On the emerald isle of Ireland, an easily-overlooked creature holds the history of a nation within its shell. From the rise and collapse of heavy industry, to a bloody civil war, the riverbeds of Ireland have been witness — and they tell a story of change and possibility stretching far beyond any human lifetime.

With the help of guest producer Caitlin Kennedy, we're tracing the modern arc of Northern Ireland through the story of the freshwater pearl mussel.

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🦪 Find photos, citations, and a transcript of this episode at futureecologies.net

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Featuring the voices of Frank Mitchell, Mary Catherine Gallagher, Stiofán Cullen, and Sebastian Graham.

Music by Olly Keen, Thumbug, Martin Austwick, Sorcha Kennedy, plus our theme by Sunfish Moon Light

From Caitlin:

See also: Caitlin's article about nacre for Scientific American, and her soundcloud

PS. Please do not go stomping around in sensitive Northern Irish river habitat looking for mussels without a survey license!

We have a soft spot for food systems that challenge the modern convention: food systems like forest gardens or sea gardens that don’t at all look like vast rows of monocultures, but instead blend into the landscape — to the point of being invisible — at least until you’ve learned how to see them.

It just so happens that, not far from us (in the Cowichan Estuary), there’s another kind of ancient food system being revived, and we were looking forward to visiting it as part of our upcoming season 7. But when one of the all-time greatest shows on Canadian radio beat us to the scoop, we thought we may as well save ourselves the effort and bring you the story that much sooner.

From CBC Ideas and producer Pauline Holdsworth, this is “What the River Wants to Be”

This is just Part 1 of a 2-part series. Listen to Part 2 here (or find CBC Ideas wherever you get podcasts)

Spring is here, and (not to brag, but) around these parts, the smell of flowers is in the air, and everything seems to be buzzing with life. Times like these, it’s hard not to have plants on the brain, and we fully endorse you getting out to meet your green neighbours. While you do that, we thought you’d like to hear from two of our favourite plant enthusiasts: Chelsey Armstrong and Leigh Joseph.

You might remember Chelsey from our season 4 classic: FOREST / GARDEN, where we explored the roots of permaculture through the lens of Indigenous food systems which have been overlooked all too often. Today, Chelsey is sitting down with Leigh Joseph: Skwxwú7mesh ethnobotanist, author, and botanical entrepreneur.

Both Leigh and Chelsey do incredible work, in academia and in community. Their conversation today will take us into some of the thornier parts of the field (and deliver us to fruitful gifts).

Enjoy!

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