Beverly Farm Saves the Day!

Once upon a time I was given a book as a gift. That book was entitled Now Discover Your Strengths and it came with a test called the StrengthsFinder. I'm a fan of self-discovery, so naturally I took the test. It spit out several strengths, none of which were a surprise. Among them was the Achiever strength and part of the description informed me I would forever be plagued by "a chronic discontent." Most days I refer to this discontent as boredom, but really it is disappointment in my inability to actually do anything to save the world. My fiance refers to this as my weekly existential crisis, but no matter how much I try to change my way of living to make a difference the feeling keeps coming back. Luckily I like to tell people about everything that is going on in my head (duh, that is why I started a blog). I told my friend Molly about my current lack of fulfillment. It turns out she has been feeling the same way and is applying for a position with Green Corps, which is like AmeriCorps, but it is focused on the environment. As part of the Green Corps application, you have to write an essay about what environmental campaign you would conduct if you had unlimited resources. Molly wanted to know what I would write for my essay. After some brainstorming, I settled on a sustainable agriculture awareness campaign and actual agricultural development combination. Three hours later, Molly called me back and said she had had a brilliant idea while walking her dog. Molly's brother is mentally handicapped and currently lives on Beverly Farm , a planned community for adults with developmental disabilities. Not only is Beverly Farm the name of the community, there are 220 acres of green space. (Light bulb turns on) Residents are encouraged to engage in developmental activities and many have jobs for vocational development. Couldn't the green space be converted to actual organic farmland, gardening be offered as one of the vocational development opportunities, and the organic fruits and vegetables be both consumed by residents to provide them with nutritious meals and sold externally through a CSA or local coops? It sounded like a pretty good way to start saving the world...now we just need to write the grant...