Rural Renaissance

Over the last 3 days I read the book Rural Renaissance by John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist. I liked it. It pretty much describes the direction I am mentally heading. I am about 5 years behind them. I am looking for a rural plot with an old farm house to reform and repair. I have been looking for about 5 months now and seen some 10 properties. I want to give this old farm house (once found) a new live and make it our new home. All the things I plan on doing are described eloquently in this book. They moved from Chicago to a farm stead without much knowledge. Step by step they learned all the basics: the first tomatoes, first chicken, adding a small pond to the garden, planting veggies with permaculture in mind, fixing up the house with a wood burner, eventually adding solar panels, growing our own food, living ecologically, ... It is good reading for all permaculture beginners and also for people who want to give their life a new "green" focus, wherever they might live (city, suburbs, countryside). Every section has a summary page with cross references to other books or web sites with more details. The book is hands-on, with many examples and personal anecdotes.

I recommended this book to my wife so that she can better understand me and my reasons why I want to leave our comfortable city flat behind. A lot of the motives and hopes discussed in the book are shared by me. I want a simpler life, a healthier life and a life where day-by-day I am in tune with nature. There are also some major differences between my goals and capacities and the authors. Unlike them I have no intention on running a B&B out of the farm home and I am certainly less social and outgoing as the authors who bring together a lot of different folks to share their rural adventure. Still I found it nice reading, feeding my dream and adding a few facts to my theoretical understanding of permaculture.