Hi everyone, I am looking for some suggestions for a course for my husband to attend. He's in severe need of his mojo/confidence back. It's a long story, but the short of it is - we (especially he) worked really hard to finally be able to move from our small-ish town (and finally renovated cottage) to a country property we purchased a while back. He's finding that he doesn't know much about anything at all - never been in this environment before - and we want to do as much for ourselves as possible (since we are currently not working and finances are tight). I feel that he needs a holiday from all the projects here, and perhaps use this opportunity to get some confidence back and learn some new skills. Is there any way he can accomplish both? The 5 day course about sustainable building methods is 18 hours away by car.. but it sounds kinda like what he needs. It doesn't *have* to be permaculture specifically.. He thinks that if he just knew / learned *something* it would help him cope better around here. I'm scared that this isn't the life for him at all, and if things continue along this path we'll be forced to sell up. It's honestly that bad right now. Thanks for any suggestions.
Have you checked with the TAFE's in your area. They sometimes run organic courses and short courses on welding and fencing etc and there may be some help from centerlink for fees. My husband bought a caravan park with the ideas of community and sustainable living it was a great idea but unfortunately he discovered he didn't really like people all that much and that most people are pretty stupid and even the most basic sustainability is beyond many of them. We are both back in the paid workforce now to pay the bills but still have a small hope to return to the Park. Your husband might be better with some part time work around the area maybe some farm work and then he'll see it isn't all too hard. Work on the bite size principle, work out a list of small things you can do and over 12 months you will have done heaps. Best of luck and hope things work out for you Cathy
Has he discovered Owen Geiger's Natural Building Blog? https://www.naturalbuildingblog.com/ Plenty of knowledge and projects there with ideas for nearly everything. Kind of like taking a course without the travel or $$.