Youtube

Husband and son have been watching quite a bit of YouTube, and much of it feels a little too doom and gloom prepper for me. I’m all for being prepared, but I’d like to encourage more positivity and community mindedness rather than just making sure we have all the stuff just in case.
Anyone have recommendations for permaculture YouTube stuff that’s positive, engaging, encouraging community and not to much talking about “bad guys”?

Just a few:

Try having your family read books instead.
Yes, real books made with paper and ink.
So why books ?
Accuracy of content: most reference type books take years of research and editing by the author or authors.
Books must pass the scrutiny of a publisher's editorial staff! No reputable publisher is going through the expense of editing and printing an inaccurate or unreadable book. The fact that the book has been published, buy a reputable publisher is a good indication of its value and credibility.

Books have fairly large surface areas and are not backlit with artificial light, which can cause eye strain and computer vision syndrome.

Once you buy a book you can keep it for life in your reference library, a nice addition to any home.

Books don't require an external energy source to use.

With books you uptake the information at your pace not the pace of the videographer. This and the fact that when you read something you tend to retain the information more readily.

On the lighter side:
With books you can use those cute bookmarks the environmental groups send you with their renewal forms.
You can sit on a book and it won't break.
You can curl up on a cold winter's night with a good book !

This is not to say that YouTube videos are not relevant or informative just that they should be taken with a grain of salt, and that there are alternatives.

I can afford to buy books, and I do buy ones that I think I'll read over and over. However, books take space to store, so I get my Public Library to store them for me. Few people recommend non-fiction books to them, and once I got to know my library manager by face and name, she trusted my judgement and would back many of my suggestions. One of the books I asked them to buy, was constantly signed out and with a 10 person wait list most of the time. I'd wanted to re-read a chapter, so I pointed out the statistics and convinced her to order a second copy!

The nifty thing about supporting one's public library is that by doing so, you're supporting every permaculture beginner who might not be able to afford to buy a shelf full of quality books!

If your family does need a little youtube after reading for an hour, I'd look for problems around the farm/things needing repair or improvement, google some instructional videos on one of those subjects, and then instead of doom and gloom, you'll get positive instructions of how to do something.

That said, personally, there are some things which are great to learn from videos, and some things that are better learned from a visual step-by-step tutorial, even if it is on-line. I felt like I needed a fun project that may (big may) help with aerial predators and maybe even the deer, so I found a tutorial on making Koinobori - Japanese Carp Kites - that are essentially on the principle of an Airport's wind-sock. Wish me luck - I've got the pattern made so far!

Jay Angler wrote:That said, personally, there are some things which are great to learn from videos, and some things that are better learned from a visual step-by-step tutorial, even if it is on-line.

This!!
It's all very well having all the seeds and tools, but if you don't know how to do things it can be a steep learning curve! Think up some projects together that are appropriate for your circumstances and make yourself something - do you need a seed propagator, a RMH, a root store, a back up power supply? Look for a video for something that you can use to make life easier and cheaper now, rather than just for when bad things happen.

Jay, I read the books. Can’t control that about the rest of the family, but I may be able to encourage a shift in interest to another show.

Nancy Reading wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:That said, personally, there are some things which are great to learn from videos, and some things that are better learned from a visual step-by-step tutorial, even if it is on-line.

This!!
It's all very well having all the seeds and tools, but if you don't know how to do things it can be a steep learning curve! Think up some projects together that are appropriate for your circumstances and make yourself something - do you need a seed propagator, a RMH, a root store, a back up power supply? Look for a video for something that you can use to make life easier and cheaper now, rather than just for when bad things happen.

Yup yup… I’d say it’s also easy to get hooked on badges… like building insect habitats (and the “why”), carving a wood spoon, cooking an egg on a cast iron skillet so it slides, dig n light n cook on the Dakota style fire (great father-child experience i think), dig & seal a teeny-tiny pond, make toad habitats, make a lizard habitat… the list goes on; I know i would have had a blast as a kid if I had a parent introduce me to any of those thinks 😊

Chris Vee wrote:Yup yup… I’d say it’s also easy to get hooked on badges… like building insect habitats (and the “why”), carving a wood spoon, cooking an egg on a cast iron skillet so it slides, dig n light n cook on the Dakota style fire (great father-child experience i think), dig & seal a teeny-tiny pond, make toad habitats, make a lizard habitat… the list goes on; I know i would have had a blast as a kid if I had a parent introduce me to any of those thinks 😊

I really like reading all the Badge Bits that folks have done.  I feel it is a learning experience.  And some of the BB (Badge Bits) have videos.

