WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en-GB 00:00:08.310 --> 00:00:12.510 I'm Travis Bader, and this is the silver Corp podcast. 00:00:13.959 --> 00:00:18.600 Silvercore has been providing its members with a skills and knowledge necessary 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:22.860 to be confident and proficient in the outdoors for over 20 years, and we 00:00:22.860 --> 00:00:27.120 make it easier for people to deepen their connection to the natural world. 00:00:27.690 --> 00:00:29.250 If you enjoy the positive 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:35.490 content we provide, please let others know by sharing, commenting, and 00:00:35.490 --> 00:00:39.630 following so that you can join in on everything that Silvercore stands for. 00:00:40.710 --> 00:00:44.610 If you'd like to learn more about becoming a member of the Silvercore Club and 00:00:44.610 --> 00:00:48.940 community, visit our website Silvercore.ca 00:01:07.380 --> 00:01:09.950 Silvercore has been helping others deepen their connection with the 00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:12.350 natural world for well over 20 years. 00:01:12.440 --> 00:01:16.100 And I'm excited to have the proprietor of learn your land.com, 00:01:16.490 --> 00:01:19.850 a committed and passionate forger and naturalist joined me today. 00:01:20.240 --> 00:01:22.990 Welcome to the Silvercore Podcast, Adam Haritan. 00:01:23.865 --> 00:01:24.104 Thanks. 00:01:24.104 --> 00:01:26.774 Travis nobody's ever called me a proprietor of learned your land. 00:01:26.774 --> 00:01:27.524 So I like that one. 00:01:28.905 --> 00:01:30.164 That's got a bit of a ring to it. 00:01:30.164 --> 00:01:30.615 Doesn't it? 00:01:30.675 --> 00:01:31.695 Yeah, it sounds fancy. 00:01:31.695 --> 00:01:34.875 It sounds, it makes me out to be better than I actually am, 00:01:34.875 --> 00:01:36.434 I think, but I'll take it. 00:01:37.005 --> 00:01:37.695 We'll call it the worst. 00:01:38.410 --> 00:01:42.370 Well, I, you know, I'm looking at your, your workshops, you're doing your 00:01:42.370 --> 00:01:45.760 YouTube channel, your website, your social media, the amount of content that 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:49.510 you're putting out to help people deepen their connection with the natural world. 00:01:49.540 --> 00:01:50.470 It's impressive. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:50.800 How 00:01:50.800 --> 00:01:51.380 did this start? 00:01:51.380 --> 00:01:52.570 It that's a good question. 00:01:52.600 --> 00:01:54.070 It all started with nutrition. 00:01:54.160 --> 00:01:58.240 For me, most people don't get into nature through nutrition, I find, but maybe 00:01:58.240 --> 00:01:59.950 more and more these days they are okay. 00:01:59.980 --> 00:02:01.570 But that was my gateway into nature. 00:02:01.570 --> 00:02:02.780 It wasn't like I grew up. 00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:05.070 But more and more. 00:02:05.190 --> 00:02:07.920 I'm figuring out that a lot of people have a similar story. 00:02:07.950 --> 00:02:11.160 They didn't grow up in the outdoors and they're trying to find a way into there. 00:02:11.670 --> 00:02:13.680 And so, however you could do it more power to you. 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:14.880 For me, it was nutrition. 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:18.540 I was interested in eating healthy and I started coming across research. 00:02:18.570 --> 00:02:20.790 That wild foods are actually pretty healthy foods. 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:22.140 I thought this is great. 00:02:22.920 --> 00:02:24.390 It was fun to spend time outdoors. 00:02:25.364 --> 00:02:27.524 But it was more than just hiking for me. 00:02:27.524 --> 00:02:30.165 I started just hiking, but I felt like something was missing. 00:02:30.165 --> 00:02:33.704 I wanted a connection, a deeper connection to everything that was around me. 00:02:33.975 --> 00:02:37.575 And I just wanted to know the names of things, not just the edible foods, but it 00:02:37.575 --> 00:02:44.084 was mostly the edible foods, the plants, the mushrooms, some animals as well, that 00:02:44.084 --> 00:02:46.394 really solidified my connection to nature. 00:02:46.755 --> 00:02:47.405 So that was it. 00:02:47.405 --> 00:02:49.785 And then I felt like I needed to give back. 00:02:49.935 --> 00:02:52.545 And so to give back, I wanted to teach what I learned and 00:02:52.545 --> 00:02:53.565 what I'm still learning. 00:02:55.470 --> 00:03:02.100 So you had yourself a well lucrative job working for business. 00:03:02.370 --> 00:03:06.450 And you said, I know I want to just walk away from all of 00:03:06.450 --> 00:03:08.100 that and start my own business. 00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:09.750 Learn your land.com. 00:03:10.150 --> 00:03:10.710 Was that scary? 00:03:12.299 --> 00:03:14.070 Are you saying my former job was lucrative? 00:03:14.790 --> 00:03:20.820 Well, I mean, you're, I perhaps I'm, perhaps I'm reading a little further 00:03:20.820 --> 00:03:24.630 into it was that one of the reasons why you, you left because it wasn't 00:03:24.630 --> 00:03:26.250 as lucrative as you wished it to be. 00:03:26.579 --> 00:03:26.700 I 00:03:26.700 --> 00:03:30.480 mean, so I always, in my, I guess, mid twenties at the time when I decided 00:03:30.480 --> 00:03:34.260 to walk away from a, I guess it was a more stable job, it wasn't that 00:03:34.260 --> 00:03:36.990 lucrative, but at the time I didn't really have a concept of money. 00:03:36.990 --> 00:03:38.609 I just thought if I'm making money, that's a good. 00:03:39.450 --> 00:03:42.090 Um, and I was making more money than I was ever making 00:03:42.180 --> 00:03:43.410 up until that point in my life. 00:03:43.440 --> 00:03:46.530 But again, I wasn't that old and it's not like I'm that old right now. 00:03:47.160 --> 00:03:52.050 But I found that when I was inside doing my job, which was a nutritionist 00:03:52.050 --> 00:03:56.250 at the time I would look outside and just think I want to be out there. 00:03:56.280 --> 00:04:00.270 I don't want to be inside if I could even just do what I'm doing inside, outside. 00:04:00.945 --> 00:04:05.475 That would make a complete difference in my life, but I just need to get out there. 00:04:05.475 --> 00:04:07.245 But fortunately they cut my position. 00:04:07.575 --> 00:04:11.565 So I didn't have a choice in the matter position, but they cut the position. 00:04:11.565 --> 00:04:14.475 I thought I'll just take this assigned from the great 00:04:14.475 --> 00:04:16.095 beyond to try to start my own. 00:04:16.875 --> 00:04:19.664 Yeah, and I started it and it was called learn your land. 00:04:19.844 --> 00:04:23.625 And it led me here today, talking to you on this podcast. 00:04:23.715 --> 00:04:24.284 So 00:04:24.284 --> 00:04:25.245 how did you start that? 00:04:25.245 --> 00:04:26.265 Like, what was the process like? 00:04:26.414 --> 00:04:29.294 I look at myself when I started Silvercore, let's see. 00:04:29.294 --> 00:04:30.794 I was 94. 00:04:30.794 --> 00:04:34.065 I was in high school and I was doing the training. 00:04:34.530 --> 00:04:37.830 Learning about all the different things I was interested in and training others. 00:04:37.830 --> 00:04:40.860 And then I started a sole proprietorship by 2003. 00:04:40.860 --> 00:04:44.760 I incorporated it every step of the way I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. 00:04:44.760 --> 00:04:47.370 Like, I, I think I have to be incorporated. 00:04:47.400 --> 00:04:49.440 Like they got limited companies, incorporated 00:04:49.440 --> 00:04:50.940 companies, but it sounds fancy. 00:04:50.940 --> 00:04:51.990 I think I have to do that. 00:04:52.230 --> 00:04:56.160 I might, I must need a business bank account and I'm just fumbling my 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:57.900 way through at every single step. 00:04:57.900 --> 00:05:01.350 I didn't have too many mentors out there that were in. 00:05:02.265 --> 00:05:04.155 I didn't have any mentors that were in my sphere. 00:05:04.365 --> 00:05:07.065 I had one mentor who was a businessman, but he was on a 00:05:07.065 --> 00:05:08.985 completely different level than myself. 00:05:09.435 --> 00:05:12.045 I had no idea how to start. 00:05:12.105 --> 00:05:15.075 However, when I look back, I know exactly how to get here now. 00:05:15.405 --> 00:05:19.515 Um, and I'm happy to share that with anybody who wants to, to 00:05:19.515 --> 00:05:21.405 know how did, how did you start? 00:05:23.055 --> 00:05:24.825 It sounds like our stories are fairly similar. 00:05:24.825 --> 00:05:25.365 I didn't know. 00:05:25.365 --> 00:05:27.525 At first I had a lot of passion. 00:05:27.555 --> 00:05:29.325 I was so hungry to start something. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:31.950 And I read a lot of books. 00:05:32.010 --> 00:05:32.969 I love reading. 00:05:33.420 --> 00:05:37.770 And I feel like if I can't find a in-person mentor, somebody older than 00:05:37.770 --> 00:05:41.039 me, who's been through the ropes and knows what they're doing and he's willing 00:05:41.039 --> 00:05:42.570 to teach it to the next generation. 00:05:43.020 --> 00:05:44.640 I'll find those mentors in books. 00:05:44.640 --> 00:05:48.390 And I still feel that that's the truth today, which is why I read a lot every 00:05:48.390 --> 00:05:49.650 single day, I'm reading something. 00:05:50.130 --> 00:05:51.599 And so I was just reading a lot of business books. 00:05:51.599 --> 00:05:54.690 You know, I was reading a ton of nutrition books, a ton of nature 00:05:54.690 --> 00:05:59.020 books, wild food books, but at the same time, Stacks of marketing 00:05:59.020 --> 00:06:01.180 books and stacks of business books. 00:06:01.510 --> 00:06:02.680 And a lot of these were old. 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:06.430 A lot of these were old, like personal development and self-help books, but 00:06:06.460 --> 00:06:11.290 a lot of them were more modern with tactical advice on how to start something. 00:06:12.010 --> 00:06:13.000 But a lot of the. 00:06:14.220 --> 00:06:18.450 Action steps that I took moving forward, you know, getting the LLC or doing things 00:06:18.450 --> 00:06:21.270 illegally that was out of necessity. 00:06:21.420 --> 00:06:24.150 I stumbled into that stuff because I wasn't doing it correctly. 00:06:24.150 --> 00:06:26.490 And somebody said, you're doing incorrectly. 00:06:26.850 --> 00:06:27.810 You need to do this. 00:06:27.810 --> 00:06:28.620 You need to do that. 00:06:28.620 --> 00:06:30.240 And I thought, oh, I didn't know that. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:30.960 Like I would leave. 00:06:32.250 --> 00:06:35.190 And I hope nobody from the state parks is listening to this right now, but I 00:06:35.190 --> 00:06:39.150 would just host events in Pennsylvania, state parks, not knowing that you 00:06:39.150 --> 00:06:40.770 needed a license to do such a thing. 00:06:41.320 --> 00:06:44.900 So I would just do it and just invite people and I would get money for. 00:06:46.020 --> 00:06:47.370 And I would always donate back. 00:06:47.400 --> 00:06:49.950 So they shouldn't be too mad that I was doing this in the parks. 00:06:49.950 --> 00:06:52.530 I would always donate money back to the parks, but I don't think they knew 00:06:52.530 --> 00:06:53.730 I was leading events in their parks. 00:06:54.210 --> 00:06:55.110 And so I would do this. 00:06:55.110 --> 00:06:57.780 And then one day I get an email saying, uh, you're not allowed to do this. 00:06:57.780 --> 00:07:00.210 You have to call us ASAP or else we're going to shut down your event. 00:07:00.210 --> 00:07:01.380 That's coming up in two weeks. 00:07:01.830 --> 00:07:03.150 I thought I did it. 00:07:03.150 --> 00:07:04.860 No, and they were really nice about it. 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:06.690 And so then I started doing it legally. 00:07:06.960 --> 00:07:10.710 Right then the stuff with the LLC is just for tax purposes alone. 00:07:10.710 --> 00:07:12.900 It just made more sense for me to incorporate as a. 00:07:13.755 --> 00:07:17.205 For liability reasons as well, but I kind of just fumbled my way 00:07:17.205 --> 00:07:18.495 through it and I'm still doing it. 00:07:18.525 --> 00:07:21.735 I know that there's many things that I'm doing right now that I shouldn't be doing. 