permaculture bootcamp - learn permaculture through a little hard work

click here to see the official bootcamp web page!
Most of the information is on that page.  This thread is mostly for discussion.

Let's make sure you are in the right place:

permaculture bootcamp: "learn permaculture with a little hard work." 40 hours a week for a few weeks or months.  Get a warm bunk and organic food with your gardening and natural building experiences. Kinda school-ish. If this is what you are looking for, you found the right web page!

the sepper program:  Rent a humble cabin for a few days or weeks.  Participate in the bootcamp as much or as little as you like.  Maybe you come as a couple and one person works online while the other is in the bootcamp.  For more information click here.


2024 PTJ Postcard - a taste of what goes on at Wheaton Labs:




A recent bootcamp project:




A recent winter bootcamp project:





We have 220 acres.  We spend our days gardening and building stuff to our standards. In the winter we heat our buildings with rocket mass heaters (we have more than a dozen).  We are the host for the annual "Permaculture Technology Jamboree" - and in a way, the bootcamp build those same things all year.  We even get quite a few experts stopping by from time-to-time.

We have a different way we do things.  Our gardens feature a lot of hugelkultur. The homes we build are made of logs and mud.  Zero cement, paint or glue.

People come to hang out in the bootcamp for a week or two to immerse themselves in this form of living.  Some come for months.  Some come for years.  

95% of the work done is to benefit the current boots or the future boots. Growing gardens to produce the food of the bootcamp. Building habitat for the bootcamp.  Caring for tools that are used by the bootcamp.  Etc.



a little jingle in your pocket

COIN-1: Several boots have harvested hundreds of dollars by posting pics and videos of theirs experiences here in the BEL program (most recent payout was 5 digits).

COIN-2: You can shoot videos for Paul's YouTube channel. Details here.

COIN-3: After a few weeks (once we think you can do stuff on your own), talk to us about some bounties for coin.  There are several little projects we are willing to pay for.   A person could earn about $100 to $200 per month on evenings and weekends.

COIN-4: And if there is a special tool or bit of warm clothes you would like to have, the boots love program has proven to be quite generous.

COIN-5: When people need a ride to and from the airport a person with a rig could harvest pick-up and drop-off bounties.  (Normally $20 one way during normal hours and $50 for crazy hours)

COIN-6: When a boot is here long enough, they can harvest some coin giving tours.

COIN-7: Sometimes we have a rush and there is a need for people to help with rentals - and that pays money!

COIN-8: Some ants and deep roots people have paid for help with their plots - building and gardening.

COIN-9: We have a neighbor that sometimes needs some construction help and has paid for that on evenings and weekends.

COIN-10: Some residents in the past have set up patreon accounts and made a few hundred bucks a month posting videos and pics.  

COIN-11: When you have a plot to play with, you can build a fence and some gardens and a structure.   And then you can sell those improvements to somebody else.  

COIN-12: When a boot is here long enough, they can harvest some coin helping with events on weekends.



the tie-in to the PEP program

The estimates are that a person participating in the bootcamp might get PEP1 certified in about 10 to 12 weeks.   We're thinking half of the BBs would be harvested during project labor and the other half would be on evenings and weekends.   More about the PEP program here.



An interview with people that had been in the bootcamp program, about the bootcamp program



audio only.  


Bits and bobs that might be of interest to new boots:

A summary of all things Wheaton Labs
Bootcamp Experience log
bonus for boots - event tickets info (Program ends in 2024!)
the Wheaton Labs forum
online permaculture design course (133 hours of video of the 2017 PDC and ATC)
the 2024 Permaculture Technology Jamboree
the 2024 SKIP: Skills to Inherit Property event





How to become a Boot


To get in, you must pay the non-refundable fee of $100 for each person.  So a couple would pay $200.   (reminder, this is a drug and tobacco free campus)

You can pay with PayPal, Stripe or Crypto - you'll get the option to choose which once you hit the big shiny button below:








Once we receive payment, we will contact you to start sorting out the particulars.





FAQ


I enjoy weed once in a while, how can I enjoy my weed and still be respectful to your weed-free campus thing?

I suspect a few people have done that.   They go on road trips to washington state for a weekend.  That way they aren't bringing any here.


Do you live under a ten foot thick block of ice through the winter?

This last winter, the ground was bare quite a lot.  Snow would fall and then melt off.  I'm not sure if we even had one day where the temperature got below zero. More details here.


click here for the complete FAQ


Here you can get an idea of 65 different things that the boots have created in about 9 minutes



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