The Elf of Plants

Send us Fan MailThis week Vanessa from ‘The Mindful Narrowboat’ vlog got me thinking and so this week we begin to explore how our knowledge and (perhaps) attitudes to fungi are changing and leading us back to older ways of thinking about the environment and our place within it.Journal entry:“21st October, ThursdayA Hunter’s Moon swinging high Across a highwayman’s sky Of racing clouds.The streets of Birmingham run wet With the glittering jewels of Brake lights and shop front signs. Later,  A gull soars through the  Thermal canyons and valleys Under a sky of cut sapphire. Later still, The Plough silently revolves over the boat Needle sharp shards of light At the moment, tilting north. ”   Episode InformationIn this episode I read the following poems: Emily Dickinson’s ‘The Mushroom is the elf of plants’ Sylvia Plath’s ‘Mushrooms’ ,You can hear Sylvia Plath’s own reading of her poem here: Sylvia Plath reads ‘Mushrooms.’                    I also read excerpts from:John Clare’s (1827) from ‘October’ in The Shepherd’s CalendarWendell Berry’s (2017) The World-Ending Fire: Essential Wendell Berry published by Catapult. Robin Wall Kimmerer (2020) Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants published by Penguin.  It is also published in the shorter volume:  The Democracy of Species also published by Penguin as part of their ‘Green Ideas’ series.  I also refer to the works of:Suzanne Simard (2021) Finding the Mother Tree: Uncovering the wisdom and intelligence of the forest. published by Penguin. Vanessa’s ‘Mindful Narrowboat’ vlog can be viewed here: The Mindful Narrowboat. Her Twitter account can be found at: @TheMindfulNBGeneral DetailsIn the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org. Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence. Piano interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.All other audio recorded on site. ContactFor pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoswPodI would love to hear from you. You can UexY8PFQp98iaZsl4tfOSupport the showBecome a 'Lock-Wheeler'Would you like to support this podcast by becoming a 'lock-wheeler' for Nighttime on Still Waters? Find out more: 'Lock-wheeling' for Nighttime on Still Waters.ContactFacebook at https://www.facebook.com/noswpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nighttimeonstillwaters/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/noswpod.bsky.socialMastodon: https://mastodon.world/@nosw  I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon. For more information about Nighttime on Still WatersYou can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.