vicarious presence

So far there have been some folks where it sounds like things will be a bit of a pinch to get to the land. They are far away and have lots of animals. Jocelyn has visited with them and given the green light.

At the same time, I think one of the smartest things to do is to have lots of people on the land at the same time. Get the animals on the land. Get through that initial hurdle. The first year will be ten times harder than the second.

Think think think think .... the solution to most problems is creativity .... think think think ....

In two of the cases, there is woman that is camera happy. Currently taking big heaps of pics and pushing them up on the internet.

At the same time, the whole rmh dvd thing started with 20 people saying "I can't make it - can you take video? I'll pay!"

So my first thought is: I wonder if a bunch of folks would get together and put some funds in to have somebody crazy about cameras show up. Maybe the promise is to post pics to this forum twice a day.

And then my mind went through several iterations of how that might work. And then: what about setting something up at "wethetrees"? Folks can start a crowdfunding thing to get moved. Maybe a "reward" is to take pictures of what folks want to see: sunset; sunrise; pigs; goats; meals; morning circle ...

Just an idea.

I would suggest short campaigns and I will use my superpowers to direct people to the campaigns.

I think one of the smartest things to do is to have lots of people on the land at the same time. Get the animals on the land. Get through that initial hurdle. The first year will be ten times harder than the second.

i agree. though i also wouldnt mind being in the first group of people to arrive. feel more like a pioneer that way
and the first year will most definitely be the most challenging. but i also think for those people whose hearts are truely in this it will be the most gratifying experience as well.

In two of the cases, there is woman that is camera happy. Currently taking big heaps of pics and pushing them up on the internet.

At the same time, the whole rmh dvd thing started with 20 people saying "I can't make it - can you take video? I'll pay!"

So my first thought is: I wonder if a bunch of folks would get together and put some funds in to have somebody crazy about cameras show up. Maybe the promise is to post pics to this forum twice a day

i almost feel as if i am being talked about here hahaha! i am quite a shutterbug and have my own youtube channel. i would love to take pictures and videos to post! perhaps a blog specifically for these would be good? for whomever might go on with it. and have a thread running for people to talk about the things and link to the newest page/video/etc. i've never done a blog before but as much as i love to talk about this stuff and take pictures and videos i dont think i'd have too much trouble filling one up.

what about setting something up at "wethetrees"? Folks can start a crowdfunding thing to get moved. Maybe a "reward" is to take pictures of what folks want to see: sunset; sunrise; pigs; goats; meals; morning circle ...

i havent the slightest info about this type of thing but am currently reading through the site and how things work. sounds like it could be a good thing. and if paul and forum members here were to spread it around that could be very good. though i admit part of me thinks this is a bit crazy and who would want to donate money to some nobody to do this... but i am working on squashing those wisps of doubt.
and as for the picture reward, i would still go with the last part of my response about all that.

Kadence,

you are, indeed, one of the two women i was thinking about.

I think your campaign should last for about seven days.

I think a blog would be good. And you could create a thread here for each blog entry.

You need to come up with rewards. I think you will find the folks in this forum are really good at brainstorming stuff like that - you just gotta get the ball rolling.

paul wheaton wrote:Kadence,

you are, indeed, one of the two women i was thinking about.

I think your campaign should last for about seven days.

I think a blog would be good. And you could create a thread here for each blog entry.

You need to come up with rewards. I think you will find the folks in this forum are really good at brainstorming stuff like that - you just gotta get the ball rolling.

well golly *blushes*

rewards.. hm.. i'll think on that.

SEVEN DAYS!!! holy moses and here i was just moment ago thinkin "how would i raise up enough money from people in sixty days? how could i get that many people's interest?" hahaha i guess when it comes to money you think alot bigger then i! though it seems a very good thing for me that you are.

Hello Paul and Jocelyn: yes this - or something like it - makes sense. I could contribute a small portion to a video or written walkabout on trees and other plants on the site. Your fans want to know! I live in Missoula. I'm 57 and physically limited. My background is in western Montana forestry, native plant botany, propagation and mycorrihizas, digging firelines with a shovel. (yes), and a bit of home gardening. I could make observations about trees and plants on the Land, former logging damge and evidence, weeds and native plants and their potentials, and a bit about my struggles with a team to rehab tough sites in Glacier and Yellowstone, and grow a garden in disturbed alkaline cobbly or clay soils around Missoula. My resume is long but choppy. Bit of an acadeimic nomad.... I'm not photogenic, wellspoken or charismatic. PR type stuff isn't my bag. I'm more nuts and bolts. I'm not looking for $$. This is a matter of the heart and I want to witness this happening.

