Save What You Love with Mark Titus

00:00:00:15 - 00:00:28:15
Mark Titus
Welcome to Say What You Love. I'm Mark Titus. Today's episode is fantastic. It is with a dear friend of mine, Emma Frisch, who lives in Ithaca, New York. She's an author. She is an entrepreneur. She owns a glamping, gorgeous facility outside of Ithaca with her husband, Bobby. She's a mom with two young girls. She's working on a brand new daily living book with a partner.

00:00:28:17 - 00:00:49:14
Mark Titus
She does it all, and it's all centered around wild and wild food. And I can't wait for you to get to know Emma if you don't know her already. And check out this week's podcast. It's a wonderful conversation. Also, if you are into this podcast, please consider giving us a rating on Apple Podcasts and writing us a review.

00:00:49:15 - 00:01:14:18
Mark Titus
It tremendously helps us get visibility out in the podcast universe. And if you're looking for summer grilling with wild salmon from Bristol Bay, the most regenerative sustainable fishery on earth. Just head on over to evaswild.com and order yourself up a salmon summer grilling experience kit. You'll love it, I promise. There are copies of The Wild and The Breach.

00:01:15:00 - 00:01:32:10
Mark Titus
There's VR goggles with a VR experience of going to Bristol Bay. There's Tom Douglas Salmon rub inside of it. It's a it's a great way to get tuned in to Bristol Bay and to feed your family. All right. With that, enjoyed this week's conversation with Emma Frisch. And we'll see you next time.

00:01:32:12 - 00:02:08:20
Music
How do you save what you love?
When the world is burning down?
How do you save what you love?
When pushes come to shove.
How do you say what you love?
When things are upside down.
How do you say what you love?
When times are getting tough.

00:02:08:22 - 00:02:11:16
Mark Titus
Emma Frisch. Welcome.

00:02:11:18 - 00:02:14:14
Emma Frisch
Mark Titus. Thank you.

00:02:14:16 - 00:02:17:11
Mark Titus
Where are you coming from today?

00:02:17:13 - 00:02:26:16
Emma Frisch
I am broadcasting from Fremantle, New York, which is a little village outside of Ithaca, New York.

00:02:26:18 - 00:02:39:20
Mark Titus
Cool. Well, and I know you've you've recently moved into this beautiful new place and some somewhere in the country. And how has that been during this whole crazy time?

00:02:39:22 - 00:03:06:09
Emma Frisch
It's amazing. We are you know, I have been living in a house right in downtown Ithaca and Ithaca. It's a city. It's not like New York City. So we still had access to trails and all sorts of wilderness outside our back door. And we were also on a road where tractor trailers pass daily. And my kitchen was like a tiny closet.

00:03:06:11 - 00:03:30:22
Emma Frisch
So, yeah, the universe answered our call for a spacious home with an incredible kitchen on land and we're just I mean, I'm pinching myself every day that we're in this place. We're surrounded by wildlife. And, you know, those gardens that I'm just watching the weeds grow because we just moved in and I can't even figure out how to manage them yet.

00:03:30:22 - 00:03:42:19
Emma Frisch
But at the same time, there's just wild food dripping off every plant around me. And I just feel so cared for in this place. I'm feeling a lot of gratitude for being here.

00:03:42:21 - 00:04:12:13
Mark Titus
Well, it's congratulations. It's super exciting. I can't wait to see it one day. And you said two words to now Wild and food. And I know both of those things. Will they factor into both of our lives? Tremendously. But in your life, in particular, your mission, your work, your calling has centered greatly around those two things. Can you tell us your story and how you came to grow into and love the work that you do?

00:04:12:15 - 00:04:15:09
Emma Frisch
Sure. How much of the story do you want to hear?

00:04:15:11 - 00:04:20:03
Mark Titus
I'd say just let it go. Let's let's let's take take whatever you're given out today.

00:04:20:05 - 00:04:48:16
Emma Frisch
And let it rip. So my story starts around food when I. Well, I'll go back as far as being in the womb. Yeah. My mom, I'm an identical twin, and my mom talks a lot about the food that she ate when she was pregnant with us, especially ice cream gelato in particular. She's Italian, and she was in L.A. at the time when she was pregnant with us.

00:04:48:16 - 00:05:20:07
Emma Frisch
So that was a daily a daily food source for her in the heat. And when I was born, I imagined myself being in my mom's carrier by her side, possibly with my dreams as very hard to say. And she carried both of us and cooked. But I just always, always have a memory of being in the kitchen and in the garden with her, and she'll tell these stories of how, you know, she, Dimity and I disappeared and she couldn't find us.

00:05:20:07 - 00:05:42:09
Emma Frisch
And then she could see our little naked buns sticking out among the cherry tomatoes in the garden with our little red gumboots on just gobbling them all off the vine. So I had I had this passion for food instilled in me. It was it was a way of life for our family. And I even I recently went back and wrote down in an exercise I was doing like what?

00:05:42:09 - 00:06:08:17
Emma Frisch
We're family values. The ones that came up for me and my twin sister at the top of the list were family and food and the best way to describe growing up was being around a table, a full table. I'm one of four siblings and we have a big family that is international. I get into that in a bit, but when they'd come to visit just would fill up and otherwise they're always friends and family around the table with us.

00:06:08:17 - 00:06:32:07
Emma Frisch
So meals together were really the cornerstone of my upbringing, and my mom spent a lot of time picking food, cooking food, and we were out with her. So we would, you know, she would joke that when she took us to the Berry patch, we were her crew or unpaid labor, and she would try to see who could get the most pints, you know, by the end of the time that we were there.

00:06:32:07 - 00:06:54:10
Emma Frisch
And then we'd all go home and make jam and pies. And so just all these memories of food. And for my mom, she's she's Italian. And Brenna, she moved to the States in her twenties and she, she really taught herself how to cook. Her mom moved to the UK. She was a war bride and moved there shortly after World War Two.

00:06:54:10 - 00:07:23:04
Emma Frisch
And the mom claims she was never really a great cook. So my mom, her mom wasn't a great cook. So my mom dove into Italian cooking and taught herself everything. She would go to the kitchen by all the awful and, you know, learn how to cook cow tongue and all these these things that are not, you know, not common here in this country and also hard to come by when someone isn't teaching you.

