Annika Fae:  lyric and watercolor Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

Episode #88 of the Ground Shots Podcast is with Trevor Warmedahl, who tuned in to this conversation from Albania where he was mending from a broken leg.

Trevor Warmedahl is a traveler who spends his time documenting the worlds cheesemaking, dairying, and pastoral traditions. In his work as a researcher and cheesemaker, he explores the intersections between traditional and modern practices, from nomadic herders to innovative cheesemakers on the forefront of artisan cheese. 

Full show notes found here

Links:
Support Francis of Mother Marrow's health journey! Trevor's Substack publication: Milk Trekker Trevor's website where you can find Sour Milk School classes when they are scheduled, and where you can pre-order his new book "Cheese Trekking" : Sour Milk School Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Ecologies Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Music: various field recordings by Trevor in his milk trek travels. Milking and pastoral sounds, Sardinian music. Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

 

full shownotes here

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 center the radical reclamation of contraception & abortion. Her online membership, The Fruit of Knowledge Learning Community, features access to her heart & mind via books, courses, Q&As, curated resources & more.

Sam's website and Fruit of Knowledge Learning Community Article mentioned by Sam: A Place for Herbal Ab0rtion in Clinical Herbalism Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West Natural Liberty by the Sage Femme Collective Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Substack  Bookshop buy me a book! Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Amazon wishlist for Kelly's trailer renovation Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast  Music: Mother Marrow Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

See full show notes here

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 the nonlinear. Jacquie has a GMP certificate from Herbal Medics which comes in quite handy as the owner and maker at her small batch herbal product company, Of the Hill Botanicals.  In her free time, Jacquie spends her time exposing her children to the magick of the natural world with her husband Allon, contemplating the role of plants as myth keepers, and performing with her puppet troupe, Singing Bone Medicine Show.

Jacquie's instagram: @jacquieofthehill Native American Sacred Trees and Places The Legacy and Misappropriation of Henrietta Lacks Bacon's Rebellion Bastyr University Paonia Apothecary Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop buy me a book! Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Amazon wishlist for Kelly's airstream trailer renovation Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Guest Music: Mama Lingua Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

Episode #76 is a conversation with Calyx Liddick of Northern Appalachia School in southern Pennsylvania. 

(trigger warning, this episode may contain content that could be triggering to some as we address the history of scientific racism and the eugenics movement)

read full show notes and resources here

Calyx Liddick is a bioregional herbalist, ethnobotanist, holistic nutritionist, wildcrafter, writer of poetry and prose, wildlife tracker, and mother of two. She was born and raised in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania.

     She is an outspoken advocate for accessible education, social and ecological justice, and ethical practice in plant work. As an educator in bioregional herbalism, Calyx is passionate about bridging the gap of perception between the personal body and the ecological body, and illuminating the wisdom of place and the potential of the direct reciprocation of health and wellbeing present in ecological stewardship. She is committed to integrating plantwork as a life way, helping others develop a rooted relationship with the land and its more-than-human community, and healing the damage from extractive and hierarchical relationships between people and plants. In her practice, she integrates the long, rich history of traditional herbalism with modern, scientifically sound research. 

Calyx's website at Northern Appalachia School Calyx's Instagram: @northernappalachiaschool Ground Shots Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop buy me a book! Bookshop : recommended books for you Amazon wishlist for trailer reno Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Guest Music: Bridget Downey and Soren Knudsen  Venmo Bridget Downey : @Bridget-Downey-3 Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody

Read extended show notes here

(photo of Sylvia taken by Ricardo Nagaoka, used with permission from photographer. )

Episode #76 of the Ground Shots Podcast is a conversation with Sylvia Poareo from Connecting Within, out of Ashland, Oregon.

Sylvia Poareo is a gentle Curandera/Consejera (healer/spiritual counselor) whose work is rooted in guiding and supporting each individual in their own liberation within collective healing. Informed by the Chicano experience and growing up as an orphan in SoCal, her life was an initiation into deep trust in and reliance on Spirit/Creator.

Connecting deeply into the heart, to the cosmos and nature as a pathway to healing, she recognizes the profound wisdom, resilience and fortitude we carry in our bones. She supports ancestral remembrance and remembering parts of ourselves, our innate humanity and cultures of origin as a path to truth, healing and wholeness.

(read full bio and show notes through the link above)

Links:

Sylvia's website: Connecting Within

Ground Shots Substack Publication

Bookshop account: buy me a book!

