World Domination Gardening 3-DVD set - Kickstarter

I tossed in $60 (no easy feat for this family). How do you know who paid what? I signed up on Kickstarter with the email I signed up here, but the payment options are under my husband's accounts. Sooo how do I access the podcasts, special forums, etc, while waiting for the streaming DVD's due out in June?

paul wheaton wrote:I think we will be able to do the podcasts in a few days.

Technically, I have to say that the streaming will be available on or before June 30. But it is possible that it will be as early as mid may.

Even the Rocket Mass Heater (RMH) videos? I figured since those were already produced they would be available about the same time as the podcasts, assuming you still have them setup for streaming.

I know the Hugelkultur streaming won't be available for a while...sorry about any confusion.

Julie Carney wrote:....And now I'm feeling disillusioned......
I was thinking this was something anyone could do with their land, a good heart and a shovel, spade etc etc.........
...

I think the "big wigs" in permaculture have big ideas which need big equipment to be realized. Just remember, Bill Mollison suggested all of his big earthworks could be done with big equipment or 5000 women with spades and buckets. I think he's done it both ways. 5000 women were easier on the land but harder on him (they all wanted to be the one to make him tea).

That said, everyday I get a little closer to buying a tractor and making my husband happy.

Hi Julie C.

This came up today on my reading list...(not all get through) and I felt a need to respond. I, like Paul, teach this and related stuff. So in a since we are "professionals" of a sort...well? some species there of (or in my case subspecies.)

Please don't be disillusioned by all of this or confused. Permaculture can be "little" and just for you, and your loved ones near you...OR on a "Professional" level where you are reaching a global community of Permaculture folks with what you share. If you do the latter like Paul, myself, and some others do..."big machines" make it plausible and practical. Permaculture at an individual level IS DONE with a shovel (and many other hand tools) just like some of my "timber framing" workshops, but when I am cranking out an entire barn or house frame with just one other person in less than 4 weeks (professional like) we need forklifts, sawmills, chain mortisers and electric circle saws...

The last tool is a good metaphor for you to think of this with. You may even know someone that owns one, or you yourself do. It probably has a 7.5 inch blade that is "little" for small wood and "self use" kind of projects like making a good "chicken coop" or "greenhouse." The one I often must use to stay up with demand is 16 inch in diameter for making big cuts in really big wood. The size only matters depending on the work you are doing with it, for you and just your family, or....for an entire community.

Hope that helped you think a little differently about all of this, and see that some is grand in design, while other is much smaller...but both have great value to the future of this planet.

Warm Regards,

j

Just threw in 60 after realizing I will only live once and money is "just money". Even though my permaculture is little right now, I look forward to having something very interesting to watch and learn from for future use!

Cj Verde wrote
"I think the "big wigs" in permaculture have big ideas which need big equipment to be realized. Just remember, Bill Mollison suggested all of his big earthworks could be done with big equipment or 5000 women with spades and buckets. I think he's done it both ways. 5000 women were easier on the land but harder on him (they all wanted to be the one to make him tea). "

LOL!! However...That kindda says it's not possible for one..... We're saving for a vehicle too...tractor or mule with accessories??!!!

In response toJay C White Cloud
I've seen your buildings on internet.....Magnificent!
Guess I don't know what's "green" any more.....
I read an article on how we can heat our TINY area in winter - bending over backwards to have a tiny carbon footprint, and then we go for monster trucks to reshape the land......
I LOVE solar power....but a company who made solar panels went belly up in Co and left a toxic waste site behind........
We all seem to be on the same page re chemicals / no GMO's / pesticides though.......

Julie Carney wrote:
I read an article on how we can heat our TINY area in winter - bending over backwards to have a tiny carbon footprint, and then we go for monster trucks to reshape the land......

The rationale is that by using those big machines and a few gallons of gas, you can reshape the earth to make the landscape more sustainable. The most sustainable cultures have reshaped their landscapes but with people, of course:


We don't have slaves, except for the mechanical kind. Geoff Lawton calls this work "geo-surgury."

Ci Verde...
I have to confess, the gardening lover in my soul, saw that picture and says WOW!!!
Gets me drooling for all that's possible......... Big projects - BIG machines....
one shovel...... plant a tree!
Thanks!
PS I am genuinely happy that the kickstarter IS so successful!
Hope to learn more......

For those Kickstarter supporters who want to join us in Montana for the March 21-23 earthworks, see the world domination gardening workshop thread.

Instead of focusing on other tasks and getting more information to more people, I will instead address these accusations.