00:07:22.695 --> 00:07:26.835 And eventually I'll have to change paths a little bit, you know, to 00:07:26.835 --> 00:07:31.755 make it more business, like having fun, trying to figure it out as well. 00:07:31.995 --> 00:07:32.175 Yeah. 00:07:32.175 --> 00:07:34.545 That, you know, what do you have a passion for something, and you 00:07:34.545 --> 00:07:35.805 want to share it with others? 00:07:35.805 --> 00:07:39.885 The idea of, for me anyways, when I was starting, the idea of 00:07:39.885 --> 00:07:42.855 actually making money was kind of a. 00:07:43.905 --> 00:07:44.625 Taboo. 00:07:44.955 --> 00:07:47.984 I mean, I figured I'll cover my costs. 00:07:47.984 --> 00:07:51.974 I mean, I'll just make a little bit, but as you get into it a little bit more, 00:07:51.974 --> 00:07:54.585 you realize it has to be sustainable. 00:07:55.094 --> 00:07:58.544 You have to be, and there's so many different pillars that hold up 00:07:58.635 --> 00:08:02.715 and a business like yours, or like mine that need to be addressed. 00:08:03.104 --> 00:08:04.364 And that all requires money. 00:08:05.294 --> 00:08:08.625 You mentioned something earlier, you said, I didn't really have a concept of money. 00:08:09.195 --> 00:08:10.995 I thought that's kind of interesting. 00:08:11.234 --> 00:08:12.674 Do you have a concept of money, right? 00:08:13.675 --> 00:08:13.905 I 00:08:13.905 --> 00:08:15.675 think about money a lot more right now. 00:08:17.265 --> 00:08:20.535 I mean, it's interesting when I run this kind of business, you 00:08:20.535 --> 00:08:22.245 have to make money to keep going. 00:08:22.755 --> 00:08:24.615 I love providing free content. 00:08:24.645 --> 00:08:25.245 I really do. 00:08:25.245 --> 00:08:29.195 But at the end of the day, it costs me thousands of dollars to run my email list. 00:08:29.205 --> 00:08:32.145 It cost me thousands of dollars to keep the online course going. 00:08:32.565 --> 00:08:35.625 It cost me a lot of money in taxes every year that I have no 00:08:35.625 --> 00:08:36.885 idea where that money's going. 00:08:36.885 --> 00:08:41.835 Once I submit it to the government, but I ha I have. 00:08:42.705 --> 00:08:49.125 Ask people who are watching my videos, who are getting value out of my videos 00:08:49.125 --> 00:08:53.805 to exchange value every now and then not everybody's going to do it clearly 00:08:53.805 --> 00:08:57.225 that 99 point something percent of people will never give you money for 00:08:57.225 --> 00:08:59.415 what you're doing, but that's okay. 00:08:59.415 --> 00:09:03.375 Because as long as you can convince some people that what you're doing is valuable. 00:09:03.645 --> 00:09:07.290 And if you just exchange some of that value, And I'll be able to 00:09:07.290 --> 00:09:08.550 continue doing what I'm doing. 00:09:08.550 --> 00:09:10.530 Like I don't receive grants for anything. 00:09:10.890 --> 00:09:12.540 I don't monetize my YouTube channel. 00:09:12.540 --> 00:09:15.390 At least at this point in time, I've never monetized it. 00:09:16.230 --> 00:09:19.830 And I have millions of views on some of these videos, but I never turned 00:09:19.830 --> 00:09:21.810 it thousand subscribers. 00:09:21.870 --> 00:09:23.010 And you've never monetized. 00:09:23.760 --> 00:09:25.740 No, you know, it's interesting though. 00:09:25.770 --> 00:09:29.010 A lot of people started saying you should really monetize this. 00:09:29.160 --> 00:09:32.880 And I thought that's not fair to a lot of people though, because. 00:09:33.810 --> 00:09:35.580 I don't like sitting through ads. 00:09:35.670 --> 00:09:37.890 I, I despise ads. 00:09:38.220 --> 00:09:38.550 I agree. 00:09:38.550 --> 00:09:40.560 Anytime I'm watching TV, I don't like commercials. 00:09:40.770 --> 00:09:45.300 I don't think I've ever purchased something based on an advertisement, but 00:09:45.330 --> 00:09:47.940 I know that sounds like a bold statement, but I don't think it's ever worked on me. 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:50.790 Like I don't, they just don't work on me. 00:09:51.660 --> 00:09:54.240 And I don't want people to have to sit through that stuff. 00:09:54.270 --> 00:09:57.570 A lot of it's just completely irrelevant anyway, and it's becoming 00:09:57.570 --> 00:09:59.280 more irrelevant every single day. 00:09:59.310 --> 00:10:00.570 I'd rather them just get the content. 00:10:01.635 --> 00:10:04.215 But some people started coming up to me saying, yeah, you should really 00:10:04.215 --> 00:10:05.715 monetize your YouTube channel. 00:10:06.075 --> 00:10:12.135 And I thought, okay, so I'll turn, I'll submit the application to monetize 00:10:12.135 --> 00:10:16.035 YouTube because you have to like submit an application to do such a thing. 00:10:16.035 --> 00:10:18.945 So I did that and I was approved. 00:10:19.005 --> 00:10:21.585 Obviously I was approved to do it because I have some subscribers. 00:10:22.515 --> 00:10:26.405 But I've never hit that turn on monetization on any YouTube. 00:10:28.335 --> 00:10:31.785 So anytime I sell a course, I mean, that's the only way money's coming in. 00:10:32.625 --> 00:10:35.655 And some people get mad that some of these courses cost a couple of 00:10:35.655 --> 00:10:41.985 dollars, but it costs a lot of money to produce these courses as well. 00:10:42.195 --> 00:10:42.795 That's funny. 00:10:42.825 --> 00:10:44.325 And it's not like I'm living in a man. 00:10:44.355 --> 00:10:46.385 I mean, I have like one plant behind me. 00:10:46.395 --> 00:10:46.895 There's a cat. 00:10:47.925 --> 00:10:50.055 It's not like I've got a rolls Royce parked out. 00:10:50.985 --> 00:10:53.595 A lot of his money just goes back to land conservation. 00:10:54.015 --> 00:10:55.105 I'm a huge believer. 00:10:56.495 --> 00:10:59.915 Donating money to local land conservation trust is a way to give back. 00:11:00.365 --> 00:11:01.895 And so I don't keep all the money. 00:11:01.895 --> 00:11:03.365 I mean, a lot of it goes to the government. 00:11:03.665 --> 00:11:07.025 A lot of it goes to the email list to the software platforms 00:11:07.085 --> 00:11:08.615 and to land conservation as 00:11:08.615 --> 00:11:08.975 well. 00:11:09.575 --> 00:11:14.315 I realized in myself that I have some similar traits to what 00:11:14.315 --> 00:11:16.175 you're explaining right now. 00:11:16.205 --> 00:11:17.305 And for. 00:11:18.465 --> 00:11:19.515 A long time ago. 00:11:19.515 --> 00:11:21.585 I just had to make the decision. 00:11:22.215 --> 00:11:24.225 Um, I'm not going to look at the money. 00:11:24.285 --> 00:11:25.725 I'm not going to think about the money. 00:11:25.785 --> 00:11:27.465 I'm just going to work on the job. 00:11:28.035 --> 00:11:31.995 Mind you, as money comes in, I'll let the accountants look at the 00:11:31.995 --> 00:11:34.365 money and think about the money and they can give me a nudge. 00:11:34.365 --> 00:11:37.065 If I need to come on track, we've got to do something here. 00:11:37.755 --> 00:11:40.665 And, uh, but for myself, I found. 00:11:41.895 --> 00:11:45.405 I would look at people who just knew all the ins and outs and they had all the 00:11:45.405 --> 00:11:48.525 spreadsheets and they knew their profit and loss and where it's, where it's at. 00:11:48.525 --> 00:11:54.165 And it seemed to me anyways, that their attention would be better served. 00:11:55.035 --> 00:12:00.045 On the customer base and providing them with the content or the material 00:12:00.045 --> 00:12:03.885 that they're passionate about and the money would be a natural byproduct 00:12:03.885 --> 00:12:08.385 of that provided there's a, there's a mechanism to be able to collect money. 00:12:08.415 --> 00:12:12.465 Like, I dunno, for example, turning on monetization on your YouTube channel. 00:12:12.825 --> 00:12:15.465 Uh, but the money would be a natural by-product of that. 00:12:15.465 --> 00:12:17.835 So I many years ago just stopped. 00:12:17.835 --> 00:12:22.635 I've never cared much for, um, for much I like to have Kent. 00:12:22.635 --> 00:12:23.655 I like to have different things. 00:12:24.465 --> 00:12:29.715 But the, uh, the money concept when you're running a business, 00:12:29.715 --> 00:12:32.835 particularly when you're starting out is always an interesting one. 00:12:32.835 --> 00:12:36.675 And I don't think I have the answers to it, but I'm always interested to 00:12:36.675 --> 00:12:38.115 see how other people approach it. 00:12:38.295 --> 00:12:39.225 I like your approach. 00:12:39.225 --> 00:12:39.795 It's smart. 00:12:40.064 --> 00:12:41.385 Other than the YouTube one. 00:12:41.395 --> 00:12:43.725 I think that would be an easy one for you to just turn on. 00:12:43.725 --> 00:12:48.314 And if people don't want to see ads, I'm pretty sure YouTube will get rid of them. 00:12:48.314 --> 00:12:50.955 If you pay like a five bucks a month subscription or. 00:12:52.275 --> 00:12:52.605 Yeah. 00:12:52.605 --> 00:12:54.555 I mean more and more I'm thinking about it. 00:12:54.855 --> 00:12:59.265 And it was a huge step for me to just submit that application to 00:12:59.265 --> 00:13:01.005 get approved for monetization. 00:13:01.095 --> 00:13:01.425 Right. 00:13:01.635 --> 00:13:03.824 And I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I do turn it 00:13:03.824 --> 00:13:06.255 on because it's getting more expensive to run such a thing. 00:13:06.255 --> 00:13:06.704 It's interesting. 00:13:06.704 --> 00:13:10.125 Like the more value you provide, the more subscribers you 00:13:10.125 --> 00:13:11.385 get, the bigger email list. 00:13:11.415 --> 00:13:12.245 You just have to pay more. 00:13:13.255 --> 00:13:14.355 I manage all this stuff. 00:13:14.355 --> 00:13:18.465 It just costs more money and you have to make money somehow, or else 00:13:18.465 --> 00:13:21.255 I'm just going to go back to doing something else that I don't really 00:13:21.255 --> 00:13:23.265 like indoors wishing I was outside. 00:13:23.625 --> 00:13:26.265 I don't think that's doing the world a great service by doing that. 00:13:26.355 --> 00:13:28.455 And people are so used to ads these days. 00:13:28.455 --> 00:13:31.365 Anyway, when I watch videos, it's not like I get super mad 00:13:31.365 --> 00:13:33.105 when I have to click skip ad, but 00:13:33.255 --> 00:13:36.405 yeah, after what, two and a half seconds, three seconds skip right. 00:13:36.405 --> 00:13:38.415 Or whatever the runtime is. 00:13:38.835 --> 00:13:39.105 Yeah. 00:13:39.105 --> 00:13:42.135 So, I mean, maybe by the end of this year, we'll see, there might be more ads on my. 00:13:43.530 --> 00:13:45.510 But I'm happy to say that I haven't done such a thing yet. 00:13:46.560 --> 00:13:46.740 No. 00:13:46.740 --> 00:13:53.340 W we were talking off air, you know, I got into foraging to a small degree. 00:13:53.460 --> 00:13:55.260 I love being outside. 00:13:55.410 --> 00:14:02.340 I never really equated what's around me with things that I could eat, 00:14:02.640 --> 00:14:03.780 unless it was like, I don't know. 00:14:03.810 --> 00:14:06.060 I was in an apple orchard and I saw an apple on the tree. 00:14:06.060 --> 00:14:07.110 I'm like, yeah, I could eat that. 00:14:07.110 --> 00:14:07.410 Right. 00:14:07.920 --> 00:14:11.355 Uh, It was Hank Shaw who actually got me into it. 00:14:11.355 --> 00:14:15.555 And we were forging for porcinis and a bunch of other things 00:14:15.555 --> 00:14:18.315 he took around and showed me. 00:14:19.830 --> 00:14:22.260 It was just like a giant Easter egg hunt. 00:14:22.590 --> 00:14:23.520 And I was good at it. 00:14:23.550 --> 00:14:26.610 And I was able to find things once I was told what to look for and just 00:14:26.730 --> 00:14:30.420 let loose, uh, I found it so much fun. 00:14:30.420 --> 00:14:32.310 And then of course we take that stuff back. 00:14:32.310 --> 00:14:35.160 And, uh, this was in Sierra Nevada where I was doing it. 00:14:35.160 --> 00:14:37.260 And we went to a restaurant, we took the porcinis and said, 00:14:37.800 --> 00:14:39.210 Hey, here's some for you guys. 00:14:39.210 --> 00:14:42.630 Keep them, can you make us something good out of what we've got here? 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:46.680 And they made a five course meal with what we'd forage. 00:14:46.680 --> 00:14:47.430 It was amazing. 00:14:48.465 --> 00:14:52.665 But that connection, that little light bulb switch. 00:14:52.995 --> 00:14:58.875 I think when I was getting into it, foraging really wasn't on the radar 00:14:58.875 --> 00:15:00.615 for anybody in my social circles. 