Ok ok ok… I know I say this a lot. But! I am going to say it again. I am really super grateful for the people that my job puts me next to. Chelsea & Mike met in college at UConn while they were doing a project having to do with a type of bird. This involved sitting on a log for countless hours watching this bird, and taking notes. That is where they fell in love. They aren’t the kind of people who subscribe to a CSA and call themselves “eco-friendly”. These two are the real deal. They’re the dirt-loving, chicken raising, bunny nuzzling, growing all of their own food types. They are currently floating around, moving to wherever opportunity presents itself and seeing what happens. Recently a job brought them from Connecticut to South Dakota where Mike got a job at Custer State Park. I loved listening to them talk about the woods, their homestead and what drives them. They know that their relationship with each other is top priority and it shows. That’s a big deal. Not everyone is able to do that.

They asked me to come out and photograph their lives as they are now, because they know this won’t be forever. We even talked about having this be a yearly thing wherever they are (hell yes!).

Because I had never been to SD, we decided to tack on a few days and try backpacking out in the Badlands. I mention this because of all people we told in South Dakota of our plans to backpack for 3 days for the first time ever in one of the harshest places known to man (there is a reason it’s called the badlands), they were the only ones who said “ah, you’ll be great! Need to borrow anything?” rather than “are you nuts?!”. I love you guys. I cannot wait to see you AGAIN for your wedding in September at the West Mountain Inn in Vermont!

Curious about all of the photos of the table on top of the mountain with tons of notebooks? Google “Poet’s Table”.