Oliver Rose

Wow, thank you all for these awesome replies. The path forward suddenly looks much clearer.

@Jim Garlits I suppose I'll get the ball rolling with some of these PEA tasks in the coming weeks. Would be a nice way to get started even if I don't own property for the time being; I'd like to learn everything I can to eliminate fossil fuels from my lifestyle beyond the popular cries of "switch to reusable straws" and "bike to work".

I would like to know people's techniques for minimizing expense/environmental impact when they need to purchase tools (whetstones, carving implements, etc.)

@George Yacus SPI actually sounds so sick, it's just the sort of thing I was looking for! Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze it into my compounding architectural work that year. I'll look into the scholarship; if it doesn't pan out I think I can shell out some cash from my hopeful State Parks job this summer. I'm not sure I'd want to change my major though, because I've gotten quite a ways through the curriculum already, and it serves an eventual purpose (the plan is to learn how to interweave architecture into living systems). I'll talk to some of the faculty members in the agroforestry department too, and staff at Catawba. Thanks! (And go Hokies... we just beat UVA at our track and field meet so the school pride is currently through the roof.)

oop little edit: good transportation options to Staunton?

@Melissa James yes definitely, I'm not sure why I wasn't thinking about that. I try and stop by the farmers market every so often because I don't want to be that college student who only eats ramen day in day out. I'll wander about this weekend and see if there's a way I can get involved.

@Maieshe Lijn Abstract yet essential. Thanks for the intriguing thoughts.

Hugo Morvan wrote:You could start growing some crop plants indoor like climbing beans or tomatoes and make crosses.You could look for gardeners close by and give them a lending hand, most people on land are old, you're young and fit. Schedule a PDC course in summer holidays that does an exchange for work and doesn't charge much or nothing.

Lots of stupid questions coming, sorry. What’s the timescale for plants like these? I will have to return home in a month and probably won’t be able to take anything living with me. Also where’s the best place to acquire the soil mix from? Could I make it from scratch?

Cole Tyler wrote:

Jim Fry wrote:In your situation, the simplest and cheapest thing to do may be look for a farm to visit/live on, on wwoof/usa.org, where you can hands-on learn what you would like.

Absolutely agree! The small market garden I decided to give a whirl working at around 6 years ago, has turned into my mentors and even partners. I sell my own stuff to them thru their already established market, and still work there part-time. A nice win - win, I have and still am learning so much from just getting out there and doing it as a PAID helper rather than me paying for some kind of education that isn't even as immersive!

That would be very cool for sure, thank you. I would only need to figure out adequate time. Currently I’m close to geared up for a job on the trail crew at Alaska State Parks, which has also been a huge passion of mine. In the meantime, does anyone know people around Blacksburg whom I could learn anything from during the school year?

Hi there, my name's Oliver, and I'm an Alaskan college freshman, avid runner, and geofictician majoring in architecture at Virginia Tech, with a landscape architecture minor. I stumbled upon this while reading about the Living Energy Farm's DC solar microgrid system and was instantly hooked. There are so many incredible ideas here. It's actually crazy. I am trying hard to not binge-read all million posts at once because... woah. It's all so incredible!!! And I wish I understood how to do any of it. I reckon many of you have had that similar hubris of youth, where you think you know everything, then go on a little journey... oh no, suddenly you know nothing again.

With that being said, I would like to find some way to dive into this permaculture mindset. Things have been all over the place recently. I've been bouncing from Chefurka to Catton to McPherson to Georgescu-Roegen, ruminating on BOEs and NTHEs and clathrate guns, feeling like everything's pointless... but I'm tired of making myself so miserable and want to channel that energy somewhere more constructive. I think it's that looming existential idea that I'm tethered to a system that is actively destroying everything on Earth, but simultaneously have zero skills with which to survive without the system. By the end of my life, I hope I will have acquired the skills necessary to cultivate a thriving biophilic community that responds to its ecological boundaries.

That being said, I have no idea where to begin and also I am a college student and thereby broke. But I know rapid change is coming scarily quickly, and I would like to stop talking and start doing!... are there any good resources/people that can push me in the right direction?

Thank you guys, I hope all your days go amazing.