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click here to see the official bootcamp web page!
Most of the information is on that page.  This thread is mostly for discussion.

Let's make sure you are in the right place:

permaculture bootcamp: "learn permaculture with a little hard work." 40 hours a week for a few weeks or months.  Get a warm bunk and organic food with your gardening and natural building experiences. Kinda school-ish. If this is what you are looking for, you found the right web page!

the sepper program:  Rent a humble cabin for a few days or weeks.  Participate in the bootcamp as much or as little as you like.  Maybe you come as a couple and one person works online while the other is in the bootcamp.  For more information click here.


2024 PTJ Postcard - a taste of what goes on at Wheaton Labs:




A recent bootcamp project:




A recent winter bootcamp project:





We have 220 acres.  We spend our days gardening and building stuff to our standards. In the winter we heat our buildings with rocket mass heaters (we have more than a dozen).  We are the host for the annual "Permaculture Technology Jamboree" - and in a way, the bootcamp build those same things all year.  We even get quite a few experts stopping by from time-to-time.

We have a different way we do things.  Our gardens feature a lot of hugelkultur. The homes we build are made of logs and mud.  Zero cement, paint or glue.

People come to hang out in the bootcamp for a week or two to immerse themselves in this form of living.  Some come for months.  Some come for years.  

95% of the work done is to benefit the current boots or the future boots. Growing gardens to produce the food of the bootcamp. Building habitat for the bootcamp.  Caring for tools that are used by the bootcamp.  Etc.



a little jingle in your pocket

COIN-1: Several boots have harvested hundreds of dollars by posting pics and videos of theirs experiences here in the BEL program (most recent payout was 5 digits).

COIN-2: You can shoot videos for Paul's YouTube channel. Details here.

COIN-3: After a few weeks (once we think you can do stuff on your own), talk to us about some bounties for coin.  There are several little projects we are willing to pay for.   A person could earn a few hundred bucks per month on evenings and weekends.

COIN-4: And if there is a special tool or bit of warm clothes you would like to have, the boots love program has proven to be quite generous.

COIN-5: When people need a ride to and from the airport a person with a rig could harvest pick-up and drop-off bounties.  (Normally $20 one way during normal hours and $50 for crazy hours)

COIN-6: When a boot is here long enough, they can harvest some coin giving tours.

COIN-7: Grow your own weekend garden and sell your produce for events.

COIN-8: Some ants and deep roots people have paid for help with their plots - building and gardening.

COIN-9: We have a neighbor that sometimes needs some construction help and has paid for that on evenings and weekends.

COIN-10: Some residents in the past have set up patreon accounts and made a few hundred bucks a month posting videos and pics.  

COIN-11: When you have a plot to play with, you can build a fence and some gardens and a structure.   And then you can sell those improvements to somebody else.  

COIN-12: Grow a 200 square foot garden and harvest the fat payout for the 2025 GAMCOD project.




the tie-in to the PEP program

The estimates are that a person participating in the bootcamp might get PEP1 certified in about 10 to 12 weeks.   We're thinking half of the BBs would be harvested during project labor and the other half would be on evenings and weekends.   More about the PEP program here.



An interview with people that had been in the bootcamp program, about the bootcamp program



audio only.  


Bits and bobs that might be of interest to new boots:

A summary of all things Wheaton Labs
Bootcamp Experience log
bonus for boots - event tickets info (Program ends in 2024!)
the Wheaton Labs forum
online permaculture design course (133 hours of video of the 2017 PDC and ATC)
the 2024 Permaculture Technology Jamboree
the 2024 SKIP: Skills to Inherit Property event


wwoof intern


click here for the complete FAQ


Here you can get an idea of 65 different things that the boots have created in about 9 minutes



..
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author and steward
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Special offer for boots arriving by march 23, 2025

https://permies.com/t/267198/turnkey-permaculture-paradise-monies-march

 
paul wheaton
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a couple of years ago, Magdalene made this video asking boots about why they are in the bootcamp

 
paul wheaton
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and dez visited with several past boots as they were headed out


























 
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This.

This right here is how anyone with a PDC can gain the hands-on experience needed to make permaculture actually work. Less talk, more walk!

I really, really wish I had known about this 12 years ago after getting my PDC. When it comes to living in harmony with nature, this would have been a far better investment of time and energy than college.

For those who have been Seppers or Boots—have you been able to use the skills you gained at Wheaton Labs to create income in permaculture after returning home? If so, what worked best?

Which skills turned out to be the most valuable? Have any past participants gone on to start businesses, retreats, or workshops? Or joined larger permaculture-focused initiatives that led to employment?

For those seeking financial independence through permaculture, which aspects of this program helped the most?
 
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Everything is looking good. I can't seem to find the dates for the boot camp. Maybe because I am on a cell.
 
master gardener
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This would be a heck of an opportunity for folks who want to not only learn hands on homesteading skills but also be involved in cutting edge permaculture projects.

Where else can you dabble in a bit of solar, a bit of heavy equipment operation, a bit off gardening, and so much more?

I'm envious of those who might be able to take advantage of this.
 
paul wheaton
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Jesse Mulalley wrote:Everything is looking good. I can't seem to find the dates for the boot camp. Maybe because I am on a cell.



the next few start dates for the bootcamp

march 9
march 23 (last day for allerton abbey offer)
april 13
may 4
may 25

 
paul wheaton
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Timothy Norton wrote:This would be a heck of an opportunity for folks who want to not only learn hands on homesteading skills but also be involved in cutting edge permaculture projects.

Where else can you dabble in a bit of solar, a bit of heavy equipment operation, a bit off gardening, and so much more?

I'm envious of those who might be able to take advantage of this.



I think that the stuff that the bootcamp does is exactly the sort of thing that most permaculture homesteaders do: try to grow all their own food; try to maintain the existing stuff; try to build new stuff that is more permaculture aligned.
 
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I'm a little jealous that I'm too tied down to try this out. Several months ago, I got my daughter interested in coming out to be a boot but she ended up not seeing a way to do that and keep paying her student loans.
 
paul wheaton
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briella made some cool vids when she was here



 
paul wheaton
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another briella vid

 
paul wheaton
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the last of briella's vids









 
crispy bacon. crispy tiny ad:
Willow Feeder movie
https://permies.com/t/273181/Willow-Feeder-movie
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