Excellent work Land Stewardship Project

 Sent this email tonight and my heart is so full I had to share:

 

Hello, good people of Land Stewardship Project,

My name is Amy and my family and I are new members.  I am emailing to express my deep admiration for what you do and the incredible community you have gathered and nurtured.

We attended a Farm Dreams class this spring and posted an ad in your Farms Wanted/For Sale clearinghouse. 

We have received 3 calls and an email in response to our post from the most kind, generous people, including a wonderful woman tonight.  One family gave us a 2 hour tour of their homestead and two others have spent extensive time on the phone with us, communicating their vision and encouraging us.  What is most remarkable is that all these people took their time even though our budget has been $100,000-200,000 lower than their asking price.  Even when I've communicated our limits, they've invited us to come visit, chatted on the phone to encourage us, told us of people in financing they've already talked with to help buyers, and invited us to call for help in the future. 

We are the only people we know personally who are planning to move to the country, start farming, and try to become more self-reliant and it has been a very lonely, overwhelming prospect for a bunch of novices  like us.  These good people have told me their stories, listened to our hopes, and without fail have encouraged us to try.  The audacity and beauty of their dreams and the deep goodness of what they've accomplished- hosting classes for high school students, keeping alive the passions of their ancestors, bringing communities together, honoring the land, and finding a way to make a living doing a very tough job- well, they've inspired me to persist.  I want to have an incredible story to share twenty years from now, too, like them.

I would like to offer a special thanks to Parker and Brian who helped us write, post, and edit our ad repeatedly over the months as our understanding developed.  Also, thanks to Nick who taught our class very ably and thoughtfully.

Thank you for standing ready to do us good before we even knew we needed you.

Thank you for cultivating such an extraordinary group of passionate people.

And thank you for welcoming us into the adventure that is farming.

It is an honor to be a member of such an incredible group of people.

When we get our place, you all will be invited to our Coming Home to the Farm Party.

And that, good people, will be a party to remember.

Gratefully,

Amy Reisdorf for Tim, Anjali, and Mark

Quick update on a lot I haven't written about before

Lots is percolating and I wanted to make a quick update. 

We made an offer on a farm in WI this week and then withdrew it after 24 hours when we realized we'd bitten off more than we could chew.  We've been out viewing properties within 60 driving minutes from Tim's work every weekend and have two more this weekend in WI.  We're working with real estate agents- Lisa in MN and Don in WI.  So far, most of the good stuff in our price range is in WI.  We continue to revise our search as we learn new things

We had a co-worker of Tim's who is also a professional painter come yesterday; he gave us advice and we plan to do some ourselves and have him come and paint the tricky bits in preparation for putting our house on the market.  We are taking down everything off the walls and are boxing, giving away, and preparing for a garage sale.  We have sold/given away a lot of furniture including a couch on the porch waiting for a Craigslist pick up this morning so our main floor is wider open and looks so huge. 

Our Thursday night Living on the Land class through the U of M Extension in Mankato has been going very well- helpful, informative, and alternately inspiring and overwhelming.  We've got class through the end of April, are registered for Farm Dreams class with the Land Stewardship Project on April 15, and then plan to register for their longer class called Farm Beginnings for next school year.  Also heard about a Farm Business Enterprises class this week which focuses on record-keeping for decision-making and are considering that.  We've also been skimming 6-10 books per week on various farm topics ranging from livestock to gardening to alternative energy to food preservation to composting to greenhouses.

We're hoping to buy and sell yet this spring or summer if we find the right thing.  So far, we haven't done anything irrevocable; just a very deep spring cleaning and field trips.  But given that we've started making offers, I wanted to update you all.

On a personal note, I had toe surgery to remove a cyst last Tuesday and it went extraordinarily well.  I am in less pain than before the surgery, almost none at all.  I also found out that I was anemic and have been taking iron and chlorophyll and I gotta say that oxygen is a great thing.  I am doing a special Chinese medicine diet and have lost 20# in 7 weeks.  I'm hoping to stay on it through the summer and then reevaluate.  I'm feeling the best I can ever remember feeling in my life and I can't express how surprised and pleased and grateful I am. 

