When asked what I want to do when I grow up – which I guess at this point is when I retire – I close my eyes and picture the little fruit farm I will have, where the trees are planted like a forest rather than in straight gridded rows, and the barn that I’ve turned into my home and kitchen where I make jam and pies that I sell in the little road-side stand out front.
And then I open my eyes and the smile fades as reality comes crashing back into view. Sitting at a desk at an 8-5 (or sometimes 7-7) job, living in the city where I don’t even have so much as a window box in which to grow herbs. Saving money for “someday” when I can grow up and do what I really want. Don’t get me wrong, Architecture isn’t all bad, it just isn’t quite what I had hoped it would be when I chose it as my profession. For 20 years of my life, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, but after reaching that goal, I am no longer sure.
I have been talking for years about growing my hobby for making jam into a business. I have phases and company names picked out from the farmer’s market stand to the food truck to the brick and mortar café. I have products and recipes and menus. What I don’t have is the time or the leap of confidence to make the jump directly from gainfully employed architect to unprepared entrepreneur.
But after months of growing dissatisfaction with my current state, and no clear idea of where to go next (a different architecture firm in another city, a related field, college professor, back to school for career option #2?), a friend suggested WWOOF-ing. I had to google it to refresh my memory, but as soon as I read the definition I knew it was my next step.
My friend and I had first been introduced to the concept of WWOOF-ing on a vacation. We met up in Portland (or rather, just outside of) and stayed bed and breakfast style in the home of some lovely folks who were running a small organic farm. They let us participate in the farm activities to the extent we desired (we were, after all, paying guests). It was like a cross between a Dude Ranch and a B&B. We milked cows and made cheese. We tended chickens and pulled weeds in the garden. There was a lesson on the history, theory and practice of bee keeping. We pressed pears for cider. We also napped in hammocks, visited a therapeutic mineral water spa, took a scenic drive through a national park, picked blackberries and overall had interesting discussions with our hosts. This all happened in about 5 days.
Our hosts told us about the WWOOF program, they were participants. At the time, it seemed like a far fetched romantic notion which was filed away at the back of my mind, but I haven’t forgotten the satisfaction each day from having worked with my own hands for the food on the table. Now it still sounds romantic, but not so far fetched. Instead of waiting for someday, I decided to take a step toward that goal now.
So for the next 12 months, I will be travelling around the country, apprenticing at a series of farms. Call it a sabbatical or a mid-career gap year or a work study to help me feel more confident in becoming a jam entrepreneur. I will spend about a month at each location, learning as much as I can about organic fruit and vegetable farming and experimenting with my jam making techniques. Along the way I plan to explore as much of the country as I can, from the monumental to the kitschy, and hopefully answer the question of what I want to do when I grow up.
And then I open my eyes and the smile fades as reality comes crashing back into view. Sitting at a desk at an 8-5 (or sometimes 7-7) job, living in the city where I don’t even have so much as a window box in which to grow herbs. Saving money for “someday” when I can grow up and do what I really want. Don’t get me wrong, Architecture isn’t all bad, it just isn’t quite what I had hoped it would be when I chose it as my profession. For 20 years of my life, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, but after reaching that goal, I am no longer sure.
I have been talking for years about growing my hobby for making jam into a business. I have phases and company names picked out from the farmer’s market stand to the food truck to the brick and mortar café. I have products and recipes and menus. What I don’t have is the time or the leap of confidence to make the jump directly from gainfully employed architect to unprepared entrepreneur.
But after months of growing dissatisfaction with my current state, and no clear idea of where to go next (a different architecture firm in another city, a related field, college professor, back to school for career option #2?), a friend suggested WWOOF-ing. I had to google it to refresh my memory, but as soon as I read the definition I knew it was my next step.
My friend and I had first been introduced to the concept of WWOOF-ing on a vacation. We met up in Portland (or rather, just outside of) and stayed bed and breakfast style in the home of some lovely folks who were running a small organic farm. They let us participate in the farm activities to the extent we desired (we were, after all, paying guests). It was like a cross between a Dude Ranch and a B&B. We milked cows and made cheese. We tended chickens and pulled weeds in the garden. There was a lesson on the history, theory and practice of bee keeping. We pressed pears for cider. We also napped in hammocks, visited a therapeutic mineral water spa, took a scenic drive through a national park, picked blackberries and overall had interesting discussions with our hosts. This all happened in about 5 days.
Our hosts told us about the WWOOF program, they were participants. At the time, it seemed like a far fetched romantic notion which was filed away at the back of my mind, but I haven’t forgotten the satisfaction each day from having worked with my own hands for the food on the table. Now it still sounds romantic, but not so far fetched. Instead of waiting for someday, I decided to take a step toward that goal now.
So for the next 12 months, I will be travelling around the country, apprenticing at a series of farms. Call it a sabbatical or a mid-career gap year or a work study to help me feel more confident in becoming a jam entrepreneur. I will spend about a month at each location, learning as much as I can about organic fruit and vegetable farming and experimenting with my jam making techniques. Along the way I plan to explore as much of the country as I can, from the monumental to the kitschy, and hopefully answer the question of what I want to do when I grow up.
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