00:15:01.455 --> 00:15:05.595 I think now though, with people like yourself out there who are providing 00:15:05.925 --> 00:15:08.685 greater information, I can see it. 00:15:09.420 --> 00:15:10.920 There's a bit of a resurgence. 00:15:11.160 --> 00:15:11.910 Are you seeing that? 00:15:11.910 --> 00:15:15.390 And COVID as well when everyone got locked up, that they want to learn how to fend 00:15:15.390 --> 00:15:17.400 for themselves and harvest and go inside. 00:15:17.550 --> 00:15:18.300 Are you seeing that? 00:15:19.410 --> 00:15:20.370 Yeah, for sure. 00:15:20.819 --> 00:15:25.349 When I started there weren't as many people doing this and I'm sure there 00:15:25.349 --> 00:15:28.770 were a lot of people back in the nineties saying the same thing or the eighties. 00:15:28.770 --> 00:15:31.949 I'm sure it's becoming slightly more popular, but I think over the 00:15:31.949 --> 00:15:34.109 past 10 years it's really taken off. 00:15:34.890 --> 00:15:36.510 I think there's a lot of reasons behind it. 00:15:36.510 --> 00:15:38.449 I think more and more people are interested in local. 00:15:39.345 --> 00:15:42.195 And then wild foods are the epitome of local foods. 00:15:42.195 --> 00:15:43.905 More and more people are interested in healthy foods. 00:15:43.905 --> 00:15:48.735 I think people don't trust the food supply, uh, or they don't know what's in 00:15:48.735 --> 00:15:50.625 those foods are sprayed on those foods. 00:15:50.625 --> 00:15:52.515 And so they feel like they have more control if they just 00:15:52.515 --> 00:15:53.745 go out and get it themselves. 00:15:54.165 --> 00:15:55.095 And it's really fun. 00:15:55.095 --> 00:15:56.985 I think people are just more interested in going out. 00:15:58.455 --> 00:16:01.845 And spending lots of time outside and plus, because social media 00:16:01.845 --> 00:16:03.435 is so dominant in our lives. 00:16:03.435 --> 00:16:07.575 You see other people doing it, where back in the day, you just don't see 00:16:07.575 --> 00:16:10.905 people forwarding a lot because you would have to be in the woods or in a natural 00:16:10.905 --> 00:16:12.855 setting to actually see them doing it. 00:16:13.395 --> 00:16:15.855 And somebody just driving by might not even know what the heck that 00:16:15.855 --> 00:16:17.685 person's doing in that field anyway. 00:16:18.105 --> 00:16:18.255 Right. 00:16:18.255 --> 00:16:20.835 You might think they're just like looking for birds, but now they're picking 00:16:20.835 --> 00:16:22.455 something or to forging something. 00:16:22.755 --> 00:16:25.365 So I think just because of social media and a lot of people love. 00:16:26.205 --> 00:16:27.705 The post, what they're finding. 00:16:29.145 --> 00:16:33.285 There's a lot of ego involved, I think with foraging today, it spreads and other 00:16:33.285 --> 00:16:35.595 people want that same thrill as well. 00:16:36.255 --> 00:16:38.535 I don't think it's a bad thing that more and more people are getting into it. 00:16:38.535 --> 00:16:39.405 I think it's a good thing. 00:16:39.795 --> 00:16:40.515 Uh, but you're right. 00:16:40.515 --> 00:16:43.725 I did notice over the years, more and more people were doing this. 00:16:44.295 --> 00:16:47.175 What are, you know, with more people coming out and doing it? 00:16:47.940 --> 00:16:51.510 So, I don't think in BC I could be wrong. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:52.920 Uh, you might know better. 00:16:52.920 --> 00:16:59.400 I don't think in BC that we really have ramps out here, uh, or like wild leaks. 00:17:00.375 --> 00:17:02.625 Back east though, there are pretty popular. 00:17:02.625 --> 00:17:07.035 And from what I understand, like certain areas, they either a, you have 00:17:07.035 --> 00:17:12.525 to get a ramp harvesting licenses, and you're only allowed so much and some 00:17:12.525 --> 00:17:15.495 places won't even let you harvest them because it's one of these species that 00:17:15.495 --> 00:17:19.875 have been, uh, becoming so popular that people are, are wiping them out. 00:17:20.145 --> 00:17:21.315 Um, is that. 00:17:22.425 --> 00:17:24.074 Is that a, a concern? 00:17:24.104 --> 00:17:27.165 Is that something that you're seeing as more people enter into the, 00:17:27.165 --> 00:17:32.205 uh, uh, the foraging world that certain species are starting to get 00:17:32.235 --> 00:17:35.925 over harvested species or plants? 00:17:36.615 --> 00:17:37.695 It's a good question. 00:17:37.695 --> 00:17:41.445 And personally, I haven't noticed anything, but I haven't been doing 00:17:41.445 --> 00:17:43.334 this long enough to notice trends. 00:17:43.844 --> 00:17:46.155 I've heard lots of people say that ramps are on the decline. 00:17:47.100 --> 00:17:50.550 But I trust a lot of people who say that, no, they're not. 00:17:50.730 --> 00:17:53.760 They're just as plannable as they used to be where I live in 00:17:53.760 --> 00:17:55.409 Pennsylvania, they're not endangered. 00:17:55.409 --> 00:17:57.510 A lot of people think that they are endangered. 00:17:57.870 --> 00:18:00.570 They're not, I mean, there, you could go to areas where there's acres and 00:18:00.570 --> 00:18:02.159 acres and acres of these things. 00:18:02.820 --> 00:18:06.530 And in many cases they do benefit by actually digging them up and 00:18:06.540 --> 00:18:09.899 sending the population so that they can continue to expand and grow. 00:18:10.320 --> 00:18:12.449 But in some areas they're just not that plentiful. 00:18:12.449 --> 00:18:14.699 And I think if you go to those areas where they're not planting. 00:18:15.435 --> 00:18:18.675 And then you start harvesting a bunch of year after year that's where 00:18:18.675 --> 00:18:22.515 over time, obviously you would see a decline in that population, but 00:18:22.515 --> 00:18:27.165 I think across the board in Eastern north America ramps are fairly steep. 00:18:28.095 --> 00:18:28.875 Interesting. 00:18:28.875 --> 00:18:29.445 Okay. 00:18:29.835 --> 00:18:32.805 Well, that's a, do they have ramps in BC? 00:18:32.895 --> 00:18:34.005 Uh, you know of, I'm 00:18:34.005 --> 00:18:35.265 not, I'm not sure. 00:18:35.675 --> 00:18:38.175 I mean, I'm not an expert on wild foods where I live, but I'm 00:18:38.175 --> 00:18:42.165 certainly not an expert on wild foods all across north America. 00:18:42.945 --> 00:18:45.585 So I'm not quite sure, but I'm sure you could just easily Google 00:18:45.585 --> 00:18:47.115 that and find out if it grows 00:18:47.115 --> 00:18:47.415 there. 00:18:47.685 --> 00:18:48.465 Take a look at that. 00:18:48.525 --> 00:18:49.125 Definitely. 00:18:49.545 --> 00:18:52.695 So you you've actually been to a BC before Andrew. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:57.870 I have, yeah, I don't remember too much because I was younger and it 00:18:57.870 --> 00:19:00.810 was for a completely different reason than foraging or getting into nature. 00:19:00.810 --> 00:19:02.520 I was in a city. 00:19:02.730 --> 00:19:06.090 I was in Vancouver and Vancouver island playing heavy metal. 00:19:06.570 --> 00:19:08.190 I wish I knew the name of the club. 00:19:08.790 --> 00:19:11.010 If I Googled it, I'm sure I could come up with the name of it. 00:19:11.160 --> 00:19:15.000 Um, I remember Vancouver was kind of a sketchy place. 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:17.550 We were in some pretty interesting areas of Vancouver. 00:19:18.330 --> 00:19:19.720 Vancouver island was very, very. 00:19:20.565 --> 00:19:21.345 I remember. 00:19:21.615 --> 00:19:23.055 Yeah, but we didn't spend much time there. 00:19:23.055 --> 00:19:27.735 You know, when you're on tour, you're in a city for like eight hours and 00:19:27.735 --> 00:19:29.925 then you're onto the next city, then you're onto the next city. 00:19:30.135 --> 00:19:30.325 Right. 00:19:30.325 --> 00:19:33.225 So you really don't get to experience like all that the city has to offer. 00:19:34.170 --> 00:19:35.730 But it was a lot of fun at the time. 00:19:35.940 --> 00:19:38.430 I'd love to come back sometime, but I don't know when that'll 00:19:38.430 --> 00:19:44.250 be bit of a dichotomy between a foraging and a peace and a, one of the nature and 00:19:44.280 --> 00:19:45.960 touring cities and the heavy metal band. 00:19:46.500 --> 00:19:47.730 Something happened in my life. 00:19:47.730 --> 00:19:52.530 I don't know what it was though, but I did a complete 180, like really I was totally 00:19:52.530 --> 00:19:54.520 into music and I was playing heavy. 00:19:55.254 --> 00:19:58.615 'cause it worked like people love seeing us play heavy metal. 00:19:58.735 --> 00:20:01.705 It's not like I was the biggest heavy metal fan that was out there. 00:20:01.705 --> 00:20:05.814 But after a while, you just, you have to stick with a style that got you where you 00:20:05.965 --> 00:20:09.625 are, you can't like change radically or your fans don't want to hear that kind of 00:20:09.625 --> 00:20:14.695 music, which is why like the Ramones never changed or Motley crew never changed. 00:20:14.695 --> 00:20:18.475 You know, they just keep playing the same stuff over and over and over again. 00:20:19.225 --> 00:20:21.534 So I listened to a lot of other music at the time, but heavy 00:20:21.534 --> 00:20:24.330 metal worked, um, Over time. 00:20:24.330 --> 00:20:29.790 I just felt like it wasn't for me, you know, singing about knives and fair enough 00:20:29.850 --> 00:20:32.760 devils and a killing and all that stuff. 00:20:32.760 --> 00:20:34.440 I mean, it's all for entertainment. 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:38.430 It wasn't like my true heart, my passion coming out of me, but 00:20:38.430 --> 00:20:39.630 it was a lot of fun at the time. 00:20:39.630 --> 00:20:41.340 And I learned a lot and I got to travel. 00:20:41.700 --> 00:20:44.610 I have so many good memories from that time, but something happened 00:20:44.610 --> 00:20:46.050 in my life where I just completely. 00:20:46.784 --> 00:20:47.804 Shifted gears. 00:20:48.014 --> 00:20:51.854 And I went down the nutrition rabbit hole and then got into nature. 00:20:52.695 --> 00:20:54.885 And I'm glad that I did, like, I wouldn't have it any other 00:20:54.885 --> 00:20:55.215 way. 00:20:55.814 --> 00:20:58.034 I've I've never growing up. 00:20:58.064 --> 00:21:04.245 I never equated what I ate with how I felt and it wasn't until much, much 00:21:04.245 --> 00:21:06.915 later in my life, a bear embarrassingly. 00:21:06.915 --> 00:21:07.365 So. 00:21:07.919 --> 00:21:12.360 That I finally started to equate, Hey, if I eat crap food, I feel like crap. 00:21:12.389 --> 00:21:16.260 Like I'd go out camping for a week and come back. 00:21:16.300 --> 00:21:18.000 Like, oh God, I'm feeling super great. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:20.100 And my wife's like, well, what'd you eat? 00:21:20.250 --> 00:21:22.840 Oh, you know, hot dogs and cheeses and beers. 00:21:22.840 --> 00:21:25.139 She's like, do you think maybe that's got something to do with it? 00:21:25.470 --> 00:21:27.480 Like, no, no, that's probably not. 00:21:27.600 --> 00:21:27.870 Right. 00:21:28.470 --> 00:21:38.475 Um, of course it did the, uh, The use of wild plants and Herb's, and, 00:21:38.765 --> 00:21:43.605 and mushrooms out there for medicinal benefits is something aside from the 00:21:43.605 --> 00:21:47.625 nutrition side, making you feel better, the medicinal side is something that, 00:21:47.665 --> 00:21:51.555 uh, that you're passionate about from, from what I see on your, what you're 00:21:51.555 --> 00:21:54.135 posting, how did you get into that? 00:21:54.765 --> 00:21:59.565 I was lucky that when I got into nutrition, I started studying 00:21:59.565 --> 00:22:02.805 from mentors that were into. 00:22:04.910 --> 00:22:05.900 I don't know how it happened. 00:22:05.900 --> 00:22:09.710 I mean, it depends who you follow and who circles you hang around, but 00:22:09.710 --> 00:22:12.710 these teachers were foragers as well. 00:22:12.710 --> 00:22:17.090 And they were really interested in the medicinal side of things, not just forging 00:22:17.090 --> 00:22:19.040 for calories, but foraging for medicine. 00:22:19.700 --> 00:22:21.620 And I just became swept away by that idea. 00:22:22.530 --> 00:22:25.680 And I started spending a lot of time looking for medicinal 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:28.710 mushrooms, specifically, also medicinal medicinal plants, but to 00:22:28.710 --> 00:22:30.270 a large degree medicinal mushrooms. 