We all get burned out with our lives, our jobs, our clothes, our friends and our snack options.
Monday as I drove to work I worried about paying doctors' bills, felt unappreciated and hoped for divine inspiration.
When I checked my voice mail, there was a message from Melissa Lasell of the Worm Farm in Durham.
Her simple request was to visit the farm and draw the name of the winner of a free mound of compost.
I could, and would do that.
I felt suddenly transformed to Garden Celebrity status.
My clothes immediately fit better, I appreciated the perks of my job and I had something fun to get me out of the office.
The farm is on Esquon Road, east of Durham and just off Durham-Dayton Highway. Snow was on the mountains to the east of a fenced field covered with long windrows of dark compost.
Clearly, Melissa and the Worm Farm crew work hard. But the folks I met also had an aura of contentment about them. Even the two red-haired dogs seemed to be smiling when they met me at the office door.
Melissa's grandfather, Sam Lasell, ran an egg-laying business for years at the property. She said if you attended high school in the area during the '50s through the '80s, you probably worked at the farm at some point. Other family members found out about worm farming about 21 years ago, and jumped in.
Over the next several years they learned while doing.
With much toil, the business has continued to grow.
(The old chicken barn has been transformed into a storage area for worm compost, compost and piles and piles of soil anendnent).
Learning about worms is inherently fun to children, and the farm now hosts several groups of school children each week.
Mark Purser shows students how worms efficiently turn organic material into rich soil, and explains the benefits of micro-organisms. There's even a big compost container with a spigot for samples of compost tea.
(Mark Purser and his fantabulous worm tea machine).
At inspirational talks I attend at the college, big muckity-mucks often advise students to "do what you love."
I was inspired to see people doing just that.
The Worm Farm sells red wiggler worms, compost, worm compost, worm bins and a long list of accessories. Their website, http://www.thewormfarm.net, lists a host of other soil amendments, from which customers can special order soil blends.
You don't need to be a Garden Celebrity to visit. The farm is open Mondays through Fridays 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.