The Escapists

This week we talk to Yukon filmmaker Suzanne Crocker, whose new film First We Eat chronicles a challenging year of eating strictly local. Boiled moose nose, anyone?

So you leave the city in pursuit of your dream, young family in tow, all your ducks in a row, and then a pandemic happens. What now? This week's guests Kim and Kris are models of shoot-from-the-hip adaptability. Listen and learn!

What if you travelled and lived in the major metropolises of the world and still weren't satisfied? This week's guest, Geoff Hartle, abandoned the high-life for a quiet Island home. He tells us about the virtues of scaling down, and the future he predicts for the city.

Joined by two very special guests, your pals Adrian and Bradley emerge from COVID house arrest for a state-of-the-world rundown in the Season 2 premiere of everyone's favourite wood-burning podcast, the Escapists.

In the final episode of the season, we ask, "Does city life induce a kind of 'psychic death'?" This week's guest is musician, artist, and psychedelic warrior Chris Martell, a man knows a thing or two about losing your mind on the downtown bus and then finding it again inside your quiet Salt Spring Island compound. As something of an accidental Escapist, Chris makes an especially good advocate for a lifestyle change that’s looking more attractive than ever in a post-COVID environment.

Ben and Brette seemed to have a good thing going; two young creatives, first baby on the way, living inside one of Vancouver’s hippest neighbourhoods with plenty of work and a wide circle of friends. But when they saw an opportunity to scale down and move to the quieter realms of Salt Spring Island, they took it. Was it the right choice? You can hear about all the ups, downs, and everything in between when we visit Ben, Brette, and two-year-old Elio in episode 4 of The Escapists.

Saera Burns is an island classic: a true original who fled the noise of the city to better hear the voices of the spirits. Now she lives on a Salt Spring compound with artisans, woodfolk, children, dogs, and a nightly chorus of frogs and owls. By day, she’s a working psychic who has a few things to say about the future of cities, and how to build your own circle of protection.

In the second part of our interview, Chris tells us about the pros and cons of life in the country, taking us deep into the weeds where we meet the hardest thing of all: being with yourself. You’ll need gumboots for that.

Chris Arnett ditched the city and headed into the woods at a time when it was anything but fashionable and definitely not easy. Thirty years later, he has some wise words for those of us still adapting to the change. “You can’t just come here because it’s a magical place,” he says.