paul's patreon stuff got his videos and podcasts running again!

I have two patreon accounts!  One for videos and one for podcasts.


my patreon account for podcasts:

https://patreon.com/paulwheaton




my patreon account for videos:

https://patreon.com/pwvids









For $1 in my podcast patreon thing you get:

• Early access to most podcasts (generally one week lead time)
• 11 podcast review of "Botany in a Day"
• 10 podcast review of "Just Enough"
• Podcasts 1-120 in convenient zip files
• ability to make content suggestions
• ability to participate in some webinar-ish things
• access to the 45 minutes of basecamp tour with Justin Rhodes
• care and feeding of a rocket mass heater microdoc
• a few other bits and bobs that need to be kept private
• One time I felt grateful for all the support and I gave each of my biggest all time supporters a whole bunch of gift codes for the World Domination Gardening 3-DVD set
• In January of 2020 I felt so grateful for the support, that for every active supporter that put in at least $100 for all time, I sent them

     - 24 ebook gift codes "Building a Better World in Your Backyard"
     - 6 gift codes for podcast gobs
     - 6 gift codes for permaculture thorns ebook
     - 6 gift codes for the rocket ovens DVD
     - 6 gift codes for the Giant Solar Food Dehydrator Movie


• In February of 2020 I felt so grateful for the support, that for every active supporter that put in at least $40 for all time, I sent them

     - 6 gift codes for the 17 podcast review of gaia's garden
     - 3 gift codes for the Building a Better World in Your Backyard audiobook

For $1 in my video patreon thing you get:

• Early access to most videos (one week lead time)
• ability to make content suggestions
• ability to participate in some webinar-ish things
• access to the 45 minutes of basecamp tour with Justin Rhodes
• access to the microdoc "Care and Feeding of a Rocket Mass Heater"
• access to the microdoc "Cooking with a Rocket Oven"
• access to a two hour presentation by Helen Atthowe on her latest Fukuoka-esque techniques
• a few other bits and bobs that need to be kept private
• when I hit 100 patrons, I plan on giving out 200 gift codes for the DVD "Build a Cob Style Rocket Mass Heater"
• In January of 2020 I felt so grateful for the support, that for every active supporter that put in at least $40 for all time, I sent them

     - 12 ebook gift codes "Building a Better World in Your Backyard"
     - 6 gift codes for hugelkultur microdoc
     - 6 gift codes for permaculture thorns ebook
     - 3 gift codes for the rocket ovens DVD
     - 6 gift codes for the Giant Solar Food Dehydrator Movie


• In February of 2020 I felt so grateful for the support, that for every active supporter that put in at least $25 for all time, I sent them

     - 12 gift codes for the wild edibles movie
     - 6 gift codes for the skiddable structures microdoc
     - 6 gift codes for the PDC evening presentation on animal relationships with jacqueline freeman
     - 6 gift codes for the PDC evening presentation on ram pumps with Tim Barker presentation

I'm open to suggestions on how to manage my patreon page.  I am still quite new to it.

 

paul wheaton wrote:current tally of what people like best:


articles:  $195
videos:  $9
podcasts: $13

Just in case there are any newbies here, I'm going to list where to find these things.

articles:

richsoil.com - the most fully developed articles, with photos or illustrations, and links to further resources, permies.com forums for discussions, suggested/affiliate products, etc.

paul wheaton's MakeItMissoula Blog - also more fully developed articles with photos and illustrations

paul wheaton's pseudo blog - forum posts by Paul, usually article-length with the first post, some times just noodling on an idea, and the discussions that follow it

videos:

paul wheaton's youtube channel - over 150 videos

richsoil.com stuff page - where to find the DVDs for sale, most of which were created through Kickstarter.

podcasts:

paul wheaton's permaculture podcast - the permies.com forum dedicated to paul's podcasts. Includes excellent summaries, in few cases there are transcripts, some times pictures, and, of course, discussions

richsoil.com audio podcast blog page

or search in your favorite podcast app for "paul wheaton homesteading and permaculture podcast"

paul wheaton project(s):

paul's property(s), purchased in 2013, is collectively called wheaton labs, for which we have an entire wheaton laboratories forum on permies.com

Did I miss anything?

