David is an experienced outdoor guide, seasoned chef, and passionate wilderness instructor who grew up and raised his family in the nearby Catskills. As a boy he loved lighting fires the hard way, cooking in smoke, sleeping out under the stars, and he still does. After almost three decades of cooking and guiding professionally in the mountains, David and his family moved nearby to Forest Home in 2024 where he is the caretaker of a historic chapel and his once extended family are now close neighbors. He received a B.S. in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Culture from SUNY Empire in 2023. Besides teaching in the outdoors, his favorite activities include camping, fly fishing with family, and researching through really old real books under trees while working on his Master’s degree in Environmental Mythology.
