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New Zealand sits directly on the tectonic borderland between the two largest plates on Earth; the Pacific Plate to the east and the Indo-Australian Plate to the west. As such, we're caught in the crunch whenever anything happens between those two plates. The result is that we have Lake Taupo (a dormant supervolcano) in the North Island; and running the length of the South Island we have the Great Alpine Fault, a slip-strike fault exactly similar to the San Andreas of California.

Lake Taupo is capable of covering the entire country with layers of ash anytime it erupts; the Alpine Fault is capable of producing quakes of 9+ on the Richter Scale, roughly every 3-400 years or so. In either case, any civilisation that was or will be in place here will be obliterated or at least severely damaged when that ever happens.

Then we face the prospect of rebuilding the entire society, literally from the ground upwards, every time this occurs. New Zealand is going to become a country of interrupted cultures and old maps, for each event will be on such an immense scale that everything will be altered.

New Zealand, in other words, is going to rewilded by Nature every few centuries; that's going to become part of our cultural knowledge and expectation, for there's nothing we can do to stop these events. It's just the way things are here; we have to learn to adapt to them and create ways of coping with the aftermath each time they occur.

https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/ring-of-fire.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taup%C5%8D_Volcano

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_Fault

Not a rewilder, can somebody explain the concept and its appeal?

How would you go about rewilding a normal family (let's assume American suburban) as effectively as possible in the least amount of time

As someone who’s hunted, fished and foraged for the past 6-7 years to fill the freezer and enjoy the outdoors, it seems like such a logical thing for people to do. But so many people seem so opposed to it, even when it’s done sustainably and done ethically. What does this groups think about it?

What should a rewilded Christmas/winter celebration look like?

Any out there that are known? I could use someone to talk to and vent about this stuff but I don't want to talk to someone who is "in the system" and wouldn't really understand, value, or appreciate my perspective (of human rewilding). I know I'm not alone in this.

How should a rewilded community be organised and function?

Table of Contents

• 1. Family farm homesteading?
• 2. Soil depletion
• 3. Lowland orchards
• 4. Fishing for trees
• 5. Apex warden
• 6. Cult of trees
• 7. Exit event
• 8. Conclusion

Let me preface this by saying that I'm a suburbanite with no farming or forestry experience. This is me pondering where I'd like to live, ideally. Someone more experienced can comment on the economics of it. This essay assumes there will be income from a job, such as online remote work.

A backyard is not enough.

1 Family farm homesteading?

The impulse to retreat from degenerate postmodernity and homestead in the wilderness is strong and growing. r/Homestead has 2.4 million members, and r/HumanRewilding explains why. However, my vague impression is that most homesteaders attempt to start a family farm. Great frustration often results, as one learns the difficulties of competition with economies of scale. The family farm lifestyle disappeared for a reason. My sources on this are impeccable.

Things Homesteaders Say | YouTube

The personal effort expended is somewhat pointless, since family farming is still unsustainable, particularly after a societal collapse. (Unless you're doing it the Amish way.) More importantly, Earth's ongoing ecological collapse may render intensive farming increasingly nonviable. The vertical line on the atmospheric CO2 chart alone has the potential to cause desertification, a sudden ice age, or just scour away topsoil due to violent adjustments in the thin soil-water-air layer that we take for granted on this spinning molten magnetic rock.

One wouldn't want to wake Jormungandr. Those pyramids didn't weather themselves.

🌊 JÖRMUNGANDR 🌊 (VølfgangTwins) Heavy Viking Music | YouTube

What can one do about all this that is actually helpful and practical? And preferably enjoyable. If one's children slave away pointlessly on a hobby farm, they will surely not repeat the mistake. Sustainability includes intergenerational!

2 Soil depletion

Permaculture is more sustainable than modern commercial farming. However, it still encounters the fundamental problem of soil depletion.

Animals avoid soil nutrient depletion by shitting where they ate. Humans won't do that. Farmers spray liquified shit on their fields, but it's chemical and fuel intensive.

Where does topsoil come from? Tree roots dig it out, then fall and rot, creating surface dirt. Forest is thus the ecologically-optimal land biome, since it efficiently captures water, sunlight and CO2, and moderates air temperature and wind. Reforestation is the best thing we can do for our planet.

Therefore instead of farming, homesteaders should practice forestry. This will be more fun for everyone, since forest homesteading is lazy. Trees require no encouragement to grow. They are quite competitive about it.

