Alexandra Malecki

Are you pursuing PEP?  This will be a central repository for Otises to shop for PEPpers (or SKIPpers) that have successfully completed at least 60BBs.  To see a list of all the participants, here's the Leaderboard.

Some day this may be automated to sort the list based on how far along in the PEP program you've gotten.  For now it will be a bit clunky and manual.  To get your name added to this post, add a reply with a paragraph about why you're doing PEP, if you're looking for property, where that property would need to be for you to be happy, size of property, etc so that Otises can determine if you might be a close fit for them.

PEPpers:
PEP2:
Mike Haasl

PEP1:
Opalyn Rose PEP1 & 22 Sand Badges and details below
Rebekah Harmon PEP 1 Badges
Cheryl Loomans PEP 1 Badges
Alexandra Malecki PEP 1 Badges

BB60:
Ashley Cottonwood
Edward Norton
Luke Mitchell
Kevin Harbin
Inge Leonora-den Ouden
L. Johnson
James Rhodes
Raphael Blais
Nikki Roche
Patrick W Kelly
Tina Wolf
Tim Norton

BB100:
Joy Hancock

Note: if you're looking for a place to practice your PEP skills, check out this thread: Locations to do PEP

Every day has been busy! In the past year and a half, I've been so narrowly focused on completing BBs, that I need to reconnect with my own desires to do things without the extra reward of getting a BB approved. SKIP is so gamified that it's addicting!! This week I made seed balls (far smaller than SKIP requirements -- I think 1in balls are far too large), harvested flower seeds and hops to dry from a local educational farm that we visit once a month, and I harvested sunchokes from a patch of dormant sunchokes in my garden (oh! I suppose this is for a BB), and I've been spending a number of days rendering suet from my friend's goat herd and clarifying the tallow to show some other friends of mine how to make whipped tallow with chamomile and calendula flower infusions (I previously made a whipped tallow batch to gift to friends and family and it was a HIT!!).

I've also been spending some time this week reaching out to elders in my community that my kids admire and would like as their mentors. Honestly, this has been the highlight of my week! I'm looking forward to seeing how my kids grow in these elder's shadows. This has been so heartwarming for me. <3!!!

Every day I've also been pushing to organize our workshop whenever I have a spare hour, yesterday my dad picked up the kids which gave me 4 uninterrupted hours to dedicate to the project! When my husband ventured down to see the changes (he's aways concerned when I organize because he assumes that he won't be able to find anything) he was VERY pleased and surprised that my optimizations were far better than before.

I generally like to podcast while I work and I really enjoyed listening to Paul and Samantha's latest conversation about gardening gardeners. I also envision being part of a community of gardening gardeners communities.

James Bradford wrote:Yay, best wishes for you to find the perfect place for you and your family!   It's encouraging that you have "choices".

Thank you! As my family and I are on the precipice of a major change, I think it's critical to have many choices. There have been a number of unexpected opportunities that have materialized (that don't necessarily offer as much as what the SKIP program offers) just from telling people what I'm doing and what I hope out of it. Word travels and interesting things have come back to me as a result. At the onset, what I sought was a decent amount of land with a natural source of water in a region resilient to climate change. I'd also like to add another criteria: a property where I see my family thriving. I'm not sure how I'll evaluate that objectively on my trade study. However, all that to say: we're opening up our range of possibilities to include properties outside of SKIP as well. It's important to me that we pick a path that is a good overall fit for my family -- not the most lucrative transaction. I'm hopeful that when I pass the PEP2 milestone, new possibilities continue to materialize. Maybe one of those is a perfect fit, or maybe after this trade study we resolve to go a different path. I anticipate that the journey of visiting all of the possible properties will also have unexpected outcomes; realizations that my family and I don't anticipate. I think this adventure and trade study is just as important as all of the work I've done in SKIP; a decision not to be taken lightly. Whatever the unknown outcome, I'll also be spending this winter getting our suburban house ready to sell, getting ready to move to our forever home!!

Rebekah Harmon wrote:What a great time!! My friends and family are now used to my strange hobbies and nerdy badges. They patiently wait for the right photos with time stamps!! 😅🤪 the feedback was positive, despite the photogenic interruptions of festivities.

Thanks to all of them who put up with me and my BBs!

Dude! That was a lot of work for 2 points!! Or was it more than 2 points? Btw I love your eco scout group BB!!

