new life plan

So, i'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I've been meaning to read it for some time, but i was waiting for it to get off the one-week shelf at the library. now it's a two-week book. i'm glad i waited - i've been reading it for a week, and i'm halfway through.

I am concurrently thinking hard about my future and talking to people about and searching for graduate programs that sound good for me. i think i could be ready for graduate school (meaning i've decompressed long enough from academia that i can plunge back in for a few years), but i still would have to find a program that makes me happy enough to want to do that. i figured i should go back to graduate school because it is a nice concrete plan for what to do next with my life, and i know that the career path i chose for myself in undergrad is best achieved with at least a Master's in hand.
i had a wonderful conversation with a man named Charlie Shabica, a professor at UIC, an independent environmental consultant, and an adorable older man with a gift for bringing out the best in people. he was very happy to listen to me talk about my dreams and what i need in my future to be happy, and he said, that's what's important, doing what makes you happy, whatever it is. which i know. but, his conversational skills helped me appreciate that all over again. it got me to thinking, i know that being outside is pretty much the number one thing required to make me happy, but in what context do i want to be outside for the rest of my life? this, in conjunction with Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, are making me think that perhaps what i want to do most with my life is grow things for a living. Meaning, be a small farmer, or work on a small farm (i know being the owner is a *lot* of stressful work). this seems like a more positive way to affect change in my world, growing things for people and helping them achieve a more positive (for themselves and the environment) way of life, rather than being a natural areas manager where life is a constant battle against people. maybe i'm being silly, but i don't think so. at this point, this is all conceptual, but it's growing more concrete as a goal every time i say it to someone.