Alexandra Malecki

Benjamin Dinkel wrote:I wish there was a better way.

same.

Pj Bauer wrote:Excited to be here for the final stretch!!

Hey PJ, thanks for your feedback!! Sometimes this effort feels like I'm talking to a wall. Best of luck on your SKIP journey! My advice (not that you asked so you also don't have to listen to it at all), pick your straw and wood level aspects and start working on those as early as possible.

Thanks for your offer to help me with marketing -- I'll keep your offer in mind!

Fox James wrote:A twisted rope style wire wizzer on the end of a 4” grinder will strip a barrel in less that an hour without pouring pollution into the air.

I've tried all of these options, the one in the middle is what I find works best after a burn but I haven't found that it works well before a burn. Also note that the metal likes to pelt my legs and go into the soles of my shoes.

Is this what you're referring to or something else?

I found that blowing air into the intake using a shop-vac was unenjoyable yet effective at getting the barrel to burn hot enough (~800degF) to burn 80-90% of the barrel. I recommend hosing yourself down and definitely wearing a respirator.

Note that I left the lid on loose and midway I'd turn the lid so that there weren't cold spots on the barrel.

I stopped wrapping the barrels with paper.

Don't forget a spark arrestor!!

I was able to burn a barrel for 20-30 minutes, let it cool down as I prepped the next barrel, move the lid over and burn the next barrel. I was burning barrels at roughly 1.5hrs per barrel. Results will vary based on fuel source, cardboard packing, etc.

I've been doing documentation for this BB almost daily this growing season and today I finally passed 100k calories!!! I still have a bunch of winter squash, some potatoes, and the majority of my sunchokes left to harvest!!

All of the details for each species is contained in the attachments below, each species has 2 slides dedicated to it.

The last slide has a chart of my totals.

I documented over 24 species this season but so far I only managed to get over the 2000 calorie minimum for 12 species.

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:

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   the physical book

       With US Shipping:    
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       With non-US Shipping:
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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.