The Poor Prole’s Almanac

Most of us have heard “save the bees,” but which bees? Minnesota alone is home to hundreds of native bee species, and roughly 90% are solitary, nesting in soil, stems, and logs rather than hives. Pollinator conservationist, photographer, and author Heather Holm has spent years documenting these insects and the native plants they depend on. Her books Pollinators of Native Plants, Bees, Wasps, and Common Native Bees of the Eastern United States have earned the American Horticultural Society Book Award twice, and she founded Minnesota Native Bees, an online field guide to the state’s bees.

Heather is also deeply involved in ecological restoration, including a 13-acre oak savanna restoration at Cullen Nature Preserve and the new Minnesota Oak Savanna chapter of The Prairie Enthusiasts. We talk about what makes fire-dependent ecosystems like oak savannas so valuable for pollinators, why prescribed fire can increase floral diversity and benefit bees despite its reputation, and how pollen specialists, ground nesters, and stem nesters fit into the picture. We also dig into overlooked habitat like leaf litter, logs, and stem stubble, and the “soft landings” concept for giving caterpillars and other beneficial insects a place to complete their life cycles beneath trees.

Finally, we zoom out to the bigger questions that matter for agroecology: how diverse native habitat near farms can support crop pollination, what home gardens can and can’t accomplish when the surrounding landscape matters so much, and where a listener with a modest piece of land should start. Along the way, Heather shares some surprising natural history, from wasps that deserve a better reputation to bees with highly specialized relationships to single plants. Learn more at pollinatorsnativeplants.com and beesmn.org.

For sources, transcripts, and to read more about this subject, visit: www.agroecologies.org

To support this podcast, join our patreon for early, commercial-free episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac

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At ninety-two, William Wiley is one of the last people who can tell it first-hand. Born in 1933, he grew up on the mountain farms of J. Russell Smith — the geographer whose 1929 classic Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture helped seed the entire agroforestry movement — and spent his boyhood grafting, budding, and shipping trainloads of chestnut, persimmon, hickory, and honey locust out of Smith's Sunny Ridge Nursery near Round Hill, Virginia.

In this conversation, recorded at the Taylor farm alongside Zach Elfers of Future Forest Plants and William's son Rob, we go after the things the history books can't hold: how the old balled-and-burlapped nurseries actually ran, the lost honey locust cultivars and the contests that named them, the Chinese chestnuts that replaced a blighted forest, prescribed fire and the Appalachian frost line, the Quaker communities that tied it all together, and the quiet lessons in generosity and honesty that a boy absorbed from a professor who once turned down a seat in FDR's cabinet. It's a firsthand look at a man, a place, and a way of working that's nearly slipped out of living memory — and a reminder of how much we lose the moment we stop asking.

For sources, transcripts, and to read more about this subject, visit: www.agroecologies.org
To support this podcast, join our patreon for early, commercial-free episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac

For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com

For PPA Merch, visit: https://breadandrosespress.com/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

At ninety-two, William Wiley is one of the last people who can tell it first-hand. Born in 1933, he grew up on the mountain farms of J. Russell Smith — the geographer whose 1929 classic Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture helped seed the entire agroforestry movement — and spent his boyhood grafting, budding, and shipping trainloads of chestnut, persimmon, hickory, and honey locust out of Smith's Sunny Ridge Nursery near Round Hill, Virginia.

In this conversation, recorded at the Taylor farm alongside Zach Elfers of Future Forest Plants and William's son Rob, we go after the things the history books can't hold: how the old balled-and-burlapped nurseries actually ran, the lost honey locust cultivars and the contests that named them, the Chinese chestnuts that replaced a blighted forest, prescribed fire and the Appalachian frost line, the Quaker communities that tied it all together, and the quiet lessons in generosity and honesty that a boy absorbed from a professor who once turned down a seat in FDR's cabinet. It's a firsthand look at a man, a place, and a way of working that's nearly slipped out of living memory — and a reminder of how much we lose the moment we stop asking.

For sources, transcripts, and to read more about this subject, visit: www.agroecologies.org
To support this podcast, join our patreon for early, commercial-free episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac

For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com

For PPA Merch, visit: https://breadandrosespress.com/

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What if Mid-Century Modern design is more than just a collection of "clean lines" and "warm wood"? This talk peels back the aesthetic surface to reveal a deep ecological and political argument about how we inhabit the world.

It begins with the "disorienting pause" of bringing home a vintage piece of furniture—an object that carries the fingerprints of time and refuses the modern rhythm of disposable consumption. From there, the discussion explores Lewis Mumford’s vision of an "organic society"—one that remains rooted in locality and ecological limits rather than abstract efficiency.

You will discover:

Architecture as a Partner: Learn why Richard Neutra’s Kaufman Desert House isn't just a glass icon, but a masterpiece of "ecological legibility" that listens to the desert rather than trying to subdue it.

The Power of Emptiness: Explore how Mid-Century minimalism functions as a spatial refusal of saturation, keeping the home open enough for light, proportion, and landscape to remain active participants in daily life.

Sustainability vs. Optimization: A provocative comparison between "active transformation" and a model of sustainability that focuses on ongoing responsiveness to place.

This talk is a journey into the "quiet political charge" of design. It offers a powerful reminder that human life is always shaped by climate, terrain, and material constraint. If you’ve ever wondered how modern life might be rearranged at a scale where "place remains perceptible," this is a must-listen. It's a reminder embedded in wood and glass that "life is still happening somewhere specific".
 

For sources, transcripts, and to read more about this subject, visit: www.agroecologies.org

To support this podcast, join our patreon for early, commercial-free episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac

For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com

For PPA Merch, visit: https://breadandrosespress.com/

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In this podcast episode, hosts Nash Flynn and Andy from Tomorrow, Today interview Dr. Christopher Fuchs, a prominent physicist often recognized as the father of QBism, or Quantum Bayesianism. This scientific framework suggests that quantum mechanics is not an objective description of external reality, but rather a tool for individuals to manage their own probabilities and expectations. By re-centering the human agent within the laws of physics, Fuchs argues that our personal choices and actions fundamentally participate in shaping the universe. The discussion highlights how this perspective challenges traditional notions of a rigid, pre-determined world and explicitly rejects the multiverse theory in favor of a meaningful, malleable reality. Ultimately, the sources illustrate a bridge between rigorous science and philosophy, suggesting that the universe is an ongoing project where individual participation matters.

For sources, transcripts, and to read more about this subject, visit: www.agroecologies.org

To support this podcast, join our patreon for early, commercial-free episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac

For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com

For PPA Merch, visit: https://breadandrosespress.com/

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