Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to the Outdoorsy Educator Podcast, where stories become lessons and every journey has something to teach us. Every week I sit down with people from all walks of life to hear their adventures, explore their experiences, and uncover the insights that have shaped them along the way.
Speaker: Whether it's from the outdoors, the classroom, or any other path, each conversation offers a fresh perspective on learning, growth, and what it means to truly connect with the world and the people around us.
Speaker: And on this week's episode of the Outdoorsy Educator podcast, we have Melanie Sawyer. Many of you will know Melanie from season 10 of Alone, where she spent an incredible 43 days surviving the Canadian Arctic. But there's so much more to her story. from growing up in the English countryside and working as a model to eventually building an off-grid life in the Adirondacks. Melanie is a wilderness educator, forager, historian and somebody who has spent her life continuing to reinvent who she is.
Speaker: Melanie why don't you tell our audience a little bit about yourself? Hello. Well, okay. My name is Melanie Sawyer. I live in the Adirondack State Park. And if you don't know what it is, it's a park in the north of New York and it's bigger than like five or six different parks all put together. It's one of the biggest parks there is in America. I live off grid.
Speaker: I teach traditional skills. I encourage women and girls. I love food prone to a bacon. Love cheese and basically just love getting out in the wild and having a damn good time. It's all good. I love everything about it. I'm a carpeting kind girl.
Speaker: I love it. Well, this wasn't on my list of things to ask you, but bacon, that's a controversial topic when you're a Brit living in the States. Oh, oh yes, because it's different, right? I know. I've had to get used to I'm here 30 years, so I've got used to it now.
Speaker: Occasionally, i'll I'll splash out and buy the real stuff, but so yeah, it's different. Yeah, it's a hot topic. Friendships are lost over over such things. I've got so much to ask you and talk about, but I thought, why not start back at the beginning? What was young Melanie like? Were you always drawn to nature or is the outdoor something? Okay. tell Tell me about your upbringing. Oh yeah. Absolutely. absolutely um Definitely out drawn to nature. um Like one of my earliest memories is foraging hazelnuts on the way to school. I mean, it's just something I'm absolutely fascinated about. So yeah, totally in my so in my being.
Speaker: and And I think you can you can definitely learn how to do it, but if it's inside of you, you just can't stop. Like, I'm walking, i'm I'm foraging all the time. it's Or I'm looking for Tinder for my traditional fire skills. um That's who I am, what I've been. And I finally found a place now where it's acceptable. So I'm not weird anymore. It's good. I love everything about it. Your life took you from a it took you a very different direction, I think it's fair to say, from being in the wilderness. I'd love to hear a little bit of more. I mean, I know a bit of the story. What do you tell listeners about it? I think what you're alluding to is the fact that I i amassed a huge debt going to Bournemouth and Paul College of Art and Design, learning about film and TV and realised that if I got in front of a camera, I could earn off that debt by modelling. So I was assigned to an agency Um, and, uh, I was very, very lucky in the fact that I understood it was work and I focused on earning money, got myself some property, traveled a lot, you know, worked hard. I really did. Um, and, uh, it was an incredibly glamorous life in the eighties. We got to go to all sorts of amazing countries and, travel in very expensive ways, not so much these days.
Speaker: So yeah, I had an amazing life, but it wasn't as fulfilling as what I'm doing now. And and I'm very happy I made the switch. I love it. Now, I think it'd be remiss of me not to ask you, where was the most incredible, beautiful, your favorite place you traveled to before you settled where you are now?
Speaker: Oof. i You know what? Honestly, it's not a hot place. It's a cold place. I love Iceland. Iceland for me is an incredible country. And I'm actually planning in the back burner to go visit there and go and do some traditional skills out.
