Where we're coming from

"So what exactly did Aaron and Michelle do in Lancaster?" you may be wondering to yourself. Wonder no more. Hopefully this will give you a half-decent idea.

Until yesterday I was an Agriculture Conservation Technician with the Lancaster County Conservation District. Basically, that means that my job consisted of helping farmers in the county meet state regulations concerning water quality and soil conservation. This entailed

1. working with the farmers to write conservation plans that outline the decisions they are making that will impact the sustainability and continued productivity of their land,
2. reviewing and conducting status reviews of nutrient management plans to ensure that manure (yes, manure; see above) nutrients are not being over applied and polluting local watersheds and
3. designing and performing construction checks on structural practices such as grassed waterways and cattle crossings (see below) that when implemented on a farmer's ground will either reduce erosion, improve stream and groundwater quality or both.
   
   -Aaron

Well, I found myself doing something completely new in Lancaster. After six months of job-hunting, I was hired as a Program Coordinator for Tabor Community Services, a non-profit housing and financial counseling agency. Not exactly in the same field as camping and outdoor ed but God is good and knows my path greater than I do. So here I am (today is my last day!), working with low income families, teaching them about budgeting, credit repair and home ownership and walking them through employment searching, career training and further education. All this in hopes that they will one day provide enough for themselves to no longer need government assistance for their daily financial needs. The program I work with is called the Family Self-Sufficiency Program and mostly assists single moms. Little did I know that after less than one year on the job, we would be making plans to go to the Congo to work with orphans and widows, teaching them the skills to help provide for their daily needs. More on that to come...

-Michelle