Anything worth doing
Is worth doing poorly
Progress Update
Our move out to the land is complete. We took the last month of the kids’ summer vacation to move and settle in.
We got all of our containerized plants into the ground, made some solid progress on the treehouse, fixed the rainwater collection experiment, started cleaning out the shop/garage for some Tool Library/Makerspace/Vehicle CoOp experiments, and got our hosts on board with recycling and composting systems.
We also took space to enjoy some of the pleasures of summer. Helping run a VBS at our church, local fairs, swimming, lots of family time…
It has been a great month. We are very blessed.
Taking the first step
“Don’t let perfection be the enemy of progress.”
“Anything worth doing, is worth doing poorly.”
“Slow progress is still progress.”
“Do it, do it right, do it better.”
This theme has been showing up for me a lot recently. We can’t let the fear of failure or the image of perfection keep us from starting something and making progress. Just like when teaching children, we have to welcome failures as part of our own learning and growing process.
Here are a few examples of things we’ve done less-than-perfect the first time, improved on, and will keep aiming for better.
Lifestyle Changes
I quit my corporate Software job and left our bougie life in Olympia, WA back in 2021. I knew something wasn’t right, but I didn’t yet know what it was. We moved back to the Ozarks to be closer to family and I took a break to heal myself and my kids.
Still relying on C@pItali$t systems to support my family, I had to get back to work. But this time, doing independent contract work so that I could control my time and start re-balancing and shifting away from consumerist behaviors. The shift allowed me to start digging into the vision of BioHarmony that I have been gifted, and shifting my network from corporate software to all things Regenerative.
Now we’re living on some land that we can work with, we’ve drastically reduced our living expenses, and I have continued to reduce my time doing consulting work so that I can spend more time pursuing BioHarmony.
I’m going to keep moving that direction. Once all of our debts are paid off, I will be able to keep cutting consulting hours, and be able to focus more on OpenSource Tools for Village Building.
Growing Food
When we were living in our rental, we started container gardening and a simple compost pile. We took seeds from our purchased food and volunteers from our compost pile and planted them in non-recyclable containers from purchased goods. The containers were okay to start the plants, but we could tell they weren’t thriving because of their limited space. Much like people, plants don’t thrive in boxes.
Now on some land, we transplanted the container starts into the ground. With more space, soil, and sun, it has been so much fun to watch them grow.
Next year, we’ll have a little greenhouse space to get plants started in late winter. We’ll get things in the ground in the spring instead of summer. We’ll have chickens to help tend to our compost pile. We’ll start a perennial food forest.
When we get to village building, we’ll do it with local Heirloom Indigenous seeds, BioRegionally Native Food Forests, calling in a Permaculture Expert, BioRegional Expert, and Indigenous Wisdom Keeper to lead workshops and help inform the village food system design.
Rainwater Catchment System
We used recycled materials to build a Rainwater Collection system. It had leaks, the barrels were warping, and the first-flush tank didn’t flush very well.
I added some more support under the barrels, tightened up the leaky spots, and re-made the first flush tank. It’s working great now, and it will help water plants and animals at our OffGrid Domesteading site.
Connecting 3 50-gallon barrels was interesting. And I suppose if someone is ever in a spot where that’s all they have to work with, it might be useful. But next time, I’ll just use a single 275-gallon ICB tote and avoid all the extra connectors. I’ll put it up on a platform (with some tool storage underneath) so that it can simply gravity-feed the RV’s fresh-water tank.
With the first Spa Dome, we are going to also use a large ICB tote as the primary incoming rainwater storage, but will have secondary water storage throughout the interior, holding solar-heated water in 50-gallon barrels.
Just DO IT
I could probably whip out more examples, but hopefully you get the idea. You don’t have to know everything do start doing something.
I often get impatient with myself, seeing my long-term goals and feeling so far away from them. But on a recent call getting enrolled in GeoShip’s Ambassador program, some words popped out of my subconscious that I really needed to hear. I am just a small part of this huge movement — and in the grand scheme of things, everything is happening at just the right time. There are so many wonderful people working towards similar goals, so I don’t have to do it all alone. And I have plenty of lessons to learn on the journey there.
Speaking of lessons to learn, here are some of my musings about “appropriate technology” and how we interact with the nature we are supposed to be stewarding.
WE can do this
I feel like I know next to nothing about living a Regenerative life. Society groomed me to be a cog in the C@pItali$t machine. But I have the internet, an open global network of people who are trying to Regenerate this planet, a local community that loves and supports me, and a loving God who wants to see their children and creation heal.
If you are reading this, you have the internet too. The network of Regenerators is open to you, too. If you don’t have a local community, I encourage you to find one — at your local library, church, farmers market (bonus points if you can find an aligned intentional community to live in!) — wherever people who might share your desire to live Regeneratively could be. If you don’t have a relationship with the Divine, I highly encourage that too, and am more than happy to share what I believe with anyone who wants to hear it.
Together, we can DO THIS!
Ozarks Area Community Congress
Speaking of Community… If you happen to be in the Ozarks BioRegion with us, or have the ability to travel and want to experience a BioRegional Gathering, I want to extend an invitation to the Ozarks Area Community Congress. It is a wonderful group of people who care about the Ozarks and meet once per year to share progress, perspective, peace, and hope. This will be my fourth year attending, third year co-sponsoring, and second year bringing our whole family. I’d love the chance to meet some of you in-person, and this is a great place to do it!
If you’re new here, thanks for subscribing! If you haven’t already, I highly encourage you to read these two key posts to make sure you know who we are, where we’re heading, and what inspires us.
Thanks for being on this journey with us!