I am 50 years old, female and have been working in the dive industry for about 20 years. My name is Irene and I am in my path to reconnecting to the basics; which for me is food producing by working in a farm. More adventurous people would try for this the hunter gatherer path… don’t trust my potential to develop those skills that much and I don’t think that would fit my ultimate goal that is to go back to my homeland, live close to my lifetime friends and enjoy my beautiful nieces and nephews while they grow up before it is too late. In these coming six month I expect not only to learn a lot about Permaculture Design and Natural Construction, but also to experience in real life a way of living that is totally alien to me, the countryside lifestyle.
Why did I choose to go the permaculture way? I think at this moment is the only sustainable solution we have now to stop this spiral of environmental degradation we produce with our modern agricultural methods. Will this be a solution for the world? Not sure, but I will follow this path as long as no other better path is shown to me and I will act as if it would save the world knowing in the back of my head and my heart that it probably wouldn’t. I want to build a self sustained farm in Uruguay. I own a small piece of land by a little river in Lavalleja department, 10 km away from the city of Minas. I will host there people that want to experience the permaculture way, either as observers only or as active participants in the process. I want to have a small food garden, herbal garden, green house, orchard and a food forest, a few animals (cows, sheep, goats, chickens) and also an area to host recued animals to ease the burden of the local animal shelters as they do a Goliath like task in Uruguay collecting dogs, cats and horses that have been abandoned or abused.