Bookshop account: recommended books for you (adding a backlog of recs soon)

Amazon wishlist for trailer renovation

Laying Groundwork, late summer ecology classes

Venmo to support the podcast: @kelly-moody-6 Guest Music: Tránsito, El Feo, and Medley: Pastures Of Plenty/This Land Is Your Land/Land by Lila Downs Hosted by: Kelly Moody Produced by: Kelly Moody

 

Hey ya'll,

This is a quick and dirty solo podcast episode where I update you on some of the things I'm doing this summer including offering in-person ecology immersions in western Colorado on the Grand Mesa.

I give a little overview of some of what we did in my last immersion that was 4 days, focused on riparian ecology.

Talk on travel, loneliness post-pandemic, the grief of ecological destruction, the importance of community around that grief

Some talk on the 'abodes' geologic formation in the region

Human impacts on riparian ecological zones

Support the podcast! A few ways:

Substack : groudshots.substack.com

Patreon : patreon.com/ofsedgeandsalt

Buy me a book on Bookshop

Sign up for an in-person ecology course with me or Nikki Hill (Scholarships available) located on the Grand Mesa in western Colorado

read the entirety of the show notes for this episode here. 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:

• 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

• food is medicine, culturally and physically

• Alex's journey doing work with food, cooking in Santa Barbara and Fresno

• the corporate industrial food complex as it intersects capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy

• 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

• The importance of love, community, and good food for good health

• Navigating the nonprofit world when trying to do food justice work

• some raving on TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge) Chico and Ali Meders-Knight's model of land tending in California

• regenerative agriculture stems from indigenous practices

• 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

 

Fresno Barrios Unidos Transition US Alex/Xef's Instagram: alexander_fresno Transition US' instagram: transition_us Fresno Barrios Unidos' instagram: fresnosbarriosunidos My Homie's Kitchen instagram: myhomieskitchen Guest Music: "Walk Away" by Ambeeka  

Episode #73 is a solo episode with Kelly Moody, Ground Shots Podcast regular host.

I get into a slew of things on this episode, reflecting on camping near the Mexican border and the implication of borders, water, fire and ecological disturbance, summer field immersion programs I'm doing in Western Colorado this season and more.

A shorter episode with just me and some sweet banjo tune by Mandalin Sattler as background music.

Links for this episode:

Ground Shots Substack publication, subscribe for free

Patreon Support for the Podcast if you want to support that route

Terratalks philosophy and ecology online 3 part class, late Spring Session Waitlist

Field Ecology Programs Western Colorado Spring/Summer 2023 in collaboration with Groundwork, sign up here

Elderberry's Center in Paonia, Colorado, Lisa Ganora's Herbal Education Center

Lisa Ganora's Herbal Constituents Online course, starting at the end of March. Sign up here with my discount code 'KELLY' for 10% off and using it also helps support the Ground Shots Podcast!

Music for this episode by Mandalin Sattler  of Water Daughter  and @mossymandalin on Instagram

Sign up for my spring mini study group starting February 10 (sign ups open for a limited time!) here: Terratalk sessions Episode 72 of the Ground Shots Podcast is with Lisa Ganora, herbalist and plant chemist, out of Paonia, Colorado. Lisa and I got together at her Elderberry's Farm spot, on the edges of Paonia, Colorado's town limits. On a cloudy day with intermittent rain and snow, we sat in her herb lab, drinking hot tea, to do an interview. Lisa Ganora began studying traditional Western herbalism in the '80s. Later, she lived and wildcrafted in the Appalachians where she studied with folk healers and created herbal products to sell as she traveled the festival circuit with her herb booth. After practicing as a community herbalist for a decade, Lisa returned to college and graduated from UNCA summa cum laude with multiple awards in biology and chemistry. After graduation, she focused on studying pharmacognosy and phytochemistry. In addition to directing the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism from 2012-2020 and managing Elderberry's (a Rocky Mountain herbal education center in Paonia, Colorado), Lisa has also served as Adjunct Professor of Pharmacognosy at the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, and has lectured and taught classes at numerous schools and conferences. She is the author of Herbal Constituents, 2nd Ed., a popular textbook on practical phytochemistry for natural health practitioners, which is used by herbal schools and universities worldwide.

To see more show notes and what we talked about summaried on this episode, go direct to our blog page for the episode, here. 

Links: (for extended links list, go to our episode page, linked above)

Lisa's website for Elderberry's Educational Center

Herbal Constituents website

Instagram for Elderberry's

Support the podcast on Patreon 

Ground Shots Substack Publication

Donate to support this work: Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn VENMO:
@kelly-moody-6 Cashapp: cash.app/$groundshotsproject   Our website with an archive of podcast episodes, educational resources, past travelogues and more: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com  Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Join the Ground Shots Podcast Facebook Group to discuss the episodes Subscribe to our newsletter for updates on the Ground Shots Project Theme music: 'Sweat and Splinters' by Mother Marrow