Erica Wisner

We have had to redesign for disability.

If you can skip past the legal / commercial requirements, the actual building standards from ADA are quite useful.  (Skip down until you see diagrams)
Turns out that the turn-around for wheelchairs is also very useful for crutches, and for extra space for stashing mobility aids. 
Pocket doors are very useful - less hampering to a wheelchair or crutches user than a swing door, and can be handier for carrying things too.
All of these things are easier to build from the get-go, or to add while you're still up for a remodeling project rather than after the big nasty.

https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/2010ADAStandards/2010ADAstandards.htm#pgfId-1006182


There are a whole lot of other aspects involving the local neighborhood / community.  If you need doctor care, are you close enough for someone else to drive you if needed?  Do you live on/near a main road, reducing snow plow or other access issues?

There is a lot of healthy aspects to living closer to nature, and just staying fit and active.  But in my limited experience, age is attrition (your statistical chances of disabling injuries or other conditions) as much as anything else.

Helping my grandma age in place included improving stair rails to ADA compliance (easier to grip than Grandpa's 2x6 rails) and a few other things for basement access/fall safety. 
Her activities shifted, with less driving at night, and then less driving overall; more check-ins with neighbors; a more frequent rotation of family visitors and paid housekeepers; then eventually nursing help.  All of these are easier to access if you're near a town or thriving community of some kind, but some rural areas are better than others and there are many services available. In-home care is an honorable rural occupation; if you have the savings to pay for help, or you don't and you qualify for state aid, either way it can be a big help.  Skill levels may vary, but even the state lets you pick/interview your own helpers. 

The other thing my grandma did was stay active with a writing class at the local senior center. 
If you don't have family nearby, there's a good chance you can 'borrow' someone else's.  Especially if you have the energy to get involved in local activities, and/or to train someone else's kids up to an acceptable standard of usefulness. 

I would caution against expecting renters to also be reliable helpers; or expecting any helper to be a long-term solution.  It's lovely when it works out that way, but it's rare, and the potential for abuse and/or hurt feelings is high.
It can be a lot easier for everyone to have a neighbor's kid come over as often as you need them, and live your own lives at other times.
Easier to switch to a different neighbors' kid, or add an adult helper from a qualified agency, if the kid is less than optimal for tasks needed.
The Salatins have quite a system of training young farmers; if you have a back 40 you're not using anymore, and are interested in some younger energy on the place, you could do worse than approach them about offering space or a deal on a land-lease to like-minded young folks.  Again, keep this separate and clean; if it works out, they become neighbors you can ask for help; but if it doesn't, let them go without hurt feelings or unrealistic hopes and expectations.

We are revisiting this now that Ernie's folks are reaching the point where gardening, and plowing snow, are no longer fun.  The mountain homestead that was their retirement dream is now feeling like a money trap, and they are ready for an easier life.
It's not the orchard (doing fine) or even the food production; just the sheer wear and tear on equipment, to keep the roads maintained and open year-round.  And a longer distance to doctors, now that they closed the local VA clinic.
Moving closer to services, especially county-plowed roads, or for that matter a climate like their native shores where water stays liquid year-round, is looking mighty attractive at this point.

Yours,
Erica

Hi friends,
The Peasant PDC has optional Saturday field trips that are open to Schmoozaroo folks, on the condition that you sign up by the previous Wednesday so I can confirm expected group size with our hosts.


This weekend (June 2) we are going to the Bitterroot valley: ABC Acres and Dunrovin Guest Ranch, for a tour of animal, paddock-shift, and food forest systems (for-profit commercial/family farm), and a picnic by the river.

Next weekend (June 9th) we are going to Orchard Garden Farm for a 4-hour volunteer session, on a low-tillage orchard, CSA, and market garden system with educational and not-for-profit support networks.

The following weekend (June 16th) we have a choice of Free Cycles (human-powered tech), or an in-depth re-visit to ABC Acres to talk finance and farm business with farm manager Matt.

The final weekend of our course I believe will coincide with the opening weekend for the Homesteader PDC, so there should be a Wheaton Labs tour for those interested.



Please contact me or C.E. if you are ready to sign up for a field trip or tour - we can add your name to our paper signup.
If you don't hear back from us, please try again.  We have intermittent internet access in the earth-sheltered hollows up here, and may be missing some messages during busy class days.


