How Did We Get Here?

Actually, what I should be asking is "How did I get here?" which I've done plenty of times, but I honestly believe that there is a "We." If I didn't believe this, I'd have an office job, a fat bank account, picket fence, etc. which I do not have so I'd love to learn how other people arrived at a similar decision which most likely required sacrifices, reassessing goals and expectations and working harder than an easier path would have required. I'm especially interested in those who weren't exposed to alternative living, permaculture, off the grid life, etc. growing up. I certainly wasn't. I was supposed to be a yuppie, but nevertheless that programming did not stick and as soon as I got out of school I took off like a bat out of heck. I didn't even go to the ceremony to get my diploma. All I knew was there were a lot of things wrong with how I was expected to live and I couldn't pretend not to see them.

I don't think I ever articulated it until right now, but without actually verbalizing it, I just had a feeling that I couldn't be the only one. (of course, you weren't genius! you're not that original:) You might call it faith, faith in an unknown "we". Here I am, now, posting on a very vast and established website created, maintained and used by the types of people who I didn't know existed, but had a feeling that they did. I apologize if this is a redundant question or coming out awkward. I'm not new to the lifestyle or permies (have been a big fan for many years), but never been one for joining or posting in forums. Maybe because even though I suspected that there were others, I didn't know anyone personally so when I made the decision to not take the road most-travelled or drink the cool-aid or swallow the blue pill, it was a personal, almost secret, decision. I didn't tell anyone or make any major announcements, I just took off and started learning what the life I had led up until then hadn't taught me which was a lot. That was 25 years ago.

So yes, I'd love to hear how others heard or responded to a similar inner voice or compass. I've run the gamut of morals, idealism, beliefs, convictions, stubbornness, etc. and I'd be foolish to claim that they didn't play a role in some ways, but when it's all said and done, the decision was, and still is -because we all continually make it everyday and could bail and join the mainstream whenever we want or could we? Maybe some of us don't have a choice. It's very hard to unrealize something(s). Mother Nature is so important to me that the decision was a form of loyalty to her and everything she's done and does for me, if that makes any sense than it was about virtue signaling or judging how others were living. It's more personal. I couldn't/can't risk damaging that relationship.

Alright, I rambled on enough. "Leaves are falling all around. It's time I was on my way. Thanks to you I'm much obliged..." Not to sound dramatic, but I guess this was my way of finally introducing myself to the unknown We. Nice to meet you, haha. Thanks for being you.

I guess I got to where I was (being a Gert) way back in high school. I calculated as a Freshman all the classes I needed to graduate, and then realized by eliminating study halls and taking the required courses instead my Senior year would consist of going to vocational school. It turns out that the extra course I took ended up being my career (welding). But at that time kids saw my schedule and said, "that is not fair because I would have liked to have done that". But it was fair... every kid in school could have done just what I did had they planned ahead. Instead they did what everyone else was doing. What I had accidentally discovered from that was a life long lesson:

1. No one tells you how to get ahead in life; you got to figure it out for yourself
2. You got to do the work up front then get the rewards afterwards (no instant gratification)
3. If you do what everyone else does, you get what everyone else does

I have felt guilty these last few years because life has been pretty easy. A Permie style of life has served me well and now having retired from it, its paying dividends. But in that, I have always waited for the ball to drop, my life to descend back into chaos, and yet I was reading a true story of a man who had a life much like mine, very difficult situations, but then... towards the latter parts of his life... it just became easy and comfortable. He had done the work up front, and reaped the rewards of that on the backend. From that I learned, I need not fear that chaos will soon ensue. It might not. I lived life at 200 miles an hour and now life can be easy and comfortable.

The story of that man's life was an epiphone for me: I no longer live in fear my life will tumble back into chaos.

I just take life a day at a time.  BTW, welcome to permies.

Everyday is a new day.  Forget about the past as that is ancient history.

Today is a present.

How did we get here?  Where is here?  Here on the forum or here at this point in our lives?

Silas Marner wrote:All I knew was there were a lot of things wrong with how I was expected to live and I couldn't pretend not to see them.

This resonated with how I have felt about the world since I was a child. Thank you for boiling it down into a clear and concise sentence. Hit me right in the face. I waffle between wondering whether everyone pretends not to see the problems or they just don't see them - whether it's a choice or just plain ignorance - and I don't think I'll ever truly come to a conclusion on that one. The answer doesn't really matter though because eventually everyone has to deal with the consequences of meandering away from the cycles of nature, I'd rather just stay on the mean rather than deal with the rubber-band shock when we are forced to revert to it.

That's great. And, thank you for the welcome, Anne.

I'm realizing that for some it may not have been such a monumental decision between going it alone or staying within the fold. I shouldn't assume that others had to abandon one world in the hopes of creating a completely different one on their own. Nevertheless, I still see people living a permaculture lifestyle (even before the word was coined) as pioneers and pathfinders because most people at least in the U.S. don't live like this. Like Ezra said "wondering whether people pretend not to see them or actually don't see them".

