The call of the land.Thanks for the article "Growing Farmers" (Currents, March/April 2006). As a student in the late 1970s at Exeter Academy, I wanted nothing more than to plant a garden, but manual labor was frowned upon. I settled for running the Outdoor Club, which was considered "responsible." In actuality, it was sanctioned escape to the woods. Then I went on to Wesleyan University Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Conn.; coeducational; chartered and opened 1831. There are special cooperative study programs with the California Institute of Technology and the engineering department of Columbia Univ. , where my schoolmates later became investment bankers, doctors and lawyers, as well as lead photographers for The Sopranos and actors on The West Wing. Few dreamed of running an organic farm or xeriscaping, or at least admitted it, despite the school's "crunchy" reputation. I moved to New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. and was miserable. What I need more than anything in the world to feel real, alive, sane and whole is to have my fingers in Mother Earth's dirt, enveloped en·vel·op tr.v. en·vel·oped, en·vel·op·ing, en·vel·ops 1. To enclose or encase completely with or as if with a covering: "Accompanying the darkness, a stillness envelops the city" in peace. So, here I am, unable to shake it; I'm building a "bio-bus," a sustainability showcase mobile home office complete with solar panels and an inverter (1) A logic gate that converts the input to the opposite state for output. If the input is true, the output is false, and vice versa. An inverter performs the Boolean logic NOT operation. (2) A circuit that converts DC current into AC current. Contrast with rectifier. . I'm going to go find some quiet plot of land no one owns and can take away. (It's wrenching to walk away from your garden.) Some people think I'm nuts, but I know getting back to nature is the only thing that will save me. Heather Rae Brae brae n. Scots A hillside; a slope. [Middle English bra, from Old Norse br Clean Tech via e-mail |
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