PODCAST EP. 385: Broken Bow's Colton Patterson on Illustrating Wendell Berry Story

Speaker 1 (00:50.504)

Welcome to On the Wing Podcast presented by Purina Pro Plan. Our listeners know that as part of the many introductions, I like to read excerpts from the Pheasants Forever Journal or Quail Forever Journal to kick off a podcast. And today will be no different. Although, what will be different is I won't be the reader. Quail Forever Journal editor Ryan Sparks, penned, I don't know, an essay, a poem. It was it was wonderful writing. So he's gonna do the honors as we introduce today's episode. Ryan, take it away.

Speaker 2 (01:34.476)

Yeah, this is the intro to our fall twenty twenty six issue. You are here because something wild moved in you once. A point in the morning frost, a flush, a shot, a warm bird in hand, and you said yes, this again. The dog, the wind, the grass, the ache in your knees, and the truth in your hands. You came back because there was meaning in it.

Because the modern world is noisy and cheap and fast. And here you found something slower, quieter, harder, truer. This journal you hold is full of that. Stories that smell like grass and gun oil, stories about birds and dogs that begin and end with the land. That is what keeps this thing we love alive. Stories and memory and hope.

Welcome to our first Quail Camp anthology. So that's the intro to the issue. Should give you a little taste of kind of what else we've got. and there's a lot of stories in the fall issue that I'm excited about bring being our first Quail Camp anthology. But the the one I'm most excited about, the one that's the most near and dear to my heart, is by my favorite writer, Wendell Berry, which is illustrated with artwork from our guest today, Colton Patterson.

Brokenbow. So welcome to the podcast, Colton.

Speaker 3 (03:06.286)

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me. I'm a big honor to be able to join you guys.

Speaker 2 (03:11.864)

Yeah, to jump in, do you wanna just introduce yourself to our audience? Tell us who you are, what you're all about.

Speaker 3 (03:18.326)

Yes. Yeah, I'm an artist for Broken Bow or I started founded Broken Bow a few years ago just out of high school and it started as some place where I just posted old music and content and like scans from magazines, old nature magazines and it built up this following around older lifestyle and values and kind of tradition and really took off and let me drop out of school and let me sell the artwork I have on clothes and

make hats, custom things and it's it's been an absolute blessing to kinda bring it out and let people or see how many people just care about it today 'cause I thought no one no one really cared anymore about old grandpa stuff. And it's been quite the opposite actually. So very, very grateful.

Speaker 1 (04:02.83)

It's

Speaker 2 (04:07.502)

How long ago was that that you started it?

Speaker 3 (04:13.05)

that must have been it must be like three years ago now, 'cause I was sixteen when I started and now I'm nineteen, so

Speaker 2 (04:20.781)

That's awesome. Yeah. For anybody that's not familiar, I mean the the social media pages, I mean, over a million followers, the you know, the content it puts out. I like that's what initially drew me to Colton's artwork for this is just I think it's a perfect spit for the story, which we'll talk about here a little later. But yeah, thanks for coming on the podcast. I think the your artwork for the for the story just turned out absolutely perfect. So thank you.

Speaker 3 (04:49.688)

I tried that, it's my st I realized a lot of my stuff is inspired by older field and stream like journal things like that and it w fit so perfect by the end when I saw the the final printed issue that I was really glad how it came together.

Speaker 1 (05:06.476)

Yeah, in in the early part of your intro you said you had dropped out of school to do this. I at w what age or what grade were you when you dropped out?

Speaker 3 (05:18.606)

I was well, I just started college and it was kinda like on that gap year. You know, you can technically just not come back ever and they just like drop you out immediately. So that's what I did. I I don't even think I sent an email to the school and from there it's not that we

Speaker 1 (05:24.766)

Sure, okay.

Speaker 1 (05:36.916)

Ha ha.

Speaker 1 (05:41.038)

advocate for dropping out, but sometimes a true calling doesn't follow a normal path.

Speaker 3 (05:47.18)

Right? I I don't think it ever does, yeah. Yeah. Do you

Speaker 2 (05:50.124)

Yeah. Do you remember a moment when you recognized like, man, this has really taken off. I think I could pursue this as a as like a full time career?

