Scott Hoelscher

Hester.....I guess I'm selling both!
We all know it's hard to make a living doing permaculture and I have sorta found a niche that works.
If there is someone out there who really wants to live permaculture principles and practices, you can be assured that it's not just a dream or distant goal.  It's working every day and getting better every day!
If, on top of that, 2 of us like minded I individuals can come together on a personal level that would be awesome!

**UPDATE**
A lot has happened since I started this thread!  I started a feed business with a friend of mine. We make all natural,  non gmo , non soy feed for all your animals! Our motto is ' you are what your animals eat'.
The feed business has allowed for development of the land mentioned in the first post.   Some acreage was sold, but I was able to rent the remaining 50 acres of my family homestead! We have converted all the land formerly in big ag into pasture.   We have a herd  of pastured heritage pigs and also laying hens.  We do broilers as well and are working hard to develop a market for everything.
I'm still looking for that woman who can work with me to take this to the next level! We're committed to all natural, permaculture techniques throughout the farm.  We have 2 years of sales with the feed company and growing all the time. There is a 'real' opportunity here!  The business side of things is established and I have too much to handle!  
Please purple mooseage me to find out more details.  Seriously.....theres a lot more details....it would take hundreds of words to fully explain everything we have going on here!

Paul previously stated:

"The systems assumes that we are all noble and that we will eat only our own food. Since only 5% of the population is noble, then it is inevitable that the system will fail.
So the new system is: have all the food you want. It is not possible to steal the food."


I have a good friend who has been in high level IT for many years. Think Boeing,GE,Fed Reserve......you get the picture. He had many, many struggles with people (mostly higher level) stealing his work, his solutions. One day after talking about this problem with him for the 1000th time!...... the solution was simple. "They can't steal it if you give it to them" And that's what he did. He inundated those that were always taking, offering them more than they could handle. And within a short period of time the situation straightened out and he could actually accomplish something. Prior to that he was spending all his time policing his work and not making progress on solutions.

Point being: If it's not possible to steal something, people won't. And obviously conversely: If it is possible to steal something, people will!

Worked fine!
I'm using Chrome running Linux Mint 15......

Thanks for the candy!

I've got some land in Ohio that I'm interested in developing into a permaculture farm.
Full disclosure, I do have a thread started in 'permaculture singles' because ultimately I need to meet the right woman to work this farm with me.

That being said, I've got food and a place to stay ( not fancy!)
Money to spend on projects that will yield some revenue this year.
I'm willing to split all revenue 50/50 this year and talk about future years.
5 acres mixed woodland/pasture/ with creek. Expandable up to 80 acres.
Existing buildings/tools etc
I'm thinking mushrooms, vegetables, pigs, chickens all quick (relatively) revenue.

So, there's work to be done, experience to be gained, money to be made (hopefully!)
Contact me for more details ( I do have some previous experience in the field)

I ran across your thread while researching mushroom cultivation and I have an idea for you!

I'm a few hours south in midwest Ohio and I'm starting work on a large scale permaculture farm this spring. Well, I'm in the planning stages now so I guess I've already started!
I would like to do mushrooms in logs. I have several acres of woods that might work if the inoculated logs are placed correctly. We get a fair amount of rain in the spring and fall around here so I think it'd work.
My idea is this: Come down and use your experience to help me get set up. In return, I will sell you all the 'fruits' (haha see what i did there?!) of my labor to you at wholesale prices. I can think of 2 other people within walking distance of my land that would gladly do the same. If you were to repeat this process enough times, you'd have your own network of growers supplying your established business. Sure some people would probably take advantage of your intial help, but most likely you would form some good working relationships with most of the people that you helped get started. It's these people that you need anyways because they will listen to your advice, grow what you want and only ship to you the quality product that you need.
This arrangement would probably not provide the grower with an income stream that they could live off of (but it might) but at least in my case, I'm really only looking for many small easy to manage income streams, thus giving me the $$ I need. A diverse approach to earning revenue is, imho, the best way to truly have a sustainable permaculture farm that does more than just provide for your own needs (food ).

Anyways, just a thought that popped into my head this morning!
best wishes to ya!

Ok....First the bad news.....

I'm in Ohio....nobody seems to want to move to Ohio! But it's a really nice place! (a little crowded)
I'm basically starting from scratch, so there's a long road ahead with lots of work to be done.
My kids are almost grown and I'm not really looking for more (right now, although I could probably be convinced to change my mind!)

Good news to follow.......

I live in Ohio! We get plenty of rain, consistently. We are very close to the largest concentration of freshwater in the world! The great lakes! We don't have earthquakes or hurricanes. Temps are usually good, sometimes ok, and rarely horrible but always changing! There are markets all around for whatever we produce. Wind and solar power are both viable options here.
We'd be starting from scratch! Which means a clean slate. At least 5 acres to start, about 80 available if we can make it work. Most of the 5 acres is wooded, one small creek running through it. Lots of conventionally farmed ground around (big ag > ) The main focus is a couple of acres that have been fallow for about 15 years, currently have nice stand of pasture on it. The farm is unique because it sits on the continental divide in Ohio. Water from the northeast part of the farm drains to Lake Erie, water from the rest drains to the Gulf of Mexico. As such we're also pretty flat! The farm has been in my family for well over 100 yrs, I'm looking to continue that streak but bring it into the new reality of sustainable, clean production.
I do have a lot of tools, transportation, availability of equipment to borrow if needed, plenty of gardening experience.
I grew up on a dairy farm which is the same farm that I'm currently trying to transform. This means that there is also lots of buildings, some family around to help out in emergencies. It also means that I have a lot of experience and knowledge raising animals.
We currently have about 30 laying hens, 3 goats, 2 dogs.

What else........
I've been going down the organic, sustainabiltiy path for a few years now. The real breakthrough for me was discovering this website! All the information I was looking for and didn't know where to look or even what questions to ask!
I'm 45 yo....been in a few relationships, been married. I'd like to believe I have a good perspective on building a lasting relationship ( I think)
I have a small business making Non-GMO feed for small flocks,herds. It's growing quite well and is a good compliment to the farm.
I think my farm is an ideal place to run classes in the future, anything along the lines of natural production or permaculture design

Any questions? Please reply in this thread. I'll answer them if it's not too personal!
And you can always send me a PM

Welcome to Permies Ben!
I've looked at woodgas generators a couple of times and understand the basic workings of it. Your book ( The Wood Gasifier Builder's Bible ) does look like the answer that myself and many others have looked for, a concise easy to understand guide to building a modern wood gasifier.
My question is, Do you offer any insights into gas storage in your book? OR future books? It seems like a good storage system similar to propane could prove to be a long term, sustainable answer to replacing petroleum based gasses. Seems like the volumes of gas produced by a wood gasifier makes it a prime candidate for a sustainable replacement IF storage and portability are addressed (like propane). Overcoming the storage/potability issue could spur adoption of woodgas as an alternative fuel.

I have been researching rocket stoves for a few weeks now in preparation to build one. It looks to me from your drawing that you are correct. Your secondary burn flue is too small. The best designs that I have seen specify a secondary burn chamber that is BIGGER than the firebox. So if there is a way to decrease the size of your firebox I think that would help. Of course, I haven't built one yet so I may not know what I'm talking about!