I'll watch the forums, be in touch occasionally remind you that I'm here when things settle down. I will send local plant lists and polyculture ideas. I'm especially interested in contributing ideas to a kitchen/herb/pollinatee garden at Base Camp, with results to be scaled out to TL. Plus some experimental efforts (in protected 'home" spots with things like the heirloom wheats (Kamut and spelt etc.). Maybe polyculture guilds. I would keep a journal, for legacy/posterity/written record and post little mini blurbs here ocasionally about goings on. Personality profiles ha ah ah ha

I'm thinking of starting a topic here along the lines of 'Missoula Local Supporters' for people who live nearby and have various/knowledge/skills to offer.

Thumbs up? A new Topic/forum for local support? Maybe a PM from Paul or Jocelyn or your Plant poobah? It's clear you are wickidly busy, so I'll be in touch later. File this away somewhere. No need to do everything at once.

Be Well
Kathy J.

PS I am the same person who has offered to make an occasional bulk food run from the Good Food Store.

Kadence,

If you are up for this, start putting together some ideas for rewards and a total amount that you need to pull off the trip. I suppose it might even be possible that somebody reading this has a truck and would like to drive out with you.

Once the discussion is started, i will announce to the daily-ish email. We will then get a lot more discussion. Then when it is ready on wethetrees, I'll announce on the daily-ish email again.

Kadence,

A think a lot of people would groove on a daily vlog. It sounds like Kathy is up for being in front of the camera. There might be others.

~i'm a tad confused about how wethetrees works. if i set up something there and the money doesnt get raised then no ones money gets taken from their accounts and i dont get any? its just kind of null and void everything and try it again? thats how i read it from the site. sorry i'd never even heard of it. heard of kickstarter and understand it raises money but thats about it.

~i have not the slightest idea about rewards for the wethetrees thing. other then doing a blog/vlog/tons of pics. which i was thinking about bringing up anyways to do. i think it would be really fun even if you guys found someone to do that as their "poobah job" as pauls likes it put.

~my info so far on costs for the trip...
*10' truck UHUAL.... VA to OH $320
*gas estimate: $105
*17' truck and 5'x8' trailer UHUAL... OH to MT $1,961
*gas estimate: $700
*food i think we can cover that. it'll be about a 3 day drive though with the animals and stopping to milk and letting them walk around a bit, etc.
*money for storage rent for stuff until we get housing built. no idea what this runs.

~so right now total is at $3086 plus storage rental cost. jocelyn brought up about having a "parachute". like enough money to get back if things were to fall apart. i'm really nervous about doubling the number i already have though! and i havent even added up feed cost for what i would need to buy before we left to take with us (my feed costs are about $90 per month and i'm pinching and stretching things to get that because people completely stopped buying animals over $20 and tons of people just want things for free!)

~paul, why did you pick 7 days for the wethetrees timeframe? i'm just curious as i cant imagine it happening. but then again i've never dealt with this all so perhaps i'm wrong. it just shocked me reading it. i was nervous i'd be able to get much money at all let alone so much in one week! haha.

kickstarter is for projects where you have a new product to pre-sell. Usually because quantity is cheaper.

Wethetrees.com is kickstarter for permaculture projects. For those things that the kickstarter folks might not understand.

Time lapse video might be a nice thing to see of some of the projects.
This popped up in the rss feeds today:

via uncrate

Hi All, my name is Christian and I am one of the team at WeTheTrees.com

Our crowdfunding site is an ideal spot to fundraise for a project, especially when you have a specific target audience of potential donors. It sounds to me like there is already pretty strong support for your project, and that there would be a number of people that would feel great about contributing to it. All our website does is actually facilitate the proposal for the contribution of funds, and make it easy (and set a deadline) for people to give funds.

Spreading the word here on the forum would just be a bonus that may add to the overall success of the campaign.

