life

I’ve never really truly had my life planned. Indeed in what I thought or what actually happened.

Lately I’ve rethought a few of the tentative decisions I’ve made and wondered if I should do something else.

The things I have thought about doing are as follows:

Johnson and Wales, 2 year Baking Degree
Continue Stone Table as Chef (maybe work evenings while going to J&W)
Intern at a farm (when Joel Barr is at) for 8 months or so
Intern at a Winery, I’ll get into that more
Covenant College, or another christian college that won’t teach me junk like a Community College

Firstly Johnson and Wales. I was interested in getting a culinary degree, then I started work at the Stone Table and I can get a good enough education through that. The only reason to get a culinary degree from J and W would be to get a piece of paper that would get me a high end job working in a restaurant. So, I have been looking at getting a Baking Degree from them. I’m not getting much baking from the restaurant because it is a restaurant and not a bakery. Tentatively I don’t know if I would go next year or two years from now.

I am hoping to move up to Chef in the next 6 months. It would be more of what I like to do, more cooking, and the pay would be a little better. I would have to do more work and planning, but I think I would enjoy it.

I have really been considering interning at a farm, particularly the farm up in Maryland that Joel is working at. The reasons why I would like it are: It would be away from home, and I really need to live away from home. I feel that I really need to move away, make relationships with other people, find friends who are interested in some of the same things I am in. The farm would pay me to work on it, and I wouldn’t have to pay room or board. All I can see about it is positive things.

Winery. I would still like to intern at a winery. I know a few around here. Maybe I could find one in Asheville or some place close enough to come visit home, but far enough away I could live away from home and get out on my own. I can see mostly pros, but a few cons would be that there might not be as many people my age working at the winery that I could build close friendships with.

Covenant Collage or another Christian College. I’ll list pros and cons, then talk about them.
Pros
Build up strong friendships with other guys
Be out of the house and getting out more on my own
Cons
At this point I don’t know what I would major in that would help me. Maybe a science?
It could/would be costly to go for the whole 4 years, but if I’m not going for the whole 4 years is it worth it?

So, the pros are that I would be living on campus and being able to build friendships with other guys in a way that is like no other. I would be out of the house, getting out on my own, which is something I really want to do.

The cons would be that I don’t know what major I would do if I did go to Covenant. I know the things I am interested in: cooking/baking, agriculture. Plus it is costly. I don’t remember how much it is a year, but it is a lot of money, especially if the main reason is not necessarily an education.


So, at this point I am feel somewhat lost in what to do. What I really like about the internship at the farm is that I would be living at the farm and working, those to things help build relationships a lot. Plus I am getting paid, and learning from it.

I’d like to go to J&W’s, but I don’t know how many relationships I could build without them having a campus I could live on. However, during the baking parts I could see building relationships with other people...

I am glad that I have one more year of high school, I am hoping that by the end I have a more clear plan about what I am doing next. I like the Stone Table, but I feel like I am missing out on a time to build other relationships if I don’t go to College, and not simply for an education.


English Vintner

p.s. I have trained my younger brother and he is now doing most of the roasting for my coffee business. If or when I do go away I will have him continue the business.