getting started with permies

I am new to the page, website and creating an account. We are a growing family of 3 (son almost 2) and my husband. I am a mother home intentionally full time to be with our son, build community, the best food source connections, garden, cook and such. I would LOVE to start taking some action on what I’ve heard from podcasts online here, read in the SKIP book for a few months now and understand the best way to go about all of this. It is my burning desire to have property with 1+ acres of land and to hold gatherings for kids & their families to learn skills together to sustain our best lives full of fun & an abundance of nourishment.

Hi Amy,
Welcome you to Permies! That sounds like a great thing to head towards, and you are in an excellent place to learn all sorts of things to help you in your endeavor.

Hi Amy,
The best place to start with building a better life is where you are - and you've made a good start already!  You'll find we have people ready to give advice on any issues you are finding - whether it is budgeting, home education, growing food or fixing stuff - we love to help! If you put your location in your profile we might find that we have permies close to you.
Check out the how permies works thread for information about posting and etiquette on permies. Any questions on the site navigation etc. start a new thread in tinkering with this site forum.
Welcome aboard!

Welcome!

I am the living proof that you can get a whole lot of skills, experience and food with a very very small footprint (my entire lot is under 3500 sq. feet, and that fits the house, shed and parking).  We have plants growing on walls, in the front yard, in the parking lot... anywhere we can find semi-decent light (and I want to get into mushrooms so even the heavy shade areas are productive). So I'd urge you to start where you are and build up skills from there.

We started when our daughters were young, first with a "grazing garden" (all stuff that a toddler can safely eat right in the garden like snow peas, tiny cucumbers, green beans, baby tomatoes, baby carrots, chives... ). I had to readjust my expectations as to the amount of gardening my daughters would actually do, but they were always interested in eating the good stuff. (My 13 year old now shows some interest in self-sufficiency and permaculture, but her actual contribution to the garden is limited. Teenage attention span...) And for some foods, gardening was a gateway to more diversity in their diet. For instance, chives are still one of the few alliums they're not picky about.

Paid a lot of attention the quality of my soil because urban soil is often iffy, and in our case, had "considered safe but higher than I'd like" levels of lead when we had it tested. We covered everything with a layer of decent soil, then good wood chips or low-maintenance mixed lawn , so I wouldn't be concerned about my daughters eating dirt. We also built raised beds where we could control the soil quality 100% (and it also makes it easier to prevent trampling by little feet).

Perrenial fruits are super nice with kids too. Little hands can "help" pick, and the trees will grow alongside your kids.

One of our best moves was to dedicate a small area next to the garden (where we already had a big rock underneath a cedar tree) as the so-called "workshop": the place where the kids can corral all their rocks/twigs/pinecones/"treasures". I gave them an old damaged kitchen pot for "potions", a few baskets I wouldn't mind leaving in the rain, and that has been the site of hours and hours of pretend play. Way simpler than a fancy "mud kitchen" and it can morph from one use to the other: pirate camp, lair of the wild cats, fantasy jewelry-making workshop, arrow-making station... And it gives me a single spot to put all the "precious mess". It may not look amazing on Instagram, but that's where childhood happens.

Most of my homesteading skills were learned in a small footprint.

It is not necessary to have a big lot to do gardening.  All a person needs is a few flower pots.

I taught myself how to do canning in my kitchen.

In most places folks raise a few rabbits right inside their home.  And a lot of places will let folks have chickens.

My suggestion would be to take this opportunity to learn before you get land.

I like your idea to hold gathering to learn skill and I see no reason that can not be done right now.