Einen schönen guten Tag!

[Johnnie Appleseed]

Hi people; I'm a german student aged 26.
I found this site by typing "self sufficiency" at google.

Since about five years I'm interested in sustainable living. First I read books by John Seymour, then I went WWOOFing. This made me a lot more confident about my plans and gave me practical experience. I mostly did gardening, but also wood working, conctruction and I cared for goats.
Here in Germany I'm mainly training vegetable growing (at the moment mostly tomatoes- at my window) and reading books and internet articles about composting techniques and other stuff.
My problem: none of my friends likes to leave the city and work in such "unstable conditions". And I didn't find a special suitable place yet (but I like the french Limousin). So for now I just try to improve my skills and get through with my studies... to become a science nerd, no way !

[The Chili Monster]

Wilkommen 8)

[Shirley]

hello!!

Lovely to meet you - welcome to the forum.

[Millymollymandy]

Hi Johnnie and welcome!

[Lou8]

Hi Johnnie.
Idid the same as you as a student and while living in the city. I have just recently moved into the country and have my own garden - it's worth waiting for.

Where in Germany do you live?

[ina]

Hallo Johnnie

Herzlich Willkommen - dem zweiten Deutschen auf diesem Forum... Ich wohne in Schottland, habe aber in Deutschland studiert (in Witzenhausen, Agrarwirtschaft).

Hey, I'd better continue in English, otherwise the moderators will start censoring me! What subject are you doing at uni? Maybe you can get an allotment, possibly sharing with other students? (I always ended up looking after the allotments of my fellow students, when they went on holiday or working in summer. If you share an allotment, it's easier to arrange for holiday cover.)

[Johnnie Appleseed]

Well, I started with food technology studies first, then I abandoned the subject after one year, being disgusted by what's going on in the food business... I continued to study history and french, preparing for teaching profession. But, being a teacher won't satisfy me neither, I think. You're very limited- it's hard to get the pupils to learn french like it's spoken in France, for example, because you still have to use the formal language a lot, as well. And there would be hardly any time left for gardening! I might work in a "Skansen" museum one day, reconstructing things of antiquity (like germanic villages), using archeological findings and traditional methods.

Allotment with other people- you mean, like a "Schrebergarten"? I thought of it, but as soon as students have free time, they watch TV, do sports, get drunk or do other things. The only people I might have a garden with live too far away from here. Well, a friend of mine has a garden, cause she lives in one of her father's houses. She offered me to move in, but for now I can't cause it will take too long to go to "Uni". Well, she already got some of my plants to put them in the garden. She has the grounds, I got the skills!

[ina]

You seem to be in the wrong town... Must admit, Witzenhausen was very different. No wonder, it being the first uni in Europe to have a professor for organic farming! A lot of students were interest in gardening, self sufficiency, alternative technology... (The Werra valley, with Witzenhausen as it's central town, is known as the "green valley", not due to the grass - although that's green, too - but all the "green" businesses that have developed there. A lot of them founded by former students.)

The Skansen museum sounds interesting - is that a Danish thing?

[Johnnie Appleseed]

Well, it's a scandinavian invention. Open- Air museum, reconstructed village. They started this on archeological spots of the viking age.
Normally you construct a "Skansen" when you can mostly rely on clear facts. But there's also the possibilty to to experimental archeology: First, you check out what was probably there, based on what you found. Then you compare it to similar phenomenons you know from other places and times and maybe find an ancient text where your place is mentioned. In the end there are still some questions, but you try to solve them with the historians, craftsmen and volunteers who in the end work on the reconstruction, before it is opened to the public.
I'd like to work on bronze age or maybe even neolithic settlements. You know little about these times. But there is new knowledge to come, because archeological methods improve. People in this period already had gardens, very stable houses and even fashion, but often lived surrounded by wilderness and had little specialization. Everybody mastered a lot of different work. I don't think nowaday's people will ever be able to live that way again. But reenacting this lifestyle as a museum historian could be fun and at the same time give visitors to think about the present...
Well if I don't find an employment similar to this, I'll be fine with being completely dedicated to self- sufficiency, too.

[glenniedragon]

There's one I know of that's an Iron age settlement in the UK, Hampshire, called Butser Ancient farmhttp://www.butser.org.uk/ They have Iron age and Roman Stuff going on (They built a Villa not so long back) and hold themed weekends. This kind of stuff is what keeps my other half busy he is interested in Roman technologies and is wanting to build a bread oven in our 'ramparts' (edge of a raised bed) and taught our eldest to march in Latin when he was 3! that really befuddled nursery!

kind thoughts
Deb

[Wombat]

G'DAy Johnny and welcome to the site!

I wanted to visit some of the open air museums you describe when we were in Belgium last Christmas but they were all closed for the winter

Nev

[Johnnie Appleseed]

Well, that's a pity for the visitors. For the people working there it is rather nice... When the season's over, you get the time to plan new activities for the next year. And you can focus on other activities you don't get the time to do in the summer. Like making comics, which could be a nice side- project for me. I'm looking forward to finally having time again for this.
In Belgium, there's an archeological site where they got a lot of different activities (don't know if you tried this one: http://www.archeosite.be/pageSite/pagesPP/pge00.html) and a lot of comic publishers, too!

[gunners71uk]

hi johnnnnie welcome i like bratwurst sausage!

[ina]

... and thanks to Lidl everybody in Britain can buy Bratwurst nowadays! And German beer to go with it, and German bread and bread rolls... No need to go to Germany for your holiday anymore.

[gunners71uk]

WUNDER---BAR LOL