Having a 40 hour a week job and making a home better with permaculture

First a little background about myself. I live in a small city in Kansas and I work in the city so my trip to work is about two miles. My house is on a quarter of an acre and I live by myself. Which has its good and bad points. Like when it comes to doing the dishes and who ate the last of the chocolate covered sunflower seeds!

So here are my questions with a few answers from me to start:

1 When you have time off do you schedule work that builds permaculture around you or do you treat it like a vacation?
For me I try to do something that builds permaculture around my home. Other times I treat it like a vacation.

2 People talk about a work/life balance but what about a permaculture/work balance?
Many view work as a four letter word, and sometimes they are right! Many times after work the desire to sit and study or work on a permaculture project is low. And many times dishes need to be clean because you just use the last clean spoon!

3 Have you tried to bring permaculture ideas into you work? And how did it turn out?
No I have not.

Time vs money has been the key problem ever since I began homesteading.  For me it has not always been the issue of a 40 hour week.  I have worked up to 3 jobs at a time.  I am still afraid to add up the max number of hours I have worked in a week outside the homestead.  I can be certain the minimum number of hours has often been zero.  Why the 3 jobs? ....targets of opportunity.  If the timing is right with the flow of work on the homestead, I will grab every opportunity that presents itself to make money.  

I listened to "The Click" pod cast, all parts of it today, two times. This pod cast did help to answer some of the questions that I asked. I highly recommend listening to all parts. Here are the links:

The click part one
https://richsoil.com/permaculture/81279-podcast-523-the-click-part-1

The click part two
https://richsoil.com/permaculture/81281-podcast-524-the-click-part-2

The click part three
https://richsoil.com/permaculture/81280-podcast-525-the-click-part-3

T Blankinship wrote:
1 When you have time off do you schedule work that builds permaculture around you or do you treat it like a vacation?

I don't schedule any of the permaculture tasks, but they are an integral part of my non-work life. I would say I treat it more like learning than work or vacation.

T Blankinship wrote:
2 People talk about a work/life balance but what about a permaculture/work balance?

I certainly have to balance how much time I'm willing to sink into my garden and home projects vs. how much I work, but there are tons of other aspects of balance in life, so it's not an A or B thing. More like the full alphabet running circles around the scale.

T Blankinship wrote:
3 Have you tried to bring permaculture ideas into you work? And how did it turn out?

I teach English to various age groups. I often get opportunities to talk about remarkable permaculture heroes like Masanobu Fukuoka, and various agricultural concepts. Generally people have been interested to learn about them, but not so much that they go off and start following in their footsteps.

Just saying hello from southeast Kansas!

To me, the best way for making a home better with permaculture is inside the home.

There are always dishes to wash, laundry to do, house cleaning, etc.

I have been using natural products to clean my whole life, mostly vinegar and baking soda.

Do you use cleaning products that you can eat?

https://permies.com/t/edible-clean

And here is another book that might help:

https://permies.com/wiki/50759/Hands-Home-Erica-Strauss

Melody Water wrote:Just saying hello from southeast Kansas!

Cool! I am happy to seen another person from southeast Kansas on permies.

Anne Miller wrote:To me, the best way for making a home better with permaculture is inside the home.

There are always dishes to wash, laundry to do, house cleaning, etc.

I have been using natural products to clean my whole life, mostly vinegar and baking soda.

Do you use cleaning products that you can eat?
https://permies.com/t/edible-clean

And here is another book that might help:
https://permies.com/wiki/50759/Hands-Home-Erica-Strauss

I have not read "Clean With Cleaners You Can Eat" by Raven Ranson but I will start now. I found Erica Strauss's book from my library and hope to read it in the next few days. I am intrigued by what Erica Strauss has to say about the layout of a kitchen.  I was thinking today how odd it is to have few books on permaculture is inside the home. Or maybe I need to look harder!