Raw Dog goes Hollywood! (sort of)

Well, here I am in Los Angeles, with weather as gray, cloudy, and drizzly as I left it back home--I couldn't have asked for more ;0).

We're off today for dim sum, then to see the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, the LA County Art Museum, and possibly the La Brea Tar Pits if time and weather allow.

Tomorrow it's a tour of chi-chi Beverley Hills and West Hollywood pet boutiques for ideas and networking. Am hoping to find some kind of crazy ethnic food for lunch and dinner--ideally something to delight the senses and make my innocent Western intestines anxious!

Left Arion with my falconry sponsor after an incredible series of 60-70 foot flights in the G-street park where a little cluster of gaping teenagers gave us an audience. He's spending the next week in Callan's weathering yard with the shrieking Zia and lovely Gyr, Magic.

More updates to come!

World, meet Arion.

From the Illiad: "The great Arion, the swift horse of Adrastus [king of Argos], whose birth is from the immortals"; sired by Poseidon and foaled of Gaia, the Earth herself.

Day 3 finds us jumping quite comfortably ten feet for bits of cottontail. He's a bit edgier today as the shock wears off and he's assessing his new situation. He had a huge feed yesterday, which he worked for, every bite. Today he's at 27 oz. even, having gained .6 with yesterday's full crop. He takes less today, he worked in the morning for about two ounces, and this afternoon for about another half-ounce, jumping twelve feet to the end of a short creance, three times. At that point, he was comfortably fed and paying more attention to the environment than the glove, so back to the mews we went.

On the Raw Dog front, life is good if a bit nutty. I had some issues getting a good-quality side of black latigo, so my deepest apologies to those folks still waiting for six-foot black leads. I am extremely choosy about my materials and I will not spend my money or yours on poor quality leather. I ended up sending back two subsequent shipments because they were extremely dry, had a weird, slick finish, and were far too light. My hide supplier takes good care of me, though, and ended up shipping in a side from a different tannery entirely. Anyway, the black latigo siege has ended and I picked up the new hide late today. Leads are cut and prepped and will be stitched and finished tomorrow. Thanks worlds for your patience.

Success!

Just a quick update--the last two days have been something of a blur.

Sunday evening I became the owner of a 30.2 oz tiercel red-tailed hawk. Spotted just before dark in an area we'd trapped over probably a dozen times, he sat calmly on the trap and allowed himself to be picked up with little fuss.

We spent a few hours the first night getting to know each other. He is remarkably calm, and has only bated (jumping from the fist and flapping around) once in two days.

He ate readily the next day, now down to 28 oz. Took three bites from forceps then did a face-plant in a quarter quail. Success!

This morning we worked on jumping to the glove for bites of food, which came with no problem.
He was down another two ounces to 26.4 this morning, even with the meal last night, so he worked for three ounces of food this AM and he's still looking around eagerly for more. Part of this morning's meal was a quail wing for "tiring"--not much actual food, but satisfying because it takes some work to pick apart. Left calm on perch at 6:30.


He still hasn't told me his name. I keep running through every source I can imagine, and haven't come across it yet. Will keep you posted!

Holy Buckets!

So I just, now, for the first time, have gotten a second to stop and breathe.
It's been a nutty couple of weeks. The Holiday Market is keeping me mighty busy, as are orders through the site--between the both of them I'm running myself a bit ragged. Call it ragged in a tremendously joyous way; if I'm a little sleep deprived because I'm doing good business, well... who can complain about that?

In the last two weeks we've shipped orders to four different countries and eight states, met Portuguese Water Dogs, Havanese, and a Pharaoh hound owner, though unfortunately not the pooch himself--I've still never seen one in person. It's been quite a run so far, and not halfway over, yet.

On the falconry front, things have pretty much come to a stand-still. The weather's now so bad that even in the spare moments I have to go out trapping, there aren't any birds out hunting. I've more or less spent every spare hour I can scrape together roaming the area and there just isn't anything to be had. After the holidays I'll have more time to take myself to the other side of the state or up to Washington. My trapping permit is good through February, so time's not out yet!

More persistence needed.

Well, everything went exactly as planned, I got there before dawn and set the trap where I expected her to show up, she came exactly to that spot, just after sunrise... and she just wasn't interested. Maybe she'd already eaten by the time she got there, or maybe she was suspicious of the trap--who knows?

Anyway we only saw one other obviously passage bird, threw for it, it made one low pass and then went right back up to its pole. I called Mr. Kellogg for a pep talk and some advice while I was waiting for a bird to not come down. He says passage hawks are a dime a dozen up his way and thinks I should road trip up to WA to pick up my bird. Holiday Market season being on, I'm not sure I could pull it off until after Christmas, but I suppose if I don't have a bird by then it'll be the solution.

