Jae Sabol II wrote:Any chance we could get a downloadable file with all these videos in it? I watch these while commuting and they crush my data. I could screen capture them all but it would take significant time so a downloadable zip file would be really helpful. The MP3 suggestion would be nice too, but there's enough visuals in these that I'd really prefer a zipped download so I can load them directly on my phone. Any possibility of this?
It is a good suggestion, but not something that we can offer at this time. For now they are only streaming.
Paul joins me to talk about his new Kickstarter and what he’s learned over very successful Kickstarter campaigns.
He also discusses what makes a good PC, choosing the right PDC, and how he deals with the constant hate that people throw his way.
We wrap up the conversation talking about doing epic s*** versus living a boring grey life, which I think is the best and most important part of the conversation.
Given that Toby was a huge influence on me, I spent the last few weeks putting together a tribute to Toby Hemenway. Paul and Jocelyn were two of the contributors to the episode.
The episode is a compilation of stories from peers, friends, and students paying tribute to Toby Hemenway who passed away on December 20, 2016.
After listening to these and thinking a bit, there's a question I want to run past you. Would it be fair to identify all this in another way, as "the problem is permaculture for permaculture's sake"?
If so, I think that's a resounding human flaw in general.. The tendency to glorify one's niche at the expense of all others. Just look at religion (I say this as an Orthodox Christian). But, back in the world of soil.. I think it's the big reason why permaculture principles don't get a lot of traction in the ag world. Not that polyculture doesn't work (the chicken-egg of soy, corn, and wheat demand worldwide is another topic altogether), but it's easy to see people dancing in mud and ignore Mark Shepard. It's why Jack has a subset of his audience that is tired of him talking about permaculture, and another that can't get enough of it, but don't want to hear about guns. Frankly, it rears its head around these forums sometimes too.. among people who are supposed to be interested in the same thing! I think this might be what you're getting at when you talk about some declaring "It's not Permaculture enough!" when presented with a design or project.
What I'm hearing you say is we all need to take a deep breath, have a little humility, and, well, remember it's "people care", not "dogma care".
I think that is fair.
Part of what I am trying to do is distill out the BS from the truth. Too many people get sold the ultimate abundance of permaculture with grand promises and little models to back up those promises. This leads to wasted time and failure. So I am suggesting that each of us be our own skeptic and think a little more about what am I actually trying to do and what is the actually best way to make that happen if I look at the full toolkit and ignore perfection.
So, I see permaculture as the catch for a lot of people. It attracts people into this space who might not otherwise get involved in this space. What I am saying is that some people suggest that you can then just use permaculture knowledge to go on to ultimately purse your passions in a related field, and I think that this is wrong. Obviously everyone doesn't suggest this, but a lot of people seem to say permaculture is the answer to all. So I am trying to say, let permaculture attract people in, get them exposed to everything as they go down the rabbit hole. Then put the permaculture ethics in the back pocket and go study up on a specific subject that you are interested in from source of knowledge in that space.
For example, you could come into permaculture and then get into mycology and then go study with Paul Stamets or you could just find mycology and study with Paul Stamets. Are you actually better off going the first route versus the second? People seem to convey that you are for sure better off taking route one, and I would beg to differ that you are any better off.
George Meljon wrote:I listened to it a few minutes ago. I think it's a fair dose of criticism, but that criticism is not without it's generalizations and broad denouncements. The fact is, there is enough tension within the topic of permaculture that it would take hundreds of pages to discuss and critique at the level Diego and his source Mr. Harper are so in need of. But that's the calling they make. Somebody else would have to do that.
Lastly, Diego calls for people to go out and do agriculture and make a living doing it first, then layer permaculture on top. Then he says permaculture is the hook the brings people into farming. It's a clear catch 22. In general, I think the earth care- people care - return of surplus angle is important enough for anyone starting out that it can influence them in the right direction. Same with the small and slow solutions advice. You see a lot of people jumping into ag and buying all this equipment and going broke in 3 years. Diego even linked to a NYT op-ed piece by a young couple that did this, so I think he's too close to throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Read his article and then really start to think about permaculture and look at it through a critical lens. The criticisms may be generalized and broad, but so is a lot of what permaculture teaches. Broad generalization.
