

Plant Cunning Podcast
Plant Cunning Podcast
Plant Cunning Podcast brings together people wise to the ways of plants, fungi, healing practices, & the natural world to explore the mysteries of Nature. Co-Hosted by astrologer, gardener & musician, Isaac Hill and herbalist & educator A.C. Stauble. We invite herbalists, mages, mycologists, gardeners, community organizers, healers, spiritual seekers & all kinds of other interesting people to the microphone to share their wisdom. We like to bridge different worlds, make connections, inspire, and at times, have our minds blown by our amazing guests. Enjoy!
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 19, 2022 • 1h 22min
Ep. 65: Dr. Wolf-Dieter Storl on Culture and Horticulture
In this episode we speak with Dr. Storl about connecting with plants from a young age, studying botany and being dissatisfied, anthropology, ethnobotany, biodynamic gardening, and so much more! You can find his books in English (most of his writing is in German) at https://bookshop.org/contributors/wolf-d-storl
Also, we will be recording a live show with Kat Maier, the author of Energetic Herbalism: A Guide to Sacred Plant Traditions Integrating Elements of Vitalism, Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine on Feb 16, at 1 pm Eastern, which will be open to our Patreon patrons to join and ask questions. We'll be sending out invitations to patrons in the next few weeks, so if you'd like to join, find us at Patreon.com/PlantCunning

Jan 12, 2022 • 1h 18min
Ep.64: Sean Dembrosky of Edible Acres on Gardening, Permaculture, Ponds and Persimmons
In this episode we speak with Sean, who is a gardener/permaculturist, nurseryman, and YouTuber about how he got into gardening, his gardening philosophy, hand dug ponds, and we geek out on some of our favorite plants including Schisandra chinensis and Diospyros virginiana. You can find him at EdibleAcres.org and us at Patreon.com/plantcunning.

Jan 5, 2022 • 1h 19min
Ep.63: Ashkenazi Herbalism with Deatra Cohen and Adam Siegel
In this episode we speak with Deatra and Adam about rediscovering the lost herbal traditions of Eastern European Jews. We talk about the kinds of folk healers, from the ba'alei shem and feldshers to the opshprekherin folk magicians and midwives. We talk about how this knowledge came to be lost, how Deatra found the key to the herbal practices in an old book, and we talk about some of the actual plants that these healers used, from Aristolochia clematatis to Hypericum perforatum. A wonderful conversation of history and ethnobotany. You can find the book at most places you'd buy a book, and Adam and Deatra on Instagram and at their website, https://www.ashkenaziherbalism.net/.
And you can support the podcast at patreon.com/plantcunning

Dec 29, 2021 • 2h 3min
Ep.62: The Astrology of 2022 with Zamboni Funk
We welcome Zamboni Funk back on the show to talk about the year ahead. First we start with the context and the bigger picture with the 200 year Saturn and Jupiter cycle, the 84 year Uranus cycle, and then get into the nitty gritty of what all the planets are doing in 2022. We look at a few dates that are really good for certain activities: Early April is good for a concert or party, April 8th is good for dreaming big, May is great for starting garden projects, and there's plenty of time this summer to get into fights, if that's what you're looking for! We had a lot of fun with Zamboni, and wish you all a happy New Year!
You can find Zamboni on Instagram at @ZamboniFunk and Patreon at Patreon.com/ZamboniFunk
And you can support the podcast at Patreon.com/PlantCunning

Dec 22, 2021 • 1h 56min
Ep.61: Matthew Wood on Holistic Medicine and the Extracellular Matrix
Matthew Wood is an herbalist, educator (at the Matthew Wood institute of Herbalism), and author of several modern classics of American herbalism. His new book, Holistic Medicine and the Extracellular Matrix: The Science of Healing at the Cellular Level helps holistic practitioners validate what we knew all along: this stuff works! In episode we get into the nitty gritty of what the extracellular matrix is, how it works, how it validates holistic modalities like herbalism, cell salts, flower essences and more, and some of the herbs that work directly on the matrix like Red Clover, mushrooms like Reishi and Chaga, and mucilaginous plants like Marshmallow and Opuntia. We also get into some of the problems with modern medical-pharmaceutical-industrial complex and the work of Dr. Don Ingber with Tensegrity and the ECM.

