Looking forward to listening to this show as we are getting ready (fingers crossed!) to close on our quarter acre in 27 days. I’ve gone over to check the property about 47 times, at all times of the day & evening and I have probably spoken to more of the people who live in that neighborhood than I have at the townhouse I’ve lived in for 14 years.
I am looking forward to putting Permaculture principles to work, not in the sticks but in a place where people can see my work and where I could maybe make a difference. I am only in my late 40’s but I think about growing older and I’d like the security of having community near me. If that’s what I want, well, I’d better get to work now!
(by the way, while we were selling the townhouse, I made sure to use all the tips you gave out over the years and we sold the house in less than 2 weeks and had many, many offers on it!)
Cheers,
Barb

Yep… my grandparents still live in the house my great grandparents lived in. In fact my grandmother was born 2miles from it. I lived there as kid. Thats where I learned my values in life.

This is an interesting topic and probably one of the grayest “which one should I do”. I was going to quibble with the title, but now I actually like it after listening to the podcast. It’s well written “the case for…”. This argument definitely SHOULD be made, but I definitely don’t think that “putting down roots” IS the only answer, for numerous reasons you’ve mentioned. I think you’ve hit the “why we’ve got here” head on. The reality is things are changing at a pace that, it would seem, barely anybody can keep up. In order to make it in this progressing world depends on one’s ability to adapt to the changing times. (Adapting is always necessary, but these adaptations are moving so incredibly fast). I think this is one reason that large corporations are going to get crushed in the future because of their, in general, inability to adapt to the changing times fast enough to be relevant. But we’ll see.

My answer to this, and just about every question it would seem in life is to have one foot on either side of the fence. Act for permanence but be mentally ok with it being temporary. This is how I view what we do. I want the things I want now, and I want to be able to live how I want to now, so why shouldn’t I live this way? I want nut trees. So that means I either have to buy a place that has them, or plant them. Well I planted them. Even if I have to move, I can ALWAYS do everything all over again (it would be fun too), so its no big deal. My worry is that often times people’s nostalgia and over-attachment can cost them their livelihood, their happiness, their children’s livelihoods, and even their life. Let’s say for example that I am not willing to evacuate here because a bad hurricane is coming. Where are my goats going to go? Well that could cost me my life.

I think the same could be said about Jews in World War 2. They grew up where they did their grandparents and grandparents and so on built the communities that they lived in and even though there were “warning signs” they held on and stayed where they were.

The even deeper question is pondering “would I stay and fight for where I live”. I’m not sure you can develop that level of personal connection with a place unless you’ve built that history from sticking it out, of which just about nobody (it would seem to me) has done that in decades. I think this is actually one of our most pressing problems in society. It’s not just about “where you live” but the people you associate with.

I should add a bit more about myself. I went to 7+ elementary schools, 4 middle schools, 1 high school, and since then have lived in 5 different apartments, 2 town houses, and 3 houses. I’d say unless something radically changes, I found the best place I’ve lived, and is probably just as good as any for sticking around.

Jack this has been the single most haunting question of my lifetime. As a kid we moved every year. I never went to the same school two years in a row. As an adult I married a military man we moved less than I did as a kid but still at least every couple of years. My kids went to a minimum of 7 different schools growing up.

I have no idea what it would feel like to be attached to a place or a house. I look at my husbands family and none of them would ever move even though where they live there are no “job” opportunities (to me the area seems so economically depressed) my sister in law has a masters in business but works at the courthouse for twelve bucks an hour. To me thats insane!

Recently we find ourselves looking to settle down and build the farm we always dreamed of but how do we choose? There is no place that we have been that we think “oh we really loved it there the people are great”. If we go to where we have family then we sacrifice a ton financially not to mention all the heavy religious stuff in the area. They are definitely not pro liberty, but they are family and we love them.

Then we think about the free state project and being part of a community that is working toward something that is very important to us. Being a part of that would be very neat and is tempting. What do you think of the free state project? Can it really be done? Can New Hampshire become Americas Hong Kong?
I think you another episode on this. I still don’t know how to choose.

Been busy the last couple of days, so haven’t had time to look at the site, much less listen to the podcasts, but this is a topic I have an opinion on. In my previous life (1st Career), I was one of the mobile generation (late boomer). Live many places. 2nd life, new career, new family, I’ve lived in one apartment (1 year), one rental house (2 1/2 years), and one home (13 1/2 years, so far). Will we move? Maybe, in four or five years, but maybe not. There’s something to be said about putting down roots.