permaculture

[Martha Simmons <marthasimmons@iocnet.net>]

Given our experience, I would tend to agree with Lawrence.  Shortly 
after we purchased our land and began house renovations, we met a 
couple that seemed an answer to our dreams.  The husband was a 
contractor/carpenter; the wife an accomplished organic gardener.  We 
needed teachers/co-workers in both of those areas; they were looking 
for land.  What could not be right about this?  I acted (too) quickly 
and invited them into a barter arrangement:  their labor for points 
toward X number of acres.  It quickly became apparent that despite the 
logical appeal, there were plenty of hidden difficulties that morphed 
into irreconcilable differences.  The "breakup" was extremely painful 
for all of us.  It took awhile for us to repair the relationship.  We 
are now acquaintances/friends, but the scar remains.

Doing something like this is akin to a marriage.  It is probably 
impossible to know the betrothed too well before taking this kind of 
step.  And I can tell you, it is very possible to act too quickly.  
FWIW, Martha Simmons.
************************
"It's a peculiarity of modern technology that people anywhere in the 
world can sit back and watch in real time, like voyeurs, the 
life-and-death struggles of their fellow humans. The planet is growing 
smaller and its residents more interdependent by the day. We're fully 
aware that our planetary neighbors in southern Asia are desperately 
drawing upon the deepest reservoirs of fortitude and resilience that 
our troubled species has at its disposal.

What this means is that we're the supportive community. All of us. This 
catastrophe would at least have a silver lining if it moved the people 
of the United States and other nations toward a wiser, more genuinely 
cooperative international posture." -- Bob Herbert, New York Times, 
December 31, 2004
On Feb 25, 2005, at 5:27 AM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:

> Elijah Smith wrote:
>
> > He wants autonomy, and I want him to have it too; I won't and can't 
> > manage him...
> > However, I'm a little loathe to just sign his name to the land title. 
> >  I
>
> DO NOT.
>
> repeat for your benefit: DO NOT add anyone to your title to your land, 
> under any circumstances.
>
> That's called: GOOD ADVICE
>
> >  don't know him *that* well, though we seem to be on the same page so 
> > far.  I can't really see wanting to kick him off the land unless 
> > something really egregious occurs and I want him to feel secure 
> > there... so how do we come up with a mutually agreeable arrangement?  
> > What have YOU done in this situation?  Saying "let's try a year and 
> > see how it goes" won't fly, because to even move onto the land is 
> > going to require a lot of investment on his part.  And long term, I 
> > intend to cultivate a community on the land, perhaps even to the 
> > point of my stepping away from it...
>
> Forget it and work your land yourself. Or just sit, look and 
> appreciate it in its unaltered state.
>
> LL
> --
> L.F.London
> lfl@intrex.net
> http://market-farming.com
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