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Michael Dunne: I'm Michael Dunne. We're awash in grocery stores, restaurants, convenience stores and a myriad of other options for getting food in our community. While that creates massive convenience and opportunity to feed our bellies, few of us ever really contemplate being truly intentional about obtaining the calories we need. Today on the show, you'll meet a person who is more than intentional. He's a person who is actively foraging for all of his food and medicine in nature. His name is Robin Greenfield, and he roams wilderness areas, parks, open spaces and even roadsides to obtain everything he needs. It's extreme, yes, but his intention is to draw attention to our unhealthy corporate food system and to espouse a simpler way. Then, at the end of the show, we'll get an update on the fence at the Eugene Federal Building. Robin Greenfield, an activist and social reformer, thanks so much for coming in and talking with us.
Robin Greenfield: It's wonderful to be in Eugene.
Dunne: You're foraging 100% of your food and medicine for one year. Tell us how you're doing it.
Greenfield: Sure. Today is day 250 of a year without grocery stores, restaurants or even a garden. Nature is my garden, my pantry and my pharmacy. How am I doing it? I'm reconnecting with information we've lost touch with, but the truth is that food and medicine grow freely and abundantly all around us. It's right outside our doors: in churchyards, schoolyards, public parks, along roadsides everywhere. I'm connected with that.
Dunne: How did you learn, or maybe it's an ongoing process, what foods are edible and what foods aren't?
Greenfield: I'd say I learned one plant at a time. That's the way I approach most everything I'm trying to accomplish in life: one practical step at a time. It was about 10 years ago that I really started foraging, and 15 years ago that I started questioning the global industrial food system. So it's been one plant at a time, learning what I need to know to break free from the grocery store and meet my needs by existing in relationship with the earth, the plants and the animals.
Dunne: Here's a simple question: Do you get enough calories doing what you're doing?
Greenfield: I'm 250 days in. I'm touring all over the country as I'm doing this, and I'm here. I feel my body. I don't remember what grocery stores and restaurants are like, and I'm getting enough food.
Dunne: I've heard other people talk about the concept of food as medicine. Talk about that in the way you see it.
Greenfield: Absolutely. Every single food I eat is medicine for me, whether it's wild rice, venison, fish, berries, apples, plums, pears or my herbal teas, like mint. Everything I take in as food is my medicine, and so much of what people would take as medicine is also food. To put it simply, the way we live today, a lot of people need to take medicine because our food is harming us. By eating whole, natural foods from the earth and selecting what works well for me, it becomes a kind of medicine. Preventive health care is another way I put it.
Dunne: Obviously, foraging is a very ancient form of food intake that humans have done for millennia, but we've probably lost that ability. How hard was it for you to connect with it?
Greenfield: It wasn't too hard for me. I grew up in a small town called Ashland in northern Wisconsin. And one note I want to add: I was conceived right here in Eugene. My mom and dad met in Eugene in 1985, so it's wonderful to be here connecting with the people of Eugene. But where I grew up, it was normal to pick berries, like it is for a lot of agrarian families. So I had never completely lost that connection. For me, it was relatively natural to reconnect with what we've always known deep inside.
Dunne: What are some of the challenges or risks? Oregon, for example, is well known for its wild mushrooms, and while they're great food, some can be incredibly toxic. Have you had any issues where you ate something that had an adverse effect, or is it a challenge to be seen foraging on the side of the road or in a park?
Greenfield: I'm happy to say we live in a time when there's no good reason to die, or even get sick, from foraging. The knowledge is out there, in books and on websites, and there are hundreds of knowledgeable foragers sharing this information. I don't get sick from foraging because I only eat something if I'm certain I can eat it. Now, I have made some mistakes. For example, I recently learned about soap root, which grows in Northern California and Oregon. It's a wonderful staple calorie food, but it has to be prepared correctly, and our society doesn't have that knowledge anymore. It has saponins in it, and I didn't cook it right, so I had the worst gas of my entire life. But nothing that's going to kill you. We've all had gas from eating too much at a buffet, too.
Dunne: All of us have our favorite foods. Do you have a staple you absolutely love to forage for that's widely available to you?
Greenfield: So many plants come to mind, but I'd say the abundance of apples that grow in the fall, and being able to turn them into applesauce that's easy on the stomach, is a nice treat to have all winter, spring and summer until the apples come back. And, of course, wild rice. That's my staple calorie source, which I harvest in northern Wisconsin, where I'm from. Those are the two that come to mind.
Dunne: I think you mentioned venison and fish earlier. I assume then you're not a vegetarian. How do you forage for animals?
