Capturing the Wild: From Viral Photos to Hunting Dogs

I am here with a fantastic guest, someone who has been in the outdoors of Wisconsin, who's covered waterfowl hunting, who's covered upland hunting, who's covered big game hunting.

You've covered and been exposed to just about

every type of hunting.

You've been in radio, TV, written media for decades.

Yes.

Hannah Stonehouse.

All of it.

I know.

I love it.

All of it.

We've got

Chef Ellie Lawton, the official provider chef and lunch lady Lynn with us today.

Hannah, I want to talk to you how I think people

think it's very easy.

Everybody says, oh, I want to make a life in the media.

And

we had

Patrick Durkin on talking about that.

And that was fascinating conversation with him.

It is not something that's easy.

It's not something that's just plain fun.

It's as much work, if not harder work than trying to do a corporate job or,

you know, a blue

collar job.

There's work involved and the pay isn't great.

I mean, how were you drawn into doing outdoor media and radio and TV?

And how did you get a start?

What was the...

Place where was the place that lured you into this life?

Well, I'm a third-generation broadcaster grew up in the radio industry and I was not planning on Really going into radio and then or writing or any of that stuff and I met my husband Jim Hudson and was in northern, Wisconsin and we started his guide service and a person who is

myself who grew up in marketing and radio.

I helped him grow his guide service with writing, with photography, with all of those things.

And so I was sort of an assumed person to do all of the outdoor communication and I fell in love with it.

The fishing and hunting communities are amazing and I don't think people understand that enough.

And I

I can't, it's really funny because I can't really talk about things other than fishing and hunting unless I am prompted to talk about something else.

So it's a problem.

I don't think that sounds like a problem.

It's not a

problem because I've got a one track mind

and it is hunting

and eating what I kill.

So

if it fits anywhere on the gamut of that realm, I'm in.

Right.

And nobody in my family hunts and fishes, hunts and fishes.

And not because they're anti at all that just wasn't something we did we will be canoed we kayaked we went hiking we did all the things we foraged all of that and so my Life running that guide service on Lake Superior being out in the in the woods with dogs all of those things That was my entire life because when you work in the outdoor industry you work

you know, they say, I'm trying to avoid a 40 hour job and you end up working like a hundred hours a week.

That's what it is.

Because if you're pre-fishing or you're, you know, doing food plots or you're doing any of the things that you need to create content from, you're, you know, during the day doing that.

And then at night, you're editing photos or you're writing articles or you're recording or you're doing YouTube, all of those things.

And so that

It's all consuming and what became my entire life and I would not change a thing

Yeah, you you married a Native American from Wisconsin.

Yes,

and he was a member of

Red Cliff the

Red Cliff tribe.

Yes,

and I say was because he is no longer with us But I want to ask you about

I think one of the things that is often ignored or not necessarily ignored but not talked about enough is the Native American attitude toward hunting

and angling.

Yes.

The Native American cultural influences of it that we have throughout the Midwest and throughout this country.

Yes.

Did that

Change your perceptions.

Did that affect your perceptions of it while you were working in it?

Yes.

And so I can only speak for my knowledge from Jim, from Jim Hudson, Red Cliff Ojibway and his mother who taught me.

I moved to Wisconsin.

in the 90s when the spearing conversation was going on.

And I knew nothing about it because I was not from here.

I did not know about tribal rights.

I did not know anything like that.

I go to Northern Wisconsin.

I meet Jim in a bar.

The week... Well, where else do you meet in Northern Wisconsin?

Well, the week before ice fishing and open water, he didn't drink.

He was a cop and he didn't want to be drinking around people that he had arrested.

So he walked up and I knew I was going to marry him right away.

My exposure to hunting and fishing was through his eyes.

So I thought everybody

you know, fished 12 hours a day.

I thought everybody had a hunting season from September 1st to December 30th.

I had no idea.

But I also assumed everyone put tobacco down and said thank you when you take an animal.

I assumed everyone, in my very, you know, Pollyanna way, I assumed everyone protected the waters that they had as a resource.

Conservation was such a large part of

it.

And

I think so often the conservation mindedness is lost today.

on the general public who does not hunt, I don't think there is such the realization that true and ethical hunters and anglers are the ones contributing the most to conservation

in Wisconsin.

