Permaculture Aging: Retirement Beyond the 401(k)

What happens when you’re too old to prune all the trees in that food forest you worked so hard to establish in your yard in your younger years? How will you fund your life in your later years if you have avoided investing in the stock market? What access will you have to healthcare as you age if you build your permaculture dream life in a rural area where the hospitals are closing and you have to drive several hours to see a doctor?

These are all important questions that most of us don’t spend any time thinking about as we design our permaculture lives. We get hyper-focused on things like our gardens, natural building techniques, and backyard chickens – all of which are wonderful things, don’t get me wrong – but you’d be equally wise to apply the rich design tool-kit that is permaculture to think a lot earlier about how to pursue permaculture in ways that set you up for success in your later years.

Given the economic challenges, political instability, and climate risks that make conventional financial and retirement planning so out of touch with the realities and needs of most people, permaculture’s focus on holistic design offers us unique strategies and guidance for how we can design more resilience into our lives at any age. Now, I’m excited to help people use this powerful tool to thrive in their later years as well. I don’t propose to have all the answers, but I’m eager to spark this conversation, creating a space for brainstorming and out-of-the-box solutions.

Laura Oldanie is a green living and money coach who blogs at RichandResilientLiving.com. Her goal is to help people achieve financial freedom and live their best lives in socially and environmentally conscious ways that equally value people, planet, and profit. She has been featured in CNBC, Yahoo! Finance, and Forbes. Laura is co-author of the life changing book Growing FREE (Financially Resilient & Economically Empowered): Building the Life of Your Dreams Without Losing Your Soul or Destroying the Planet. You can find her on YouTube @LauraOldanie and Instagram @Rich_Resilient.

Please note: This workshop will be taking place at the Big House at Sweetwater Farm, but you can park at 5521 Hanley Road, Tampa FL 33634 and cross the bridge over the creek to the farm.

General Admission: $35
Low Income/Senior: $17 (limited number)

Although our base price for this course is $40, Sweetwater is a nonprofit that puts on educational programs for elementary schools in the neighborhood and teaches them about food systems and basically where their food comes from. We also host community volunteer days and a farmer’s market every Sunday from November through May. You can donate to Sweetwater in addition to your course fee if you’d like to help us continue our programs. And if you want to get your hands dirty in our gardens you can contribute your time by volunteering Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday mornings from 9-12.