my plans for my permaculture empire

Gary, have you seen this thread?

https://permies.com/t/27663/labs/volunteer-visit-apply-paid-position

Perhaps you could work something out that would benefit you both?

Miles Flansburg wrote:Gary, have you seen this thread?

https://permies.com/t/27663/labs/volunteer-visit-apply-paid-position

Perhaps you could work something out that would benefit you both?

Will look it over, thanks!

Stand Tall and Stand Proud! Do your thing Paul!

You have touched so many people.

Can we run over the nay sayers with the tractor?

Compost starter!

re: depression

iodine


---
from a phone.

I understand your frustration with some of the comments about being a money grubber. I have been a Baptist Preacher and pastor for over 35 years. Also had to hold down a paying job on the side to feed my family. I have been called lots of names, some of which I will not repeat. I was not preaching for the ones that called me names. I was and am working for my Lord Jesus Christ. Not everyone will like what we do or will everyone support or care about what we do. As long as our conscience is clear and we feel we are doing what we should be is all that matters.
The one request I have for anyone putting anything in print, please refrain from using language that detracts from your intelligence. Not meant to be offensive.
Thanks for all of your good info, because I can't help with $s, I do appreciate the free stuff, because as my user name says, I am dirtpoorsmith.

Well when I signed up for the newsletter it wasn't for the free stuff (although I like free stuff), and it wasn't for the kickstarters. I wanted to know more about the goings on in the project, what Paul's current musings were on whatever topic, if anyone had been stabbed at the project this week etc...

As winter came, this content sort of stopped. That seems natural as activity on the project must have slowed down, but surely the brains haven't. What are you planning for spring? What's the weather like in Missoula anyway? Have you seen any European wolves this winter (I hear they are in your area)? Have you started talking to your very own Wilson?

Paul

The problem with "healing" people is that if it works the "people who make you sad" will come in and shut your ass down and throw you in jail. That's why if you want to 'treat' cancer with diet, etc. you need to go to Mexico. I know of at least two clinics there who are doing just that. I have a friend who went to one of them years ago and was 'treated', came back to USA and started eating the same shit she was eating before and now the cancer is back. She has returned to the clinic and is improving. Of course this is just "anecdotal" evidence. (Wouldn't want my ass put in jail for claiming "cure".)

Got this one this morning:

You still don't understand that money is the, well, root of all the problems in the world.

I instructed him to unsubscribe from my list and added:

Money is not the root of all evil. Evil is the root of all evil.

An the correct quote is "the love of money is the root of all evil"

I have read this whole thread and have two thoughts on your plans and frustrations with how people react to them.

1. I second what the poster above said about giving people what they want. If you're making improvements on your land, with their money, and all they might get back is the knowledge and a DVD, it's not gonna seem that great a deal to most people, sad to say; especially to those who have low incomes, which I'm sure is more than 75% of the forum populace. Giving people what they want applies not just to subject (whether its earthworks or structures or a Zone 1 garden) and method (some people, like me, won't fund anything using industrial plant), but also longterm value. Think about how conventional businesses do it -> they sell shares. Perhaps people would be more willing to invest if they got a direct result out of the speculation, not just a recording of it taking place and some discussion. e.g. "I pledge to donate $50 now for $50 worth of veg in the future plus access to information on how you improved the soil and planted the garden; something like that.

2. I also feel sure that amonst the permaculture 'movement' are many people, who, like me, simply don't want to take part in the moneyed economy at all, and want to see it end. We want all progress, on all sites, to be the result of hard work, harmonising with nature, and only spending money when we feel absolutely certain that we have to - which, going back to the first point, will be when it's our project in some way, either on our land, or with a more tangible return.

I really hope my directness in this regard doesn't cause offence. Just trying to hypothesise about people's possible motivations.

I think having a poll, as suggested above, is a great idea. At least that way, you know you're making the DVDs that your peeps want.

Just remember that of the 1000s of permies there may well be those that want more than a DVD for their buck, and those that don't want to use monopoly money at all.

Hope this is of some use.

