Adrien Lapointe

podcast 411 - Foody bits - Part 2

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Summary

Credit: Eric Tolbert

This is the second half of the Foody Bits podcast. Paul Wheaton and Jocelyn Campbell are on their way back to Wheaton Labs from a road trip and continue their discussion about health and food.

Paul is expecting the food systems that have been put in place at Wheaton Labs will start producing at a higher level next year and the hope is that eating locally from the property will help increase their health and well-being. Paul expects that once they are able to eat more foods produced on their land that their overall health will continue to improve, he might lose weight and it's possible that he might stop wondering if since the Brain is primarily composed of fat does a low-fat diet influence your ability to think?

In an effort to spend more time being active Paul developed the 20/20 project time goal where he and Jocelyn spend 20 minutes a day on projects Paul would like to get done and 20 minutes per day on projects Jocelyn would like to get done. Paul's projects tend towards larger items: Dry stack walls, Earthworks and road upkeep, new trails, a lot of Chop and Drop and the Hugelkultur Siege Ladder. Jocelyn's projects tend towards smaller projects like hanging Planters, planting things and beautifying the Lab.

Jocelyn then discusses the book she is currently reading, Brain Maker, The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain for Life by David Perlmutter and how the microbes you have might impact your health and well-being as well as your weight. The discussion moves on to how Paul's fight against gallstones and gout restrict his food options to a fairly narrow range. Beef and pork are currently not on the list for Paul. No wheat or corn, no dairy except for mozzarella, yogurt and ghee. Minimal refined sugars in moderation and apple juice are on the list of things Paul can and should have. Lots of vegetables, lots and lots of vegetables. Paul's go-to items currently are yogurt with an apple juice sweetened jams and chips made from cassava (links to these can be found in the Gout and Blood Type discussion). Limited amounts of chicken and fish, one egg yolk per day and as many egg whites as desired.

Their daily menu is usually eggs and greens for breakfast, lots of fermented veggies, moderate amounts of sautéed onions and garlic. Lunch tends to be more of a toss-up and for snacks Paul is able to have Peanuts, Cassava chips and vegetable dips (usually with Jocelyn sneaking lots of veggies into the dip). Dinners tend to be Taco Tuesdays, with black beans (the only kind Paul can eat), Thai peanut sauce over Zoodles (zucchini noodles), fruity salads, Fish Fridays, Spaghetti-flavored cake (lasagna), frittata's, fresh greens with hot soup, coconut milk curries with veggies over rice.

After the listing of common meal types Jocelyn shares a list of threads on Permies that relate to food and health:

Gout and Blood Type discussion
What's for Dinner?
Paul's Cervical Radiculopathy
Save Your Gallbladder Naturally by Sandra Cabot MD
Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
Perfect Health Diet by Paul Jaminet Ph.D. and Shou-Ching Jaminet Ph.D.
Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson
Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollen
The Third Plate by Dan Barber

Paul and Jocelyn then thank some of the Patreon supporters and the discussion turns toward how Jocelyn stepped up and did most of the cooking for the recent PDC and ATC courses. Jocelyn relates she was told by an older women who attended the PDC that eating the food Jocelyn provided helped her arthritis subside. Jocelyn also discusses how pre-event food prep helped with the setup and that the food leaned more towards a vegan and plant-based menu then at some of the previous events. Paul did want to make it clear that if people who have special dietary needs are coming to events they need to make sure they bring their own items with them.

The podcast winds up with Paul and Jocelyn discussing their recent stay at the Enliven Bed and Breakfast in Kenmore, Washington. Enliven is a fragrance free facility that caters to travelers with sensitivities to fragrance and chemicals and is a place that they would like to return to when they are in the area.

Relevant Threads

Podcast 410 Foody Bits (Part 1)

Dry Stack Moon Gate
Chop and Drop
Brain Maker by David Perlmutter
Kite Hill Almond Milk Foods
Paul's Patreon Podcast Page
Paul's Patreon Videos Page
Wheaton Labs PDC
Appropriate Technology Course
Enliven Bed and Breakfast

Support the Empire

Help support the empire and get all of the podcasts in a bundle here in the digital market at permies.

