Jocelyn Campbell wrote:Oh gosh, what an outpouring of support, thank you!
Here's the backstory.
A. I had a really terrible year.
<BIG SNIP>
Commiserating here has helped alleviate a bit of my stress over this. I do thank you all for that.
<3 <3 <3
Someone just gave me an apple for the post above.
Four years later, I have learned that the succinct way to put it was that there was too much chaos.
This is regardless of deaths and births in my family. My stress was not primarily caused by family events, though I think a lot of people thought that was the main cause.
In retrospect, it makes total sense that amidst chaos, I was attempting to nail down or control what I could.
Hi there Rick! There is a great farmer support organization, snovalleytilth.org, that has a farm connect program. I recommend joining that group. Their reach is beyond the Snoqualmie Valley (which is technically mostly King County) and they do have member farmers in Snohomish County.
Also, if you are on the dreaded Facething, there are homestead groups that sometimes post about wanting someone to help on their land. Find me on FB and I can invite you to those groups.
I moved to Everett (a city north of Seattle that used to be home to Boeing) a little over a year ago.
Last Halloween (2023), I bought dried fruit (the store-bought kind in individual little packages) to give out, my son came over with full-sized candy bars, and the upstairs neighbors provided a box of individual bags of Doritos.
We had not one knock at the door. Not one!
This year (2024), I didn't buy anything to give out. Then yesterday, the day of, something made me think I might get some Trick-or-Treaters. My work was crazy, with no breaks, no ability to run to the store for anything.
A good friend had given me a bag of apples he had picked. Kid-sized, super fresh and delicious. Even better is that they came from an amazing, neglected tree, that had split down the middle of the trunk but was still producing loads of absolutely beautiful, scab and blemish free, bug free apples!
So I set the apples by the door just in case.
There were knocks at the door! I had Trick-or-Treaters!
They got apples! Hahaha! There were two groups of girls and the looks on their faces were....well, later it dawned on me it might have seemed like the evil queen giving a red apple to Snow White! Bwahahaha! Scary!!
Fairly early in the evening, I locked up and went to my neighbors four blocks down the road who *do* get loads of Trick-or-Treaters. It was fun to see them, hang out, and actually see costumes and loads of people. They were giving out loads of candy.
While I was gone, I left 10 apples on my porch, and came back to 6 left. Ha!
I was a bit surprised. And happy! Ha!
For most people, if they do eat the apple, I think they will be blown away by how good these apples are compared to typical grocery store fare.
SO happy to have found this thread. I've heard Jacqueline Freeman talk about revitalizing ancient apple trees with biodynamic tree paste, so I wonder if that's who John S. was referencing.
I foraged some horsetail and made a decoction, and sourced some clay from my Buy Nothing group (since I now live in the city). Next up are the manure and sand and I have free sources for those as well (yay!). I don't have biodynamic compost, as Adam Klaus and others recommend, but am still very excited to try this on a couple beleaguered trees here.
Today is the full moon, and while I know it's not "winter" yet here in the rainy Pacific NW of the States, we are about to move into a waning moon phase. I don't think my horsetail decoction would be as potent if I let it sit until February, and there would not be the best horsetail foraging then, either. So, I'm going to start with doing something imperfectly, rather than not doing it at all. (There's a quote somewhere about that, isn't there?)
And I imagine here, where we get a lot of heavy sideways rain due to being next to Puget Sound, that repeat applications could be needed, and I'm okay with that.
And Bonnie, yes, I have heard neem oil could be a very beneficial addition as well. Though I haven't tried it myself and it's not something I'll be adding this go 'round.
Reductions of 87.8% in grizzlies coming near farmsteads and 94.1% reduction in grizzly time spent on farmsteads. Particularly those farms with grain spillage, which is a major bear attractant.
A little over a week ago, I had the honor of teaching in the same strip of buildings as this celebrated Bread Lab (more in my post about that here). The Bread Lab was not open for tours, but I just had to snap some pics of their wood fired bread ovens out front.
Slow and steady gets across the finish line, too, right?
We have the 2-hour payroll recording with PDF slide deck for $20 - more info here: WSU Cultivating Success + Payroll Workshop Video. Plus, there are links to a mailing list and a survey about future workshops. My current client work comes first, which is why I'm plodding gradually at getting more workshop information out there.
The blog post above is also a big shout-out to the Cultivating Success program through the WSU (Washington State University) Extension. That class took place right next to WSU's Bread Lab which is featured in The Third Plate by Dan Barber. I felt like I was in sustainable foodie heaven district just being near it!