But

I want to talk more about the Native American influences you had, how you got into the media.

I want to learn about that famous photograph

you

took, and I can't wait to talk about food.

Also, something on your resume we're going to get into that I do find fascinating and want to ask you about Hannah Stonehouse is a medium.

Yes.

Not a small, not a

large, but a medium.

A medium.

We're going to

learn about that.

What's up, everybody?

This is Raised in the Woods.

My name's Joel Clayfish, Captain of the Blind.

Does that work?

Captain of the Blind?

Captain of the Ground Blind?

Captain of the Layout Blind?

You know what?

Do whatever you want.

Well, hey, listen, Waterfowl Season is approaching.

Oh, I have one.

Waterfowl Season's approaching, yes.

You're Captain Camo.

I like Captain.

I'll take Captain.

Captain Kam go Roo.

No, no.

Now you're just.

Well, I'm doing the best I can over here.

I am so excited.

My skin is about to jump out of itself because this to me is the time of the year that is unrivaled, unequaled.

The golden glow of the golden hour of the day, starting around five o'clock.

Now you start to have that

golden sunshine setting on the farm fields that are just about to get taken off.

You got some weed off already and hunting season is around the corner and I couldn't be more excited about that.

Hunting season is coming.

Eating season also.

Eating

season comes with hunting season.

What season with you is not eating season for God's sake.

Maybe spring.

Really?

I doubt it.

Turkey seasons in the spring.

Yeah.

Mushroom harvesting, foraging.

Yeah.

Ditch asparagus.

Huh.

Yeah.

Good point.

Yeah, I think that it's always.

But fall, I mean, fall is, I love the summer weather, but fall cooking, there's nothing that compares.

I mean, you're cooking on campfires.

You've got the cast iron out.

You've

got the stews and the stews and the fresh

baked breads and the wild game.

You've got the goose hunt in the morning and preparing that.

harvest at night for dinner.

I mean, nothing compares

to that.

There is nothing better in the world than getting up before the sunrise, setting up in a field.

You get your decoys out there, your layout blinds, or you're, you know, you're hidden in a natural blind and those first goose honks you hear in the distance.

Yes.

Get the flags ready, the calls ready.

You start your calling, trying to draw them into you.

Having those birds set.

and knowing that you're gonna get some on the ground, that's gonna be literally dinner that day.

It does not get better.

I'm so excited about this show today because Hannah Stonehouse is here.

She is literally an icon in the Midwest in the outdoors and she is a world famous.

I'm gonna say it because it's true.

I apologize.

She's a world famous photographer of bird dogs.

You know, Chad Belding is

really into his dogs.

He names all of his dogs after Guns N' Roses members, because it's the best band ever.

And I'm not gonna necessarily dispute that.

Guns N' Roses is fantastic.

That is, yes, but you should know his opinion as fact.

Well, if you ask him,

yeah.

I mean.

But he, you know, and I've never been in a field with better trained dogs than Chad brings out to the field.

And it is a joy and a pleasure to work with those dogs.

And Hannah Stonehouse, you are here.

You have a storied history.

Thank you.

But first off.

She has the coolest name in history.

I appreciate that.

If there's not a better radio name, I don't know what it is.

So where did that even come from?

Hannah Stonehouse.

Well, I was named after the house I was conceived in.

So,

you know.

So it was a Stonehouse.

It was the Stonehouse.

Grandetor, Illinois.

Oh, OK.

That's so

cool.

John Deere built it when he came

over.

Really?

Yeah.

You lived in John Deere's house?

I did.

Now, that would be weird if your name was Hannah John Deere.

Right, Hannah

Green

Tractor.

But

that would be kind of cool too.

I know,

right?

Hannah Green.

Hannah

Green.

Yeah, OK.

Yes.

No, he built the house in the 1840s for the people who were coming over from Vermont.

And the women couldn't get pregnant on the way because it was too long of a journey to Illinois, obviously, his first factory in Grand Detour, Illinois.

And that's where babies came from.

And my parents, who

are hilarious and I am definitely their daughter, named me after where I was conceived.

I've always wanted to know where babies came from.

Stonehouse.

Stonehouse.

We know

now.

Oh my

gosh, I love this.

It brings new meaning to the term layover when they had that spot, that stop.

