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Under the Canopy
On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, former Minister of Natural Resources, Jerry Ouellette takes you along on the journey to see the places and meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and Under The Canopy.
Under the Canopy
Episode 115: Herbs, Chaga, and Life Under the Canopy
What if your next good night’s sleep, calmer joints, or steadier digestion starts with a mug and a handful of leaves? We dive under the canopy with herbalist Penelope of The Ginkgo Tree to turn everyday plants into practical tools—no mystique, just methods you can trust. Jerry kicks things off by tackling the most common chaga questions—how to brew it in drip coffee, what grind to use, and why harvest timing matters—before we expand into a wider, grounded guide to home herbalism you can start this week.
Penelope shares how to identify and harvest safely, when to take roots versus leaves and flowers, and how to dry or tincture without ruining your hard work. We explore simple, high-impact teas: chamomile for sleep, nettle for nutrition and inflammation, ginger and peppermint for digestion, echinacea and elderberry syrup for immune support. You’ll learn why turmeric needs fat (and often pepper) to actually work, how chicory and roasted dandelion support the liver and gut, and why variety—dozens of plants over a month—feeds resilience in a way single-ingredient routines can’t.
We also step into the kitchen and the field. Sumac moves from trail-side shrub to za’atar spice and lemonade, paired with clear safety tips to avoid poison look-alikes. A quick guide to poultices, a DIY dandelion oil you can make on a windowsill, and straightforward drying and storage methods bring the craft home. Along the way, we talk plant ethics—cultivating at-risk species like golden seal, leaning on reputable growers, and using field guides and mentors to build confidence. Expect practical detours too: a chaga-and-green-tea blood pressure testimonial, black garlic’s sweet surprise, and a comfrey trick for a dog’s hot spots that might save your vet bill.
If you’ve been curious about herbal medicine but unsure where to start, this is your map: clear steps, real-world recipes, and a mindset that values safety, observation, and respect for the land.
How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, Steve Nitzwicki, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal Radio Network's newest podcast, Diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people. Share their stories of our trials, tribulations, and inspirations. Learn and have plenty of laughs along the way.
SPEAKER_09:Meanwhile, we're sitting there bobbing along trying to figure out how to catch a bass. And we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show.
SPEAKER_03:My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that might be more efficient than it was punching.
SPEAKER_11:You so confidently you said, hey Pat, have you ever eaten a drunk? Find diaries of a lodge owner now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
SPEAKER_07:As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons of our natural world become harder and harder to hear, but they are still available to those who know where to listen. I'm Jerry Oulette, and I was honored to serve as Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources. However, my journey into the woods didn't come from politics. Rather, it came from my time in the bush and a mushroom. In 2015, I was introduced to the birch-hungry fungus known as Chaga, a tree conch with centuries of medicinal applications used by indigenous peoples all over the globe. After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials, and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession. And I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy Podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. So join me today for another great episode, and hopefully, we can inspire a few more people to live their lives under the canopy. As always, we want to thank all our listeners and those all across Canada, the States, all around the world, you know, Switzerland, Ghana. You know, Dr. Nick keeps talking about the hospital he's building in Ghana. We're really appreciative to know. Dr. Nick was uh his he had uh a uh uh a health food store that uh uh where I first connected with him, and he's certainly doing uh great jobs all around the world and all our friends down in the Bahamas and Trinidad, Tobago, et cetera, et cetera. Now, I had a question from William uh regarding the last second last podcast, I guess it was. And uh William was asking about how he uses the Chaga with a drip coffee filter. Because I was explaining to people with it that what you can do is you can get your chaga inside your coffee and you don't even notice it. The chag is alkaline, coffee is acidic, so it neutralizes a lot of the acid in the coffee. And he asked about a drip filter. Was it better for the grinds or the powder? And the larger the pieces are, the longer they have to be exposed to water to extract the benefit, and grinds are about the size of a peppercorn. Now, if you have a paper filter, I usually advise to use the powder because the powder has the largest bearing surface and requires the least amount of time in order to be exposed to water to extract the benefits of the chaga. Whereas the grinds, if you have a mesh strip filter, are better because the powder will go through and clog up your mesh, your metal mesh filter, whereas the grinds will not. So you're better off using the grinds. And realistically, uh you're looking at about with the powder, only about you only need about realistically about uh a quarter teaspoon of chaga per cup of coffee that you're making in order to get the benefits in it. Now, tried something, saw it on Facebook, thought I'd give it a whirl, and it worked. It's gonna be everybody knows uh my chocolate lab, uh Anson Gunner, and how he loves to get his teeth brushed. I was with uh last Thursday. Where was I? No, that was uh on the weekend. Uh no, it was Thursday. I dropped by and was delivering uh some product to Bev, and I said, Oh, I gotta get back. My uh my dog's in the truck, and she says, Oh, is that the one who likes to get his teeth brushed? I said, Yep. He likes to get his teeth brushed, but he hates his nails getting done. So saw it on Facebook, thought I'd give it a whirl, and it worked. What I did was I wrapped my head in cellophane wrap. Actually, I got my wife Diane to wrap my head around, and then put peanut butter all over the cellophane wrap and let him lick the peanut butter while I trimmed his nails, and it worked. I couldn't believe it. It was just unbelievable until I ran out of peanut butter so hard and Diane wasn't monitoring how much peanut butter was left. But then after he was done the peanut butter, boy, did he not like that. But I got the two uh front paws done without any ifs, ands, or buts, no problem at all. He just licked away while I was trimming nails, and it worked wonderful. Now, one of the other things that I'm getting a few questions about is the time of year to harvest Chaga. And as I've mentioned in the past, I've got over a thousand studies worldwide on Chaga. And not one of those studies that I've read, and I've read over a thousand, so all the ones I get, I read them all. Uh most of the time I read the abstract, the discussion, and the conclusion. Anyways, um I've never seen any time of year where it was specifically harvested. Not