Episode 68: Spirits of the Winter Woods with Chad Redding

Fog, hoarfrost and wonder. Photograph by Chad Redding. Chad talks about this hike in the episode.

The woods are never the same place twice.

Every day brings change.

Every moment in time brings birth and death in an endless dance that involves every member of the woodland ecosystem from the most towering of trees, to the tiniest bacteria.

Humans aren’t always able to track this microcosmic changes; our perceptions are generally more attracted to the macrocosmic differences in the world around us. We note the turning of the seasons, and the large transformations that come in their wake.

Winter is Chad Redding’s favorite season to explore the woodlands of his native Appalachian Pennsylvania. He’s visited the podcast before, last summer, and expressed interest in coming back, so of course, we invited him to come talk with us about winter.

And Chad, whom you’ve also heard on the podcast Strange Familiars where he’s a regular researcher and contributor, did not disappoint. He brought his expertise as a woodsman to this episode as well as the more spiritual aspects of being in the woods in winter. It’s not all talk of snow and ice; with the weather comes wonder, and with the wonder comes the Other.

Lights flicker and dance with snowflakes in the winter woods; animals tell stories of their homes and travels in their tracks. Spirits speak in the silence that a blanket of snow lays upon the Earth.

Hoarfrost Magic

Photograph by Chad Redding

Finally, Chad shares a poem with us by George Washington Sears, also known as Nessmuk, whose life as a woodsman and writer in the 19th century has inspired Chad and other modern woodsmen in the 20th and 21st centuries. The poem, entitled “New Year’s Eve in Camp,” from the book, Forest Runes, beautifully evokes the feeling of the winter woods that is discussed in the episode. The text of that poem and of the introduction to Forest Runes forms the background collage of the episode art, a mixed media painting by Barbara Fisher.

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did creating it.

Chad standing next to Nessmuk’s grave.

Chad’s Bio:

Chad Redding York county, Pa Native Occasional Strange Familiars Cohost Woodsman Paranormal Researcher Owner of Ruck Rabbit Outdoors which provides crafted and Curated Traditional Products for The Discerning Woodswalker, Local Outdoors Education opportunities and Media outlet documenting our Outdoors Adventures