The Whimsy Farm Podcast

Send us Fan MailOn April 1,  I speak with author Nell Bernstein about her latest book, In Our Future We Are Free,  "an astonishing story of resistance and change" about the "dismantling of the youth prison" system. Bernstein is the Directing Advocate at the Youth Law Center in Sacramento, California. The details below are taken from the back page of her new book. "Nell Bernstein is the author of All Alone in the World, a Newsweek Book of the Week, and Burning Down the House, winner of the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award. She is a former Soros Justice Media Fellow, a MacDowell Fellow, and a winner of the White House Champton of Change award. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Glamour, Salon, Mtoher Jones, and other publications."Support the show

Send a textI speak with author Jim Robbins about his latest book "The Wonder of Birds" and other recent and upcoming writing projects. The material below is quoted from the back page of "The Wonder of Birds.""Jim Robbins was born and raised in Niagara Falls, New York, but has lived in Montana since 1977. He has written for The New York Times for more than thirty-five years, on a wide range of topics but with a special focus on science and environmental issues. He has also written for Audubon, Conde Nast Traveler, Smithsonian, Vanity Fair, The Sunday Times, Conservation, and numerous other magazines. He has covered environmental stories across the United States and in far-flung places around the world, including Mongolia, Mexico, Chile, Peru, The Yanomami Territory of Brazil, Norway, and Sweden. "["The Wonder of Birds"] is his sixth book. His first, "Last Refuge: The Environmental Showdown in the American West" (1993), was about reconciling the way we as a species live with our knowledge of ecosystems. He is also the author of "A Symphony in the Brain" (2000) and co-author of "The Open Focus Brain" (2007), about the critical and overlooked role that attention plays in our lives, as well as "Dissolving Pain" (2010), about the role of attention in pain. His interest in the nexus between the human central nervous system and the natural world grew out of of these three books. "His fifth book, "The Man Who Planted Trees" (2012) is about the crisis in the world's forests caused by climate change and resource development."  You can find Jim on X or Twitter @JimRobbins19, on Facebook at Facebook.com/writerjimrobbins and at jimrobbinswriter.wordpress.com.Support the show

Send a textComing March 15, I speak with author Jim Robbins about his latest book "The Wonder of Birds" and other recent and upcoming writing projects. The material below is quoted from the back page of "The Wonder of Birds.""Jim Robbins was born and raised in Niagara Falls, New York, but has lived in Montana since 1977. He has written for The New York Times for more than thirty-five years, on a wide range of topics but with a special focus on science and environmental issues. He has also written for Audubon, Conde Nast Traveler, Smithsonian, Vanity Fair, The Sunday Times, Conservation, and numerous other magazines. He has covered environmental stories across the United States and in far-flung places around the world, including Mongolia, Mexico, Chile, Peru, The Yanomami Territory of Brazil, Norway, and Sweden. "["The Wonder of Birds"] is his sixth book. His first, "Last Refuge: The Environmental Showdown in the American West" (1993), was about reconciling the way we as a species live with our knowledge of ecosystems. He is also the author of "A Symphony in the Brain" (2000) and co-author of "The Open Focus Brain" (2007), about the critical and overlooked role that attention plays in our lives, as well as "Dissolving Pain" (2010), about the role of attention in pain. His interest in the nexus between the human central nervous system and the natural world grew out of of these three books. "His fifth book, "The Man Who Planted Trees" (2012) is about the crisis in the world's forests caused by climate change and resource development."  You can find Jim on X or Twitter @JimRobbins19, on Facebook at Facebook.com/writerjimrobbins and at jimrobbinswriter.wordpress.com.Support the show

Send a textIn this episode we celebrate love: big beautiful love. This time of year, we’re programmed to focus on couple love. Cupid and his arrow, etc., among other cliches. But there is a much more expansive love available to us, Neptunian rather than Venusian. It’s terraphilia, as author Susan Tweit calls it. Love of the earth and all its inhabitants. Love for those with us and those who have departed.  First, we’ll hear from writer Rowena Yeseta. Then we’ll welcome Maryam Barrie for another segment of Poetry Sustains. Support the show

