Kara Ann

This is great Andrés - love the visuals and the information!  I am getting started constructing some hugelkultur beds over some stumps left from clearcut on the property over 5 years ago. I really like the way that the logs are arranged on the sides of these - it has inspired me to try something like that on mine!

Paul -
Gotta say I am kinda in awe at the capacity you have to put yourself out there. In so many ways, authentically, consistently, unapologetically YOU, anchored in a non-dominant emerging paradigm that is inviting the world to catch up.  You shine a big spark that makes a big foot print - or maybe that should be life print.  We have not met in person but you have had a big presence in my life.

That is surely true for SO MANY peeps. And you are high up there in your Permaculture scale (hail to Sepp Holzer way up at the top,)  likely in the 'looks crazy' zone for lots of the ordinary everyday Level 1 peeps who plant an organic garden and recycle, and follow the usual social customs of tats and weed, booze and makeup, hair dye and big cowboy belt buckles, pesticides, 'poo and deodorant. Just as that level 1 is looking pretty goofy to you.

Maybe not the easiest life path for partnering?  Just not that many completely passionate non-dominant emerging paradigm peeps out there in the freakishly tiny minority!  Allan Nation (Stockman Grass Farmer) used to imply that there was a limit to how much weird and non-mainstream a farmer's neighbors could endure. He'd say 'You can be a Buddist. You can be a nudist. But you can't be a Buddhist nudist'.  The more vivid and bonkers a person's life is, the more it seems the likely pool for partnering inversely narrows.

I am also the graduate of plenty of relationships / connections / marriages. Also extreme in the non-dominant paradigm life path. I saw homeopathy heal my really sick kid in 1988. It turned my life upside down to see something so obviously weird and wacky as microdosed energy medicine that worked so undeniably.  I could no longer live in the normal conventional medical (or anything else, really) world built on traditions of doctors in my family for 5 generations back. I went back to school to retrain for a new career as a homeopath. After decades of practice, and teaching and publishing, and creating an online community training portal  (sorta like permies for homeopaths, but much less indexable by Google), being a big spark in a tiny puddle of an alternate paradigm (which happens to be so far beyond the pale in America that just saying 'homeopath' outloud can end a conversation), the true and honest nature of who I am and how that expresses itself in the modern American world hasn't exactly overlapped easily with partnering.

That does not mean the life path didn't also have graceless moments, short sightedness and human frailties. Those are there on everybody's path, and hopefully the chunks get smoothed in the rock tumbler of experience. And yet, there was also the option to dim our shine, to bank our fires, to shut our mouths, to be different than we are in order to be normal, accepted or acceptable, in order to maintain a relationship or connection  (a romance, a job, a business relationship, whatever).  Looks like we didn't take that fork in the road.  

And now here we are. Pretty old. Some worn. Survived our encounter with cancer. Still committed to our spark. Reflecting. Informed by history, but if history were the only factor, permaculture wouldn't really work, would it?  

Maybe the forum post title: 'giant gardener guy, pretty old and wore out, whose remarkable fiery and occasionally boisterous care has inspired many, who cross-pollinated in relationships (possibly  surprisingly given how perma(counter)culture this guy is) and learned whatever from those, in that permaculture sort of observe-what-happens-through-the-seasons-and-choose-next-steps approach is now seeking... a way forward' is a not-inaccurate message?  

I guess that might have been too long for a title?

If your romantic life were a permaculture landscape (or mine, Lordy - that sure went through some tillage, compaction, clear cut, dry times and mud - same probably many of the peeps on permies), there would be a way forward?

I am content with my solo life, and like you it would be great to find a magical relationship - A value-add to a bonkers life  (which history says is not gonna happen.)

And life happens for each of us. Sending best wishes that within the 'freakishly tiny minority' that so many of us live within, there is connection and comfort and joy for you, who have given richly to a shared reality we value.

Beautifully presented.  Plenty of things that are developed within the permaculture / regen ag world have a look that is clearly 'farm', or that specifically appeals to counterculture / radical divergence, or a kinda hippie cool tie die vibe.... you get the idea. People with an agenda and world view tend to produce materials that reflect that world view. People with a different world view glance briefly and then look away.

What I love about this page is that this looks like something attractive to normal every day people who might be slightly open to options, and slightly motivated to do something positive for the environment.  That is a delightfully WIDE audience who will feel invited in, and hopefully continue to read enough to learn more...

Well done!

This is such an interesting conversation.... thanks to all who have added in their thoughts about it!  Maybe the specific TV topic actually has a similar upstream question on what comes just before that moment of watching tv (and many other things) that some of you are alluding to?

Maybe it is useful to look at this through the lens of  'useful and constructive things I choose that I do and feel good about later,' (like watching a video of Paul and permaculture on tv/dvd/podcast, or an inspiring BBC special on nature, or a cool youtube on types of soil, or a comedy that gives me the best belly laugh I have had in a month, or a sporting event that inspires with well played athleticism, or a movie that is a well told story about the nature of being human, or sitting in silence or sleeping, etc - any of which are life affirming)

as compared with 'time spent in ways that discourage me that I later feel crummy about,'  (like watching or reading or listening to news about environmental degradation, desertification and pollution, or a trendy and violent cops and victims drama that will show up in dark dreams later, or a minimally interesting replay of something that I am watching  to avoid something that I would feel good about afterward but currently am too overwhelmed or underresourced or confused or unclear to do.)

as compared with 'things I fall into doing as a path of least resistance to avoid or numb, or out of a habit from a life that no longer suits me' (like automatically  turning on the tv or radio or app or opening a newspaper, and watching whatever is programmed there, taking in the media like the rain that comes on to the house, not so much a specific conscious choice, more of a default that does not provide a "value added" where I can later think back on how glad I am that I did that.

