Is There a Holiday Song About Chestnuts in the Garden?

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The Eastern United States used to have so many sweet chestnut trees, some that would live for centuries and grow 100 feet tall. But in the 1950s, a fungal blight tore through the population and killed them all. Meanwhile, the edible chestnuts that we eat in the US are typically imported.

Consider this an audio postcard from my first vacation in 13 years. I travel a lot for my other job (as a science correspondent on Innovation Nation for CBS) so I am out of practice on jet-setting for the sake of pure fun. But Jarrett’s family was headed to France so we cashed in some points and tagged along. Join me for some weird stuff I googled on the road, from pastry wars to royal cosplay, wax death masks, angry mobs, filming locations, things you can’t collect in a park and eat, how to get along with French waiters, what to do if a loved one starts sobbing in public, one of the best ways to see Paris, cider that tastes like flowers, a theme park with a hidden agenda, and the fall fashion trends that were confusingly ubiquitous. Also, how to wash socks in the sink. Let’s go to France.

A donation went to CarbonFund.org

Other episodes you may enjoy: Field Trip: Natural History Museum, Minisode: Travel Tips, Foraging Ecology (EATING WILD PLANTS), Indigenous Culinology (NATIVE COOKING), Bovine Neuropathology (HEADBUTTING)

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Sound editing by Jarrett Sleeper of MindJam Media

Transcripts by Emily White of The Wordary

Website by Kelly R. Dwyer