Greenfield: I fish. I've been fishing since I was about 6 years old, so that's a skill I have, and I fish with a fishing pole. I also do some netting for smelt and whitefish. As far as deer go, I would hunt, but I haven't yet, because in Wisconsin, 20,000 deer are killed by cars per year. So I harvest what some people call roadkill: a deer that was hit by a car.
Dunne: I'm wondering, was there a specific moment when you made this decision? And when you made it, was it to celebrate foraging, or was it also to see if it could be done?
Greenfield: I've been doing immersive activism campaigns for about 13 years now, and the idea is always twofold: first, for me to explore something I'm deeply passionate about, and second, to bring others along on a journey where they get to question unquestioned societal norms and think critically. Last year I was in California, having just finished my walk from Canada to Los Angeles, where I'd walked down the Oregon coast. I asked myself what I wanted to do more than anything in the world, and it became clear that I wanted to attempt foraging 100% of my food as a way of deepening my connection and relationship with the earth, and as a way of reaching a lot of people in a meaningful way about our modern agriculture and the ways it's making us sick.
Dunne: Talk about what you've studied and learned, because there are often media reports about heavily processed foods and that sort of thing. Talk about it from your perspective, very down to earth, if you will.
Greenfield: I've been involved with food my entire life, of course, but I've been questioning our food system deeply since 2011. A lot of my awakening came from documentaries like "Food, Inc." and authors like Michael Pollan, particularly "The Omnivore's Dilemma." I started to question our food system, which is sold to us as normal, but the reality is that we're going through the sixth extinction, and it's human driven. A big part of it is our global industrial food system. What's sold to us as normal is driving us toward potential extinction, and that's the way things are headed with this food system. Some people ask, can the whole world forage? But first you have to ask, can the whole world eat from the global industrial food system? The answer is no. We're running out of time on that front. So for me, it's very clear that we need to do things differently if we want an earth that truly serves its people. Whether or not humanity ever overcomes this issue doesn't change the fact that I'm going to keep doing this one way or another, because life matters. I value the life of all the plants, the animals and the fellow humans we share this home with. So I'm going to eat in a way that, rather than taking a bite out of the planet with every bite I take, actually helps regenerate this planet.
Dunne: I'm glad you brought up Michael Pollan. Having read "The Omnivore's Dilemma," he made a good point about scale and sustainability: that it may not be possible, with 8 billion people on the planet, to do something like you're doing, but also that our modern agriculture is unsustainable the way it's headed. Do you see a middle ground that's accessible to most people?
Greenfield: Absolutely. I do take on extreme projects, but they're not designed for anyone else to do exactly what I'm doing. One note on that: The only reason what I'm doing seems extreme is because it's being compared to one of the most extreme societies that has ever existed, which is ours. My message is, let's do what we can as individuals and as communities to be the change we wish to see in the world. So what I encourage people to do is go to the local farmers market, get as much food as possible from local food systems, grow some of our own food, forage some of our own food, turn our yards into gardens, and connect with our local community. Know where our food comes from, and make it a deeply meaningful part of our lives. One of the big ones for me is eating whole foods. I don't follow any particular diet, just no ultra-processed foods, just real whole foods. For people who are buying food, the food co-op is one of the wonderful places to build a diet around, especially the bulk section, where we can buy our food without all the packaging.
Dunne: In learning about you, I see you talk about reconnection with the earth. Tell people what that means to you.
Greenfield: I think the greatest threat we have today as humanity is the belief that we're separate: separate from the earth, separate from the plants and animals, and separate from each other, from our global humanity and our next-door neighbors. I think one of the most important things we can do is dissolve this illusion of separateness that we've been indoctrinated into, and remember that we are of this earth, we're from this earth, we're part of this earth. We're not a cancer on this earth. We belong here. This is our home. My whole life is designed around reconnecting with all the life around us, and as we become aware of the life we share this home with, we can actually protect it. We can become stewards. So, one step at a time, breaking free from this disconnection and separateness, and becoming more connected. This isn't about giving up, because as we reconnect, it becomes a life of joy, meaning and purpose, the basic human needs every one of us is seeking.
Dunne: I imagine there have been times when you're out foraging that you come across people who say, "What in the world are you doing?" Talk about some of those conversations, because I'd imagine people find it unusual.
Greenfield: I like to forage by the side of the road with cars passing by, and they see an actual human being outside harvesting food. One thing I love about foraging is that it goes against a lot of societal norms. A lot of people think you'd only forage if you didn't have money to go to the grocery store. In cities, I can't tell you how many times I've eaten berries growing right outside people's doors on the sidewalk, and people say, "Those are poisonous." I say, well, I've been eating them for many years. So a big part of this for me is helping people see that right outside their door, the things they've been taught to fear are actually wonderful foods and medicines.
