I used to wish I could be involved in some kind of multi-generational land management. Not to own the land, but to live on and help caretake an ecological, food-producing landscape.
I also used to daydream about a 'handmade life', where everything in my day-to-day household was something I'd either made myself, or received as a gift.

Well, in a sense, I'm living the dream. Be careful what you wish for!
The handmade life - I appreciate everyone's support as we've been adapting to our situation, we wouldn't have been able to do it without gifts like this laptop I'm currently using, the car I use to get Ernie around, etc. We've done our best to reciprocate as much as we can. But I'm really looking forward to being able to pay my own way again.
The eological land management: Our current shared space is a compromise, smaller than the space I envisioned, and more densely crowded with neighbors and housemates. But it's a great testing ground to see how the exercise plays out.

The main challenges are, not surprisingly, people issues:

1) Coming to terms with the other caretakers/owners about what actually needs to be done, and what constitute 'improvements.' Turns out 'ecological' covers a whole lot of ground, from native plants, to thriving biodiversity, to pick-and-choose caretaking of charismatic fauna and flora. And having experienced the inner workings of other intentional communities and benevolent organizations, I now recognise that the social dynamics of shared work are a huge part of the burden of any collaborative enterprise.

2) The amount of work involved in actually trying to clean up other people's mess who are ostensibly NOT involved in your landscape. Invasive species removal is a constant issue; we've had a little help from AmeriCorps, and the sponsored wetland mitigation, but most of the onus is on us since this is private land.
Neighbors' choices is another - a lot of our neighbors use toxic gick on their lawns and driveways, and a few of them actually pipe the runoff through our fence. Living downstream and trying to grow food, we do not appreciate the mystery 'nutrients' and pesticides from their lawn care efforts, and are putting in our own time and resources to establish colonies of plants and soil biota that can eat these nutrients up before they reach the protected stream. The number of things in a lawn that you can eat, provided you haven't laced it with toxic minerals, is phenomenal. That's not even counting the actual mushrooms that may come from our remediation efforts, which you want to be careful about anyway. (Links above are to two articles, one on 'organic lawn care for the cheap and lazy' by my friend Paul, and the other my own photo-essay on spring edibles that grow in our lawn.)

3) My own goals and time management: I envisioned a 'food forest' as a lifestyle that would support my needs more naturally, with seasonal variety. But I'm realising that if I want a lifestyle that allows me to keep building toward a comfortable retirement, or a safety net in case of additional medical emergencies, I still need to work at least that many hours. And I need to be even more coherent in my priorities and planning, than I would if I was working for someone else. 'Doing what I love' is marvelous, but it isn't a job description.

I had an insight this year while working on my taxes. Or maybe it was when the state bumped me off the Oregon Health Plan for having a piddling little four-figure retirement account. Anyway, it was all coming together, and I had a watershed moment. I was struggling with feeling sorry for myself over our low income and uncertain lifestyle.
Then for some reason, I just kind of settled into thinking of this as 'my business,' and my responsibility, rather than something I could expect Ernie or anyone else to take off my hands. Don't ask me why I was expecting someone else to mind my business, but there it is. Just a sense of relief as I stop trying to struggle with mutually contradictory beliefs.

So what is my business?
- Teaching hands-on skills
- Continuously researching effective ways to teach those skills, and documenting new lessons as intellectual property.
- Making cool things that inspire others
- Practicing ecological and creative arts, which may be directly beneficial or just props and experience for future living and teaching
- Making ends meet by creatively saving money using what I enjoy doing, like wildcrafting.
- Supporting Ernie's projects to the extent that they improve our lifestyle and comfort, and leveraging his knowledge and contacts to make my own work more successful.

I've gotten some income recently from freelance art and writing projects, which reminds me how much I enjoy doing that kind of work. My business card says 'writing, illustration, and hands-on education,' but that's partly because it rhymes. It does seem to capture the essence though.

I know, I told you I was taking responsibility for more coherent planning. Does it sound like I'm getting closer?