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:30.780 Okay. 00:22:30.990 --> 00:22:33.870 And this is at a time also a medicinal mushrooms were becoming more popular. 00:22:33.870 --> 00:22:36.419 So I kind of like wrote that way for a long time. 00:22:37.080 --> 00:22:39.330 And at the end of the day, you know, looking back on that, I mean, I 00:22:39.330 --> 00:22:40.740 still look for medicinal mushrooms. 00:22:40.750 --> 00:22:41.850 I still consume them. 00:22:42.149 --> 00:22:45.389 And I still know that they're extremely valuable at least in my life. 00:22:46.080 --> 00:22:50.159 But I think the most medicinal thing about the mushrooms for me is that. 00:22:51.389 --> 00:22:53.909 They've kept me tethered to the forest. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:55.590 They keep me outside. 00:22:55.590 --> 00:22:58.949 They keep me looking for other things in nature, and it's not 00:22:58.949 --> 00:23:02.669 necessarily the beta glucans or the polysaccharides, which are all great. 00:23:02.850 --> 00:23:06.899 And I know I benefit from their consumption, but it's just being glued 00:23:06.899 --> 00:23:08.909 to the forest and not wanting to leave. 00:23:09.570 --> 00:23:12.629 And I think a lot of people don't talk about those benefits and those 00:23:12.629 --> 00:23:15.510 are benefits that you don't get eating foods from the grocery store. 00:23:16.905 --> 00:23:19.514 Right because you just, you don't have that kind of connection. 00:23:19.514 --> 00:23:22.274 And even if you're tethered to the grocery store, it's like, that's not 00:23:22.274 --> 00:23:26.235 much of an achievement, but being tethered to nature, to me, that's like 00:23:26.264 --> 00:23:30.585 very admirable, you know, to never want to leave such a situation or scenario 00:23:31.544 --> 00:23:34.395 it's over the years when people ask me like, well, what's the use of this? 00:23:34.395 --> 00:23:35.655 Or what's the use of that? 00:23:36.254 --> 00:23:38.985 I think, well, it may just stop and look at it. 00:23:39.044 --> 00:23:42.794 It made you learn it and made you forget about the other worldly 00:23:42.794 --> 00:23:44.175 affairs for just a couple seconds. 00:23:44.175 --> 00:23:45.524 And maybe you'll come back and learn something. 00:23:47.054 --> 00:23:49.754 And that's, what's been a good benefit to me over the years, just doing those 00:23:49.754 --> 00:23:52.754 kinds of things and being tethered to the forest through medicinal mushrooms. 00:23:53.264 --> 00:23:54.885 That's an awesome perspective. 00:23:54.975 --> 00:23:58.575 I, you know, everyone understands that there is a huge. 00:23:59.550 --> 00:24:01.110 Element to being out in nature. 00:24:01.139 --> 00:24:04.830 They feel calm when they're by the, at the ocean and they're watching the waves crash 00:24:04.850 --> 00:24:07.950 in and the sunsets are in the forest. 00:24:07.980 --> 00:24:09.480 If provided. 00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:14.129 They're not, uh, wrought with anxiety because they're afraid of whatever 00:24:14.129 --> 00:24:15.930 might lurk around the next tree. 00:24:16.230 --> 00:24:19.990 Uh, most people find that there's a very calming effect. 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:26.130 But not everybody has the ability or maybe they just have prioritize their 00:24:26.130 --> 00:24:30.330 lives in a certain way where they're, they're more stuck in a, in a big city. 00:24:30.900 --> 00:24:34.200 Um, do you ever do anything with, with urban foraging? 00:24:34.320 --> 00:24:38.550 Cause I know that's sort of a, a, a trend that seems to be fairly popular. 00:24:38.940 --> 00:24:39.840 That's how I started. 00:24:39.870 --> 00:24:41.400 That's how I started learning all this stuff. 00:24:41.760 --> 00:24:44.070 Even when I started learning your land, I was living in the city of. 00:24:45.075 --> 00:24:48.465 And some of those early videos literally were filmed in a city of Pittsburgh. 00:24:48.465 --> 00:24:51.885 It's just, I found a patch of green where I filmed, but if you listen 00:24:51.885 --> 00:24:53.235 carefully, you'll hear the trains. 00:24:53.235 --> 00:24:54.135 You'll hear the sirens. 00:24:54.135 --> 00:24:57.075 You'll hear the cars, you'll see people walking in the background. 00:24:57.645 --> 00:25:02.175 Yeah, you can totally do it in the city, but I would also recommend trying to 00:25:02.175 --> 00:25:06.105 get out of the city as much as possible, but I wouldn't use it as an excuse just 00:25:06.105 --> 00:25:09.345 because you live in the city that you have to like put your education on hold. 00:25:09.825 --> 00:25:12.524 But I was going to the university of Pittsburgh at the time that I 00:25:12.524 --> 00:25:13.764 was getting into nutrition and. 00:25:14.715 --> 00:25:18.915 Four miles every day, two miles to get there two miles to get back. 00:25:19.274 --> 00:25:22.695 And I would learn every plant along the way, every tree, along 00:25:22.695 --> 00:25:24.344 the way, every bird along the way. 00:25:24.344 --> 00:25:25.215 That's what I did. 00:25:25.605 --> 00:25:28.635 And if there was a plant that I didn't know, I would make sure I knew it to 00:25:28.635 --> 00:25:32.925 where I knew every single plant, because I would do it year after year after year. 00:25:33.284 --> 00:25:37.485 And so I was very good at knowing those kinds of things like urban plants. 00:25:37.514 --> 00:25:41.430 But once I got into Wilder air, I didn't really know as much until 00:25:41.430 --> 00:25:44.010 I kind of moved away from the city a little bit and started spending 00:25:44.010 --> 00:25:45.510 more time in Wilder places. 00:25:45.930 --> 00:25:48.210 But as far as urban forging, a lot of people do it. 00:25:48.210 --> 00:25:49.140 It can be done. 00:25:49.620 --> 00:25:52.500 I think you just have to be a little more mindful of the pollutants 00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:56.430 that could be in that particular area, because there can be a lot. 00:25:56.580 --> 00:26:01.140 Uh, and if you're in a Wilder space, it's not to say there's no pollutants in 00:26:01.140 --> 00:26:02.520 those areas because there's certainly. 00:26:03.510 --> 00:26:06.630 But I think there's less generally speaking, compared to an urban 00:26:06.630 --> 00:26:07.200 environment. 00:26:07.470 --> 00:26:07.920 Right. 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:11.610 And maybe less garbage being thrown on the side that something's growing out of. 00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:17.190 But, uh, where, where would, where would you point somebody who wants to start? 00:26:17.190 --> 00:26:19.650 Who says, look it, I'm learning about this. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:22.860 Eat local, um, farm to table. 00:26:23.995 --> 00:26:27.055 And I want to, I want to start dipping my toes in the water. 00:26:27.235 --> 00:26:28.495 What, what would you tell a person? 00:26:28.825 --> 00:26:31.765 So I would tell them what worked for me, because I can 00:26:31.765 --> 00:26:33.445 only speak based on experience. 00:26:33.775 --> 00:26:36.955 And it's not like you read these things like a list of five 00:26:36.955 --> 00:26:39.205 things on how to start forging. 00:26:39.475 --> 00:26:42.175 Maybe there's some blogs on that, but I never came across that information, 00:26:42.175 --> 00:26:47.635 but for me, it was always find an event where somebody is teaching these skills. 00:26:49.490 --> 00:26:50.840 It could be a wildflower walk. 00:26:50.840 --> 00:26:51.919 It could be a bird walk. 00:26:51.919 --> 00:26:53.600 It could be a tree identification walk. 00:26:53.600 --> 00:26:54.530 It could be a mushroom walk. 00:26:54.560 --> 00:26:59.209 It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it's some nature skill, find those 00:26:59.209 --> 00:27:03.350 events and go on those events because you're not just going to pick up the 00:27:03.350 --> 00:27:07.820 birding skills on a bird walk or the mushroom skills on a mushroom walk. 00:27:08.060 --> 00:27:10.879 There are people on those walks that if you connect with them, 00:27:11.120 --> 00:27:12.800 they'll teach you other things. 00:27:13.250 --> 00:27:16.760 Like I started learning trees on mushroom walks because people would teach me that. 00:27:17.490 --> 00:27:21.810 So it is between red Oaks and white Oaks and Maples and hackberries and 00:27:21.810 --> 00:27:23.550 different trees, just a mushroom walks. 00:27:24.180 --> 00:27:28.560 And when I was starting, there were a decent number of these walks that 00:27:28.560 --> 00:27:32.820 were available around Pittsburgh, but nowadays there's way more available. 00:27:33.330 --> 00:27:36.480 And actually when I started learning their land, it was originally a database 00:27:36.570 --> 00:27:40.140 to kind of compile a list of all these events, where they were happening. 00:27:40.590 --> 00:27:41.720 And then it kind of got away from that. 00:27:42.870 --> 00:27:45.030 I didn't want to be stuck behind a computer, plugging away all these 00:27:45.030 --> 00:27:46.830 different events and managing this. 00:27:46.830 --> 00:27:47.850 I'm not a software developer. 00:27:47.850 --> 00:27:48.750 I don't know that stuff. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:51.240 I'd rather be outside filming myself, teaching people. 00:27:51.990 --> 00:27:55.440 Um, so that didn't quite work out, but if you just, you know, use a search 00:27:55.440 --> 00:27:59.430 engine type in your area and wildflower walk or birding walk or mushroom walk 00:27:59.820 --> 00:28:04.560 or inquire at a local state park or an environmental center or an Arboretum, 00:28:04.590 --> 00:28:06.030 it just go on some of these walks. 00:28:06.600 --> 00:28:08.280 You might be the oldest person on the lawn. 00:28:08.910 --> 00:28:11.730 You might be the youngest person on the walk, but as long as you go 00:28:11.730 --> 00:28:13.830 on these events, you're going to feel more comfortable out there. 00:28:13.830 --> 00:28:15.870 You're going to meet incredible people. 00:28:16.080 --> 00:28:18.720 And they're going to teach you some things that you never knew you wanted to learn, 00:28:18.990 --> 00:28:23.940 you know, I'm you've brought up trees a couple of times now. 00:28:24.090 --> 00:28:28.590 And you, from what I understand, you've had a little bit of a, maybe secret, not 00:28:28.590 --> 00:28:33.570 so secret passion about trees for the last number of years, which has culminated in a 00:28:33.570 --> 00:28:35.340 brand new course that you've put together. 00:28:36.300 --> 00:28:38.760 On trees and tree identification. 00:28:38.790 --> 00:28:40.110 Can you tell me a bit about that? 00:28:40.409 --> 00:28:40.770 Yes. 00:28:40.770 --> 00:28:44.820 So for the past two and a half years, it's all been trees for me, despite 00:28:44.820 --> 00:28:47.700 what you see on YouTube and on my Facebook and Instagram posts, I'll 00:28:47.700 --> 00:28:48.930 still put the mushrooms out there. 00:28:48.930 --> 00:28:52.530 I'll still put the plants up there, but almost every single 00:28:52.530 --> 00:28:54.420 day I've been looking at trees. 00:28:54.420 --> 00:28:55.500 I've been studying trees. 00:28:55.500 --> 00:28:56.820 I've been visiting trees. 00:28:57.210 --> 00:28:59.580 I've been saying no to a lot of things, just so I could 00:28:59.580 --> 00:29:00.659 spend more time with trees. 00:29:02.070 --> 00:29:05.610 All because I was putting together an online tree identification 00:29:05.610 --> 00:29:08.129 course, and I finally released it just a couple of days ago. 00:29:08.610 --> 00:29:11.790 Uh, so if somebody's listening to this or watching this, and if you 00:29:11.790 --> 00:29:15.629 try to gain access to the course, there are closed seasons for it 00:29:15.629 --> 00:29:17.010 and there's open seasons for it. 00:29:17.100 --> 00:29:20.370 Uh, so you can just put your name on the notification list and then you'll 00:29:20.370 --> 00:29:21.959 get an email whenever it's open again. 00:29:22.080 --> 00:29:24.300 But yeah, I've been obsessed with trees lately and I love it. 00:29:24.330 --> 00:29:25.889 It's done so much for me. 00:29:26.129 --> 00:29:29.429 And I no idea that by saying yes to this project to study. 