Who is Mrs. Green-Genes and what’s her story?  Well, I’ll give you a bit of history and let you figure out the rest.

I was raised on what is now an 1,800-acre state park in McHenry, Illinois.  A glacially formed “knob and kettle” area, the park contains a 115-acre marsh, a 120-acre bog, a glacial lake, prairies and woodlands. 

I thought it was a great place to play, not knowing then what a precious gem it really was.  We lived off the land to some extent, growing our own vegetables and harvesting wild fruits, hunting and fishing for food, getting fresh eggs from a nearby farm.  My playmates for the first few years were the animals that roamed our “yard”.  I learned to love and respect nature then, and it has carried on to my now-urban existence in Chicago.

My city lot is geologically unremarkable, but I have tried to be mindful of my roots by putting in a pond, providing food and nesting areas for birds, keeping Mason bees, planting native trees, shrubs and wildflowers, collecting rainwater and composting all that I can, and growing our own fruits and vegetables like I did as a child.  I am teaching my son to live an eco-friendly life the way my parents taught me, and am hoping the lessons he is learning stay with him for the rest of his life.  We live in the same house my dad grew up in—ironically he fled the city to the country, I grew up in the country and now live in the city.  Where will my son end up—I don’t know, but I hope it is someplace green!