Let me know if you have any questions. I would be glad to answer.
Christian

Hello Paul, Kadence, Jocelyn. I have been in touch with Kadence and offered her a few dollars for gas. She seems like someone with a lot of determination and enthusiasm. Plus her animal skills. Trained butchers/small livestock folks aren't a dime a dozen. I am snooping around for some kind of local place where she might be able to transistion with her animals and butcher skills - so she can get herself oriented. It's pretty clear her heart is in the Farm project and she wants to be here yesterday. So if you have any ideas about a transition place maybe send her a PM.

With regards to making a vid, i'd be happy to give it a try but as I said I'm pretty gimpy and don't come across as a person with lots of vitality. I would be better suited to a sort of mini photo journalism projects with observations and ideas that would be specific to your landscape and local plants native or not. After things get to leafing out and blooming, or as soon as you are comfortable, I will come out for a walkabout, take some pictures and notes and do a writeup to post hereabouts.

Send me a PM if this sounds good, or I will be in touch soon with some plant ideas. I would like to know the 'legal' address so I can get a sense of the landscape/population where the Land is. Maybe learn something about the slopes and aspects, old drainage patterns, etc. I wouldn't expect you to broadcast the location. So far the rumor is that it's about an hour from Msla and adjoins FS land (yay!).

Re the Husp protected quarter, I am searching my closets for all-leather shoes with leather soles. Hide and sole gave me a couple names of moc-makers in town and they also sell heavy leather and kit stuff. I'm pretty sure I could assemble my own pair of rudely crafted leather mocs with sinew, maybe rabbit hide glue, wood buttons. Would be fun. I do understand your husp comcept. Organic cotton shouldn't be hard to comeby. Or at least second-hand wool and cotton item, until sources for organics are located. See Dharmatrading.com. An interesting website for a local wool source - I have dealt with them - very nice people easy to work with: http://www.sugarloafwool.com/

What news of the Base Camp?

Be in touch
Kathy J.
Farm satellite

P.S Kadence storage out on the hwy with fences and security run 38$/mo for a 5x10 walk in (Vigilante) also there is copperstonestorage.com (also high security) who charge 90$/mo for a 10x20 with garage door. Google Missoula storage. You can get better rates with lower security.

time lapse... never done those but would definitely be cool. have to look into it.

christian shearer... thank you (: is what i said then about right or did i misunderstand something on the site?
and perhaps suggesting a good timeframe to set it for once things are all thought out and planned, etc? like going with the already mathed through $3100. i'm just a bit nervous about people being interested in the whole farm aspect and not so much on one specific person, especially me. bit pessimistic i suppose /:

Hi Kadence, I have to be truthful, I don't fully understand what you are trying to do from reading this post, but I believe you have it right.

If you want to raise money for some specific, clear aspect of a project, then you can do that on WeTheTrees. If you reach your goal, you get the money (less the fees), and if you do not reach your goal, all the money gets fully refunded to those who have contributed.

The key is to promote your campaign and get the interest up. WeTheTrees certainly is not a site where you can post a campaign and the contributions will come flowing in from strangers. It does happen a bit, but at least 90% of contributions are from people connected to you or who heard about the campaign from your promotional efforts.

I would say 7 days is pretty quick, unless you already have the people lined up to give to your project. 30 days is a great timeline as it gives you enough time to get the word out, but not so much time that the campaign becomes old news.

I hope that helps.
Feel free to read through our FAQ's if you have any more questions:
http://www.wethetrees.com/pages/faq

Christian

K. Johnson wrote: She seems like someone with a lot of determination and enthusiasm. Plus her animal skills. Trained butchers/small livestock folks aren't a dime a dozen. I am snooping around for some kind of local place where she might be able to transistion with her animals and butcher skills - so she can get herself oriented. It's pretty clear her heart is in the Farm project and she wants to be here yesterday. So if you have any ideas about a transition place maybe send her a PM. .

thanks (: yes, i'm open to suggestions but am really hoping to be able to start right in at the land. biggest thing about having a transition place is i dont have much fence to bring for the goats. so that will have to be first thing i do if i come is setting up the animals, but really the goats are the only thing really need much done with. the rabbits are in hutches and guinea pigs are easy to care for.

