Danielle Renee Felgenhauer

I love to create, to build.

I come from Wisconsin where I spent a lot of time exploring the outdoors, summers in the lakes, winters in the snow. My mom always used to tell us to take it outside! We’d build forts and make things out of whatever we could find. I loved making mud paints. These often ended up all over the house, possibly to my parents’ dismay. It’s time to go back to the mud and get down and dirty again.

I studied visual arts at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where I continued to create. I feel a lot of inspiration from the natural world and creepiest and crawliest of things. Alongside visual arts, I studied people-environment geography where I learned to view the world through a social environmental lens. Since then I have had the privilege to teach and live in different places around the world. This has given me the opportunity to see how different people from different walks of life, landscapes, and cultures interact and connect with the environments they are a part of. There are so many people doing so many great things! I have also seen, and at times, felt a lot of disconnect as well. I think a prime example is in food systems. 

I have a passion for food, growing it, preparing it, cooking it, baking it, fermenting it, experimenting with it, creating with it, and especially sharing it! Food is the center of any community, and as we become further removed from our food sources, it affects us deeply, both human communities, and the greater habitats we share with other species. I feel very motivated by the many people trying to make changes in our food system. I want to go back to the basics and work hard to develop the knowledge and skills to nourish that connection deeply again. I hope to develop the tools to help others do the same. 

I am a teacher some days and a learner every day. I am stoked to learn about natural building and regenerative agriculture and use some of my artistic talents in a more sustainable way. When I am not creating in the kitchen, I enjoy creating shapes in yoga, marks on paper, and smiles on faces. :)