00:07:23:06 - 00:07:36:21
Emma Frisch
Yeah. And actually, when I was when I was in third grade, I've been unpacking boxes here in the new house. I came across a list of there's like these prompts, right? Like, what are your three favorite foods? And number one was Cow Town with green sauce.

00:07:36:23 - 00:07:38:07
Mark Titus
Good. Yeah.

00:07:38:09 - 00:08:09:17
Emma Frisch
Give me a mad wow. Yeah. So? So that's, you know, my my mom has two brothers and they scattered across the world and married into different families. My my uncles married to a Chinese Chinese woman. Louie and my other uncle married a Jamaican woman. And all of their food has come into play for our family as well. Like on Christmas morning, we insult fish, which is a very traditional Jamaican dish, and there's always pork dumplings.

00:08:09:17 - 00:08:33:05
Emma Frisch
So food has just been this way for me of connecting with with family, but also with people. And I it just it gets me so excited. I love learning about food and trying new food and really getting to know the plants that it comes from. So I could go on and on and on. I'll stop there.

00:08:33:07 - 00:09:06:14
Mark Titus
Well, so that is first of all, I have sharp elbows and I'm going to find a way to your table that just incredible and incredible synchronicity that the sibs married people with very distinct and delicious food sources as well. And so you really dove into that food part of things. How does the intersection of Wild come into your life and see you at the table where you are right now?

00:09:06:16 - 00:09:32:05
Emma Frisch
Yeah, that's a great question. And it's really only been the past decade that I've kind of come into this idea of eating wild food. Looking back as a as a child we did here and there, my mom taught us about onion grass and how to use jewel weed to cure poison ivy and things like that. But because this, you know, this land wasn't native to her.

00:09:32:07 - 00:09:55:23
Emma Frisch
She wasn't as familiar with the plant. So she taught me how to grow food in the garden and less about the wild food. But she she was always, you know, one of my sibling and siblings. And my favorite story is that we'd be driving in the car and she'd just pull off the road and whip out the scissors and snip, you know, honeysuckle from the side of the road.

00:09:55:23 - 00:10:23:19
Emma Frisch
And so she was very much into collecting and celebrate what was around us. But when I moved to Ecuador in my early twenties to work with indigenous farmers there, I started to learn a lot more about what wild food looks like and how to really use the landscape around not use, right? We're not using the wild. They're actually the wild as giving us these gifts and we're attending the wild and return.

00:10:23:19 - 00:10:48:01
Emma Frisch
It's this mutual relationship and we're part of it and it's just in the indigenous cultures there. It's so prominent. It's part of the way of life. It's ancient, it's passed down through generation. And and so then moving back to the States, I took a detour through Nicaragua, where my husband and I opened a small hotel there and again learned a lot about wild food.

00:10:48:01 - 00:11:04:03
Emma Frisch
I was part of a group that was blazing new trails in the mountains and offering ways for people to get out and explore the wild. And we put up the first rock climbing routes there. And on the way the people that I was with would tell me like, this plant you can use for this and this is great medicine.

00:11:04:03 - 00:11:36:02
Emma Frisch
And I helped paint my friend's apothecary and learned all about the urge she was using there. So it was it was something that I had sort of relegated to a way of life that doesn't exist here. But then moving back to the States and to Ithaca in particular, I got to know people who spent in particular my dear friend and co mama Sarah Carlson, who has been my wild foraging teacher in many ways, who taught me that this land is abundant too.

00:11:36:02 - 00:12:04:09
Emma Frisch
And we all have this knowledge deep in our bones. And the easiest way to access who we are is by relearning the names of the plants and how they feed us. And so as a chef and as someone intrigued and flavors and cooking for me, the gateway into learning about wild food was to experiment with it and to feed my family with it.

00:12:04:11 - 00:12:23:05
Emma Frisch
So yeah, I've just kind of taken off with that. Here we we lead wild foraging locks at firelight camps. My husband in my glamping hotel here and and weaving wild food into my blog and books and so forth.

00:12:23:07 - 00:12:44:00
Mark Titus
Yes And so much to grab on to there. Here's what I'm going to latch on to, though. How does one in their twenties start a hotel in Nicaragua and then with your husband, Bobby? And then how does that translate into the business that you have right now?

00:12:44:02 - 00:13:05:03
Emma Frisch
Yeah. So how does someone in their twenties start a hotel? Great question. It was always our retirement plan. Bobby and I met in college and we loved to travel and grew up traveling. His father traveled a lot for work and would take his family and my family lived everywhere else, so we were really fortunate to be able to visit family in other countries.

00:13:05:05 - 00:13:37:19
Emma Frisch
And so we kind of kept that up through college. We would travel and take off summers and semesters and go backpacking. And then after college, he went and did the Peace Corps in Nicaragua while I was doing research in Ecuador, and I joined him in Nicaragua and we again, like we kept dreaming about, you know, one day after we're done working and retired, we'll open a small hostel and and then like when Bobby finished the Peace Corps, one of his best friends down there, who's Nicaraguan and owned a couple of businesses, said, Let's start one now.

00:13:37:19 - 00:14:03:10
Emma Frisch
Let's do this together. So with the scrappy amount of savings we had and granted, Nicaragua is a lot less expensive than the US, we managed to rent and renovate an old home in the city of Alba. And yeah, we were really committed to, you know, trying to make everything by hand. All the bunk beds were made by a local carpenter and I was really focused on the food programs.

00:14:03:10 - 00:14:25:01
Emma Frisch
I opened a restaurant having zero clue what I was doing, but I knew how to source food. So I went so far as to ride a pregnant horse at snail's pace, 2 hours outside of the city to get local potatoes. So yeah, we just kind of went for it and basically went through hotel school on our own for a couple of years.

00:14:25:03 - 00:14:29:20
Emma Frisch
And it was it was fun and stressful and successful.

00:14:29:22 - 00:15:02:15
Mark Titus
Well, you are not afraid to dive into the waters and, you know, see what they reveal. And that is one of the great traits I admire about you. You you've also managed to create and dive into the waters of parenthood, you and Bobby, and you got two beautiful girls out of the deal. And you also had two young, beautiful girls during this last year, which was, of course, the weirdest year in the last hundred years being completely isolated.

00:15:02:15 - 00:15:17:15
Mark Titus
And how how did you approach this last year with two little girls and what kept you grounded, insane during this whole time and moving forward as a parent and as a family?

