Several years ago, I started using this motto, “Be Afraid and Do It Anyway.” A friend had stage 3 cancer, and you know what happens when you get that wakeup call that says, “What am I waiting for?” It’s served me well, especially when I listen to my heart.
Most recently my partner and I purchased a farm in Gaston, Oregon, and we have been busy making it our own. We both want to learn to grow our own healthy food in hopes of being able to share it with the community. There are hundreds of reasons to grow locally, organically and sustainably, and not a darn one that I can think of not to do it. Except, of course, that it involves a lot of unknowns and is a lot of hard work. Hence the motto. We pushed through the soggy spring with muddy boots to make sure we had a garden area ready for summer. We bought 20 baby chicks in April and raised them to be egg layers. We are putting in a goat barn and fence with the goal of one day offering an eco-friendly goat-brush-clearing service.
I’m happy to report that we now have more tomatoes and squash than we can eat. We’ve offered up our excess on the Forest Grove free classified Facebook group and the community has responded with a demand that I find both heartwarming and heartbreaking. People want organic, fresh produce and there are hungry families out there. It was scary to put the offer out there - will they come? They did. We will keep going. We are already talking about what we will do differently next year.
We’ve also eaten our very first three eggs, and they were yummy. We don’t have enough to share yet, but by October we should be getting about a dozen a day. We are looking at how those eggs find their way to deserving customers. We will sell some in order to give some away. Raising chickens feels a bit scary, too. It’s a big responsibility, taking care of them, keeping them safe from predators and getting up every day (early) to let them out. I love watching them and learning their chicken behaviors and the funny thing is I find them very calming. Maybe there is a chicken therapy offering in my future?
In my spare time, I’m an Executive Leadership Coach and I also work for Social Venture Partners Portland running the Encore Fellows Program. My partner is an Early Childhood Education teacher at Adelante Mujeres. When the garden and chickens are all quiet we also collect toys and shoes for Latino kids in need in Oregon and Mexico. It’s not a nonprofit yet, but someday maybe it will be if we follow the motto, “Be Afraid and Do It Anyway!”
Grateful and constantly inspired to be a part of Ninety Nine Girlfriends.
— Linda K. Williams
