Working The Trapline — October 2019

Frontier Partisans scout Fletcher Vredenburgh took himself a trip through the Mohawk Valley — and back in time — over the summer. His write up at his blog is an excellent summary of the brutal civil war on the New York frontier. And it makes me want to trek the Valley in the muggy heat of summer…

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Stumbled across an independent TV production focused on the early manhood of George Washington. The pilot episode of Washington’s Armor appears to focus heavily on his 1753 trip into the Ohio wilderness with the remarkable frontiersman Christopher Gist to scout out French intentions at the Forks of the Ohio — and to demand on behalf of the colony of Virginia that they leave. The next year, Washington would get into a firefight in the forest that would spark a world war.

Washington was very young when engaged in these adventures and misadventures — an aspect of the story that the film appears to emphasize. Washington’s steel — the remarkable fortitude that enabled him to lead the Continental Army through perilous and nearly hopeless times in the American Revolution — was forged on the frontier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iazFkCfmUgQ&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0RZS63OP8XO9tEWfdklSJMpUacXdhSgmN0T8KZzurSA7pjRx68akZium0

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On October 2, 1835, the growing tensions between Mexico and Texas erupt into violence when Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, sparking the Texan war for independence.

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“I think it’s important for all the students to know that Native Americans are not history. Just because I go to Walmart and shop doesn’t mean I don’t remember the ways of life of our people.”

— Myra Johnson-Orange,  Warm Springs tribal elder

The Bend Bulletin reports that Oregon’s First Nations people are being recognized in the education system — instead of students being fed generic “Native American” studies.

Oregon Senate Bill 13, passed in the 2017 legislative session, gave the Oregon Department of Education $200,000 to create a statewide curriculum about Oregon’s Native American tribes, consulting with tribes in the process. It also provided $200,000 to each of Oregon’s nine tribal governments to create tribe-specific lesson plans that can be used as supplements to the broader statewide curriculum, according to April Campbell, Indian Education Advisor for the state.

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Two of my friends — Hobbs Magaret and Craig Rullman — are involved in a small cattle operation that’s worthy of your notice. Sisters Cattle Co. is engaged in regenerative grazing that produces better meat and better soil conditions. It’s functional environmentalism of the kind that I appreciate and have no hesitancy getting behind. And I like to eat meat.

We let cows be cows. Our cattle move to new ground every day, just as nature intended. They get excited when they see us, because they know they’ll be getting fresh, delicious forage. We walk through the herd and interact with our animals every day, making for a more relaxed environment on the rare occasion when we do handle them.  Our cattle eat a wide variety of plants, not just grass.  Not only is this better for the animals, it’s better for the soil. Biodiverse ecosystems are critical for healthy pastureland. Our goal is to encourage more life. Not less.  When you serve beef from Sisters Cattle Co., you can feel great knowing that you are nourishing the land while nourishing the ones you love. 

You can order a quarter, half, or full share through the link above. And this gives me an excuse for a little Corb Lund…

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Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter went up the Sundown Trail on September 23. One of the great American folk poets. My favorite Robert Hunter story doesn’t have anything to do with the Grateful Dead though. We owe Hunter for pulling the great Tom Russell back into music by the tailfeathers of a fighting rooster:

In 1982, or so…I was out of the music biz for awhile, driving Taxi in New York, when I picked up Robert Hunter at 1 a.m. in Rockaway Park after his solo gig. I drove him to his hotel and told him I was a songwriter – he said, kindly, “Sing me one.” I sang him “Gallo del Cielo,” accapella. He tapped my shoulder, “YOU wrote that?” “Yeah.” We ended up driving back to my house cause he wanted a tape to give to The New Riders and The Dead…a few weeks later he called me out of the audience at The Bitter End to sing it. Then hired me (and Andy Hardin) to open for him at The Lonestar Cafe. He sang it at The Glastonbury Festival and I have a tape of it…Robert Hunter got me back into the music business! Hail him! He’s an honorary Nova Beat, at the head of the list.

 

Fare thee well, fare thee well…