Dunne: Foraging on the side of the road. Obviously, one of the other big concerns with industrial farming is pesticides and that sort of thing. How do you deal with that?
Greenfield: I do have concerns about that, and I go back and forth on my own balance with it. For anybody who's particularly concerned, we're all free human beings, and we have to make our own decisions. My encouragement would be to start in areas you know aren't sprayed: your own front or backyard, or a friend's place that doesn't spray. You can talk to the city and find out about their practices, and forage in places where they don't spray. Personally, I take a bit more care, though a lot of my food does come from the roadside. As I'm traveling, I'll see an apple tree at the edge of the highway and harvest some apples, so I'm a little less careful in that regard than the average person. The reason is that I'm just not willing to live in fear of the earth, and if that ends up killing me, I'll have lived a good life as long as I'm here. So I do take some risks in that regard, but again, we each have to make our own decisions, just like we decide whether or not to buy organic.
Dunne: There are four seasons. Is your foraging seasonal as well?
Greenfield: Yes. The big idea behind this year of foraging is that every day forces me to stay connected with the land. I can't just go to the grocery store and buy whatever I want. I have a planning book, and I know when things will be in season, so I'm often planning months in advance for what I'm going to eat. It's not strenuous, but I know, for example, that I won't get to eat apples again until August, so I have to store away enough applesauce to last until then. I eat a combination of what's seasonally available right now and what I'm able to harvest in abundance and store away to eat out of season as well.
Dunne: He's Robin Greenfield, an activist and social reformer, foraging for a year. Great to talk with you. Thanks so much.
Greenfield: Very nice to be here with you.
Dunne: Now let's check in with KLCC's Nathan Wilk about a ruling on the fence erected at the Eugene Federal Building. KLCC's Nathan Wilk, as always, thank you so much for coming in and talking with us.
Nathan Wilk: Thank you for having me, Michael.
Dunne: Why don't you remind folks first why a fence was erected at the Eugene Federal Building?
Wilk: The General Services Administration, which is part of the federal government, put that fence up in April. That came a few months after a Jan. 30 protest at the Eugene Federal Building was declared a riot by Eugene police. Some windows were broken during that event, and in the time after, the General Services Administration said securing the building, making sure its employees were safe, and having time to make repairs and fortify the building were part of the reason for putting up the fencing. It also came out during the hearings that there had been discussion of doing this before that event, simply because of protest activity that had been happening there for far longer under the Trump administration.
Dunne: And the story doesn't end there, because plaintiffs filed suit, saying they felt the fence was illegal. Take it from there.
Wilk: Right, because the fence blocked off both the sidewalk and the upper courtyard of the Eugene Federal Building. During the hearing, witnesses talked about how this was a historic site for protests: there had been protests against the invasion of Iraq there, and when events got large, having that extra space was very important. There was also discussion about access. Older protesters relied on having access to benches and shade, places to sit down during long protests, and the fence also cut off a ramp that provided disability access. So ultimately, protesters argued that the fence, where it's placed, infringes on their free speech rights.
Dunne: And then the federal judge here in town weighed in on this. Talk about the most recent ruling.
Wilk: He issued a preliminary injunction, which means the trial, or rather the legal discussion, will still go on, but the plaintiffs showed merit that they're likely to succeed in their case. What he discussed was that while he feels the federal government has an interest in protecting its property, this solution is too broad and cuts off that traditional public forum in the upper space. So ultimately, what he decided was to call for the federal government to take the fence down within 48 hours. Initially, during the hearing, he wanted to move the fence. He drafted a sketch that placed the fencing closer to the building, leaving much of that upper area open to the public, but when the federal government's lawyers couldn't give him a timeline for when that would happen, he said, in effect, take what I've given you as guidance about where you could conceivably put up a fence again in the future, but you need to bring this one down now, because the First Amendment can't wait for the contracts of moving the fence to be negotiated.
Dunne: You've been to that courthouse a lot covering protests. What are people saying about this, at least temporary, removal of the fence?
Wilk: One of the plaintiffs I spoke with, and many community members, are very happy. They felt this was an attempt to silence their free speech.
Dunne: He's Nathan Wilk, reporter for us here at KLCC. Nathan, always appreciate your insight. Thanks so much.
Wilk: Thank you, Michael.
Michael Dunne: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon On The Record are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. Tomorrow on the show, you'll hear from a Guardian reporter about an explosive story on hidden rental fees that are drowning tenants throughout the U.S., and here in Oregon. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon On The Record. Thanks for listening.