00:29:30.345 --> 00:29:33.314 That it would do the kinds of things that it has done for me, it's been 00:29:33.314 --> 00:29:39.135 such a blessing and the project is kind of, it's not over, but a 00:29:39.135 --> 00:29:42.465 lot of the work has already been done and I'm kind of having that. 00:29:44.195 --> 00:29:47.405 You know, I get, I'd never had a kid before, but I imagine like if you 00:29:47.405 --> 00:29:50.135 have a kid, you kind miss out and get in the womb for a while, and then 00:29:50.135 --> 00:29:54.305 you're like, oh yeah, you know, and then like grows up and like, you don't 00:29:54.305 --> 00:29:56.195 have as much control over it anymore. 00:29:56.585 --> 00:29:59.735 And I kind of feel that way, but I'm still putting content into it. 00:29:59.795 --> 00:30:04.895 And it's just, I have no other word other than blessing to describe what 00:30:04.895 --> 00:30:06.034 it's done for me over the years. 00:30:06.065 --> 00:30:09.034 And I know that if other people listening to this learn their 00:30:09.034 --> 00:30:10.145 trees, I could do the same thing. 00:30:11.235 --> 00:30:17.205 So, okay, so many questions for at first one, just not about trees, more 00:30:17.205 --> 00:30:20.565 about the course in general, what do you mean open season and closed season? 00:30:20.565 --> 00:30:21.555 Like it's an online course. 00:30:21.555 --> 00:30:24.555 Can someone just click on the thing and take it whenever? 00:30:24.885 --> 00:30:25.035 So 00:30:25.035 --> 00:30:27.405 the course is entirely go at your own pace. 00:30:27.975 --> 00:30:32.145 All the videos, all the content, all the downloads are immediately and always 00:30:32.145 --> 00:30:33.735 available to you once you sign up. 00:30:34.215 --> 00:30:35.895 But because I'm the only instructor. 00:30:36.780 --> 00:30:40.590 I take it very seriously when students email me with questions and students 00:30:40.590 --> 00:30:44.129 are always encouraged to email me with questions and I prioritize people who 00:30:44.129 --> 00:30:48.330 have bought my courses, obviously because they paid a lot of money for this stuff. 00:30:48.330 --> 00:30:50.969 And I'm not going to leave them hanging compared to some random like YouTube 00:30:50.969 --> 00:30:54.330 or her leave some nasty comment about my mouth or something like that, 00:30:54.330 --> 00:30:55.590 because it happens from time to time. 00:30:56.939 --> 00:31:02.100 Uh, so there are closed seasons only because when people sign up for this. 00:31:03.255 --> 00:31:07.005 I find that they generally work through the course during a certain chunk of time. 00:31:07.275 --> 00:31:10.095 And because I'm the only instructor, I'm the only person 00:31:10.095 --> 00:31:11.505 that can email these people back. 00:31:12.075 --> 00:31:15.495 And also, because this was the first launch of this course in case there's 00:31:15.495 --> 00:31:20.115 mistakes or in case there's any issues with the software platform, it's kind 00:31:20.115 --> 00:31:24.285 of like a beta launch and I'm going to get the feedback, tweak some things 00:31:24.285 --> 00:31:26.055 and then reopen it and make it better. 00:31:26.115 --> 00:31:28.935 And I did that with the mushroom course that I previously released. 00:31:29.265 --> 00:31:30.585 And every time I would rely on. 00:31:31.649 --> 00:31:32.070 There was new. 00:31:32.220 --> 00:31:35.250 There were new things in there and it was a letter little better every time. 00:31:35.550 --> 00:31:37.860 And I'm able to be more present with students as they work 00:31:37.860 --> 00:31:41.220 through it, rather than, you know, somebody signed up for it in July. 00:31:41.220 --> 00:31:43.860 Somebody signed up November, somebody at the very beginning, 00:31:43.860 --> 00:31:45.330 some ways halfway through it. 00:31:45.750 --> 00:31:48.510 It's just easier for me as an instructor to deal with it that way. 00:31:48.810 --> 00:31:49.690 And I don't have to. 00:31:51.315 --> 00:31:53.445 Sell myself constantly. 00:31:53.445 --> 00:31:56.685 If it's always open, it was always open. 00:31:57.285 --> 00:31:59.685 More of my emails would be like, Hey, don't forget trees in all. 00:31:59.685 --> 00:32:00.435 Seasons is open. 00:32:00.435 --> 00:32:01.275 Don't forget trees in all. 00:32:01.275 --> 00:32:02.145 Seasons is open. 00:32:02.205 --> 00:32:04.065 That's the name of trees in all seasons. 00:32:04.065 --> 00:32:07.545 But if I just limit that window, you're only going to get those 00:32:07.545 --> 00:32:11.685 emails for maybe three weeks out of the year when it's open, because 00:32:11.685 --> 00:32:14.625 honestly, I don't really enjoy. 00:32:17.145 --> 00:32:18.675 I like getting giving free content out. 00:32:18.705 --> 00:32:21.705 It just feels better to give free content now, but I have to in 00:32:21.705 --> 00:32:23.024 order to keep this machine running. 00:32:23.985 --> 00:32:24.165 So 00:32:24.165 --> 00:32:27.675 what kind of things can a person learn on the mushroom course or the tree course? 00:32:27.675 --> 00:32:29.475 What can they expect to see in something like that? 00:32:29.925 --> 00:32:30.344 I 00:32:30.344 --> 00:32:33.405 I'm used to learning from field guides because a lot of people, 00:32:33.405 --> 00:32:34.844 that's how they learn mushrooms. 00:32:34.905 --> 00:32:35.925 That's how they learn plants. 00:32:35.925 --> 00:32:37.935 And a lot of people also learn online these days. 00:32:37.935 --> 00:32:39.824 But one thing that's always missing is seeing. 00:32:40.710 --> 00:32:45.149 And it's natural setting, not in 3d, but you know, you see the natural 00:32:45.149 --> 00:32:48.510 environment, you hear the bird sounds, you see what else is growing around it? 00:32:49.050 --> 00:32:51.780 And with a field guide or with an app, you just see a picture and it's 00:32:51.780 --> 00:32:55.470 very static and it's very lifeless and you don't see what else is going on. 00:32:55.950 --> 00:32:58.169 So with these mushroom courses or with the treatment. 00:32:59.085 --> 00:33:02.955 You see me out there finding the thing, like I'm present with the 00:33:02.955 --> 00:33:05.325 organism in 100% of the videos. 00:33:05.325 --> 00:33:07.515 It's not like it's a PowerPoint presentation. 00:33:07.785 --> 00:33:10.395 Like if you go to a garden club and somebody is talking about a tree 00:33:10.395 --> 00:33:14.025 and it's like, it's almost like a slideshow, like grandma's trip to 00:33:14.025 --> 00:33:16.545 The Bahamas or something, you know, she's flipping through all the slides. 00:33:16.935 --> 00:33:17.155 Yeah, yeah. 00:33:17.165 --> 00:33:17.505 Yeah. 00:33:17.985 --> 00:33:20.535 Well, with this, you know, I'm standing right in front of the tree. 00:33:20.595 --> 00:33:21.345 I'm finding it. 00:33:21.345 --> 00:33:22.545 I'm describing it to you. 00:33:22.545 --> 00:33:25.155 And with the tree course specifically, you're getting 00:33:25.155 --> 00:33:26.595 footage in every single state. 00:33:27.420 --> 00:33:30.330 Which is something that as far as I'm concerned, you don't find in any 00:33:30.330 --> 00:33:32.760 field guide, you just find the leaves. 00:33:32.760 --> 00:33:37.980 The bark may be the fruits, maybe the flowers and that's about it, but 00:33:37.980 --> 00:33:39.330 you don't get the winter silhouette. 00:33:39.360 --> 00:33:40.830 You don't always get the twigs. 00:33:41.100 --> 00:33:42.450 You don't get the male flowers. 00:33:42.450 --> 00:33:44.040 You don't get the little female flowers. 00:33:44.040 --> 00:33:45.570 You don't get the stipules on the leaves. 00:33:45.570 --> 00:33:48.149 But with this, why took two and a half years? 00:33:48.149 --> 00:33:50.460 Is I committed to getting every single feature I could 00:33:50.460 --> 00:33:52.139 possibly get in every season. 00:33:52.710 --> 00:33:55.530 And I packaged it together so that you basically start from the beginning. 00:33:56.490 --> 00:34:00.060 I almost treated as if you don't even know what a tree is in the beginning. 00:34:00.120 --> 00:34:01.620 And I know it sounds like it's so basic. 00:34:01.620 --> 00:34:03.180 Why would you treat students like that? 00:34:03.630 --> 00:34:05.790 But I want to start from the very beginning and then 00:34:05.820 --> 00:34:07.440 build your skills from there. 00:34:07.950 --> 00:34:11.400 And I think with field guides and with apps, they don't teach you how to learn. 00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:14.520 They just give you the answers, but they don't teach you the 00:34:14.520 --> 00:34:15.929 process of actually learning. 00:34:15.929 --> 00:34:19.320 So that once you're done, you can go out and learn any tree based 00:34:19.320 --> 00:34:21.810 on the skills that are presented to you in this kind of course. 00:34:22.110 --> 00:34:22.770 I like that. 00:34:23.250 --> 00:34:26.865 So funny side, uh, Anecdote. 00:34:28.259 --> 00:34:29.460 My kid's school. 00:34:29.850 --> 00:34:34.570 I mean, we're in a, outside the city, but it's built up enough over here. 00:34:34.570 --> 00:34:39.210 Then kids elementary school, we would go there and they'd have birched bullets. 00:34:39.210 --> 00:34:42.900 And we'd pick those when they, when they pop up or shaggy mains 00:34:42.900 --> 00:34:45.100 or sheep sorrel or salmon berries. 00:34:45.120 --> 00:34:47.340 There's a quince tree, I guess, was neglected. 00:34:47.340 --> 00:34:50.100 But at some point, someone had planted onto the side. 00:34:50.100 --> 00:34:55.240 And so it would, whenever the quince was in season week, Grab that and, 00:34:55.240 --> 00:35:00.370 um, stinging nettle as well because, um, uh, I guess it's supposed to 00:35:00.370 --> 00:35:01.840 help with, uh, with allergies. 00:35:01.840 --> 00:35:02.800 It good say it does. 00:35:03.310 --> 00:35:09.370 Um, but the school sends us a letter back and says, can you stop showing your 00:35:09.370 --> 00:35:12.100 kids to pick things around the school? 00:35:12.190 --> 00:35:14.530 Because they're showing others that we've got all of our kids running 00:35:14.530 --> 00:35:16.360 around eating crap out of the ground. 00:35:16.360 --> 00:35:16.690 Right. 00:35:16.690 --> 00:35:20.680 And I told my wife, we should frame that, that photo there. 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:22.540 It's a very. 00:35:23.580 --> 00:35:26.940 I, and I guess from their standpoint, there's a safety aspect of somebody goes 00:35:26.940 --> 00:35:30.780 and picks the wrong thing and goes and eats it and like, and I can appreciate 00:35:30.780 --> 00:35:36.540 that, but there's a disconnect that I think that most people have between 00:35:36.540 --> 00:35:42.420 what's actually growing around them and what they can, what they can use. 00:35:42.420 --> 00:35:45.630 What's going to have some healthy benefits for them or medicinal benefits, 00:35:45.630 --> 00:35:47.730 or maybe this tastes goodness salad. 00:35:49.620 --> 00:35:52.620 Have, have you noticed that disconnect? 00:35:52.620 --> 00:35:56.190 And is that something that you're working at trying to change? 00:35:56.520 --> 00:35:57.240 Yeah, of course. 00:35:57.240 --> 00:36:01.260 I noticed that this connect, I mean, I, I never had the experience of forging 00:36:01.260 --> 00:36:05.340 around the school yard growing up, but it's interesting that, you know, 00:36:05.360 --> 00:36:06.710 some of the teachers or some of this. 00:36:07.725 --> 00:36:10.485 Would be upset that they would pick and things that are potentially dangerous. 00:36:10.485 --> 00:36:14.895 But I would say most of the food in that cafeteria is probably way more dangerous 00:36:14.895 --> 00:36:16.305 than anything that you can pick outside. 00:36:16.485 --> 00:36:19.185 And I mean, I honestly believe that too. 00:36:19.455 --> 00:36:22.605 When you think about poisonous plants are poisonous mushrooms, relatively 00:36:22.605 --> 00:36:26.985 speaking, there are a few of them compared to what's edible, medicinal, or benign. 00:36:27.765 --> 00:36:29.775 I mean, people think that when you're forging for mushrooms, that. 00:36:30.810 --> 00:36:34.649 That could be a poisonous one and it could be, there are poisonous mushrooms 00:36:34.649 --> 00:36:39.569 out there, but when you look at how many species there are, the poisonous ones 00:36:39.569 --> 00:36:42.209 only make up a small amount of them. 00:36:42.390 --> 00:36:44.100 And the same goes for the plants as well. 00:36:44.370 --> 00:36:46.529 Now I'm not saying you should just blindfold yourself and pick this 00:36:46.529 --> 00:36:50.430 stuff, but you're not the risks. 