permaculture bootcamp - learn permaculture through a little hard work

I plan to bring basic hand tools and a few battery operated tools. Should I bring any shovels, sledge hammers, or any other recommended hand tools? Curious if gas chainsaws would be good to bring along? How about a gas generator? Are propane grills allowed? Just trying to get a feel for what items are allowed and what I should leave at home.

paul wheaton wrote:There are openings at this time.

paul wheaton wrote:Christopher,

Make sure you know what you are getting into here.  This is not a refuge, this is about teaching people our techniques through a lot of hard work.  

I have always thought that a person could arrive without a penny and do great here, but know this:  every person that has arrived here in the past very low on funds has left.  Every last one.  The people that are still here arrived with coin in their pocket and think that being here is amazing.  

Further, the people that arrived with very little tended to exit with enormous amounts of drama.  The people that arrived with coin that elected to go, tended to exit peacefully.

You mention red flags:  dude, from our perspective you are covered in red flags.  

Ever since we have had the $100 gapper fee, we have held the position of allowing anybody to come that is willing to part with that much coin.  And we will stick to that until our program is full.  You just really never know a person until you know a person.  

I think you need to spend some time learning what you are getting yourself into.  Things here are quite different.

Alec Wines wrote:Do you currently have openings?

I won't be able to do boot in long intervals, but I would like to do them when I'm able to. Not sure if you have something like that, or if you just require the $100 fee for each time I would return when openings are available, which I would be fine with. Didn't see any information on that sort of boot schedule, but I may have missed it.

Also wouldn't mind helping with Business Admin stuff and marketing (what I actually do for work). On your recent podcast I heard the "if you had a million dollars you'd get an MBA," so I would love to help with what I can and what you would be comfortable working together on.

Love the content guys! I'm actually planning on building a Rocket Mass heater for my parents to replace their wood burning stove for this coming winter. :)

Alec Wines wrote:Thanks Paul.
Would arriving on August 30 be okay? I think that would work better for my schedule if it okay with you all.

Are the forty hours a week cumulative or per person?

I work online and Do school at home so I have daily commitments of eight too ten hours.

Mark Tudor wrote:I will be visiting my property near Spokane during the first week of October, to see if any of the seeds I planted survived the deerpocalypse that exists in that county. I doubt I'll need more than a day or two for chores there, and planned to explore for the rest of the week, like Tuesday-Thursday.

Could I stop by the labs and camp there for a couple days, and offer an extra set of hands where needed? So long as it stays above 30, my bag and tent will keep me warm, but I'd be up for buying a night or two in any available space with a RMH as well!

Also if anyone already there is up for some group cooking I can pick up any missing ingredients on the way in, as I'd really like to learn any recipes you have for putting what you grow to use. Cooking isn't my weakest link, it's a missing link!

For example, all the meals (every one) I had for the week at the Cob Cottage Company during their work party were incredible, but being treant-sized I was usually moving heavy things or chopping and hauling wood on the mountain, and missed out on how the meals were prepared. Kiko Denzer stopped by and made an amazing pumpkin/squash soup that we had for several days, adding new fresh ingredients to stretch it out. Not knowing how to cook with fresh veggies is a bit deflating as you plan ideas for a food forest...

Mark Tudor wrote:I've been able to adjust everything so that I fly back Sunday afternoon, so I can stay until late Sunday morning before heading back to Spokane. Between listening to all the podcasts over the last year or two, watching all the videos you've put out, including the lab/basecamp tours, it'll be a bit surreal to actually walk on the property and meet you guys, and hopefully help with some projects! Sweeeet!

I will look up the previous emails I'd received about visiting and follow-up with those to avoid cluttering up this thread.

paul wheaton wrote:

Are the forty hours a week cumulative or per person?

Sorry, I don't understand the question.

Would forty hours of human labor equal that of one adult be sufficient? Or would my kids put in hours with me totaling more than forty hours? I guess I plan on  having them work along side me but sometimes their efforts as a team are only equal to one adult. With the exception of weeding, harvesting potatoes and trimming, their tiny hands work faster and more efficiently than most adults we have wwoofed along side.

I work online and Do school at home so I have daily commitments of eight too ten hours.

I think you would like to explore our SEPPer program.  You can rent a spot to put your rig and it could be arranged that you could join in on bootcamp activities from time to time.  Unfortunately, we are without a rental manager right now.

Although the SEPPer program seems appealing, I feel as though we could benefit the most form the intensity of the boot camp. Given I work and schoolonlinei have flexibility in my hours and schedule and can put in multiple days of hours over the weekend and leave the weekdays for booting. That being said plea feel free to moosage me with information on the rental manager vacant position.

paul wheaton wrote:

Mark Tudor wrote:I've been able to adjust everything so that I fly back Sunday afternoon, so I can stay until late Sunday morning before heading back to Spokane. Between listening to all the podcasts over the last year or two, watching all the videos you've put out, including the lab/basecamp tours, it'll be a bit surreal to actually walk on the property and meet you guys, and hopefully help with some projects! Sweeeet!

I will look up the previous emails I'd received about visiting and follow-up with those to avoid cluttering up this thread.

can you throw some dates in here so i can understand a bit better?

shadrick wilsons wrote:I've read through a couple pages of questions on here and the experience sounds awesome. One thing that's unclear to me though: is this a year round program? February 4th comes up as a date, so you guys take a break? I work seasonally in the masonry field so I'd like to come around January through February and maybe beyond if I feel like I'm learning a lot.