Food Afield With John Schneider

This is the first year that I've attempted to deliver an episode once per week. It is a little tricky for me to come up with interesting expedition episodes at this time of year. Ice fishing and small game hunting are available of course. Usually, though, we don't do a lot of ice fishing, and when we do, it is in March. This previous week I had ambitions to get out and do some hare hunting. But life got in the way and firewood collection became the priority.In the interest of keeping my word on the publication of weekly podcast episodes, I came up with the idea of putting together some highlights of episodes from season four. I am always surprised, looking at the podcast stats, that so few people go back and listen to the old episodes when they first find the show. I am hopeful that this is a good way to introduce some memories and a little context to new listeners, as well as keep you regular listeners entertained!This first highlight episode takes us from Kevin and I whitetail hunting in the wall

Welcome back to the Food Afield Podcast, this will be the final director's commentary episode for a while. I've enjoyed a three-week winter holiday and am anxious to get back to recording in the field!Kevin and I had a few laughs with this episode, S2E2 "Two Miles". It was nearly a disaster in more than one way! Before the gale blew in, taking Jeff and his jacket with it, we managed to catch some amazing perch and walleye on Lesser Slave Lake in Alberta. This was season two of the From The Wild series, Kevin is noticing some drastic changes in the way he is filming and editing by this stage. That is also interesting, to hear Kevin commenting behind the scenes about his popular show. I do hope you enjoy this one. Happy New Year!Mentioned in this episode:CreditsThank you to our listeners, especially. We love to see that the Food Afield Podcast is resonating with folks who wish us success and want to contribute to our growth. Sharing the show by word-of-mouth and leaving reviews are crucial t

The second From The Wild episode that I appeared in. Way back in 2015. "Smith Dorrien" was an episode where Kevin, Jeff, and myself ventured out onto the groaning, crackling ice of Spray Lakes in search of Lake Trout. Kevin and I have so much fun sitting and re-watching these old episodes. I hope you enjoy listening to all the behind-the-scenes stories that happen on-location while filming From The Wild. You can access this award-winning web series at fromthewild.ca and then listen to the director's commentary episodes in simulcast!These director's commentary episodes are great for filling in the podcast release weeks when I haven't been out on any expeditions. We'll run several of these in a row until the next wild food adventure of ice fishing later this month. Have a wonderful 2023!Please be sure to check us out on Instagram. If we've earned it, give us a follow and share the account with your friends and family.Another great way to access more of our content is at the we

Merry Christmas 2022! The Christmas Day episode has become a tradition and launches season five of the Food Afield Podcast. This one is pretty special, I loved recording and editing it for you. With me this week, in the living room of the strawbale farmhouse, is Kevin Kossowan, the creator of the award-winning web series, From the Wild. We thought it would be fun to go back in time and re-watch some of the old FTW episodes together and record our comments. Kevin is almost at the one-hundred-episode mark of his show, so we knew it was time to reminisce and record some commentaries on the From The Wild episodes that I've been a part of over the past 10 years. To do this, we go back all the way to episode eleven of season one, "Tin Foil and Matches". The beginning of the episode is a little rough, as I get an insane scratching in my throat and Kevin schools me on not being able to pause these particular episodes. Pure retro Bob and Doug McKenzie. It's all there, with the curses bleeped. So, h

It is early December, one week after the big game season has closed locally. It is a perfect time to hang out with friend Lisa and do some small game hunting at Nana and Papa's old farmstead.Lisa is an adult-onset hunter who has never hunted before! She is excited to be learning new ways to be able to connect with her surroundings and explore wild food ingredients. We do a little shooting with the .22 and she fires a shotgun for the first time also! It is so rewarding to be able to hang out with Lisa, and new hunters in general. The exuberance and excitement wear off on me and take me back to a time when I struggled to figure out how to make wild food happen. This episode is full of questions and chats about being new to hunting, topics I take for granted nowadays. It was so much fun to record and edit and hopefully, this helps new hunters get started. I am also hopeful that this episode should be a guide for us old-timers to be able to mentor folks more effectively. This episode takes you out into the b