00:15:17:17 - 00:15:44:11
Emma Frisch
So much to say there. And I'm thinking about all the people with small children right now. Yeah, this last year has been wild. And even though I know it's been incredibly hard on so many levels, I also there's this part of me that feels like excited about living in a historic time and being able to see how this affects us.

00:15:44:14 - 00:16:12:20
Emma Frisch
You know, as a as a culture, as a society, as human creatures. And the gift that I see with COVID and what we have latched on to the most strongly is returning to the wild. You know, people everywhere to who are able bodied and who have their health or are fortunate enough to have those are going outside and, you know, there's not much else to do, right?

00:16:12:20 - 00:16:54:08
Emma Frisch
Everything's closed. And so it's been the same for us, honestly. I mean, we spend a lot of time outside, but also we were spending time doing things inside, you know, going to gymnastics gyms to tumble or whatever. And now it's just now the activity is being outside. And so that has been incredibly grounding just to be able to reimagine what we're doing in the home based on the seasons in particular, which here obviously so extreme and seeing what's coming into into season and and the girls love it like there's there's always something new to do.

00:16:54:09 - 00:17:14:05
Emma Frisch
You know right now the lilacs are blooming everywhere and we're collecting flowers to pour honey over, make lilac honey. But in a week they'll be gone and then we'll be experimenting with the next one. And that really does extend, you know, having come from being in the city to here. It's something that I know. I realize you can do anywhere.

00:17:14:05 - 00:17:34:14
Emma Frisch
You don't have to be on a homestead. You don't have to live near a park. There's wild bursting through the sidewalks. It's everywhere and it's all around us. And so having the opportunity to and if you're willing and able to slow down and tune in to that has been really grounding.

00:17:34:16 - 00:17:57:23
Mark Titus
I am so excited that you brought this up. Finding wild wherever you are. Just yesterday I was on a Zoom call and I decided to go walk out onto our back porch. We live in the city. We live in Seattle, and but we've got this little back porch that's all green and it's all surrounded by bushes and flower.

00:17:57:23 - 00:18:24:06
Mark Titus
And there's birds and there's hummingbirds. And my wife, I think, has made this just a beautiful little sanctuary in the city. And so sitting out there and on this zoom call and there was a hummingbird just sitting on a little thin branch of this little olive that we have and just scoped me out like three feet away. And I was scoping her out.

00:18:24:08 - 00:18:48:09
Mark Titus
And we sat there for half an hour like that. And I got off the call and got done being busy and grabbed my camera. And of course she flew off. But then the light was coming through just so. And I started to notice these things and I took some photos of of just some freesia and we have a Japanese maple.

00:18:48:09 - 00:19:17:07
Mark Titus
And the light was coming through the red leaves and you could see every vein in the leaves. And then, of course, she came back and I got this one photo of her and I, I put one up last night on my my Instagram feed of this. And it's exactly what you just said. It is this joy, this delight, this wonder in the ephemeral and in the exact present moment.

00:19:17:09 - 00:19:49:00
Mark Titus
And you mentioned that the seasons change. They turn. You're using this moment to pour, Honey on the flowers, and then it's the next thing. This idea of being rather than constantly doing is something I'm just fascinated with. I got to talk with another wonderful visionary woman, April Bentz, last week about this. What what have you learned? You've got so much going on.

00:19:49:00 - 00:20:13:22
Mark Titus
You're running a business, you're an author, you're a blogger, you are a chef, you are a mom and a wife and friend. How how do you how do you intentionally make time or create time or create space to be in your life rather than constantly doing because you do a lot?

00:20:14:00 - 00:20:42:09
Emma Frisch
Yeah. Thank you. I need to do less. I love that story of the hummingbird and you know, that's it. Like I'm really. I'm a little self-conscious when I'm talking about, like, slowing down and tuning into the wild because I am worried that I'm conveying a sense of privilege when actually we all need to be doing that no matter where we are in our life.

00:20:42:09 - 00:21:02:20
Emma Frisch
And part of that is, you know, we're in a culture where work, work, work like, you know, we just our neighbor told me that he works night shifts, he works day shift. And he was proud of the fact that he sleeps. He said 8 hours a week. A week.

00:21:02:20 - 00:21:03:16
Mark Titus
Whoa.

00:21:03:18 - 00:21:38:09
Emma Frisch
And that maybe he's exaggerating, But that's like that's what it's come to in this country is that we compare our each other and ourselves by the amount of production an output of. And I am interested in reversing that. And I think children are the best opportunity to do that. I was recently interviewed by Refunder. My husband and I have a we're raising money for to open a second location for fire light camps, which is our glamping hotel and wilderness retreat.

00:21:38:11 - 00:22:10:00
Emma Frisch
And in it it was all about, you know, celebrating mom entrepreneurs. And what have you learned as a mom and sort of these questions that were like I felt angled at how do you balance work and and taking care of your kids? And my response was, I want to try to balance that less. Like I don't want to be working more and finding other ways for my kids to be cared for.

00:22:10:02 - 00:22:29:06
Emma Frisch
And of course, this is me, right? Like every every parent has to make their own choice. And it's not to say work is bad, especially if you love your work. Like we have this conversation in our house about how, you know, when mom and dad are, quote, working, they're playing like we've figured out how to create work that we love.

00:22:29:06 - 00:22:57:10
Emma Frisch
And introducing re introducing this idea of play as something long term, right? It's not something kids just do to learn about their environment in life, but it's something parents can do too, and adults can do. So yeah, so it's really hard for me to stop. I'm definitely my mother's daughter. I am constantly moving, cooking something, pulling weeds, making art tape, whatever it is.

00:22:57:10 - 00:23:14:15
Emma Frisch
All these projects you mentioned. But I, I notice that when I can intentionally remind myself, I can put this down, I can put the dishes down, I can close my computer and just be that's when the magic happens and it happens every time. Every time. If I just.

00:23:14:17 - 00:23:15:06
Mark Titus
Does.

00:23:15:08 - 00:23:37:11
Emma Frisch
Outside and I just stop and close my eyes and, you know, ask the question like, give me a sign or what are you trying to tell me or what can I listen to? There's always a response. It's a red tailed hawk flying overhead. It's the breeze carrying the scent of lilacs. It's it's something really tangible and beautiful, like the hummingbird that we miss.