Yours,
Erica

We have a similar masonry cookstove here where I'm visiting at Wheaton Labs, originally designed by Lasse Holmes, using Batch Box dimensions. 
I have been baking bread, cornbread, yams, potato casserole, and other goodies in the firebox as/after the coals die down.  The retained heat produces beautifully even baking temperatures, if you have a way to control air, and a good feel for masonry oven temperatures and cooling curves (or a thermometer).

Greetings.
I'd love to learn more about the Main Line method, but I'm not finding it on Google.
It might help to know exactly how to spell Mark Sheppard's name... Sheppard like the actor, Shepherd like the word, Shepard, and Shepperd have not gotten me there yet.

Would anyone who has studied this main line water management be able to point me toward a book, or a link, or a YouTube video that shows the particulars?

[Edited] = and now that I asked, I'm finding it.
https://newforestfarm.us/
https://www.forestag.com/pages/mark-shepard


...

Thanks for this insightful series and the discussion.

One of my first questions upon learning about permaculture was, "If it's so great for production, where are the old farms being converted?  Where are the orchards with trees over 10 years old?" 
I learned a lot from a survey of my grandma's backyard (turns out that when a couple of former farm kids plant a retirement garden, the results tick most of the boxes in Toby Hemenway's book...)

RedHawk, I am delighted to hear about your efforts with the larger-scale farms, incorporating access for mechanized farm equipment, feasible harvest methods for polycrop planting, and other problems encountered and solved.

...

I'm currently mulling over some advice, that might be a good element to discuss in this thread:
I have an uncle who's spent a good part of his lifetime working with business development - contract law, sustainable investment. 
He recently sat down with me and Ernie.

Part of what he had to say went something like this:
"Being raised in a liberal, West Coast family, you will have internalized the myth that Profit is Evil.  And you may have begun to recognize what a crippling falsehood this is, if you want to make things happen in the world.

"You may also be aware that many parts of the world have written into law that the primary obligation of business is to make money - that corporations must consider their shareholders' profits above other factors.
They have it almost exactly backwards.  I find those laws reprehensible."
(People are working to change them, or at least to create alternative models that allow businesses to legally define their values and include social impacts, environmental impacts, or other values as legally-protected priorities for board decisions.)

"Money is a tool for bringing the benefits of business - of trade, and working together - to communities.  Many benefits we enjoy would not be possible, or would not work nearly so well, without money or something a lot like it.
  
"In order to move forward with your vision, your mission in life, you need to profit from your work. The money you make at any given stage is what you can draw on to move into the next stage. 
If doing your work in the world does not bring you money, you will end up stuck - unable to continue, unable to progress, or worse, losing ground and having to start over."

"However, don't get stuck in the trap of working just for money.  Don't give yourself permission to work at anything less than the most powerful work you can do, toward those most important results you want to see in the world."

There was more, but I think that's enough to chew on for now.

Working the numbers is a powerful, essential skill for surviving in the modern era.  It's hard to keep your rights or influence others without money or statistics to back your claims.
Kind of like literacy is an essential skill - both of those, plus an instinct for when people are not planning to honor their word, are essential for anything involving contracts (which is almost everything, these days).
Not everyone needs to be a certified accountant or licensed contract lawyer.  But we do need the basic skills to check over their work, and hopefully to spot something fishy before it has a chance to really stink up our lives.


My first exposure to permaculture was via a guest speaker who was helping build aquaculture ponds in the Amazon, to help Secoya tribal people raise some edible fish despite the poisoning of the main rivers by oil industry.  (the consultant's goals involved preserving native food fish; the recipients often stocked tilapia once they found out where to get it, as protein and profit were more immediately interesting.)
This guy arranged for a tribal spokesman to speak at our school, and one of his points was:
"We don't need more willing hands or strong backs.  If you really want to help us, stick with your education, get a degree in law or engineering, and bring those skills to our aid."
Implication: We are fighting oil companies, this is a battle we need to win in the courts, not just in the jungle.

We are fighting the effects of industrialization, overpopulation, and ... something I want to call de-humanization, or even demonization, of human life experience.
We need to win this fight not just in the backyard, but also in the supermarket, and in the electronics store, and in the factories that supply our tools and farm equipment, and in the education and parenting systems that teach us it's OK to isolate people from their parents, grandparents, and community members in order to make the economic wheels spin faster.

Plenty of people connect with Mother Nature on Saturdays, go to church on Sundays, and spend the rest of the week commuting, shopping, and working a job that they are pretty sure is not good for them or the rest of life on Earth.

People must have ways to make their living, raise their children, and save the farm by doing business - that makes a profit, and that is compatible with life on Earth.

