Alexa, play Can You Canoe by the Okee Dokee Brothers

I've always felt a natural pull towards rivers.  One of my first childhood memories is of my mom teaching me how to skip stones over the Maple River which wound it's way through cornfields just outside of my home town. After learning to ride a bike and getting over my fear of riding on the highway, I would make trips down to the river on my own just to watch the water flow by. As I grew older and moved away from Good Thunder, I found myself sitting on the banks of the Minnesota, Cannon and Mississippi Rivers.  This past year has brought me many opportunities to sink into my river rat identity. I've had the opportunity to go on my first canoe trip and have recently begun my career as a canoe guide.

Water has always made me feel grounded.  I do my best thinking when I'm watching the swallows dance through the air, or watching a Great Blue Heron glide by.  My fascination with the relationship between our food systems and the nation's water ways has always been influenced by the body of water I find myself on the banks of.  How can I do research for a lakes or a rivers if I don't have a relationship with them?