D. Logan's PEA Development Thread

Before creating the 'official' versions of each badge in the Permaculture Experience for Apartments, this is where I'm going to be hammering out concepts. Most likely, I will go one badge at a time to flesh out the first level at absolute minimum before moving to the next. Not everything here will make it into the final badge, so take everything with a grain of salt. I welcome input from other staff, of course, since PEA is not exactly PED. Everything here will probably start out a bit scattered, disjointed and free-writing style as I hone down my ideas and develop them. Feel free to take things from them for your own PEX or if something here sounds like a logical addition to the PEP program, it's perfectly fine with me to see it end up there.

To Do:
Decisions on Natural Building as a badge, Post-straw levels on most badges, Adjust forum locations of any pages that still need it.

Currently In Progress:
Last minute refining to flesh out individual badge bits.

Complete:
See the PEA Program Main Page for more details.

Badge Title Format: PEA-Badge-Food-Prep-Preservation

Food Prep and Preservation

General Overview
Demonstrate the varied skills associated with making delicious food with a focus on local ingredients, from-scratch cooking, and non-electric or energy-saving methods. The skills displayed and developed will include the basic care and maintenance of cookware, developing techniques that can be applied broadly across many cooking and preserving actions, making use of ingredients that might otherwise go to waste, and the various methods for ensuring that you maximize the longevity of foodstuffs by means that expand on the options for flavor and usage.

Non-specific Thoughts:
I am an omnivore and have strong beliefs about this as it relates to Permaculture. If this was PED, I'd probably insist on an omnivorous lineup of skills. Since this is PEA, I need to at least consider making options for those who are not. The question becomes one of how far do I open that scale? Do I make it Vegetarian friendly? Vegan friendly? What about Paleo or Gluten free? Where do I draw the line? Certainly not so far as Fruitarian. If I do make such allowances, then perhaps a system where you have several 'tracks' to pick from based on your personal dietary limits. A person only has to pick one track, but if you decide to do a second track, perhaps that rewards oddball points?

This is by no means the actual list, but myself spitballing every item I consider an important skill set for growing as a cook and preserver. I'm sure I missed some things. I'm also sure some of these will seem odd choices to others. I broke them into broad stroke categories here. It also doesn't consider the multi-track style noted above. Obviously not all of these would be for low leveled badges as well.

Universal:
Source Local Ingredients
Zero Waste/Bulk Style Ingredient Gathering
Develop a Food Storage System
Meal Planning
Seasonality of Ingredients

Maintainence
Cutting Board Care and System (Better for Nest?)
Hone Knives
Line a cake tin
Using a Mortar and Pestel
Paper Piping Bag Making
Eating-Out Kit
Season Cast Iron
         Restore a Cast Iron Pan
Filter Frying Oil

Prep Work
Display the ability to do all of the following:
         Dice an Onion, Slice an onion
         Oblong Cuts
         Matchstick a carrot
         Crush Garlic
         Prep a Chilli
         Zesting
         Grating
         Chiffonade
         Peel a tomato
         Pit cherries
         Core and peel an apple
Blanch Vegetables
Wedge a Citrus
Juice a lemon
Separate an Egg
Make a stock or broth
Clarify a Broth
Soup/Chowder/Stew
Make an extract
Make a Simple Syrup
Ketchup/BBQ Sauce
Break down a chicken
Break down a fish
Break down a large animal (pig)
Debone a Turkey
Bind a Roast
Stuff a Burger/meat
Make powdered sugar
Grind Flour
         Ancient Grains
Make Baking Powder
Make Self-rising Flour

Technique work
Mayo or Aoli
Herb Butter
Sear a Steak
Roast a Chicken
Thicken with a Whitewash (water and flour)
Thicken with a Slurry (water and cornstarch)
Make a Roux
         White
         Blond
         Brown
         Brick
Egg Techniques (fry, poach, soft boil, hard boil, omelet)
Caramelize Onions
Marinade
Crisp a Fish Skin
Whipped Cream/Meringue
         Folding in
Vinaigrette
Artichoke
Alternate Cooking (make this a category for thermal, ceviche, etc)
         Thermal Cook
                   Hay Box
                   Thermos
         Ceviche
         Solar Oven
         No-bake
         Fire
         Rocket Stove
         Alcohol Stove
         Pit Cooking
         Salt Dome/Clay Bake
         Cob Oven
Deep Fry
         Batter Fry
Pan Fry
Frost a Cake
Stir Fry
Make Butter, Lard, Ghee
Whole Milk Ricotta
Mozzarella
Homemade Pasta
Ravioli/pierogi/dumpling
Tomato Sauce
Frittata
Tortilla
Pita
Alkaline Noodles
         Bagels or Pretzels
Yeast Breads
         Kneading
         Loaf
         Rolls
         Pizza Dough
Biscuits/Scones
         Rubbing Butter and Flour
Shortbread
Cream Puffs
Pie Dough
Sponge Cake
Pound Cake
Brioche/Danish
Laminated Dough
Fudge
Roasted Veggies
Baked Squash
Batter Breads/Cornbread/pancakes/waffles
Pastry Cream
Cooking Pasta
Bake Crackers
Double Boiler Use
Baking a potato
Make a gravy/sauce
Cook grains boil/steam/risotto/etc (rice, oats, etc)
Basic Hash and Hashbrowns
Cheesecake
Pie
Galette
Custard
Salads/Slaws
Grilling
Crock Pot Cooking
Make a Pan Sauce
Salsa/Guacamole
Pressure Cooking Beans
Ice Cream/Sherbert/Sorbet
Grenada
Shake/Smoothie
Prepare odd meats (Quail, Duck, Rabbit, Goose, Insects, etc)
Prepare offal
Aspic/Gelatine
Substitute ingredients to alter a recipe (flour type, meat, sweetener, etc)
Make Tofu
Candy Stages (Hard ball, Soft Ball, Etc) Maybe pulled taffy
Worchestershire

Curing and brining
Quick Pickles
Fridge Hung Meat
Cured Yolk
Bacon
Smoking
Wet Cures

Fermenting
Sourdough
Basic Saurkraut
Fermented Pickle
Fermented Hot Sauce
Make a Vinegar
Beer/Wine/Cider/Mead
Fermented Sausage
Yogurt
Kefir
Sour Cream
Soy Sauce
Cheddar

Storage/Putting aside
Dry Herbs
         Herb/seasoning Mix
Air Dehydrate Food
Freeze Veggies or Fruit
Waterglass Eggs in Lime
Alcohol Stored Eggs as Eggnog
Root Cellar/Fresh Store
Homemade Pectin (Also Scraps)
Pressure Canning
Water Bath Canning
Canned meats
Beef Gravel
Mushroom Powder
Jerky
Using dried foods
Powdered Milk Cheese
Bee Wax Wraps
Jell Stages
Evaporative cooling
Braid Onion or Garlic
Candy Peel/Ginger/Fruit
Make Jam
Make Jelly

Using Scraps
Using Fruit Trimmings
         Apple Vinegar
         Apple Core Agrodolce
         Apple Core Mostarda
         Apple Core Bourbon
Using Stale Bread Leftovers
         French Toast
         Croutons
         Bread Crumbs
Vegetable Trimmings and skins
         Stock
         Beet leaf
         Broccoli stem slaw
         Kale Stems (saute and add to other dishes)
         Chard Stems in butter
         Radish Leaf Pesto
         Mulor Shaak
Cauliflower leaf
Pickled Watermelon Rind (cross with preservation)
Leftover Rice
         Fried Rice
         Rice Pudding
Leftover Baked Potato
         Potato Bread/rolls
         Homemade Gnocchi
Whey
         Ricotta
         Cooking with whey

Putting it Together
Plan and execute a picnic
Feeding a group of 8+ people
Make-Ahead Meals

A lot of these will be about not relying on standard electric mixers, food processors, etc.