Speaker: out there because there's so many locations I know from working um that you know from from modeling I mean it's just a gorgeous country and I've got English I've got Anglo-Saxon and I've got Danish in me too there was ah a big party somewhere way way back and I'm this wonderful mix of of Viking and and and Saxon so like I gotta go visit my my Viking part of my roots in Iceland that's what I gotta do I'm right there with you. Give me the cold over the heat any day. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. 100%. been 107 degrees Fahrenheit. It's about 43 Celsius no over this last week. And it's brutal. Absolutely brutal.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, if The Alone Show had sent us to, like, the desert, I probably wouldn't have taken the ah the the offer up. The fact that it was sending me to the Arctic was like, yes! Yes! This is my place. This is my home. I know this. You know, I've lived in Lincoln in England. It's like it's pretty much the Arctic. it's Right. It's pretty cold. Oh, yeah. I've watched you some of these related shows where they send people to to the jungle, to Africa somewhere. And I i just I couldn't imagine. Africa's cool. I've. I've been to Africa, but jungle, I mean, i'm I'm game. I'm totally game. There's all sorts of foods there, but it wouldn't be half as much much fun as as where I went. I mean, Naked and Afraid actually asked me before, a Alone did, to ah to for the show, and I turned it down because I don't want my ass on TV. But like but yeah, that would have been a hot location, which was another reason why I turned it down. was like, nah, I'm good. I have a friend who did Naked and Afraid. Her episode came out just a few months ago and I haven't had a chance to ask her about the experience. but Was it hot? it Was her location hot?
Speaker: Yes, it was. Yeah. yeah Nope, couldn't do it. no It's not that I couldn't do it. I could do it. But like Mosquitoes and me have this wonderful partnership and, you know,
Speaker: ah I'm good. i don't want to put myself through that. Yeah, no, there's just no need for it. I i was curious, there's these be this different there's different Melanie Sawyers, almost. I mean, you're all the one person, but the fashion, the high-end modeling, and now living where you are now. I'm curious what each version of your life has really taught you and what overlap there may or may not be.
Speaker: um I think my child, well, let's take even a step backwards from there. um I was very accident prone when I was before I was modeling and I had a a scar. I still do have a big scar in between my eyebrows. And that taught me humility and how to let go of ego.
Speaker: And then modeling, because even though I had the scar, um I'm still just under six foot and was skinny as all hell at that point. I'm wonderful now. Don't worry. But it's still the off um but yeah, the modeling taught me business sense. The modeling taught me that I can earn money. And if I if I do things correctly, then I i can have a you know a good pension, a nest egg. I can buy property. um So the modeling is great. And then what I'm doing now is, is basically setting myself free and using everything that I have to help others and just expanding my brain at the same time. You know, I am an immensely curious person and ah nature has so much that it can teach you. It's like, if I learn something new every single day, then I'm a happy woman, you know, like it's a plant or it's a skill or it's a, a way of doing something. um The traditional skills fascinate the hell out of me. And so, yeah, I'm learning now I'm learning and and then I'm teaching. Although I love to say guiding, not teaching. I like to guide people quite often. I won't give them the answer. I'll give them ways to go find the answer because we all learn in different ways. And I, I think that there's, there's not always one way to learn. And I like the people to go find it themselves, find answers themselves.
Speaker: As somebody who spent their their entire career in public education, you are speaking my language. Sure. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Diversifying the way we teach things, trying to draw people along on a path and take them on a journey. Yeah. Absolutely. absolutely The metaphors are abundant when it comes to. Oh, absolutely. Some of us are visual. Some of us have memories. You know, some of us don't have memories. Some of us make lists.
Speaker: I have lists. Yes. Yes. I am right there with you. This is it. is I find I get a lot more done when I have a list. oh my God. The joy of crossing off my little boxes is wonderful. I feel so like I've achieved stuff at the end of the day with all my little black boxes. yes I like, but it works for me. Kate, my wife, one of her favorite things to is indeed have the list and then put make a list on the list so she can check it off. And then it gives her that little booster. Oh, yes, that's a good one. ah I'll add that. Kate, I'm going to add that to mine.
Speaker: Do it. Do it. Make a list. I love it. Okay, will. All right. Well, we we we need to talk about, there's so many things to talk to you about, but alone. away, sunshine. What is the journey? How did they they reach out to you, to you ending up literally alone in the Arctic? Sure. Could you talk walk us through this?
Speaker: Yeah, that's that's a really good question. And it wasn't something I was actively looking for, but um I was definitely... um using Instagram as a way of exploring all the things I was fascinated with. So I started making videos about doing bow drill or fire, you know, ferro rod or flint and steel or solo camping. And I was using Instagram to kind of ah bounce ideas off and also just show myself that I was capable of of doing it. You know, it was like my my invisible friend kind of thing. You know, I post these things and... um
Speaker: the the casting agents found me um like ah three years before I finally accepted and said, are you interested? And I was like, no, I'm a mom of two younger sons. And you know that I'm not in a place in momdom that I can accept. And then when they went and found me, it came back and and like revisited that question with me.