only that, but every one of the powwows that we've attended, and not one, but every single one, all the medicine people, the shaman, they harvest all their chaga all year long. Now, our chaga we harvest when the sap is out of the tree. And a couple of days ago I had somebody that uh tells me, oh yeah, you you not you can't harvest the chaga until after the first frost. And they said, well, there's nothing that verifies that. I mean, Health Canada cautions for chaga are only for pregnant and breastfeeding females, and mind you, my research is a little bit more in depth than that. And I've tried to convince to talk to Health Canada about some of the research, but they weren't Canadian studies. These ones were in the U.S., so they basically disqualified any of those ones about regarding Chaga, but those are only cautions by Health Canada. And so I tried to explain, I said, you know, our Chaga, we harvest, uh quite frankly, uh, once the sap is out of the tree, usually end of uh October is when we'll start. So yeah, most of the time you'll have a frost by then, but we don't gauge that in any way, shape, or form. To be perfectly honest, once the sap's out of the trees, the the leaves fall off, and you can see the chaga a lot better. And not only that, but the the moisture content is substantially reduced because the sap's not flowing through the chaga. So your chance of secondary mold buildup uh and development is extremely reduced with uh lower moisture content. Now that was the one that had to be after the first frost, and then another one, um, quite frankly, on the same day, asked me and says, Well, I heard that the only time you can harvest chaga is when the maple sap is running. And to be perfectly honest, I see a lot of rumor, a lot of innuendo, and until I see you know something, something concrete that says that there's reasons why this shouldn't happen, then I go with all the information that I've done. But as I said, we still harvest ours uh usually uh later on in October, starting then, once the sap's out and the leaves are off. Now, we had a guest on quite a while ago. We've been around now for, well, a couple of years now, two and a half years, and it's been going very well. I thanked all the listeners and all the questions come in. And it's that time of year where I'm out harvesting and I see quite a bit of birch polypore out on the trees, which is another great medicinal mushroom. And had that one my collegist, I think it was that one was from the UAT, who came on, who talked about using the birch polypore. Uh and what he'd do and he'd dry it and power powder it up, and every time he cut himself shaving, he'd put that on and it would stop the uh the bleeding right away. But uh there's a lot of different uh mushrooms out this time of the year, and there's a lot of different other things that happen out there under the canopy. And I'm happy to bring back a guest we haven't before, Penelope of the Ginkgo Tree. Welcome uh to the podcast, Penelope.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, thanks for having me back. This is great. Uh, can I just quickly, and I know you're gonna do an introduction, but I just want to say one thing about your harvesting is that I totally concur with you. I, you know, we have um been traditionally harvesting November to March because we, you know, when the birch sap is dormant and that the water content is lower and its medicinal compounds seem to be more concentrated. So uh no scientific proof have I seen of that, but that just seems to be the the time to do it. So I think uh that's really great to, you know, when minds are thinking aligned.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, it's it's it's well, uh and I see so many things, especially on YouTube. There's so much stuff. I saw one posting where this was um uh one guy says, he says, Oh, and uh Chaga only goes on birch trees. So if you see it, what looks like Chaga on another tree is not Chag. I said, Well, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about, because there are a number of other trees that it grows on. We found it on hophorn bean. I've had that mycologist who's uh from the East Coast University out there that's doing quite a bit of research on it. We're sending samples as we as we can out to him from other trees that uh Chag is growing on. But uh yeah, there's a lot of things that need to be verified, and that's some of the stuff that's that's hard to get. And hey, Penelope, that's why we have uh you on board because you're a herbalist, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yes. And the more I know, the more I realize I don't know.
SPEAKER_07:Exactly. So tell us a bit about uh yourself and and give us some of your background and and tell us, you know, what it takes to be a herbalist.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, great. Um, well, I have been a registered herbalist with the Ontario Herbalist Association for uh, well, I've been a herbalist now for 35 plus years, working with herbal medicine and stewardshipping some land. Uh, founder, of course, of the Ginkgo Tree, as you mentioned. Uh, we offer a beginner herbal course, an apprenticeship program. Um we also are the founder and organizer of the Ontario uh herb gathering called Back to Your Roots Herb Gathering. And we've had some amazing keynotes such as Rosemary Gladstar's been here, David Winston, Seven Song, Jan Longboat, uh, just lots of amazing uh speakers in the herbal world. And we also uh these kind of things can't be done without sponsors. So we're always so thankful to people like, you know, St. Francis or Richter's Richter's Herbs or Georgina Island, um, the OHA for supporting uh this event so that we can share herbal medicine with our community. Um I also are the farm where we live is a recognized um botanical sanctuary by United Plant Savers. Uh and so we had a lovely naming ceremony uh a few years back with our um friends, uh my friend Lori from the Chippewas of Georgina, and she gifted, well, spirit gifted the name Kinnegego Botanical Sanctuary. So uh we're super pleased with that. And on the land, we've planted over 11,000 trees now to date. We plant a lot of at-risk and endangered native plants. We've allowed uh 40 acres at the back of the farm to rewild. It really is my heart's work, the work on the land on the farm, you know, and that um saying build it and they will come is so true. So, you know, we've had trees coming on their own, we've had native plants such as orchids just show up on their own once we've given the space back. Wildlife like uh coyotes, deer, bears. We've had 14 sightings this year um on the farm. And so we're not sure whether it's the same two bears roaming around or how many it actually is. But just to see, you know, and the birds, swans and geese and hawks, and even a bald eagle. So nothing excites me more than, you know, having this wildlife uh really showing itself back on the land again.
SPEAKER_07:So most people don't know this, but the average boar bear is range is 90 square miles. So they will uh their kind of territory is that large uh in the any of the studies that have taken place regarding bears. So yeah, you mentioned you're a registered herbalist. Now there's different um different there's so there's a licensed registered and a medical herbalist, I believe.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, and there's clinical herbalists, there's master herbalists, there's all kinds of different designations depending on what someone would want to do.
SPEAKER_08:Right.
