210 episodes
The Poor Prole’s Almanac The Poor Prole’s Alamanac
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- Leisure
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4.9 • 719 Ratings
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Agroecology in a world where everything seems to be getting worse.
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Reflections on 60 Years of Tree Crops with Robert Seip
Through a confluence of events I was connected with one of the elders of the tree crops world, Bob Seip, and was invited to his farm, buried in rural Pennsylvania. Bob, or Robert, depending on how you know him, has seen a lot at 94, and after walking around the property buried in a foot of snow, it became clear he didn’t feel remotely finished yet.
We gathered around his kitchen table, surrounded by recording equipment and dogs and bowls of cracked hickories and butternuts, outside of cell phone services, talking about 70 years of farming and memories of his contemporaries and the trees that covered his landscape. Upon arriving, Zach Elfers, a prior guest on the podcast, shared his own stories of Bob. Robert’s daughter, Emilie Swackhammer and her husband Scott joined us under the cocktail tree, a tree next to the home with countless grafts, some of which may be cultivars thought to have been lost. For everything Robert has forgotten, his wife Cindy remembers and candidly chimes in between making sure everyone is fed.
There’s nothing quite like a conversation around a kitchen table about the things we are passionate about. This was a joy to share and I am incredibly indebted to the Seip family, as well as Zach & Carissa for sharing the moment with me. Of course, no good deed can go unpunished, as it goes, and after trekking offroad as the sun set to view some of the oldest planted trees on the property, my phone went missing and was only found by flashlight. Further, despite bringing backup recording gear, because of course when it’s the worst possible time for something to go wrong, it will, we still managed to have some audio issues. The most prominent issues are at the beginning of the episode, so please make it through the first few moments and it gets better.
Read more about his farm here:
https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming-news/every-tree-tells-a-story-arborist-shares-the-history-behind-10-of-his-favorites/article_9fb7fb16-e238-11ed-8de0-4bc5a36bb310.html
To support this podcast, join our patreon for early episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac
For PPA Writing Content, visit: www.agroecologies.org
For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com
For PPA Merch, visit: www.poorproles.com
For PPA Native Plants, visit: www.nativenurseries.org
To hear Tomorrow, Today, our sister podcast, visit: www.tomorrowtodaypodcast.org/ -
Reclaiming our Cemeteries!
This episode is a callback to an earlier episode on Tomorrow, Today, with Dr. Scott Cave. We chat about cemeteries, their unique place as third spaces, how they can be sources of community and radical ecology work, and more!
This is one of my favorites so if you didn't listen before, listen now!
Check out Citizens Cemetery (now Citizen Botany) on Instagram at @CtznBotany
To support this podcast, join our patreon for early episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac
For PPA Writing Content, visit: www.agroecologies.org
For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com
For PPA Merch, visit: www.poorproles.com
For PPA Native Plants, visit: www.nativenurseries.org
To hear Tomorrow, Today, our sister podcast, visit: www.tomorrowtodaypodcast.org/ -
Agroecology in Rojava
In this episode, we’re joined by Berivan & Anya from Defend Rojava. Berivan Omar is a Kurdish feminist activist and social ecologist who lives in Northeast Syria, and Anya Rebrii is an activist and author who is involved with the Emergency Committee for Rojava. They will be authoring a chapter in a book next year with AK Press titled “Rojava in Focus: Critical Dialogues” highlighting the successes and struggles the region has face since its autonomy.
We chat about the role agroecology has played so far in Rojava and the role it will continue to play as the region continues to grapple with the unique challenges it faces in the region. To learn more about the history and role of ecology in the region, check out the following links:
Upcoming book chapter co-authored by Berivan and Anna: https://greenbeanbookspdx.indielite.org/book/9781849355728
Useful article on the movement’s philosophy and challenges on the ecological front: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.815338
A recent article with the general overview of developments in Rojava: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/rojavas-improvised-revolution/
Book Make Rojava Green Again: https://files.libcom.org/files/make-rojava-green-again.pdf
Brochure Commitment to an ecological society in Rojava: https://7f2d1cef-1300-4fc6-ac1a-9615070f599d.filesusr.com/ugd/7b1b38_b2a83cdecd4740ceaaabbc753d592e34.pdf
Emergency Committee for Rojava’s website: https://www.defendrojava.org/
Social media: @defendrojava
Contact: info@defendrojava.org
To support this podcast, join our patreon for early episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac
For PPA Writing Content, visit: www.agroecologies.org
For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com
For PPA Merch, visit: www.poorproles.com
For PPA Native Plants, visit: www.nativenurseries.org
To hear Tomorrow, Today, our sister podcast, visit: www.tomorrowtodaypodcast.org/ -
Russell Lord, J. Edgar Hoover & the Permanent Agriculture Movement
Part 2 of the Russell Lord story. Before Murray Bookchin, another man paired ecological health with societal health, Russell Lord. In this episode, we dive into Lord's early years and his exposure to sustainable agriculture. Heavily influenced by Liberty Hyde Bailey, Lord worked as a journalist and extension program educator to advocate for the needs of farmers across the country in the early 20th century. During this time, he made a number of crucial connections which would later catapult him to becoming a forgotten but incredibly important conduit for the permanent agriculture movement's success over a number of decades.
