Advertise on podcast: The Campfire's Edge

For the Season 2 finale, Matt sits down with Douglas Batchelor of What Magic Is This? for a wide-ranging conversation about the strange territory where magic, folklore, and lived experience meet. Together they explore Joshua Cutchin's Ecology of Souls and Fourth Wall Phantoms, fairy traditions, ancestors, saints, the dead, spirit ecology, magical practice, imagination, storytelling, and why place matters more than most occult systems admit. Douglas reflects on how moving onto unceded land transformed his magical work, why children may inhabit reality differently than adults, and how becoming a father has changed his understanding of ritual and enchantment. You can find Douglas's work here: https://whatmagicisthis.com/ Find more information, original art and show notes at: https://thecampfiresedge.com/

This episode begins with a remembrance of Gordon White, whose work inspired the name The Campfire’s Edge and who helped give language to the idea that humans belong in a strange, haunted, more-than-human cosmos. Then we’re joined by Sylvia and Tristan Eden, the husband-and-wife team behind Leodrune Press. From their home in the Pacific Northwest, they write and illustrate books exploring ecology, folklore, mythology, and the experience of encountering a world that may be much stranger, and much more alive, than we usually admit. We talk about the modern search for re-enchantment, why so many people are finding their way to old ideas through forests instead of books, the weird things that happen when you spend enough time outdoors, and why taking animism seriously is both beautiful and deeply inconvenient. Also discussed: climate grief, hunting, plant intelligence, ancestral landscapes, magical correspondences, UFOs and high strangeness, why learning the names of things matters, and the possibility that there may occasionally be a little guy in the rock. Probably not. Probably. Follow Leodrune Substack: https://leodrune.substack.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leodrunepress Etsy Bookshop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/leodruneshop/?etsrc=sdt&dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fleodrune.substack.com%2F Find show details, original art and our social media @ https://thecampfiresedge.com/ and you can find us on Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/thehungryforestgallery/

In this episode we interview Haw River Assembly Executive Director Emily Sutton about our wild and damaged river, in a discussion that spans environmental strategy, river-personhood, and our worries for the future. HRA is lobbying NC's Environmental Management Commission. The group that is responsible for setting state pollution regulations is taking public comment on their draft language new laws on PFAS contaminants. The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission (EMC) plans to adopt a set of rules that were written by polluters and would allow nearly 500 industrial facilities across North Carolina to continue to dump toxic PFAS and 1,4-dioxane into our rivers and drinking water supplies. Rather than require industries and wastewater plants to reduce their chemical pollution, these rules only make dischargers collect a handful of samples and write a plan for how they could reduce pollution. There are no consequences or penalties if the polluter fails to cut its pollution—even if the polluter increases its toxic discharges. The rules do nothing to prevent current or future pollution. You can send a note to the EMC here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-the-polluter-written-minimization-plans?source=direct_link&&blm_aid=2422566 You can find more about the Haw River Assembly here: https://www.hawriver.org/ Check out TheCampfiresEdge.com for episode art and more context. https://thecampfiresedge.com/ You can support us on Patreon at The Hungry Forest Gallery and Press. https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheHungryForest Thanks for listening.

Back from apocalyptic life difficulty season, we have the first of what we hope will be several new episodes publishing in quick succession to close out Season Two of the Campfire's Edge Podcast. In this episode, my father tells the story of his encounter with a figure on a floating platform which was investigated by the Project Blue Book operation in the 1960s. He also tells one of the strangest deer hunting stories we've ever heard. Sarah and I introduce the episode with our 2025 deer season wrap up and Sarah details the cross-species communications she was downloading from the dream deer. Check out the episode art, our newsletters, social media and our publishing platform on Patreon - which you can find at TheCampfiresEdge.com. Be sure to rate us on your podcast listening service to help us grow.

Western North Carolina opened a new chapter this year: the first regulated black bear hunts in some of the steepest, coldest, and most tangled country in the state. Sarah and Matt both drew tags for this historic hunt. In this episode, they share stories from the field; two hunts shaped by different challenges. Matt’s encounter unfolded fast, with close-distance decisions and teeth clacking in the brush. Sarah battled brutal terrain and a sudden mountain cold snap that shut down bear movement and made for dangerous conditions. After the stories, we sit down with Justin McVey, the district wildlife biologist overseeing the region. Justin walks us through the biology and politics behind the new season, and what’s at stake as populations expand into both wilderness and neighborhoods. Check out TheCampfiresEdge.com for episode notes, hunt photos and original art. If you enjoy the work Sarah and I are doing, please consider supporting our publishing project on Patreon. Also, it helps the show a ton if you give us a rating on your podcast player of choice, or share it on social media.

