Principle 1: Begin with the End in Mind

I. The Threshold: Embracing the Albany Design Challenge

It has been fourteen years since I last considered myself a practicing permaculture designer. In August of 2012, when I left a rural site in Maine, I believed I had walked away from the discipline entirely. Today, in the spring of 2026, I am finally ready to admit I was wrong. I didn't quit vegan permaculture; I simply entered a deep-winter cycle of reflection. That fourteen-year hiatus was a necessary fallow period for the seeds of a more resilient, urban practice to germinate.

I am re-emerging by accepting the Albany Design Challenge. I am no longer looking for a utopian escape; I am choosing to start where I am, in a modest 1920s bungalow in the Whitehall neighborhood. This return is framed by the Watch of the Dharma Body, a two-hour daily slice of my horarium dedicated to manifesting the Trikaya—the three bodies of the Buddha—as living forms of ahimsa (non-violence) mapped across the seven zones of a 300-year Ancestral Vessel (1920–2220):

• The Buddhakaya (Zone 00): This is the Internal Landscape. In my model, Zone 00 is the site of Anatta, or No-Self. It is where I practice ahimsa toward my own psychiatrically disabled vessel. By honoring the design limits of my disability—respecting the necessity of rest, the side effects of medications, and the Lost Decade of my own energy—I ensure that the designer is as well-tended as the design.
• The Dharmakaya (Zones 0–5): These are the physical realms of existence, the Truth Body. This gradient, from the 1920s bungalow (Zone 0) to the wild (Zone 5), mirrors the New Urbanism Transect. I am interacting with the physical manifestation of the Dharma in a structure I intend to last for three centuries. This is the pursuit of Harm0NY 2060 (Harm-Zero-NY), where the material world resonates with the ultimate truth of our Interbeing.
• The Sanghakaya (Zone 6): This is the Social Permaculture system. Zone 6 represents the invisible structures of my family guild—helping my mother age in place and my siblings secure a long-term plan—and the worldwide assembly of vegans. It is the realization that my local watch in Albany is a fractal of the global Nineveh Protocol (2020–2060).

By embracing the constraints of this 1920s urban site, I am beginning a Long Watch that accounts for the global setbacks of the 2020s. This is the work of a cyber-monastic: finding the Alba (the white robes of clarity) within the very name of Albany, and the sacred in the 300-year stewardship of a single city ward.

II. Principle 1: Begin with the End in Mind (Nisan 5786)

To launch this new chapter, I am introducing a curriculum of 13 Principles of Vegan Permaculture Design. Inspired by the foundational work of David Holmgren, I will explore one principle for each month of the Hebrew Calendar, beginning here in Nisan. These principles are the "yield" of my 14-year incubation—lessons learned in the silence of the Scriptorium and the slow, often painful rhythm of recovery.

In the high-energy, visionary season of Aries and Nisan, the most radical act is to Begin with the End in Mind.

The 14-Year Seed

The first end I am keeping in mind is the conclusion of my long hiatus. By committing to this blog and this design, I am declaring that the incubation is over. The setback of 2012 has been composted into the wisdom of 2026. I am no longer waiting for the perfect conditions; I am designing with the conditions I have.

The Three Scenarios: Designing for Resilience

To "Begin with the End" requires a diversity of endings. I am currently mapping three distinct trajectories for my practice:

• Plan A: The Whitehall Bungalow 2060. The long stewardship of my mother’s home, retrofitting this 1920s vessel for a 300-year lifespan.
• Plan B: The Rural Hermitage. A contingency for a more isolated, off-grid vegan homestead should the urban cell become untenable.
• Plan C: The Vegan Dormitory Room. The ultimate minimalist fallback—a scenario where the practice is reduced to its most essential cell within a shared or institutional setting.

By defining all three, I ensure that my commitment to the Dharma Body is not dependent on a single piece of real estate.

The Vegan Vanguard and Harm0NY 2060

While the world initially aimed for Net Zero 2050, we must be realistic about the Lost Decade (2020–2030). COVID, geopolitical friction, the retreat from international climate cooperation, and the stagnation of infrastructure investment have created a decade-long setback. Therefore, my North Star is now Harm0NY 2060.

This is the Nineveh Protocol: a 40-year grand watch (2020–2060) to reach Harm-Zero-NY. I believe it is spiritually and ecologically necessary for a Global Vegan Vanguard to reach this goal as a critical mass proof of concept. We are the pioneer species preparing the soil for the rest of the Sanghakaya.

Designing for the 2100 CE Climax State

Finally, beginning with the end in mind means looking past the mid-century mark to the 2100 CE Design Limit. We cannot design for 2060 without acknowledging the extreme volatility predicted for the turn of the next century.

Recent models regarding the potential collapse of the AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) suggest that Albany may not just face global warming, but a period of abrupt and brutal regional cooling—a cold blob of volatility that could redefine the New York climate. When we combine this with a turbulent US political climate that has become increasingly hostile to long-term climate science and internationalism, the 1920s bungalow must be designed as more than a house; it must be designed as an Ecological Ark.

