About the Owner: Sarah Colby
/Sarah Colby's secret goal is to help save the world from climate change through promoting PNW truffle science and industry. A cheeky statement, but why not use your hobby, hunting with your dogs, for the good. How’s she trying to do that?
Leasing small forest land for native truffle harvesting - to help landowners generate income to invest in reforestation and leaving trees standing longer to sequester carbon. She is part of a cooperative of hunters working to promote truffle harvesting thru the Oregon Small Woodland Association.
Hunting with dogs for over 12 years, she harvests sustainably.
Forays - fun and interesting environmental stewardship education.
Volunteering as the NATS event coordinator - help membership grow raising money to fund research. She thinks more forest research is needed. Some sources indicate that mass timber building is more sustainable than concrete and steel, yet research around mass timber is not funded to the same extent.
Helping NATS attend events - aiding in educating the public on the natural science of truffles and help local economies/tourism around the culinary truffle industry.
Sponsoring a meeting this summer of PNW foragers and industry entrepreneurs on native truffle infusion and other food uses - to improve food safety, distribution, and sales on a larger scale.
Sarah is passionate about the connection we have to the land and spending time people who feel the same. I dreamed of having a Lagotto Romagnolo for many years after visiting the Oregon Truffle Festival and meeting one of these truly amazing dogs. We discovered Truffles right near our property with my good nosed Schnauzer and became hooked on the fun of hunting. I researched and learned about Lagotti for several years and when our family had the time to invest in a quality working dog we started searching for one. I found Jeannine May, a respected breeder and nose-work trainer, who agreed to co-own my first lagotto. She has been a great mentor.
When the time was right we brought Thea into our family. Such a smart girl with working desire. Thea and her future dog family will grow with us as we continue on our adventure of truffle hunting, food production, and breeding. The perfect dogs for our sweet active life.
Living in the northwest and Portland in particular has helped us define our goals as lagotto preservers/breeders. We are so fortunate to live in Portland and Willamette valley with all the agriculture and food innovation it has to offer.
