Topside GF

Mysterious New Farm

Two weeks ago I was sipping water between church services, stressing about my upcoming song. Somehow I've gotten roped not once, but twice, into singing/playing the guitar for the congregation. I don't do well when I'm isolated like that, but at least the advantage of the guitar is that I can stare at the fretboard instead of the people.

But while I was musing over this impending performance, a woman I know came up and started excitedly talking about a new couple from Alaska, new to the area and new to the church. It took me a second to grasp what she was getting at, but it wasn't long before I was thinking not of my song, but of farming.

Apparently, these folks used to run a soup kitchen up in Kodiak, gave it up and moved here, and have now bought a 200 acre farm with the intention of providing a pastor's retreat or a place for troubled youth... very hard to say, since I haven't been able to get in direct contact with them yet. Rumors abound in a small town such as mine - I've heard they're calling the place The Living Ranch. Promising... promising...

I have high hopes, but I'm also waiting for them to be realistically dashed. I've been persistently skunked in trying to located anything in the West that remotely resembles the GF. I don't think people realize to what level of community they can elevate a place. Programs get a few little things going for them and stop there, never reaching their full potential. That's one thing GF really has going for it, the hundred years of people randomly puttering about.

If nothing else, I hope that by spreading the word about GF's diversity, it can at least show a budding program what can be done.

posted by Kt @ 3:38 AM