I am building for a world where the Strait of Hormuz may close, where global supply chains may fracture, and where the temperature may swing wildly. By keeping the year 2100 in mind today, I ensure that every choice I make in the Scriptorium contributes to a legacy of Harm0NY that can withstand the storms of the next century.

III. The Whitehall Bungalow: A Site for Collective Stewardship

To Start Where You Are (a corollary of Begin with the End in Mind) is to honor the specific history of the ground beneath your feet. For me, that ground is a 1920s bungalow in the Whitehall neighborhood of Albany. This structure is more than just a shelter; it is a shared vessel for my family’s collective future.

In my Maine era, permaculture felt like an individualist escape. Today, it is an act of Social Permaculture. My Plan A for this site is a response to the interests of my mother and my siblings:

• Aging in Place: My primary design goal is to ensure my 82-year-old mother can remain in this home, in comfort and dignity, for as long as she is able. Every Harm0NY retrofit must first serve her needs.
• Family Continuity: My siblings and I are looking at this bungalow as a long-term resource. By developing a Vegan Permaculture Retrofit Plan now, I am providing my family with a regenerative blueprint for the house she wants to leave to us.
• The 2060 Housing Placement: My family’s Plan A involves me staying in this home through 2060 as a stable housing placement for my psychiatric disability. This provides a profound sense of Ahimsa—a non-violent security that allows me to focus my energy on the Scriptorium and site stewardship.

The Gift to the Future: While I am designing for my family's Plan A, the resulting blueprint is a gift for whoever might inhabit this cell after us. By documenting the water cycles, energy flows, and regenerative plantings of this 1920s structure, I am ensuring that the work of Harm0NY 2060 continues long after my watch at this site has ended.

IV. The Roadmap: The Years of Witness (2026–2029)

The journey toward Harm0NY 2060 is not a sprint; it is a multi-decade succession. In permaculture, the most common point of failure is "acting before observing." Therefore, I am committing to a three-year Survey Phase—a long watch designed to outlast the current global lost decade and the turbulent 2028 election cycle.

Instead of a traditional seasonal audit, I am adopting a Zonal Spiral approach for these Years of Witness:

• Year 1 (Nisan 2026 – Adar 2027): The Internal Audit (Zone 00 & 0). Observing the psychiatrically disabled vessel and the 1920s structure. Mapping energy leaks, medication rhythms, and the inherent Dharma of the Whitehall bungalow.
• Year 2 (Nisan 2027 – Adar 2028): The Local Bioregion (Zones 1–5). Mapping the Albany water cycle, soil health, and the New Urbanism transect of our neighborhood.
• Year 3 (Nisan 2028 – Adar 2029): The Global Sector (Zone 6). Observing the international political climate, global supply chain shifts, and the January 2029 U.S. Inaugural data. This final year of survey ensures the design is grounded in the hard reality of the 2030s.

The Grand Succession (2029–2060)

Once the witness is complete, the SADIM spiral continues through mid-century:

• Analysis Phase (Nisan 2029 – Adar 2033): Processing three years of data to identify the energy slumps and the opportunities for Harm0NY. This is the Post-Inaugural Pivot where the 2060 blueprint is finalized.
• Design Phase (Nisan 2033 – Adar 2040): The era of Code and Covenant. This seven-year window focuses on navigating local, state, federal, and international building code upgrades. We will design for the 2100 CE climate extremes, ensuring the bungalow is ready for whatever AMOC volatility brings.
• Retrofit & Maintenance Phase (Nisan 2040 – Adar 2060): The heavy lifting of the Nineveh Protocol. While labor and financing in the 2040s will undoubtedly be a challenge, this phase represents the physical manifestation of the Sanghakaya—the collective effort to reach the critical mass of a regenerative New York.

By the time we reach Harm0NY 2060, this 1920s bungalow will have functioned as a design laboratory for forty years. It will stand as a 140-year-old proof of concept, ready to serve its next century of inhabitants as a beacon of non-violence and net-zero resilience.

Conclusion: The Smallness of the Seed

As I finalize this roadmap for Harm0NY 2060, I am acutely aware of the paradox of this moment. I have laid out a thirty-four-year vision that accounts for global supply chains, the potential collapse of the AMOC, and the deep-time stewardship of a 1920s bungalow. Yet, as I sit here in the Scriptorium, I am simply a man in an armchair, navigating the very real limits of my own energy and the lingering fatigue of recovery.

There is a profound humility in the long watch. To "Begin with the End in Mind" does not mean I have to arrive there today. It simply means that when I take a nap, when I tidy a single shelf, or when I observe the spring rain hitting the Albany soil, I know which way I am facing.

Whether the future holds the full realization of Plan A in this Whitehall bungalow, or whether the path leads eventually to the minimalist No-Self of a Plan C dormitory room, the work remains the same: Ahimsa. Non-violence toward the earth, toward the community, and—most crucially today—toward myself.

The 14-year incubation is over. The Nineveh Protocol is signed in the heart. For now, it is enough to simply be a Watcher at the threshold, wearing the white robes of a new beginning, and trusting that the Dharma Body knows the way home to 2060.

Conceived, directed and edited by Jonathan. Written and illustrated by Gemini.