Just trying to understand the woods.
Who I Am
I’m Aaron. For a long time, my day job was managing fast-paced operations for a massive Fortune 5 company. It was an intense, loud world, and whenever I needed to unplug and catch my breath, I always headed for the woods.
The Pivot
I’ve always spent my free time camping and fishing, but eventually, I wanted to actually know what I was looking at out there. I got hooked on the idea of how our elders lived off the land—how they just knew what to forage and what to avoid. I don't have a formal biology degree, and my coding background literally started as a teen messing around with free HTML pages on GeoCities. Instead, I just focused on bringing my passions together—taking the best field references and turning them into a simple, useful tool we can all take on the trail.
Why I Built FieldMonocle
Honestly, I just wanted this kind of knowledge to be accessible and quickly delivered. I wanted a way to shrink down those heavy, expert-level field guides so they'd fit right in my pocket. So, leaning on my self-taught dev roots, I just built the trail buddy I actually wanted to take with me.
The Reality Check
I think AI is amazing, but nature always makes the rules. FieldMonocle is meant to spark your curiosity and point you in the right direction using solid information. It’s a guide to help you explore and learn, not a substitute for common sense, respecting the wild, or actual survival training.
See you out there, Aaron