Speaker: um i I took a long look and I was like, Yeah, let's go for it. and And there were two reasons why I said yes. And the first one was, was at that time, i was already living up here and um I had opened up a living history school where myself and a group of historical reenactors of the 1700s were teaching. We were going out to schools. We were doing historical reenactments. We still do. But Alon emailed the school and asked if any of the guys were
Speaker: were interested in being on alone. Wow. right And I was like, I don't know how much I can swear on this podcast. Swear away, swear away. yeah so I asked the guys, you know, cause like I was doing all the the admin for it. I asked the guys I was like, are you interested? And bearing in mind, these guys are each and every one of them are mega, mega like qualified to, to be doing the show, you know, incredible skills and um you know,
Speaker: Because traditional skills are a huge part of of surviving, you know, because basically when you're alone, that's what you're doing is you're going back into square one. And they all said no, ah including my partner, Brian, who is from the 101st Airborne. I mean, this dude is like a kick-ass jumping out of airplanes with things strapped between his legs, parachuting. you know, was in all the big wars that you can think of. And he even he said no. And so I was like, you know what, I emailed them back. And I was like, well, I spoke to the guys and they said no, but I'm interested. And they were like, really? And I was like, yeah. And there was like a when you when you apply, um they they ask you to make a ah video film of of all the things that you can do. so
Speaker: I am very lucky to live on a big parcel of land up here in the Dax. And I trod myself up to the very top of the mountain and built a huge 15 foot shelter, which I basically um took that as my so my structure for what I was doing out in the Arctic. But yeah, I i built myself a shelter. i made fire. i was doing trapping, ah foraging, all of the things that you you need to be on the show. And I sent it in.
Speaker: And Brian was saying, you're going to, they're going ask you. And I was like, no, they're not, they're not, they're not, because I'm not, you know, I'm not a dude. And then they did. were like, okay, so you made it to like the top 50.
Speaker: And then we all get put, because it was COVID, you you all get put on like a Zoom call like this with like 49 other faces right looking looking at you back. And there's like these big... like really tough guys and and they were and and there were some women too um and uh we all basically got whittled down to 24 i think and then 10 or 12 i think i can't remember what it was but yeah i i just kept on going getting through to the next round and um i was pretty i was pretty gobsmacked as we say in england because
Speaker: um you know, that the quality, the caliber of people who apply is absolutely amazing. And and here I am as a historical forager of the 1600s, 1600s and 1700s, you know, with my skills um up against these massive like hunters and, you know, like big people who've been out and done all sorts of stuff. So I, you know, it was a wonderful thing. And um I endeavored to grasp that opportunity and I make the most of it. So that's exactly what I did. And also I wanted to prove my my skills to myself too.
Speaker: Really, really important to me to show that I was capable when put in a ah situation where there's no second chances. uh so yeah and i did i have fun i kicked ass you did indeed we were cheering you on as we were watching you how long between finding out you were going to be on and until the drop Like just roughly, I'm just curious as to the timeframe. I think weeks, I cannot remember. It's a bit of a blur to be honest. Right.
Speaker: Weeks. um And also um i almost didn't make it through to Canada as well because um I'd packed all my kit. We used to like, you know, and extra kit too, because I still wasn't sure about my 10 items. I, you know, I had axes and knives and saws and all that stuff. And I packed it in my, in my baggage. And then when you go through the Canadian customs, you as with any customs, they're really serious about what but you know what you've got in your bags. So for me, I just see those things as tools. I don't see them as weapons. right And on the piece of paper, for it says, you know do you have any weapons? And I'm like, no, I don't have any weapons. And then this woman um who was at the customs was just like, so what you got in there? And I was like, well, you know I've got my ax and my knife and my bow. And she's like, wait, wait, wait, what what are you talking about? And we like, We had a letter from um the the the ITV show Left Wing Productions. We had a letter saying this is where they're going and this is what they're doing. So I produced that and she disappeared off. But then they took, they were like, come with me. back room And I sat there for a couple of hours whilst they like verified everything and made sure I wasn't some like crazy, I don't know terrorist or something about to go wreak havoc with Canadian populous. And then they finally let me through. So yeah, it was, it was all fun and good and awesome. All part of the adventure that you didn't plan on. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. So, I mean, it's just, I watch the show and and I'm always wrestling with the idea as I'm sitting on my couch, eating a bowl of popcorn, thinking I could do that. But wondering, what's the difference in your experience between solitude and loneliness? Because I imagine that might be something that you kind of wrestle with when you are physically alone.
