Rhiannon Drake

Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files

Summary

Paul is with Nick in Spokane, WA where they're going to have a potluck.

Paul used to live on mount Spokane, so he knows a bit about the area, but yesterday they went to Manito park which Paul never knew existed. Nick says he grew up in the park.

The subject turns to earwigs. Paul when he was young used to ride his bike a lot, and had a small tent. He tells of how once he camped at a site, and millions of earwigs got on the tent in the night, due to it raining. Nick makes earwig traps from newspaper formed into a mini tent, and discussion turns to what to do with them once caught, from a permaculture point of view. Nick used diatomaceous earth. Apparently chickens don't like them.

The number of earwigs seems to vary: 8 years ago, there were more, then they got fewer but now they're back to the same as 8 years ago.
Paul says Sepp Holzer says the bugs will be controlled if the permaculture design is good. Paul thinks that something will eat the earwigs, and by encouraging whatever eats earwigs the problem will be controlled. Sepp Holzer for example puts food and habitat away from his root cellar to attract the rodents so they don't get in the cellar, but this also attracts the rodent predators to eat the rodents.

They move on to talking about lawns. Nick's lawn isn't that good and Paul thinks the soil needs improving and predictably thinks there should be hügelkulturs, and many more edible growies.

Relevant Threads

Cascadia regional forum
Rockies regional forum

Gardening for Beginners forum

Bugs forum

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:

Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Amy Berry
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
Janelle
thomas adams
David Lucey
Kay Gelfing
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Cindi Duehmig
Samantha Lewis
Polly Jayne Smyth
Banter Couch
Rebekah Harmon
Chris Holtslag
Zach Keeshin
Paul Tipper

1 month ago

Podcast 712 - Wheaton Labs Aspirations - Part 2

Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files

Summary

part 2 of a 2 part podcast

Paul and Stephen continue talking about aspirations.

Paul sees people buying homesteads, but many of them fail - often they're not well prepared, and work harder than they need to. He feels bootcamp would be a good way for people to find out if they could take on homesteading. Stephen agrees: it's why he came to Wheaton labs and bootcamp.

Paul mentions when he found he had cancer: He couldn't see how he got it, but when he looked into it although he lived a very organic life, he still ate in restaurants and other food which wasn't organic. Genetics was also relevant.

Paul wants to see 20 people living there year-round. He feels it would be good if they were people who arrived there wanting to change their life. He would also like to see that all of those people had different expertise, which they developed at bootcamp. He mentions Josiah who developed skill in roundwood building.

Stephen comments that it's important that people can work with others. Being too much of an individual doesn't help the team. He'd like to see a dozen full-time residents. Paul feels that bootcamp is working well as a community and the occasional bad people either leave or are kicked out.

Paul is keen on what he calls half-assed holidays and that they should become awesome.

Paul's last topic is there have been some really good Seppers and short-duration boots. Stephen mentions Faith who's going to med school but had a week off at bootcamp and jumped into everything that was going on, which resulted in a lot getting done.

Right now they are easily able to feed people from the gardens. The talk about sunchokes: deer eat the foliage in the fall, but they don't dig up tubers. Paul reports fewer side effects from eating them enough. Stephen says making sunchoke chips also mitigates the side effects.

Relevant Threads

permaculture bootcamp - learn permaculture through a little hard work
Wheaton Laboratories forum
Come visit the Wheaton Labs: The Seppers Program!

Podcast 705 - Bootcamp Culture - Part 1

The great big thread of sunchoke info - growing, storing, eating/recipes, science facts

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:

Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Amy Berry
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
Janelle
thomas adams
David Lucey
Kay Gelfing
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Cindi Duehmig
Samantha Lewis
Polly Jayne Smyth
Banter Couch
Rebekah Harmon
Chris Holtslag
Zach Keeshin
Paul Tipper

1 month ago

Podcast 711 - Wheaton Labs Aspirations - Part 1

Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files

Summary

part 1 of a 2 part podcast

Paul and Stephen talk about aspirations

He kicks off with what he thinks it means to call someone an asshole.