00:36:50.459 --> 00:36:52.620 Aren't as great as a lot of people make them out to be. 00:36:52.620 --> 00:36:54.750 And especially if you teach people young, which is when. 00:36:56.055 --> 00:36:58.005 People are probably going to learn this information though 00:36:58.035 --> 00:36:59.355 the fastest and the best. 00:36:59.595 --> 00:37:02.955 It's important to teach people what foods are appropriate and 00:37:02.955 --> 00:37:04.305 what foods are not appropriate. 00:37:04.755 --> 00:37:07.515 And I wish somebody told me growing up that the foods in the center I 00:37:07.515 --> 00:37:10.275 was at the grocery store are not appropriate for my body, but it took 00:37:10.275 --> 00:37:12.525 me a long time to figure that out. 00:37:12.975 --> 00:37:13.904 And you were talking about. 00:37:14.700 --> 00:37:17.220 How it took you awhile to figure out that the foods that you're eating 00:37:17.220 --> 00:37:18.600 were actually affecting your body. 00:37:19.020 --> 00:37:21.569 I didn't realize that till I was 19, I looked in the mirror and I saw 00:37:21.580 --> 00:37:23.580 these red spots all over my face. 00:37:24.029 --> 00:37:27.870 And I thought, does this have anything to do with diet at all? 00:37:28.799 --> 00:37:31.049 And so I just started experimenting and I thought, well, maybe 00:37:31.049 --> 00:37:32.520 it does have to do with diet. 00:37:33.690 --> 00:37:34.290 And it does. 00:37:34.290 --> 00:37:36.690 I mean, there are some things that I eat that'll make me break out. 00:37:37.140 --> 00:37:41.819 And there's some things that if I avoid, I'm not going to break out, of course, 00:37:41.819 --> 00:37:43.230 it's a hundred percent dietary really. 00:37:44.460 --> 00:37:49.320 But as far as the connection with nature and the disconnect today, I 00:37:49.320 --> 00:37:51.030 mean, it's greater than it's ever been. 00:37:51.180 --> 00:37:53.490 I feel a lot of people are disconnected. 00:37:53.730 --> 00:37:55.290 I still feel disconnected as well. 00:37:55.290 --> 00:37:57.840 I mean, I think the reason I'm doing a lot of this work is to feel more 00:37:57.840 --> 00:37:59.640 connected to the place where I belong. 00:38:00.300 --> 00:38:05.970 I think, I mean, for me, I'm not so interested in that I'm not so interested 00:38:05.970 --> 00:38:09.210 in traveling the world and finding all the edible plants and finding all the 00:38:09.210 --> 00:38:10.710 trees and finding all the mushrooms. 00:38:10.710 --> 00:38:12.000 And a lot of people are into that. 00:38:13.410 --> 00:38:16.500 And I think that's only a symptom of the disconnect. 00:38:17.819 --> 00:38:20.910 I think if you truly wanted to be connected to nature, you would 00:38:20.910 --> 00:38:22.710 connect to the land where you live. 00:38:23.490 --> 00:38:27.480 And that's why I talk up Pennsylvania so much in my videos. 00:38:28.140 --> 00:38:29.470 I want to feel connected to. 00:38:30.870 --> 00:38:34.020 I'm trying every single day, I'm trying by learning the names of the other 00:38:34.020 --> 00:38:37.560 organisms by learning the different ecosystems, by eating the things by 00:38:37.560 --> 00:38:40.950 drinking the Springwater, that's here by hunting the animals that live around here. 00:38:41.370 --> 00:38:43.649 I want to feel like I belong to this place. 00:38:44.609 --> 00:38:50.310 And I think that's why I kind of stopped focusing so much exclusively on mushrooms. 00:38:50.730 --> 00:38:53.440 And I went to trees because at a certain point with. 00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:58.120 You just want to start traveling and seeing what mushrooms grow in Malaysia 00:38:58.150 --> 00:39:03.160 or what mushrooms grow in Mexico, or what mushrooms grow up in Alaska rather than 00:39:03.220 --> 00:39:06.819 let me just stay here and learn what's here because the important thing here 00:39:06.819 --> 00:39:08.470 is I want to feel connected to home. 00:39:08.470 --> 00:39:09.700 I want a home base. 00:39:10.359 --> 00:39:12.549 And so I thought, well, let's just shift gears a little bit and 00:39:12.549 --> 00:39:13.750 learn the trees that are here. 00:39:14.080 --> 00:39:16.420 And after I'm done with the trees, maybe I'll learn something else. 00:39:16.450 --> 00:39:19.569 But to a large degree, I think it's going to be trying to 00:39:19.569 --> 00:39:21.220 connect to Western Pennsylvania. 00:39:22.155 --> 00:39:25.395 Rather than traveling the world, trying to connect to different 00:39:25.395 --> 00:39:27.075 species that grow all over the world. 00:39:27.465 --> 00:39:30.525 I don't think it's a bad thing, but if your goal is to connect to nature, I 00:39:30.525 --> 00:39:35.415 think you have to put limitations on what nature is to you, because I don't 00:39:35.415 --> 00:39:36.765 think it's the whole entire world. 00:39:36.765 --> 00:39:40.515 I don't think humans are very good at conceptualizing what the globe actually 00:39:40.515 --> 00:39:45.015 is or what the world is, but Homebase, I think people can conceptualize that 00:39:45.255 --> 00:39:49.425 and you see the surrogates, you know, people connect to a sports team or 00:39:49.425 --> 00:39:51.045 to their local township or their. 00:39:51.825 --> 00:39:53.265 Alma mater their college. 00:39:53.295 --> 00:39:57.134 I think these are all surrogates for like Western Pennsylvania or the mountains 00:39:57.134 --> 00:40:00.285 here in Western or central Pennsylvania is where the mountains would be. 00:40:00.285 --> 00:40:01.515 But you get the point. 00:40:02.535 --> 00:40:05.625 I like that, you know, and you're right. 00:40:05.625 --> 00:40:05.805 It is. 00:40:06.855 --> 00:40:11.085 People are quite often in day-to-day conversations. 00:40:11.085 --> 00:40:13.634 I find people are of course disconnected. 00:40:13.815 --> 00:40:18.015 Uh, I think social media, uh, having devices in front of us all 00:40:18.015 --> 00:40:22.575 the time, the level of connectivity that we have in interconnectivity 00:40:22.575 --> 00:40:23.985 that all of our devices have. 00:40:24.615 --> 00:40:27.944 I forgot to put my phone on, uh, uh, airplane mode. 00:40:27.944 --> 00:40:31.035 When we're talking, you might've heard a beep come on through, and it's 00:40:31.045 --> 00:40:34.964 always these little things taking our attention away from just being present. 00:40:36.210 --> 00:40:40.680 And that doesn't mean that you have to travel far out into the middle of 00:40:40.680 --> 00:40:46.350 nowhere in order to be present, just slowing down and taking a look in your 00:40:46.350 --> 00:40:50.310 own backyard and your own park and taking your time to go through the different 00:40:50.310 --> 00:40:54.270 plants and the different animals that you see and observing their behavior. 00:40:54.270 --> 00:40:59.370 And what grows by, by what I think has got a very calming 00:40:59.370 --> 00:41:03.630 effect and a very beneficial effect for people's mental health. 00:41:04.800 --> 00:41:08.220 Tough when you're competing with, with all of this and for 00:41:08.220 --> 00:41:11.340 you, I mean, you're out side. 00:41:11.850 --> 00:41:13.200 We see you outside. 00:41:13.230 --> 00:41:14.970 We see outside on YouTube. 00:41:15.480 --> 00:41:19.140 People are back on their phone and it's kind of a funny little circle 00:41:19.140 --> 00:41:22.110 and you've got a phone or some device that you're filming yourself 00:41:22.110 --> 00:41:25.770 with and, and talking to it's. 00:41:26.390 --> 00:41:28.800 It's not like it's something that we're ever going to be 00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:30.170 able to completely break away. 00:41:31.845 --> 00:41:35.925 And it sounds like you found a bit of a recipe to be able to embrace the 00:41:35.925 --> 00:41:41.175 technology to a certain degree, to help facilitate that you facilitate 00:41:41.175 --> 00:41:42.855 you to be able to get outside. 00:41:43.845 --> 00:41:46.665 I mean, I, I see the irony in it as well. 00:41:46.665 --> 00:41:49.905 Like brain technology out and technology has always been with humans. 00:41:49.905 --> 00:41:53.355 I mean the bow and arrow that's technology, that rifle that's technology, 00:41:53.385 --> 00:41:55.035 traps, that's technology as well. 00:41:55.615 --> 00:41:56.235 I guess it's how you. 00:41:57.330 --> 00:41:58.500 But for me, I'm very careful. 00:41:58.569 --> 00:42:00.600 I'm very intentional with technology. 00:42:00.600 --> 00:42:02.250 Like I understand what I'm using. 00:42:02.430 --> 00:42:04.170 I see what it's doing to my life. 00:42:04.980 --> 00:42:07.049 And I see what it does to other people as well. 00:42:07.049 --> 00:42:10.649 So very careful about what I choose to bring into my life. 00:42:11.040 --> 00:42:13.740 And that's why I just, I don't own a lot of stuff to begin with. 00:42:13.770 --> 00:42:15.420 I mean, look at this room, it's like a plant back there. 00:42:15.420 --> 00:42:18.420 There's a pull-up bar back in that corner to keep me nice and strong. 00:42:18.690 --> 00:42:21.000 So I don't have a lot of stuff in my life to begin with. 00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:21.569 And I learned this. 00:42:22.500 --> 00:42:26.880 Years ago from a guy named Stuart Wilde, which has just touch things in your life. 00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:31.470 And if you don't need it, get rid of it, literally just go through everything in 00:42:31.470 --> 00:42:33.090 your life and just touch it and hold it. 00:42:33.390 --> 00:42:34.500 Do you need this thing? 00:42:34.500 --> 00:42:36.870 Would it be better just to give it to somebody else or to just get 00:42:36.870 --> 00:42:38.790 rid of it, then just get rid of it. 00:42:39.390 --> 00:42:41.310 But when I go out into nature, I mean, you said something about it. 00:42:42.255 --> 00:42:42.675 I don't. 00:42:42.675 --> 00:42:46.425 I mean, that getting out into nature for me, that gets me away from phones 00:42:46.425 --> 00:42:48.045 because I don't have a smartphone. 00:42:48.375 --> 00:42:52.695 So I, once I leave the house for any reason whatsoever, I do 00:42:52.695 --> 00:42:54.045 not have access to the internet. 00:42:54.375 --> 00:42:58.545 And sometimes I'm gone for days on these trips, which means I'm not 00:42:58.545 --> 00:43:00.195 constantly checking a little device. 00:43:00.195 --> 00:43:03.375 I mean, I can check the time on a flip phone, check my alarm 00:43:03.375 --> 00:43:04.965 clock, or I can check texts. 00:43:05.265 --> 00:43:09.149 But as far as the internet, I can leave that behind for a couple of days, which 00:43:09.149 --> 00:43:12.930 is kind of interesting to say for somebody who leads an online business and it has 00:43:12.930 --> 00:43:17.100 to be counted to a lot of students, but I try my best to, to let people know, 00:43:17.100 --> 00:43:19.799 you know, I might be gone for a couple of days and I tell people where I'm 00:43:19.799 --> 00:43:23.460 going, but even when I'm out in nature, I don't have a lot of technology with me. 00:43:23.460 --> 00:43:26.279 It's largely me and the trees and the mushrooms, and just 00:43:26.399 --> 00:43:27.390 trying to have a good time. 00:43:28.740 --> 00:43:30.600 So are mushrooms still a pretty big part of your. 00:43:32.130 --> 00:43:32.310 Yeah. 00:43:32.310 --> 00:43:33.810 I mean, there'll always be a part of my life. 00:43:33.990 --> 00:43:34.260 Yeah. 00:43:34.560 --> 00:43:39.060 It's just, they're not always going to be the focus of the content that I teach 00:43:39.660 --> 00:43:44.580 because a lot of other people are doing it these days and they're doing it very well. 00:43:44.940 --> 00:43:47.340 And how many times can you talk about Morel mushrooms and how many 00:43:47.340 --> 00:43:48.450 times can you talk about chicken? 00:43:49.560 --> 00:43:51.450 I think you have to naturally evolve. 00:43:51.570 --> 00:43:54.420 You know, it's kind of interesting because I used to play in this thrash metal band. 00:43:55.410 --> 00:43:58.319 But that defined a certain period in my life. 00:43:58.589 --> 00:44:01.770 And I'm glad I moved away from it, but there's some people who 00:44:01.770 --> 00:44:06.750 still play that thrash metal until they're 50, 60, 70 years old. 00:44:07.140 --> 00:44:11.250 And they still do the thing that defined them as a kid or as an adolescent. 00:44:13.600 --> 00:44:14.920 And they don't move beyond that. 00:44:15.460 --> 00:44:18.790 And I'm wondering if some of these things that I'm doing right now, even 00:44:18.790 --> 00:44:21.790 teaching mushrooms, even teaching trees, if this is almost like an 00:44:21.819 --> 00:44:23.830 adolescent stage in my develop. 