SPEAKER_00:So, you know, there's um different places that you can look into. Uh so for example, in Ontario, there's Living Earth School of Herbal Medicine, there is the um Dominion College of Herbal Medicine, there's Wild Rose College for Herbal Medicine. And so depending on what you want to do, you know, if you want some formal education and then hands-on experience and maybe mentorship, you would go on those websites of those uh places to see what it is that you want to do. So, you know, there's just learning practical experience, uh kind of foundational courses. So that's actually like what our course is. It's foundational, it's just to empower folks to uh use herbal medicine in their home for themselves and their family and their community. But then if you wanted to be a um more so like a master herbalist, that would be like a three-year course. And first you would need to have a foundational uh course, like a practical herbalist course prior to to be able to even get into the master.
SPEAKER_08:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And then a clinical herbalist is usually, I do believe it's four years, and they'll there would be clinical training and even placement where you had to work and shadow alongside another clinical herbalist um for so many hours. So just depending on what folks are looking for, there's all kinds of courses out there.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, I know I was doing an event in Belleville, and there was um a lady there who was uh marketing some um herbs, and she says, Oh, I'm a herbalist. So I asked if she was a registered licensed or clinical, and she says, No, no, I'm studying. And uh because nobody had questioned her about it before. So tell us about your course and um the you mentioned you have a course and the course you have, and what's involved in that and how do people get involved? Because I'm finding a lot more people want to take control uh of their health rather than become dependent on the the the current system that's out there. They like the options and they'd like to find out discussions and how can they do things uh such as finding out more about uh your current course?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so so it's the ginkgo tree.ca and just look under education and and we have our course there. But what, you know, as I said, my goal was to empower people to take care of their own health because it feels like um the way modern medicine is, is that we have lost the ability to even take care of a common cold at home. So we should be able to nurse our family with all these minor, you know, ailments that are normal for us and occur in one's lifetime. So, you know, it's just you just having that power to know, oh, I can make a cup of tea and I can feel better just because of my cup of tea. It's soothing my cold, it's helping me go to sleep. Um, you know, just learning basics that you can then incorporate into your life.
SPEAKER_08:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And a really big thing that I'm also um really keen on is that um I learned years ago that we are supposed to be ingesting over 2,000 different plant species annually. So that's about 30 different plants a month to get all the different micronutrients we need to be healthy and resilient. And so many people aren't doing it. And you know, I give tours at Richter's and I find so many folks just don't even realize like they'll be just eating a very small variety of plants. So to open them up to hundreds of different plants is so exciting to me because you know, we can make them in forms of tea or add to food, smoothies, soups, and soup stocks, just so that we can get these uh different types of herbs and plants into our diet that our bodies so need to be healthy.
SPEAKER_07:Absolutely, Penelope. And and and I I know a lot of people that um um starting, and I had uh Antonio on, and we talked about cooking with herbs that actually had medicinal applications that people didn't realize when they start to cook with herbs that they have the ability to grow with, they have huge impacts, uh potential impacts. Um, but some of the things is is a lot of our listeners, um, as soon as you say the word tea, black tea comes to mind, and that's the only thing. But there's a whole network of different teas out there. And maybe you can elaborate on some of the ones, uh, you know, whether it's raspberry or what, what you would suggest, as you mentioned for say the common cold tea.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so a lot of times we can just drink singles, you know, just one plant in a cup of hot water. So you would take like a teaspoon or a few leaves of a plant, pop it into your cup, pour hot water on there, and let it steep for a good five minutes. And you could even steep it longer if you like your tea stronger.
SPEAKER_08:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:But it's um, you know, if I wanted to go to sleep, chamomile. Chamomile is so underrated, I believe, as a as a herb. It is powerful and it is wonderful for children as well that you can introduce into your diet. So to make just a lovely cup of chamomile tea and make that ritual and routine before bed, that also sets you into the mood for sleep. You know, just going into the kitchen, pulling out the herbs, making the cup of tea, it's wonderful. But then if you wanted something that's really nutritive, I love stinging nettle tea. So just harvesting some nettle or using dried nettle herb and put that in a cup. And as you know, stinging nettle stings, but as soon as it is used as a pot herb, like in a in cooking, or you saute it, or you pour hot water on it for tea, that deactivates those uh little stinging hairs. So it's perfectly great. But it is one of those herbs that are really nutritive, so really nutritious for our being. And I just love the cup of tea. And I also add it into my soup stocks and soups because I just love having it everywhere. But other herbs like that that are nutritive, good for us, would be alfalfa or red clover. So when you're starting to use these different herbs, you're just introducing all kinds of benefits to your body that you would not have had otherwise.
SPEAKER_07:Right. So, and and that's just some of it. Uh, you mentioned um the alfalfa and some of the stinging nettle. Now, what time of year do people harvest their stinging nettle? And because I've seen um different programs to try and do some research on it. If I have any expertise, it would be in Chaga. But when you start on the others, because I have stinging nettle patches, I have mint patches, I have rosemary, I have sage, I have lavage, I have lemon balm, all kinds of different herbs around, you know, mullen, et cetera, et cetera. What time of year should these herbs be harvested? And what do you have to do to harvest them in order to make them appropriate or to use them later on?
SPEAKER_00:Great question. So we have many herbs are our early spring herbs for harvesting. So in the spring, we can definitely harvest, again, roots. So we harvest roots spring, early spring, and fall. And lots of times when we harvest the roots, let's say we're harvesting uh burdock roots. If you harvest spring roots, you could make a tincture out of that or dry them for tea. And you could do the same with fall. And sometimes we like to mix spring and fall roots together and make a tincture out of it. But burdock there is like just this amazing product or herb for our digestive system. It's like candy for our gut flora. It's so good for us. So if you were to introduce a root into your diet, you know, the digestive system is one of the very first systems that a herbalist would look at a lot of times in helping someone with their health concerns. So having the gut being nice and healthy, that um burdock would be a wonderful one. But also in the spring, we harvest spring herbs like dandelion leaves. We would harvest stinging nettle. And so you want stinging nettle when it's young and you like to take the young plant and it just looks so beautiful. And the more you harvest nettle, your nettle patch, for example, it keeps growing. So it will continue to give beautiful, tender um nettle to you through into the summer. But if you just harvest it once and leave it, then of course it's gonna get tall and uh not as good for harvesting. So roots, uh again, spring, fall, herbs, whenever they're ready. So when flowers, if we're if we're harvesting flowers, we want to have some buds, perhaps, and flowers just open. We don't want to have the flowers that are waning. You know, you want them either prior to or just perfect. Okay.
