Marco Downs

I heard recently that Dave Boehnlein got a Yuzu harvest from a tree he planted in a parking strip in Seattle, no special earth/stone works, but lots of feeding and watering. I haven't seen many posts from him on this forum lately but I know he's pretty approchable. From what I've seen, yuzu and other (semi)hardy citrus can grow leaves just fine, which can be wonderful for cooking, but getting the fruit to ripen can be tricky. You may have already seen this thread but it's got some good info & ideas https://permies.com/t/1081/Citrus-Pacific-Northwest  

Jeanine, thanks for taking an interest. I haven't spent much time on the computer lately, but I finally made it back to respond... I was living on Ometepe Island, doing some work with Project Bona Fide (permaculture farm) and Proyecto Mano Amiga (local community center). I spent about 13 months there, mostly living on the farm. At first, I focused on getting a sense of how the farm operates, doing whatever work was necessary. Bona Fide focuses on (mostly) plant research and education... I did all kinds of things from hauling building materials to planting to weeding to helping prune mango trees. Met lots of interesting people and really enjoyed living in a community, preparing and eating meals together. I took a Permaculture Design Course on the farm, 2 weeks of great ideas and eye-opening walks around the farm. By then I had been on the farm for about 6 months. Around that time I got involved with the community center and helped to design and build a new building, which I worked on for the rest of my time there. Now I'm back in Florida, trying to figure out how to stay involved in the Permaculture community and practice what I've learned...

I've been living and working in Nicaragua, on the beautiful island of Ometepe, for a little over a year now. Getting acquainted with simple living and tropical permaculture. I took a PDC in February, but I wouldn't call myself a "permaculture designer" quite yet. My time at the farm has been split between hands-on farm work, and design and construction of a building for a local community center. I don't claim to be as tough as the Nicaraguans I've worked with, but I can definitely put in a good hard day's work.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I'm moving back to Florida in November, partly to be close to family but also to hopefully apply some of my knowledge and keep working with the land. A simple work/trade for room and board would suit me just fine. My needs are simple; I've been living outdoors and eating a rice-and-beans-based diet and I'm doing OK...

I'm looking in other places, of course (WWOOF, helpx, etc.) but I wanted to see if y'all have any leads. Resume and references available on request.

Skills (in order of competence/confidence):

architectural design (my formal education)

website design & maintenance (I worked in this field for a year or so)

graphic design (also did some of this work as part of design school and my web design job)

natural building (lots of passion, little experience yet)

annual gardening/fruit orchards/forest gardening (same as above)

-Marco

Hello permies. Just discovered this site not too long ago and this is my first post. I've been reading quite a bit; so much knowledge and so many interesting people sharing it! I've only been involved with permaculture for about a year, doing an internship in Nicaragua. I have a formal education in architectural design but I'm interested in hands-on natural building and architecture as part of a (much) larger system. Looking to move back to Florida (my home state) in November. There seems to be a growing community there so hopefully I can make some connections through this site!

-Marco