Growing up in the Canadian Shield surrounded by swampy forests and vast expanse of bedrock has always filled me with wonder. This part of our Earth is beautiful and intense. The Shield was formed more than 800 million years ago and is composed of some of the most ancient rocks on Earth – dating to be over 4 billion years old. We have one of the most diverse wetland areas in Canada and in the Spring our migrational birds return. Seeing the first Great Blue Heron gliding through the air on its huge wings, it's magic. 

Ponds and lakes are scattered all over this great white north, filled with multiple fish species. Everyone goes for the Walleye, though. I go for the sunshine. It truly is an outdoorsman paradise way up here, we are just isolated enough to draw only the determined or adventurous. This is no place for wussies - life is tough in the frozen north, and this is just the gateway. Either you make what you have work or the North drives you out. 

This wild place has definitely shaped who I am, it's undeniable. Being in the forest comes naturally to me, I grew up there. Camping as soon as the snow was gone, hours fishing on lakes in little red Lund boats with my family. My grandma would send me and my cousin out on missions into the bush to find things for her art projects. We'd return with shirts full of moss, branches, berries. Our treasures, for her.

I'm still on that mission - to go and find cool things in the bush. You truly can't bring me out into the forest without hearing me say "wow look at that!!"... putting rocks in my pocket, whispering prayers of thanks to the Earth... hauling branches and other magic through the bush back to my little crystal cave.