There's little that gives me satisfaction the way that growing food does. Watching a plant go from seed to the plate and being involved with each step brings me indescribable joy. I'm also incredibly environmentally conscious with my growing techniques and habits, and care greatly for my natural surroundings. I strongly believe the food we eat should be consciously grown, healthy, and build up the land and community rather than harming them. With these values and passions, a career in regenerative agriculture seems obvious for me. When I was told about Michigan State University's Organic Farmer Training Program, I knew it was something I had to pursue. I want to not only grow wholesome food in a healthy manner, but teach others to do so as well, something the program is specifically designed to help with. My long term career goal is to set up my own educational permaculture farm, with an emphasis on cultivating not only common vegetables, but also native ones. There are many things I want to achieve with this farm one day. For one, I want to be able to support my community through the food I grow, offering healthy, local, pesticide and herbicide free produce options. I strongly believe that commodity cropping operations do more harm than good for just about everyone involved, and want to be a part of changing that norm. For two, I want to treat the crops I grow and land I grow on with respect. Organic growing is well and good on its own, but I want to be a model of regenerative agriculture, building up healthy soils, encouraging biodiversity, and conserving water in a responsible manner. Thirdly, I want to share the knowledge and experience I have and will have with others who want to walk a similar path, helping them to understand not only how, but why different techniques are used, and to what effect. Lastly, I want to be a steward to the land around us; it is my hope to have separate areas of land kept in their natural state, to be managed in a sustainable way, and to act as safe havens for not only wildlife, but also native edibles that are struggling with habitat loss. These edibles would in turn be cultivated once sustainable and responsible to do so, feeding into the community support in an evironmentally conscious way. I believe I will be successful in this field thanks to my dedication, enthusiasm, and dogged pursuit of knowledge. Much of the knowledge I have now has been the result of independent research over the course of years, the values that drive me taking shape as I learned. This program I'm in now is just the first step in the journey, as I plan to also receive certification in permaculture design and potentially a degree in environmental science in the future. I will know I have been successful when I come home each day sweaty and covered in dirt, but fulfilled through my actions and interactions with others in this work.