With the section about Alternate Cooking, the theory is to coax them into using these more often. Since some are obviously impossible in an apartment, those ones become optional if they can access the key element (cob oven for example).

Knife sharpening might go under tool care?

With the PEP, Paul has it set up so there's vegan options for Sand (and straw?) levels, so that a vegan can get PEP4 certified. i don't know if this is something for the PEA, too, but I thought I'd mention it in case you didn't know (there's a LOT to know about PEP. Sometimes my brain boggles at it).

Oh! And I've got all the iron and wood badges made. I figured if I worked backward, I'd actually get them all done, LOL!

Nicole Alderman wrote:Knife sharpening might go under tool care?

I figure sharpening goes under tool care, but honing goes here since it is a step you take just prior to using the knife. It's just making sure the edge is true before starting to slice and makes things far easier and safer.

I've been thinking that the A in PEA might be clearer if it stood for Anywhere instead of Apartments. The idea is that it could be done anywhere including apartments, not /just/ apartments. Making it the Permaculture Experience for Anywhere could go a long way to ensuring people got the right idea out of the gate. Thoughts?

D. Logan wrote:I've been thinking that the A in PEA might be clearer if it stood for Anywhere instead of Apartments. The idea is that it could be done anywhere including apartments, not /just/ apartments. Making it the Permaculture Experience for Anywhere could go a long way to ensuring people got the right idea out of the gate. Thoughts?

I prefer this idea too. Makes it more welcoming for people who don't live in apartments.

One thought on the 'anywhere' is about climate and location - for example, some foods and preserving techniques won't work in the tropics - would it work better for the A to stand for 'Anywhere cold/temperate climate'? Or do you want it to be accessible to people in all climates?

Also, I noticed you had turkey in there as a meat to cook - I think it's pretty rare outside North America to find naturally raised turkey, so that might be good as an option rather than an essential part of the PEX. But I can always come up with my own weird Tasmanian off-grid PEX so please feel free to ignore what I say!

Some more thoughts...
Trying to have vegan-friendly options makes it a lot more complicated, and vegans can do PEP anyway, so maybe it is too much trouble for this one to be suited to vegans?
Would it be easy to make it suited to grain-free people? E.g. instead of cooking rice or oats, it could be 'cook a staple food in x different ways', or 'cook x number of staple vegetables or grains in x different ways'?

Kate Downham wrote:I prefer this idea too. Makes it more welcoming for people who don't live in apartments.

One thought on the 'anywhere' is about climate and location - for example, some foods and preserving techniques won't work in the tropics - would it work better for the A to stand for 'Anywhere cold/temperate climate'? Or do you want it to be accessible to people in all climates?

I'm thinking to offer a spectrum in a given set of technique sets so that someone isn't picking all of them, but rather the ones that suit their area. Obviously this will take some serious thought and consideration.

Kate Downham wrote:Also, I noticed you had turkey in there as a meat to cook - I think it's pretty rare outside North America to find naturally raised turkey, so that might be good as an option rather than an essential part of the PEX. But I can always come up with my own weird Tasmanian off-grid PEX so please feel free to ignore what I say!

I put Turkey down for my spitballing mostly because a larger bird is easier to debone than a smaller one. I wanted to offer as much leeway as possible there. Honestly I imagine putting a clause for a similar bird (including maybe chicken) would be something to include.

Kate Downham wrote:Some more thoughts...
Trying to have vegan-friendly options makes it a lot more complicated, and vegans can do PEP anyway, so maybe it is too much trouble for this one to be suited to vegans?

It does complicate things heavily. At the same time, I imagine that vegans are far more common in high urban areas than rural ones and this badge is about focusing on those who are in situations that don't allow for the typical space offered in rural areas and needed for several of the PEP badges. That's not to say I will definitely add a vegan track, but it is something I need to give consideration to.

Kate Downham wrote:Would it be easy to make it suited to grain-free people? E.g. instead of cooking rice or oats, it could be 'cook a staple food in x different ways', or 'cook x number of staple vegetables or grains in x different ways'?

Being honest, I've never actually met someone who was completely grain-free. That's not a disrespect to them, but just something I hadn't really considered. There's a lot of unique diets out there after all. A quick skim of grain-free notes they can have some 'grains' in moderation. Namely amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa, so while those make bread-options a little tougher, basic grain cooking should still function on them I think.

We're entirely grain free in our family. My husband has Crohn's, and to stay in remission, he eats no grains or starches (no polysaccarides). So no amaranth, no potatoes, no quinua, no rice, etc.

Having said that, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) that my husband is on--and other similar ones like the GAPS diet and the Autoimmune Paleo--are rare diets. I wouldn't expect to have that accommodated in a food badge. It'd be nice, though!

But, there are a lot of grain-free substitutes. Maybe at Sand Level, there's "make a quick bread" instead of a yeast bread Quick breads can be made to fit any diet (we make them with coconut &/or almond flour), and make a pizza dough (rather than make a yeasty pizza dough), etc. Or one could do "choose 10 from this list" (list is giant list of basic skills) and at Straw Level they have to do everything else in that list.  That way, those that are vegan don't have to boil an egg, and those that can't eat grains can avoid kneading a yeasty loaf.

I think most everyone on every diet can eat vegetables and fruits. People can make yogurt on every diet (it just looks different, like coconut yogurt). People can ferment veggies and can fruit on every diet. People can dehydrate things on every diet. So, there's a lot of essential skills.

I think of Sand level as the level to make sure you and your family are fed. That can happen in various ways. Straw level and up are the levels in which people gain mastery. To be a master at food prep and preservation, you need to know all the essential ways to prepare ALL the foods.

Tonight, I'll try to go through the above list with an eye toward Sand level being something that (A) requires the least amount of tools (B) Are foods that most people can eat. You can totally toss my ideas out the window. It's a fun mental exercise for me

Nicole Alderman wrote:We're entirely grain free in our family. My husband has Crohn's, and to stay in remission, he eats no grains or starches (no polysaccarides). So no amaranth, no potatoes, no quinua, no rice, etc.

Having said that, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) that my husband is on--and other similar ones like the GAPS diet and the Autoimmune Paleo--are rare diets. I wouldn't expect to have that accommodated in a food badge. It'd be nice, though!

But, there are a lot of grain-free substitutes. Maybe at Sand Level, there's "make a quick bread" instead of a yeast bread Quick breads can be made to fit any diet (we make them with coconut &/or almond flour), and make a pizza dough (rather than make a yeasty pizza dough), etc. Or one could do "choose 10 from this list" (list is giant list of basic skills) and at Straw Level they have to do everything else in that list.  That way, those that are vegan don't have to boil an egg, and those that can't eat grains can avoid kneading a yeasty loaf.

I think most everyone on every diet can eat vegetables and fruits. People can make yogurt on every diet (it just looks different, like coconut yogurt). People can ferment veggies and can fruit on every diet. People can dehydrate things on every diet. So, there's a lot of essential skills.

I think of Sand level as the level to make sure you and your family are fed. That can happen in various ways. Straw level and up are the levels in which people gain mastery. To be a master at food prep and preservation, you need to know all the essential ways to prepare ALL the foods.

