Hey folks!
I have been rather silent these last few months and do I have some updates for you.
Ready?
...
I quit my job.
...
Yup, I pulled the trigger and turned in my letter of resignation with my two week notice on the 2nd of September, making the 16th, my last day. I was asked return to EQG for my last few weeks to do some tool calibrations and to go through my exit interview process. When asked what the best part of the job was, my first response without a doubt was the people. Tuesday evening after having a going way dinner I flew from Malabo to Frankfurt via Madrid. On Saturday I will fly with Condor over the top on a direct flight from Germany to Alaska. In all honesty, there are some aspects of the adventure of living and working in EQG that, for all its faults and blemishes, I will miss the place and its people.
So, what comes next? Great question.
Short answer: Economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable farming and the lifestyle it entails.
The process up to this point: Two things happened in the spring of 2013. The end of March I heard Allan Savory's TED talk on Holistic Management. Later that spring in May I had lunch with long time family friends J&B about the oilfield lifestyle which they have lived for most of their married life. Coming away from these two events I knew that I did not want to work on a oilfield rotation long term and that my childhood and adolescent interest and passion in farming had been rekindled.
That spring and summer I started reading about farming, a lot, mixed in with a few theology books. I first started with Savory and then read books by Joel Salatin, J. Russel Smith, Andre Voisin, Wendell Berry, and Wes Jackson, to name a few. On the theology front I have been reading essays by Hilaire Belloc and G.K. Chesterton, whom wrote a fair amount on the topic of land and rural farming as it turns out. The thing that was blindingly obvious though is that no matter how much reading I did on the how and why of farming, actually working on a farm with my own two hands is still the best way to learn and love farming.
To give some basic insight to my interest in the farming lifestyle, I grew up helping my family garden and raise a few animals so this interest isn't entirely out of the blue. There were several summers where we took a hiatus from animals and gardening due certain life events, but some of my earliest memories are working in the garden digging for potatoes, picking tomatoes in the green house, or weeding our garden as well as helping out in what I thought as a kid was a massive garden for an elderly couple at church. In addition to that, I grew up a couple of hundred yards from a hay field and would bike down the road and watch the farmers make hay every summer. When I was 12, one of the guys (who turned out to be Dr. MD, a friend from the church we had recently started attending) stopped his tractor near to where I was watching and asked if I wanted to learn a little about farming and how to drive a tractor. I enthusiastically said yes, and under his recommendation peddled home as fast as I could to ask my mom's permission. Starting in 2001, I worked for Dr. MD every summer until I was 19. The last few summers working for him, I was taking point on much of the hay making under his supervision. I loved the work, the responsibility I was given, and the challenges that we faced.
Back to the almost present. By the end of August last year, I knew that I wanted to quit my job and go intern on a sustainable farm to get much needed experience and know-how. However, I had a couple of financial commitments that I wanted to make and so decided that I would stick it out until such a time as both goals were met, and I could live modestly for at least a year or two on my savings. Good thing I had a high paying job to accomplish these goals. .
So, for the last few weeks and in the weeks ahead I will be applying to various farm internship and apprenticeship openings across the country. This fall I hope be selected for a couple of on-farm work evaluations for placement in an apprenticeship. Once securing a position, I would start either this fall/winter or in the spring depending on which farm I will be working. I would like to intern/apprentice for a year or two and go from there. What life looks like or where it will take me after interning I do not know. (I certainly hope on to more faring!) However, I will let God direct my steps when it comes time figure out those plans.
Finally, I do have another major life update for you that is in the works. However, to share that now before it actually occurs is just not my style. Therefore, I shall leave you all in suspense.
For now, I will finish up by saying, I'm going roamin'!
and...
Geronimo!!!
