Podcasts about state forest

What happens when you follow the signs deep into Connecticut's People's State Forest — and discover something that doesn't want you to leave? In this chilling and high-intensity episode of Bigfoot Society, we sit down with veteran researcher Chris Reinhardt to hear his terrifying firsthand encounters with the unknown. From being lured into the woods by strange whimpering sounds, to nearly being hit with a rock thrown by an invisible force, Chris's stories escalate fast. You'll hear about the infamous Rock Throw Alley, electromagnetic surges in active zones, a coyote leg mysteriously left at his back door, and a shadowy force that followed him home—leaving scratches and fear in its wake. Chris also reveals the secret power of 40 hertz frequency and how it might be summoning Sasquatch — or something worse. Whether it's orbs over Snelgrove Lake or growls in the Florida swamp, this is one episode you'll never forget. Tune in and prepare for one of the wildest rides yet.Resources:Chris's show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K098SXGHG8Chris's channel - https://www.youtube.com/@REALAMERICANMONSTERS

This week we've got some chat on movies, semen displacement devices and detail on the latest failed hunt.Couchy has also organised entry into The Push-Up Challenge this year and would for love for you to join. The Challenge is to complete 3,214 push-ups in 23 days (June 4-26), but you can do half the target if you prefer. Should be a bit of fun. You can sign up (free) and also join the Team here: https://www.thepushupchallenge.com.au/fundraisers/senditmatepodcast/the-push-up-challenge Enjoy!Send Us a Message Check out www.highcaliber.com.au for all your rifle cleaning and protection needs. Be sure to use the code "senditmate" for 10% discount at checkout.Support the showHelp keep the good times rolling!!! https://www.buzzsprout.com/1202918/support

What happens when six seasoned campers — three of them military — head deep into the remote wilds of Pennsylvania's Elk State Forest... and something starts throwing rocks at them from the darkness? In this unnerving episode, we hear firsthand from Jim, a lifelong outdoorsman who went from skeptic to believer after one terrifying night in the woods. As their camp was silently surrounded, rocks began flying, brush cracked under heavy footfalls, and something large — and intelligent — made its presence known. You'll hear how a weeklong trip turned into a desperate retreat, the strange footprint they found the next morning, and why they'll never return to that spot again. We also touch on Bigfoot activity near Wharton, Allegheny National Forest, and the mysterious silence of the woods when predators aren't the only ones hunting. This episode isn't a campfire tale. It's a warning.

Tucked away in the rugged hills of northwestern Pennsylvania, Clear Creek State Forest offers a peaceful escape into one of the Commonwealth's most scenic and secluded natural areas.Spread across thousands of acres, this forest is a haven for nature lovers, where trails wind through towering hardwoods, crystal-clear streams carve their way through valleys and wildlife flourishes in every direction.Whether you're wandering through old-growth forests, casting a line in the Clarion River, or simply soaking in the stillness of the woods, Clear Creek invites you to slow down and reconnect with the wild beauty of Pennsylvania.One of the forest's most compelling features is its sense of solitude. Unlike some of the busier parks and forests in the state, Clear Creek often feels like a well-kept secret—offering quiet trails and remote backcountry campsites that let visitors truly immerse themselves in natureHikers can explore paths where they might stumble upon deer, wildflowers, or remnants of Pennsylvania's logging past. And in autumn, the forest puts on a breathtaking show of fiery reds, oranges, and golds that reflect off the water and blanket the hillsides. But really, every season is spectacular in Clear Creek State Forest. From kayaking and fishing to hunting and wildlife photography, there's no shortage of ways to experience the land. More than just beautiful scenery, Clear Creek State Forest is a place to reunite—with nature, with yourself, or with loved ones. For many, the real draw of Clear Creek lies in its unspoiled charm—a reminder that some of the best places in Pennsylvania are still those where the only sound is the wind through the trees and the rush of a mountain stream.It's the kind of place that reminds you why Pennsylvania is such a special place for outdoor recreation—a landscape shaped by time, preserved with care and waiting to be discovered.On this episode, I speak with Miles Valchar. Miles is the timber management and outdoor recreation forester at Clear Creek State Forest. Be sure to support our 2025 sponsors:Keystone Trails AssociationPurple Lizard MapsPennsylvania Parks and Forests FoundationSisters' SunflowersSupport the showVisit our website to learn more about the podcast, to purchase merch and to find out about our incredible sponsors. Follow us on Instagram and Meta to stay connected.Hosting, production and editing: Christian AlexandersenMusic: Jon SauerGraphics: Matt DavisSupport the showVisit our website to learn more about the podcast, to purchase merch and to find out about our incredible sponsors. Follow us on Instagram and Meta to stay connected. Hosting, production and editing: Christian AlexandersenMusic: Jon SauerGraphics: Matt Davis

Penn State is behind its peers when it comes to commercializing its research. Voters will soon head to the polls in the first round of elections for local offices. Primary elections for judges, mayors, school directors and some election workers are on May 20. Secretary of State Al Schmidt says turnout is traditionally low for local elections even though they offer more tangible impact for voters. Pennsylvania’s neighboring states, New Jersey and Delaware are among 17 states [along with the District of Columbia] that are suing the Trump administration over wind energy. Firefighters battled two forest fires for two weeks recently in Cumberland County's Michaux State Forest. Providing more details and context is Mike Kern, the state's Forest Fire Protection Chief, within the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Bureau of Forestry. Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melodie Meyer of the Environmental Protection Information Center joins the show this week to talk about a new plan to log 500 acres of the Jackson State Forest by the method known as "group selection." This forest in Mendocino County is managed by the State of California and has been the subject of much controversy over herbicide spraying, clearcutting, and failure to consult with local tribes (among other things). Tune in to learn about the latest plan, the relatively new Tribal Advisory Council, and how to learn more and/or comment on the plan. Support the show

In today's show I have my buddy Mike from Pennsylvania on. This episode is a 2 part episode. In the first half, I'll be doing a recap of my recent successful turkey hunt on Virginia Public land. It was basically the most ideal turkey hunt that you could ask for as a turkey hunter. In the second portion of today's show we talk about the current ongoing Michaux State Forest fires that are currently totaling about 3,000 acres of burned forest floors. Mike is a resident in Pennsylvania and has deer hunted the state forest for years. Mike also has a hunting cabin that is not far from where the fires are taking place. We talk about a couple of different ways that the fires could have potentially started, and how the containment is going on those fires now. Thanks everybody for listening, have a great week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's show I have my buddy Mike from Pennsylvania on. This episode is a 2 part episode. In the first half, I'll be doing a recap of my recent successful turkey hunt on Virginia Public land. It was basically the most ideal turkey hunt that you could ask for as a turkey hunter. In the second portion of today's show we talk about the current ongoing Michaux State Forest fires that are currently totaling about 3,000 acres of burned forest floors. Mike is a resident in Pennsylvania and has deer hunted the state forest for years. Mike also has a hunting cabin that is not far from where the fires are taking place. We talk about a couple of different ways that the fires could have potentially started, and how the containment is going on those fires now. Thanks everybody for listening, have a great week!

Some international students in Pennsylvania and elsewhere lost their student status recently, which allows them to stay and study in the U.S. Alan Yu from our friends at WHYY reports, the decision has now been reversed. The Trump administration has long flirted with the idea of selling the U.S. Postal Service to the highest bidder. Kenny Cooper, also from our friends at WHYY, reports Philadelphia-area letter carriers and post office workers are on edge. In the wake of an arson attack on the Governor's Residence in Harrisburg, Dauphin County officials admit a 911 dispatcher mishandled a call the morning of the fire. After nearly a week, firefighters are making steady progress containing a pair of wildfires in a central Pennsylvania state forest. The fires cover more than 2700 acres in Michaux State Forest, about 30 to 50 miles southwest of Harrisburg. We could be in for a Congressional rematch in central Pennsylvania's 10th House District in 20-26. U.S. Representative Scott Perry's spokesman confirms he will be running for an eighth term in the U.S. House. And Janelle Stelson is reportedly telling Democratic Party leaders she's strongly considering challenging Perry again. Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tree seedling nurseries are the unsung heroes of reforestation, conservation, and even urban greening projects. This episode takes you behind the scenes of George O. White State Forest Nursery in Licking, Missouri, which has been providing tree seedlings for more than 90 years! Learn how the nursery came to be, hear about the tremendous work it takes to grow numerous species of tree seedlings, and how the staff can help you with your next planting project!   And good news, you can still buy tree seedlings from the nursery through April 15. Supplies are limited! Order online at https://mdc.mo.gov/trees-plants/tree-seedlings/order-seedlings or call the nursery at 573-674-3229. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tree seedling nurseries are the unsung heroes of reforestation, conservation, and even urban greening projects. This episode takes you behind the scenes of George O. White State Forest Nursery in Licking, Missouri, which has been providing tree seedlings for more than 90 years! Learn how the nursery came to be, hear about the tremendous work it takes to grow numerous species of tree seedlings, and how the staff can help you with your next planting project! And good news, you can still buy tree seedlings from the nursery through April 15. Supplies are limited! Order online at https://mdc.mo.gov/trees-plants/tree-seedlings/order-seedlings or call the nursery at 573-674-3229. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Matt is joined by Johnny as they recount a few stories and his latest summer run, where he knocked over a Fallow Deer. They chat about State Forest hunting, chasing Sambar, his first Red stag in the roar and plenty more! Want to support the show? Then checkout our shop and buy me a coffee. Alternatively, if you love coffee then check out Final Press and use the code AHBPODCAST to get 10% off and support the podcast at the same time!! For the latest information, news, giveaways and anything mentioned on the show head over to our Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) or website with all the links here. If you have a question, topic, gear review suggestion or a guest that you'd like to hear on the show, shoot an email to australianhuntingandbeyond@gmail.com or via our socials. Disclaimer

Dec. 17, 2024 - Wildfires that hit the Hudson Valley this fall reached a scope that hasn't been seen in New York in more than a decade. We discuss the state's response to these fires, which claimed the life of one responder, with state Forest Ranger Major Bob Rogers and state Forest Ranger Bryan Gallagher.

Jackson-Washington State ForestToday's destination is Jackson Washington State Forest near Brownstown, Indiana in Jackson County. From the Book:South Central Indiana Day The Author's WebsiteThe Author on LocalsThe Author on FacebookThe Author on TwitterThe Author on RumbleThe Author on YouTubeThe Author's Amazon Page

The Elliott State Forest will be preserved by the Oregon Department of State Lands for carbon capture.

The Minnesota Lynx lost 62-67 to the New York Liberty in the WNBA championship game. The series featured five close games with high attendance and TV viewership. It was the first ever WNBA title for the Liberty.And a state forest in east-central Minnesota remains closed Monday due to an active wildfire. Find these headlines and more at Mprnews.org.New York Liberty win first WNBA championship, beating Minnesota 67-62 in OTEast-central Minnesota wildfire continues to burn in Chengwatana State ForestRead the latest edition of the Minnesota Today newsletter.Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or RSS.

3pm: Guest - Matt Marcovich - Oregon leaders approve ‘precedent setting’ plan to put state forest in a carbon market // Rantz: Boeing layoff notices come next month, furloughs end, Sen. Maria Cantwell booed // Guest - Washington Supreme Court Nominee Judge Dave Larson // Washington’s Supreme Court will have its first truly open election in 12 years // Two people communicate in dreams

Matt is joined by Rob from Athena Spatial fresh off the Snow Camp episode and Sambar hunting trip to discuss his maps for NSW State Forests and some awesome data and insights that he will be publishing in regards to hunting public land in New South Wales. Athena Spatial maps on Avenza. If you love coffee then check out Final Press and use the code AHBPODCAST to get 10% off and support the podcast at the same time!! For the latest information, news, giveaways and anything mentioned on the show head over to our Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) or website with all the links here. If you have a question, topic, gear review suggestion or a guest that you'd like to hear on the show, shoot an email to australianhuntingandbeyond@gmail.com or via our socials. Disclaimer

Send us a Text Message.To list all of the features of Forbes State Forest would be pointless. That's because it has so much to offer so many people. You want trails, it's got it. You want overlooks, its got it. You want waterfalls, it's got it. Forbes State Forest has some of the best land in Pennsylvania for everything from mountain biking and hiking to ATV riding and wildlife watching.The forest is comprised of 15 tracts totaling almost 59,000 acres in Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands. You could spend decades exploring this wonderful forest and still discover new things every single day. Forbes State Forest is just special. Plain and simple.The abundance of forest land over such a large portion of southwest Pennsylvania provides visitors with so many options. Maybe today I'll check out Mt. Davis, the highest point in Pennsylvania. Or maybe I'll see the wildflower blooms. Or perhaps I'll explore the remnants of two Civilian Conservation Corps. Camps.On any visit, you'll find it difficult to pick any one thing you like most about Forbes State Forest. There's just too many. On this episode, I speak with Rachael Mahony. Rachael is the Environmental Education Specialist for Forbes State Forest. Be sure to check out and support our sponsors for the 2024 season:Keystone Trails AssociationKTA is dedicated to providing, preserving, protecting and promoting recreational hiking trails and hiking opportunities in Pennsylvania. Use code "HELLBENDERS" to receive $5 off a yearly membership.Purple Lizard MapsPurveyors of incredibly detailed, highly curated, and waterproof trail maps of Pennsylvania's state forests. Find them at your local outfitters, bike shops, and bookstores or visit PurpleLizard.com.Pennsylvania Parks and Forests FoundationThe Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation began in 1999 as a statewide nonprofit organization to provide a voice for the Commonwealth's 124 state parks and 2.2 million acres of forest land. They rally volunteers, raise funds, and advocate for these precious lands. Join the movement at PAParksandForests.org to preserve and enjoy our outdoor treasures. Support the Show.Visit our website to listen to the podcast, download free outdoor kids' activities, learn more about our public lands and to purchase merch. Follow us on Instagram and Meta to stay connected. You can support the podcast by clicking “Support this show” in the podcast description to provide a monthly donation. Hosting, production and editing: Christian AlexandersenMusic: Jon SauerGraphics: Matt Davis

Send us a Text Message.This week the Madcaps discuss some of the state forests in Northeast Florida and some of the recreation opportunities in each one.Please subscribe! Shares and reviews are much appreciated!Get your FREE sticker from the Florida Springs Council and sign up to be a springs advocate at https://www.floridaspringscouncil.org/madcapsQuestions and comments can be emailed at thefloridamadcaps@gmail.comRyan can be found on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/the_fl_excursionist/Chris and Chelsey can be found at https://www.instagram.com/sunshinestateseekers/?hl=en

Send us a Text Message.Spanning 85,000 acres across three Central Pennsylvania counties, Michaux State Forest is a sanctuary of lush woodlands, crystal-clear streams and a rich tapestry of history and wildlife. Considered Pennsylvania's “cradle of forestry,” Michaux State Forest is nestled in the Appalachian Mountains, giving visitors a bevy of settings to explore all year long. Whether you're an avid hiker, a history buff, or simply someone who finds solace in the serenity of nature, Michaux has something for you. This forest isn't just a beautiful backdrop; it's a living, breathing piece of our natural heritage. The forest features four natural areas that highlight Michaux's woodlands, animal habitats, bodies of water and so much moreMichaux is home to diverse forests of oak species as well as red maple, black birch, black gum, hickory, pine and tuliptree.It makes sense that these wonderfully varied forests are named after pioneering botanist André Michaux. The area that bears his name – and was the site of the first forestry school – are celebrated because of it's natural diversity and beauty. On this episode, I speak with Suzanne Hartley. Suzanne is the Environmental Education Specialist at Michaux State Forest. Support the Show.Visit our website to listen to the podcast, download free outdoor kids' activities, learn more about our public lands and to purchase merch. Follow us on Instagram and Meta to stay connected. You can support the podcast by clicking “Support this show” in the podcast description to provide a monthly donation. Hosting, production and editing: Christian AlexandersenMusic: Jon SauerGraphics: Matt Davis

Tonight we talk about Jenny Jump State forest, along with several nearby areas, including Shades of Death Road and Ghost Lake. Do you know how Jenny Jump go its unusual name? Or that Ghost Lake might be built on sacred Native American land? Join us as we discuss these things and more, and explore this often neglected area of Appalachia! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/appalachianspookyhour/support

Matt is joined by Mat Irwin to recount his fantastic Red Deer Stag that he shot in the 2024 Roar and it being his first ever Red Deer. What an amazing story from a relatively new hunter who is out there having a crack and it certainly paid off. For the latest information, news, giveaways and anything mentioned on the show head over to our Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) or website. If you have a question, topic, gear review suggestion or a guest that you'd like to hear on the show, shoot an email to australianhuntingandbeyond@gmail.com or via our socials. Disclaimer

The Victorian Government is looking at potentially reclassifying 390,000 hectares of State Forest in the Central Highlands that is currently for public use into National Parks. Please access the link (by clicking here) and give your feedback before 6th of May 2024.

The Cabin is presented by the Wisconsin Counties Association and this week we're featuring Forest County; https://www.wicounties.org/counties/forest-county/ The Cabin is also presented by Group Health Trust: https://www.wcaght.org/   Campfire Conversation: Apurba Banerjee joins Ana, Eric, and Jake in The Cabin this week to explore Wisconsin top to bottom for some special places to bring your dog and have fun - or a good night's sleep. Or both! Topics include select state parks and specialized dog parks, including the one in Jefferson County Ana has profiled on Discover Wisconsin. Numerous state parks offer recreation for people and their pets, Apurba and Ana detail ones like Harrington Beach State Park, Big Bay State Park, Lake Kegonsa State Park, Pattison State Park, Rock Island State Park, and Pike Lake Beach, a section of the Kettle Moraine Unit within Wisconsin's State Forest system near Hartford in Washington County. Even traversing the water can be fun with your dog, as ferries like the Madeline Island Ferry connecting Bayfield with La Pointe on Madeline Island is free for your dog! Eric, Jake, and Apurba note some breweries, bars, and other public spaces where people gather and your well-behaved dog is welcome. They include Broken Bat Brewing in Milwaukee, Elmaro Winery near Trempealeau, Ope! Brewery in West Allis, and smaller places like Slaty Paws, Riley's Social House, Hounds 'n Taps, and many more. Finally, we focus on some places to stay with your dog that are truly special, including the Delta Lodge in Iron River for a true get-away-from-it-all getaway, the Jefferson Street Inn in Wausau if you prefer something in the center of the city, Black's Cliff Resort in Hazelhurst for a great North Woods feel, and Justin Trails B&B Resort near Sparta which includes farmhouse lodging and primitive camping. If you want to be near popular vacation destinations, Door County Cottages in Egg Harbor is one great example of where to bring your four-legged friend; if Wisconsin Dells is on your radar, check out beautiful Bakers Sunset Bay Resort with a wide variety of accommodations, all embracing your dog with great activity options. These are just some examples across the state, but it's a great guide to get you started as you plan road trips with your furry friend this summer. It's all on this week's episode of The Cabin!Inside Sponsors:Ho-Chunk Gaming Best Western https://www.bestwesternwisconsin.com/ Praise In the Pines https://praiseinthepines.org/ 

Matt is joined by Sam in Hunt Camp, whilst in the NSW Snowy Mountains scouting for the rut. Recording throughout the trip they recount the highs and lows of this hunt as it is happening. Matt gets his first public land deer and they discuss what happened. For the latest information, news, giveaways and anything mentioned on the show head over to our Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, X (formerly Twitter) or website. If you have a question, topic, gear review suggestion or a guest that you'd like to hear on the show, shoot an email to australianhuntingandbeyond@gmail.com or via our socials. Disclaimer

On Episode 1400 the boys discuss a hilarious and shocking update on the disgraced former Penn State professor that screwed his dog on camera last year, cover all the plane incidents, science updates, international news and MUCH more… Timestamps: (00:00:00) - Teasers! (00:02:46) - Best Presidents of all time debate and Trivia Night coming in hot! Get ready (00:03:36) - ‘I drive better while I'm high' (00:04:46) - Greece becomes first Orthodox country to legalize same-sex marriage (00:07:40) - Man hospitalized after shoving AA battery into his penis   (00:11:42) - Pederasty: Kevin Spacey missed the boat on this one Science Corner (00:12:50) - Xbox Business Update confirms four exclusives going Multi-Platform on PS5 and Switch, Reveals Diablo 4 Game Pass Date (00:14:03) - Top 1% did it!: Middle class Americans now own less wealth than the top 1% (00:14:33) - Meta Quest and Zuck coming for Apple's a$$ (00:15:27) - Apple fans returning their Vision Pros after blood vessels start bursting (00:16:08) - Lab-grown ‘beef rice' is here to offer a ‘more sustainable protein source' (00:22:51) - UPDATE: Penn State professor who begged cops to kill him when he was busted in bestiality case is hit with new charges for lewd acts, indecent exposure in State Forest (00:33:51) - Passenger claims she was kicked off WestJet flight for excessive bathroom use after trip to Mexico (00:40:33) - Bonus Dog!: Delta flight with maggots on plane forced to turn around Brought to you by Squarespace - Head to https://www.squarespace.com/HARDFACTOR to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code (HARDFACTOR). Brought to you by Robinhood - Robinhood Gold gets you the most for your retirement thanks to their IRA with a 3% match. This offer is good through April 30. Get started at Robinhood.com/boost. Subscription fees apply