These are the bread ovens that were in front of the Bread Lab:
This popped up as a similar thread today. Has this improved for you, r?
r ranson wrote:
I'm crap at those. I can barely talk on the telephone.
I need coping strategies to reduce my panic. I'm wondering if there is something from CBT (Cognitive behavioural therapy) that might help.
When I panic, my voice sounds even worse and flatter than it normally does.
Dyslexia means I cannot read from a script.
I don't even know why I want to do this so bad, but I do. I hate that I do. And yet, I can't stop wanting.
Since you mentioned CBT, I listened to a few podcasts about IFS - Internal Family Systems.
Which basically could mean that the panic and freezing up is from a Protector (yes, capital P!) part within you that is trying to save you from the horror of screwing up/shame...or being rejected...or being unlovable....etc.
There are amazing ways folks have been able to work with their internal parts to calm themselves and help with all kinds of behaviors.
Ned Harr wrote:The easy one is I'm kinda vain. I care about how I look. <snip> I think about what image I want to project physically. That seems anti-permie-ish to me.
In some circles, I agree that it can seem anti-permie, so I appreciate your candor and questioning it.
Though to me, there is SO much beauty in lustrous, healthy, well-maintained locks, bodies, natural fiber clothes, healthy landscapes, natural building, etc. that I think a person really can have both.
I, too, struggle with aesthetics a fair amount. I'm currently renting where I'm slowly changing the garden landscape so I don't scare the property managers. Plus, I lean heavily on "pollinator attractants" (ahem, flowers!) in my gardens which I love and I don't care if they are not multi-layered in their functions. My joy is enough for me.
Ned Harr wrote:I perceive a tension between sustainability on the societal scale and on the individual scale.
Yes, there is this, but I think we can do better to close this gap without as much guilt of our societal trappings.
For me, it's often in the minutiae, and not the larger picture as you described.
Without wandering into toxic gick or cider press topics, to stay within my budget, I do sometimes purchase items (food, clothes, household stuff) that are not within my values. But I alleviate my first world guilt by most of the time doing a lot of minutiae things on the daily that I feel add up to making a significant difference. I realize I'm not perfect, but I'm always trying to do better.
Ever have one of those times when you think someone will get it, but they absolutely don't?
This actual language-based lost in translation came up that I thought was hilarious:
I know I've had other situations where I forget that others are not as hyper focused on the things that I am, and humor ensues.
Now I remember one - a very mild one anyway. Last summer, a business person I work with arrived at my back porch and had to step around a dirty, decaying chicken bone. I bury my kitchen scraps, including bones, and it had been dug up by a critter and left in front of my steps. When I explained, they did their best not to give me a disgusted or blank stare. Ha!
Share your own "lost in translation" moments here!
Tina Wolf wrote:I only just saw this! I would like to purchase the recording. Jocelyn, do you have recordings of other classes? I have a small business and need help.
Thank you! Tina
Hi Tina - thank you!! So far, I do not have recordings of other classes, but I hope to have more soon. I'll send you a PM about how to purchase.
Nicole Alderman wrote:Your class sounds amazing! I've learned a lot from you over the years about filing as a small business, and your Permaculture Money and Finance presentation was packed full of great info.
I hope a lot of people can take your class!
You are a dear one to say so, Nicole! I've learned so much more, and worked with even more businesses since I gave that presentation. So I hope I've improved a lot!
My niche expertise is really with the small microbusinesses or solopreneurs and not many classes are geared at that level.
Two Oregon farmers just signed up for the class, so I will give a brief overview of what is unique to Washington State for payroll taxes, and what to look for in other states.
At my neighborhood meeting the other night, I learned about an initiative that would change the laws around one of our Washington State payroll taxes, WA Cares-2124[/i]. The signatures were verified last month and I-2124 will be put to a vote in November. This is big news.
Sometimes (a lot of times?) new business owners don't know what they don't know.
Down the road, what I really want to help with is better use of QuickBooks Online (QBO). I see so much duplicated income from errors being made in QBO.
Plus, I'd love to hear more about what folks need help with the most.
We did a thing! We sent a survey to clients, friends, and farmers about how we could help them function better as a business.
The loud and clear winning topic was, and now is “Payroll Requirements and Taxes!”
(Boring titles abound in this field, unfortunately. 😄) Thursday, Feb 29th 6:00 PM -8:00 PM PST
This will have a farm focus with the latest about farm overtime, and that pesky IRS payroll tax form that is different for farmers (Form 943 instead of Form 941), plus we’ll quickly review volunteers and/or work-trade help.