K. Johnson wrote: With regards to making a vid, i'd be happy to give it a try but as I said I'm pretty gimpy and don't come across as a person with lots of vitality. .

nonsense. there are tons of gimpy old men with great advise, we need more women to keep em on their toes! hahaha

K. Johnson wrote: Re the Husp protected quarter, I am searching my closets for all-leather shoes with leather soles. Hide and sole gave me a couple names of moc-makers in town and they also sell heavy leather and kit stuff. I'm pretty sure I could assemble my own pair of rudely crafted leather mocs with sinew, maybe rabbit hide glue, wood buttons. Would be fun. I do understand your husp comcept. Organic cotton shouldn't be hard to comeby. Or at least second-hand wool and cotton item, until sources for organics are located. .

heehee dont even get me started. i have probably close to 2 dozen rabbit hides, a deer hide, a GP hide, and a groundhog hide in my freezer i need to attempt to tan. i drool over "primitive" hide clothing whenever possible.

K. Johnson wrote: What news of the Base Camp?.

i would also like to hear any news (: perhaps better suited to be put in one of the other threads though? keep things organized that way.

K. Johnson wrote: P.S Kadence storage out on the hwy with fences and security run 38$/mo for a 5x10 walk in (Vigilante) also there is copperstonestorage.com (also high security) who charge 90$/mo for a 10x20 with garage door. Google Missoula storage. You can get better rates with lower security.

awesome. ya we'll be fine with the cheaper one i'm sure. we dont have anything that would be valuable to anyone other then ourselves. and the few things that would be possibly of any value we would be using so no problems there.

Christian Shearer wrote:Hi Kadence, I have to be truthful, I don't fully understand what you are trying to do from reading this post, but I believe you have it right.

If you want to raise money for some specific, clear aspect of a project, then you can do that on WeTheTrees. If you reach your goal, you get the money (less the fees), and if you do not reach your goal, all the money gets fully refunded to those who have contributed.

The key is to promote your campaign and get the interest up. WeTheTrees certainly is not a site where you can post a campaign and the contributions will come flowing in from strangers. It does happen a bit, but at least 90% of contributions are from people connected to you or who heard about the campaign from your promotional efforts.

I would say 7 days is pretty quick, unless you already have the people lined up to give to your project. 30 days is a great timeline as it gives you enough time to get the word out, but not so much time that the campaign becomes old news.

I hope that helps.
Feel free to read through our FAQ's if you have any more questions:
http://www.wethetrees.com/pages/faq

Christian

thank you (: sorry if i asked that unclearly.

i wanted to make sure i was understanding how this worked in order to word things better i suppose... for instance my set, finite goal is getting to paul's farm. not sure if it would be best to do that as work out all my costs and have it in one go or have one for uhaul costs and one for gas costs or something like that. which might be better or more defining my goal here.

i do not have anyone lined up. as K. Johnson said, she has offered to donate some money to me to help out. i am very much hoping that other permies here on the forum and through paul's webcast and email newsletter, facebook sharing, other forum sharing, my youtube channel,... that i might be able to at least get enough to pay for the uhaul costs and then focus on raising/earning the gas money part.

Hi Kadence,
As far as we are concerned, you can do it either way. It would be totally fine to combine all of your costs into one Campaign, or split it into two different ones if you felt that this strategy might meet your needs better.

What you could do is set your goal just for the Uhaul costs, and then encourage people to give beyond the goal. No problem with collecting far more than your goal (though having a goal to reach often motivates contributions!).

I look forward to seeing your campaign on our site, if you decide to go that way.
I am happy to promote it on the front page of our website.
Best to you
Christian

K. Johnson wrote:
With regards to making a vid, i'd be happy to give it a try but as I said I'm pretty gimpy and don't come across as a person with lots of vitality. I would be better suited to a sort of mini photo journalism projects with observations and ideas that would be specific to your landscape and local plants native or not. After things get to leafing out and blooming, or as soon as you are comfortable, I will come out for a walkabout, take some pictures and notes and do a writeup to post hereabouts.

Kathy - thanks for the offers of help! You offered helping bring rice and beans from The Good Food Store, too - much appreciated. As I mentioned before, if folks send me a private message with their e-mail and phone, I'll be coordinating some two-week visit or "throw a shoulder" in time frames for folks.

K. Johnson wrote:Re the Husp protected quarter...

I'd love the moc tradespeople contact info that Hide and Sole gave you. It would be cool to post a bunch of your reference at in search of natural clothing thread if you felt inspired, or shoot me a p.m.

