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Comment by viraj_shah | Hacker News Reader

I am surprised and not surprised to see this here. I often see themes of burnout, wanting to get back to nature, existential questions surrounding tech and similar here on HN.

I took a permaculture class earlier this year, after having researched it on the sidelines for a few years. It started from looking at sustainability, agriculture, homesteading (wanting to "leave it all behind") and blossomed into a wonderful learning experience about a philosophy where I felt a little more at home. It was great. It introduced me to a few really cool friends whose values largely aligned with mine. Anyone interested in this, please feel free to reach out.

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I don't think it has necessarily to do with burnout, or even with the more general notion "city-dwellers feel detached from nature so they romanticize it". Apart from that, there is also the entrepreneurial spirit (as well as the hacker spirit) of wanting to do things yourself, either because you think you can do better or because you want to decrease your reliance on others. And those are very well represented here.

I agree with the entrepreneurial DIYer aspect of it. But I do think sitting in front of screens all day screams for a longing for nature.

Also I think there might a counterculture aspect to it, which ties in to your reliance point. Growing your own food is one of the most subversive thing you can do. Get solar and a few other things, and you're completely self-reliant.

It allows one to take a shortcut to the fisherman life, in the fisherman and the banker story.

What course did you take, and where, if I may be so intrusive… you did mention to “reach out” if interested! I also arrived at being fascinated by the concept by ideas of sustainability and “getting away from it all”.

If you follow the link to his homepage in his profile, there is a link to book a 30 minute meeting with him.

Search for people running PDC's - Permaculture Design Courses - in your area. These are variably well monitored / established syllabus, usually run for 5 days or so. I'm sure there's one-day intro courses, but I suspect you'd get a lot more variability, and obviously a lot less value.

Most practicing permaculturists I've bumped into tend to eschew the woo, as it were, but you may want to validate that before signing up to any particular course. (These branches of study can attract certain types of people.)

I did a PDC here in Sydney AU about 15 years ago, and like GP I found it a hugely interesting and engaging process. (The one I went to was run by a lass who had studied under Bill Mollison, which was kind of funky, but as a rule the material covered is much more practical, rational, etc - than deferential / by association to the two guys that kicked it off.)

Apologies for the late reply. I have set my limits on HN use in the settings. :)

I took Permaculture New York PDC class (https://www.permaculturenewyork.com/). It was all online but many are in person.

If you reach out to me via LinkedIn (found if you go to link in my profile) we can exchange contact info. I'd prefer not to place it here.

Permaculture is one of the ideas that fascinates me most.

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