Speaker: I think a lot of people do wrestle with that exact phrase that you have just said. Me personally, um I was always a bit of a loner growing up.
Speaker: um And then with modeling, you're pretty much, you know, you're always by yourself. You do your shoot, but then you get back on a plane and you go back back home, you change your your kit out, you know, your bag out, your clothes out, and then you get back on another plane. So I've spent a lot of my life um being alone. And then,
Speaker: I actually embrace being alone. You know, i am not like a big group. group party kind of person. I wish I was, you know, I look at these people who are able to make conversation with a million people and have a good time. And like in that situation, you'll find me like going back to the kitchen and doing the dishes because I'm just like, I cannot handle it. um So, yeah, I didn't really find being alone a problem per se.
Speaker: the the The thing I eventually found was really grating on me was the fact that, you know, I'd been out there for a 43 days and I definitely proved that I was capable ah of surviving. You know, i hadn't even ah launched into my pemmican yet. You know, I'd been foraging and fishing and doing other things so successfully, but I realized in some respects that it is a television show. It is a game. And, you know, the snows were were definitely where I was and that meant they were up on the mountain where I live now. And, you know, but
Speaker: My responsibility is not to be a big television star. It's to to my partnership, to my my real life. You know, it's it's wonderful to be in the Arctic, to have that opportunity. But, um you know, my responsibility and my real life is up a mountain living off grid, you know, where we have to use the tractor to plow out the the. driveway to get to the house or we're snowshoeing it up to home.
Speaker: And, you know, we have livestock, so snowshoeing feed to livestock is is no mean feat. And I just started feeling really guilty about the fact that I was like literally having a great time in the Arctic when I should be home ah taking my responsibilities and and, you know, helping to support the homestead. And, you know, it was great, but it's more fun to share it with someone too. Like if Brian had turned up, if they popped up Brian and say, you know, have, spend a week here and you're,
Speaker: six months here in the Arctic, I'd be like, yeah, will definitely stay. but If he had jumped out of a helicopter. Yes. Yeah. Oh, dude, I would totally have loved that. That would have been amazing. Like if ever there's a couples one, count me in. I want to do the couples alone with Brian. I mean, he'll never do any of the filming because he hates all that stuff. But yeah. But yeah, that would be so much fun with his skills and my skills together. Yeah. I assume that's been considered, but that would be fascinating because the dynamic between, you know, whatever partnership it is, husband, wife, brother says, watching two people try to wrestle with how to do things. Yeah, I mean, they've done couples before. And also it was like it was teams of two because they were brothers, they were couples, they were all sorts of people.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's it's really, really fun. um And, you know, we, Brian and I, work together anyway teaching for the historical stuff. So we pretty much got our communications down really well, you know.
Speaker: so that that's And communication is obviously the biggest part of of teamwork. So, though yeah, we we would do well. We would. I love it. I love it. Well, you heard here first. maybe you Maybe one day you guys will.
Speaker: Melanie and Brian are available and interested in an alone couple. I love it. We're going to kick ass. Well, you mentioned ken your your your life at home up in the Adirondacks. It always sounds very romantic. And I'm going to assume you've got no regrets from doing it. However, no no it's got to be tough.
Speaker: What is the hardest part of living life the way that you do?
Speaker: Having to leave it. I love that. Yeah. Having to leave it. That's the toughest part. You know, I, I am someone who is not not a delicate wallflower. You know, I'm, I'm fricking huge. I'm i'm like, ah I'm a Amazonian size kind of person. So for me, hard work is something I actually relish. It makes me feel alive and, and I really like it. Um, yeah,
Speaker: you know, not not having enough time in the day and days in the week and months in the year or a long enough summer and autumn to do all the foraging, the teaching, the building on the land, you know, um the, the gardening, the, you know, making more vegetables. There's always something on my list that I want to be doing and I, and I have to stand down and I can't, I can't do that, you know? but, uh,
Speaker: I love the snow in the winter. You know, and what once do you have ah a good method of dealing with all those things, you know, what for example, we have wood burning stoves to heat the house. You know, once we've cut down the trees and we've got the wood stacked away, then that's good. There's all sorts of hard work.