I AM writing from a medium contributor to 2 of your kickstarters both donations signed up for in the middle of the campaigns

I just checked to see what that means. The name "carney" does not show up.

To do it at the "gold standard", we need to have enough money to rent / buy the biggest earthmover available

Have you not seen the many videos I have put out showing people doing "gold standard" work without earthmovers?

Earthmovers are "a" way, they are not "the" way.

So much depends on what you want to accomplish and what you have. If you have 200 acres and you are one person by yourself - you can probably support that one person with nothing more than wildcrafting. If you want to feed 20 people on 20 acres, earthmoving equipment is a way to help accomplish that.

So when you say "we need to have", I think what you mean to say is "some people choose to".

and use the people we're training to get the money to do it

I don't follow. So far all of the workshops we have done here have run way into the red. For every dollar we received, we spent ten.

So I'm not sure what you are talking about here.

kindda like a pyramid scheme.......

Wow - that's a serious accusation. I sure hope you have something to back up that very serious accusation.

The closest I can figure out is: I go into the red and then the students not only go into the red, but I go further into the red?

You get people to come and work for free

Yes! For a week or two. And then they leave. And to get stuff done I end up ..... gasp! paying people! At no point in your post did you bring that up.

And I still feed them. Most of the people that come here to work for free: if I took the money I spent on food and instead hired a pro to do the work, it would probably be cheaper to hire the pro.

And don't forget materials. For all of the stuff that we do there are costs just in materials.

Within a year, well over $100,00 has been raised..

True. If you ignore the money that goes to kickstarter and amazon, the money for the materials, the money for all the different people that need to be paid, the money for the marketing and web junk, and the money for the packaging and shipping for hundreds or thousands of items ...... then yeah, $100,000 sure seems like a lot of money. Of course, we end up with a fraction of that which we split with the other folks involved in the project. Then, from what is left, we try to use wisely.

There goes my "Cum-By-Yah" around the campfire

Yeah - kinda weird. Somebody would have to build the fire ring, line up the stumps and chairs, then pull together the firewood, and .... finally ... who brought the food? So far we have not built a campfire at basecamp. There is just too much to do. i guess some people focus on saving the world while others sit around and sing songs? I do look forward to the day that we are far enough along that sitting around a campfire happens. But during the beginning its a lot of work and very little play - and most people don't want to be a part of that. Most people want to wait until we get to the lounging about paradise phase.


Julie, I find your style of "communication" to be "accusatory". Rather than asking or researching, you accuse. The other party (in this case, me) is guilty until I can prove my innocence. Of course, in proving my innocence, my accusor is left rather exposed and shamed. I would like to suggest that you find another way of learning.

Erik Little wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:I think we will be able to do the podcasts in a few days.

Technically, I have to say that the streaming will be available on or before June 30. But it is possible that it will be as early as mid may.

Even the Rocket Mass Heater (RMH) videos? I figured since those were already produced they would be available about the same time as the podcasts, assuming you still have them setup for streaming.

I know the Hugelkultur streaming won't be available for a while...sorry about any confusion.

I'll see what I can do. The way that we collect the particulars from folks is through a kickstarter rewards "survey" which we are allowed to do only once. And it is wise to do that just before shipping so that we have your latest address.

G'day Paul, been enjoying your website in Geelong, Australia since I followed a link from Geoff Lawton a few months back now. To add to the kickstarter conversation, I would like to suggest that currency and international issues may be holding some of your readers and listeners back. Certainly, in my case but I promise to look at what is involved in signing up. Little reluctant to add the credit card to an international platform. I have been spreading the word about your website and that your approach to Permaculture is well thought out. Something, I find lacking in a lot of Permaculture forums. You asked Geoff many of the questions I would have liked to ask him myself. I am always curious about why David Holmgren never gets a mention, however. Is it because he has become involved with Deep Green Ecology or something like that? Just to throw a radical idea out there? He seemed sidelined long before that I might add... Cheer, Jo

paul wheaton wrote:

I'll see what I can do. The way that we collect the particulars from folks is through a kickstarter rewards "survey" which we are allowed to do only once. And it is wise to do that just before shipping so that we have your latest address.

I see, I am a complete newb at KS so thanks for clarifying.

Paul Wheaton says "I just checked to see what that means. The name "carney" does not show up"

WHOA!!! I use another name....If you look it up, you'll find I HAVE NOT LIED!
I backed this project and the cards project..... Let me know when you find me! I can send receipts but hopefully that is unnecessary...
HOPEFULLY you'll find there are a lot more Permies.com that have supported you who use different names

I AM very interested in what you do, and am trying to understand how all the different threads you operate in Permaculture come together...Saving a buck here, and going for bust elsewhere.....