Paul did a video in May about base camp, and how it's changed over time. Years ago when he first came to base camp almost nothing grew there, barely even weeds. Now, thanks to the big hügelkulturs, it's like a jungle.

There are around 40 rockety contraptions and a lot of bunks. Through this they (i.e. Paul) have held to a set of values. At intervals people show up who don't share those values, but they move on.

For the first couple of weeks, there's very little expectation for boots to work. By the time they have been there a few months they are getting around 6 times as much done.

There are 3 things they say to new boots: first, 95% of the work boots do is for current and future boots. The second thing they say to new boots is "go with the flow" and the last thing they say is to take 5, don't try to keep up with people who've been there a while.

Stephen comments that June 2025 was his roughest month there, it had a lot of challenges. There are people who say one thing and do another, also people's lives can change. He also wants people to have one growing season from May thru October in boot camp before renting in ant village or buying into deep roots, which gives a good chance that they match the values of Wheaton labs well and will have learned what they need to succeed.

Paul moves on to sunchokes. Turns out you can harvest them for 10 or 11 months a year. Apples and plums are doing great and the kale is looking promising for going feral and reseeding itself.

Paul's hope for the future is for more people who are good at nurturing others. It's important for the community, and he feels that this is something he himself lacks.

Relevant Threads

permaculture bootcamp - learn permaculture through a little hard work
Wheaton Laboratories forum

Podcast 705 - Bootcamp Culture - Part 1

The great big thread of sunchoke info - growing, storing, eating/recipes, science facts

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:

Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Amy Berry
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
Janelle
thomas adams
David Lucey
Kay Gelfing
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Cindi Duehmig
Samantha Lewis
Polly Jayne Smyth
Banter Couch
Rebekah Harmon
Chris Holtslag
Zach Keeshin
Paul Tipper

2 months ago

Podcast 710 - Cancer Delays - Part 2

Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files

Summary

part 2 of a 2 part podcast

Paul continues to talk with Samantha.

Paul continues the comparison between him and Mark Shepherd. Mark's work is endless so although he makes money the constant people who show up makes the money meaningless in Paul's eyes.

Paul and Samantha agree that canning food is soul-building. Storing up food is very satisfying. Having a garden which pumps out tons of food, you don't need lots of money. This is the essence of Gertitude.

Paul gets started on Willow feeders. He agrees that the modern sewage treatment plant is an impressive thing but it's reaching the point where it can't be made better without massive investment.

The sewage processing at Wheaton labs separates stuff out, so garbage, poop gray-water etc aren't mixed up. Urine and gray-water can be put directly onto the garden, provided you don't put poisonous chemicals in it there are gray-water safe, and even if you live in an apartment, you can still effect a positive change by using them.

Paul outlines a 5 year plan by which everyone can reduce their impact on the environment. After doing all these all that's left is the poop and that's where the willow feeder comes in. However the willow feeder is a big leap, and he feels that's why the kickstarter isn't doing well.

Relevant Threads

Cleaning our Rivers and Oceans from Home kickstarter

Oasis Biocompatible Dish Soap on Amazon

Broken Limbs by Jamie Howell (Full movie)

are there currently millions of permaculture millionaires? (the story of Gert)

what is a willow feeder?

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:

Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Amy Berry
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
Janelle
thomas adams
David Lucey
Kay Gelfing
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Cindi Duehmig
Samantha Lewis
Polly Jayne Smyth
Banter Couch
Rebekah Harmon
Chris Holtslag
Zach Keeshin
Paul Tipper

2 months ago

Podcast 709 - Cancer Delays - Part 1

Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files

Summary

part 1 of a 2 part podcast

Paul talks with Samantha about the effect of his health on progress and the pitfalls of hiring people.

