plantyhamchuk:

cookie-monster0-o:

plantyhamchuk:

grandmawitch:

ode-to-moths:

Everybody’s always talking about desperately wanting to run away into the woods and build a hut, start a vegetable garden, collect stones, ignore capitalism, etc. But really, when you think about it, what’s stopping us? Communes and things like that have successfully existed before. Who says that we couldn’t pool resources and get a plot of land and start the solar punk goblin/cottagecore lifestyle we dream about? Like I’m being super optimistic here, but I can’t help but think about it. 

Yea o___o

Southern Ohio is rural and dirt cheap, I’m sure there are plenty of other places like that all over.

What if we, like…actually…organized?

Tons of cheap land in Appalachia, Midwest, and all over, really.

For anyone who is interested in this sorts of thing, there’s a few things to look into: 

1) learning basic food skills. Learn how to cook from scratch. How to bake from scratch. Try to shop in season and take advantage of deals you may find, and then learn how to preserve or put back what you can’t use in a week.

2) learning gardening skills. Herbs in containers can be a good place to start. Buy seedlings, buy a bag of potting soil, find/scavenge something suitable for a container (stab holes into it if necessary).

3) learn any other relevant skillset that interests you. this might involve volunteering at local farms, animal rescues, and habitat for humanity.

4) Start visiting existing ecovillages and intentional communities (maps pictured above and below). They DO exist, some are even here on tumblr. Take the time when you can to visit such communities. Watch how they organize things and work together - every community is different. Many of these communities will do work/trade so you can visit, do some labor, and learn while you’re there. You will see things you will want to replicate. You will see things you won’t. 

If you can actually get a group of people together to learn and practice these skills, and then to actually join together with on-the-ground real-world time spent in some intentional communities, you’re well on your way to actually creating one.

One of the common questions I run across in r/homesteading is how to pick out the best type of land. This is a clear sign that the person/people aren’t ready yet to actually get it. As you learn your skills and figure out exactly what you want to do on your homestead / commune / intentional solarpunk village or whatever, you’ll figure out on your own what kind of land you’ll want to do those things.

People think getting the land is step #1, it’s actually more like step #212.

You may be able to achieve your dreams! But your dreams will take time, time to learn the skills (volunteering + youtube makes this easier than ever), time to earn the money to buy things like the land and the well and the tools, time to organize your group. A five year plan isn’t a bad idea. V and I put ourselves through a 5 year homesteading/repair skills bootcamp before we got our property. We also got in shape.

And you don’t have to learn 100% of information about a skill before trying! I want to bake and garden (and more) but trying to tend to my parent’s garden has been overwhelming. So I “practice”. One year it was seeing if I could grow lettuce and spinach in a window box. I should mention I had killed off a NUMBER of houseplants in years prior, before keeping some of the lettuce and spinach alive. Small, small steps here. The next I tried carrots, cucumber, and some herbs. Only the carrots survived. Last year was my best, I still have a lavender plant, mint, and basil from last summer. Practice.

I can’t own my own property yet. I can’t grow most of my own food, I have no money for fertilizer or fencing, or cans to preserve things. I have some hand me down pots, garage sale trowel, and seeds, and I practice.

Yes! Learning takes time, trial and error. You’re on the right path!

Finding out what resources are in your area / scavenging is very useful.

Fertilizer: If you can set up a composting bin, you can add in rabbit or chicken poop. Fresh will burn plants, but composted it is excellent to add to plants*. You might be able to search on craiglist or nextdoor or facebook groups for owners of pet rabbits and chickens and volunteer to clean out their pens. For non-edible food, and assuming you are healthy, not taking medications, and not squeamish, you can dilute human urine 10 to 12 parts water to 1 part human urine. Human urine does not have the ideal nutrient ratio, it’s pretty high in nitrogen, but better than nothing. 

Fencing: you may also be able to scavenge. Untreated wood fences may last you about a season (or more, depending on climate). You can take apart old pallets and rebuild them into fencing (this will take some tools, screwdriver + screws or whatever you prefer). There is also wattle fencing, where you take thin branches off of trees and weave them together… it’s a bit of an art, and takes time to gather and cut the materials, and then time to practice putting them together. There’s lots of DIY videos and websites on how to build wattle fences. You can even build living wattle fences or just plant hedges (like hazelnuts) to act as fencing. 

Jars: You can use old glass jars that food comes in to try pickling and fermenting. Sometimes thrift stores will carry them too. I ferment hot sauce by taking ball jars and just not screwing the lid on all the way. I tried fancy air locks and but have had better results from the usual metal rings + lid. You can also experiment with freezing foods as well.

Here’s a link to the full PDF of the Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz. I recommend downloading it! I was gifted the book and only really found a couple of pages useful, but it’s basically the bible of fermentation. Fermentation was one of the main methods of food preservation, pre-refrigeration / pre-electricity / pre-industrial era, in many cultures.

*In the short to medium term. Long term, get soil tests, as you can end up with excess phosphorus issues.