Sorry if it sounds or was adversarial....My intention is not to start a war......
I will spend more time availing myself of all the growing info on all the threads which is more where I'm at...
I want to know it IS possible to do it without needing huge money infusions...... That one family CAN REALLY make this stuff work...That what works for you on 200 acres will workable on a couple of acres too...with just the family working together, and it not costing another $100,000 to make the land produce......
I see that the outcome is what we're supposed to follow, as Jay C White Cloud and Ci Verde pointed out.
I didn't realize you went into the red on your classes...
However, I do not see it as a "crime" if you did make money with classes....
I am wondering how much it really costs to make permaculture land produce abundantly It seems to be costing you masses...... and even with help you are in the red...Is there hope for peons??

I used this term "kindda like a pyramid scheme......." because it seemed like the people who come out genuinely help, and their "pay off" is to learn the stuff, and then go, try it out, and then teach others to come and learn from them....etc.....And that was becoming the "thing" rather than the permaculture itself.

"my accusor is left rather exposed and shamed. I would like to suggest that you find another way of learning. "
I do not see myself as "exposed" as such, but maybe rebuked if you go into red. I also want to thank you for the hours that I know you genuinely give.
I've rewritten this reply so many times I regret posting my original comment....Hope it makes sense to you, and I'm not just dueling. That is not what I intend.

It's all done!

$65,089. 1,404 supporters.

I wanna take a few days off, but that never happens.

We have already started looking into getting people into the secret inner circle forum and getting the workshop stuff set up. Soon the podcast stuff will be arranged. Work has begun on the micro documentary.

Work has also begun on the next kickstarter which will probably be in april.

So .... it took a lot longer to get funded than our previous kickstarters. It's always a gamble and a worry whether it will be what people want. So it was a relief when it got funded at all.

Then there's the whole question of: will it get funded as much as the previous kickstarters? Well, if it takes four times longer to get funded, then it is probably going to end up with a quarter of the funding. About half way through it looked like we would be really lucky to get to $35,000 - which would be really respectable. At the same time, we have lots of projects going on at the laboratory and the answer to most questions is "maybe we'll get lots of kickstarter funding and can the afford it!" So work was put into trying to build connections and trying to figure out how to get the kickstarter to do better.

I guess the thing that kept seeming really odd was that there are 15,500 people on the daily-ish email, but we have 300 people supporting the kickstarter. And in the past the kickstarters were funded dominantly by the daily-ish email back when there were far fewer people. Think, think, think ....

It seems for each new idea did improve the velocity a little, but the big change was coming out with a good name and inviting people out. And then in the last couple of days, some big hitter websites gave us a shout out too.

So on the tenth, it looked like we would end up around $32,000. Then a few days later it looked like with a bit of hard work we might hit $40,000 if we could just keep it above $500 per day. Then on the 20th everything started to madly escalate. yesterday we brought in $8063. And today was a little more than a half day and we still brought in $6787. For the last two days it was pretty bizarre seeing the numbers rack up so fast. We made it onto the "popular" list at kickstarter.

While this kickstarter brought in less than the previous two, this one was probably the wildest ride. And it has the most supporters! Lots of lessons learned.

Hi. I am a newbie here and have found this thread interesting. I wasn't even sure at the beginning what a kickstarter was,but my husband (Wiley Swift) and I decided to support it at the beginning because it seemed a great deal to us....7 dvd's, all the podcasts and then a whole bunch of other stuff for just $250. If you just count the dvd's, we are getting them for around 35 dollars a piece. And if(as we are planning) we are able to build a rocket mass heater from the dvd, our energy savings next year will be more than we paid here for the dvd's. Now that I know a little bit more about what a kick starter is, I am glad to support it, but honestly I am getting a lot of value for my money.
Its kind of nice that we can pat ourselves on the back for helping, but I feel Paul is giving us more than our money's worth.
Also, though I know it is probably not the case, Paul, I hope you make a huge profit for all of this. You deserve it for all the work you're putting in.

April
P.S. I hope you can buy 2 electric tractors!

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:

Hi Andrew, do you mean access to the "secret inner circle" forum at permies.com? That's included with any Kickstarter pledge of $5 or more as part of the THANKS package.

Hi Jocelyn, sorry to be a bother i found it on the 2nd page of the updates part of kickstarter, "your name listed (optionally) at permies.com as a contributor to this project". I'm guessing we will receive an email asking us if we want to proceed with the optional stuff? Sorry i am new to kickstarter, i signed up just to support this project! Also is there someone we can email if we have questions about the kickstarter rewards? (id like to know if the 150$ dollar reward comes with a pack of permaculture playing cards) i've been dying to order a deck but i just dont have money to spend on things that arent absolutely necessary to my education.

