Hi, I’m Ann.
I grew up on a small hobby farm on a lake in Minnesota. I loved the animals and didn’t mind those chores at all, but when it came to picking up my room… I went away to college and then for most of my life, I commuted to an office, travelled up to 50% of my time and relocated every few years.
I could spin that life as glamorous. And to be sure I enjoyed a lot of it and made some really good friends along the way. But it wasn’t glamorous – it was soul-crushing to spend my life chasing a good salary for no good reason.
Deep inside me my inner voice was telling me none of that mattered. I’ve always cared deeply about the environment, and every time I learned of ways I could do better, I did. And my husband willingly joined me every step of the way. (So while this page reflects my story and is my labor of love, I can only do it because of the true love and support in a strong relationship.)
- We became vegan
- We installed solar panels
- We drive an electric car
- We mostly buy used
- We avoid plastic
- We recycle
- We buy most of our food from local farmers
- We restored our property to native plants
- We stopped using our dryer
- And all the other little things we can think of
I write that list not as a way of virtue signaling, but because all of that matters and to dismiss it as trivial dismisses all of our collective behavior as inconsequential. However, there is absolutely no doubt that we need the government to take action even more.
In May of 2020 I was fortunate to retire early. Though I announced my leaving before the pandemic, my last month was spent working from home and then one day I just turned off the computer.
Lockdowns and social distancing meant a lot of time spent at home enjoying our little acre and a half in central Illinois. It was exactly what I wanted. What I needed.
I would stop and literally smell the flowers. I looked at bugs, I pulled up a lot of weeds. I studied and googled and shared a photo or two every once in a while. I was ridiculously happy in my new world.
But then I’d read the newspaper, scroll Facebook, see offensive political t-shirts at the farmer’s market. It was depressing. That’s when I started asking myself how could I make the world a better place? I still don’t have that answer.
One thing I can do however, is share the joy I find in nature and hope that it inspires someone somewhere to take their first step to also prioritize the natural world.
I want to do everything I can. An impossible goal to be sure. But let’s all do a little bit better and our collective actions will indeed matter.
What do you think? What can I do better? What can you?
