Illustrator Rachel Duggan loves BUTTS!

Finding Favorites with Leah Jones

Rachel Duggan, a Milwaukee-based illustrator, loves butts, foxes, and pretty rocks. We sat down to talk about her book All Butts are Good Butts, how she became the wedding butt illustrator and how much she loves finding things in her natural environment.

Follow Rachel online

• RADIllustrates.com
• Instagram @radillustrates
• Tik Tok @radillustrates
• All Butts are Good Butts

Show Notes

• Lion's Tooth bookstore
• What is fool's gold?
• Finding Beach Glass in Milwaukee
• Dune Stinkhorn
• Bob's Burger episode about fungus
• Picture Mushroom app
• Merlin birdsong app

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Rachel Duggan 0:00
Hello, my name is Rachel Duggan and my favorite thing is bots.

Announcer 0:07
Welcome to the finding favorites Podcast where we explore your favorite things without using an algorithm. Here's your host, Leah Jones.

Leah Jones 0:19
Hello, and welcome to finding favorites. It's Monday, July 17. I had such good intentions of getting this to you on Sunday. But I spent the weekend living at the Palmer House Hilton and officiating the wedding of one of my very best friends Dahlia to her now husband, Josh, so I was celebrating and officiating and dancing all weekend. Last summer, I went to a wedding in Ohio, and I was so happy for the couple, but really sad for myself because it's when I was had to use my cane for every step of the day. And I couldn't dance at their wedding. I danced like briefly one song with my friend Brian at that wedding. And it was it was a bummer and this year to be a year later to be able to stand for 30 minutes through the whole ceremony. And then to dance. A number of songs I didn't I couldn't didn't dance the whole night. Can't still safely dance the horror. But to be able to dance to groove is in the heart with my friends and celebrate a wonderful union was really great. Next weekend, July 2021 and 22 in Chicago, the inaugural Chicago Jewish Book Festival, Stacy Agder and who you've met on the pat pat on the podcast is coming up to Chicago to talk about joyfully Jewish romance books making space for that she'll also be going Friday night down to love sweet arrow. So if you are Chicago land romance fan. Stacey Agron is in town doing two events. We're very excited for that. Jonathan Eigg is our keynote on Saturday night. He has a new biography out about MLK. I'll be interviewing bindi Bitterman for a live episode of finding favorites. So I hope that people in Chicago can come and join us. If you're not in Chicago, join us next year for the second annual Chicago Jewish Book fest. And then a couple days after that I leave for Israel. So I will not promise any episodes while I'm gone. But I can come up with one to get out there. If I'm able to edit quickly. My Live episode next weekend. You'll have one more before I go on vacation. But otherwise, I'm gonna let myself take the break and we'll be back to you in August. When I come back from Israel. I'm interviewing I've got three interviews lined up Dan O'Brien, he's a poet and playwright is I'll be jetlag but I'm interviewing him on August 7, so he'll be one of my first interviews back and then a couple more people are on the schedule as well. In this episode once again I tell the my sister and I eating mushrooms that weren't I tell the poisonous mushroom story again on this episode. Mom fact check me last time and said that she did indeed call poison control. And that's how she knew to go get syrup of it. Epic hack for us. She does not believe me that it was cinnamon gummy bear. She thinks we're eating goldfish and goldfish crackers. She double fact check me were invented in 1953. But I really remember those red gummy bears going down and coming back up. So with all that said, a wonderful interview this week with Illustrator Rachel Dugan. She's the author of the book. All butts are good butts. And we have a fun and wide ranging conversation about finding beautiful things out in the world. So without further ado, get your boosters wash your hands, wear your mask and keep enjoying your favorite things.

Leah Jones 4:42
Hello, and welcome to finding favorites, the podcast where we learn about people's favorite things and get recommendations without using an algorithm. I am here today with Illustrator Rachel Dugan. Rachel is the author of the new book all butts are good butts which launched last Last month and is available on all of your favorite book retailers. We'll link to it in the show notes. She is an illustrator based in Milwaukee, you can hire her to come to your wedding and draw booty portraits, which I cannot wait to learn more about Rachel, how are you doing this morning?

Rachel Duggan 5:19
I'm doing pretty good. I'm doing pretty good. How are you?

Leah Jones 5:23
I'm good. I'm good. We had a little bit of cowboy my cat infused drama, at the kickoff where he always comes to visit during a podcast. And this time he knocked my water over onto my work computer, but all seems dry. So that was like equivalent to five cups of coffee. So your book, all bets are good buts came out I think was it earlier in June or in May?

Rachel Duggan 5:49
It was in early May, in early May.

Leah Jones 5:52
How did I'm I assume you have been interviewed about this every time. But how did you come to be the booty portrait illustrator?

