PEP2 Notebook

I'm working towards PEP2 now!

To reach it, I have 14 more sand bbs to achieve,

95 straw bbs!! Oy, that's a bit overwhelming.

And 2 wood bbs. Those will take all fall to work on, so I've already begun documenting them.

That's 111 bbs! Bilbos magic number. Eleventy one
😆 there's only 130 days left in 2024. Could I possibly do all those bbs by the end of the year?? My PEP1 pace was 4 or 5 bbs a week. At that pace, it's possible. But since straw bbs, like building an entire RMH, take mkre time and money and energy, it might take me longer.

Well, let's just go! And see how many I get done in 2024.

I picked a load of apricots today! Canning some, drying some. That's part of two big bbs in the sand food prep badge.

Today I saved some seeds for the gardening badge.

I also butchered half my meat birds. 16 of them. 12 more to go. Im not fast, since its my first time doing meat chickens. Since each 6 pound bird adds up to 3000 calories with skin and guts, I estimate that will be 84,000 of the 1 million calories I need to preserve for the wood level food prep badge!

I also finished a bb for food prep: bake 6 things: a pretty involved bb! So that got turned in today.

A day in the life of a permaculture homestead! 😆

Today, I processed more apricots. Hopefully I will have enough for 1 gallon of apricot jam. Thats for the canning bb. I'll finish making that tomorrow. I've been drying 10 pounds of them for the drying bb. All of this counts towards my "preserve 1 million calories" bb. I also finished butchering my chickens. 28 birds in all! And we ate one tonight, which counts towards my 800 plates bb. But not actually turning in any of these bbs yet.

SO I turned in an animal care bb: prove your chicken feed is fit for human consumption.  It was an easy one that's been waiting in my phone for awhile. It's a silly 1 minite video:
https://youtu.be/rufwjiiib5Q?si=uG9ohaxcK2tpJ4Qt

Yesterday I spent a TON of time on my zoom Medicine Badge Class. Tomorrow is the big day. Today I finished getting ready for it.

I also finished 8 quarts of apricot jam, and seasoned a cast iron pan. That's today's bb.

My medicine class was a great success! 😄 I spent most of the day after the class editing footage. I should finish that work tomorrow. And then! Earn the last bb for my commerce badge.

I also put more apricots in the dryer. Still working of drying 6 things.

And started a gallon of ginger beer for the ferment 4 types-of-things bb.

I also have a big old pot of chicken stock on the stove. It will be one of the things I pressure can.

This week, I was visited by the one and only DEZ!! He taught me his Fermentation methods. We pickled beets! And onions! Pretty cool. He also gave me a lot of roundwood wood-working tips so I could finish a saw buck I had been working on. I also worked on some cleaning nest bbs to get ready for him to come. I keep working on about one meal a day being part of the food prep sand badge, but since the bbs are much bigger, I might make a gravy for one meal (one part of a single bb) and pickle a gallon of something (part of a completely different bb) so itkinda looks like I am not doing much (well, I guess 4 bbs in a week isn't bad) but pretty soon here I will finish a bunch of big food prep bbs. And be close to finishing that badge.

I also turned in my commerce badge!! Soon that icon will be lit up for me 😁

The last two weeks have been a flurry of bbs! I spent about 6 weeks doing little bits of the big, straw level bbs. It was a slower pace, for sure, while I harvested my gardens and went to as many of my kids' sport events as I could (4 scheduled games a week! football, volleyball, cheer, and soccer this season XO) I wanted to keep a faster bb pace through the fall, but the pressure needed to reduce as I went through this season of unknown difficulty. I've never had 2 kids in High School sports before, so I didn't know it would tax my mind and time and creativity so much. Variables! *sigh* Volleyball is over, so I've been taking some well-needed deep breaths! and getting back to bbs.

