Free Spring 2022 BB20 Event - April 25-29

Only 4 spots left!

This spring we will be holding a free BB20 event in conjunction with my visit to WL to sign the SKIP books.  April 25-29

If you don't have BB20 yet, you are welcome to join us for a thousand bucks.  Just click here to part with your money and we'll get started on getting your particulars sorted out.

This is a chance for anyone with a BB20 badge in the PEP Program to come out to Wheaton Labs for free.  It's an event where you work at your own pace and under your own direction on the BBs of your choice.  Or just watch the clouds go by.  There aren't instructors and it's pretty free-form but Paul asks us to all complete the harvesting firewood BB.  

Since it's a free event, we aren't all guaranteed to have access to everything we'd want.  For instance the excavator may or may not be available.  Or we might not all be able to play with full willow candy cans.

Since Paul loves you so much, boot-style food is also included.  That's a wide variety of vegetarian staples but we have to cook it ourselves and clean up after ourselves.  Tent sites are free but bunks would need to be paid for.

If you want to watch something really boring, Paul and I will be signing a gajillion books during the week as well.

If you want to attend, fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/256a5xeGbZpdPxc16

So if you've been waiting for a time to get to WL for free, this is it.  Just get 20 BBs under your belt first.  

So exciting!

Sounds like a fun time! I'm interested.

Oooooooo, great timing! Just got my BB20! Will strongly consider coming up for this!

Congrats on getting the book published! Can't wait to read it.

I’m so looking forward to heading back to WL this spring!
I’ll have to decide if I want to stay in the Solarium or Cooper Cabin.

I will provide food staples - same stuff that the boots get.   It would be nice if some of the BB20 peeps augmented the food pile a bit.  

It is a five day event.  I do expect that if people are gonna be here, that they will be here on the first day.  And I expect that everybody will either do a firewood BB, or just put up at least half a face cord of firewood.   (I like the idea of setting a precedent for other people with land to get something they want out of an event like this)

We're gonna set up a questionnaire for attendees so we know if anybody needs a ride from the airport, or wants to rent a cabin or whatevs ...

What else do we need to figure out?

here's a link to the last one we did  https://permies.com/wiki/144815/October-BB-Skill-Building-Event

Who all is thinking of coming?

Me, Me!  I'll be there!!!

The boots are excited to host another BB20 event.  

Some of the bootcamp will be about facilitating the event, and some of the bootcamp will do normal bootcamp stuff.  Most attendees will by hyper focused on harvesting BBs, and a few might wanna join the bootcamp for a half a day here and there, just for giggles.

I can't really commit until I know the date (and get a better sense of my own schedule) but I'd like to go. What's the weather like over there in April?

Me, Me, Me TOOOOOOOO!!

I'll be driving and could help with airport pickups.  Also, I'd like to stay a few extra days to accommodate a visit to your naturopath.

Could you add the solarium to the rental page?
https://permies.com/wiki/rentals

Hi Opalyn!

I'm working on getting the rental page up to date. I will let you know when we have it up!

I'll send you a PM about it!

Opalyn Rose wrote:Could you add the solarium to the rental page?
https://permies.com/wiki/rentals

Dez has requested that we hold off on listing it until it is 100% complete.

paul wheaton wrote:Dez has requested that we hold off on listing it until it is 100% complete.

That makes sense.  I guess I was hoping it would be available for this event (maybe even if it is not finished).

Dez says that it would be okay to rent the solarium during the BB20 event since it will definitely be warm enough outside.

I'm in! Posting here so I'll get an email with the dates when they're posted.  Can I bring a friend with just a few BBs?

paul wheaton wrote:Dez says that it would be okay to rent the solarium during the BB20 event since it will definitely be warm enough outside.

Yeah,
I'm looking forward to being there and renting a bottom bunk (which I already emailed Ashley about).

I'd like to come, but will probably drive over for just one day. If possible, I'd really really like to talk with someone knowledgeable about the details of the willow feeders and hugel mounds, as I haven't had much luck sorting results from hypotheses in the forum threads. I don't know that I'm up for hand-splitting a face cord in one afternoon though.

Question: do the half-point nest badge bits count as one bit, or only half bits? I'm up to 11 tasks completed, but at least half are half-pointers. And April is coming up quickly!!

Thanks, Alexa.

Alexa Ayers wrote:Question: do the half-point nest badge bits count as one bit, or only half bits? I'm up to 11 tasks completed, but at least half are half-pointers.

Each BB submission counts as one BB unless it is in Oddball.  One point in Oddball counts as one BB.
Here are some ideas for getting to 20.

Kyle Knight wrote:I'm in! Posting here so I'll get an email with the dates when they're posted.  Can I bring a friend with just a few BBs?

Your friend has plenty of time to get the required 20 BBs before April.

