Updates and rethinkings

Following is my most recent post from "Greenwood Grove," another blog I run:

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Updates in a number of areas of life today, almost six months after my last one!

Yesterday (Saturday) I performed my first act as a newly-ordained Minister in The Nature Church of York, PA, and officiated at the wedding of two friends and fellow members of said Nature Church. A number of people asked me if I was nervous, and although I responded honestly, "yes, just a little," what really surprised me was how non-nervous I actually was. It felt... natural: just a particular manifestation of my general vocation to ministry, that I am finally able to live out.

My ordination in the Nature Church, which was coming up soon already, was accelerated slightly to enable me to officiate at the marriage of Shane and Traci - itself also accelerated, so that she could have an expensive dental procedure under his insurance. I was deeply honored and thrilled to have been asked to officiate!

And yes, this does mean that I am available to officiate at other weddings in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and probably other locations as well (although thus far I've only researched the requirements in MD and PA). So if you're looking for a wedding officiant, or know someone who is, feel free to contact me... I am also available to assist at other rites of passage, and to provide general spiritual guidance. Let me know if I can be of service!

In my previous post to this blog, I basically ruled out the likelihood of attending Sterling College for their year-long program in sustainable agriculture. I hope those words are tasty, 'cause I may be eating them! There are a number of reasons for this possible re-think, although some of the reasons why I thought that (including a painful and not fully functional right shoulder) remain in place.

I am currently in the process of taking the "Fundamentals of Human Physiology" prerequisite to Tai Sophia Institute's M.S. in Herbal Medicine, and my plans had been (and "officially" - e.g., until otherwise formally altered - remain) to start that program, the first and only fully-accredited graduate-level program in clinical herbalism in the U.S., this fall.

That was before I received my financial aid award letter. The short form is, $30,000 in student loans each of the three years the program requires means graduating with a student loan debt of $90,000. I don't think I can justify doing that, given an uncertain economy (to put it mildly) and the fact that an herbal practice would require being built from the ground up, and would take several years before being really remunerative.

Consequently, Sterling College is back in the mix. Adding to my inclination in that direction is C____, who when I broached the subject to her responded "I could hit you!" and reminded me that she'd been sad when I switched focus from farming to herbs! She also liked my "secret plan" of insinuating myself into the Sterling College community in hopes of eventually landing a teaching job there.

All of this probably will not occur this year: what I would be more likely to do would be to try to find more remunerative work, even if it's not in "my field," and save up some money (if possible), as well as get my condo in shape to be put on the market. Then, depending on whether I were to start the Sterling program in the summer or fall of next year, either next spring or mid-to-late summer I'd sell this place and move to Vermont with C____.

There we'd rent (unless I could land a place for both of us on campus) while I attended classes, and simultaneously look for our new place... a place where we could farm together, run an on-farm store to include not only the produce of our land, but also books, herbs, and related goods, and perhaps also offer sustainable-living classes and spiritual retreats. Who knows, maybe even wedding packages...?

That at least is the current plan! As the saying goes, "Want to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans for the future!" But this at least seems like a more workable plan than spending 3 years going nearly $100K (probably very close to it, with miscellaneous expenses) in debt. And it would also push up the date at which, if we're as compatible in person as we seem to be via long-distance, we can get "hitched" ourselves, and start to think about beginning a family...

What will happen next remains to be seen, but unless something fairly miraculous happens to generate non-loan funding for Tai Sophia, it appears that my journey leads north to Vermont, in the next year or so!

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One thing is certain, and that is that I cannot continue at Cunningham Falls for much longer. Even if I were working there 40 hours/week, at $10.25/hour, it's still not enough to pay the bills. And since I'm usually working 32 hours/week, with an hour each way of commute added on to it, and taking a class, I don't have the opportunity to have a "side job." Unless I wanted to work all seven days each week, or a night shift on top of my day job! And that I simply can't do. I have enough trouble getting done all that needs to be done as it is. So I need to find something else, something more remunerative. And I hope I find it soon!

Scaling down, or setting realistic goals

I am forty-four years old. And while I am in reasonably robust good health, I do have some issues (especially joint issues) which periodically remind me that I am no longer in my twenties, or even thirties. I have also, thanks to the economic meltdown of 2009, had to be very cautious of my rapidly-depleting finances. As a result of these factors, I have had reluctantly to begin to re-think some of my farm dreams. I have not given them up, but I have scaled them back considerably.

In order to head up to Sterling College for that wonderful year-long Sustainable Agriculture program, I would need to sell my condo. Given the current market, that would be hard to do without taking a loss on it, and that's not something I want to do if at all avoidable. I would then have to look for a place up in Vermont, to either rent or purchase. Again, not impossible, but a challenge, from so many hundreds of miles away. Finally, I would be taking a major chance on being able to find or create – as soon as possible after completion of the program – a farm-based enterprise that would make money... and do so more-or-less on my own, since it is unclear just how much hands-on support I would enjoy from my lady-love. Having to take her interests and desires into account also complicates – no offense to her – a move which would be challenging enough even if I were alone.

Given this combination of circumstances, it seems to make the most sense to me to remain in this area and try to find permanent, benefited employment either in the Maryland Park Service or something related, and from there look at ways in which I/we can "homestead" on our own land once I'm in a financial position to move from this condo to a place with some actual land attached. Major goals include a large garden, and chickens! Possible longer-term goals include a family cow and perhaps a couple of draft horses or oxen, if or as space and financial concerns allow it. The main focus would be, not on making the farm pay for itself, but homesteading on whatever property I/we end up with, as a way of increasing self-sufficiency and, hopefully, decreasing costs.

This is not quite the "farm dream" that I had even six months ago, but it is a more realistic goal to strive toward, considering the realities of my current situation. And it will allow many of the same sorts of things I was looking for in obtaining and running a larger farm, including greater food self-sufficiency, improved health and well-being as a result, a more sustainable lifestyle in general, and perhaps even a greater level of independence from "the grid" if I am able to heat with wood, utilize solar and/or wind-power for a portion of our electricity, and so on. So, this is the updated version of my goals for at least this part of my future. We shall see how they shape up, in practice!