Rachel Duggan 6:03
That's I mean, it's a good question. Because even when asked I, it's hard to remember. It's hard to think back to that pivotal moment where things changed. And that became my thing. But many, many years ago, probably close to 10 years ago, I was living in Chicago and I had a full time job, but I really loved drawing and I went to art school for drawing and I started just telling people, I could do things. And that did Hey, can I pop up in your space and draw people and I did. I did like paranormal portraits where I drew people as aliens. Sorry, my dog just scratched her eyeball and I'm like no, because Oh no, she's had a cornea issue. And I'm like, for the love of God dog. Something's wrong. Something's going on with the pets today. I think

Leah Jones 7:04
I'll check the astrology when we hang up something is certainly in the air. So yes,

Rachel Duggan 7:09
going back. Many years ago, I just pitched myself to do weird things, including drawing bots. Like at the time, I was like, drawing my friends and family pet bots, that sort of thing. And I would post them online and through people. I mean, this is like early days Instagram people. Yeah, like, I love this or this is a fun idea, or would you do me? How would this work? So then I started going out into the wild and doing it at events and the response was so positive that I felt like Okay, I think I'm onto something here. I think people people like this so I should continue to do it and get better at it. And so then fast forward to now that's yeah, what I what people mostly know me as an i I'm more than a butt but I do love butts so it works out well.

Leah Jones 8:10
And all bets are good butts. Celebrate your derriere with booty, affirmations, astrology, tushy, trivia and much more. Embrace your behind flaws, farts, and all with historical high knees, celebrity cabooses self care and more fun facts. And this little book of booty body acceptance. How is the reception been?

Rachel Duggan 8:36
It's been really good. It's gone. I mean, I'll say this is the first time I've ever made a book or published book. So for me just having it happen. Like, the whole time I was pinching myself kind of like, oh, this might not work out or might they might not actually print the book. You never know. Yeah. So the fact that it is real, and it has come full circle to where books are for sale, wherever. And I've been able to physically, you know, hold my books and go to a bookshop and see my book. It's it's just such a cool feeling. It's a surreal feeling. And most, most of the response that I've seen is positive. I've had a few people who were like, this isn't for kids. And I'm like, it's it's a book that I drew with a few swear words in there. So Right. But then other people are like, my kids love it. So yeah, yeah, yeah, it's been it's been an interesting ride, that's for sure.

Leah Jones 9:43
Nice. Were you able to have any, any in person book launches or Zoom like virtual book launches to celebrate the launch? Yes, yeah.

Rachel Duggan 9:54
I had a local party in here in Milwaukee at a an indie bookshop called Lion's tooth bookstore. And they're awesome. It's like a great comics bookstore. It's owned by two women. And I didn't know what to expect with that either having done so many events, but never doing anything book related, but it was so much fun. It was awesome. It was so cool to see people show up and want to pick up a copy of the book. We did a quick q&a, which was nice. And family and friends came out from Chicago and Madison. And yeah, it was just an awesome way to kind of close the chapter not close it, but it kind of the cherry on top and then the book will just continue on in in the world. However it will.

Leah Jones 10:55
Yeah. How long did it from initial concept and pitching to publication? Was that like, a two year or five year? What was that process for you?

Rachel Duggan 11:13
I am still shocked by how it all came together. So I actually did not have a pitch for this book. I didn't have anything drafted. I was approached by a publisher, because they saw someone else's tick tock about me. I did Wow. Yeah, the power of the internet, you know, like, I like to dog on the internet quite a bit. But there have been some really magical moments that have occurred that were Yeah, totally out of my hands because I happen to be at an event where an influencer from DC was in town and then shot videos of me drawing and I had no idea at the time like that they were going to post it or what Sure. And and it on Tik Tok ended up going viral like 4 million views. I woke up with like, my phone on fire. Just I was just like, whoa, who is this person? I didn't see anything like what's happening and a bunch of sales on my my shop, which was so cool. And then yeah, publisher contacted me. And I thought, this is spam. This is a fake email, right? But they were like, we want to have a meeting with you and like, talk to you about, like any ideas you could have or would have for a book. And so I took the meeting and they were like, we loved what we saw of what you do on tick tock, would you be willing to do a book about bots? And I was like, Sure. And so fortunately, I have such a long history of drawing bots and like, but related content. So yeah, I was able to very easily pull from that and like, have an idea from where to start. How to like, you know, go through different sections of the book and like new drawings, old drawings, just kind of piecing it together. So I only had five, like five and a half months to complete the book.

Leah Jones 13:20
Oh, yes. Yeah.

Rachel Duggan 13:23
And

Leah Jones 13:26
so it was an adrenaline.

Rachel Duggan 13:28
Yes, yes. Especially because I already had like, a ton of weddings booked. I had my summer events booked. I had workshops. I didn't, it wasn't like, oh, in the future. I'm going to do this. So I'm going to block off time. Like I had already committed to a lot of stuff. So right. I did, I created the book while being incredibly busy at work, which I do not recommend. I definitely had plenty of nervous breakdowns just feeling overwhelmed by commitments. It's a good learning lesson of just like, what the opportunity came and I wasn't going to say no. So it was all worth it in the end. But it was it was a roller coaster creating that in a small amount of time.

Leah Jones 14:16
Yeah. Yeah, I can imagine how draining it is because your workshops and pop ups and weddings are you're not sitting behind a table selling your your merchandise you're actively drawing or teaching or leading. Yeah, it's it's you're in a much more active role for for everything you sell, right? You're not You're not at a craft. You're not. You're not selling postcards at a craft show.

