Chris Kott wrote:Hi all,
I am a 30 year old fine arts student thinking about returning to school. I want to do something, like a 3-4 year or longer program, that will give me a career where I can directly apply the lessons of permaculture, and whose skills and accreditation will lend not only credibility, but some necessary skillset or knowledge base that I can apply to my permaculture design projects.
Well.
You
have 3 to 4 years and access to $16,000 to $120,000. (What IS your budget for tuition, btw? Do you have any of it, or are you borrowing it all?)
You
want " a career where I can directly apply the lessons of permaculture... Skills...accreditation...credibility...knowledge base that I can apply to my permaculture design projects."
Are you pretty positive that a degree from a university is the best way to get this?
I mean, if you had an awesome time in undergrad, and now you feel like your life's in a rut, and you're thinking this degree could be the catalyst to change your future, ok. Or if you discovered permaculture in the last year or two, and you're completely in love, making a living of it looks like an impenatrable thicket where this degree is the only way in, ok.
But... Holy cow, that kind of time and money can give you SO MUCH access to skill, ability, experience, and credibility. There's SO MUCH frickin potential contained in three years of your life and $16,000 (let alone four years/$120,000, good gracious), that it could move you to anywhere. Absolutely anywhere.
Think about this. If you're set to give up three to four years and $16,000 to $120,000 AND your earning potential while you're in school (that's
another $100,000 or so, isn't it?) are you positive that a university is the place you can
buy the most skill, accreditation, credibility, and knowledge?
Have you considered:
Going for three one-year internships at permaculture farms? Cost:$0, skill and ability high, accreditation/credibility medium to low.
Creating a portfolio? By which I mean, do some permaculture projects on your own dime. Buy a couple of acres, make it amazing. Same again next year and the year after that. "But it'll never sell!" That's fine. You're spending $16,000 - $120,000 on this remember? If you can sell your project, that's a cherry on top, but it's not the point. The point is getting your project onto your blog, youtube channel, facebook page, and maybe in some magazines. Cost: -$120,000 - +$120,000. Skill and ability medium to high, credibility very, very high.
Working for a school, park, university, museum, life insurance company, or ANYBODY with some land, weaseling your way into a position of authority on the grounds crew, and doing permaculture on their land, with their tools and materials, and getting paid well for it? Cost=very positive. Skill and ability: medium (since you only get one canvas, not several like portfolio creation above). Credibility: medium, depending on self-promotion and a receptive institutional audience.
Edit 6:55p 1/7/14: Here's two more. You've already replied below, but I'm going to add these anyway'for the sake of future readers.
Start a boring landscaping business. You'll need a pickup with a snow plow for the winter months, and a trailer to carry your zero-turn mower and various smaller machines (push mower, string trimmers, etc) in the summer. Every customer who tells you, "Wow, that looks great," you say, "Thanks! I love working with plants. Have you ever heard of permaculture?" Pitch it enough times, and you'll get some permaculture design clients. And then, year by year, you transition to only permaculture design. Cost: $25,000, then reliably make it all back in short order and start earning a decent living. Skill, abiity, credibility: low then gradually getting high.
Write your book. What credentials do Lawton, Hemenway, Holzer, and Salatin have, except that they've done it and written books? Nobody cares what, because that's enough. When you've done it and written a book, you're an expert, as far as ANY potential client is concerned. When you approach someone about a design project, are they going to pay thousands to Chris Kott, MS? Or Chris Kott, permaculturist and author of Canadian Permaculture: Sustainable Agriculture North Of The Forty-Fifth Parallel? You've got three years and $120,000 to work with- if that ain't enough to do your research and experimntation, something's wrong! Cost: $16,000 - $120,000. Skill and ability: medium. Credibility/accreditation: extremely high.
Or, clearly, combining some of each. When the beginning of 2018 gets here, will you have a more solid career "directly applying the lessons of permaculture" if you just wrapped up your M.S. in Silviculture at Oregon State (you owe them
$63,657 plus interest), or if you're Chris Kott of chriskott.com, my June seminars are full but it's not too late to register for my July session?
I hope it doesn't sound like I'm beating you up here- that's a dumb idea, forget it, etc. I'm saying the opposite- you're awesome, and you don't need to give a fortune to any university to set your life off in a fantastc new direction. You can do it yourself. If you have the time and money for a degree, then you have the time and money to cut some really amazing permaculture notches in your belt, so that when 2018 gets here, you can say, "Mr. Potential Client, I'm great at this. Look at what I've done over here. I can do the same for you."
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