Tyler Flaumitsch

Soooooooo, Covid-19 has certainly put a damper on things. We have not been able to make it out to our land. We are going to keep watching and trying to get out there. Canada is a big place and we have to go from the west coast to the east coast. That's a lot of provincial borders. Our timeline is back to ASAP.

See you soon.....we hope.

Greetings Permies Forums Folks!

In the months to come we will be doing a great deal of work and are inviting you to join in our adventure. The farm has been a long planned change in the way that we have been living. The planning took us nearly 20 years.

17 years ago we started looking for land. We had pretty strict parameters.

Our land needed to be:

- It needed to be between 10 - 50 acres
- Have a north south slope orientation
- Have fields that had been fallow for at least 5 years and no history of glysophate being used
- Have mixed brush for woods
- Be within 1 hour of a city
- Have a minimum of a seasonal creek on it
- Cost less than $1000/acre (cdn dollars)

We looked for five years......

Then 12 years ago we purchased our 37 acres of land that fit perfectly! It also happened to be close to my wife’s family. Oh and it ended up being property that a good friend of mine played on when he was a kid. Imagine that!

For years we weren’t able to do very much on the land. I researched, we did small scale poultry for our own use and grew bigger gardens where we lived. I stopped by and spent a couple of days with Jocelyn and Paul back when Tim and family were there and helped work on some projects while I was there. Then we managed to get back to our land for a bit. We did a pretty solid cruise of it five years ago. Then worked with a friend who has a PDC on our plan. Next came converting a school bus into an RV for us to live in while we build our house. Then last year we drilled a well... and had plans of going to the land in spring 2021.  

Then the Pandemic.

It is time to do it. Now.

This year we will be:
- building our small wofati inspired home,
- Planting a small orchard to complement existing fruit trees and small wild fruit
- Planting a zone 1 garden
- Building an all season chicken/rabbit shelter....plus a chicken tractor
- Building a portable pig shelter and raising three pigs
- Building earthworks - a small pond and a number of swales
- Plus possibly more....

Ambitious plan? Indeed. But we have lots of time on our hands and are industrious.

We will be posting regularly starting in early May. So, if all goes well and we are able to travel from the west coast of Canada, to the east coast of Canada in the middle of crap hitting the fan then we will have some fun stuff to share with all of you fellow permaculture freaks. If we can’t make it out there....then we will revisit the plan.

Stay healthy and safe.

Cheers,

Tyler

Sorry, really stupid question here......what is a UPS restoration service"?

Maybe its because I'm Canadian....but I have no idea what that is and "the Googles" have let me down again.

Cheers,

Tyler

Dawn Hoff wrote:I think very much you should out the complainer in to work with whomever he complains about.

I'm also thinking that a polite "ummm, have you told them?" Might be a good thing once in a while.

What might be really really useful is to have a non-violent communication work shop ;-) That to me is really people care - learning to be assertive, and positive at the same time, is the best tool I've ever ever learned (I'm still working at it, it's an squired skill).

Hey Paul, I think that Dawn is on to something about non-violent communication, but think that there is more to it. In the time that Wheaton Labs has been running you have put a lot of fucking awesome brain power and passion into projects that move permaculture forward. I think you are on the verge of doing more of the people work that needs to happen for the great stuff you are doing to be able to be heard by many others and remove some of the obstacles that happen when more than one person get together. I would suggest that you consider establishing a way that you treat each other. You can either do this the same as as you have set grounds rules surrounding kiddos, alcohol, drugs, etc or engage in a dialogue with gappers, Tim and Family and come up with basic expectations about how people treat each other. The biggest things that I would suggest you focus on are:

- Non-violence - being committed creating safety. In the form physical, emotional, and moral safety.
- Social Responsibility - the idea that everyone there is important and depends on each other. Which means stepping up and helping, voicing your concerns to the person that is contributing to them and being committed to solutions to name a few.
- Social Learning - The idea that everyone has something to contribute and you are all smarter together than just one person alone
- Open communication - being willing to have some degree of transparency, people saying what they mean, meaning what they say and not being mean when they say it.

there are some other things, but in my experience (this is big part of what I do) these things will help. If you are interested and I get over your way again maybe we can talk about working people through some of this stuff. Just a thought.

I also have to say Paul from what I have seen you, yourself, already have a pretty good handle on this stuff, the trick is getting others to buy in, act this way, and call each other on it as time moves forward.

Cheers.

Hey Paul, I know that the couple of days that I spent at the lab last summer was great. The time that I spent with you, your visiting friends, Jocelyn, Tim, Kristie, the kiddos, Jesse etc was wonderful as well. The projects that were on the go were basic needs at that point. Food and water (animals and well), Shelter (Tim and family were in the tent) and you were really wanting to get things going even greater both on the lab and in working towards global domination.

When we look at the people that have joined you at the lab and the amazing stuff that is going on there has been amazing progress!

I totally get the need to push things a bit when momentum is moving. Permaculture is moving! When someone does a search of the great weird and wonderful "inter-web" on permaculture today the amount of info and resources out there in the way of PDC's, etc is manifold and growing everyday. Compared to five years ago there is a veritable cornucopia of info. You, Jack Spirko, Geoff Lawton, Sepp Holzer, Ben Falk etc etc etc. This movement will not stop, it makes too much sense, and can be done on large or small scale and everything no matter how big or small makes a difference. The momentum is there, though somewhat glacial in speed.