Though as paul wrote above:

paul wheaton wrote:What I put into podcasts, articles and videos is influenced by the patrons - patreon has a private message space that is just for the people that contribute.

To join that action, go to https://www.patreon.com/paulwheaton.

I just added this to the first post:

For $1 you get:

• Care and Feeding of a Rocket Mass Heater (30 minute video)
• Early access to podcasts (one week lead time)
• Early access to videos (one week lead time)
• 11 podcast review of "Botany in a Day"
• 10 podcast review of "Just Enough"
• Podcasts 1-120 in convenient zip files
• ability to make content suggestions

I'm open to suggestions on how to manage my patreon page.  I am still quite new to it.

The video is out there now.  The other stuff should be out there tomorrow.

Maybe this is a good time to see if other creators might have things they are willing to put in to help me get my patreon stuff off the ground?

I just posted the new podcasts for patreon supporters.  These podcasts start off talking about the passing of toby hemenway and john polk.   Then they move into the space of how to save the world from your backyard.

I think we have established a pretty good system where podcasts are going to the patreon folks about seven days before everybody else.  

Anybody that signs up for my patreon thing in the next six days gets to be in on a video webby thing on tuesday, february 7 at 2pm mountain time.  And for those with day jobs and cannot participate during this, you can post questions in the days before the event.

I hope to post more particulars to the patreon patron-only secret stuff a little later today.


UPDATE:  all the particulars are now up at the super-secret-patron-only thing.  https://www.patreon.com/posts/7965083

Just got an error message when I tried to pledge, "we couldn't process your request." Maybe I mixed something up, but anybody else have this happen?

Ben Zumeta wrote:Just got an error message when I tried to pledge, "we couldn't process your request." Maybe I mixed something up, but anybody else have this happen?

I see a patreon thing where you pledged.  So patreon seems to think it all worked out okay.

Can you see the goodies?

Wow, great response time, all seems to have gone through and I am watching videos as I make breakfast now.

Anybody wanna suggest a topic for the first episode?   If so, you put your suggestion in the super secret patreon thing-a-ma-bob here:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/7965083

Jocelyn and I  do a podcast review of Gaia's Garden, second edition, Chapter 11 - the permaculture city.  Part 1 of 2 .... chapter 11 is a pretty big chapter and we had a lot to say!  

Patreon peeps get this podcast seven days before everybody else!  So this podcast is now available to patreon peeps, and then it will be free to the world in about seven days.

paul wheaton wrote:Anybody that signs up for my patreon thing in the next six days gets to be in on a video webby thing on tuesday, february 7 at 2pm mountain time.  And for those with day jobs and cannot participate during this, you can post questions in the days before the event.

all the particulars are now up at the super-secret-patron-only thing.  https://www.patreon.com/posts/7965083

Less than 24 hours left.

This might turn into a weekly thing with me and josiah.  And it might be called "permaculture smackdown"

Hey Paul and Josiah, thanks again for your podcast yesterday and how many of my questions you answered so frankly, even if it wasn't always what I wanted to hear. After just listening to your botany in a day podcast on conifers I would love to return the favor and answer what seemed like dozens of questions you guys brought up. I have been an educator/ranger in Redwood and Olympic NP and around the NW for ten years and have my masters in adventure education (Wilderness Service Learning was my thesis topic). My PCT thru hike trail name was Lorax, and I think you got the picture yesterday that I love trees. In fact I love it here not only because the worlds tallest trees and highest biomass are ten miles away, but just up the slope into the siskiyous you find the largest diversity of conifers in the world (23!). I would be repeating what I said in my thread "for the love of conifers" if I go on, and permies from back east have added a lot more good stuff there too. The basic gist goes back to how you marveled at the dry soil under a western red cedar This phenomena is prevalent to varying degrees with all the conifers in our wet NW winters, because they absorb most of the water before it hits the ground. Redwoods can absorb .75" in an hour that receives 1" of rain! That protects a lot of soil and keeps it out of rivers, hence helping salmonids and through them all life around the river, including the trees. I've been told my lessons seem inspired by Ed Abbey and they partially are along with many other great educators I've learned from. It'd be great to take you on a hike in some old growth and get your insights. I know where greatest hugel beds on Earth are, but their edible bi-products are largely fish! The bottom layer of an old growth conifer forest is a salmon stream.