If you are brand new to payroll, however, you don’t have to be a farm business, because we will also cover basics such as:
- federal payroll taxes
- Washington State (USA) payroll taxes
- contractors versus employees
- payroll software issues and options, plus more.
There will be time for questions and answers, of course!
If you can’t make this one, or want a different topic, we will offer more classes soon!
We welcome your questions and comments here.
Annnnd, we have one of those listserv thingies for future announcements, here: http://eepurl.com/iJ2tsE
HUGE thanks to Theresa Gilbert, project manager extraordinaire(!), for making this happen during the busiest time of year for my business, Alchemilla Services, but the best time of year for farms and small businesses.
Another thought for those whose minds might work a bit differently.
I kept thinking my aversion to cleaning and de-cluttering was that I just needed better habits or it was akin to these (really great!) mental/emotional insights:
Jennifer Jennings wrote:In my experience with myself, my family, and my clients, not being able to let go of things is almost always tied to emotions; like the emotions of feeling bad if we don't do something with the thing we saved, or that we should be doing better by the environment, or because it's the only thing left that we have from our great grandmother, etc.
Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:A trick I learned from a friend when things get cluttery is: This thing is not paying rent.
In other words, if you don't use it, lose it. Sometimes, I don't throw something that has a sentimental value, Those are the hardest to deal with. If you can get past the emotions, it gets easier.
And there is probably some truth to all of the above for me and my attempts to clean and declutter.
But those very insightful mind shifts don't work for how my brain works.
The bigger hurdle for me is that cleaning and de-cluttering are BORING AF. Mind-numbingly boring.
There's no blame, no shame, no emotional deep diving, no mental gymnastics to do when a task is simply B-O-R-I-N-G. Who wouldn't rather do something else?
This has been a game changer for me in that I'm able to be kinder to myself about what's happening. I can recognize and validate the boring, then use strategies to make it less so.
So now, when I feel that huge knee-jerk UGH to one of these tasks, even flossing my teeth(!!), I use:
a podcast, music, audio book, or a show to make it more fun (or at least tolerable)
use body doubling aka pair programming aka buddy system for help getting it done - I do a LOT of this via phone or Zoom
make reasonable, baby step lists, so that I can easily cross items off
some people gamify their tasks by setting a timer to race it, or using apps, or changing things up other ways like fold all the yellow clothes first, etc. (though I don't gamify very much myself).
I admit that the boring factor could apply more to cleaning than de-cluttering, but sometimes it's the simple things, right?
I do think these tips also help when I'm feeling overwhelmed, too; not just bored. I've learned that de-cluttering can easily trigger an overwhelm response in a brain like mine, and, I imagine in many brains and lives these days, not just neurodivergent folks.
And isn't it gentle and encouraging to say to yourself, 'aw, you are just bored (or overwhelmed), aren't you? Let's make it more fun!'?
It is with the deepest sadness that we inform you of the death of our co-founder and dear friend, Tim Harland, who passed away on 30th September. Tim died unexpectedly at home after a long, happy day in the garden.
We will all miss him more than words can express. He was not just a colleague, but a warm friend to many and a passionate permaculture pioneer, as well as a loving father to two daughters and devoted husband to Maddy. We will share the details regarding the funeral as we receive more information.
Permaculture Magazine and Permanent Publications remain open and we intend to meet our commitments in Tim’s honour. Our hearts and lives will never be the same. In lieu of flowers, the family have requested that support and any donations be made to Permaculture magazine so that we can continue the work for a better world to which Tim dedicated his life. Please respect the family’s need for privacy to process this difficult time.
https://www.permaculture.co.uk/donate/
Hi Oliver, what a good question and wonderful intentions and ethics for your new enterprise. I have a few thoughts, experiences to share, and ideas for you.
Obtaining 501(c)(3) non-profit status in the U.S. is not as easy as it might seem. I'm currently serving on a board for a newly formed nonprofit that doesn't have (c)(3) status yet; plus, I also have nonprofit organizations as some of my accounting/bookkeeping clients. If you do proceed with this, you would certainly want an attorney licensed in your state to assist you. The executive director of the newly formed nonprofit actually IS an attorney, but not practicing, and they are not versed in nonprofit law. So after attempting to apply for (c)(3) status ourselves, the board agreed a nonprofit attorney made sense.