Meanwhile I've got a huge stack of gear to rivet and tag and get sorted for the booth, a stack of orders to get out the door, plus have to finish building my wall-hanging displays--ack! Two days left and a million things to do. See ya at the fairgrounds!

Exercises in persistence.

Oh, man, it's been a busy couple of weeks. I've been out, more or less every second of my life, attempting to trap a hawk before the Holiday Market season starts. The trouble is, there don't seem to be any juvenile red tailed hawks left on the planet.

My sponsor and I have spent whole days driving all over the state in search of a passage hawk. There are days where we've seen forty or fifty adult (or "haggard") birds for one, single passage bird... which will inevitably be perched on a telephone pole along a major highway, in an impossible trapping situation. You expect the juvenile population to be low--80% of them die before reaching a year of age--but this is getting ridiculous.

A couple weekends ago I spent a bunch of time with master falconer and eagle hawker Brian Kellogg of www.dragonhoods.com, his lovely wife, Linda, and a former apprentice of Brian's, named Doug. They were kind enough to tote me around with them, take me rabbit-hawking in the desert, and share as much of their collective massive experience as I could cram into my brain in two days. I saw some amazing flights by Brian's Harris Hawk, Shasta at black-tailed jacks, and Linda's young female Harris at cottontails. There was a scary moment when a young tiercel golden eagle soaring in the area spotted Shasta, tucked his wings in, and took a shot at her. Luckily for all he was being harassed by a haggard red tailed hawk and after the close pass, the two of them went back up to a soar have it out overhead instead of the golden taking a free lunch. Brian also had his Bonelli's Eagle, Shiva with him. She wasn't quite at combat weight so not hunting, but pretty neat to see. It's hard to get a sense of how big a bird like that is by that photo, but imagine holding the bird on fist at about hip level, and she's looking you in the eye. In the Mid-East and Asia, falconers hunt deer with their eagles.

It was an amazing weekend. I came back completely inspired and armed with a new plan, re-built my bal chatri, and went forth into the world...


And still didn't find a bird. But hope still springs eternal, and I've had my eye on a bird that hangs out in a particular spot near Corvallis, on a major highway (of course). I spent some time knocking on doors in the area to find the owners of a field she's hunting that runs along side the highway. The property owners were kind enough to grant me permission to trap in their field, so I made an attempt at her this weekend. She made some close passes over the trap, but it was fairly late in the afternoon and she wasn't hungry enough to try and take a grab at it. I'm all set to go at the crack of dawn tomorrow and set the trap below her hunting spot before the sun's up and she's out actively hunting. Hopefully she won't be able to resist a free breakfast all laid out for her.

Anyway, it's all a very zen reminder that absolutely not a single damned thing about this sport comes easy. The nice part about it is that I've logged uncounted miles and memorized the backroads of Western Oregon (and a significant chunk East of the Cascades) like you wouldn't believe, and spent some amazing mornings exploring wild Oregon with the rising sun. Success or no, it's a pretty great way to spend your time, and not a minute of it has been a waste.

In other news, Raw Dog has been gearing up to take a running start at Holiday Market this year with a ton of new inventory in hand. I've taken the last month off Saturday Market and been playing with a few new ideas. It's been great to have time to just cruise and renew the love for playing with the materials. I've made some amazing things, and some fun little things, and definitely a lot of things--all to be unveiled this coming weekend.

This weekend, the 17th, opens the Holiday Market at the fairgrounds, so be sure to come see us if you're in the area. Admission and parking are free, and you'll find an arena full of world-class artisans as well as great international food, live music, and a generally rockin' time. I love being a part of the Holiday Market, and hope to see you all there!

Save California Raw Dairy!

This is a press release from Organic Pastures Dairy in Kerman, California. I've been to visit, had a tour of the entire facility, and went home with the most amazing milk I've ever had the pleasure of drinking.
You know how they say "happy cows come from California"? Happy cows live at OPDC. I've seen them. This is how dairy cattle ought to live. If you have the slightest inclination to support animal welfare, please do what you can to fight this bill. It will eliminate the only clean and humane dairy I've ever seen. This is a place where the cattle live out in the sun, in open, green, organic pastures. Don't let them be legislated out of existence in favor of the horror of industrial dairy production.



Come fight for your right to eat whole, unprocessed foods and raw milk

Eight words are threatening to change your life:

“or more than ten coliform bacteria per milliliter”

Those are the eight words added to dairy legislation in California on October 8, 2007.

Assembly Bill #1735 (AB 1735) was signed by the Governor and becomes law on January 1st 2008. Contained in this law are new standards for raw milk. These new standards require 10 coliform bacteria per ml or less. This standard does not increase the safety of raw milk and it will make the production of organic raw milk in California nearly impossible. Under the old tried and true old standards that have been in existence for forty years or more, coliforms could be 50 or 500. It did not matter.

