Glenn Lees

Lots of food for thought - thank you all.

I'm fully aware that this is a long term aim and there's lots to do, lots to learn and lots of time between now and then.

I'm definitely going to start small - we have a good sized garden that is mostly grass so I was thinking of putting in a raised bed and see how that goes, then maybe a dwarf orchard and a few berry bushes and gradually build from there. I anticipate having to keep the daytime job for another 5-10 years and then re-evaluate.

As for this skills list, I created it as a high-level list just to spec out the whole 'grand plan' and then break it up into smaller, more detailed sections. Being a generalist is what I enjoy (variety is the spice of life after all), and I would envisage that my 'co-permies' would have a some knowledge of all areas, and more expert knowledge of a couple of areas.

I'm a trainer by profession, so am used to assimilating a large amount of info and enabling others to learn from it, and also teaching others how to be a trainer.

Thank you Peter, v helpful and exactly the sort of reply I'm looking for.

Yes, building resources is about getting/obtaining/creating the things needed to build with, which will then feed into the actual building.

Do you think that complete self-sufficiency is possible? As things like clothes, new steel/iron tools and even straw would be difficult/impossible to create on a smallholding. Certainly some form of trade would be needed, and whilst barter (and even 'scrounging') would be preferable that will be heavily dependant on the locale. Cash-based trade seems to be the only way to go, and I'm not over-keen on this.

Perhaps a collective of smallholdings (each focussed on meeting its own food needs and generating something else - milk, wool, straw, fodder etc - to be traded locally with other smallholders. But, hey, I'm drifting off topic there!

Hi All!

I'm starting to grow ever more tired of modern life: companies that take your money - provide you with crap and don't give a toss, employers that bleed you dry and don't give a toss, ever improving technology that doesn't actually make your life any easier (just makes it easier to hear fatuous details about 'celebrities' and look at pictures of kittens), and so on.

I'm becoming more interested in going off grid and living a simple, self-sufficient life (though I'm turned off by all of the hippy, healing-energy/therapy-heavy, pagan-type religiosity that seems to go hand in hand with this)

I can envisage, in the future, living a permaculture lifestyle with a group if likemindeds and am compiling a list of skills/knowledge areas that need to be acquired within the group. I've come up with the list below and would be grateful to be made aware of any ommisions from the list (it's quite high-level currently, as I've been researching this for less than a week).

Thanks

Permaculture Design

Zoning
Sectoring
Layering
Plant Guilds

Gardening

Annual Plants
Perennial Plants
Shrubs
Fruit Trees
Nut Trees
Water Plants
Germination
Propagation
Grafting
Tree Management
Fungi

Building Resources

Coppicing
Pollarding

Energy Resources

Wind
PV
Batteries/Electrics
Solar Heating

Water Resources

Water Collection/Storage
Irrigation
Grey Water Processing

Building

Walling
Fencing
Dams/Ponds
Swales/Berms
Raised Beds
Wattle/Daub/Cob
Thatching/Roofing

Waste Management

Composting Toilets
Composting
Worm Farms