John Seay

Bill Mollison has a really fantastic speech on this subject called "Funding the Revolution". Which can be found here: http://permacultureideas.blogspot.com/2010/07/free-audiobook-bill-mollisons-funding.html?m=1

He offers some great ideas for building systems to make money without compromising on the ethics of Permaculture.

With that said there are things I would buy, like land, but as far as strictly investing in I would focus on companies, products, and ideas that seem too far out to be plausible right now. The biggest realization I've had through the years of studying Permaculture is that there is a lack of design and forethought in almost everything. I'd invest in things that are trying to design solutions to problems we haven't run into yet.

As an example: Our civilization is going to run out of fossil fuels and as of right now the majority of alternatives to fossil fuels rely on fossil fuels for production. We can use the remaining fossil fuels to establish renewable infrastructure, but then what? I'd be willing to give money to anyone(assuming I had it) who was trying to solve the problem of producing future energy infrastructure without the use of fossil fuels.

I did a 5 month natural building school last year and haven't had anything to work on since. While I'm far from being an expert I feel like I have a fair bit of experience with cob and adobe and if anyone has something they want to build I would be willing to meet up and help out in anyway that I can.

I know I'm not in the running, but thought you guys might like this. I'm in Virginia and this just sprouted under my porch where there is almost no soil.

I've been listening to the Q and A podcast with Geoff Lawton where he was talking about having shipping containers filled with all the materials needed to start up an institute or project. This got me thinking. I plan on having a large permaculture farm and demonstration site eventually; and I have a small trickle of money to put towards things now. So if I were to put together a shipping container of materials over the next say 5 years or so what would be the most appropriate things to start filling it with now? I've only started to think of the possibilities and would appreciate people's thoughts on the things that could be built or bought now before the land is bought. I believe he was on to something that could provide those with limited funds and future plans to set themselves up in a way that they could really hit the ground running.

Ps. Sorry for any grammatical errors as I'm writing this on my phone and editing is a real pain.

I'm very much against the idea of recreational drugs. I really appreciate that there are others like me that are into "alternative" living. Everyone thinks that because I want to grow my own food and build a house out of mud that I must be some kind of hippie that smokes weed.

I'm 27 and never have tried any drug; including alcohol.

Yes you can.

I haven't used soap in close to six years.

No soap on my dishes.
No soap on my clothes.
No soap on me.

Everyone is always amazed when I tell them this. All I use is water. Clean your dishes as soon as you're done with them and there is no soaking or hard scrubbing. I shower maybe once a week. I do laundry almost never.

People realize I'm not that clean; but they also don't believe how "dirty" I am.

I don't know about North Carolina; but here in Richmond, Va they are everywhere. Anywhere that is left untouched in the city (especially along the river) has the understory dominated with them.

I've been thinking of a way of making a zone 8 food forest here in zone 7. I'll try to explain it even though it seems quite simple.

My land is slightly sloping to the south. A pond that has southern exposure. The north side of the pond is where the food forest will be located. I was thinking of putting a large hugelbed that is *Horseshoe shaped surrounding the food the forest. Evergreens planted north of the hugelbed and mixed in with the food forest. Using boulders on the edge of the pond and mixed within the constructed zone 8. My humanure/coffee compost will be kept within as well. I'm still researching the best mixture of plants; but that is the rough plan.


*apparently the letter that comes after T is not allowed on these forums.

Kevin Hillel wrote:Welcome John

Glad to have you here. I'm new myself.

If you're up for it, would like to know if you're planning on using a vegan approach to your 11 acre project and how you define that.

Well I will be using what I consider a vegan approach. With my farm I'm not trying to just build a food forest and some hugelbeds and kitchen garden; I'm trying to develop a productive ecosystem. As with all ecosystems that involves animals; some predator and some prey. It is my plan to encourage as much wildlife as I can. I would also like to have goats and chickens on my farm. I only wish to have them if I can manage to find rescue animals; using them for their natural abilities to keep pests and troublesome plant species to a minimum. Some what controversial with other vegans I've talked to, I've stated that if the chickens lay eggs I will most definitely eat them. Eggs are a great source a nutrients and will help me transition from my dependence on outside food sources. I also see nothing unethical about eating unfertilized eggs from chickens that I personally can guarantee are living a life as close to their natural way as possible.

I'll keep this short; but on one of my walkabouts this summer in Richmond Virginia I found a flower that was really amazing and that I'd never seen before. Well today I was reading one of my medicinal plant books and saw it right there in front of me. It was listed as Passion Flower which I then did a quick google search to find that it is passion fruit. It was always my understanding that passion fruit was a warm weather fruit. The hill I found it on is south facing and protected from wind and surrounded by concrete so maybe there is a sufficient micro-climate to keep it protected from frosts. I'll be checking it out this week for sure though to see if there is any fruit to be had.