Our Numinous Nature

• THE ANTIQUARIAN ANGLER; FLY FISHING FROM THE MEDIEVAL TO EARLY MODERN | Sportsman | Harrison Idol

  Harrison Idol is a sportsman, fly fisherman, Army Officer and budding antiquarian currently building up his collection of antique sporting books in Maryland. After a reading from The Compleat Angler written in 1653 about fly tying & trout, Harrison opens on growing up on his family's generational tobacco farm in North Carolina. While inspired by vintage sporting aesthetics, Harrison boldly embarked on a collector's shopping spree of antique fishing & hunting books dating back to the 15th-century.  From Ancient Greece & Rome to the medieval, we hear of Dame Juliana Berners' 1420 treatise [the first English book on fishing] which introduces angling not solely as a means to acquire food, but as a contemplative art loaded with Christian symbolism. A prayer, a review of a 350-year-old trout recipe, an unlikely collaboration between men of vice & virtue; pike folklore; and historical rod & tackle materials; Harrison's collection culminates with a leather bound, time worn copy of the famous 17th-century instructional fishing narrative, The Compleat Angler by Englishman, Izaak Walton. Bringing this episode into the spirit of the autumnal season, we end on a hunting ghost story from Harrison's old family farm. Reading from The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton. Follow Harrison on Instagram @idol.hourSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: [email protected]

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• THE FRONTIER LIFE OF THE LONGHUNTERS | Living Historian | Simeon England

  Simeon England is a blacksmith, traditional flintlock hunter, and living historian portraying the 18th-century frontiersmen, scouts and longhunters of Kentucky. We start this living history episode about the daily lives of the colonial longhunters [1760s-1770s] who set out from Virginia & North Carolina for deer skins & furs in the wilds of Kentucky, with readings of first-hand accounts about beavers and salt licks. From their hunting methods to their frontier camps we discuss topics such as: tomahawks; boiling salt; hide work; backcountry blacksmithing; traps; horses; dogs; wolves; a slippery elm cure for peeling feet; deer & bear hunting; and buffalo traces. There's learning from books & then there's learning from doing, as Simeon shares some lessons learned from hunting with period gear & flintlock rifles. We hear of Simon Kenton's harrowing experiences running the gauntlet while captured by natives and conclude on a sort of reverence for the craftsman's raw, natural materials [that perhaps we have lost in our age of fast & cheap mass manufacturing]. Readings from The History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina by William Byrd and by A Tour of the United States of America by JFD Smyth.Check out Simeon England's blacksmithing at SimeonEngland.com. Follow him on Instagram & watch his Townsends Longhunter living history features.Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: [email protected]

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• 18TH-CENTURY TRADES FAIR; OF BODGERS, HORNERS & SMITHS | Craftsmen-&-women

  Fair Lawn Farm's 18th-Century Trades Fair is an annual living history trades encampment in bucolic Highland County, Virginia, featuring artisans affiliated with the likes of Colonial Williamsburg, The Frontier Culture Museum, The Smithsonian and Townsends. For this in-the-field episode, we will be touring the tents, hearing from a dozen craftsmen-&-women about their historical trades ranging from gunsmithing & engraving, to powder horn making & woodworking. Topics discussed: Indian trade silver; gorgets; tin as 18th-century plastic; how to be an American peddler; the itinerant green-woodworker; bread-baking with "baker's match;" natural dyes made from wood shavings; historical uses of animal fats such as bear grease, deer & cow tallow; powder horns and the origin of scrimshaw folk art; casting lead ammunition; Fort Seybert's annual fort burning festival; the surveyor's compass & the white man's flies; acanthus scrollwork on flintlock firearms & self-taught mastery; and last and most importantly, the potential for a craft revival as the antidote to the AI Revolution. Till next year!Reading from Colonial Craftsmen: And the Beginnings of American Industry by Edwin TunisCheck out the Fair Lawn Farm events page at visitFairLawnFarm.com The Craftsmen-&-women in order:Tim Duff - Farm Owner/Event Organizer Mitch Yates - Gunsmith/Silversmith Historian's Stitch - Tinsmith Ye Lowfarb Pedlar - Peddler Stone House History - Bodger & WifeSimeon England - Engraver/BlacksmithMark Bradbury - Horner/Scrimshaw ArtistDavid Allen - Longhunter/Knifemaker Paul Parish - SurveyorMark Thomas - Engraver/GunsmithDavid Ray Pine - Woodworker/Furniture MakerSupport Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: [email protected]

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• BRITISH FERRETING: RABBITS, POACHERS & A BOX OF FERRETS | Ferreter | Simon Whitehead

  Simon Whitehead is an English ferreter, professional rabbit manager, traveling game fair demonstrator and author, living & working out of his van in the United Kingdom. After readings about ferreting through the ages from Ancient Rome to Victorian England, we open with Simon painting a picture of a traditional British ferreting rabbit hunt with nets, spades, lurchers [rabbit coursing dogs] and a box of ferrets. We hear of the UK's highly invasive, non-native common rabbit; the modern culture's feelings on hunting & eating wild game; and the need to control the damage of farmers' fields and urban infrastructure. Turning to history we discuss the medieval ferreting of the peasants opening conversations about poaching and class. Getting back to this charming domesticated mustelid, we touch on: working ferrets vs pets, handling, and what happens when one gets stuck down in a warren. We end on stories of digging out ferrets with historical newspaper clippings about hunters found dead in rabbit holes...Check out Simon's book, Pugs & Drummers: A Ferreter's Fable and follow him on Instagram and YouTube. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: [email protected]

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• THE IRISH HOMESTEAD + THE TUATHA DÉ DANANN | Herbalist | Terri Conroy

  Terri Conroy is an Irish herbalist, homesteader, and YouTuber under the name Danu's Irish Herb Garden in Connemara, Ireland. After a reading from Irish mythology about reincarnation during the founding invasions of Ireland, we begin with Terri describing the dramatic landscape where she lives & how the likes of her family subsistence farmed along the windy coast; from cutting turf in the bogs for their winter's heating to the use of various herbal remedies. For her first numinous story, she tells of a mysterious night in her youth, when without the cottage window she heard enchanting fairy music. Of course fairies open up folk-mythic conversations about the Tuatha dé Danann, the gods and goddesses of Irish mythology: the salmon of knowledge, fairy trees, Dian Cécht the healing god, and family anecdotes about the fairies in the fields and the ragged ghosts along the roads, ghosts who hearken back to the devastating mid-19th-century potato famine. From there, we hear about the Celtic holidays of the year, highlighting the upcoming summer festival of harvest, sports and crafts, Lughnasadh. We end by ruminating on connecting to one's roots, plant journeys, and the Irish mother goddess, Danu. Check out Terri's YouTube channel, Danu's Irish Herb Garden and find out more at her website, Danusirishhergarden.com.Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon.Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on InstagramCheck out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my artContact: [email protected]

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