Never trust Google Maps. Matt and I are lost somewhere behind Big Lake. The road narrows, takes a turn, and narrows again. The sunlight filters through the trees, slightly melting the snowy road and turning it into an ice rink. This cannot be the way to Point MacKenzie... there is no way the farm trucks could negotiate this one-lane twisting road. We are looking for a place to turn around when we come to a four way intersection with a lone road sign... we are on the right road! So we keep going, deeper into the forest. Do people really farm out here? We haven't seen another soul for ages.

We are going to Point MacKenzie to check out a 300 acre dairy farm that is for sale. Not because we want to become dairy farmers, but because there are so few farms in Alaska, and we want to find a way to keep this one afloat. Alaskans get 98% of their food from out-of-state. Most of it comes from California or further and relies on fossil fuels to get here. If oil prices shoot up again, it won't be long before food prices are also sky high and we are paying $20 for a gallon of milk like they do in remote Alaskan communities right now.

Suddenly, the narrow road dumps us out onto a wide, plowed and sanded stretch of road. Ah-ha, we must have taken the scenic route! Somehow we find Holstien Road, where the farm is, but there are no addresses. Just a long straight open road with a few scattered farmhouses. We stop at one to ask directions. They must not get too many visitors. The dogs are going crazy, and the kids are cowering behind their mother as she gives us directions... "go back to the crossroads, take a left, it is about half a mile down on the right hand side. There is a big blue barn and cows everywhere, you can't miss it."

We finally pull into the driveway and park in front of the milking barn. We can see some cows in the barn beyond and a woman with some mini coolers is filling quarts from a big steel tank. The farmer drives down the long slick driveway from his house to come meet us. Gareth spills out of his truck and introduces himself, the woman from the cow-share program collecting milk, and his brother who helps him with the farm. We go up to the house first and he introduces us to his wife and two little girls. They sit us down and feed us brownies and fresh milk. Neither Matt nor I ever drink milk, but this milk is so delicious it makes my head spin.

Point MacKenzie sits across the Cook Inlet from Anchorage, and there has been multiple proposals to build a bridge connecting the two, driving up land prices. A few years ago Matanuska Maid, the state-run creamery folded amid lots of controversy and the farmers had no outlet for their milk. A private creamery was scrambling to come online, but meanwhile the cows still had to be milked, the mortgage had to be paid, and many of the farmers couldn't survive. The owner of this farm decided to go to greener pastures and move to Minnesota, where the dairy industry isn't quite so political or volitile. He sold his cows to Gareth and leased him the land. When Gareth took over the only outlet for his milk was a cow-share program in which people bought a share of a cow and recieved raw milk in return. That way they aren't actually purchasing raw milk, which is illegal. The cow-share program distributed milk from two cows, the rest of the milk from his herd of almost 100 cows he had to dump on his fields.

Gareth is showing us his hens and his pigs and telling us story after story about the ups and downs of just this one year he has been farming. He has formed a great relationship with the Wonderbread factory in town picking up their stale bread, but the moose tear up the hay bales he has put up. He is so passionate and wants to see this farm continue. He is one of only three dairy farms supplying milk to the new creamery. But the loan will default in June if the owner can't sell it. And it would be really difficult for a dairy farm to operate in Alaska with a mortgage as high as what the farmer needs to sell it for.

On the way home we take the fast road back to Wasilla and talk about all the ideas swimming in our heads. One option is to form a cooperative, with at least 100 people fronting the money for the dairy farm. But I know that if I invest $10, 000 I will want more than just milk as a return. So we need to diversify the farm, think outside the box. How amazing would it be to apply our permaculture principles and watch the yields multiply? With 100 people not only putting their money into it but also their energy and creativity. It could be the new model for farming. Everyone owns a share in their own farm and works together with the other owners to give them the yields they desire. Not only food, but education, building materials, wool, all the things that city dwellers can't provide for themselves.

Who's in?

