Wednesdays are generally “Tiny Steps Gardening Days,” here on the blog.  It’s also “Five Islands Week.”  Fortunately, for the sake of thematic blog unity, there is a “Five Islands Farm.”  They were closed when I walked by on Saturday night, but I’m going to visit them some day.  Although it’s not a “working” farm, the owner brings together produce and food items from local producers and offers it to the permanent and summer residents of Five Islands.  It’s an attractive place, tidy, clean, and appealing.

It’s not a big box store.

If I were staying on Five Islands, I’d be happy to visit this local business.  According to their website, they’ve been serving the Five Islands community for twelve years.  It would be interesting to learn more about their beginnings and their early vision for their business.  When I visit, I plan to ask a lot of questions.

I wonder what friends said when the Five Island Farm owners mentioned they were going to open a store in a village which is part of a town of approximately 1,000 year-round residents.  Did they say “that’s a really dumb idea?”  If so, I’m sure it was difficult dealing with such “joy killers.”

It’s possible that some of their friends suggested they write a business plan, analyze the needs of their local community, and assess their resources.  It’s helpful when friends are rational and encouraging about joyful dreams.

30 years ago, a couple in Alabama had a dream of building an underground house to reduce the high costs of heating and cooling a home during the 1970’s oil embargo.  Home builder and owner Jim Mortenson said “We told our families, and they didn’t tell us we were crazy.”

People have a lot of crazy ideas.  Some of them are very good ideas, but for a variety of reasons they’re not possible.  There is a danger in believing the old maxim of “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.  If you can dream it, you can become it.”  That’s a myth and it’s also bad theology.  Don’t believe it.

I used to think I could be a supermodel because I was tall.  I clipped this picture out of a magazine to inspire me.

I dreamed of looking like this woman.  It was never going to happen, no matter how thin I was or how I styled my hair.  That kind of fantasy only happens on Tee Vee.

I wish I had focused on more realistic dreams when I was young and foolish; things like growing my own food, learning how to drive a tractor, and writing about it.  I’m doing that now and most of the time, my friends cheer me along.  They also tell me not to quit my day job just yet.  My friends are reasonable and rational.

There’s nothing wrong with encouraging people to explore dreams and ideas.  There are realistic ways to embrace a friend’s excitement without being a joy killer.

Find them.