They lived there a long time.

It's a great name, no matter how you slice it, I guess.

Thank you.

It's awesome.

You are famous, and I'm gonna drag this out just a little bit.

You're famous for a particular photo, but that's not the only thing that you do.

You have kind of made a living shooting bird dogs.

Bird dogs are your, that's your forte.

How important, you know, when we're out there, when you are sitting in a blind or you're walking in a field, upland hunting,

and you drop birds from the field that are coming in, that are coming right to the hole, and you get to see that dog work, very few things are as satisfying and cool as that in the field.

That is my favorite thing about photography, is when you capture an animal, a dog, doing what they were bred to do, the look on their face.

the just whether it's their muscle structure their breed standard any of that when I get to capture that that is that's why I'm here in some ways because

That especially when you have a dog who's so important to you, who is your hunting partner, and I get to find out later that those are the memories you have of them in the field because you've been able to be present with them and be able to hunt with them.

And you tell me 10 years later that those are the things that bring you happiness when you look at my images.

That is everything to me.

Gosh, that's wonderful.

Thank you.

It

is why I do what I do.

How important I want to get into some of the logistics of this you know for for the folks listening who are serious waterfall hunters who spend a ton of their time training their dogs sending their dogs off to be trained training them themselves that payoff that happens when you have the dog in the blind with you and that dog is I mean

Ansier than all get

out.

Yes, I had seen

that.

All they want to do is make their owner happy, right?

They just want to make everybody happy.

They want to do their job.

But to them,

They literally live for it.

How important is it, do you think, for dogs to be involved in hunting?

And how is that become such a part of Americana and the culture of hunting?

It is extremely important if they are trained correctly.

And we can talk about this till we're blue in the face.

If you have a dog who is

has not had the right, much like a human, exposure to hunting, you can cause an issue and you've wasted some money.

So it's really important to have a dog that's trained appropriately that you respect.

and that the dog respects you.

Because that dog has skills that you have it there for.

So

overthinking it or consistently missing shots.

It's really important in my estimation to be extremely practiced yourself when you have to also train yourself.

and

to do that.

Right, and avoid that confusion that you can create for the dog.

I mean, how hard would that be if you're the animal?

You're like, hey, I'm supposed to do that, but you're not holding up your end of the deal, buddy, right?

Right, and I've had

photos of dogs glaring at their owners, and

something has happened, and it's... They may not be able to talk to us, but they do

communicate to us.

They can communicate, and they do.

Do you see emotion in dogs?

Do you really see emotion in dogs?

Oh, very much so.

especially frustration, happiness, joy.

I mean, joy translates with dogs in the field.

You see they're doing what they're meant to be doing, and whether it's bird dogs, sled dogs, and any of those.

They're happy.

When

you see a dog running back to you in a field,

you

can just tell.

Their eyes are wide, their head is high.

They are just living their dream in that moment.

I can look at a dog and be like, that dog is pure joy right now, rating from it.

Yes.

It's so special.

Very,

very much

so.

And to capture that and give that back to the owners.

Yes.

Incredible.

Yeah,

it is.

I love it.

Can you tell when an owner is like a good owner or a bad owner?

Yes.

Very

much so.

Or

mean.

I have left before.

I have left before.

On photo shoots.

On a photo shoot.

I have said this is no longer happening.

And you're not respecting your dog.

You're not treating them appropriately.

And this is done.

But there's a difference between...

disrespecting a dog and being firm with a dog.

Correct.

I am not talking

about... I don't think some people understand those nuances.

That is true and a lot of the time what I've seen from a dog behavior issue or a human behavior issue is they're trying to be confident.

The human is trying to be confident but doesn't have the base of knowledge because they haven't been around other people who interact with dogs appropriately.

And I'm not trying to be judgmental, but it's also really important to make sure that you know what you're doing.

I mean, if you're gonna have fun and you're gonna do the things that make you and that animal happy, you know, do it for the love of it in a way that is...

is joyful.

I mean, I keep using joyful, but that's what it is.

It shouldn't be a source of frustration.

What is dog training 101?

I mean, what is the very basis you should, if you're going to invest in a dog, what's the very basis of what you should know before you do that?

Because I think a lot of people love the idea of it, but may not understand the gravity of what they're undertaking.