So awesome that Christian is giving kadence pointers on WeTheTrees.com. Let us know if/when you get a campaign going!

Ping Jocelyn,

I'm working on a rather long post about local useful plants and seeds that I have some experience with, which will go to the seeds forum. Also searching for local moccasin makers. Two of the three didn't pan out, but one Native gal might make some simple ones for 50$. I may order a pair from her to see how they are. I also found a downloadable pattern I like the looks of from LeathercraftLibrary.com for $8 bucks. I'll give that a try as soon as i figure out how to cope with the pdf upsizing technology. Very basic shoe. Ankle high, fringe, leather ties. The moc thing might be something Kadence would be up for. (ping Kadence?). So I'll make a short list of what I know about organic clothing ideas. Most of it is $$ tres chic. A seamstress in the house would be good.

I will PM you about all this soon, after I get the seed/plant post gone.

Regards
Kathy J.

*10' truck UHUAL.... VA to OH $320
*gas estimate: $105
*17' truck and 5'x8' trailer UHUAL... OH to MT $1,961
*gas estimate: $700
*food i think we can cover that. it'll be about a 3 day drive though with the animals and stopping to milk and letting them walk around a bit, etc.
*money for storage rent for stuff until we get housing built. $45 (estimating)

so I was thinking for the fundraising maybe two parts?
part 1, transport: uhaul... gas {total $3085}
part 2, gettin started: decent food stock up for starting at the land for animals (rabbits&GP- $150, goats- $150)... small dry food supply for me and fiance to bring ($200)... storage rent {total $545}

and then i was thinkin perhaps there could be a fencing fundraiser made? i mean there are going to be animals there no matter what eventually so maybe do a short fundraiser for fence money?


I still have no idea about rewards though other then what's been said already /:

as for timeline i'm really not sure... pretty nervous about naming a timeline and it being too short. but I've come to the idea of 2 weeks for "part 2" and a month for "part 1"... I was thinkin this should be long enough that its not too short that people might not be able to, or too long.
suggestions and thoughts welcome of course (:

Very basic shoe. Ankle high, fringe, leather ties. The moc thing might be something Kadence would be up for. (ping Kadence?). So I'll make a short list of what I know about organic clothing ideas. Most of it is $$ tres chic. A seamstress in the house would be good.

I've done a lot of looking and had a pair of moccasins I used to wear every day (: i'm going to be tanning a bunch of hides before i'd be coming out to the land so hopefully i'll have some more hide sewing experience. but I have a good bit of sewing experience (:

I think the best way .... the MOST FUN way ... to make money is through creativity. And stuff like wethetrees gives you a canvas on which to paint your creative thing.

So the mission is the life change. With your fella and with your critters. $3500 for two weeks.

And then there is the promise of what you are going to provide - after all, this is a business deal. You are going to provide to the world (perhaps - I am making a suggestion here) a daily vlog. It will be posted on youtube. It will show the stuff you are doing and the stuff others are doing.

Suppose there will be 100 videos. That means you need to bring in about $35 per video minimum.

Possible rewards:

$10 - get your name listed on a video "paid actual cash dollars to see their name here"

$25 - select a topic for one episode, or be able to ask a question of a person

$40 - get listed on the video as the supreme executive producer with bacon, cheese and sparkles - for one episode

$100 - do a reenactment with sock puppets

$100 - will add a photo of somebody in to make it looks like they are there!

Then have stuff where a person can do 10 questions for $200 and stuff like that. Maybe an episode will ask two or three questions!


A bit of brainstorming, I bet you can come up with a big list of stuff to try. And then think about how fun it might be if you accidentally get overfunded.

$3500 for two weeks.

um....what? hahaha $3500 raised in 2 weeks?.... i'm not saying it couldn't happen... I just am rather doubting it happening for *me* because that's my luck

And then there is the promise of what you are going to provide - after all, this is a business deal. You are going to provide to the world (perhaps - I am making a suggestion here) a daily vlog. It will be posted on youtube. It will show the stuff you are doing and the stuff others are doing.

that is a very good idea. I was thinkin about different things to try for videos to do but I think that would be very cool. perhaps interviews with some of the people who would like to. like to show off our group and everyone's different skills.

