Devon Olsen

I am currently using the tripod/tarp idea, pics can be provided later if anyone can remind my forgetful butt... lol

few things i learned quickly:
you need cross bracing on all three sides, not just the one.... which makes moving them something that is done simply by picking the whole tripod up, rather than collapsing the tripod and moving it flat. But this is nessacary for stability.
in one leg of each of the tripods i had to drill a half inch hole so i can drive a rebar stake into the ground, otherwise the wind pulls the tripods over. ( when you move the tripod you simply lift it off the stake, the stake comes out easily if you use a small pipe wrench, turn the stake three times and on the fourth turn lift with the pipe wrench... comes right out.) My stakes are approximately 18inches and i drive them just deep enough that they are not a tripping hazard for the ewes or the lambs
That tarp is not going to last very long in our environment unfortunately but for now it is working. One thought I had, is rather than tying the tarp to the tripods, have it permanently attached to two poles on the long sides, then rest those poles on the tripods and utilize weights if needed, that way the tarp flaps less and has some rigid support.
I use 4 tripods and a square tarp.
Tripods do not have to be overly large, I cut my poles down from 11.5ft to 7ft and that seems a good size, 6ft may be sufficient and weigh slightly less.

I think I would still like to eventually mount 4 bicycle tires to my sheep shelter I built last year and just roll that along, skids or using two small tires on the back proved to be too damn heavy last year and these tripods are thus far an improvement.

I fed a lot of boxelder maple this winter with no issues

I was also doing some thinking on this

Talking with individuals that may be interested in investing what they want is a return on investment,  so if loaned 50k they'd want 55k back for their monetary risk
Thinking on the crowdfunding model it seems that following Paul's kickstarter model may prove effective but I really see the way into this being more of a CSA model in which your crowd of investors would get a share of the crops the land produced, basically youd be in debt to your future income on the business
So then,  what's a reasonable share and price/share and when someone invests up front, how long is their share good for? 1 season? 2 seasons? 3 seasons? Every single season you ever have? If it's less than all, WHAT season do they get access to? Your first season of meats and annual veggies? Or your 10th season with the above and fruit and nut yields?
If you're giving a portion of your crop to members who paid in advance, how much can you give away while maintaining a decent standard of living off of current sales?
Do investors assume risk of failed crops?
If you have partial failure do you give what you have to investors and forego any profit or living for yourself or askbincestors to wait for next year to keep Bill's paid?
With traditional mortgage you deal with bank and title company, with crowdfunding you deal w9th individuals who have their own lives and goals and may not look at a situation in a mathematical/calculating way but instead may be emotional, so with a series of bad years you may be loaning from a mob

Thoughts....

Thanks! Looks very simple
I'm thinking if I get time I might even lash a tripod up today!

I love the tripod idea and am now thinking about doing that instead of buying wheels for my heavy sheep shade shelter I built last summer
Also, when slaughter time comes, three an additional pole between two tripods and you can hang your carcass...
I've been thinking I need to learn some lashing anyhoe

I suspect it will result in a odorless breakdown process, whether or not the end product could be consider soil or simply a soil amendment is my question.

Will it "work?" I think yes, if you are loose in your definition of  "working"

I would love to come visit! I'm thinking a podcast episode would be great also!

My attempt at using 1/2gallon milk jugs with jute wicks was inconsistent with some jugs draining quickly and some still holding a bit of water a year or two later... not a single one kept the trees near them alive and created a mess that I had to clean up later. My gpa tried to make 5gal buckets with air tubing going into the soil as a wick, predictably they drained too fast and blew around
Maybe the paper pulp option would work, but at this point I think perhaps they are simply to be used to reduce irrigation chores...
I remember when groasis boxes were less than 10 bux each, now they're like 50-75 each iirc from the last time i looked, a part of me wants to try some still but I also have concerns about not having seen any established systems now that it's been a decade or more since they were released... you would think that would be great marketing material

So fun for me to watch more people start to come Into the permaculture world, how has the greenhouse been for you now that you've had it a while? With any build there is usually things that we wish we'd done different, what's the biggest "mistake" you felt like you made?

Also is miles going up there and helping you out or yall just friends over the web?

I did consider trading my dewalt in for a new one but upon reading reviews I found it is common for dewalt to have the same problem mine had, so not worth the risk imo to get an exchange only to have the same problem shortly thereafter, maybe I'll try battery powered again in the future but not until I can justify the greater investment in batteries, getting 20 ish cuts on pine logs before I had to charge the battery for 3 hours wasnt very efficient for me
By the time I get back into one, hopefully they've improved all the more because I did enjoy using it while it lasted