This thread is the official central thread for this project.
We are calling it GAMCOD for now, but the final movie might have a different name.
Paul is hoping that 100 gardeners will start this project. And then the best six results go into a final movie product. The core of this is to show six great gardeners demonstrating great permaculture gardening practices to people that have never gardened before. The wish is for the observers to conclude that gardening is cheap, easy and productive.
Calories per acre is the core of this project. While it is true that there maybe be wiser metrics, those wiser metrics might be the core of a future project.
200 square feet must be clearly marked out at the start. It must be one contiguous piece (not two or more pieces adding up to 200 square feet). Probably a rectangle or a circle. Start with dirt patch or a lawn-on-dirt. Note that 7x28 is less than 200 square feet and could hold a 7 foot tall hugelkultur.
For this first attempt at a movie project,
if your garden is in an area that went to zero degrees F or colder in the last ten years, then it qualifies. (if this works, later projects might be for warmer climates)
At least five crops that are generally known as food (you can find the foods in the organic grocery).
No soy. And the focus remains as "highest calories per acre". Polyculture is strongly encouraged.
Optional: an additional 200 square foot plot that is planted with perennials. A summary in late summer about what the productivity might be like in five years and ten years.
Gardeners are encouraged to use a "ghost acre": a place where mulches and fertilizers are grown, outside of the 200 square feet. Details about mulches and importing seeds/tubers/bulbs
here.
We want to see practices far above organic. The wish is for the final movie to advocate NOT buying stuff, and NOT risking the import of things that could be toxic.
Unlimited irrigation. Explain how this is critical for building the soil so in the future you won't need as much irrigation.
Keep track of
- total time put in (try to keep this low)
- total money spent (try to keep this low)
- total money saved in groceries (try to keep this high)
Paul wants people that watch this movie to KNOW to their core that gardening is:
- easy
- delightful
- productive
- thrifty
- yummy
~~monies~~
-
for a kickstarter movie, we'll pay $400 per every minute used in the movie
- prorated, so if we use 22 seconds you get 22/60 of a minute of this dealio
For example, if we use 30 minutes of video in the final movie, the payout will be $12,000
"Big names" and folks who do it at Wheaton Labs get double the amount.
GAMCOD Poll: Do you plan to participate?
help each other be excellent at GAMCOD!
how to prove that you are starting with dirt
gamcod importing materials, ghost acre, mulches, seeds, tubers
GAMCOD: What resources may I use?
GAMCOD: Video Submissions
doing GAMCOD but not GAMCOD