Speaker 3 (06:00.534)

Yes, yeah. It was back in it was like the December I started and Joe Rogan followed the account that I'd been doing this on and I was like, wow, geez, like I I better like take this kind of serious 'cause that's when my dad was like he thought I was a little silly before, but he's like, Okay, yeah, like you can spend some more time on this. Huh. And that is when we did like I was still on bootleg shirts before.

I took all those down 'cause I was like I cannot get in any legal trouble with this. I I need to do this the straight right way.

Speaker 1 (06:34.978)

So do you your business now, do you have have you grown to a point where you have employees? how how big a business is this for ya?

Speaker 3 (06:46.038)

Yes, we've been very lucky to build up it was just me and my buddy who also left school at the same same exact time as I did last year. And it was just us until we got a good team of warehouse employees and full time two full time managers, husband and wife that work with us in the warehouse and have got a a president as of recent and a few more people that just work in the warehouse all the time and

It it's taken a a great deal of help to get all together and like make sure everyone's on the same wave wavelength, but we've got great people and it's a good team.

Speaker 1 (07:26.678)

Yeah, good for you, man. That's awesome. John, before we hit record we were talking about kind of where you live and broken bow, Asha if you lived in Oklahoma, tell us where where you do live.

Speaker 3 (07:29.89)

Thank you.

Speaker 3 (07:43.374)

I live in I I spend most of my time near Denver, Colorado. 'Cause that is near the the hub of like our warehouse and where I grew up. But I I try to make my way out to the more rural parts of Colorado 'cause Denver is not not what it used to be. So it's it's less pretty too.

Speaker 1 (08:04.212)

And and where did the name Broken Bow as your business come from?

Speaker 3 (08:09.154)

that I my like favorite song, the first song I learned to play on guitar was Good Lord Lori by Turnpike Troubadours and I didn't even know it was a county name in that song, but he says like something about downtown broken bow and I'm like, that sounds pretty cool. Like I don't know what it means, but it's got a nice ring to it and I just chose it like out of a hat basically and it has has really worked out and we've gotten to work with Turnpike Troubadours, so it all came back around eventually.

Speaker 1 (08:39.254)

Yeah well that that's definitely one of the questions we got coming up is how that came to pass. so so I'm gonna hold on to that question for a moment, but are you still playing music too?

Speaker 3 (08:53.496)

Just in my free time as much as I can, 'cause it's it's a really great pastime and I I do writing and like some like just the off the cuff songwriting. It's all just fun hobby stuff to really give yourself a breather when you have to and you can take it outside and take it out in nature and it's a it's a great experience.

Speaker 1 (09:15.886)

Huh. That's cool. And when you you've talked about your love of nature and the outdoors a couple of times, what what is that for you? Is it hiking? Is it skiing? Is it hunting? Is it fishing? Is it everything? What what do you do in your free time outdoors?

Speaker 3 (09:31.432)

I th I think all those you mentioned except for skiing, 'cause I'm not too great of a skier, but pretty much all the above when it comes to hunting, like I'm out with my dad and it's kind of just us up in towards like Pike National Forest in Colorado, fishing. Love that. We've got beautiful rivers here. And to me, I think like the best way I've ever heard it put is by someone you're probably very familiar with, John Muir, that

You know, if people go looking around and spend time building churches or, you know, trying to congregate in places that are all man made, when you go to a place like Yosemite or anywhere you can n nim them all day, like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowstone, they're essentially the greatest cathedrals that have ever been built by God himself. So it's rather fitting and when you go up there like

Speaker 1 (10:23.084)

Mm butt.

Speaker 3 (10:28.738)

Whether you're religious or not, you can feel something pretty palpable around you and it's it's a very beautiful experience. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:36.492)

Yeah, well said.

Speaker 1 (10:37.674)

I and you'll find that the three of us, y you, me and Ryan have a lot in common. We we appreciate John Muir's writing, but we equally appreciate Evan Felker's writing. So

Speaker 3 (10:51.695)

Yes, yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:53.526)

I may have seen him in concert last weekend. Where where I saw was it Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. Yeah. Yeah. From the the Boys of Oklahoma tour. It was great. And I saw a lot of you know, broken bow turnpike collaboration shirts walking around. Yeah. I had one on too. The one with the pointer on it. So it was sweet. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:56.462)

That's funny.

