Toward the end of our shop, we had a customer discover us as she was walking around the neighborhood. As she became more and more regular, Natasha broke the news to her that we were closing so that we could move to South Africa. She smiled excitedly said: “Well, when you pursue your dreams, and you do it for the right reasons, it benefits all of the people that you love.”
This is Zoe, my oldest daughter. She moved out of the house and headed to college. She wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted to do other than she wanted to work with plants. And so she immersed herself in botany and forestry. And loved it all. Except, she realized that she didn’t know what she could do or wanted to do with that field of study. So she talked, and thought, and talked, and dreamed, and pondered… and decided she like the idea of having her own small organic farmer.
Yup, she wants to be Farmer Ted.
But, you don’t need tens of thousands of dollars of debt to be a farmer. More talking, more thinking, listening to advice… and she decided to take a break from school. Then, she landed a perfect job at a locally owned nursery/garden center, working with plants that are edibles.
Of course, working with plants every day, getting quizzed by her boss about them, helping customers and giving them advice means that her knowledge of plants and growing them has blossomed. I hear it. I see it. She knows how much light a kiwi tree needs to produce fruit. She can identify leaves, tell when a plant has a fungus infection vs. sunburn, or when one is begging for nutrients. All of this excites her…
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but what does this have to do with South Africa. Well, one day Natasha was talking to a customer and telling her our story. When Zoe came up, and Natasha was talking to the lady about her wanting to farm, the lady asked if Zoe was going to do WWOOF. We had never heard of it, but as always, the internet saved the day. We found WWOOF, read about it, forwarded it to Zoe, and we all started to research it. As luck would have it, some of the participants were interviewed on a South African radio station and our family there heard it.
It’s a volunteer program where one can work on an organic farm for room and board while being taught farming techniques and the skills to run a business. It’s like somebody listened to her dreams and built a program around them.
We paid for her passport, paid the fees to join WWOOF, and now she is ready to contact organic farms to volunteer on. She can experience all of this while being fairly close to us. She can see us on days off and we can plan a holiday with her. Perfect.
We may have not known about WWOOF if it wasn’t for us planning and talking about moving to South Africa…
I can’t wait to see her in SA. But, I really want to see what she’ll grow there.
Poetry Overland 