Matthew Talicuran wrote:Hey I will be driving in from the east county San Diego as much as that helps. One of the things to consider is parking at the convention center its aweful. If you are driving in with a bunch of folks that are going to be doing the same things as you afterwards I would suggest group parking well away from the convention center and taking 1 car into the center parking. The peak traffic into the center can be bad as well as the daily price goes from $15 to $25 if there is something going on at petco park. Just a few thing to consider.
NOTE: The conference is not at the convention center. And it isn't in downtown San Diego.
It is at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina.
1590 Harbor Island Drive
San Diego, CA
DO NOT GO TO THE CONVENTION CENTER OR DOWNTOWN. YOU WILL BE IN THE WRONG PLACE.
You probably want to delete this thread to avoid confusion.
This page has a bunch of newly recorded interviews with PV2 speakers. Some of the information focuses specifically on PV2 - think how to get the most of out it. And some of the information is universally applicable outside of the conference world.
They are all various lengths, but for the most part they are short.
Today a new one was posted with Adam Klaus (who is active here on permies).
Big Steps Through Adversity with Farmer Adam Klaus "I was just at a point where I realized that for me to make the next step forward with the farm, I had to make a big step."
How to evaluate the cost trade off for events, workshops, and other education material. What's the ROI?
There is a lot of value in being able to sit down, in person, with someone who has done what you want to do and pick their brain.
The emotional peer support at events is invaluable.
There are also interviews posted with Luke Callahan and Stefan Sobkowiak.
I think you can use that as a base case because what he is doing works, even if it is different in terms of plant species. You start there then sub out different elements and see what works and what doesn't. I will see if I can get his thoughts on the idea. Because although different it is at least in the right direction.
Luke Townsley wrote:One thing I'm seeing is that most regenerative ag people seem to have trouble getting their head wrapped around the concept of perennial mulch/cover cropping with appropriately tuned soil biology, at least at first take. They think they understand it, but are really talking about something else. Or they will take a piece or two of the puzzle and disregard it because they know it doesn't work. Or they will lump it together with Fukuoka's techniques which most admire but have had trouble reproducing. Or they will disregard it because we don't yet have the appropriate tools to make it more efficient.
I think a video would be worth a lot in this space. I've pondered the wisdom of trying a low budget kickstarter video this summer documenting at least one new project using these techniques and possibly more. I'm still thinking...
I am going with they think it doesn't work, and it might not. If it worked really well on a commercial scale someone would be doing it. That being said, it is an area worth experimenting and trying to really look at results and optimize a system if there is one there, but I think at this stage it is theory that needs test, versus something that works and just need to be shown that it works. Which I see as one huge need for this space, start testing ideas to see what works and what doesn't. There are too many bold claims that don't have any results behind them. It's time to test ideas.
That was definitely one of my favorite episodes. In fact, I'm so stoked about perennial cover crops/mulches after her talk and some research on the web, I'm working towards starting some business ventures relating directly to that.
Unfortunately, there really isn't much field data, and I have yet to see a single picture or video of anyone growing annuals in a permanent low growing deep rooted perennial cover like she describes. Nevertheless, my intuition says when we pull together all the necessary pieces, this idea could be the most revolutionary thing in row cropping and vegetable market gardens since nitrogen fertilizer.
I will try to chat up Gabe Brown at some point. I think he can bring a lot of insight to this area. Same with Colin Seis and Bruce Maynard. I will try to get those three on in the the first half of this year.
I'm lobbying for Warren Brush to speak at the conference on Drought Proofing or Investing In Natural Capital. Please read his two articles above to determine for yourself if his research is a good fit.