Dec 15, 2021 • 1h 4min
Ep.60: Rosita Arvigo and Mayan Medicine
Rosita Arvigo is an herbalist, ethnobotanist, Doctor of naprapathy, author and teacher living in Belize. You can find her website at RositaArvigo.com. In this episode we speak about her grandmothers taking her foraging for wild plants in Chicago as a young child, about moving to Mexico in the early 70s to resist the Vietnam war, about moving to Belize and meeting the traditional Mayan healer Don Elijio Panti, who she studied with for 17 years until his death at age 103. We talk about spiritual bathing, the essence of spiritual healing, some of her favorite plants, and her technique of abdominal massage that has helped many people all over the world transform their health.
Also, we are starting to release some videos on Youtube, and you can support the podcast at Patreon.com/plantcunning

Dec 8, 2021 • 58min
Ep.59: Journeys with Plant Spirits and Psychic Hygiene with Emma Farrell
In this episode we speak with Emma Farrell, who is a plant spirit healer, geomancer and author of the new book Journeys with Plant Spirits: Plant Consciousness Healing and Natural Magic Practices and in this episode we speak with her about plants as spiritual teachers and allies, the importance of psychic hygiene, how our energy bodies get blocked and damaged, and how to repair them. We also talk about some of her favorite plant allies like elder and mugwort. You can find her at PlantConsciousness.com and find part two of this interview at Patreon.com/PlantCunning

Dec 1, 2021 • 48min
Ep:58 Landrace Gardening with Joseph Lofthouse Part 1
This is such a great chat with a grower, seed saver, author, and generally great person, Joseph Lofhouse. If you are interested in gardening, homesteading, farming and seed saving at all you're absolutely going to love this episode. We talk about biodiversity, promiscuous planting, food security, plant varieties he loves and how he works with the weeds, insects, and animals in harmonious ways in his gardens.
This is the first half of the episode, available here for free. The second half is available as a bonus to our Patrons over at https://www.patreon.com/plantcunning for $9/month. You can sign up for just this month if you'd like to listen in.
http://lofthouse.com/ is where to find Josephs' self published book, "Landrace Gardening: Food Security Through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination" and learn more about his work.
If you're interested in supporting AC's community herbalism work by purchasing herbal remedies like skin salve, muscle rub, tinctures, and gift kits go to https://www.travelingherbfarmer.com/ and use the discount code "PlantCunning21" to receive free shipping on up to 5 orders for the whole month of December.

Nov 24, 2021 • 1h 23min
Ep.57: Big Magical Incense Energy with Sara Mastros
Sara is a witch for hire, teacher and author living in Pittsburgh, PA. She just came out with The Big Book of Magical Incense from Red Wheel/Weiser, and will be presenting at the Sacred Space Conference in Baltimore this January. We have a wonderful chat about magic, incense, and some of her favorite plants, including White Pine, Rose, Tobacco, and Mugwort.
You can support the podcast at Patreon.com/PlantCunning

Nov 17, 2021 • 1h 18min
Ep.56: Rosemary Gladstar & the People's Medicine
In this episode we are thrilled to speak with the fairy godmother of American herbalism herself, Rosemary Gladstar! The topics include her herbal elders, her favorite herbal allies including common plants like plantain and yarrow, and plants like schisandra, spilanthes and rhodiola. We talk about what makes an herbalist, and her long time mission to help bring back herbalism to the people as a people's medicine. We also go into how to be of service to others and taking care of yourself, and much else besides! She has courses at thescienceandartofherbalism.com
You can help support the podcast by becoming a patron at Patreon.com/PlantCunning