Alright, so here's the deal. If you've followed our blog, you know by now how much Matt and I crave to live a "down-to-earth" lifestyle. For the last year or so, we've been trying to get into WWOOFing. WWOOF stands for Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms and it is an organization that connects farmers who need/want help to people who are interested in learning about farming. All the while, the majority of host farms provide food and shelter to the volunteer interns.
So Matt and I have been looking and looking within the USA on the WWOOF website, and finally got in touch with a farmer in Arkansas who puts to practice Masanobu Fukuoka's philosophy of farming. Fukuoka does not believe in tilling the soil at any point in the farming process. He also avoids use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Needless to say, Foundation Farm in Arkansas is the perfect match for us in that it follows all of these principles. In addition the farmer, Patrice, is connected with two farmer's markets nearby and has a farm school with the intention of training people like Matt and myself who want to own a small-scale farm of their own in the near future. Patrice runs an organic vegetable farm which consists of approximately 60 rows.
You might be curious as to why we want this so much. Matt has already given notice with his job at Aerojet as manufacturing engineer and everybody in his workplace has been surprised to say the least at our decision to up and leave. At the same time, many people seem inspired. We hear a lot of comments like "It takes a lot of guts to do what you're doing. So you're selling all your stuff?! Why do you want to leave a stable job and be a farmer?" It's not easy to put into words why we like the idea of farming. I know that there is a lot to learn about the outdoors and I've always been one to explore. Matt is, indeed, an explorer as well and we all know at Kaya's age she is quite interested in finding out what's around the corner. I don't mean to offend when I say I find the white-collar lifestyle we live now to be stagnant and dull. I feel privileged but not in a good way. I feel spoiled. I look at other countries and see the differences in their lifestyles and ours and become - to put it bluntly - disgusted with myself. I instantly think "how is it that I have so much excess when there are people everywhere around me who actually need?"
In leaving for Arkansas, we are cleansing ourselves of all our needless belongings. I must say, however, that we are storing a few items at my mom's house because they are items we find extremely hard to part with. For example, we're not keeping our Wii or most of our clothes, but we're keeping pictures we have yet to digitize of our childhood and our parents' childhood. There are items we are emotionally tied to and it actually brings us to tears to think of not having them anymore. Anyway, we're not taking much to Arkansas with us because we want to be free of things. We want to travel light and only seek comfort in the companionship of each other and those around us. We want to comfort ourselves by witnessing firsthand what it means to give without wanting in return.
Well that's all I'm up for writing right now. Please comment on our post if you have questions or concerns. We look forward to sharing adventurous stories with you VERY soon!