Thanks Enrique. It won't happen this year, due to space, but maybe in the future. I have heard from a lot of people that have studied with Warren and they have had really good experiences up at Quail Springs. So maybe in the future.
Here is Paul's keynote from PV1.
Overall I think there was some great points in here. The delivery isn't (wasn't) for everyone, and I think that is OK.
Thanks for being passionate and giving a shit Paul.
Michael Bush wrote:Notice the number of people mentioned who run non profits, develop "programs" and license people to teach them? THAT is the end that is an actual business. Farming is a great way to make a small fortune you just need to start with a larger one!
I would say this is mostly accurate, but there people out there making money doing this, so let's not assume that it isn't possible.
For those of you in the Long Beach area, Curtis Stone is doing an Profitable Urban Farming workshop in Long Beach on November 22 and 23. Workshop Info
If you are interested in learning about doing intensive urban farming for production (meaning as a career), then this workshop is a great chance to learn from someone doing it. This really isn't a gardening for hobby workshop, it is a farming for career workshop.
Curtis has had a ton of success doing this stuff, and it really isn't that hard. It just takes some drive and strategic planning.
If you haven't heard of Curtis (who is in one of the videos higher in the thread), here is pretty recent interview that I did with him. Podcast 083
The workshop is $200, but I think you will get more out of this workshop than most if this is a career path that you want to go down.
Overall PV2 is much improved. New location (near the water, no rental car needed), new format, more total days, more conference activities, more extended workshops, two evening socials, and the same high quality content as PV1, plus the audio for the ones that you miss.
The keynote speakers this year are Paul Stamets, Maddy Harland, Marcin Jakubowksi, and Gunter Pauli.
There is a wide array of speakers (we will probably end up with over 70) including Mark Shepard, Toby Hemenway, Diana Leafe Chrstian, Dr. Elaine Ingham, Larry Santoyo, Jack Spirko, Jean-Martin Fortier, Kathy Voth, Pandora Thomas, Stefan Sobkowiak, Adam Klaus, and a ton more.
There are 4 total tracks: Urban, Broadacre, Mid-Scale, and Social Permaculture.
There are a bunch of topic specific talks including: Plants and Soils, Appropriate Technology, Animal Husbandry, Business Models and Techniques.
Tickets are on sale now for PV1 attendees. Tickets will open up to everyone else on October 14th HERE.
As a thank you for the early support, PV1 attendees get a special offer that everyone else will not get.
1. On the early-bird registration you will save $50 on the regular admission ticket.
2. If you buy a ticket between now and October 14, you will get the audio recordings from PV2 for free.
If you want the audio for free, then you have to purchase by October 14th. After that you can still save $50 until November 23rd.
In addition to the PV2 audio, each regular admission will receive four drink tickets for the two socials that we will have next year. And each attendee will receive a copy of The Permaculture Orchard and Stefan's new book The Permaculture Orchard.
There are also a limited quantity of PAY WHAT YOU CAN tickets available. Those tickets include the PV2 audio and the Permaculture Orchard pack. Given the pricing and the limited quantity available, I don't think they will last long.
We will be doing very limited video recording for PV2 and any video that is recorded will be put out for free. So if you want to see it all, then you have to go.
We will be trying to record as much audio as we can and the audio will be for sale separately whether you attend or not.
Here is a video that Chad Sentman made from some of the interview footage of PV1:
Here is one of Paul's talks from PV1: Wood Stoves 2.0. The latest in Rocket Mass Heaters.
Paul Wheaton and crew have been innovating with four rocket mass heaters at Wheaton Laboratories over the winter in Montana. Hear what is working and not working with what Paul and many believe to be the cleanest and most sustainable way to heat a conventional home.
Here is one of Willie's talks from PV1.
I will open this up for the weekend in case people want to get a better pulse on what sort of epicness Willie is up to.
Enjoy...
Jocelyn is correct. Podcast FREE.
