Nature’s Guys are two conservation-oriented brothers who live on opposite ends of the USA.
Big brother Dave Kuhns is originally a quasi-city boy from suburban Milwaukee, but he spent weekends and summers in nature on Lake Winneconne in central Wisconsin. After raising his kids in a Seattle suburb, he moved to a small town in central Utah. He figured he’d buy some rural property there, or back in the Badger State.
Then he fell in love. Through a series of amazing events, he bought a rural property (a few acres) across the creek from the Chickamauga National Military Park (Civil War battlefield). There, he and his wife Marnie are putting into reality the conservation, gardening and land management practices he learned from his grandmother, his forest ranger Dad, his little brother, and his own surburban experience. Together,
One important note: Dave is NOT a handyman or a naturalist. He’s just a soccer coach / dad kinda guy who writes, who wants to figure things out, but who can’t use some tools very well. His mind is more creative, and he asks his little brother Gene A LOT of questions. Then he writes the answers! If this sounds like you, read on… and ask questions! (Dave’s the main writer on this blog, so a lot of the technical postings are because Dave asked Gene Jr. a lot of questions!)
Dave and his wife, Marnie, have started their own small farm, Spirit Tree Farms.
Read Dave’s Manifesto: Heeding Nature’s Calls to Love Her
Gene Kuhns Jr. is Dave’s younger brother. He was lucky and grew up out in the country (Lake Winneconne). The song “Country Boys Can Survive” was written about him. He’s a LEED engineer who lives on Vashon Island just west of Seattle, where he and his wife own 10+ acres they call “Living Innovations Farm”. He raises bees, chickens, all sorts of fruits and veggies, and finds or buys old equipment, supplies and mechanical things cheaply (or free) to make his farm work life a lot easier. (Did his chicken coop cost him anything except labor?)
When he first moved to Vashon Island, he built a greenhouse (with some help from Dave), which doubles as a storage area. Since then he’s made a lot of improvements to his land, including bee hives, mushroom logs, chicken coops, orchards, bee hives, vineyards, raised bed gardens, compost piles, bee hives, rope swings and a lot more. Did I mention he has some bee hives?