Tonight, I'll try to go through the above list with an eye toward Sand level being something that (A) requires the least amount of tools (B) Are foods that most people can eat. You can totally toss my ideas out the window. It's a fun mental exercise for me

With your unique dietary situation, you undoubtedly have some interesting insights. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

A large majority of these can be made with every diet, as long as one isn't too specific as to how they are made. The vegan &/or starch-free versions often require different methods than the traditional version. But, if the key is being able to feed your family, then learning the skills you need to make the food you can eat makes sense.

I'm thinking we can assume that most people working toward the sand-level have (or can gain access to at a friend's house):

A stove/toaster oven,

at least one small knife and one big knife

a stove top

a frying pan and a pot

measuring utensils and a mixing bowl

MAYBE some sort of cake/pie pan and baking sheet. My husband didn't when I met him, but these are rather basic and essential and can be barrowed from friends or found cheap at thrift stores

flipping spatula and a spoon/spatula big enough to mix with

a hand whisk. My husband didn't have one, but they're not terribly expensive

cheese grater

glass jars, even if they're just old tomato sauce jars...

I'm thinking we can assume that most people working toward the straw-level have:

a blender or immersion blender

instant pot or other pressure cooker

maybe a slow-cooker. I don't have one, but they're cheap. My instant pot kind of does the same thing

more than one size of pots and pans

a dehydrator of some sort

the common assortment of kitchen knives: butcher, bread, small knife and bigger one with the honing thingy

an electric mixer--either handheld or stand

carrot peeler

mortar and pestal

a cast iron pan

canning materials

I went and put my thoughts in bold. I struck out things that I'm pretty positive vegans &/or starch-free people can't have

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Universal:
Source Local Ingredients
Zero Waste/Bulk Style Ingredient Gathering
Develop a Food Storage System
Meal Planning
Seasonality of Ingredients

Maintenance
Cutting Board Care and System (Better for Nest?)
Hone Knives
Line a cake tin I'd save this for straw+
Using a Mortar and Pestel I'd save this for straw+
Paper Piping Bag Making
Eating-Out Kit
Season Cast IronI'd save this for straw+, or include seasoning stainless steel. I've seasoned my stainless steel. Stainless steel pans can usually be found a thrift stores for cheap.
         Restore a Cast Iron Pan
Filter Frying Oil

Prep Work
Display the ability to do all of the following:
         Dice an Onion, Slice an onion (or similarly shaped veggie, like cabbage)
         Oblong Cuts
         Matchstick a carrot
         Crush Garlic
         Prep a Chilli
         Zesting
         Grating
         Chiffonade
         Peel a tomato
         Pit cherries (or similar fruit, like olives)
         Core and peel an apple
Blanch Vegetables
Wedge a Citrus
Juice a lemon
Separate an Egg
Make a stock or broth
Clarify a Broth
Soup/Chowder/Stew
Make an extract
Make a Simple Syrup
Ketchup/BBQ Sauce
Break down a chicken
Break down a fish
Break down a large animal (pig)
Debone a Turkey
Bind a Roast
Stuff a Burger/meat would work for all diets if the people are allowed to pick WHAT they stuff the "burger" with, and what the "burger" is made out of"
Grind Flour (or nuts?)
         Ancient Grains
Make Baking Powdertechnically, my husband can't eat baking powder due to the cream of tartar. But, it's simple and easy pretty cheap and I don't think anyone would be like "why am I being made to do this?!"
Make Self-rising Flour if including vinegar/lemon juice + baking soda, I think this would work for everyone

Technique work
Mayo or Aoli there are vegan versions
Herb Butter (can be done with non-dairy butters )

Thicken with a Whitewash (water and flour) there's sadly no starch free equivalent. Once can immersion blend veggies to thicken a soup, though. It doesn't work quite as well, though.
Thicken with a Slurry (water and cornstarch)
]Make a Roux there are vegan and grain free versions of this
         White
         Blond
         Brown
         Brick
Egg Techniques (fry, poach, soft boil, hard boil, omelet)
Caramelize Onions
Marinade
Crisp a Fish Skin
Whipped Cream/Meringue
         Folding in
Vinaigrette
Artichoke
Alternate Cooking (make this a category for thermal, ceviche, etc)
         Thermal Cook
                   Hay Box
                   Thermos
         Ceviche
         Solar Oven
         No-bake
         Fire
         Rocket Stove
         Alcohol Stove
         Pit Cooking
         Salt Dome/Clay Bake
         Cob Oven
Deep Fry
         Batter Fry
Pan Fry
Frost a Cake
Stir Fry
Make Butter, Lard, Ghee
Whole Milk Ricotta
Mozzarella
Homemade Pasta
Ravioli/pierogi/dumpling both this and the past can technically be done on vegan and grain-free, but it's a pain in the rear and 10x as hard.
Tomato Sauce
Frittata
Tortilla I make tortillas out of just duck eggs and a bit of honey. Works surprisingly well...
Pita
Alkaline Noodles
         Bagels or Pretzels I have, indeed, made almond flour pretzels with baking soda bath
Yeast Breads
         Kneading
         Loaf
         Rolls
         Pizza Dough Those who can't eat grains, also can't eat yeasts--feeds the wrong gut bacteria
Biscuits/Scones
         Rubbing Butter and Flour I don't know what this means
Shortbread
Cream Puffs
Pie Dough I've made this from almond four
Sponge Cake
Pound Cake
Brioche/Danish
Laminated Dough not sure if this and the above three can be made vegan or grain-free
Fudge
Roasted Veggies
Baked Squash
Batter Breads/Cornbread/pancakes/waffles
Pastry Cream
Cooking Pasta there are grainless pastas--usually made from peas or lentils
Bake Crackers
Double Boiler Use one can make a double boiler with a pyrex bowl over a pot.
Baking a potato or similar large root vegetable
Make a gravy/sauce
Cook grains boil/steam/risotto/etc (rice, oats, etc)
Basic Hash and Hashbrowns salmon patties are similar, and this could work as long as a specific recipe isn't required. Starch-less people could do carrots or radishes. Vegans could hash potatoes and fry them without the egg "glue"
Cheesecake there are vegan versions. I could make one for my husband with dry curd cottage cheese or russian "cream cheese"--they're both the same thing.
Pie
Galette just found grain free versions
Custard technically there are vegan custards
Salads/Slaws
Grilling
Crock Pot Cooking I'd put this in straw, as not everyone has a crockpot or instant pot
Make a Pan Sauce
Salsa/Guacamole
Pressure Cooking Beans  I'd put this in straw, as not everyone has a pressure cooker
Ice Cream/Sherbert/Sorbet
Grenada
Shake/Smoothie maybe save for straw+, as not everyone has a blender?
Prepare odd meats (Quail, Duck, Rabbit, Goose, Insects, etc)
Prepare offal
Aspic/Gelatine
Substitute ingredients to alter a recipe (flour type, meat, sweetener, etc)Vegans and grainfree people are generally PROS at this!
Make Tofu
Candy Stages (Hard ball, Soft Ball, Etc) Maybe pulled taffy brittle is pretty easy. We only use honey
Worchestershire looks like there are vegan and grain-free recipes

Curing and brining
Quick Pickles
Fridge Hung Meat
Cured Yolk
Bacon
Smoking pretty sure one can smoke non-meat foods?
Wet Cures

