Originally posted by TCLynx on AGC, May 12, 2010 Edit January 2020 (May Contain Affiliate Links)
We are all different and yet, many of us find our ways back around to very similar points in our lives.
I am definitely not what many people would think of as “normal” at least once they know anything about me. My “Profession” is definitely not “normal.” I’ve been a stagehand, techie, roadie, or the like for many years. I might call myself an audio engineer, lighting technician, AV technician and I’ve worked a wide variety of jobs. Most of them are nothing that the general public would even think of most of the time. You know all those big corporate meetings and trade shows or conferences that many industries have? Well my industry “Puts on the show”. When I was younger, I thought I would be happy traveling all the time, I thought touring was great. I have done the entertainment side (Touring Shows like Riverdance, yea I was the one taping microphones to their shoes!) Several years ago I was out on the road, in a new city each week or perhaps twice a week and I became totally frustrated with Building a Routine trying to be and eat healthy while living in hotel rooms and out of suitcases. It was hard enough to simply eat, let alone good healthy fresh foods. It was time for a change.
I got off the road and stayed home but that wasn’t good enough (home at the time was an apartment with a shady 9′ by 9′ patio.) I did start there. I was doing hydroponics inside under lights, trying to compost on my little patio, and attempting to get food to grow in containers in the shade. Living in an apartment doesn’t mean you can’t grow any of your own food, you just have to be more creative about it. It didn’t take long before I needed a home with some access to the earth though and I’ve now turned my little place with 1/3rd of an acre lot into as much of a farm as I probably dare.
The 1/3rd acre farm has much in the way of dirt gardens as well as the Aquaponics systems of course. Composting and worm farming is much easier with a little space. We also keep some chickens to provide us with eggs and this past year we have added Muscovy Ducks to our flock. Muscovy’s can provide eggs but they are more for meat (Big benefit, Muscovy ducks don’t quack.)
I have become confident that this little lot with some practice at gardening here, could provide a huge amount of our own food but I would like more space on some agricultural land where the neighbors can’t turn me in for every little thing that doesn’t meet their ideal of “normal.”
I want to build the soil and have enough space for the birds to free range that I won’t need to provide them with as much purchased food as I currently must. I want my birds to protect my fruit trees from pests while fertilizing the soil in the “food forest.” I want to surround the house with highly productive aquaponics to feed the family high value fruits and veggies. I want to be comforted by an abundances of fresh food that the sound of it thumping to the ground just means a treat for the animals, not a waste that we didn’t pick it in time.
The power and feeling of well being I get when eating a meal prepared mostly from produce of our own little plot is something I want to share with the rest of the world. I’m confident that my home has a good supply of fresh and preserved food on hand. I fear for the larger population come some disaster since many areas of our country only have 3 days worth of food on hand at any one time. If the trucks, boats, and planes stop delivering food from far away, many people will starve. Heck, many people are already starving while at the same time they are overweight because the food they are eating no longer provides all the nutrients they need for a balanced diet. I may not be able to change the world directly enough to cause a visible change in the “way things are” but if enough of us lead by example and share what we do with those who are interested, We Will Change the World.
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