Enjoying Faith, Hope, & Charity. While Facing Expulsion.A Spring Break 14-part Novel.By FinalStand. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.*Birds are made beautiful by their plumage but divine by their flight*  (Yes, this tale is supposed to be somewhat humorous and outrageous too. While not always comedic I'd like to think it is mostly a good-natured romp.)Sharing UmbrellasTuesday: My schedule which the Chancellor had been set in stone, had me in sole custody of the fifth-floor bathroom from five forty-five until six, so I was grateful that only six girls were waiting for me when I arrived. At some level I was sure they expected me to say something and I was pretty sure they hadn't really articulated what they wanted. I said nothing and edged past them.The bravest one, Opal, followed quickly after me, though I had that special moment of taking off my robe in front of her as I readied for my shower. Somehow the blood of Homer's Amazons had entered this school's student body because Opal met my bluff with her buff (body) and crawled under her own water stream once the water was steamy.As I started washing my hair, I caught sight of another girl moving in on my far side. I did my best to remain nonchalant and managed to get my hair clean before they made their move.“Zane,” Opal asked innocently, “would you wash my back?” I smiled, nodded, and took the bottle of liquid soap from her hands.I poured some into my palms before placing the bottle on the closest shelf. I started rubbing it onto her shoulders and down her back. The placement of our bodies was complicated by my emergent erection. I worked my way down her back until I touched, then parted and cupped, her ass. I pressed my body against her back with my penis taking a few moments decide on whether it would go up, in, or in between. Finally it slipped up until my cock rested warmly on her back.Opal was totally overtaken by events and simply stood there as I slowly rubbed my body up and down against her back. She looked over her shoulder speculatively as I reached past her for more liquid soap and poured some into my hand. Bottle put aside, I shared the soap with the off-hand before starting to rub down the front of her shoulders.“Put your hands behind your back,” I whispered into Opal's ear. She was initially hesitant, then started putting them behind her back where she brushed against my cock, and again before she wrapped her hands around it and began slowly stroking it with a soapy grip. While she was working on my morning wood, I made slow circles down to her breasts.Her nipples came alive under my fingertips. I first coaxed them, then plucked them, and finally pinched them tightly as I handled the rest of her breasts roughly. Opal began panting, moaning, and undulating her whole body against mine. I couldn't stop myself from kissing her on the crux of her jaw and neck.“Oh, Oh, Oh,” Opal began to gasp. I felt her body start to tremble under my touch so I hunted for that most sensitive place with my tongue and bit into that spot on her neck sharply. Opal slammed hard into me, bouncing up and down on her toes like some sudsy, hot vibrator against my penis, if only I had the time.“Ah,” she sobbed in joy. Even after the orgasm settled, Opal kept gyrating against me.“This wasn't what I had in mind,” Opal moaned. Whoops!“My apology,” I told her, and started separating from her, but she held firm.“Oh, no, you don't. Maybe you misunderstood me. This was more, much more than I expected. I'm glad you are superior to your hype. Can we do this tomorrow morning?”“Hum, how about we see what comes up then?” I evaded. As I backed away, the girl on the other side held out her soap bottle expectantly. “Sorry, but I need to get out of here before girls, other girls show up,” I explained to her.“Brigit; my name is Brigit,” she filled me in. “Can we do, that, tomorrow?” By ‘that,' I assume she meant my version of the soapy body rub.“Okay,” I said, “how about calling Iona and figuring out how you ladies want to handle my shower visits, though I would like to point out the Administration believes I'm in here alone.”“Do you want us to stay away?” Opal asked cautiously.“Opal, Brigit, I would rather go through life minus one testicle than miss spending time with any of you ladies but I don't want anyone unwittingly getting into trouble because of me,” I answered.“Since you need to be going,” Opal teased, “let me help.”“I'll help too,” Brigit insisted.I'm going to be a while deciding exactly how I rate being shaved by one girl while getting a blowjob from another at the same time.My facial expression caused Rio to laugh at me as I came back down to answer the door. It was around six thirty and I had only recently gotten back and put my school uniform on.“Either you've been hit by the world's softest two by four or you've already had sex at least once this morning,” she chuckled.“Hey, Rio, Iona, come on in. It isn't like I could stop you,” I joked.“So, did you take her temperature, kick up her heels, or give her an attitude adjustment?” Rio teased as we headed up. Iona looked confused and expected me to be either equally confused or give her an explanation. I was confused, which made Rio laugh louder.“Taking her temperature equals blowjob; kicking up the heels is straight-up fucking, and attitude adjustment is anal sex, jeesh, people,” Rio berated us. Once we came to my island of civilization in the wilderness of the Solarium, Iona looked around curiously; this may have been the first men's bedroom she'd ever seen. Rio walked over to my bed, was about to plop down in it, then studied it for a second and gawked at me.“Damn, Zane, what happened last night? How many girls did you have up here?” she grinned maniacally. I sighed and rolled my eyes.“One,” I admitted. “How did you know?”“Peach lip gloss and teeth marks on the pillow, several sets, so, You Go Boy!” she explained.“Plus, your bed smells of Vaseline, baby oil, sweat, Secret deodorant, and a good deal of fuck juice, the female variety. Then there is the matter of, ”she drew forth a long blonde hair, "you not being blonde.”“This was not on the list!” squawked Iona. “Lip gloss, teeth marks?”“That means he fucked her ass long and hard, Iona,” Rio explained to her far less experienced classmate, “and she came back for more, and more.”Iona stole a look my way, hoping I'd deny everything, but I made eye contact with her and nodded. She looked disappointed in me, which oddly made me feel bad inside.“Snap out of it, Iona,” Rio snorted. Iona still looked hurt. “What is more likely, Zane went trolling the lower levels for a girl to sex up, or a girl snuck up here and jumped him in his bed?”“Oh,” Iona gasped, now more pleased. Apparently, me being nearly raped in my own bed was okay with her. From my point of view, I can try to understand women or I can appreciate them for what they willingly offer me. If a woman wants me to treat her like a Sphinx, I'll leap at the challenge. One day I'm sure I'll find a woman not worth this kind of effort but I'm not there yet.I had finished getting dressed and was making toward the stairs when the door at the bottom opened and Barbie Lynn came bounding up. She took in my two companions without missing her stride before bouncing up to me.“Hey, Zane,” she purred. “I wanted to make sure you hadn't overslept.”“Thanks, I appreciate the concern, but I slept great last night. Waking up feeling that good is always a pleasure. How did you sleep?” I responded.“I tossed and turned,” she pouted. “I was missing something I couldn't put my hands on. If I can't figure out what that is I'll be up pacing the halls well past midnight tonight.”Rio stepped behind Barbie and made a gagging motion.“So, Barbie Lynn,” Rio requested, “do you have any lip gloss I could use?” Barbie turned around and pulled a micro-jar that she handed to Rio.“Um, peach flavored,” Rio revealed vindictively. At some point I am sure Rio will show restraint; my challenge now is living long enough to see it.Rio spanked Barbie Lynn hard on the ass and the Dorm Mother yelped in surprise and pain.“Ow,” gasped Barbie Lynn, glaring at Rio. I moved an arm around Barbie and pulled her close, a gesture she comfortably molded into.“I'm sorry,” Rio snickered, “but you have such a wonderful posterior BLT, I know it is a sin if no one appreciates it.”“BLT?” I cautioned Rio, and by that I intoned that the next spanking was likely going to be administered to her by me.“Barbie Lynn Tease,” Rio grinned, daring me to step up. As I handed my book bag to Iona, Rio squealed in delight and raced down the stairs. I was right behind her and I would have undoubtedly caught and punished her on the fifth floor if not for one thing.“Zane, I'm here for your breakfast duty,” a sophomore I was to learn was named Emanuela commanded, Handmaiden's Duty. Technically she should wait until I was outside, but, eh. They nailed Rio seconds before she could turn and gloat at me.“Front or back?” I politely requested of Emanuela, who was thankfully on my schedule.“Front or back?” she wondered.“Do you want me to carry you like this?” I asked, as I swept her up in my arms. She was light enough, including book bag, for me to make it to the Dining Hall without too much effort.“What is back?” she gasped.“Piggyback,” I explained.“Oh. I like this way much better,” she informed me. I started making my way through the crowd when I caught sight of Barbie Lynn and Iona coming down the stairs. Seeing my situation, Barbie put an arm around Iona and whispered something to her. Iona was already carrying my books and I had the feeling that Barbie knew I liked Iona so she was going to look after the small freshman for me.Breakfast came and went and I found myself cornered and ‘forced' to escort another girl to Assembly. She asked me if I'd prefer being covered with whipped cream or honey. I reminded her that whipped cream was cold but honey left a sticky residue, I suggested trying icing. At Assembly, the heavens broke and a hard rain set in as we got ready to disperse.The problem came when it was realized that many girls hadn't packed an umbrella. The answer for most was to take an umbrella from a freshman, which I found unsatisfactory. I had a sudden burst of insight as the first freshmen girls paled at the thought of being soaked through to the bone. I grabbed Iona and then made a beeline for Christina.None of what followed would have been possible without the understanding of a girl I didn't know, Pandora Jaspers. Her plan was for me to take my umbrella and cover us both as we went to class, but when I told her ‘I have a plan,' she nodded and went along for the ride. Certainly we were a strange group that approached Christina Buchanan.“Yes?” questioned Christina with her bemused expression as I came to a halt before her and her court. Chastity smiled, Heaven seethed, Faith looked uncertain, and the fifth girl was a cipher.“I think I can do something about this rain,” I said urgently. Christina didn't laugh but I had a feeling Pandora wanted to strangle me.“Go on,” Christina commanded.“We make a covered walkway of umbrellas, held by freshmen, to protect everyone going to the various halls,” I explained. Iona didn't need to be prodded, working on phone to figure out the diameter of each umbrella and the length of each walkway. She'd be the final arbiter of 'it could be done' in the same way Christina was the mistress of 'it will be done.'Christina hardly missed a beat.“Faith, you and,” she looked to Pandora."Pandora,” the sophomore provided eagerly.“, Pandora go to the East door and get the plan rolling. Heaven and Hope, take the West door. Zane, you, Chastity, and Iona are going with me to the South.”In the back of my mind was the fact that I had to humble Christina. Had she been overly arrogant, stupid, or indecisive, I might have worried less, but I took comfort in the saying that a man is known by the quality of his enemies. You couldn't get much higher quality than Christina.I almost missed the “Hey Zane” the fifth and highly captivatingly and exotic girl of Korean ancestry said to me as she headed off with Heaven.“That is Hope,” Chastity explained, as we headed the other way.“She seems friendly enough. Does she like me?” I said, fishing for information.“If you mean does she want to punish you for challenging Christina then the answer is yes. If you mean is she angling for a way to relive everything you did with Barbie Lynn last night, then the answer to that is yes as well,” Chastity grinned. “If you are asking if she is even more turned on by this latest little stunt of yours, then I think she shares that reaction with the rest of Christina's merry little band.”“Amen,” Iona mumbled.“What was that?” I asked Iona.“Nothing, Zane. I've run the figures and we are only going to be able to cover one path out of each door,” Iona responded by redirecting the conversation.“Chastity, call Hope and tell her she'll open a path to Mesmer first, then Clegger. I'll call Faith,” Christina directed. At this point, as freshmen, Iona and I pretty much had zero pull so we served best by staying out of the way. Once the orders began disseminating, I realized my part in events was over so I stashed Iona's mildly protesting form behind Christina and took my place in the freshman umbrella line; Iona was working her ass off for me, the least I could do was keep her high and dry.We were somewhat wet and late for class but the freshmen class had done something as a group, giving us the vaguest sense of an identity. While getting lunch, Iona stormed up to me and nearly wept over the fact that I was getting almost no credit for the morning's event; it was all going to Christina. I told her to not worry about it, I did it for my fellow first years so what did I care.I managed to get a quick lunch before applying a shoulder/back massage to a sophomore who'd traded three hours using her car for this, so I tried to make it worth her while. While slipping her out of her bra at the table was tricky, holding a conversation with Ms. Goodswell while kneading both my client's breasts until the girl was biting her fist, stifling her moans, and squirming all over the chair in anticipation of what couldn't happen next was the real accomplishment.I was pretty sure I was golden until I stepped out of Calculus for Dummies and received Ms. Goodswell's text telling me to come to her office. I gave my Mistress of the Moment the option of coming with me or figure out with Iona when we could meet again. It was a testament to my obscure magnetism that she followed me so we passed the time with me reciting Thai love poetry to her, some of which was actually safe to translate into English.“Ms. Goodswell?” I said as I lightly tapped on her door and stepped in. Sabrina, my Mistress, patiently waited outside. She had told me that no guy had ever read poetry to her before, which I found utterly tragic.“Shut the door, Zane,” Virginia ordered me in her sugary Southern drawl.“What am I going to do with you?” she sighed heavily when the door shut. “All we wanted you to do is behave and keep your head down. Stapling a permanent smile to your Dorm Mother's face and organizing the freshmen into an independent action was not what we meant.”“To the first point, I have no excuse but she's still a virgin, I swear. I won't apologize for the second thing. Besides, anyone you ask will tell you it was Christina's idea,” I countered.“Zane, do I need to worry about you further deflowering my girls?” Ms. Goodswell sounded exasperated.“Yes,” I truthfully responded. “I am definitely temptation, but I promise you I won't try to seduce anyone, if that helps?”“It pleases the Lord for our young ladies to remain pure,” Virginia stated. “It is one of the cornerstone principles of this school.”“If you say so,” I sighed.“You don't believe in the purity of the body and the sanctity of the marriage bed?” she pressed.“Ms. Goodswell, I'll vocalize the party line if that is what makes you happy. If you honestly want me to believe, give me a reason that goes beyond something some old, bitter, single, virgin guys said two thousand years ago. Otherwise, bring back animal sacrifice and slavery because the hypocrisy can be smothering,” I informed her. I figured she was about to blow up at me.“Okay,” Virginia breathed easily.“Okay?” I wondered.“You are easy on the eyes, Zane, and the girls like you. Tell me, how many girls could you have made violate their Pledges?” she drew me out.“Four in the past twenty-four hours,” I admitted.“Yet you didn't. Why is that?” she kept coming.“It is a big deal here and I wouldn't want to screw up the way they think unless they are the ones wanting to change,” I finally articulated, which made Ms. Goodswell smile.“You can go, Zane. I'll keep tabs on you so be careful,” she dismissed me and turned back to the work on her desk.“That's it?” I inquired. My spiritual advisor nodded without looking up, leaving me even more confused. I retreated in haste and thanked the Almighty that I was about to be shooting guns at something.Marksmanship Team tryouts reintroduced me to Team Captain Hope Song. She totally ignored me through most of the process. I forgot the safety, missed everything I shot at, and repeatedly let the recoil beat the crap out of my shoulder, at which point I figured I'd put forward an honest effort and blown it. I could live with that.On the last round of the event I patiently waited my turn. The girl closest to me (who was doing rather well) informed me that I was getting better. I told her this was my first time shooting a gun and she chuckled; she'd been hunting since she was nine. I knelt down for that final shot when I felt a warm body envelop me from behind.“Breathe easy,” Hope whispered into my ear. “Imagine you running your hands over Barbie Lynn's breasts, light touch, that's good, take the time and be gentle the way she brags you can be, good, now touch the nipple like you love it, feel the nipple get harder and longer, yes, feel your heart beating louder,”she kissed my earlobe ”, feel that nipple at the sweet spot, when you are ready for the orgasm, twist that nipple,” Bam!Bull's eye! Hope remained intimately close.“How was that for foreplay?” she whispered seductively.“Makes me want to get a bigger gun with a lot more bullets,” I replied. Hope scoffed lightly in my ear.“From what I hear, you don't need a bigger gun. Stand up; I have work to do,” she informed me.I stood up and surreptitiously looked around, only to find that no one, no one at all, was looking at us. For some reason the dirt, trees, and birds up in the sky had developed keen religious significance. I thought they were being polite until I recalled one student telling another that Hope regularly drilled kill shots at five hundred meters.Hope went around to some of the other applicants, helping them with their final shots, but not in the same way she helped me. At the end of tryouts we had ten shooters and ten spotters, I was a spotter. Spotters do a lot of things, mainly going over terrain and atmospheric conditions for their paired shooter. We also carry most of the gear (everyone carries their own rifle).“Do you understand what is required of you, Zane?” Hope made a point of asking me.“One hundred years ago you were the Great White Hunter (being Korean and all) and I was the bare-chested native guide giving advice while carrying a townhouse worth of gear on my back,” I joked.“You forgot the loincloth, the native guide always has a loincloth,” Hope purred like a panther toying with her next meal. “We already know you have a finely muscled body capable of great, effort; now can I expect some of that effort here on the team this year?”“Absolutely,” I affirmed. “I'll do what you tell me to do.”“That's good, because you are my partner this year. Watch my ass, don't fuck up, and show initiative,” she instructed me. In my mind I had three contradictory orders; was I supposed to watch her ass, or not fuck her, or was I supposed to come on to her? It was cold comfort that if I did screw up somehow, she could put a bullet through my left eye from anywhere on campus, killing me painlessly.“You were on one of the opposite roofs last night,” I blurted out. Hope looked demurely to the ground but flashed me a wink. “That is how you know what I look like naked.”“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said putting away one of those telescopic sighting devices a spotter would use. Nothing more was said on the subject.The Riddle of HeavenA feeling of accomplishment, nay, a feeling that I might actually be fitting in, ran right into Heaven, Team Captain of the Orienteering Squad. I wasn't afraid she would toss me off the team for merely existing. Hell, I was afraid I'd automatically get on the team despite my lack of skill; after all, how else could Heaven lure me out and murder me in the State Forest bordering the campus if I wasn't on the team?The first half of the entrance process found us in a classroom doing math; figuring out angles and areas. We also had to study some Solar and lunar charts so we could figure out the position of the Sun given the day and time, as well as what phase the Moon was in and what it would be like in, say, one hundred days. I rocked at that which gave me a leg up going into round two.I knew precisely what a map and compass were. I'd used a few maps, and I'd never actually held a compass before but I'd seen all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies so I knew how compasses worked, NOT! I wasn't alone in this way of thinking. Several girls giggled over the fact. One laughingly pulled up the app on her phone.“That's great. Can I see it?” Heaven said, deceptively cool. The idiot girl handed it over with a smile. Heaven grinned, then hurled it against a large boulder close by, smashing it into a thousand pieces. She went over to it and stomped on the remains for a few seconds while the younger student gasped, then wept.“Okay,” Heaven said soothingly, “your phone is now destroyed. How do you survive long enough to get back to civilization?” We all developed a case of the 'smarts' and kept our mouths shut.“Really, no one?” Heaven taunted us.“You go downhill,” I spoke up. Heaven glared, not at my answer but at the fact that I spoke at all.“Why is that, Mr. Braxton?” she asked in a hostile manner.“Water, you go downhill to find a source of water. Nothing else matters if you die of thirst,” I explained.“Would any one of you follow this idiot downhill?” Heaven sneered.One girl immediately raised her hand while the rest looked around nervously. Right before Heaven spoke again, a second girl raised her hand.“Well,” scoffed Heaven, “most of you will probably die because, while being an utter failure at the rest of his life, Zane guessed this one correctly.”“Your priorities are water, food, and shelter. Where you find moving water, you will most likely find something to eat too. You will also find small trees that are the easiest things to use for shelter. Unless rescue or egress is expected quickly, you must find a means of survival,” Then as an afterthought she addressed me,"Zane, you get a cookie,” and she tossed me a ginger cookie which I hesitantly bit in to. The class went on like this for ten minutes before she teamed us up for a little treasure hunt in the woods. I was teamed up with Heaven, making me wonder if they'd find my body after the deed was done. A few false starts later I began to get a feel for this orienteering stuff; if I headed one way and Heaven secretly smiled, I was going the wrong direction, and if she scowled, I was going the right way.We were the second team to complete the task on top of a large rock outcropping some distance into the state park. Heaven dismissed the others but put a hand on my chest when I made to leave. Once the sound of the rest moving through the underbrush died down she turned to me, clearly pissed. Her fist balled up and she shook slightly as if she was barely able to contain the rage she directed my way.I had three options: flee, confront, or submit. I sat down on the floor of the forest and waited. I could tell my reduction in stature confused her Why do you think most Buddhist monks prefer to conduct their business while in the lotus position?“Can you tell me why you hate me?” I inquired softly.Heaven stormed up to me and I was afraid she was going to boot me down the cliff. I don't think either of us knew why she stopped just short of me.“You don't belong here,” she choked out. “You are perverse and filthy. You are going to ruin everything.”“I'm not your enemy, Heaven. I'm not going to take any of your friends away from you. If I get in your way, let me know and I'll back off. The one thing I can't do is leave,” I explained. Heaven kicked me in the thigh, then kicked me again, so I scrambled up and faced her. She wanted to do this the hard way.Heaven came up right as soon as my feet were planted on the ground. I got in a block, another block, then I grabbed her wrist and put a leg behind hers. She toppled backwards while I rolled us into a side impact which allowed me to grab her other wrist as well. Heaven proved to be surprisingly strong as she thrashed about but she couldn't stop me from getting on top of her.For a moment we lay still but I was getting aroused and Heaven could sense it. I saw a look of near-terror come across her face before she went berserk beneath me. I struggled to keep on top until she finally wore herself down.“Would you just fucking talk to me!” I yelled at her. Heaven slowly ceased her efforts.“Get off of me,” she whispered intently. I rolled us over so that she was on top and released her wrists. Heaven quickly brought her knees up, straddling me with her palms on my chest. She was more than halfway off of me when she stopped and seemed to see me for the first time. I started pulling myself from under her when Heaven settled back down onto my stomach.“Hey, I'm sorry we fought, Heaven,” I got out before she French kissed me. Heaven's whole body pressed into me. I settled down and began working my hands over her waist and hips. When I went for her ass, Heaven arched her back pressing her tits against my chest so that she could grab my hands in hers and pull them back to her waist."Hands above the hips,” she panted lustfully to me between kisses.“Fine, but show me your tits,” I said. Not wasting a moment, Heaven scooted up so that she was sitting on my stomach once more and together we pulled her shirt free and unbuttoned it. I slipped my hand up around the bra and pushed it above her breasts before pressing her delicious orbs down to me to suckle on.It took me a few minutes to find out she had an arousal zone on her lower back that tingled with electricity whenever I caressed it. I had to coax Heaven into getting on all fours but when I pressed my lips there, her stiffness evaporated and she was putty in my hands. I was kneeling beside her with one hand stroking her far side while my closer hand alternated between each breast.When Heaven's breathing became more erratic and desperate she bolted upright on her knees, slipping one leg backward between mine and pressing her ass into my pelvis. I now cupped both tits, gently rubbing each nipple as I began nibbling her shoulder. I was still getting into it when Heaven suddenly spasms against me, then she repeats the process four more times before she trembled uncontrollably in my embrace.“Shush,” I reassured her. "I've got you. You are safe here with me.”“I, we, I, we need to be getting back,” she stammered. I got the feeling that she wanted to pretend this whole thing hadn't happened. I rolled up, then Heaven fixed her bra while I handed Heaven's shirt to her.We exchanged no further words until we were almost back to the campus wall when I turned to make sure she was okay. She was a little out of it but that wasn't my problem; this other thing was.“Heaven, hold on,” I told her. She looked contemplative and suspicious but did so.“You are, Um, jeesh, stay still; I'll take care of this,” I worked out.“What?” she asked cautiously.“You have cum dripping down your legs, Heaven,” I informed her. Heaven's eyes grew large and she took a half-step back but at the same moment she realized with utterly hopelessness that she had virtually no other choice.“What are you going to do?” she whispered. I had to think that one over for a second. I handed her my orienteering gear and took off my shirt, which didn't make Heaven any more comfortable.I knelt before her and used my shirt to wipe up the strands of semen going down the inside of each thigh. It was soon evident to me that she'd cum extensively and I had to work my way up under her skirt or more cum would simply drip down. For reasons I still don't understand, Heaven ceased resisting. Maybe she was tired of the whole charade.The first pair of underwear came down, then the second, and I cleaned them both with my now ruined shirt. I even went so far as to wipe her ass-crack where some had been forced up. Once I was satisfied that Heaven's underwear was as passable as I could manage, I 'fixed' her in place and dressed her again without comment. The really sucky part was that I had to put my sticky, cum-splattered shirt back on. There was no way I could explain going bare-chested.Neither one of us spoke as we walked back, put our stuff up, and parted ways. It wasn't that I thought the matter would go away but I realized that my most pressing concern was doing what my school required. I was happy that I could sneak away before dinner and get a fresh shirt.A Taste of Brandi“What is my duty today, Brandi Sanders?” I started to say with a warm smile on my face. Brandi turned out to be a girl with thin, deep brown hair hanging loose, freckles, and a slender face. Her body was lithe, nothing out of proportion, though it turned out her ass was a prize; compact but with an enticing ability to project beyond the back and thighs.“I need you to help change the lights in my room,” she grinned. I had to reciprocate that look because I liked her creativity. I made a move for her chair then stopped myself.“That chair doesn't look safe,” I mused. “I imagine I'll have to lift you up to each bulb,” I leaned right, then left, taking in her gentle womanly curves which earned a salacious smile."I think it would be more efficient for me to lift you by the front. Is that okay?” I asked softly, even somewhat hesitantly. Brandi nodded eagerly so I placed me in front of her, bent way down until my head was facing her covered belly button, and then I had snaked my arms around the top of her thighs.I made a half-attempt to lift her, then set her down.“Huh?” she gasped, “What's wrong?”“Brandi, some of your buttons are pressing into my face. Can I move them aside?”“Oh, okay,” then, “if you have to,” Brandi protested falsely.I used some slow seduction in pulling her shirt out of her skirt, doing my best to ignore our growing audience of young ladies. I opened the lowest button to see the top of the skirt behind it, but the next one was much more rewarding. Her soft stomach flesh felt warm beneath my lips and her intake of breath was its own reward.I didn't stop there, though. Buttons opened and kisses were given until I reached the bra, then I licked my way down to her belly button, which I sucked and licked for fifteen seconds. By this time, Brandi was breathing deeply and pressing her stomach against my lips. I reached up to massage her pert, firm ass with my hands while working on her belly button with my tongue.When I lifted her up by grabbing her thighs, she gasped slightly. She hovered next to the ceiling light for several seconds before realizing she didn't have a bulb.“Zane,” she started to say, but I was already starting to sweep her down into a horizontal position, stomach down, with her hands in easy reach of the box of light bulbs."Wow, thanks, Zane,” she giggled. She took one bulb, despite there being four fixtures we need to change the bulbs in. I didn't mind; after all, every time I swung her down, I flipped her skirt artfully out of the way, and her panty-covered ass was laid out before me at chest level. I missed the first opportunity but I kissed a cheek on the second drop and took a nibble on the third and fourth drop, each time earning a low moan.During the periods when I was holding her upright, I took sadistic pleasure in sucking on her stomach, giving her two hickies as proof of our amorous encounter.“Thank you, Glenda,” she murmured into my chest as I let her down that last time, using my 'enrolled' name.“I hope I have pleased you but I sadly have to be going,” I sighed, “I have a foot massage upstairs with Easter Valentine,” Brandi looked at me petulantly, then pushed past me to the door and Iona, who stood just outside in the hall.To Be Continued.By FinalStand for Literotica