SPEAKER_07:So um so give us uh now I know the difference, but a lot of people wouldn't know the difference between burdock and milk thistle. Uh I think there's uh some some easier ways to identify them. But are there other uh plants that would come close to those that found in in in basically our part of Ontario?
SPEAKER_00:Um like like so well, burdock and milk thistle, one's a thistle plant, and one is you know, has the big broad leaves that many people confuse burdock with rhubarb.
SPEAKER_08:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:They have those similar large leaves. So here's the thing I think that's really important. With taking a basic herbal course, you're encouraged to have like a field guide. You're encouraged to have um go for herb walks to learn to identify plants from herbalists that are trained. So when you mentioned that you asked that person, I'm really surprised someone learning to become a herbalist would actually call themselves that. I worked day in and day out with plants for over 10 years before I ever even called myself a herbalist. I was being probably modest, yeah, but I felt that you really needed to know your stuff before you could say that because it's misleading to people, right? Yeah, so I feel like you need to have like good field guides, have someone who can take you on herb walks. And also, I even have a plant app that I have on my phone. I don't trust it, I use it, it has not been wrong yet for anything that I've used it for, because I even double check on things that I know, but I just use it as a secondary opinion, you know, on what something is. And if I thought something, uh if you don't know, you don't eat it. Yeah, that's the other thing, you know. You don't just ingest berries and such, you know, thinking you know what you're doing, because some things are poisonous, because herbal medicine sometimes uses plants that would be considered toxic or poisonous, but you're using small amounts, and therefore that's where the health benefits come from.
SPEAKER_07:Like blood blood root, for example, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, lily of the valley is another good one to use. Uh, you know, yeah. So these different herbs definitely are being used that would be considered poisonous, uh, but are used in formulas.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, and and there's when when you talk about burdock, milk, thistle, or even teasel, um, there's uh a number of different ones out there that that people until they get the expertise, like you said, this this app and what what's the app called so that people can uh to take a look at it, if you don't mind sharing that, so people can distinguish between various things like like we just mentioned.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's called Picture This.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:And that's the name of the app. Um, so again, I wouldn't trust it solely. I would really recommend finding a teacher in your area. And also I encourage folks, have many teachers, you know? Like it's great to learn from one person and develop a relationship or a mentorship, but it's really important to hear what different people have uh to say about herbal medicine. And also different teachers have uh different areas they're most um interested in. Like for me, it is the botanical sanctuary and you know, having my at-risk plants and native plants and planting trees. That's you know, a an area that I really kind of shine in. Right. Um but everyone has their area, so it it helps you with your learning.
SPEAKER_07:So you so you mentioned some of the regular teas that you could take for a cold, or what are some of the things that you would suggest, say for uh blood pressure, diabetes, arthritis, that and quite frankly, the diabetes that I'm seeing out there is just growing in leaps and bounds. And it may it gives me concern as to why the population is such having such huge numbers. But what are some of the things that you would suggest that may assist people in those areas?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, uh okay, then let's we can we can touch on um diabetes or blood sugar. So gymnamia is a herb that a lot of folks uh have in formulas. Cinnamon, you know, who knew cinnamon was so good, but you know, there's a uh a bark that improves your insulin sensitivity. Yeah, um, so just great fenugreek, which so here it's going to help your diabetes and blood sugar regulation, but yet it's also great digestively, this seed. So there's so many uh bittermelon is another great one uh that folks use. Even nettle. Nettle is, you know, so here it's nourishing and rich in minerals and helps to reduce inflammation, but also it is one that would be used uh for diabetics. So there's so many herbs. Um, let's think digestive, even, because there's a favorite that I like to start with, like dandelion root, uh peppermint, um, you know, peppermint before and after meals would be great. You could have a ginger tincture that you even just keep with you. Um let's see here. What about immune system? You know, especially because we're going into the fall. Uh, so some immune support that folks use commonly would be echinasia. And so you could take echinaasia, say, for a week just to build your immune system up. But if you had an onset of a cold, you could take uh like a teaspoon of echinacea every two hours on the onset. Uh elderberry syrup. I love to recommend people to grow elderberry. Um Richter's also happens to, Richter's Herbs also happens to sell elderberry uh bushes. They're just small baby ones, but to plant those on your property, and they're great for the birds, but then also you can harvest those elderberries and make yourself elderberry syrup, which if you have a cold, I absolutely love it. And I'll just take little bits throughout the day, and it is so amazing uh to have.
SPEAKER_07:How about oil of oregano?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, it's funny. That's just on a personal note, not a Favorite of mine, like for taste myself. Oh, yeah. But the folks that love it really love it. So yes, I would highly recommend it if that's a favorite of yours. And that's the thing you're gonna realize and find out when you're into herbal medicine and taking stuff. What one person loves and goes to, somebody else is just kind of like, not really my favorite. I like, you know, something else better. And that's great because there's many different herbs one could use for a condition, and we all like different things, right?
SPEAKER_07:Well, and our all our bodies handle things differently as well. Exactly. Good point. Right. So some some people, oil of oregano works wonders for, and other people it's like we're wasting our time.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly.
SPEAKER_07:You know, so you have to find out what works for you.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Here's another really good one is inflammation is a big one that a lot of folks, a lot of issues are inflammatory, right? And so for arthritis and inflammation, to recommend folks uh having turmeric in their diet. Nettles again works great for that. Ginger again. So you can see how if you start taking some of these basic herbs as teas and adding them to your diet, they're good for many different things.
SPEAKER_07:Right. And with the turmeric, you need to add pepper to it, correct? In order to activate it.
SPEAKER_00:The pepper, absolutely, we add into a lot of formulas because it helps with absorption. But turmeric definitely needs a fat for your to become bioavailable for your body. Right. So that's why it's really good in curries and stuff like that. And you'll find some really good products out there that actually have a fat already in the capsule with the turmeric so that you can absorb it. Because if you're just taking powdered turmeric and no fat, you're not going to absorb it.