To support production of these podcasts, make a donation here at Paul's Patreon page.

This podcast was made possible thanks to:

Full Name
Bill Crim
wade L
James Tutor
Suleiman ALAQEL
Josh Phillips
Jocelyn Campbell
Jason Hower
Ash Jackson
thomas adams
Julia Mason
Dominic Crolius
David Ingraham
Miroslav Ultrama
Bill Erickson
Lisa Goodspeed
G Cooper
Wayne Fajkus
Eivind W. Bjoerkavaag
Keith Kuhnsman
Dylan Butler
Dana Martin
Cody W.

1 week ago

podcast 410 - Foody bits - Part 1

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Summary

Credit: Penny McLoughlin

Paul and Jocelyn discuss their health issues related to food and particularly Paul's recent medical challenges with his spinal cord issue, gout and galstones. Paul says that this is a podcast that Jocelyn has been anxious to do for several months now.

Paul states that he had never been to a hospital until about 2 years ago when he suddenly had excruciating pain from a blown disc in his neck that had squirted disc jelly over his spinal cord. However, his insurance decided that he wasn't really in that much pain and had him sent home with tylenol. While he was flat on his back in bed, a great device was set up for him that allowed him to suspend his cell phone over him so that he could use it to communicate online.

Jocelyn goes back in time a bit to describe how when they had met 10 years ago, both of them were avoiding several foods, mostly for mental clarity reasons.

Paul says that he had avoided dairy since his 20's but since his podcast with Sally Fallon-Morrell, he now wonders if perhaps he only needed to avoid pasteurized dairy. He also was trying to eat less grain and avoid sugar which would give him a zip and then crash afterward. Jocelyn would get wicked headaches for several days after consuming the tiniest amounts of wheat. Now they both eat very strictly organic.

Jocelyn says that she would have issues with anemia and her thyroid as well as brain fog and that both her and Paul have done lots of research about nutrition over the years.

Paul says that he finally paid out of pocket to see a specialist regarding his disc issue who recommended scheduling surgery about 5 weeks out since about 50% of the time these issues would improve on their own. And after about 2 weeks of bed rest, the pain did start to subside and continued to gradually improve over the course of several weeks to months.

Paul tells of how shortly after he had arrived at the property, his left foot started to swell significantly. Sometimes getting so large that his toes could not touch the ground. He googled it and decided that it was probably gout. He then ate lots of cherries, which are known to help with gout, and it resolved. Then there was the issue with galstones. When he researched that online, he found that it predominately effects women and that pretty much all of those who have had them say that they are worse then childbirth, pain wise. Now, he has not had a galstone attack since Oct 2017 (currently it is Aug 2018).

When it first happened, the galstone pain was so bad that Paul thought that he was probably dying. The answer at the hospital was surgery but by that time they had medicated him for the pain so he wanted to wait and do some research on the problem. The doctor that he went to was also very keen on doing surgery right away.

Jocelyn says that if a galstone gets stuck in the gal duct, it can burst the duct and leak bile into the abdomen which can be deadly so most doctors just want to take it out. They connect the liver to the intestine so that the bile just drips directly into it.

Paul explains that the purpose of the bile is to help brake up the fats that are in our food. However, sometimes something goes weird and causes rocks to form which can get stuck. Finally, the surgeon (who was grey haired and probably near the end of a long career) said that there is a way to change the diet to eliminate the stones but that no one in her experience has ever stuck to the diet and avoided the surgery. Paul and Jocelyn accepted the challenge. The pain was very motivating for Paul. It has been 10 months now since his last stone passed. He did have three times where he passed galstones. A sonogram can be used to visualize the stones but was ineffective at seeing the area in Paul due to his large girth. In general, it takes a couple of years on the diet to clear out galstones. Basically you avoid fats. When he and Jocelyn were working to avoid more sugar, they had tended to eat a rather high fat diet of bacon and pork.