Rachel Duggan 14:49
Yes, thank you for saying that because I sometimes I feel like Wow, man, what's wrong with me? Why can I handle this better? Why can't it but it is like that where you know I have in the past before I started doing live drawing, I would just have my merchandise laid out and I would sit back and doodle to myself. And if someone wanted to buy something, run the transaction and right. But it's a totally different ballgame where I'm performing it feels very performative. I'm also an introvert. So I have to really put on like, my act, not acting, it sounds bad to say acting, but you know, I have to really like, psych myself out. Yeah, to feel comfortable. Being on for so long and making sure people are feeling like, good and excited and noticed and keep the train moving forward. Yeah, it's it's a it's a big undertaking for me, mentally and physically. Yeah. And that's why I typically do it for like short amounts of time. Because it's like such a burst of energy.

Leah Jones 16:04
Yeah, I am also an introvert who had a facilitation business. Okay, so I would go in and I'd facilitate a workshop or for one or two days, and then I would need to lay on the couch for one or two days. You know, yes. Because you're like, synthesize, you're taking in all this information from people you're synthesizing you're like moving everybody along. And I enjoy facilitation because I'm, but I'm good at it. But also, I like being in a group where I have a defined role. So I think being the person who draws butts at a party, fantastic. Like you have your your conversation has already started. You don't have to do small talk. You don't like the introduction? Is there? The reason is there. Yeah. But I can just imagine the end of the night. I would just want to lie on my couch and scroll tick tock for two hours or seven.

Rachel Duggan 17:04
Yeah, totally. You get it? You so yeah, yeah, it's it is just like that. Or I'm like, I just can't talk for a few hours or next day. I can't be around people. I just need to really decompress.

Leah Jones 17:20
Yeah. So I'm curious, when somebody hires you for a wedding? Are you like clipboard and hand mingling, or to people? Are you at a station and people come to you and you draw and pass out the the the post the illustrations?

Rachel Duggan 17:37
Yeah, I, I'm in a station, I basically have my spot. I have a very minimal display, but I have signage, and sometimes guests know that I'm going to be there. And other times people have no idea and are just like, Wait, what is happening? But either way, people get really excited because it's unexpected. And I'm essentially like a photo booth. But I'm a human person who raise drawing on the spot. It's very instant gratification while still being custom. And yeah, like handmade like something. Yeah, like something that's handmade. And because my drawing style is so simple. And I've been drawing bots for so many years, that only takes a couple of minutes per but and depending on what people are wearing. It's kind of fun to get some of those details in there as well. But at weddings, especially. It's like a feeding frenzy where people are like, Oh my God, you know, and it's just like storming the zone. And then there's a big line and it's back. It's like the work is like start to finish. There's no breaks basically. Yeah, I'd say it's a busy, busy business for me, but I'm there.

Leah Jones 19:07
How fun and then people just they take them home, right? Like yeah, yeah,

Rachel Duggan 19:11
they take them home and enjoy them right away. They don't have to wait for anything. So that's that's cool too for me because I don't have to scan them or digitize anything. It's like it's a piece of paper. It's like it's yours. Now. You can trim it. You could put it on the fridge. You can do whatever you want with it.

Leah Jones 19:30
Yeah, that is it's cuz I've done. I've hired like the photo magnet guy, right? Like takes photographs. And then there's the magnet board on the way out. That's a very, like Jewish summer camp. Hire I think. And I'm going to a wedding. I'm officiating a wedding in a couple of weeks where they hired a magician. Oh, that's cool, close up magic and work the reception doing close up magic, which I'm very excited for too. So I just, I think you You have such a fun and different offering. That's it's nice. It's different than a REIT, like photo booths start to feel like very same, you know? And so

Rachel Duggan 20:13
yeah, and once you go to once people start getting married a lot, and you go to all your friends wedding, most of them have a photo booth or they did for I mean, I feel like when I went to weddings, like pre COVID, I feel like every single one I went to, yeah, there was a photo booth. And now I feel like there's just been more variety, which is kind of cool, different experiences. But it feels it feels cool to be able to offer something that is unique. And regardless of the guests, like the type of guests you have, I've had people who are older generations, I've had kids, I've had everybody in between and for even people who were like scared and watching from afar with, you know, like, uncertain yeah, by the end of the night, they're in line and they're like, Oh, I saw the other ones you drew and it made me feel better that of what you were up to. So I really want to participate. So it's kind of cool to see different types of people react to it and and knowing that it's all about like, feeling good and having it be consensual I'm not like drawing people's butts without permission. Like if you want to come over if you're not feeling it, I totally get it

Leah Jones 21:25
but and you're not a caricature artists who finds like your finds and exaggerates your your biggest insecurity, like that's also not what you're doing. Totally, totally.

Rachel Duggan 21:38
And you know, like, when people see someone doing live drawing their minds often go there because they think oh, you're making a joke, or you're exaggerating features and no, yeah, it's not me I'm I'm thinking for me to want to go up in front of a stranger and turn around and have your butt facing them, like having them stare and draw like it's a it's a very vulnerable position to be in and I think it I take a big it's a big responsibility for me, because I don't want anyone to feel like I'm laughing or I'm roasting them or Yeah, like trying to make anyone feel worse than they already do. Just I say that because we're all human and we all are so hard on ourselves regardless of what we look like. And so I don't want to I don't I really don't want to contribute to people's health perceptions. I want to contribute in a good way. Not a bad way.