Speaker 3 (10:57.026)

nice.

Speaker 3 (11:03.254)

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:15.34)

That is so cool. He

Speaker 1 (11:16.834)

Yeah. How many times have you seen?

I was asking Colton actually, but you can answer it too.

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:29.16)

I was I was pretty spoiled the first time I got to see them 'cause it was like I I'd never gotten to catch one of their concerts. And the first time they came around to Red Rocks, our buddy Waylon Wyatt, who was like, you know, just a great guy that reached out. Yeah. Very small. Yes, yeah, very recently. He he invited me out 'cause he was opening for them and he's like, Yeah, you want to come backstage and watch it? And it's like, dude, like

Speaker 1 (11:44.174)

Collaborated.

Speaker 3 (11:55.842)

Do I? Like that'd be awesome. And you got to sit down there while everyone's waving their phone lights and they're playing Diamonds and Gasoline. It was about the coolest thing that I've ever seen in person.

Speaker 2 (12:08.022)

That is cool.

Speaker 1 (12:08.812)

Well, I I teased that we were gonna ask it later, but I mean it feels appropriate to go down the turnpike turnpike.

Speaker 3 (12:15.822)

Always comes up somehow.

Speaker 1 (12:18.986)

Yeah. Well how did the collaboration with those guys get rolling where you started producing artwork in in apparel?

Speaker 3 (12:27.222)

It was it was pretty organic start and I could hardly believe like the way it happened because it was I got a message from Evan Felker himself on Facebook and he he's like so non into social media stuff that he had like I think like fifty followers or like a hundred follow something like much less than I thought he would have. So I I told him at the beginning, I was like, dude, this isn't Evan Felker, quit yanking my chain.

pretending to be this guy. And then like I I insisted and I like, God, I gotta apologize, but it all worked out just fine.

Speaker 2 (13:09.314)

So he just reached out and was like, Hey, this is Evan. Would you wanna do like a art collaboration with us or

Speaker 3 (13:15.094)

Yes, yeah, to to which the answer is, you know, definitely yes. And just pretty much sent over like a bunch of old hunting photos he had and some specific lyrics he was thinking about. And I mean it was it was probably the easiest project I've ever done 'cause i if you spend your whole time listening to that music and making stuff like it already has a big impact on your style and it it just seemed like a perfect meeting of

Two worlds.

Speaker 2 (13:46.654)

And I imagine it has to be really invigorating as an artist when another artist that even if it's a different medium, but reaches out to you and recognizes something in your work and someone you respect really wants to do something with you. I mean, that's gotta really hit home, like, hey, there's there's something I'm good I'm doing here.

Speaker 3 (14:04.974)

Yeah. Yeah, very, very much so with that 'cause like it was around a time where we were about to sell a big portion of Broken Bow and I was like really on the fence 'cause we're like, man, like I might have to go back to school soon. Like I don't know about this, like and it seemed like a huge amount of money for like, you know, the place I was at. And when that happened, I remember this like overwhelming feeling of like I can do this. Like this is it's like if

Devon Volker likes the stuff, man. Like I've got something here and I I'm gonna follow it down this trail. I'm not going back to school. This I I I can really do it. So that is an incredible debt that I actually owe to him and that whole band for taking a chance.

Speaker 1 (14:52.392)

So did you end up not selling a percentage of your business because of that?

Speaker 3 (14:57.78)

Yeah, a week later, I broke the contract and it was like, hey, like I appreciate it. 'Cause they were they were good guys too and but it was something where I was like, I don't gotta sell a huge portion of this thing that's obviously got something to it. Like and that was it for no for no good reason too. I mean that like it wasn't the best reason to go break a contract, but it was it was enough mentally to

get me to do it and that is a a huge, huge thing.

Speaker 1 (15:32.046)

That's awesome. Congratulations to you. So we're gonna we're gonna dive into a little bit about your style and then the story that you illustrated. I'm I'm gonna circle one more question to a the other artist on the call. Ryan, you you read a a line that that has stuck with me ever since I read it in that do you call it an essay? I know it's an intro, but it's almost like lyrical.

