Online: via PayPal

Venmo: @permaculturepodcast

My guest today is Nathan Carlos Rupley. A member of my local permaculture community, he spends his time as a stay at home dad, self employed-artist, and aspiring hunter-gatherer.

When not hanging out with his family or walking in the woods, you can find him reading about a wide range of subjects including simple living, foraging, native agriculture, natural building, “primitive” technology, philosophy, applied ecology, theology, and much more. He brings this knowledge to the table today as we discuss what he’s learning from the native plants of his ancestors.

The exploration of these plants and the related cultures provide insights into his place in the world and where he comes from. This leads to a conversation that ranges around a variety of thoughts including how we can learn more about plants and their uses by studying folk and Latin binomial names. What understanding ancestral plants can teach us about our identity. The impacts of colonization, on the colonized and colonizer. And being good mentors and ancestors now and for the future.

You can email Nate at [email protected], with any comments, questions, if you want to rewild your yard, or, if you’re ever in Central Pennsylvania, would like to join him for a foraging class or plant walk.

Nate reminds me that wherever we come from before studying permaculture, whether doctor, tech nerd, stay at home parent, or an artist in a copy shop, there’s more to learn than any of us can accumulate, even if we had lifetimes to study, and what we learn along the way can take us to unexpected places. Even though we start in the landscape, discussing plants, animals, ecology, and design, we only begin there. If we’re interested, our exploration can take us to a myriad of different places, as we seek to practice not only where we are, but as who we are.  Whatever you are called to do, there is a place within the permaculture community for you.

What are you doing right now, that makes the world a more bountiful place? If you’re finding something difficult, or feel stuck, what would help to get you take your next step?

Until the next time, spend each day learning more about plants and your ancestors, while taking care of Earth, your self, and each other.

Related Interviews

Wilson Alvarez on Biomimicry, Landcare and The Reintegration Project

Foraging with Sam Thayer

Beginning Foraging with Violet and Wildman Steve Brill

Resources

Nathan Carlos Rupley (Website)

Nathan Carlos Rupley (Patreon)

Nathan_Carlos_Rupley (Instagram)

Gathering on YouTube

Samuel Thayer / The Forager’s Harvest

Steve Brill

Backyard Medicine by Julie Bruton-Seal and Matthew Seal

Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast by Peter Del Tradici

Fandabi Dozi (YouTube)

Ron Eglash - The fractals at the heart of African designs (TED Talk)