My love affair with nature started as a child catching every kind of bug, reptile, and critter I could find. I gave my first presentation on insects as a five-year-old at a bookstore called TreeHouse Tales. Though I did not become an entomologist I did become a slightly annoying, know-it-all, field guide-studying, wildlife enthusiast.

I learned woodworking, woodsman skills, and carpentry at a young age from my dad, which has served me well in my primitive skills inquiry. After I was released from high school, I joined Americorps and taught Indianapolis kids conflict resolution and nature connection at the Peace Learning Center’s Peace Camp in Trafalgar, IN. Over the next decade and a half, I traveled extensively throughout North America and the Pacific Islands working on farms as a journeyman carpenter and learning about the ecology, culture, and languages. I’ve been to every state except Maine, most of the Provinces of Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, The Dominican Republic, and Cuba.

In between travels I attended Herron School of Art where I learned how to forge metal, make molds, weld, fine woodworking, draw, and ceramics. I graduated with a BFA in Sculpture. I received a boat building diploma from the Great Lakes Boat Building School where I learned to build both traditional wooden boats as well as modern wooden boats. I began learning primitive skills and nature awareness by attending classes at the Eessipana Urban Wilderness School founded by Matt Shull and Ethan Runnels and I have been learning from Matt while helping him teach other children and adults ever since. Meeting these original skills and helping others tap into this ancient human record is not only our human birthright but our ticket to mental and physical health. I can’t think of any legacy I’d rather offer to my three little girls, or to the future generations of the planet.