00:23:37:11 - 00:23:40:11
Emma Frisch
If we don't stop.

00:23:40:13 - 00:24:29:04
Mark Titus
Absolutely. It's the starlight overhead. And the tide's coming in every day. And I. I noticed in all this you have and I've also noticed in your life from over here in the West that you have created an integrated these inherent parts of who you are and this passion for life into a business. And I've endeavored to do the same thing over here with making films and Ava's wild, and it's all grounded and rooted in this reverence for the wild, for wild places and people that are inherently tethered to wild places.

00:24:29:06 - 00:24:46:23
Mark Titus
So you've done this in in both with your tap route to food, but also in this beautiful community that you've created with Firelight Camps. Can you tell us how you and Bobby came up with Firelight Camps and what what it's all about?

00:24:47:01 - 00:25:27:11
Emma Frisch
Sure. Thank you. So, Bobby and I, well, before we started Firelight, and obviously to this day, we've always been major outdoor enthusiasts. I was a pretty avid rock climber and a backcountry guide for a long time, and we, you know, over the years, we as we went to more and more camping trips and like found ourselves around campfires with other people, we started to really get attached to this idea of getting more people around a campfire, like this timeless, primal space where you rarely see someone on their phone.

00:25:27:11 - 00:25:47:20
Emma Frisch
You can't snap a selfie in the dark and you're under the stars, you're cooking food, There's stories being shared. It's just this. It's like a time warp that we don't experience a lot here. And so many people don't have access to that. A lot of people, you know, especially in cities where you can just have a campfire anywhere.

00:25:47:22 - 00:26:17:05
Emma Frisch
And so when we moved back to the States, we knew we wanted to open another hotel and we wanted it to be really focused on integrating people with the wild and starting to break down this idea that we're separate from it and establishing this reconnection for for them and so, yeah, along the way of kind of exploring what that would look like, still holding this, the central vision of like the Vestal hearth, the campfire in the middle of it.

00:26:17:07 - 00:26:40:22
Emma Frisch
We came across this concept called Glamping. I was a big jamband girl and got invited down to Bonnaroo to manage a glamping operation, their first 1 to 2 host guests. And so that kind of became this thing for a couple of years where I'd go down and set up these tents and go see music. And then Bobby came down and we started to say,

00:26:40:23 - 00:27:09:10
Emma Frisch
Like, could we actually do this as a hotel concept, which is not new, by the way. It's been done in an African safari for decades. It's modeled after nomadic cultures that have traveled using canvas tents for centuries. And so we just love the idea of the the sense of impermanence and the like, minimalist way of building so that you're not disrupting a lot of of the land.

00:27:09:12 - 00:27:40:12
Emma Frisch
And so we started to research that more, and we eventually decided to open a pilot with six tents here in Africa, right on the border of a beautiful state park called Buttermilk Falls that has an iconic waterfall. And and we opened with this big campfire in the center and six tents. And we had a lobby tent with a bar, and there is a bathhouse with a toilet and, you know, several toilets and hot showers with the idea being that this would be the gateway for people to come back to the wild.

00:27:40:14 - 00:28:02:11
Emma Frisch
So, you know, for example, a lot of the people who come stay are couples where one of them is like gung ho about being outside and the other one has never camped. And they come and they get to sleep on a bed in these fully furnished tents, but they're still outside. The elements are still affecting them. You know, they they everything recalibrates, right?

00:28:02:11 - 00:28:42:11
Emma Frisch
You're hearing the rain on the tan and the birds and you're waking up in the peepers at night. So so that was really the idea then. And it's expanded now. We have 19 tents on the site and we're getting ready to open a second location. Hopefully by spring 23 in the Catskills, which will be larger. But that is yeah, it's it's this total integration there of of wild food community being outside, encouraging people to go on the trail, getting to know the wildlife and just tapping into to that connection that they have lost, you know, on three levels.

00:28:42:11 - 00:29:09:22
Emma Frisch
And you know, in some ways with themselves because there's not an opportunity to like get quiet and just be grounded in the way that there is when you're outside. Also with each other. Again, like when you come, you know, with family and friends, you're you're unplugged, right? You're playing games, you're telling stories. You're really tuned in. And then, of course, with Mother Earth, which is holding them the whole time.

00:29:10:00 - 00:29:44:18
Mark Titus
Well, I can I can testify. I have been to Firelight Camps. I have had probably the most incredible screening or experience of of both my films. We we did, as you know, a an outdoor screening. Well, it was in the central kind of lobby tent of the breach. But you and Coley made beautiful salmon wild salmon from Bristol Bay out on the over the coals beforehand.

00:29:44:18 - 00:30:15:10
Mark Titus
And then we screened the film up on the inside of the tent at night under the starlight. And it was magical. I have seen lots of critters in my day, but it was the first time I saw a flying squirrel with my own eyes and took the hike down through the valley floor and to Buttermilk Falls. And it is exquisite and it is this oasis and it is this reset.

00:30:15:12 - 00:30:41:17
Mark Titus
And, you know, for me that was an incredibly transformational experience. So from one who knows, one who's been there highly, highly recommend as a as a means of waking up and coming into your full potential. Okay. I want to go back to food for a sec. So you did a good job of, first of all, giving huge props to your mom, which she deserves.

00:30:41:19 - 00:31:05:01
Mark Titus
But you've had your own journey through food. Can you describe what the taproot of your passion for food and the kind of food that you love to make is and how that led you to network TV? If you haven't done enough cool stuff and then how that integrates into being an author.

00:31:05:03 - 00:31:40:21
Emma Frisch
Sure, I yeah. So, so much to say. And I get a little vulnerable here and get real because I feel like this is a topic that's important to share. And my twin sister is on a similar journey of, of putting this out there a little more. But food you know, I had this incredible food rich upbringing and then in high school when, you know, people are basically in high school, I became anorexic with my twin, my twin sister.

00:31:40:21 - 00:32:19:09
Emma Frisch
And I like had this kind of secret closet anorexia and food was really shut down for me. And it was a period of time where I really felt like I was comparing myself to others. So I don't know what the word is, but like, suffocated by this body image that I was supposed to live up to. And it took me like, what actually saved me in the end was food, because in order to reacquaint myself with food and also who I was, I had to learn about the roots of my food and and how to prepare it.

