Weeding is the perfect mental activity for farm planning. As I nimbly separate curly dock and bedstraw from acorn squash mounds and tomato plant rows, I sort through a matrix of ideas we've identified that could support our goal of becoming self-sustaining. Our focus thus far has been to being to build farm 'systems' that support each other. In order to grow vegetables for consuming, canning and storage, we need organic fertilizer, so we built a rudimentary compost pile. With

I'm a project person. I have the type of mind that only releases its anxiety after I make sure the checkboxes are filled in on my daily TO DO list. Throughout my incarnations as a filmmaker, mother, graduate school student, therapist and non-profit administrator, I've achieved varied amounts of success with this coping skill. The completed items on my lists laid the pathways for my ambitious quests for vertical advancements on a spiral stairwell fueled by a need for upward mo