Fermenting
Sourdough
Basic Saurkraut
Fermented Pickle
Fermented Hot Sauce
Make a Vinegar
Beer/Wine/Cider/Mead I'd put this as a choice, or as a requirement at like wood or Iron level. We don't want alcoholics having to make beer to get their badge. Maybe if vinegar was an option here?
Fermented Sausage Would a vegan sausage ferment?
Yogurt
Kefir
Sour Cream just found out there are recipes for starch-free and vegan sour cream
Soy Sauce I'm not sure a non-soy "soy" sauce would ferment. A lot of people are allergic to soy.
Cheddar there are vegan "cheddar"s

Storage/Putting aside
Dry Herbs
         Herb/seasoning Mix
Air Dehydrate Food
Freeze Veggies or Fruit
Waterglass Eggs in Lime
Alcohol Stored Eggs as Eggnog
Root Cellar/Fresh Store
Homemade Pectin (Also Scraps)
Pressure Canning
Water Bath Canning
Canned meats
Beef Gravel
Mushroom Powder
Jerky as long as non-meat jerkies are allowed, this should be fine
Using dried foods
Powdered Milk Cheese
Bee Wax Wraps
Jell Stages
Evaporative cooling
Braid Onion or Garlic
Candy Peel/Ginger/Fruit
Make Jam
Make Jelly

Using Scraps
Using Fruit Trimmings
         Apple Vinegar
         Apple Core Agrodolce
         Apple Core Mostarda
         Apple Core Bourbon
Using Stale Bread Leftovers pretty sure these could all be done with vegan/grain free breads
         French Toast
         Croutons
         Bread Crumbs
Vegetable Trimmings and skins
         Stock
        Beet leaf
         Broccoli stem slaw
         Kale Stems (saute and add to other dishes)
         Chard Stems in butter
         Radish Leaf Pesto
         Mulor Shaak
Cauliflower leaf
Pickled Watermelon Rind (cross with preservation)
Leftover Rice
         Fried Rice
         Rice Pudding
Leftover Baked Potato
         Potato Bread/rolls
         Homemade Gnocchi
Whey
         Ricotta
         Cooking with whey Maybe the leftover section could be a "pick 3 of the below list" that way they don't have to greate left overs they can't eat just to do the food they can't eat. It seems counter to the idea of reducing food waste...

Putting it Together
Plan and execute a picnic
Feeding a group of 8+ people This is in the PEP community badge right now.
Make-Ahead Meals

I think one of the hard things about the PEP food badge is that it was so specific, both in the materials required (rocket stove, solar dehydrator) and in the foods required to cook (oats or sunchokes). I like the idea that sand badges are things most people can do with limited/cheap tools. Textiles just needs sewing needles and a crochet/knitting needles and thread/yarn. More tools would be spiffy, but that's really all you need. Roudwood just requires a knife and an ax and a manual drill with bits. Technically, you can get by with just a screwdriver that accepts bits and large bits (I actually drilled most of my holes that way!), and a knife. It'll take MUCH longer, but you can do it.

I really like the idea of a PEA being accessible to most everyone, which will give more incentive to learn skills. I have no desire to try for the PEP food badge, because I have no rocket mass heater or solar dehydrator. And we don't eat oats. I'm really excited about this PEA!

Nicole Alderman wrote:I think one of the hard things about the PEP food badge is that it was so specific, both in the materials required (rocket stove, solar dehydrator) and in the foods required to cook (oats or sunchokes). I like the idea that sand badges are things most people can do with limited/cheap tools. Textiles just needs sewing needles and a crochet/knitting needles and thread/yarn. More tools would be spiffy, but that's really all you need. Roudwood just requires a knife and an ax and a manual drill with bits. Technically, you can get by with just a screwdriver that accepts bits and large bits (I actually drilled most of my holes that way!), and a knife. It'll take MUCH longer, but you can do it.

I really like the idea of a PEA being accessible to most everyone, which will give more incentive to learn skills. I have no desire to try for the PEP food badge, because I have no rocket mass heater or solar dehydrator. And we don't eat oats. I'm really excited about this PEA!

I'm glad you're excited for it. I'm hoping it becomes a set that really helps people dig into the permie experience and to grow. Especially those like yourself who find the limitations of PEP difficult to overcome at this stage.

I've spent the morning organizing the food prep/preserve info, but am only about half-done. I got offered a lot of extra money to come in to work early, so it doesn't look like I'm going to finish just yet today, but at least there is progress. I will post when I have the revised and organized list. It won't be the finished version either, but a little closer than the last one.

With a lot of help from Nicole Alderman, I've managed to find balance points for a lot of the grain-non grain items. I've come to a gridlock point on several meat/vegan splits though. The following items are proving quite difficult to find a vegan skill set that has a similar level of effort and skill to master. Almost everything I can come up with is already on the vegan friendly version list. Any insights would be helpful.

Break down a large animal (pig, etc)

Canned meats

Confit / Lard preserving

Prepare offal

Okay, as it stands, I have things in an initial breakdown. This is absolutely not the finished product. I need to move some things from sand downward and I need to bulk out things like the iron more heavily and clearly. Still, It is a start. If anyone has questions why certain skills are being added to the badge as it relates to permaculture or otherwise, feel free to ask. If I can't clearly explain, it means I need to rethink why it is there after all. Also, please ignore the random capitalization. It's a bad habit I have when working on lists. This is part 1 of 2.

1
Declare your Omnivore/Vegan Track (found below)
Declare your Grain/Non-grain Track (found below)
Source Local and Ethical Ingredients (100-mile radius)
Seasonality of Ingredients
Cutting Board Care and System (Better for Nest?)
Brew coffee 2 ways
  French press
  Vacuum brew
  Single-cup filter
  Cowboy Coffee
  Percolator
Display the ability to do all of the following:
  Dice an Onion
  Slice/shred a Cabbage
  Oblong Cuts
  Matchstick a carrot
  Crush Garlic
  Prep a Chilli
  Zesting
  Grating
  Chiffonade
  Peel a tomato
  Pit cherries or similar fruit such as olives
  Core and peel an apple using a knife
Make a Simple Syrup
Juice a lemon
Make stock or broth
Soup/Chowder/Stew
Create a Compound Butter (Can be vegan or grain-free butter)
Thicken a soup (create a Slurry/Whitewash, Grain-Free may use Arrowroot, Tapioca starch, coconut milk, blended vegetables, etc)
Make a white Roux
Stir Fry
Cook a Pasta A Dente (Firm, but no white starch in the center if bisected) Can be grainless pasta
Make a gravy, sauce, or pan sauce
Baking a Potato or Sweet Potato
Prepare Sunchokes (without the harvesting)
Salads/Slaws
Salsa/Guacamole
Grenita
Refrigerator Pickles
Basic Saurkraut
Dry Herbs
    Herb/seasoning Mix
Air Dehydrate Food
Make a simple Jam
Alternate Cooking List (Use 2 of these methods between 4 dishes)
    Thermal Cooking
         Hay Box
         Thermos
    Ceviche
    Solar Oven
    Woodstove
    No-bake Cookies or Cake
    Rice Cooker
    Open Fire
    Rocket Stove (mini)
    Alcohol Stove
    Methane Burner
    Pit Cooking
    Salt Dome/Clay Bake
    Cob Oven
    One charcoal brick cooking (biochar)
    Candle Cooking
Cook Grains (rice, oats, bulgar, etc), Rice Beans, or Lentils in 2 of the following ways:
   Overnight in a crockpot
   Rice Cooker or Instant Pot
   Risotto
   Boiling
   Steaming
Uncured Cheeses (Complete 1)
    Whole Milk Ricotta
    Walnut Ricotta
    Cottage Cheese
    Mozzarella
    Firm nut cheese, uncultured
Cultured Creams/Cheeses (Select 1)
    Sour Cream
    Cultured Cheddar
    Chevre
    Nut-Cheese versions