00:32:19:09 - 00:32:43:11
Emma Frisch
It was like, you know, it was like everything I had learned, I had sort of shut off and then went to college where, you know, you have dining hall food, which is terrible. And it was really hot. You know, there's no kitchens. So there was like a period of maybe 5 to 7 years where I wasn't really cooking, I wasn't eating healthily, it wasn't taking care of myself.

00:32:43:13 - 00:33:05:14
Emma Frisch
And and then I ended up I had transferred colleges because I wanted to do a degree in architecture and three weeks. And I decided it wasn't for me. And as a friend said, Well, you're always talking about like your mom and Italian food. Maybe you should try this food class. And it was called The Politics of Food. And the first book I read was Fast Food Nation.

00:33:05:15 - 00:33:06:15
Emma Frisch
Have you read that?

00:33:06:17 - 00:33:07:13
Mark Titus
Yeah, I haven't.

00:33:07:13 - 00:33:35:13
Emma Frisch
I got to read it. I did it now. But it was it was you know, it was kind of the beginning of all those books that came out after like Michael Pollan, Zombie Omnivore's Dilemma and so forth. Right. And learning about food and where it comes from was transformative for me. A It reconnected me with who I was and my upbringing and this idea of growing food, but also what I was buying from stores and what I was eating.

00:33:35:13 - 00:33:59:10
Emma Frisch
And not to say that there's good or bad food, but I do kind of believe there is good and bad food. There's what are there's food and there's not food that's packaged as food, let's say that way. And so once I was able to, like, discern that and realize, okay, this is food, this is good food, we are what we eat, I can put this in my body and I will feel good and healthy and strong.

00:33:59:12 - 00:34:35:21
Emma Frisch
And I was able to develop this beautiful relationship with food that really inspired me to keep learning more and to treating my body the way that I would treat the earth, to treating my body as a temple and and so that's, you know, that's carried forward to today because as a mother, I feel like the single most important I can do for my children is teach them how to nourish themselves, because that's like, you know, that's something that you can always carry with you.

00:34:35:23 - 00:35:05:06
Emma Frisch
It's something that you can pass down, it's knowledge that you can share. And, you know, that's manifested in my work in a few ways. I wrote a cookbook called Feast by Firelight, and it's my first book, and it really kind of brings together all these elements. I'm talking about with fire like camps and wild food and cooking over fire, and how, you know, when you jump in and do an obviously, I tell you how step by step, it's very accessible.

00:35:05:08 - 00:35:35:02
Emma Frisch
But when you actually get up the courage to do it, you realize, this is in my bones. This is this is part of who I am as a human. That is probably the single biggest defining factor of a human, is that we cook originally over fire. And so, yeah, I you know, I've always been since I guess since growing up, except for that lapse in time, been like a farm to table girl.

00:35:35:02 - 00:35:53:19
Emma Frisch
And I ended up getting on this show called Food Network Star, which is and seems like a fluke. I had been doing these videos on my blog and a cousin said, You should look into this show an appliance. I don't even have TV. I hadn't seen it. And I was like, All right, I'll check it out. And I ended up getting on.

00:35:53:19 - 00:36:19:08
Emma Frisch
And on episode one, I sit on this apple crate on the Hollywood set announcing to everybody and Bobby Flay and Jada and Alton Brown that I'm farm to table guru. And I was like, really seeing myself as this, like just the person who had to bring this to mainstream America, right? Like people need to know and they just like, totally shut it down right away.

00:36:19:10 - 00:36:37:21
Emma Frisch
And the whole journey of the show for me ended up being about like, like, what's my point of view, right? Like, because they keep asking, what's your point of view? And they're all about gimmicks and how do you fit into this box of the future television show? And I didn't find it until I left the show and opened fire and started cooking over the fire.

00:36:37:21 - 00:37:02:18
Emma Frisch
And that was where the intersection of food, community and the wilds came together. And yeah, and, you know, it was there all along. And it was actually my agent who I befriended through a cast member on the show, saw it and me and kind of pulled it out. He said, you know, you're up. You're up there at your camp cooking over fire, doing these wild food cooking classes.

00:37:02:20 - 00:37:10:19
Emma Frisch
You know, this is like he was able to reflect who I was at my core and kind of pull that out. So, yeah.

00:37:10:21 - 00:37:48:12
Mark Titus
So much good ness in that. All of that. I want to just first of all, acknowledge and thank you for being vulnerable and in so many listening can identify with challenge and struggle and recovery. And, you know, this is a theme that that weaves through my story, as you know. And and this show and and we find ourselves in this unprecedented time as human beings.

00:37:48:12 - 00:38:18:11
Mark Titus
We we I don't think there's a person out there that doesn't either have an issue of recovery of some sort in their own life or in an immediate family member or friend. And I think on a macro level, too, we are looking at a time where we are looking at systems that aren't necessarily working for us the way that maybe they were intended or that the way they should function.

00:38:18:11 - 00:38:48:07
Mark Titus
And that means food systems, that means business systems. I mean, we're still working on a very colonial kind of manifest destiny sort of paradigm here. And and then we've got well, let's go to salmon, because we do on this show every single episode. So we look at systems from Europe to the East Coast, where you are right now, which used to be thriving and abundant with Atlantic salmon.

00:38:48:09 - 00:39:21:22
Mark Titus
And those are all but gone out here on the Pacific side of things. We we have watched this same pattern go time and again. Humans come in, they take what's there, they kind of run roughshod over it and then move on to the next thing. And the salmon suffer. The salmon are this incredible symbol of life regenerating life, but they're also food and they they represent business, they represent culture, they represent spirituality for the people that have been here for millennia before us.

00:39:22:00 - 00:39:54:21
Mark Titus
So you're on the East Coast. You're in this place that once was this thriving, abundant place for wild Atlantic salmon. I'm here in Seattle, a place that's sort of in this purgatorial place. And then there's Bristol Bay, Alaska, and I know through our mutual friends, Elizabeth and Kirk and Steve Kurian and, you know, the the folks from Alaska, you've gotten informed and from our relationship.

00:39:54:23 - 00:40:10:19
Mark Titus
But why from where you're sitting, do you identify Bristol Bay as a as something that deserves to be cared about and and to be protected?