Solving the riddle of Heaven.A Spring Break 14-part NovelBy FinalStand. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.“Oh, oh, oh, baby…that hurts; that hur-…” she whispered hoarsely until I relented. That didn't stop her from hugging me tightly to her chest though.“Barbie Lynn, go over to my kit and get the Vaseline,” I ordered her after a bit.“Why do I have to do it?” she teased me.“I love to watch your ass wiggle when you leave and the way your bare breasts bounce when you come back,” I confessed. Once more she came on with this deep kiss and a winning smile, then she did as I asked and the view was definitely as delicious as I'd hoped.She quickly resumed her position over me, shimmying to the point I was afraid I'd actually press my cock too far into her vagina.Barbie was biting her lip while we played with her virginal fire; I knew I had to do something and that was to pop the top of the lubricant and rub two fingers deep into her back door.“Here we go,” I cautioned her, “I'll be slow and gentle. We are taking our time so don't worry about tensing up – I'll deal.” She gave me a nod, then went back to tempting fate.I was finding more and more to lust over with Barbie. When my right index finger brushed her pink star, she didn't flinch one bit. She kept her rotation going and I slipped in a finger without much protest or resistance. I let this finger slip in and out for a minute, sinking in deeper every few thrusts. To distract her, I moved my left hand between us and slipped two fingers into her pussy.That, along with the touch of my penis, got her off. Barbie bounced harder so I was forced to put a third finger in the way of my cock penetrating her, plus I pressed the knuckle of my thumb against her clit. For a second Barbie Lynn seemed at a loss of what to do, but one look at my parted lips, panting from the excitement, convinced her to feed one magnificent nipple into my mouth while she played with the other one before my eyes.She teased me so I stuck a second finger up her ass. Barbie bucked and moaned but if she was in any pain, she hid it well.“Do you want to know something?” she struggled to say, hovering over me. I nodded. “It took a grand total of seven minutes for the last two boys I was with to cum all over my tits. I don't know how long we've been going at it but Lord Almighty, I'm so happy I was given this dorm. This is going to be the best year ever.”“I'm working on it,” I gasped as I twitched and pushed my fingers around. “I'm glad you are my Dorm Mother.”“Oh, oh, oh, oh…the other girls are so jealous that I have you,” she panted. “They wanted to know what it would take to steal you away.”“I hope you understand that I want to stay here with you,” I groaned.Barbie Lynn stopped moving for a moment, accepting me and my honest desire.“Put it in,” she begged.“It will hurt,” I assured her.“I don't care,” she looked at me hungrily. I pulled my hand out of her cunt and rolled her to my side while still keeping my other fingers pumping in her ass.Maneuvering around so that I had her head on my pillow and ass sticking up took some thought. I pushed a third finger in quickly. Barbie gasped audibly, pulled away instinctively, then caught herself and pushed back against my hand. She whimpered and choked back a sob. I withdrew my fingers and covered my cock with some hastily scooped glob of Vaseline.Barbie looked back to me in quivering anticipation. Before she spoke I lined my cock up with her anus and started pushing. Barbie Lynn shut her eyes, bit her lower lip and smiled lustfully.“Oh!” she groaned, as I slipped past her anal ring. I knew enough to hesitate before the next push, then the next.“Please,” she whimpered. I stopped moving. “Please give me all of it,” she completed. “Don't hold back.” I pushed harder not waiting for her to adjust.“Aaahhh!” she cried out. I stopped and she responded with a, “No, no, no, Zane…please don't stop.”“I don't want to hurt you,” I groaned.“It hurts a lot but I like that you are the one doing it to me. Please, I want you inside of me, all the way in,” she whimpered. I pushed all the way in steadily until my crotch pushed her scrumptious ass cheeks apart. As I rested for a moment, I felt Barbie Lynn's fingers reach between her legs and start to massage my balls.I pulled back while she moaned loudly, her cries echoing throughout the massive glass covered chamber. Despite the low lamplight around my bed, I realized now that we could be seen from the solariums on the roofs of the other dorms. There wasn't much I could, or would, do about that now.I started a slowly intensifying pace in and out of Barbie's ass and she met me with the thrust of her hips and a sensual moaning from her throat. I could tell she was pushing one set of fingers into her snatch while the other worked over her clit. Once we were in total symmetry I slapped her playfully on one ass cheek.“Oh, God…Zane, do it again. I've been bad,” was Barbie's lusty declaration. I smacked down across the other cheek. “Harder, Zane, I've been really bad.” Another spank and, “I've been much worse than that,” she panted. SMACK! and a yelp. “That's it!” she gasped. I kept up the spanking and each blow made her anal muscles contract, virtually grabbing and twisting my cock inside her.“Ah…Jesus Loves Me!” Barbie Lynn squealed as her strongest orgasm to date overwhelmed her and then me. I'd never felt that kind of empathy with another lover like I was feeling with this blonde enchantress. Barbie bucked up against me, slamming her ass against my crotch with painful ferocity as my seed plunged into the depths of her bowels.Barbie Lynn, now virtually sitting in my lap, crested orgasm after orgasm as the heat of each burst of my semen burned new pathways of ecstasy inside her rectum.“Oh…oh…oh…oh,” she stammered as her fluids flowed down our legs in a slow steady stream. “Please, Zane …”“Yes?” I panted.“Promise me…promise me we'll do this again,” she gasped as she now pressed her sweat-slick back against my upper body.“Again,” I thrust into her, “and again, and again,” I promised. Barbie Lynn put one hand around to the back of my neck and the other, leaning forward.She drew me into her and we slowly arched forward until the weight of our bodies tumbled us to the bed. Barbie's outstretched arm touched the mattress first and absorbed most of our momentum. Still, I ended up pressing on her and I soon propped myself up so my weight wouldn't suffocate her.As I stationed myself there, panting along with her from our mutual exhaustion, Barbie rolled over so that we were once more face to face. She had this beatific happiness about her that I doubt I'll ever forget.“I…I was afraid I'd regret this…and you,” she grinned lazily.“Do you?” I questioned.“Yes. I regret I didn't take you back to my room and do this yesterday. I regret that we have to go to early classes tomorrow. I regret having to share you with nine hundred other women. And I regret you weren't here with me two years ago,” she murmured heartily.“I'm going to sit here and bask in my over-stuffed sense of accomplishment,” I faux-gloated. “You do a guy's ego good.”“Speaking of over-stuffed…can I please, please have one more…please?” she begged playfully.“You are my Dorm Mother and I really should try to keep you happy, so…” I related with feigned reluctance.“That's right,” she giggled, “you really need to keep me happy. Please show me how you plan to do that.”After another serious exploration of our sexuality, Barbie Lynn curled up against my chest, making this deep cat-like rumbling noise.“Do you always talk to Christina over breakfast?” I inquired.“Yes, I always do. If she asks about you…I…I'm going to tell her the truth,” she answered. I didn't ask what that would be so she did. “Aren't you worried about what I will say?”“No. I trust you, Barbie. You'll tell her what you need to tell her; truth, lie, or evasion, it is all your business, not mine,” I explained.“Well, I'm going to tell her in every minute detail what you did with, to, and for me tonight, and I promise you she's going to race back and change her panties,” she sighed happily.“Absolutely,” I affirmed. “I'll do what you tell me to do.”“That's good, because you are my partner this year. Watch my ass, don't fuck up, and show initiative,” she instructed me. In my mind I had three contradictory orders; was I supposed to watch her ass, or not fuck her, or was I supposed to come on to her? It was cold comfort that if I did screw up somehow, she could put a bullet through my left eye from anywhere on campus, killing me painlessly.“You were on one of the opposite roofs last night,” I blurted out. Hope looked demurely to the ground but flashed me a wink. “That is how you know what I look like naked.”“I have no idea what you are talking about,” she said putting away one of those telescopic sighting devices a spotter would use. Nothing more was said on the subject.The Riddle of HeavenA feeling of accomplishment – nay, a feeling that I might actually be fitting in – ran right into Heaven, Team Captain of the Orienteering Squad. I wasn't afraid she would toss me off the team for merely existing. Hell, I was afraid I'd automatically get on the team despite my lack of skill; after all, how else could Heaven lure me out and murder me in the State Forest bordering the campus if I wasn't on the team?The first half of the entrance process found us in a classroom doing math; figuring out angles and areas. We also had to study some Solar and lunar charts so we could figure out the position of the Sun given the day and time, as well as what phase the Moon was in and what it would be like in, say, one hundred days. I rocked at that which gave me a leg up going into round two.I knew precisely what a map and compass were. I'd used a few maps, and I'd never actually held a compass before but I'd seen all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies so I knew how compasses worked – not! I wasn't alone in this way of thinking. Several girls giggled over the fact. One laughingly pulled up the app on her phone.“That's great. Can I see it?” Heaven said, deceptively cool. The idiot girl handed it over with a smile. Heaven grinned, then hurled it against a large boulder close by, smashing it into a thousand pieces. She went over to it and stomped on the remains for a few seconds while the younger student gasped, then wept.“Okay,” Heaven said soothingly, “your phone is now destroyed. How do you survive long enough to get back to civilization?” We all developed a case of the ‘smarts' and kept our mouths shut.“Really…no one?” Heaven taunted us.“You go downhill,” I spoke up. Heaven glared, not at my answer but at the fact that I spoke at all.“Why is that, Mr. Braxton?” she asked in a hostile manner.“Water…you go downhill to find a source of water. Nothing else matters if you die of thirst,” I explained.“Would any one of you follow this idiot downhill?” Heaven sneered.One girl immediately raised her hand while the rest looked around nervously. Right before Heaven spoke again, a second girl raised her hand.“Well,” scoffed Heaven, “most of you will probably die because, while being an utter failure at the rest of his life, Zane guessed this one correctly.”“Your priorities are water, food, and shelter. Where you find moving water, you will most likely find something to eat too. You will also find small trees that are the easiest things to use for shelter. Unless rescue or egress is expected quickly, you must find a means of survival.” Then as an afterthought she addressed me,“Zane, you get a cookie,” and she tossed me a ginger cookie which I hesitantly bit in to. The class went on like this for ten minutes before she teamed us up for a little treasure hunt in the woods. I was teamed up with Heaven, making me wonder if they'd find my body after the deed was done. A few false starts later I began to get a feel for this orienteering stuff; if I headed one way and Heaven secretly smiled, I was going the wrong direction, and if she scowled, I was going the right way.We were the second team to complete the task on top of a large rock outcropping some distance into the state park. Heaven dismissed the others but put a hand on my chest when I made to leave. Once the sound of the rest moving through the underbrush died down she turned to me, clearly pissed. Her fist balled up and she shook slightly as if she was barely able to contain the rage she directed my way.I had three options: flee, confront, or submit. I sat down on the floor of the forest and waited. I could tell my reduction in stature confused her Why do you think most Buddhist monks prefer to conduct their business while in the lotus position?“Can you tell me why you hate me?” I inquired softly.Heaven stormed up to me and I was afraid she was going to boot me down the cliff. I don't think either of us knew why she stopped just short of me.“You don't belong here,” she choked out. “You are perverse and filthy. You are going to ruin everything.”“I'm not your enemy, Heaven. I'm not going to take any of your friends away from you. If I get in your way, let me know and I'll back off. The one thing I can't do is leave,” I explained. Heaven kicked me in the thigh, then kicked me again, so I scrambled up and faced her. She wanted to do this the hard way.Heaven came up right as soon as my feet were planted on the ground. I got in a block, another block, then I grabbed her wrist and put a leg behind hers. She toppled backwards while I rolled us into a side impact which allowed me to grab her other wrist as well. Heaven proved to be surprisingly strong as she thrashed about but she couldn't stop me from getting on top of her.For a moment we lay still but I was getting aroused and Heaven could sense it. I saw a look of near-terror come across her face before she went berserk beneath me. I struggled to keep on top until she finally wore herself down.“Would you just fucking talk to me!” I yelled at her. Heaven slowly ceased her efforts.“Get off of me,” she whispered intently. I rolled us over so that she was on top and released her wrists. Heaven quickly brought her knees up, straddling me with her palms on my chest. She was more than halfway off of me when she stopped and seemed to see me for the first time. I started pulling myself from under her when Heaven settled back down onto my stomach.“Hey, I'm sorry we fought, Hea…” I got out before she French kissed me. Heaven's whole body pressed into me. I settled down and began working my hands over her waist and hips. When I went for her ass, Heaven arched her back pressing her tits against my chest so that she could grab my hands in hers and pull them back to her waist.“Hands above the hips,” she panted lustfully to me between kisses.“Fine, but show me your tits,” I said. Not wasting a moment, Heaven scooted up so that she was sitting on my stomach once more and together we pulled her shirt free and unbuttoned it. I slipped my hand up around the bra and pushed it above her breasts before pressing her delicious orbs down to me to suckle on.It took me a few minutes to find out she had an arousal zone on her lower back that tingled with electricity whenever I caressed it. I had to coax Heaven into getting on all fours but when I pressed my lips there, her stiffness evaporated and she was putty in my hands. I was kneeling beside her with one hand stroking her far side while my closer hand alternated between each breast.When Heaven's breathing became more erratic and desperate she bolted upright on her knees, slipping one leg backward between mine and pressing her ass into my pelvis. I now cupped both tits, gently rubbing each nipple as I began nibbling her shoulder. I was still getting into it when Heaven suddenly spasms against me, then she repeats the process four more times before she trembled uncontrollably in my embrace.“Shush…” I reassured her. “I've got you. You are safe here with me.”“I. we. I. we need to be getting back,” she stammered. I got the feeling that she wanted to pretend this whole thing hadn't happened. I rolled up, then Heaven fixed her bra while I handed Heaven's shirt to her.We exchanged no further words until we were almost back to the campus wall when I turned to make sure she was okay. She was a little out of it but that wasn't my problem; this other thing was.“Heaven, hold on,” I told her. She looked contemplative and suspicious but did so.“You are… Mmm… sheesh, stay still; I'll take care of this,” I worked out.“What?” she asked cautiously.“You have cum dripping down your legs, Heaven,” I informed her. Heaven's eyes grew large and she took a half-step back but at the same moment she realized with utterly hopelessness that she had virtually no other choice.“What are you going to do?” she whispered. I had to think that one over for a second. I handed her my orienteering gear and took off my shirt, which didn't make Heaven any more comfortable.I knelt before her and used my shirt to wipe up the strands of semen going down the inside of each thigh. It was soon evident to me that she'd cum extensively and I had to work my way up under her skirt or more cum would simply drip down. For reasons I still don't understand, Heaven ceased resisting. Maybe she was tired of the whole charade.The first pair of underwear came down, then the second, and I cleaned them both with my now ruined shirt. I even went so far as to wipe her ass-crack where some had been forced up. Once I was satisfied that Heaven's underwear was as passable as I could manage, I ‘fixed' her in place and dressed her again without comment. The really sucky part was that I had to put my sticky, cum-splattered shirt back on. There was no way I could explain going bare-chested.Neither one of us spoke as we walked back, put our stuff up, and parted ways. It wasn't that I thought the matter would go away but I realized that my most pressing concern was doing what my school required. I was happy that I could sneak away before dinner and get a fresh shirt.A Taste of Brandi“What is my duty today, Brandi Sanders?” I started to say with a warm smile on my face. Brandi turned out to be a girl with thin, deep brown hair hanging loose, freckles, and a slender face. Her body was lithe, nothing out of proportion, though it turned out her ass was a prize; compact but with an enticing ability to project beyond the back and thighs.“I need you to help change the lights in my room,” she grinned. I had to reciprocate that look because I liked her creativity. I made a move for her chair then stopped myself.“That chair doesn't look safe,” I mused. “I imagine I'll have to lift you up to each bulb.” I leaned right, then left, taking in her gentle womanly curves which earned a salacious smile.“I think it would be more efficient for me to lift you by the front. Is that okay?” I asked softly, even somewhat hesitantly. Brandi nodded eagerly so I placed me in front of her, bent way down until my head was facing her covered belly button, and then I had snaked my arms around the top of her thighs.I made a half-attempt to lift her, then set her down.“Huh?” she gasped, “What's wrong?”“Brandi, some of your buttons are pressing into my face. Can I move them aside?”“Oh… okay,” then, “if you have to,” Brandi protested falsely.I used some slow seduction in pulling her shirt out of her skirt, doing my best to ignore our growing audience of young ladies. I opened the lowest button to see the top of the skirt behind it, but the next one was much more rewarding. Her soft stomach flesh felt warm beneath my lips and her intake of breath was its own reward.I didn't stop there, though. Buttons opened and kisses were given until I reached the bra, then I licked my way down to her belly button, which I sucked and licked for fifteen seconds. By this time, Brandi was breathing deeply and pressing her stomach against my lips. I reached up to massage her pert, firm ass with my hands while working on her belly button with my tongue.When I lifted her up by grabbing her thighs, she gasped slightly. She hovered next to the ceiling light for several seconds before realizing she didn't have a bulb.“Zane…” she started to say, but I was already starting to sweep her down into a horizontal position, stomach down, with her hands in easy reach of the box of light bulbs.“Wow, thanks, Zane,” she giggled. She took one bulb, despite there being four fixtures we need to change the bulbs in. I didn't mind; after all, every time I swung her down, I flipped her skirt artfully out of the way, and her panty-covered ass was laid out before me at chest level. I missed the first opportunity but I kissed a cheek on the second drop and took a nibble on the third and fourth drop, each time earning a low moan.During the periods when I was holding her upright, I took sadistic pleasure in sucking on her stomach, giving her two hickies as proof of our amorous encounter.“Thank you, Glenda,” she murmured into my chest as I let her down that last time, using my ‘enrolled' name.“I hope I have pleased you but I sadly have to be going,” I sighed, “I have a foot massage upstairs with Easter Valentine.” Brandi looked at me petulantly, then pushed past me to the door and Iona, who stood just outside in the hall.“Iona, when is he free again?” she demanded to know.“Sorry, Brandi, I can only book him one week in advance. I don't know what his study workload will be like or what things his team captains will require,” Iona grinned, somewhat emboldened with her newfound power and popularity.“Brandi,” I said, because I must be the Devil, “I couldn't help but notice how silky smooth and toned your legs are. Maybe in a few days they might be a tiny bit less so. You could demand that I shave your legs for you.”“Have you ever done this before?” she mused over the implications.“No, I haven't,” I confessed, “but you could teach me no matter how long that took.” Brandi spun on Iona and grabbed her by the shoulders.“You have to let me know when a slot opens up!” was Brandi's impassioned plea. Iona agreed nervously. When we finally got out of Brandi's room and headed off to my next stop, Iona bumped into me.“You are evil,” she whispered like some secret conspirator, “and I've never wanted to be a year older in all my life.” One year older, she could demand Handmaiden duties from me as well, but then it would be far less likely that we would be united as we are now.“Iona, you are proving to be a true friend,” I stated. “With you, it wouldn't be a duty.” Iona stumbled because clearly that idea hadn't occurred to her.In Case it was UnclearThe only thing that surprised me when I came up to my room, naked except for my gym shorts, fresh from my evening bathroom visit, was the look of shame on Barbie Lynn's face when I saw the rest of them.“Hello, Ladies. Before you lay into me, let me have a moment with Barbie Lynn,” I requested.“Barbie Lynn is leaving now,” Christina countered. I shrugged and walked back downstairs.“Come back here,” Christina commanded me.“Nope,” I shot back as I reached for the door.“Zane, where are you going?” Chastity inquired politely.“The Chancellor's house,” I answered. “Apparently I have some stuck up bitches in my room past curfew, plus Barbie Lynn.” I opened the door.“Please come back and talk to us,” Chastity requested. I was a bit angry but Chastity made a habit of being nice to me so…I went back upstairs.“Barbie Lynn, why don't you have a quick chat with Zane on your way out,” Queen Christina allowed. Barbie shot Christina a worried look, then shuffled over to where I was standing.“Zane…” Barbie started to say but I put a finger to her lips.“It's all good. I was hoping that after this is resolved you will want to come back tonight. Is that going to happen?” I revealed my desire for her. Barbie hugged me tightly then kissed me on the cheek before skipping down the stairs. I had the strange impression she thought I might have been angry with her.“We need to talk about what happened this afternoon,” Christina began once Barbie had shut the door downstairs.“No, we don't,” I responded, and headed for my bed; since I don't yet have walls, it is tough calling it a room.“I don't think you appreciate how important this issue is to me,” Christina stated heatedly.“Actually, I don't care how important this is to you, Christina. This is between Heaven and me,” I retorted.“You are going to satisfy my concerns or I will guarantee that you will be gone by the end of the week,” she snarled.That was enough for me; I spun around and got right in her face.“Do you remember when I said you could apologize to Rio or I'd make you do it and you would regret me having to force you?” I snapped right back. Christina glared defiance at me. “Well, this has nothing to do with that. I'll get you without fucking anyone else over and because you would even think I'd do that to Heaven, I'm going to make sure you cry too.”“What?” Christina, Chastity, and Heaven said all at once.“I'm going to nail Christina's ass to the wall, Heaven, but I'm not going to abuse the trust you put in me. What kind of fucker do you all think I am?” I asked bitterly.“How can we trust you?” Christina demanded. I rolled my eyes and walked over to Heaven, taking her by the hand which confused the hell out of her.“Heaven, come with me,” I requested. I dragged her toward my bed but she resisted.“What are you doing?” she inquired desperately.“Heaven, I'm a guy dragging a girl to my bedroom. If your first guess is Parcheesi, there is something seriously wrong with you.”“It is…you know…how can you…I can't,” Heaven evaded.“Don't worry about someone spying on us; Hope is here with us tonight,” I grinned.“Zane, this isn't a good idea,” Heaven pleaded.“Zane, let her go,” Christina told me as she stepped to Heaven's side, and by the body language I was clearly not getting in the front door.“Heaven, if I hurt you, what are the odds of my taking an impromptu flying lesson through one of these panes of glass?” I joked dryly. Chastity and Hope exchanged a look.“I think we can make the fountain from the Southeast corner,” Hope assured us both.“This is not a joking matter,” Christina snapped at the two of us. I'd rarely seen someone so ferociously defensive of a non-relative.“I wasn't joking,” I said.“I wasn't joking,” Hope said at the same time.Christina was about to drag Heaven out of the equation; time for the Hail Mary.“Heaven, do you want to have sex with me again?” I hammered away.“Again,” gasped Faith, silent until now. “You can't have sex with Heaven; she's…”Now it was all but out in the open.“Anyone who thinks that is fucking nuts,” I shouted as I grabbed Heaven's hand away from Christina and took her to my bed.I swung Heaven onto the bed so fast she bounced. Before she could organize herself, I was on top of her. I had one leg between hers but she slammed them together so hard it hurt. I landed over her, our faces inches apart. My eyes kept boring into her until her lips opened and a small moan escaped. I knew I fell on her first but her hands were all over me so fast that I could hardly be seen as molesting her.Peripherally aware that we had an audience, Heaven and I pressed, pulled, and aroused one another for several minutes. We had her top and bra off and her legs pulled up so far, her knees were just below my armpits.“You go, girl,” I heard Chastity playfully whisper when Heaven rolled me over so that she was on top. She didn't break up her actions but I could see Heaven smiling for the first time.“I don't get it,” Faith whispered to someone. “Does this mean Heaven likes guys, and if she does, does that mean she's…you know…”“Homosexual?” Hope clarified.“Technically, that makes Heaven gay,” Chastity added.“There is nothing wrong with Heaven,” Christina stated. “She is fine being who she is…unique and special.” In the arena, I was busy letting my hands slide down to the forbidden zone without any resistance. I hooked her underwear and started working them up until…“OW!” Heaven gasped. Everyone looked at us. “That wedgy hurts,” she sobbed, as she ran a hand over her offended rear end.“If it really bothers you, take off your panties,” I taunted Heaven. She looked angry but instead of acting out, she kissed me and bit my lip until it was my turn to cry out in pain. As I rubbed my lip she rolled to the side and quickly pulled down her underwear. Heaven remounted me and for a moment she looked uncertain, so I grabbed her head in both hands and pulled her into a lip-lock.All she had on was her white socks and pleated skirt which had ridden up around her waist. Heaven wedged a hand down to my cock and began lightly stroking it with her fingertips. I reached down and cupped one ass cheek before discovering her anus and playfully rubbing against it.Heaven began loudly moaning and bucking against me.“I think we can be pretty sure she likes guys,” commented Hope.“She hasn't sucked his cock yet,” Faith countered, but she might as well have raised a red flag in front of Heaven because in seconds, Heaven had left my lips and was kissing down my throat to my chest.Before I let her get out of reach, I took my free hand and put it on Heaven's meat and started to stroke it next to mine. Heaven flinched, then looked up at me with an unreadable expression. We began tandem stroking our cocks, my knuckles brushing my cock and her hands brushing hers. Unable to reach my lips, Heaven began kissing and biting my nipples.“Ever done this before?” I gasped, indicating our mutual masturbation. Heaven shook her head in the negative. I tried to taunt her one step further. “Why don't we stop this and just cuddle?” Heaven lurched forward and stopped stroking me long enough to slap me across the face so hard I could taste blood; a reminder of Heaven's anger issues.“You started this,” she insisted, “so don't you think you can get out of things now.” She then resumed her actions as if nothing happened.“Shouldn't we do something to make sure she doesn't break him?” Hope asked her female cohorts.“I know CPR,” Faith volunteered, and here I thought she didn't like me. I was digesting that tidbit when Heaven slipped below my reach leaving my hands free to play with her hair.“Mmm…” Heaven purred as she took in the bulbous head of my penis. There wasn't too much foreplay there, just a hungry need on Heaven's side to take on my cock.She was working over past issues and confronting some internal barriers experience had scarred her with. Heaven was hesitant, sloppy, and used too much teeth; for me it was not a mind rocking blowjob; the best I could do was soldier through it and concentrate on encouraging her as much as possible.I was selling my enthusiasm hard and Heaven was certainly getting into it, making wet slurping noises as she vigorously bobbed farther and farther down my shaft. It took me a moment to register Christina sitting beside us. She was smiling down at Heaven and running her hand through Heaven's hair intertwining with mine.“Use your tongue to manipulate his shaft,” was one of Christina's whispered suggestions and encouragements to Heaven. As I was enjoying the new sensations, I also registered the fact that Christina seemed to know a great deal about portions of the male anatomy the Purity Pledge put on the No Fly list.Christina began rubbing one hand over my chest which felt real good – incredibly good, but there was something I had to do.“I need to see Heaven,” I told Christina. She regarded me quizzically and Heaven all but stopped her activities as she studied me. “You are all I need right now,” I told Heaven.In some cultures what happened next would be considered cannibalism; Heaven did her damnedest to swallow my entire length in one push. I have had girls with a lot more experience fail on the first try. On the second attempt she didn't get as far but she was sucking with greater force.“Oh, fuck!” I grunted. Heaven flashed me with a devilish look in her eyes before pumping my shaft rapidly with one hand while sucking in and out the head and first inch. Note to Self: if this whole Christian Chick thing doesn't work out for Christina, bankroll her in creating self-help sexual instruction videos.“Close,” I panted, “real close.” If Heaven had raised her head and jacked me off onto my stomach, I would have been perfectly happy. Girls did that all the time; the taste of semen is not for everyone. Heaven made her own decision and kept doing what she was doing. Ten seconds later my hands tensed in her hair and I began shooting ribbons of my seed into her mouth.It took a few moments for Heaven to decide to swallow but when she did she was grinning like the Cheshire cat up into Christina's eyes. Both of them started crying and I hadn't a clue as to why. Sometimes another person's baggage is not your business and this looked to be one of those times.“Okay,” I choked. “I only wanted one of you bitches up here tonight so Heaven can stay but the rest of you have to go.” No one responded instantly.“You don't tell me what to do, freshman,” Heaven said as she smacked me across my thigh. “Christina, let's get out of here; I feel like getting something to eat…something else that is,” she told the Queen.In the time it took Heaven to gather her clothes and get dressed, the group was gone, and I was left wondering what the hell I'd stepped into. I figured one guy and nine hundred girls, and I'd be living the dream. Only an idiot would have assumed there would be no existing power structure, competing sexual desires, or people less than happy with my cleverness. Suddenly, having to survive three more days to the weekend seemed too much to ask.To Be Continued.By FinalStand for Literotica

