A wise friend once told me, “You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” He was right, but the sentence should end with, “… unless you have a lot of money, or a lot of help.”

I’m Steve, single, Sagittarius. Two of those, anyway.

I like guitars, guns, pinball, and power tools.

I love nature, learning, and creating.

In the past I’ve had all kinds of jobs and lived in all kinds of places. As a result, I know how to do a lot of things, and I learn new skills and concepts quickly. I have a strong DIY ethic, which sometimes morphs into a DIL (do it later) ethic…

I currently live in the Pacific Northwest where I have a very small farm. When I’m not taking care of my animals or shoving wild mushrooms into my mouth I work mostly as a handyman, builder, and woodworker. I’ve adopted the habit of accepting just about any job I’m offered, if only to add to my experience and skill set, and/or to be paid in tacos.

In my down time I’m a ravenous researcher, focused primarily on sustainable agriculture, forestry, housing, tourism, and other, related subjects. Over the last few years I’ve compiled hundreds of pages of notes, tables, and maps, and created hundreds of diagrams and conceptual drawings, and even invented some things.

I also try to travel whenever I have the chance, both for research and for a break from the weather. I like it here, but I’m ready for a change. Cold is one thing; wet is another. But cold and wet… I’m used to it, but I’m ready for a new set of problems.

My continuing goal is to live a balanced life of freedom, stability, and autonomy, to learn something every day, and to create something every day.

My project is to develop agroforestry cooperatives, subsidized by tourism, that accomplish the following:

•Keep more resources in the local community
•Draw wealth into the community and keep it there
•Diversify and stabilize the local economy
•Improve access to nutrition and health
•Increase access to services
•Increase biodiversity
•Are carbon negative
•Serve as laboratories for innovation

To that end, some of the practices, philosophies, and concepts I advocate are:

•Permaculture
•Silvopasture
•Wildcrafting/foraging
•Non-lethal predator control
•Triple Bottom Line
•Lean Startup
•Modern cooperatives, profit-sharing, and hybrid models

On this site I’ll be writing about my interests, philosophies, ideas, and pretty much whatever I feel like, with the goal of connecting with likeminded partners.