Anyways, the the line that sticks with me is the dog, the wind, the grass, the ache in the in your knees, and the truth in your hands. The word truth to me is very, very powerful. I'm curious if you'll share that word choice and tell us what that means to you, 'cause that that that's resonated with me.

Speaker 2 (16:30.762)

Yeah, I think it's a good word that can connect us to the Wendell Berry story that we're gonna talk to later. I think I know when I first started getting into hunting in the outdoors, like y you realize like we live in this very human world. And a lot of that to me, when I was younger, even me, I didn't have the words to to to express it, but it felt like manufactured or fake. And then you get out into what is perceived as this other world, the natural world, and I just

immediately responded with that and it felt like the real truth to everything is out here. Like out here everything is stripped down to kind of its core and the things that truly matter, which I know we've all experienced when we hunt, like those relationships with the animals we take with us, the relationships with the animals we hunt, the relationships we have with the people we go with, like that's that truth that I think we all experience when we're out hunting that,

You know, it's it's so palpable, you can om you know, it feels like you're holding that truth in your hands, you know. So that's I think what I was trying to get at there. But

Speaker 1 (17:38.154)

to me, that might be our next t-shirt. I love that line. I'll read it one more time and then we'll roll in. The dog, the wind, the grass, the ache in your knees, and the truth in your hands. Truth has so many different levels. Really, really enjoyed that writing. I'm proud to recognize Purina Pro Plan as the national dog food sponsor of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever and the presenting.

partner of On the Wing podcast. My pups have always eaten Purina ProPlan, not just be because Purina supports our wildlife habitat mission, which is definitely important to me. But the most important thing is that Purina Pro Plan's team of scientists and nutritionists created Purina Pro Plan specifically, the recipe was made for the working bird dog like yours in like My Little Winter and Little Gitchy Gumi.

You can learn more at proplansport.com. Purina Proplan Nutrition That Performs.

Speaker 4 (18:43.8)

From Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever National Headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, this is Casey Sill with the Upland Newsroom, delivering top stories from the Habitat Organization and across the American Uplands. Let's head to Oklahoma for our first story today, where Quail Forever has recently partnered with Ducks Unlimited and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation to acquire 215 acres of wetland habitat, which will be added to the Drummond Flats Wildlife Management Area.

The tract will expand habitat for quail, pheasants, ducks, and many other non-game wildlife species. The tract falls within Oklahoma's historic Drummond Flats wetland basin, and while the property is primarily a wetland, prairie buffers found alongside the wetlands will provide excellent upland habitat as well. Quail Forever would like to extend a sincere thank you to all the partners who helped make this project possible.

Sticking with access, Pheasants Forever also just celebrated the addition of the 197-acre Bruce Baym tract to the Burr Oak Lake waterfowl production area in Minnesota. Just a few miles northeast of Wilmer, the parcel connects the existing 330-acre Burr Oak Lake WPA and the 125-acre Candy Wildlife Management Area. There's also a 150-acre wildlife easement in the vicinity. Bruce Baim led the Northwest Suburban Pheasants Forever chapter for many years.

He had a passion for introducing young people to the outdoors, and after he passed, chapter volunteers decided to honor him by donating $100,000 to this project. The property was previously enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program and includes established native prairie and multiple restored wetlands. The tract will now be conveyed to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a WPA and will be open to public use. Pheasants Fervor and Quill Friver's vice president of conservation programs, Rich Wisink, was recently appointed.

To the US Environmental Protection Agency National Environmental Education Advisory Council. Whew, that was a mouthful. Anyway, the new 10-person council will help the EPA lead and promote environmental education. Its work will support responsible stewardship of natural resources, encourage voluntary conservation, connect more Americans with outdoor recreation, and support joint efforts that conserve America's wildlife populations while driving economic growth.

Speaker 4 (21:01.176)

Congratulations, Rich, on your appointment to this council, and we look forward to seeing the work that it will produce. That'll do it this week reporting from PF and QF headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota. I'm Casey Sill.

