Pipe dreams coming true

New topic where to write down your dream

I think it is clear that the western way of life, as well as using growth as the way to measure progress, are not sustainable due to finite resources. This should be enough reason to look for a change of the current model, although there are many others which involve social aspects. From my point of view, we live in a society of selfishness, where people compete instead of collaborating; a fast-paced and stressed society in which the present doesn't exist and it is the future what matters; a capitalist society where consumerism is the centerpiece, money is needed to buy "happiness" and human values are being forgotten... A completely lost society which is not longer able to differentiate between important and superficial things.

I know that I can't change all of it, partly because many of these facts are part of myself since I have been brought up surrounded by them. However, I would like to try and make things a little bit better.

In my ideal life, I live in a quiet place surrounded by nature. It is green, mountainous and the air is clean. At night you can relax outdoors during the summer, and in winter you can warm yourself by the fireplace. I live there with my family and it is a very basic place, but homy. We try to be self-sufficient in food, water and electricity. In order to achieve this, we have a vegetable garden and some chickens that provide us with eggs, while for water and electricity we make use of the natural resources available. However, given that full self-sufficiency is very difficult to achieve and that I like traveling we need some income, but not too much. This comes from our B&B, where guests are served homemade food and from the different workshops that we organise. I'd like to point out that the aim of these workshops is not only to make some money but to encourage people to live in a simpler and more natural way, providing them with tools to escape the consumer society.
A very important aspect about these workshops is that they are available for people in low income. Instead of paying with money they can work in the vegetable garden and maybe learn some new skills. We are also in contact with local organisations and organise workshops for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Finally, regarding the social aspect, I am very lucky because my friends are involved in the project so we can have relaxed evenings after work. But they're not the only ones since we have woofers all the year round! This gives us the opportunity to meet people from all over the world and be always learning new things.

There are other ways of living. Do you want to try?

From my point of view I could contribute to the project in several ways. I could prepare food for the guests and take care of the vegetable garden. Apart from these I could also run some workshops, maybe in making bread and basic agriculture. I know that I don't have the skills yet, but at the moment I am doing an online agriculture curse and I have joined a permaculture curse which is starting this month. Besides, when my contract finishes I am planning to spend a few months doing woofing, where I can learn many more things.

On the other hand I can foresee some issues to the project. The main one is the economic part, since getting a land in which to develope the project can be expensive. The second one is about legislation, which might be quite complex. Finally, the organization of the project itself and the allocation of tasks could be complicated too, but I think this is a much easier problem to solve.

Looking forward to hearing your comments!!

Jorge

Hi folks!
First of all a big apologise for the late reply, and secondly thanks mill to Jorge for sharing your dreaming life with us.You inspire me! I have to say that I see eye to eye with Jorge's view.The idea of being self-sufficient in food is something crucial in this basic life style.Talking about myself I feel a bit ashamed but I know pretty much nothing about it, however I promise I am going to change this, and once that Sergio and myself are back to Spain, I am gonna start working on that!!!I am very determined!!
About workshops I think It is a great idea, considering that everyone of us knows very different things about life, so I am sure we could all contribute with this project.

Finally,and the most important thing I would love to express my enthusiasm with this project.I believe we can do it, however at the moment (concerning Sergio and myself )the fact of being a bit lost with our lives does not help to think 100 per cent in this project ,which is what it deserves. As you might know, we are starting in September this Master in education,with the idea of become teachers (which is great) but greater is  to have plenty of free time and superlong holidays in order to do whatever we like the most and also what we dream about.With this in mind, if all goes to plan, once my life (and probably Sergio's life too) will be more settled I commit myself to collaborate more with the project and to provide more ideas! For the moment I do not want you to think that I do not care, It is more about having my mind in other things.But in my heart I keep this project (how poet I am!)

Alrighty lads,I hope you understand my opinion and sorry for the possible english grammar mistakes...

Loads of love!!!
Guapos y guapas!