Dear Friends,

HERE’S THIS WEEK’S PROGRAM. My guest canceled on short notice, so I did what any talk show host in a pickle would do: Tell stories! I think you’ll enjoy them:

Derroll Adams performing in the big tent. (Photo from his website. Date, location, and photographer unknown.)

THE TIME I NEARLY RUINED A CONCERT. I spent summer of 1979 in Belgium. There was a girl involved, and I talk about that a bit on this week’s program. Mostly, I share the story of my conversation with Derroll Adams, a singer/songwriter from Oregon who was immensely popular in Europe.

I ran into Derroll backstage before one of his big-tent concerts. We gabbed for 15 minutes or so. As he prepared to walk out onstage, Derroll told me he was sick and tired of performing. I gave him some impromptu advice, which in retrospect, I’m glad he didn’t take. (See what you think of my advice, offered at around the 9-minute mark.)

IRISH FARMER HEROES. When I was a boy in the 1960s and ’70s, farming in Ireland was on a mechanized par with US agriculture in the late 1800s. Thus, even though I don’t look a day over 64, I feel like I’ve lived in parts of three centuries.

Martin Manion (left) talks with my dad, Ed Fallon, Sr. Photo by Shirley Fallon.

Farming in Ireland back then was accomplished using tools and techniques long forgotten by most contemporary farmers. The impressions left on me by the skill of my Irish uncles, cousins, and neighbors were deeply formative.

I share one story about building a huge haycock with one of our neighborhood’s most renowned artisan farmers, Martin Manion. I also talk about how the trauma of the Great Famine continued to be felt over a hundred years later — a reminder that what happens in the past absolutely matters in the present.

MORE HEROES: FIREFIGHTERS. We relate better to those affected by a disaster when there’s a personal connection. That’s simply human nature. The largest wildfire burning in the US right now is in northern New Mexico, frighteningly close to some of the wonderful people and places I met during the 2014 Great March for Climate Action. One of those places – The Lama Foundation – is a spiritual retreat center that had been torched by a major fire in the 1990s. I hope it’ll be spared the current conflagration.

I also recall with great fondness the hospitality of Trish and Leonardo Booth, who operate Ghost Pony Gallery in Truchas and invited four of us in for breakfast as we walked by in May 2014. Smoke from the wildfire is already impacting Truchas, and the flames are uncomfortably close.

Speaking of heroes, what of the men and women fighting the many fires that have raged across the US West at a historic rate? The wildfires’ horrific toll on property and lives would be so much worse if not for the efforts of those risking their lives to battle the flames. Here’s an excellent article in The Guardian — Burning out: the silent crisis spreading among wildland firefighters. Beyond the obvious risks, it doesn’t help that entry-level firefighter compensation in some states is only $14 an hour.

FOOD RESILIENCE IN THE NEW CLIMATE ERA. It’s been a rough spring in the Upper Midwest. In Iowa, we just slogged through one of the coldest, windiest, and wettest Aprils on record. Kathy and I had our share of struggles managing the 1,500 heirloom seedlings we raise. But these challenges are mild compared to how climate change is likely to impact food production in the future.

Do I think we can adapt? Possibly. We’re a very clever species. Kathy and I discuss whether genetically modified crops or a return to more localized, sustainable farming practices will be the chosen path forward. It’s clear which model she and I prefer.

Thanks for reading and listening. As always, feedback welcome, and I hope you’ll take a minute to share this podcast with others. — Ed

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LISTEN TO THIS WEEK’S FALLON FORUM

(01:35) The time I nearly ruined a concert;
(20:18) My Irish heroes;
(38:40) More heroes: Firefighters;
(55:30) Growing food in the New Climate Era, with Kathy Byrnes.

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Please support the local businesses and non-profits who make this program possible. Click on their logos on the Fallon Forum website and in our weekly email, and visit Dr. Drake Family Psychiatry, Story County Veterinary Clinic, Bold Iowa, and Birds & Bees Urban Farm. Thanks for supporting the civil alternative to the shock jocks!

Ed Fallon