Make sure you have a breed that's appropriate for you.

That's one of the biggest things is people get a breed because they fall in love with it.

But they don't actually know that that dog may need more or less exercise than another one.

If

you're aging and you need a dog that you need to be able to get out in an emergency.

I mean, I love like Brittany's spanels or any of the smaller spanels because for people

mean I'm a short person who you know if there's an emergency out in the field I'm not gonna be able to pick up

110-pound lab, right?

Right, or St.

Bernard.

Wait,

something like that.

Do

they use a

lot of those in burglars?

I don't think they do.

I've never seen a St.

Bernard out in the cruise field.

And they need a shot of whiskey, those St.

Bernard's with the little whiskey barrel around their neck.

I think

those are

Bernie's mountain dogs.

If they're both drinking, they might have to both be carried out.

They can just pull the people out.

It's fine.

I think it's

It's just important to be about picking the breed that is right for you and your family because that's what makes it fun.

Yeah, I'm excited.

We're going to talk about which breeds you think are the best breeds for the duck blind.

We're also going to talk about the picture that made you kind of world famous.

Yes.

And we're going to get into some other things like what are your favorite wild game things to eat?

Excellent.

And all of the things I love.

We've got Chef Lawton and a special guest today.

We've got lunch lady Lynn Morris.

with us who is part of a local school district.

She's the becoming world regionally but world famous lunch lady and she's gonna be making some appearances here on the follow life podcast and are raised in the woods show which I'm pretty excited about but what I am most fascinated by when it comes to dogs is there are real

pros and cons to having a dog in the field.

But any dog person will tell you there are no cons with the right training and trained dog.

And I want to get into that a little bit because if a dog is running around the field while you're out there and birds are coming in, they can very often reduce your chances for that to happen.

So I want to talk about those kind of specifics.

This is awesome.

We've got a fantastic guest with us today, Hannah Stonehouse, with a storied multi-decade history in the outdoors, of course, Chef Long.

I'm excited to get in there and peel the layers back.

And I'm excited about our cooking segment.

That's for sure.

My name is Joel Clayfish.

This is the Midwest and this is a place that if you're spending time in the outdoors, waterfowl hunting or big game hunting or angling, they're really

I think is a hidden gem here that the rest of the country may not fully know about.

And somebody who's spent a great portion of their life in the outdoors, in the Midwest, in several states throughout the Midwest, is Hannah Stonehouse.

She's been in Duck Blind.

She's been in Upland Field.

She's been on the Great Lakes, the Backwater Ways.

She's been a writer, an award-winning writer, award-winning journalist.

for three plus decades and she's got some real insights and what a cool guest she is to have.

Of course, we've got a provider chef Ellie Lawton with us.

Lunch lady Lynn is here too.

My name is Joel Clayfish.

I get to be the host, the Midwest host of The Foul Life and I'm really excited because hearing your past and your history

First of all, I see parallels to mine, which is exciting and fun.

But we've been talking about your photography of bird dogs and your love and passion for bird dogs.

There is a famous painting, picture, photograph.

It's a photograph.

That

has become

world.

Somebody has probably painted it.

Oh, yes, they have.

Because it's beautiful.

I'm

sure they have.

But you have a photograph that gained worldwide attention.

In

today's

world, we'd say it went viral.

And I still see it.

It's been how many years?

14 years.

Yeah.

14 years.

July 31st.

That photo is iconic.

It's just like the world just stops for a moment.

And if you are a dog lover and you look at that photo, you know exactly how he's feeling and you can almost feel how the dog is feeling too.

All right,

time to burst the balloon.

Tell those of us who may not be completely in the know about this.

What is the photo?

This is a photo of my friend John with his dog Shep in Lake Superior.

He and I had, we walked our dogs together.

He lived down the street and one day he came to me and said that he may have to put Shep down and that he would be in taking Shep into Lake Superior and Shep would fall asleep.

Could I come take photos of him and Shep?

And the dog was like

19 years old or something like that, right?

Like, late teens?

17.

Okay.

Yeah, 17.

He died a year later.

Okay.

He was

18.

Okay.

And yes, he was very old, very arthritic.

And that summer, the lake was not very cold.

So he would take him down into the lake, hold him, and I got, you know, it's like,

three or four minutes, maybe less.