SPEAKER_07:Right. So it's a number of fat-soluble uh herbs, are there? Other ones?
SPEAKER_00:You know, I I don't know. And this is the do you are you aware of any?
SPEAKER_07:No, just vitamin D from uh is the big thing that I'm aware of. That a lot of people take vitamin D, but if they don't take it with a uh some sort of a food, uh they end up just passing it through. Right. Right. So vitamin D needs a is a fat-soluble um vitamin, but uh I didn't really um realize that turmeric was a fat-soluble, and that's what the active pepper did to it.
SPEAKER_00:Right. And this is the cool thing, Jerry, about uh herbal medicine. Like though, even when you teach, you learn, you know, like because there's so many things I don't know that I'm so curious about um and that other people know the you know the answers to.
SPEAKER_07:Right. So, and you mentioned stinging nettle or nettles, uh uh mostly it's just stinging nettle. I think I don't think the woods use wood nettles uh too much in the area, do they?
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. No, you're right. It is stinging nettle, yes. Sorry. Well, often we'll just herbalist will say nettles, and it's like everybody knows we're referring to stinging nettle. Right. But yes, it is stinging nettle that I'm referring to.
SPEAKER_07:And my understanding uh about the rhizomes, which are basically so for listeners who don't know, uh, would be underground stems where they come from. The rhizomes are very good for swollen prostate issues for males. And I also understand that uh stinging nettle is very high in protein.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. As a plant, the only like it's it's probably out of plants. I I I'm not a hundred percent, but I think it's one of the highest anyway. Yes. If it's not the highest.
SPEAKER_07:I believe so. I think it was like 19 grams of proteins and uh in a hundred grams of uh stinging nettle. Which yeah, so that's quite surprising, yeah.
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SPEAKER_07:Okay, here we are in Lindsay with Bill, who's actually this gentleman has given blood over 230 times.
SPEAKER_06:233, yeah.
SPEAKER_07:233, that's amazing. And you've had some success with Chaga. Uh tell us what you're dealing with and what you did and uh how you um what you used.
SPEAKER_06:Well, I had mild uh high blood pressure, mild high blood pressure wasn't very really high when I was on medication for a few years, and then I uh quit drinking coffee and started drinking his tea. Uh the combination tea, the green and the chaga. Right. And uh my medication is gone. Your medication's gone? Gone. And you couldn't give blood during the other times? Yeah, I could. Oh, you could? I could, yeah. Yeah, so but uh a few times the the machine kicked me out. Oh yeah. So but now it doesn't anymore.
SPEAKER_07:So you think uh the the green tea in the chaga was uh helped uh normalize your blood pressures?
SPEAKER_06:Oh yeah. Oh, very good because it wouldn't be just stopping coffee, it would have to be something else.
SPEAKER_07:And that's the only thing you did differently.
SPEAKER_06:Yep. Well, we're thank you very much for that. My blood pressure is probably that of a 40-year-old man, and I'm 71. Oh, very good.
SPEAKER_07:Well, that's good to hear. Thank you very much for that. No problem. Okay. We interrupt this program to bring you a special offer from Chaga Health and Wellness. If you've listened this far and you're still wondering about this strange mushroom that I keep talking about, and whether you would benefit from it or not, I may have something of interest to you. To thank you for listening to the show, I'm going to make trying Chaga that much easier by giving you a dollar off all our Chaga products at checkout. All you have to do is head over to our website, Chaga Health and Wellness.com, place a few items in the cart, and check out with the code CANAPY. C-A-N-O-P-Y. If you're new to Chaga, I'd highly recommend the regular Chaga tea. This comes with 15 tea bags per package, and each bag gives you around five or six cups of tea. Hey, thanks for listening. Back to the episode. So, what other sorts of things can like things like um uh dandelion root or chicory root be utilized for, or mints and things like that?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. Well, dandelion root. So if you just made yourself a you could even add dandelion root into your coffee. There's roasted dandelion root, right? That lots of folks drank. And you could drink it on its own or just have dandelion root, and it's great liver support. It's a gentle dandelion root is a gentle detox for your body, uh, great for your digestive system. Uh, chicory root. I've been falling in love with chicory root. It's so funny. It wasn't until I started actually um working at Richter's did I even really use chicory root. And so we had a roasted chicory root here, and we started mixing it with our morning coffee.
SPEAKER_08:Oh, yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00:Just like you're doing with your chaga, I guess. Yep. And uh really loving it. And we're finding that it's a great digestive uh plant to add. It's a liver tonic, uh, it's a prebiotic fiber. Uh, so it's just another wonderful one to add to your diet. And this sometimes you get into a routine, or I I have a, you know, I use a lot of plants, uh, a ton of plants, actually. But then sometimes you just aren't using certain ones for whatever reason. I don't know. They're just not on your radar. So that was one that just really popped up last year for me that I've really started incorporating often into my diet.
SPEAKER_07:And a lot of people uh will say to me, Well, what is chicory? And I said, Well, uh on your way here, did you notice this kind of like a I guess it's a like a light blue kind of color weed growing at this growing at the side of the road? That's chicory. It grows just about everywhere. Really? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Isn't it beautiful though when you see it? Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, yeah, it's quite, it's quite surprising in the um the amount of chicory that I see everywhere now. And I show people, you know, I was showing my wife Diane, I said, there's some there, there's some there, there's some. Really? I had no idea. Most people don't. When when we go for a walk, whether it's plantain or mullen and all those things that are out there, people don't even realize, you know, and I explain to people when I do some of my lectures and seminars, one of the slides I show is um metamucil. And the powdered metamucil, the number one component is comes from plantain, the the weed plantain, as we call it, or whichever, um, as opposed to the banana plantain. It's the number one component in there. And actually, I I happen to notice as well that they sell now a metamucil um gummy where its number one component is chicory. So all these different things that are out there that people don't even realize that are certain businesses are starting to take advantage of because they see that there's benefits out there, and lo and behold, people can realize, hey, it's growing on my street.
SPEAKER_00:Isn't that something?