[EDIT: I should add that, were I in your position and choosing to do kickstarters, and I DID run a poll for donors, I would allocate the resources proportionally, not by FPTP. Therefore if 50% wanted Zone 1 food gardening, 30% wanted bees and 20% wanted hobbit homes, then you'd allocate your resources accordingly and tackle the projects as simultaneously as was feasible]

Therefore if 50% wanted Zone 1 food gardening, 30% wanted bees and 20% wanted hobbit homes, then you'd allocate your resources accordingly and tackle the projects as simultaneously as was feasible -- B. Freeman

I disagree. What Paul Wheaton, Grant Schultz, Ben Faulk, Mark Shepard, and a few others are doing is "Revolutionary" ... Fringe ... way Outside The Box. One does not pursue these unpopular - even unheard of - concepts, philosophies or projects as a result of popular opinion or a democratic majority. If Paul was to compromise his direction based on some on-line kickstarter voting mechanism, I fear we would still be discussing the finer points of "Annually Planting a Square-Foot Garden".

99.9% of this country are still convinced that annual crops are the only way to feed the world. And 90% of this country think we can only do it through GMO's and the 'miracles' of RoundUp and other, newer, more poisonous glyphosates. Put it to a vote? Ask the public if they're interested in replacing wheat, corn and soy with acorns, filberts, and chestnuts? Majority rule is the last thing we need and the worst way to influence a Kickstarted revolution.

I suspect that Paul is going to do what Paul is going to do. With more Kickstarter bucks, he'll get it done sooner and better. With less Kickstarter bucks, it'll take longer and public dissemination may suffer. It's not money grubbing; it's using worthless pieces of linen ... of artificial (and inflationary) worth ... promissory notes of 'Evil' to perhaps finally do some good. And it's voluntary. Don't like it ... don't do it. I wish to hell our government was so accommodating in their money-grubbing practices of theft, and their feigned efforts of democracy.

Obviously if someone is willing to give money to a permaculture broadcaster to make mini-documentaries, or to attend a course given on the subject, then they are no longer members of the public but INVESTORS in Paul's projects.

Paul knows this too, otherwise he wouldn't ask them what will make them invest/why they're not investing, as he did in his recent email. In other words, he (rightly) cares what the people who give him money think of what he's doing.

Paul did ask for ideas for DVD kickstarters:
https://permies.com/t/30173/labs/future-DVD-projects

If he tried to fund them all at once, they may never get done. That's why he does one at a time so each one can help with the next one.

Non-profit: Another reason agains non-profit status is that once you have it, the government gets to decide what you can and cannot say. If Paul said, "This presidential candidate is a [insert full beauty of the English language] moron!" then they could revoke the non-profit-ness.

Cancer: Why is this hard for people to see? If one person wants to go to the project, and their cancer goes away, we have a good anecdote. If another, and another, and another, we have strong evidence. At person number 20, people will start to take notice. If the FDA doesn't like the word 'cure' or the AMA doesn't like it, who cares? People who had cancer now don't, and we have a template for reproducing it; that's the important thing.

I feel like I am in the minority. Thats because the post that I am most waiting for is not from Paul, but from Jocelyn. The one where she posts a Profit/Loss statement like this.

2014 = $-40,000

2015 = $-20,000

2016 = $-300

2017 = $10,000 <-- I'll be happy for Paul here

2018 = $50,000 <-- I'll start looking for land of my own.

2019 = $100,000 <-- I'll quit my job and go into farming myself here.

Economics is not about wish fulfillment, nor is it about money. Its about choices and comparing alternatives. A modest level of profit, is the definition of an economically sustainable activity.

Bill, in my experience, accountants treat financial information with confidentiality. So I most definitely will NOT be posting accounting information (about anyone) in the fora. As others have said, this is not a nonprofit where finances are made public.

There is far, far more going on here than just farming. I feel so lucky to finally be living more of a homesteading lifestyle complete with innovations happening in all areas of permaculture design - not just food systems.

Publishing data openly can be very inspiring. I've followed the Smart Passive Income Blog for quite a while and he makes a point of publishing his monthly earnings with a complete and detailed breakdown of what has come from where.

This makes a lot of sense for him in his niche (advising people how to set up websites to earn cash) and is a major selling point for him.

It may be that a similar approach based on permaculture farming might be equally inspiring. The difference I guess is that the "bottom line" for permaculture farms isn't just financial. You would probably want to summarise environmental gains year on year (fruit trees gaining maturity so increasing yeild, soil fertility building, biodiversity increase etc...), number of people supported by the farm (eg 5 families, vrs one industrial farmer), products yeilded regardless of whether they are sold or used on site.

One of the biggest barriers to promoting permaculture to mainstream agriculture is that hard figures are difficult to come by - how much will I save by not fertilising my fields? how will this affect yield over 1 year, over 5 years, over 20 years...

