The Dirt: Confessions of a Tree Planter

Brian Malcomson MICFor, is a Senior Forest Manager for Scottish Woodlands Ltd. Manages the Irish Office and is based in Ballymena, Co. Antrim. This season he will be facilitating the planting of 1 million trees encompassing reforestation and afforestation with the help of 20 contract planters. In this interview we get more in depth into Brian's own career in planting and getting into forestry, as well as what all the behind the scenes looks like for forestry and silviculture in Ireland and the UK. If you are interested in working for Brian, you can contact him via the links below.  LINKS https://www.facebook.com/scottishwoodlandsireland www.scottishwoodlands.co.uk

14 Apr 20221h 16min

I was absolutely shocked to receive an email from a forester in Northern Ireland talking about treeplanting!! He directed me to one of his planters for this interview, Rylen Franke. Rylen started out planting a little later in life, and it was mostly something to help support his travels and love for working in wineries. We talk about his time planting in Canada and abroad, as well as go into great detail about what exactly planting in Northern Ireland looks like-especially because the country is so damn small! Stay tuned for an expansion into all things planting and Ireland in upcoming episode 64.

31 Mar 202239min

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! LINKS Wilde Astrology wildewords.ca www.instagram.com/wild.e.words Shanese's Offerings www.bogbognotgood.squarespace.com/ www.instagram.com/bogbognotgood

17 Mar 20221h 10min

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! LINKS Wilde Astrology wildewords.ca www.instagram.com/wild.e.words Shanese's Offerings www.bogbognotgood.squarespace.com/ www.instagram.com/bogbognotgood

3 Mar 20221h 4min

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. LINKS https://canada-ny.com/forest-for-the-trees-documentary-captures-beauty-brutality-in-equal-measure/ https://www.instagram.com/stephxsinclair/

17 Feb 202241min

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! LINKS Website: forestforthetreesdocumentary.com Buy a ticket to the Victoria Film Fest: https://www.victoriafilmfestival.com/product/forest-for-the-trees/ **alternatively you can go here and buy a virtual ticket to watch online in BC: https://www.victoriafilmfestival.com/product/forest-for-the-trees-online/ List of upcoming screenings: https://www.forestforthetreesdocumentary.com/film-screenings Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forestforthetreesdocumentary/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thetreeplantersproject/ Articles: https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3d887/seriously-metal-photos-of-canadas-tree-planters https://torontolife.com/culture/rita-leistner-tree-planters-photo-essay/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-heroes-of-the-north-rebuilding-canadas-forests-one-tree-at-a-time/

3 Feb 20221h 49min

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. LINKS Give our instagram page a follow for live updates and lots of photos from the vault: https://www.instagram.com/confessionsofatreeplanter/

27 Jan 20221h 7min

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. Also, I now have an instagram page for the podcast! Check it out and give it a follow here: https://www.instagram.com/confessionsofatreeplanter/ LINKS www.santiagobessai.com www.instagram.com/santibessai https://www.santiagobessai.com/films/plantedin2020

13 Jan 202248min