00:40:10:21 - 00:41:00:02
Emma Frisch
Yeah. I mean, well, it's one of the reasons why we held the screening and did a salmon feast with a whole I mean, we had a multi-course menu of products that people sent to us from Alaska as gifts just so that we could share birch sirup and wild salmon and all of these delicacies. And the reason I identify with Bristol Bay and salmon so strongly is because it's one of to me, it feels like, at least in this country, one of the last symbols of everything you're describing, it's tied to like, you know, it's tied to food, it's tied to spirit, it's tied to economy, it's tied to community.

00:41:00:02 - 00:41:12:12
Emma Frisch
It's it's in you can't pull it out. What's that? John Muir quote where like if you pull one thread, you untangle the whole web, right? It's not a but it's a great one and you can.

00:41:12:14 - 00:41:17:05
Mark Titus
Yeah, I remember and I of course I can't I can't comment either. But yes.

00:41:17:07 - 00:42:02:01
Emma Frisch
Find out everything's connected or something. And so salmon is it's just this powerful, beautiful symbol of what we what we might lose and what we can't lose. And there are a few examples, I believe. Tell me if I'm wrong. A few examples in. This country that are still tied to native culture, that are still tied to the wild and pristine areas that have not been ruined in some way or exploited in some way, and that still represent this form of nourishment on so many levels and economic exchange feeding our bodies.

00:42:02:03 - 00:42:29:15
Emma Frisch
And yeah, and if we, you know, we can't stand to lose that, right? If we do, then what's next? And I was listening to this podcast with Daniel for yesterday on Mythic Medicine Stories with Amber Magnolia Hill, and he was talking about how, you know, all these other people and non-human forms like salmon and trees and so forth, are waiting for us to wake up from this bad dream that will destroy that.

00:42:29:17 - 00:43:00:15
Emma Frisch
And so I think salmon are just this beacon, this calling to us. And that's why I wanted to bring salmon to the East Coast so that people can feel that reverence and understanding. Now we live in a world where we can get food from all different places, and that's not working as well anymore, right? So as we move towards depending on the food in our in our own bioregion, salmon shows us how we can do that in a way that is sustained for generations to come.

00:43:00:15 - 00:43:36:08
Emma Frisch
It's been the salmon population has been so incredibly managed. There's a huge community, as you know, better than anyone who's who have come together to protect and work with the species and continue to revere them and really fight for them. So yeah, I could go on and on. You know, there's there are few I would like to learn about more exam polls like salmon, so that I can be a better warrior of all of these these species plants and animals.

00:43:36:10 - 00:44:06:09
Emma Frisch
But I just, I feel like salmon are really at the forefront. Yeah. And as someone on the East Coast without salmon, I, I really appreciate that as a food source. It's really important in our household on so many levels. And so for the foods that we can't get locally, it's important to continue to honor and keep those in existence that that exist and can be, you know, shipped around the world still right.

00:44:06:11 - 00:44:45:05
Mark Titus
And and coming from a regenerative and completely sustainable place like Bristol Bay, which is a whole nother topic. But listen, you are a warrior. You you inspire me with the work that you do daily. And and yet you are human, just as I am human. And we all have doubts and we all have fears and we all have insecurities and all of the things that, you know, hopefully we can continue to work on a daily practice toward freeing ourselves from.

00:44:45:07 - 00:45:13:06
Mark Titus
But, you know, we're we're in this unprecedented time of challenge, I think. And I think, you know, there's a few moments in the last 200 years, World War Two and Civil War. And I mean, we're in we're in that kind of territory. It feels like how what advice would you give for grounding ourselves in this time of unprecedented challenges?

00:45:13:08 - 00:45:28:00
Mark Titus
I know you time away from social media and from the phone. What are some of the other things that are grounding points for you that you can offer us?

00:45:28:02 - 00:46:08:10
Emma Frisch
Yeah. Stepping away from social media was a big one, and it's not easy to do when you're running a business. And I highly recommend everybody tries it because the single most important thing that we can do to actually connect with others is to connect with others in person and. I know that we can't do that on many levels right now with social distancing and whatnot, but there are other forms of doing it writing a letter, having a phone call, going for a walk outside, you know, where you don't have to worry about being in a closed space and just getting back into conversation.

00:46:08:10 - 00:46:30:02
Emma Frisch
I mean, the amount of time we spend on scrolling on feeds is the amount of time it could take to connect with someone authentically every day. So and that's been a hard one for me. You know, I definitely have, as I became a mother, realize that I'm I always thought I was an extrovert, but I was actually just trying to be an extrovert because I was an introvert.

00:46:30:04 - 00:46:48:04
Emma Frisch
And I love being an introvert. And now I you know, I really have to remind myself that doing things like this, you know, connecting with you and having this conversation is going to fill me up for the rest of the day, as opposed to having just sat on my screen here at home and tinkered away at emails or something else.

00:46:48:06 - 00:47:15:06
Emma Frisch
But another one is to just get quiet. And, you know, I try to have a daily meditation practice. It's really not easy with two little kids. I feel like every time I start to get into a flow of waking up half an hour before them, they start waking up half an hour early. There's just this like they know I'm awake and but I really try to take 5 minutes at least every day to just sit and be quiet and listen.

00:47:15:06 - 00:47:51:17
Emma Frisch
And it's what we were talking about, that slowing down and also to be outside, you know, to find a way to just get outside, whether it's for a walk for 10 minutes, you know, short bike ride, sitting on the fire escape, whatever it is. That's incredibly grounding. Just to realize that while things seem on hold or not the same in our daily modern lives, the world outside is still moving in the way that she always has for the most part, right?

00:47:51:17 - 00:48:25:13
Emma Frisch
There's obviously she's definitely crying for help with forest fires and floods and whatnot, and she keeps moving. But the seasons flow, the birds fly. So yeah, I would say that. And then to families and people living with others, one of the practices that we've been really trying to incorporate is after dinner, spending time doing one thing together, and that could be playing UNO, which my daughter's obsessed with right now, or going, You remember that game?

00:48:25:14 - 00:48:32:13
Mark Titus
Are you kidding? We play it all the time with our nephews and nieces. We have massive, sprawling, heated UNO tournaments.

00:48:32:13 - 00:49:03:23
Emma Frisch
Amazing. These little ones is strategic. Yeah. So so that, you know, really taking time to connect. And and again, it all requires an immense amount of effort, at least for me. It does So increments, you know, thinking of one small thing that allows you to slow down and unplug and trying to incorporate that with the habit tracker, like checking off a box every day to see how you're doing and to really build that habit.