00:44:24.705 --> 00:44:28.395 And I'm going to move into a deeper realm, teaching people about nature. 00:44:28.815 --> 00:44:32.475 You know, I don't know what that's going to look like in the future, but I don't 00:44:32.475 --> 00:44:36.135 know if I'm going to focus so much on the, what as much as I will on the why. 00:44:36.975 --> 00:44:40.905 And I think a lot of people these days on Instagram, on Facebook, myself 00:44:40.905 --> 00:44:42.315 included, we focus too much on the. 00:44:43.064 --> 00:44:45.705 Like literally, if you go on any nature walk and I know I talked 00:44:45.705 --> 00:44:49.335 up nature walks before and I still strongly recommend going on them. 00:44:49.335 --> 00:44:50.055 I love them. 00:44:50.115 --> 00:44:51.734 I still lead them from time to time. 00:44:52.305 --> 00:44:55.335 There's a big focus on the, what here's what this is. 00:44:55.575 --> 00:44:56.924 This is what this thing is doing. 00:44:57.615 --> 00:45:01.665 This is the name of this thing, but less do you hear? 00:45:01.665 --> 00:45:03.524 Here's why it's important to be out here. 00:45:03.734 --> 00:45:05.024 Here's why this thing is here. 00:45:05.024 --> 00:45:06.765 Here's why it's important to learn this thing. 00:45:06.884 --> 00:45:10.194 Here's why you and this thing should develop a connection with one. 00:45:11.430 --> 00:45:14.370 And I see myself probably being pulled in that direction in the 00:45:14.370 --> 00:45:14.850 future. 00:45:15.480 --> 00:45:16.980 I think that's a very smart move. 00:45:17.010 --> 00:45:21.420 I think it's a natural progression and it's completely counter-intuitive 00:45:21.420 --> 00:45:23.490 to how most things are approached. 00:45:23.880 --> 00:45:29.550 Everything starts with, from the, the, what, the, how the why is what 00:45:29.550 --> 00:45:33.300 drives people and really the why is what people can identify with. 00:45:33.330 --> 00:45:37.660 I think Simon Sineck you ever see the, the golden circle and the why? 00:45:37.660 --> 00:45:39.000 And you're nodding your head there. 00:45:40.165 --> 00:45:47.265 The why is why somebody will want to actually learn these different things 00:45:47.295 --> 00:45:51.405 and retain it and share it with others and actually gain value out of it 00:45:51.705 --> 00:45:53.655 because it'll, it'll speak to them. 00:45:54.045 --> 00:46:03.015 That's um, uh, that's it, I've never heard somebody talk about foraging or 00:46:03.015 --> 00:46:06.645 nutrition in that sort of a perspective. 00:46:06.645 --> 00:46:07.695 I'm sure other people have. 00:46:07.695 --> 00:46:08.415 I've just never heard. 00:46:09.615 --> 00:46:11.625 How do you see that working? 00:46:12.285 --> 00:46:15.085 I agree with what you said, you don't hear a lot of people talking about it. 00:46:15.085 --> 00:46:19.125 And I think it's because on social media, it doesn't do as well, like 00:46:19.605 --> 00:46:23.505 lists of things that you found, the names of things and the sexy bird 00:46:23.505 --> 00:46:27.135 that you found over here, the mushroom or this cool shot of something. 00:46:28.004 --> 00:46:29.085 That does very well. 00:46:29.085 --> 00:46:31.004 I mean, those things tend to go viral. 00:46:31.004 --> 00:46:32.714 You get all the likes, you get all the shares, you get all 00:46:32.714 --> 00:46:33.765 the followers because of them. 00:46:34.274 --> 00:46:37.725 But when you start like philosophizing, people start rolling their eyes and 00:46:37.725 --> 00:46:40.274 they just want to scroll onto the next thing, because it's more than three 00:46:40.274 --> 00:46:44.595 sentences long, you know, because a why can't always be summed up in 00:46:44.595 --> 00:46:49.515 like a fridge magnet, quote, you need explanations with a lot of this. 00:46:50.819 --> 00:46:52.710 And so it takes some time to get into that. 00:46:52.770 --> 00:46:57.149 And I think people's attention spans are just shot these days because of 00:46:57.149 --> 00:46:59.009 social media to a very large degree. 00:46:59.009 --> 00:47:00.689 It's just, we want things right now. 00:47:00.689 --> 00:47:03.720 We want to see the image and then we want to be onto the next thing. 00:47:04.350 --> 00:47:07.890 And it's very hard to capture someone's attention with a Y just 00:47:07.890 --> 00:47:11.040 by posting something super quickly and letting them capture that. 00:47:11.069 --> 00:47:11.240 Oh yeah. 00:47:11.240 --> 00:47:11.390 Yeah. 00:47:11.430 --> 00:47:11.819 Got that. 00:47:11.819 --> 00:47:12.660 And then move onto the next. 00:47:13.560 --> 00:47:15.750 It just takes more brain power, I think. 00:47:15.750 --> 00:47:18.810 And it takes more thought and contemplation to understand 00:47:18.810 --> 00:47:21.779 someone's why, and to figure out actually what your why is as well. 00:47:22.529 --> 00:47:25.860 And so I'm trying to figure out how to navigate that in the future, 00:47:25.860 --> 00:47:31.140 trying to stay relevant, teaching people online, but maybe in a longer 00:47:31.140 --> 00:47:35.549 form content, which might not do as well on Instagram or on Facebook. 00:47:35.700 --> 00:47:40.950 Certainly not on Tech-Talk good luck trying to get that stuff 00:47:40.950 --> 00:47:42.000 out there on Tik TOK, but. 00:47:43.315 --> 00:47:43.884 But I dunno. 00:47:43.884 --> 00:47:49.345 I mean, maybe it'll be more, uh, smaller circles of people where I'll 00:47:49.345 --> 00:47:52.435 lead events and they'll come and we'll spend some time in the woods for 00:47:52.435 --> 00:47:54.295 awhile because it takes a long time. 00:47:54.295 --> 00:47:56.875 It's not going to even take a three-day weekend event to get 00:47:56.875 --> 00:47:58.255 this kind of information across. 00:47:58.945 --> 00:48:00.235 But I don't know what that looks like yet. 00:48:00.235 --> 00:48:03.384 It's just, I'm thinking about these things moving forward. 00:48:04.825 --> 00:48:07.435 I like that, you know, you keep that in the back of your 00:48:07.435 --> 00:48:08.485 head, it will become a real. 00:48:09.630 --> 00:48:13.740 It's for whatever reason what they say, what a man thinks he will do. 00:48:13.860 --> 00:48:14.190 Right. 00:48:14.760 --> 00:48:18.600 Whether it's manifest destiny, whether it's we think about this thing long 00:48:18.600 --> 00:48:22.950 enough and all of a sudden, uh, our perspective changes and everything 00:48:22.950 --> 00:48:26.550 kind of rolls into place and say, oh yeah, see, it was always happening. 00:48:26.820 --> 00:48:31.230 And you kind of reframe it in your head or is it. 00:48:32.549 --> 00:48:35.910 If it's like the matrix and you're all three, your own destiny essentially. 00:48:36.180 --> 00:48:40.350 But I, I firmly believe that if you continue down that path and you 00:48:40.350 --> 00:48:42.870 keep that in the back of your head, you will be successful with it. 00:48:43.109 --> 00:48:48.060 You might have to do the what in order to generate enough people and eyes 00:48:48.060 --> 00:48:50.160 looking at it in order to create the why. 00:48:50.310 --> 00:48:55.470 And it seems that's kind of the way now, but, uh, I can definitely see 00:48:55.470 --> 00:48:58.730 that as a, uh, as something that would be beneficial for people to. 00:48:59.520 --> 00:49:00.210 To wrap their heads 00:49:00.210 --> 00:49:00.569 around. 00:49:00.930 --> 00:49:01.230 Yeah. 00:49:01.230 --> 00:49:05.609 You know, even when I have conversations with people and they, they assume and 00:49:05.609 --> 00:49:09.420 rightfully so, they assume that I geek out on like the names of things, you 00:49:09.420 --> 00:49:14.910 know, the plants that they found in the mushrooms that they found, but that stuff 00:49:14.910 --> 00:49:16.710 just doesn't like penetrate my soul. 00:49:16.740 --> 00:49:20.250 You know, I would so much rather hear somebody just like share 00:49:20.250 --> 00:49:22.200 some very deep challenges that they're going through with. 00:49:22.995 --> 00:49:27.885 Or the relationship with love or the relationship with money or what drives 00:49:27.885 --> 00:49:30.885 them, you know, even what drives them to want to put names on things 00:49:30.885 --> 00:49:31.995 like, I want to know that stuff. 00:49:31.995 --> 00:49:34.515 And I think people fear getting into those areas. 00:49:36.135 --> 00:49:36.435 Well, I don't know. 00:49:37.545 --> 00:49:40.245 A lot of humans are very good at just like tapping into those 00:49:40.245 --> 00:49:42.165 deeper selves, myself included. 00:49:42.165 --> 00:49:43.275 Like it's hard to get there. 00:49:43.425 --> 00:49:48.285 It's a lot easier to put a name on something than to express why you love 00:49:48.285 --> 00:49:51.555 such a thing and why somebody else might want to fall in love with it as well. 00:49:51.555 --> 00:49:53.535 And in fact, you never see the word love being tossed around 00:49:53.535 --> 00:49:54.585 in any ecological circles. 00:49:54.585 --> 00:49:55.125 Anyway. 00:49:55.515 --> 00:49:58.965 I mean, if you read ecology textbooks or botany textbooks, 00:49:59.445 --> 00:50:03.645 I don't think the word love is printed in those texts once at all. 00:50:04.875 --> 00:50:07.065 And it's like, do the authors not love what they do? 00:50:07.065 --> 00:50:08.655 Well, why not put it in there? 00:50:09.015 --> 00:50:11.385 Like how amazing would that be to see the word love in some of those 00:50:11.385 --> 00:50:13.335 books and to actually mean it as well. 00:50:14.685 --> 00:50:15.975 I think people crave it though. 00:50:16.395 --> 00:50:18.975 I think there's a reason why people are drawn to certain 00:50:18.975 --> 00:50:20.535 things within social media. 00:50:20.535 --> 00:50:25.185 I know that the reward, the dopamine release and all the rest of how we 00:50:25.185 --> 00:50:27.765 look at something, you got your fix, anything you want in the next one. 00:50:27.765 --> 00:50:31.035 And you're trying to keep that up, but I think that's creating a deficit in 00:50:31.035 --> 00:50:36.285 people's lives, which is why long form conversations are becoming more of a. 00:50:38.175 --> 00:50:39.105 An accepted thing. 00:50:39.135 --> 00:50:43.665 Like you have a podcast, the idea of a podcast 20 years ago, 00:50:43.665 --> 00:50:45.195 when people would, would laugh. 00:50:45.225 --> 00:50:46.515 Who's going to want to take a look at this. 00:50:46.515 --> 00:50:51.585 People want that now, because they want to, they either lack that 00:50:51.615 --> 00:50:54.315 connectivity within their life currently. 00:50:54.525 --> 00:50:57.435 And they wanted somehow feel it and have it involved. 00:50:57.435 --> 00:51:01.545 Or they're, they're realizing that there's more. 00:51:03.420 --> 00:51:05.520 That they can get them justice. 00:51:05.550 --> 00:51:09.000 What a simple snippet will give them were a list of the five best 00:51:09.000 --> 00:51:10.050 things that you're going to get. 00:51:10.080 --> 00:51:13.050 It doesn't speak to their deep seated. 00:51:13.140 --> 00:51:13.740 Why? 00:51:16.110 --> 00:51:16.680 Interesting. 00:51:18.630 --> 00:51:19.740 Well, is there anything. 00:51:20.790 --> 00:51:22.230 We should be talking about that. 00:51:22.230 --> 00:51:24.600 We haven't talked about, this is a very different podcast than 00:51:24.600 --> 00:51:25.680 what I thought it was going to be. 00:51:25.680 --> 00:51:26.760 When I first got into it. 00:51:26.760 --> 00:51:29.400 I have a whole bunch of different notes, but I really enjoy 00:51:29.430 --> 00:51:30.720 kind of where this has gone. 00:51:31.230 --> 00:51:34.230 Is there anything that you think we should be touching on that perhaps we haven't. 00:51:34.650 --> 00:51:34.860 I mean, 00:51:34.860 --> 00:51:37.290 not that I can think of, but you're not the first person to say that. 00:51:37.290 --> 00:51:40.080 I think a lot of people want to steer the conversation one way and I 00:51:40.080 --> 00:51:41.610 tend to go off in another direction. 00:51:42.660 --> 00:51:43.590 So that's all on me. 00:51:43.590 --> 00:51:43.890 I think. 00:51:43.890 --> 00:51:44.910 I don't think it's your fault. 00:51:44.910 --> 00:51:44.970 I 00:51:44.970 --> 00:51:45.930 think not at all. 00:51:45.930 --> 00:51:47.220 I'm happy to ride the direction. 