Permaculture Smackdown: Keeping Yourself Motivated as a Homesteader

Join us this saturday December 20 at 10 am mt time  to talk about what keeps us going while homesteading, and how to build the skills and strategies that help you keep moving forward and always advancing.

Click Here and then click notify me to join the conversation live! Leave any questions you want us to discuss here too.

What will be our talking points?

Part of staying motivated is being honest.
Ex. Nov and Dec in my climate are frequently wet with constant low, dark clouds and shortening days until the solstice. I've learned that trying to fight it, just defeats me. I'm far better to just reduce my "outside" expectations, and do some inside tasks like baking Tahini Shortbread... yummm...

A warm workshop space would help a lot.

It  helps my motivation on the farm if I stay calm and smile, through the mud and thornss. Be able to laugh at yourself, especially on difficult tasks.

Remember the Dali Lama's approach to adversity, and try to emulate:
"Yes, the military forces have bulldozed our Buddhist temples in Tibet, killed most of our monks, tried to destroy our entire culture.  Why would I also let them take away my peace of mind?"

I think being alert to not overextending yourself on timelines for completion is important.

Or, to simplify that, not to not bite off more than you can chew at one time.

Easy to say, but I'm guilty of repeated offenses here.

If you're going to be dumb, you've got to be tough...the perils of excess optimism.

On the lighter side, a major motivation is the ever increasing amount of homegrown foods I get to eat, the visual treat of the increasing greening of my little place, and benefits like watching windbreaks grow into maturity and do their thing..

Make the most of little waiting periods.
I take a nap or two a day, but before I do, I usually make tea or a meal. I've come round to making a game out of how much little stuff that I can get done or cleaned up while waiting for water to boil or food to cook. I've found that there's a lot that can get accomplished in only 3 minutes. And then I don't have to look at the mess until I FEEL like doing it.
Caution: stay near your area of waiting. I've burned food by leaving the kitchen for ' just a moment' but then I forget what my main focus was.

Charolett Knapic wrote:...Caution: stay near your area of waiting. I've burned food by leaving the kitchen for ' just a moment' but then I forget what my main focus was.

I try very hard to *never* leave the kitchen without setting a timer for exactly that reason. Our stove timer even has a name, so it's not uncommon for Hubby to ask, "What's Mario binging about? Is there something I can do about it?"

Time/dates have never been my strength, compared to some people's internal clocks, so I use back-up. Knowing and accepting our strengths and weaknesses is another way to keep myself motivated. On the positive side, setting a length of time to work on a long term project, helps me feel like the project is moving, even if only baby steps. The less positive, but very realistic side, is that I'm officially a "senior" now - quitting when the timer says that time is up reduces the risk of overdoing and hurting myself. Injuries take longer to heal now that I'm older, and interfere with other planned activities. Setting time limits helps me stay healthy, and that motivates me to keep planning and growing.

Plant lots of pretty flowers.  Beside being pretty, some flowers help keep pests away.

Maybe gamify things a little -- try to earn as many points as you can:

point value	action
1	keep things going for another day
2	learn something cool related to homesteading
4	learn something actionable related to homesteading
5	start a substantial new project
50	finish one of those projects.

And add specific things to the table that relate to your situation.

Oh yeah, a wind up kitchen timer is one of my best tools too.

For:

Not overfilling the greenhouse reservoirs

Not forgetting to switch or turn off irrigation

The aforementioned cooking escapades, not turning things Cajun...as in blackened

A reminder system for my inevitable flaw of attempting to multi task and forgetting all the other task but the one I have my nose in at the moment

appointments

And on and on....

I carry it around in my pocket when in use...which has led to some humor when friends ask "What's that ticking noise?" and my comments about mad bombers.

One thing to know if you've never used these before.

You have to wind them all the way around then back to the time you're setting.
I hate to admit how long I struggled until I learned this.
No instructions come with the newer ones and the way I found out was an old US made one I got at a yard sale had a sticker on it explaining this

Christopher Weeks wrote:Maybe gamify things a little -- try to earn as many points as you can:  

It's that 50 points for finishing that's absolutely key!

Mind you, in permaculture there's "finishing" and "Finishing". There are some projects that will need ongoing maintenance or intermittent maintenance, and those shouldn't be undervalued. We have eves troughs and timely clean-outs are not based on "date" but on windstorms in conjunction with plant cycles.  Wind from a certain direction as the Fir trees are refreshing their needles can take the troughs from "fine" to overflowing in 3 days. Next year, the Fir needles will fall straight down, but it will be the Maple keys that will land there.

Permaculture's focus on "Observing Nature" helps keep me motivated. It helps me remember that I am stewarding this land, not trying to control what is not mine to control. I can influence it, I can support it, I can design plantings to support and feed me, but I can't do that without Mother Nature being on board.

Some more talking points:

Gumption at our Homesteads

- is it actually possible, a permaculture homestead? (Gert)

 - automatic backyard food pump
 - gardening gardeners
 - it is better than the alternative: when the power is out

- community
 - families in Colombia vs. families in the USA
 - fears individualism

- example of a homesteader who had one homestead he lived on and another that he sold at least 3 times
 - owner-financed
 - sold the homestead with 33% upfront
 - 15- to 30-year mortgage, slightly higher than a good mortgage rate
 - he sold the same homestead at least 4 times (33% × 4)
 - why this happens

- having the skills to implement your designs (gardening gardeners)

- planning in stepping stones while having a long-term master plan (permaculture design)

- the importance of permaculture zones

- short-term goals that keep you motivated

- stopping to look at and admire the changes in the landscape (remember how it was)

- having a big ambition to strive for: why are you doing this

- experiment and iterate

- becoming capable in everything so that you can guide, help, and design alongside experts

- being frugal

- routines and habits

- being surrounded by people who share principles and values

- open mode (allow yourself time to design and play with ideas) and closed mode (once you have chosen a path, focus on implementation until it is done)

i want to mention ....


the story of the guy with two homesteads.  The second one he sold ...   several times ...

the ant village experiment ....    and how the bootcamp will heal some of the issues there ....

If you implement the automatic backyard food pump BEFORE any other gardening, then motivations shift from a type of desperation to "hey, you know what would be cool?"

fears individualism

ferocious  individualism

     - don't put up with that shit!

our society rewards hostility.  But hostility is poison to community.

For me, it helps to know that I can play again next year.  
If I miss the timing of something; planting, harvesting or building, I get another chance to do better.  If I do something poorly or totally mess it up, I know I learned from it, the year will come around again and each year I will be further along.  
I can continue to go deeper and do more.

Watch the replay:

Looking forward to listening later. I struggle with being motivated  in general, and it worsens as I get older, , especially at this time of year with short days and lots of rain.

I do my morning walkabout, with warm drink in hand, to savour the rising day/ dew/ plants/ animals, get those first fruit or veg before rodents do, see what's coming of past efforts & what's needed for future, figure when during the rest of everything I'll come out to do my hour of devotional maintenance or transition work.  We're extensive-intensive in drylands, so in every harvest/ disturbance/ rain I do an over- or inter-seeding.  I never fail to find there a task, inspiration, reward.

Lately the motivations have been more mixed.  I'd long ago discovered & am continually challenged by the behavioural & cultural adaptations of the natives.  The gophers had already been pulling traps away underground & root pruning all round the planting cages - now they're coming up to eat the whole pea plants.  The squirrels already picked the guavas a few days before we would - now they get the exact one left hidden the night before I'd planned to.  The birds wait not only until I've seeded but also those have swelled from rain before swooping down to pick & grub them all up.  The coyotes already ate all the roaming cats & dogs in our hood, now they're cutting trail through our place & leaving piles right at intersections with our own routes.  

It is hard out there, with an endless list of things to do next, more of the dreaded, 'if I only had this's', and then for some; a partner that was commited early on, but now... well... it seems more like a 90/10 split then a 50/50 split of the workload.

I am more of a homesteader now than a farmer, but in thinking back to those days I tried to remember the true ratio of life. Sure, three days to put up 10 acres of sheep fence, but that sheep fence even today is still standing. That is a really good ration: three days for twenty years... you do the math!

But then, what about skills learned? I was petrified when I first started, not sure if I could give a living, breathing sheep a shot. In two years time the vet and I did a C-cession on a ewe and saved two twins! But pulling stuck lambs at birth, and watching our mortality rate go from 40% to 3%... that was skills I can still use today on this site helping those who have sheep even if it is just giving advice!

The general mind shift. People over machines, farms can be any size, food density over food quantity, etc. I am embarrassed about my first farming outlooks, but it has since shifted, and for the better. I have learned a LOT.

They say thinking is the great antidote to dementia. I admit it, a LOT of the drawings I have doodled up about alternative building, heating designs, emergency shelters, grazing plans and farms plans never materialized, but just thing about some of those things have kept my mind active and engaged instead of other vices like drinking, drugs, watching sports, or even worse... watching politics? (LOL) Sure, Forest Bathing might have set me off on a week-long rabbit hole online, but what did it hurt? I could have watched funny cat videos, instead I saw what other Permies were doing on their youtube channels.

I did not always dawdle online. Sure, there is something to be said for farm planning, but at some point, boots have got to hit the dirt. As one USDA employee told me, "When you say you are going to do something, you do it. It might take a while, but eventually you do what you said you were going to do". That is integrity in homesteading and a VERY good thing. Don't overthink: sure thoughts might matter in five minutes, five hours, five days or months, but not in five years. Research. Plan. Make a decision, then get out there! Don't just make plans, take action. Make a legacy not be a lunatic with just crazy plans on paper.

Very few things in life cannot be undone. You might not be able to take that time back, but you sure can check it off as experience. Trust in yourself: you got this. It is not rocket science, people have been doing homesteading since the dawn of time. So you make a mistake. No big deal, it can be undone. I did. I lost 17 eyes when I put them on succulent pasture and they got bloat. Worst farming day of my life, and no, I cannot get those ewes back, but I did build a barn that was sheep friendly and saved hundreds of lambs from death just after birth.

Finally... you really want to stay motivated as a Homesteader? Learn THIS:

Don't worry what other people will think. If they think anything of you at all, they are already thinking you are crazy. Give them proof. But honestly, people are so wrapped up in their own failed lives, failed attempts, poor family relations, and other societal woes, they really are NOT thinking of you at all. Fretting about what others might think of you, or do against you is a waste of time. Everyone has something going on in their life: they probably are not thinking of you at all.

I think the thing I am advocating is that you are part of a group that does all this stuff 40 hours a week, then you are doing it.  And without the group, you might end up not doing it.

The "gardening gardeners" model is something where, I think, people end up being 20x more productive.  Not only because of the collective schedule, but because of the powerful knowledge exchange.  

On your own, you would need 20x the gumption to come close.  And in the group it all becomes easier.

paul wheaton wrote: The "gardening gardeners" model is something where, I think, people end up being 20x more productive.  Not only because of the collective schedule, but because of the powerful knowledge exchange.  

I think that when jobs go faster because, "many hands make light work", many humans find it easier to feel successful, even if the "work per person" is not different. (In other words, 10 people harvesting 10 acres together seems easier than 1 person harvesting 1 acre alone.)

The problem is that many humans are also really bad at accepting that some people might "seem" to be working harder or less hard when in a collective situation. This is likely why I've read that productivity and quality can be lower in "communal" situations. If those same people are put in a situation where there is a large communal property they have to work cooperatively, but they also have their own small patch they can do with as they please, that may improve productivity.

Managing the social/psychological side of the situation is important - more important for some humans than others. (I live with an introvert - he doesn't work well in team situations.)

All that aside, I get quite frustrated in many situations because as a "110 lb wimp" there simply are jobs that other humans with more mass that's better distributed, can do much more easily than me. It took Hubby time and coaching to realize that he could just throw muscle power at the problem, and I had to think of how to do the job safely. The huge benefit to me of working in a collective situation is that I can be paired with another small human and be very successful at a project that would be somewhere between hazardous and deadly on my own.