2
Organic Sourcing
Make-Ahead Meals
Meal Planning
Develop a Food Storage System
Eating-Out Kit
Plan and execute a picnic
Hone Knives
Season a Cast Iron
Line a cake tin
Increase reusable items
Using a Mortar and Pestel
Make an extract
Blanch Vegetables
Wedge a Citrus
Clarify a Broth
Make a Blond Roux
Caramelize Onions
Marinade
Pan Fry
Whipped Cream/Meringue
Vinaigrette
Frost a Cake
Tomato Sauce
Roasted Veggies
Baked Squash
Do the remainder of the grain list
Improvise and use a Double Boiler
Grilling
One-Pot Meal with Crock-Pot or Instant Pot Cooking
Pressure Cooking Beans
prebake a Pie Shell
Galette
Ice Cream/Sherbert/Sorbet
Shake/Smoothie
Display all Candy Stages (Hardball, Soft Ball, Etc) and create a brittle
Complex Saurkraut or Kimchi
Fermented Pickle
Fermented Hot Sauce
Make a Vinegar
Standard Yogurt or Kefir (can be non-dairy)
Freeze Veggies or Fruit
Make Homemade Pectin
Demonstrate the Jell Stages
Make a Jelly
Water Bath Canning
Canned Water
Mushroom Powder
Using dried foods
Make Baking Powder from scratch
Fermented Mustard
Alternate Cooking List (Use 2 more on 4 dishes)
Modify 2 recipes to substitute ingredients (flour type, meat, sweetener, etc)
Scraps: Using Fruit Trimmings (Complete 2)
    Apple Scrap Vinegar
    Fruit Peel Jelly
    Citrus Peel Extract
    Apple Core Agrodolce
    Apple Core Bourbon
    Candy Peel/Ginger/Fruit
    Pickled Watermelon Rind
    Unlisted uses for fruit trimmings.
Scraps: Using Stale Bread (grain-free possible) Leftovers (Complete 2)
    French Toast
    Croutons
    Bread Crumbs
    Bread Pudding
    Panzanella
    Bulk a Meatloaf
    Stuffing/Dressing
    Cheesy Toast Circles for French Onion Soup
    Bruschette
    Thicken Soup
    Unlisted use of stale bread
Scraps: Bones and/or Vegetable Trimmings and skins (Complete 2)
    Stock
    Beet leaf
    Broccoli stem slaw
    Kale Stems (saute and add to other dishes)
    Chard Stems in butter
    Radish Leaf Pesto
    Mulor Shaak
    Potato Peel Crisps
    Stewed Cauliflower leaf
    Fish Bone Crackers
    Unlisted scrap use
Scraps: Leftover Starches (Complete 2)
    Fried Rice
    Rice Pudding
    Sweet Lentil Pudding
    Refried Beans
    Fried Bean Cakes
    Leftover Beans as into a dip/hummus
    Dehydrate into 'instant' refried beans
    Potato Bread/rolls
    Homemade Gnocchi
Uncured Cheeses (Complete 1 more)
Cultured Creams/Cheeses (Select 2 more)

3
Better than Organic Sourcing
Zero Waste/Bulk Style Ingredient Gathering
Feeding a group of 8+ people
Restore a Rusted Cast Iron
Paper Piping Bag Making
Replace the majority of plastics
Ketchup/BBQ Sauce
Make a Brown Roux
Folding in a meringue
Deep Fry
Fudge
Grind Flour yourself (can be a nut flour, lentil, etc)
Pull Taffy the old fashioned way
Smoke meat or a watermelon 'ham'
Root Cellar/Fresh Store System
Use Homemade Pectin
Pressure Canning
Evaporative cooling
Braid Onion or Garlic
Canning for the rule of 52
Make a nut butter
Homemade Corn Syrup, beet sugar, rice sugar, cane sugar, sorghum molasses, or tree syrup
Modify 10 recipes to substitute ingredients (flour type, meat, sweetener, etc)
Alternate Cooking List (Use 4 more on 8 dishes)
Scraps: Using Fruit Trimmings (Complete 2 more)
Scraps: Using Stale Bread (grain-free possible) Leftovers (Complete 4 more)
Scraps: Vegetable Trimmings and skins (Complete 4 more)
Uncured Cheeses (Complete 2 more)
Cultured Creams/Cheeses (Select 4 more)
Ferment an Alcohol (Beer, Cider, Mead, etc) or a Soda

4
Entirely Better than Organic
Filter Frying Oil for use elsewhere
Worchestershire Sauce (normal or vegan/grain-free)
Make a Brick Roux
Press Oil
Create a Personal cookbook or Recipe box based on locally available Ingredients where the dishes included are all seasonal.
Preserving for an entire year of eating
Non-electric food storage as the Majority
Distill Alcohol (For use as drink, fuel, tinctures, etc)
Alternate Cooking List (Use 4 more on 8 dishes)
Scraps: Using Fruit Trimmings (Complete 2 more)
Scraps: Using Stale Bread (grain-free possible) Leftovers (Complete 4 more)
Scraps: Vegetable Trimmings and skins (Complete 4 more)
Cured Cheese: Create a long-cured cheese of 6+ months of aging time.

Part 2 of 2:

Currently Unplaced Oddities:
Marshmallows
Chocolate Bar/candy
Grind Cocoa Nibs

Currently Unpaired Meat/Vegan sets
(iron) Break down a large animal (pig, etc)
(Iron) Canned meats
(wood) Confit / Lard preserving
(Wood) Prepare offal

* Once you select a given track, these will be the sets you select from when indicated throughout the badge. Picking both adds oddball points for each level.

Ethical Omnivore Track:
    Focus: Opening up skills to handle a broad range of ingredients. This includes some animal-based products. A heavy focus is on making complete use of the animal and on ethical sourcing and production.
    Sand:
Separate an Egg
Demonstrate the ability to do 3 of the following Egg Techniques
  fry in cast iron without sticking to the pan
  poach
  soft boil
  hard boil
  3 egg omelet
  Frittata
  Souffle
Sear a Steak
Roast a chicken
Beef Gravel
Break down a chicken
Catch, Gut and break down a fish or other form of seafood
    Straw:
Demonstrate the ability to do the remaining 4 Egg Techniques
Stuff a Burger/Roast
Bind a Roast
Baked/Steamed Custard
Mayo or Aoli
Perfectly Crisp a Fish Skin
Make Butter
Brown Butter
Make Home-cured Bacon
Powdered Milk Cheese
Jerky
Alcohol Stored Eggs as Eggnog
Cured Yolk
Stuff a Sausage with a funnel or sausage press - Stuff a vegan sausages in a vegan casing
Pemmican
Fridge Hung Meat
Scraps: Whey (Select 4)
  Ricotta from the whey left after another cheese
  Cooking Pasta In
  Use as a Fermentation Starter
  Presoak Grains
  Presoak Beans
  Replace the liquid in a dough recipe
  Use as the Liquid for a stock
  Use to thicken a gravy
  Use in a smoothie
  Tenderize meat with it
  Marinade Base
  Use to make mayo, horseradish sauce or salad dressing
  Lemon Whey Pie
  Use as a drink
  Lacto-fermented Applesauce
  Brine a turkey
  Make Caramel using Whey
    Wood:
Bee Wax Wraps
Debone a turkey, goo
Process a live small animal humanely (For animal badge?)
Waterglass Eggs in Lime
Render Lard and Ghee, or Clarified Butter
Aspic/Gelatin
Homemade Butter Cream Frosting
Wet Cured Meats
Pastry Cream
Prepare odd meats (Quail, Duck, Rabbit, Goose, Insects, etc)
Scraps: Whey (Select 6 more)
     Iron:
Fermented Sausage
Obtain and dry a stomach for rennet
Scraps: Whey (Select 6 more)

