Patricia Menzies

That's kind of you, Raven, but I don't need you to send anything to make it up to me.  I just wanted to give you a heads up in case there are other problems at border crossings.  But I think I did just get a zealous one.

Nicole, are you in the US?  I'm in Washington State and just got my package, too.  BUT USDA confiscated the seeds at the Blaine, WA crossing!  Said it violated  7 CFR 319.37 (no phytosanitary certificate for entry!)  But Linum is not even on that list!  Now frustrating.

I DID get a sweet little inflatable neck cushion which wasn't one of the premiums!  I wonder if the custom agents took that out of someone else's package they were processing at the same time and put it into mine by mistake.  I feel so protected!  Sheeeesh!  I hope I'm the exception to the rule and everyone else's seeds get delivered just fine.

I couldn't cast a vote in that first post either but would vote for Starhawk because of her work with social permaculture and moving the design process so thoroughly into our personal relationship and community activism.

That said, if you needed $18,500 for the deck you have designed, and now have at least $40,000, my suggestion would be to create a second deck with more of the principles and more of historical and contemporary teachers/practitioners/innovators. You have at least half the deck suggested already. It could be a great way to feature permies from around the world so people can know who in their areas to reach out to for guidance.

Hi, Tacoma area permaculture friends,

Just got the word from Kelda that we have this neat forum page for our own group's discussion topics.  I thought I'd kick it off with my current mind bender!  I just got a hot tub ($300 off craigslist!).  I'd like to be as sustainable as possible with it.  I do have those roof-top solar water heater panels, but I don't really have good southern exposure to use that for the tub.  So I was thinking about a rocket stove/mass heater but I'm having trouble figuring out the "plumbing"!  There is a great thread on one of the other Forums here about a guy who used an old woodfire heated canner to heat his tub but those suckers are expensive!  As are the double jacketed stoves designed for hot tubs.

So here's the challenge:  I know (from Paul's videos and site visits) how to heat cob benches.  And I think there was a setup at Bullocks' in the classroom space that was a cookstove, room heater AND water heater, but I didn't look at how that was set up.  I'd like to combine several uses for this one too.  Anyone want to join me in a brainstorming session online (or in person) for this?

There will definitely be a party to celebrate the successful completion of this project!   Oh, and my BF in Olympia also picked up an old hot tub so we'll have a second chance to build one for him.  Usually, we do a project at his place to "learn how" and then I get the perfected product but I thought we'd work on my place first since there's more room in my backyard.

Thanks for all the great ideas that I know will be coming!
Patricia