Two parcels of land were added to Countryside Initiative, a long-term lease program parented by the National Park Service and nonprofit Countryside Conservancy that invites the motivated to live and farm within the boundaries of national parkland.

The two available parcels join nine farms already in action in CVNP. A tenth working farm withdrew from the program earlier this year for personal reasons, according to a representative for Countryside Conservancy.

Countryside Initiative’s nine current farms include a vineyard with wine on tap and a farm with a flower delivery service. The available parcels, both with renovated farm houses and at least nine acres of land, are suited to grow fruits and vegetables and support livestock, either via management-intensive grazing or integrated crop-livestock operations.

Think you’re ready to quit your current job for a 60-year lease on a farm, surrounded by luscious natural beauty? Those interested should check out the Request for Proposals (RFP) released last week. It’s not just a matter of applying, though: The competition is real.

“I know there were at least 20 other folks who wrote for the farm that we wrote for,” says Daniel Greenfield, owner of Greenfield Berry Farm, which was granted a lease in CVNP in 2005. “Your proposal has to be persuasive. You must show that you have the financial resources to get your operation up and running, and that if there are topics you aren’t knowledgeable about, you have a plan in place to learn. After multiple interviews, [my wife and I] were granted the lease.”

At time of proposal, Greenfield had almost no farming experience. “I was just finishing up a PhD with a focus on the philosophy of environmental education. I was writing about people like Thoreau and others who lived off the land and tried to make the most of it, for better or worse,” says Greenfield. “I started considering farming as a career option. I immediately started taking classes and volunteering on farms, figuring out what would and wouldn’t work for me.”

“I don’t think this program was meant to appeal to established farmers who already have their own land,” says Greenfield, whose pick-your-own farm focuses on educational tours and field trips for students.

No matter who the program was meant to appeal to, it was meant to preserve the long rural history at the roots of the Cuyahoga Valley. CVNP’s 41 years of protection and preservation (first as a National Recreation Area since 1974, and now as a National Park since 2000) are dwarfed by nearly 2,000 years of farming history. Although not quite that ancient, the two farms up for lease this year have documented history from the mid-1800s.

For those worried that farming national parkland might come with less authority and more work, fear not. “Nobody is micromanaging your life out here,” says Greenfield. “The National Park Service makes sure to pick knowledgeable and capable people. Every year, [Countryside Initiative farmers] write out a plan for their land and submit it. As long as you’re honest about your plan and what you want to do is good for the park, the Park Service and Countryside Conservancy will let you do it.”

You can find more info on the available farms as well as how to submit a proposal here. You have until Wednesday, September 16 to get your application in. Maybe these farms will be up your alley (or down your valley).