Who's changed the course of their life for permaculture?

[eco4560]

And for an extra fee he might possibly talked into a cheese making day too!

[bazman]

I took my skills from the main stream and have been applying them in the development of my new business Black Earth Products. I also get to take skills learnt from with in my industry and share those with in the permaculture world. So far so good but still a long way to go.

[adiantum]

I found myself in a similar position, in 1988. What I did was went and joined an intentional community. If I hadn't come into an inheritance, I probably would still be living in one today.

[adiantum]

That last was directly a reply to Sammyjo, who seems to be younger and starting out....

[chook-in-eire]

P.S - Naturally my parents think I'm nuts.
"What?! You don't want work a high-paying job in an office for 40 years?!"

I think your parents should be very proud of having raised such an independent thinker!

[mouseinthehouse]

It is interesting reading about the practicalities of making ends meet and getting established with permaculture. We have just begun our permaculture journey and having been on our 120 acre property for 10 years, it is really 'retrofitting' permaculture plans to what is already in existence. I have two jobs. One is as a stablehand. This has meant early mornings, 6 days a week for the last 7 years. I have also owned a second hand bookshop for the last 3 years. My partner has a job in an industry which is anathema to all I believe in - industrialised killing - export beef abattoir; he is paid very well as a maintenance fitter. So......... having begun the journey, the first things practical things we have done are:

*pushed forward with extending the vegie garden, companion planting and fruit tree planting (and transplanting)
*got some chooks who are supplying eggs, fertiliser, weed control, pest control, rotoring...
*worm farm up and running
*compost bins full/filling up and cooking
*hot house conversion (from disused shadehouse)
*guinea pigs bought and co-opted into grass control and fertilising
*increased rainwater capture
*planting of more trees and shrubs for wind protection

The bulk of our property is native remnant vegetation which is home to lots of native wildlife and left largely alone (no grazing, spraying etc)

From a financial view:

*I finish my stablehand work in four weeks.
*Medium term plan is for me to sell my shop and be working on the property full time. ($$ from shop sale to be put into solar power and more rainwater storage)
*Longer term plan is for my partner to be able to have a part time job and help on the property.
*I have gone over all our expenses and made significant savings on: rubbish collection (only use one service at my shop), car and home insurance, ditched paytv, spent $$ on antenna and stuff to get pre-paid 3G internet instead of more expensive satellite (only 2 options we have), groceries (thank you vegie garden/chooks/natural cleaners, home made bread, yoghurt, muesli etc etc), clothing (thankyou Lifeline), electricity (no dishwasher, dryer, A/C etc & discipline!), reading material (thankyou library), no impulse buying of 'stuff'. These are the main savings but we are continuously working on reducing our whole budget. We do have a mortgage (not too large by todays standards!), no other debt.
*We also barter some of the meat allocation from my partners work (worth $1000) for honey, bulk olive oil, port!, use some of the meat for dog food and sell the rest)

Freebies:
It pays to keep an eye and ear out for any freebies you can get! I am lucky to have an ongoing endless supply of horse manure, hay scraps, soiled straw, spilled grain, calf manure from the farm and stables where I have been working. (Also empty feed additive containers, old bathtubs lying around, discarded tractor tyres etc!)
My son works for a seed cleaning firm and is allowed to bring home free seed 'offal' which helps feed the chooks. Also discarded/spilled seed, like lucerne, clover, vetch - some of which is still viable is able to be salvaged and spread as green manure and to stablise/cover sandy areas. He also brings home the most incredible 'compost' which is wet seed/seed husks/dust/dirt which has piled up under augers and machinery.
Free expertise/knowledge - my son's boss keeps bees (yay) and is very happy to lend me my first established hive and teach me the basics when I am ready to proceed! (of course it will be nice to repay in kind with vegies/fruit etc)

Our medium term priorities will be:
goats for milk products
establishing another pond near the vegie garden
solar power
compost toilet
selling/swapping surplus produce at local markets

Of course there are always more and more ideas to try - my next thing will be foraging/planting new native species after finding a book on edible plants of South Australia!

Thanks for reading this long post from a newbie