Andrew Pochylski wrote:(id like to know if the 150$ dollar reward comes with a pack of permaculture playing cards) i've been dying to order a deck but i just dont have money to spend on things that arent absolutely necessary to my education.

Looks like the cards come with the $250 pledge.

They are still available at for $18.99 at Amazon.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:

Andrew Pochylski wrote:Hmmm, i read that if you kick in 150 bucks you get all 3 dvd series, and a bunch of cool extra's, count me in !!! also im a bit confused i swear i saw a reward involve getting some special permie forum member title but now i cant find it, can anyone refresh my memory as to wat that was?

P.S. Paul please keep up the good work, im looking forward to checking out your dvd's !

Hi Andrew, do you mean access to the "secret inner circle" forum at permies.com? That's included with any Kickstarter pledge of $5 or more as part of the THANKS package.

Andrew Pochylski wrote:Hi Jocelyn, sorry to be a bother i found it on the 2nd page of the updates part of kickstarter, "your name listed (optionally) at permies.com as a contributor to this project". I'm guessing we will receive an email asking us if we want to proceed with the optional stuff? Sorry i am new to kickstarter, i signed up just to support this project! Also is there someone we can email if we have questions about the kickstarter rewards? (id like to know if the 150$ dollar reward comes with a pack of permaculture playing cards) i've been dying to order a deck but i just dont have money to spend on things that arent absolutely necessary to my education.

Okay, so that was updated rewards in update #2:

So I've come up with what I think is a super enticing combo reward which includes:

the 3-DVD pack and/or streaming
your name listed at the end of all three DVDs under "these people paid actual money to see their name here"
the streaming version of soon-to-be-released "Permaculture Orchard"
the streaming version of the 4-DVD set "Wood Burning Stoves 2.0" featuring rocket mass heaters, rocket stoves and fire science
download access to 260 podcasts as big zip files
the 10 podcast review of "Just Enough"
the 11 podcast review of "Botany in a Day"
the 21 podcast review of "Sepp Holzer's Permaculture"
your name listed (optionally) at permies.com as a contributor to this project
access to a "secret inner circle" forum at permies.com.
All of that in one big fat gob for $150. [emphasis added for this reply]

Yes, e-mails will go out asking how you'd like your name to appear, and other details for fulfilling your rewards. We looked at reports last night but there were still quite a few pending or errors with payments, so we'll take another look today.

Backers can leave a comment on the Kickstarter page, or post here as you've done. Those are preferred ways to ask questions in case someone else has the same question. If that doesn't work, there is the "contact me" hyperlink on the Kickstarter page under Paul's name. That goes to Paul's river of hundreds of e-mails per day.

CJ is correct that the playing cards come with the $250 reward and are still available on Amazon. Thanks CJ!

For a lot of stuff, we have to get that information from the kickstarter "sruvey". The results will be sent back to us via a massive spreadsheet. And kickstarter allows us to send out just one spreadsheet. And the biggest trick is that if we are going to mail anything, we need to ask for that just before the mailing happens - in case people move.

So the part where people get their name (optionally) listed will be a survey thing. And we will probably do all the surveys just in time for stuff to be sent out.

Some things are just as easy via email - and kickstarter has provided us with the email addresses of the supporters.

In the past, about 5% to 10% of the supporters use some other email for their kickstarter stuff. So when we email them, they never see the emails. And when kickstarter emails them, they never get that email. And most of those people end up getting angry at us and say "why didn't you contact me?"

We'll get everything straightened out in time.

Paul just sent out an e-mail to all the backers. He said we'll start adding those backers who contributed $5 or more to the "secret inner circle" forms today. That will actually be tomorrow. He didn't know I was waiting for a slight tech change to our forum software that will be loaded tonight. So look for "secret inner circle" access tomorrow!

So happy to have gotten in on the Kickstarter. Looking forward to world domination and all that comes with it....

I am now getting people contacting me to say that they want to get in on the kickstarter after the kickstarter. In the past kickstarters we just said that they need to sign up for the daily-ish email. But I think on this kickstarter we will allow people to get signed up to receive products at the same time as the kickstarter supporters BUT it is very important to me that the people that got to the kickstarter in time get far more candy.

So, the only thing available at this time is going to be the 3-DVD pack, and the streaming version.

When purchasing this stuff after the kickstarter, you get only the 3-DVD pack or the streaming version.

