30 year old male seeking female partner - North Carolina area

Hi everyone, I'm not sure how to start, but I just moved to North Carolina and am looking for someone that shares my dream of having a modest homestead and living with the earth. I want to garden, keep bees, have chickens, make soap, have fruit trees, have a pet Kunekune etc. – a permaculture paradise.

I try to cook about three to four times a week and do the dishes afterwards. Traditional gender roles be damned – let me cook for you. I’m not vegan, but I do the best I can to cut down on meat consumption, both because meat production is one of the main causes of climate change / environmental degradation and because the animals are treated inhumanely.

I like anything outdoors - hiking, biking, kayaking, paragliding, having picnics, blacksmithing, etc.

So I think that’s me in a nutshell. Please feel free to ask questions, I’m pretty open.

Hi John.  Obviously not your desired female partner here, but wanted to congratulate you on starting your new "permaculture paradise."  NC is a big state - to where have you moved?  I ask because I live very near to at least one part of NC, and am always eager to make connections in permie circles.

John David Johnson wrote:...because meat production is one of the main causes of climate change / environmental degradation and because the animals are treated inhumanely.

I couldn't resist pointing out that there are important qualifications to both of these statements.  For sure, both statements contain some truth.  But at the same time, they are both based on assumptions rooted in the conventional, industrial ag paradigm.  In the right context, given the right techniques, and on the right scale - such as on your permaculture paradise homestead, we should hope - neither statement necessarily needs be true.

There is tons to unpack here, including many more layers of assumptions, value statements, and qualifications on both sides of the debate, which I won't even attempt here.  I don't wish to derail the focus of your thread.  I'm sure there are other, existing threads here on permies where these debates are ongoing.  So instead let me just wish you good luck on your homesteading venture and your search for a suitable partner.

Never say never Matthew… I just moved to an apartment in Gastonia. It’s a temporary living arrangement while I explore the area.

Of course, the point is well made and I understand there are sustainable ways to raise animals for slaughter (small scale, proper rearing, etc.). I wish to do it myself someday, but that specific part my post was more a statement on the unfortunate fact the majority of meat production occurs in CAFOs. And (unless I’m misunderstanding your wording) climate change, environmental degradation, and inhumane treatment of animals is most certainly occurring as a result of those operations. I didn’t get much into because as you said yourself, it’s not really the purpose of the post.

I’m not on Permies too often, but glad to make the connection as well.