Speaker: parcels in that part of each and everything that we do, but they give us an incredible life of like healthy living. You know, our water comes from a spring.
Speaker: We don't use electricity other than the stuff we get from the generator, ah the ah solar panels with a backup generator if we need it in the winter. it's ah It's a very rewarding life knowing that I'm living clean and healthy. And I think that's so important these days because there's so many chemicals in everything that we drink and eat from from the stores.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, you've just touched on several notes I've made. But the first thing, and I don't know if this was deliberate or not, when you talked about your note, you said, I've got a list of things I want to do, where almost everyone would say, I have a list of things I have to do. No, want.
Speaker: Yeah, you want. But I should really change that to, and this is a big thing with the women that I teach up at the school here, I will do. We have to stop saying I want to do that or I'll do that someday what I teach people to say and to start verbalizing is I will do that I will do it because once you start saying it you're putting that into the into your psyche almost and you you will do those things it's it's like you'll nag yourself until it gets done so yeah
Speaker: I love that. ah Look, talk to me about the teaching because it's one thing to live off grid and to live the lifestyle you do. yeah But you seem very driven to to pay this forward, to pass it on. What's driven that?
Speaker: Absolutely. um I think seeing the amount of women that applied for a loan, I'm always nagging that my my my students here is like, are you going to apply for a loan? Are you going to do it? Are you going to do it?
Speaker: um seeing So seeing the percentage of women that do actually apply for the show um and seeing through my teaching that, you know, you're not just teaching traditional fire skills. You're not just teaching water filtration. What you're doing is you're giving someone confidence and that's incredibly important. So, you know,
Speaker: Giving them confidence gives them confidence to try new things, other things other than what I'm teaching them. I've seen so many girls and women light up and make decisions and do things finally that they've wanted to do because of the opportunities I've been able to offer them. that it will forever keep me trying to offer courses as much as possible because you know opportunities and encouragement are really important in this social media dominated world ah of we are not good enough to some respects.
Speaker: Especially in the outdoors world for for women and girls, you know, we're awesome. I love it. I bet a year ago I went on ah an outdoors weekend where they were teaching survival skills. And the thing that hit me was, yes, we were all gathered around and, it you know, we're gathered around somebody was showing us how to, you know, start a fire with next to nothing.
Speaker: right and And yes, it's all about the fire. And yes, it and the other side is it's got nothing to do with the fire at all. It's watching the mother and son, the father and daughter, yeah all these different dynamics of people who were there. I was one very few people who went by myself. It was, you could just tell it was parents trying to reconnect with children, a husband and a wife trying something fun.
Speaker: It was all about the fire and yet it had nothing to do with the fire. And it was such a beautiful thing that I got to just sort of sit and witness. And I imagine you get to see that all the time.
Speaker: Absolutely. i really do. and that that is the just the wonderful serotonin, you know, that's the boost. it's It's like it just makes me realize that I can help people. And that's ah it's a wonderful thing. it's That's what we're all here for, you know.
Speaker: Absolutely. And that kind of leads in very nicely to the next note. The note I've been scribbling down here is we're're we're sort of more connected and also more disconnected than we've ever been. in in street You know, you and I wouldn't have met today via Zoom if we didn't have all the technology. And yet we're disconnected.
Speaker: And but I was really thinking about sort of food in particular, and you kind of brought that up. As somebody who lives sort of suburban lifestyle in many ways, it can be very overwhelming when you look at all the stuff in the food, in the drinks, in the products we use. yeah And so it makes you just sort of want to sit back and go, well, there's not much I can do. I'm part of the i a cog in the system.
Speaker: And we can't, you know, many of us can't just sort of, okay, I'm going go live off grid. Right. Where's the happy medium? What can, what small things do you maybe advise people who come out to see you and they go, I want a bit of this in my, in my, my life back home, wherever that may be.
