how do I get the hugelkultur article into the brains of 50 million people

Abe Coley wrote:there is a somewhat widely used comment application called Disqus, that is used with increasing frequency on some pretty large media websites. I registered an account and posted a few comments with the link to the article.

I posted the following comment on a new article in time magazine's website, and 5 hours later it's still the top comment!

the article: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2105169,00.html?artId=2105169%3FcontType%3Darticle%3Fchn%3DsciHealth

my comment:

As a young farmer living in the arid intermountain west of the USA, I can't recommend enough how valuable the technique of hugelkultur is. A German word that literally means "mount garden," hugelkultur is simply the practice of burying large volumes of wood under gardens. As the wood breaks down it becomes spongy and absorbs any rain that falls throughout the year, holding that water and making it available to your plants during a prolonged dry season. It works and it's awesome. Hugelkultur has the potential to enable food production in places previously thought to be unfarmable, enhancing food security for everyone. Paul Wheaton's website has tons of info on it: www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur


challah

Total traffic from time.com: 23

facebook: 6491

lifehacker: 5544

chrismartenson: 1030

reddit: 922

stumbleupon: 684

pineterest: 334

prepperwebsite: 312

permaculture.org.au: 303

finder.good.is: 293

selvatici.wordpress.com: 92

makeitmissoula: 91

thesurvivalpodcast: 85

pulsenews: 74

treehugger: 71

wikipedia.org: 69

In the last 30 days there are 587 sites that send folks to the article.

TO DO: write up an Instructables article on how to build a hugelkultur raised garden bed. With links, of course.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Brief-Jerky-Edible-Underwear/

I have written a post on Hugelkultur on the selfsufficientish forum here in the UK http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25461

I included links to Paul's article

Great article, thanks so much. I just posted it to 700 friends on the ole facebook. So by my math only assuming how many it has reached prior to my stumbling upon it. I think that 50 million isn't to far away. Hugelculture welcome to main stream conversation! Thanks Sepp.

Paul talks to Jocelyn about how to help permaculture become a household word, and he talks a bit about this thread: podcast 113

Hi all,

I don't know what else you can do, Paul. I think there's some merit to the idea of writing new articles about hugelkultur projects with pictures, before and after, and videos people can link to, and sites they can visit, as in places they can go in person in their areas to see hugelkultur in action. When I put my beds in, I am going to have an open garden on the weekends (as soon as there are lots of things growing), advertising on lampposts with taped-up posters, ads on Kijiji, and in any community rags I can locate that won't charge me too much. If I can get any local interest in the project, I will offer to put them in for anyone willing to arrange for the materials, and I'll likely charge them for my labour and the planning time required. I figure I'll be fine if I stick to selling Hugelkultur exclusively and if I don't call it landscaping or garden design. Please let me know if this sounds objectionable, but the only way I can see embedding it in the public consciousness is with the shotgun method: so many tiny bits of shrapnel in the body that it's impossible to ignore, and impossible to extract. I think that a bunch of people in as many urban areas as possible doing backyard installations, and setting up fair business models to support them and those working will yield a variety of showpieces for people to tour, and will enlarge Hugelkultur in the public view.

I might be wrong, but I think putting things in economic terms greatly simplifies situations such as these; it will catch on not only when individuals see the garden they've invested in be extremely productive with little to no additional input for the next decade, but when those who want hugelkultur on everyone's lips are supporting not only themselves, but whole businesses with employees just doing what they feel passionate about for a living.

I'm rambling again. I'll stop now. Oh, Paul, if you have a second, check out the most recent postings on the Hugelkultur thread. I posted a thought about using hugelkultur to terrace slopes too steep for conventional use. https://permies.com/forums/posts/list/720/17#118810 Let me know if this will actually work as I envision, or if I'm engineering a landslide .

-CK

I work with two people that have vegie gardens. One follows Square Foot Gardening, the other is a little less formal, but generally similar approach. Both use lots of fertiliser, etc.