Even if you grow 100% of your own food, you still need to interact with the tax man, and have some reserves in case of emergency (medical, legal, or otherwise). 
Being independent of the system is a good training ground, and a good backup plan, but it does not protect you from damage in case of regional or global systemic collapse. 
The rain, the bombs, the North Atlantic Current won't distinguish between 'deserving' permaculture sites or smug suburban ChemLawns.

A farm that costs $150 for every $100 its produce earns, or that puts in 10 calories of fuel and fertilizer for every calorie of food produced, make "commercial" farming look like a national-scale version of hobby farming.
More sustainable methods, both financially and nutritionally, are essential for food security let alone ethics and pride.

This work is critically important, so thank you to everyone who is contributing to it.

r ranson wrote:I have the text finished for the first booklet.  I'll be sending it off for the first round of editing soon.  I think there are some places that need some major work and I bet there are things that can be improved that I didn't even think about.  On the whole, I'm very happy with how quickly this has gone. 

It was difficult to stop writing because I've only put about 10% of what I know on the topic.  I could double the word count just talking about soil preparation methods.  I have to stop somewhere.  Besides, everything I don't include in this book is extra value to add to the big book when I amalgamate all the little ones together.

Some things I'm thinking about:

There aren't any books on this topic.  There are books about growing that briefly talk about fibre production.  There are books on crafting that talk briefly about growing fibre.  Of the three books in publication right now that are about creating linen fabric, the most recent has 2 paragraphs on how to grow linen.  The others have a small chapter on it but focus mostly on the history and use of linen.   Does this mean that there is zero interest in this topic so no one has written on it?  Or maybe there is no interest in this topic because no one has written much about it?  Either way, when I look at the questions publishers ask, they all want to know who my audience is.  I'm thinking homesteaders and crafters as the primary audience, with people who are seeking practical solutions for a sustainable future as the secondary audience.  I wonder if I'm right.
...

The second teacher I studied permaculture under was Connie van Dyke - she taught through the local community college, and billed it as "No-Work Gardening."  She also taught a class on fiber arts called "Sheep to Sock."  She's in Portland, OR, and might be a good person to vouch for just how popular those classes can be. 

I now know several people in the Okanogan and the Puget Sound islands who grow their own fiber (alpaca, sheep, cashmere goat, angora rabbit).  Lots more think it sounds idyllic, but aren't ready for the work yet.  There's a fiber arts / wool collective that is organizing to put together a larger mill so that larger-scale wool growers can have their stuff processed locally.

When I think about growing my own fiber, I think about:
- shepherds
- being a good shepherd and the BEST SWEATER EVER
- a lawn without sheep is like a wrapper without chocolate (what's the point?)
- sheepishly simple fiber farming
- natural shepherding
- lots of quotes from Granny Aching in Terry Pratchett's series featuring Tiffany.

- for my own crafts, plant fibers are easier to catch and shear after several months' neglect.

I would enjoy reading a well-illustrated book about raising and breeding fiber animals, even though I may never do this on my own.  I have done or helped with various parts in the process (farm-sit for shepherds, help herd and dose sheep, card, spin, knit, hand-weave) but I don't find the time to do most of them at present.  So I might be more of a library customer.

When I taught basket weaving classes at libraries, or even a fairy house class (build a little miniature house from leaves, flowers, twigs, moss, etc - like a gingerbread house but outdoors) - people would come to class and say
"I've always wanted to do this, but I never tried it until now." 
There are books about it - they would have collected all, or most, of the Fairy house books.  But they did not give themselves permission to just go build one in their own backyard.
You could see that as kind of sad - or you could see it as hopeful, that someone who loved beauty from afar through many busy years, finally has the time to settle down with a class group and practice what they love.

I think what you are doing is important. 
So many people love fiber arts, and you are right, there are lots of books on how to process fiber.  This is more than that - it is more wholesome/holistic/a better story, without being more advanced or more difficult. 
It sounds like people could take your book and do the parts they enjoy, while outsourcing the other parts - like raise the sheep, but have the wool washed and carded at a local mill, then do the dying themselves using plants grown by a friend, then sell the dyed wool to knitters or spinners, or a Waldorf school for felt dollies, or whatever.

There are lots of cookbooks.  You are doing something more like a gardener's guide to seasonal meals. 
I think people who buy cookbooks and people who garden would both be interested in that book.