And this could be true for things that involve a tv, or a laptop or phone or any other e-device, a book or magazine, a drive or a walk, food or drink. Is it too much of a stretch to connect (outloud) the mechanical device of a tv with the intention to live on purpose?   So many of us here on permies have gone to a fair amount of bother to live a life aligned with permaculture - and maybe there is a way to look at our life's Zone 1 devices and the health of the "soil" in which the interaction with those devices sit?

Such a famous painting, so many untold potential stories within it, and this:

Also.... with regard to appropriate and viable ground cover plants.... it looks like you are in Southern Maine. Is the location of the green drive also there? What growing zone?  That could help with selecting well matched green...

UMass Extension (Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment), Selection of Grasses for Turf — regional New England seed-mix recommendations, fine fescue included for low-input/high-stress turf areas: https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/turf/fact-sheets/selection-of-grasses

Thanks for everyone chiming in here - this really is a quality-of-environment proposition, isn't it, to have stabilized ground, able to deal with the burden of some vehicle traffic, that is still beautiful and water absorbent?

For my farm, I have used geocell - both tiles and grid. It has been around since the 1950s, but gotten popular more recently. I posted an explanation and pictures here: https://permies.com/t/374015/Gravel-pad-foundation-concerns  (scroll down to the bottom of that thread to see).  I have used it as structure to establish green lanes for driving as well as footing under hoop house / greenhouse / shed.
It is a good consideration for a friendly green roadway area and other farm uses:  https://www.backyardbases.com/farms/?srsltid=AfmBOorvToLHJjKJJfGYlnJrNLVpW6DiOzwwsyg6ZDQw5f1vOF6HTyoR

You can stretch out the geo cell web, peg it and then fill with soil or shredded straw, deep litter bedding from chicken house, whatever compost you have around, shredded comfrey leaves mixed with shredded cardboard... I have used all of those... and then broadcast whatever type of seeds you like to generate a living surface.

Good luck with your project!!

Wow Tereza - LOVE your joie de vivre  and go-with-it approach to sourdough - thanks so much for sharing that!

Hey Sea - golly I have walked much the same path.  Both water kefir and sourdough starter have been uphill roads with many detours.

I have come to the conclusion that sourdough can be something to gradually sidle up to.... just getting the starter to be consistently happy, but not so exhuberant that it overflows, has been more like managing a bipolar lab creature than working with a reliable and welcome kitchen ingredient.  When it is unhappy, I end up refreshing it more often in my bumbling attempts to improve, and then I have sourdough discard, which can go to the chickens mixed in their fermented grains, but I like to make productive use of it.

My favorite use of the discard is to make crumpets  (here is an example https://www.scotchandscones.com/sourdough-crumpets/ )  especially currently, while I am glamping with very limited baking options while tiny home is in construction. Until I get the RMH oven finished and functional, I am really appreciating the capacity to make some version of bread on a cast iron skillet.

and in all honestly, as someone who lives solo, a perfect loaf is very seldom my objective.  It takes a while for one person to get through a full loaf of bread... honestly longer than it stays wonderful, and freezing then thawing does NOT provide the same eating experience.  

So maybe I am in sourdough kindergarten.... taking little steps!

Hi  all who are chiming in -  great to hear your desire and vision!  I was looking at property and figuring out $$ to finance it for 5 years, while I was studying permaculture, regen ag, and learning practical skills in a rented postage stamp permaculture plot.  And honestly now that I am on my purchased farm, and using the skills, I can't imagine getting through the work I am doing now without having so many books, lectures, and hands in the dirt and on the critters under my belt. And STILL SO MUCH TO LEARN.

While you are exploring and shepherding your vision for being 'landed', it can help you to use every minute of your time that you can to build your farm skill set!
You might want to explore Paul's brainchild of SKIP  (Skills to Inherit Property). Read the SKIP book, review all the posts in the SKIP form  (find it in the forum buttons on the left column), and begin doing the SKIP tasks. Becoming experienced and onboarding the skills you will need once you are on some property can tip the scales in your favor for any kind of special deal or connection with landowner.  Start now, with where you are, with any little step you can take...  "When you work for Mother Nature, you get paid by Father Time"

And cheers to those who are suggesting renting property.  My years on rental property, learning and practicing farm skills on a postage stamp plot were invaluable (though the transition to move 100+ plants and flocks and fluffles from there to the land I bought was darn hard.)  

Also there is HUGE VARIATION in the regulatory openness or oppression of county planning offices. There is a reason why Paul calls the regulatory and permitting processes of local property associations / city / county / state jurisdictions 'The Department of Making You Sad'.  You can read the dismal story of my first year's regulatory challenges in this post: https://permies.com/t/380043/acres-Western-WA-resilient-permaculture   It has been discouraging to have fully researched the Washington state regulations, for example composting toilets, and make plans based on the state regulations, and then learn that the county where I am located completely prohibits composting toilet, no possibilities, no negotiations, no debate. The regulatory environment within which any property sits is EQUALLY IMPORTANT to the land, the climate, the local vibe, the access to transportation and markets, affordability etc.

Just my two cents.... good luck!