Dareios Alexandre

I planted these papayas from seed at the end of May and potted them up into this soil that I dug up from around my old compost bins 2 weeks ago. First time growing papayas so not sure what to expect, but I really want to keep them alive. I'm in zone 10a, it hardly ever gets down to freezing here, and I'll bring them whenever it starts getting below 10C. Any other ideas of what I could do to get these guys looking a little healthier?

Burra Maluca wrote:My preference is to edge the beds but not raise them. Then mulch heavily to retain moisture in the summer, and allow the mulch to rot down during the wet weather over the cooler months. Sunken beds would just get drowned here during wet weather.

My land is steep but terraced, so the land immediately surrounding each bed is level.

I have a feeling they would get drowned here too in the winter. What do you mulch with?

I live in a hot dry Mediterranean climate (Crete) and made a garden with raised beds,  last year. In the winter it works ok but in the summer it's so hot and dry that the beds dry out so fast and I have to constantly water them. I notice the locals mostly do sunken beds, which makes sense now, and I want to try that next summer. My question is, would it make more sense to change my garden setup to permanent sunken beds, or do raised beds in winter and sunken beds in summer? Would sunken beds in winter get too waterlogged here? We get about 500-600 mm of rain annually.

Hi friends,

My Mom and I are both very motivated to find a large property in a rural area suitable for permaculture homesteading and living off grid in an area with other like minded friends living in close proximity, anywhere from a short walk to an hour drive, to create an informal intentional "neighbourhood" of sorts. I love the idea of creating community in this way, where we could gather periodically and help each other out with different projects, exchange tools, equipment, ideas, knowledge, etc.
Has anyone actually done this before?

A little about me...I'm vegan and mostly fruit-based, 32 yrs old, single but wanting to meet someone who wants to start a family...I have been gardening/practicing permaculture for several years and am now also focusing on learning as much as possible about construction/carpentry, mechanics, plumbing...all those other things that come in handy for starting a homestead.

My ideal neighbours would be people who share the same motivation to walk away from the current dysfunctional slave system, and create a new one by working together to grow our own nutrient dense fruits and vegetables, regenerate the soil and ecosystems and take responsibility for our own water, energy and shelter.  Definitely no one who smokes and drinks and "trusts the experts".

My Mom and I have been looking mostly in various parts of France and northern Spain so far...I'm going to spend the next few months travelling around to explore different areas...Eastern Europe is an interesting option too.

If anyone resonates with this and is looking for something similar or would like to talk or collaborate, please get in touch!

You can message me here or at dareiosk@protonmail.com

I am a 32 yr old guy, passionate about growing my own food and self sufficiency, looking for my dream (female) partner to build a life with.

I was born and raised on a small island on the West Coast of Canada on a 10 acre homestead where we had a huge garden and various rescued animals. My Dad's Greek and my Mom's Canadian, and I grew up speaking both languages at home.  At age 5 we moved to the big city and I spent most of the rest of my childhood as a social outcast in the public indoctrination system. In high school I discovered a deep passion for jazz trumpet, and ended up going to one of the top music schools in Canada for 4 years. I come from a long lineage of homesteaders, and loved helping out in the garden when I was little, but it's only been in the last 6-7 years that I've gotten into gardening again and become increasingly motivated to "get on the land", grow my own food and be more self sufficient. 2020 was a big wake-up call for me. In 2022 my parents and I left Canada and moved to the island of Crete, where my Dad is from. It's a wonderful place to live in many ways, but after 3 years here, I'm ready to move on. I am just about to head to France on an exploratory mission to check out properties and different areas to see if there's anywhere that feels like a good place to start a new homesteading project and put down some roots. I want you, my dream partner, to be a part of that. I'm not set on France at all, it's just my starting point.

About Me: Born 17/12/1992, Sagittarius with moon in Libra. 5ft 7 in(173cm), 120 lbs. I would describe myself as empathetic, softspoken, thoughtful, grounded, caring, kind. For better or for worse, I tend to be a very “all or nothing” kind of guy. When I’m interested in something I tend to zero in on it and it's hard for me to think about anything else.  I am vegan because I don’t believe in using or exploiting animals against their will, and it’s important for me that my future partner is on the same page about this.  I have no interest in organized religion or politics. I do pray and have a spiritual practice, but for me that takes place outside, in direct contact with nature.  I don’t drink alcohol and have no interest in any substances including cannabis.  Minus 2 shots as a baby I am completely unvaxxed and intend to keep it that way.  I have a younger sister and a 3yr old niece who I adore. I'm really close with my family, especially my Mom. My dream is to create an off grid self sufficient homestead, in or close to mountains and water, ideally with other like-minded individuals and families living in close proximity, plant hundreds of fruit trees, gardens, greenhouses, build my own home with natural materials, and enjoy the apocalypse from afar. A sanctuary that can provide food, water, safety and purpose for multiple generations of family and friends. My intention for the next several months is to increase my skill-set while volunteering and apprenticing on different farms and communities in the areas that I'm interested in living.  Aside from all that, I love hiking, swimming, climbing trees, playing music, singing, writing...simple things.