Vegan Track:
    Focus: Either for ethical or dietary reasons, some people are unable to eat animal-based products. While the number of skills handled here is lower than the Ethical Omnivore Track, it is made up for by difficulties in accomplishing the local sourcing for ingredients. In some cases, certain things are simply unavailable locally in many areas and are imported. (Coconut and Seaweed for example) This means it will require greater skill and consideration to bypass these limitations.
    Sand:
Add extra B12 to your cooking through 2 of these sources:
  Find innovative ways to use sourdough starter
  Cremini Mushrooms
   Nutritional Yeast
  Kvass
  Homemade Marmite
Shell a nut so that the meat is whole
Seared Mushrooms
Roast a cauliflower
Dehydrated Plain Tofu
Make Almond Milk from Shell-on Almonds
Make coconut Milk from a fresh coconut
    Straw:
Add extra B12 to your cooking by using the remaining 3 options.
Make a bean burger
Vegan Mayo or Aoli
Perfectly Pan-fry Potatoes
Make Vegan Butter
Vegan Brown Butter
Zucchini Lasagna
Banana Peel Bacon or daikon bacon
Vegan Cheese Sauce
Vegan Custard or Custard Sauce
Vegan Jerky
Stuff vegan sausage in a vegan casing
Sprout Nuts
Meatless Pemmican
Make Leather Breech Beans
Sprout Grain
Do special planning and keep records of meals to ensure your weekly diet has each of the following:
  Complete Proteins daily
  Sufficient B12
  Sufficient Zink
  Sufficient Iron
  Sufficient Calcium
  A plan for reducing inhibitors and oxalates
    Wood:
Candelilla wax wraps
Create a vegan roast
Make Tofu
Fermented Tofu
Vegan Butter Cream Frosting
Dry Salting Veggies
Baked Vegan Cheesecake
Tempeh
Render Coconut Oil
Agar or pectin Gelatin
Vegan Pastry Cream
Prepare Fresh Artichokes
Show the continued development of special planning and records of meals from Straw level.
     Iron:
Fermented Beans
Create vegetable rennet
Show the continued development of special planning and records of meals from Wood level.

Elder Grains Track:
    Focus: Wheat may be the staff of life, but there's a broad range of healthful grains to pick from. Whole grain flours are better than heavily processed ones, and there's far more than wheat to pick from. Even ancient versions of wheat can be far better for your overall health. As you move down this track, you'll learn how to work with many grains.
    Sand:
Make a self-rising flour
Lard/Butter/Shortening Pie Dough
Alkaline Noodles
Pita or similar flat-bread
Kneaded Loaf of Bread
Biscuits/Scones
Batter Bread/Cornbread/pancakes/waffles
    Straw:
General: whole wheat for at least 50 percent of all grain-centric dishes.
Begin a Wild Sourdough
Homemade Pasta
Hashbrowns on Cast Iron
Bagels or Pretzels
Dinner Rolls
Pizza Dough
Shortbread
Sponge Cake
Pound Cake
    Wood:
General: Ancient Grains (including ancestral wheat) for at least 50 percent of all grain-centric dishes
Basic Hash (Potato base)
Ravioli/pierogi/dumpling
Cream Puffs
Brioche/Danish
Bake Crackers
     Iron:
General: No white flour. All grain should be home-milled.
Hand-pressed Tortillas
Laminated Dough
Homemade Soy Sauce

Grain-Free Track:
    Focus: Since many are gluten intolerant and some are unable to eat grains and starches at all, this track focus' on the skills needed to bypass these issues. As with the Vegan track, it can be difficult to source local ingredients, so the higher levels can require a great deal of effort and some things may be unavailable in your area.
    Sand:
Grainless self-rising flour means tartar is replaced with another acid
Pie Dough from almonds or similar
Alkaline Grain-free Noodles
Kale Flatbread
Grainless Loaf
Grainless Biscuits
Batter Bread/Cornbread/pancakes/waffles  - Grain-free versions
    Straw:
salmon patties
Zucchini Noodles (Peeler Method)
Bagels or Pretzels (Almond Flour and Baking Soda)
Grainless Rolls
Cauliflower Crust Pizza?
Grainless Graham Crackers
Grainless Sponge Cake
GrainlessPound Cake
    Wood:
Grainless Tortillas
Basic Hash (Carrot Base)
Homemade Grainless Pasta
Grainless Cream Puffs
Grainless Brioche/Danish
Bake Grainless Crackers
24 hour long-ferment Yogurt (nondairy allowed)
     Iron:
Grain-Free Ravioli/pierogi/dumpling
Grainless Laminated Dough
Homemade fish sauce or Homemade Xanthum Gum?
Capture wild yeast without flour (grape water, etc)

Quick Note:

While the info in Wood and Iron exists here, I believe that initially only sand and straw should be posted. The focus early on in development should be centered on getting to level 1 and 2 of PEA as a means of bridging the skill gap to complete things over on PEP.

pea-badge-round-wood-woodworking

The PEA version of round wood woodworking is not dissimilar to the PEP version. It is still about using unprocessed wood to create new things without glue and largely without metal. As with the other badge, power tools may sometimes be used, though generally unpowered items are preferred. If required, it will be so noted. Much of it works green wood into a form, then allows it to cure after. Unlike the other badge, almost every project at the lowest badge is something small. The assumption is that initially, space will be at a premium.

The badge is about developing the same basic skill understandings needed to move forward on larger projects once one is free to do so.

Sand
Widemouth sized sauerkraut stomper from a single piece of wood. (hand tools only)
Small compound mallet (smaller dry stick goes into a bigger green stick (head)) (hand tools only)
Carve a big, ugly, nearly useless spoon (hand tools only)
Cutting board or serving tray
Dry peg in greenwood project (build one):
 - coat hooks (4)
 - end table
 - simple coffee table
 - stool
Create homemade lincoln logs (saddle notch) 24
Two coat hooks made from small trees and the hooks are the branches on these trees (no need for any joinery)

Straw
Lightweight stool
Create 3 more sets of homemade lincoln logs
Carve a nice, lightweight spoon you can eat with
Carve a nice wooden butterknife
Bowsaw frame
Roundwood sawhorse desk
Basic heavy kitchen chair with a back

Items from Straw I am still working out equivalent items for that could be kept around even in an apartment.
Shaving horse
Basic sawbuck

I added a number of badges to the forge and linked them back to the main page. I expect to finish one more tonight. I didn't get them all figured out while I've been doing all the extra hours at work this week however and will continue to post ideas here to bounce off of other staff.

Taking a short pause pending a conversation with Mike Haasl.

Conversation was had and may now be pending a separate conversation I am not a part of. The current iteration of things may not work for what Paul wants, so it is possible that much of what is currently there may be wiped and replaced with something else. There is a slight mis-communication where the expectation was for it to be exclusively possible inside of an apartment (IE: no parks, friend's yards, etc). I think we need to reconcile that difference between what is currently written and what is wanted prior to moving forward on the remaining un-written badge sets. :)

I will make further notes here as things are resolved.