If we get a few large permaculture establishments publsihing this kind of information openly and transparently over an extended period then we will have ammunition to use. Flying into a farm for a walk around video tour gives a great snapshot but it is nearly impossible to get a sense for the underlying financial security of an establishment on that kind of basis.

Michael Cox wrote:Publishing data openly can be very inspiring. I've followed the Smart Passive Income Blog for quite a while and he makes a point of publishing his monthly earnings with a complete and detailed breakdown of what has come from where.

This makes a lot of sense for him in his niche (advising people how to set up websites to earn cash) and is a major selling point for him.

That is a very different audience than the permaculture crowd - though there could be more overlap here on permies.com than elsewhere.

It may be that a similar approach based on permaculture farming might be equally inspiring. The difference I guess is that the "bottom line" for permaculture farms isn't just financial. You would probably want to summarise environmental gains year on year (fruit trees gaining maturity so increasing yeild, soil fertility building, biodiversity increase etc...), number of people supported by the farm (eg 5 families, vrs one industrial farmer), products yeilded regardless of whether they are sold or used on site.

One of the biggest barriers to promoting permaculture to mainstream agriculture is that hard figures are difficult to come by - how much will I save by not fertilising my fields? how will this affect yield over 1 year, over 5 years, over 20 years...

If we get a few large permaculture establishments publsihing this kind of information openly and transparently over an extended period then we will have ammunition to use. Flying into a farm for a walk around video tour gives a great snapshot but it is nearly impossible to get a sense for the underlying financial security of an establishment on that kind of basis.

I think Paul would say if you want this, then you should do it! While it would be lovely to gain that knowledge from others' efforts, I think it would take some serious shifts before that will happen here or other places.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:
I think Paul would say if you want this, then you should do it! While it would be lovely to gain that knowledge from others' efforts, I think it would take some serious shifts before that will happen here or other places.

Agreed, but I'm working on about 1 acre of garden space and have a full time (7 days per week from 7.30am to late evening) job in a boarding school. I'm limited by my situation and will be making small incremental changes over a long period and don't intend to make it my prime livelyhood.

I know that talking openly about money is almost taboo in some cultures, but where true transparency takes place it can be transformative. It is being used in corrupt developing countries to reduce corruption in government for example - central government releases funds to regional schools and publish the figures online. The schools publish how much they actually receive. Any difference is immediately obvious and and there is no where for corrupt middle men to hide.

Also, you'll notice I wasn't actually pushing for any individual to start publishing info - more expressing the wish that that type of information was readily available.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:Bill, in my experience, accountants treat financial information with confidentiality. So I most definitely will NOT be posting accounting information (about anyone) in the fora. As others have said, this is not a nonprofit where finances are made public.

I just assumed that with an accounting/QuickBooks background, you would be keeping track of finances. I didn't mean to imply that you would post financials without permission, or that you were obligated to share them. Sorry about that.

paul wheaton wrote:show that a wofati shell can be built for one tenth the cost of a conventional home
show that a wofati shell can be built in one half the time of a conventional home
show that a wofati house can be built for half the cost of a conventional house when you pay for labor
optimize rocket mass heater technology so that the shippable core is cheap and public buy in is far stronger
highest food production per acre for montana without irrigation or fertilizer
highest ag income per acre for montana without irrigation or fertilizer

6 of the 15 goals listed are fairly straightforward desires to prove efficiency or cost. I can't see how these goals could be accomplished in the absence of published data, at least on a per-project basis.

For those projects, we will release information when we are close to having the results we seek.

I think a lot of the information is covered in the podcasts.

I think Bill makes two very good points:

1) yes, it is great to have jocelyn here to record every spec of everything so that we can show, down to the penny, the money aspect of every project. (and then, as Jocleyn pointed out - when we wish to share that, and we will not make ourselves accountable to anybody that asks)

2) Getting started on new land does require a fair bit to get started. I do think that it will be around year three or four that people will be doing land-income to the point that the land is running in the black instead of running in the red (as it does now) and is augmented by kickstarters.

I love what you are doing! It's exciting to see a visionary thinker with the capability to try things on a grand scale and the platform to share the results with a lot of people. I'm glad you post some of the criticism you get and let people discuss it. I think there are some good ideas on this thread. I think it's totally fair to use kickstarter money for land improvements as long as you are upfront about what the money will go to when the people donate. If some people aren't comfortable with that or they want information specific to their extreme Canadian climate those people don't have to give you any money.

