I grew up in two worlds. My brothers and I were raised to work hard and taught the discipline of owning your own business. An entrepreneur, my father’s home was above the skateboard shop he owned in Santa Rosa, California. We worked in the shop on the weekends. My youngest brother went on to run the shop until its sale. My mother’s place is a forest of old growth redwood trees that stretch into the sky. 

 

Our home at moms was in the lower part of the ranch, down by the pond. Climbing the thickly wooded trails to the top the fresh mountain water comes running right out of the side of the hill from a delicious spring. My mother taught us to respect this wonderment of nature that was our only source of water.  We have always been very careful in using only what we need. Hot water for a shower began in a 50 gallon drum painted black to heat during the day. We improved the available hot water by setting up a heat exchanger in the fireplace that filled a tank with hot water every time we had a fire. Our family has been on the land for over 40 years and seen years of plenty and years of drought. Last year was the first time we had to buy water on the land. We are in the process of updating the water system now so that it can be as efficient as possible with today’s technology.

 

I have always been drawn to water. How can we keep it clean, how can we use less, how can we re-use what we have, how can we protect it?  Maintaining the water system at moms was my first experience in plumbing. I came back to plumbing almost 20 years ago. I started my own company in 2007. I want to help people find responsible ways to use and re-use water. Water is life.