Foraging

photo of foraged mushrooms from awelltraveledwoman.tumblr.com

Have I mentioned how much I love mushrooms?  I just haven't been able to get enough of them this fall.  I love them simply sauteed in butter.

So while I'd like to share that I spent the morning foraging for mushrooms, I was ACTUALLY stuck inside, foraging for paperwork for the FSA loan application.

My first phone call was to Farm Credit East, the other main lending organization in the state for purchasing farmland.  In order to apply for the Beginning Farmers program, I had to be denied a loan through Farm Credit.  The FCE office has been closed for the past two weeks because of the snowstorm, but today I got through.  I expected to have to travel to meet with them, but the woman on the phone was more than understanding and happy to discuss my denial over the phone.  I don't have enough savings, equity, or support to qualify for a traditional loan on my own.  My letter of denial should arrive in the mail next week!  I don't think I have ever been so relieved to be denied!

I also copied my tax paperwork from the past three years and ordered a tax account report from the IRS.  I even requested a copy of my transcript from the university (which is necessary because my degree in agriculture education substitutes valuable farm management experience that I need in order to be eligible).  Typing this list makes it seem very nonchalant, but foraging for this small amount of paperwork required almost 4 hours of phone calls, emails, and searching through boxes of paperwork I never unpacked.

Phewf.  Now I wait for the pieces to arrive in the mail, while I work to write and develop the REST of the application.