Ben,

As an expert, here is something I would very much like to know:   what is the exact ph of different parts of different conifers?  

I used to think that the pH was low, which is why the pH around conifers was low - the wood duff.  But now I think it is because conifers mine the calcium out of the soil so efficiently - so the duff would actually have a higher-than-neutral pH.

Ben is a patreon supporter, so he participated in this:

Paul, I think I know where to look that up but I don't know exactly off the top of my head and bet it varies between species. Noss' "Ecology of the redwood forest" is where I will look first. In general conifer's needles and wood are definitely acidic (3.5ish). I do not know about the calcium relationship either, but that's a good theory. Tannic acids are their primary defense, though this can break down to fertilize some plants like vaccinum (blueberry etc). However, I have done ph tests with a "fancy" potting soil (Roots organic) made up of primarily "virgin coniferous forest material" that had been inoculated with compost teas and fungus. The incoming water could be Seattle tap water (straight from the Cedar River with just lime) at 6.8ph or a richly fertilized solution at 3.8ph going into the soil, and it came out of the pot at 6.2-6.4 every time. I have also done hundreds of ph tests (while teaching) of creeks in old-growth forests in Olympic and Redwood and they always come out between 6.2-7.4, despite being at the foot of acidic conifer forests holding upwards of 500 tons of wood per acre. Some of these forests are dominated by redwood or western red cedar that can take 2000yrs to break down due to their preservative tannins. This is because the soils made up of this wood, along with other conifers and associated plants, have the highest biodiversity in the world (Noss). This is diversity is primarily fungal but can also host 1500 invertebrates in a single square meter.. The biodiversity doesn't stand out because it is just all tied up in solving the biggest biological jackpot problem on earth, finding a way to eat coniferous wood in forests with 10x the biomass of the tropics in the trunks alone.

In your botany in a day podcast you mentioned using the grand fir for bathing, and I know a Makah (natives of the NW quartile of the Olympic Peninsula) friend that told me of a bathing ceremony/ritual involving conifer needles preparing one for adulthood and difficult tasks like whaling in canoes  on the ocean. This involved bathing in river pools and scrubbing with increasingly abrasive plants from moss up to cedar, for as long and as hard as one could bear. It built up one's toughness both physically and mentally to the point where my friend would describe legendary men with Taoist monk like invulnerability to pain, heat and cold. I do not remember the explicit mention of grand fir but it may be an intermediate step. In addition, I think grand fir has the tastiest needles of any conifer. It is high in vitamin c and makes a tea that tastes a bit like a mojito (citrus and minty evergreen). It can also interbreed with white, red and noble fir so ID can be hard-impossible as I have found standing around deliberating a single tree with a park botanist for over an hour at a time.

A new episode of permaculture smackdown is up:

https://permies.com/t/62625/Permaculture-Smackdown#535953

People that support my patreon thing get to participate live every tuesday at 2.  Details for how to do this are available on my patreon stuff after you have signed up.

All patreon supporters:   in 24 hours (tuesday at 2 (mountain time)) we will record another smackdown.  Patreon supporters get to be in on it.  Usually typing stuff in like questions and stuff.  But, as you can see in episode 1, you can end up playing a large role in the show.

If you are not currently a patreon supporter, just $1 to get all the other candy listed above, plus you get in on all of this smackdown stuff you can want:



https://www.patreon.com/paulwheaton

A new podcast just went out to all patreon supporters.  

A new video is up for my patreon peeps.   For a buck you can see what it is.

A brand new youtube video about chickens is going up for patreon supporters later today.   It will probably be made available to the general public in a week or two.