Speaker 1 (21:13.32)

All right. in the process of recording this episode, we had a thunderstorm, a big one apparently, roll through Denver, Colorado and knocked knocked our guest offline. So we're picking this back up a couple days later. so if this sounds a little bit slightly disjointed, that's why we've got two recording sessions and unbelievably

In the midst of recording this, or be from the time we recorded the first half to the second half here, Wendell Berry, the author of the story we're talking about, has passed away. So I think this takes on even greater meaning that we can talk a little bit about his writing and the our ability through Sparks to get some of Wendell's

Mr. Berry's writing into the Quail Forever Journal. So we'll get back rolling. all right. And got Colton, got Ryan Sparks. From your website, Colton, it says Broken Bowl was a small account dedicated to posting old grandpa country music, American culture, and artwork that embodied the faith and Western values. We had no clue so many people would resonate with it.

One million followers later, it has become our life's work to spread the culture throughout America through faith, tradition, and quality. So I want to ask a couple words in there. You can tell what some of them by my giggles that I want to ask you about. But I wanna, I guess the first thing that we we haven't asked you is how did you pick up art? Like, was that something where you went?

Took a class, you just started doodling? Like what what was the inspiration?

Speaker 3 (23:10.606)

I learned from my mom really early because she's a she's a leather worker and she is a she's good at drawing, painting and like kinda all the above. And she kind of just taught me the way you do and like the when you're inclined to be able to help a kid that's like drawing with crayons and stuff like that. So it it it rubbed off on me and I think I have the gene for it and I've been very lucky to grow up in that household where someone is right there that you know.

can do it and I think that's a barrier for most people so I'm I'm

Speaker 4 (23:43.662)

grateful for that.

Speaker 2 (23:45.174)

So after the crayon phase, crayon phase by Me too. Me too. I'm still eating crayons.

Speaker 1 (23:48.578)

Like

Speaker 4 (23:54.798)

Okay.

Speaker 1 (23:55.79)

Well that explains a lot.

Speaker 2 (23:57.71)

But after the so after the crayons, like what was the first sort of medium that you picked up? 'Cause I know like right now I think of you and a very unique it comes off as like very effortless and like quick sketches, but then I think when you look at them more closely, you can tell that there's a lot of technique that goes into them. And then I've also seen online that you've started to kind of

lean into some mixed media stuff. So s can you like kind of talk us through like that progression of like how you've learned through different mediums of art?

Speaker 3 (24:36.502)

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, 'cause I I've always kind of just done pencil stuff, like graphite, like mechanical pencil, very, very simple rudimentary things. I did not like using color a whole lot ever. And I still pretty much don't in most of my stuff. And I I I think I've been on the same track for as long as I can remember. It besides oil painting and like learning how to do that, which makes you a better drawer, it makes you better with shadows and

kinda the form of everything. Once you learn how to lay paint down and lay values out and like compose a a full thing 'cause it's it's pretty time consuming. But it's always been black and white graph graphite that sticks out to me. And I think it's just 'cause it's so so easy to go back on and you can put so much detail into it. And it's it's so simple that I think it it works for whatever I'm trying to express.

Speaker 2 (25:32.664)

Yeah. It sort of has that timeless feel too that I think kind of captures what your what your brand and what your artwork's all about as well.

Speaker 3 (25:39.746)

Yes, yeah, I love old like hunting catalogs and manuals and even stuff that's it was not made to be art, like just made to be very representative. I think it has like it's got a charm to it now 'cause someone had to hand draw it and make it. And now it's like all like PNG clip art stuff. So it's it even that has a special place in my my heart.

Speaker 1 (26:03.252)

As I mentioned from your website, you know, it one thing that caught my it piqued my interest is old grandpa country music. Tell us tell us who are some of the artists of old grandpa country music.

Speaker 3 (26:15.214)

Yes, yeah. All right.

Speaker 3 (26:20.584)

Music. that first that is not a derogatory term, although that's it's the highest compliment I can give because my grandfather's the the coolest guy I know. But it's it's like Merle Haggard, Ralph Stanley, like obviously Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, any any part of the Highwaymen, definitely, but I like that old, old bluegrass gospel stuff like Bill Monroe, Keith Whitley, all the above.

