Our common nature is a musical journey with Yo-Yo Ma and me, Ana Gonzalez, through this complicated country.

We go into caves, onto boats, and up mountain trails to meet people, hear their stories, their poetry, and of course, play some music, all to reconnect to nature and get closer to the things we're missing.

Listen to Our Common Nature from WNYC, wherever you get podcasts.

It's the Splendid Table from APM, American Public Media.

I'm Lynn Rossetto Casper.

In the 1960s, a child asked a question of Buckminster Fuller, the brilliant architect and thinker.

Now, the question was, why does wood burn?

Fuller answered that the tree's leaves absorb the light of the sun and stored it in its trunk as it grew, so that what you see when that wood burns is the sunlight unwinding from the log.

I mean, talk about changing how we see fire.

Well, that idea changed the career of Texas chef Tim Byers.

He writes about it in smoke, new firewood cooking.

Stay with us for this and your calls and lots more, this hour on the splendid table. This is the Splendid table from APM American Public Media,

the show for people who love to eat. I'm Lynn Rosetta, Casper.

Now, we're going to help you take your Weber into a more primal place a little later in the show

with chef Tim Byers. He's author of Smoke, new firewood Cooking. But first, we've been inundated with questions

about gardening and herbs. So we thought we'd address a question right off the bat. We've got

John on the line from Louisville. John, what's up? Hi, Lynn. How are you? I am good. I made the

mistake a couple years ago of planting mint in a raised bed, and it has slowly started to take over.

So I have enormous amounts of mint.

Oh, yeah.

And I'm kind of burnt out on mint and julep.

I understand. I understand.

...