And I got a shot of them and shared a photo of the back of my camera to Facebook, and it just went nuts.

And then I, this is like in the early days of going viral when you actually people saw things.

Facebook and Myspace.

Yeah, exactly.

And it was

I can't really explain the craziness that happened.

I did a TEDx talk about it because my phone would fill up with messages multiple times a day.

We were on the Today Show, Good Morning America, all these crazy things, and people would drive like six to eight hours.

trying to find John and they would walk into our house.

They would open the door and my husband had just retired from being a police officer and he'd be out guiding.

people would just like walk in.

It was crazy.

Oh my gosh.

Holy

cow.

Yeah, it was crazy.

Did it get frightening at any points?

Yes.

Stalker-ish or?

Yes, it did.

That's a story I've never actually told.

There were some really, really weird things that happened.

But there were some really awesome things that happened and I met some incredible people.

And you know, life happens, how it happens.

I'm sitting here and you're like, yeah, there's some really weird things that happen.

And in my mind, I don't know how something weird could happen out of something so beautiful, but that just goes to show the things that we share and the way that people interpret those things.

Yes.

It is different levels for everybody, right?

It is different levels.

It is so crazy.

Yes.

Before we go any further, how can people take a look at this photo?

How can people find this photo?

If you go to stonehousephoto.com, that is my photography website, and that has the photo on it.

Or you can Google Hannah Stonehouse and TEDx and you can hear the whole story.

You can hear the TEDx talk

on it.

You can probably Google

man with dog in Lake Superior.

Yes, you can also do that.

It is a very well known photo.

If you've been on the internet in the last however many years, you've seen the photo.

Well, and it goes viral now every

few weeks, probably.

Yeah, like there'll be like different writings on it or stuff like that.

Yes, which are hilarious to me

because sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong.

Then you add in the whole AI weirdness.

And people are making videos from the photo, which

is I won't even

get into the ram.

copyright ramifications of that.

Well, I've seen that video used for like animal like adoptions and things like that.

Yes, yes.

Well, that's one of the reasons

I guess

one of the reasons I got into studying how things go viral.

And there are some things that happened afterwards that I started my journey of studying what what happens when the internet takes hold of things.

We

call them parasocial relationships.

Yeah.

Paris so well and having been in politics

for

14 years and having done television before that and

yes

people believe they know you yes because they are exposed on daily basis

to you, but the reality of it is you don't know them.

Right, and you don't know the whole story of anything, of anything.

Well, and I think that's where the dark side of it comes in, right?

Everybody takes a photo like that and they make it their own story, or they twist the real story to make it something that applies to them.

And then they're out there broadcasting that and it's like, whoa, let's pump the brakes a little bit because let's stay true to this or at least try to, right?

Right.

And so that's why it's one of those things when I teach people when you do go viral is you can either concentrate on the negative or you can go, okay, so what are the positive things that can come from this?

What are the things that you can help people discover about themselves rather than yelling into the ether?

Okay.

Let's celebrate your relationship with your dog.

Let's celebrate the love you have for a person that you were caretaking for.

Because those are the conversations that we need to have.

And so you, as the person who is in the spotlight, you're the one who can, to some extent, control the path of that conversation.

So that's your responsibility.

Tell me about when it was the height of the attention to this photo, which

was

several years ago.

What were some of the inspirational things you heard?

Because I think this personifies the importance of

dogs to Americans.

Yes.

This shows you in black and white how important people's dogs are to them.

Yes, and all over the world.

That is the thing that connects many of us is that unconditional love.

One of the coolest things that happened was I started to be able to have conversations and see conversations in the comments with guys who missed their dogs.

And they didn't feel

necessarily comfortable

expressing that until this happened.

And it was really cool.

And I still talk to a lot of these people 14 years later, but it is being able to, and that's the other thing I do.

I am a grief scientist now.

I study how talking about grief is really, really healthy and helps mitigate some

some chronic health issues, but that's another story.

But that's

an entire separate

show.

Exactly.

No

kidding.

But one of those things is photography can do that for people.

You know, I was talking about how people would be so excited to tell me a decade later that the thing, the photo they had for me of them and their dog or their dog was so good for them because they got to look at that and see joy.

Those are the conversations.

