One of the happiest moments of my life occurred years ago when I lost my publishing job. I’d been editor of Country Journal magazine for years, but the parent company was positioning its magazines for sale, and let its higher-paid people go to improve the profit margins.

What I lost was a lot of stress, and when I returned home to the farm that day– with its horses, heifers, chickens, and market gardens we’d been tending part-time for years, my first question to the universe was “Now what?”

And the answer came back in a knowing, a voice without words, and the Knowing said to me, “Farm.”

I answered, “That’s insane. I’m an organic gardener, not a farmer.”  And the Knowing replied, “Then make it a very big garden.” 

So we did, bride and I, and never looked back.