I also understand community mobilization and systemic change, that is what I do. This is how things go with social movements and ideological change. Things typically move slowly at first and build up and up and up and then....the tipping point is hit and away things go. There are multiple tipping points; individual, familial, community, national, international and global. Permaculture is still slowly building and is a heavy load because of its importance and you and many are doing much to keep things moving.

Where I am going with this is:

- Getting to the lab for workshops is difficult at best, impossible/implausible for the majority of people,
- many, many people are hungry for info and experience, (as evidenced by the various cultivars of permaculture - ranging from Sepp to Purple)
- social and global movements need a multitude of grassroots folks spreading the word and encouraging others.
- In business, marketing is a necessity (not saying that you are not marketing permaculture)

So, you may want to consider spending some time with others in developing community starter strategies, these engagement strategies will eventually pay off for you, both financially and for the movement. If anyone wants to talk about this further PM me or maybe another thread...

kadence blevins wrote:I think i am in both build and have built. I could build hugels and help with building lots of things but wouldnt be able to just myself. So if i was going to it would have to be figured out between me and whoever else wants to do build-for-people-paid-for that can do the other things i cant do but could help with.

Like say... four people and i can do hugels, we work out from the persons spot the cost and we split the pay... six people can do all the main moving and building for a wofati but five others and i can be runners and handers and holders etc.

Or on the other hand someone might be able to do all of one persons.hugels on their own and get all the pay.

Is this along the lines of what you were thinkin?
I dont know what prices it would be for things..

For this I would estimate an hourly wage and base the total on how long it has taken you to build something similar and negotiate it with all involved and either give a set cost for the finished product or have them agree to an hourly wage....possibly with a topped out cost.

In experience there are many good ways to get stuff built in a community that supports each other that are mutually beneficial and result in a deeper relationship with each other, a level of interdependence that makes people invest more than time and energy. The two that I have been part of are alive and well in many small communities in the US and internationally.

The 1st has its roots in our pre-wage earning job era where resources were often scarce and people NEEDED to rely on each other not just because without the help of others you could not get big projects completed, but also because you cared about the others around you and often had similar goals. No surprise this is the arrangement that is commonly called the Amish Barn Raising scenario. In this scenario no one gets a financial payment of any kind. They are there to help knowing that when they need help the others will be there to lend strong arms and backs to the task.

The 2nd is the model is a modified general contractor model where a group of community folks gather at the call of the prospective "homeowner" (used loosely as I think that these would all be Paul's when folks leave) where this person would detail what they want and will pay based on either hourly wage or completed task (i.e. I'll pay you 9 bucks an hour to help build this, or I'll pay you $300 to complete this wall) then the skilled individual organizes the work and pays "subcontractors or labourers" to do the general building under the guidance of the contractor. The modification comes where these labourers are neighbours/community members and though money changes hands to "compensate" them for their work they also have a level of interest in the outcome for their neighbour.

By far, I prefer the 1st, mainly because it builds community in a way that money changing hands does not.

Just to toss out there, once the structures are done for everyone in the group they could shift to wage structure for new people joining until they "buy in" by shedding blood, sweat and tears for their neighbours as well, or they group could then build and charge a set fee as a revenue stream like what Paul talked about earlier.

As to how both models have worked "for me". I have far more experience doing the first model.

What I have put in over the years: I have helped build six houses, many extensions, sheds, barns and fences, as well as collected many tonnes of firewood and hunted and shared loads of meat and fish.

What I have received: 100% free labour on one 16x32 extension, five house renovations (including labour and sign off of permits by electricians, plumbers, and both rough and finish carpenters), a few fences, a couple of sheds and I rarely ever ran out of meat or fish, or firewood. I also had the benefit of many fine people that I now call brothers and sisters by choice to share food and drink with after helping each other. As an additional benefit, when other people had seen the work that we did for each other that were on the "fringe" as acquaintances of the folk that I helped I got paid work. For example, I built many a deck, wall, shed or whatever for people who saw things that I'd built and wanted to then pay me to to that for them.

Just my two cents...

I have spent many night on versions of this http://www.greydragon.org/furniture/beds/issues.html , it is a rope bed. The ropes for the basis of sleeping structure and you can cover them with all manner of things. I slept on sheep skin and caribou hide, toasty warm. Imagine sleeping on a rope bed where the wood is cut off the land and using ropes made of fiber off the land, you could sleep on skins or even have a tick filled with straw from the land. By the way, i have back issues and have been just fine....but then, I dont sleep real well anywhere.

I would be interested to hear how that supports stress in various directions. If there is even a little compression in any direction I would be concerned about collapse. I am also wondering about the mix of mediums in the way that you used them. What was your rationale? Depending on how it holds up, you may want to try earth bag methods for the entire doorway and arch, it would be a relatively easy fix to tie it into the surrounding structure. Hope things works as is though....but sceptical.

John Merrifield wrote:In some timber frame construction I've done, I used dry, square, oak pegs in green wood holes. Pegs remained tight after green wood seasoned.

Ditto, but with roundish pegs and big spikes. The greenwood I've used has been tamarack, spruce, cedar, pine, and poplar(black aspen) with the majority being spruce and tamarack. The pegs have been oak and mountain ash, but I hear black locust is good too. I've had a few major cracks where I put the peg too close to end of the board and it compromised the joint, but they have been few and with cedar and spruce.

One example of the strength is my buddy and I built his small barn with timbers mainly joined with oak pegs and tamarack boards. It would take a few pounds of dynamite and an act of God to knock that building over. It is SOLID. That tamarack was fine to work with green but needs a hole drilled to drive a nail dry.