Purchase one physical copy of SKIP: A Framework to Connect Industrious People with Elderly Land Owners, by Paul Wheaton and Mike Haasl. The book is all about the SKIP (SKills to Inherit Property) program here on permies--you can find out more here.

Other purchasing options:

   the eBook:
       1 ebook 1 eBook ($9.99)  
       12 ebook gift codes ($50.00)  
       100 ebook gift codes ($200.00)

   the physical book

       With US Shipping:    
            1 book($25)
            12 books ($125)  
            64 books ($550)


       With non-US Shipping:
            1 book ($45.00) (International Shipping)
            12 books ($225)   (International Shipping)
            64 books ($620)   (International Shipping)



Millions of people are blocked from homesteading because of the sheer expense of getting started.  And millions of elderly people are frustrated that they cannot find somebody worthy to pass their homestead to.  Every year hundreds of thousands of homesteads are abandoned - with the government taking possession about half the time.

Other homestead owners are looking for land managers or caretakers.  Or some sort of collaboration.  But their efforts have led to horrific results from dishonest or even criminal people - so their homesteads are, effectively abandoned.

People with homesteads are seeking people with REAL experience and skill.

People seeking homesteading opportunities want to build REAL experience and skill.

This book is an attempt to bridge these two communities.  People seeking homesteading opportunities are provided a way to accomplish hundreds of things and document them for free.  Eventually, they will be able to peruse hundreds of homestead opportunities.   And people with homesteads will be able to peruse hundreds of homesteaders that have proven their worth.

Active homesteaders use SKIP to build their skills for their own benefit.  The verification of their skills lends weight to their words on our forums.  Some people already have land and use SKIP to build their skills for caring for their land.

This past weekend I hosted my third rocket oven pizza making workshop! This time I had the greatest turnout and I presented to a number of permies in the community that I didn't know well or at all. I really enjoyed seeing different permies from different areas of my community connect and exchange information! After the workshop was over I spent considerable time talking about SKIP and I gave away my last book (well, aside from the one that Mike and Paul signed). I'll have to order another box of books I suppose.

We made 22 pizzas at ~2.5mins per pizza. I think pizza is best cooked on the bottom rack and only one pizza at a time so we have less efficiency than at WL but I think this approach makes for more consistent pizzas. I'll admit that I use to enjoy eating the pizza leftovers but after 3 workshops I'm getting tired of eating so much pizza!

Now, I definitively have enough points (actually 2 additional points) for the community straw badge that I just requested!

Without a doubt, I now have 3 BBs left to go!!

This week I plan to wrap up my workshop optimizations now that my new shelving and lumber racks have been mounted and continue to harvest squash and (maybe) sunchokes. Some of my sunchokes are dying above ground so I'll likely harvest some of them before I leave town this weekend.

This weekend I'll be returning to my friend's property to finish my rocket water heater project, spend time with friends, harvest as many apples as we can manage to make applesauce, and I'll also be taking my kids to a gathering focused on pioneer skills for kids (not geared toward adults): soap making, flint knapping, food prep/preservation and cast iron cooking, blacksmithing, fiber arts, traditional pottery, trade beads, axe handling, tinsmithing, rope making, leather working, friction fire, whittling, meat smoking and trapping, and dancing! I'll be taking a week off from doing SKIP to go to this gathering and it feels like a perfect time to celebrate and spend quality time together.

When I returned home from the SKIP 2024 event at WL, I created a plan to finish PEP2 by Halloween this year and I'm so pleased that I'm right on schedule!

Come November, I'll be planning a roadtrip to all of the properties and Otis/Otessas that have contacted me. Seeing as that I won't be homesteading without my family and I have yet to visit the majority of the continental USA -- it would be impossible for my family and I to decide where our future home would be without meeting each Otis/Otessa and seeing the land in person. I've never done a roadtrip like this before and I look forward to planning it; hopefully incorporating as many national park visits as possible and stopping by WL for a visit!

35 points required
Sand badge BBs are 1.5 points each
Up to 10 points of duplication allowed from the Straw badge
Up to 8 oddball points of community art allowed
___________________________________________________________

Do any oddball:
Approved BB with default Minimum oddball point allocation = 2: Community art - 2 to 4 oddball points
Subtotal = 2 points

Do any of:
4 points: Prepare a magnificent dinner for at least 8 people - 4 points
2.5 points: Give a two hour presentation/tour - 1 to 5 points
4 points: Teach a 1.5 hour workshop - 1 to 5 points
7 points: Teach a six hour workshop - 2 to 10 points
5 points: Set up a six hour workshop - 2 to 10 points
2 points: Create and lead a work party - 1 to 10 points
3 points: Set up a cider pressing party - ½ to 6 points
Subtotal = 27.5 points

Up to 10 points of duplication allowed from the Straw and Sand list:
3.5 points: Teach a 1.5 hour workshop - 1 to 5 points
4 points: Teach a 1.5 hour workshop - 1 to 5 points
Subtotal = 7.5 points

TOTAL = 37 (2 more points than required)

Thank you for reviewing my badge request!

