Dennis Goyette

Emily Smith wrote:I can't remember if I've asked this somewhere on the forums before, so my apologies for any repetition.

I haven't had a problem with deer until last year. They ate the tops off of all my tomato plants, and then ate any new growth every time the plants tried to rally. It's the only year I didn't plant marigolds, but otherwise, I have no idea what would be different.

I have a 4' fence that backs up too woods, but they will come in on via my neighbor's backyard too. Any humane and inexpensive way to keep them away from my garden? Could I just plant mint all along my fence (I know it spreads).

4ft is not tall enough to keep deer out. If you check out apple orchards, their fences are at least 8ft tall.

paul wheaton wrote:the setup

I found myself sitting at a table with three "muggles".  We introduced ourselves.  Our hostess was working a few part time jobs, including this gig of hosting us.  The other woman was a software engineer.  The other fella was ...   i hope i remembered correctly ...   an "AI manager" (somebody that gets AI to do stuff).   I think I said I was a retired software engineer.  


the question

At some point the hostess says that she dropped out of college and is thinking of returning.   The driving force is that when she looks for work, the highest paid jobs are for software engineers.  

The three of us all say:  don't.

The three of us agree:  in six months there will be a 20% reduction in software engineers as a lot of the work that needs to be done is moved to AI.  The workers that will be kept are the best workers that are using AI to get more done.   In two years, the earliest she might be getting out of college, software engineering jobs will be less than half of what they are now.  There will be no hiring of engineers fresh out of college.  


the next question

So she asks what will be the jobs of two years from now?  What should she study?

Again, the three of us agree: nothing.

We couldn't think of anything that won't be done cheaper than AI or bots with AI.  She would be wiser to stick to her current work and try to save up to prepare for the changes.

I said "if you have a humble home and a large garden, these problems are a lot smaller."

What I didn't do, was talk at length about gert.  Or skip.  Or ERE. Or FIRE.

I hear from many people (and see it all over the internet):  gotta stop AI; gotta stop the bots ...    "DEY TERK ER JERBS!"    ...   it strikes me as twisted to desire jobs so much.    

I met couples that both had professional jobs and no kids (DINKs) and yet, they still seemed to be barely getting by.  Lots of travel, lots of excellent restaurants, a big, lavish home with a beautiful kitchen ...  Lots of arguing about money ... lots of feeling spent/depleted/exhausted ....  

I don't mention gardening to them.  They don't have time to even think about gardening.

If one of them loses their job, they will be in a very desperate place in three months.


the crystal ball

I look forward to getting a bot.  I want to think of a clever name for my bot.  I will teach it to build hugelkultur and what to plant.  To cut snowberry down to 4 inches.  At a certain point, pluck grass.  All the grass.  Every day.  In the winter, shovel the snow and build the fire.  Build a wofati.  Can peaches. Dry plums.  Cook a glorious meal.  Take care of me when I am old and feeble.  

The world will be very different.  A lot of people will be forced to live very humbly because there are hardly any jobs.  A bot will cost $20k and last ten years.  It might need $100 worth of electricity each year. Hard to compete with that.

Those that saved up and went into humble mode before the change are in good shape.  


the answer

Retire early.

I provide acres and the bootcamp and there are openings.  

The SKIP program is free.   Compared to the number of people going into $100,000 debt to go to a four year college ....    oh my.  

Early Retirement Extreme:  I would think there would be a run on this book right now.  

Building a Better World in Your Backyard instead of being angry at bad guys:  I sell a dozen per month.  I feel like this provides powerful guidance.

Gert:  a humble home and a large garden

apples in safeway:  the story of making money, then more money, then more money, and the final answer is gertitude.

permaculture:  a more symbiotic relationship with nature

Gardening Gardeners:  I like to think that someday there will be 100,000 homesteads in the US and they will be open to a "gardening gardeners" program.  Allowing 20 people to come onto their land and experience gardening and natural building.  Of course, I need to get it to work at my place first.  



I don't know how the next six months will play out.  It sounds like the layoffs have started.  

We have openings in the bootcamp, so I guess people have not yet connected the dots.  My guess is that soon the bootcamp will be full.  

Of course, I could be wrong.  



My guess is that there are a lot of other solutions.  I would love to add some more permaculture solutions to my list.  Anybody have some more solutions?

I teach online for a university (I have been teaching only for 20 years; have also taught in the classroom; spent over 18 years in the computer industry until 9/11 happened. My education allow me to fall back and get teacher certification relatively easy since I was already highly qualified with a BS/MS in content.) College is not for everyone. If your degree program can NOT guarantee a job, then look in tech schools, the kind that Mike Rowe pushes. Look into skilled trades, very much needed.

John F Dean wrote:Has anyone successfully roasted green coffee beans in an oven?

I have been roasting coffee beans for over 20 years. I use a bean roaster. I have had several different bean roasters. I am on my 2nd bean roaster from Behmor. It tumbles the beans, very important step in the process. I stove top popcorn maker (I have one as an emergency backup for when TSHTF.) I have been getting all my beans from sweetmarias.com. You can also get a "popper" roaster similar to a popcorn roaster, relatively cheap. I bought one for my son a couple of years ago that also included a starter package of several different kinds of beans. Like some one else said, you are baking the beans, not roasting them.