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. Yeah. So what time of year do you harvest? So you mentioned about the fall harvesting of burdock and the spring harvesting of burdock root. Uh, but other things like uh chicory or dandelion and those sorts of things, when and how do you dry, and is there a certain way do you use a dehydrator to dry them or just air dry them or how?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, so all roots, any roots that you come across, whether it's golden seal roots or or chicory root or any root is harvested spring or fall. And so, and then to dry, they're they're dug up, and then usually they are washed three times uh in just water, nothing fancy, no, nothing added to it, just washed three in three different cycles. That's what we used to do anyway. And then we used them to make tinctures, which we would chop up the roots, and then we would add them in a jar, and we would use a um alcohol to put over the roots in the jar, and we'd let them steep for at least, say, seven, eight weeks before ever using, and some and then also let them steep even longer if necessary. Um, but if you're drying them after that washing process, you typically would put them on screens and then put them into a drying cupboard. So there it's a very low heat uh for drying. Some folks at home will use their um oven on really low, but it has to be very, very low. Um to do that.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, I found uh like I tried a couple of ovens a couple times back in my exploring stage of all this kind of stuff. Um, but the oven couldn't go low enough. I usually tried to get it below 140, and I think the lowest it went was 180. So it was hard. You'd use a a thermometer inside and then start it and stop it and that sort of stuff. But it's hard to find one that works very well.
SPEAKER_00:That's why sometimes it's nice to purchase certain things from people that have the equipment that, you know, they're able to do it properly. I mean, you can dry, you know, high and dry, like our grandmothers would have dried, you know, you'd see stuff up in the rafters or up like in my farmhouse on the third floor where it's drier and not as damp. That would be your better spots in the house if you were hanging stuff to dry. Right. You don't want to hang things to dry and then it be moist where there's uh then molds can happen, right?
SPEAKER_07:You mentioned a plant that I've I've I keep looking for, but I don't find any golden seal. Do you find it very much around at all? Or and does Richters actually sell golden seal plants that uh we can plant uh in various areas?
SPEAKER_00:They do, and that's where I get my mine from. So golden seal is one of the plants on the United Plant Savers uh uh at-risk and endangered list.
SPEAKER_08:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And so uh Richters does sell woodland plants, and so that's where I've started got my plants from to start my little colony at home, and they are so slow growing. So if anyone uses, so I always say this to my students if you're using golden seal as a herbal product because it is an amazing, it's like nature's antibiotic. It's this really wonderful plant that folks use. But because you're using the root, it's killing the plant, obviously, right? To harvest the root. So we must give back to nature. And so if you're someone who is using herbal medicines, I really believe like you can give back in many ways. You could make a donation to United Plant Savers, you could help someone who's growing plants, like Richter's often helps me with uh, you know, the sanctuary work that I'm doing at home. So just having somewhere though where you can buy these woodland plants, uh especially golden seal, is phenomenal. And then you can plant them yourself, especially if you want to harvest it, because then you're just growing and consuming your own plants.
SPEAKER_07:Now, one of the other plants that I spend a lot of time, although we're getting close to the end of it, it depends, mind you, the dry, the dry fall that we've had will probably have uh still pretty good, but I harvest a lot of sumac.
SPEAKER_08:Ah.
SPEAKER_07:And I make a lot of sumac tea and let a lot of people try sumac tea and they're just they're quite shocked to taste it. And of course everybody says, oh, uh, what about poison sumac? Well, poison sumac is very different from staghorn sumac and the the tea. And and do you have much background or you do you do much with sumac at all?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I don't do a lot with sumac, but we have it growing on the property. And um, so we use it in um we make sumac lemonade, yep. Uh, which is really delicious if you uh uh have never tried it. And it's also in um the recipe for Zatar spice, you know, which is amazing. So you can make your own spice with that, but it's also there's uh, you know, so just to get back to the flavor, it's tangy and lemony, a little bit astringent, like takes the spit a little bit of your mouth. Yeah, um, but it is so delicious. So as a seasoning, if you were to make it into a spice, it's great in meats and rice and uh roasted vegetables, it's yummy. Um, the lemonade idea. Um and in herbal medicine, now, although I I don't use this a lot, but if it was all I had, I definitely would use it for uh inflammation. It's used uh as an antioxidant, it's uh high in vitamin C and it really tastes lemony, which therefore, you know, it's kind of interesting it is truly high in vitamin C.
SPEAKER_08:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Um can help with diarrhea because of that bit of astringency that it has. Right. Uh helps um to boost your immune system and you know, just resistance to infections. Um I know that if you're out hiking, it's one of those uh trail herbs that could be used, a poultice with the leaves or the berries for minor wounds or rashes.
SPEAKER_07:So maybe you need to explain to some people what a poultice is. I know what a poultice is, but a lot wouldn't.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So some folks just uh take the leaves or the berries and you can mash them up. Uh maybe even add a little bit of water. And actually, some people chew them and make a poultice, it's called a spit poultice, even you can chew it up and just put it right on. So take it out of your mouth, or if you've done it with water and put it right on, say the cut or the rash, and just hold that there. You could wrap it on if you if you can do that. I used to use a poultice like that with comfrey leaves for we had this dog that used to get hot spots all the time. And oh my goodness, he loved it. So I would boil up the comfrey leaves like spinach, you know, and then I would take them when they're nice and warm and just put them right on his little hot spot, and oh, it was just like heaven form. So it was kind of neat.
SPEAKER_07:So you you make a poultice uh for hot spots out of Comfrey.
SPEAKER_08:I did.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, okay. Well, because my dog gets hot spots all the time, and I've been looking for something to use, and I didn't uh realize to try Comfrey, but now I've got now I know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and you know what the interesting thing, Jerry, I never read that anywhere. I just did that from knowing how wonderful Comfrey is, and I kind of did that for my daughter one time. Oh, yeah, and then I thought, oh, I think the dog, it might be nice on the dog, and the dog loved it, and so and would stand there and just let me reapply and reapply because it just felt so good. So um that's an that's anecdotal, right? Where it's not written anywhere, but I did it and it seemed to be very effective.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, well, you know, it that's how we find out what works and what doesn't is by trying different things. And and certainly uh next time it's funny when it's warm weather out and the dog goes swimming, it gets it gets hot spots all the time. Yeah. And basically, for those that don't know what a hotspot is, it's kind of it's kind of like a um an open source almost like on a dog where the hair comes off and it kind of oozes a liquid, and it really kind of looks disgusting. But uh yeah, and I can't figure out why when it uh gets exposed to the water. It was the same thing over their last lab. Every time that he'd go swimming, uh the same thing, he'd end up with hot spots all the time, and I couldn't figure out why. But uh so now I got something else I can try some Comfrey.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and it's fun because you can just experiment and see does it work for your dog?
