A Million dreams are keeping me awake
This is the song that keeps popping into my head when I arrive at the farm each day. I have so many dreams for this space! Now that the weather has finally turned to warmth that will stick around, it's time to stop dreaming and get working! For well over a decade, I have dreamed of owning an herb and flower farm. Not just an herb farm, but one that is sustainable, profitable, and contributes more than it takes from the ecosystem. I want it to be beautiful, integrating art and design and providing a space in the end that invites community members to connect with local foods and the environment around us. I want to change the narrative on my farm from "that is so much work" to "that is so much fun" when it comes to gardening. I also want this herb farm to follow permaculture principles of earth care, people care, fair share, meaning each decision I make on my farm will consider the how it impacts people, the earth and how it can be shared with others.
Growing herbs may sound like a simple dream. I have a career as a clinical director at an autism agency. I have three children growing so very quickly towards adulthood. I have quite a few pets, a home to care for, friendships and family that I love to spend time with and an intense desire to travel and seek adventure. But I just cannot shake this dream. I read about, study, pursue and explore permaculture, regenerative farming, sustainable living, culinary and medicinal herbs, etc with enthusiasm and an almost insatiable thirst. I am overjoyed when I meet someone who shares this passion.
A little over 10 years ago my husband and I moved from the city to what I thought at the time was the "country." We are in fact surrounded by farms, gorgeous parks, and an unbelievable night sky, but we also live in a development within a very beautiful, abundant and privileged town. My children do not want for much. We are so blessed to own a large yard with space to run, play, have baseball and kick ball games, parties, and provide even enough space for some chickens and goats and a garden. But...we are not allowed to engage in agriculture for profit from our yard. I can grow herbs, but I cannot sell herbs. I can have a garden and flowers but I cannot make it a business. This creates a roadblock for my very favorite side to my dream. I want my herb farm to also be a place for young adults with autism to find their dreams. A farm provides so many opportunities for vocational growth from the farming itself to marketing, inventory and spreadsheets, creating teas, blends, soaps, art and oh so much more. There will be animals to care for, tools to care for, recipes to create. And there will be so many flowers to pick! My true dream is intertwine my passion for working with autistic individuals with my passion for nature and living sustainably and my belief that everyone deserves a chance to find that one thing they enjoy so much it's almost hard to call it work.
So, here I am at 42 years old unable to shake this dream. And here I find a property a mile from my door-33 acres-that needs someone to care for it. I think we may just be a match made in heaven.
But for now, it's a mess! Its 2 sheds in the back of a field, which is currently tilled soil waiting for seeds to sprout. It's piles of scrap wood waiting to become a buck shed, a pig pen, a rabbit enclosure and some portable pens. It's a shed waiting to become a coop. It's a gorgeous old chimney waiting to become a fire pit and a picnic area. It's a brush filled woods waiting to become a food forest.
The good news? The wait is almost over. All of those projects are in motion, all of them are under way. The planning we have done over the winter and early spring, the designing, the gathering of resources-it's all coming together now! And the best news, for me, is that when I read that paragraph above, I get goosebumps! I can't wait to see this dream unfold. In the meantime, I'm so grateful that I love to dream!
