If I was a whale / Organic dreams
I suppose most people have their dreams about what they would do if they became dirty rich. Today I would like to share my own fantasies on the things I would do in such a scenario for various reasons.
One is to create some content for Steemit, but a more relevant one for my personal journey is to create a sort of manifest that might empower and energetically fuel these ideas that often ramble in my mind.
The first couple of things I would do are not very original. I would buy land and build a place to live in, preferably a geodesic dome. Power up the house with solar energy and from there on the craziness starts to branch out.
I would divide the terrain in several sections that would look pretty much like this:
- Organic farming of known vegetables with permaculture methods such as Ruth Stout, Hügelkultur and compost fed beds.
- Semi-controlled sector, where I throw known seeds once or twice and allow unknown weeds to grow along with them. The idea would be to encourage adaptation of the known plants with the natural ecosystem. Productivity would be of little relevance, but if diversity can be achieved it would be a success.
- Minimal control space, destined to let wild herbs grow freely. I would study them, find out names and uses. This also encourages healthy soil and abundant micro-biology, as well as a nice spot for pollinators to gather. The only control here would be to remove growing trees so it doesn’t become a forest area, remaining reserved to smaller plants.
- Experimental mushroom cultivation, which would consist on a shadowed area where I pile up different kinds of organic matter (leaves, bark, manure, small branches, hay).
Each pile would consist of only one type of material, for example if it is oak bark, then the pile is only oak bark. Under shadow and with constant moisture added, it should be a perfect breeding ground for different types of mushrooms which I would also like to study, and hopefully feed off them.
- Fruit forest mixed up with native trees. Having native trees in between each fruit tree can avoid plagues, depletion of soil resources, and also encourage diversity of the ecosystem.
- Fully-wild-nature-take-its-course space. Only intervention would be to make paths in between so this place can be walked around, admired and studied. It would also be a source of firewood when dry branches fall and trees die out.
I believe that this focus would generate much abundance of food, medicine and knowledge which I would turn partially into income.
“But why? You’re already a whale”?!, you’re probably asking.
Well, the idea of this project would be to invite others to replicate it, or at least gather some of the insights it might provide to allow them economic growth along with the preservation of Nature.
If results were good and I find myself to be living nicely, in harmony with nature, I would build a second dome. This would serve to house volunteers that want to come help and learn. I would pay them a percentage of the profits made monthly. Which leads me to a little rant on volunteer work.
I have served as a volunteer many times and my conclusion is that all voluntary work is destined to rich people who just want to have a novel experience and feel that they do good. That’s fine but what about people with little resources? They get excluded from these experiences because most projects benefit from volunteers, but give nothing substantial in return.
I mean, if you already sleep in shitty conditions and have trouble ending the month financially, why would you want to go to a place where you have to sleep in a tent, and leaves you at the end of the process just as poor as you came in?
No, people who would go to do volunteer work in this project would get a good bed, lots of food and would leave with something in their pockets to improve their condition. Maybe it wouldn’t be much, but it’s going to be something and they’ll definitely be better than when they arrived.
I would avoid treating volunteers as “lesser” players in the game, but show my gratefulness in every turn. I swear, I have worked voluntarily in places where they think they are doing you a favor for receiving you there. It is they that receive the big favor and often return it poorly.
Volunteers would also have the opportunity to stay as long as they wanted, provided they are contributing to the project and relationships are good. They could indeed live the rest of their lives there if they wanted to.
I would keep building domes with certain distance from one another so that eventually a central larger dome would be built. This would be a kind of research center, meeting place, cultural development area, and just a spot to chill and have fun.
When all this was done I think it would also become a very interesting place for tourists to visit, so that would become another source of revenue. Personally I would leave no money to fatten my pockets even further, just keep reinvesting in the growth of the community.
If money kept coming in I would keep replicating the same previous steps until a real, hardcore-no-bullshit ecovillage was finally in place. What I mean is not a place with more trees than a normal village, but a community fully inserted into the ecosystem.
Unfortunately this project would have a discriminatory aspect. All activity done within would have to be vegan and that is probably something that would drive some people away. This is not only because of ideological reasons, but also practical ones.
