Looking for a Sign Part 4: Am I just lucky or was it meant to be this way?

When I was touring colleges out in the Pacific Northwest I almost didn't go to Whitman.  It is out in the middle of nowhere in not in an exciting city like Portland or Eugene.  I did decide to go for it though and made arrangements ahead of time for a tour and all the other trappings.  The e-mail I got said to show up at the admissions office at 8 AM for my tour of campus.

My mom and I rolled into town kind of late the night before my visit and ended up staying in a cinder block Howard Johnsons (now the Walla Walla Vineyard Inn where they busted a meth lab last year) as all the other hotels were full.  HoJos was nice and close to campus though and so we were able to walk over on a sleepy Saturday morning. (I'm pretty sure it was a Saturday, I don't think there were classes going on).  When we showed up at the Admission Office it was all locked up.  We double checked the print out of the e-mail that said 8 and then knocked.  A woman came to the door and said oh no, it must have been a mistake because the first tour that day wasn't until 9, but we were signed up for that one.  No problem, my mom and I went to go snoop around the school.

I knew that I would want to be an Environmental Studies/Biology major so we walked over to peek in the Science building, at that point just having construction finished up.  We tried the doors, but they were locked so just peered through the windows.  Then the lovely Dr. Wallace came up on his bicycle and asked "Are you a prospective student?"  I said that I was and that I was going to major in Biology and he swept us away up the stairs to his new lab to show us the cool new microscopes he had and the videos his Intro to Bio students had made of some little water critters (and at the time I was really into water quality) and he was just so enthusiastic about it all.

We eventually had a really wonderful tour and I had lunch with some cool students and my mom and I agreed that Walla Walla was a cute town, but I can't say for sure that I would have gone to Whitman if it hadn't been for the error on that letter and meeting Dr Wallace.  And if I hadn't gone to Whitman I would have never ended up in Walla Walla and met Matt and Laura and Lina.   And if I hadn't done that I don't know that I would have ended up getting into starting a local food co-op.  And I might not have ended up meeting farmers and then realizing I wanted to be a farmer.  And then where would I be?

Looking for a Sign Part 2: Year of Fire

I was introduced to the tradition of Beltane in Spring of 2009 by good friend Emily Dietzman of Welcome Table Farm.  Beltane is a celebration of the crosswise or halfway point between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, celebrated on May 1.  It usually involves big celebrations involving fire.  Traditionally you jump over the fire from one direction to another depending on what you want your year to have.  north symbolizes earth and stability (like Taurus), south for fire and passion, west for water and compassion, east for air and inspiration.

Beltane 2011 was during a tumultuous time in my life.  It has been about 6 months since a major relationship of mine had ended, a little less than a year since I had decided I would leave West End Farm, still 3 months before I would figure out where I would leave for, 4 months before I would actually move to Detroit.  I don't remember what direction I was trying to jump from but, I know I was jumping towards the east and some inspiration.  When I landed though I slipped backwards on the flowers encircling the fire and ended up in it for a second before my friends lifted me out.  At the time it was embarrassing, but fire became my theme for the year.

Besides being associated with the south and passion, fire is also cleansing and I think that it is a good sign for a year of new beginnings.  Besides my Beltane close encounter I rung in the new year 2012 with a bonfire down by the river.  It has been a year of new starts in myriad ways, but as Beltane 2012 approaches I am ready for a sign that is less wild and destructive.  It is probably my Taurus nature.

Another good reason to deliver flowers by bike

Rather than in the truck:
It is easier for the owner of Graze to shout at you from the sidewalk: "HEY! Are you selling those flowers?"

And of course the answer is "Why yes, yes I am."