Just to be clear, to obtain (c)(3) status requires proof of a broad benefit to the larger community. Your educational plans could fit the IRS definition(s), but be mindful about this. In my corporate days, I was the Accounting Manager for many entities, one of which is a nonprofit whose stated mission is to support a specific neighborhood community. The attorneys who formed it knew it would not qualify for 501(c)(3) status and would have to be 501(c)(4) status - a foundation. Donations to a (c)(4) are *not* tax deductible, but donations to a (c)(3) *are* tax deductible. (Which might be moot with some of the tax changes in 2020, but that's for another discussion.) See also nonprofit tax filing requirements in the last bullet in technical accounting thoughts, below.
The concern over having a non-profit overlap with for-profit enterprises is a valid one.
Also, running a profitable educational model as part of a farm isn't always as easy as it seems either, without a large following and/or grant or sponsorship funding. I've been the bookkeeper or assisted with the books for several regional permaculture events, PDCs, RMH events, and more. In my experience, they are very difficult to run in the black without additional support, or without already having a large, dedicated following.
On the other hand, agritourism / farm education can surely diversify income and make the operation more viable! IMHO, location and the quality/draw of your property is rather key here.
Ideas and more thoughts:
I also agree that starting small first is smart! - form a simple LLC (for profit) and try a few classes to see what turnout you have
you might consider a for profit business, with a nonprofit to support the educational aspects - I think Mark Shepard, https://www.forestag.com/pages/mark-shepard, has offered classes on having interconnected businesses like this, but in general, I think that model is a nightmare for a beginner!
you might consider a cooperative or worker owned but still for profit business model
Technical accounting thoughts:
the more entities you add, the more you need accounting/bookkeeping help - including separate sets of books, separate bank accounts, etc.
LLC = Limited Liability Company and does NOT default as a corporation - this has surprised some new business owners who thought they were getting a corporation
an LLC is liability protection and stops the liability at the business in order to protect your personal assets
LLCs that are sole member file a Schedule C or Schedule F attached to the 1040 personal return
LLCs that are a partnership or corporation file a separate return - 1065 or 1120, respectively
sole member LLCs or sole proprietors are not allowed to put owners on payroll
corporations (especially s corps) *do* require payroll for owners, so if you don't/won't have payroll otherwise, this can be a burden
nonprofits file a Form 990 and must report on admin (overhead), fundraising, and program financial activity. They need to prove/maintain 80% of financial activity in programs otherwise they can lose nonprofit status. Bookkeeping and accounting plus a large portion of the director's salary (if not all of the E.D. salary) must always be 100% admin.
You might already be aware of some or even most of these aspects from your people, though I like to help clarify what kind of bookkeeping/accounting burden these things can take on.
Wishing you the best! And would love to hear how you decide to proceed.
I was out gardening and noticed a fresh green husked walnut rolling into my yard from under my back gate.
Then tiny, lightning-fast, gray-furred hands yanked it back out of sight.
😁
I think the OP was more about storing summer squash, but one way I like to store food is to make huge quantities of a dish and then freeze it in single meal portions.
Scarpaccia is a kind of rustic Italian tart (from the Tuscany region), usually thin, extremely good and, by the way, vegan.
And here is a page from The New Laurel's Kitchen cookbook (which was "new" decades ago, but is still excellent IMHO) with one of the best yellow summer squash recipes ever!
Jocelyn Campbell wrote:
<post about bullet journaling>
Did it end up working for you? I watched the video, and the more details he went into, the more my brain said, "This isn't for me!"
Bullet journaling worked for me a little while for planning and notetaking, but as a journal of what I did for the day, not so much.
I mostly went back to using apps (Evernote, Trello, Google Calendar) to store my lists, events, tasks, etc.
Nicole Alderman wrote:Somehow (maybe because I watch videos about Bookbinding) I stumbled across this video:
<snip>
I like not being constrained by a pre-determined "you must use this journal this way" method. I already have a 5-year planner book, so I don't need a calendar in my journal. I just need a place to store and process my thoughts.
<snip>
I like how low-key it is. Sometimes making the process too fancy or organized can prevent us from using something, because we're afraid of it not being perfect. I'm trying really hard to keep myself from feeling like I "have to" us my book one way or another
YES! That is a GORGEOUS journal with your parents' couch leather! Wow!
I have friends who are using sketch journals for wildlife or property observations, and/or art practice, and that's what your book reminds me of.
What I do like from the bullet journaling method is the idea of keeping a "contents" or index page in case you are using the journal or book for a reference down the road. But if a book is more for free form fun stuff being drawn or written about, an index is certainly not at all necessary.