I thought we needed an update! And a new projection for PEP2 completion.  I have 12 more sand level bbs, and 48 straw level, with 2 wood level bbs left to complete. All of them feel possible and doable within the coming months. Except one: the grain storage bb is out of reach. I grew corn for this season, but thanks to a June 20th frost, and earwig problems, my stalks were little, with an ear or two on each one. The resulting crop is a little less than 1 gallon of kernels; a long way off from the 5 gallons required for the bb. I've tried finding local people I could help with their corn for this bb to still get done. But the people around me grew fresh eating corn. Any despite me asking, I didn't find a host for this. I need to trouble shoot this one, or else I won't finish the food prep badge for a whole other year! I don't know if there is another work around...?

So 72 more bbs. if I do 3 a week, that will take me 24 weeks. A completion date estimation of the end of April. Not the end of the year, as I had hoped. At this point, that would take a crazy pace of 9 and a half bbs a week, more than one a day. Hmm! I'll plug along and see what happens!

A moment of reality. I've had 3 bbs rejected this week. That means I have 75 bbs left still to go, not 72. Under the best of attitudes, that would mean I'll be delayed one more week into April of my target PEP2 time frame. It shouldn't be a big deal.

Under the current attitude, it now feels worlds away. I'm so down. I'm pouring a lot of time and effort into SKIP. I'm encouraging and loving other people in the program along the way while I cerfity their submissions. This community receives no small amount of care from me.

While the bbs I am working on are getting more complicated and detailed, the expectations are also intended to rise. I'm not measuring up. I'm not careful enough. I'm not detailed enough. I'm not savvy enough. It feels like a big kid club I'm not tall enough to join.

I record this melancholy in permies, not a side you'd normally see if me, because everyone SKIPping down this same path will meet with rejection. It sure takes a lot of grit to pick ones' self back up to try again after not measuring up in such a public way.

I usually want to delete all my rejected bbs, (38 of them so far!) so folks can't see how many times I screwed up. It's not an option for me, just so you know. I'm not staff, I don't have special privileges like that. (I'm the first one through PEP1 who isnt staff) Otises are watching. Certifyers are watching. Other SKIPpers are watching while I press forward, earning red dot after red dot. On the screen, it's just a few pixels. In my heart and mind, it's leaving scars.

I have plenty of reasons in the real world to believe I'm not good enough. I'm currently doubting that continuing along the SKIP path, and inviting continued rejection, is worth it. I'm giving away so much power over myself! To people I don't know! To mentors who choose to remain anonymous. Many masters. Masters I cannot even name.

Every student knows that when beginning a new class, there is considerable uncertainty until, after a few projects, you'll begin to understand what the teacher wants and expects. As the term progresses, you start to learn, not just the course material, but the unsaid way your teacher interprets a certain phrase in their directions. By the end of the class, you know how to give everything your teacher asks. You know their class structure and quirks. This isn't so with SKIP. Anyone who has earned a badge can grade your submissions. Which parts of the directions will they choose to emphasize? Will they pull you aside, kindly, to point out a fault? Will they give you credit for trying again? Or smear red ink all over your paper? When you hit "Submit for bb certification", you don't have a clue which teacher you're working for. Working directly with one Otis/mentor would sure be easier.

These are some of the challenges SKIPpers encounter. Its not for the feint of heart, as can be evidenced by the hundreds who have quit. And shall I go the way of hundreds of others? After 262 approved bbs? I don't know. A lot can happen in 75 more bbs.

I got my first straw level badge approved this week! Gardening! Oh yeah 😎 The next one I plan to finish is the Natural Medicine straw badge.

Which iron badge am I picking? To achieve PEP2, I will have to earn one. Well, I was going for the Food Prep and Preservation straw badge. But since I will be shy ONE bb in the straw level, both levels are a year out.

There's also been a conversation at home about how much time the bbs cost our family. Not to mention the financial cost. So far, I've spent few dollars in SKIP. I've bought a few tools here and there. But all my wood badges were made from pallets, so I haven't even spent money for lumber.

The RMH, however, is costing a pretty penny. Up to 1K so far. My husband also argues that the more expensive organic food I buy for the food prep bbs is also a factor he considers a SKIP expense.

This prompted a look at the other straw badges I have planned, with a good account of the time and money each may represent for my family.

