Sam Thayer Price is one of the most inspirational people I know. His words are so deep, as if his roots have grown to the absolute core of the earth and pulled out all that essential, meaningful goodness and wisdom that we need at this time. Sam’s recently published book The Forager’s Harvest is THE BEST book I have on wild foods.

Click here to listen to an interview of Sam by Mark Helpsmeet, on Northern Spirit Radio (click on the microphone symbol half way down the page). Here’s a taste of the interview.

Mark: My understanding is that agriculture evolved because it gave us more control. It meant we could increase the food supply, it meant that we could prevent the seasons of famines and abundance, both of which enriched and dessimated humanity throughout the ages. Why would we want to go back to that which leads to such vulnerability on the part of our race?

Sam: One of the misconceptions in that statement, which is very prevalent in our society, is that cultivating plants/agriculture made our food sources more stable and more reliable. The archeological evidence and ethnographical evidence is pretty emphatic that the opposite was the case; that as subsistence cultures around the world moved from hunting and gathering economies to an agricultural economy, they had less stability, they were more poorly nourished, people’s overall body size became smaller….society tends to rely on a very small number of foods, maybe 6 or 7 plant foods comprising most of their diet, whereas those people who were living off wild food would have a larger number of foods that would compose their diet, so they could spread their risk out over a larger number of plant species.

Turn it on while you’re cooking dinner, cleaning the house, putting the kids to bed….just turn it on and hear the clarity in Sam’s words.