Imagine all the extra work needed to keep away raised cattle from the crops and the space for wild growth would be reduced. In fact, any place where cows, sheep, chickens or pigs roam won't be able to become a forest again, for they eat sprouts in massive amounts and step on any growing trees.
I think this would probably make only vegans want to come, but I wouldn’t demand that they be. I’ll admit though I would prefer recruiting animal lovers over any other kind of people.
So that’s kind of it in the large scheme. Many details left out, very general overview, but it’ll do for now.
So, what would you do if you were a whale?
Some interesting thoughts around volunteers. In South Australia many things run on volunteers, especially in the country. Remote towns couldn't function without them and I feel that there, they are probably well appreciated and cared for. However, the expectation for volunteers runs through the metropolitan areas too and there we end up with a situation rather more like you describe. So much so, that volunteering is getting less common as people feel unappreciated for it and now they are starting to try and guilt trip people into it. It's become too one sided and is no longer community supporting one another as it should be.
This is a refreshing take on how one might use a fortune. Not a car or cruise in sight. 😊
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Yeah, I've even seen some places where you have to pay to volunteer lol. No car or cruise in sight, but if teleportation devices exist when I make a fortune I'll be getting one of those for the central dome hahaha
You've got some pretty well thought out goals! I'll admit I've thought about it, too, and would love to be able to go all in on homesteading but, honestly, if I had the resources to do it, I'd open an art, game, and toy studio and spend my day making art, games, and toys.
I see no reason why you can't do both, though I'm also an art and games lover. Toys not so much, perhaps I like tools better. Anyway, all creative process just takes you to that special place, and that is priceless.
You need to try New Zealand then. I think you could do all that here and be quite amused by the support of local markets. Not something to get rich, though. But in terms of lifestyle, awesome in my view.
I would love to visit New Zealand. I think if you do something like this you may not get a lot of money, but you will most certainly be rich :)
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You have made some great points, I'll give you that! :)
Thanks for reading!
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The DREAM is everything! The dream enables manifestation, shapes it, delivers it. A GLORIOUS post about eco-community, new paradigms and a changed world.
Maybe ask yourself which small part of that dream can you enact-create-being today, without the squillions. As we have seen from @eco-alex this week, it DOESN'T need millions or heavy financing and it might just drop in your lap!!
Just get on it and assume the reality is already here and you just need to acknowledge and be thankful for it.
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Yes, you are on spot. Right now I am composting, and have a humble nursery of near 100 native trees. I also let whatever wants to grow in my backyard do so and it's pretty diverse. I feed off the wild plants I know are edible. I have been lazy on plant and mushroom ID but it is also something I have contributed to in the past. I practice a vegan lifestyle, and try my best to buy local. I guess I'm juicing it as much as I can with my current resources, but it is all difficult as I am always juggling financially to pay rent and bills. I don't legally own land and that limits my possibilities. But I have learned patience and know things will come when I'm ready :) thanks for reading and supporting!
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Maybe rethink the backstory about land ownership and what is really required? @eco-alex has some great thoughts about this stuff - he and I have many deep and meaningful conversations about that here in Thailand. Hugs. Doing what you can is enough.
Based on your recommendation I read the ecoVillage's latest update. Well, if I meet up with someone reliable to do that it would be awesome! Unfortunately my last attempt at that went very sour, as the owner of the land started to get paranoid about his cannabis plantations and all effort went down the drain. I suppose one should be very cautious when dealing with these situations...
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Would you even need to be a whale to do all this? Maybe some money to buy the land but if you can get it to a point where it's all sustainable then you wouldn't need millions? Not sure what the price of land is though 🤔
This post reminds me of one that was on trending recently (might still be) about building an ecovillage and funding via crypto which could be pretty interesting.
Anyway, great post, like the thought experiment #powerhousecreatives
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Maybe not, I think the idea I had in mind was if money were not a limitation. But here in Chile land is pretty expensive, and salaries low compared to the cost of life...
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Also you're right, if it came to the point of being sustainable money would be pretty unimportant
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Thanks for share your thoughts.
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