Before the Fern Dies

The time is here, dearest friends. Today marks the day of Before The Fern Dies' last episode. We spend these last 40 minutes reflecting on BTFD and her growth from a wee two-leafed sprout to a thriving Jurassic ostrich fern. And my what a journey it has been. We are so grateful to have had this enchanting experience with one another and all of you. We might be stepping out of BTFD, but we are also stepping into something new. The seeds have been planted, and the roots are taking hold...we cannot WAIT to share with you all what we've been cookin' up. But for now, we must say our goodbyes and pay homage to the little pot that held us. Thank you all so very dearly for all the love and support you have given us and BTFD. We shall see you very soon. Blessed be.

How does the state of the Earth make us feel? More like how DOESN'T the state of the Earth make us feel! Eco anxiety is defined by the American Psychological Association as “the chronic fear of environmental cataclysm that comes from observing the seemingly irrevocable impact of climate change and the associated concern for one's future and that of next generations” ... yikes. In this episode, we're stirring up the hot, gloopy soup of emotions that climate change fills our queasy little guts with. The anxiety, the rage, the fear, the hope(?), all of it. What can we do - individually and societally - to address the climate crisis? And how do we alleviate our eco anxiety? Follow us on Instagram: BTFD: @beforetheferndies Ashlyn: @ashlyn.higareda Wendy: @wendylin.h

It has been quite a strenuous journey, but we **somehow** made it to the end and decided on our ultimate babe. Catch us once more swearing, steaming, and high-pitch squealing in this second installment of Hot and Bothered to find out just who that babe is. WARNING: (________) is really hot.

Let's just get right to the point–this episode is about hot stuff. More specifically? Hot fictional characters that we discuss in the most ridiculous ways. We bracket the shit out of these hottie-patottie-tamales march madness style, and we've just got SO much to say about it that we broke it into two parts. Part one encompasses our first four pairings and the arguments for/against the HoTTeST of the two. For part two, you will just have to wait until next week!

Summer is in full swing, and so is our annual bombardment of bikini anxiety. With it comes a conundrum. How do we compromise this desire for the perfect body, with the drive to be perfect, radically self-accepting feminists? As is often the case, we got some inspiration from Fleabag and the question posed in season 1: "Would you trade five years of your life for the so-called perfect body?" Our answer to that question, plus a history lesson on wool wetsuits, nude beach horror stories, and more in Episode 34: Kill Bikinis. Follow us on Instagram! BTFD: @beforetheferndies Ashlyn: @ashlyn_higareda Wendy: @wendylin.h

You all remember it well- the hallmark yearbook signature H.A.G.S. (Have A Great Summer). But what really makes “a great summer”? That may be a little tricky for those of us with the summertime blues, but we take a whack at it anyway in episode 33 of Before the Fern Dies. Tune in this week for a discussion on ice cream, nostalgia, and just a great ass Summer.

Summertime SADness: it's not just a Lana song, people! Summer is upon us and we... are less than stoked. Turns out, there's a name for this feeling: S.A.D. As in seasonal affective disorder. AKA, seasonal depression. AKA, the thing that is currently ruining our lives. In this episode, we try to salvage our hot girl summer and unpack our summertime SADness. Follow us on IG! BTFD: @beforetheferndies Ashlyn: @ashlyn_higareda Wendy: @wendylin.h

As the end of Spring nears and we transition into Summer- we lasses are in need of a wee break. We have been a little off the podcast train the last couple of weeks and have made the official decision to end this season a little earlier than intended! As we wrap up with this episode, we divulge our Outlander obsession (fair warning: this takes up a large majority of the episode) and attempt to make sense of Spring 2021. We love you all and look forward to making our Summer BTFD season but until then-take it easy folks. Get some rest…replenish…rejuvenate…(read Outlander). Blessed be. *Bonus: Can you count how many times you hear bagpipes throughout the episode?

In the inaugural episode of Before the FILM Dies (our pod within a pod), we laugh, cry, and cry some more about My Octopus Teacher - the Academy Award/BAFTA/so many other awards-winning documentary about Craig Foster and the incredible relationship he builds with an octopus. GO WATCH the movie on Netflix, then come back and listen to us gush about our new favorite octopus heroine, and try to have articulate thoughts about how the film inspired and challenged our views on the relationship between humans and the natural world. Check out seachangeproject.com or IG @seachangeproject to donate and keep up with the foundation! PS. We had some tech difficulties in this episode, so you might hear a weird Ghost Wendy echoing in the background. C'est la vie, and we hope you can still enjoy this episode in spite of it!

What better way to celebrate Earth Day 2021 than with our long-awaited vegan sales pitch! But it’s not quite what you think… In this episode of Before the Fern Dies, we talk not only about the factors that sparked our interest in going plant-based, but also think critically about the accessibility of veganism and how conscious consumption is key. This is a juicy one, so grab your carrots and hummus and settle in for this very vegan episode!

