Yeah I was wondering if you had a water still. I'd think setting up an initial
shelter would be important - could you take a shot of yourself and your sleeping bag (I presume)? Access to a mini excavator or backhoe would help with covering the hugelbed.
At first I felt this idea of human "ants" eeking an existence out on Paul Wheaton's property sounded feudal and perhaps criminal.
And it still may be. But quickly, even before reading this blog by Evan, I realized this is a kind of homesteading school / opportunity. People pay a lot for Outward Bound, which is a kind of death-defying forced march. This isn't so much a crude imitation of an earthship village as it is a
permaculture My Side of The Mountain
experience, albeit arbitrarily roughly confined to an acre, with a
de facto labor indenture aspect. And no hunting allowed?
As a scientist, I rarely - as attorneys do - want to see a ban. Extremely few things, I feel,
should be forbidden. Outlawed. Put into laws. Having anything to do with law, police, lawyers, courts, and other human failings. Much of what we consider illegal activity, I see as more of an experiment.
For scientists, then, the quality of experimental design is what counts. Scientists have killed themselves just to prove a hypothesis (e.g. ulcers caused by bacteria) (e.g. chemists all used to record the taste and smell of a chemical) (e.g. standing in a field with a kite to capture lightning). So if you're going to do something ethically reprehensible, immoral, dangerous, etc, it should at least be done well, with full consideration, limited variables and controls, & etc.
As regards this ant farm experiment, it seems very open-ended i.e. in an exploratory phase. Everyone involved ought take extensive notes, and beware any apathetic (e.g. feudal, i.e. let's just work for Mr. Wheaton) dynamics that may begin to form. It ought be democratic, non-hierarchical, the same ebb and flow as a renter and landlord. A method may begin to take shape, and perhaps with some readings one can find previous similar experiments, and learn from their failings and successes. It's American, but it's not natural to homo sapiens to go out alone homesteading, our natural unit of 1 is a tribe, in a village -- people only went out for days on hunts -- so hopefully the community aspect, as with actual
ants, will begin shortly.
And for God's sake, be safe. This is not worth long term health issues. This experience won't help your resume much.
Don't get lyme's disease (
deer ticks), hypothermia, animal bites, bad sun burns, broken bones, or depression.
Sincerely
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