Saying that stuff out loud.

talking about it, talking about the people and animals you miss is really important.

You want to get that out.

It's healthy.

It's extremely healthy.

Sure.

I

mean, you see some people, they get tattoos of their

pets.

They get, you know, gravestones of their pets.

Yeah.

Some of these people are now soft mounting their pets.

Wow.

So

they

can

have.

Oh, wow.

That's something.

I have a lot of dog hair from various dogs.

I could probably do that without it.

This

brings me to you were talking about the grief counseling part.

You have medium on your resume.

Yes.

I am.

What on

earth talked

to me about that?

Because that's an

area that's fascinating to

everybody.

So I am an evidential medium, meaning I would never win the lottery.

I am not a psychic.

But when I started getting my masters in basically in grief, it's called Thanatology, I ran into all these because I'm a scientist.

I ran into all these studies about evidential mediumship, about

quantum physics and electricity and how things are connected.

I've known my, it's fascinating.

I have known my whole life that I just know things.

I tell people to be very clear.

I don't hear or see anything.

I just know things.

And being on Lake Superior and being married to a Native American man, an Ojibwe man, it was very interesting because

Everybody talks about that.

It's not unusual there in Bayfield and Redcliffe, Bad River, Ashland, Washburn.

It doesn't matter that area.

It doesn't matter who you are, what you're doing.

Everybody either knows stuff, sees stuff, anything like that.

And after my husband passed away, some very interesting things happened, including like light bulbs exploding.

And other widows have talked to me about this.

This has happened.

Interesting.

Yes,

and I

probably eight years after he passed away I was fishing on the lake on Lake Superior and I looked at my friend and I said why are there guys who are like they're waving at me and I didn't really see it I knew it

and I was

explaining how they were like tied to a mast and they were they had ice all over them

And he looked at me very oddly, and we go around, we're going around Madeleine Island, and he looks at me, he's like, you don't know about that?

I said, what are you talking about?

He said, well, that's the shipwreck where all the guys that we were over, they all tied themselves to the mast because, and they were covered in ice because a storm came through.

There's this very, there's this shipwreck that I didn't know anything about.

And so I discovered, like, not everyone knows things or sees things in their mind's eye.

And I decided to just get really loud about it because I don't care what people think.

Yeah, I think

that is one of the most valuable tools in the world

is not

caring what people

think.

I said screw it.

Yeah, well, my little Italian mother, my little Italian Catholic mother used to call it a sixth sense.

And I think

And I will go so far as and you can think this is goofy.

I have a sixth sense about hunting Yes, and whether that day is going to be a successful day or that

day is

gonna be a day I enjoy the beauty of the woods without a harvest and I think Everybody has got a sixth sense

in them to explore if they want to.

And I think that that is part of the very nature.

And I think that grows as you spend time in the outdoors.

Yes.

I think minus food and animals.

Yes.

No, it

can't

be.

Seriously.

Certain people in restaurants are making food.

That is when they are most attuned and it's where yeah, it's a very Just what you're saying.

What about those of us who feel very most in tune when we're eating?

And

speaking of eating I'm really excited.

We've got recipes this week and There is nothing better about this time of year and this season than when you get out and

hunt and fish and forage and you get to eat it at duck camp the next day or while you're out there in a shore lunch.

Man, that is just the best.

Nothing better in the world than when the days are getting a little cooler at night and you are eating a hot meal that you have literally harvested that year with you.

Freezers empty again and you're trying to fill it and you take that duck breast right from the field.

to the dinner table and falls the best time to do it, provider chef Ellie Lawton.

What do you got in store for us for the eating

portion of the show?

Well, I thought we would talk a little bit about kind of the fall food trends that are coming up and kind of that where we've been experiencing and going into 2017 because as a chef,

We talk about constantly, what are the trends?

Where is the culinary inspiration coming from?

I'll be

interested to learn where it's coming from and where

it's going.

Well, it's very interesting because we've talked about it a little bit recently, but the top trends right now is comfort foods with a twist.

So the classics with a twist.

And what I mean by that is

you know, the really good comfort dishes with like a maybe a new spicy component to it or dark rich fruits are really trendy right now.

We have new, new words like, sweaty.

So sweet and sweaty.

That reminds me

of Tahin's new flavor

twist.