Leah Jones 22:45
Huh? Outstanding so the book all bets are good buts available now. We'll link to it a link to the bookshop link. But people in Milwaukee go to lions to bookstore were ordered from them online or anywhere else you can get the book online if people order from lions tooth, or do they have signed copies?

Rachel Duggan 23:09
Um, they they did I don't know if they have any more. But I'm always I told them I'll I'll come in at any point and sign more books before you ship them out. Or if people want to buy in from there, but But yeah, or better yet, request it with your local indie bookshop. Let them know Yes, buy my book and then they'll get a copy or two and maybe other local people wherever you are will pick it up in Yeah. Yeah. In my

Leah Jones 23:39
neighborhood that is either the bookseller or women and children's first. Yeah, I'm equal distance to two great. Actually three unabridged, I think is an inner Seville to so many indie bookstores on the north side these days yeah.

Leah Jones 24:08
So Rachel, your book is what gave us the reason to meet. But you're also here to talk about your your favorite thing, which is probably the closest to the title of this podcast I've ever come, which is finding things.

Rachel Duggan 24:22
Yes. Yeah.

Leah Jones 24:25
So you you'd sent me a list. That was rocks, fossils, beach class, foraging mushrooms, finding animals. And and you said Well, the thing really what they all have in common is is that you're finding things out in the world. Yes, yeah. I'm curious. If you time traveled to being a little Rachel, were you a kid who was always bringing treasures and from like the yard

Rachel Duggan 24:59
Yeah, Ah, yeah, especially rocks, rocks were have always kind of been my thing where I would find ones that I thought were interesting or unique and bring them inside. And then later realizing maybe they're just rocks. Or maybe I'm like, maybe I should pick a favorite and not be, you know, bringing in all of these rocks and having jars and boxes of them like a hoarder. I've gotten better. I've gotten more specific as I've grown older. Yeah, I have always been kind of like, searching, searching on the ground is I go looking up in the sky, like trying to find things in my environment, like, I'm definitely an observer. Wherever I go,

Leah Jones 25:51
yeah. And with a dog, you're, you know, I'm a cat person. So cats, man, I never have to leave my house. But a dog does mean you have to leave your house and go on walks. And yes, and I feel like gets you into your environment a little bit more.

Rachel Duggan 26:09
It's so true. It's such a nice excuse to go explore. Because it's obviously beneficial for her. But it's great. It's great for me to to get out of the house, especially working from home and being so isolated as like an employee have one on my own boss, like, I don't have any co workers. So um, yeah, I look forward to my time outdoors. And whether it's like an early morning stroll, or mid day or later on, there's just always, always new things going on. And I pride myself in paying attention to some of those things where I think people have different types of personalities. And some people, you know, are totally oblivious, like a really, like a hawk could swoop down in front of somebody, and they wouldn't even notice. And then I'm like, oh my god, I can see, you know, that really excites me to be able to pick up on things that are going on. Nice.

Leah Jones 27:26
So I'm just I'm gonna, let's Well, let's start with rocks. You said you've gotten better about not keeping all of them? I feel like once I got to Chicago, and I had a year where I moved three times in a year I I feel like that's when some of those for me, those collections that I started say like, Okay, do I need what am I doing? But I'm curious about your rock collection today? Or? Or what are what are things you look for? And rocks? Are there? Are you like, collecting all of a particular shape? Is there a type of stone you like? Do you now like limited only to vacation rocks? What's your rock status?

Rachel Duggan 28:16
Good question. I It's funny, because I've been releasing old rocks back into the wild. I'm at that stage where I'm like, Does this bring me joy anymore? You know, like, but what does excite me and what I still do collect are fossils. I find fossils all the time. It's kind of like one of those things where once you find one, it becomes very addictive. And you start noticing patterns on on rocks and stones that you're like, Well, you did that, you know, Coral Castle, or Honeycomb, coral or? Yeah, all sorts of like crinoids are really common in around like Michigan. And so yeah, and in recent years, the only the only stuff I'll take home is if I find a cool bottle and I even throw some fossils back. And I'm like, it's not that big of a chunk or it's not that impressive. I have other ones at home that are more impressive than I'm like, Yeah, even maybe someone else will find it or it'll just turn into dust at some point. That's okay. Yeah. But fossils, I do have quite a few. And I just am amazed that they exist in on beaches that are, you know, full of garbage or heavily trafficked. And I meet a lot of people who are like, I've never found one and I'm like, all you got to do is find your first one and you'll find more you just have to identify those characteristics. And if you if you want it, there's plenty more to be On so yeah,

Leah Jones 30:00
yeah, I remember the gravel on our playground growing up had fossilized beads in it just like mixed in with the pebbles. And so, or at least we thought they were fossilized beads. Maybe they were a type of an animal too. But yeah, we would sit under the monkey bars and like go through the pebbles on the playground looking for beads looking for fossilized speeds.

Rachel Duggan 30:31
That's cool. Yeah, it's awesome.

Leah Jones 30:34
Yeah, I don't think playgrounds use pebbles as much anymore for the soft landing.

Rachel Duggan 30:43
That's true. Now I think that's like rubber. Right? They do. Weird like melted tire.

Leah Jones 30:48
Yeah. Yeah. Now that the decision makers are people with rocks permanently embedded in their knees? Yeah. They must be the switch.

Rachel Duggan 30:58
Yeah, yeah.

