[Rockchick26]

Originally Posted by wolfgang

what's the deal with that organic farm community?

is that just a pipe dream or a real possibility?
assuming you could get there, is it a done deal?

But I thought nothing is a pipe dream, its all possible? It would be a done deal yes, if I can get there and if I can find one that still has an opening (they recommend you sign up in April but it'll be at least June before I could go).

list only all the ways it could work and be a cool thing to do.

I love making lists! Ok...

I love organic food
I love what organic farms stand for, I think we should all support local and organic food
I wouldn't have to pay rent
I might even get paid, depending on where I go
I would meet new like minded people
I would be able to eat healthy, for free
It would give me a totally new life, even if just temporarily
I would learn & get experience growing food so I'd have a better chance at getting a job doing it, or I could start my own farm or business
I would get exercise without really having to try
I would get to travel a lot (assuming I would do this on a regular basis)

If I did one of the other types of work exchanges that aren't on farms, I would still get a lot of those benefits. (The bed & breakfasts, resorts, etc.)

if you think, but I have no way to get there - say maybe I can hitchhike or car pool or they can pick me up or I can leave my appt. which gives me the money to get there or any brain storming idea of how you could get there.

Hitchhike?! A single petite female hitchhike?! This isn't my ego saying this, it's common sense, that is just too dangerous to do these days! I would car pool but what are the odds someone who lives near me would be joining the same farm I would be at the same time? I'll be coming on late in the season, I'm sure most people will already be there. And if it's in another state or country, nobody is going to leave their farm to come pick someone up. The only plausible idea I thought of is to sell all my furniture but I wouldn't get enough money, I'm sure. I could take my 401k money out but that wouldn't last long, I don't have much in there.

if you say, but I'll miss my family - say that will be ok since I can email or talk on the phone and it will be fun to talk about what I'm doing on the farm.

Well the thing is, the person I'd miss most would be my nephew and he can't speak in clear full sentences yet so I wouldn't really be able to talk to him on the phone and that wouldn't be the same as playing with him in person. But I'm thinking, the best thing would probably be to only do these "jobs" for short periods of time, like a month at the most. But that would mean I'd need more money to get to each one since I wouldn't want to stay home longer than a few days or a week anyway. Maybe I could use my 401k money to buy an RV and use that to drive back and forth everywhere. That would kill many birds with one stone! I'm just not sure if what little money I have would be enough to buy a decent enough RV that wouldn't need lots of work.

if you say, but this isn't exactly what I want to do and I'll miss some other opportunity - say I am attracted to this organic farming idea a lot and it may led to other cool opportunities/connections with like minded people.

This isn't really an excuse for me anymore, these things are temporary and you really only have to do them as long as you want to, so by doing this I would still have plenty of other time to do other things.