The Cilantro Debacle

January 23, 2012 - by ErikIf there was ever a rookie mistake to make when you're visiting a Farm School and trying to impress people who grow vegetables as a living, I made it.We took the hour and a half-long drive out to The Farm School last week, traveling along Rt. 2 - one of the most scenic stretches in Massachusetts.  It was the second trip we have made to the school.The first time we were there it was spring and Dina and I had only a romantic interest in the idea of attending farm school.  The fields were freshly tilled and the farmers-to-be were out planting, weeding and nurturing life that would eventually be harvested by the next wave of students to come through the school.  We loved it and for a long time, the idea of "going to farm school" was something we promised ourselves as a consolation prize if some hypothetical disaster or disappointment were to strike our lives."Well, if those awful politicians who we despise get elected (not that we have opinions - we both work for newspapers) and run this country further into the ground we can at least go to farm school," we would promise ourselves.Little did we know that in 7 short months we'd be back as an applicants hoping to be selected for the 2012 -2013 class of future farmers.It is a pretty dramatic thing to consider abandoning a career which has captivated me for the past 10 years.  And as much as I have loved taking pictures for a living, it is the other commitments to running a business that have started to take a toll on my passion.  The A Photo Editor blog, recently illustrated this reality well:Bottom line is, 10 years into this profession, the business side of being a photographer has left me little time or energy for creating work that I am truly proud of.  And with newspaper and magazine budgets showing no promise of recovery, it seems like a good time to take a break, if not a full departure.Although there is sadness in this, there is also some degree of peace.So, I'm keeping the plates of my photography career spinning for the time being, while my application for Farm School awaits acceptance (hopefully).During our most recent trip out, it was affirming to meet a number of other students who left equally successful careers to dig in the dirt for a year, including a doctor.  We also learned more about the exchange program the Farm School has with a farm in Tuscany.  It would allow us to spend a month doing the Italian agriculture bit, and managing a bunch of pigs (prosciutto anyone?) but best of all we’ll get to observe how they operate their own Agritourism business.  Agritourism is more of a European phenomenon, but it is exactly the model we envision for our future farm: Plough and Stars.  The only difference - we may have to settle for a barn, rather than a castle.Toward the end of our tour, we did a token amount of manual labor loading a cord of wood into a trailer and stacking the rest into piles (Dina, an exceptional wood stacker, has already found her niche).  Then we retreated back inside for an amazing lunch of enchiladas and salad greens, which is when I made my rookie gaffe.Next to the enchiladas were two beautiful bowls of greens, both of which I assumed were salads.  I took a healthy portion of one, added a little oil and balsamic vinegar and went to sit down, only to have Dina point out that I had just served myself a nice side salad of cilantro, which was actually meant to garnish the enchiladas.I'm hopeful no one actually saw this happen, but note to self - if accepted to farm school, know how to better identify my greens (or at least don't be the first person through the lunch line).The rest of the photos from our day there (including Dina's best chicken photo) can be seen here.