Doing what I can at where I am right now.

Hello there!

I decided to show up and speak up.
So here is what I do and who I am.
I am currently living in the undesired situation. Stuck in a neighborhood in suburban town I don't like.

But, I'm not just complaining here.
While dreaming and planning about my future, I'm doing my best I can right now... with my 50 years old 5' tall small body with no like-minded friends near me (I make my unwilling teen son to help around sometimes.)
I get discouraged. I lose hope. I hate my lawn. I hate mindless people. And, I get frustrated because of my limited ability... often feeling like, "Fuck it, just go back to Japan and restart with my parents." By the way, I'm not even from the US has no family or relatives I can rely on here.

"Start now wherever you are" is the most useful lesson I learned from permaculture. It's not easy to grow vegetables in my region costal NC. I only could harvest a handful of stuff this summer. I know I've wasted money and time on gardening.
But, that's not all the result I got.
I've gained so much wisdom and life skills. I developed mindset I needed. Permaculture actually saved me from going insane, lol.

I'm fine. Actually feeling good everyday. I'm not just wanting to do permaculture for myself. I helped lots of butterflies and wild creatures in past years. I tried to reduce my ecological footprint as much as I can.

So my question is... can I call myself a permie? Do I belong in here? Will I be able to live the life I want if I keep doing this?

I hope so!!

Thanks for reading

Your post really resonated with me. I too have been working tirelessly to cultivate gardens from ground zero, doing everything I can to grow food without harming the environment. Have also had my fair share of both inspiration and discouragement. It's a labor of love, but so rewarding to see the fruits (and veggies!) of my labor. While I don’t think I have the perfect property either, at 40 y.o. I realize I just need to START and do what’s best for my health, nutrition, and living sustainably.

Why not call yourself a permie? I believe actions speak louder than labels anyhow. Best of luck to you on your permaculture journey and keep up the great work!

PS - I also disliked my residential front lawn and am in the process of converting all lawns to food forest, meadows, and gardens. I'll try and post a pic with this year’s progress update; what was once a grass monoculture is now a beautiful chicken pasture and pollination nation!

Adam Dylan wrote:Your post really resonated with me. I too have been working tirelessly to cultivate gardens from ground zero, doing everything I can to grow food without harming the environment. Have also had my fair share of both inspiration and discouragement. It's a labor of love, but so rewarding to see the fruits (and veggies!) of my labor. While I don’t think I have the perfect property either, at 40 y.o. I realize I just need to START and do what’s best for my health, nutrition, and living sustainably.

Why not call yourself a permie? I believe actions speak louder than labels anyhow. Best of luck to you on your permaculture journey and keep up the great work!

PS - I also disliked my residential front lawn and am in the process of converting all lawns to food forest, meadows, and gardens. I'll try and post a pic with this year’s progress update; what was once a grass monoculture is now a beautiful chicken pasture and pollination nation!

Hi!
Thank you for the encouragement, Adam!
Your front yard looks beautiful. It seems huge and must have been quite a work to convert it. I also planted lots of seeds of Black Eyed Suzan this spring. Some grew but not much yet. I'm hoping they will grow and spread like yours next spring.
I had a few chickens at my last place where I lived but not here yet. I think about it, but it's going to require some sort of a sturdy structure to protect them since here is very open. Most likely I will not have them here, but just making plans itself is the fun part of permaculture I think

nice garden
good idea to leave the grasses taller by the raised beds

i agree with you about the weed whacker string.. ive been thinking about all that plastic lately too

they sell metal blades that i am going to look into

Enjoyed the video quite a bit, Misuzu! Thanks for sharing it. Your enthusiasm and energy is obvious, and fun to watch.

Regarding your fencing: I think that's wise. You have some tempting stuff growing in there, but when it takes that much effort to reach it, it's likely they'll visit your neighbours first, and forget about targeting you.

M. Phelps wrote:nice garden
good idea to leave the grasses taller by the raised beds

i agree with you about the weed whacker string.. ive been thinking about all that plastic lately too

they sell metal blades that i am going to look into

I’m going to have to switch to metal blades one if I still need it probably.

It just makes me so depressed when I think about how much micro plastics have been left in the ground and washed away into the water way…

Thank you for taking your time watching my video!

Stephen B. Thomas wrote:Enjoyed the video quite a bit, Misuzu! Thanks for sharing it. Your enthusiasm and energy is obvious, and fun to watch.

Regarding your fencing: I think that's wise. You have some tempting stuff growing in there, but when it takes that much effort to reach it, it's likely they'll visit your neighbours first, and forget about targeting you.