So, during the kickstarter, people could put up $60 to get the streaming version. They would get:

- access to the micro documentary
- access to the secret inner circle forum
- name listed in the "thanks" stuff
- name listed in the micro documentary
- heaps of podcasts
- access to the three day workshop in march(*)
- access to the 3-DVD set via streaming

Now that the kickstarter is over, people could send $65 and they would get:

- access to the 3-DVD set via streaming
- no access to the micro documentary
- no access to the secret inner circle forum
- name not listed in the "thanks" stuff
- name not listed in the micro documentary
- no podcasts
- no workshop access

during the kickstarter, people could put up $75 to get the physical DVDs. They would get:

- access to the micro documentary
- access to the secret inner circle forum
- name listed in the "thanks" stuff
- name listed in the micro documentary
- heaps of podcasts
- access to the three day workshop in march(*)
- a copy of the physical 3-DVD set

Now that the kickstarter is over, people could send $85 and they would get:

- a copy of the physical 3-DVD set
- no access to the micro documentary
- no access to the secret inner circle forum
- name not listed in the "thanks" stuff
- name not listed in the micro documentary
- no podcasts
- no workshop access

In hindsight, I should have made the kickstarter price $45 and $60 (instead of $60 and $75). I very much like the idea that the people that support my kickstarters get a FAR better deal. So, I hope people sign up for my daily-ish email and jump on the next kickstarter right away.

If you wish to purchase stuff after the kickstarter, please send funds via paypal to paul at richsoil.com. If you are getting the physical DVDs and you are outside the US, please add $10.

Yes, this is long and overly detailed. That's because my earlier attempts seemed to provide loopholes for confusion.

(*) depending on the number of people that actually want to come and other factors.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:Paul just sent out an e-mail to all the backers. He said we'll start adding those backers who contributed $5 or more to the "secret inner circle" forms today. That will actually be tomorrow. He didn't know I was waiting for a slight tech change to our forum software that will be loaded tonight. So look for "secret inner circle" access tomorrow!

Well I didn't realize that i have never created a forum account. I just did. I only get the daily-ish email which is different i suppose. I hope you will reload the accounts in the future for this kick starter, so i can see this super secret forum

I'd love to come to Missoula and practice my excavator skills but that is too far away for me right now.

Bob Schubert wrote:

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:Paul just sent out an e-mail to all the backers. He said we'll start adding those backers who contributed $5 or more to the "secret inner circle" forms today. That will actually be tomorrow. He didn't know I was waiting for a slight tech change to our forum software that will be loaded tonight. So look for "secret inner circle" access tomorrow!

Well I didn't realize that i have never created a forum account. I just did. I only get the daily-ish email which is different i suppose. I hope you will reload the accounts in the future for this kick starter, so i can see this super secret forum

I'd love to come to Missoula and practice my excavator skills but that is too far away for me right now.

Welcome to permies, Bob! You even quoted in your first post - well done!

It's not a matter of reloading so much as making sure the e-mail address for your permies forum profile is the same e-mail as the one for your Kickstarter profile. If those are the same, we'll get you in!

Should we have received an email about the 'secret inner circle' yet?

I was in at the $60.00 level. My email is the same for both Permies and Kickstarter, but I haven't received anything other than the standard emails yet.

Try poking around and see if you can find the "secret inner circle" forum. If you go to the main forums page and scroll all the way down, the last category is "permies.com" I think you should be able to find it there.

Link to the Secret Inner Circle Forum, for those of you who can see it...

Julia Winter wrote:Try poking around and see if you can find the "secret inner circle" forum. If you go to the main forums page and scroll all the way down, the last category is "permies.com" I think you should be able to find it there.

Thanks Julia! Found it.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:<snap>
It's not a matter of reloading so much as making sure the e-mail address for your permies forum profile is the same e-mail as the one for your Kickstarter profile. If those are the same, we'll get you in!

Does it mean that in order to be able to access the inner circle I need to change my email address on permies.com to the same as my kickstarter's email address? No other option?

Does it mean that in order to be able to access the inner circle I need to change my email address on permies.com to the same as my kickstarter's email address? No other option?

Or you could maybe change your kickstarter e-mail address to match the permies one.

If Paul has already added kickstarter addresses to the inner circle database, that wouldn't be of any help unfortunately.

Burra Maluca wrote:Link to the Secret Inner Circle Forum, for those of you who can see it...

I get "Oooops.. You don't have sufficient privileges to access this forum" when I try to access and my email address is the same for here and kickstarter. Can someone please add me? Thanks!