SPEAKER_07:No, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. So this time go ahead. I just kind of digressed for a minute there, like with getting onto the hotspot. I just touching back on sumac, I just want to make sure I say to of there is poisonous species of sumac out there. So you must be sure you're using staghorn sumac, right? And avoid uh sumac from unknown sources, just as a you know, safety protocol there.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. Well, yeah, and the staghorn is red and the and the poison sumac is the white berries, correct?
SPEAKER_00:That's right. Yeah, thank you for pointing that out. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah. So there are some ways to identify because um we've we um we we do provide a lot of the staghorn sumac tea and let people try it all the time. Yeah. So and I know one of the other things is uh uh sometimes uh in in fatouche, uh one of the key ingredients in fatouche is uh sumac, which is uh a great Eastern uh dish as well. Right. Yeah, yeah. So there's lots of different things. So what other sorts of things this year should people be out trying to look at and see what they can kind of harvest or some basic ones where somebody wanting to try and do their own herbs to get involved and what kind of sort of things can they look at? And and how do they, for example, well we just talked about sumac. How do they preserve the the sumac berries so they can be used all year long?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, the sumac berries, uh so we're past sumac berries now for picking. They're they've gone a little. I mean, some people may still want to use them, but uh right now it would be definitely roots folks are doing. And it would be um and some last-minute dandelions. You know how dandelion flowers seem to pop back up at the end of the season? Yes, there'll be some of that happening, and so you can use your I love using dandelion and make an oil out of it, and then because it's so inexpensive because dandelions are free for the taking, and then I use that oil throughout the the year, you know, for inflammation, and I also use it um in lip balm. My granddaughter is now loving to make little lip balms, so we've been using our dandelion oil in that.
SPEAKER_07:So, how do you make dandelion oil?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so it's so simple. Herbal medicine is really accessible for everyone. So all you need is a nice olive oil. And I would take a just I use a um a liter mason jar, but you could use a smaller one if you wanted to. You will fill it like all say three-quarters of the way with dandelion flowers, and you would harvest them uh in the morning when the sun is high in the sky and the bees are active. That's a good time to know. Um, and then you would pluck them, put them in the jar, and then you will cover them with the olive oil. And uh so three-quarters full with the flowers and then almost full with the oil, and then you put the lid on. You don't want the metal lid touching the oil. So some folks put a um wax paper in between as a barrier. I just keep the oil down personally. And then I sit it in the window, a sunny window, for uh four or five weeks, six weeks. Okay. Yeah, and then I strain it out.
SPEAKER_07:Okay, very good. So so you're mentioning, sorry, I didn't uh interrupt, but you mentioned dandelion oil. And I'm sure people will be wondering, okay, where do you get it? How do you do it? This and you've answered that. So what other sorts of roots do people should be looking at now?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so uh we mentioned, hmm, uh we uh so we mentioned uh dandelion roots, burdock roots, golden seal roots, uh what other roots? Um I'm just trying to think of my my I'm drawing a blank. Let's see here. Stinging nettle? Yes, I I personally don't use a lot of stinging nettle, but here there. Ginseng roots. So ginseng, of course, for it's an adaptogen and supporting energy. So ginseng, there's a really good one. Um and you can grow your own ginseng plants as well if you find a good uh supply of seeds or roots and used for immunity and stress resilient. Ginger, ginger roots, of course, uh, for digestive uh stimulant, and if you're feeling ill. So ginger's a great one to have a cup of tea in the car if you have anyone who gets car sick or motion sickness. Um, turmeric, there's another one that's um you know, can be used. Valerian roots. Oh have you ever smelt valerian roots? They kind of smell like stinky feet. The flour is beautiful, it's one of my favorite. But the roots, but it's wonderful for sleeping. It's actually a sedative. Uh, so it's good for your nervous system. It's a great one to have on your nightstand at bedtime. Uh, but again, it's supporting sleep and relaxation as a nervine, and it is one of the roots that we would harvest spring or fall. Um let's see here. Astragalus. And a lot of people may know astragalus as another one of those immune-boosting herbs going into winter. So that's another one of those uh herbs that could be used. Uh and as I mentioned already, echinacea, echinacea is a root that we also use. So there's so many roots.
SPEAKER_07:And and and one one that I really push a lot of is garlic as well.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yes, as a ball, but oh, garlic is so delicious.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, and yeah, it's and there's so many different strains of garlic out there that I didn't realize.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and you know, this is so sorry, I keep mentioning Richters, but Richter's is where I've always got my herbs from and always told my students about just because, you know, they're just 30 minutes from my house and friends of mine, and plus now I work here. But we we Richters has so many varieties of garlic, but they also have something that I just learned a couple of years ago, um, which is elephant garlic. Have you heard of it?
SPEAKER_07:Yes, I have. Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I never knew about it before, but it's actually elite. But they're these giant mild-tasting garlicky cloves that you use, and they're big. They're so delicious. So if you're ever gonna try something new, uh, I really want to recommend that to folks to try and look for it because it's just a fun one that I only just discovered uh last year.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, I was with a what, two weeks ago Sunday, I was with a a garlic grower that had 15 acres in garlic. And they were moving forward. Well, they they produce, I can't remember how many tons of garlic that they produce up in the Millbrook area. Uh but they were moving forward producing black garlic. Have you heard of use black garlic at all?
SPEAKER_00:You know what? I have heard I I've heard that term, but refresh me. I don't I don't really remember.