Leah Jones 31:00
And a long side of the fossils. On the beaches in particular is are those the same beaches where you're finding the beach glass?

Rachel Duggan 31:10
Yes, yeah. And that that's another area that I'm like, super excited about because one, it's technically trash. So it feels good, like removing it from the environment. And there's a lot of it, there's so much of it. It can be so disguised when it's white, or like, clear, but then because of all the sand tumbling, it almost has like a whitish more opaque look to it. And so it's very gratifying when you find that and you realize though, it's not it's not just like a white pebble or stone it's actually a class or a greens and blues can be really nice. And I've even found like red before Wow, really cool and purple like some weird stuff where I'm like, Oh, is this like was this used to be like a vase or some clear glass but with really pretty color? It's so interesting to like, consider all the possibilities of where something came from and how old it is. And you might just have a tiny shard but it's very gratifying to find and so now I have jars full of so many jars full of beach glass and I want to do something cool with it. I want to look at it all I'm like I should make my coffee table top be all beach glass or do I totally cool Yes, I really I've been I have so much of it that I could really do something exciting like mosaic wise with it I'm just intimidated because I don't want to destroy the beach glass or destroy a table

Leah Jones 32:57
right you could test it out with like a coaster.

Rachel Duggan 33:02
Yeah, exactly. I should do that because I do have I have like lesser beach glass to write about it in like variations of ones that I can really you know I could really part with and then other nicer specimens that I'm excited about. But what Yeah, it's cool. It's like it's interesting when I look at how much I've collected and it doesn't really I'm like did I collect all this? Geez You know, like I feel like the pandemic I really dialed it up where I was a pockets full of beach glass every day and yeah, collecting a lot so

Leah Jones 33:43
what are the typical sizes that you're finding

Rachel Duggan 33:48
it really varies and it's honestly dependent on what beach I'm at so some like I live in Bayview and Milwaukee which is on the south side of the city but if you go even further south to cut or hay or South Milwaukee for whatever reason there's beaches there with less people visiting them and especially seasonally I would say spring into a winter into early spring you can find the best beach glass because there's less people out and because of whatever with the waves it just like up more and you yeah I found I've found chunks that are like as big as my hands like swallow some with words on it like Milwaukee I found with like, like it's cool. Milwaukee something I don't even know glass company or and then yeah, a lot lots of smaller ones but I I usually try to just pick up the bigger pieces since the small ones are a bit more annoying to grab

Leah Jones 35:00
All right. Yeah. annoying to grab annoying to get out of your pocket.

Rachel Duggan 35:04
Yeah, just ends up staying in there and like scratching my iPhone at some point.

Leah Jones 35:09
Yeah. Do you have a sense of? How old any of them? Are these are these like, five year old pieces of glass that glass is? Are there ways of aging it? Or is it just it's beautiful. And it is?

Rachel Duggan 35:29
Yeah, I don't know.

Leah Jones 35:31
I don't know.

Rachel Duggan 35:32
I don't I wonder if there is. I definitely I have found pieces of glass that. Like I mentioned with like the writing on it where I like these types of things aren't being made right now? I don't know. Yeah, it has, like, whether it's the font, or, you know, just like knowing that glass isn't as common. Right? products, especially like larger scale things. Everything Yeah, stick now. Or? Yeah, just minimal, minimal new glass in terms of with writing on it and things but but yeah, I'm definitely no expert in rocks, fossils or glass. I'm more of just like, oh, this is cool. I'm gonna Yeah, keep it in look at it. But I thought I thought maybe I would I have books and things that sometimes I'll crack open if I'm trying to identify something. But yeah, it's more for just the fun and like luck of finding it. Yeah. Than studying it. Yeah. That's, that's,

Leah Jones 36:46
that's cool. And do you when you're out on the beaches? Do you say to yourself, oh, today's a beach glass day, or today's a rock day or you just find the pretty things you find? And you're ambidextrous, that's the wrong word.

Rachel Duggan 37:05
I know what you're saying. Yeah. I usually I'm just like, open to whatever will happen. Because once I, my eyes are like pretty well trained now to just find things. So whatever, shows itself to me. Yeah, you know, I kind of go for that, like, some days are more neat rocks, like, I'll just be in awe of like, wow, today's a really good rock day. I didn't come here looking for rocks necessarily. Same thing with fossils, or the beach glass. But yeah, and then sometimes it's just a little bit of everything. And sometimes it's just like one thing, like, I'll find a hunk of fool's gold and a rock. And I'll just be like, Whoa, this is so cool. And like, that's all I find for the day, but it still feels really special and neat that I found a little bit of treasure. Yeah.

Leah Jones 38:04
I haven't thought about fool's gold in a long time.

Rachel Duggan 38:07
Yeah, I thought it was real. I found it like three times before. And I lost my mind the first time thinking, right, it was gold. And then yeah, I had posted it and someone's like, you have to do a street test. And I thought, oh, man, I was so convinced this was gold, you know? But then it was cool. It was fun to like, actually do a street test and see that what color the line was, and then I'm like, Okay, it's fool's gold. It's not real. I enjoyed that little moment of thinking I found gold along you know, like Michigan, but the fool's gold honestly, pretty much equally as cool because yeah, it's just neat. It's so

Leah Jones 38:48
nice to look at.