I'm curious what your hesitation is with sharing more financial details. Privacy? It would be helpful to others thinking of starting similar projects...how much $ for land? trackhoe? structures for housing volunteers? Maybe some of this information is already out there in podcast form. I'll admit I haven't heard any of the recent ones.

Great to see some food production goals there. I am very interested in this. Watching Geoff Lawton videos I can easily agree with the 'food security and supply lines' quotes he gives, but whenever he says 'abundance' I wonder what he means. Biomass production seems good, but in terms of calories I don't see how a food forest could compete with a field of corn or wheat, because I have never seen any data to back up that claim. Fukuoka had awesome production of rice and barley, but I always wonder why no one else can replicate his success.
I'm not in tune with your goal for the most profit per acre, but I can see the reasoning behind it. I'd more agree with a goal of the lowest costs, per acre or unit of food.
I know it takes a lot of money to set up a farm, and I think it's great you came out and told us all how you felt about money grubbing. For a while last year I was getting sick of the constant stream of requests for funding, but that's how you get things done, go for it. I chipped in for the earthworks kickstarter once you came up with a decent reward.

Martin Vandepas wrote:I'm curious what your hesitation is with sharing more financial details. Privacy? It would be helpful to others thinking of starting similar projects...how much $ for land? trackhoe? structures for housing volunteers? Maybe some of this information is already out there in podcast form. I'll admit I haven't heard any of the recent ones.

For myself, sometimes I'm hesitant about sharing this information because, well, finances can feel really "personal" - like talking about religion or politics. I've revealed costs of projects but only after they're done and I can assess the return-on-investment and do a breakdown of what worked, what didn't and changes I might make the next time I try something similar.

I'm thinking this GENERAL topic - finances for starting up a homestead - might be beneficial in the Homestead forum. Then people who are willing to share the financial aspects of setting up a site can share that information there. The added benefit is that you would be able to learn from a variety of examples.

Andy Reed wrote: I'm not in tune with your goal for the most profit per acre, but I can see the reasoning behind it. I'd more agree with a goal of the lowest costs, per acre or unit of food

I think you are talking about the same thing as "most profit per acre"(output) would depend on "lowest costs, per acre" (input). A site designed using permaculture methodology builds rehydration of the landscape, soil creation, natural fertilizers, etc right into the system along with food. It's not "separate" as in a monocrop situation. Each element supports many functions and each function is supported by many elements. Thus the system is resilient. If a you have an infestation in one area, it is extremely unlikely that it will spread to the whole system as it would in a monocrop situation (and thus destroy your entire yield). Ditto a dry spell or unusually cold spell, etc is moderated by the many support elements in the system (legumes, swales, ponds, overstory canopy, and on and on). So whereas permaculture systems may have less "mass" of one particular food product - like a field of corn - what is produced could still cost less because of all the other factors mentioned. Especially if you look at the system over time.

The beauty of a permaculture system is that the outside inputs needed to keep the system going decrease as the system matures. Monocrop systems don't mature and they don't give much back to the land. Thus they will need increasing inputs over time making the food more expensive - and probably more toxic and less nutritious at the same time.

Andy Reed wrote: I know it takes a lot of money to set up a farm, and I think it's great you came out and told us all how you felt about money grubbing. For a while last year I was getting sick of the constant stream of requests for funding, but that's how you get things done, go for it. I chipped in for the earthworks kickstarter once you came up with a decent reward.

Andy - one can appreciate your honesty about this. But when I read this last part I thought - OUCH! language like "once you came up with a decent reward" makes it sound like Paul's your "b*tch". I don't know if that was your intention or if it was humor and it just landed oddly with me?

Many times Paul does come out and ask for input on what kinds of rewards to offer.

Andy Reed wrote: I chipped in for the earthworks kickstarter once you came up with a decent reward.

My reaction to this is totally different from Jen's (& I'm normally pretty quick to take offense)!

What was the reward that pushed you over the edge?

Cj Verde wrote:

Andy Reed wrote: I chipped in for the earthworks kickstarter once you came up with a decent reward.

My reaction to this is totally different from Jen's (& I'm normally pretty quick to take offense)!

You sayin' I may have fallen out of the wrong side of the bed this morning? Could be. I woke up at 1:30 AM.

Jennifer Wadsworth wrote:
You sayin' I may have fallen out of the wrong side of the bed this morning?

Er, more like it takes a village - but today was opposite day!

Just reminding everyone how smart you need to be to ride this ride

Beautiful!

