what frameworks support us in getting from here to the future we want to live in? here are the current favourites at appleturnover:
integrate. what are you doing separately that could be integrated instead? examples. lifelearning so that tending your garden or making your clothing is the curriculum. creating a business from what you already do. the small farm workout. the cleaning meditation, the harvesting party, the dinner-cooking date. weeding-therapy/soil-microbe aromatherapy. apprentice-helpers (yes! stay tuned for this at appleturnover.) walking meetings. slow foraging bicycle commutes. bicycle-milling high intensity training. watching the live entertainment that is weeder geese, slug-catching ducks, bug-chasing hens, bramble-eating goats.
stack functions. what else can you do while you do the thing? examples. while the wood stove is heating our home we can also boil water for tea, hot water bottle, washing up, we can dry laundry, make toast, bake inside it, warm yogurt nearby, dry fruit, cook english muffins, make a stock, boil kitchen linens, make wood ash and biochar, warm up leftovers and cups of tea.
downshift. if you need fossil fuels to run a tool, can you swap it for electric? say, a chainsaw. if you need electric to run a tool can you swap it for solar? say, a pump, a hot water heater. can you use mechanics that draw on human-power? say, wind-up radio flashlight or a bicycle mill. can you swap exercising for the sake of exercise, for labouring for exercise, say scything grasses, or barrowing haybales, or digging compost. if it needs water (toilets) can you swap it for waterless (compost toilets). if it is waste, can you find where it is a yield? (pee, greywater, wood ash, prunings, cleaning rags, eggshells, vinegar, mulch, wood-chip, compost.)
sometimes friendly connected problem-solving and thinking together in dialogue is such a catalyst for the change we long to make in our own lives, that can reverberate out into all of life. if that’s what you need, you might like the member-directed appleturnover farm and farmhouse tour or the appleturnover mentorship messages.
what frameworks are you working with to move toward the future you want to see?