The Long Way Home

Wild Foods Season One Finale

The final episode of Season One of Wild Foods is now streaming nationwide on PBS.

Watch here: Wild Foods on PBS

Eight years ago, this journey began with a question:

What if a food show could be more than entertainment?

What if it could become a platform for environmental stewardship, cultural preservation, food advocacy, economic resilience, and human connection?

This season was built on that belief.

Over the last eight weeks, as season one has begun populating the PBS ecosystem, we’ve watched Wild Foods travel across communities, kitchens, forests, farms, rivers, coastlines, and conversations. But more importantly, we’ve watched people respond with hope. And that hope matters.

Because despite all the noise, division, and fear surrounding our food systems and environment, there are still extraordinary people doing the work the right way — farmers restoring soil, chefs preserving tradition, indigenous communities protecting ancestral knowledge, fishermen stewarding watersheds, and everyday people rebuilding their relationship with nature and food.

Too often, those voices are absent from mainstream media.

Together, we changed that.

And when I say together, I mean it. This show would not exist without the collective effort of hundreds of people who believed in this mission before there was any guarantee of success. Whether you contributed to production, appeared on camera, supported us financially, opened your home or business, shared a story, spread the word, or simply tuned in each week — you are part of this accomplishment.

You helped build this.

As we close Season One, I don’t see an ending. I see a beginning.

The next chapter of Wild Foods is already underway, and now the question becomes:

What do we do with this inspiration?

Maybe it starts small.

Maybe it’s visiting your local farmer’s market once a month.

Maybe it’s thanking a farmer for protecting the land that feeds us.

Maybe it’s planting a garden.

Cooking one meal from scratch.

Taking your kids fishing.

Going for a hike.

Supporting indigenous foodways.

Protecting clean water.

Advocating for small farms and wilderness conservation in your community.

Real change doesn’t only happen through politics or policy. It happens through participation. Through community. Through the choices we make every single day.

And if you’d like to help us continue this work:

- Subscribe to us on Substack for ongoing stories, field notes, behind-the-scenes content, and updates on Season Two.

- Sign up for an advance copy of the Wild Foods Cookbook.

- Share the series with friends and family.

- Consider supporting Wild Foods directly so we can continue amplifying the voices of people creating meaningful change in the world.

The final episode brings us home to Vermont, where we prepare a celebratory feast using many of the wild and regional ingredients we encountered throughout the season. Alongside Chef Zack Baker of Barrow House and Chef Julie Heins of CurATE Café, we created a meal rooted in gratitude, reflection, and celebration.

What better way to honor this journey than gathering around food with the people we love?

A heartfelt thank you to Steven and Lauren Bryant of Church Street Hospitality for believing in this project from the very beginning. Their support, generosity, and commitment to local and sustainable food helped carry this vision forward during some of the most challenging moments of the journey. Their flagship property, The Dorset Inn — the oldest continuously operating inn in Vermont — became more than a filming location. It became a home.

Thank you as well to Renee Marco Wymer, whose tireless work behind the scenes made this finale possible. You’ll also catch her as my dinner guest in the episode.

And to the entire team at Church Street Hospitality over the years: thank you for treating our crew not as clients or guests, but as family.

That spirit is at the heart of Wild Foods.

Because rebuilding our relationship with food and the natural world isn’t just about policy or ideology. It’s about people. It’s about hospitality, trust, stewardship, and finding common ground again. It’s about remembering that some of the most meaningful change begins with simple acts: a warm meal, an open door, a shared table, a handshake, a story.

We are all connected to this living system.

And every one of us has a role to play in leaving this world better than we found it.

From all of us here at Wild Foods — thank you for believing in this vision, for showing up, and for walking this road with us.

Season One may be complete.

But this movement is just getting started.

And please also look for us premiering June 8th on Create TV.

See you in the wild.