That creative drawn process and using handwriting are both SO important! I can't seem to compel myself to do more of it though sometimes my fingers kind of itch to draw or create (when my hands aren't cooking or gardening, both of which are my primary creative outlets these days).
How long will ginger juice keep in the fridge without going bad?
I hate to buy a that will go bad before I use it.
It keeps a remarkably long time, but it's certainly personal preference on what feels safe to you.
I know I have thrown some out before, just to be safe. But even then, it didn't smell bad and didn't have any signs of mold or anything.
I just found another super creative wall hanging idea for cast iron pans and I thought of this thread.
Again, I do not have a kitchen with wall space to do this (I'm no longer in Montana as I was in earlier posts in this thread), but a cast iron storage "pantree" just looks so fun!!
Despite my diatribe above, I don't think guerrilla composting is a terrible idea.
I just think a little thought (or design, if you will) helps to make it truly a benefit and not a nuisance.
Not everyone has room, or bandwidth for vermicompost or even bokashi systems. (Speaking of those without outdoor compost pile availability and without municipal compost services, etc.)
Guerrilla composting might truly be the easiest, best option. I'd recommend just trying to be respectful about it. Think about animal patterns (especially rats or pests). Think about keeping out of waterways, and where there could be runoff. Think about whether your food scraps might be "too hot" (too much green waste type nitrogen) for tender plants. Rotting food scraps touching, or on top of plants, can induce rotting of the plant they touch.
For example, tucking out of sight under a hardy bush in poor soil is likely a huge benefit--when it's away from buildings. But maybe you're in a city where there isn't much that is away from buildings. Then I'd want to not only tuck it under the bush, but also bury it or mulch it heavily to reduce it being a pest attractant.
I love the idea of guerilla composting! I have some additional thoughts and experience that might give you more ideas.
Tl;dr: the burying or mulching helps kitchen scraps be slightly less of a critter attractant, and definitely less of a litter appearance to humans. Please be mindful of what effect the scraps might be having on wildlife patterns.
I've done a lot of Ruth Stout composting - which is burying your scraps under a deep mulch right in the garden. In Montana, we had copious straw, hay, or sawdust to put over the top of our scraps in the garden. These mulched piles were sometimes dug into by the wild turkeys or other critters, but mostly did an amazing job of improving that sand and rock soil we had there.
When I lived in downtown Missoula, I was in an old house converted to apartments and had small garden beds in front of my porch. I didn't have hay or sawdust, plus that might offend the landlord and neighbors. So I specifically bought a bag of bark mulch for the garden beds, just so I could put my kitchen scraps underneath it and no one would be the wiser!
Now I'm on a property where my "yard" (as Americans call it) is the former goat pasture. Here, hay or leaves break down quite quickly with all the rain, and there is a lot of wildlife. So I do what is often called trench composting - I dig a shallow hole and bury my scraps. The wildlife critters (coyotes, rats, mice, racoons, opossums) frequently, but not always, dig it up.
My landlady here is fine with my compost burying, she just doesn't want raw meat scraps in the pasture. She's concerned raw meat could encourage or introduce parasites which would not be healthy for future pasture livestock.
I'm trying to improve the soil around the dripline of a neglected mulberry tree. If it weren't for that, due to the scraps attracting critters, I'd probably bury my scraps at the far corner, farther away from the buildings.
That's the thing with putting food scraps out - they could change wildlife movement patterns and/or encourage wildlife where you don't want them.
There's this story Toby Hemenway writes about in Gaia's Garden, where he had carefully planned a hedgerow with native forage on the outside for where the deer passed by, and grafted-on fruits on the inside side, for human consumption. But then his neighbor started putting apples out for the deer. So the deer changed their feeding pattern and now started grazing the INSIDE of his carefully thought out, carefully grafted hedgerow.
Nicole Alderman wrote:
Ooooh, that looks so much easier than trying to wrap each in cheesecloth! But, would you be able to remove the feathers/flowers afterward?
Well, I think if you're peeling the egg, it might not matter as much.
To be honest, I don't know if dried egg white would soften up from getting wet or being washed off with soap. Does anyone else know?
All of which makes me think that if you are wanting to eat the hardboiled eggs underneath, you might wish to sterilize the feathers by a dunk in boiling hot water, and/or only use edible flowers, just to be safe.
For me, I would not worry about the dried egg white on the egg, but others might be concerned about a salmonella risk, and might wish to wash the egg thoroughly before peeling.