Paul and I chatted about this a bit more.  Paul determined that PEA does need to be things that can be done entirely in an apartment anywhere in the world.  With some inputs from shopping (brick and mortar or online).  But no trips to the park or farms or foraging activities.

Activities that are in PEP that would work in an apartment can be in PEA.  For instance, the Textiles section could be a copy/paste.

Many of the badges would be more limited in the scale of the projects but they'd still be attainable for an apartment resident.  We thought 12 to 13 of the PEX badges could be worked into a PEA program.

For instance, Roundwood Woodworking could involve smaller whittling and carving projects.  The coat hook, club mallet, coat hooks on a rack and ugly spoon could be copied from PEP.  Metalworking could still involve making things from soda cans, tin cans and wire.  The projects won't be as large but they'll still build skills.

On a related note, a PEX for urban people could also be really cool.  One that involved things you can do in your apartment and things you can do out in your city (park, back yards, etc).

Paul's goal is to provide lots of his personal attention in developing PEP and PEA.  Other PEXs are fine but won't get personalized assistance from the big guy.

Paul created this thread https://permies.com/t/129955/PEA-Permaculture-Experience-Apartment-dwellers to further lay out his visions

Okay, this is going to sound crazy, but bear with me. As I review my notes, organize files, and skim other people's statements, I had some ideas. I think there's a way to offer up a level 1 Forage badge that still holds true to Paul's desire to keep everything in the apartment. I can't see any legitimate way to go past Sand, but at least I do think some very important foraging skills can still be developed without ever leaving your home. It will be among the things I comment on in the coming days, but I feel like the idea of it is a bit exciting, so wanted to say something here.

Alright, so Sand level Foraging for the PEA program currently has info in it. Ignore that. Instead, this is the alternative I propose (subject to refinement) for those who would work solely out of their own homes. It lacks the ability to harvest the items yourself, but there are many individuals working for farmer's markets and stores who obtain wild-grown items for sale. I think it should be possible to do so for this badge. To make up for the harvesting aspect, it adds some skill and knowledge-building items for learning to obtain harvest in the future. It offers some emergency tools to know, but doesn't actively require butchering so that a vegan can do everything on the list. (If an emergency happens, even the vegans I know make an exception, so those are good skills to have even if they aren't being used technically). I even added one for working on the distillation of water since harvesting water from your environment isn't always so simple as tapping a well. I'm interested in opinions, especially from Paul since it was included in his 'not for PEA' list.

Research local wild edibles and compile a notebook.
Create a local map of unattended public fruit/nut trees and bushes, as well as patches of edibles in your area.
Craft each of the following:
- A hook from a bone or thorn
- A hook from a paperclip
- A hook from a soda tab
Create each of the following using only natural and recycled materials:
- A simple spoon lure
- A basic fly
Craft and test on video (indoors) each of the following:
- Figure 4 Trap
- Scissor Trap
- Bird Snare
Obtain wild-harvested items (can be purchased) and prepare them for a meal using at least 1 Cup total from any of the following:
- Cooked Wild-harvested Mushrooms
- Edible Wildflowers
- Starchy or Taproot from wild sources
- Local Wild Fruits
- Wild Edible Grains
Make 1 cup of tea from any wild-gathered fruit, herb, or similar dried item. (May be purchased from another source)
Misc List (Do any 4 of the following)
- Obtain and prepare a whole fish of 2 very different types. (scale/skin, gut, etc)
          * Expl: A catfish and a salmon (preferably wild-caught)
- Obtain and prepare two small game animals (skin, gut, etc)
          * Expl: Squirrel, rabbit, pigeon, quail, etc
- Craft 4 lbs of seed balls.
- Obtain and Dry 2 lbs of fresh wild-harvested Mushrooms
- Obtain and 1 Pound of wild-harvested fruit, leaves, or flowers for tea (rose hip, pineapple weed, mint, etc)
- Compile a list, with images, of the plants in your area that are water indicators
- Make a Salt-water Survival Bottle
- Create a functional solar still

Note: I'm working on all of them at the same time as the muse strikes me. This one just happened to come to me all at once, which is why it happens to be on here right away.

This is my suggested revamp of the PEA Gardening block for Sand level. Again, this removes all elements that might exist outside of an apartment and replaces them with extra items to make up for the lost time/effort being applied. I believe this list should help build a lot of skills that will still apply to larger efforts once the person has access to larger-scale land use.

Make a map of the interior of your home, noting where light falls at certain times of the day, unused spaces, and areas where the temperature and air movement may differ slightly. If you have a balcony or small patch of ground just outside, these areas may be included
Create a self-watering container system for planting.
Research and plan a container guild.
Raise a tray of micro-greens
Sprout seeds for cooking
Grow a new plant from a cutting
Grow a table herb garden from seeds
Recycle old paper into seed-starting pots
Make a 10 foot strip of seed tape
Prepare an eco-friendly bug treatment
Plant and maintain 2 of the following plants inside your home to improve air quality:
- Areca Palm - Crysalidocarpus lutescens
- Mother-In-Law’s Tongue/Snake Plant - Sansevieria trifasciata
- Money Plant/Golden Pothos/Devil’s Ivy - Epipremnum aureum
- Peace Lily - Spathiphyllum ‘Mauna Loa’ cochlearispathum
- Boston Fern - nephrolepis Exaltata bostoniensis
- Spider Plant - Chlorophytum comosum
- Gerbera Daisy or Barberton Daisy - Gerbera jamesonii
- Red-edged Dracaena - Dracaena marginata
- Pot Mum - Chrysanthemum morifolium
- Lady Palm - Rhapis excelsa
Select 3 of the following:
- Set up a simple indoor kitchen scrap compost system.
- Seed saving
- Create potted polycultures. (minimum 12 pots)
- Craft a window planter
- Set up an indoor vertical gardening system.
- Make a compost tea and use it on your container plantings.
- Feed a vermiposting system at least 10 lbs of scraps.
- Using an existing household material such as spent coffee grounds, create an indoor mushroom growing system.
- Graft a potted plant
- Craft a simple hydroponic/aquaponic system indoors.
- Grow each of a Starch, Protein, Fruit, and Vegetable indoors.

This is the current iteration of the PEA Roundwood badge Sand level. I would like direct input here from others. How easily do we think most people can get ahold of greenwood in an apartment without going out to a wooded area nearby? Can we think of any alternative that fills the same basic role if not? I have italicized the section in question.

Carve a sauerkraut stomper from a single piece of wood suitable for a wide-mouth jar using only hand tools.
Debark a stick of at least 1 inch thickness
Make a small compound mallet with hand tools only
Carve a simple beginner spoon from a blank of wood with hand tools
Craft a cutting board or serving tray using hand tools.
Ebonize a wooden object that you have carved.
Carve a simple wood spirit, chain from a single piece of wood, or captured ball from a single piece of wood.
Dry peg in greenwood project (build one):
- coat hooks (4)
- end table
- simple coffee table
- stool
Create 24 homemade lincoln logs with saddle notches using hand tools only.

Proposed update to the PEA Badge sand level for the Dimensional Lumber Woodworking:

Wood-burned artwork
Complete 2 of the following:
- Craft a basic birdhouse.
- Craft a cookbook holder
- Build a hot box for cooking (retain for future homestead)
- Craft a bread box.
- Two-step stool.
- Sturdy wall-mounted shelf for heavy things. (6'x18" and able to hold 500 lbs)
- Wooden box or crate.
- Build a vermiculture bin to process kitchen scraps.
- Simple open toolbox.

