Daisy Ahlstone

Folks, today I am thrilled to introduce you to Daisy Ahlstone of MycoLore in a very fun Good Folk x Folkwise crossover.

Daisy is a folklorist, cryptozoologist (and legend scholar), eco-philosopher, mycologist, and collective-joy-enthusiast. They're the current director of WiseFolk Productions, producers of the YouTube and Twitch streaming channel Folkwise, which explores the study of tradition non-traditionally through digital content creation, public education, and direct community engagement.

Daisy is also a PhD Candidate at The Ohio State University Comparative Studies Department, studying community, metaphor, and how knowledge forms in everyday life in community with more than humans. They're interested in questions about community formation, systems thinking, and more-than-human community members contributions to the transmission of everyday knowledge.

Daisy collaborates with other folklore-related organizations on outreach and impact projects, including the Western States Folklore Society and American Folklore Society, and is the current digital storytelling editor for the Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network, also known as Liken.

There is so much we can learn when we learn in community, and when we broaden our ideas of what community is. This is a conversation about the importance of a field like folklore, the necessity of community relationships, the need for mutual reciprocity to the landscapes we call home, and the vision of widening our understanding of the futures that are possible.

There is another world out there if only we are willing to look for it. I hope you enjoy this conversation.

Thanks as well to Daisy and Dom for hosting me over on Folkwise to talk environmental folklore, Southern culture and Southern futures, and the importance of creative work in the field of folklore—you can catch up on that episode here.