What is it that makes a person who they are? Is it the place they were born? How they were raised? Who their parents were? Is it something else deep in their soul somehow guiding them through life? I know for me, there were a lot of factors that made me who I am.

Justin helping his younger brother feed a calf on their Missouri farm.

I grew up on a farm in Missouri. Raising our own meat and fresh produce was a part of my childhood and was almost a religious experience. Raising a calf to maturity to become food is not a process for the faint of heart, but I understood from a young age where our food came from and it wasn’t wrapped in plastic from the store. I also know every animal on our farm was raise with integrity, all natural and had a great life until it was “time.” As seasons passed on the farm, so did the times that we looked forward to each year. Fresh sweet corn, new potatoes, bright red strawberries for homemade jam barely even touches the mountain of fresh produce that was grown on the farm, but that first meal of the year with grass fed beef, new potatoes and sweet corn was something we were always excited about.

As I got older, the passion for hunting and fishing started to take root as my dad would take me hunting with him. I can remember the brutal cold eating through my layers and layers of clothing and making my feet so numb I could barely feel them, but nothing could drag me out of the snow covered woods as we waited in anticipation of the right deer stepping out for us to harvest. Likewise, spring and summer brought about countless fishing trips to the “back pond,” which, as the name implies, was on the back of the farm. The excitement as I waited for a large mouth bass or catfish to latch on was an addiction for me. Even on those times my dad was too busy with a baseball game on tv, I would grab my little pole, catch a Tide bottle of grasshoppers and head to the pond with my dog Skipper for an adventure on our own.

Over time my passion for Africa grew and grew and grew. The people, the culture, the animals…it all captivated me. I remember in 2001, the first time I stepped onto this vast continent of such diversity. Little did I know at the time that I would return many, many times. The big brown eyes of the children wanting to be the center of my attention. The herds of elephants creating a dust storm as they strolled straight towards our safari jeep. My first hunt of an exotic game in a land oh so different from the land I had always known. The first time I introduced my husband to Africa. These moments barely put a scratch into the surface of thousands of stories I have of Africa. The remote areas of Africa captivated me. I would rather take a boat down the Okavango Delta, camp in a tent, take a shower out of a bucket and cook over an open fire than go to Paris or another big city so many people dream about.

So, what is it that makes a person who they are? I think it is the experiences they have as they journey through life, but I also think it’s the experiences that haven’t been experienced yet, but the soul longs far. This is the path that lead me to starting LGBT Outdoors. I’ve had some storms hit in this thing called life. Storms of being rejected by family and friends for being gay were probably the biggest, but even when the storms were closing in, there was comfort in the outdoors. The warmth of a sunrise hitting my face. Roasting s’mores over a bonfire. The breeze blowing in off the Mendocino coastline. The smell of the pine forest of Glacier National Park. These small things always made me feel alive and gave me a drive to want to experience more to life and the outdoor world around me.

I have a feeling you might have some things deep in you that your soul longs for too. Maybe it’s the feeling of peace in a world that seems so chaotic and confused. Maybe it’s the desire to get out on the open water and experience a sunset from a kayak. Maybe it’s the desire to abandon the concrete jungle and just experience nature. Whatever that longing is to connect to the outdoors, we are here for you. We are here to connect you, educate you and help you have experiences and adventures that makes you a better version of yourself. Hold on tight, its going to be a bumpy road!

How It All Got Started

Plenty Of Fish