I would start or participate in your local community garden. They are solarpunk af! If they don’t already have it, an apartment composting scheme at the community garden.

As far as inside goes: maximising natural light and doing a balcony garden and filling the living space with house plants. Hydroponics is solarpunk. I would set up a wee fishtank nutrientcycler like they do in east asia. They look aesthetically solarpunk and help fertilise your garden…just make sure you get the right sized tank for the fish you choose.

I started a new file end of last year and I’m just now at the first winter with only a couple items left until i complete the community centre. I still need the sturgeon, the sandfish, red quartz, and the red cabbage. I’m really looking forward to having it done then spending the next year courting my future wife and decorating

Thanks mate. I really needed to hear this

The propercrisp ones are real yum

Kia ora 😊 My partner goes hunting a couple time a week but mostly to feed families in our village and help our forests stay past free. I spend a few hours a day in the garden or with the birds, but most of my time is spent with my daughter or working on various community projects. I don’t have a paying job at the moment but I’m looking to take some apple sorting shifts this season while the emergency communications for vulnerable people start-up I’m a part of sorts funding.

Our cost of living is much lower. No utility bills. The rate on our property is lower. Our mortgage is lower. We have no meat or eggs to buy and most our veggies are sorted as well. We do have higher start up costs like sorting a solar set up and rainwater system. It takes money or connections for naterials to get started

The hydro soil system sounds ideal! I really like data which is why I’m hoping for a system with some reporting features but maybe i start simple and add as I go.

I do have ollas in my berry patch, but as the raised beds are made of stacked stone, they’ve been losing water way too quickly. This year, I’m going to unstack and line the beds to hold a bit more moisture.

Thanks so much for your help!

4g on my phone!

Thank you so much 😊 I joined beehaw last year sometime but haven’t been as active as I’d have liked as I was drowning in local politics drama. I’m in a better space now.

I’m leaning towards home assistant but I’m looking into the grow op stuff to see if there is anything already built exactly how I’d like.

Thank you so much! Also thanks for car conversion write up! I’d love to do something live this with an old Suzuki Jimny.

That’s a good idea! I hadn’t heard of pixelfed! I’ll see if I can enable cross posts and slowly shift all my stuff over.

I definitely want something centralised and that can document usage. Long-term, I’d like it to work alongside a moisture and weather monitoring system so that I can really maximise my water efficiency.

Thank you! I genuinely hope you end up just as lucky. I’ll be posting more around here and other parts of Lemmy. I’m on other social media platforms, but it feels like people aren’t there to connect and engage anymore, so it’s become just another channel for mindless consumption.

Thanks!! That’s a great idea! I was nervous to go looking under those rocks as it’s still not legal here, and I don’t need the police in my garden. Those links look like exactly what I’m after. Is there a cannabis growing community here on lemmy I can chat with? Yeah, I’m all for people using cannabis if it helps them, but I think with us on the brink of climate collapse with failing soils… maybe it’s time we utilise some of that tech for local food systems.

I don’t have a blog but I do post little snippets on the big social media platforms. They aren’t super detailed as I’m trying to use my aesthetic appeal to drag unsuspecting viewers down my leftist rabbithole. I was going to revive my tumblr but I actually think just making posts and commenting around Lemmy is better. No follower metrics or corporate algorithms to worry about.

I’m currently an unemployed author under contract, but I don’t get paid until it’s out. The economy is rough here at the moment. My partner works in forestry, and I’m hoping to pick up a 2nd shift apple grading this autumn.

Aotearoa is her first name and what we as a people are slowly moving back to. This may or may not be related to it bumping us up above Australia in drop-down selection menus.

I’ve joined the community council, co-chair of our toy library and co-chair of our community workshop/repair cafe, and I’ve recently helped with starting a new emergency response communications organisation to fill the gap between civil defence and vulnerable communities (people with disabilities, ESL immigrants, migrant workers, the elderly etc). I feel like 2025 I want to get my projects cleaned up and dedicate more time to sharing how to navigate local bureaucracy to start community initiatives so more communities can start their own.

I want to add this location to my travel list. As someone from a squirrel-less country, where can I find the mutant squirrels?

I just started a new save on the meadow farms! First time starting over. I’m excited to have a fresh start and build new relationships. I’m feeling Penny this round.

For 2025, I’m trying to do more IRL stardew: fixing up a community centre, starting a calendar of birthdays and local events, and keeping track of likes and dislikes of friends and neighbours. Also the usual gardening and farm animals.

I thought it would be fun to play a new save and get some inspiration for my plans

The hardest part has been navigating the egos of people on local community council but we now have enough of us that we will be pushing for governance changes so like consensus decision-making, co-chairs and collective leadership.

I think it’s really important to learn to delegate and to be open around ideas that might be different than yours but will still address the problem.

As far as having a community hub space, it’s just as great as you can imagine! We get to go for grants or fundraise if there is something in the community we think we need. Things that don’t really make sense for just one person to own. One of the things we would like to get in the next year or two is a good laser cutter. As people started coming for mend-it nights, they started to see all the neat things we have that they can borrow and hear us talking about community. I think giving people a 3rd space that offers both social support and financial support in the way of items they might not be able to afford to buy has really helped people feel that sense of stability. Stability really is the key to progress! Once people feel safe, they can give more energy to their passions and their community.

10/10 would recommend

Hey we are doing this exact thing! My mates and I have been expanding our community toy library into a community workshop and library of things. We’ve started with textile repairs but are working on grants for our new bike and electronic repairs section. We are also offer a space for small social enterprises to host courses. So far I really do agree that having the social aspect helps more people into the space and opens them up to the idea of sharing vs owning.

We live in a small rural village in Aotearoa so we’ve been lucky that we are able to make such a direct impact on our community. We’re hoping to become a model community and put together free resource packs so we can help everyone else start doing the same.

One thing I would really love to hear more about is time banking. It’s something we’d like to try here but we want to see a few examples in action so we can decide how we’ll set ourselves up.