I am doing my damndest to talk them into adjusting their approach to include hugelkultur. So that's two people... it's better than none

Did someone say NATIONAL EXPOSURE ? !! Vote by midnight tonight!

As 'shouted' in a couple of other threads (maybe here, but I've overlooked it?) - we have til midnight tonight to get a national award from the White House and a MTV show for Permaculture!! Vote (3 times!) for the Amherst College Permaculture Initiative to win a contest for best college student beneficial project!!

http://permaculture.org.au/2012/02/25/permaculture-goes-to-the-white-house-with-your-vote/(

Maybe Paul could (quickly) notify his 'evil' email list minions ;)

Neal McSpadden wrote:Probably the most effective thing to do would be to start a business that creates hugelkultur beds for people, grows crops for them, harvests them, and then maybe cooks for them.

I could see an ad saying something like "Want fresh from the garden fruits and vegetables, but don't have the time or a green thumb? Call Wheaton's Gardens today! You'll get fresh strawberries (or whatever) straight from your garden without any of the work."

Or maybe "Why spend another minute in a grocery store? Call Wheaton's Gardens today and have fresh food grown and delivered straight to your kitchen!"

Actually, this business plan is being put into practice. Your Backyard Farmer, and they teach with Midwest Permaculture. So it's obviously a workable idea. They have 53 mini farms in backyards, people pay upfront, get produce at their door and can learn the techniques if they so desire.

I think your idea is right on.

Another thing might actually to act like it isn't a big deal, rather than acting all excited about it... I know it's hard, but some people will take things more seriously if you present it like it's normal, just something they haven't heard about. Reverse psychology, in a way. (This is, of course, going by the quality or quantity idea. If they don't embrace it of their own accord, did it really do any good?) Just my thoughts.

Hi all,

Melissa, I think you have a good point. If people are introduced first to the idea of the german mound-style of composting, for instance, they get the idea that burying alternating layers of nitrogenous and carbonaceous materials is beneficial. Making similes to large, buried, self-maintaining compost piles would connect this to ideas of composting with which they are already familiar, and likely even comfortable. Then perhaps the idea that a coarser texture would take longer to break down, providing time-release benefits like many chem ag alternatives with which they are likely familiar could be introduced. Then perhaps details on how this applies to the break down of wood, and finally an example called hugelkultur, that exemplifies all the benefits of the techniques introduced and put forward as the logical end-product.

Like those people who have to start their hugelkultur in pits three feet down and build it twelve inches per year because the HOA just isn't ready for it, people need to sometimes be shown the path and prodded along bit by bit, until they discover this thing that has been happening, like magic, bit by bit, almost by itself, and the benefits at that point are tangible, and probably tasty.

-CK

Incidentally, has anyone pointed to the North American Pacific Rain Forests as the world's largest hugelkultur? According to wikipedia, "In sheer mass of living and decaying material - trees, mosses, shrubs, and soil - these forests are more massive than any other ecosystem on the planet." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_temperate_rain_forest_(WWF_ecoregion)
As can be read in the above article, the amount of biomass is due largely to the fact that it is a wet environment, so no real threat of forest fire. That means more nurse logs, and more duff, decaying where it drops. How is this not natural hugelkultur? Would it be possible to use this angle as example to more easily explain the idea to whoever needs further illustration?

-CK

Pinned the article on my pintrest. Seems to be growing in popularity. Lets see if this helps. Feel free to repin. http://pinterest.com/pin/55098795411112174/

Hi all,

Paul, I don't know what demands you have on your time outside what you tell us on podcasts, so I don't know how well this idea will serve you. Have you ever considered writing a book and touring to promote it? You have more than enough material present on your website, and I'm sure that you and the cleverest contributors on your websites could both collaborate at need, and help organise readings or permaculture sample projects for interested communities for promotional purposes. All you really need to do is define a scope for the project that will enable you to harvest as much as you can from all the great material already down in text format on your forum. Something that would let you cut-and-paste whole sections would be ideal, and in so far as worrying about having enough to fill the pages, as long as you remember that, as with academic essays, a lot of space is taken up by quoting other persons' work to support your claims where you aren't providing evidence of your first-hand experience and experiments; you will spend more time paring your material down to manageable size. This last isn't a cheap ploy to add words, as you and anyone who's had to write even a late high school research paper can attest, but rather the literary equivalent of posting a link to the article that supports/explains what you're talking about.