This year, a little confused about the need versus the want to bowhunt, John's season gets a very late start. This was partly by design though. It was fun to have a week of bowhunting to look forward to, and I suspect that it will be replicated in future seasons. This concentrated effort was slightly thwarted by some extreme weather that blew in for the last 4 days. This episode is also a bit of a breakthrough with recording in the field during a hunt. This is the first time I've recorded content while in the treestand or ground blind. The wind wreaked some havoc on the audio quality from time to time, but some new kit has been ordered from Germany that should take care of that issue moving forward. Thank you to the folks who've chosen to support the show through the subscription of Food Afield membership. You can achieve member benefits too by visiting www.foodafieldpodcast.com Your membership helps us grow the show and produce better content. It is greatly appreciated and we're committed

A simple little episode that I recorded while preparing my mule deer buck for a so-called "euro mount". This is the second time I've performed this home taxidermy procedure. The first time was under the excellent tutelage of Kevin Kossowan while cleaning my big whitetail buck last year. That skull turned out amazing. Since recording this episode of the Food Afield Podcast, I've come across many knowledgeable folks who have different ways of cleaning the skulls, which I think is wonderful! I hope I never grow tired of learning new skills and different ways of accomplishing tasks. This episode should not be considered a how-to, but perhaps more of a "how-I". This week I will post some photos on the member's feed article so you can have a better idea of what I am trying to explain in the audio. At any rate, I hope you enjoy the show! Don't forget to sign up for the member's feed at foodafieldpodcast.com Members enjoy several benefits including ad-free and member-exclu

The last day and night at the Grasslands Shack for Kevin and John. This episode focuses on Kevin's success with his antlerless draw tag. A very long stalk ends in a great way for us!This episode has a lot of chat about age-class choices regarding targeting animals for food outcomes. You also get to listen in on our typical morning routine when we're in the field, but this time, we're freezing cold!This will be the last episode of the grasslands series for 2022, so I hope you enjoyed hearing about our prairie adventures this past fall. Please check out the member's feed over at foodafieldpodcast.com There are some great benefits to being a member, not the least of which is that you will be helping the show to continue, and grow. This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Folding Mountain Brewery, Kitchen, and Taproom. Folding Mountain is located near the gates of the world-famous Jasper National Park in Alberta Canada. My favourite is their lager, which recently won a gold medal

Part two of the Mule Deer expedition continues in this episode of the Food Afield Podcast. Kevin and John are in the grasslands and the blizzard hits hard! The temperatures plummet to minus 18 degrees Celsius, but that doesn't matter too much. There are two deer, including John's big buck, skinned and hanging in the shack, and the woodstove is working hard. This episode continues John's story on the first morning and picks up as the doe and the big buck are headed straight towards him. Kevin and John re-tell the story that evening while the blizzard howls and cocktails are poured. They also tell about Kevin's whitetail gift as they were loading up John's buck!  The Food Afield Podcast now offers Membership benefits! For less than the cost of a latte per month, you can help the show to continue and grow. Members receive exclusive recipes, how-to articles, and behind-the-scenes stories that don't come across on the episodes themselves. These articles and stories are located on the

This episode of the Food Afield Podcast finds John and Kevin in the newly established Grasslands Shack where they are looking for both antlered and antlerless mule deer.Kevin has spent a good deal of time and energy getting the shack set up on some property in the grasslands where his family has hunted since he was young. This was our second visit to the shack and we installed the chimney for the woodstove, just ahead of an incoming blizzard. This episode begins inside the shack, a wood fire crackling in the background, with the guys chatting about wild food and Folding Mountain Brewery beer. The conversation turns to mule deer hunting before too long though and suddenly we are in the field with John as he first encounters the big mule deer buck! This hunt will continue over a few episodes. It was a great trip and we are so glad to share it with you! This episode is sponsored by Folding Mountain Brewery. The award-winning beer they produce is served around Alberta. The taproom and kitchen are located at the g

