2025 birthday fundraiser for the Ground Shots Podcast

Hey ya'll, Kelly here. I turn 38 on February 4. I ran a birthday fundraiser for my labor of love project last year at this time, and we raised the modest goal of 1,500 to help support the Ground Shots Podcast. I'm doing it again! I am aiming for $2,500 because I have more hopes and goals of work I'd like to do with the podcast this season and get it more regularly publishing again, especially stories in the field that are more labor and cost intensive. I know even these numbers are modest compared to many popular podcasts' overheads, but for now, I think its reasonable goal to support the project at this point in time.

I've been running the Ground Shots Podcast since around 2017/2018, when I did my first interview with weaver Samuel Bautisto Lazo sitting on a fallen Ponderosa Pine log, at sunset by Lake Concow in the Sierra foothills of California. The next year, that whole site went in a f!re. A few years ago I went back and that log we sat on which started it all, it still remained. The Trilliums still came up in the woods even though the whole forest was scorched. Things cycle back eventually. This past May I went back to that site for the Buckeye gathering, and Samuel was back too teaching. I taught a plant walk and Samuel came, we walked by the log, still there but much more degraded now and reminisced about the years since the first conversation. The podcast still continues despite many ebbs and flows. It also still continues to influence many, and has taken a life of its own separate from my intentions in its humble beginnings.

Other goals for the podcast this year: focus on the stories of more rivers, stories of people very woven with place, the stories of places under threat, including potentially a field recording out on the Green River in Utah. More about that as the plans unfold.

As I said last year at this time and the story still stands strong:

The podcast has been an experimental project of capturing 'snapshots' of time and place and tendrils of connection, and those tendrils root into the 'ground' or the land as a central theme, no matter what direction the podcast takes. The ground or the land is the thread that connects and weaves a web between every art piece, basket, food forest, tended biscuitroot or long walk. A ground shot is like a snapshot of the land, of a story in the land, a person's journey with the land, and all the cultural minucia that is found in between. The project is an exploration of the philosophy of ecology, where different focuses can take up space for awhile, painting over time, lots of lenses to consider. The land has many stories, and the aim of the project has been to uncover different layers, pair relevant music with many of the conversations, point listeners towards furthering their exploration of the stories or convos by including extensive show notes in many of the episodes. The ecosystem of the podcast is also a community of seeds planted outwards, and only time can tell what the seeds germinate.

As the main host of the podcast, I have taken the project traveling with me, worked on it while housesitting, staying put for a bit in little towns across the country, staying in my home town, a remote backcountry camp at 12,000 ft on a thru hike in Colorado, broadcasted from my truck parked next to a library, worked on it at farms I have visited over the years, in an outdoor kitchen on Kaua'i, and all kinds of other various locations.

I have yet to get a grant for the podcast due to the interdisciplinary nature of the project, where ecology is the main theme. We aren't just talking to scientists or about plants every time. We are also getting into the philosophy of our language to talk about each other and 'nature,' the religious-cultural influences on how we see landscapes, artists and their motivations, how trauma is connected to land connection, wild-tending as a lifeway and more. And without grant funding, the podcast has been mainly listener-funded or personally funded through various mediums like Patreon, Substack, and most recently some small support comes from affiliate marketing with a seed company which brings in $5-$20 here in there at the most. As a lo-fi project with little outside funding and little staff other than me, Kelly along with some guest co-hosts - all the work of the project is on me.

The project in the past has often included photo diaries from visits with the people and places where the interviews take place, as another form of a 'ground shot' to capture the scene for you to learn from.

Another goal for 2025 Ground Shots Podcast is to start including more video in the project. Video capture of interviews so folks can see the chats, video of the lands and stories. Video documentation as an art form has always been a fascination of mine, but my technology has out dated by ability to incorporate this. I need to update my camera equipment, my skill set to make that happen. Support of the podcast will also get me closer to drawing this medium into the project.

So for my 38th birthday, if you've been inspired by this project, had it change your perspective or life, or even plant a seed for you of a new career or human connection, consider supporting the podcast continuing on and unfolding.

It costs money to run, even just continue to exist on the internet even if new episodes don't get put out. But my hope is to continue it well into the future!

If you're been touched by, inspired by or learned something from the podcast over the years, as a show of gratitude, consider donating to the fundraiser to cover some of the costs of the project in this new year.

This season's birthday fundraiser is $2,500 to start, which will greatly support me being able to prioritize the project over other labor that is paid.

Thank so much ya'll,

Kelly