In this episode, Sarah and I sit down with Hal Herring, host of the Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Cast and Blast, for a wide-ranging conversation about hunting, conservation, and what it really means to be in relationship with land. Hal brings decades of experience as an outdoor journalist, conservation advocate, and lifelong hunter, and we move through topics ranging from big-game seasons and public land realities to harder questions: who gets to shape conservation priorities, why conflict is unavoidable (and necessary), and what hunters owe the landscapes that feed and sustain them. Along the way, we talk herbalism, fire ecology, strange experiences in the woods, and the ways knowledge forms when you spend enough time paying attention outside. Check out Hal here: https://www.halherring.com/ and BHA Cast and Blast here: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/Media/BHA-Podcasts If you enjoy the work Sarah and I are doing, please consider supporting our publishing project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheHungryForest And it helps the show a ton if you give us a rating on your podcast player of choice, or share it on social media. Go to TheCampfiresEdge.com to check out photos from my 2008 trip to the high desert of Eastern Oregon on a habitat restoration project with one of BHA's founding leaders, Mike Beagle. https://thecampfiresedge.com/

In this episode we are  talking about magical practice and hunting. Human's earliest magical practices almost certainly arose from attempts to secure hunting success. But today, the overlap between these two archaic practices is very limited.  In this episode we are talking to Aspen, who is a poet and hunter and magical practitioner living out in the American west and she has a substack called Yarrow and Bone which we encourage folks to check out. If you are a hunter who has a magical practice that you follow, we'd love to hear from you. You can reach out to us at [email protected].  Aspen's Substack: https://yarrowandbone.substack.com/  The Campfire's Edge Site has original artwork and show notes: https://thecampfiresedge.com/ Follow The Hungry Forest Gallery & Press on Patreon for more writing and art projects and support the show: https://www.patreon.com/TheHungryForest

Almost fifteen years ago to the day, our friend Jeremy encountered Bigfoot in a remote part of Ohio's Tar Hollow State forest during deer season. His climbing tree stand is likely still connected to the tree, after he ran out of the woods; it's the only time he's done that, in decades of hunting encounters with other large and potentially dangerous animals. We talk about the landscape that shapes hunters, what real fear in the woods feels like, why credible people stay quiet about encounters, and make plans for all of us to go back and stand in “their living room” again.  For more episodes, original art and show notes, check out TheCampFiresEdge.com.  You can support the show by giving us a review wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can find more of our work on Patreon.com/TheHungryForest  https://thecampfiresedge.com/ https://www.patreon.com/TheHungryForest

Dr. Peggy Smith Epig (environmental historian, longtime ranger, and Goucher professor) joins us to talk about how stories shape land ethics, from St. Hubert and St. Cuthbert to fieldwork in West Virginia where a small chapel’s stag icon sparks a conversation about hunting, stewardship, and community norms. We trace the hagiography of “holy gamekeepers,” a pilgrim’s encounter with an Iberian wolf on the Camino, and the local work of river care and urban stream monitoring—asking how lived experience (and occasional high strangeness) changes how we act on the ground. Dr. Epig's Pilgrimage Substack is here: https://peppig.substack.com/ Her nature journal substack is here: https://peggysmitheppig.substack.com/ Her Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Wo_fg9XF0NU8aRq4oq0mw Find original episode art and more episodes at TheCampfiresEdge.com. And if you would like to support the show and get exclusive publications related to the topics we discuss, check out Patreon.com/TheHungryForest.

In this episode, Sarah and Matt interview Dan Flores, author of Coyote America and Wild New World: The Epic Story of Animals and People in America. We also announce the launch of our new imprint, The Hungry Forest Gallery & Press. Go to TheCampfiresEdge.com for original art and episode notes and check out our new Patreon for The Hungry Forest to support our work.

In this episode, Matt and Sarah talk to Conner Habib, novelist and host of the podcast Against Everyone With Conner Habib. Conner's debut novel, Hawk Mountain (July, 2022 ), pairs instances of human violence, and animal violence throughout the book, inviting comparison. We talk about that, and also discuss whether the natural history emphasis in the book makes this novel "nature writing". You can find Conner's work at ConnerHabib.com. For episode art and show notes, visit TheCampFiresEdge.com. For Sarah's artwork vist SarahDangerwood.com. And Matt's on Substack at Therianthrope.

Sarah and Matt give updates on their projects before diving into a conversation about Sarah's experience operating trail cameras, as a artist and graduate student in Mexican Gray Wolf country. She also expands on her experiences with our trail cameras in North Carolina's Haw River watershed and we talk about our favorite captures. Sarah shares insight from our trail cam experiments and gives tips if you are looking get more wildlife on film.  You can find Matt's Therianthrope Substack here.  The Bartram 250 Celebration and art Symposium is here.  Sarah's Artist page is here.  Original episode art, show notes and library at TheCampfiresEdge.com. Outro is a demo song from dad-duo, Matt on guitar and Josh Lane on drums aka. Castle Goat .

Dr. Robert Michael Pyle is a naturalist and the author of 28 books, including Chasing Monarchs, Where Bigfoot Walks, Wintergreen, Nature Matrix, Butterflies of the Pacific Northwest, the novel Magdalena Mountain, and four collections of poetry. In this episode, we talk about his 2022 bigfoot sighting, what it's like playing in a band with Nirvana's Krist Novoselic, and his experience as a naturalist and scientist writing about sasquatch. For more episodes and original art, go to TheCampfiresEdge.com.

In this episode, our friend Jason describes his experiences growing up in Ohio with fairy phenomenon, ghost trains, UFO dreams and his practice of chaos magic. Be sure to check out TheCampFiresEdge.com for original show art and other episodes.

Nature writer Lyanda Fern Lynn Haupt joins us to talk about bird synchronicities, the communion of saints, and love for Earthsea, etymology and corvid culture. Lyanda is the author of six incredible books, including most recently, Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature and Spirit. You can find all of Lyanda's books here. You can find episode art and extras at TheCampfiresEdge.com.