So here is the original:

paul wheaton wrote:
So, here is some of the criticism from this morning:

Donate here, buy this, fund that... It gets tiring after a while as this is not what I thought I was signing up for. I've read a post where you used to make over 100k a year which is a lot more than some of us make in several years so yeah... the reason I don't support what you do is that I have not gotten any real quality newsletters to be honest. When I say quality, I mean good content, stuff that will teach me something.

Yes, I gave up a lucrative career because I felt that this permaculture work was just that important.

Yes, I don't give away as much free stuff lately. Of course, the TED talk was free. Wait - I actually had to pay to get up there and back. And pay for a bunch of stuff there. And it took a good three days out of my life. I didn't get paid anything.

Just looking at the last 30 days: the mason bee video, paying for innovation, supporting geoff lawton's free stuff, my tiny contributions to some of the allan savory stuff, i was on four radio shows, the porta-wood-shed, supporting a new permaculture author, paying thousands of dollars so that people with poor internet can get the videos and podcasts, on two podcasts, giving away four new podcasts for free, talking to lots of instructors for lots of topics to bring them more business and somehow find more ways to get what is in their brains into more brains, my contribution to the survival summit, one magazine interview, heaps of rocket mass heater work that i am paying thousands for ... this is probably about half of it. And this is just for the last 30 days.

And, of course, I guess my past work doesn't count. The only thing that counts is "what have you done for me lately."

One of your previous issues talked about the desert and it was supposed to be great content... maybe to you, but I live in the north of Canada and it was -44 c last Monday. Besides the point that I don't support the idea of living in the desert, it just does not apply nor will it ever apply to me so I cannot relate to the content your provide, it's just too much off topic for where my interests lie.

I guess it is true: you must be THIS smart to ride this ride. This is a technique called "observation". If you can grow a garden in a desert without irrigation, then surely you can grow a garden in a place with ample water without irrigation.


... ...

...

And now I have a lovely graphic!

Thanks Olof! I suspect I am going to use this a lot!

They say, Knowledge is Power.

Knowledge is Knowledge, in my opinion.
How to USE that knowledge, is the value.
Knowledge that is useful, in a format that can be utilized to be able to use it, PRICELESS.

Keep it up, Paul, keep it up. I feel that your entire endeavor is going to be the example, the repository of knowledge (shared by you and others, gods and fishes, do I love your forums) that will ultimately benefit the most people.

Somebody gave me an apple for the first post here, so it brought me back to this thread.

One important thing to add:

In 2005 I realized the the most that I could accomplish by myself is 1000 pounds of awesome.   But I desperately needed to accomplish 10,000 pounds of awesome.  Therefore, I needed community.   Maybe six people, maybe a dozen, maybe a couple dozen.   Each person would know far more than me about several aspects of permaculture.  One person would be an expert at cattle, another would be an expert at hogs, another at food preservation, another with foraging ....   And I would focus my attention on three or four things that I'm particularly keen on.  Together, we would hit the 10,000 pounds of awesome.  

It is now 2016, and I now want about 400,000 pounds of awesome.  

Step 1:  get 400,000 pounds of awesome to happen here.

Step 2:  figure out how this process can be replicated a thousand times for a thousand other properties.

Thank you Paul for all of your “awesome”

That said, my thoughts about the popularity of RMHs: from my perspective as a simple mortal is many people hesitate because of the legality. I’d love to see people from many different cities and states working to change the books on this. I will hopefully be one of those people when I get my dream land and start building my dream home resembling somthing like a Wofati.

It’s too bad that people are more likely to speak up when they are displeased than when they are pleased. Keep that in mind when you feel like your being beaten down like the nail sticking up Paul. For everyone sending that less-than-happy-stuff there are many others of us happily and quietly soaking up your awesome!

I am re-reading some bits here, and something struck me as enormously important:  

We now have the land. And it is clear that the thing we need is a critical mass of people that want to be part of all this. And people need food and a bunk. Focus has been on shelter and once the ground thaws we will start focusing on food production. And then focus has to go back to shelter.  

I think that everything on the list cannot happen until we reach "critical mass".  

Last year we had two boots in the fall that sounded like they might stick around for years.   But when the holidays rolled around and there was hardly anybody here ...   well, there was clearly a lack of "critical mass".  I think that if there were 20 people here, they would have stayed on.

When there are 20 people, then we start getting a lot more of systems feeding systems feeding systems.  The velocity of any one individual is doubled over what that individual can accomplish all by themselves.