Another important thing to consider is that as one who operates this website, and two others, unless I'm missing some, is that you could probably use your websites to tell those most likely to use the information provided therein to contact their local bookstores to demand they order copies for them. You could target a specific chain, I don't know if it would work, but if they happened to have orders for books that you just happened to be trying to sell them, they might be more likely to stock it.

That might not be the best way to explain what I mean. Basically, I think you can use your web presence to sell books, and I think publishers will realise this.

You might have to widen your focus, or break hugelkultur down into the evolution of the understanding of natural systems food production to present day. Or even further, say, call it "Paul Wheaton's Permaculture," and then get all kinds of reviews for the book from the permaculture movers and shakers that you talk about and interview *all-the-time* who just happen to be featured in sections or articles or whatever within the book. Talk about stacking functions!

You could apply this idea to a periodical publication if you wanted to, as well. You could even issue a quarterly, or even semi-annual or annual, publication (irregular works too if it gets the info out there!) dependant entirely on how quickly you feel like getting issues out, how much material is ready for publication, whether or not you feel like it... You get my point, the idea is extremely plastic, but results in both getting the info out to those who want it, and provides you with an income stream in whatever form that you can do whatever you want with, including reinvesting it into your permaculture, even if all that means is feeding yourself and taking care of your needs while you work on your property (which this might help you achieve without need for compromise in what you're looking for), or do podcasts, or take a vacation to visit permies in hawaii or wherever ( or just take a break! )...

If you want to publish privately, and are looking for someone to print on demand, you can let me know (I just happen to work as the production manager in my parents' print shop and book bindery; our specific focus is on-demand short-run books, just FYI). I can give you a quote on whatever format you decide, which you can accept or not, use it as a baseline for shopping around, I'll likely do better that any you can find for the quality, and relative shipping costs are negligeable, thought not very permie unless they're travelling by train.

This is a huge idea, and could take even a completely digital form, though (I admit I am biased) I think a lot of people who derive satisfaction from doing physical tasks and getting dirt under their fingernails are the type to prefer something more tangible, something they can hold and dogear and dirty and destroy, especially if the opportunity is taken to publish useful reference materials, charts, things people look at when working on stuff that they want to have in their pocket or folded in the glove box.

I fully admit I may be completely wrong, that this type of idea is decades out of date, and that no one who can get the info on the website will want to pay for a book. On the other hand, this thread is about getting hugelkultur, and by-way-of explanation the whole rest of permaculture (what will they plant on the hugelbed? if you don't get into the rest of it, hugelkultur won't yield as much as it does in an integrated polyculture, and the point will be lost) into the minds of 50 million people, and I'm interpreting that to mean those that don't already pretty much eat, sleep, breathe permaculture. I personally think it would help, in this consumerist society, to have a product you could sell them to sell them on the whole deal. If you think you can synopsize all of permaculture for the purpose of optimizing the hugelkultur you seek to popularize so that the yields are sufficient to convince the doubters (which is the point, right? why preach to the choir?), do please focus on hugelkultur. I haven't found any better way to make healthy soil ecosystems from scratch, especially ones that have the potential to extend the growing season the way hugelkultur does.

Again, I have admitted to my personal bias, but I urge you to consider something along these lines, Paul. Give it some thought.

