What's Next?

Even though, or perhaps because, the roads are coated in ice and my feet are perpetually frozen, it’s hard not to start thinking about summer. Packets of seeds are piled up in the greenhouse, and we’re resurrecting plans for a chicken coop and composting pile. My dog runs laps in the living room for exercise and dreams of the day the ice melts and we can hike the Elkhorn and Wallowa Mountains.

Along with making plans for the spring semester, I’m starting to look beyond. This week applications for FoodCorps 2013-14 serve year opened. I encourage you to spread the word, and I’d be happy to share my experience with anyone interested in serving. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbSMvLOJAko is the link to the new recruitment video.) Uncomfortably, however, I have to start thinking about some difficult decisions in my future; whether or not I am going to do a second year of service in North Powder.

I love my job here, and I honestly think North Powder Charter School is the best FoodCorps site in Oregon. The enthusiasm this Farm to School Program exudes makes anything possible, and I am so lucky to be here working with such energetic people. However, well into my second year of living in an isolated rural area, I’m not sure that I can handle year three. I deeply crave living in a well-populated area with friends, stores and entertainment near-by. My FoodCorps term of service ends in early August, and should I not take on another year I need to have another job to move into right away. (Grad school is in the cards for 2014.) I am applying for another FoodCorps term, but will not have to decide whether or not to commit until May or June.

Elk at the feeding station on a freezing cold morning

Although I don’t have a clear vision of my perfect job, I do know some things that I would like. I want to work in collaboration with other people, and less on independent projects (which is why I don’t think I’m going to apply for Oregon’s FoodCorps Fellow position.) I would love not being desk-bound, and to continue educating students in cafeterias and gardens, but I do not want to be a traditional teacher. I am very interested in helping schools and communities build infrastructure facilitating local food access, and the development and revision of agricultural policy to be friendlier towards small producers. Although my experience centers around food and nutrition, I am very interested in working on sustainability and farming issues along with addressing challenges of the rural-urban divide. And finally, the only reason I can think of which would induce me to leave Oregon would be if Michelle Obama hired me to be her Let’s Move! intern. That said, although I demand to once again live in an urban center, it doesn’t have to be Portland.

North Powder, and the Elkhorns in the distance

I am looking for any input my lovely readers might have on organizations I should learn more about, and most particularly introductions to people who work on sustainable food issues who would be willing to give me an informational interview about their job, organization and career advice. It was a brilliantly-timed informational interview with the right person that brought me to FoodCorps, and I can only hope I get so lucky again. I’ve started with EcoTrust’s Farm to School Program (my dream company), but want to learn about other food-oriented nonprofits in Portland. I want to know if there are any urban demonstration farms in Portland (like Montana’s Missoula Urban Demonstration Project), CSAs, or small scale food processors that might have either advice or job openings.

 I am available for hire in early August!