For the greenwood projects, I wonder if you could carve the "green" piece from pine lumber and then soak it in water for a day to let it swell.  Then fit a dry piece into the swollen hunk of wood and let it dry back out and shrink.  This is just a hypothesis, I'm not sure if it would work.

I'd think you could do a lot of whittling projects to make up for the lack of big timber.  PEP requires a basic spoon but PEA could require 4 nice spoons?

Making handles for tools could also fit in PEA.  Chisel handles, hammer handles, file handles.  Start with a square hunk of wood from the store and make it fit...

To directly answer your first question, I don't think getting greenwood is very possible without leaving the apartment.

Mike Haasl wrote:For the greenwood projects, I wonder if you could carve the "green" piece from pine lumber and then soak it in water for a day to let it swell.  Then fit a dry piece into the swollen hunk of wood and let it dry back out and shrink.  This is just a hypothesis, I'm not sure if it would work.

I'd think you could do a lot of whittling projects to make up for the lack of big timber.  PEP requires a basic spoon but PEA could require 4 nice spoons?

Making handles for tools could also fit in PEA.  Chisel handles, hammer handles, file handles.  Start with a square hunk of wood from the store and make it fit...

To directly answer your first question, I don't think getting greenwood is very possible without leaving the apartment.

I did a little digging this morning. It doesn't look like soaking wood works the same as working green wood. Rather unfortunate. I'm thinking there may not be any real way to represent the difference between working dry wood and working green. Whittling a spoon from a blank covers that one, but I did find the ability to get raw wood in the form of small sticks via amazon. I haven't figured out a way one could use these that would represent the skills found in the greenwood optional set though. There really isn't anything that is a good one for one match between dry wood and green wood.

I am starting to think of just replacing that section entirely with some other form of woodwork (Like carving a dough bowl or ebonizing a wooden item) so that there are still skills being developed and the person can just do the greenwood item when they get around to PEP instead.

Ahh, glad you figured out it isn't possible before we go too far down that path.  

Yes, I think it's reasonable to put different skills in PEA than PEP.  Skip the 3 log bench but put in lots of whittling, carving, shaping, etc.  Surely use the PEP BBs for inspiration but there are lots of other things to do in each badge area if we're creative enough.

Thanks for the input Mike. Okay, having gone over things, this is the current revision of Sand level Roundwood PEA:

Carve a sauerkraut stomper from a single piece of wood suitable for a wide-mouth jar using only hand tools.
Debark a stick of at least 1 inch thickness or a dozen smaller sticks
Make a small compound mallet with hand tools only
Carve a simple beginner spoon from a blank of wood with hand tools
Craft a cutting board or serving tray using hand tools.
Ebonize a wooden object that you have carved.
Carve a simple wood spirit, chain from a single piece of wood, or captured ball from a single piece of wood.
Do two of the following:
- Carve a dough bowl
- Carve a letter opener
- Carve a functional whistle
- Carve a very basic chess set
- Carve interesting coasters from 6 wooden disks
Create 24 homemade lincoln logs with saddle notches using hand tools only.

Current work on the PEA badge of Textiles for the Sand level: Ultimately, it isn't very different from the existing PEP badge (to the point that doing the PEP counts towards the PEA even if it doesn't quite work the other way around). It develops all the same skills, but since you can't gather the material yourself, it falls just shy of PEP. Either way, if you can do PEA, clearly your skills will translate when you /do/ gain access to the outdoors to properly do the PEP Textiles.

Mend a hole - quick darning
Sew a patch
Make a small pillow
Make twine from a natural material (wool, processed bark, etc)
Weave a basket from a purchased natural material
Do one of the following:
- knit a hot pad
- knit a headband
- crochet a dishcloth
- Crochet a bowl cozy

PEA Nest at Sand level needs almost no tweeking. Since some apartments/rentals have fireplaces, I left things related to those in.  Honestly only 2 things were changed. The laundry by hand won't rely on a clothesline specifically and the option to install a clothesline will include a clothing rack as an indoor drying option. I noticed a few adjustments to the PEP badge the last time I looked where it almost already covers the same thing. Still, nothing says a person can't have PEP and PEA at the same time.

Do laundry by hand and air dry
Wash dishes without a dishwasher
Clean a bathroom
Clean a kitchen

Complete 8 of:
- install and indoor clothesline or clothing rack
- clean an oily dish without soap
- wipe down three windows with condensation (to prevent mold)
- clean an area rug
- sweep floor
- set up a rag system
- make rags from old clothes
- set up a cloth napkin system
- set up a system for collecting burnables
- unclog a sink with a zip tool
- set up a system for dealing with wood ash
- set up a charcoal collection system
- run a self cleaning oven
- grease hinges
- oil wooden kitchen utensils
- shovel snow from a walk
- sand on ice
Complete 2 of:
- wash vehicle exterior
- clean vehicle interior
- set up a recycling system
- manually clean an oven
- install a dehumidifier that will drain into a greywater drain or other drain
- set up an elaborate clothes line
- clean four windows - inside and out
- deep clean the interior of a refrigerator
- deep clean the interior of a freezer
- deep clean the exterior of a refrigerator
- deep clean the exterior of the washer and dryer
- deep clean the exterior of the stove/oven

Pea Natural Medicine Sand Badge requirements.

Create a natural medicine journal
Grow at least 4 medicinally useful plants in pots.
From your potted plants, harvest, dry, and store enough for a tea, infusion or decoction.
Do 5 of the tasks below. Each must use a different herb:
- Create a vinegar infusion
- Create an oil infusion
- Create a salve
- Create a tincture
- Create a poultice
- Create a syrup or gummies
- Create an infusion (hot or cold) from fresh or dried materials
- Create a decoction from fresh or dried materials

D. Logan wrote:Make a small compound mallet with hand tools only

 I think the PEP badge requires this to be green wood so the head shrinks onto the handle.  But maybe for PEA it could be dry wood for both with a wedge to expand the handle in the head?  And if that's ok, then maybe other projects with wedgable pegs could be options (3 leg stool, coat hooks, etc)?

Maybe carve a spatula also?

Mike Haasl wrote:

D. Logan wrote:Make a small compound mallet with hand tools only

 I think the PEP badge requires this to be green wood so the head shrinks onto the handle.  But maybe for PEA it could be dry wood for both with a wedge to expand the handle in the head?  And if that's ok, then maybe other projects with wedgable pegs could be options (3 leg stool, coat hooks, etc)?

Maybe carve a spatula also?

I had thought about adding a spatula and forgot. Thanks for the reminder. As to the mallet, I altered the wording here so it accounted for the lack of greenwood and needing a wedge variety, but I should probably make it more explicit. I'm not sure about the wedge peg project beyond that though. I'll give it some thought.

PEA Commerce at Sand level needed minimal adjustment. The biggest difference is on the 3rd item. Instead of permaculture labor directly, I switched to permaculture-based labor. I figure the detail work of this one would include things like online classes, writing books, etc. It’s probably the hardest one to do out of an apartment since your options are bound to be a bit limited by an inability to go beyond the apartment to take any action.


Develop a possible residual income stream that brings in at least $5 per year  
Sell "goods" composed or crafted from of natural materials for a total of at least $20
Apply your permaculture-based labor to earn at least $100  
Perform some sort of labor over the internet and get paid at least $100