Most of my friends and family, ok, all of them, live a typical American lifestyle and as a result maybe they've been more insulated from even considering that any of society's or the environment's problems are their problems. If how they're living works for them, why fix anything? This forced me to find a way to keep loving those I care about even though we live completely different and have a different value system. If you're not insulated, the issues all around us are right in your face. No one's going to tell you "Oh, don't worry about it." I used to think it was because I was too aware of everything, but not being insulated may have been what allowed my awareness to spill further than it does for others. I donno. Didn't mean to get all philosophical about it. I just like hearing about others' journeys that have resulted in more similar beliefs than those of people I was supposed to be like. Thanks for your great responses!

there's many people who seek alternative because of many disbalnces that run in the rapid developments that happened in last decades? centuries?, anyway you may wanna look at https://permies.com/t/270170/Envisioning-Permaculture-Palace which exploring other outlook at the world of possibilities

It started with my interest in the back to the land movement 1960s/70s.

One side of my family were nurserymen and ag teachers so I had a jump on the how to from my mom.

Growing gardens morphed into growing bigger gardens.

Late 1960s there were some abandoned gilded age estates nearby, and I got to explore them in detail before they were done away with.

The most striking thing were what  was left of the greenhouses and orchards...very simple, almost self sufficient systems for growing things.

The only thing I've seen detailing some of these systems was the old Victorian Kitchen Garden series from the BBC.

Here's a list of explanations of the different parts of the series:

https://watch.plex.tv/show/the-victorian-kitchen-garden/season/1

Unfortunately, no links available to watch the episodes but you'll get the idea from the descriptions.
I was able to find a DVD with all the episodes but it was not easy to find. Worth it if you can turn up a copy.
A small sample of how they were growing flowers can be had on you Youtube by searching "victorian kitchen garden BBC"

These old estates were quite self sufficient, and that wasn't lost on me.

Over time bits and pieces of the permaculturists began turning up in my reading and seemed infinitely practical and a direct link back to the self sufficiency of the old stuff I had seen.

The last 15 years I've had my own place to work with these ideas, seeing what works in my fairly hostile climate.

Oh this is a good one !
Well, for me it did not happen overnight, or in a moment of clear decision -  away from one thing and towards the other.
I think for me it has been a development that has ripened step by step thru my life (I am 53yrs old now). See, my grandparents were adults in the Second World War . They luckily all survived and my parents subsequently grew up in the post war era. Since everything was bombed into pieces, you needed to know how to rebuild everything and to also live sustainably off your own land. Even if it was only small pieces (none of them had farms or great pieces of land in my family). So when I was born in the 70s i was experiencing two pieces of the world. My grandparents who were still (both couples) living off their land for food. They repaired, build, fixed, improved everything themselves. And on the other hand my parents, who were already living the modern live of the industrial wonder of Germany and other European countries.
So for a while there as a kid I really liked helping out my grandparents in the garden, sowing, growing, harvesting, preseving.
But as an adult, I followed the promise of the modern , capitalist promise of a great live... and i succeeded in that.
After many years of travelling, living in big cities around the world, making a nice buck with my career, something drew me back home. To the mountains, to the Alps, to nature. Something called me, back to my roots not only geographically, but as a human being in nature  And with my own family on its way I made a choice to have them grow up with organic food, in harmony with nature, with learning skills like I learned them and yet be part of modern society as well.  And that is where I started my journey that has brought me to the permie I am today.

I am thankful for my ancestors to have taught me skills that have been lost for so many in our societies today. I am trying to instill the same interest that is i within me , into my family. With all the crisis around, with climate changing, with supply chains weakening, inflation rising , etc etc.   It really is the best time to be interested in anything that has been around for centuries and that has sustained people for so long.
You do not need to quit modern life radically, to start making your own world, and th world around you a better place.

I any case homesteading, permaculture, all things connected take time to learn - so if you haven't done so... start today...grab one idea out if this fantastic forum and put it into reality.

Thank you Dave! I found the 6 disc set on eBay!

The only thing I've seen detailing some of these systems was the old Victorian Kitchen Garden series from the BBC.-Dave

Yay!

Glad you found them, you're in for a treat, as well as practical info.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-soothing-pleasures-of-the-victorian-kitchen-garden-a-vintage-bbc-docuseries

Dave Bross wrote:Late 1960s there were some abandoned gilded age estates nearby, and I got to explore them in detail before they were done away with.

The most striking thing were what  was left of the greenhouses and orchards...very simple, almost self sufficient systems for growing things.

The only thing I've seen detailing some of these systems was the old Victorian Kitchen Garden series from the BBC.

... Unfortunately, no links available to watch the episodes ...

Ho ho, not so, it's all online. Fantastic stuff! Use this search string:

victorian kitchen garden BBC site:dailymotion.com

Be cautioned people: once you go down this rabbit hole YOU CAN'T STOP WATCHING.