Looking for pen pals/friends.

Hi, I am 17f, almost 18, and have no friends.
- I have many skills including foraging, plant knowledge, wood heat, cooking, cleaning, housework, and crafts.
-My religion is nature. I revere the sun, earth and nature spirits.
-I have a strong work ethic and am not afraid to get dirty cleaning, hauling, hoeing,etc. I have a summer job at a diner. I am a minimalist.
-I want to be a small farmer when I get access to some turf.
-I am looking for teens /20s yo’s who share my values to talk to as “purple mooseage pen pals”and maybe eventually as in person friends. I currently live in Michigan but don’t intend to stay. I might move to North Carolina, but that is very much a maybe.Long distance trips are not generally feasible for me unless I’m moving.

Hi Daphne,
You wrote a great post! You mentioned that people should message you directly so hopefully you've gotten plenty, but just in case I wanted to make sure that I (an old person:) and everyone else on permies tell you that it's great you have so many permaculture, homesteading, foraging, etc. interests at a young age. Way to go! I hope you make lots of connections.

Hi Daphne! I have an 18 yo family friend much like you that I'd love to introduce you to but she likely would not spend time on this site. She's in WI and shares your interests. She's really interested in everything horticulture, ecological restoration and regenerative agriculture. If you send me a pm with your email address, I will introduce you two via email. I think you two could relate to each other very well!

What do you plan to do after high school? Are you familiar with nature connection programs around the country? We have one here called Wild Harvest Nature Connections that is very popular. Perhaps you'd find something near enough that you could participate in, or attend a week long camp or something. You may also find foraging or minimalist groups on meetup.com if you'd like to meet others that way.

We free range homeschooled our kids through grade 8 so they could discover themselves and the world without industrial pressures of school. It makes me so happy to see young adults like yourself have such a solid sense of who they are and their personal values. That's a lot to accomplish at your age in this world. Very cool.

So sorry i forgot to say so sooner, I thought I did, but Thanks, M Waisman, your friend is indeed a cool pal!

Hey, I had made a post kinda on this same general idea a little while ago. "Gen Z Permies" I (early 20s) was interested in seeing whether there were other younger people into permaculture and the like. I got a handful of replies - not a lot, but a few. Maybe we should all start a group chat or something!

Hey,

I was just wondering if younger people were still getting involved with permaculture.  I was wondering 'is permaculture still cool?'  Homesteading/diy will always have its yearning and/or satisfied people.  Im only a gen up from you, but yeah, millenials got all burned out. Not all of them, but the ones that didn't kinda settled into their routines.  Fair enough.  You can only resist the end of the world so many times.  Thats a whole other topic.  A lot of people were being fueled by an end odays happening.  It seemed like it was going to happen (with covid) and when the wheels just didn't really seem to want to fall off, a lot of people lost steam.  All, just my opinion, open to feedback.  Many old timers still carry the vision,, as seen in recent messages to you.

You really should move though.  It will change your life in all good ways.  At the very least, more people to possibly become friends with.  If you are looking for a pen pal Im avail (that goes for most anyone reading this) , but I think you are looking for friends.  Go move somewhere new!

Yeah, thanks. You’re right. I really can’t move now, but just start planning. Maybe do som wwoofing or something?

Yeah, wwoofing can be fun. If you find the right school, that can be fun too.

But if you can't leave, are you just going to look for stuff in your area?  Cause if you are going to wwoof go at least a state over. Oh yeah, you have a job there, that would be difficultt.

Maybe figure out what you want for the next two years of your life.  It sounds like you already have some long term plans, so you can start working on that by making plans... or... you can figure out what you want that you 'can' do for the next couple of years.  For ex.  'I want more friends' might require you to go to places you haven't been too around your town or do something different.  You 'can' go to places, but you can't force make new friends.  Or if you are interested in wwoof then sign up and reach out to a few places (wherever, even ...uhh,, was it carolina,,??).  Even if you don't go now, then at least you have connected with them.  You can do that.  

PS

Found this ...  https://permies.com/t/270112/Gen-Permies

I have no interest in wwoofing. I feel like for me there is no point in it. Figuring out what I want is’nt so much the problem. Figuring out how to get there is harder.

The thing about wwoofing and other kinds of volunteer or even paid work is that they give you a chance to full-on immerse yourself into rural, farming or homesteading lifestyle, day in day out; and give you a good idea within a few weeks if it's really for you, and maybe also point out some skills or personal traits that you could benefit from working on more before you take the plunge.  For me the biggest lesson, both as a volunteer and as a farmer hosting volunteers, is that the largely invisible skills around getting along with other people are what often make or break a farm, a family, or a community.  All the other stuff can actually be easy and fun a lot of the time.

I get that woofing can be very helpful for some people. It’s just not right for me for various reasons. While I would consider doing paid farm work or an internship at a community where I would consider moving, woofing won’t really get me anywhere. Learning how to farm isn’t on my top list of priorities. I already have some farm skills and am more focused on learning other things. Its like, ok Wwoofing will help me get even better at farming, but then at the end of my tenure I would be in mild debt and with no way to actually use the skills I learned. So it actually puts me farther behind. For other people it might be different. But, I do think a internship at a community might be a good idea for me or others.

Wow, I forgot about the post where I talked about woofing. I didn’t know much about it then. After I learned more about it I decided it was a no for me. Sorry for the confusion!

Folks might find this thread helpful:

https://permies.com/t/101577/permaculture-writing/art/write-letter-friend