-CK

Re: the ulterior motive of broadcasting the notion of permaculture, here's what Toby posted on Landon's list (let me know if this is not kosher)

I got a note yesterday from Chelsea Green Publishing saying that Martha Stewart had recommended Gaia's Garden in her weekly newspaper column as a "favorite, essential" gardening book. It was just a couple of sentences, but it's another indication that we're hitting the mainstream . . . and that's going to have all sorts of effects, on us, as well as the mainstream. (It also resulted in CGP getting a huge order from a giant book distributor, Ingram).

Plus, the Seattle Urban Forest was mentioned, complete with newspaper headline, at length on 3/12/Monday on a late night talk show.... The Late Late Show with TV's Craig Ferguson. Will post video when it get's to YouTube ;)

Plus, the winner of White House 'College Champions' competition for good works was the Amherst 'Permaculture Initiative'... will post video of the award when it is put up ;)

Are someone's prayers being answered? Is Paul smiling yet?

And the Mother Earth News magazine just arrived with the top article of "Perennial Vegetables: Grow More Food with Less Work" described as "combine permaculture gardening techniques and edible landscaping ingenuity to grow perennial vegetables. You'll harvest food year after year - with less work than growing annual crops." It highlights Eric Toensmeier and Bethann Weick, with a short overview of Permaculture. Toby's book is a reference; polyculture is described as 'layering' for diversity. Can hugelcultur be far behind in the mag?

As some of you know from the podcasts: I was so pleased with the turnout in this thread, I got to thinking "these folks that have so generously given back would probably like more videos and podcasts." And with Josiah Wallingford putting so much time into getting the podcasts/blogs/vids working and getting out to more places, he made it clear that he was doing all that so that I could get more time for more videos and podcasts. So I've been working hard at getting more content out there. I still have about 20 windows open with "to do" items from this thread. I just need to juggle my time to get back to this.

But I want to take a moment to say "thanks! all of your help here is awesome and propels me forward!"

Abe Coley wrote:TO DO: write up an Instructables article on how to build a hugelkultur raised garden bed. With links, of course.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Brief-Jerky-Edible-Underwear/

Somebody did that!

http://www.instructables.com/id/No-irrigation-raised-bed-gardening-system-Hugelku/

The saveourskills guy!

aman inavan wrote:I have written a post on Hugelkultur on the selfsufficientish forum here in the UK http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25461

I included links to Paul's article

Excellent!

I think this is how the change is done! forums, blogs and all sorts of stuff. Many hands make light work. 28 clicks.

Adam Russell wrote:Great article, thanks so much. I just posted it to 700 friends on the ole facebook. So by my math only assuming how many it has reached prior to my stumbling upon it. I think that 50 million isn't to far away. Hugelculture welcome to main stream conversation! Thanks Sepp.

Around feb 13 we had 295 people view the article from facebook.

Chris Kott wrote:Hi all,

I think there's some merit to the idea of writing new articles about hugelkultur projects with pictures, before and after, and videos people can link to,

I have gobs of video footage from almost two years ago of hugelkultur beds under construction. And this summer I hope to pop out and get video in august of brown grass around the hugelkultur and green lushness on the hugelkultur.

Phil Hawkins wrote:I work with two people that have vegie gardens. One follows Square Foot Gardening, the other is a little less formal, but generally similar approach. Both use lots of fertiliser, etc.

I am doing my damndest to talk them into adjusting their approach to include hugelkultur. So that's two people... it's better than none

True. Very true! And, not only that, but there is the whole "and they told two friends" and that is, indeed a recipe for reaching millions!

nancy sutton wrote:Did someone say NATIONAL EXPOSURE ? !! Vote by midnight tonight!

As 'shouted' in a couple of other threads (maybe here, but I've overlooked it?) - we have til midnight tonight to get a national award from the White House and a MTV show for Permaculture!! Vote (3 times!) for the Amherst College Permaculture Initiative to win a contest for best college student beneficial project!!

http://permaculture.org.au/2012/02/25/permaculture-goes-to-the-white-house-with-your-vote/(

Maybe Paul could (quickly) notify his 'evil' email list minions ;)

I did end up voting for that at the last minute. And, you are right, I should have sent something out on my email thing earlier.

