The Dirt: Confessions of a Tree Planter

Delia Roberts is the President of Research & Programs at FitSafe Solutions. She is also the brainchild behind fit to plant, a widely used program within the industry. Her protocols and research have contributed to many of the H&S programs implemented as well as the standards. Its likely that if you've started your planting career with a larger company you have probably been directly impacted by some of her own research. We chat about her background and how she came to be involved with treeplanting, as well as some really interesting findings she's had. I asked her some of my burning questions, and a part 2 will definitely be needed!! Enjoy!

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A little bit about this week's guest Nate Federau: Born in BC and raised in Ontario I was always longing till the day I could return to the mountains. I'm a winter fanatic that spent years searching for a seasonal offset to support living and having fun in BC. At 24, I finally found everything in tree planting. As a competitive student athlete, becoming an industrial athlete was a logical transition I didn't see. It's blessed me with extended opportunities to explore the different biomes in BC and find the place I would love to one day call home. But for now I'll continue to live a Van lifestyle year round with my pup Avigale searching for ski lines, Prestine rivers and wild mushrooms. 

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Who is Matthew other than a longtime veteran treeplanter? He is also a Lomi Lomi practitioner. This conversation discusses his planting career to date, as well as his off season venture. He explains his journey to, and what Lomi Lomi is. We chat about that balance between planting and other pursuits, and where things may go in future. A great chat and another wonderful new approach in any and all human journeys. Enjoy!

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This is an episode I have wanted to do for so long!!! I sit down with my good friend Matt Brickenden to talk about his lengthy planting career, his new full time exploration gig, and his journey with money. We discuss the tools and tricks he has personally used over the years to make smart financial decisions with his planting earnings, and where he's at now. We also talk about my own money journey and compare and contrast tools we both use for financial literacy and empowerment. Near the end we also cover traditional investing, cryptocurrency and bullion. 

Disclaimer: We are not financial experts, nor pretend to be. This episode is not financial advice but simply two planters sharing their own experiences with money and treeplanting. We offer up our own personal experiences and opinions, and not any legit financial advice!

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Welcome to Pt.2! We now cover Virgo, Cancer, Aries, Sagittarius, Leo, Gemini and Taurus. 

For more information on mine and Shanese's astrological works and offerings, see the links below!

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Wilde Astrology

This is a much anticipated episode I have wanted to cover for a long time. Big thanks to Shanese Flewelling for dialoguing with me on this!! We cover Shanese's brief planting career and her transition into this world from that of fruit picking. As a fellow astrologer who also reads tarot and plays with fire, we get into the results of the poll for which signs are most likely to be a tree planter and why. We get into the depths of each zodiac sign, and how each of them apply to the planting world. A truly incredible conversation with lots of interesting insights. 

In this episode we cover the 5 least likely zodiac signs as planters: Scorpio, Capricorn, Libra, Aquarius, and Pisces. Due to the nature of the interview and covering Shanese's planting career, I have included the top 7 signs in Pt.2 to keep the episodes around the same length. 

For access to mine and Shanese's astrological work, see the links below! Stay tuned for Pt. 2!

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Wilde Astrology

After the official Canadian screening of the documentary Forest For The Trees by my last guest Rita Leistner, I bring you a planter from the film: Steph Sinclair. We chat all about Steph's early start into planting and how most of her career was more unusual than most, with it being while filming a documentary and then the changing season of 2020. We chat about what it was like to be involved in this film, and how it has opened her eyes into her own budding career in the film industry. 

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Rita Leistner is an award-winning visual artist, photographer, and documentary filmmaker. She is known for her intrepid work in conflict zones and her in-depth portraits of communities in extreme conditions — such as soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, women wrestlers in the United States, and loggers in Canada — exploring themes of purpose, struggle, and belonging. Each unique world shapes her conceptual approaches and aesthetic styles, resulting in distinctive, large bodies of multi-media work that merge art and documentary. In addition to a film, Forest for the Trees is also a photo book and a collection of large-scale fine-art photographs, several of which were acquired in 2021 by the National Gallery of Canada for their permanent collection.

In this interview we chat about Rita's 10 year planting career, and what things were like back in the 80s and early 90s. We chat about her transition out of planting and how it has ultimately shaped the rest of her life and the photography work she does now. We get into how this project came about, as well as the lengthy filming process. This is a great interview for a ton of background into this film before you get to watch it next week!

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Welcome to Season 3!!! The Dirt is celebrating TWO years of podcasting. Crazy to think of where I was when I started this project, and how many amazing individuals I have had the pleasure of interviewing. 

Very appropriately, this is a special interview with a special human. Matty Brown spent the first half of adulthood living and breathing treeplanting. He is a treeplanter through and through, who loves the job, the culture, the camps, all of it. However life happens, and he made the tough decision to leave treeplanting as he knew it around the time we met. I have witnessed his process of being a treeplanter who cannot treeplant anymore. As someone who also loves the job, and perhaps for anyone else who has had similar situations, this is a potent listen. This conversation is centered around planting, why it is so beautiful, how it transforms lives, and how we can still be treeplanters even if life doesn't let us plant trees. For anyone who is currently at a crossroads, this is for you. 