SPEAKER_07:So what they what they do basically is they slow roast garlic. And yeah, and it turns black, but but it's the the shelf life is is hugely increased, and it's almost kind of like a candy. It's like it's like caramelized uh the garlic, and it's actually very, very tasty and very flavorful. Oh, so you tried it. Oh, yeah, I've had quite a bit, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I've never tried it. Oh, that would be fun. Okay.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, actually a friend of uh Garrett's uh my son, youngest son, um, they actually took an old fridge in order to make black back black garlic and and use that as kind of like a a heating element of some sort to to put it all in there, and they were using that. But yeah, I found different ways. So it was interesting to see, and more and more black garlic is coming up on the market. I see it in a number of different shows that I attend, the outdoor show. It's it was pretty prevalent there.
SPEAKER_00:Cool. Yeah, yeah. So definitely something I'm gonna look for and try. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07:So uh Penelope, have you heard of much about Yabba Mate? Yarba Mate.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I I have heard of it.
SPEAKER_07:I don't know much about it, but my my son, uh Josh, my other son, says this is the the new trend. It's the the latest thing, it's from South America, and and uh all the podcasters and YouTubers are talking about yarba mate, and I don't know much about it.
SPEAKER_00:Well, uh so my experience with and and I say yerba mate, but it doesn't, you know, everyone says things differently. So we had it, um, I had a tea and herb shop for a few years. Right. And I sold yerba mate uh in the tea shop, and we served it to customers. Um, but it was one for uh really supporting mental alertness and endurance. Um it was a bit of a digestive aid that folks were using, and of course, high in antioxidants. Uh so yeah, folks, we're we're loving it. It has a it does contain caffeine, um but uh just a really good uh cup of tea, or we called it a tea. Um yeah, but other than using it for mental alertness and you know, fatigue, digestive support, and I do know we had one person come in and they were getting it for um mild, like a mild weight loss uh management that they had heard. So I hadn't heard about that before. So I would need to check into that if that's so. But what was your son? Uh what what was he saying the trend was?
SPEAKER_07:Well, he was just saying that uh uh the podcasters are talking about all kinds of different benefits of it. And and he didn't get into the specifics. And so I've just started, and this is just something brand new that's come to my attention. So I haven't really had a chance to look into it. It's just been the past short while that it was brought uh forward to me, so I'm still looking into it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so we definitely s sold it, and it was uh was when I say it was common, it was one of those ones that were common enough that we carried it in the store, right? And had people want it as a herbal tea.
SPEAKER_08:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Um yeah.
SPEAKER_07:Okay. Just wondered if you knew you. So Penelope, d do you know any books that people or or you mentioned the app, but are there books that people should look at or or uh you would suggest and that sort of thing?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. I always recommend Rosemary Gladstar's books just because I really love them. Um Mimi Hernandez has a really good book out with National Geographic right now. So as a newer book, I'm really enjoying Mimi Hernandez's book.
SPEAKER_08:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um I also love like certain books that I think are must read, like Rading Sweet Sweetgrass by Robin Walkamerer. Um if you're just wanting to read something really interesting, not have it as like a herbal how-to.
SPEAKER_08:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Um The Boreal Forest, if you're interested in uh that, the boreal forest is a great book.
SPEAKER_07:Um yeah, Rosemary Gladstar's uh medicinal herbs, a beginner's guide is one that I really suggest to a lot of people. And then there's another one I usually recommend, Brenda Jones's Medicinal Herbs of Eastern Canada. Are two of the books that I I show a lot of people. And and uh as you mentioned before, you you need to talk to more people and find out more information. You just uh learning from one is great, but you'll get more insight, like you mentioned, about the Comfrey and the and the hot spots for dogs. People learn different things, and those are a couple of the books that I I suggest to people if they're interested in looking. But obviously, there's a lot of other ones that you're mentioning now.
SPEAKER_00:And the field guide, the Peterson's field guide. I really love the Peterson's field guide. So they'll have them for different areas, you know, that uh you can find your area and order that online. And sometimes you can get used books, right, online, which is uh pretty handy, or at the library. Don't forget, a lot of times folks are forgetting to use the library.
SPEAKER_08:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Um so a lot of our students instead of buying books are using the library, and I love that. Um so supporting the library.
SPEAKER_07:Well, Penelope, it's been great having you on the podcast again. How can people get in touch with you or find out more details? Or where do you suggest that people would go to to look for uh herbs and and get started in those areas?
SPEAKER_00:Okay, well, um uh you can find me uh at theginkotree.ca and um I want you to check out so not just my herb course, but we also have a botanical journey to Tuscany happening this May. So if anyone's interested in doing an adventure to Tuscany, we did one uh two Mays ago and it was fabulous. Only 22 people can come. Uh, that's all the room there is, and so that's also on my website. And um plants, where to get good plants and dried herbs and seeds. Well, of course, I would always recommend Richters, Richtersherbs.com. Um, that's a great source. And then just know that you could go on to your Herbal Association website, and they also list a lot of programs that you can take and who you can trust because I feel like it's all about in today's world finding people that you know are legit, that are doing the work, and that you can uh go and learn from and experience uh a walk with herbal medicine rest.
SPEAKER_07:Well, thank you very much, Penelope, of the Ginkgo Tree. We really appreciate you taking the time to be on the podcast and inform us about some great things and other opportunities that people can have out there under the canopy this time of the year. Thanks, Penelope.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, no problem.
SPEAKER_10:Hi, everybody, I'm Angelo Viola. And I'm Pete Bowman. Now, you might know us as the hosts of Canada's favorite fishing show, but now we're hosting a podcast. That's right. Every Thursday, Ang and I will be right here in your ears, bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm. Now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know there's gonna be a lot of fishing.
SPEAKER_04:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
SPEAKER_10:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes, all the other guys would go golfing.
SPEAKER_02:Me and Garchomp Turk, and all the Russians would go fishing.
SPEAKER_04:The scientists. But now that we're reforesting and letting it's the perfect transmission environment for line.
SPEAKER_12:Chefs, if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated for you will taste it.
SPEAKER_10:And whoever else will pick up the phone. Wherever you are, Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside.
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