Chad Ellis wrote:Pinned the article on my pintrest. Seems to be growing in popularity. Lets see if this helps. Feel free to repin. http://pinterest.com/pin/55098795411112174/

More than a thousand people have come to the article from pinterest.

Writing a book: I am open to the idea of getting books out there. I just seem to get derailed in following that path.

I know that some authors will publish a book that is nothing more than a collection of their essays. I suppose I could do something like that. But I guess I would rather support 50 authors with permies.com than write a book that could be seen as competition for those 50 authors.

granted, a book would help. But I just don't feel compelled to head down that path.

Chris Kott wrote:
If you want to publish privately, and are looking for someone to print on demand, you can let me know (I just happen to work as the production manager in my parents' print shop and book bindery; our specific focus is on-demand short-run books, just FYI).

I do think this is something of great interest for the many authors I find myself talking to. Perhaps this would be a good topic in the meaningless drivel forum.

nancy sutton wrote:
Are someone's prayers being answered? Is Paul smiling yet?

This is, indeed, awesome news!

CNN covered the seattle food forest thing. That's huge!

nancy sutton wrote:And the Mother Earth News magazine just arrived with the top article of "Perennial Vegetables: Grow More Food with Less Work" described as "combine permaculture gardening techniques and edible landscaping ingenuity to grow perennial vegetables. You'll harvest food year after year - with less work than growing annual crops." It highlights Eric Toensmeier and Bethann Weick, with a short overview of Permaculture. Toby's book is a reference; polyculture is described as 'layering' for diversity. Can hugelcultur be far behind in the mag?

I remember that Maddy Harland was writing some things for MEN - so maybe she has been of some influence!

I understand they have a network of about 185,000 - not shabby, right? Think they can help?

http://theshiftnetwork.com/AboutUs

Well, I'm writing a blog post right now about building some hugelkultur beds and was searching out links to send people to if they wanted more information from people who knew what the hell they were talking about (I.e, not me) and listed your article as my recommended #1 "Start Here" article. Your article also shows as the top ranked google result for the search 'hugelkultur' so I've got to think that anyone who is even remotely looking is finding your article. So the question REALLY is, how to get more people looking?

I'm not a big deal or anything in the blogging world, but I sense more and more people are talking about permaculture and this technique in particular. If it doesn't blow up in 2012 it will in 2013. In a good way. It's an idea who's time has come.

My personal experience with the beds is limited, as they are a month or so old and as-yet unplanted, but I temped my soil a few weeks ago (Seattle area) and my traditional raised beds were all right around 42 degrees. Those under winter-long low tunnel plastic cloching were 43-44. The hugelkulture bed I built that gets the most sun was 47 (!) degrees. The ones in more shade were 45/46. That is a staggering difference in soil temp.
To put it in context, the deep litter in the chicken coop was 48.

If your offer to share your images and pics is still valid I will embed the illustrations from your article into my post. Let me know, I should be posting in the next few days.

Thanks,
Erica
www.nwedible.com

Erica Strauss wrote:Well, I'm writing a blog post right now about building some hugelkultur beds and was searching out links to send people to if they wanted more information from people who knew what the hell they were talking about (I.e, not me) and listed your article as my recommended #1 "Start Here" article. Your article also shows as the top ranked google result for the search 'hugelkultur' so I've got to think that anyone who is even remotely looking is finding your article. So the question REALLY is, how to get more people looking?

I kinda think about: what channels are people currently looking for something similar, and then try to mention this stuff.

Another path is: where are people tuning in for interesting stuff, and this could be the one interesting thing.

I'm not a big deal or anything in the blogging world, but I sense more and more people are talking about permaculture and this technique in particular. If it doesn't blow up in 2012 it will in 2013. In a good way. It's an idea who's time has come.