Also, there will be two new podcasts for patreon people going up today.   One will probably be made available to the general public in a week.   The second a week after that.

Can folks give me advice on how to "do" patreon?  

I think I am supposed to make a video that is for patreon.

I probably need to create proper rewards.

When I make a private post, I see the checkbox for "this counts as an artifact".  I did that once for permaculture smackdown.  It doesn't seem fair to count it for permaculture smackdown.   And I have never counted it for an essay I have written.  But I suppose I should take some of the essays I have written and purtify them for richsoil and then count them?   I am looking for suggestions on what patreon supporters think is a good path.

In the patreon thing, I give people the power to vote for which they think is best.  There are a lot of people set up so that they don't vote.  But for those that are, here are the total numbers that have been collected so far:

articles:  $190
podcasts: $200
videos:  $100

I suppose I need to be putting more effort into articles!

I signed up for your Patreon account yesterday.

I, personally, don't care if new content is otherwise free. I was just happy to pull up my podcast feed for the first time in awhile and see a ton of content and followed the suggestion to go to your Patreon page.  If a bunch of tiny pledges helps drive new content creation, that, to me, seems a pretty good value right there for my $1.  I wouldn't recycle material that is *already* available for free.  I think the opportunities are endless.  

I'm always interested in videos of things developing at the lab.  Would love to see how everyone's hugels are looking now that the snow has melted off.  Are anyone's trees alive?  How is water management coming along?  What are this year's plans to inch towards the Krameterhof?   And so on.

I like articles.  I started taking care of my lawn as suggested.  Look, it's green and happy!  It was a simple article but full of good info and worth far more than a $1.  

I'm a podcast junkie.  I always like Jocelyn's input.

I don't think you can go wrong here.  I don't think I've ever listened to a podcast or video from permies and thought "well, that was an hour of my life I'll never get back."

You talked in a few podcasts about having some video footage but had not had time to compile it into videos.  Please post those.  Doesnt have to be anything fancy.  The main thing is decent audio.

You mean you're not getting their spam?! So from what I'm seeing as successful with some other Patreon  folks is just consistent content with a small ad at the end ask folks to check them out on Patreon.

I.e. I always forget to check yours out, as I've been meaning to for months and I got onto a podcast this week and remembered to subscribe after listening to a podcast. The consistency will folks coming back, we love your work too much to stay away.

paul wheaton wrote:Can folks give me advice on how to "do" patreon?  

I think I am supposed to make a video that is for patreon.

I think the "video that is for patreon" supporters only is more a task for those who are soliciting monthly contributions.  For example, I am a patreon supporter of Eric Rochow at GardenFork

He solicits monthly pledges, and he regularly posts videos to patreon just for his subscribers.  His usual output is freely available on YouTube and iTunes, etc.  The videos he posts for subscribers are pretty simple, "selfie" video showing a slice of his life (vlogs, I think you would call them).

Anyway, if you wanted to make a short "Hey, thanks for supporting me!" video where you stand in front of a berm with things sprouting on it and then maybe point out what's going on right there (I'm visualizing one of the berms near the Fisher Price house) that would be awesome, but I don't think it's a thing you have to do.  Obligation is poison and all that.

As a fairly modest patreon supporter, the last thing I was going for was making you feel constrained, but I appreciate that you are thoughtful about what you are receiving money for. If I were in your shoes, I would trip constantly because I bet they are too big for me. I honestly signed up for patreon in large part to give something back for what I have received from Permies and your other work. If you think that what you are producing and posting as an artifact on Patreon is of value and educational to the average eco-level 2-3 folks, even if I am aspiring to go eco-higher, I would be happy to support that but also love the higher level ideas. I also saw that I could set my maximum contribution per month to a certain number of artifacts, so that is a good control for patrons' costs if you are worried about taxing supporters for what you consider to be of questionable monetary value. Just keep doing epic shit and showing us how you did it and I will be thankful.

I am trying to get better at doing patreon stuff.   Please give me advice on my patreon thread at permies:

https://permies.com/t/60329/paul-patreon-stuff

Well, that depends....:)

And there are several different paths to walk.  


