Howdy!
So I have always hated throwing "junk" away (my wife says it is because I am a hoarder) but it has always brought me joy to save things, fix them, and find new/alternative uses for things. I have also always been fascinated with old things (tools, equipment, radios, etc.) and loved the old, simpler way of doing things. I think of it as "Old Soul Living", Yes, a lot of times it is harder, and dirtier, and doesn't get you as nice a result, but things were also less
disposable. I hate how we live in a throw away society now.
Long story short, in my career I went from studying mechanical and aerospace engineering, to owning a handyman business and eventually got into building ultra-custom luxury homes (think hand-made materials vs bought off the shelf) and doing historic restorations. As I moved up from fixing houses to building them I learned more and more about how to build something that would really LAST, the beauty/importance/utility of good design and craftsmanship, and the importance of treating a house as a system, not just a conglomeration of parts picked in a design center.
I got further down the rabbit hole of understanding building science, Net Zero homes etc. etc. and that is when I discovered earthships and natural building. It was funny to me to think that the net zero folks and the earthship folks seemed to both be chasing the same ideal (healthy, net zero homes that help the environment) but one was going about it via high tech and the latest and greatest in engineering and performance building techniques ($$$) and the other was trying to do it by pounding dirt into old tires.
Parallel to learning about building I was learning about homesteading, starting to worry about the quality of food my family was eating, all that good stuff (we only have a small garden and raise a few meat
rabbits... for now). Of
course, that eventually lead to me to find
permaculture and fall in love with the way everything comes together as a system; not just a home as a system, but the
land and animals and people all working together for the benefit of all.
Currently I am working on getting my
PDC and having a great time learning. I am hoping that down the road I can do design work for others and of course get my own land to do more on (currently renting a place with a 1/42 acre
yard). I have done all kinds of work (hands on with everything to build houses, fix vehicles, welding, etc. etc.) and enjoy having variety to my days. My wife and I are also hoping to be able to start homeschooling our 5 kids in the next year or so and get them more involved in working the land and getting real life experiences.
Professionally I am a "director of operations" and enjoy working to stabilize and help small companies to grow, and I am currently looking for my next job and trying to find a company that aligns with my values (most builders just want to pump out crappy disposable houses as cheap as possible). Ideally I'd find an
intentional community (or homestead development company or something) that needs an operations guy to help run things and build a bunch of homes and buildings for
permaculture communities. That's the dream anyways.
So here I am trying to put myself out there and see what connections I can make and what I can learn from the rest of y'all!
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