J.P. Waters

Good luck with it Michael, thanks for being open to collaboration!

-JP

PS I am too far away in TN, but if I travel your way, I'd be happy to help you and your permaculturist.  It might be helpful if you described the terrain, the surrounding area and posted a few photos of your fruit trees and bee pasture. Again, good luck with the project!

Hey Zedd,

In Summer 2025, we did an RV tour of many farms in east coast states and spent a good bit of time exploring Maine.

For years, I have been a member of Boondockers Welcome which is where RVers host other RVers for costs much less than campgrounds; last year we upgraded to a full Harvest Hosts membership (and that opened up other sites as well).

When we stayed in Maine, one of the hosts named Steph (LGBT) was one of the nicest & most helpful hosts we encountered. Steph has a small property with 3-4 small RV sites for short term stays.

Not exactly what you're looking for, but Steph's experience and hospitality would probably be helpful to you at least as a starting point.

I don't have Steph's contact info, we did all our messaging in the Harvest Host app, but just wanted to pass that along.

Steph's listing is called "Maine Coast Hideaway" within Harvest Hosts.

We were there during the MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers & Growers Assoc) annual "Common Ground" Fair in Unity Maine.

That's a cool (popular & therefore very crowded) event

In addition, the sites like helpx, wwof and workaway may help you find the perfect fit.

Good Luck!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aucsiGWbEyU

Lots of great topics and discussion.

Excerpt from desciption:
'Food is where his project becomes something more than “self-sufficiency.” He grows what he can, forages what he can’t—and then he goes a step further into what he calls “tending the wild.” Instead of clearing and controlling nature, he collaborates with it: inoculating mushrooms on logs, encouraging edible plants to thrive, even turning a wet patch of land into a cattail pantry. “Tending the wild is sometimes easier than erasing everything that’s there and starting from scratch," says Mathieu, "it does all the farming for you.” '

Here is the more info:
If you’re curious about earth-and-straw construction, off-grid systems, permaculture, wild foods, or what it really takes to live with less—this one is a full, grounded tour.

—Check Mathieu's project and philosophy of life: https://habiterlaterre.com/en/
—Mathieu's YouTube:    / @habiterlaterre  

Merlin lover here too, Beth!

If you enjoy Merlin, iNaturalist is similar but for all life forms... (if you are on your own land, there are geoprivacy options...)

Very cool, congrats!

The sharpness video is hilarious! Never seen that kind of improvement...

I have a friend from Bolivia and one of his most vivid childhood memories is his grandfather creating a knife from a broken piece of an automotive leaf spring!

Your sheath choice is interesting and non-intuitive.

Can you elaborate on your choice (obv based on experience) and maybe a short vid on the unsheathing process?

Thanks!
JP

Thanks Burton!

Just adding an image to see if this will populate to the thread thumbnail...

Burton,

Wow, this is incredibly helpful; thank you very much!

Gives me a lot more to think about, I will be sure to leave some feedback on how things go. I will be sure to expect to iterate the solution a bit more than was initially in my head

Btw, love the idea of your vermicomposting toilet. Congrats on all your progress and thanks for the inspiration 🙏🏼

Thanks for posting the link Christopher!

The video and Samuel's philosophy / perspective on losing a portion of your crop was a refreshing take on the idea. So I would still encourage folks to watch the video when they have some time this winter.

A wonderful approach they have is that the courses are free and the books/references are VERY reasonably priced and support their efforts.

Here is the direct free course link as well.

https://hoe-farming.com/courses/

Hi Bethan,

I was able to contact Samuel and order ALL of the books that your brother and dad have created. They are such a treat to read!

Please extend my thanks (whenever you read this) to Samuel for sending the books and his note.

As I mentioned to Samuel, my GG Grandmother in Louisiana was from Brittany. Her name was Lydie Tasset from St. Pere Ille-et-Vilaine (b 22 Dec 1827 d (in Louisiana) 7 Oct 1888

Also, thoroughly enjoyed samuel's garden tour and his philosophies on the garden as an artistic expression and sharing/patnering with the wildlife.

Samuel's '24 Garden Tour

Abundant Blessings to you all!

Thoroughly enjoying them!
Merci,
JP