A) Using it as an aggregater of good will, positive intentions and power as expressed through dollars.  More like a NPR Fund drive, red cross, or a heifer international thing.  .  Sure you get tote bags, and tshirts, thought the primary goal is to pass the money to the good works be they ephemeral or long lived.
   reinforcing activities. (?)
   i) A little bit of the documentation of good works.  A burble every once in a while to remind people that there is good and hope in the world with a little progress being made.
   ii) Some of the smaller bricks.
   iii)  5-10 minute, "chats with paul"
   

B) There is the Youtube click bait high volume low revenue plan.   This one is defined by the husstle.   I'm not so great about them sorts of things.
   i) Consistency in frequency.   Little blerbs to stay in the mind share.
   ii) Probably heavily bias towards the 0-3 side of the permaculture spectrum.  
   iii) Little things that help the 0-3 with something that might help them climb up that scale.  ( what can someone living paycheck to paycheck, not getting enough sleep and living in fear do to not do those things )?
   iv) co branding, "networking" and cross promotions?


C) Like an kickstarter, it's for the stuff.
   i) more stuff options?    Tshirts?  Socks?  Lab rocks?  Coasters?  
   ii) Permiculture Bob cat in a box?   ( virtual or physical )
   iii) name a tree on the lab ( promise not to cut it down for at least 20 minutes )
   


D) Building a story arc(s).
   i)  Time laps photography of projects of various durations.
   ii)  Five minutes / card wtih the permaculture card deck.
   iii)  Pauls tea time thoughts about the day.  ( short )


E)  Newsletter / pauls email vector /  information dissemination / focus raising.
  i) point pauls emails there
  ii)  point out notable permies things ( no one gets around to all the forums )
  iii)  pictures of goats and happy kittens, maybe turkies


F)  Erudite high end stuff.   What are the 7-9 scale people up to?  
   i) news from the permaculture world?
   ii) news from the Mazzulla area?  
   iii)  ?  I'm not up there yet, so I'm not sure.  


G) A highly interactive discretionary thing in the comments,
  i) pose problems into the group to get people talking... hummm.. like this one... I've been tricked!


Bits and Bobs.
 Some new monetary goals.
 Is it a funnel to it's self or a monetary conversion option for the empire?
     


Good luck!

Dude! That's solid, I especially love the 5 minutes coffee idea. Might try that one myself.

Hummm...

Paul as mime?    I love this guy :     ( https://www.patreon.com/user?u=2945881  )

To help that along, most people don't speak English, heck not even 50% of Americans can apparently read it at the eight grade level ( http://literacyprojectfoundation.org/community/statistics/ )

Little permaculture projects maybe?

The philisophical difference between a kitchen rag, and d kitchen towel.  

Coffee (tea!) time with paul, with a benifits of a) your own coffee cup,  b) possibly signed,  c) the collective abilty to set a topic of conversation or rumination.  d)  Dictating the topic of conversation.




- good luck.

Okay, some self identification time.  I'm part of the class A) type.   Paul has a documented and durable (ish) positive effect on the world.   I would like to reward and help that effect.  

If nothing else, the single train full of poison that the lawn care articles saved from going into the lawns of the world would be worth it.  



How were the rest of us drawn into the Patreon?   Where could others like us be found?   What might intice us to send more more more often?


Hummmmmmm?

There's tom in the orange hat:

Wade Glass wrote:You talked in a few podcasts about having some video footage but had not had time to compile it into videos.  Please post those.  Doesnt have to be anything fancy.  The main thing is decent audio.

Jason Smith is wading through the videos and editing them.  I am giving him a healthy slice of the patreon income in exchange for his work.   But he can just help a little.  

I would really like to get somebody that lives here full time:

https://permies.com/t/64554/wanted-full-time-videographer

Tom Rutledge wrote:

And there are several different paths to walk.  


