“I believe work is life. I don’t understand a life of leisure; I understand a life of work. I don’t really understand self-care other than in tidbits—like I’m going to get a massage today, but I’m going to be back out shoveling tomorrow. Work is life. That’s it.”
Kelly Carlisle joined the Navy after she lost her corporate job during the dot-com industry crash, but when her active duty ended in 2007, she was again jobless after the housing bubble burst. One day Kelly bought a lemon tree with her toddler daughter. While serving in the Navy made it clear to her that she liked physically working toward a higher purpose, the lemon tree inspired her to bring those passions to local farming. So she went on to found Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project to help kids prepare for successful lives through work and educational funds. She used to think being paid on the 1st and 15th of the month was one of the most important things to her and her life. Kelly now explains that, “farming and being connected to the earth has made me see myself as part of the earth, as part of a larger mission that doesn’t just stop at my door, my paycheck, my office, my farm.”
In fact, Kelly knows that Acta Non Verba reverberates far beyond her, “through the city, the country, and internationally. Folks are watching us to see: Is it true that kids will go to college when they have a savings account? Is it true that kids will eat what they grow? Is it true that farming will make these children in this community better citizens, or have a better chance at being better citizens in the first place?” While these big questions inform Kelly’s mission, she’s focused on the people and plants right in front of her: “I’m trying to literally make the world a better place by starting from the ground up; literally change the trajectory of some of our kids’ life.”