Paul says that his second galstone attack was one week after his first one. There were several contributing factors. Jocelyn was away for a week taking care of her mother so Paul didn't bother to eat much. Then he had a meeting at a restaurant and he had a large hamburger with fries. Eating very little and then having a large meal of beef and potatoes turns out to be a common cause of galstone attacks. Then he read up further on it and decided to eat less of the problematic foods, about 1/3rd of what he used to eat. The doctor said that after 5 weeks of no attacks, your sensitivity to an attack decreases. Also, you should eat frequently to avoid attacks.

Jocelyn says that after the third attack, they really focused in on the diet. It consists of olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, lemon juice, malic acid, and apple cider vinegar. Only one yolk per day but as many whites as you want. No dairy for a while and he even went vegan for a while but the diet ended up being too limiting with all the galstone foods that he should also be avoiding.

Paul says he can now eat yogurt, ghee and mozzarella cheese but no wheat, corn or potatoes. There is almost nothing he can eat when they go out. Sushi is OK, there is one item at Chipotle he can eat and now they have found a pizza place that makes a rice based crust that he can have.

Jocelyn says that she is working very hard to get lots of veggies and greens into their diet. When Paul was having his spinal problems, she had watched Terry Wahls TED talk about fueling mitochondria with diet to reverse her MS. Jocelyn is aiming for four veggies per day which is challenging. It turns out that onions and garlic are problematic as well as cheeses, beef and pork. So they switched to fish and chicken and veggie oils and added in helpful foods like artichokes, radishes, turnips and beets (but Paul doesn't like beets). Unfortunately, that diet ended up being very high in purines which triggered Paul's gout and no amount of cherries would fix it this time. Then he just went vegan again for a time. There is some kind of relationship between gout and galstones but it is not well understood. Possibly it is related to high inflammation in the body. They have ended up with a galstone - gout - blood type diet. That leaves very few foods that Paul can eat.

Paul says that the blood type diet was very important to his doctor so they are trying to incorporate that element as well.

Then the gout came back again and they discovered that sea weed and chlorella are also very high in purines and so removed those as well.

They are both working to get more activity in their lives but Paul finds it particularly hard to pull himself away from work that he's trying to accomplish online. Now they work for a bit on one of his projects and then on Jocelyn's projects each day for exercise.

Jocelyn mentions that although both of them are fat, doctors are surprised that neither of them have high blood pressure or diabetes issues which she relates to eating an anti-inflammatory diet.

Relevant Threads

Seeking foods that help heal nerve and spinal cord damage
Gout and blood type - might there be a relationship? And the gallstone connection.
Paul has cervical radiculopathy (from a bulging disc) - advice?
TedX lecture, paleo, MS, parkinsons, etc..Dr. Terry Wahls

Support the Empire

Help support the empire and get all of the podcasts in a bundle here in the digital market at permies.

To support production of these podcasts, make a donation here at Paul's Patreon page.

1 week ago

podcast 408 - Listener questions - Part 1

Part 2 is available here

2 weeks ago

podcast 409 - Listener questions - Part 2

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Summary

Credit: Penny McLoughlin

In this podcast, Paul and Jocelyn continue answering listener questions. They start with the rest of the answer to Amy Grisak's questions for Paul from podcast 408.

Question #4 - What are some of your favorite polyculture plants?

Paul - Rhubarb and comfrey definitely top his list
Jocelyn - Likes to grow lots of herbs and perennials as well as asparagus and strawberry

Paul says they are trying to make lots of diverse soil and scatter the seeds and see what takes in different areas instead of trying to set up guilds. Sunchokes always do really well in dry areas. He likes to plant diverse trees and separate the same species by 40 feet or more so that they don't compete with each other for getting rid of wastes and acquiring nutrients. If you have really diverse soils, you can't really set up guilds effectively.

Jocelyn says that permaculture often suggests to observe the land for a year but a year is not enough time to really get an understanding of how it operates in the different seasons and people often feel like a year is too long to wait. The Montana seasons have been very different each year that they have been there. She says that they are still doing lots of soil building with their plantings and doing lots of chop and drop. As the soil improves they are having better luck with over wintering herbs.