Thank you!!
I didn’t really expect much people to take time and watch my video. People are so nice here

Yes, the fenced side is actually working I think. No sign of breaking in or anything. But, because the part of sides and front are not enclosed, deers are still coming in to the backyard. And, they always munch on their specific favorites… so obvious.  it’s frustrating, but I’m just laughing at this point, haha.
Looks like this is their favorite stop because my neighbors have nothing planted but lawn!

Misuzu Henderson wrote:So my question is... can I call myself a permie? Do I belong in here?

Yes.

Hi, I'm 55 and single, no children. I live about 40 minutes north of Asheville NC. I have 2 acres and some good spring water. I would like to talk some time. I have a good feeling about you.

I know what you mean about doing the best with what you have.  I have an apartment with a balcony which is shaded by big trees, so not very much sun.  Some plants like it here (my baby plum tree grown from seed, my blueberries, some wildflowers, mint) but most plants don't.  So after a disappointing summer (we moved here in late June) I'm going to try with some growlights to supplament light and see how we do, I'm just watering my perennials now and my lettuce isn't really growing, so its probably a loss like the other plants I tried for an autumn harvest, but we'll see what happens.  I only harvested one carrot, because its the only one that survived haha.

But I'm still planning and hoping and figuring out how to do it better.  Once the maple trees go dormant for the cold weather, my MIL will come over and clandestinely do some snip snip trimming to maybe open up a bit of canopy for me, but its likely we won't get far because it will only work for branches she can reach from the balcony, but every little bit helps.

I send my compost ingredients to her country house where she has a compost system, we get eggs from her chickens, just little things we can do even though we don't have property or very much resources.  Just keep trying and working on things.

Speaking of our maple trees, once I know whether fallen maple seeds are edible (I know the ones still attached are if you cook them) we'll try and harvest next year, and I'm hoping to figure out how to tap them for syrup, they're big enough to perhaps give us a small amount, fun project to do with my MIL if we can figure it out or find a friend who knows how.  Again we can't risk getting caught on that one either haha because we're rentors.

Moshi Moshi
Tim san desu
Denwa shite kudasai
717 ,880 4267
Onegai shimasu

Moshi Moshi
Tim san desu  
Nihon de ju san nen han sumi mashita. Ju hassai made.. demo sore ga mukashi da..daibu wasule mashita..kii tara
Hanashitara sukoshi zustu omoi dasu kamo
shiranai kedo ...denwa shite kudasai..onegai shimasu..717 880 4267
Arigato gozaimasu
Tomodachi shimasho

Riona Abhainn wrote:I know what you mean about doing the best with what you have.  I have an apartment with a balcony which is shaded by big trees, so not very much sun.  Some plants like it here (my baby plum tree grown from seed, my blueberries, some wildflowers, mint) but most plants don't.  So after a disappointing summer (we moved here in late June) I'm going to try with some growlights to supplament light and see how we do, I'm just watering my perennials now and my lettuce isn't really growing, so its probably a loss like the other plants I tried for an autumn harvest, but we'll see what happens.  I only harvested one carrot, because its the only one that survived haha.

But I'm still planning and hoping and figuring out how to do it better.  Once the maple trees go dormant for the cold weather, my MIL will come over and clandestinely do some snip snip trimming to maybe open up a bit of canopy for me, but its likely we won't get far because it will only work for branches she can reach from the balcony, but every little bit helps.

I send my compost ingredients to her country house where she has a compost system, we get eggs from her chickens, just little things we can do even though we don't have property or very much resources.  Just keep trying and working on things.

Speaking of our maple trees, once I know whether fallen maple seeds are edible (I know the ones still attached are if you cook them) we'll try and harvest next year, and I'm hoping to figure out how to tap them for syrup, they're big enough to perhaps give us a small amount, fun project to do with my MIL if we can figure it out or find a friend who knows how.  Again we can't risk getting caught on that one either haha because we're rentors.

I feel very relatable!
The place I lived before was almost like in woods… not much sunny area, tree roots everywhere I try to dig, and massive amount of fallen leaves in winter. And now, I complain about too much sun exposure and heat here! Even struggling with finding dead leaves to add to my compost.
I own this property but can’t or don’t really want to add or modify things because I’m planning to sell sooner anyways. I can plant trees or perennials but new owner might not like it and remove anyways… basically I’m living like renting too! Haha.

Yes you're a permie!
I loved your post!
I have gotten rid of almost all my grass and I hear you!
Pigeons can usually slip by the bylaws and make great compost by the way