permaculture

["Kirby Fry" <peace@totalaccess.net>]

Hi John,

Thanks for the encouragement, it's much needed at the moment.

Just yesterday I was chatting with a friend about his cohousing group.  He's
been plugging away at it hard for a couple of years now, looking for land,
paying into his 5% of estimated unit cost, establishing financial and design
criteria, paying realtors and financial advisors to chart what the future
may look like for a cohousing member.

However, it typically comes down to members being extremely picky about one
or two criteria - i.e. "I want to be able to walk everywhere," or "not in
THAT neighborhood," or "not in THAT old townhouse complex."

He was keeping his chin up pretty well, but I keep seeing the same thing
over and over.  Folks want something which will fulfill every desire and
something that they will never regret buying into.  It's like we all suffer
from anxiety over our fear of post consumer doubt.  My attitude is that it's
the commitment of the people that matters, not the specificities of site
location or rules regarding how many dogs a member can own, etc.

I lived and worked on crab fishing boats as a biologist for two winters on
the Bering Sea, (like being in prison with the possibility of drowning) and
during that time my resolve to build a sustainable settlement crystallized
and was galvanized.  When I got off the boats I knew pretty much exactly
what I wanted, my only critical criteria was that I be somewhere near my
family, which meant somewhere along the Gulf Coast.

It probably takes some sort of life altering experience like that to cut
through the fog of our culture before we're truly sure of what we want and
what we're willing to give up in order to get it.  It's also necessary to
expose lots of people to systems like permaculture so that they know what
their options are.  I bet a lot of folks who have done time in prison or had
life threatening experiences are ready to drop the b.s. and commit to their
dreams.

Hey, now I'm even more motivated to teach Pc as vocational training to
prison inmates. ;^>

Kirby