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 about $100 to $200 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: Sometimes we have a rush and there is a need for people to help with rentals - and that pays money!
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: When a boot is here long enough, they can harvest some coin helping with events on weekends.
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
To get in, you must pay the non-refundable fee of $100 for each person. So a couple would pay $200. (reminder, this is a drug and tobacco free campus)
You can pay with PayPal, Stripe or Crypto - you'll get the option to choose which once you hit the big shiny button below:
Once we receive payment, we will contact you to start sorting out the particulars.
FAQ
I enjoy weed once in a while, how can I enjoy my weed and still be respectful to your weed-free campus thing?
I suspect a few people have done that. They go on road trips to washington state for a weekend. That way they aren't bringing any here.
Do you live under a ten foot thick block of ice through the winter?
This last winter, the ground was bare quite a lot. Snow would fall and then melt off. I'm not sure if we even had one day where the temperature got below zero. More details here.
Very interested in this opportunity. For me, it's a matter of timing; I've got some things in the works that would prevent me from spending 18 months, virtually off-grid, in Montana (as tempting as it sounds). Do you foresee this opportunity extending beyond this cohort? How many 1 acre plots are going to be made available before it starts looking more like the Wheaton Estates subdivision?
So far, total number of people that have jumped up to say "can I come out right now?": zero
Total number of people that have said "I will be there with bells on, February 4. How do I make sure I reserve a spot?": zero
And you are asking me "what if 147 thousand people want in on this?"
I think that when we get to the point that we have four, I will start to try and figure out what to do if we have more than six. I think we will do some sort of waiting list.
paul wheaton wrote:Total number of people that have said "I will be there with bells on, February 4. How do I make sure I reserve a spot?": zero
You had to know that asking people to move to Montana in the dead of winter would be a tough sell But, I'm not most people; so if I can make it happen I will. Not making any promises that I'll be wearing bells though.
We've had a lot of people show up in the fall with intent of spending the winter here. A lot of people are super curious about the rocket mass heaters.
I understand the risks of asking a question like this, knowing that unsupervised kids at Wheaton labs may be fed to the bears or set on top of a rocket mass barrel. However, I am curious if this program may be flexed to accommodate families where one spouse will work his tail off, and the other will stay in charge of the litter. I love the idea of raising my family in a homesteading environment.
Wow, wish I were a younger man, I would jump at this chance to get in on an acre of land! But, I am a 60-year old heart patient now and I do believe that my boot-days are long gone. Maybe in another lifetime.
Nothing scary about a "little" snow! It's the cloud cover that would get to me eventually but this is an awesome deal! I'd love to see a workshop or something similar where tools and methods could be adapted for people with some mobility limitations. It's a future project of mine.
Beau Davidson wrote: I understand the risks of asking a question like this, knowing that unsupervised kids at Wheaton labs may be fed to the bears or set on top of a rocket mass barrel. However, I am curious if this program may be flexed to accommodate families where one spouse will work his tail off, and the other will stay in charge of the litter. I love the idea of raising my family in a homesteading environment.
Welcome to the forums, Beau! This sounds doable, though there are some kinda complicated details to work out when we're providing housing, utilities, basic food for three (or more, depending on the kiddos), instead of one. With a lot of "it depends" kind of situations...
Wow, what an amazing thing. I wish the USA allowed people in (from the UK) for longer than 6 months, I'd be very tempted to park my life and try to be one of the two people still there at the end.
Jocelyn Campbell wrote:We have a thread about the weather at wheaton labs - winters and summers. We have a remarkable amount of sun here in the winter months, IMHO.
Anything has to be an improvement over western WA cloud cover(9 months)! I was made to understand by a few people living around the are that Missoula gets about 8 months of cloud cover but maybe they included the smoke in that.
Robbie, I don't think we fully addressed the cloud cover issue you raised. Missoula sits in a bit of a bowl and does suffer from some air inversion issues that affect it both with cloud cover and with smoke. Though compared to Western WA I think Missoula is twice as sunny - at least! (I'm a Seattle native now living at wheaton labs.) I can't imagine Missoula having 8 months (relatively speaking) of cloud cover. It is considered a high mountain desert climate. Additionally, wheaton labs is about 40 minutes away from Missoula, meaning we are well outside the air inversion problem and generally have much better air quality here, even when forest fires are in the area. We also receive more rainfall than Missoula, which the growies love.
Beau Davidson wrote: I understand the risks of asking a question like this, knowing that unsupervised kids at Wheaton labs may be fed to the bears or set on top of a rocket mass barrel. However, I am curious if this program may be flexed to accommodate families where one spouse will work his tail off, and the other will stay in charge of the litter. I love the idea of raising my family in a homesteading environment.
I like the idea of doing something like that some day.
I offered something a lot like this a year and a half ago, but had no takers. I thought it would be cool to bring in three families and they could support each other. But I had zero families to try this idea.
The word "bootcamp" starts off with some meaning where a person would go and share bunks with 50 other people for three months. More recently it has come to mean something where a person will pay to go get training in something for a week to a month. And the style of training is experiential. But in neither of those scenarios is there a family.
I do think that a person could get an ant plot, build a little something for their whole family and that would work.
There have been kids here. Lots of kids. A few were amazingly cool and most were not. And since the fisher price house is not childproof, a parent needs to rain down hell on a toddler to get them to not destroy things - and in the end stuff just gets wrecked.