Speaker 1 (26:47.958)

Hmm. And you know, you have a million followers. so what do you think resonated with your approach that you know built upon itself exponentially?

Speaker 3 (27:03.448)

I d I think 'cause I I was pretty surprised in the beginning that anybody like it got a ton of traction at all 'cause I thought it was like unpopular music now. But I think what it was is like you there's a drought on social media of older people that, you know, are inclined 'cause it's it's younger people that use it a ton and they're the ones that are always like kind of deciding what's gonna be on there by pro or by virtue of that. So w when a young person does come along

that likes that kind of music, that much older stuff, there's no one supplying it when you come in. So you you're filling that void and everyone's latching onto it that does scroll Instagram and is an older person. So I I think it was just something that was waiting to happen and I was the someone young enough and inclined enough to do it. So it was it was good. A a very lucky situation that that I'd done it first.

Speaker 2 (28:01.91)

So if if you look at your social media stuff, you know, a good portion of it is your artwork and another good portion of it is I guess what I would call like Americana. Like you might post about

American things for a lack of a better term, whether that's music or something that happened in history or a or a prominent American. So do you sort of think of yourself or your brand now as an an art brand or a social media brand? Or how does that fit in your

Speaker 3 (28:35.35)

I mostly think 'cause I I think like magazines what what things are shifting towards is Instagram and pages like that are the new magazines. And they're kind of the new like curators of a lot of different topics and subjects and interviews or videos and that is what's filling that void in the modern world. So I I don't think about it any differently and I I draw the same way that

you you have comics in a magazine, you have a graphic, something that draw people in, whether it's to like tell a story or do a specific write up on a certain topic or like pull out a an old thing for people to look at or draw attention to a brand new like news event. We draw attention to a lot of conservation stuff because it it resonates with people in the moment as it's happening. And I think I think it's partly that and just curating a certain feeling so that

people know where they can go for like the artwork or the sentiment or the clothing that we make. It it's just keeping it very curated. I think

Speaker 1 (29:42.843)

Have you ever heard the saying like somebody will say, I was just b born in the wrong era?

Speaker 3 (29:49.496)

Yeah, I know, I've I've heard that before, yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:52.286)

And do you do you feel like obviously you you your work resonates in twenty twenty six, but do you feel like you would have been more at home in like nineteen forty?

Speaker 3 (30:07.096)

I I honestly I don't think so. And I think it's I think that everybody has their thing and like really when when people say that most of the time, what you could be here for instead is to bring some of that stuff back a little bit and make sure that people still have it because for me at least I know that I've kind of just got a a bad habit of not liking popular things and like I don't like when it's like all mixed up in like the news or culture and like I like

having stuff to myself. That's more of what it is. So I probably wouldn't have liked popular music in the fifties or forties either. I probably would have been on some some older stuff then, I guess. So so I think it's just that it's an archetype and type of person that likes that stuff and is meant to keep it alive and bring it back. I think it's I don't feel like I'm born in the wrong wrong place at all.

Speaker 1 (31:02.35)

Right on. all right. So we're gonna transition to talking about Colton's work in Quail Forever Journal to illustrate the Wendell Berry story. before we jump into that, I want to thank Onyx Hunt, partner in On the Wing podcast. We don't hunt for that picture-perfect social media post. With Onyx Hunt as our guide.

We do hunt for the walk behind a good bird dog, the smell of burnt powder, and the buddy walking right alongside us. The best spots mean more every time we return. Some were passed down to us and some we found ourselves. And the traditions we carry forward are the ones we hope somebody carries on after us. Time out here has a way of putting everything else in perspective.

They're the stories we tell for years, the unforgettable dog work that we cherish in the moments when the season is over, and they're the people who were there with us that we love forever. Long after the season ends, those are the things that stay with us. Onyx Hunt. All right. Ryan, I want you to kind of for folks that maybe in the last couple of weeks have heard Wendellberry's name.

but don't know his work. Tell a little bit about what Wendell Berry's writing means to you, what's meant to you, and a little bit of biography about his career to set the stage for us.