Prior to his cancer diagnosis he put in extra long hours all the time but now he has to spend part of the day on managing his food and other aspects and the result is that not so much stuff got done. There were and are a lot of good people who stepped up to help but he has to face it and deal with it and the lack of attention to the empire has visible effect.

So today, the new kickstarter isn't going well and Paul feels his unavoidable lack of attention has affected this.

On the flip side the new server has been a great success and now everything is awesome on that side.

He mentions that there are lots of ideas for important podcasts but that takes time.

He talks about Dawn dish soap vs Oasis gray-water safe dish soap. There are adverts on the TV where they save seabirds from oil with Dawn but Paul feels this is trading one poison for another.

He talks about Caroline who asked if the kind of gardening Paul advocates is the same as Mark Shepherd's. Mark grows a truckload of stuff and takes it to commodity markets but it's a risky process as you can get a low price which leads to bankruptcy. He talks about the broken limbs film which shows alternative approaches.

Next he talks about a notable consultant who contacted him about an over-farmed property. His plan was to grow alfalfa and bale it for hay which didn't impress Paul. Paul suggested building a quarter-acre of hügelkultur, it will take a lot of watering to get going but next year it will have rebuilt the soil and you can do a new quarter acre, and before long you'll have more food than you know what to do with.

The gist is not to sell food to the market...

Relevant Threads

Cleaning our Rivers and Oceans from Home kickstarter

Oasis Biocompatible Dish Soap on Amazon

Broken Limbs by Jamie Howell (Full movie)

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:

Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Amy Berry
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
Janelle
thomas adams
David Lucey
Kay Gelfing
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Cindi Duehmig
Samantha Lewis
Polly Jayne Smyth
Banter Couch
Rebekah Harmon
Chris Holtslag
Zach Keeshin
Paul Tipper

2 months ago

Podcast 708 - Suze's Consultation - Part 2

Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files

Summary

part 2 of a 2 part podcast

JD asks about how often the chips from the mulch pit need changing, and about salt content in the material removed from the pit.

Paul asks about the existing system. Turns out it doesn't have a drain field. Paul comments on septic tank systems, if run right they can work for many years. The issue is poop koolade which is why you need a drain field. He speculates that somehow the water is escaping from Suze's current cess pit system.

His answer about the woodchips in the mulch pit is that they haven't run it long enough to find out. His feeling is that the woodchips might eventually decompose and need topping up or replacing.

Suze asks what kind of chips are good, as she has access to cedar, but Paul says cedar is bad. She asks about plans: Paul and Andreas are busy assembling a kickstarter with plans, an e-book and a movie.

The discussion moves to use or not of soap and shampoo. Paul and Samantha don't use any shampoo in the shower. Paul also comments about dish washing, he uses soap which is made for greywater systems. There could be issues if people won't give up commercial soaps etc.

Suze now asks about the willow candy once the cans have been left to sit for 2 years. Paul prefers to spread it on the ground under the willows.

Relevant Threads

what is a willow feeder

Going poo-less: No Shampoo/Soap in the Shower

Podcast 687 - Permaculture Smackdown 27 - Willow Feeders - Part 1

Toilet Alternatives forum
Composting forum

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:

Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Amy Berry
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
Janelle
thomas adams
David Lucey
Kay Gelfing
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Cindi Duehmig
Samantha Lewis
Polly Jayne Smyth
Banter Couch
Rebekah Harmon
Chris Holtslag
Zach Keeshin
Paul Tipper

3 months ago

Podcast 707 - Suze's Consultation - Part 1

Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files

Summary

part 1 of a 2 part podcast.

Paul's consultation with Suze, part 1 (with JB)

Suze lives in an urban community where they pursue holistic and permaculture things, but the plumbing is a failing septic tank system which needs updating.

Suze wants to consider option besides connecting to the city sewage system.