We need more boots in the bootcamp, more ants in ant village, more people attending the events and we need the people that are renting out the structures so that people can rent the structures.  

We need 500 people to come here in one year for events and renting structures and .... all the things.  So that by the end of december there are 20 people that stuck around.  

Maybe we need ten plots that gert-ready so that ten gerts can move in.  

This year with the peasant pdc and the schmoozaroo the focus is on making allerton abbey a permaculture paradise.  Finish the structure and prepare the site for gardens.  Once we have one that is gert ready, we can begin on the next one.

What you all are undertaking and accomplishing is impressive and inspiring. If I have my timeline right you have been on your land for around 5 years right? I have seen properties that folks have lived on for a decade or more that don't have nearly the momentum or foundation that you all seem to have built up.

We will hit five years on june 3.

paul wheaton wrote:  And I have put in a lot of work to connect that content with 35 million brains.

And we are now over 100 million brains with 19.8 million for 2017.   We might be at about 120 million right now.

I have found that the kickstarter path is making it so that I can reach people that I cannot reach with the free content.

More true than ever.  The same can be said for having lots of non-free stuff.  Some people will only consider it is of value if it costs money.  And some people will only tell others about it if there is profit.  And we have learned that while usually you have to pay $1000 to sell $100 worth of product, sometimes you can find a way to pay $1000 to sell $1100 worth of product.  And that means we now have a whole new way to get permaculture bits into brains.

This path has turned out to be quite smart!

We now have the land.  And it is clear that the thing we need is a critical mass of people that want to be part of all this.  And people need food and a bunk.  Focus has been on shelter and once the ground thaws we will start focusing on food production.  And then focus has to go back to shelter.

With a critical mass of people, ideas can feed ideas which feed ideas;  difficult tasks become easier;  overall velocity is improved; work is more of a joy and less of a burden.

Lots and lots of lessons learned about building critical mass.  Painful lessons.  

Recently I was asked "What are the three most profound things you have learned when trying to build community your way?"  My answers are:

  - central leader

  - be super picky about who you let in and make it really easy for people to leave

  - it is easy to destroy community.  It is almost as easy to build community.  I wrote about this in "squishy math"

I see a lot of organizations get grants for millions of dollars per year for ten years to accomplish what has been accomplished with the empire so far.  And fail.  We have accomplished what they could not using baling wire, duct tape, rubber bands and sheer will.  And now we go even bigger.  We now have a recipe to fuel these projects: the kickstarters.  

The kickstarters fund projects.  Projects lead to more kickstarters which funds even more projects.  

The "goal" price for a kickstarter is set to be the "barely break even" price.  So when we meet the minimum goal, nothing extra goes to projects.  

Bottom line:  the more we bring in from the kickstarters, the more velocity we have with our projects.

I think there is still a lot of truth to this.  The one exception in here is the part where I am talking about other organizations.   We have had our failures and setbacks.   It is as if there are lessons about humanity (and all that this word implies) that I still need to learn before the greater projects can really move forward.

I have said things in the past that I very much regret.   During a time when coin was coming in I said it was easy.  Shortly after that, the coin dried up.  And I have not been able to get back to that level of coin flow.  

I was fortunate to have magnificent health and since writing the above I have learned powerful lessons about my spinal cord, gallstones and gout.

My brain is packed with projects to try - the stuff at the top of the list is in the first post of this thread.   And to get there, we need coin and to build community.  And to build community, I need a few more people here that understand this and have similar goals.  

I tried to work harder to make all this happen and learned that I have my limits.  So over the years I will be able to do no more than X.  But 20 of us working together will be able to accomplish 200x.  

Up until about 8 years ago, I had zero interest in growing food. Food magically appeared in stores and came in cool packages that were easy to open. Nutrition was something boring people talked about or worried about. A home was a box that was on a street that was in a city. Money was the only concern, and if I had money all the other things were easy to acquire.
Oddly enough, my joining Permies coincided with a dramatic shift in my thinking. Now I am obsessed with ways to grow food, and anything in a logo-slathered package is treated as potential death. My home is a round tent that has several thousand years of history and it is placed in the middle of a forest. I don't think I figure in Paul's statistics but I think I might be one of countless people that have been permanently altered by the content here at Permies. To be honest, I never really realized how much of an impact Permies had on my awakening, but now I see it.
What I really hope is that Paul is aware of the impact of the work he has already done and that he occasionally takes a moment to savor that.

Thanks Paul, and all the Permies people.