Erica Colmenares

paul wheaton wrote:

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:I'd say three students plus the six boots.

Plus, me, you, fred and coco.  And maybe jeremy.  

It's going to be historic. :-)

Jay Angler wrote:1. Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:

Fear of communicating and relationships in general.

This is an important fear for many people who should have some extra help near by, but there is an assumption that social skills are absorbed by osmosis and that family relationships will magically resolve with maturity (just look at the average popular movie!). Developing these skills is hard work for many people in society and I really wish there were more human resources to help. Yes, there are plenty of books, but people need a safe place to practice the skills - problems aren't fixed with magic.

Such a good point, thanks Jay.

2. I'd really like to point out that as we age, there's greater risk of needing medical care.

Ugh, this is so hard! It's a balancing act, plus as you saw in your situation, even if you plan, it's not for sure things will stay as they were.

I guess what I'm trying to say is - build for your dream, but take a few minutes to pack your parachute!

Yes. This.

Great thread. I'm 54 and we're only now designing our property. The concrete steps (wide hallways and door, ability to live on one floor) are easier to get right, money permitting. It's this fear of the future, fear of who will live with/near us, that can be the most worrisome. I think it's because it's out of our control. Try as we might, other humans are a variable that we can't control.

In our situation, I've been acquainted with our future nearest neighbor since we were both four, so for fifty years. I have very little in common with him, but once we move there, I expect my relationship with him will be important. I'm going to take care to be thoughtful and try to tamp down my judgmental side when he and I interact. On another side, a young couple who inherited the land just built a nice home, and will likely outlive our presence there. I have this fantasy where they'll have a kid who will come and feed our chickens and goats when we're away/ill. They have free-roaming dogs, so in the interest of avoiding the your-dog-ate-my-chicken conflict, we're budgeting for good fences.

If our money stretches far enough, the garage will have a one-bedroom apartment to one side. I see that as a rental and/or barter space initially, and then at some point I could imagine living there if a family (our son's?! unlikely!) wanted to take over the homestead. Again, it's all in my head, but I guess a vision is a good a place as any to start.

John F Dean wrote: They (the goats) laughed at me.  

Ha! That's good info - I'll start with six feet, and save myself that trouble!

Julia Winter wrote:

The center of the lower right blue themed circle is also made from pieces of a fancy plate.  I put a request on NextDoor for cracked/broken pottery and got a few really nice pieces.

What a great idea! I think I once gave away a bunch of beautiful broken pots to someone making a similar request, though thru a last-gen method...maybe email?

Julia Winter wrote:I got about this far done, and then the Kickstarter was over.
.

Julia, this is beautiful. I'm inspired to use some beautiful plates I have that I never use for this - That is what the flowered piece is, right, the center of a plate? Now I need to figure out how to get/build a rocket oven.

I think this is my favorite thing ever.

brand a piece of equipment
 requires
    name
    the keys carry the name
 examples
    ranger doug (our little pickup truck)
    rex (the excavator)
 add some sort of interesting flair/character to the equipment

I looked to see if someone here recommended Dry, by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman, but I must have heard about it somewhere else. Don't read it at night, if you're bothered by believable end-of-civilization scenarios. If anyone here knows of a permies thread about whether you share or hoard in a crisis, I'd love to read through it. I'm a sharer by nature, and still think that would be my response.

I finished the Nantucket Series by S.M. Stirling. Really good read, thanks Chris Kott. I enjoyed the part about how folks interacted with government and society more than the battle and war strategy parts, but overall it was entertaining and thought-provoking. I also am starting Stirling's Emberverse. The first one, Dies the Fire, was good.

bob day wrote:I wanted to put up this link for you  webpage  and I hope it displays properly.  I could go into how the actual course was so great (Geoff Lawton online 2014), and it changed my life, but we're not all created equal and this video seemed to do a good job on what to expect, etc. Especially since Geoff's course is getting ready to start.

Thanks! I've been getting his emails, and have almost committed a number of times over the past two months. Being honest with myself, though, I learn best doing, and in community, and I'm not the most disciplined of people. So I feared it would become yet another thing that I felt guilty about not doing enough.

Dillon Nichols wrote:
I think an in person PDC with a first rate instructor who is local to your chosen biome is far better value for money.

"Your chosen biome" is the kicker for me. I'm so tempted to do the Bullock Brothers PDC this summer, but it's here in the Pacific NW (Orcas Island - beautiful!) and our land is in Tennessee. Spiral Ridge Permaculture in TN is offering a PDC this spring - I'm waiting for the dates to be set to decide if I can swing it.

Mike Barkley wrote:Interesting replies. Another option is the pep/pex program that is starting here at permies.

Mike, I've signed up for the inaugural PEP1 course. I'm nervous as hell.

S Benji wrote:What you can do now is work on getting some dehydration skills + fermentation skills other food preservation skills.

Then I would work on time management skills and building your body's endurance and strength.

This is really good. Yes. Body strength, endurance ... less time sitting typing, more time outside doing projects.

I somehow missed all these great responses. Off to read; will respond soon!