00:51:48.000 --> 00:51:51.450 Yeah, whichever way the, uh, the conversation goes is there's no need 00:51:51.450 --> 00:51:53.130 to steer it in a certain, certain area. 00:51:53.370 --> 00:51:56.550 I much prefer just to have an open and honest conversation, rather than 00:51:56.550 --> 00:52:00.630 have a list of questions that we kind of go through and, and, and pay Goff. 00:52:00.660 --> 00:52:04.530 I think the value to the listener is far superior. 00:52:04.530 --> 00:52:09.030 If we're able to talk about these things that most people aren't because not 00:52:09.030 --> 00:52:10.500 everybody has that comfort level though. 00:52:11.940 --> 00:52:13.710 So you're not going to ask me what my favorite mushroom. 00:52:15.675 --> 00:52:16.845 Were you waiting for that one? 00:52:18.615 --> 00:52:19.575 It's a common question. 00:52:20.055 --> 00:52:20.925 I believe it is. 00:52:20.985 --> 00:52:21.825 I believe it is. 00:52:25.545 --> 00:52:28.965 But your relationship with cash is probably not a more common question. 00:52:30.615 --> 00:52:31.605 Yeah, not at all. 00:52:31.605 --> 00:52:32.955 I mean, that got me thinking as well. 00:52:32.955 --> 00:52:36.045 Like I really wonder what my relationship with cash is. 00:52:36.134 --> 00:52:37.335 Whether you're holding cash or not. 00:52:37.335 --> 00:52:39.315 I mean, is it even smart to hold cash these days? 00:52:39.315 --> 00:52:39.795 I don't know. 00:52:41.085 --> 00:52:41.495 I don't know. 00:52:41.535 --> 00:52:45.465 Friend of mine, he shows me a bunch of gold that he's collecting and okay. 00:52:45.495 --> 00:52:46.154 I get it. 00:52:46.154 --> 00:52:48.735 I get the rationale behind it from a prepper standpoint. 00:52:48.765 --> 00:52:51.585 Other people talk about everything, moving to a digital currency. 00:52:51.585 --> 00:52:52.035 Okay. 00:52:52.035 --> 00:52:55.585 I can, I can see why that would be a. 00:52:56.834 --> 00:52:58.904 Um, what did they say in fight club? 00:52:58.935 --> 00:53:00.645 What you own owns you, right? 00:53:01.064 --> 00:53:03.785 The more things that you want to own, the more things you're tied to it. 00:53:03.785 --> 00:53:06.165 And it was kind of like that, what you're seeing before you pick it 00:53:06.165 --> 00:53:08.924 up, you hold it, do I need this? 00:53:09.674 --> 00:53:13.665 Well, you probably say no to most of those objects in your life. 00:53:13.754 --> 00:53:14.444 Do you want it? 00:53:14.475 --> 00:53:15.884 Well, kind of, right. 00:53:15.884 --> 00:53:18.884 I kind of want it cause I like to have stuff and I want to have things around 00:53:18.884 --> 00:53:23.984 me and I've been collecting for so long and, but is it bringing me any joy? 00:53:25.575 --> 00:53:26.235 Good question. 00:53:28.335 --> 00:53:32.445 The other thing is a lot of the things that you own end up tying you down, right? 00:53:32.445 --> 00:53:34.455 You can't just take off at the drop of a hat. 00:53:34.455 --> 00:53:36.765 You can't head out into the Bush for a long period of time. 00:53:36.765 --> 00:53:40.695 If there's things that you have to maintain or, uh, or look after 00:53:40.695 --> 00:53:44.205 are afraid that they're, that something's going to happen to them. 00:53:44.445 --> 00:53:44.654 Yeah. 00:53:44.654 --> 00:53:47.865 I mean, one thing about money and I've realized this over the 00:53:47.865 --> 00:53:51.465 years, is that for me, it's not about buying the fanciest stuff. 00:53:52.830 --> 00:53:57.960 But I see that in order to conserve land today, you need a lot of money to do so. 00:53:59.100 --> 00:54:05.100 Like if there's a developer coming in and tearing apart, this pristine wooded 00:54:05.100 --> 00:54:09.420 area that maybe has a hundred year old Oak trees in it, because it was sold off. 00:54:09.420 --> 00:54:11.010 And now they're going to put a housing plan there. 00:54:11.400 --> 00:54:14.010 If you don't have more money than that, then that developer, 00:54:14.010 --> 00:54:15.060 you're not going to get it. 00:54:16.170 --> 00:54:19.950 You could say, look, but I'm going to take care of this wooded area. 00:54:19.950 --> 00:54:20.600 I'm going to. 00:54:21.510 --> 00:54:25.320 Plant more trees here, or I'm going to turn this into a nature preserve. 00:54:25.320 --> 00:54:28.050 And so a lot of people are going to benefit for their mental 00:54:28.050 --> 00:54:30.390 health, for their spiritual side and all this different stuff. 00:54:30.690 --> 00:54:31.710 People don't care about that. 00:54:31.710 --> 00:54:32.730 They just want your money. 00:54:32.790 --> 00:54:33.450 That's it. 00:54:34.200 --> 00:54:37.530 And it's not like I love money, but I understand that if land is to be 00:54:37.530 --> 00:54:41.700 conserved today in the 21st century, money has to be part of that deal. 00:54:42.720 --> 00:54:47.070 And unfortunately, a lot of people don't donate to land conservation. 00:54:48.195 --> 00:54:51.915 And so that's why through my online courses and any money that I generate 00:54:52.275 --> 00:54:55.515 a good portion of that money actually goes directly to land conservation. 00:54:55.515 --> 00:55:00.435 And it's not like I don't trust people to donate on their own, but I know that 00:55:00.435 --> 00:55:04.185 as long as they give me some money, I'm going to funnel that to land conservation. 00:55:04.575 --> 00:55:07.095 And so that's another relationship to money that I'm figuring out over 00:55:07.095 --> 00:55:09.585 the years, that there is a direct connection between money and. 00:55:10.410 --> 00:55:11.819 It's been that way for a long time. 00:55:11.819 --> 00:55:14.970 I don't think it's going away anytime soon, but man, if I had the money 00:55:14.970 --> 00:55:20.370 that like bill gates has, or Elon Musk has imagine how much magical 00:55:20.370 --> 00:55:21.630 you could protect with that kind of. 00:55:22.350 --> 00:55:26.760 Just imagine like any parcel of land, you would never be able 00:55:26.760 --> 00:55:28.200 to develop on it ever again. 00:55:28.530 --> 00:55:31.830 And not saying, in some instances it's not wise to develop, like I understand 00:55:31.830 --> 00:55:35.460 in some areas it might be necessary in order to raise some people out of poverty 00:55:35.850 --> 00:55:38.280 in order to bring more value to the area. 00:55:38.280 --> 00:55:42.390 Economically speaking, I'm not like totally anti-development because I live 00:55:42.390 --> 00:55:46.300 in an area that was developed, but a lot of it's just reckless development. 00:55:46.330 --> 00:55:49.680 I think a lot of people understand that and you got some money. 00:55:49.680 --> 00:55:51.020 You can prevent a lot of this reckless. 00:55:52.410 --> 00:55:54.360 I don't have that money yet, yet, 00:55:54.450 --> 00:56:00.600 but you watch, you watch, you put that in your head, starting to set that roadmap in 00:56:00.600 --> 00:56:05.820 order to get yourself there and you'll get there might take awhile, um, surrounding 00:56:05.820 --> 00:56:08.940 yourself with people who've already done that path and gotten there and learning 00:56:08.940 --> 00:56:10.950 some of the shortcuts definitely helps. 00:56:11.270 --> 00:56:14.220 It sounds like you've got a few people that you're, uh, you're using 00:56:14.220 --> 00:56:18.000 as mentors as you, uh, have been building and growing your business. 00:56:19.155 --> 00:56:19.785 Important. 00:56:20.175 --> 00:56:20.655 Okay. 00:56:20.715 --> 00:56:24.945 Well, I mean, that was, uh, we, we didn't go down to the favorite mushrooms. 00:56:24.945 --> 00:56:28.725 We didn't go down the, uh, uh, the five point checklist of what to look 00:56:28.725 --> 00:56:31.875 for, but I think what, uh, what you brought up and what we did touch 00:56:31.875 --> 00:56:34.335 on, which is getting to the why. 00:56:34.365 --> 00:56:38.595 And I really liked the, the concept of the hi. 00:56:39.465 --> 00:56:39.825 Okay. 00:56:39.825 --> 00:56:43.365 So these plants are healthy and they have medicinal benefits with the fact that 00:56:43.365 --> 00:56:46.395 you're going out and learning and getting outside and you're searching for them. 00:56:46.395 --> 00:56:51.675 And it's essentially putting you into a forced presence is extremely healthy. 00:56:51.735 --> 00:56:57.975 And the benefits from that are, uh, could, could meet or exceed what the 00:56:57.975 --> 00:56:59.475 plant is actually going to do for you. 00:56:59.925 --> 00:57:01.065 I like that perspective. 00:57:01.095 --> 00:57:02.325 I haven't heard people. 00:57:02.505 --> 00:57:04.045 I haven't heard people talk about it like that. 00:57:05.610 --> 00:57:05.820 Yeah. 00:57:05.820 --> 00:57:08.640 And maybe because it's obvious to a lot of people, you know, anytime I 00:57:08.640 --> 00:57:12.330 see a study on the benefits of nature connection, or, you know, people in 00:57:12.330 --> 00:57:15.480 the hospital who have access to a window can see outside actually heal 00:57:15.480 --> 00:57:18.180 faster than the people who don't to me. 00:57:18.180 --> 00:57:20.910 It's like, of course, of course, of course, of course. 00:57:20.940 --> 00:57:22.500 It's just so obvious to me. 00:57:23.430 --> 00:57:26.610 And it's kind of funny in a way that money is being put 00:57:26.610 --> 00:57:28.110 towards those kinds of studies. 00:57:28.110 --> 00:57:31.740 It's like, well, how many more of the studies do you need in order for us to 00:57:31.740 --> 00:57:34.950 finally change our connection to nature, and actually to spend more time with wild 00:57:34.950 --> 00:57:36.870 places and to protect more wild places. 00:57:37.320 --> 00:57:39.720 And so it's almost like studying trees, you know, with trees. 00:57:39.720 --> 00:57:41.970 They're so obvious in the right in front of you. 00:57:42.640 --> 00:57:44.440 That people just don't see them. 00:57:45.070 --> 00:57:46.360 Why would I want to learn trees? 00:57:46.390 --> 00:57:49.180 No, it's important to learn trees because you understand ecology a lot more. 00:57:49.180 --> 00:57:51.490 If you learn trees compared to learning mushrooms or learning plants or 00:57:51.490 --> 00:57:55.630 learning birds, you know, when I was filming this tree course, I could be 00:57:55.630 --> 00:58:00.240 looking directly at a tree, putting my camera right there and people will 00:58:00.250 --> 00:58:01.660 always say, what are you looking at? 00:58:03.100 --> 00:58:04.390 What insect do you see? 00:58:04.630 --> 00:58:05.530 Or what bird do you see? 00:58:06.375 --> 00:58:08.174 Every time without fail. 00:58:08.205 --> 00:58:10.694 There's never been one instance where somebody said, what 00:58:10.694 --> 00:58:11.775 tree are you looking at? 00:58:12.134 --> 00:58:14.235 And I'm right in front of the tree. 00:58:14.265 --> 00:58:17.505 They always a hundred percent of the time think you're looking at something else. 00:58:18.105 --> 00:58:21.045 And I say, I eventually started saying, you know what, you're going to be 00:58:21.045 --> 00:58:24.795 really disappointed what I have to say, but I'm looking at red spruce 00:58:25.935 --> 00:58:30.915 and they're like, oh, something on like an insect on red spruce, Nana. 00:58:30.944 --> 00:58:32.055 Like, I'm just looking at the tree. 00:58:32.055 --> 00:58:34.275 Like I'm studying this tree or I'm filming this tree. 00:58:35.130 --> 00:58:36.840 And it catches them off guard every single time. 00:58:36.840 --> 00:58:38.430 But it's the same thing with these nature studies. 00:58:38.430 --> 00:58:41.759 It's like, it's so obvious that you would spend more time in 00:58:41.759 --> 00:58:43.020 nature and you would feel better. 00:58:43.050 --> 00:58:45.960 But for some reason, people don't make that connection and they'll just sit 00:58:45.960 --> 00:58:47.730 inside and sit in their office all day. 00:58:47.730 --> 00:58:51.930 And I understand a lot of people have to do that now, but your life 00:58:51.930 --> 00:58:54.540 will be so much better to the extent that you could spend more time 00:58:54.540 --> 00:58:56.430 outside, as much as you possibly can. 00:58:56.460 --> 00:58:59.970 Even 20 minutes a day can make a world of a difference in your life. 00:59:01.560 --> 00:59:01.980 Adam. 00:59:02.640 --> 00:59:04.710 I love the conversation. 00:59:04.890 --> 00:59:08.370 Thank you very much for being on this Silvercore Podcast. 00:59:08.430 --> 00:59:08.759 This is 00:59:08.759 --> 00:59:09.509 fantastic. 00:59:10.020 --> 00:59:10.589 Hey, my pleasure. 00:59:10.620 --> 00:59:11.460 Thanks for inviting me. 00:59:11.670 --> 00:59:12.779 We should do it again sometime. 00:59:13.080 --> 00:59:13.650 I think we 00:59:13.650 --> 00:59:13.980 will.