​This article is Part 2 of a Series that is mostly about chickens – not how to care for them, but how to appreciate them as being more complex and interesting than most of us give them credit for.

If you are interested only in chickens, and especially mother hens and chicks, this article will be fine to read by itself. But if you want to know more about where interconnectedness comes into the story, and why it’s important, you’ll need to go back and read the beginning of Part 1.

​Approximately a ​5 minute read.
​Originally published Oct 3rd, 2018, at PermacultureNews.org​.

This 3-Part Series ​starts off with our cultural lack of understanding about our place in the web of life, which is at the root of why our efforts to address ecological destruction aren’t working yet.

If you were mainly interested in chickens, stay with me – I’ll get onto backyard chickens in the second part of Part 1, and then I’ll stick almost entirely to chickens for the rest of the Series.

Please note, though, that this is not a “how to take care of chickens” Series (you can find those everywhere).

​This is about how to appreciate chickens as more than just egg-layers and garden-scratchers. And, by extension, how to appreciate any living thing beyond just its immediately apparent functions.

(Approximately a 6 ​minute read)

Growing our own milk, eggs, and / or meat is a step in the right direction, but relying on the feed ​store to help us do it means we’re still relying on fossil fuel-based agriculture and supply systems.

Since our goal is to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, at the time of writing this article I was growing an increasing amount of our own goat feed, for our two milking goats.

To make it onto the list ​that you’re about to read, these plants had to be great for goat fodder, AND serve a variety of other functions as well.

(Please note that some of the plants listed here were also listed in “8 Abundant Fodder Forest Plants, and How to Use Them.”)

(Approximately a 5 minute read)

Do you put off large or intimidating projects till later, like I do?

You'd really like to get to it, but you keep getting the feeling that it would be better to wait till after ____. (I'm sure you can fill in the blank.)

​​Why, when we know a project is important and worthwhile, is it so hard to start on it?

​Its all to do with your lizard brain¹ trying to keep you safe. The lizard is constantly on the look-out for possible threats. ​When you picture something important in your life that you want to change / create / develop, your lizard goes on a spree of identifying every potential threat, every little detail that could possibly derail your project.

Result: You feel like it won’t be safe to start, till you know how to deal with Every. Little. Detail.

​Is there a way to get around the watch dog? Maybe even put its talents to good use?

​Read the article at PermacultureNews.org

​(This is Part 5 in a Series.)

(Approximately a 6 ​minute read)

Whatever it is, its going to lure you off the high road, onto the path of least resistance.

The question is not, “Will you be distracted?” but, “What will distract you?” Is there a way to design the path of least resistance so it still leads in the right direction?

​Read the article at PermacultureNews.org​​

​​This is Part 4 of a Series​ ​

(Approximately a 6 ​minute read)

​​​You ​have important, worthwhile projects you want to work on. B​ut some days ​you struggle ​to motivate yourself to get the washing folded. ​

​​Humans are easily distracted from tasks that are important and valid, but that feel difficult or uncomfortable, because there is a lizard on the control panel who is obsessed with comfort and wants immediate gratification.

Every time your focus wavers, your lizard brain seizes its chance to immerse you in ​comfort.

Then you “wake up” a short time later, wondering how you got from ​"I REFUSE to be distracted by those cookies one more time!" ...to the bottom of the empty cookie jar.

What can we do to work with this, rather than fighting it?

Read the article at PermacultureNews.org. 

​This is Part 3 of a Series​

(Approximately a ​5 minute read)

​This is Part 2 of a Series about the “lizard brain” – made up of the oldest parts of the human brain​ ​that co-exist with our more recently evolved brain regions​.

​The lizard brain ​is obsessed with ​safety and comfort​; it ​cannot understand ​that there is a future; ​and ​it ​can completely bypass ​your rational brain when it feels threatened or stressed​.

​The lizard brain is responsible for all the procrastination and avoidance behaviors we’re so familiar with – overwhelm, being easily distracted, feeling unmotivated, difficulty prioritizing, seeking comfort in inappropriate ways, and many others.

These are not “weaknesses,” so much as strategies that your lizard brain uses to try to keep you safe and comfortable in the present moment.

​Are there ways to mitigate these apparent human weaknesses, or even turn them into strengths? Read the article at PermacultureNews.org, and find out. 

​​​This is Part 2 of a Series​ ​

(Approximately a ​5 minute read)

​​Did you know there’s a lizard in your brain that’s the source of all your resistance to difficult, boring, intimidating or uncomfortable tasks?  

And that this lizard can be re-trained, using ​Permaculture principles (or just good old natural un-common sense) to work with human nature to ​achieve ​your goals (instead of sabotaging them)?

This Series of articles will show you how.

Here, in Part 1, I’ll explain the human brain structure in very simple terms. We’ll meet the “lizard brain” that lives in the base of your skull and find out what makes it tick. 

By the end of ​this article, you’ll understand why procrastination and avoidance are such frustratingly common human behaviors. ​

Read the article at PermacultureNews.org.

​​This is Part 1 of a ​Series​.

(Approximately a 6 ​minute read)

I imagine that when our grandchildren and great grandchildren read in history books about the supermarkets we relied ​on for food, they’ll wonder what we were thinking.  

My goal is to get to where our family can live without the supermarket entirely. There are many things we have yet to learn, but we’re well on our way.  

​Our number one focus right now is learning to grow more of our own vegies. ​Recently, we ate our first ever homegrown cauliflower.

​Read all about it​ at PermacultureNews.Org

(Approximately a ​4 minute read)

​Up until around the time ​we became parents, ​Alain ​and I ​never questioned our assumptions about freedom. ​​

​​The story of our time says ​this is ​normal:

• to ​be chained to debt and to schedules, 
• to have ​little or no control over where our food originates, 
• to be walled off from nature, 
• and to be more connected to ​each other via screens than in person.  

​This post describes how we began to question that story, and to re-examine ​what freedom means to us. 

​(This is Part 3 in a Series about our family's journey towards real and green.)