Speaker 2 (32:44.502)

Yeah. Wendell Berry is my favorite writer. you know, he wrote fiction, which is what I tend to really enjoy from him. I also really enjoy his nonfiction, his essays and and his poetry as well. He was a very talented writer across many different disciplines within writing. you know, he was he was someone he never owned a computer, he never owned a telephone, he hand wrote all of his stuff.

he handed those handwritten things over to his wife, who was his editor, and she typed them on a typewriter and sent them off to a publisher, even his last book, which was published a year ago. so I think that speaks a little bit to his dedication in his beliefs. and you know, he was someone who wrote about things that I care about a lot, which was taking care of the people around us, taking care of the land where we live.

and how those relationships both with people and with animals and with the natural world form what he called a membership. and so this story in Quote Forever Journal is called Mike. and on its surface it it's a story about a bird dog, a hunter, and his son. but I think underneath that it's about the things that Wendellberry wrote throughout his career, which were you know memory and family

And our connection to the land. And I thought that just makes it a a great fit for Quail Forever Journal. you know, one of his central ideas, that that membership idea, is that we don't just occupy places, we b belong to places and we're part of that community. And people generally think of community as race relationships among people, but for Barry that was the relationships between people, animals, land, traditions.

And generations of history and belonging to that community is that membership. So in this story, Mike is the dog, and you know, the father, and they have this sort of perfect partnership. And the dog loves his work, and the hunter recognizes that love for the work in himself, and they're both just completely alive together when they're out there hunting. And the father's passion for hunting, the

Speaker 2 (35:09.314)

The boy realizes after the fact wasn't necessarily a passion for shooting quail. It was a passion for the country and the place that he lived. and hunting was the way that he experienced that with his dog. and to take it one step further, when you when you love something, I think that's what makes you care for it. And I think that's where conservation comes from. So that's what I think made the story just sort of a natural fit for Cole Forever Journal.

Speaker 1 (35:36.724)

And I how did it come about where we got permission to run this?

Speaker 2 (35:42.156)

Well, I read a lot of Wendellberry. And a lot of his stuff is in collections. and I'll say for anybody that's interested in reading more Wendellberry, particularly particularly his fiction, he sort of created this fictional universe that takes place over many generations, all in the same area, where you have different characters that come in and out. And these collections of stories might take place anywhere within that.

and you can enjoy one story on its own. And if you're somebody that reads all of them, like I have, you start to pick up on those relationships and how something that happened two generations ago manifests itself in what's happening currently. and I was reading through those those stories, and you know, he touches on hunting here and there, quail hunting, coon hunting, you know, running dogs at night for raccoons and people keeping dogs and all those sorts of things.

But this was a story specifically about quail hunting. And when I read it, I thought, if I can get that in the journal, that would be amazing. And reached out to his publisher, and we were able to make it happen. And you know, that was a wonderful collaboration. And I think another collaboration is the one that we were talking about today here with Colton, which is the boy in the story is sort of retelling stories that he heard from his father when he wasn't there. So it's sort of the retelling.

of a memory. And I think Colton's artwork in that way, the style of it, how it seems very loose and ethereal, lends itself to it's almost like an illustration of a memory, maybe how the boy is remembering it or picturing his father doing that. So it's just a perfect fit.

Speaker 1 (37:27.714)

And that was very specifically. I mean you you've envisioned this from the beginning. You reached out to Colton and I said, I got a story I want you to illustrate. All right, Colton, take it from here. Like as you read the story I have you read a lot of Wendell Berry or was this your first introduction?

Speaker 2 (37:36.984)

Did yep.

Speaker 3 (37:47.318)

This is my first introduction formally to reading one of his full stories because I'd I'd certainly heard about him before, like just in the Americana writing space. I've read more like John Steinbeck stuff and around that area, but I did know about him and it was a first introduction to his writing and it immediately seemed like a project where I'm like, man, I don't I don't gotta change anything about what I normally do to do this because it's so nostalgic

And so like very authentic that it really seemed like such an easy thing to say yes to and commit to.