Okay.

So Tahin is a great example.

I mean, every time I go to a store, I feel like there's a new flavor of Tahin out because we have

So many folks out there now that they want the sweet, they want the heat, they want those old classic flavors, but they want kind of those new bold flavors tied into it.

So like a spicy meatloaf or maybe like a sweeter kind of wild game stew.

And I don't mean like

Sweet like you eat it and it tastes like candy.

I mean like you still get those good umami like rich meaty flavors But then maybe you have like a black cherry flavor in there like a essence to it

I think a lot of the provider spices would be perfect in these type of dishes

because

there's such nuanced Seasonings

yes, and you have some of the seasonings that have like a little hint of orange in them that that Asian spice the really nice garlic Black garlic is super trendy right now

um anything like very like rich bold flavors and we talk about you know we're going into fall my absolute favorite thing the evenings especially here in wisconsin are so beautiful cook over your fire anytime you can if you don't if you can't make a bonfire in the backyard and cook over the beautiful coals make get a little fire pit just it's so much fun and you can do everything over that and it's just

to get in touch with mother nature and the earth and be outside at night cooking a good meal over a fire and using some of these new trends like trying

plums and maybe your sauce for your steak or something.

Just try something new.

There's so many good trends.

Go on the internet, type in current food trends.

You'll see so many of these cool things.

Brown butters are really trendy right now.

Again, the spicy, the heat, the black garlic, anything like that, so good.

Oh, that does sound fantastic.

And my good hunting buddy, Woody,

Whitmore, he's always saying butter and onions, butter and onions.

Butter and onions is great.

That's

the classic.

You can do so much with a duck, a mallard duck breast, with a goose breast that is not, that is really, I mean, in the availability on the internet and to learn how to cook things that taste delicious is everywhere now.

Do your butter and onions and go out and forge some elderberry?

and throw it together.

Oh,

that sounds fantastic.

Just these simple things to just another way to enjoy the outdoors.

Lunch lady Lynn, what kind of trends are you seeing as schools about to kick off?

What are the kids wanting to eat?

What are you guys, what do you got planned for the fall?

Yes, so we are continuing in my district to build upon our scratch cooking.

Oh, that's

wonderful.

A lot of districts do a lot of package stuff.

That's the stuff that they can get for cheap, but we like to incorporate a lot of scratch cooking.

So we've done bison burgers before where we mix bison and beef.

Awesome.

That's one thing that the students loved to see.

We love to pull out cranberries coming up in a couple

of months.

You were just talking about

zucchini muffins.

Zucchini.

Bacon a ton of banana bread always for our breakfast our district loves our banana bread I

want to point something out because so often we're losing kids into hunting angling in the outdoors now because we're losing Losing them to the iPads and the video games and the things that happen in two dimensions And I think cooking like you just mentioned is really a way to bring them back You know, they're not

It's not only square slices of pizza anymore.

You're talking about incorporating real food and real Wisconsin and Midwestern berries and fruits and forage into that which I think is really a fascinating thing and I'm excited to hear about that.

I want to wrap things up though.

We've got Hannah Stonehouse here whose life in the media really was catapulted by her

photograph of a man and his bird dog and shows the love of dogs in this country and the importance they have to hunting.

I want to just kind of leave the last word to you.

What is it that America, the Midwest needs to see, needs to focus on to go to get our roots activated again?

in the outdoors as we continue to lose hunters and fishermen.

What is needed?

What is the base that's going to propel us into that conservation attitude and putting meat on the table that we harvest ourselves?

be open to having conversations with people about just going outside.

I think it's really important to be curious about why people might not want to hunt.

I think it's really important to be curious about where our food comes from.

And I think it's really important to be excited about taking kids with you or just buying them new equipment or inviting them to come along with their parents.

Because sometimes people want to learn

And it doesn't matter if you're a woman, a guy, it doesn't matter.

You want to learn, but you don't know who to ask.

So being non-judgmental and just being able to just say, yeah, I'll help you.

That's huge.

That is huge.

Because if you don't know how ask somebody, I didn't start hunting till I was 38 years old.

And now,

I make it a mission to take folks out there to give them their first experiences because once they have that in three dimensions, they'll never go back.

We'll see you next week on Raised in the Woods.