Jenny Anderson

While I was born and raised in Kansas City, I come from a family of generations of hunters, fishers, and outdoor enthusiasts with the country in our souls. As a kid some of my fondest memories are barefoot and “piddling around” outside with my granny and brother. We’d pick and eat mulberries until we were sick to our stomachs and our feet were stained from squished berries and asphalt. One of her favorite things to do was find rocks on our family land, which we fondly call “The Farm”, in Southwestern Missouri and stack them into rock walls around the property. 

I mention this because one of the rock walls she built was a victim to one of my very early hunting memories and mishaps with my dad’s 30/30 Winchester lever action gun. If you’ve never handled this gun –when you work the action to load a round in the chamber in preparation for your hunt the hammer is cocked in the process and to release the hammer you need to pull the trigger slightly and slowly release the hammer – accident waiting to happen frankly! Fortunately, gun safety was a huge topic in my law enforcement house so pointing that gun in a safe direction and even loading it outside was stressed to the point that I was afraid to load it myself for the longest time! The year I worked up the courage to do it myself was the year that I shot the rock wall when I was releasing the hammer! 

I have been hunting deer for over 16 years now and this story STILL comes up in deer camp banter!  The Farm is my source of joy, my fondest memories are at The Farm in our humble one room cabin where my grandparents, parents, brother, and went to disconnect from the city and foster a love for being in the wild. Stories around the table while we ate lunch or dinner of sightings from the tree stand or turkey blind, hearing my Papaw laugh to the point of nearly falling over – seeing the joy they had in spending this time with us. Now that my grandparents are older they’ve passed the land on to my dad, brother, and I – it’s the greatest gift to be able to recreate old memories and build new ones with my three children in a place that brings me so much joy.

So much of my outdoors knowledge was limited to what I learned and hunted at The Farm but my thirst for the outdoors was and is so strong that I’ve sought other learning and hunting opportunities. This thirst lead me to finding wildHERness and I’m so grateful I have so many opportunities to expand and grow myself but even more so to share my passion and knowledge with others.