Gilbert Fritz

Hello Judson,

Thanks for your thoughts! I hope your Permaculture projects "bear fruit" both literally and metaphorically. Community garden type projects are great for building community.

I don't think I could see myself in an intentional community though.  I'd love to work with one and be involved.... but you know... on my own terms.  I grew up on a small family farm and am of a very independent, conservative/libertarian nature.  I'm the kind of guy who is very willing to help a neighbor, and very neighborly... but, "I keep myself to myself".  

I appreciate your perspective on community. I think when people talk about building community, planned, intentional communes or cooperatives come to mind. I share your caution regarding such projects; while they can be very beautiful, they are also difficult to establish and can become cultish or controlling, not leaving enough room for room for diverse human beings.

I'm trying to host a wide range of perspectives on community building on my website, but one thing I'm trying to stress is that until modern times every human being lived in a community; a group of people that they knew and that looked out for one another, more or less. I hold that kind of community to be important to human flourishing, but that doesn't mean we all need to go "found" intentional community projects. That is one way to get there, but I hope that a more gradual, organic approach could turn the disconnected groups of people we already live near into a functioning community, through the kind of neighborly actions you mentioned.

An elderly friend likes to tell me about his childhood in an urban ethnic enclave on the East Coast; as he put it, though they were all poor, nobody was ever going to go hungry. Today, we wouldn't know our neighbors well enough to know if they needed help . . . and that's a shame.

I'm not in any kind of position to put together a Permaculture curriculum, but that's a very interesting project! Is your friend's curriculum in use?

Hi Miles, I'd be interested in finding out!

Thanks for the suggestions!

Rebecca, the Heritage Homestead group is fascinating, and I will reach out to them. It is interesting that they moved from New York City to Colorado to Texas; extremely intentional as opposed to organically developed.

Amaya, that is a great article and project. I really like the way that Molly Burhans thinks outside the box about solving complex issues. Even though I am not good at maping, (which has sometimes hampered my permaculture projects!) I've always been fascinated by maps of all sorts.

I'm not sure, but maybe you could measure the temperature at which it freezes?

As far as getting the water out, I'm not sure.

I guess it isn't quite as bad as I thought.

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/glycerine-boiling-freezing-points-d_1590.html

At 5% water it freezes at F 46. At 10% water it freezes at F 29, at 20% water at F -5

So I guess it depends on how much water biodiesel glycerin would have in it.  

It is about 130 square feet.

I've thought about glycerin, but apparently even a small amount of contamination with water turns it into anti-freeze that won't solidify even below freezing, so I'd probably have to buy it pure.

In our second podcast, we talk about the tension between organic development and intentional design in community formation. On the one hand, "building a community from scratch" produces a fairly high failure rate and leaves the community more open to various dysfunctional dynamics. On the other hand, too organic of an approach might lead to a failure to ever "gel." We end up with more questions than answers, and we'd be happy to get your thoughts. Does anyone have experience with communities that developed organically yet achieved a high level of intentionality? What are some ways to make intentional development less risky? Are there resources on this topic that we should discuss in future episodes?  

https://happyareyoupoor.com/podcast/podcast-2-organic-development-of-community/

I got the IBC tank inside the greenhouse and the endwall closed back up. The tank looks awfully large inside there!

Thanks for the encouragement Kevin!

I'm going to be attaching an insulated tarp that I can roll over the structure at night and roll off during the day; should give me some of the same effect as double poly. I will be putting a double layer on the end-walls.

I've thought about using coconut oil, trying to figure out a way to get it cheaply has been difficult so far.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the input! I've modified the "about" statement to be a little clearer about who we are and what we're trying to do, and I'll discuss possible further additions with the rest of the team.

Rebecca, good to hear from you! I've sent you a PM.