Manel Horta

Thank you so much to everybody. Your thoughts are very usefull for my reflectionand for my future steps.

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your suggestions.
Although this is a ver small comunity with no CSAs nor permies around (only two couples in very similar conditions and problems), I've thought of sharing my tech knowledge with the comunity, something like "bring your laptop, your tablet or smartphone and let's have fun"...

Tyler Ludens wrote:

Manel Horta wrote: Actually if I don’t have some money I can’t have food and shelter or access to a piece of land that would provide it to me

This might not be strictly the case - yes, you probably need some money, but it may not be the case that you must purchase food, shelter, and access to a piece of land. People on permies are advertising land sharing all the time - it's possible there's someone in your region who wants to share land where you can work to provide your own food and shelter, without the need for money, or for a drastically reduced need for money.

Well, i'm almost there... I'm living at a 50m2 house with a 3000m2 of land for 180€ per month. But there is something I also need: skills. I haven't been prepared to fulfil my needs out of the enviroment, and I'm attached to a lot of things that only money can buy. 45 years of urban life under the money system made me that way. I'm doing my path to free my self, and a LOT is behind me but there's still a LOT ahead... And I know that I dont have the time to free my self completly...

Tobias Ber wrote:
at least in our society.

I would say that these little words are the key. This society is profoundly sick, and having money to be able to help others and make a living is a symptom of that sickness.
Why help people in Africa sending them money? Wouldn’t it be better to leave them alone? We are depleting their natural resources to sustain our luxury lifestyle, and then send them money, so that they can get "educated" and have "progress"?!!
I'm not trying to get some income to help that way. The income I'm talking about is to help me to fulfil some needs that I'm completely unable to fulfil without money. Actually if I don’t have some money I can’t have food and shelter or access to a piece of land that would provide it to me: That very basic right of every being was withheld by this profoundly sick society of ours...
All the three principals are important and complementary, they can't be seen separately. The thread has been focusing on the third principle, because we have the money illness and when someone talks about surplus or sharing, money is the first thing that comes to our mind. But what I was thinking about when I first posted, was about making an income without harming others (and the earth and myself, which actually I think it’s all the same, but that’s another story :p), without making them believe that they need useless things so I can sell them, or that they would be happy if they buy me stuff, or without using systems that are based on the theft of resources of other beings, without breaking ecosystems, and so on...
That’s why it is so difficult for me, a guy born in a city and educated to be a successful employer or employee, to find a local activity in a small community, that harms no one, that regenerates the earth and that makes me and all around me wealthier.

Hi Tracy,

Thank you so much for your time and attention
Fortunately, guilt was never a problem. I do the best that I can, and that’s enough for me. Although I know that my best isn’t always the best for others and the universe, there’s nothing I can do about it. But I’m always trying to go further with my best, and that’s what all of this is about.
I’m already working online. I "kinda quitted" my old job but I’m still doing some tasks online to my old boss. That gives the income I need. But it will end in a near future.
Upwork is very interesting, and I thank you very much for letting me know it, I sure will use it

Thank you all for your comments, I really appreciate them
I think my problem is that I haven't found in me a skill that would be useful for the community. All the skills I have (IT, Microsoft system administrator) are not relevant where I am located now. Besides, Microsoft is completely out of any acceptable ethic, so I want to get out of this. I'm 47 now, and lived for 43 years at a big city, so... what can a guy like me do at a small community?
I've red lots of posts and I could do (at least I think so) lots of money with online stuff, like blogs, youtube channels, affiliate programs, etc. but all of that goes against the lifestyle I’m looking for: I don’t want to earn money that comes from advertising things that I can’t even control (I find lots of times adds of awful things in permies.com and "good guys" sites), I don’t want to use google systems or amazon or nothing like that. They are the "bad guys" as Paul uses to say. I want to create another reality, one where (as Paul also says) I can be nice and others can too. I don’t want to use "market laws" where prices are made by demand and offer; prices should be fair for everyone.
I want that my income comes from an activity where me and all the others involved (and not involved also, actually the whole universe!), in the end, are better than in the beginning.
I really think it’s a skill problem... and also a vision problem: what skill should I acquire and how?
Oh well... I’ll keep waiting for the answer to find me :p

I've been struggling with this question for years. I thought the answer would come to me as i would get more wise and engaged with a permie lifestyle, but it still didn't :p
I predict that in a few months my residual job (some tasks i still perform online for my old boss) will end and so will my income.
All the ways to get some income that come to my mind conflict with an ethic that i am determined to follow (care for the earth, care for people, share the surplus).
Of course that i could sell stuff that i grow, but i'm still learning about plants and around me everybody grows food and there are lots of farmers that do a very good job, so it would be very dificult to compete with them.
What do you think about this?

My strategie is:
- no shampoo, no shower gel, only plain water. Natural skin fat is a great protector
- big hat
- slowly grow a tan
- eat food with beta carotene (mainly carrots and sweet potato)
- shirts and pants (no t-shirts or shorts)
- drink lots of water when exposed
- avoid sun exposure when my shadow is shorter than me
- if really necessary use coconut or olive or linseed oil.