While I grew up in the suburbs of a big city as a child, I was never away from a campground or a park for long. My love for nature and animals was instilled in me at a very young age, and I began drawing when I could first hold a pencil. Later in life, I found myself living my dream out in the country on a small farm with my husband, cats, and horses. I started to volunteer at Graham Cave SP in Missouri and found that it was work that I really enjoyed. Studying, researching, and stewarding our natural resources has become my passion in life, and bryophytes quickly came to the forefront. I eventually became known amongst my nature loving friends and colleagues as The Moss Lady. Speaking of names, my pen name, Lena Lichenpold, was given to me by my husband. Lena is a common Norwegian name from his heritage (we call each other Ole and Lena all the time). Lichenpold represents two things. The first represents my first love of Lichen, which accidentally led me to my bryophyte passion. The second is a play on Aldo Leopold’s last name. Aldo Leopold was one of America’s great naturalists who sculpted modern day environmental ethics and was a strong force in the movement for wilderness conservation. I write my children’s books under the pen name, as well as my naturalist FB page.