Sanne Giesen

What’s your outdoor story?

I grew up in a family with a big love for nature. My grandfather knew his way around the forest and my mother knew all the plants by name. We spend hours and hours outdoors, walking, cycling, just being in nature or crafting with natural materials. At a very young age I was fascinated by herbal remedies. My mother gave me a book that was my grandmothers and I devoured it.

In my teenage years, I disconnected from nature for a while, the love was still there, but I’d rather hang with friends and listen to music. I found my way back to nature in my early twenties, my health suffered badly at that time and nature brought much needed relief. I didn’t understand at that point how being outdoors made such a difference in how I felt, it changed something deeply, in how I saw nature and myself.

During these times I met my partner, Johan, who had this love for nature in common. He introduced me into bushcraft and primitive skills, especially the latter ignited a sense of belonging in me. Spending time in nature, for me, has nothing to do with survival skills or “roughing in”. It is about connecting with nature, working with nature, remembering something very human, very ancient. This deep connection with nature is important. The earth suffers badly because of how we have been treating it, this impacts the health of men and other living beings too.

When we (re)connect to nature we learn what she can do for us, and what she asks in return. You could say that

spending time outdoors, for me, has grown into something much bigger than simply spending time outdoors. It

has become my purpose, to (re)connect with nature and to inspire others to do the same.