Developing Beyond Sustainability

I've spent the last ten years completely off grid living in the Hurricane Creek Wilderness Preserve working with primitive skills, gardening, everything related to food and medicine production from scratch. I'm a seed saver for Conserving Arkansas' Agricultural Heritage seed bank project out of the University at Conway. I teach herbal medicine, edible wild foods,wildcrafting and related botanical topics for the Ozark Tracker's Society,a nature awareness educational nonprofit. I've recently relocated to another (not quite so remote...but remote) location called Earth Offerings where I'm involved in expanding the educational program to include a botanical garden highlighting deep ecology and the creation of the Ozark Botanical Institute to promote conservation and education of our very fine Ozark medicinal and food plants. I also give "The Wisdom of Women's Herbs" workshops in Arkansas with follow up groups. I've just started a blog at http://earthoffering.blogspot.com/  and am working on another specifically for the women's herb groups.Not ready yet.

I've been a student of permaculture since the late 1990s and have integrated as  much as possible into my lifestyle. I'm a practicing buddhist and an  avid bibliophile with a wide range of interests...mostly relating to bettering ourselves and the way we live on earth. Vegetarian.

In my later years in the wilds I had a solar powered laptop with Sat-link for very sporadic and  rather brief communication. Now I'm again with electricity which does give an advantage for  networking in the area on line so I'm all about doing that. I believe its very important for us to strengthen communities, share knowledge and provide encouragement and support to each other. We have a lot to do...I also think we must have fun doing it.

I've been living without a job or an income ...or  government  assistance..or  savings...for a long time...and I've lived very well. I would like to encourage folks to think differently about money...value it less...value what we can do for ourselves and each other more. I'm an advocate of alternative economics...of resourcefulness...gosh, the ol' "pioneer spirit" ... from the heart centered connection each of us has with "the source".