Some people are telling you that self-publishing makes more money.  If you want to lay out a book with illustrations, print it, and sell physical copies, it can often be done through a local printer.  Selling it is the trick.
In my experience, it really depends a lot more on how good you are at marketing - and how many of your books you can sell. 
Selling 2000 books at $2 per book profit is $4000.  Selling 40 books at $5 per book profit is $200. 
Which is more money?  (If the work that went into each were the same, which it usually isn't.) 

Some of my favorite things about working with a publisher include
- having a team to handle some aspects of the details that I would not enjoy.  Like shipping, and marketing to bookstores. 
- having a professional team that knows about book sales informing the suggestions about cover art, length, format, and so on.
- the extra attention they put into layout and editing with me, to achieve that quality.
- royalty checks that appear as a pleasant surprise, without a lot of conscious effort on my part.  (They would be less surprising if I was counting on them...)

Some things that you might not like:
- I was in negotiations with 3 different publishers before producing a book with this one.  Publishers turn out to be people, too, and can fall through on deals, or have a change of circumstances that makes them unwilling to take a chance on a book deal.
- From a final draft I was ready to self-publish, with all its illustrations laid out, it took over a year working with the publisher to see the book released.  They produce their catalogs 6 months or more in advance, for pre-orders from stores and book trade.  If a book misses its predicted publishing date by more than a week they lose a lot of sales.  Which means they want the book to be substantially complete and "on rails" to make that deadline, a full year out.
- My own creative personality has a much easier time finishing a project when it's on its own time frame.  If I've already been paid for a creative project, I can get paralysed about finishing it.  So it was important for me to have substantial completion - something an editor could work with even if I froze up - before submiting the manuscript.  Others hate working on spec, and work with a will knowing the product will sell/ has already sold. 


Word Count:
Although some publications may pay by the word, readers don't necessarily want long books more than short ones.  (Long books are more expensive due to printing and shipping costs, and perhaps also to self-limiting demand).
I am prone to write long; it takes effort for me to write briefly.
Many of my readers are hands-on folks who prefer a briefer lesson.

I think you're on the right track, separating chapters or sections into articles.  Give both you, and your reader, a structure within which it's possible to give more detail without being overwhelmed.

Giving the best 10% of what you know, down into essential elements that will be most helpful to readers, sounds like a really good working goal.

-Erica

Michael Cox wrote:We stayed at a huge and busy campsite recently that -unusually- allowed dogs. All dogs had to pass a "tummy tickle test" before being allowed on site, and the staff reserved the right to say no at the gate. They had a few dedicated areas where dogs could gallop off lead freely (big fields, not small pens), but otherwise they remained on leads, tethered in their camp area.

I was dubious at first, but it worked well.

What an interesting undertaking.  I like the "tummy tickle test" by camp staff - it not only verifies their docility under reasonable duress, but it also places the dog in a subservient posture with camp staff, with their owners present. 
That would help the camp staff if there was a problem with a particular dog - it's like an introduction in dog language that says "this guy is a boss, you be submissive to him."

Do you have a name or website for that camp ground?

-Erica

Here are a couple quick sketch views.

The griddle, oven, and rocket HW in the back are one of Tim Barker's kitchen contraptions in a steel frame. If these are no longer one unit, we have more flexibility in what goes where.

The 'step pump' could be a way to get potable water overhead for sink and beverage dispensers.  Dish pan in sink allows re-use of clean-ish water for non-potable purposes.  Greywater from sink can go to garden, or to intermediate use (laundry pre-soak tubs, etc).  Watch out for tomato sauce!


The dishes cabinet on the corner opens to the outside (and possibly also to the inside) - it takes up the "back corner" of the interior pantry, a common dead zone for pantry access. 
May want to size this to plastic dish tubs, or a wooden rack, to prevent breakage of dishes and facilitate return from dish area.


The "light weight overhead storage" (top part of tall area, above the height of convenience to cooks) might be where we store our solar deployables, empty dish bins, empty wash buckets, linens, and smaller, light-weight tables for dish/coffee/etc stations, etc.  It may need to be accessed by ladder, i.e. not that often. 
Full length overhead cabinets on this high side would help provide stiffness to the whole structure, like a box beam.

The pass-through area may not need a pocket door; however, both awning-style openings and swinging shutters have some practical problems in confined quarters, especially if they get deployed through countertop space that may have breakables on it.

Whether to do fold-down and fold-out tables on the sides of the kitchen shed, or just to bring along some folding tables and place them in these general areas, is up to time and interest of our crew.



-Erica

Thank you to Paul for pulling quick measurements off the skiddable kitchen frame for our cabinetry team.

