Design Arno's life

Ethics

• Earth care
  • Reduce
    • identified a problem? instead of buying a solution, can you do without? If not, create the solution yourself
    • shift from being a consumer to being a producer
    • short, low temperature showers, max twice or thrice per week
    • lower thermostat, only heat living room (2016: 16°C, 2017: 14°C, 2018-2019: 10°C)
    • buy fewer products and services (expenses 2016: 24300€, 2017: 16700€, 2018: 12300€, 2019: 11300€, 2020: 11700€)
    • buy only products with little or no packaging, prefer bulk
    • buy fewer items from the supermarket, use backyard, community garden and allotment
    • buy food grown close by
    • make driving the car a special occasion
    • divest from industrial society
    • reduce use of computers and internet
  • Reuse
    • reuse plastic containers, bags, bottles, jars
    • reuse glass bottles, jars
    • reuse rope and rubber bands
    • go to clothes swaps for new (to me) outfits
  • Repair
    • enhance soil with hugels, compost and biochar
    • ensure year round ground cover with mulch and/or plants
    • create niches and habitat for plants and animals
    • repair bicycles, clothes, computers and other tools and wearables
  • Recycle
    • food scraps in the compost bin
    • plastic and glass to recycle bin
    • paper and cardboard for mulch, compost bin or recycling
    • bring working items to collection points of second-hand shops
    • water garden with grey water from kitchen
    • ! human waste in compost bin
  • Simplify
    • for writing prefer pen and paper over computer
    • for kneading prefer hands over mixer
    • for traveling prefer bicycle or foot over car or plane
    • for entertainment prefer a walk in nature, reading books or live performances over watching television or surfing the internet
• People care
  • create loving environment
  • build and nurture a community
  • grow good food and share it with others
  • make time to visit friends, neighbors, family
  • invite people over for coffee / lunch / dinner
  • approach random people and listen to them
  • celebrate successes and failures
  • practice compassion and loving-care
• Fair share / Future care
  • share knowledge
  • save and distribute seeds
  • multiply and distribute plants
  • throw seeds in common areas (guerilla gardening)

Note: The item(s) marked with an exclamation mark (!) I am considering, I have not done them.

Attitudinal principles

• Multiple elements x multiple functions
  • livelihood / money
    • reduce expenses further to need less money
    • IT work
    • parents
    • partner
    • return on investments
    • sell stuff (books, computers, ...)
    • barter / give away / sell food (jam, chutney, kimchi, ...)
    • ! offer repair services (bicycles, clothes, ...)
  • food / nutrients
    • buying in super market
    • harvesting in allotment
    • harvesting in community garden
    • harvesting in backyard
    • foraging
    • harvesting in front yard
    • harvesting in food forest
  • drinking water
    • from mains
    • ! rain water from catchment - needs filters and/or chemicals
    • ! ground water via hand pump
  • heating energy
    • gas and electricity from mains
    • body heat
    • passive heating by sun
    • use hay box to better utilize heat
    • ! solar heater
    • ! wood for burning
  • moving energy
    • electricity from mains
    • petrol for car
    • legs for walking and cycling
    • ! wind - still fuzzy on how and where to use
    • ! solar cells - needs supporting equipment and functioning supply chains for spare parts
  • tools
    • reduce specialized tools, use generic tools
    • learn how to make tools
• Everything gardens (everything has an effect on its environment)
  • Maximum Power Principle applies everywhere
  • plants in backyard grow
  • things happen where I direct my attention
  • I influence others, others influence me
  • my actions influence other people, the world around me
• The problem is the solution
  • land is expensive → use property already in possession → urban homestead
  • creating community is difficult → organize small events → connect people / celebrate small successes
• Yield is theoretically unlimited
  • the work I do hopefully inspires and educates people
  • living a good and simple life
  • finding my Ikigai
• Work with nature
  • take into account how people instinctively react
  • practice meditation, mindfulness
  • learning is best done when combining learning styles: seeing, hearing, feeling, doing
• Minimum effort, maximum effect
  • make the iron triangle (shelter - transportation - livelihood) as tight as possible or break it altogether
  • enjoy the little things / be grateful: cost little to nothing and have a large impact on feelings of wellbeing
  • celebrate life: life is nature, nature is us, we are all in this together

Note: The item(s) marked with an exclamation mark (!) I am considering, I have not done them.

