stuff I wish for - it's okay to wish for stuff

I suppose I should have sent this as a letter to santa a few weeks ago ...

I wish to:

   infect a billion brains with my permaculture philosophies
   infect a billion brains with knowledge of the value of rocket mass heaters


I wish for

   the bootcamp to fill out and have a waiting list of 200 people
       - with great boots, maybe we can have two boot teams of six
           o apple team, the more experienced team
           o berry team, the newer peeps
           o if somebody on apple team behaves poorly, then that person goes to berry team and somebody from berry team gets promoted
       - the boot selection process becomes much pickier

   enough people to live on the lab that we can begin to implement the four sections

   interest in the PEP stuff is huge
       - we have a couple of full time PEP teachers
       - we have a couple dozen experts coming by each year to teach PEP
       - we continue to do free PEP stuff and offer formal PEP teaching

   between the bootcamp and the PEP stuff, the following projects get done

       - a freezer wofati is built and tested
       - allerton abbey gets turned into a gert-style permaculture paradise and we test the ATI
       - cooper cabin gets turned into a gert-style permaculture paradise and we test the ATI
       - another attempt is made to create a 10x10 wofati
       - the berm shed overhaul is complete
       - we get a bath house next to the tipi
       - the area around the tipi becauses a gert-like permaculture paradise
       - the bee hut has a massive three season nectar planted around it, and we get three more bee huts created (populated by feral colonies)
       - the paddocks on basecamp are completed, the magnificent gardens are expanded and animals are raised here
       - designs begin on a wofati to facilitate "20 people living under one roof without stabbing each other"

   my idea for a "permaculture water jamboree" can materialize
       - been noodling on it for four years
       - 30 days, 8 events per day with at least 4 events at the same time at any given time
       - ponds, humus wells, terrace wells, restoring a creek from a dry creek bed, natural swimming pool, digging wells,  water flow designs    ...
       - wofati builds, berm shed builds, wild edibles walks, PEP, food preservation ...
       - at least 100 different workshops, largely in parallel
       - people can come for just one day or many days or the whole thing
       - people can wander freely from event to event.  They can participate in builds or simply observe

   rocket mass heaters to become the most popular form of heat in the world

   my new kickstarter to set a new $ record for me.   Maybe even cross into numbers so big that the popularity of it draws more attention.   Maybe the book goes viral, or gets big media attention or movie star attention or gets onto some fancy "best seller" list?

   marketing experts to sell my stuff like crazy so i have huge coin for stuff

       - an amazon pro to sell the physical products on amazon
           o floods of 5 star reviews would be nice too
       - a superstar with adwords to connect adwords to my stuff and harvest the affiliate fee
       - set up threads about homestead and permaculture businesses on permies and those people buy thread boost

stuff I wish for that I think I can get if I have oodles of coin

   a proper well at the lab
   a magnificent lab business manager
   a full time education director
       - a dozen PEP4 students    
   three people as event managers and rental coordinators
       - at least one event running each week
   two full time natural builders
   replace sad vehicles (doug, toots, judy, rex, the mellenium falcon) with excellent electric options
   overhaul the electric tractor to be a great tractor
   a full time person directing cooking and cleaning
   a full time videographer
       - get a new youtube video up each day
       - get some new kickstarter projects rolling
   upgrade to the fisher price house so we can do the cords-of-wood test again
       - an enclosed front porch
       - winter curtains plus other improvements to reduce heat loss through windows
       - more emphasis on dehumidifiers and air filters rather than fans
       - improvements to the rocket mass heater
       - insulate skirt
       - warm spots in house with radiant and conductive heat
       - dining room kotatsu
       - desk kotatsus
       - more tracking thermometers
       - maybe we can get our winter wood needs down to 0.2 cords of wood

This was actually a wonderful Christmas (yes Thank you Permie people for the monetary gift), but also because it was our first Christmas in our Tiny Home. For the first time in YEARS, my family could not flood us with gifts because we do not have the room; only things we really need were given. The kids were a bit different, but they only got a few small things...YES...Success.

As for my wish list, not to be specific but a Hitachi 1200 Excavator would be nice. But I went to a friend's shop and he had a just-delivered D5 wide track bulldozer without even a scratch on the cutting edge, and plastic on the seat. Christian or not, I might have coveted that for a few hours!

As Paul's partner here at wheaton labs, what I wish for is a bit different, since I have different interests and different wants.

For me, personally, I wish for:

health issues handled, minimized, improved - all the things

better/more female friendships

less stress and better stress management

more art, joy and beauty

more time outdoors in new places (such as these hikes)

more time gardening

less time cooking though still within our high (and restricted) whole/real food standards

less of my own junk in my own way!

In terms of my business, I wish for

more bandwidth* to improve my skills

the bandwidth* to set up the website I keep putting off

activating more affiliate or residual income

setting up reference info for my clients (videos & blog post) for common questions and instructions

improved office/work space

*I'm using "bandwidth" to mean not just time, but also energy, responsibilities/priorities, mental focus (health and dispelling mental fog) that makes these things more doable.


For wheaton labs, I wish for:

more women here

rental and event manager fully trained and deployed (deployed - ha! weird word choice! and yes, Paul listed this already)

less construction talk and workshops

more food, food preservation or fermentation, food growing talk and workshops

more gardening, herb, plant/wildlife/fungi identification, and foraging workshops

more places as in the less and more thread

finished wofati(s) (Paul listed this, too)

more organization and tidiness (less garbage left behind by renters/residents)

plus seconding these items that Paul listed:  a well on the lab and a videographer!

For a more global or empire reach via Paul and permies, or even my business and clients, I wish for:

Paul & Shawn's book to be a HUGE success!!

individuals to pick a brick to incorporate into their daily lives or choices - small steps to changing the world

permies.com to keep growing and being a better social media hangout

dandelion or knapweed or mullein (pick your favorite "weed!") festivals in communities around the world to help folks learn about them (and not try to douse them with herbicides)

even more support and understanding of and sources for beyond organic food

knowledge about toxins in our everyday lives (our homes, our clothes, our products, etc.) to be commonplace and listed on the labels PLUS for the least toxic alternatives to be the main stream choice

better small or micro business/entrepreneur information (too much to explain here...though this is a BIG deal for small businesses! as an example, see this)

You know, because I agree with Paul that it's okay to wish for things!

And Paul asked me to make a list at least a third as long as his. While this is really Paul's thread about stuff HE wishes for, I thought it could help to add my stuff here, too.