Your site has a pagerank of 3. Not bad!

My personal experience with the beds is limited, as they are a month or so old and as-yet unplanted, but I temped my soil a few weeks ago (Seattle area) and my traditional raised beds were all right around 42 degrees. Those under winter-long low tunnel plastic cloching were 43-44. The hugelkulture bed I built that gets the most sun was 47 (!) degrees. The ones in more shade were 45/46. That is a staggering difference in soil temp.
To put it in context, the deep litter in the chicken coop was 48.

If your offer to share your images and pics is still valid I will embed the illustrations from your article into my post. Let me know, I should be posting in the next few days.

Yup - use of one image and a paragraph or two with a link is great. If the anchor text for the link is "raised garden beds" that's even better!

I'll be in bellingham this august to get video of a two year old hugelkultur - which will hopefully demonstrate the mighty powers!

Lisa Allen wrote:I understand they have a network of about 185,000 - not shabby, right? Think they can help?

http://theshiftnetwork.com/AboutUs

Maybe.

Have you visited with those folks?

Hi all,
I'm really interested in writing something up on hugelkultur to help promote it.
Some great ideas in this forum on where to go. Would love some other thoughts.

Also, I would love to include a couple of quotes from different people who have built these beds. If you want to share your experiences, or know of someone I should interview, please send me a PM. I think it's important to show that real people are doing this, to inspire other regular folks to do the same.

Thanks!

You might also want to consider who best could utilize this information... for example, I have started to send the link to tree companies around town asking if they know about this. As I understand it from a few of the tree companies that have worked in the neighborhood, they just take the tree material to the dump. (I had asked before I knew about hugelkultur myself). What I would like to see happen is that these companies take it to abandoned lots in the wards and create community gardens. I have also been thinking of sending the link to some city/state officials. If I had the time, I would go to some of the city planning meetings to discuss the idea that each time the city trims the trees for electricity lines, that the wood be donated to community gardens to create little hugelkultur community gardens which do not require watering. Especially since we have had some horrible droughts the last couple of years.
The hugelkultur link also needs to be sent to every farmer to see if they would be willing to try one little row of it for themselves and see if works for them and to find out what they think of it. I think if they see the results they might think about using it in their own practices (though, if that does happen, new equipment will probably need to be created for those who use machines to harvest).
But mainly, I'd like to see the city planning and the tree companies to get together to create hugelkultur gardens in all the wards and in all the community gardens. I would like to see it be illegal to send those tree trimmings to the dump.
If others would consider writing to their own local city officials, tree cutting companies, and farmers, oh AND local landscape architects, then the word could get spread by those who are in the position to maybe have the greatest impact.

Also, think celebrities who have a high influence. Getting people like Michelle Obama, or Oprah, or famous actors and leaders to learn, try out and share Hugelkultur ideas. ta da.

Personally, I think sending hugelkultur links to farmers would be a wasted effort.

They already know (actually, knew) the benefits of hedge rows. About half a century ago, farmers across our land went to great labor and expense to rip out all of their hedge rows...they impeded the modern mechanical way of producing crops (plus 'wasted' growing space).

One farmer commented something like "I have 640 acres, about 10 of which are good, fertile soil...where my hedge rows used to be. Hopefully, that fertility will spread."

The sad thing is that instead of spreading, his fertile soil will disappear and become just like the rest of his lifeless dirt.

Is there any way to reach fifty million people on a timely basis?

Ta da! Grow lemons in Montana and fifty million people will stand in awe.

Jock Gill wrote:Paul,

For starters, I would put a link to the article in the very first post in this thread. Currently it is a pain to have to leave this thread to hunt around for it. Make the "end-user experience" fun an d easy -- not obscure.

Secondly, I would look to find ways to break down silos. Make a list of all of the ideas that are compatible with permaculture and then find leaders in each field and work with them?