I hosted yet another workshop teaching folks how to operate a rocket oven and make pizza in it. This time I reached out to permies in the community whom I didn't know well or at all. I had over 20 RSVPs, a few no-shows and a few unexpected extra people. I wasn't able to get all of the people in the start and end photos but at least 12 students are in the photos not including myself in the orange shirt.

First I covered the basics of heat transfer, the fire triangle, how to achieve complete combustion, how to split wood on the kindling cracker that I built, how to start a j-tube, how to feed a j-tube, how to troubleshoot/understand performance of the rocket, and how to make a pizza so that it rolls off the peel.

I figured out that instant yeast and active yeast behave totally differently so I was able to improve the dough making. It seems like the max operating temperature is 650/675degF measured from the center of the oven (so likely the temperature at the circumference of the oven has at least a 100deg differential from my reading). The oven was able to hold that temp pretty well even with opening and closing the oven every 2.5mins.

I'll admit that the daily 1% gains haven't been feeling like much of an update. The mornings are focused on homeschooling and then we continue to do tasks throughout the evening. For instance, my daughter has been carding wool and felting it into insulated blankets for the cat boxes. With a bit of initial investment, she's now independently getting the blankets done after she completes her homeschool tasks. Meanwhile my son tends to be my sidekick, he likes doing the things I like doing. So he follows me in the garden and brings me the different bags, baskets, and boxes of the different species that I've been collecting and weighing. So after I harvest enough to use, I weigh it.

This is my fourth gardening season on this property and I started with hardpan, high-clay, with juniper/pine/scrub oak. I had just taken my first PDC and I was excited to test my skills on a challenging property. I've had to build up soil from importing hardwood mulch, inoculating it with saprophytic fungi and building up dry stack terraces for every garden bed. As of last night, I have 91,608 calories documented from 12 different species. I'll admit that the hardest part is reaching that minimum calorie count. I feel like there are the starch and fatty species, but the juicy species tend not to have a high calorie/oz. The species that I specifically planted to meet the 100,000 calorie BB were species that I don't typically grow.

These are the species and calories/lb that I've been tracking to:

Acorns - quercus rubra - 1755 cal/lb
Buckwheat - Fagopyrum esculentum - 1615 cal/lb
Burdock leaves - arctium lappa - 399.2 cal/lb
Burdock root - 326.6 cal/lb
Corn - zea mays - 390 cal/lb
Fava Bean - vicia faba - 399 cal/lb
Garlic - allium sativum - 676 cal/lb
Green Bean - phaseolus vulgaris - 144 cal/lb
Kale - brassica oleracea - 224 cal/lb
Mint - mentha spicata - 320 cal/lb
Mushrooms - stopharaia rugosoannulata - 184 cal/lb
Peas - pisum sativum - 368 cal/lb
Potatoes - Solanum tuberosum - 431 cal/lb
Summer Squash - Cucurbita pepo - 80 cal/oz
Sunchokes - helianthus tuberosus - 331 cal/oz
Sunflower - helianthus annuus - 2616 cal/oz
Wheat - triticum aestivum - 1536 cal/oz
Winter Squash - Cucurbita moschata - 198 cal/oz

I wonder if you agree with these numbers? I'll admit that I sourced these numbers back when I was buying seeds. Also I have a few from the same genus but they're different species.

I still have quite a bit of winter squash, potatoes, and sunchokes yet to harvest so I have no doubts that I'll get this BB completed. Since I don't want to harvest my sunchokes before the first frost, I rest easy and work on other things in the meantime.

Oh my!! Congratulations, Mike!!! Thanks for paving the way to PEP2 and making this program exist! hah!

Rebekah, I agree, it's nice to have something that feels meaningful! I see it in my coat hook that I made, the mallet that I use, the kindling cracker that I made (and use, but also, did I say made? lol), with the honorable harvest, and so many more things.

Cheers to you, Mike! Funny, I also saw your name in the PINA email this morning. So coincidental! You're so famous!