To read about Russell Lord's contributions to history, check out the following substack for sources and further details: hhttps://poorprolesalmanac.substack.com/p/russell-lord
To support this podcast, join our patreon for early episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac
For PPA Writing Content, visit: www.agroecologies.org
For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com
For PPA Merch, visit: www.poorproles.com
For PPA Native Plants, visit: www.nativenurseries.org
To hear Tomorrow, Today, our sister podcast, visit: www.tomorrowtodaypodcast.org/ -
Russell Lord: Ecological Problems Are Agricultural Problems
Before Murray Bookchin, another man paired ecological health with societal health, Russell Lord. In this episode, we dive into Lord's early years and his exposure to sustainable agriculture. Heavily influenced by Liberty Hyde Bailey, Lord worked as a journalist and extension program educator to advocate for the needs of farmers across the country in the early 20th century. During this time, he made a number of crucial connections which would later catapult him to becoming a forgotten but incredibly important conduit for the permanent agriculture movement's success over a number of decades.
To read about Russell Lord's contributions to history, check out the following substack for sources and further details: hhttps://poorprolesalmanac.substack.com/p/russell-lord
To support this podcast, join our patreon for early episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac
For PPA Writing Content, visit: www.agroecologies.org
For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com
For PPA Merch, visit: www.poorproles.com
For PPA Native Plants, visit: www.nativenurseries.org
To hear Tomorrow, Today, our sister podcast, visit: www.tomorrowtodaypodcast.org/ -
The Fall of the Permanent Agriculture Movement
In 1946, Paul Sears took the stage at the “Food & the Future” Conference to deliver a new vision of agriculture from a global, ecological perspective. In this speech, on the heels of World War 2, he credited Darwin & Kropotkin for providing a biological framework for the ethics humanity needed in order to make sense of what seemed like an unravelling world. Sears told his audience that “Our responsibility now has two facets—we are custodians of ourselves and our environment as well. We did not make and cannot change the laws under which we must work, but at least we can understand them.” The early 1940s had proven to be a time of maturation for the permanent agriculture movement, as the science and ethic of ecology had emerged as the central component of permanent agriculture.
How did it lose its momentum going into World War 2, and how did that impact the rise of the movements we see today in regards to alternatives to conventional agriculture?
To read about this unique period in history, check out the following substack for sources and further details: https://poorprolesalmanac.substack.com/p/the-20th-century-permanent-agriculture
To support this podcast, join our patreon for early episode access at https://www.patreon.com/poorprolesalmanac
For PPA Writing Content, visit: www.agroecologies.org
For PPA Restoration Content, visit: www.restorationagroecology.com
For PPA Merch, visit: www.poorproles.com
For PPA Native Plants, visit: www.nativenurseries.org
To hear Tomorrow, Today, our sister podcast, visit: www.tomorrowtodaypodcast.org/
Customer Reviews
Lots of great interviews and solid foundational agroecological information
Been listening to this one a while and listened to almost all the episodes. The interviews are outstanding and a lot of the information on revolutionary societies is fantastic. I like almost all the episodes and a very few (like 3?) are platforming people I can’t stand and I think the host(s) can’t stand. I don’t know what to do about that, the show is worth listening to, some of it multiple times. Get your ears plugged into this show and your hands in the dirt.
Not what you think it is
Not at all what I thought it would be. Thought this was about alternative agriculture, turns out it’s mostly about woke politics. Disappointing
Banger for compost nerds - Market gardener approved
I’m a market gardener and the information they present is spot on. The discussions here do not distill conventional gardening wisdom into the same morsels found in countless of other gardening resources, but tries to frame it in the context of our place in the evolution of food systems by a matter of necessity and interest. Most people don’t wish to discuss collapse or the vulnerability of our world with growing pressures from climate change. Finding them, it felt like finding something familiar—like like-minded friends—as previously I was only able to encounter this kind of thinking amongst friends who share my trepidation for the future. As someone who makes their living growing food, it feels like I have finally found someone who is tied to the knowledge of sustainability rather than trying to peddle it as has become popular in recent years. Absolute banger for those that watch composting videos to destress. 10/10