Paul says even if you were using guilds for planting, the types of guilds that you would use for the first year on a property would be very different than the types you would use in later years as you would have different short term goals for the land. (ie building soil at first). They do "bootcamp" for many of their plants and have a high die off rate but what remains is very strong and resilient. He would much rather have 100 trees and try a wide variety of plants underneath and see what works and then improve the varieties based on that. He voices the option that chop and drop is so much better and easier than conventional composting and mulching.

Jocelyn expresses how she has found a heavy layer of chop and drop to be very good as controlling grasses around trees.

Question #5 - How can bugs be good?

Paul says and example would be the yellow jackets. Many people see them as pests but they are good at controlling other insect populations. Their gardens are growing so much this year, he was worried about an overpopulation of bugs since they didn't have chickens yet, but the yellow jackets are going after the bug population. There are tons of beneficial insects like the pollinators. You want a diversity of bugs and a tidy garden or a monocrop doesn't give you the variety of habitat for the variety of bugs that you need and that leads to bug problems. Paul says that bugs are part of nature and as you embrace nature you need to embrace the bugs too.

Jocelyn reminds us that bugs may be natures way of dealing with a sad plant by removing it.

Paul tells a story about how in a polyculture, potato plants may have one plant attacked by bugs where the rest of them stay healthy. He reminds us that if you have an excess of an animal or insect in the garden, be patient and nature will bring in predators to deal with it.

Question #6 - If you don't own land and can't do big projects, what can you do? Do small steps make a difference?

Paul's short answer is yes. If everyone does small permaculture stuff, it adds up. But he points out that we need a better recipe book for the small things to do. Al Gore's first movie had a recipe that doesn't help much.

Paul's first step is to go "poo less" (not use soap or shampoo for bathing). It reduces time, energy, water and toxic chemicals and increases you health. Paul had a huge decrease in body odor after going poo less.

Jocelyn says that she always had greasy hair and that after 1 month of being poo less, her hair stabilized and was no longer greasy. Another person had chronic migraines disappear.

Free Shelf is another good step. Make a place to give away usable stuff instead of throwing it away or selling it.

Use a Repair Cafe. New places springing up to repair items instead of throwing them away and getting new ones.

Have a Boneyard. Every homesteader should have a place where they store items that might be able to be used in the future. James S Juczak's book on scrounging is a good resource.

Vote with your wallet. Avoid Monsanto foods or using petroleum products.

Jocelyn has a pet peeve with people saying "I can't afford that." (i.e. organic foods) when they are spending lots of money on cars or vacations or discretionary items.

Paul says to look at how people are curing cancer with organic food. If people would model that way of eating, then they would be preventing cancer. He expresses his belief that insurance companies have it in their best interests to avoid having you treated for problems. Polyculture food is even better than organic food too. He gives the example of how when Jocelyn was cooking for the last ATC (Appropriate Technology Course), one of the attendee's had her arthritic symptoms disappear a few days into the course and felt that it was from the good food that she was eating.

Own a home without a mortgage. Rob Roy's book has a recipe to own you home without having a mortgage.

Retire Early. It is well explained in Jacob Lund Fisker's book "Early Retirement Extreme".

Give a gift to your future self. Develop passive income streams. There are a couple of podcasts on that subject.

Put knowledge in your head.

Local vs. Organic - Non organic is not even an option. If you can get local and organic all the better.

Omnivores vs Vegans vs Junk food. The standard American diet is not comparable to an organic Vegan diet or any organic diet. The argument that a Vegan diet is better for the planet is not true. You need a diet that works best for you and then optimize that for the planet.

Energy is a problem. The only clean form is wind. Nuclear, coal and hydro all have problems.

Heat. An average of 50% of energy is spent on heat. You need to heat people instead of the entire house (Paul's article on how he decreased his electric heat bill by 98%). Use a rocket mass heater if you can.

