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