I had to get away to connect with nature but when i wake up every morning, I come here outside and I'm immediately in nature here I don't have that void anymore, I've just got this instant connection and satisfaction I'm Andrew Martin and today we're here in our permaculture property in the bay of Plenty, New Zealand we've got 5 acres and we've planted hundreds of fruit trees which you'll see later So this is our main garden just close to the house in zone 1 so, yeah, we can say we've got a lot happening here We've got, you know, lots of kale and spinach silverbeet, beetroot, bok choy, rhubarb, zuchinni... And, how I started this is Basically a sheet mulch so I've got some used paper cardboard some manure and some food scraps and then build it up and then just put straw on top and then just planted straight into it and since then i just kept adding to the soil with compost So, yeah, I studied business I was involved in finance and more specifically in stock market So we used to help people manage their money Whether the organisation are worth we used to manage hundreds of millions of dollars for people. I think i just did business because it was one of those things that I thought would lead to something And sure, I've been successful in a certain regard given us the wealth to be able to buy some land And that sort of stuff. But I felt myself being drawn into this materialistic world Because all the people around me had material possessions and it was all this wanting and creating of attachment and wanting, wanting more stuff It can be contagious, this consumerism materialism lifestyle I wasn't from that background. I'm from a sort of a conservative sort of upbringing Then all of a sudden I'm involved with, you know, guys that are driving luxury cars living in an expensive house in the Sydney suburbs A lot of guys are, you know multimillionaires and... they were trapped into a system and they thought an extra, you know, 10 or 20 or 30 million would make them happier. And i worked out early on the paste that, that is not the case And i think, a lot of people think that the more money they have, the more happy they're going to be and it just doesn't work... So, the idea is to you know, have native plants mixed among fruit trees so we've got you know, natives here we got a tamarillo here we got marno, [...], [...] and [...] natives We've got a cabage tree here This is a... uh a pine nut So those are really expensive nuts you get in the supermarket This is one of those that takes about ten years to get any fruit on it or any nuts So that's a long term project. And then we've got, over here, we've got a fig tree. Which is fruiting quite nicely. And another carob tree here And then for the monarch butterflies We've got a couple of swan plants which they really enjoy real much, so we'd be lucky to see one Here he womes now... There was a lot of little moments of realization I saw a few documentaries and movies that were about some of the bigger picture issues But when you're in the coporate world And you're so busy with your life and achieving certain things I'te hard to get off that train Beth, my wife and I we sort of had grown over the corporate lifestyle and the trap of having and wanting more... So we thought "Ok, let's just cut our ties from what we've known" and... we'd been working for many years We thought "Ok... let's just ...start a fresh" So we'd been to New Zealand a number of times previously And we just thought that's a great place to... just start, we'll look at alternatives and live a simpler, more sustainable life And just explore what's out there. It was then the realization sort of hit home I started to research more read, you know, hundreds of articles and watch hundreds of documentaries and sorts of stuff. Then i started to really understand : "Wow, We got some serious issues here..." And no one's really talking about this stuff and it's quite scary In here we got our chickens We've got two breeds we've got a brown shader which is these ones here And then over here wev'e got Araucanas And over here we have little chicks that have just hatched in the last two days You can see them down here Ok the chicken yard here... You can see there's lots of weeds and little shrubs and what not and... We've planted some...there was about 10 or 12 feet Java bushes around the edge To give them some protection. There's a walnut tree down there But now you now the chickens love it. They can get in here and hide under here and escape from predators cause when we first had them, it was cleared and we did have a problem with eagles and hawks so we lost a few chickens Because that was easy for the hawks to see them, then come in and attack them but Now we've...hadn't had a problem. And you wan say there's little hidy house everywher for the chickens here And they love it in here, they just hide through here and over here, they even lay eggs in the hidy holes and her's one here there you go The first thing We did is simplified our life. So once you simplify your life, it frees you up to do a lot of other things. So we just thought "Ok, What can we afford ?" and live within that limit And that way frees you up a lot more, so... Down sizing and tiny homes is excellent because it gives people the freedom to...to make decisions about their lives And that's sort of what we've done. Wev'e consciensly made that effort not to live outside our means And once you do that it's really powerful so I always wanted a pond and a lot of permaculture people talk about ponds and averyone has pond and it's functionnal, it's got some great uses So the idea is I built this pond to feed the beds which are actually under about 2 feet of grass at the moment so what happened is i thought I thought like I'm gonna... I'll just have a go digging the pond. And i started digging it out and i just kept going for a couple of hours and then after four hours i had a pretty big hole it's probably a meter and a half deep And then the second day, I just kept going and dug down And...within two days about 4 or 5 hours each day, I had a pond ! And then, I just... got a liner and put it in the pond and I couldn't believe my luck The next day, it belted down rain and then the pond was full So in two days, I've gone from having no pond To a completely full pond, which is awesome. Apart from working on the garden, that takes a good part of my day I also for a few blogs and have written a few books and... i also consult with business local government and community groups on helping raise awarness around some of the big picture issues So I do what they call as a vulnerability assessment So once i analyse the data and identify gaps, then i come up with recommendations For councils to move to a more sustainable model. I'm fortunate... I'm in a position to be able to do this A lot of people who don't have the luxury of being able to have time to... research and...come up with ideas and solutions so... That's what i'm trying to achieve I saw a documentary back in 2007 called A Crude awakening that was talking about the oil shock and resource depletion on peak oil And that really got me interested in the whole energy side of things I read lots of books on energy and watched lots of documentaries and lots of articles And it just seemed that permaculture kept popping up as a solution. Then I started to research permaculture and realized that It was an integrated approach to how we're living So at the moment, our current society... It's a fragmented approach to living So everything's compartimentalised or separated whereas permaculture is