Finally. After all the troubles with the publisher and my former agent, we've arrived at the day. I can't tell you how happy, nervous and hopeful I am about telling you that the fundraising effort for my third cookbook, Buck, Buck, Moose -- dedicated to all forms of venison -- has begun. 

Holly has shot all the photos, as she did for my previous two cookbooks, and this time I've enlisted my sister Laura, who has been a professional book designer most of her adult life, to design the pages. I have to say I am stoked. Sis did us proud, and I can assure you this will be the prettiest, lushest, most comprehensive and global venison cookbook ever written.

Buck, Buck, Moose will include more than 100 recipes, many with alternative variations highlighting important techniques for cooking venison in all its variety: whitetail, blacktail and mule deer, yes, but also moose, elk, antelope, caribou and even exotics like fallow, red and axis deer. 

In terms of field care and processing, I'll take you from the moment of the shot all the way to the freezer. I'll talk about aging meat, nutrition, food safety -- even what beer and wine to pair with various venison dishes.

And those dishes will be global. We have, as a species, been eaters of venison since before we were fully human. For at least 1 million years our ancestors have been hunters, and some sort of bison, gazelle, mammoth, deer -- or, in the case of Australia, kangaroos -- has been prime quarry all this time. Every culture in the world has some connection to venison, and the recipes will reflect that.

I am so proud of this book, but pride won't help me publish it. You can.

We are raising money through Kickstarter.com, a crowdfunding website that runs very much the way public radio, or any banquet for Pheasants Forever, Ducks Unlimited or the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation operates: Everyone chips in whatever they can and together, we make this project a reality.

All told, we will need $30,000 in the next 35 days, almost all of which will go toward printing and distribution. No one is getting rich off this.

The best way you can help is to pre-order your copy of Buck, Buck, Moose. Every book ordered gets us a little closer, and, if you have the inclination and want to contribute a bit more, I am also offering to come to your house to butcher your deer, teach you how to make sausage, take you foraging and even come to your kitchen and cook you and your friends a meal to remember.

Click here to get your copy!

The book will be ready in late summer 2016, but we're also offering a Buck, Buck, Moose t-shirt that we'll deliver in time for the holidays this year - so you won't have to wait forever to get a return on your investment.

Bottom line: I need you, the readers of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, to come together, contribute, and share this link. If you hunt deer, you need this book. And if you don't hunt deer, but get care packages of venison from friends, you need this book. And if you know someone who hunts deer, do me a favor and send this link to them, too.

Bit by bit, book by book, we can make it happen.