Paul runs through the options.
Central sewage systems deal with the local problems, but cause pollution in rivers and oceans.
Composting toilets are in principle good, but implementation is often wanting and so people get sick.
A willow feeder system performs better than a typical sewage treatment plant.

Paul suggests a willow feeder system:

1) Dig a mulch pit and fill it with woodchip. Willow trees are planted alongside the pit. The greywater from the house and diverted urine from the toilet are directed to the mulch pit.

2) Make a toilet system with urine diverter, which collects the poop in a suitable can. The can is installed in a box which is vented to the outside. Once the cans are full they are stored in a suitable shed for at least 2 years, thereafter the contents are spread around the willow trees. You need to be able to store enough cans that they can be left when full for 2 years minimum, in a suitable shed.

Suze says it will cost $40K to connect to the city sewage. Paul says building a willow feeder will cost much less.

She also comments that she has already planted a row of willow trees along her now-depaved driveway. She suggests this as a location for the mulch pit. Paul is keen, it's good to have already growing trees.

They move on to talking about the willow candy. Paul's system is now standardized on a 32 gallon can, which he feels with 5 people will take about 3 months to fill.

Suze appeals to JB for his input: he mentions they have discussed a system using a smaller bucket, such as the humanure system. The drawback is more possibility of contact with the contents, as it has to be emptied frequently. Suze now feels the larger container has merit.

Relevant Threads

what is a willow feeder

Podcast 687 - Permaculture Smackdown 27 - Willow Feeders - Part 1

Toilet Alternatives forum
Composting forum

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:

Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Amy Berry
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
Janelle
thomas adams
David Lucey
Kay Gelfing
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Cindi Duehmig
Samantha Lewis
Polly Jayne Smyth
Banter Couch
Rebekah Harmon
Chris Holtslag
Zach Keeshin
Paul Tipper

3 months ago

Podcast 706 - Bootcamp Culture - Part 2

Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files

Summary

part 2 of a 2 part podcast

Paul continues the discussion with Julia and Eliot about bootcamp culture

Paul picks up on a comment about asking the neighbors. He relates a story about a couple who set out to grow organic cherries. They visited with the neighbors and within 4 years had become completely conventional and were broke. By farming commodities on a small plot using conventional means you're competing with farms with thousands of acres which you can never do.

Someone who's been at bootcamp for four months will be at level three on the Wheaton eco scale. But likely your neighbor is at level zero or maybe one and they don't get what you're trying to do, so their advice may not help.

Eliot talks about his pasture which had been exploited for hay for years, and by focusing on soil health they are way better then a few years ago. He's looking forward to adding the animals into the system.

They talk about how everyone has their own methods for permaculture and everyone is convinced their way is best. Paul created PEP because he wants to put his ideas out but anyone can make their own version.

They talk a bit about the development of the Lab and Permies.com. Paul feels the people who stay long term are mostly lovely people although there have been some bad experiences. Eliot says that the boots he's met as a participant in events are pretty much all good people. Paul thinks much of that is due to the environment they're trying to build. Eliot feels that Paul can sometimes be a bit too keen and intense for some people. Eliot says people who come to bootcamp, and how they need to have an open mind. Paul says that new boots are asked to go with the flow for 2 weeks before they start questioning what's going on. Paul makes the point to new boots that 95% of what you do as a boot is to benefit you and future boots.

Paul states that the things he talks about people find literally unbelievable. Eliot says you need to experience stuff to truly appreciate it and Permies is a great place to visit.

Relevant Threads

permaculture bootcamp - learn permaculture through a little hard work

Wheaton Laboratories forum
Community forum

Pasture forum

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:

Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Amy Berry
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
Janelle
thomas adams
David Lucey
Kay Gelfing
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Cindi Duehmig
Samantha Lewis
Polly Jayne Smyth
Banter Couch
Rebekah Harmon
Chris Holtslag
Zach Keeshin
Paul Tipper

6 months ago

Podcast 705 - Bootcamp Culture - Part 1

Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files

Summary

part 1 of a 2 part podcast

Paul is with Julia and Eliot talking about bootcamp culture

Paul talks of an article written about another community in which it says coming to their community causes divorce. This was due to couples arriving but one of them was keener than the other.