The thing with kids has been brought up dozens of times. For the first time ever, I'm going to do this: what do you propose?
I think this is one of the coolest ideas I've ever heard! Really cool Paul! I hope you get a great group over there. I'm a little far away, but I'm routing for you. It seems that this is a great way to develop a strong community with people having a similar mindset. Eighteen months of separating the wheat from the chaff and a reward at the end. With a growing community of self sufficient people. Just brilliant!
If I want to come from South Africa would I allowed to own land in the US? Is this offer for US peeps only? I also have an 8yr old kid...that I would probably bring along...exploring unschooling with her. This offer sounds too good to be true, everyone says around here. There must be a catch. But the thing is, for me, I go by feeling...and so far it feels legit and good.
My impression is that the US gub'mint allows people to come here for a few months and then you have to leave. But I gotta say there is a lot with coming and going from other countries that I don't understand.
As for an eight year old: it depends on how well the 8 year old works. But I am open to giving it a try for a week or two.
- sign up for the waiting list. To do this, you still need to part with the gapper fee. Or, for those that have been here in the past as a gapper, or attended a workshop, you can just send fred an email and you will be put onto the waiting list.
- sign up for a spot before febuary 4. The program won't be quite as formal, but some people might find some benefit. And that time would still go towards a roots package. When febuary 4 comes around, you can be a regular gapper with the ants. If you are also on the waiting list, then there is a chance you will be able to get into the bootcamp later.
I talked to fred about possibly expanding the boot program. I agree with him that we should first get a few weeks under our belt with six and see how things go from there.
paul wheaton wrote:It's official. All six spots are now full.
Congratulations, Paul and Fred! Based on reading the forums, I didn't think you would get many takers. But there is so much context that we barbarians out here in the ether don't get.
Fred, I guess you have 3-ish months to get ready. I encourage you to post tool needs to a "love" thread!
Sorry but it appears that my specialness is showing but how do I properly get a hold of Kia and Fred about all this? Or is this the preferred form of contact on this site.
Garett Conner wrote:Sorry but it appears that my specialness is showing but how do I properly get a hold of Kia and Fred about all this? Or is this the preferred form of contact on this site.
Hi Garett - I think we've connected with you outside the forums - yay! I'm a bit slow in replying, though I thought I'd repeat part of Paul's first post in case it helps anyone else:
paul wheaton wrote:
NOTE! The bootcamp program is currently FULL.
We are maintaining a waiting list. To get in line, you must pay the non-refundable gapper fee ($20 to $100, depending - details here).
There are two spots left for now until Feb 4. A gapper could arrive, be part of the early-boot program, and then on February 4, they could help ants in ant village until there is an opening in the bootcamp program. If this sounds like a possibility for you, please email fred at richsoil.com.
Other gappers that wish to be part of the boot program are also welcome to come and work with the ants until spots in the bootcamp program open up. Gappers that are helping ants will be given preference over gappers that are not here yet.
Depending on how things go, we might expand the bootcamp program to facilate 8 or more at a later time.
Hey guys and gals, I'm curious as to how well the program is filling up. I've tried to amass a small community of workers of like minds to do something very similar. I've found that the biggest deterrent is land ownership. You have obviously taken care of that part (and I would hope that you give more than just a verbal agreement for this), but suppose someone does the numbers in their head and decides that all the work they provide isn't worth 1 single acre? I'm honestly curious as I have been a farm manager in Haiti for 3 years and also WWOOFed around the NE for 2 years now. I was basically WWOOFing before that before I knew of that organization. I've built up peoples' lands, farms, homes, businesses, customers, etc. But I've found the greed of owners too much and expectations way too high, while they are never willing to do something even remotely similar to what they expect you to do. So, what makes your place, in a very cold area of the country, worth it all? This is coming from someone who doesn't walk away from a very shitty experience before at least a year has passed so I can feel I had stamina and perseverance and gave it a go. Been burned, sounds wonderful, but still sounds the same as many places I helped build only to be left out in the cold.
Miles Flansburg wrote:Howdy Jay , welcome to permies!
You did read the above posts that said the program is full and taking backup names right?
Have you taken some time to look at some of the posts here that have videos of all of the things that are going on in the ant village?
As I understand this is verbal so far or have all arrived? Nothing is for certain until the "boots are on the ground". I guess my questions should be directed to someone more personal than a discussion forum. And yes, I read this entire discussion forum. I have not seen the videos yet.
Right at the top of this forum, there's a little note under the first post, with a link to a summary of all things wheaton labs. This is a really good gateway to learning more about the work Paul does and the opportunities for people who wish to visit, stay or even make a home there. This might help you understand more about what this is all about and what you can expect from wheaton labs. The boots-to-roots programme is just one of many opportunities.
I thought you meant in this forum. Yes, I have been all through the site over the past many years. This is my first time posting (probably my last) but I have been following Paul for quite a long time now. I'll quit asking questions as no one really tried to answer them. Good luck on the village and boot camp and all. Love. Peace.
Post by:autobot
What are you doing in my house? Get 'em tiny ad!
montana community seeking 20 people who are gardeners or want to be gardeners
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But, I'm not most people; so if I can make it happen I will. Not making any promises that I'll be wearing bells though. 
