Getting paid to do permaculture... not sure many people will pay you to have a herb spiral or keep a couple of chickens, but they can all be learnt by organising a permablitz at someones house. I think there is plenty of opportunity for someone to earn a living from a fairly ethical business that you could call permaculture, without land or without a huge amount of resources if one is willing. I spent a couple of years on and off wwoofing around learning the trade and can think of at least 6 places that offered me land to use to live and create a business from. There is a great program in Oz called NEIS that can help new business owners get off the ground. One could also go back to TAFE, study their 20 hours per week, get paid Austudy, and begin their own business with the rest of their free time. And there is also business loans going at around 8% interest, which is pretty reasonable on a small lend. I think the main thing holding people back is not their creativeness but that leap into the unknown. There is plenty of land out there to be leased, or used, old people not working the land but dont want to move into town, unsude backyards where grass growing is seen as a problem and contracts can be written up for assurances and fairness. And there is plenty of good business models on growing food, which I think is probably the best way to get your foot in the door or right livelihood. But it is daunting for someone who has been used to collecting a stable paycheck, or hasn't had to organise their own income. But there is also good advice from people on that too, if you want to get out and ask for it.
There is Landshare: https://www.landshareaustralia.com.au/ https://www.landshare.net/ https://landsharecanada.com/
Exactly! "Go work at fast food!" There's a solution to every problem. Thanks for redefining permaculture for me.
>>Insipid toast said: "Exactly! "Go work at fast food!" There's a solution to every >>problem. Thanks for redefining permaculture for me." What an odd conclusion to 8 pages of ideas. And out of curiosity, Insipid, how old are you? Are you just out of college and frustrated or what is going on? What keeps coming to mind about this subject is the vague sentence, "Getting paid for doing Permaculture" does that mean we show up with compost and create raised beds, use the knowledge included in Permaculture and get paid? What? Nobody is going to pay for that. Isn't it the food that is produced by the natural methods involving Permaculture that we get paid for? So first we need a market that will buy our food. A business plan doesn't start out with, get the stuff, set it up and see if anyone will buy it. A business plan starts out with find a need by the public that they are willing to pay for on a long-term basis. When it comes to perishable food, it requires who the public is in one's own GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. I have no public to buy Asian bitter melon. It's lovely, but no one where I am would include recipes using that in their weekly diet. I had to study what my local public was willing to pay for. I try to talk them into other things, but what they come back for is the same, predictable stuff. And, honestly, my public doesn't have a clue about Permaculture or even organic gardening. The folks who know about organic gardening where I am grow their own food and don't come to me to buy it. So they all like it when I explain these are Permaculture methods, they smile, they feel a little better. But it's not Permaculture they are buying. Even if I were doing landscaping, they want what it looks like first and foremost. Secondly they might be pleased that it is laid out the way it is, but they want what is produced by it, whether it's appearance, ease of care or fruits and vegetables. ---------
To me, permaculture is about more than food, though food is important and probably what most of us focus on. Permaculture can also be about producing things besides food, such as materials (wood, fibers, etc) or products from those materials (furniture, textiles, etc). But if one were selling these things, likely the purchaser would not especially care if they were produced permaculturally or not. Some might, but most would go "huh?" and there's a great educating opportunity. Incidentally I think some people would pay to have a permaculture system installed around their house. You probably need to be an excellent salesperson to make a living at that, but people get paid for landscape design all the time, no particular reason it can't be a permacultural landscape.
There is of course a market for Permaculture design and education as well as food production...... it is not my only income but I certainly do get paid for design and consultation work (i'm currently working on 2 projects), I also get paid for teaching on a residential pdc twice a year. There are very successful Permaculture buisiness models out there, think Very Edible Gardens in Melbourne, any of the big education providers such as PRI or the Permaculture College of Australia. Theres even paid positions in mainstream education establishments such as Eltham College teaching on Cert and Dip courses, here in Aus now......
Currently, most of us still require significant non-permaculture activity in order to survive (even with the best of intentions). For anyone interested in discussing how set up (and transition to) an entire economy based on permaculture principles, I've started a new thread at: Permaculture economy
