Thinking one step ahead

I've just barely kicked off the summer of farm interning, and it's been grand so far. Yet, it's too short to get real comfortable and put off planning for the next thing. Not sure if you do much backpacking, but it's kind of like hiking in at the beginning of a trip, not having already decided which site you'll camp at. Stomping up the mountain towards the lakes, there'll be signs along the way telling you names of and distances to the lakes. My buddy Nick and I will often chat about which lake to go to along the way, dissecting the names, how long it'll take, and then which forks in the path look most interesting. Well, right now, I can see the next fork coming and needed to start deciding which way to go. Turns out, it's east.

I'm really enjoying farm work and craving more experience. But more so, I want to connect the work to people, especially kids and folks who could particularly benefit from getting in touch with the soil. There are so many options out there for farming, for community work, outdoors conservation or education, and so on. It can be kind of tough to narrow it down. Wasn't the case for me. I thought, 'how about AmeriCorps?' First time I browsed environmental positions I saw this place in Pennsylvania, Kimberton Hills. It's community living, centered on sustainable agriculture and takes extra measures to fully incorporate persons with developmental disabilities. Right up my alley.

I applied through AmeriCorps, and the place sent along a supplemental application. The end of the supplemental part asked for an autobiography. Never seen that before, and it was a cool way to really think about why I'm taking this fork. Here's what I wrote:

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Please write a brief autobiography, written in a narrative rather than a vitae format indicating significant experiences that have shaped who you are. Use this space to tell us important information that has not been sufficiently addressed in the application.

A friend just asked me this morning what’s led to my interest in farming. As I reflected on that, the foundation was clearly my family’s connection to the outdoors, time spent in natural settings and being taught about our responsibilities as stewards of those spaces. Throughout my childhood, we spent countless days camping, backpacking, hiking, fishing, canoeing, crabbing, boating, walking the Oregon Coast beaches, picnicking in local parks, skiing, and more. Backpacking was the real core of it all, though. Taking to the mountains—bringing no more than we could carry—instilled in me a deep and lasting love for just being in the natural environment.

Yet, I was a bit aimless in younger years, lacking personal direction. ‘The Path’ had been well laid out for me: do well in high school, so you get into a good college, so you get a good education and land a good job, so you’ll have what you need. It seemed straightforward enough for me, even if being somewhat less than inspiring. I’d been raised well enough to be able to get through an undergraduate degree on little more than an interest in my fields of study (sociology and psychology) and some vague ideas about what I might want to pursue later on.

After graduation, I idled around Portland, Oregon for a year and a half, working a couple jobs and enjoying time with friends and in the wilderness. It wasn’t enough, though. I wanted to build myself up, take on something challenging and aimed at benefiting someone or something other than just me. And I wanted to get out of the U.S. The avenue I found was Master’s International, a joint graduate program between the Peace Corps and about four-dozen cooperating universities. A year of course work and two years of Peace Corps, ending with an MA and some amazing life experience—sounded excellent to me.

Illinois State University offered the only sociology program at the time I was applying, which made the decision of where to go pretty easy. I knew Portland wasn’t a good spot for me to be, though, while putting together my application materials. Life was too cushy there, too self-centered, and my work wasn’t nearly as fulfilling as I needed—outdoor store. A move was in order, as was new employment. I headed back to my hometown: Boise, Idaho. My folks took me in once more, and I found work with S.L. Start, one of the jobs I described above. Also helped coached my high school’s men’s lacrosse team, and over the course of about a year I submitted applications and was accepted to ISU as well as nominated for Peace Corps service.

For the 2008-2009 school year, I took courses in sociology and economics with a programmatic focus on community development and a personal focus on environmental sociology. Each course brought new and interesting ideas to my attention, but it was a spring seminar on the U.S. and international agri-food systems that really rocked my world. The whole year’s study on the relationship between humanity and the natural environment and the process of development coalesced in that course. Innumerable connections formed between food production, distribution, social justice, community health, environmental sustainability and so much of my personal philosophy on Life and relationships. By the end of coursework, I was convinced food was foundational to almost all aspects of community development and ecosystem sustainability.

The two years spent in Micronesia only strengthened my perception of the inseparability of food, community and justice. A major driving force in choosing to do the Master’s International program had been to discern where my future labors lay, and I knew I’d done just that. Growing food in ways that could nourish not only people, but also full communities and the land became my goal. How to actually accomplish that… well, I’m still working on it. What I do know is that I need some real experience to go with the theory. So I signed on for an internship this summer with a local, organic farm in central Illinois. I’m also doing some traveling (writing from northern Michigan, right now, where I’ve been helping out on another farm and visiting friends), seeing other approaches to farming. The goal is to get a solid foundation in actually growing food and increasing my familiarity and capacity in working with the Earth.

From this summer, the next step is to get into community-centered agriculture, find a place and people who take a holistic approach to farming. I want to see and be a part of an intentional effort to bring together the planet, growing food, building community and sharing Life. I’m committed learning how to incorporate that effort into my future work as well as simply spending more time farming. To live the farm life for at least a full year, experience the seasons and what each brings. To see animals and vegetation and people and economics all brought together into one place and one design: that’s what I want. Camphill at Kimberton Hills does that in a way few other places I’ve found manage, and wonderfully, there’s an opportunity to join in.