There's going to be a shift. My husband and I plan to build a house starting next year. We will do most of the labor ourselves, which means many of the plumping and electrical bbs won't cost us anything extra and Ill be doing them anyway. By planning to earn these badges instead of others, it will reduce competions between family and SKIP. It's a win-win!

I'm not sure yet what that means for my bb count, because electricity and plumbing badges use points instead of checklists. It may take more bbs for me to reach PEP2, but it will be easier on me in the long run.

Finally, this conversation forced me to look into wood and iron bbs that I haven't read over yet. The clarity is AMAZING. I now know which Wood badges will come naturally as I create the homestead I want. And which badges I don't have an interest to achieve.

A new bb total. To go with the new badges I'm planning to achieve. I have 9 sand level bbs and 42 straw-level bbs to go for pep2. Wood-level badges will also need to be done, but I cannot tell exactly how many yet, since the plumbing and electrical wood badges have points and what seems like many oddball points or duplication required. Alternatively, if I cannot do enough points of either plumbing or electricity during my house build next year, I know I will achieve the Homesteading Wood badge when I build my greenhouse the following year. The badges I will seek:

4 more sand, including electricity, earthworks, metalworking and plumbing

6 more straw badges:
Animal Care,
Rocket,
Natural Medicine,
Textile,
Plumbing,
Electricity.

I have many Foraging bbs, and Homesteading bbs, which I could use as a backup if any of these categories fail.

This week, there's loads of good stuff happening.
I mentored with Paul Fookes in Monday. That really helped me make good plans for clear pictures for the bbs I had planned for the week.

I finished the firewood bb! (Split and stack dead-standing wood as firewood) It was my last bb for the woodland care badge-sand level. I've submitted that badge for approval.

I also turned in a natural medicine bb that had been stewing. I got the second picture, so I turned it in. I've got another 2 bbs in this category stewing. The stewing bbs, plus two more, equal 4 more bbs for the Natural Medicine straw badge.

I found someone with a set of critters they want butchered. I volunteered to do a sheep, which will be part of my last 4 points for the Animal Care straw badge.

And finally. I have been struggling to find adequately clay-laden soil for my rocket mass heater build. Today, I was given some by the local quarry-man with a fondness for home-cooked meals. A quart of cream of parsnip soup and a loaf of homeade bread helped me get a yard of clay!!! It should be all I need for the RMH!!

All this while supporting my son to be a STATE FOOTBALL CHAMPION!!! Go panthers! We won 🏆 the Idaho 1A division, 8-man football.

Hey SKIPpers!

Being that its the last day of 2025, I thought a recap of my PEP2 progress would be nice. Some people may remember a podcast I did with Paul Wheaton in July this year, claiming I would be PEP2 certified by the end of 2024. I'm close! But it's still on the horizon.
I have 5 more sand level bbs left. I plan to wrap those up over the next 2 weeks. ( I wanted all my sand level badges by the end of December, but I chose, instead, to be more involved and present during the holidays.)
I have achieved one of the 8 higher-level badges: gardening. yeah-hoo!
I've got another (natural Medicine) with all the bbs I need turned in, then I'll submit it for approval as well.
The Food Prep straw badge stalled out, with one of the necessary bbs of harvesting grains not meeting the cut (one gallon cereal grain, or 5 gallons of corn grains, and I only grew about 1 gallon of corn) I'll grow more next season, but that means this badge will have to wait til then.
I only have 2 more bbs left in the straw textile badge (that's a BIG badge! requiring many more hours than other comparable badges!)
I have one more bb left for the rocket straw badge.
I have one or two more bbs left in the sand Animal care badge. (which depends on whether I butcher a sheep and do one more bb, or butcher a pig and finish my 35 points)
I'm pretty close in the foraging straw badge also. 3 or 4 more bbs left there. I didn't get a deer, so I will have to get both game birds and fish. Possibly also wild rabbits.
In the plumbing and electrical badges, I've yet to begin. But this coming year will see me building out bathrooms, a garage with a small apartment inside, and my future home for my family. So they will happen! (20 bbs in them!)
I'm still not sure if I will achieve the wood level badge in plumbing, or slowly keep preserving for the food prep badge, or possibly earn the wood textile badge. I can see all of these as possible!! Although I'm closest in the food prep aspect.
Anyways! I'm plugging away. About 35 more bbs to go.