A) Using it as an aggregater of good will, positive intentions and power as expressed through dollars.  More like a NPR Fund drive, red cross, or a heifer international thing.  .  Sure you get tote bags, and tshirts, thought the primary goal is to pass the money to the good works be they ephemeral or long lived.

B) There is the Youtube click bait high volume low revenue plan.   This one is defined by the husstle.   I'm not so great about them sorts of things.

C) Like an kickstarter, it's for the stuff.

D) Building a story arc(s).

E)  Newsletter / pauls email vector /  information dissemination / focus raising.

F)  Erudite high end stuff.   What are the 7-9 scale people up to?  

G) A highly interactive discretionary thing in the comments,

I suppose that rather than fiddle with some things for an hour, I need to set aside a good 20 hours to get my head wrapped around what I am really doing with patreon and set THAT up.  ??


I am thinking that the bigger mission is to get back to more of what I have done in the past, while simultaneously moving forward the big things I am doing now which I have given precedence.  


So, making youtube videos, podcasts, articles ...  As for the tie in to patreon, I feel I need to make sure the patreon folks get something more than the folks that don't support my patreon stuff.  


And now I am asking "how to patreon".  I haven't looked to see what the other patreon-ers are doing.   They are probably doing patreon correctly.  

There are kickstarter-like "rewards".   And I don't fully understand what a reward might be.  What are other folks doing?   Anybody have suggestions on what "reward" I should offer?   I thought the "vote" style reward was pretty good.  But maybe people find that annoying?

K Putnam wrote:I signed up for your Patreon account yesterday.

...

I don't think you can go wrong here.  I don't think I've ever listened to a podcast or video from permies and thought "well, that was an hour of my life I'll never get back."

So, all I gotta do is what I'm doing.  Easy nuff.  

Wade Glass wrote:You talked in a few podcasts about having some video footage but had not had time to compile it into videos.  Please post those.  Doesnt have to be anything fancy.  The main thing is decent audio.

First one is available to patreon peeps now.   If that looks good, then there should be a lot more coming.  

And, thanks to patreon, I am able to fish for a videographer:  https://permies.com/t/64554/wanted-full-time-videographer

Hopefully, we can do more and more.

Josh Rocky wrote:You mean you're not getting their spam?!

Spam from patreon?

So from what I'm seeing as successful with some other Patreon  folks is just consistent content with a small ad at the end ask folks to check them out on Patreon.

I think adrien and ryan have the mention on the podcasts for patreon.   The new video that is available to patreon peeps right now has a patreon thing at the end.  Like that?  Does it look okay?

I.e. I always forget to check yours out, as I've been meaning to for months and I got onto a podcast this week and remembered to subscribe after listening to a podcast. The consistency will folks coming back, we love your work too much to stay away.

I have never been very consistent.   But the podcasts seem to be coming out a bit more now.   And if we get a full time videographer here, with whom I can share the patreon treasures, then I think that person will very much want consistency.  

Julia Winter wrote:I think the "video that is for patreon" supporters only is more a task for those who are soliciting monthly contributions.  For example, I am a patreon supporter of Eric Rochow at GardenFork

So, he is using rewards to put peoples names in stuff.   Some names bigger than others.  And to influence content.   I think I am doing a bit of that now - but he is scaling up ...   hmmmm .... maybe.  

He solicits monthly pledges, and he regularly posts videos to patreon just for his subscribers.  His usual output is freely available on YouTube and iTunes, etc.  The videos he posts for subscribers are pretty simple, "selfie" video showing a slice of his life (vlogs, I think you would call them).

I've done a little bit of that.   If nothing else, I have the video that was made with my eco test article that is only for patreon peeps to see.  

But I've been doing that for ALL patreon suporters.  Not just at certain levels.

Anyway, if you wanted to make a short "Hey, thanks for supporting me!" video where you stand in front of a berm with things sprouting on it and then maybe point out what's going on right there (I'm visualizing one of the berms near the Fisher Price house) that would be awesome, but I don't think it's a thing you have to do.  Obligation is poison and all that.

I just remember when I set up my patreon account, I looked at other patreon accounts and it seemed there was a fair bit of that.