Hello Three Five my name is Jordan this is my back story.
I'm thirty years old living in the state of Oregon in the middle of the beautiful Pacific Northwest, I am of mixed heritage my father is a white German man that moved in the early eighties from the rapidly populating central coast of California to the mid-west, he was heading to the Yukon but was stopped on his quest by his brother who wanted to take a trip east, the road took them to South Dakota and Dad never left he saw the frontier he wanted and settled down. Several years previous to that on the other side of the country a young Jamaican woman lived in the Bronx, the city was not her hearts home and she had always yearned to leave for a place more rural. After taking time to travel Europe she packed up and moved west she made it as far as North Dakota and stopped, she had made good friends and decided to wait it out a few years before moving on. Then 1985 rolled around and those two people from opposite backgrounds from opposite coasts bumped into each other literally and my mom decided nearly in that moment this man was the one for her, long story short they were married and I wandered my way onto the scene.
Born in 1990 in Hettinger North Dakota I was one of two black people within probably three hundred miles it was me and my mom until one more came along when my brother was born. This was a unique situation and I feel truly blessed to have been born where I was, I was either not even noticed because I was a native to my tiny town in north central South Dakota that I grew up in or I was viewed as a cool novelty to play on the local basketball or football team, not having dealt with prejudice at least aimed towards myself as I grew up it was a shock when I got older and left home, that however is a story for another day. I spent nearly all my childhood outside, anytime I wasn’t roaming around the dirt streets of home on foot or bike I was fishing, hunting or thinking about both, these were lean times where the outdoors weren’t just for sport they were feeding the family, fish were caught to eat, deer were hunted not for the size of antlers but for the size of their body. My fathers hunting and fishing ethics were drilled into me, these resources were finite not to be squandered and never exploited, only harvest something if there was enough to sustain and continue growing. Hunting was a job, and it was your duty to be the best at your job, I took that to heart. Life happened when I was 18 we left our home and moved to a larger town further east I still hunted and fished but work cut into my time and I slowly drifted away from who I was. Then I got married to the greatest friend and partner I could ever have and she pushed me back towards the outdoors knowing it was something I missed, and needed, we spent many summer evenings watching the sun set me fishing and her enjoying the outdoors. It wasn’t until we decided to move back to her home state of Oregon that the idea for this site started, I have always loved teaching and I saw a need for more representation in the outdoor space don’t get me wrong there are truly incredible educators in the outdoor space right now people like Steven Rinella who is a personal hero of mine, but that being said I wanted to lead by example and show folks that looked like me that this is a space for all people.
I want to accomplish two things with this site, one I want to make being an outdoorsperson something that anyone can do, it doesn’t matter what you look like or who you are this is something that is for you. Secondly, I want to save our precious public lands and waters, if more people use something and appreciate it there will be more determination to preserve it.
So with that said this site is for everyone but more for some than others, if you are man, woman, or child that is black, brown or any other minority this is completely for you, if are from any background and you have never hunted, fished, foraged or explored the open spaces we have in this country this is for you, if you want to get out but don’t know where to go, or what do if you got there than this site is for you. I have hunted and fished all my life but I am far from an expert so this is going to be a learning experience for me too, we are going to grow together you will see my successes and failures, tags filled and tags lost, but through it all you will see the attempt, the work put into making myself into a true outdoorsman it is a journey that I truly hope you will take with me. The goal is for this site to contain a database of knowledge to pass on, as we are all the Three Five I want this site to grow to include the knowledge of our members so that we can all leave an imprint on those following us. We will cover hunting and fishing of course but add to that foraging for wild edibles, bird watching, metal detecting, fur tanning, building your own hunting and fishing equipment, literally the list could and will go on for pages. Add to this knowledge of those that have come before us that were wild men and women that the history books have largely forgotten James Beckworth, Matthew Henson overlooked no longer, we will shine a light on their lives and how they can affect ours. Through this site, our YouTube channel and our podcast we will be your one stop for everything outdoors. With everything have been said I will end by saying My name is Jordan and I want to personally welcome you to the three five, We Are The Three Five!
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