Cheers,

Jock

Seconding Jock's idea here. Ideas that are compatible with permaculture have a common distrust of the "system" as is.

I would contact people like Lew Rockwell (liberterian freedom advocate), Alex Jones (conspiracy theorist), those at the survivalist forums, the conspiracy forums, natural birthers (home birth), non vaccinating families, homeschoolers (especially unschoolers), extreme green advocates (not sure who that would be), the people at the National Inflation Association (created the college is a scam documentary that went viral among youths last year), 4H national chapter, people that support medical marijuana, ron paul or gary johnson supporters. I'm sure there are more.

Can you think of any more of these leaders in compatible fields? I would love to help with this. Let me know what you want to do. Thanks.

Jeremy Laurin

The hugelkultur article normally gets about 600 people per day. But for the last two days it suddenly spiked up to over 6000 people per day! Google analytics says they are coming from "direct / none" meaning that they either typed in the URL or followed a link from an email or pdf (or about a dozen other things). But not from a web site.

Anybody know anything about this?

Hey Paul and company,

James here, I've been a voyeur here for a LONG time and I'm finally ready to step into the light and interact with fellow permie humans
I've done my PDC and have already been teaching food growing courses to people for several years now. I'm a pretty radical and hardcore permie if I do say so myself (I poop in a bucket and all that good stuff).

That said, what I'm about to pose a VERY different idea than most people in the sustainability and permaculture world are used to, so forgive me if you think I'm evil.

Here's the story:
All the evil corporations that most people hate have 1 powerful thing in common...

They have a business model that works.

What does that basically equate to?

They can PAY to SCALE their products. Most importantly, along with those products come their ideology!

I came to the conclusion a LONG time ago that if we are to make any change, we have to follow a model that works. We have to beat THEM at their own game.

That's why I've dedicated the past 3 years of my life to learning marketing like crazy. Ewww, gross right?

Au contraire!

I see marketing (and more importantly - direct selling) to be a powerful tool that more people in our movement might seriously consider embracing.

The good news is that with direct marketing you don't need to have a Coca Cola (butt heads) sized budget. You just need to have excellent products/offers that deliver REAL tangible results to the right audience. Now, if you can create an effective "Big Idea" or "Big Marketing Idea" to back it up. Now you're really gonna crush it. My dream is to develop a big idea that spreads permaculture to millions. I'm working on one right now, so please wish me luck

Dream for a second... There are millions of people on Facebook and YouTube, you just have to come up with unique and emotionally stirring way to grab their attention. It has to stop them in their tracks.

If I think of a solid "pattern interrupter" for Hugelkultur I'll definitely post it here!

For me, it's honestly NOT about making money. Other than a few plane tickets to take my family to Brazil every couple years to do permaculture there, I don't really need or want to live with a bunch of useless Federal Reserve Notes AKA money.

NO! It's about being able to finance the promotion of an ideology on a massive scale and thereby reach 50 MILLION people without any problem. It all starts by helping people achieve measurable results along the way and asking them to invest their money (or bitcoin or whatever) in exchange for that result.

Bottom line: If you're making money, you can invest that money back into paid media (ads) to get the message in front of more people... LOTS more.

Take that Coca Cola.

Note: 1. I've given a very broad overview of this idea/process. 2. Creating "Big Marketing Ideas" is extremely time consuming and involves a huge amount of creativity and following proven formulas that direct marketers have been using for about 100 years to make it happen. Personally, I've dedicated myself to mastering this process so we can see the needle move instead of watching the world burn. To me, it's at least worth a shot, even if it takes me the rest of my life.

Very interested in seeing what people think about this idea!

Peace,

James~

P.S. Paul, to answer your question about your increase from 600 to the 6,000 visits spike in traffic, it's likely that Hugelkulture was mentioned in some mainstream media report or article and people started searching for it. That sounds obvious, but the good news is more people are waking up! What if you helped just 100 of those 6,000 per day became hardcore permies? Ask me about ways to do that