Videos. Discount if you attended PV1 and/or are a member of Jack Spirko's Member Support Brigade.
Good reminder. Becoming a member of his support brigade was on my to-do list anyway. Now I only need to figure out if the remaining money on my card is sufficient to complete my permaculture shopping spree
If you have to buy it on credit card debt, don't do it. It isn't worth it. I would rather have someone not buy it, than buy it and add to their credit card debt.
Dominik Riva wrote:Hi
I finally got to the Permaculture Voices podcast and wanted to buy the streaming subscription.
Well the price is heavy even for a Swiss guy like me.
Then I noticed the Coupon field and started wondering if there is one for permies!
Is there a coupon code for permies?
Regards,
Dominik
Jocelyn is correct. Podcast FREE.
Videos. Discount if you attended PV1 and/or are a member of Jack Spirko's Member Support Brigade.
Matt Grantham wrote: I do want to be clear on my point. My point is about my perception for the necessity for groups of individuals, taking PDC's or otherwise involving them selves in permaculture and local resilience, to organize themselves in a manner which purposefully promotes the passing down of what they have learned nto the practice of teaching others. In other words we need a grassroots, probably community based, pdissemination of the information into the broader community. It does eventually bring up the questions of certification by the permacultural certifying agencies, but this is not really the point. Instead, the attitude of the non expert class and how they approach the dissemination of the information to the public is much more my focus. Part of what I am suggesting is we need some purposeful cooperation with groups of well educated and motivated permies willing to work together in trying to bring the information to the public, and most likely done so in their own communities. I don't see a lot happening in that arena. I don't even see regional or international discussion forums or collaborative on line discussions approaching these issues. I know it sounds like complaining, but I have been working on projects which lend themselves to such a collaboration and I see more as a positive desire for something as opposed to simply complaining that it does not now exist
And again to rehash, I believe this frame is a very different from the market frame which basically states the dissemination of information will be dictated by how many consumers can pay to learn the information
I do think some of the podcasters have done a terrific job, and they are probably the best examples of what i am talking about. Offering information to the community, and then hopefully inviting them to be part of a broader effort of it's dissemination
So I just saw your post Paul, and hopefully my last post makes it clear that I am not complaining about with big events with big names and big prices. I instead do have concerns about kind of second tier experts ability to coordinate and work within their communities,
I think there are pretty strong regional and local movements. Check out all of the local meetup groups. There are a lot of large and active groups. How much actually get's accomplished in those groups is debatable. But there are people put the work in, organizing, and getting together.
Robb Smith wrote:So far I have watched 15 of the first 25 videos, and I have already gotten my money's worth. While I haven't been on here long enough to have established this, over time you guys will find that I can be a bit of a tight wad and more than a bit of a curmudgeon when I feel cheated. No worries here.
long and short- send Diego money and see some really good lectures.
Thanks for the feedback. Glad you are enjoying it and getting value out it.
It is good to hear. That is the goal to put good stuff out there. I don't want to be in the business of just putting stuff out there to sell it.
Thanks for the support.
Sam Boisseau wrote: I've only watched Smits' presentation so far. I wish you had gotten a hand on the powerpoint slideshow and interspersed some of the slides in there.
I hear you.
Tried (trying).
Many are reluctant to give slides for various reasons including the use of copyrighted images.
Xavier Hawk's full talk: Permacredits, A Currency for Permaculture
Xavier Hawk presents Permacredits:
Permacredits are the local currency for the global permaculture movement. Xavier Hawk will explain the world of bitcoin, crypto currencies, and how they act as a local currency in a global network of like minded people. Right now Permaculture based businesses like Eco Villages, Eco Developments, Permaculture Schools, Farms, and more are being built and financially powered by new crypto currencies like Permacredits. With thousands of people all over the planet already dreaming, designing, and implementing permaculture systems, it is only the financial nutrients that are lacking in our soils. With the help of this new currency the Permaculture community is realizing the financial means to grow and nurture a more balanced, sane, and healthier planet. permacredits.com
Craig Dobbelyu wrote:That's AWESOME! I hope this will be available for sale for a while.
