Several years back, a friend of mine had the ridiculous and lovely idea to gather our pals, make individual pieces of crop art, and submit our creations to the Minnesota State Fair.

I’m guessing your first question here is, “Jen, what the heck is crop art??”

To quote Wikipedia, “Crop art is an environmental art practice using plants and seeds in the landscape to create statements, marks and/or images.”

If you knew me well, you probably wouldn’t think of me as someone with a yen for turning grain into craftwork…

“Jen, wait up a second!”

As I heard my name, I turned around and saw Ann* approaching with a serious look on her face. I started getting worried; we’d been having regular disagreements over my work for more than a year.

“I heard the radio documentary yesterday…” Ann began.

My work with two teen siblings in foster care had recently been featured in a one-hour documentary on National Public Radio. At the time, I was working for a five-year federally funded project with the goal of finding adoptive and permanent families for Minnesota teens under state guardianship.

“…and I need to talk to you.”