Rachel Duggan 38:49
Totally and just cool because if you you know, it's not um, it's not like finding like a big gold thing. It's like a rock that's pretty unassuming looking with a little bit of like, gold feature on it. So yeah. So yeah, that's that was really cool. And just like another reminder that I can find things that I don't expect necessarily like that day, I didn't set out looking for it and yet, I found some and then I found more since then.

Leah Jones 39:22
Nice. Um, how about foraging mushrooms?

Rachel Duggan 39:29
Yeah.

Leah Jones 39:32
I'm, so I grew up in Indiana. And so we've certainly had seasons where we've gone out Morel hunting. Okay, cool. So and also, I've told the story on the podcast before. After my sister and I had gone Morel hunting with her dad. We were walking around the block eating cinnamon gummy bears, and found some toadstools that were like, great. They're mushrooms and we sat down, we ate them, and they weren't not for human consumption. Oh no. So our mom got syrup it capac ippa CAC and made sure that it didn't kill us both.

Rachel Duggan 40:13
Oh, that's really scary Marsha, it was really scary. Yeah.

Leah Jones 40:19
But luckily we had been eating the cinnamon bears. So she knew that she'd gotten everything out because we had just had red gummy bears. Okay, so it was like a clear marker. And then I was I was off mushrooms for probably 15 years but now I love them again. So I'm curious what what is foraging mushrooms like up in Milwaukee?

Rachel Duggan 40:46
It's pretty good. I mean, it's hit or miss. However, the first time I found one and then I saw one I mean my fear of mushrooms is very real. I think you have to have a healthy respect and fear for mushrooms before you go eating them because there are so many poisonous mushrooms and there's a lot of look alike species that if you just assume which I've actually found I found morels before but I also have found a dune stink horn I don't know if you've heard of those. No,

Leah Jones 41:23
I know it's a really cool demon.

Rachel Duggan 41:25
I know dune stink corn is a very similar to Morel looking. I believe that if you were to cut it, it wouldn't be hollow which is like one of your greatest things with a morale you cut it and then you look and it's like a hollow shaft. Okay. But the dune stink horn I was like eyeing it. It was in someone's yard like their front yard. And I thought there's like one Morel there wonder if they know, blah, blah, blah. Then Upon examining it closer, and I have like a mushroom app where I scan, like, I take three different photos like you do a top aside bottom. And you know, the whole app is like don't eat anything you find based on what we say just because they don't want to be liable for someone getting sick. But it is a good app to use when you're out hiking or walking around. And you're like, is that what I think it is? And then I was like, Well, this is a dune stink horn. This is not a morale. Yeah, so that was a good reminder of just don't uh, you know, like, it's easy to get really excited. But there's so much nuance with mushrooming and I've only Well, I guess I've also found chicken of the woods those Yeah. Mushrooms before, and like a huge amount of them on a tree growing off of a tree, which was awesome.

Leah Jones 42:56
There's a real episode of Bob's Burgers about chicken of the woods. Oh,

Rachel Duggan 43:00
really? Yeah, I should watch. What's

Leah Jones 43:03
a really, you know, there's like mobsters involved in it like the Farmers Market mob like via Aha, and they're all out mushroom hunting. And then it's a great episode.

Rachel Duggan 43:16
Okay, I'll look it up.

Leah Jones 43:17
Yeah. What is the what is the app called your mushroom app?

Rachel Duggan 43:23
That's a good question here. Let's take a look. Picture mushroom, that's what I use. It's just called Picture mushroom. Okay, and it's kind of cool too because then I can actually go through and look at all of the mushrooms that I've snapped pictures of Yeah, so it's it's nice because it's all there rather than just in your massive catalog of photos and trying to piece together the mushrooms so yeah, and yeah, there's different wooded areas in Milwaukee that I go to that have higher concentrations of mushrooms but also Yeah, it's again like once you start noticing them like I noticed them in my neighborhood. I've seen them in my alley. They come back You know often in the same area Yeah which is so cool. So it's like once you find them in a certain patch or park then go back the Yeah, their peak time a year and see what's brewing.

Leah Jones 44:25
And then when you when you found those chicken chicken of the woods is that what it's called?

Rachel Duggan 44:34
Yes, because there's hen of the woods but there's also chicken of the woods and the chickens are more yellowish like gold color. And the hen of the woods. Mushrooms I believe are a little bit more reddish.

Leah Jones 44:47
Okay, so when you found them, did you forage and cook with them? Or did you say Haha, I found them I could eat them, but I'm gonna pass

Rachel Duggan 45:00
I, I struggled I saw them and I was like, this is such a good find. And I'm so excited because there's so meaty. They're really such an amazing mushroom. Right? So then I did return back with a knife and with a paper bag and I did cut off some I left some on the tree so that way I didn't like completely remove it. Yeah. But this is embarrassing to admit, I was very grossed out by them when they were just chilling in my house. I was like, mushrooms are aliens because the bag started. It got like, like grease. Mm hmm. Because things were happening. Obviously, they're living things and then when they are like releasing their spores, uh huh. And I was just like, I had some regret. I was like, Maybe I shouldn't have picked these. I still ate them. But I don't have like a deep fryer and I didn't like properly cook. Yeah, like the way a restaurant is gonna give you like chicken nuggets. But, um, but they it was it was a weird experience having them because with morels whenever I've found morels, I even if it's like to I'll prepare them right away. I just like, tear them and eat them. I don't just like let them hang out. I had those other ones in my kitchen for a while. And I was pretty weirded out by what was going on. And I'm like

Leah Jones 46:43
I you know, next time I say the continued activity of the chicken. Yeah.

