I'm so glad the OP (Timothy) started this thread. It seems there are a lot of us in this boat!
Thoughts:
1. I wish I could grow up my girl on a farm. I am not going to be able to do that. But, she is old enough to join 4-H this year, and we will be able to plug-in to the local farming community in a new meaningful way, and I may then discover (with volunteering, etc.) that I don't need to personally have a farm for her to grow up with farms, you know?
2. I think it's important that we Permies should always learn, innovate and prototype to get the most out of ourselves as well as our land. With a shaded urban lot, I am extremely limited as to what I can ever grow, but there are other ways besides gardening that I take action on my aspirations to make Permaculture more of a normal thing, and live by Localism principles. There is truly always more to try, and lots and lots to learn, which is very exciting.
3. Speaking of which, my biggest opportunity for growth in the Permaculture scenario is learning to do serious foraging, I think. If I put even 5% more potential time and energy into this, I would have an even greater life. Foraging would benefit me in about every conceivable way: getting me out in nature more, teaching me about local seasonal cycles, providing us the most nutritious food that can be found, saving us money on food, prepping my family with knowledge for emergencies...etc.