Hot Water. Use poo less showers and do most of your laundry in cold water (which cleans just as well). Jocelyn had cut out her clothes drying by hanging clothes to dry and cut her electric bill by 40%.

Incandescent lights are superior than LED.

Living in Community. Living with 20 people in a house can cut your carbon footprint by 1/2 but you need to solve the stabby problems (i.e. people not getting along with each other).

Eliminate Toxic Gick. Go poo less. Look at what your house and furniture is made of. Lots of people got sick from the trailers provided by FEMA after hurricane Katrina from all the chemicals used in the making. Look at your household cleaners too (movie Chemerical)

Bug Killer you can Eat. Check out diatomaceous earth. Paul did an article on it's use.

Dangers of Tap Water. Paul did a review of "The Food Cure" which talked about avoiding drinking or washing with chlorinated water as well as eating organically.

Cast Iron vs Teflon. Teflon is bad. Cast Iron is good but takes more skill to use. Second best is stainless steel. Baking in pyrex is good. Avoid microwaving in or with plastic.

Relevant Threads

Diatomaceous Earth (food grade): bug killer you can eat!
Cast Iron Skillet Non-Stick and Lasts a Lifetime
CFL Fluorescent Light Bulbs: More Hype Than Value
micro heaters cut 87% off my electric heat bill
giant hugelkultur (12 feet tall) at basecamp
Going poo-less: No Shampoo/Soap in the Shower
local vs. organic
Mortgage Free! Innovative Strategies for Debt-Free Home Ownership by Rob Roy
early retirement extreme by Jacob Lund Fisker

Support the Empire

Help support the empire and get all of the podcasts in a bundle here in the digital market at permies.

To support production of these podcasts, make a donation here at Paul's Patreon page.

2 weeks ago

podcast 408 - Listener questions - Part 1

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Summary

Credit: Eric Tolbert

Paul Wheaton and Jocelyn Campbell are on a road trip to the Seattle area. They discuss and answer listener questions and catch people up on what is happening at Wheaton Labs.

Paul starts off explaining how a "glitch" at Patreon causes a surprise for Paul. Paul is very busy, so in an effort to spread the Permaculture word he compensates some individuals to help him produce, edit and distribute his podcasts and videos. The "glitch" caused Paul to rework his Patreon account and split it into one channel for Podcasts and one channel for Videos, so people who want to support him through Patreon can choose just one or both.

Paul then moves on to talking about creating the "Tango" Trail that accesses a part of the property that was hard to get to before the trail. The Trail was improved by a lot of the work performed by a visiting boot who was at Wheaton Labs on a working vacation. Jocelyn then reads a lovely note from Patreon supporter Chris Sugg, thanking Paul for all the work he has put into the universe and how being introduced to Permaculture has changed his life. Paul spends some time explaining how grateful he is to his supporters and how he hopes that support will continue in the future.

Paul and Jocelyn then spend a bit of time going over upcoming events at Wheaton Labs, including a Roundwood Timber Framing Event happening from September 24th thru October 5th, 2018, the Kickstarter Rocket Oven Pizza Party October 5th thru 7th, 2018 and the exciting news that a spec Wofati (built on contract for sale after completion) is going to be built. The site will be an acre with a full Wofati, hugelkultur beds, a garden and surrounded by junk pole fence that will be available for purchase after building completion. The Wofati project has a builder but they are looking for people to participate as paid builders/designers for the fence and the garden portion of the project.

After the Lab update Paul reveals that Amy Grisak, a freelance writer for New Pioneer magazine, has asked Paul to answer some questions relating to Permaculture for an upcoming article, so Paul answers the following questions (with help and insight from Jocelyn):

What is the big deal with Permaculture?

What has the enormous hugelkultur bed done for you?

What is your opinion of Honey bees vs. Native Bees?

The first part of the podcast ends after a discussion of Honey Bees and "Native" pollinators and the remainder of Amy's questions will be covered in upcoming podcast 409.