The suns out, the birds are tweet-a-leeting, and we are RED-EEE to break out the gardening gloves and get our hands in that sweet, nourishing dirt. In episode 28, you can expect to hear some gardening resources and tips from some very newbie seedwomen…but it would not be BTFD without a lengthy discussion about how taking care of our seeds, plants, and gardens is intertwined with our mental health and spirituality. *bonus* stick around until the very end to hear some fast facts about squirting seeds.

In Womanhood Part 1, Ashlyn and Wendy shared their journeys getting diagnosed with PCOS and PMDD. So... now what? In the final installment of this mini series, Ashlyn and Wendy dive deeper into the emotional soup of their women's health journey. How are they feeling in the wake of their diagnoses? How does this affect their perception of their own womanhood? Who is this opossum that walks by Ashlyn's window and WHAT COSMIC MESSAGE DO THEY HAVE TO BRING US???

Ahhh spring time. A time of tiny baby animals, tiny baby flowers, and tiny baby meltdowns about tiny babies and the systemic pressure on women to A) have a one-dimensional experience of womanhood, and B) be picture-perfect makers of those aforementioned tiny babies. In Part 1 of this two-parter, Ashlyn and Wendy share their recent journeys being diagnosed with PCOS and PMDD, and all the ways it's making them rethink their views on what womanhood means.

Spring has sprung, and thus, we must carry out the most sacred of springtime rituals: spring cleaning! Because we can't beam you through your headphones for some actual decluttering (we would if we could!), we're bringing you more of a spiritual spring cleaning, and hitting you with some journal prompts to spring clean our minds, bodies, and spirits.

Spring is here…and so is a new season of Before The Fern Dies! Today marks the Spring Equinox, a day also known as Ostara. In this episode, we discuss Ostara and some of its origins and symbolism, and our intentions for this coming Spring. We are excited little chickadees! Please join us in welcoming Ostara and get your gardening fingers ready, your bird feeders filled, and your hearts open for some change!

As Winter comes to an end, so must season 2 of Before The Fern Dies. In this episode, we bid our farewell to the cold season (well, cold for some) by checking in with the intentions we set at the beginning of the season, discussing what we will miss about dear ol’ Winter and gettin’ bubbly about Spring. We have a lot to look forward to in the bloomy season- but for now, we would like to appreciate the gifts Winter gave us and give a proper BTFD goodbye. We love you Winter…this episode is for you… well, and us of course…but at least somewhat for you.

The title says it all, friends: Self love is hard. BUT... not all the time? We had a really peppy eppy planned about our self love journeys, but honestly we just weren't feeling it. And with that came this episode: an honest conversation about the ups and downs of learning to love yourself, and how we're trying to navigate all the bologna that stands in the way.

HAPpy TueSdAy darlings. In this episode of Before The Fern Dies we are kickin’ it back to the witchy roots of this pod and centering our chat on our favorite mother of all: la T I E R R A We talk about what’s been going on in regards to our witchy selves and the simple ways we have been developing our practice. Listen for the shits and giggles of it...but also to hear us talk about rosemary for too long and how to make a bomb ass MOOn Milk BreW.

It was always written in the stars that we'd do an Astrology episode... or was it? In the historic 20th episode of Before the Fern Dies, we tackle some of the big questions: Do the stars really decide who we are and where we're going? Are we cosmically attracted to certain types of people? And the most important question of all... WHAT ARE OUR SIGNS???

Last week we took a scenic journey along our life paths together. This week we are taking that introspective energy and putting it into a mini writing meditation exercise. The three little prompts provided (including one given to Ashlyn by the spectacular Rios de la Luz) will hopefully provide a nice and peaceful end to your week or a wonderful start to your weekend. So get your feathers freshly dipped in that ink and your mind at the ready!

And at long last, we reach the end of our journey into visualization, guided meditation, and what it all has to show us about our inner psyches. We leave the woodland vibes of Part 2 behind and venture into some deeper waters - love, life, death, and beyond - as we conclude this three-parter. Check out Episodes 16 and 17 to hear the first half of this conversation-turned-therapy-session, and the guided meditation that started it all.

Back in Part 1 of this little series, we let a guided meditation walk us down our life path. In this episode, we're revealing what the first half of the meditation's twists and turns symbolize about our futures, and putting on our therapist hats to interpret what our psyches were trying to tell us (although we probably should call our actual therapists about some of it...). Stay tuned for Part 3, where we'll conclude this wild jaunt into the land of visualization!

Okay, we don't have a literal crystal ball unfortunately, but we ARE taking a little peek into our futures through ~*visualization*~. Follow along as we let a guided meditation walk us through our life path, then try to interpret what it all really means for our future friendships, love lives, and homes (spoiler: it's basically the Breaking Dawn cottage). In Episode 16, Part 1, we'll take you through the guided meditation that we'll be discussing in the next installments, so that YOU TOO can look into your figurative crystal ball with us!

