I just want to be an urban farmer

Many of my close girlfriends, as they approach fifty, have been wondering what they want to do with the remainder of their lives. They have tended to children and husbands and careers, but now they want to tend to themselves. To accomplish something that will bring a new sense of meaning to their lives. Something just for them. This restlessness my friends feel has slowly seeped into my brain as well and made me wonder about what great project I would like to tackle in the second half of my life. For the last month, I have been pondering this idea. Ideas spinning around and around without any kind of concrete conclusions.

That was until today. As I headed into a local Barnes and Noble, I was drawn to the nature section and subsequently to a book called "Farm City, The Education of an Urban Farmer" by Novella Carpenter. I immediately sat down and as I read the first chapter, I found parts of myself within its pages. It was a reminder to me of who I was and where I wanted to travel to. That I wanted to continue to pursue a sustainable lifestyle, much as I had when living in Chicago, but that I also wanted to figure out a way to expand this desire to others living in an urban setting.

Providing a way for city dwellers to be sustainable was work I thought would be rewarding, but being new to the New York City area, I was unaware of any organization providing this sort of support. As it should happen, just this morning, my husband sent me a link to an environmental organization called The Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC). The mission statement of CENYC is as follows:

"The Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC) is a hands-on non-profit which improves New York City’s quality of life through environmental programs that transform communities block by block and empower all New Yorkers to secure a clean and healthy environment for future generations."

CENYC accomplishes its mission by participating in environmental education, encouraging recycling, establishing community gardens, etc... and it is exactly the type of organization I would love to be part of at some point.

It seems my recent move somehow derailed me from my path, but buried beneath all of my recent upheaval, was a desire to continue in much the same way I had orginally set out on many months ago. To find that as I settle into my life here, I settle back into myself.