Interior floor 7 feet 9 inches by 16 feet.

Heights:
Back wall 6 feet 9 inches
Front wall 9 feet 7 inches


General layout:
Strength: On both the open sides, we want to build in further cross-bracing / shear and diagonal support, where the diagonal support braces are now.
This thing will get seriously tweaked every time it is loaded onto a trailer or skidded; it almost needs bulkheads like a boat or gypsy wagon.

Vehicle Interactions:
This structure interacts regularly with vehicles bringing potable water, a fire truck or pickup for wash water, and occasionally with its hauling trailer.
Short ends or corners might be the optimal place to bring these vehicles in to re-fill heavy tanks, and to locate the coffee/tea station and dish-washing areas, solar hot water deployment, etc.

We might also want to think about weight, where the water tanks/storage are balanced side-to-side.  Water tanks up high may be useful for collecting rainwater and operating a sink, but should be drained for transport.
Rainwater collection to the corner(s) for a hand-washing sink, before entering the end-wall doors, could be cool.
A solar shower bag for hot water could be nice on the sunny side.
Corners are stronger, and a good place to locate tanks or other heavy elements.


Back side:  Garden / Greywater
The dripline is not a great place for chow line. That's the "back" side, would tend to face a garden or downhill area when possible.
The skiddable kitchen may be used on garden sites where there is fresh produce available, or with portable planter pots for fresh herbs & ingredients.  A "back door" or pass-through to the garden could be useful; however this is also the safer side to locate fryers, griddles, and other tools that could be a problem on the chow line side.

I would imagine we want the closed-off utilities on that side - dripline and greywater could both feed a nearby garden or downslope area, or we could collect some rainwater off the dripline to feed a sink/wash tank on one corner. 
We might also want a compost receptacle on that side that could be emptied without interrupting the cooking/chow line space in front.
Planter pots of herbs, or sets of hanging pots / window pots, could be located under the drip line for longer-term deployments.


Front Side: Chow Line / Delivery and Expansion
The "front", taller open side is a logical place for delivery/access functions. This side should face the road in most locations.
This looks like a logical place for "chow line," an open counter for food service, and sometimes for deliveries. 
Most of this side may have lower cabinets/counters, and upper openings for pass-through or awning-style openings.  However, some areas will need stronger construction/cross-bracing, and might be good areas for cabinets, tool racks, etc. 

Facilities / Kitchen Layout:
For functional group cooking, I would like a semi-protected space for a "main cook" (who doesn't need traffic bumping them while handling glass lasagna pans),
- and a "self-serve" space for coffee/tea, snacks, and maybe some re-heating or solar oven storage.


If we imagine chow line moving right-to-left, the handwashing sink is on the right endwall.  Chow line goes about 12 feet, then there is a drop-down counter that makes things L-shaped, for additional food service. (About 2 to 3 feet wide).
On the back side of this counter, is where self-serve and beverage stations could be located, as people often take 2 trips or need these things outside of meal times.  A coffee/tea/snack station, separate from the main kitchen, helps with self-serve outside of meal times without interrupting the cooks.
Left of that, beyond the end of the kitchen, is where self-serve dish washing can be set up.  A second drop-down counter could be located beside this endwall door, or dish washing can happen with a separate set of tables and washtubs.

This is a fairly small kitchen, but more than most boat "galleys" that serve dozens of hearty meals per day. 
For self-serve, some of the cooking or prep might be done in adjacent, tent-type spaces which access cabinets or cooking equipment from the outside. 
We might think of lower cabinets opening from the outside where appropriate.
We could build fold-down counters or prep tables that mount to the outside, extending the space on the tall side and ends.  (Probably not right under the drip line, however.)

We need to think about clearance areas for the rocket stoves/ovens, probably a tea stove on the front open side, and an oven somewhere.

We may want a spot for the mini-fridge / mini-chest-freezer for future, or for a Cool-Gardie alternative, that gets good air flow.  Away from the stoves, with counter space between.

Glass containers for food storage may be popular, necessitating boat-style cupboards or fabric containment to reduce breakage.  (Like a shoe rack, but stronger; or drawers or racks that hold jars in wood).
Stainless cookware, mixing bowls, and containers would also be good, and cast iron will likely be popular.

The traditional "triangle kitchen" where the stove, sink, and fridge are 3 points of a triangle is still a good model here.  However, we may not have a fridge.  I might suggest a substitute (cool-gardie or shade pantry) in the corner where it can be accessible to the beverage station as well as the cook.