Rebekah Harmon wrote:Wood-level badges will also need to be done, but I cannot tell exactly how many yet, since the plumbing and electrical wood badges have points and what seems like many oddball points or duplication required.

I was having a similar problem when trying to plan out my BBs, so I turned to google sheets and had that do the work for me.
I put a row with the points required (in column C) and then the individual badge bits below with their points, then I column D I put a formula to calculate my points remaining for that badge.

E.g. for the wood level Willow Feeder Badge:
D81=C81-SUM(D82:D89)

So if I knock out all the straw badges I’ve listed, I’ll have 36 out of the necessary 35 points (i.e.: negative one points remaining)
I still need to figure out how I’ll get the remaining 24 points for the wood badge.

I spent a few (too many) hours on this last night, thinking about how I might want to approach 2025.
It’s hard nailing down exactly what I want to do this coming year, especially with GAMCOD tugging at my heartstrings.

Hey Clay! Sound like the gardening sand badge is in your future! Hah! 100,000 calories, here you come!

I've finished all the bbs for the metalworking sand badge AND the plumbing sand badge! YA HOO! Just electricity and earthworks left for sand badges.

Hey BIG DAY! I earned my 300th bb today!!

This week, since beginning writing my Gert story, I've slowed down bbs. I'll be honest and vulnerable for a minute here, too. In the winter, I'm blue. It's harder for me to get out of bed. It takes me longer to do things. On cloudy or colder days, I reach more for stress relieving activities like spinning yarn or spening time on my phone than I do other times of year. I'm finally ok with this seasonal rhythm, although for years I beat myself up about it, trying to fix myself.

So I did one single bb this week-BUT HEY!-it was the last bb for my straw animal care badge 😄 Jist submitted that badge! BOO YA!!

I also applied for a big loan this week, one that will, hopefully, fund my family's new home that will fit all 8 of us, plus our permaculture hobbies. That was a lengthy process. Cross your finger for me!

With 2 weeks still left for basketball season, (3 kids playing! 🫣) I'm just glad I haven't stopped altogether, like I did at the end of football/volleyball season.

Anyways! I've got 3 bbs planned for next week. I'll finish up 2 and start a new one. With love and care,
Rebekah

Our loan came through and we are beginning to build things out at my new place. Its overwhelming and time consuming. I was right to try finishing PEP2 before all this building was underway, because now I've slowed down so much in the bb space.
Once in awhile, I spend an hour or so playing with a textile project. Or preparing my family bb-worthy meals. Those are contributing to an overall progess with the wood level bbs that take a long time and several entries to work on. But the number of bb projects all in different stages of completion is FOR SURE wearing me out. I'll stop one because I ran out of materials. I'll start another when a neighbor is ready, but have to wait for them again. Maybe another bb im working on is a seasonally sensitive one, so while I wait, I order supplies for another.
If I have a minute, which one do I work on? Does 20 minutes on this one and 40 minutes on that one actually help me get any closer to finishing a bb? It doesn't feel like it sometimes. I need focus and clarity. Wish me some!

Rebekah Harmon wrote: Our loan came through and we are beginning to build things out at my new place. Its overwhelming and time consuming. I was right to try finishing PEP2 before all this building was underway, because now I've slowed down so much in the bb space.
Once in awhile, I spend an hour or so playing with a textile project. Or preparing my family bb-worthy meals. Those are contributing to an overall progess with the wood level bbs that take a long time and several entries to work on. But the number of bb projects all in different stages of completion is FOR SURE wearing me out. I'll stop one because I ran out of materials. I'll start another when a neighbor is ready, but have to wait for them again. Maybe another bb im working on is a seasonally sensitive one, so while I wait, I order supplies for another.
If I have a minute, which one do I work on? Does 20 minutes on this one and 40 minutes on that one actually help me get any closer to finishing a bb? It doesn't feel like it sometimes. I need focus and clarity. Wish me some!

Congratulations on your new property! I hope it serves you and your family well for a long time.