Rob,
I read this whole thread and felt like I was reading your personal journal...lol. It is great! You may consider writing in the field you intend to persue for sure! I don't know alot about Permaculture yet and feel your apprehension and indesisiveness...right there with ya. There is a Permaculture Course down here in FL...Clearwater to be exact and it is a great course and you have a design certificate when completed. I am set to start taking it next Feb in 2014. It is one weekend a month. It is VERY reasonably prices and they will even do partial payment and volunteering too as form of payment. Also, you mentioned getting into a field connected to environmentally remediating sources....well I have a good friend that I know that owns a business called Aquatic Plants of Florida and you maybe interested in some of the projects that they are working on....here is their website.
http://apofl.com/about-us/ . Hope this info helps....I don't know how you feel about relocation,,,but it is sunny and warm here! Jodi
