OP1b-Projections and Possibilities

I had and continue to have many ideas for possible projects I can undertake or develop. Here is a brainstorm! I tried to think of a few of the necessary steps for each idea to give myself a clearer picture of the scale and intensity of each project. There are also things I would like to do but do not know where they would fit in exactly.

• building a yurt – peel the rest of the trees, collect wool blankets, research cover design and appropriate materials,

• gardening around the house and in a community garden plot – make big poster of courtyard plan, research plant guilds, ordering useful seeds and plants, teaching my community about plants

• biking – could have a bike repair party, assemble toolkit, identify important basic skills

• reading - all subjects! Browse the wonderful public library, get reccomendations from friends and mentors

• approaching galleries with a portfolio – making a good art portfolio online and hard copy - high quality scans of paintings and drawings, photoshoot of clothing with friends as models, could do something in Mahara!

• take permaculture design course – Make a design for Kennedy  and Honeydale Property. (house I live in and my property)

• organize garbage pick up party - contact community groups, make posters, get sponsership in form of donated fruit tree from local organic nursery?

• designing yards for free - doing permaculture designing for experience - review coure material and design process

• ordering books - "Fungal Pharmacy", "Edible Forest Gardening", "Gaia's Garden", something on year-round gardening in this climate, wild foods, etc!

• growing mushrooms - ordering spawn, finding a place - contact local farmers who have offered land and resources

• growing a lot of food for possible sale with some friends or alone - several people have offered the use of their land and tools in the area - figuring out what to plant, deciding where, meeting with possible collaborators
• building cob ovens - one at my friends' farm, perhaps at music festivals? educational, demonstrating natural building techniques - contacting festival organizers, sourcing materials
• figuring out how to be nomadic in the modern world- cultural cross of neo-tribal nomadism and high technology

 Out of this brainstorm I chose three ideas to develop a bit further.

Project One - Feeding Myself at Home

I chose to focus first on gardening around the house and in my community garden plot and generally getting my zone 0 and 1 in order. To me this seems like the most immediately important skill to develop. I include in this project wild food knowledge. On the to-do list for this project:

• creating a plant guild plan for the community garden bed and implementing it

• doing a full design of the apartment building

• building an herb spiral in the yard

• creating some growing beds in the apartment courtyard

• collecting wild edible plants and creating an inventory of locally availible wild food with pertinent information
• the output for this project might be a documentation of my garden with reflection and information/additional research as well as a little booklet of wild plants around Saint John that I could have printed and give out

Project Two - Freedom of Movement

Researching historical and contemporary light travel in North America. I want to have one backpack with everything I need and nothing I don't. My intention is to develop an efficient and minimalistic lifestyle that will enable me to travel freely and almost indefinitely. This learning would include

• wild edible plants

• highly durable, functional clothing and tools

• how tribal nomads lived and continue to live

• neo-tribal and paleolithic culture resurgence

• means of financially supporting myself on the road – a highly portable skill, perhaps music or fire poi dancing

• doing a material possession purge, documenting the process and the psychology of possessions, how this relates to self-image and self-worth

• find out more about the concepts of "Free Man on the Land", opting out of corporate nationalism - what are the realities, possibilities and restrictions?
• the output for this project would be a sort of anthropological research paper and also a personal journey of intentional transformation, documented by journaling, art, photography and other ideas that may yet come to me through the process

Project Three - Mycology 101

Mushrooms have a vital role in the life systems of Earth and act as healing agents in humans and landscapes. They facilitate transformation by decomposing dead matter and making it into nutritious mulch that forms the base of many ecosystems. I wish to learn about mushroom ecology and cultivation for the purposes of ecological understanding and production of gourmet and medicinal mushrooms. Learning about sustainable wild harvesting and propagation of wild strains is also an area I want to explore.

• order spawn of various varieties and experiment with different growing techniques

• collect wild spawn and attempt propagation

• read extensively on the subject

• document with photo-journalistic approach

• Output for this project would be original research of species in this area, experimental propagation documented with photos and writing, artistic reflections of new ideas and other media.