Jeff Steez wrote:Hello friends,

I have received a rare opportunity to move out to remote Alaska and live a relatively rough lifestyle in the bush and renovate 3 cabins.

I am very, very seriously considering taking this opportunity to go learn about building houses there, greenhouses, bush craft, green woodworking, rocket mass heaters, etc... I will be bringing as many non-frivolous items as possible. I believe one cabin has solar, and Starlink should be in place. I am not sure where it will all lead, if I can make a livable salary documenting it on YouTube so I can buy some land of my own nearby, performing wildlife photography, astrophotography, green woodworking, leather working... I have absolutely no idea where this might lead and I cannot picture in my head any possibilities, but I do hope I will not have to return to FL. What I do know is this is an opportunity to experience the pristine nature I have so longed dreamt about.

The problem is, I have to make the drive from FL -> Homer, Alaska, and then ferry everything to Kodiak Island.

So, I was wondering if there are any people I could meet along the way to lend a helping hand as a guide once I hit the difficult stretch, on the Canadian coast, or along the way to Homer once I hit Alaska, regardless of how that help might be, even if it's just in the form of experiential tips and tricks, or old timey tales of your memories.

Cheers and thank you!

I have lived in Alaska twice. Once in a remote village, only get there by bush plane. Second time was on an island in the southeast, Prince of Wales (went there to NYC for a year to work for Johns Hopkins.) Putting my homestead up for sale in northern NH and hope to go back for good this summer. Will be traveling through Canada most of the way (except to 15-20 mins it takes to get across the CT River into VT to go to the nearest border crossing) and then the Alaskan portion. Long trip. I made a somewhat similar trip to get to POW taking a ferry from Prince Rupert to Ketchican. Hoping to find some one who will go and help me navigate while I travel.

r ransom wrote:I hope this will pass, but a sleepless night bread an increasingly strong desire to buy and learn to play a ukulele, or other similar string instrument.  That's all I can think about, playing music for my goose who loves song time.

I would play music like this

Only...i am not musical. Music is something I enjoy listening to,  i can tell my George formby from my queen (fun fact, it's the same ukulele).  But that's nearly my limit.

On a good day I can count to four.  In elementary school band, they put me as 3rd triangle (the one that doesn't play) and suggested I avoid music in my future.

And yet, there is a drive in me to identify the skills I am worst at in this world and test myself against them.

Ukulele are supposedly affordable, make a variety of music, and easy to learn.  Now, could I do this for under $50CAD?  Or hopefully, someone will talk me out of it?

My dad played it all the time when I was growing up, taught himself. Then played a guitar. He bought my mom an organ and then a piano 9or the other way around I forget) and taught himself to play that. For years he played by ear and then taught himself to read music.

I say go for it and relax and have fun.

Dennis Goyette wrote:

J Katrak wrote:I leave out sunflower seeds and water. In town. In the winter. It's a long, cold winter.

I like to grow things some will use as well that are also nice to look at in winter. Highbush cranberries, wintergreen etc.

I do oilers (sunflowers), corn and suet, all year around. In summer I get birds, squirrels, coons, occasional porcupine, bears. Winter birds, grouse, deer, squirrels, ermine, bobcat (didn't know mommy was a female until she brought her first little ones 2 years ago.)

I forgot about the moose as well.....young ones in spring and summer.... in the winter, they come up to the hills/higher country as the snow gets deeper. It's easy to spot their tracks since they are several feet apart and the deer stay away from the deep snow and stick to the trails they make packing the snow down....

J Katrak wrote:I leave out sunflower seeds and water. In town. In the winter. It's a long, cold winter.

I like to grow things some will use as well that are also nice to look at in winter. Highbush cranberries, wintergreen etc.

I do oilers (sunflowers), corn and suet, all year around. In summer I get birds, squirrels, coons, occasional porcupine, bears. Winter birds, grouse, deer, squirrels, ermine, bobcat (didn't know mommy was a female until she brought her first little ones 2 years ago.)

Marc Dube wrote:Yes but only in the winter. Sunflowers and home rendered suet from deer and elk mixed with Sunflowers. The suet mix is poured into large holes drilled into logs and then the logs are hung as feeders.

The good old fashion way....

Timothy Norton wrote:This installment of the Permies Poll series has been inspired by seeing all sorts of birdfeeders around the countryside.

We recently had a younger black bear hit some birdfeeders in a nearby town so now the question has come up. Do you try and feed wild birds?

[applepoll]

Share your thoughts and experiences!

Yes, but since I have bears in summer and squirrels all year round, I do not use feeders. It is spread on the bare ground, bee3n doing it this way for years. Suet cakes are useless. I use actual suet that I buy by the 40lb box at the store (cheaper) and keep it in a freezer till needed. I put small amount out at a time during the summer due to heat and the bears. My woodpeckers actual fly to me telling me they need more suet. They can be pretty annoying with their yacking "feed me feed me feed me". They also feed the suet to their little ones.

I have a simple pump on top of my well head. So I can pump, by hand, water when needed for drinking (I also have the parts to have the simple pump redirect the water into the well tank in the house instead of out. This requires some one with the right tool to connect it to the water line going in to the house. Not an easy chore to do, but a plumber can. I don't need 5000 gal storage. Rain water can be used to flush toilets or put a toilet between 2 stumps, dig a whole and then........In winter there is plenty of snow.