Canadian wild food ingredients and how we collect them!

The Food Afield Podcast talks about the different ways to acquire wild food ingredients. We travel the wilds of Canada in pursuit of fish, game and wild veg. Hunting, Fishing and Foraging activities are recorded in the field along with guest interviews and expert advice and opinions.
 

I know that I had a thirst for knowledge when it came to hunting and fishing when I was young. Now, with podcasting, I can actively participate in helping young and first time hunters and fisher people enter the world of wild food. 2021 marks the 4th season of the Food Afield Podcast. We are learning new recording skills and acquiring better gear all the time. It is a fun learning curve for us as well!
 

There will be 12 premium episodes for Season 4 (2021). Those shows are available for purchase for a small fee on the shows website www.foodafieldpodcast.com. Additionally, there will be free episodes available on all of the major listening platforms. These free episodes are more traditional interview type shows, but they will still jigsaw together with the premium episodes in topic.

Premium Episodes can take weeks or even months to record as we involve ourselves in the hunt for wild food. Once the raw recordings are completed, we enter the home studio and begin processing and editing. Again, this process usually takes several days to accomplish. The free episodes are more simple. A recorded conversation with interesting guests that can sometimes be edited and released the same day.

So far, John is funding the production of the podcast out of pocket. This is the reason for the new, premium content. For a very small fee, some of the production costs can hopefully be recouped.
 

We have decided against being beholden to any sponsors ideas of production, and we also don't appreciate ads in our shows. That severely limits our ability to fund the show. We are simply hoping to market the episodes from our free shows and our home website. www.foodafieldpodcast.com

The podcast can hopefully become self-sustainable and perhaps even fund future adventures. We have no delusions of grandeur.
 

It has been a joyful journey to acquire and test out different recording hardware. Right now I am using Zoom products to capture audio from a number of different microphones. Sennheiser, ART, Zoom H4n Pro are the main field recording brands we use. In the studio we rely on simple editing software like Audacity and an older Mac laptop. The episodes are put together in final form through Anchor.com

Guests are usually known personally or sourced through industry contacts. Chefs, hunting personalities, and interesting friends are all interviewed on the show. These guests usually tie into the Premium Episodes in some way. John is a published writer and has spent the past 30 years in the traditional bowhunting genre so engaging guests are usually not hard to source.
 

For now, we rely on organic growth for the show. We have not participated in paid advertising. Google, iTunes, Instagram and Facebook all play important roles in letting folks know about the Food Afield Podcast. Because of our limited budget for advertising, word of mouth and social media are the sole marketing channels right now. 90% of our listeners discover the show through our social media accounts.
 

Honestly, youtube videos have been tremendously helpful in so many ways. There are myriad tutorials on podcasting, marketing the show and recording hardware. It is amazing to have access to so much education so easily.

There aren't many things that we can point to that are obvious now on our show's journey. Everything is new and exciting! John has constantly increased his knowledge of the different aspects of podcasting over the past 4 seasons. When everything is new, nothing is obvious. That is a tremendously fun journey!
 

The show's website is: www.foodafieldpodcast.com
Instagram is: https://www.instagram.com/foodafieldpodcast/
email is: foodafield@gmail.com
Facebook is: https://www.facebook.com/FoodAfield