greetings friends!

i've never been much of a blogger...or to be honest, very good about regularly keeping in touch with folks in general :I (even though i do care about you all deeply!!) but this blog was created partly because of the many inquiries from people about how i'll stay connected while i'm traveling. so a blog seems to have great potential--now all i have to do is stay disciplined :D so if i slack off, by all means, get on my case.

i'm very excited about this adventure, to say the least. i've enjoyed traveling since i was very young--flying here and there to see family, visiting new cities--but probably around the time i was in high school, i developed a strong interest in traveling outside the U.S. over the years i have taken opportunities to travel at times that felt right--those times that things seem to line up and i've thought, "i can't NOT do this." (it's poor grammar, but you know, there it is) there have also been those times that i've tried to force things into place and it felt like a lot of effort and i felt restless and things typically just don't pan out in those cases. and maybe they're not supposed to for whatever reason. i leave on this trip with a sense of peace and gratitude. i'm thankful that i have the means to travel, i'm thankful for all of the support, encouragement, and understanding from you all, i'm thankful for my travel companion tom, i'm thankful for my mom who is such a rock star and helped me move a honda-ful of my stuff from vermont to indiana, i'm thankful that there are farmers out there who open their land and their homes to people who want to learn about (or re-discover) what it means to live off the land and use natural resources wisely to confront the growing challenges of our world today.

for those of you who are unfamiliar with the WWOOF program, i'll just say a bit about it (but you can also check out http://www.wwoofhawaii.org; http://www.wwoof.co.nz; http://www.wwoof.com.au) it stands for...well, there are a couple versions: Willing Workers on Organic Farms and World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. so we'll be working on small, family-run organic farms in hawaii (the big island--kona side), new zealand (both north and south islands), and australia for part of the time. the hosts require a certain number of hours of work per week in exchange for room and board. the work requirements vary among farms (i.e. hours, tasks, level of instruction, etc). most of these farms are in fairly remote locations, however the hosts may be able to provide rides to and from town on occasion--and perhaps to the beach...we hope anyway, ah well i'm sure we'll find a way there regardless :)

in addition to farming in australia, i'm also planning to spend time with my cousins who live in melbourne. this i have dreamt of for a looong time now. sarah and linda have been very gracious, helpful, and enthusiastic about this reunion.

our time in indonesia is quite a bit less structured at this point, but we have some connections through friends who have traveled there previously, a current participant in the SALT program through MCC (Mennonite Central Committee), and a Ten Thousand Villages representative who is willing to help us arrange visits with various contributing artisans within the country.

so that's the deal! well, i've left out a lot of details, but i'll fill in the blanks later :) i look forward to sharing my travels with you all and hope that you too will keep me up-to-date on happenings back at home. please also feel free to contact me via e-mail: jillmarielehman@gmail.com

much love,
jill