You:
Female
26-33 yrs old
Vegan/Plant based or moving in that direction
Don't smoke, consume alcohol or drugs (cannabis ok)
Unvaxxed and awake
Fit, active, healthy
Passionate about permaculture and self sufficiency (I guess that goes without saying if you're on permies!)
Want to have kids
Enthusiastic about homeschooling
Close with your family
Not addicted to technology
No makeup/Perfume
Loves being outside
Optimistic and positive



I don't mind if you're religious as long as I don't have to be...but if you're super political it's likely not going to work out.

Ideally you are from Europe or open to living in Europe. If that's not the case, I'm open to other possibilities.

I don't care if English isn't your first language, I speak 5 languages and would be happy to learn another.

If you resonate with this, please get in touch. You can message me here or send me an email at dareiosk@protonmail.com.

OK, that's allI can think of for now...looking forward to hearing from you!

I've heard some folks in the permaculture world talking about how you "shouldn't" volunteer because most farmers don't want to train volunteers, and instead you should look for someone with the skills you want to learn and ask to apprentice with them. Curious to hear other people's thoughts on this...

Gerome, would love to hear more about this place in Latvia!

gerome drypond wrote:So great to see a bunch of people considering to change their lifestyle. I read a wide variety of ideas and vision and that's a good start!

I've been through all these questions and wonder myself.

And now I'm living in an eco-village in Latvia.

But it took me 2 years of exploration and experiences to discover many places but most importantly to discover myself (what I truly wanted).

What helped me the most was to drop the internet research and plan a 6 months trip to discover many eco-villages while volunteering.

What are you situations at this moment?

Hi everyone,

I am planning  a long trip to France starting next month for the purpose of exploring different areas to see if there's a place that calls to me to move and start an permaculture homesteading project. I am hoping to focus my exploring on the less populated central regions of the country and I would like to spend some time at different homesteads and projects that are already established to learn more about the culture and increase my skill base at the same time. If anyone here has a place in France that I could come and visit for a few days or weeks ( I'm flexible) and help you with any aspect of homestead/off grid/permaculture life please contact me, I would love to meet you!

Cheers, Dareios

Hello Miguel, how is your search going? I'm looking for something similar to you and would love to meet up if you're in the area.

Miguel Romero wrote:Hello everyone. Just a quick update to let everyone know that my situation has not changed much since my initial post and I am still active on the subject and have received some contacts by the private messaging system. I welcome those of you who have reached the same conclusions as I have especially through experience that it is essential to try to establish a community following natural principles (i.e, social permaculture).  This implies strict adherence to TRUTH / REALITY (natural moral philosophy through scientific investigation and experience) and is complementary to the "physical permaculure" that most people already recognize superficially. In other words, for one to be successful the other needs to be also, practicing both guided by the results (i.e., experimentally / experientially).  This approach combines physical, socioeconomic, ecological sciences and principles systemically and holistically (integratively) to best harmonize with nature, and thus underpin any chance / claim for sustainability.  Nature is after all a complex adaptive system, and true living / thriving requires integrating our lives with it deeply / systemically as social "animals" in the ecosystem, i.e., using communities based on natural scientific principles.
Otherwise, I encourage everyone to give serious consideration to the above concepts, and do your own research (including historical, especially of traditional societies most of which have been destroyed). Also include your own observations and experiments practicing rivaling concepts (from individualistic, intentional community type approaches based ultimately on wishes and intentions of individuals  vs. the integrative ecosystemic approaches where the community is organized on the basis of necessity to create a balance with nature / following natural principles i.e., as a means to serve nature, and not the goal to serve the ego).

A true community requires a deep understanding and practice of logic (i.e., natural law / law of consequences / law of harvest), which the traditional cultures practiced as "common sense" and kept them sustainable for so long, creating a natural order and relative peace, essential for their health / longevity / sustainability. Having lost this tremendous wealth (the culture tying us to nature through time, evidence of perma - culture) in most of the world, we should not be surprised at the diseased state of the vast majority of individuals in the world and our sorry state, akin to deracinated plants that could not survive long despite all artificial interventions (as in our artificial global socioeconomic system). The difficult task at hand should be obvious for those serious about permaculture.

Hi Max, thanks for your message. I will probably be passing through your area the first week of October and would love to meet you!

Max Daix wrote:Hey Dareois,
I'm a 34 French-american, living in the SW of France (in the 81330 zipcode). Last year we got 1600mm and this year I'm gonna guess more like 1100-1200. So a good amount of rain but in my opinion not too much.

I'll echo what other people said... "it depends". There are regions/mairies that are quite strict and other places where you kind find mayors really bending rules to get young people to move there - and the difference can be within 10km.

So yeah, still a lot of nice spots, with ruins and opportunities especially you're willing to put in the work.

If you ever go on an exploration road trip to this area hit me.

Currently the land touching my land is for sale 37H for 95k. Forest and prairies, water, some ruins, but you're looking more at 4x4 access for the last 200m, not so bad actually. I can't afford it but would love for it to NOT be bought up by a bank and then clear cut.

Feel free to email me. maxmeniolle @ protonmail dot com