00:49:04:01 - 00:49:30:00
Mark Titus
Well, you know, one thing I would add, those are all fantastic and, you know, getting better at those honestly in my own life. And it does take mindfulness to be aware of that and to track those things. One other thing I might add, though, is, you know, in my recovery life and my recovery community is the willingness to ask for help when necessary.

00:49:30:02 - 00:50:02:20
Mark Titus
And that is something that absolutely was anathema to my core being until I came into recovery out of desperation and, you know, I think there's a lot of people that identify with that, that it's just not natural to ask for help. We're we're kind of as a society instructed to go it alone and pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get over it and rub some dirt on it and keep going, you know, and keep moving.

00:50:02:22 - 00:50:23:19
Mark Titus
But it's really helpful when there are people out there who have been there, there are people out there who care and have a huge heart for this and a compassion for other people to offer a prescription for help and for daily living. And I know you're working on a current project, and I don't know how much you can talk about it, but it's I'm certainly excited about it.

00:50:23:19 - 00:50:33:10
Mark Titus
And is there is there anything you can tell us about how this prescription for daily living is now factoring into the current project that you're working on?

00:50:33:12 - 00:51:09:17
Emma Frisch
Sure. Yeah. I love the addition of asking for help. It's so, so hard to do. And as someone who lives for from family, it's something I have to really lean into more. And I'm really lucky to have a group of incredibly amazing sister mamas who who do that for me. So yeah, one of the ways, you know, I'm constantly trying to think of how I can be of service without also overextending myself, because as a parent, our time is limited and I have limited childcare.

00:51:09:17 - 00:51:42:04
Emma Frisch
So, you know, it's part function of COVID and part my desire to spend time with them while they're this little. So one of the things that I love to do, but also kind of fans, my introvert flames is to write and to create recipes. And I am working on a second book project with a dear friend and mother and I, the working title right now is the Seasonal Family Manual Cooking Karen Crafts for Loving and Joyful Connection with Nature.

00:51:42:06 - 00:52:14:14
Emma Frisch
And I'm sure that will change. But this this book is it's a it's follows the the wheel of the year so it's organized by months each month has a general theme and the themes revolve around earthly rhythms that we're all familiar with. So we're not going to be, you know, focusing on commercial or religious holidays. But we will bring in, you know, tapping into Janna and my in particular, our European roots, like the roots of pagan traditions.

00:52:14:14 - 00:52:37:03
Emma Frisch
So it's not a pagan book, but will we'll be celebrating, you know, the solstice harvest festivals, these these moments in the cycle of the earth that we can all identify with and for which there are celebrations everywhere you go. You know, Halloween is reflected in Day of the Dead, the endless Myrtles and in Latin America and so forth.

00:52:37:03 - 00:53:07:16
Emma Frisch
So the book will be we'll have recipes for food. And each month the recipes for body and home care and each month and arts and crafts. And it's geared towards families of kids. And you'll basically be learning in a really practical, easy and fun way, like it's going to be playful. That's that's really the epitome of how to incorporate the wild into your life and in return tender.

00:53:07:19 - 00:53:52:23
Emma Frisch
So it's it's really this idea of for those already in tune with with the seasons and with nature, to just have more to, to work with and for those wanting to be to have this gateway. So yeah, well, you know, we'll see how it evolves and love, you know, I have dreams of being able to offer more around this topic through video and yeah, just continue to like bring these ideas to life and make them really visual and, and bring them into people's homes so that it's content that, you know, children and parents can consume and hopefully enrich their lives.

00:53:53:01 - 00:54:21:09
Mark Titus
Well, we'll keep stoking that fire with that idea of bringing cool content on camera into people's homes, because I agree that's just a natural. And I think if you're listening right now, you would agree that much more Emma is a is a really good idea. You know, one last thought on this time that we're in right now, and especially as a mom, you know, how how do we keep hope?

00:54:21:09 - 00:54:35:21
Mark Titus
What is what is it that we can do to stoke those fires for hope for the next generation? What do you find hope in and can you paint that portrait for us?

00:54:35:23 - 00:55:07:07
Emma Frisch
Okay, Give me a second. Well, having just emerged from the start of spring, you know, I have to go back. I'm going to be a broken record about turning outside for help. You know, we in this part of the world, winter is long and grueling. It starts at the end of September, and it doesn't end until the end the end of April.

00:55:07:08 - 00:55:39:11
Emma Frisch
And Judith Berger is this amazing author and herbalist. And she says she speaks of of winter as this old crone who as she's walking away with spring coming, she looks over her back and cackles and throws another throw storm snowstorm over her shoulder. And they just keep coming until finally spring just dominates and flourishes. And I think that is that's the hope that we can see that no matter what's happening, the sun always returns.

00:55:39:13 - 00:56:05:07
Emma Frisch
It always comes back. And, you know, for those with children or without but with children in their lives and around them, I think, you know, looking to the children is an incredible sense of hope. They you can't squash a child's joy. You know, yesterday was 80 degrees here and we had the sprinkler running and there's screaming and laughing and there's rainbows in the water.

00:56:05:07 - 00:56:23:07
Emma Frisch
And it's just the epitome of childhood. And you can't take that away. So, you know, and no matter what's happening, there's always a way to find a sense of play and joy. And I really think that children and the world outside bring that alive.

00:56:23:09 - 00:56:46:15
Mark Titus
Well, that is a beautiful portrait. And completely resonant, keeping that joy alive. All right. This has been spectacular. We are now going to move into the bonus round. So gird your lines here. I guess I knock on wood as I say this because you've got a brand new house you've just moved into. So this is not my fault if something ever happened.

00:56:46:15 - 00:56:59:14
Mark Titus
So I'm knocking on wood, but let's just pretend for a moment Your house. Your house were on fire. You, you obviously, you get Bobby, you get the kids out. You get any pets out, but you can only take one physical thing. What's that thing?

00:56:59:16 - 00:57:16:18
Emma Frisch
my gosh. So funny because I think about this all the time. And I was just talking to a friend yesterday who lives in a pretty dangerous wild fire zone in California. But I never actually narrowed down the thing that I'm going to take Now.

00:57:16:18 - 00:57:19:14
Mark Titus
You're on the spot so you can you can exercise with.