Rachel Duggan 46:47
So I was like, You know what, I think I might just let these guys continue on in the woods or on their tree and just leave it leave it for nature or somebody else who's gonna enjoy them more?

Leah Jones 46:58
Yeah. That's really interesting. Yeah, I mean, at some level mushrooms are sort of like the octopus of the plant

Rachel Duggan 47:07
world. Right? Yes. Yeah. They really are incredibly smart, sophisticated, mysterious things. And yeah, the more I've learned about them and how they like, communicate and work with tree networks and decomposition and their spores, yeah, it's there's like, there's some weirdness going on there that I'm like, it's not as appetizing in some ways, yeah.

Leah Jones 47:53
And then, then you also have finding animals?

Rachel Duggan 47:58
I do. Yes. Well, I'm so excited because I have a family of foxes living behind me right now. And I see them every single day. I feel so beyond lucky. I'm trying to savor this time period, because I know it's not going to last right? But I have close encounters with foxes every single day and I'm just in awe of how beautiful and wild they are. But then they've adapted I mean, they've forcibly adapted to urban environments, right? But I mean it's it's three pups and a mom and I've had two pups while I'm walking my dog two pups run right by us playing the mom stop and look at me and my dog approach us slightly not in a scary way but in a serious way. I I've seen the foxes on the roofs of my neighbor's garage garages that I'm just like in the kitchen making coffee and I look out the window and I see foxes on roofs I'm just like, This is so cool. I feel like I have to pinch myself because in the prior to this period of time where they decided to make a den behind my house. I I once saw Fox I saw a fox once in western far western Illinois on cabin friend trip once and we're all losing our minds looking out the window just like I can't believe we can see a fox right now. It's so rare to see a fox. Yeah. And I kind of thought that I would never see one again unless I was Staying in like a very wooded area similar to what had happened before. So having this completely different, like very close, common sighting? Yeah. It's, it's so cool. It's so cool. And I'm just all the time watching out for them and that they're different times a day. They're different activities paying attention to other animals that are interacting with them. Yeah. And also, you know, seeing how like my dog is like, watching or barking or like looking at these wild animals. It's, it's super cool.

Leah Jones 50:39
Oh, that is so neat. And you're getting to watch the pups grow up over the summer.

Rachel Duggan 50:46
I am and I get I mean, it's like, I'm so attached because I'm constantly worrying about the pups like, yeah, are the pups or are they okay? Are they eating? Okay? Are they like, you know, cuz there's, there's so much on the line, it's so hard, right? Luckily, there are a lot of small critters around here that they're able to survive and thrive. But, um, you know, there's a lot of cars like there's every night I think, oh my gosh, they're crossing really busy streets and people drive. And they're not looking for any, they're not like watching for wild animals or thinking about, yeah, driving cautiously. I feel like people in general just don't really drive cautiously anymore. So just the concern of that, or even someone calling it in to, you know, the city or having them relocated or rereleased somewhere else? And

Leah Jones 51:47
yeah.

Rachel Duggan 51:48
You know, it hasn't come to that. Yeah, I've talked with many of the neighbors, they're all aware of what's going on, people are being very aware with their cats and their pets and things. And, you know, there's just like an acknowledgment that we've pushed out our wildlife because of us taking over a lot of their land and that they have to adapt and they have and even if it's a sliver of green grass and trees that they're like this, this is going to work for now. So

Leah Jones 52:20
yeah, so do they burrow like do they do?

Rachel Duggan 52:25
Yeah, they have a den they have a den and it's it's really funny because there's just like, one day there was a mound of dirt outside of this kind of sloped, wooded area behind our house. And we didn't we're like, oh, maybe the people who live next to that are going to do something they're doing landscaping things. And then it was like every day that the the dirt was changing. And then there was a really deep hole that we were like, Ah, I don't think that's a raccoon or I don't think that's a pom pom it just started evolving and then we would start having sightings where the fox or multiple boxes would be standing above the hole and digging or bringing things there there would be lots of carnage lots of blood and stink and you know, carcasses things going on to where we were like holy crap, there's, there's like, we need like a game camera. I really want to I wish I could see what they were up to all the time. Because it's like a nature show hands. Yeah, behind us. But yeah, little by little, we started noticing things and kind of picking up on what was going on. Or even crows like the neighborhood crows, right? So angry at the foxes that during like between the 5am to six an hour, the crows will just come and squawk at their den and I think it's because they're mad that they don't have any stuff to eat these days. Because the crows used to pick up anything that was like dead or Uh huh, small stuff and the crows we'll just call those there'll be right outside there and just wow, it just like the inner workings of things going on where before I heard that I just be like, Oh, what are the crows doing blah, blah, blah, but it's like no, there's like territorial stuff going on here. And these foxes have efficiently taken over this whole area that you know, other animals were depending on small critters and or even just like trash or things that you know end up being out that animals do, right. These foxes are cleaning up the neighborhoods so yeah.

Leah Jones 54:54
That's I'm sad for the crows but happy for you.