I don't suppose there could be an option to sell individual talks for folk with limited budgets? There are a few talks I would really like to see now and some others that I could wait a while to see. Having the option would be great, but I know that technology doesn't always make that easy or affordable. Anyway...
Great work Diego and Crew!
Thanks
Thanks!
We thought about individual talks, but we probably won't do that. It adds a whole layer of complexity to the situation (checkout, access).
If you are an MSB member Jack will be offering a discount code.
All of the keynote talks are up, plus a few other talks. There is a lot more to come.
Almost all of the videos talks will be available for paid subscribers.
You can access the video HERE.
What do you get?
Over 80 hours of talk footage from PV1. This includes almost all of the talks given during the conference.
Over 5 hours of bonus footage of behind the scenes interviews filmed during PV1.
Over 5 hours of Geoff Lawton talking permaculture in a PDC held immediately after PV1.
All talks are available via streaming, and all talks are downloadable. You will have access to the streaming for life.
All of the keynotes and some other talks are available now. New talks will be released on a weekly or faster basis. A release schedule is below.
All talks can be watched in SD or HD through Vimeo streaming.
There will not be any physical DVDs. They are cost prohibitive given the total length of footage that we have. Each video is downloadable, so you could essentially burn your own DVD.
How much does it cost?
$245 gets you access to all of the footage that we will be publishing from PV1. This content is fully downloadable and it is streamable forever.
If you attended PV1 you can get access to all of the footage for $125. Email me for a coupon code. diego at permaculturevoices dot com
You can access the trailers for the videos, like the one below, HERE.
Whether you attended PV1 or not, I need suggestions and feedback.
Now that I have one conference under my belt I am going down the road of how can I make this the best conference ever. Not just in permaculture, but of all of the conferences out there. That's right. The best conference anywhere..
My goal with the conference is to help facilitate change by connecting people with other people and people with other resources. I want to provide people with as much real world actionable, live changing value that I can. Therefor, what can I do that would help you go from A to B, going from where you are now to where you want to be?
I look at this conference as semi open source. I want to take your input and create the conference around that. I figure that if I am charging you to come, then I want to give you as much value as a can; giving you what you want and what will help you the most. It is really all about you, your journey, and your experience. Let's create the best experience ever.
Your feedback and suggestions are highly valued and respected.
Again, I want to make this event about helping you.
Please give as much or as little feedback as you want. Any and all feedback is appreciated. And it is anonymous, so be honest...
Christian Kettner wrote:Hello. ..i was hoping all the California peeps could share any must see things between temecula and lax....or just in the general vicinity. ..
Any
..amazing burger stand or taco shacks?
..inspiring permaculture sites?
..natural wonders
I used to work for quiksilver and would get to go to the main office in huntington beach once a year and always wished i could see more things while i was there...but never had time....
On my way back from voices ill have time to stop somewhere on my way back. ....just curious if anyone has suggestions....
On the way to voices im sure ill be hungry and need to grab something quik as im "foot to the floor"trying to get to temecula...any quick food stops that are awesome on the way?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated so i can get the California experience!
I have yet to find a Mexican food restaurant that I like in Temecula. I guess I am spoiled being in SD.
There are some places in Old Town Temecula that have good food - Crush and Brew, Public House Some smallish burger joints. For anyone who is vegan,vegetarian or embraces that check out Native Foods, nativefoods.com. They have one in Tustin that is not too far off the freeway.
Adam Klaus wrote:My recommendation on driving is to take the 5 to Oceanside, then cut across. Going in via the 15 exposes you to an ungodly amount of LA traffic. Ortega hwy is not a good road at all.
Good luck!
All depends on time of day. I have driven both the 5 and 15 between SD and LA hundreds of times. Both will suck between 4PM and 630PM. Just check SigAlert.com and plan accordingly.