a holistic approach to how we're living. It integrates food, environment with your lifestyle and taking care of, you know, people, the planet the natural resources So I really... That really... hit home and I just really thought that was... that was one of the solutions for moving forward Over here we've got some grapes and we've had these in for about a year and a half and this is our first decent yield of grapes as you can see here and what we do so we let the next door neighbour graze our front two pattics and in return, I can go over to her place and I get some pine needles which the blueberries love cause they love acidic soil so I just sprinkle the blueb... the pine needles around the blueberries so it helps mulch them and help give them nutrients and it also keep the weeds down. So what i'm trying to... I do mow and i don't like it but I just try to mow the paths also Um... side the paths So what we do is we leave all the... all the weeds and the ground cover, there cause it... You know, i hate to waste the resource But what I like to do is just walk up when I'm out in the garden and just pick a bit of weed and just dropped around there it gives it a... I gives a bit of a top up and a bit of a feed and then, you know, it just protects it from the From evaporation and you know, it's just consant soil building So... a lot of people come over to our property and have a look around they go "what about all your fruit trees ?" "Do you get pests and stuff, like bird that eat them ?" I say yeah sure But we don't mind that you know we were not here first and you know we're a part of nature and you know We've had...we have comments from other people that live around near us On the farms and they say they can't believe how much wildlife and birdlife is here and their properties just, you know, a few hundred meters away have almost no wildlife or birdlife so you know we're attracting birdlife and wildlife Through just letting nature be as opposed to wanting to control it. Start growing food that's where alot of this... these initiatives start. Food is central to the way we live our health, and our whole ecosystem and environment so if we can start doing something small like even if you If you just live in the suburbia and you got a small block you can start growing food Even if you're in an apartment you can you know windowsills, pots whatever you can start, and that's the first step once you engage with growing and experiencing nature Then things start to happen to you and it's like a like a flower it starts, you know growing, getting bigger and then that leads to something else. So get out there and explore because there are options We just have to have the capacity to realize that we're not stuck and we can change and just... just do it ! I love Andrew's story because it contradicts a belief that underpins our society : that only large amounts of money and having expensive material posessions are what lead to happiness. We've been fad this lie by businesses and governments in order to make profit and to perpetuate the growth economy that's contributing to the destruction of the earth By each one of us refusing to believe this story our society tells us Together we can create aworld where the deep satisfaction we all desire comes from our connexion with community and nature rather than from material posessions in the face of the crisis the world is facing today a new way of being is emerging where we're connected to nature and exist in harmony with all other forms of life and it's up to us to pioneer the transition to this deeply satisfying, nourishing and truly sustainable way of life I definitely feel happier and less stressed. When you work in a coporate world, it's very competitive and I'll tell you, there's not much competition out here appart from a few weeds Which i get upset with. But now I've learnt to let go and now I eat some of the weeds I definitely feel better and I feel more flexible I don't have any actual pains anymore And I just feel more connected and more lively. I eat much healthy now I don't eat any processed foods We have lot of vegetarian meals and it's all fresh, organic produced So we also live a less consumerist lifestyle So we don't need as much stuff So I haven't got this constant craving for more and more things to make me feel satisfied or happy This lifestyle working on the land and... doing permaculture It feels more rewarding and like I'm putting something back with a lot of... current society it's take take take And with this sort of lifestyle I feel like this is long term I'm putting something back. So... ther you have it. We have homegrown salad fruit salad, grain salad and some eggs and I can't believe still that I don't have to go to the supermarket. We've grown all this ourselves in just 3 years. I'm still amazed. So anyone can do it So hope you'll enjoy the first of many films in this series and this project wouldn't be happening at all if it wasn't for the generous support of our crowdfunding backers. So thanks so much to everyone who donated. And I want to say a special thank you to the simplicity institute, friends tiny houses, Michael Albertson, Lou Ridsdale, and Quentin Wilson. If you wanna find out more about the project, you can click here and it will take you throught to our website Or if you wanna watch another film about a permaculture farm, you can click here. So thanks for watching guys and I'll see you all in the next film.
I'm all for what he's doing, and he's not arrogant about it at all, but it took quite a bit of capital for him to acquire the privilege of living this life. Essentially, he was able to retire young and live the agrarian lifestyle of his choosing. No, it's not a luxury car, but owning land arable enough to do this type of farming, and having the time to put into it, is a luxury few can afford.
What are the options for someone who lives paycheck to paycheck?
I think those of you who think this is financially unrealistic for anyone outside of finance are wrong. We have no idea how much he spent doing this. He might have spent a very small portion of his net worth. On the other hand, it's possible he spent a shit ton of money doing this. But look at the view from his property -- he lives in the fucking mountains of New Zealand! Do you think it's necessary to buy property that beautiful to have a small permaculture farm? Absolutely not. Farmland in the United States can be as cheap as $1k/acre. That's maybe twice what someone pays for their cell phone plan per year for a football-sized block of land to own forever. If you don't want to live this lifestyle, then fine, but don't make excuses.*
*I understand that some people do have legitimate excuses, but I think it's not as high of a number as those that claim to.
Someone's been playing too much Stardew Valley!
I felt like the title was deceiving. I thought we were going to hear how an everyday guy financed a farm. Instead we heard how a guy with an above average income spent his money on a farm and then started working from home as a consultant.
Brad Pitt from The Big Short?
Everyone is batching about the cost of this and I'm just laughing that the introduction called this a more sustainable way of living.
Sustainable for who? Because we certainly can't sustain 7 billion people this way.
Geez, people. This video isn't about you. Just enjoy the story and quit complaining that he has more money than you or his situation isn't applicable to you.
I would be curious to know what he paid for his property. I am currently looking. I haven't taken a gander at NZ though.