When I'm outdoors, preferably growing food, I'm in my happiest place. My love of nature began in childhood as I grew up on an Alaskan homestead, 'off grid' before that was a thing. My five siblings and I roamed the hills and read books by kerosene lamps. Eventually, four of the six of us all owned bookstores, interestingly enough.

At twenty, my young husband and I started a hog farm. In the Arizona desert both craving a life out of the city where we could have goats, horses, dogs, and a big family. We learned farming, construction, and yes, even raising children the hard way; the school of hard knocks.

We next moved to New Mexico where we ran a construction company and I homeschooled my children for the next twenty years. At that time, we were pioneers in home education, that was illegal back in the 80s. I self-published a book titled Learning For Life: Homeschooling in New Mexico to help others. Sadly, it’s now ‘out-of-print’. We continued raising horses, livestock, and always gardening.

As the kids grew up, I opened a business in Albuquerque that became the largest used bookstore in the state and a center for the burgeoning homeschool movement. What a joy to walk the aisles and know there are 150,000 books waiting to be read.

Always restless and curious, I returned to an early love of dogs; breeding and training German Shepherds, Malinois, and Dutch Shepherds for the sport of Schutzhund and for police work. When I needed more land for the kennel, I relocated to West Texas and had up to twenty dogs at a time.

To boost the budget, my son and I grew a successful online used book business and I became an EMT in our remote Texas county.

The next to the last stop, so far, in my journey was near Austin, Texas, where for ten years one of my sons and I started a popular organic vegetable farm selling produce to the high-end chefs in Austin. Eventually, realizing I was getting a bit stiff from a lifetime of physical work, I began writing, which is now my career.

At the same time, I began a serious investigation of diet and its affect on human health and changed to a whole-foods, plant-based diet along with a structured fitness program. At seventy-one, I am fortunate to be healthier than I was at fifty.

Now, I live in the gorgeous San Juan Islands in Washington State where I spend part of my time outdoors and the rest writing; essays, online content, and my big project—a memoir of my long and interesting life.

I’m an optimistic person who believes in giving back some of the joy I’ve gotten in life. I love writing, and coaching new writers, as well as working as editor here on Medium.

I’m happy you’re here and I hope you find inspiring stories to bring joy and understanding to your life.