"Where are you moving?"

The question of the year. As we prepared to leave Boston, closing out both job and school, selling bookshelves and tables and trinkets never used, people kept asking, “where are you moving?” And even as we loaded the oversized Penske on Waldo St., our neighbors (who we never met until our last month in Boston) came out to ask, “where are you moving?” Our reply these last months, spoken with both a sense of uncertainty but also a quiet excitement was… “we don’t really know yet.”

We drove out of beantown headed to my parents’ house in Michigan (aka WaechterStorage USA) and realized we were technically homeless – entering into a liminal space (yes, I can heard all you seminary folk groaning) unsure of where that big yellow truck will eventually take us.

In the meantime…we are traveling. Volunteer farming in short.

We have registered with the organization called WWOOF (the World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and will be setting off as woofers to farm. The deal is, we received a book in the mail of registered farms from WWOOF, and we directly contact those farms to stay for a period of time offering our young backs and eagerness to learn about food production for some shelter and farm fresh grub.

I realize the irony of this commitment, given that I have boldly claimed a summer Sabbath. I am breaking a few key rules according to traditional Jewish practice, namely plowing the earth and driving all over the U. S. of A in an automobile. But Reformed Jews claim that work is defined differently in this age, and so tending to a garden may be a method of connecting to God and self for someone who does not regularly sweat or get their hands dirty at work. (More reflection on this coming from Mr. Berry…) And since I am a captial R-eformed Christian (some days) something about this reformedness exception must transfer, right?

We have had the opportunity to soak in some family time, both with D’s at graduation and mine this week. And now we’re ready to get to it! First stop… Solway, MN.