Born in Pittsburgh and raised in New York’s beautiful and storied Hudson River Valley, I was fortunate enough to grow up surrounded by both books and trees, spending much of my time reading and exploring the forest and streams around my family’s wooded neighborhood.

 

After graduating from Briarcliff Public High School and earning degrees in US history from Princeton University (BA) and in the stunning American southwest at the University of New Mexico (PhD),

I returned to the east coast with my wife Kate and built a small homestead in Vermont’s Mad River Valley, where we raised our two children, co-founded a yak farm, served on local school and select boards, worked as a professor (me) and a nonprofit leader (Kate), and tended to our kids, yaks, chickens, dogs and cats.

 

When I am not teaching, singing, yakking, consulting, traveling, and supporting my family in their various endeavors, I am currently working on a book about a global yak culture entitled

Life By The Horns: The Yak Way – What We Can Learn From This Sexy Beast. 

 

I am a lover of good food, fine spirits, hot fires, cold showers, and all things outdoors.

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-Dr. Rob

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