Paul English Live 120425 ,Cowboys, ‘Engines,’ and Order of the Arrow: Rethinking History and Homegrown Resilience

A lively, sometimes chaotic, night in the radio shed that turns into a surprisingly practical masterclass in food freedom and resilience. I open with botched buttons, sizzling steaks, and a spirited debate about pressure cookers with Eric—Hawkins vs. Prestige, aluminum vs. stainless, how to “barely hear a hiss,” and why brisket chili and shredded beef belong on the winter menu. From there we widen the lens: cutting out middlemen, befriending butchers, farm‑to‑table clubs, keyhole gardens, sprouts, biochar/terra preta, foraging nettles and dandelion, and the culture that forms when neighbors feed neighbors. Along the way we tip our caps to the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, the Mongols’ meat-fueled stamina, and the power dynamics of supermarkets, banks, and governments that never seem to fix what they break. In hour two, Frederick Blackburn joins from Blackjack Mountain with Appalachian farm lore, gentrification battles, and how disaster response exposes who actually shows up. We challenge romantic myths about the American West (via Thomas Goodrich’s Scalp Dance), recall film and literature (The Third Man, Graham Greene, Grimm, Bulfinch), and wrestle with speech, history, and sovereignty—always coming back to the actionable: cook it, grow it, can it, and connect. Pleasant peasants, indeed—tough, practical, and hard to herd. 'Hawkins Cookers (pressure cookers, India)': https://www.hawkinscookers.com 'TTK Prestige (pressure cookers, India)': https://www.ttkprestige.com 'Tower Housewares (cookware brand mentioned)': https://www.towerhousewares.co.uk 'Pressure cooking (overview)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_cooking 'Keyhole garden (how it works)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyhole_garden 'Terra preta (biochar‑rich soil)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta 'Biochar (soil amendment)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochar 'Foraging: dandelion as food/tea': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taraxacum#Uses 'Foraging: stinging nettle as a green': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinging_nettle#Culinary_uses 'Myxomatosis in rabbits (UK context)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxomatosis 'Peasants’ Revolt (1381) background': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasants%27_Revolt 'Mongol conquest of China (diet, endurance context)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_conquest_of_China 'Graham Greene — Brighton Rock (novel)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_Rock_(novel) 'The Third Man (1949 film)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Man 'Anton Karas (composer of The Third Man theme)': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Karas 'Thomas Goodrich — Scalp Dance: Indian Warfare on the High Plains, 1865–1879 (book)': https://www.amazon.com/dp/0806133216 'Thomas Goodrich — Hellstorm (book)': https://www.amazon.com/dp/1494775061 'Larken Rose — The Most Dangerous Superstition (book)': https://www.amazon.com/dp/1519575411