Alexa Ayers wrote:I'd like to come, but will probably drive over for just one day. If possible, I'd really really like to talk with someone knowledgeable about the details of the willow feeders and hugel mounds, as I haven't had much luck sorting results from hypotheses in the forum threads. I don't know that I'm up for hand-splitting a face cord in one afternoon though.

Question: do the half-point nest badge bits count as one bit, or only half bits? I'm up to 11 tasks completed, but at least half are half-pointers. And April is coming up quickly!!

Thanks, Alexa.

I'm not positive but I think you need to be there for more than a day to make the "free" part of the event work out for Paul.  Otherwise there's a chance you might accidentally become a distraction to the forward progress of the event.  

I vaguely recall a hundred dollar fee for asking questions. Is that still a thing? Maybe it would be better for me to schedule a different visit to learn about the willow feeders and hugels? I'm pretty introverted, I can be social for a day but not several days on end, so the longer programs aren't a good fit for me. I hadn't realized this particular event was intended to be an extended one.

Thanks, Alexa.

Alexa Ayers wrote:I'd like to come, but will probably drive over for just one day.

First, gotta get 20 BBs to be allowed to attend the event.

Second, here is what I wrote earlier in this thread:

I will provide food staples - same stuff that the boots get.   It would be nice if some of the BB20 peeps augmented the food pile a bit.  

It is a five day event.  I do expect that if people are gonna be here, that they will be here on the first day.  And I expect that everybody will either do a firewood BB, or just put up at least half a face cord of firewood.   (I like the idea of setting a precedent for other people with land to get something they want out of an event like this)

So just one day can work.  As long as you are putting up firewood the first morning of the event.

If you are thinking about attending the event, please fill out this questionnaire!


  https://forms.gle/256a5xeGbZpdPxc16

Alexa Ayers wrote:I vaguely recall a hundred dollar fee for asking questions. Is that still a thing? Maybe it would be better for me to schedule a different visit to learn about the willow feeders and hugels? I'm pretty introverted, I can be social for a day but not several days on end, so the longer programs aren't a good fit for me. I hadn't realized this particular event was intended to be an extended one.

What about just posting a question in a forum?  It's free, quick and usually bears fruit.

If you wanna give me money for an hour of consulting:

      https://permies.com/t/131485/permaculture-consultation-paul-wheaton

I'm interested, depending on dates.  Probably can't stay the full five days, but open to stacking firewood day 1.

Benton White wrote:I'm interested, depending on dates.  Probably can't stay the full five days, but open to stacking firewood day 1.

Step 1!  Get BB20  :)

I have over 20 BB's.  Just now submitted the application to get the official BB20 badge.  :)

YES! Those dates are perfect! I will be there!

Ashley Cottonwood wrote:YES! Those dates are perfect! I will be there!

Yeah, I’m excited to meet you (in person)!  See you there.

I can come as well! Do y'all think it would be best to arrive a day before, on Sunday?

Malek Beitinjan wrote:I can come as well! Do y'all think it would be best to arrive a day before, on Sunday?

Looking forward to to seeing you again this spring. Most events recommend people arrive on day 0 (Sunday, April 24) and depart on the day after the event ends (Saturday, April 30). Paul has said he wants everyone there on Monday so no mid week arrivals but leaving early is ok.

Opalyn Rose wrote:

Malek Beitinjan wrote:I can come as well! Do y'all think it would be best to arrive a day before, on Sunday?

Looking forward to to seeing you again this spring. Most events recommend people arrive on day 0 (Sunday, April 24) and depart on the day after the event ends (Saturday, April 30). Paul has said he wants everyone there on Monday so no mid week arrivals but leaving early is ok.

It'll be good to see you again Opalyn! Thanks for the info.

It's gonna be a par-tay!

The boots will help with the event through friday.  But I think on saturday, everybody should be largely independent and self-propelled - so if somebody wanted to stay and extra day or two, that would be fine by me.

The boots are cool with helping with the event because:

  - the last BB20 event brought excellent people with strong knowledge of stuff that the boots enjoyed

  - most of the BBs will move boot projects forward

          o some of those projects are the less exciting projects, like getting in firewood

  - maybe one of the attendees will love to cook for groups

  - maybe one of the attendees will do something to spoil the boots

And food staples are being provided for Mon-Fri.  Coming early or late, you are on your own for food.  There are restaurants a short drive away and a freezer for ice packs for your picnic cooler.

So far we have mike plus four more.

Does anybody want to chime in on what BBs you might want to accomplish while at WL this spring?

We can create a wish list that can help guide us as we work towards our goals.  
I'm hoping to build a 12' Hugelkultur bed and work on woodland care straw BBs.

Did you know that Ash created an excel/workflowy/trello BB tracker and R. created a PEP BB Calculator with google sheets?