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We're back! This was a conversation I had in the spring with Santi, whom I met on a contract last fall as he was putting the finishing touches on his documentary. We chat about the making of it and his journey through school. For Santi, planting runs in the family and we talk about his journey into this world, and his progression through the management ranks. Entering his first season as a supervisor, we chat about his feelings towards it as he begins his first contract in the coming weeks. A great conversation with a great human, and a good listen for anyone who is interested in moving up the management ranks.

Mark Oxer is a Chartered Professional Coach (ChPC) and a member of the Canadian Sport Psychology Association who received his Master's degree in Strength and Conditioning from the University of Central Lancashire where he graduated with Distinction. Mark began planting in 1998 and retired in 2011, encompassing his career over multiple provinces in Canada. Uniquely to me anyways, he spent his entire career partner planting, and surpassing his millionth tree in 2005. This is an incredible conversation where we get into the psychological aspects of planting and how it builds so much of our character and human experience. There is so much depth to this conversation it’s hard to encompass in a description, so I highly encourage a listen!

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Mike planted 8 seasons from 2007-2015. Over his career he planted a million trees, worked for 12 companies, and also planted in Scotland. He attended the Western Silviculture Association conference three times, once as a speaker on a panel about worker retention with Scooter. Mike executed a successful exit game and is now gainfully employed and living the stable life that doesn't involve suffering on the block! We talk about why Mike decided to leave planting, what he misses, how he went about doing it. This is the lo down episode for those who are trying to take the plunge this year, want to take the plunge, considering taking the plunge....a good reminder that there is life outside of treeplanting and that you CAN thrive financially and otherwise doing so. 

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Josy is a yoga teacher in St. John’s, Newfoundland and she is entering her third planting season. She fell in love with yoga in 2012 after taking her first yoga class in the hopes it would help her process the loss of her father. This one class was a powerful experience and she now maintains a deep respect for all the benefits that come with a regular practice. Since then, she has completed 500 hours of yoga teacher training. She took on her first yoga teacher training in 2016, completing her 200 hour YTT in Toronto, Ontario. Eager to learn more, she soon after completed a 300 hour advanced yoga teacher training in Vinyasa flow in Goa, India. In the summer of 2017, Josy moved to Newfoundland where she is currently studying Psychology off season, and planting trees in BC in the spring/summer. When she is not planting trees, practicing asana, and meditating, she is making music, art, writing poetry, or basking among trees in a forest.

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Zach Birnie is your average EI ski team member, with a flair for making his own clothes...and hopefully yours! We talk about Zach's planting career thus far, and how he tries to live his life as eco-friendly and conscious as possible; which is ever evolving. We talk about where sewing began for Zach and how it evolved into making not only regular apparel, but also gear for the block. He uses bamboo material to be more friendly to not only the environment but our bodies. I am personally rocking some of his shirts and they are super soft, quick drying and light...really really nice for hot or cool days on the block. I highly recommend putting in a little extra investment to support local and ethically sourced clothing this season! 

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Kerri Dunsmore is an athletic therapist who specializes in the prevention, assessment, treatment and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal injuries. What is an athletic therapist exactly you ask? Tune into this episode for the full rundown, which is something I didn't even know. The kicker and her secret weapon is that Kerri is also a planter! She spent 9 seasons in the bush, and in my opinion is therefore one of the most qualified people to be treating our bodies. She is innately aware of and in tune with how and what our bodies get exposed to planting, and how to treat these injuries and issues. We get into her own career and her transition out of planting, and then dive deep into her new 12week pre season conditioning program (you can join at anytime FYI!). I address some issues I have heard from friends of mine, as well as my own issues. I also ask some deep dive questions about off season prevention and preparation, from those who work out continually to those of us who do long seasons and need more rest time. This is a very informative and important episode, so share widely! Kerri is very talented at what she does, and I would encourage anyone with any issues to use the links below to work with her. 

You can still join into her 12week course anytime so just send her a DM or an email!

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Dani Kidston decided to find her place in the planting world by creating it. We go into her lengthy career thus far in the industry and what she's been creating with her fellow cohorts. This episode was recorded last winter, and so they now have new projects and ventures on the go which you can follow up with on their facebook page and also TWIG (Tree Workers Industrial Group), which includes coop members creating projects within the planting world. If you have listened to the earlier episode about Ben Prunty, you can hear more about some of the help she has received in making this planting cooperative a reality, and how it continues to grow today. If you are interested in a different style of operation within planting, this is a great spot to start!

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Welcome to SEASON TWO of The Dirt!!!