It was announced today that NSW State Forest hunting will continue for a further 10 years! This is great news for hunters, lets keep it up!

Ever wandered through the Pine Barrens and marveled at its serene beauty? Russell Juelg of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation joins us to navigate the past, present, and future of this ecological treasure. The debate over motorized routes within the forest sets the stage for a deeper exploration into the balancing act of accessibility and environmental stewardship. We dissect the history etched into the paths crisscrossing the Pine Barrens and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance's advocacy for responsible use. The conversation shifts gears towards the encroaching threat of illegal off-roading, revealing the intricate dance between preservation and the increasing visitation.Our episode culminates with a hard look at the issue of law enforcement in state parks, zeroing in on the complications of curtailing off-road vehicle misuse. We unpack the constraints that shackle park police, the contrasting approaches of conservation officers, and the educational gaps that leave our natural sanctuaries vulnerable. Russell and I dissect the interplay between rules and their enforcement, proposing a path forward that could strengthen protections for Wharton State Forest

Clark State ForestWe continue our tour through Clark County in Southeastern Indiana by visiting Indiana's oldest state forest, Clark State Forest. The birthplace of Colonel Harland Sanders is nearby and we learn a bit about him as well. From the Book:Southeastern Indiana Day TripsThe Author's WebsiteThe Author on LocalsThe Author on FacebookThe Author on TwitterThe Author on RumbleThe Author on YouTubeThe Author's Amazon Page

Charles Bronson State Forest is located near Christmas, Florida has trails and camping.  it also borders a number of other important conservation areas such as Orlando Wetlands Park and Little Big Econ State Forest.  One of the more notable trails is the Joshua Creek Trail Loop which is a bit longer than nine miles, it also traverses a number of different habitats.Charles Bronson State Forest Website:https://www.fdacs.gov/Forest-Wildfire/Our-Forests/State-Forests/Charles-H.-Bronson-State-ForestPlease subscribe! Shares and reviews are much appreciated!Get your FREE sticker from the Florida Springs Council at https://www.floridaspringscouncil.org/madcapsQuestions and comments can be emailed at thefloridamadcaps@gmail.comRyan can be found on Instagram at: the_fl_excursionistChris and Chelsey can be found at https://www.instagram.com/sunshinestateseekers/?hl=en

Since 1968, members of the South Mountain Golf Course in Franklin County have been playing their game on 47 acres of Michaux State Forest. But, that time is coming to an end. My colleague Gabriela Martinez previews the mayoral race in Pennsylvania's fourth-largest city. The state House has passed three bills seeking to expand and strengthen the commonwealth's anti-hate crime statutes. A Lebanon County community is mourning the death of its police chief. We also bring you another deep dive into how you can help limit the effects of Climate Change..    Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Barry Zeldin vanished for Warren Grove Recreation Area near Penn State Forest, it left questions with few answers.  11 years later, those same questions are still being asked and the most assumed scenario is seeming less and less likely.  Source:  Wicked Garden Podcast

Wombat State Forest Update here II We talk with Gayle Osborne, from Wombat Forestcare, about the interim injunction that is stopping Vicforest incursions into Wombat State Forest before returning to court on Oct 31.NICA Fringe Circus Hub here II Pieta Farrell from NICA talks to us about the Fringe Festival Circus Hub and the five shows showing from 5th Oct - 20th Oct at NICA.Tom Ballard - Yes/ No: A Comedy Lecture here II Tom Ballard's Fringe Festival Show takes the comedy torch to Australian confusion when it comes to referenda as we head for the Voice vote.This is the Week here II Kevin Healy slices and dices the week.Don Sutherland - Campaigning for Yes here II Don talks to us about his work campaigning for the Yes vote in Tasmania's North West as well as some important words about the nature of the Australian Constitution as a 'bosses' document as it stands.

Matt is joined by Damien Windsor to find out about his amazing experience getting his first and second deer within minutes, with a bow, in a NSW State Forest! We talk about how bow hunting has become an obsession and his Youtube channel “TheWildTheFree”. You can also see the video of Damien getting these Fallow deer by clicking here. Topics discussed include: Bow hunting; Hunting NSW State Forests; Deer culling via helicopter; Aerial culling of deer in South Australia with a shotgun; Deer not being treated as a valuable resource, Fallow Deer, Red Deer and plenty more. For the latest information, news, giveaways and anything mentioned on the show head over to our Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) or website. If you have a question, topic, gear review suggestion or a guest that you'd like to hear on the show, shoot an email to australianhuntingandbeyond@gmail.com or via our socials. Disclaimer

Every year, the distinctive sound of elk bugling can be heard in the Elk State Forest.  That high-pitched sound comes from male elk that bugle during the breeding season to attract potential mates and to establish dominance. It's the sound of these bugles and the sight of these majestic creatures that brings more than half a million visitors to northcentral Pennsylvania every year. Specifically, to Elk State Forest.And while Elk State Forest is a secluded area most of the year, is inundated with people from the late summer through the fall that are in search of the largest free-roaming elk herd in the northeastern United States. The sight of a herd is special moment to remember. If you can beat the crowds. On this episode, I speak with Joe Kellert. Joe is the district forester for Elk State Forest.Elk audio from NPS/Jennifer JerrettBe sure to visit my website to get to notified about upcoming episodes. Also, follow us on Instagram and on Facebook for more information about what is coming up next. You can support the podcast by buying merch or donating on our website.Hosting, production and editing: Christian AlexandersenMusic: Jon SauerGraphics: Uncle Traveling Matt's Random Expedition

July 6, 2023 - Rob Praczkajlo, a state forest ranger who spent about two weeks in Québec responding to Canada's widespread fires, discusses his experience north of the border and whether New York needs to be concerned about similar fires.

⁠JOIN THE STAG ROAR COMMUNITY⁠ This episode has been published and can be heard everywhere your podcast is available. https://www.stagroar.co.nz/ In these Mini-Podcasts we explore The Sika from D.Bruce Banwell's "The Sika" New Zealand Big Game Records Series With Permission of The Halcyon Press. If you or a loved one have some aches and pains setting in, or an injury that needs support to heal, consider topping up your body with Canes Deer Velvet.  It's packed full of amazing nutrients that the body uses in maintaining the immune system, bones, joints, circulation and general well-being. Find out more at www.canesdeervelvet.com and use code stagroar252 at checkout for a 20% discount.

The Madcaps discuss the various aspects of one of the most exciting and diverse state forests in Florida.  The Withlacoochee has caves, lakes, ponds, rivers, trails, and much more!  Activities include hiking, camping, and exploring.Please subscribe! Shares and reviews are much appreciated!Get your FREE sticker from the Florida Springs Council at https://www.floridaspringscouncil.org/madcapsQuestions and comments can be emailed at thefloridamadcaps@gmail.comRyan can be found on Instagram at: the_fl_excursionistChris and Chelsey can be found at https://www.instagram.com/sunshinestateseekers/?hl=en

Come explore Savoy Mountain State Forest!  In this episode, Jonny Dutrow takes us on an adventure exploring Massachusetts' 2nd largest state forest.   Western Ma Regional Interpretive Specialist Alec Gilman joins Jonny to provide some unique perspectives on this amazing resource!

The woods hold monsters of all shapes and sizes. Sometimes though, the scariest monster of all can be human. Download Swamp Dweller Scary Stories: Itunes: https://apple.co/2L7znZp Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2WUFDG8 Check out the Swamp Dweller Merch store! http://bit.ly/32u2eh5 The Dark Swamp: Horror Stories (Episode 752)

Forget everything that comes to mind when you think about “a day at the lake” – these spots aren't it. That doesn't mean the little lakes of the Clatsop State Forest, found on the north end of Oregon's Coast Range, aren't worth checking out. Despite lacking amenities and featuring little in the way of actual water, they nonetheless make interesting attractions for year-round hiking between Portland and the coast. On this week's episode of Peak Northwest, we talk about where and how to find spots like Soapstone Lake and Spruce Run Lake, places that may offer little to fishers, boaters and sunbathers, and instead exist as quiet little attractions tucked into the timberlands. Here are some highlights from this week's show: Where do you find this concentration of little lakes? Bloom Lake is easily accessible, right off the highway. Lost Lake might be the only spot here that can rightfully be considered a “lake”. At Soapstone Lake you'll likely see more newts than people. To get to Spruce Run Lake, you need to tackle a steep little trail through the timberlands. Subscribe to Peak Northwest on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you listen to podcasts. -- Jamie Hale and Vickie Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Summary Janet and Margaret talk about sustainable foraging, herbalism, wild tending, constructive ethics on why you might choose not to wildcraft, ways to impact your food intake in small but meaningful ways, unlearning extractive tendencies when harvesting food and medicine, and upholding indigenous wisdom around wild tending. Guest Info Janet (she/her) is an herbalist and teacher at the Terra Sylva School of Botanical Medicine. Janet can be found on wordpress at Radical Vitalism The school can be found on Instagram @terrasylvaschool. Janet does a podcast called The Book on Fire. Janet recommends reading The Honorable Harvest by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Host Info Margaret can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Transcript Janet on Sustainable Foraging Margaret 00:14 Hello, and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm your host today, Margaret Killjoy. And this week we're going to be talking about herbalism and foraging and sustainable foraging of herbalism, and forage....[Trails off] That's what we're gonna be talking about with with Janet Kent, who you all have heard from before on another episode from a long time ago, about herbalism. And I think you'll all get a lot out of this episode. But first, this podcast is a proud member of the Channel Zero network of anarchists podcasts. And here's a jingle from another show on the network. Margaret 01:12 And we're back. Okay, so Janet, if you could introduce yourself with your name, which I guess I already said, and your pronouns and kind of what you do for a living as, which would help people understand why they should listen to you about this topic. Janet 01:44 I am Janet Kent, my pronouns are she/her. I run a school of botanical medicine that's located about an hour outside of Asheville, in southern Appalachia, and in so called Western North Carolina. And I'm also a clinical herbalist. And I also live in hardwood co [conifer] forest. And so I'm surrounded by wild plants. And specifically, like this region of southern Appalachia has a long history of settler wild crafting as a kind of hustle. And there were a lot of...when most pharmaceuticals came out of plants back in the day, this was a huge nexus of harvesting and distributing, and people extracted a lot of plants from the wild as a means of survival and sold them to the pharmaceutical companies. So, that is partially because this is a really ecologically rich place. But, I say all that just to say that I'm surrounded by plants that have medicinal value, even in like the larger market outside of the home forager or home apothecary. So, it's something that like, we have to really think about here and are forced to. Even though we're surrounded by the medicine, the ethics of that are something that I think about pretty regularly. So, I might be better situated than some to consider that. Yeah, Margaret 03:13 Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And that's why I wanted to have you on to talk today, right? Because I feel like this is this question that is coming up more and more as foraging becomes a little bit more mainstream. Or? Well, I guess, actually, to start with, we were talking earlier, and you talked about how there's sort of a foraging craze that's coming from the pandemic, I was wondering if you could kind of talk about that, like what's happening right now in foraging? 03:38 Yeah, I mean, while I do think there was a much more of a burst during the pandemic, when people were getting outside more. Public spaces, and parks became more visited once they were open again. And you saw just a lot more people out. I don't know, like how much time you spend in public spaces. But, there was a huge increase in people national parks, and national forests, State Forest, all of those kinds of places. And even just in city parks and such. And I think that there has been a lot of social media content that's being created around foraging. And it is like a way that people can get excited about gathering their own food. It can be a really nice, like gateway to like relationships with plants, because people start to learn to identify plants and learn what is food. And I definitely think that there's no small part of this that is also connected to people wanting to spend less money on food. I mean, we have applicants for school sometimes even say, you know, like, I want to learn more about plants that are useful for food and for medicine, because I need to spend less money. So there's like an economic incentive here, as well. And I should probably spend some time on that in a bit. But, also I would just say that over the last...I don't know, it's probably been more than a decade, there has just been a surge in interest in wild plants, including for food and for medicine. Margaret 05:10 Yeah. And that's either really good or really bad depending on who you ask, Is that what's Is that what's happening right now? Janet 05:19 Yeah, I would say that there can be pretty binary of viewpoints on this. And it's interesting, I mean, something that you probably see with a lot of people that you interview or with different communities that you might be in as there is a rise in awareness of just the colonial project that we're all part of still. And so that this is still occupied territory. There are indigenous people here whose land settlers are occupying. There is a certain level of guilt that can come with that awareness...[interrupted] Margaret 05:56 Right? Janet 05:56 [Continues] If you are someone who is not indigenous to turtle islands, and the way that I see that play out sometimes, not always, is with people sometimes seeing kind of stark black and white ideas around what is good and what is not good, and relationship. And we see people who hear like, "We shouldn't wildcraft," or they memorize like this all wildcrafting, which is the word that herbalist and people who are into plant medicine will use to describe harvesting herbs for medicine specifically. I don't actually hear 'wildcrafting' used to refer to food. Yeah, but so wildcrafting can be seen as strictly extractive and people just taking from the wild, because as I mentioned in the introduction, there is a long history of plants being taken en mass from the forests, to serve the pharmaceutical industry. And even now, there are certain plants that are threatened and endangered because they are used, even in European markets. Margaret 07:03 Like what? Janet 07:05 Black cohosh, specifically, is an herb that is seen as being helpful for some menopausal states. And it's used in...So in Europe, it's more license legal to be a doctor who uses plant medicine. And so you can prescribe herbs there. It's more regulated as well, but definitely tons of black cohosh are sent abroad every year. And from what...I met someone who works, is sort of like from a root digging family, like a traditional Appalachian root digging family, but she said she'd been in warehouses where there was just like piles of rotting roots of black cohosh, you know, cause people... Margaret 07:48 Oh, God. Janet 07:48 Yeah, the work of, as in is usually the case, like the piece workers, the people who are gathering are paid shit. And then the stuff is piled up. It's not stored very well. Some fraction of it will make it into medicine. And so there is very much a problem with extraction en masse of plants, especially when the root is what's being harvested, because that kills the plant. Right? Margaret 08:12 Yeah. Ginseng is like one that I feel like I hear about too. Janet 08:16 Absolutely. Ginseng would be a great example. And interestingly, I mean, you may even live in ginseng country. I do, for sure. But, that's something that's, you know, has been historically, as settlers came into these mountains, have shipped abroad, because by the time the Revolutionary War happened here, already, there was a dearth of ginseng in China because so much had been wild harvested, and they hadn't really put in cultivation yet. And so, as soon as the global market, people within the global market figured out that there was a similar ginseng here, they started shipping it abroad, and actually ginseng sales helped pay for the Revolutionary War. Margaret 09:02 Oh, god. Uh huh. Janet 09:03 Which is just so wild. Yes. So, there is very much history of extraction of plants. Margaret 09:10 Yeah. For the extractive project that is the Revolutionary War Janet 09:14 Yes, absolutely, a huge scale. So, when we are thinking about our own personal use or serving our communities or, you know, a lot of people will try to make herbal products as a side hustle, then we do need to confront our personal relationship with that legacy. That's obviously really important. However, the amount of time and energy people spent in policing other people's foraging and wildcrafting is a lot, as you may imagine. Margaret 09:42 Yeah, social media is particularly good at getting us to level our weapons at each other. Yeah. Janet 09:48 Right. So, we see a lot of that, and I feel like the the climate has not been very nuanced for this conversation, because what's true, and this is probably a part of what you're wanting to get out with this episode is that there's a really big difference between digging up a 15 year old root of a plant in the forest that took that long to get that big and taking the whole root and killing it, than there is actually harvesting weeds or harvesting invasive plants or plants that are here in abundance. And actually, you can harvest some kinds of plants in a way that is supportive to the plant community that they live in, because they're opportunistic or taking too much space. And so, I think when we have a black and white rubric around this, and much like all wildcrafting is extractive, we're also forgetting that there is a way for humans to be in relationship with plant communities in a way that fosters diversity and richness in the ecology. And can be a form of wild tending. And that is how Turtle Island was maintained by all of the indigenous folks who are living in so many different plant communities around the continent before Europeans showed up and disrupted that. Margaret 11:04 Okay, so what are some of the...I like, examples. It makes it really more concrete in my head. Like, what are some of the examples of plants that you're helping that plant community by foraging or or by? Yeah. Janet 11:17 Okay. Yeah, that's, that's a good question. And there's, I'll share with you a book, there's a whole book on invasive plant medicines. And so I'm going to say 'invasive' here, I know that that's a controversial word to some people. But, what I mean is plants that came after 1492, and are opportunistic and can take over spaces, and take up space. So, that's what I mean when I'm saying that, and we can say 'non native' or 'invasive' or just 'opportunistic,' but I'm gonna say 'weedy' and 'abundant' plants here. Plantain would be a weedy and abundant plant, and mugwort can be quite opportunistic, and take over in some places. Mimosa tree, the really beautiful pink firecracker looking tree that grows in the southeast pretty abundantly is pretty opportunistic. It can take over spaces for sure, you know, and sometimes native plants are also pretty weedy as well. Yarrow is a plant that comes from Europe, that there are some native varieties too, but they tend to not be as opportunistic. A lot of garden plants that have escaped, like catnip or horehound you might find in other places, sometimes lemon balm goes feral, in some places, as well. So, those would be some examples. But, a lot of trees that you see...[corrects self ] well, it's hard to say...Trees that were planted for landscaping, and then kind of move out like, Tree of Heaven is an example. There's a lot of different trees that got brought in at various points that have spread out and can really out compete other trees. Yeah. Margaret 12:57 This is really interesting to me for a lot of reasons...I mean, I'm kind of notoriously bad for someone who like often lives off grid or like, you know, I live mostly alone on a bunch of acres in a mountain or whatever in Appalachia. And I'm like, kind of notoriously bad at actually knowing the plants around me and how to engage with them besides being like, I swear, one year, I'm gonna be here in the fall and eat the acorns. You know, has been my plan for however many years. I've done every step of acorn harvesting at various points and never actually finished it and eaten them. But, so it's just, it's kind of interesting to me because as I walk around, you know, the place that I live, I become more and more familiar with some of these plants and it's interesting to think about them in different ways. And then also think about, like, whether or not I have a desire or like, a role in sort of shaping what plants grow around me. And like, I don't even know the answer that yet. Like, I mean, what I sort of in my head, I'm like, I believe both the pines and the Oaks near me are fairly, you know, native to this area, or whatever. But, I'm like, but I like the Oaks more. And so I'm like, Is it bad to start, like, kind of cutting back the pines and like trying to propagate more of the Oaks? Like, maybe the tree level is a higher level of thinking about because they take a lot longer, but is that something that like, people should be doing in the kinds of....should be is a weird question....but [people] could think about doing in the places that they forage or, like thinking about what the current plant environment community is and what it could be shifted towards? Or is that like, do you stay out of it? This is not a question. Sorry. Janet 14:39 Yeah, no, I, I think I can pick the through line in there, which is that: what would a good relationship look like when foraging? And to me, you know, I wasn't taught this way at all. I definitely came up in herbalism when this was not part of our conversation. But, I think in general, wild tending is the way to go where you actually have a perennial relationship with the plants that you live around or the plants that you visit, or the places that you'd like to harvest so that you can pay attention to when they're healthy and when they need support. See which plants are taking up some more space, you know, I mean, depending on what pines you're around, you know, those would have at one time been controlled partially through fire management practices, because they burn more than oaks. So, you know, that's like...I mean, not that we're trying to like, go back to some pristine era, because that's not possible. There's just sort of moving forward from where we're at. But, but it is true that in a lot of places where there were mixed forest in that way, there would be periodic fire for....support hunting, which would have taken out the pine. I mean, I think that personally, preferential treatment of different plant communities and landscapes feels pretty intuitive. And also, if you look back through history, but also if you just look at different cultures that are living in a sort of a tending/stewardship relationship with the plants around them, there is usually preferential management practice, which that's kind of like a boring way to say it, but yes, like favoring the plants you would like to see do better and favoring plants often that are useful to humans, and wildlife. You know, before the American Chestnuts went through, they're blight, they're not extinct, there are still a few left, but before the chestnut blight took out such a large amount of the chestnut trees on the eastern coast that was the dominant tree. And yes, they were taller and larger than most of the trees in the forest, but there was a level of preference for those because they made tons of food every year. And so humans and birds and other animals that like chestnuts, propagated the chestnuts by moving them around, even a squirrel burying a bunch of chestnuts is going to make more chestnuts come up, you know? So I think that that is a pretty natural way to relate to the plants around you, which is to favor some over others, you know. And when you start to pay attention to like, who's just kind of taken over, which can be plants that are actually from here too. And you want....ecosystem's tend to benefit from number of connections and number of members. And so you want to see richness in both of those numbers. You want to see more members and you want to see more connections. So, when you have any one member dominating, you're having less of both. And I think if we can think of tending towards, you know, the word diversity is almost destroyed at this point for usefulness, however, I could say that ecologically, what I mean is like, yes, strengthen members and connections. Margaret 17:57 Okay. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense to me. I don't know, I've been really enjoying just like, you know, I have a dog now. So, I have to walk around a lot. And actually, like, pay more attention, because he's always like finding all of the things and making me pay attention to it. I don't know where I'm going with that. There's cactus where I live. And it confuses the hell out of me. Yeah, I live in West Virginia. Janet 18:21 Are they prickly pears? Margaret 18:24 I don't know. They're small. They're like low to the ground. They're like big, round, green lobes kind of like hanging out on the ground. There's not a lot of them. But, it confuses the hell out of me. I have no idea if they're native to this area or not. I don't understand. I don't know why I'm telling you that. Now everyone knows I have cactus. Janet 18:51 Dogs are wonderful for getting us out of the house and out into the world, you know, and then you start to pay attention to who else is around, you know, the dog leads you to the others. Right? Margaret 19:00 Yeah, totally. It's how I know about all the turtles on the property is my dog finds them in and hangs out with them and just sort of stares at them. And then I watch them. Janet 19:07 Are they box turtles? Margaret 19:08 Yeah, there's some kind of. Yeah, I think they're box turtles. They're not, uh, they're not doing so well. I looked them up. There's not a lot of them. But, I live somewhere where there's not a lot of roads. So they don't die as much. Janet 19:22 Right. I love box turtles. I actually wanted to bring up a different similar creature when I was thinking about this topic earlier, which is that I think that, while I can be like, it's all you know, 'we need to turn relationships, we need to be stewarding land,' all of these things, it is worth noting that generally, wildlife and plant communities are under pressure when people get hungry. And you know, I was in Florida near some of the beautiful springs down there a few years ago, and I've also seen these In parts of the Gulf South, but there are these really cool tortoises called gopher tortoises. Have you ever met one of those? Margaret 20:05 No, Janet 20:07 They're kind of big. I just realized I'm using my hands and you're able to see my hands on the podcast. However, they're pretty big turtles.Tortoises. And, they're so cool. One of the things they do is they make these burrows That's why they're called gopher tortoises, but they help a lot of different creatures survive hurricane flooding and other like vast flooding, because other animals will hang out in their burrows. They're like, wombats or something. They're like a helper species that makes habitat for other animals. But, I was reading about them when I was down there and in the Great Depression, the locals down on the Gulf South and in Florida, called them Hoover Chickens. Because they were naming after present President Hoover, who they were blaming for the Great Depression and just got....because they eating so many tortoises to survive, okay, and the tortoise population just like dropped out during that time, and they're slowly getting back, but they have a hard time too, like the box turtles that we live near. And so when I read that I just, it made me really...it made me think about foraging honestly, and how much I had seen this like uptick, with the economic dip, and made me just understand the level to which we need to be emphasizing what's abundant. And what you know...a tortoise....Tortoises are not abundant. They were not abundant even back then, probably. But like, what species are there a lot of? Which species does harvesting actually help the larger plant community? But, also with individual species, there's plants where if you harvest in a specific way that helps propagate them, then you can help increase their numbers as well. And that's going to differ from plant to plant. But, I think that what I would like to see with people getting more and more excited about foraging and wild harvesting of herbs in general, is that actual consciousness about what it is to help their numbers grow so that it's not as much of an extract of relationship? Margaret 22:14 Yeah, no, I remember reading one of the things that like really stuck with me, I read a long time ago, it was about how during the Great Depression, like squirrels and deer were hunted to near extinction in various places. And like.... Janet 22:29 Wow Margaret 22:29 Yeah, exactly. And, you know, these are the things when I think of abundant animals, right, I think of deer and squirrels, at least where I live. And, and so that, that realization that we actually have an impact, you know. Like, the small amounts of destructive things we do really can add up. Obviously, we're living through a, you know, climate level of all of that coming. But no, that's, that's makes me sad about the tortoises. But okay, so So what are some examples then of these? I know I just keeping like, give me more examples, because I like the stories of it. But like, what are some of the plants that you're like helping? I can imagine, for example, like, I mean, obviously, chestnuts are very complicated right now. But, you know, harvesting chestnuts, of course, doesn't necessarily negatively impact the tree. And earlier you were talking about basically being like roots are like much more complicated to extract, or there are like ways of extracting roots that are less bad? Would you mostly say to anyone listening to this unless you know, better just don't mess with roots and work on some other stuff? Janet 23:39 Yeah, you know, and actually, you're reminding me that when I have been seeing a lot of like, more like virally popular foragers, they don't tend to emphasize roots, which I feel grateful for. And yeah, I would say that in general, unless you have a perennial relationship with a plant community than just staying away from roots is a good idea. But with a lot of plants, there are ways to harvest where you're not actually greatly impacting the plant. Let me think of some examples of that. I mean, I almost don't want to bring up ramps because they are so over harvested in some places. Those are wild leeks for people who might not know, but what is true is that if instead of harvesting the bulb, the white bulb, it's kind of like an onion, garlicky thing and each can just take a leaf and harvest leaves from a big patch instead of digging them up that's gonna make a huge difference. Now when you see restaurants start saw offer foragers money for ramps, at least in my neighborhood, I started to see much more like big holes dug where they're just digging up clumps of them at a time and then just taking them wholesale out to sell, you know, and so, I would say like, yeah, the above ground parts are always always gonna be more sustainable to harvest. But also, if you're taking flowers from a plant, for example. I'm trying to think of like a good example of this. I love peach flower medicine, I love peach flower for grief and for hot agitated states and there are feral peach flower trees and, and there's old orchards that are no longer sprayed. And when you're harvesting peach flowers, you can actually support the tree because they need to not let all of those flowers go ripe and become flat fruit because it's too much. So, if you selectively just pick a couple blooms off the into clusters, that's actually going to help the plant overall, you know? Or I'm thinking of, I wanted to give another example of something in a more urban setting. but linden trees are plants, there are some linden trees that are native to this continent, they're called basswood trees, that's the name here. But there's European lindens that are planted ornamentally There's a bunch of them in downtown Asheville. But that's like, where there'll be a huge tree covered with thousands of blossoms and the flowers are the medicine there too. And they're always covered with bees. Bees love them. But, if you see something like that, where you're like, it's impossible to even imagine how many there are, then you can take some flowers, and you're not going to hurt that tree. You know, I guess if we all did that, that would be something we're thinking about. And that's why having a perennial relationship where you see the shifts through the years, see who's getting hit. And, if an area is being over harvested, you can tell because you've been paying attention, that would be something to do. But yeah, I would say like there are a lot of like flowering trees where you can get the flowers or you could even prune some of the branches and have some of what you need. But also with urby plants, the above ground plant, you can kind of see the parts, the aerial parts is what we call them, and notice how much has gone. And usually you can tell if someone else has been there, right. So, that would be what I would say. But again, if you if you're sticking to really weedy abundant plants, then this is going to just be less of an issue like goldenrod, for example, is a gorgeous endemic plant, or a plant that grows on a lot of parts of Turtle Island, which is a really excellent allergy remedy. Not so good for food. But they're incredibly weedy. You'll see a giant field of them right over the place, you know, and so if you just stuck to plants that were pretty weedy and abundant like that, even if you got as much as you're going to need for the year, it would be very little in a dent of even one plant stand. Margaret 27:45 Yeah. Okay, so I took a bunch of notes on what you were saying, because there's so many pieces that I want to pick apart. And one of them is this, I've been running across this thing more, and I suspect you've probably run across a mortgage or rent more in these circles. But this idea that like, the concept of nature is sort of a colonial construct. This idea that like, when we create the idea of nature, we're talking about something that is distinct from humans, and how that's like, kind of this thing that like gets us off the hook. Like when we imagine like humans as only bad. It like lets us off the hook for being bad as compared to like, it seems like you could talk about either you show up and you dig up all the roots of these, you know, ginseng or whatever that's been there forever, and you just like mess everything up, versus they're like other plants that do very well for humans as part of the ecosystem interacting with them in the same way that they do very well for having bees in the ecosystem or birds in the ecosystem. Whatever. Yes. I don't know, it's really interesting to me. And I'm wondering if that's like a conversation that... Janet 28:46 I think that's been a helpful conversation, I think, for people to have around not just having black and white thinking around it, which is what you're gonna get, I think, which is that, if we're actually in relationship, then we're going to be able to care for the plants instead of just taking or just ignoring. I mean, there's definitely, unfortunately, a pretty big segment of people who are into environmental biology who do have a very hands off, 'don't interfere, just leave it,' you know, kind of perspective. Margaret 29:21 The Star Trek approach. Janet 29:23 Definitely, which is I mean, ridiculous given that there are no plants left on the planet who are not being impacted by human activity. So, you actually going in and maybe... So, part of, this is like, kind of an aside from what we're talking about, but there's this concept called assisted migration, which when you're like, "These plants hate how hot it's getting right here. We should move them further north." You know, and so there's all these people who are like, "No, no, we can't interfere. We might ruin everything." You know, it's like time traveling or something like we actually, like do one thing wrong and everything will be, it'll be a clusterfuck. And the whole system will collapse because we move this tree up there. And who knows who else is on there. But then there's a lot of people who there's actually like secret groups who meet to help with assisted migration and to propagate. It's really wild. Anyway, I say all this just to say that, like I'm not on a never interfere with, because I think the interference is happening already. I mean, it's not my life's work to move trees around to places where they might make it. Right. But that is something that, you know, even the research we have about this extinction crisis is just that the loss is huge. And are there places where we could support life becoming, like diversifying and strengthening, plant communities as other trees are coming out? Like right now, where I live? I don't know if this is how you're where it is where you're at or not, but the ash trees are all dying. Margaret 30:56 The ash borer, whatever? Yeah. Janet 30:58 And it's really happening hardcore where we live. So yes, it is true that there will be other trees that are going to come in to those canopy gaps, to live. But we are seeing these forests change dramatically right now. And it's just, it's going to be interesting. Like, there are people who, because the hemlocks are dying out as well from the woolly adelgid along the rivers and streams, and some places around here, there are people who are like, "Well, what are the plants that we could put in here intentionally, that would help shade that would support the trout and support the life in here?" You know, and so those kinds of ecosystem design frameworks make people really uncomfortable because of the level of damage that has happened through the inadvertent introduction of certain species. Margaret 31:48 Right. Well, it's like, if we fucked something up so bad. And 'we' is a weird word to use in this context. But sure, you know, I mean, I'm a settler here and I, you know, reap the rewards of that in terms of like, the foods available to me at the store, whatever, tons of shit. But okay, we fucked this thing up so bad. I can understand people's like, "Oh, no, we fucked it up. We just shouldn't do anything." But, but that's a little bit like, pushing someone over. And then they're like, "Help me up," and you're like, "No, last time I interacted with you, it went really bad. So I'm just gonna walk away." Janet 32:25 No, I mean, exactly. Like, we're gonna just watch the destruction happen that is in the wake of this economic system, and not actually do anything to change it, because we might hurt something. I mean, it's absurd when you actually lay it out that way. Margaret 32:41 Yeah, we set the house on fire. And now we don't want to run in and help people because we just make everything worse, so we should avoid everything. I mean, it's because I think that it makes sense for people to not be like, wildly cavalier about deciding that, you know, they should just get to reengineer the way that ecosystems work. I like, Oh, that's such an interesting tension that I don't have any answers for but... Janet 33:07 Well, I mean, there is a lot of tension with it. I mean, I think a lot of times when I see scientists who are taking a really hard line, 'no interference' stance, they are people who don't study indigenous land management, and don't understand the level to which humans normally play in ecosystem, design and movement, and construction. And so I think that in general, what would be the wisest thing to do for anyone would be you know, what, if you're not indigenous to this place, what are the indigenous folks around you saying about what is wild tending? And what does support and stewardship of this land look like right now? Margaret 33:45 Right. Yeah, though, that makes sense. What is involved in...you know, I'm not indigenous and what would be involved in trying to find that out where I'm at? Do I look for people who are like kind of talking about that publicly? I assume the answer is not just like, go find my friends who are indigenous and be like, "You there..." Janet 34:05 Well, it depends. I mean, it really depends where where people live. I mean, there are in many places around the continent, I'm learning more and more about this, there are actually are cultural centers where you can talk to folks and be like...who are working on land management stuff, right then you know, within whatever tribal sovereignty they have in that situation. Here, this is unceded, Cherokee land, but you know, we are in contact with folks who are doing wild tending and talking about...a lot of the schools there in the Cherokee where the actual reservation is, they are actually trying to introduce more and more wild foods, you know, and so through talking to folks who are part of that project, we've been able to be like, "Okay, like, what, would be helpful for you to have more of?" Also, one thing that I would say in most places, there's some tension between what indigenous groups...what land they have access to and in the Cherokee area, I mean, a specific part that they're still have control over right now, you know, I know a grandmother who was given a $500 citation for picking herbs in the National Forest, for her daughter's memorial, you know, and, at the same time, like they had to have...the Cherokee folks had to push through to try to get a permit to be able to pick this plant called sochan, which is a wild perennial green that people eat in the spring especially. And so through communicating around with those folks, like I've been able to, like learn, like what plants are being prioritized with them, but also like supporting them, you know, like, they had to petition the state for us to be like, "Can we pick herbs on this land?" Right? Yeah. And so actually, like, as annoying as it is supporting that getting the word out, making sure that there's a shit ton of signatures sent to the State Forest, which are just like that this even a question is absurd, right? Especially because there are plenty of settler foragers just going out and foraging with no sort of impact. I mean, they're having an impact, but they don't have to deal with any consequences. So yeah, I guess I would say is like figuring out who's just around you, you know, and usually, and the thing is, is I don't know how the regions are all over the country, but it definitely in the west and southwest and in some parts of the southeast, too, it's not that hard to find cultural centers, or people who are working on land and food sovereignty, where they're at. And so I would just say, I don't know about specifically where you are and that's an interesting question. But, there are cultural centers in a lot of places that will have people working on food, wild food support, and often just like land tending and medicine ways. And I know, in the West, like, we've had a couple of students who actually are doing fire management, intentional fire trainings with with different indigenous tribes out there. And so they're actually learning to do the fire management practices from the people on the ground who had that tradition. And I think that's a fascinating way to learn to and to be like...because that can be somewhat dangerous as you're learning, right?And so like, that feels like a pretty big service to me, to be like, "Could you help do that kind of work somewhere?" And you would learn as you went, what plants are being prioritized, which plants need support, what plants are problems, you know, through through that work as well. Margaret 37:55 Okay. I liked that. I liked that's...I feel like usually that kind of question the like, "Well, what can you do?" doesn't have as good of a concrete answer as that I really appreciate that. One of the things you were talking about earlier, you're talking about, you know, the ramps that are being sold to the restaurants and stuff, right? And I was just thinking about how it seems like when you're talking about foraging, and when you're talking about wildcrafting, obviously, scale matters, but also when money gets involved, it seems like it gets real messy. And like, I wonder how people like, like, is there any ethical wild foods that introduce into market environments? Or is it like pretty much, if you're going to be doing foraging, you should be feeding yourself and your family and maybe your community but not doing it at like market scale? Janet 38:49 Yeah, that's tough. I mean, I don't know. There's definitely some folks around here who do like a wild food, food share even. And then there's people who do wild food...there's like a wild food booth at the farmers market because of this. That's how it is around here. There's just more people with that interest who are willing to pay the big bucks for foraged items. And so I can imagine... Margaret 39:07 Which is just like ironic, but anyway. Janet 39:09 Yeah, if you could see what's on the table at this spot, it's pretty wild. But um, anyway, but so that feels like a scale....it's not that....I'm like, who's actually....like, how much are they actually selling at the farmers market every week? Like, you know, I don't know, it doesn't seem like huge but once we think about like actually scaling up to like, say, like, provide for several stores or something like that, and it does get kind of out of hand. And I know that in some places, like mushroom foraging has gotten pretty wild in a way that can be destructive, but again, that depends on the mushroom. I mean some mushrooms, it actually helps them to have a lot of people in there just sort of disturbing the ground and like spreading the spores around, while some mushrooms when it's not actually the fruiting body like Chaga or something it can be somewhat damaging harvest a lot of it. It really just depends. I think that, if, say like your product was something that was a really, a plant that's causing a lot of trouble in a whole area? Like around here there's there are people who are working really madly on kudzu root production and using kudzu root for for starch and using kudzu root to make paper. They have this kudzu camp every year and like dig a ton of kudzu root and just trying to figure out how many ways they could work with kudzu root. If that was what was entering the market, then that would be fine. Because as you know, having lived in the southeast, there's no shortage of kudzu for people to work with. So, if we were actually making a marketable item out of opportunistic and aggressive plants, then that would be not a bad idea, actually. I mean, yeah, who knows? I'm sure it could get weird. Margaret 40:59 Yeah. Right, because you could eventually enter the nonprofit trap. Like, I'm not anti nonprofits. But at some level, every nonprofit has a financial incentive to continue its problem existing. Janet 41:10 Oh, yes. Right. Exactly. Yeah. So you'd be like, "Oh, God, we've got our kudzu. What are we gonna do?" Margaret 41:15 Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's a good problem for us to run into, right? Janet 41:22 Yeah, definitely. Margaret 41:23 And then, like, I was thinking about one of the other places I've been with the most, like intense invasive things, I think of like, the Himalayan blackberries in the Pacific Northwest, that will just like, take over every field. And, and in some ways, I'm like, "Oh, yeah, great, you know, blackberries." And then I'm like, "Oh, I think if you're just picking the berries, you're actually just propagating." Janet 41:42 Totally, Margaret 41:43 We would need to instead like have the commercial product, 'heart of BlackBerry root' or something, you know? Janet 41:50 It would need to be the root. Probably, yeah. Which is just so wild. If you've ever removed a lot of that stuff, it's so intense. Margaret 41:58 Yeah, I used to do landscaping. And that was, most of what we did is remove Blackberry, BlackBerry root balls or whatever. It's been a long time. Janet 42:08 I think also, since you brought the Northwest up again, I just wanted to say that like part of what I would want to just share here, since we're giving different specific examples is that really, it just matters like place to place even weedy and abundant plants in some places can be a problem if you're harvesting them other places. Like here, stinging nettle is like pretty aggressive. It's abundant. There's a lot of places where you can harvest a huge amount and make barely a dent in the stinging nettle patch. But, I know that there are places in the Northwest where there's actually been a problem. And there are certain butterflies who exclusively lay their eggs, that have caterpillars that feed on nettles, which I don't remember what kind of butterfly this is, and so those butterflies have become endangered because of the foraging craze around Portland specifically, because it's a very small area that they inhabit. So, while I could be like "Nettles, great, just take the top third of the plant. It's a huge patch, it won't matter." Like that doesn't translate to everywhere across the continent, right? So part of what we have to do if we're going to be foraging much for food or medicine is to actually know what are the conditions for the plant where we live? And not just have...I can't give a list of what's safe to harvest everywhere. That's why invasives can feel a little safer. Because generally, if you know something invasive, then you already know that it would be helpful to right take some of them out, but other plants not so much. You know. Margaret 43:41 That's actually one of the things that's really interesting. I think there's a lot of topics that we talked about on the show where you kind of can't learn from this show. You kind of can't learn from this like: "Oh, I follow a forger on Instagram. therefore know all this stuff." I mean, like, I'm sure you can learn a ton of stuff that way. I'm not trying to disparage that, or my own show. But it sounds like local knowledge will always be necessary in a lot of different fields that are the kinds of fields that we like, we as a species need to like learn or we as a culture or whatever, like need to learn in order to survive what's coming anyway are a lot of these skills where we're actually interacting with the places we're at in terms of you know, whether it's like making microclimates that the temperature doesn't change as much or being able to continue to eat food on a regular basis or whatever. as we as we move more local, a lot of the knowledge has to move local. That's really interesting to me. Janet 44:35 Yeah, that's definitely true. And I would also say that it's something that like you have to kind of pay attention to over time, because we have local knowledge as of now, but the climate is shifting so quickly. And a lot of people I know are in zones that have changed already in the past five years. And so, we also need to be paying attention to like who amongst the plants is impacted by this shift to warmer and erratic weather, and who is thriving like that, you know, and so it's also just paying attention to those changes. And and that's something that it really just helps to be an observer over time or to speak to people who've been around for quite a while. And within that, I think it's probably important for us to think of the concept of the shifting baseline from ecology. Which, the shifting baseline means that like...Okay, so my example would be like, when my dad was a kid, my dad's 87. When my dad was a kid, there were so many more kinds of birds, there were so many more animals of all kinds all around like wild animals. There are a lot more specific kinds of like big birds that eat big insects, like Whippoorwills, there are more Bobwhites, there were all these....there were more birds that have now you know, I think the estimation is that there's maybe some people say 30%, some say 50%, less birds than there were 50 years ago. Margaret 45:59 That is so depressing. Janet 46:00 It's incredibly depressing. But when I was growing up, I would not know that if I hadn't read that, or hadn't talked to my dad about how many birds there were, or how many fish there were, or whatever, because I would think like this is how many how much of x there is, you know. And so when you grow up with less, you think less is normal. And we have generation after generation growing up with less and less and less. We have lost an incredible amount of biomass globally. And we don't always know that. So, what I can say like locally living somewhere where there's been like, I don't even know how many herbs schools over the past two decades, there have been so many herbs, schools, and so many foraging schools and places where people....and it just draws and attracts people who are interested in doing that kind of stuff. But also, if you're not already, you will probably will be if you stay here for long enough, I guess. Anyway, the impact on wild plant communities where plant walks happen often, where herbs schools take their students often has been very notable. And it's because, you know, we have like, there's just like, year after a year of alumni, of cohorts of students, of different people who have moved here who have gone and taken classes, and those people continue to visit those spots. Sometimes even if teachers have asked them not to. And they bring their friends, you know, and there's this whole, exponentially more people harvesting plants of certain kinds, there's certain ones that are specifically more exciting than others, probably. And so, just in seeing what's happened since I moved here with some of the more accessible spots with specific plant communities, I'm thinking of pedicularis specifically right now, which Wood Betony is another name for that herb, that's a plant that's very cool and easy to identify, but also has like sort of a relaxing, muscle relaxing feel to it. So people really like it cause it has a little bit like, body relax, feel. And so those patches have just been decimated. And when I see that I'm like, you know, a lot of herb schools, at least in what I was taught traditionally, it was like people would be like, "Go in. And you can have like, you can take about one out of every 10 plants." You know, and that would be like the maxim that we were taught at a certain point, 10%. And, but if everybody comes and takes 10%, what does that even mean? So, that is something that I've seen here specifically is like a cumulative effect of over harvest, over time. And it's increased not just with the people in the field that I'm in, but just with an increase in learning about wild plants and learning what they do. Because people want to take care of their own health or they want to feed themselves, you know, like, I mean, it's not coming from the worst place. It's just that when we're not in relationship and don't know, the baseline of what that patch looked like fifteen years ago, then we don't know that we're in a decimated area, or where we're with plants that are under stress. That's something that you know, from yearly visitation. Margaret 49:07 Okay, and so it seems like then the 'answer,' I hate saying the 'answer,' because I'm sure it's more complicated than anything I could say after that. But like, is this thing that you're talking about, about being in relationship with these plant communities, rather than a quick maxim about like, "Oh, go visit and just it's totally chill to take this stuff," versus like, knowing what's actually happening there and how things are changing. That makes sense. And then as you're saying, with like, a few exceptions, where you're like, "Look, it's fine to take plantain. Fuck it," or whatever. Janet 49:40 Yeah, right. Margaret 49:43 Okay. Yeah, it ties into this thing that I keep thinking back on is like this concept of like, the wild feels infinite, you know? Well, of course, I can't affect the number of...I mean, if you can even look at this, like in a negative sense, right? It's like, :"Oh, I can't affect the number of ticks in my yard." But you actually can. I know the number of ticks in my yard, my yard in particular, feels infinite. How can I possibly have an impact on the number of ticks? And there are ways that I could impact that number of ticks and like, so like, if I had guinea hens or whatever, and they ate a bunch of ticks, you could actually create a notable difference, even though it seems like you're digging from this infinite pool of ticks. This is a very gross metaphor. And so that makes sense that yeah, either these things that feel abundant, and as long as you take 10%, but you're not thinking about how everyone does it. I mean, the whole baseline shift thing, I like...nothing is more depressing to me than thinking about the lack of biodiversity as compared to a hundred, years ago, even. Janet 50:49 It's so wild. Margaret 50:51 Yeah. Which leads me to the sort of conclusion of like, I think I have a difference in opinion than a lot of my friends and a lot of my community, like, I have more of this, like, "Great, we all need to start growing food inside," like, this very, like opposite method of solving it, or rather, specifically, because I think a lot of people are like, "Oh, well, we'll all go forage," right? You know, as this like, "Ah, well, nature will provide for us," and it's kind of like, well, nature did provide for us, and then our culture, our settler culture, like fucked that up real bad. But, I like this thing that you're talking about, about like, one of the main ways to solve that, on a small scale, at least is to grow into community with the place that you're harvesting from, to not be extractive. Janet 51:42 I think that there has to be kind of a mix too. I mean, I agree with you, like, I encourage people to grow their own medicine and to grow their own food as much as they can. But, also, I can say that like as a...I'm a clinician, like, you know, I have a clinical practice with herbs. And once you actually see the volume of plant material it takes to keep even a few people on a formula, or on a tea, it's really wild. Like if I was not using some grown plants with also some weedy plants that I can just harvest, like, I don't know what I would do. And that's just me. Like, if we were all doing what I'm doing, then the amount of plant material would be pretty enormous. I mean, I think about how, you know, in China, it's amazing, they have still pretty intact herbal medicine tradition that's part of their medical system. I mean, it got homogenized after Mao, for sure, and changed, although they're still people who practice pre Maoist Chinese medicine, but they have an enormous amount of land given to a monoculture of growing herbs for that industry. And so, you know, when I have folks be like, "Well, we should just grow our own plants," I'm like, "Well, when we're actually, if you were actually talking about the scale of supporting a lot of people's health, that is a lot of land." And and for feeding, it's going to be even more or land, because the caloric intake we would all require is more than that, that we need with herbs, right? So,how much land are we talking? You know? Margaret 53:15 No, that that makes a lot of sense. One of the things you brought up at the beginning, that you said you wanted to return to and we're coming near the end, you were talking about how like more and more you're seeing maybe students coming to your school, because they're interested in herbalism. And they're interested in forging and wildcrafting out of economic necessity. Basically. Like, you know, I think about, you're talking about, like, your wildcrafted table at the farmers market where everything is like wildly expensive. No pun intended. And, you know, versus like, kind of the whole point of foraging is that it's free. Right? And I wonder if you want to talk more about that, about like...because I do think that there is even if I'm like, obviously there's a million problems with foraging, it does seem like it still could have a way to be useful to help people on an economic level as like food prices go through the roof and wages stagnate or disappear. And all that. Janet 54:11 I do, I do think it has a place. And I will say that like you know, just for the record in case my students are listening to that, there's always a fair number of people who have come in like staunchly anti wildcrafting as well. So there's definitely a pretty good mix. But, I but I've been noticing more and more every year there are more people that are like, "I think this is a survival skill," with the economic downturn that's happening, which is what you're referring to. And so I do think that wild foods that are abundant and weedy can be a really helpful supplement to other food. For sure. I think that actually trying to live off of it is challenging. That's something people will learn. But, you know, it is true that there's some things we get with wild foods that we do not get from the domesticated food that we eat normally and I should just point out that I think that unless people can afford to eat organic foods, especially if it's organic food with restorative agricultural practices, which is not a lot of organic food, we're usually eating food if it comes from the grocery store, and in some cases, even the farmers market that is coming from extremely depleted soil, because the pressures of capitalism, of the market require people just to like, not ever let the land be fallow. They just have to continue to pump the land and extract that food from it in ways even though they're growing the food. And so most of the food that we eat is pretty nutrient deficient, compared to what it would be in a more restorative agricultural system. Now wild food, if it's not in a place that's very polluted, that's a whole other topic that we should probably mention, is going to be growing out of a place that's not just having like a cycling of harvest over and over again. And so they tend to be more nutrient dense. So, if you could pick nettles in a place that doesn't have a lot of toxins in the soil, it's going to, they're going to be nettles, that actually have a lot more mineral content than the greens you get at the grocery store. The same is true for dandelion greens. So, while you might not be able to really like, bulk up your diet with a ton of calories from the wild, although you could, it just honestly takes a lot of time and energy that not everyone has. You will, even by supplementing a little bit with dandelion greens or other wild greens, you are going to actually get more of a nutritional impact. You'll get more minerals. You get this bitter flavor that's been mostly bred out in the domesticated greens and lettuces. There's not bitter any more. Bitterness actually has a purpose, which is that it helps the liver function, it helps with digestion. So, I do think that if people supplemented their diets with some wild food, it would be beneficial in more than just those calories and in more than just the money saved, because we are eating from such a depleted food system. So, this is all to say that as our budgets are being impacted by the level of inflation and how much food cost, which is just going to get worse is what it looks like, it's also just true that we're we're buying food that doesn't have as much nutrition as it should. You know? And so, you're getting more than just like that handful of greens on your salad, you're getting actually like pretty dense nutritional food. Margaret 57:35 That makes sense to me. At the beginning of the pandemic, I basically like lived off of my prepper stash, supplemented by wild greens for like, a month or so, which I wouldn't like immediately recommend anyone has like fun and joyous. But, I was really, really grateful, like none of my calories came from the wild greens, but the sense that I'm actually like taking care of my body came from the wild greens. Janet 57:59 Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And that does change things. You know, I mean, I think that's what I would say, is I'm not sure how much it'll like reduce cost hugely at this point to be adding in a lot of other food, but that improvement in your health is going to be noticeable. Margaret 58:22 Okay, well, we're coming up on an hour. I'm wondering if there's anything in particular that we missed that you wish we had talked about or like? Janet 58:33 Oh, I do have Yeah, I do have one thing to talk about. So, this may also makes sense to you, having lived around here at some point, and it's that I was going to recommend that people read this essay by Robin Wall Kimmerer that's called "The Honorable Harvest" and I can send you a link to that because there's PDFs of that online, but she admits I was....Yeah, I was reviewing it today and she reminded me of something and it's that so, for a while, this is getting to be less the case, but for a while, within different herbs circles and foraging circles that I was adjacent to there was a sort of a nod towards respectful relationships with the plants you might be harvesting and Robin Wall Kimmerer says in her piece, like you know, "Always ask permission from the plant." But, there's something that I was seeing like pretty commonly in settler foragers and herbalist, which would be like just like a really quick like, "Is this okay?" to the plant and then they're like, "They said, "Yes,"" and then they would just go ahead and harvest very quickly, you know, and like, just like I swear, like immediate, like plants they'd never hung out with before like, this happened in front of me, like I mean, you know. And so, I had always been like kind of turned off by the exchange, well it wasn't really an exchange, but like by that whatever gesture, gesture towards pretending to have communication. Which it doesn't mean there's not communication but, there was this really awesome way that Robin Wall Kimmerer talked about it where she's just like, "You have to use both parts of your brain for that conversation. You're not just using the talking and listening, you have to also use the part of your brain that's assessing that circumstances, assessing the health of the plant, attention over time. It's not just about intuition and communication with the plant world. It's also actually about empirical understanding and paying attention," you know. And so to me, and what I've seen in my life is that like, I'm like, I sometimes know, it's not even appropriate to ask. I'm just like, "This standard is not doing okay. I'm not going to harvest plants here right now," you know. And so, the idea that all that we need is like a really brief exchange of like, "Is this cool? Cool. Got it," you know and move in. It's like, that's still very extractive. But, it makes you feel like you did something. Margaret 1:00:52 I mean, there's a really obvious comparison here to like the way that consent culture and sex is like not handled incredibly well. Janet 1:01:00 Sure. Margaret 1:01:00 Yeah, where people are like, "Whatever. I asked," versus like, "I should try and figure out how everyone actually feels." Janet 1:01:07 Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So just to say that, like, it's more than asking, like asking, and listening,. Listening means actually listening over time. It's not an instant gratification listen, you know? Yeah, that's my last note, which would just be like to actually learn to listen and pay attention and observe and not...Unlearning extractive tendencies. And unlearning the entitlement that we all carry, live and breathe in settler colonial capitalism is a lot of work. And it requires patience and time. But also, I will say that if you see someone else behaving in a way that you're not that into, you know, understanding that probably yelling at them is not gonna make them change their mind or behavior very quickly. So, also to have patience with other people who were on different learning edges here with this, you know? Margaret 1:02:05 Yeah, that, that makes a lot of sense. Well, where can people...do you want people to find you? Janet 1:02:16 Yes, I have. So, I have a blog that's called Radical Vitalism with my partner, Dave. And our school is Terra Sylva School, which we run with Jen Stovall. I can put that stuff in, I'll send it to you to put in the show notes. And then we also have a podcast called The Book on Fire. And we're about to start our third season. And we're going to actually talk about the "Dawn of Everything." So, that should relate... Margaret 1:02:41 Oh, I love that book. Janet 1:02:42 Yeah, so good. So good. So, it relates to kind of some of what we're talking about at least. Margaret 1:02:46 Cool. Yeah. Cool. Awesome. All right. Well, thank you so much. And I'm sure have you on again, at some point. Janet 1:02:54 Yeah. Thanks a lot. Margaret 1:02:55 Thank you so much for listening. if you enjoyed this podcast....Well, first of all, if you enjoyed hearing from Janet, I highly recommend that you check out the earlier episode with Janet and Dave about herbalism and herbalism for emergency medical needs and all of that. They have a lot to say. And if you enjoyed this episode, and you enjoy this podcast in general, please consider supporting us by telling people about the podcast and telling the internet about the podcast and telling algorithms about the podcast by rating, and reviewing, and subscribing, and all of that stuff that has a larger impact than one might expect. Much like killing ticks in your yard, you can also support us financially. This podcast pays its audio editor and the transcriptionist. And we're very proud to be able to do that work. And we are supported in that work by the people who support Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness on Patreon, the publisher that publishes us. That's what makes it a publisher. It's called Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness. We have another podcast called Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness that you can check out, that comes out every month and has different fiction, and memoir, and poetry, and essays, and all kinds of fun stuff that comes out once a month. And if you support us on Patreon, you'll get a zine in the mail every month. Well, if you support us at $10 or more on Patreon, you get a zine in the mail every month. And in particular, I would like to thank Aly and Paparouna and Milica, Boise Mutual Aid, Theo, Hunter, Sean, S.J., Paige, Mikki, Nicole, David, Dana, Chelsea, Kat J., Staro. Jenipher, Eleanor, Kirk, Sam, Chris, Michaiah, and Hoss the dog. You all make it possible, make the dream work. You're the team work...anyway, I will talk to you all soon and I hope you're doing as well as you can. Find out more at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co

The guys will travel into a local Indiana legend...Morgan-Monroe State Forest!!!

The Florida Madcaps discuss the various aspects of Seminole State Forest including the hidden springs, events, as well as flora and fauna.Also, there is an announcement of a partnership between the Florida Springs Council and the Florida Madcaps Podcast.Please subscribe! Shares and reviews are much appreciated!Get your FREE sticker from the Florida Springs Council at https://www.floridaspringscouncil.org/madcapsQuestions and comments can be emailed at thefloridamadcaps@gmail.comRyan can be found on Instagram at: the_fl_excursionistChris and Chelsey can be found at https://www.instagram.com/sunshinestateseekers/?hl=en

Jill Rose is the State Forest Pathologist with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Bureau of Forestry since September 2019. Previously she was the Forest Health Programs Manager and State Forest Pathologist for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, Plant Industries Division for 17 years. Jill's studies included an Associate Degree in Wildlife Technology from Penn State University from the DuBois campus and a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Sciences from the University of Idaho. Jill also holds a Master of Science degree in Plant Pathology from Washington State University. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/plantatrilliontrees/support

Today - Sun writer and editor Kevin Simpson shifts our attention away from breaking news to the subject of books. In particular, he's taking a look at an unusual anthology that was the winner of a 2022 Colorado Book Award in that genre.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.