The 50th episode of the Food Afield Podcast. Happy Halloween! This episode finds Kevin Kossowan and me in the familiar surroundings of the northern boreal forest. We've decided to multi-task with some wild food ingredient procurement this day. It is a long day, many hours, and many kilometers of hiking, but we accomplish a few things. The first task is for Kevin to set up his three trail cameras. This has become a fun pastime for us in recent years. We get to see some pictures of game that we wouldn't get the chance to do otherwise. Sometimes, there are some pretty interesting photos that come from these cameras. These photos, and the times that they are taken also help us to make some decisions once hunting season comes around. Should an area be hunted in the morning vs afternoon for instance? Mostly though, it is just for fun. The other reason for being in the boreal at this time of year is for the Ruffed Grouse hunting. Last year, the populations of grouse were through the roof! You get to hear u

Kevin and I wrap up our grasslands bird hunting expedition. We set up in a field for geese and continue our hunt for Sharptail Grouse as well. In the Grasslands Shack, we explore the tastes of Sandhill Crane that Kevin harvested previously, and we do our best to describe to you what flavours we discover with this amazing wild food ingredient. Wingshooting, and upland bird hunting on the Canadian prairies! Come join us in the field in wide stereo as we pursue wild game. The Food Afield Podcast is a Canadian hunting and fishing podcast that focuses on wild food ingredients and how to acquire them. Share the show with friends who enjoy wild food and hunting and fishing! Visit the Food Afield Podcast website for great member-only benefits! We're also over at Instagram, Vero and Twitter! #foodafieldpodcastPlease be sure to check us out on Instagram. If we've earned it, give us a follow and share the account with your friends and family.Another great way to access more of our content is at the website. Th

In this episode, Kevin Kossowan and I are in the grasslands of southern Alberta and we're after birds. Waterfowl and upland seasons are open and no time is wasted before our first success. Kevin's first Cranes ever! The season for Sandhill Cranes here in Alberta is only two years old. Wingshooting and stalking birds on the prairies is intensely challenging, and Kevin was perfect on his first opportunity of the trip. This episode was filled with firsts. Those are always the best episodes! It was the first time we stayed in the newly constructed Grasslands Shack. Kevin has worked tirelessly for months to get the old building moved and then renovated to the point where we can live comfortably in the wind and harsh environments of the Canadian prairies. It was also both of our first sharptails of the season. Part one of this expedition episode covers the first day of our trip. Next week you can join us again as we break down crane butchery and have our first taste ever of Sandhill Cranes. We'll als

This is a new-old episode. Previously unheard footage of Kevin and I in the kitchen talking about whitetail venison while we cut up the front end of my whitetail buck. Then, a few weeks later, in early December, we're in the kitchen out at the farm putting together whitetail breakfast sausage. These are some good discussions about both dry aging, braising, and cutting up your whitetail venison as well as sausage ideas. Perhaps a few thoughts on these subjects that you hadn't considered...because we hadn't either! We get into the details about salt and fat ratios for the perfect sausage as well as flavours and storage ideas. I love this episode because Kevin and I are riffing off of one another while we are making sausage. There is some creative energy going on that I appreciate. I know that there are a few tidbits of information in here that you'll build from when prepping your own whitetail venison products this fall.  Let us know what you think! Kevin is over at IG @fromthewildca and www

November 24th, 2021 was a day that I'll remember for a very long time. I had hunted hard the entire fall. The goal was simple, harvest a deer with my antique recurve bow. I hadn't connected with a whitetail with my recurve for 12 years! Mostly because I hadn't really tried. For the previous two years, my focus and energy to be successful at traditional bowhunting had been re-ignited. In the fall of '20 I had missed a large buck...and then had another miss at a doe at close range. I was discouraged about that, but optimistic that I could get the job done in 2021. Sit after sit in treestands and ground blinds came and went. My spirits remained high, but time was running out. The season for whitetails ends on November 30. Finally, on a chilly winter afternoon, grey and bleak, it happened. Here was my chance at the whitetail buck of a lifetime! This episode happened at the beginning of my in-the-field-podcasting recording career. Unfortunately, inexperience shows through in places. I've l