Speaker 1 (38:26.296)

So as you read read the story, did you so you illustrated a handful of the scenes? Did you know instantly as you read this, like I'm gonna draw this one, I'm gonna draw this one, or did you guys collaborate? Like how did that come to be?

Speaker 3 (38:42.654)

yeah, we went we went back and forth a few times. I got there there are some things I don't know a ton about quail bogs too that I had to go back and fix after the fact. Like you're not supposed to yeah, they're they're not supposed to jump for birds most of the time, which I had no clue about. So I had to go back and fix that on a few occasions. But for the most part it was just what I saw when I was reading and

the the general feeling around it and most of the original sketches made it through the

Speaker 1 (39:16.312)

Do you have a favorite sketch in the collection?

Speaker 3 (39:20.164)

yeah, I d probably the cover, I would say, or him jumping in or like off the fence. I I really liked a lot that

Speaker 1 (39:31.054)

I have a feeling I know which one sparks his favorite, but I'll let him articulate it.

Speaker 2 (39:37.224)

Yeah, I mean I do I do love the cover, and I guess that's something we should have said before too. Is that not only did Colton illustrate the Wendellberry story in it, he also illustrated the cover and it's it turned out wonderful. it's starting to hit people's mailboxes now, so I've starting to get some really good feedback about that. but there is a line in the story towards the end where the boy is hunting with his father and the and the dog, the setter, goes on point, and he's sort of the the man sort of stops and without

losing his gaze on the dog, puts his hand on the on the boy's shoulder and says, you know, it comes over him like a sickness. speaking of that that sickness is like the like a love sickness, like a love for the country. And I think he he wasn't in the story he's talking about the dog, but he's also talking about himself at the same time. and so w the story concludes with an illustration of how how Colton has rendered it and you know, it's he's illustrated over the top of it. It comes over him like a sickness. So I that would that that

really was a great way to sort of put a a final period on the end of the story.

Speaker 3 (40:40.33)

I really I really enjoy his phrasing of that because it's kind of a feeling I try to get at or like that I don't see expressed a ton of like there's a lot of stuff, especially memory and nostalgia, that is like an aching feeling of beauty where you're like, I can't even describe how how much this means or how how long I feel like I've known about this for and it's I I love to see it expressed by someone as articulate as him.

Speaker 1 (41:10.946)

Well, it it is a perfect collaboration. You know, you got Ryan Sparks pulling together, you know, his favorite author. And Colton, your your artwork that is just an absolute compliment to the words of Wendell Berry. And I I don't know what else to say about Wendellberry. Rest in peace and and thank you to his his family for letting us use this story in his publication. It's

Shame that he won't be writing anymore. unless there's some hidden ones out there.

Speaker 3 (41:47.138)

It does happen sometimes.

Speaker 2 (41:48.92)

We'll see. He did leave behind a huge body of work for anyone that's interested in in going back. And if anybody wants a recommendation, perhaps my favorite book is one of his. It's called Jaber Crow. There's a little hunting sprinkled throughout that as well. But that's if you enjoyed this, I would highly, highly, highly recommend go grab Jaber Crow and give it a read.

Speaker 1 (42:09.58)

It it it is amazing his diversity from fiction to nonfiction, essays, poetry. I mean, he just was a quintessential writer. did everything. Colton, if if folks want to learn more about your work, maybe pick up a Turnpike Troubadours t shirt or something. Point point to where you want them to look.

Speaker 3 (42:33.536)

yeah, on if you go to broken underscore bow underscore underscore on Instagram, we've got all the links there. ever everything in one big catalog, so find it all.

Speaker 1 (42:42.638)

Cool. I'll leave a link in the show notes. And folks, if you maybe you missed out on the Quail Forever Fall Journal where this story and Colton's artwork appears, renew your membership. Join, send me an email at on the wing podcast at pheasantsforever.org. Let me know that you renewed or joined Quail Forever, and I will get you a copy of this issue in the mail. Make sure you don't miss out. Colton, Ryan, thank you very much for this two-parter, two two recording sessions, but we got it done and fittingly we paid tribute to Wendell Berry in the process. So thanks guys. All right folks, I'm Bob St.Pierre reminding you to always follow the dog. Something good will rise, folks. Thanks for listening.