Given the opportunity to develop feet and wings for a childhood dream is fabulous and daunting. Living with an idea in your heart and telling it to people who are close to you is natural. The responses you garner don’t affect the dream. When someone provides the way for the dream to come to life and you begin to actualize it, it becomes too good to be true and scary at the same time. How am I ever going to do this?

Exploring the how of my dream has been excruciating and exciting, and as its gained traction, I sometimes lose my way. When others get excited about supporting my dream, I listen to their ideas and direction and mine seem to vanish. This is where I was in early February. I had the momentum behind me to get a farm going at Fontenelle Forest, people who came alongside who had more of a community garden in mind. It derailed my idea of a natural farm in the forest. I feel strongly about honoring the biological ecosystem where I live and grow. As I shared my story with the sisters of Iowana farm, they embraced my dream and helped me remember where it came from – deep inside of me.

Earlier in the year, my husband attended a retreat hosted at the Arbor Lodge in Nebraska City. He found this quote there, it fits perfectly with creating a natural garden in a forest.

In a follow up Fontenelle Forest meeting, my mentor and boss, Nancy Williams showed all of us on the team how to develop a common goal for the space. It is through this alignment that we will collectively find our focus. I have peace and regenerated energy towards the forest thanks to Nancy’s direction.