Speaker: m I think my answer to you would be foraging. It's an out every single city And there there are foragers who guide you through the through the the parks. there In every single city there are, or the outdoors.
Speaker: um And if you don't have access to those, then the the Girl Scouts or the the Scouts, um you know, ah Even the Masons, the Order of the Eastern Star, which I'm a part of, they offer opportunities for people to get out into the wild. There's all sorts of amazing groups like Wilderness. with that H-E-R in the middle, who I'm just doing a collab with in October. um There is Hunters of Colour, there's Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, which is an incredible nationwide organization, which also offers ah free ah classes to learn things. 4-H, if you're lucky enough to have that in your state, is another one that's really good. I know of that. answer Yes, it's here.
Speaker: Yeah, there are definitely opportunities to get out there, some of them paid, some of them free. um But if you don't really even want to commit that kind of of time, I would say go into your your area where you are and just look at the plants around you and just start learning what you have around you because – very often what you consider to be a weed is is actually not a weed. And ten nine times out of 10, it was actually brought to the Americas for a very specific reason of feeding you or giving you as a you know a medicine. um
Speaker: Facebook is a wonderful um opportunity also of learning. There are lots of pages to learn there too. But yeah, learning your land um around you and just learning the plants around you um So many of them are good alternatives, which are growing wild, which means they haven't got chemicals. They're not genetically or you know modified. um That's that's the what I would say.
Speaker: I love that. You remind me there's a lady I follow on Instagram and another English lady. Her handle is Nick Romes and she and her partner live off grid in the UK. And I might get some of the details wrong, but she takes people on nature walks and right and finds things. And then when they're finished, they brew tea with what they found.
Speaker: Amazing. Yeah, it's so simple and it's so inspiring. And it's yeah it's ah one it's the main reason I follow that account is it's great foraging aspect, which I don't know anything about. Yeah. Yeah. Foraging is really fascinating because once you just just take one plant every time you go for a walk, take a photograph of it, learn about it, you know, and don't just learn its name. Understand that if it's native to the Americas or not, You know, if it's not native to the Americas, find out why it was bought here. That's usually really, really fascinating and will have happened in the 16th, 17th, 1800s. You know, one plant in particular, which people love to hate, ah is the Japanese knotweed, for example. It's ah considered an invasive plant. up here in North America. um I don't know if you guys have it in Texas yet, but everyone loves to hate Japanese knotweed.
Speaker: um But it was bought to the Americas for a very specific reason um of helping to cure gonorrhea. But we've now found that the root of the Japanese knotweed is also a crucial element of helping to alleviate the symptoms of Lyme's disease.
Speaker: you know, and with the uprise of ticks going on, um, Lyme disease is a very prevalent problem. And, um, the root of a Japanese knotweed turned into a tea simply, simply turned into a tea and drunk three, drunk three times a day, um has a very good effect. There's also cat's claw, which is a bark of a vine, for example, also helps with Lyme disease, but that one is down South. So, um, Yeah.
Speaker: You could learn different ways ah of curing yourself, for example, also as well as feeding yourself from nature. But yeah, Japanese knotweed. Yeah, it's very cyclical. You can also eat it You can just eat it for health. out yeah I love it. You can. It tastes like rhubarb. you You can do a Japanese knotweed and apple crumble and it tastes just like rhubarb crumble. It's absolutely delicious. It's on my website.
Speaker: when When we get done here, that's the first thing I'm Googling. So that's on my... Japanese knotweed. Google Japanese knotweed and cat's claw. I it. Yeah, cat's claw, definitely. And that's also really good for arthritis too. Lots lots of barks and tubers are are really good. You guys probably have mullein over there as well. You should look at the mullein root. Mullen root. People don't tend to look at roots enough. They just look at leaves and flowers for eating and foraging and teas. But look at your roots too. Your roots quite often contain huge amounts ah of medicine.
Speaker: you're opening a new world to me. I did not know this. This is fantastic. i'm So here we go. This like this leads into something I'll tell you. So um I have a couple of websites. One is obviously my Melanie-Sawyer website, which is just basically who I am and what I do. But I also have a website called Wild Foods and Wilderness.
