women | The Filson Journal

Lianna Spooner: preserving traditions & the environment

There’s been a revival in the art of “packing” in recent years. Homesteaders Lianna Spooner and her partner Chris Eyer spend part of their year working with the U.S. Forest Service and nonprofits specializing in wilderness maintenance. This non-mechanized mode of transport helps preserve the land when carrying resources or personnel. We reached out to writer & photographer Sara Forrest to document a first-hand experience from the field.

5 Min

Donna Kalil standing on top of her SUV's hunting platform.

Profiles

Python Bounty Hunter: Donna Kalil

The snakes that she’s hunting are the result of a good idea gone wrong. In the 1970s, the first Burmese pythons were imported from overseas as pets. They were a hit, and their numbers grew due to breeding programs and increased imports (importation has been banned since 2012). Released into the wild by their owners, they discovered an Eden in the Florida Everglades region, a place filled with food where they thrived. An apex predator, their only competition is large American crocodiles, alligators, and Florida panthers, and even those creatures can succumb to the pythons; nothing seems to stop them. The only other thing that can kill them in the wild is an extended hard freeze, which rarely happens this far south. They quickly took to the waterways and started to feed, and feed, and feed.

5 Min

Profiles

Anne LaBastille: True to Nature

At the age of 31, after securing a small plot of private land studded with mixed spruce, balsam fir, and hardwood forests, LaBastille embarked on a solitary life in the wilderness of the Adirondacks. The closest village lay five miles away to the west over the mountain, and was accessible only by boat. She was an example of how to live in harmony with nature and still gain satisfaction from this solitary existence.

3 Min

emily mullen in brown filson hat standing between two pine trees

Profiles

Emily Mullen: Uptown’s Merchant of Joy

Emily tried office jobs, but they never sat right with her, so she went back to her roots and worked as a counselor at a YMCA camp that she attended every summer growing up. For a while she chased summer, working in the U.S. before heading to Australia for their summer seasons, and back again. A native New Englander, Emily eventually settled in Montana while working for a few years as a tour guide for a company that focused on the American West. But when the tourism season—like most everything else this last year—was upended, Emily signed up for another job that tapped into her love of the outdoors. From July to September, she joined a crew that traveled between remote fire camps in the Western U.S. to keep frontline wildland firefighters fed. With long days in these tough conditions, the crew would set up as close as they could to the forest fire, cooking the 6,000 or more calories’ worth of food each firefighter burns a day. After a long, hot season, Emily returned home to the Northeast.

5 Min

Field Notes

Jen Judge: Becoming an independent Outdoorswoman

For me, becoming an independent woman in the outdoors has been about mitigating fears. After all, the backcountry is full of potentially scary things. There are wild and unpredictable creatures, as well as creepy-crawlies. There are existential risks to worry over, including injury (of either myself or others), over-exhaustion, running out of food and water, being stuck out in the elements, or simply getting lost. And then there are fears caused by how society sees women, such as lack of competence or not measuring up.

10 Min

woman in white shirt and jeans riding a horse

Profiles

Bianca Shannon: A Life Built Around Horses

In New Mexico’s cowboy country, Bianca Shannon turns heads. She rides a one-eyed horse, her silver nose-ring glinting in the sunlight, multiple tattoos peeking out from beneath her Oxford shirtsleeves. If you ask, Shannon may expose her inner right forearm to reveal the ink she got right before she left New York City to move to Santa Fe in 2014: a wrist-to-elbow rendition of a Leonardo da Vinci horse sketch. She describes the tattoo as “a kind of yearning for what I really wanted to be doing with my life.”

3 Min

black and white image of person with pick and large mountaineering pack standing on a rocky peak with large snowy mountains in background

Profiles

Inspiring Women of the Pacific Northwest & Alaska

We’ve all heard the stories of historic women like Amelia Earhart and Nellie Bly. Here we’re focusing our scope to our backyard in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, shining a light on a few groundbreaking women that never (potentially) made it into your history books.

5 Min

early morning light burns through the fog adding warmth and depth to this bucolic scene outside peacham, vermont

Profiles

Longest Acres Farm: multigenerational Vermont homestead

Deep in the hills of central Vermont lies Longest Acres Farm, a 220-acre, multigenerational homestead. Delivering directly to the consumers, the homestead raises farm-to-table chicken, pork, beef, and other products sent directly to customers across the Northeast, including top chefs throughout Boston. In light of recent global events, Longest Acres Farm changed their business model from selling exclusively to restaurants to now serving families in Boston and Vermont. In April 2020, we checked in with Kate for an update on life on the homestead. This is her story.

5 Min

brunette woman standing on the porch of a cabin during a snowy winter wearing a red buffalo plaid sweater and hand knit beanie

Profiles

Amy David: Why I Guide

As a professional skier, Amy David spends most days in the winter backcountry, skiing and snowmobiling while being photographed and filmed for media content. Simultaneously, She leads a backcountry retreat program for women and is currently working to earn a backcountry ski guide certification from the American Mountain Guide Association, the highest standard for mountain guides.

6 Min

jessie with horses drinking from river in grassy field with pine trees

Profiles

Jessie Allen: More Than Miss Wyoming

“Jessie manages her family’s guest ranch and outfitting business in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. She guides pack trips for fly fishermen, rock climbers, backpackers, yogis and big game hunters, both archery and rifle. At 9,200 feet with no electricity, cell service or internet, the Diamond 4 Ranch is Wyoming’s highest elevation guest ranch.

8 Min