We check in with each other this week about what has transpired within the last few days in terms of the upcoming presidential inauguration. To put it simply- a coup. A god damn domestic terrorist attack on American democracy and its people by a violent group of white supremacists. We focus our attention on what we have been doing to stay sane and care for ourselves during this historically wild and sad time. We hope this can be useful to you friends. Blessed be.

In this episode we: talk about lists, talk a lot about lists, talk psych n’ things, laugh about lists, share some lists, and then M.A.S.H. hard baby. That's all you need to know.

To New Year's resolution... or not to New Year's resolution? That is the question we ask in this week's episode! 2020 has been one humdinger of a year, friends. With 2021 on the horizon, we are setting our intentions, roasting Good Housekeeping, and shooting a final flaming arrow into the Viking longboat that is 2020.

Happy, happy Yule folks! We kick off Before the Fern Dies season II on the day of the winter solstice to celebrate the change from fall to winter. In this episode, we discuss traditional Yule celebrations, major astrological happenings, goats, The Dark Crystal, and all our other shenanigans. We are so excited to be back to do this season bigger and better than ever!

For the final installment of the Death series as well as the final episode of season one, we finish up with questions we have been dying to get answers to like “what kind of flowers or plants would be at your funeral?” “Do you believe in an afterlife?” “What would be your last meal?” We just can’t stop talking about all things death! So take a listen, and then think about how great it is to be alive.

She’s here! The second installment of the Death series: Death Part II. In this episode, we get into the nitty-gritty of how we ourselves view death. We chat about parents and dying a lot and even dig into some good ol’ trauma. We hope this will prompt you to think about how death has played a role in your life and hopefully help disarm some of the stigma surrounding death. Hell yeah!

It's the spookiest of all spookies in honor of the spooky season: DEATH. In DEATH Part I, we go on a global bar crawl from Egypt, to Vietnam, to North America, and more - except instead of crawling bars, we're crawling... funeral traditions from around the world...? Captions are hard. Harder than pondering the abyss of DEATH, which we hope you'll do with us in Episode 9 of Before the Fern DIES!

We are kicking off this spooky season with a mini (not so mini) episode on the harvest moon. Traditionally, the harvest moon lit up the night for the arrival of Autumn and illuminated the fields for farmers to begin to harvest this year's crops. We would say our gardens are pretty full, but we tried to limit it to a 25 minute conversation. We hope you will join us in thinking about what we want to shed and what we want to harvest this season.

Gods and people dragons and fire guy, oh my! This week we recount our favorite myths and folklore discussing what we like about them and what lessons they might offer us. From Greek to Vietnamese, your going to want to listen to us venture through a retelling of these stories. Bonus myth busting- ostriches do not actually put their head in the sand....like ever.

We want to be the best allies to the Black Lives Matter movement that we can possibly be, and that takes learning, unlearning, and lots of discomfort and mistakes. In this episode, we share some of the biggest lessons we've learned along the way. While we believe it's important for everyone to have meaningful conversations about systemic racism, Black voices are the most important, and it's their lead that we need to follow. Here are the people we mention in this particular episode: Alishia McCullough - @blackandembodied Ayana Gabrielle Lage - @ayanagabriellelage Brandon Kyle Goodman - @brandonkgood Rachel Elizabeth Cargle - @rachel.cargle Here's a worksheet with 10 reflection questions that we hope will help you reflect and start good conversations, as they've helped us! https://docs.google.com/document/d/13c-5D53ZmBhOtdcu33ZLb9tZe3JUphGbDfnzCwmzNCI/edit?usp=sharing

Listen... we are some chatty gorls and 22 minutes is about as "mini" of a mini episode as we're gonna get! Misnomer aside, in this episode we introduce you to some of the important people in our lives, and discuss the ways that we're trying to be more like them. Ashlyn and Wendy gushing about other people, plus roasting themselves, equals one very on brand episode of BTFD!

WITCHCRAFT. Yup, you heard us right. In this episode, we invite special guest, friend, and coven sister, Ava Lee, to chat with us about our experiences with magic and witchcraft. We focus on what witchcraft looks like for us (as baby witches) and the ways in which it has helped us shape our worldview.

In this episode of Before the Fern Dies, we get artsy doing some self-portraits and dig into our experiences with body image. Hear us dote on whether or not we are artists for too long, rag on Picasso’s work, and chat loquaciously about our changing bodies.

To anyone who has written an angry letter just to set it on fire - this one's for you (and we seriously rock with your chAoTic energy)! In this episode, Ashlyn and Wendy share open letters to their past and future selves. They discuss who they were and hope to be, as well as one very awk family birthday party, the importance of sitting down and being HUMBLE, and a bonus letter from a personal hero...

In this episode, Ashlyn and Wendy reflect on their time as Literature/Creative Writing majors at UCSD - a time of all-nighters, questionable roommate wanted ads, and existential crises. They read the thesis statements from some of their old papers and ask themselves the age-old question: Do I regret my major?

Hello everyone! Here's a sneaky peek of our podcast-more to come soon.