Speaker: And on that website, there is a free website kind of section there where you can learn about edible foods, whether it's in the butt marshes, bogs, woods, all sorts of things. it It teaches you what kind of things are there. And they're examples. It's not everything. I need to ah transfer the whole ah website to WordPress.
Speaker: And I don't have enough time in the day to do that right now. But um but yeah, it teaches you all sorts of edible foods. And um a lot of them, I've also accompanied recipes to it, too. So you can go learn your stuff and then maybe make a meal.
Speaker: I love it. I love it And we'll toast to you in in honor when it gets done. I love it. um I warned you before we started talking that I would have three questions for you at the end. So here we go.
Speaker: First one is, how do you define success now? And how has that changed, if indeed it has, over the years?
Speaker: oo That's a really good question. How do I define success? Okay, I define success by making, by seeing people learn and grow.
Speaker: When I see that look on somebody else's face, and I've been able to help them do that, make a life change, or just simply learn something and give them more confidence, that to me is success.
Speaker: I love that because we're both educators at different fields. yeah And my my feeling is, you know, when I think about, right, what do I want to do with my career? It's being a conduit. ever You know, I knew nothing.
Speaker: I have been taught things because of other people. And this yeah all I want to do is pass that on and yeah be the best conduit I can be for the information I've been fortunate enough to receive.
Speaker: Yeah, amazing. Love it. Yeah. yeah So we're we're very similar. um I was curious about the most impactful book you've ever read. It could be the best book. It doesn't have to be. But one that has you you finished it, you put it down and you thought, you know what, that has changed the way I see something. That's changed the way I think. Something that's really impacted your life. like i I would say this to you. When I was 15, I was in a bookshop and I picked up the SAS Guide to Survival.
Speaker: and but yeah And it was put and formatted and described in such a way that I realized that things were obtainable.
Speaker: And that kind of unlocked the door for me to start doing to ultimately what I'm doing today. is learning and teaching others what I know. So yeah, the most impactful book, I still have it. In fact, the most impactful book is the SAS Guide to Survival.
Speaker: I mean, like any, that's what I love. Yeah. I love it. My final question for you is, and it's funny, we I didn't plan on talking about this and it's kind of happened, but if you did a alone for a week with a partner, but I'm going to take your good fiance, Brian, and your children out of this conversation. for right now but if you could go with anybody for into the wilderness for a week and you get to pick their brains now this could be somebody famous not famous alive dead anyone who's ever existed who would you like to go into the wilderness with for a week and you get to pick their brain jesus
Speaker: Yeah, that's a, I'm throwing that one out. Usually I just ask people something a little simpler, but I thought with Melanie Sawyer on here, let's make it a alone themed. Dude.
Speaker: Uh...
Speaker: Okay, i actually don't know his name. um But in Bali, I follow on ah Facebook and Instagram. is I think he's called Della Mungo Della Mundo.
Speaker: An incredible knowledge of traditional skills. um Like I have the utmost respect for everything that he does. um There's a Rich Worth in stock too. He was based in Indonesia somewhere. I think he's now in England. And those two people I find absolutely fascinating think um as as far as knowledge goes. But then there's also people um like women I know who I would be really, really interested to go out with just because of the amount of skills. Like you give me any of the alone women, I'm totally up for it. It it would be a lot of fun.
Speaker: I love it. That's fantastic. If people want to ask you questions, find out more about you, find out about wild foods and wilderness, what's the best way people could reach you? Just message, um not message me, just um just talk to me on Instagram or Facebook. um I love Facebook because it's more community minded. Instagram, i it's good, but it's a little bit colder than Facebook. um But yeah, just comment on um and ask me a question on any of my posts. I'll, you know, when I log on, i'll I'll answer you for sure. I won't bullshit you. I'll give you an honest answer. And if I can help you, I will.
Speaker: That's wonderful. Well, Melanie, sorry, this has been just a treat. Thank you so much. You are so welcome. Thank you for asking me. Thank you. Thank you again to this week's guest and I hope today's episode was as enjoyable for you as it was for me and perhaps even inspired your next adventure. If you did enjoy the show, please be sure to subscribe, leave a review or follow us wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more information at theoutdoorsyeducator.com or follow us on Instagram, TikTok or Facebook. Until next time, thank you so much for listening to
Speaker: The Outdoorsy Educator Podcast.