$10 - get your name listed on a video "paid actual cash dollars to see their name here"

$25 - select a topic for one episode, or be able to ask a question of a person

$40 - get listed on the video as the supreme executive producer with bacon, cheese and sparkles - for one episode

$100 - do a reenactment with sock puppets

$100 - will add a photo of somebody in to make it looks like they are there!

Then have stuff where a person can do 10 questions for $200 and stuff like that. Maybe an episode will ask two or three questions!

ooh! fun! (: would I be able to see who sent how much money? this sounds really cool! hm.. I will be thinkin of more things for that (:

A couple reward ideas that appeal to my brand of weird:

$100 - long term password access to "Bonus Footage" that includes raw/unedited versions of the videos that you post for general consumption. (This might later become a subscription service that helps fund ongoing feed costs).

$50 - you get to name a baby calf

$30 - name a baby sheep (or whatever cute baby animals can be expected in the reasonable future)

And make sure to get word out to Paul's Pod People during the fund raising drive.

Best of luck!

Mike Underhill wrote:A couple reward ideas that appeal to my brand of weird:

$100 - long term password access to "Bonus Footage" that includes raw/unedited versions of the videos that you post for general consumption. (This might later become a subscription service that helps fund ongoing feed costs).

$50 - you get to name a baby calf

$30 - name a baby sheep (or whatever cute baby animals can be expected in the reasonable future)

And make sure to get word out to Paul's Pod People during the fund raising drive.

Best of luck!

oh lord... I was thinkin of something similar to this! I mean... my thought process was in reverse but not really involving *getting* to the land, but for more funding for critters and things.

so the idea was about fundraising for more critters... here I can get beef steers (bottlebaby from day old to couple weeks old) for about $25-75 each at auction. and I have several strings I could pull to get good prices on meat rabbits and sheep (wool and hair breeds) and goats.

and then I was thinking of fencing would be needed obviously and feed/hay/etc money that would be needed.

and then as paul was saying I had a few ideas pop into my head like you said mike...

$20- name put in video
$30- name a rabbit (can point out so-and-so's rabbit from fund raising. would be cool in videos)
$50- name a goat (same as I said about pointin out rabbits)
$80- name a sheep ( " )
$100- name a calf ( " )

or perhaps that could be put into my rewards for what I need now... then I could do more later on like I said in this post when i'll know if we'll even be getting the funds rolling to go at all...

Kadence, Can you get buffalo calves?
Any experience raising them?
Just to plant a seed here. Not sure how you will feel about this.

If you raise a buffalo to a fairly good size, say two years. Then auction off the rights to harvest the animal. I believe you/Paul could make a large amount of money for each animal. I know there are big game hunters who travel to farms just to shoot a buffalo. The meat is prime. A tanned cape/hide is prime ( Brain tanning in a traditional way could even bring in folks for a seminar.) and skulls are prized. To the right market all parts of the animal can be offered.

Miles Flansburg wrote:Kadence, Can you get buffalo calves?
Any experience raising them?
Just to plant a seed here. Not sure how you will feel about this.

If you raise a buffalo to a fairly good size, say two years. Then auction off the rights to harvest the animal. I believe you/Paul could make a large amount of money for each animal. I know there are big game hunters who travel to farms just to shoot a buffalo. The meat is prime. A tanned cape/hide is prime ( Brain tanning in a traditional way could even bring in folks for a seminar.) and skulls are prized. To the right market all parts of the animal can be offered.

I have not the slightest clue about buffalo or where to get any calves but i'm imagining that would be quite an investment in itself. I don't think anyone is ready to take on that kind of project on top of everything else hahaha. certainly not me! I mean i'm all for jumping in head first to things but that's just too much even for me. though I would be super cool about lookin into buffalo later on if that were possible.

though I think with the animals there may be a little extra cash to be made from peoples livestock. such as buying/trading within the community as well as some outside the community.

hey-o Christian! I got a question for ya...
"If the Campaign Funding Goal was reached, then the money will be paid to your account, less a 8.5% marketplace processing fee. This fee is a combination of the fees retained by the Payment Processors and the platform fees of WeTheTrees.com. All Contributions paid to a Campaign Entity will constitute 'Campaign Funding,' and the WeTheTrees fee and all other Campaign Funding requirements will apply."

does that mean I should be adding a bit to my total to cover the fee so i'll still be sure to have enough?