A critical review of the One Million Trees documentary published by a planting company sparked this conversation. It ensued a private discussion that has become one I believes need to be public. As planters we often feel we are "trapped in the system". Except we aren't. We have seen more than ever in 2020 how when people stand up, more people will. And as more people do, as a group, change can be created. So many of the ideas brought up in this conversation have been perpetuated by so many of us, so many of us too afraid to stand up and make a change, because it makes our inner world uncomfortable. It makes job security more difficult, it may alienate us from our friends and community we feel we trust in. I am complicit in this, and I choose to be complicit no more. No more censoring, no more pretending its fine. We can only create all this change together, and I believe it is more in the hands and responsibilities of planters than management. I am not discounting their roles, and I do believe the fact this critical review of practices in planting showcased in this documentary directly by a company shows that their is denial, shame, and trauma on ALL fronts. 

This is a conversation I want to continue here and beyond. Lets be better. Lets get uncomfortable so we can ultimately transcend from places of fear to a place of love. Love for each other, our community, our job, our Earth. 

Stay tuned for more information about this potential fundraising campaign this season. If you are interested in being a part of this, shoot myself or Everett a message! Thank you all for listening and thinking and share around. Discuss. Be open. Love. 

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Canada VPN: Hola

Today is a day we’re supposed to, as part of a marketing campaign ultimately aimed at making money for their own personal interest, talk about a still taboo subject that cracks upon the depths of a soul. Mental illness. That word feels so far away from me now, though it was only 4 years ago, to the day, that I was newly engaged. One might compare my symptoms to hysteria or a manic high, otherwise known in my case as a mentally healthy human as pure, naive, fairytale-like love. Little did I know how my life would unravel in the coming months. My denial of reality, but mostly my lack of education around mental illness was the true culprit to the downward spiral I experienced. I witnessed first hand what untreated and poorly treated mental illness not only does to a person, but to everyone around them. To their home, to their environment, to their systems, to their world. My experience is but one of millions people experience everyday. Every single day I know there are women and men out there going through a similar experience I did. Every single day people lose the battle to mental illness. Every single day people are berated from friends, family and loves ones who are uneducated and underprepared on how to support them. Every. Single. Day. If there is but one thing I ask every one of you today, it is to educate yourself. For those who suffer, educate yourself on how you can let others know what you need. Formulate a plan with your support team so they can see the signs and symptoms of when you are not okay and what they need to do to truly help you. For those who don’t suffer, educate! Educate yourselves on how to hold space and support those in your life who struggle. Educate so you can have awareness for others and for yourself. Take charge of your part in a future where this is no longer taboo, where we don’t have to have a special day, week or month dedicated to this to attempt to raise more awareness. Contribute to a future where everyone is aware, educated, and supportive. The only way out is through, together. 

I felt called to do this episode, in an effort of transparency and vulnerability on my part. I have an intimate relationship with mental health, that did not start within. I am now a firm advocate of mental wellness all around, whether you struggle with unresolved trauma or not. 2020 saw many people, some I know, transition out of this world. Now more than ever the transparency is needed to cultivate supportive environments for all of us and whatever we are moving through. I wanted to be able to connect with all of us who have suffered on and off the block, and to hopefully inspire all of us to ask for a little more help now and again. My poetry book is the child of all my grief, channeled into my worded experiences. I put it out to all of you so these words can reach you, and find your own experiences within them.  

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Welcome to 2021! Kicking off this year with an interview with my good buddy Connor, who I have watched go through and come out the other side of a back injury. I wanted to share our conversation around his story and the tools he used to get to where he is now, because I have known so many people over the years who had retired solely because of injury. If you're currently debating whether you can go back this year, perhaps this episode can help you out! Back injuries are a very common issue for planters because #duh, we bend over a lot. 

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Danielle Adams is an artist and illustrator based on the BC coast, a landscape that inspires much of her work. One of the unique parts of Danielle is that she does NOT use planting as inspiration or fuel for her art, but rather a break from it. 

Planting trees allowed her to fund her way through a Bachelors of Design without having to sacrifice her soul at the altar of Minimum Wage Jobs. She is now pursuing painting full time over the offseason and fully expects to be broke by May.

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Trigger warning: sexual harassment, assault & rape. 

Womxn in Silviculture is dedicated to gender inclusivity, equality, and worker's rights within the silviculture industry. A safe space to discuss all things fxmme and trees. I interview Mirina van der Veen, one of the creators of this sacred space. We cover Mirina's own planting career, and her current status as she looks to move further into silviculture. She has planted in Australia as well and we talk a little about her experiences down under compared to her time here in Canada. We talk about her passion around these issues and how she plans to give back and keep moving these rights forward as she transitions out of planting eventually.  

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These are obviously my own perceptions, thoughts and feelings about coastal planting. I try to answer the most common questions I see people asking online, or to me about the coast. How to know if its for you, how to get in, what kind of experience you need, and much more. This is a let it flow episode so I just sorta let myself speak to what feels appropriate. I also answer any questions from your feedback!