Solar:
Since location and aspect vary, solar tools need to be deployable.  We could have exterior cabinets for solar ovens, PV panels, solar shower bag and wash station, etc. that can be deployed in the nearest sunny clearing.  They may have hooks, tripods, or other frames that hold them during use.  Some of their cabinets could then become available for bulk food storage, or countertop/prep spaces.

Power / RV Hookups:
We might want a power and water hookup in case we happen to be in an RV campground or near the shop. 
Main uses of electric would be some low-draw lights (LED or similar), and possibly a USB charger for cooks who use digital recipe storage. 
When more power is available, refrigeration, mixers, and slow-cookers might also be used.

Hauled Water
All water stuff needs to be fully drainable for freeze protection.  (And for cleanout).  If a fixed tank is used, it needs to be accessible with cleaning brushes / well drained for complete rinsing.

Buckets are popular and nearly man-friendly (lifting 45 lbs of sloshing water overhead is not a popular chore).  Block and tackle or pumps can help with this.  However, buckets are easily contaminated, and can be confused with dirty-jobs buckets (such as bucket toilet systems).  Labeling helps, but wears off.  It's better to have unique, diffucult-to-contaminate, easy to clean containers for potable water.
Closed carboys, water-cooler jars, or jugs with lids may be easier to keep separate. 

If we are going to gravity-feed potable water, we might want a pump either for bringing it up to the sink, or for raising it to an overhead storage tank.  Stick/old-fashioned well pumps can work for a tank under the sink, but something with a little more mechanical advantage might be needed for overhead.  Not all delivery will be able to pump water, and the fire truck should not be used as it's all non-potable tanks and fittings

Interactions between potable water, and greywater for dishes/rough washing, will help reduce overall water usage.
The corner(s) by the doors may be good water locations, as an assistant can refill water without causing too much interruption to the cook(s).

Materials:
As always on Wheaton labs, we are aiming for minimal or positive ecological footprint.  Where possible, natural and biodegradable materials are preferred.

The skid structure and majority of finishing will be made from natural wood.  This may be unfinished, or oiled with natural oils.  We may avoid nut woods and nut oils due to common allergies.

The kitchen tools are a variety of materials. 
Operators will generally want composting facilities, recycle receptacles, and predominately re-usable containers and bulk ingredients. 

For plumbing, we're looking at copper, PEX, or poly plumbing, trying to find the most durable and least toxic options. 
Bamboo plumbing is cute, but has limited permanent uses due to its tendency to rot unless treated with unwholesome coatings.  Cedar plumbing could be cool if we have the skill and discipline to freeze-protect it.


I'll work up a rough sketch momentarily.
Those with boat, RV, camp cook, and kitchen installation experience, please feel free to suggest more efficient layout options.

(And of course the site owners and staff!)

Yours,
Erica

OK, here it is officially: The lucky 6.
Based on past contributions, skills needed, and a certain winnowing due to availability:

Bill Erickson
Eliot Mason
Randall Gabriel
Jeremy Adams
Tony Cooley
Scott Weinberg

Please let me know if this will be your first visit to Wheaton Labs.
I sent an email to everyone with details.
Randall, the email address I have for you did not go through.  The other 5 should have a basic description of the game plan.

We are very much looking forward to seeing you again, and/or meeting you, next week!

Other folks still interested should look at the "Schmoozaroo" description; you could come anyway and hang out outside of course hours. 
https://permies.com/t/schmoozaroo#705864


p.s. My apologies for the delay in announcing this.   
In addition to my usual business and client work, we have had 6 fires in my district in the past 2 weeks, 3 controlled burns and 3 wildfires, plus re-ignition complaints on one of the wildfires.  4 of these fires occurred between 6pm Thursday the 26th, and 9pm  Friday the 27th, the day I had originally intended to announce this list.  I got a bit distracted.  Add in two out-of-town medical appointments and a 3-day training conference, and I think we've discovered the limits of my logistical brainpower. 

If you know someone who would enjoy being a part-time executive assistant or office support for a couple of fire-obsessed permies, from a distance or otherwise, please have them PM me.

Yours,
Erica W

We are contacting the lucky 6 people privately, to confirm they are still able to make the dates. 
If you don't hear from us soon, please make sure that your email on your Permies profile is correct, or look for a "PM" (private message / Purple Mooseage) in your Permies inbox.

Those who are on the wait list are still welcome to come for the Schmoozaroo, hang out after hours, and check out the results. 
https://permies.com/t/schmoozaroo#705864