Permaculture Guild

I reveal my intentions to the world and suddenly doors open. I could be looking for a car of a particular make, year and color, but no, I'm looking for a permaculture community. And wouldn't you know, I get an e-mail that a permaculture guild is forming right here in Anchorage, and they are looking for people to help form it. I jump in, head first. The people sitting around the table are a diverse group. Many are just curious about permaculture, a few have studied it extensively. But there is a palatable excitement in the room. They want workshops, a demonstration garden, and possibly a Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) course right here in Anchorage. I want to hold workshops, and create a demonstration garden, and help teach a PDC!

We meet next at my house. I make pumpkin cookies and soy chai, and my neighbor, Patrick brings chips and salsa. The group is smaller and more focused, and still very diverse. Allison wants to create a statewide network, Patrick wants to work at the neighborhood level. Libby is connected to and interested in politics. Terri still wants to organize a PDC. We decide that we can all head up our special projects, form subgroups, and support each other. It will be an informal group, with everyone finding their own niche, their own way to contribute to the common goals of learning about, practicing, and promoting permaculture. There is no hierarchy, we are all leaders.

I am amazed at the fluidity with which we come to these conclusions. But maybe that has something to do with permaculture. It helps us to see things in in different ways. Think outside the box. Make designs that are functional and encourage creativity instead of stifle it. I go to sleep and dream of the possibilities that have opened up to me because I opened up myself to the world.

Designing my Life

I have my work station set up in front of the wood stove in the living room. A stack of papers next to the couch, Bill Mollison's Permaculture Designer's Manual underneath this morning's coffee mug, a nest-like blanket wrapped around my legs. I've been peering into my laptop for days, as if it holds the magic answers to my life. What will I do? Who will I become? I've been writing my action learning plan for my first year at Gaia. How freaking cool... I get to design my own curriculum, based on my needs and passions. As someone who always has a multitude of projects emerging, it's not difficult to come up with some good ideas, the hard part is narrowing down what exactly I'm going to do and how. Spelling out who, what, where, when, why , and how makes my path a lot more clear to me. So few people ever take the time our to design their lives. To actually think where they are going and map out how to get there. I highly recommend this process to everyone. It takes some time, but in the end it saves a lot of driving around in circles.

In my own plan I listed my goals, skills I want, people who can help me, and projects that help me develop the skills and achieve the goals. I identified next steps in each project and areas of learning that I would focus on and write papers about through the year. Then I analyzed my plan for strengths and weaknesses and decided how I would evaluate my progress. My plan is six pages long so I won't include it here, but if anyone is interested in reading it, please e-mail me. Otherwise, stay tuned to see the learning plan in action!

*******If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.******Henry David Thoreau

Welcome to my blog!

I've never done this before- I'm not one to go on and on about myself. But I'm embarking on a new adventure that I want to share with everyone. No, I'm not galavanting across the world again!! This time the adventure is right here, on the internet, in my community, at my house, and in my head. I've begun a graduate program at Gaia University. My learning pathway is entitled Green Business, but I'm actually learning action learning. There's a lot of learning in that sentence! With action learning I study my own actions and experience in order to improve performance. So I begin by studying my past experiences and figure out what I've learned from it, then I look at what I want to learn next and develop a plan of how I'm going to do it. The important bit is taking the time to stop and evaluate what I'm learning and how I'm learning it. Along the way I'll have an amazing support network of advisors, peers, and mentors.

I've chosen the green business pathway for several reasons. I see money, especially the perception of and relationship to money as being a major barrier to personal success, happiness, and community. Every one of us can unlock amazing potential by becoming more financially secure. That does not necessarily mean earning more money, but also needing less and spending it in more satisfying ways. No person should have to sell a piece of their self for money. Happy, healthy people make better neighbors, community members, and citizens. I also believe that we can and should make money in ways that are beneficial to the entrepreneur, their community, their environment, and their world. Everyone has the potential to see creative opportunities all around them if they have the mental space to dream, and with a little support, they could make these dreams happen.

My dream is to unlock that potential in myself, and help other people to do the same. I have a lot of great ideas of how to do that, and I am hatching my plan as we speak. If you are interested in what I'm saying or what I'm doing, come along with me, I promise it will be an amazing ride!