Jon Oleson

Jon Oleson hails from the mountain west state of Utah. Growing up near the mountains gave him an undying appreciation for elevations and being outdoors. He grew up camping, hunting, fishing, hiking, backpacking, climbing, rafting, and exploring wherever adventure took him. Earning a degree in Arabic at the University of Utah allowed him to broaden his horizons further, taking him to both live and work all over the Middle East. This also allowed him to explore and adventure to many places throughout the world (Bolivia is still his favorite, although Egypt is pretty cool, too). Some notable stops along the way were: summiting Aconcagua in Argentina, diving the Great Barrier Reef and the Red Sea, trekking out to Frenchman's Cap in SW Tasmania, and watching the Aurora borealis from 30,000 feet.

Nowadays, Jon's life is a bit more sedentary as he helps raise two wonderful children. They like to camp, hike, swim, and do lots of fun things outdoors together. Most recently, they had a great time exploring the Tetons and Yellowstone. When Jon isn't with his kids, you can usually find him in the garden. After being trained as a Clinical Herbalist a decade ago, Jon found gardening as a passion that paid the bills. Growing medicinal herbs is a great compliment to herbalism, and he focuses mostly on culinary herbs to use in his gourmet homestead cooking. Jon now lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, but is transitioning to the lakes region of the northern midwest in order to live closer to family.