To make things easier, plant your homestead next to an existing forest, so that the full biome can easily spread to your property. Help it along by planting trees, and the rest will naturally follow. Birds poop seeds everywhere.

Erosion is a constant. Soil runs down rivers into the sea. Trees turn more rock into soil. As long as humans don't harvest too much, this cycle can continue indefinitely, powered by the sun.

3 Lowland orchards

Lowlands have a soil surplus due to erosion. Intensive farming can recover key nutrients before they're washed away and compacted into useless sedimentary rock.

Therefore, lowlands are the place to plant orchards. Trees are better than crops, because it is still important to bind the soil, etc. However, the fruit can be harvested for human use without soil depletion, due to the constant influx. Spreading fertilizer is appropriate to compensate for soil nutrient depletion.

Plant trees whose fruit you can use. Why not benefit from your labor? However, a monocropped orchard is too artificial to be sustainable. Be random.

Permaculture gardens work on the same principle. It is best to live in a clearing, to avoid unfortunate dead falls. Surrounding oneself with a garden fed on compost is natural.

The best use for nightsoil is to fertilize biodegradable planters containing useful plants or trees. After sprouting, these can be transported from the nursery to random destinations on one's daily walk. It's a laid-back way to grow one's personal Garden of Eden. Such a cabin could turn a dryad green with envy.

Herbivores are attracted to lowland orchards, but can be driven off with household dogs, who create a buffer between wild predators and the homestead. Unlike guns, dogs cull prey by fitness.

4 Fishing for trees

Aquaculture is the last chance to recover soil before erosion sweeps it onto the ocean floor where light can no longer reach it. Time to get aggressive.

Fish are basically omnivorous, so fisherman naturally perform apex predation by simply tossing back the smaller ones. This excludes traps that catch and kill small fish indiscriminately. As long as the small fry and seabed are left unmolested, there is no danger of overfishing. The ocean is always getting more nutrient-rich soil, and planting trees only adds more.

Changing the local ratio of big to small fish does little harm to the ecosystem (starving whales are a distant issue to homesteaders). Human hunting of land animals is much more detrimental. Eat the fish, keep the scraps and plant trees with them.

Should one channel and divert water for aquaculture? I don't think so. Let the trees grab as much water as they can. Then the beavers can build dams out of them, if they manage to dodge the coyotes. Stocking ponds is certainly helpful, like planting trees. There is no need to feed the fish, however. Let the forest do that.

5 Apex warden

How should a warden hunt land animals? By acting as an apex warden.

Predators cull prey, preventing them from over-grazing the plants. Old and sickly animals are caught before they can be colonized by parasites and disease. Remove predators, and herbivore population explodes, overgrazing plants before succumbing to starvation and disease.

Apex predators sit at the top of the food chain. Apex predators in North America include cougars, bears and wolves. A warden's job is to cull sickly apex predators to preserve their fitness. Threatening humans is presumptive evidence of sickliness. The fur is good even if the meat isn't. The carcass can be used for dog food.

One can build various shelters that benefit wildlife, from birdhouses to lean-tos. Dugouts are prone to damp, but that no longer matters once the ground freezes. These shelters can be lifesaving for human and animal alike. Knowing the location of dens makes it easier to cull the sick and starving, whether carnivore or herbivore. It is also a good way to make friends with the gentler local wildlife, who will not refuse a winter treat.

Similarly, trees suffering infestation should be cut down and hauled off for wood. Trees are the "apex predators" of the plant world, which is a quiet war for sunshine and soil. Trees that offer nothing useful to humans are candidates for firewood.

6 Cult of trees

Woodland Indians practiced forestry (for subsistence not lumber), and I suspect woodland Europeans did the same. It's definitely a lifestyle, but adding some spirituality helps it self-perpetuate.

Treehuggers are nuttier than squirrels, and I'm no exception. Still, I think it would make a good religion. How about we call it Anastasianism?

While I do not identify as a tree, I do feel a kinship with birds. Planting a forest gives our feathered friends a home. When you die, would you rather have a forest or a 401k?

• The Spirit Song - A Nordic Lullaby - Dimmornas visa | YouTube
• Wardruna - Kvitravn (White Raven) - Official music video | YouTube

7 Exit event

While living off the land is fun, don't expect to turn a profit. Monetization happens when the property is sold after the value has increased through reforestation. By documenting the delights of the property while living on it, you increase both the price and the odds that someone who loves forest will move in. Why shouldn't a plot of land have a social media account?