Paul states that bootcamp is a shitty school where people do regular homesteader things. Paul wants to take the couples who are on the point of breaking up and turn them into the best version of themselves so hopefully they don't divorce. Bootcamp is there to acclimatize people and expects you to work 8 hours a day but to begin with you get to rest whenever you need to. There's no discipline or whip-cracking, you work at your own pace.

Paul relates the story of Andy who bought land with some houses on it. He reached out to the permaculture community and invited people to come form a community. The first group expected Andy to do everything so he ended up kicking them all out, having decided they were a bad batch. The next batch got busted by the Feds due to an unfortunate choice of crops. For the third attempt he charged more rent and hired a guy to do permaculture stuff, and it worked better. People investing more in it have more motivation.

Eliot suggests that you need to distrust people who are seeking to live in a community. It works better if people come to help out and then decide they like it and want to be there more, then the community forms spontaneously. On their property they have two houses. Elliot relates their success with the two sets of people who have been tenants there but it was challenging finding good people. Julia comments that if you charge below-market rent you get more trouble, which was also Andy's problem. This is the same problem many OTISes have and is what SKIP is all about.

Eliot ends this part by talking about explicit and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is what can be written in a book. Tacit knowledge is what you gain from experience such as at bootcamp.

Relevant Threads

permaculture bootcamp - learn permaculture through a little hard work

Wheaton Laboratories forum
Community forum

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:

Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Amy Berry
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
Janelle
thomas adams
David Lucey
Kay Gelfing
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Cindi Duehmig
Samantha Lewis
Polly Jayne Smyth
Banter Couch
Rebekah Harmon
Chris Holtslag
Zach Keeshin
Paul Tipper

6 months ago

Podcast 704 - Homestead Living Magazine

Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files

Summary

Paul talks with Matt about RMHs and Homestead Living magazine for which Paul and Beau wrote an article and they discuss this and RMH stuff in general.

Back in 2008, a friend told Paul about a wood burning contraption which Paul was convinced couldn't work. So he had to investigate - this was his first experience of the wizardry of the RMH. This was at Cobsville in Coquille, OR where Ernie and Erica Wisner, Ianto Evans et al were doing a rocket mass workshop. Paul stayed for 2 days and helped to build another RMH. It took just over a day from start to lighting the first fire.

Paul used to fill his woodshed with 4 cords of wood, and have some dead standing trees in mind to top that up to have wood through the winter every year. Now he has about 3 cords of storage from which he's heating 3 buildings and so far this year has used about half a cord.

Back to the article. Paul reads more and highlights a phrase about the RMH being thing which is better experienced first hand. He asks Matt his feeling for the article: Matt says it tells a nice story which will appeal to people.

Matt has questions:
Uncle Mud has some doubts about using wood in or near RMH-builds in case it becomes a fire risk. The concern is that the wood exposed to temperatures of 140°F or more may change in long term use and become more flammable. Paul's RMH has a wooden box containing the pebble mass but it never gets near that. This installation is now 11 years old.

Matt has book learning about RMHs and a bit of experience building but limited experience of running them. He asks about a situation where there are a lot of coals, so no space to re-load it fully. Paul would either put shorter sticks in, but you can burn cardboard which makes a lot of fast heat and burns down the coals so there's space to refill it.

Relevant Threads

A bit about Homestead Living Magazine
Homestead Living's homepage

Rocket Mass Heaters forum

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:

Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Amy Berry
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
Janelle
thomas adams
David Lucey
Kay Gelfing
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Cindi Duehmig
Samantha Lewis
Polly Jayne Smyth
Banter Couch
Rebekah Harmon
Chris Holtslag
Zach Keeshin
Paul Tipper

7 months ago