Rachel Duggan 54:58
I know it's hard It is hard because it really highlights how brutal nature is, in every sense, because even in our backyard, I have had so many like, I don't even know if it's called litters of bunnies. So many bunnies call our yard a home. And luckily we have like a very fenced off yard. So the foxes have found a way to come in yet. But, you know, we find dead bodies all the time by the den. And it's heartbreaking because I love my baby bunnies. And I just Yeah, buddy to like live in happiness together. But I realized that that's just not how it works.

Leah Jones 55:45
Yeah, yeah, we've had a lot of I live across the street from a big park. And so bunnies on this side of the this neighborhood in Chicago are everywhere. And last night, I was just sitting or a couple nights ago, sitting in the in the lawn and watching this rabbit just, it just jumped out from from its den, or wherever it typically lives. And it was looking at me and it was like, Oh, am I scared of you or not. And I would run up the gangway and then run back and then run into the bushes and then run back out in the yard. And just like couldn't quite decide where like where it wanted to hang out. But it's real active. And so I only I'll take my cat out. He'll come and hang out in the yard with me for some enrichment time. But he's not a hunter. He's always been an indoor cat who just, you know, likes to smell the garden. And then he'll see if he when he sees a rabbit or a rat Hill, you know, instinct kicks in, but he doesn't know what to do with the instinct. So he'll just like he's never caught anything, thank God. Or gotten even close, because he just he thinks it's going to be a toy. So when it keeps moving, he's very confused.

Rachel Duggan 57:11
That's, that's really cute. It's kind of with my dog. She likes to chase. But she's Yeah, she's like a collie mix. So it's more about the herding aspect than it is about actually catching and she's never, she loses interest pretty quick. She's like, like into it. And then she just is like, even from the fox. Sometimes we'll see the fox in the morning. She'll look. And then she'll just be like, hey, I want to sniff over here. And I'm like, Fox right here. It's amazing. And she's like, data yesterday. It's fine. It's not scared of us.

Leah Jones 57:47
It's not stealing your dog's food. So your dog is yeah, he was

Rachel Duggan 57:50
like, whatever. It's fine.

Leah Jones 57:53
Yeah. Get I've been really in the last couple years, I guess it's probably since the pandemic when people had to find new hobbies. A lot of my friends kind of in line with the memes got into birdwatching. Oh,

Rachel Duggan 58:12
yes. Yeah. And I.

Leah Jones 58:16
So far, I'm really enjoying the like, the Instagram feeds of my friends who are into birdwatching. Because I haven't quite entered that era of my late 40s yet, but I can tell him close. Yeah, it's coming. Yeah, it's on its way.

Rachel Duggan 58:33
Yeah, that's so funny, because my brother during the pandemic got really into bird watching. And I have a couple of friends too. And I'm like, that's totally within my scope of things that I'm interested in. I just haven't gotten there yet. Yeah, sometimes we'll see a bird that I'm like, Whoa, what is that? Or I'll just hear their song and think, Oh, that's a different bird. I should look that up. But I haven't gone into full birder mode. But yeah, there's always time. We've got time.

Leah Jones 59:03
Yeah. There's an app. I think it's called Merlin. That is like Shazam for bird calls. Oh, cool. So you can record you can, you can record it, and it will help you identify the bird based on the call.

Rachel Duggan 59:19
That's awesome. Yeah, because it is hard when you're like, how do I Google? Yeah, like a bird. Yeah.

Leah Jones 59:30
Amazing. Well, Rachel, it's been so fun getting to spend this morning with you talking about finding treasures and your new book. Is there anything I haven't asked you about? Finding things out in the world or buts that you want to make sure to mention?

Rachel Duggan 59:50
I don't think so. Yeah, I feel like kind of just what we talked about earlier where I think the only thing I can say was that I'm a While I'm I'm an observer, I'm also just people watcher. And so maybe that's where my drawing butts really came because I was like, it's fun to look at puppets and draw them but yeah, the, the, it's just there's so much treasure to be found whether it's just visually taking something in or actually finding a specimen or an object that feels really good, but I think it really adds to my life when I'm able to take in what's happening around me. And so it's, it's yeah, it's been really fun to talk about all those different, different things.

Leah Jones 1:00:44
Awesome. Where can people find you on the internet?

Rachel Duggan 1:00:48
Yes, I am on Instagram and I'm on Tik Tok. My Pages are just under RAD illustrates. And I also have an online store which has other information about what events I'm going to be doing and the book. And that's read illustrates.com

Leah Jones 1:01:09
Outstanding. People can find finding favorites on Instagram, and Twitter finding faves pod. You can send me an email if you want. It's still a new email address and I haven't memorized it. So let me find what that is. Send me an email with feedback about episodes or guests that you would like to hit here on finding favorites [e-mail]. And please rate and review on Apple podcasts or good pods. Those are the two places that actually take reviews. So please leave a five star review. recommend this to your friends. That's how we'll keep it keep the podcast growing. So Rachel, thank you so much. This has been wonderful.

Rachel Duggan 1:01:59
Yeah, thank you very much. I had a great time.

Announcer 1:02:02
Thank you for listening to finding favorites with Leah Jones. Please make sure to subscribe and drop us a five star review on iTunes. Now go out and enjoy your favorite things.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai