I've only just heard the term
permaculture last year and it was more specifically
gardening related. Over time I've read bits about passive
solar and natural building. Then I found permies and down the
permie hole I go! I signed up just in time to get a e-copy of Paul's book, it's brilliant and crazy (but that's coming from a level 0). I wasn't going to bother with an introduction because I'm new and am not really experienced in most the topics, BUT in Paul's podcasts and blogs he seems interested in how his work is taken in by those outside of the group. So here I am, a
native city girl moved..... Semi rural? tired of living to work, paying someone to play with my toddler while I repair others broken down equipment in a windowless plant, and hire others to repair mine. The rant could go on and I think you'd nod in agreement if it kept your interest at all.
Paul's recent book, and the philosophies presented here are a breath of fresh air, I feel optimistic. I don't need to be zero waste, off grid, quit my job, and I feel it'd be unwise to leap too far too fast. True change takes time and experimenting to find what works for you. We (my family) have been taking steps towards creating a food forest on our little quarter acre, I don't expect to provide everything but even our little garden provides some and some is better... and less
lawn is a plus. I'm borrowing a vacuum sealer from some friends to preserve the surplus We're putting up a clothes line or two, doing maintenance to keep our appliances efficient, composting, we added a few
chickens. I'm phasing out
shampoo, but I was already not washing my hair much and looking at some laundry soap recipes, maybe I'll branch out and replace all my soaps too. I've rigged up some bean
trellis to block summer sun from a poorly placed window. Looking into a small
solar setup mostly for rechargable power packs and such. My goal is to lower our household costs so to save half our income, learn as many skills as we can on our current property and through
local building workshops, and live a good life by our own standards. Go from there, I'm guessing this will take some years, we're excited for the long haul.
Thank you for reading, thank you for putting resources out there for those of us just coming out of the cave. What an amazing community! Short but rambling story over, back to reading.
"I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out there on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center. Big, undreamed-of things--the people on the edge see them first." Player Piano
"You can make yourself happy or miserable, the amount of work is the same" Carlos Castaneda
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