00:57:19:16 - 00:57:47:08
Emma Frisch
What came up first. And it's definitely out there. It's probably going to be my daughter's baby boxes, which I like, which contains their dried out, spiral shaped umbilical cords. I know. I just said that live. You did? Yeah, I'm going to go with that. You know, the cast a few times will survive the fire, so I'll have those.

00:57:47:10 - 00:57:58:02
Mark Titus
Okay, that's. That's big. And it's definitely not something I have. So that's a brand new answer in this show. Okay, Now let's call it your spiritual house.

00:57:58:04 - 00:57:58:15
Emma Frisch
Okay.

00:57:58:17 - 00:58:08:23
Mark Titus
What are the two qualities about you that make you, Emma, that you would take out of the house? That if you only can take two, you.

00:58:09:01 - 00:58:12:17
Emma Frisch
Can does my whole kitchen gown.

00:58:12:19 - 00:58:25:15
Mark Titus
I'm thinking that be tough in a few scant seconds? It would be tough, but I'm thinking about more about you. Like your spiritual life. Those components, those characteristics about yourself.

00:58:25:17 - 00:58:48:21
Emma Frisch
I've got it in my kitchen. It would be my what I call my apothecary, which includes dried herbs from my mother's garden and seeds from my mom's garden. So that sort of it's like the medicines that I've made and the herbs and spices. And then.

00:58:48:23 - 00:58:58:07
Mark Titus
I'm going to keep pressing you on this spiritual side, like the things about you, like your sense of wonder or your sense of.

00:58:58:09 - 00:58:59:09
Emma Frisch
like not a single.

00:58:59:09 - 00:59:03:20
Mark Titus
Thing, not a physical thing. Okay, we're we're diving deep into the metaphors.

00:59:03:20 - 00:59:06:04
Emma Frisch
How are these right now? This to me beforehand.

00:59:06:06 - 00:59:10:03
Mark Titus
No, this is the fun part about it, actually. You squirm.

00:59:10:08 - 00:59:24:16
Emma Frisch
Okay. I'm the spiritual side. I would say. Yeah. I mean, sense of wonder is a great one. I go with that and my optimism.

00:59:24:18 - 00:59:33:02
Mark Titus
It is infectious. Okay. And lastly, is there one thing that you would leave behind to be purified in that fire?

00:59:33:04 - 00:59:43:16
Emma Frisch
One, I think I would leave behind my shame and guilt.

00:59:43:18 - 00:59:45:16
Mark Titus
Amen. Yep.

00:59:45:21 - 00:59:46:21
Emma Frisch
Goodbye.

00:59:46:23 - 01:00:21:12
Mark Titus
The whole world would be a lot better if we could all do that. Emma, thank you for being so raw and vulnerable and delightful. And we will do this again. There's obviously lots to catch up on. You've got so much going on and it'll be fun to catch up later on down the trail here. But I know you've got a you got a whole bunch of initiatives going on right now, but also I think you have a wi fi under initiative where you are offering people actual investment in your glamping company.

01:00:21:14 - 01:00:24:16
Mark Titus
Is that still going on? And if so, how do people get involved in that?

01:00:24:18 - 01:00:54:11
Emma Frisch
Yeah, that is still going on. Thanks for asking. So we we have an equity crowdfunding campaign, so we're now opening investment and firelight camps up to the open to the public and people can see our campaign video and all the details and financials about our business on we fund mccolm backslash firelight camps for the poor laughs. So yeah, check it out and that'll lead you to firelight as well.

01:00:54:13 - 01:01:06:09
Mark Titus
Cool. Will do. And also, where can folks follow you and your work and what you're up to? Just give us the whole the whole shebang here.

01:01:06:14 - 01:01:34:07
Emma Frisch
Sure are the main places that people can follow my work today are at my website, which is AMA, Fresh Dotcom, and I'm sure you'll put that in the show notes. Right. So I don't think this and there's over 500 recipes there if people want to cook because that's another way to ground right now in these times. Make a meal and also on Instagram at Emma Fresh.

01:01:34:09 - 01:01:42:22
Mark Titus
Awesome And I know there's at least one super killer wild salmon recipe in there. I've had it. It's delicious. What is that one again?

01:01:43:00 - 01:01:45:14
Emma Frisch
Which one is it? The molasses. Pomegranate.

01:01:45:16 - 01:01:47:01
Mark Titus
Okay, so there's at least two.

01:01:47:06 - 01:01:49:15
Emma Frisch
there's like 15 leaves.

01:01:49:17 - 01:01:54:03
Mark Titus
my God, I. I'm partial to the lemon blueberry.

01:01:54:05 - 01:01:56:01
Emma Frisch
the low tide.

01:01:56:01 - 01:02:16:14
Mark Titus
Yeah, exactly. From a feast by firelight, your first cookbook. All right, well, sad as it is, we're going to have to wrap this one up for now, folks. Follow Emma. You won't regret it. And Emma Fresh, thank you so much for joining us today on Save what You Love. And we'll see you on down the trail.

01:02:16:15 - 01:02:23:06
Emma Frisch
Thank you so much for having me. This is so wonderful. Hope you have a delicious dinner tonight.

01:02:23:08 - 01:02:25:13
Mark Titus
Thanks, you two. So long for now.

01:02:25:14 - 01:02:27:03
Emma Frisch
Bye.

01:02:27:05 - 01:02:42:02
Music
How do you save what you love?
How do you save what you love?

01:02:42:04 - 01:03:08:03
Mark Titus
Thank you for listening to save what you love. If you like what you're hearing, you can help keep these conversations coming your way by giving us a rating on Apple Podcasts. You can check out photos and links from this episode at evaswild.com. While there, you can join our growing community by subscribing to our newsletter, you'll get exclusive offers on wild salmon shipped to your door and notifications about upcoming guests and more great content on the way.

01:03:08:05 - 01:03:46:17
Mark Titus
That's at evaswild.com. That's the word Save spelled backwards Wild Tor.com. This episode was produced by Tyler White and edited by Patrick Troll. Original music was created by Whiskey Class. This podcast is a collaboration between Ava's Wild Stories and Salmon Nation and was recorded on the homelands of the Duwamish. People. We'd like to recognize these lands and waters and their significance for the people who lived and continued to live in this region whose practices and spiritualities were and are tied to the land in the water, and whose lives continue to enrich and develop in relationship to the land waters and other inhabitants today.