"You shall have full responsibility for applicable taxes for all Campaign Funding paid to you under this Agreement"

I hadn't thought about taxes and this /: I found this info from a web search:
"Items given from one individual to another are covered by gift tax laws. In most circumstances, the receiver of the gift isn't liable for taxes on the value of the gift, while donors may gift up to $13,000 per year per person without invoking the gift tax. Amounts more than $13,000 are subject to taxation, but it's the donor who is assessed taxes on the value of the gift."
"Donation vs. Compensation
Donations from your employer are not the only type that may need to be reported as income. Donations given with the expectation of services rendered or goods provided are treated as income and must be claimed."

so not sure if this would be considered compensation or what.. or if I would be taxed or what... i'll have to look more on that.

" in any amount you choose, greater or equal to $5, not to exceed $2000"

um... so I would need to make 'part 1' for $2000 or break it down to... part 1, uhaul costs (about $2000)... part 2, gas costs (about $800)... part 3, getting started (about $550)....

but then i'd probably have like part 1 for 3wks and part 2 for 3wks, which you can have two campaigns going at once so these could be goin at the same time (would I need different rewards or could I use the same ones for them all?)... then part 3 isn't too terribly much so like 2wks for that probably would be alright (again, same rewards??)

that way it would be like total of 5wks until the campaigns would be over and hopefully they make it and get enough donations. then lets say I make the part 1 and 2 campaigns on the fifth next week and part 3 right after they end, it would be july 10 when they end. then just however long it takes for the money to go through and packin up then two or three days to make the trip.

alrighty here is what I have so far for the campaign....

title: {??}

headline: {??}

campaign image: {??}

our bio: {workin on it}

mission: life change

rewards: i'm going to be doing a daily vlog. every day i will do a video of how things are going, what is being started or talked about, what projects have been finished up, interviews with other community peoples about them and their projects, etc.
$10- name listed in a video
$20-
$30- select a topic for a video
$40-
$50- name a rabbit (shout out to person in videos when possible)
$60- listed as "supreme executive producer with bacon, cheese and sparkles" for one video
$70-
$80-
$90- sent links to "bonus footage" and goofy "blooper" videos that wont be public videos
$100- photo in a video
$150- ask five questions to be answered in a video
$200- name a goat (shout out to person in videos when possible)
$250- ask ten questions to be answered in a video
$300- name a sheep (shout out to person in videos when possible)
$400- name a cow (shout out to person in videos when possible)

promoting: paul's podcast... paul's daily-ish emails... in my youtube videos... link to in my forum signature's... share on my facebook...

the categories are:
education
project
design course
local food
social change
arts & film

hahhaha what to choose!! if I can reach my goal for all the money and we seriously make it out there wont be it be all of these really...

i'll be getting educated on a lot of things I wouldn't have been able to learn about first hand otherwise, there are so many projects in this, design course maybe not so much immediately, local food is one of the main ideas of the farm, this will be an awesome social change for all involved especially me and my fiancé, and i'll be doing a vlog as reward...

...what would this be categorized???

fiancé just suggested maybe doing "part 2, gas costs (about $800)... part 3, getting started (about $550)" together ...

so like part 1, uhaul costs (about $2000).... part 2, gas cost and getting started (about $1350)...

which if we did that we could make it 3wks for both. meaning it would be 3wks with two campaigns going and hopefully they make it and get enough donations. then lets say I make the campaigns on the fifth next week, it would be june 26 when they end. then just however long it takes for the money to go through and packin up then two or three days to make the trip.

You're right, this covers many categories, though I think the best fit is education. Both for you and for others via your videos and pics.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:You're right, this covers many categories, though I think the best fit is education. Both for you and for others via your videos and pics.

sounds good (:

ok so been thinkin about it a lot and came up with this... thoughts please!! (: I want to make sure everything seems right not like anything is lame or something...


thanks (:

I wiggled things around... think this might work better... not sure on some of it though. like the animal naming raffles because I don't want people to get pi$$ed when something dies or anything /:

$10-39: name listed in a video ("because every little bit counts!")
$40-55: select a topic for a video
$55-69: listed as "supreme executive producer with bacon, cheese and sparkles" for one video
$70-89: sent links to goofy "blooper" videos that wont be public videos
$90-99: sent links to "bonus footage" videos that wont be public videos
$100: name in raffle to name a rabbit, will be five winners! (shout out to person in videos when possible)
$101-149: photo in a video
$150-199: ask five questions to be answered in a video
$200-249: name in raffle to name a goat, will be five winners! (shout out to person in videos when possible)
$250-299: ask ten questions to be answered in a video
$300-399: name in raffle to name a sheep, will be five winners! (shout out to person in videos when possible)
$400- name a cow! (shout out to person in videos when possible)


I did the raffle for the naming because I mean I can only have so many animals! hahaha. but did the name a cow without raffle because I didn't imagine many people would be donating $400...

any and all suggestions and criticisms welcome!

I think you've come up with a nice reward structure - something for everyone.

Animals die, sometimes earlier than preferred, that should be understandable. There always the [Name] "II" that could be applied as a mulligan in certain egregious situations. Or perhaps Paul's Farm will have an animal cemetery where certain beloved animals can be remembered with a marker.

Late breaking (and pretty odd) idea: folks could ship to you a stuffed animal or idol of some sort and that could be featured in an "adventure" slideshow on the farm. It's out there, and maybe something for down the road, but some might be into it. It could be entertainment for all involved.

I was also thinking that Paul could get a sponsor plaque going for folks who contribute say 15% or 20% toward the cost of upcoming wofati construction projects. A permanent fixture with names or tributes as desired by the sponsors. Permies might get crowd-funding atrophy at some point so getting in early strikes me as a good idea.

interesting ideas mike. like perhaps a little fun episode for kids starring a certain stuffed animal (maybe even an animal star if one would cooperate hahaha). would be fun to do some of those.

hm... maybe think up some things for if I get such-and-such amount much more then my goal I will do "kids segments", like videos for kids as you said. super simple explanations of things and how the animals are taken care of etc. like our very own sort of "farm pbs kids" episodes so to speak. that would be really fun (:


oh and I changed things around for the rewards. I was thinkin of how much "value" each reward had and I thought I had things backwards so I juggled it again hahaha.

rewards: i'm going to be doing a daily vlog. every day i will do a video of how things are going, what is being started or talked about, what projects have been finished up, interviews with other community peoples about them and their projects, etc.
$10-29: name in raffle to name a cow! will be two winners! (shout out to person in videos when possible)
$30-49: name in raffle to name a rabbit, will be four winners! (shout out to person in videos when possible)
$50-69: name in raffle to name a goat, will be four winners! (shout out to person in videos when possible)
$70-89: name in raffle to name a sheep, will be five winners! (shout out to person in videos when possible)
$90-99: name listed in a video
$100-1: select a topic for a video
$140-159: listed as "supreme executive producer with bacon, cheese and sparkles" for one video
$160-179: sent links to goofy "blooper" videos that wont be public videos
$180-199: photo in a video
$200-249: ask five questions to be answered in a video
$250-299: ask ten questions to be answered in a video
$300+: sent links to "bonus footage" videos that wont be public videos

and then would be something like "if I raise {amount of money} more then my goal I will do special episodes for children very simply explaining permie things, and how nature works together that they work so well, baby animals and about how they grow up, simple explanations of how the animals are cared for, what the different animals eat,......" ((ah! i'm getting so many ideas!))

Oh, yes, I agree - those rewards seem much more in alignment now. Well done!

thanks (: my brain is like in overload going through everything. hahaha here I am sitting in DC station going over everything as I wait for my next train and i'm wondering if it would be worth the crazy stares to try a random poll of suggestions for possible rewards for this... hm... perhaps i'm a tad eccentric?

Quick notes:

I'm not sure about wethetrees, but with kickstarter, you are setting up a permaculture vlog. So "what it is" is relative to the folks forking over money instead of what it means to you. The folks with the dollars might think "shiny - I would enjoy such a vlog, therefore I will part with funds to have me some of that thar vlog."

Taxes: If you get $50,000 and put it in your pocket (or in a bank, or buy candy or set it on fire), you owe the tax man something like $15,000. On the other hand if you get $50,000 and then spend $50,000 on a fancy camera for your vlog (your brand new business-ish thing), you owe the tax man $0.00. It is an expense. The tax man only taxes you on "income-expenses" (of course, the actual algorithm fills a library).