I am the son of two teachers - so it was in the genes I guess. I grew up in rural Massachusetts spending as much time as I could in the woods. I went to college in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, and again - spent lots of time in the woods. Out of college I joined the Peace Corps and was in Panama for three years working on water sanitation - clean drinking water through gravity fed water systems and composting toilets. I met my wife in Panama, as she was a volunteer at the same time as me. We returned to the States and moved to Gallup NM, where I got into teaching. In 2008 we move to Mount Shasta to start our family, and have been here since.