My friend Megan said a profound thing to me in February, "What kind of life do you need to have so that you are satisfied with a smaller, healthy amount of calories?"  In a more general way, she was asking what kind of life I need to be satisfied within my limits.  From what I can see so far, our new adventures are already helping me be more satisfied with my life and I look forward to new adventures.

Face is better

I canceled my appointment with the neurologist because the pain's gone.  Busy and odd, yes, but below the pain threshold.  Ginger worked on me sitting up instead of lying down which accessed different muscles and issues.  I've seen her twice in 5 days and see her again this week.  Going to see Joe, too, next week. 
Definitely improving again. 
I'll keep the neurologist in mind if the pain comes back.
Hm.  Interesting.  Unexpected.

No cyst

Just got the call that my cyst has not regrown.  No need to drill a hole in my head for which I am really, really grateful.
Also got blood work done and my white blood cell count is normal.  High would indicate infection.
So what are the pain and swelling indicating?  Don't know.  Going to see the neurologist next week with all test results in hand.

Fred Hargesheimer

http://fredhargesheimer.com/fredsupport.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-03-08-hargesheimer_N.htm

http://www.rochestermagazine.com/warrior/from/the/sky/story-402.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hargesheimer

Not again

I've been getting these terrible headaches and now my face is swollen and hot right over my old surgery site.  Going in for blood work tomorrow to see if I have an infection.  Hope the answer is yes.  If yes, then most likely CT scan to see if the cyst is back.  Then hopefully some kick-ass antibiotics to take the pain down and kill those nasties.
I'm fraying from the pain over time and the thinking the pain is over than having it creep back.
Dear God, please reveal the truth and quick.  And if possible, make it not too terrible and not impossible to fix.  Amen

Regrowth and succession

It's time to bid farewell to some of my traveling companions- favorite books which I found in boxes in my attic.  This seems unfulfilling somehow for such great friends.   It's time I release them into the world to do good again.  I wish to remember them so I am creating a bibliography on my art blog's Help and Healing page.  I've got a call in to my old counselor to see if she'd like dibs on any of these faithful works for her lending library.  I've also got a call into my church's library about books on Islam which I'm hoping inspire understanding. I've read from these libraries and was changed.  I'd like to give back.

I've been afraid of forgetting, afraid of losing something vital.  I've felt that I have to remember everything, hold everything, make sense and meaning of everything.  Recently on several long walks under a winter sun, I have heard God offering to remember me and my story and to make sense and meaning of my life.  I said yes.  The reality that nothing will be lost has eased my heart.

I have walked down my path and I can turn back and see it behind me.  I am about to go around a corner and over a rise.  I can't see what's there ahead and once I walk on, I won't be able to see clearly what lies behind anymore either.

This used to terrify me.  If couldn't see my story, touch everything, recall every pain, then I would be lost.

I can walk back and pick things up if I need to.
Nothing I need will be lost.
I will receive what I need when I need it.
Songs of my story will be sung in God's halls.
I will not be forgotten.
What was laid waste is covered in new growth.
I have lived this.
I know this in my bones.


Last month, I went to Banning State Park, site of an old quarry and took a walk around the 1.8 mile path which changed my heart.  The place is absolutely beautiful- pine and aspen, a gurgling river, striking rock faces, diffuse winter sun through clouds.  I saw not another soul for my whole 2 hours there.  Here's a quote from the brochure:

All vegetation you see here is a study in regrowth and succession, 

since the bustling quarry operations had kept the area completely barren.

All this beauty had been completely barren.  All this stillness had been a noisy, busy, sledge hammer operation.  And thus it has been with my life, too- a study of regrowth and succession.

Rock faces
formed by the slam and twist of hand-held drills
and black powder explosions
whole hills of pink sandstone are gone
leaving exposed
drill lines
fault lines
crack and crash to the ground lines
thunder of destruction lines
down these lines
across these once barren faces
a waterfall
of ice and flow
a gentle drip
a gentle sun
a gentle eye
I stand
in awe
at the foot
of one of the most
beautiful things I've ever seen
here
now