Relevant Threads

Paul's Take on Patreon
Paul's Patreon Podcast Page
Paul's Patreon Videos Page
Roundwood Timber Framing Event
Essential Mountain Homesteading
WOFATI Information
Permaculture Playing Cards
Wheaton Labs PDC
Amy Grisak
New Pioneer Magazine

Support the Empire

Help support the empire and get all of the podcasts in a bundle here in the digital market at permies.

To support production of these podcasts, make a donation here at Paul's Patreon page.

3 weeks ago

podcast 407 - Making Communities Work

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Summary

Credit: Eric Tolbert

Paul and Jocelyn start the podcast with a short discussion about the previous podcast, Mr. Slappy Finding Joy, and discuss how to start to design a system that works without requiring a "Mr. Slappy". In Paul's opinion the first step to solving a problem is identifying the problem and in this case Paul takes time to talk about people's natural tendency towards resentment and how that impacts projects and community. Jocelyn points out it is common for a people to lay the blame for issues on others and fail to take personal responsibility for their issues and failures and how difficult it is to work with people who always seem to have an excuse.

Paul and Jocelyn then move on to talking about the current job opening for a rental/events manager and they discuss what the job involves and the type of person or people they are looking for. It's possible the rental/event manager might be a position that could be filled by more than one person and definitely needs to have people involved who can figure out issues and work out problems without giving up.

Jocelyn discusses her time as a guest instructor at the Peasant PDC and being able to give the participants a reality check about how much work it actually takes to add event income to your homestead. It is then discussed how the basic framework for creating, hosting and advertising events already exists at Wheaton Labs and how that infrastructure could be expanded and grown into a full-time career for the right individual or possibly a team of individuals with varied strengths working together.

The podcast moves on to discussing the recent Peasant PDC. A former event manager was supposed to be an assistant instructor for the Peasant PDC but left before the event. Ernie and Erica Wisner arranged to come early to the event and Erica stepped up and took over the preparations for the event, as well as setting up a free workshop prior to the PDC. Ernie had to leave because of a flair-up of his on-going health issues and Erica returned and taught all the classes herself. Paul and Jocelyn can't say enough good things about Erica, her work ethic and positive attitude.

The Peasant PDC format allows guest instructors who might be in the area to teach segments of the class and see if their skills and knowledge might fit well into the more formal PDC structure. There was to be no food provided to Peasant PDC participants but Paul and Jocelyn did end up providing a variety of staples to the group as well as allowing the students to harvest wild greens and other food from the lab, including eating Paul's most magnificent rhubarb plant down to the nubs.

The discussion turns to other systems and opportunities that are available at the labs. Paul would also like to get an education coordinator onsite to teach the Peasant PDC and possibly other onsite events. There is also room for a resident natural builder, possibly building turnkey Wofati's and selling them. Paul and Jocelyn's long-range plan has always been to move into a Wofati on the property but it has taken longer than anticipated to get infrastructure, including multiple Wofati's, built on the labs. It also turns out a lot of time is still being spent on garbage clean-up.

Things have not turned out exactly as expected in the five years that Wheaton Labs has been in existence but things are in a constant state of building and growing and many people have been provided with educational and hands-on learning opportunities over the years. Because of the nature of the labs some projects are in need of repair or replacement and many projects are partially completed or need to be rebuilt. Paul and Jocelyn are constantly evaluating and improving the systems. Also discussed is the many opportunities to promote affiliate programs that are currently available for people to leverage and make connections to other networks and promote permies.com

The podcast winds up with Paul and Jocelyn talking about passing through Helena Montana on their recent road trip and taking a look at a community permaculture site that was setup several years ago by Jessica Peterson, a recent guest instructor at the 2018 Homestead PDC. Paul was minimally involved as member of the original group invited to help design the property at a Permaculture event set up by Jessica and he critiques the current state of the site and points out things he likes and things he would have done differently.

Relevant Threads

Rental/Event Manger Position
Peasant PDC
Wheaton Labs PDC
Appropriate Technology Course
Ernie and Erica Wisner
Wheat Labs Bootcamp Program
Paul's World Domination Gardening
Jessica Peterson Urban Regenerative Homesteading

Support the Empire

Help support the empire and get all of the podcasts in a bundle here in the digital market at permies.

