I was exposed to the outdoors as a very young child. My grandfather made simple bird feeders out of pvc pipes and scrap wood and let me help 'feed' the birds and my uncle thought it was ever so funny that the 'Easter Bunny' would drop off baby chicks and bunnies each Spring. My great-grandparents had a Christmas tree farm in Georgia where we would go and pick out a tree during the holidays and my father started bringing me to 'hunt-camp' when I was about eight. I learned the value of clean water and how hard it was to hunt and fish for dinner. I'm sure he would have been able to hunt a lot better had iPods been invented back then as I might have stopped talking long enough for a deer to get anywhere close to us!
As a pre-teen we went camping a lot and while I have never been overly fond of getting in the water, I enjoyed looking at it and boating over it. The only time I was terrified being in a boat was when we were on Silver Lake in Florida which is an alligator breeding ground and the canoe motor stopped working. The feeling of being surrounded by gators kind of sticks with a person.
After University, I had the opportunity to participate in the Allendale Pre-Clovis archaeological dig in South Carolina and that experience (other than the spiders dropping on me...ewww) really made me appreciate environmental science as it relates to human habitation. How we got here, what we ate, how we lived...it all comes back again and again.
After Allendale I moved West. All the way to San Francisco, which opened up new worlds of farmer's markets, organic and sustainable agriculture, micro-breweries, and self-sustainable lifestyles. I was able to go to events like BurningMan where we had to bring everything we needed for over a week camping on a giant salt flat; 100+ degrees, no water, and no bathrooms. Something I think everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime; even if it's just to say, "OMG, I'm never doing that again!" LOL
From California, I moved to New York City where I realized I'm not a big-city girl at all. I found the Queen's County Farm Museum, backyard chicken coop projects, and a mytonic goat farm to keep me sane until I could get out.
After New York I came back to Florida, where I worked in Living History Museums for a few years before moving on to teaching full time. From 2015-2017, I taught High School Business Education while working on pre-reqs for Master's Degree. I am now in a double degree program in the Netherlands working on my MSc in Organic Agriculture, next year I move to France to do a second MSc in Agroecology. I get out and find Agriculture and Nature wherever I can, as often as I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment