Hearth & Green was born out of a budding romance, a shared passion for the great outdoors, a longing to build a life amidst a rural landscape, and a little romantic vacation to a cabin in the woods. Chris and Lyndsay have known one another since they first met in 2012 as ensemble members at Trap Door, a Chicago Storefront Theatre. We proceeded to share the stage with one another over the years, and cultivated a deepening friendship and eventually a loving relationship. We found we share many similar passions, primarily a love for adventure in the great outdoors; hiking, camping, kayaking, snowshoeing.
The name Canvas & Green conveys both of the primary components of our retreat; the “canvas” of our safari tents and our “green” vision of sustainable living within a natural landscape. This vision is built upon the principal concepts of respect for the farming community, promoting environmental sustainability and cultivating community.
Our focus is to offer a relaxing, organic and bucolic environment for guests in which the natural landscape of the area is the star. At the heart of our plan for this development is our interest in illuminating the beauty of the area’s natural resources, the history of the land and encouraging an appreciation for the rural farming community that has existed here for decades. We will create a magical and memorable experience that reconnects people to one another, the communities surrounding us and the natural world. And hopefully we inspire them to carry it home with them, and send their friends back to us.
who we are
Ownership Team
Chris Popio
For the past 15 years Chris Popio has run a successful photography studio in Chicago and for the past five has created an extremely successful event space rental business in his photography studio, hosting a wide range of events for which he has garnered close to 300 five-star reviews.
For the past several years Chris has traveled the backroads of the Midwest photographing barns and rural landscapes for his project documenting the American family farm experience, “Rural Decay”.
An avid outdoorsman, he is also a veteran camper and backpacker and has visited twenty national parks. Mountain biking, snow sports, kayaking, fly fishing and hiking are all part of his nature resume.
Chris has three decades of experience meeting and exceeding customer’s needs in the service industry working in several Cincinnati and Chicago restaurants and taverns. Throughout that time, he has also worked as an independent builder, carpenter and remodeler.
Lyndsay Kane
As a consummate humanitarian, Lyndsay Rose Kane boasts years of expertise in eco-conscious living, landscape and gardening, customer relations, market trends, complex scheduling, events management, and marketing. Lyndsay is the lead buyer agent for Top Producing Connie Dornan Group @properties, ranked in the top 1% of realtors in Illinois with over $700 million in sales.
Lyndsay was born in North Dakota where she spent most of her time camping, canoeing, cross-country skiing and living outdoors in the Great Plains. Her father was a landscape architect and lead planner for the North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department. Lyndsay followed suit and worked alongside him in various landscape and design centers across the country, installing her own landscapes from Minnesota to New York City. She focuses primarily on native plant gardens and eco-conscious design.
She has also had over two decades experience working in customer service positions, educational programing, and special event planning. She is a long-standing member of the WCOE Community Outreach Committee working for HOW (Housing Opportunities for Women) Soup Kitchen, Contributions Committee (community grants giving), and as co-chair for Dreams Delivered, a premier event serving up to 120 students over 3 days.
Lisa Hoffmann