Natalie Auer grew up in the beautiful Hudson Valley of New York. She attended Marist College in Poughkeepsie New York, and her favorite past times are reading and cooking. Growing up, she always watched her father and grandmother cook for their families, and she became completely engrossed in it. Watching the food become a meal was fascinating to her. Even though she was never given a recipe to follow, she watched and learned, and asked many questions along the way.

Now that torch has been passed down to her for her family. As a kid, fishing was something her father only did while she and her three sisters sat and watched. Occasionally they’d all get to throw out a line, or tangle it up in a submerged tree, or even someone else’s hair. It was never something she thought she’d grow to love like she does now. Bringing home crappies and blue gills from her husband’s rod and gun club to fry up for dinner has become a fun new hobby for the spring and summer months. The winter brings ice fishing for trout and bon fires on the lake with friends. While cooking with wild game is something of a new experience for her, she’s welcomed it with open arms, and with her daughter now watching her in the kitchen, it’s brought immense happiness to her heart.

If you asked her what she thought she’d be doing with her life as a teenager, she would have told you that she was going to be an artist, or an art teacher, while singing in jazz clubs on the weekends, and that was mostly true. She studied fine arts in college, while working for a contemporary art gallery, and moved to New York City to try and make connections in the art and music world. But instead, she joined a popular cover band and drove up from New York City every weekend to play gigs in and around the Hudson Valley. It was wildly fun and satisfying.

At twenty-two years old, she met her future husband while at her cousin’s wedding. They now share two wonderful children together. She was first introduced to hunting by her husband at thirty years old and has been hunting alongside him ever since.The first time she ever went hunting with her husband Jon, she thought she’d never be cut out for it. The hiking through rough terrain, snow, and the cold temperatures of that morning were difficult to overcome, but once she sat down in that blind, she knew this peaceful quiet scene in front of her was something she’d crave every year. She‘d never felt more inexperienced in her life before that day, but it gave her the motivation she needed to get in better shape and learn everything she possibly could to become a smart and successful hunter/angler.

Sharing her love for cooking is her new passion, and this new adventure is something she is very excited for. She hopes that she’ll learn even more from the HarvestingNature crew and thanks them for inviting her to be a part of this team.