Send a textI  speak with author Carol Menaker and discuss her memoir "The Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done, One Juror’s Reckoning with Racial Injustice." Her book explores the trial and unjust incarceration of Freddy Muhammed Burton, imprisoned for over fifty years now in Pennsylvania for crimes he did not commit. Update: On January 8, Menaker reported that "Muhammed was transferred to Chester, PA from Somerset, PA, an event that has been underway for more than two years. He told Eleanor (Jonathan Gettleman’s mother) that he was so happy. That he felt like he’d gone from hell to heaven and that the people are very nice. Turns out the Chester facility is designated for all the “old heads” so many of the inmates there are known to him because they’ve all been moved around the system for years.  Apparently he knows half the men who are there."Carol Menaker’s website: www.carolmenaker.com Abolitionist Law Center Website: https://abolitionistlawcenter.org/Correspond with Mohammed Burton:  Smart Communication TADOCSCI - Somerset,       Fred Burton AF3896PO Box 33028, St. Petersburg FL 33733United StatesSupport the show

Send a textI  speak with author Carol Menaker and discuss her memoir "The Worst Thing We’ve Ever Done, One Juror’s Reckoning with Racial Injustice." Her book explores the trial and unjust incarceration of Freddy Muhammed Burton, imprisoned for over fifty years now in Pennsylvania for crimes he did not commit. Carol Menaker’s website: www.carolmenaker.com Abolitionist Law Center Website: https://abolitionistlawcenter.org/Correspond with Mohammed Burton:  Smart Communication TADOCSCI - Somerset,       Fred Burton AF3896PO Box 33028, St. Petersburg FL 33733United StatesSupport the show

Send a textI speak with Keith Runyan, activist, speaker, and new father. With a background as an educator, Keith began his Quaker activist career with a 12-day hunger strike to increase awareness of the importance of climate action to the Friends Community and the general public. In 2024, along with his partner and child, he began a traveling ministry inspiring action on the planetary crisis.  Keith is the General Secretary at Quaker Earthcare Witness, where he’s leading the QuakerEarth Campaign to unite global earthcare action. Keith and I discuss the mission of Quaker Earthcare Witness, his recent journey to the CoP30 in Brazil, and how to navigate the climate crisis with hope and courage. Support the show

Send a textI speak with Keith Runyan, activist, speaker, and new father. With a background as an educator, Keith began his Quaker activist career with a 12-day hunger strike to increase awareness of the importance of climate action to the Friends Community and the general public. In 2024, along with his partner and child, he began a traveling ministry inspiring action on the planetary crisis.  Keith is the General Secretary at Quaker Earthcare Witness, where he’s leading the QuakerEarth Campaign to unite global earthcare action. Keith and I discuss the mission of Quaker Earthcare Witness, his recent journey to the CoP30 in Brazil, and how to navigate the climate crisis with hope and courage. Support the show

Send a textWelcome everyone, to Season Two of the podcast, and Episode Eighteen.  Late last fall, in anticipation of being out of the studio for my shoulder replacement, I spoke at length with Laura Pritchett, author and educator and, as we soon found out, kindred spirit.  Enjoy our free-flowing conversation about honoring the wild with us, personal authenticity, and journeying inward during these winter months.  Laura is the author of seven novels, most recently Playing with (wild)Fire and Three Keys. She’s also written two works of nonfiction. She directs the Nature Writing MFA program at Western Colorado University.  You can find her online at www.laurapritchett.com.Support the show

Send a textWelcome everyone, to Season Two of the podcast, and Episode Eighteen.  Late last fall, in anticipation of being out of the studio for my shoulder replacement, I spoke at length with Laura Pritchett, author and educator and, as we soon found out, kindred spirit.  Enjoy our free-flowing conversation about honoring the wild with us, personal authenticity, and journeying inward during these winter months.  Laura is the author of seven novels, most recently Playing with (wild)Fire and Three Keys. She’s also written two works of nonfiction. She directs the Nature Writing MFA program at Western Colorado University.  You can find her online at www.laurapritchett.com.Support the show