Coliforms are not pathogenic. They do not cause disease. They actually act very effectively to protect raw milk against pathogens like E. coli 0157:H7. Coliforms make vitamin K, B-1, B-2, B-6 and B-12 and without coliforms, and the beneficial colicins they produce we would die.

These eight words in California law will in effect remove and deny your access to raw milk, because it is not possible to reliably produce raw milk with coliform levels at less than 10 per ml. Most milk samples simply have coliform counts higher than 10 per ml. That is just the nature of milk, a fact that is in USDA published peer reviewed journals show the value of good coliforms in food safety and surely this should be known by the CDFA in California.

Read the studies.

The language contained in AB 1735 was placed there by CDFA to get rid of Raw Milk in California. Last year you might remember that CDFA ordered a recall of all OPDC raw milk products. Several months ago after threatened legal pressure CDFA settled with OPDC for a cash amount, mutual legal release, and the promise that OPDC would not sue CDFA or its personnel for the biased and unfounded recall. FDA, DHS, and CDFA concluded after several weeks of intensive testing of cows fresh manure and OPDC dairy products that there was no connection between any sickened children and OPDC raw dairy products.

AB 1735 is nothing more than a CDFA sneak attack trying its very hardest to once and for all get rid of raw milk and OPDC.

But don’t take my word for it. Go to the California Assembly website and check out the legislative notes. This attack was directed right at you and me and we were not even consulted.

It is time for you to call your representative in the Assembly and Senate, the Governor, and the Secretary of Agriculture to make sure your voice is heard.

It is also time to write to your local paper and post on your blog how you feel about these eight new words in California law.

Find out how.

The Agriculture Committee Staff claims that there was no argument or discussion about this issue and that there was unanimous consent during the vote when AB 1735 passed. There were supposedly public hearings held in January 2007, but neither Claravale nor OPDC was advised and no raw milk consumers were told either. These are the only two dairies in the state to be effected by the change of code and law.

If you want raw milk on the shelf or at the farmers market in California; it is time to fight for this right.

We ask that you please come to the Fresno Farmers Market on Saturday October 27th at 11:00 AM for a press conference and formal announcement of the sneak attack.

The press will be present and will want to hear your testimonials.

We do not lose our rights all in one day. We lose them little by little every day.

____
I have contacted all assembly members and California Senators. Please do what you can, and visit OPDC's online home at http://www.organicpastures.com/ to see for yourself and read about raw, whole, living foods.

Out of the Eyrie

I am Mixie, the owner, founder, and head artisan at Raw Dog Leather. I seek a better life than an endless loop of salary and debt, of meaningless work to collect a paycheck. I seek a life where I make my living with my hands and my head and my heart, my ambition and perseverance. A life lived outdoors and at home, instead of in the office.
With a lot of luck, sweat, and the love, support, and unfathomable patience of my husband and partner in all things, we are working towards the following goals.

Self-employment. I decided a long time ago that working for other people was not going to work out for me. Staff meetings and management bureaucracy give me hives. So do busywork and clocking-in and nine-to-five, Monday-through-Friday schedules.

Physical fitness born of a life lived outdoors, of physical labor, of working livestock, and running forest trails and stalking wild things, and not of running endless, mindless hours on a treadmill in a gym.

Home-raised foods. Tying into the goal of sustainable self-employment, we hope to do some small-scale farming, raising 100% pastured heritage breeds of livestock and an organic kitchen garden as well as raw dairy products. We wish to work our land with horse-power on the hoof, instead of horsepower in a tractor. We wish to take responsibility for the lives that feed our own and to stop supporting industrial livestock and dairy production.

Home-raised children. We feel that the human population of our planet is quickly nearing maximum capacity, and that the raising of children should be a very carefully and thoughtfully made choice, that raising children is the most sacred undertaking of our lives. We recognize the necessity for dual family incomes and working parents, and we do not in any way belittle or look down upon parents who work outside the home. That being said, we choose to set the goal of self-employment at home as a benchmark for beginning our family.

Every day is a new adventure, and these are the adventures of a lifetime.
Life is beautiful. Look up sometimes.

A Hunter's Heart

"Why do I hunt? It's a lot to think about, and I think about it a lot. I hunt to acknowledge my evolutionary roots, millennia deep, as a predatory omnivore. To participate actively in the bedrock workings of nature. For the atavistic challenge of doing it well with an absolute minimum of technological assistance. To learn the lessons, about nature and myself, that only hunting can teach. To accept personal responsibility for at least some of the deaths that nourish my life. For the glimpse it offers into a wildness we can hardly imagine. Because it provides the closest thing I've known to a spiritual experience. I hunt because it enriches my life and because I can't help myself… because I was born with a hunter's heart."
- David Peterson