Keeping Kith with Pine Trees

Another windy recording! If you’ve been following along, you know wind noise has been the ongoing challenge of making these field recordings. And yes, there are a lot of windy days here on the short grass prairie, but the 100% overlap between recording days and windy days is starting to seem like more than a coincidence. So I gave the wind a chance to have its say…which also meant capturing one of my favorite sounds: the wind moving through the long needles of a Ponderosa Pine, a tree both beautiful and resilient. In other new news: Toward the end of the episode, I introduce the next iteration of “Keeping Kith,” which will be a more formalized version of this podcast. I am working on it now. The five-episode arc investigating how faith and spirituality can inform our relationships to land will come out in June as part of the storytelling endeavors of the Rural Faith Initiative. My first interview this week brought a new favorite question to combat the anxiety and despair many of us feel when we think about our rapidly changing world: What are the eco-wonders where you keep kith? What and where do you find joy when you get to spend time outside with your human and more-than-human neighbors?Also, maybe you know someone who works in agriculture or land stewardship, whom you think I should interview? I’d love to hear suggestions! Get full access to Our Little Pasture at elizablue.substack.com/subscribe