Shhhhhh. Don't tell.

I'm applying for an amazing, exciting and important job. It's related to food.

I can't do a real blog post because I have to write carefully crafted answers to supplemental questions instead. Here's one of them. I feel bold and cool and a little scared for writing it so casually, but it does answer the question:

4. This job will require creativity and problem solving skills. Please describe a situation when you were required to use these skills, and how you affected the outcomes.

During my graduate education, I was living in Wales on a tight budget and without a car. Normally this did not present a problem. However, it became a serious challenge when the time came to design and implement an interview-based thesis project in one of the most rural (and touristy) areas of England during the height of summer holiday season. I needed to have a home base in the County where I’d be conducting research without paying the exorbitant prices on vacation lodging and also to be mobile enough to reach farmers out in the countryside. I decided to join World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms to seek a work arrangement on a Cornish farm in exchange for housing and some meals. I ended up on a working woodland project with a family who only needed part-time work and allowed me to stay in their camper van as a base for my project. From there, I could walk to the County fair to start to network with farms in the region, and when the time came for interviews, I could walk to the village, catch a bus to town and from there most corners of Cornwall were only a train-ride and a hike away. This plan allowed me access to insider perspective on the region and its farming communities through my host family, a lovely cultural experience, an opportunity to toss hay bales and compost in exchange for sleeping arrangements, and a friendly base for exploration and serious work. In my travels by bus, train and walking, I gathered a sense of the rural and economic landscape better than I ever would have driving from location to location, and I also earned the respect of some famously skeptical Cornish farmers.