These are probably better for learning than some youtube.

It would be great if some folks would post their youtube in places other than the BB.

A year and a half later, happy to say my husband and 17yo son are watching YouTube videos of people building dugout homes. Now my teen wants to build one on our property and is asking me where he’s allowed to dig huge holes. I told him just don’t make any trees fall down or destabilize structures.

Bethany Brown wrote:A year and a half later, happy to say my husband and 17yo son are watching YouTube videos of people building dugout homes.

So which videos does he think are most 1. helpful and 2. realistic?

Also, are any of the videos adaptable for some sort of cold/cool cellar?

Your location says Pacific Northwest - the Canadian side? Does he want to practice digging holes???

My land is *very* hard to dig. Lots of glacially compressed mix of sand, clay and rocks of all sizes and types. I tried to put up 12 ft of fencing to block deer, ran into a rock, a week later I had to get hubby to get the rock drill out, split it into 5 rocks, and it still needed my son's help to get some of them out of the hole and into the back of the trailer for relocating. All those books that talk about digging a Hogan in a weekend... yeah... maybe not on my land!

Sorry for all the kibitzing. I truly think it's awesome that at 17 year old is contemplating a dugout home. Considering all the forest fires, I think it could be an excellent back-up if one gets too close, too fast. There's a fine line between "doom and gloom" prepping, and doing practical things that can still be "prepping" for situations which really may arise. Keep us posted with how he does?  He could start a thread on his building and add a link here to that thread?

Bethany Brown wrote:A year and a half later, happy to say my husband and 17yo son are watching YouTube videos of people building dugout homes. Now my teen wants to build one on our property and is asking me where he’s allowed to dig huge holes. I told him just don’t make any trees fall down or destabilize structures.

That is an awesome update!

This great news!
I am currently building a structure with my nephew, it's one of the best experiences of my life!

I am going to suggest Edible Acres as an incredibly positive, uplifting, joyful and educational YouTube channel.

This video in particular is an example of what he does with his platform:
https://youtu.be/NS24js61G5Y?si=tCAeMEc_wpISDNpG

This is one of the ones he watched. This guy has many videos.  There was another one where the guy built a little dugout house for his puppy before he built the bigger one for himself. So my son says he wants to practice making a small one for our dogs before he tries a bigger one. I couldn’t find a lil for that video.

Jay Angler wrote:

Bethany Brown wrote:A year and a half later, happy to say my husband and 17yo son are watching YouTube videos of people building dugout homes.

So which videos does he think are most 1. helpful and 2. realistic?

Also, are any of the videos adaptable for some sort of cold/cool cellar?

Your location says Pacific Northwest - the Canadian side? Does he want to practice digging holes???

My land is *very* hard to dig. Lots of glacially compressed mix of sand, clay and rocks of all sizes and types. I tried to put up 12 ft of fencing to block deer, ran into a rock, a week later I had to get hubby to get the rock drill out, split it into 5 rocks, and it still needed my son's help to get some of them out of the hole and into the back of the trailer for relocating. All those books that talk about digging a Hogan in a weekend... yeah... maybe not on my land!

Sorry for all the kibitzing. I truly think it's awesome that at 17 year old is contemplating a dugout home. Considering all the forest fires, I think it could be an excellent back-up if one gets too close, too fast. There's a fine line between "doom and gloom" prepping, and doing practical things that can still be "prepping" for situations which really may arise. Keep us posted with how he does?  He could start a thread on his building and add a link here to that thread?

Our dirt is hard clay too. We’re in SW Washington. There was one they were watching where the guy also made a root cellar, not sure how to find that one again.

William Bronson wrote: This great news!
I am currently building a structure with my nephew, it's one of the best experiences of my life!

I am going to suggest Edible Acres as an incredibly positive, uplifting, joyful and educational YouTube channel.

This video in particular is an example of what he does with his platform:
https://youtu.be/NS24js61G5Y?si=tCAeMEc_wpISDNpG

Thanks! Will check it out. What an awesome thing to do with your nephew.