Holmgren principles

• Observe and interact
  • happiness comes...
    • from within, NOT from outside
    • in relations with friends, family and neighbors
    • having a purpose in life
    • NOT from possessions or status symbols
    • What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness - Robert Waldinger
  • dominant culture of consumption and debt seems more alien to me as time goes by
  • openly going against the grain leads to resistance with parents. They are concerned about me losing connection with society and failing to fit in. I see this as a solution, not a problem. This needs more communication to straighten out.
• Catch and store energy
  • save 80% of income, after 5 years working for money becomes optional (see ERE and The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement)
  • have a pantry with at least a month of supplies
  • design stores of water and energy in garden and house
  • conserve harvest from backyard, community garden and forage
• Obtain a yield
  • working for money
  • working on interesting projects
  • working with interesting people
  • learn about the natural world
  • eat good food from local sources
  • appreciate the time we have
  • enjoy life
• Apply self regulation and accept feedback
  • observe a regular schedule
  • take naps when necessary
  • exercise / work regularly outdoors
  • measure energy / water usage and act on the data
  • know own limits of knowledge and influence
  • no need to do everything at once
  • ask for help
• Use and value renewable resources and services
  • use collected water from shed to water the garden
  • trade plants and seeds with friends, family and permaculture projects
  • move plants from living room to attic in winter to take advantage of warmer microclimate there
  • use solar heat in the attic to start seedlings in spring
• Produce no waste
  • prefer getting food from own or community garden
  • kitchen vegetable cuttings go in compost bin
  • grey water from kitchen waters the back yard
  • buy products with little packaging
  • reuse packaging otherwise
    • plastic yoghurt containers as planters and for storage
    • glass jam jars for jam and chutney
    • glass vegetable jars for kimchi, soup
    • bottles for homemade wine
  • use discarded pallets / wood for constructions
  • use cardboard packaging as weed barrier
  • fly only when absolutely necessary, consider less energy intensive modes of transportation first
• Design from patterns to details
  • Web of Goals
    • work from or close to home
    • get food close to home (backyard, front yard, community garden, allotment, supermarket at walking distance, forage)
    • walk, cycle, use public transport (reduce need for car)
    • increase serendipity for opportunities
  • scatter
    • trying similar things at the same time
      • gardening / growing food in backyard, allotment and community garden
      • work on permaculture designs for backyard, life, food forest Weverkeshof
    • sow interest: try to get people interested and involved in doing the same
  • Seneca curve
    • idealized shape of the background process of humanity
    • actual shape will look more like a downward step pyramid: alternating periods of relative stability followed by rapid deterioration, each time ending in a lower level of complexity
• Integrate rather than segregate
  • our household = mini homestead with food growing, food preservation, food storage, workshop, storage for construction materials and tools
  • stack functions for machines and spaces
• Use small and slow solutions
  • walk to supermarket
  • cycle to most projects
  • think before buying: try to find an alternative to spending money
  • turn thermostat down in winter (winter 2018-2019 most times at 14°C)
  • hang thick curtains for windows and doors
  • caulk seams against air leaking
  • water garden with gray water from kitchen
    • dishwashing tub holds 5 liter max per watering
    • output from laundry machine is 90 liters of grey water, collected in a tub
• Use and value diversity
  • make friends from different walks of life
  • make friends in different age groups
  • learn from many different areas of knowledge
  • learn many different skills
• Use edges and value the marginal
  • look in skips and second hand stores for usable materials
  • make friends from different walks of life
  • forage food from the side of the road: blackberry, hazelnut, ...
  • throw apple seeds, plum seeds and other seeds into wild patches
• Creatively use and respond to change
  • "When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." - Alexander Graham Bell

Web of Goals

Web of Goals is a technique proposed by Jacob Lund Fisker. For every goal we choose, there are consequences - positive and negative. Everything gardens.

A module groups and names a set of goals. Another name for module could be a mission. Goals include primary objective and first order effects. Take a look at the fish bone diagram for the module Job. Every left turn starting from horizontal is a positive effect, every right turn is a negative effect.

For example, my primary (0 order) goal for a job is to create savings. A (1st order) positive side effect is that when I ride my bicycle to work, I get a workout. Riding the bicycle more leads to more maintenance, which is a negative (2nd order) effect. Doing the maintenance myself leads to hands-on knowledge and learning about repairing bicycles, which is a positive (3rd order) effect.

The table below summarizes the current modules with their primary goal and 1st order effects. This was a version of my web of goals in 2018.

Module	Goals (0 and 1st order)
Simple living	less clutter / frugality / savings
Exercise	health / less clutter / healthy cooking
Financial independence	frugality / savings
Job	savings / networking
Gardening	networking / health / healthy cooking

In my latest iteration of my design in 2019, I have selected a number of different modules for my web of goals. The graph below embodies the following modules and effects.

Homesteading and gardening (green) supports:

• good food
• good friends (friendship / social connections)
• good finances (frugality / savings)
• good body (physical fitness / health)
• good mind (relaxation / connection with nature)

Job (orange) supports:

• good finances (savings)
• good friends (socializing)
• good mind (fascination)
• good body (physical fitness / health)

Dancing and Meditation (purple) supports:

• good mind
• good body
• good friends (compassion)

Financial independence (black) supports:

• good finances (frugality / savings)
• good shelter
• good mind (fascination)

Simple living (blue) supports:

• good finances (frugality)
• good food
• good shelter

For me, living a content life comes from having all these elements fulfilled:

• good food
• good shelter
• good friends (friendship / socializing)
• good mind (fascination)
• good body (physical fitness / health)
• good finances (peace of mind)

As you can see, every goal is supported by at least two different modules: simply count the number of distinct colors for each label in the graph.

6 Core Human Needs

From: 6 Core Human Needs, Anthony Robbins

• Certainty
  • I trust myself
  • regular activities to do
  • money flows in and out are predictable, they provide a yield that go into savings, savings function as a buffer
  • the house and related infrastructure provide safety and physical comfort
• Uncertainty
  • taking an alternative route and observe
  • trying out new permaculture designs
  • preparing, cooking and eating different recipes
  • setting new goals
• Significance
  • volunteer work
  • mastery of my crafts
• Connection
  • spending time with Ina
  • connecting through nature
  • spending time with friends
  • spending time with family
• Growth
  • learning about permaculture
  • learning about plants
  • learning to build communities
• Contribution
  • teaching others what I know
  • documenting my designs for myself and others to benefit from
  • sharing homegrown food
  • creating habitat in my garden for creatures living there