To support production of these podcasts, make a donation here at Paul's Patreon page.

1 month ago

podcast 405 - Review of Wild Wild Country

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Summary

Credit: Eric Tolbert

Paul Wheaton and Jocelyn Campbell discuss the new Netflix documentary, Wild Wild Country, a six-part mini-series delving into the events surrounding spiritual guru Bhagwan Shree Rajineesh when he moved his ashram from India to Oregon in 1981 and what transpired after the move. Paul and Jocelyn begin the podcast with a review of the show, discuss the thoughts and reactions that they experienced while viewing the documentary and share some of their views on community.

Paul and Jocelyn explore the strained relationship between the Rajineesh religious community and their closest local neighbors in the town of Antelope, Oregon. Eventually conflicts between the groups leads to an extreme hatred between the two groups and an escalation of harassment and bad behavior on both sides.

Paul draws a loose conclusion between the "weirdness" of the Rajineesh and the perceived "weirdness" of Permaculture enthusiasts. Paul and Jocelyn continue on to explore their individual takes on what is or is not a "cult" and if the group of Rajineesh rose to the level of a cult. Conversation moves on to some facts about the Rajineesh community and their Antelope, Oregon neighbors. Jocelyn then spends some time commenting on how difficult it is to watch a community be so closed minded and hateful towards other people who are different from themselves.

Wrapping up Paul talks about how the entire attempt by the Rajineesh to create their own community and the problems they faced are more the norm than the utopian view that most people envision when they think of intentional community. Paul talks about the level of conflict and friction that can occur between people attempting a different type of lifestyle, like Permaculture, and neighbors, family and friends who are not on board with people who are attempting a way that is different than their own.

Jocelyn shares how fortunate they are to be able to be in a situation where she and Paul are able to live life more on their own terms. Jocelyn points out that building community and relationships is an important part of Permaculture but sometimes you just can't build a positive relationship with some people.

Ending on a positive note Paul comments that he has brought himself to a place where he is strategically living in such a way to minimize the possibility of headaches and feels it going pretty well.

Relevant Threads

Wild Wild Country
Bhagwan Rajineesh
Paul Wheaton discusses Intentional Community
Visiting Wheaton Labs

Support the Empire

Help support the empire and get all of the podcasts in a bundle here in the digital market at permies.

To support production of these podcasts, make a donation here at Paul's Patreon page.

1 month ago

podcast 404 - Sharpening

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Summary

Credit: Penny McLoughlin

A podcast with Paul, Fred and Jim (one of the instructors from the Appropriate Technology Course that just ended). Jim is the author of "High Art and Subtle Science of Scrounging".

They reviewed a video about knife sharpening by Murray Carter, a 17th generation Yoshimoto blade smith.

The video contained lots of excellent information but it was difficult to stay attentive to it, possibly due to it's long length (2 hrs and 50 min) and the density of the information being conveyed. Murray revealed some secrets and described the video as being the basics of knife sharpening for beginners.

Murray only used 2 stones and completed most of the sharpenings in just 2-3 minutes. He prefers to use water over oil stones and the 3 finger test and a few others for checking sharpness. He emphasises technique over contraptions and discusses why several of the contraptions are ineffective.

There was a detailed discussion of the 7 step procedure of knife sharpening described by Murray. They also went into some detail about the sharpening of primary and secondary edges and Murray's sharpening set up.

Several ways of testing sharpness were described as well as why you should never use a grinder to sharpen knives.

Relevant Threads

Inexpensive high carbon knives
Murray Carter's website
The High Art and Subtle Science of Scrounging by James S. Juczak
Murray Carter Advanced Sharpening Techniques DVD

Support the Empire

Help support the empire and get all of the podcasts in a bundle here in the digital market at permies.

To support production of these podcasts, make a donation here at Paul's Patreon page.

1 month ago

podcast 402 - Bits and Bobs towards Critical Mass - part 1

Part 2 is now available here

1 month ago