Paraphrased

Lately, there’s been a lot of great press surrounding the small organic farm scene.  In this month’s Mindful Metropolis, there are two stories about two different farms, both started around the time we started.
Anyway, these newspaper articles have us thinking about how our own story might translate to this format.  We have had some time in the media spotlight, since our first year’s NPR story, but we feel that the best story about us hasn’t happened quite yet and that the NPR story may have missed something.
The story that seems almost expected is this, paraphrased:
Just a few years ago, a young urban couple felt disgruntled by the corporate work-a-day grind [The Man], so they shed their city shoes for farm boots and moved to the country to live off the land.  Their new lifestyle involves waking with the crow of a rooster and the physical rhythm and serenity of farm work.
Our story might be more like this:  
Many years ago, when they were young adults, two people separately decided they wanted to commit their lives to something basic and pure.  They met each other and became a young urban couple.  One of them inherited some land and thought the best use of this land was a little thing called food. The couple shed their city shoes, went into sizable debt, kept their other jobs, and stressed about the weather.  Their new lifestyle involves waking with heart palpitations and the physical discomfort and drama of farm work.
Todd and Julia have the same human tendency as everyone to stress about their jobs, off-farm and on-farm.  They sometimes don’t have time to cook.  They sometimes order pizza made with highly-processed ingredients for delivery. Like many new farmers now, they didn’t grow up farming and they don’t have degrees in vegetable growing or business management.  They don’t have a savings account.  The real story is that they jumped right into this world of organic farming with nothing but the conviction that they were headed towards the place they were always meant to be.
We were meant to be here.  And we’re not leaving.
When Todd and I hung out for the first time at a party together, he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I said that I didn’t have any great ambition. He said the same.  In fact, this is exactly what he said: 
“I don’t have any great ambition either.  I just want to be an organic farmer.”
What could be easier?
(sigh),
Julia