I am re-releasing this episode without the ads. It is from earlier this Summer when my good friend, Tom, was back in town after moving to Ontario. We prioritized a fishing trip together and spent the day on familiar waters for both of us! There is some spectacular audio of the day on the trout stream, and a great story on the way home about Tom's recent trip fly fishing in Scotland. Tom is a competitive fly fisher and is a wealth of knowledge on fishing efficiently and productively...and we still get skunked! This episode is a perfect example of how a negative production outcome doesn't mean a negative experience. It was a completely memorable day, and I think you'll agree after listening to the episode. The Food Afield Podcast is an outdoor adventure podcast. Episodes are published weekly. Most episodes are recorded live in the field in ultra-wide stereo. You can get sneak peeks into the behind-the-scenes production of the show on both Instagram and Vero!Visit the Food Afield Podcast website f

In this episode, Garreth and I head out into the Grouse Woods in search of Ruffed Grouse.This episode contains a few stories of upland bird hunting from my youth, especially when we travel back to Nana and Papa's farm to hunt. Being in that space always makes me nostalgic, and having Garreth around to ask me to share stories is a good excuse to talk about past times spent in the woods with a shotgun and dog. Plenty of tips in this episode on how to hunt upland birds too.  At the end of the trip, we did find a few birds, but a bit of a blunder occurs with the new shotgun. More accurately, with the owner of the new shotgun. The Food Afield Podcast is now on YouTube! There are already a few videos there. Over time, we'll put some behind-the-scenes content along with documentary and how-to videos. An important change to the podcast. Things are still new and evolving here with the Food Afield Podcast. We are enjoying the weekly schedule that we've set for ourselves. New episodes will continue to be

Oliver joins the podcast again! This time we chat about upland bird hunting in the UK and my upcoming bird hunts here in Canada. Upland birds and how they are hunted in Great Britain have an intense history and are full of heritage and customs. Not so much here in Alberta, but the images of British bird hunting is definitely engrained in my brain. The foggy, grey days, tweed suits, the dogs and beaters working through thick cover. Classic European side-by-side twelve gauge shotguns. These images attracted me to the idea of upland hunting as a kid. They drove me to own and train both a pointer and labrador in years past. The idea of hunting and eating upland birds is re-ignited inside me. I knew I wanted to chat with Oly to get a taste of this style of hunting overseas as a starter to the upcoming expedition episodes over the coming weeks. I found it compelling to listen to Oliver describe a typical bird hunt near his home. The differences are startling. Not better than here, not worse...just different. This c

Curtis Hall is a professional fly fishing guide on the world-famous Elk River near Fernie, British Columbia. In August I was able to spend two days fishing with him near his home. This episode, perhaps more than any others I've produced, is truly educational. Curtis and I really got into the technicalities of fly fishing for Westslope Cutthroat Trout. I was challenged constantly with Curtis' coaching and experience. It was fascinating for me to learn so much about the things I didn't know I didn't know when it came to fly fishing.  I did my best in this episode to take you with Curtis and me out onto the rivers that we explored on the trip. We talk about fly fishing strategies and techniques, and we catch a bunch of fish! If you are interested in gleaning some tips on ways to improve your fly fishing, then this is the episode for you. Thank you for listening. Also, please remember to leave a review wherever you listen to the Food Afield Podcast and share it with your friends and family. Ch

The lost episode! This episode has been on the website all year. Originally, it was produced as a newsletter exclusive episode. But with so few people actually signing up for the newsletter, or viewing the website, it seemed a shame to keep it hidden. Sigh, the life of someone not lip-synching and dancing on tik tok. And so here it is. The story of my big whitetail buck and the hindquarters and loins that aged for 42 days. Kevin Kossowan joins me in the farmhouse kitchen for this one. It is shortly after Christmas, the tree is still up, and we're cutting and wrapping venison for the freezer. Visit the Food Afield Podcast website for great member-only benefits! We're also over at Instagram, Vero and Twitter! #foodafieldpodcastPlease be sure to check us out on Instagram. If we've earned it, give us a follow and share the account with your friends and family.Another great way to access more of our content is at the website. There are some great how-to articles along with recipes and gear reviews r