If you like the neighborhood, no need to move far. There's always another patch of forest to plant. Alternatively, you can retire on your patch of paradise.

8 Conclusion

Reforestation and childrearing are the proper primary goals of homesteading. The rest is just lifestyle and capital appreciation. Learn the land, document it, improve it, repeat. The whole process builds towards the sale. Buy enough land that you won't get bored, but not so much it's overwhelming.

Here are the lines from my journal that prompted this crazy essay:

Must grow the forest. Home of the birds. Nord home.

How to make the desert bloom? March the forest towards it.
The cedars of Lebanon can shade the Sahara.

The Ent's Marching Song (Without Narration) - Clamavi De Profundis | YouTube

Ironically, r/Forestry is mostly hostile to this idea, regarding it as fantasy. They are focused on commercial timber. Nothing wrong with a red neck, but it does come with some understandable hostility to treehuggers. If hippies wanted to help, they could set up their own permaculture forest homestead instead of spiking trees or whatever.

Some, however, are already living the dream:

HutchK18

Interesting. I'm currently about 90%+ aligned with this… I think. I'll need to reread again later. And eventually maybe a 3rd time. I myself have 6 kids, and recently bought some raw mostly forested land. I've been planting hardwood trees and doing other stuff. I recently put in a stone road, planted an orchard (125 fruit trees… crab, apple, peach, pear, plum, cherry, mulberry, hazelnut, butternut, etc), built a pond and stocked it (bluegill, largemouth bass, redear sunfish, channel cats, forage minnows), and a 2,500 tree pine forest. This Fall I'm putting in a few acres of a pollinator planting fir the bees, butterflies, etc). Next Spring I'll be putting in a wetland, and vernal pools. At that point I'll have a creek, pond, wetland and numerous springs / seeps for water. Eventually Ill be digging a deep well. Then I'm thinking I'd like to set aside a few acres of the lower fields that have the good soil aside to start "farming" for food. I'm aligned with doing things like the Amish. I grew up in a large Amish community, and really appreciate their family culture and farming practices. They don't get it all right… but do a lot right. I view all this more of a lifestyle, and not a religion. As you mentioned, I'm semi-retired, working remotely for some $$$. I'm doing this "forestry" as a hobby because I really enjoy it.

Apparently "food forests" are already a thing on r/SelfSufficiency:

• I just found this subreddit, allow me to link my edible forest made from 100% waste materials, and more.
• Learn these Propagating techniques! You will save tons of money growing your food forest. It almost feels like cheating.
• Woman creates self sufficient permaculture food forest within 4 years

Hail Sylvanus.

Sylvanus, God of Forests | Magic the Gathering

Do you do these things? Thoughts on them? I have never seen animals stretch (prolonged stretches), exercise intentionally or, of course, foam roll. Are our efforts to stay healthy well directed? Any thoughts appreciated and thank you kindly.

I am currently attempting a personal proof-of-concept wattle and daub wall in my backyard.

I live pretty rural, on almost an acre. Plenty of clay in our dirt up here in TN. We have neighborhood water access for sand, and I let my yard get long for straw.

My problem is where I am actually going to get clay and sand from. I already have a big hole in the yard from a previous project, and I've learned my lesson about doing that again. I imagine, aside from the water diversion trench around primitive huts, primitive people didn't just leave huge gaping holes in their land. Unless they had a project that needed it?

My current plan is to visit the nearby riverbank with some 5 gallon buckets in the back of the truck, to get the clay and sand necessary for a good strong mix.

Is this illegal? Am I missing something obvious? Any input appreciated :)

Hello everyone, i'm not very good with words so ill try to be direct. I'm looking for help to begin my dream of creating a small, self sufficient community. I have around 10 like minded friends who wish to embark upon this venture with me, and if all goes well, maybe more will come. I have done as much as I can in the way of preparation with what I currently have. Now what I need is to cross the biggest hurdle, which is the acquisition of land. I've tried for a while to find something I could afford and its just not going to happen with the income my wife and I pull in. So i've started a GoFundMe to help raise funds for the purchase of land. Most of my friends have all but given up hope of achieving this goal, but I have not lost hope yet. I am in the process of selling everything of mine that is not essential to daily life, salvaging and reselling. Anything I can to shore up funds. So thats my little story, i'm not here to ask for donations specifically, though that would be appreciated. Ive come here more to ask advice and learn from those that have already done more then I. Any tips on how to find affordable land, the most important steps to take first when getting on some new land, any and all advice is appreciated.

https://gofund.me/9ed7c39e