paul wheaton

Christopher Weeks wrote:I want to read this and think about a response with some time, but to answer your simplest question, our ground is frozen from the end of October through the end of April. And that’s why I need to hurry with my harvest.

I think that the ground where the sunchokes are will be softer.  And, I suspect that you will have a lot of days where the ground will be soft enough.

Christopher Weeks wrote:I'd say 2/3 of them love it and 1/3 of them hate it.

If people hate it, i think they should get something else.  

I remember when it started, it was "better than nothing".   And now I think it is better than anything.

Even more, I heard somebody say that for rural stuff, if you were to get fiber, they would have to bury the fiber line to your house - and that is gonna come with a price tag.  But with starlink, you don't need to do that.  And the speeds just get faster and faster.

I remember with DSL i complained about the speeds and the support people said something like "oh, you gotta use our internal speed test stuff"  which I knew was gonna lie to me.  So sleazy.  If you are gonna compare speeds, you gotta use one, unbiased, test for all services.

I still had DSL when starlink arrived.  This was the early beta days of starlink.  Right away it was ten times faster and ten times more reliable.  With DSL is was so shitty about twice a month I decided to NOT call tech support because I knew it would take hours and it would feel sleazy.  With starlink, I have never called their support.  A delightful life without sleaze.

The bootcamp is now our core recipe to create a community.   If we succeed and write a book, we will call it "gardening gardeners."   I like the idea that 100,000 people that own homesteads will build 100,000 communities by "gardening gardeners."  A dozen people come and get guidance from the homesteader on their style of homesteading.  In time, people come and go - eventually some people become rather permanent residents.

I currently like the idea that if the right person takes on a leadership role in the bootcamp for four years, I will happily give them allerton abbey (a fenced acre with a humble home, a greenhouse, and heaps of gardens).   They don't have to do bootcamp stuff anymore - and they can do their own projects on this rather completed space.  If they do more years, maybe add on another acre.

I like the idea that people that are learning about gardening and natural building, that another acre is created along the way that has a humble home, fence and beautiful gardens.

The homesteader that nurtures this program ends up with excellent neighbors in an excellent village pumping out food.

The people that come have a short path to a homesteaders dream in a beautiful homesteaders village.  Without this path, it could take 20 years of working to get less.

And for some people, they simply come to find out if the gardening life is a fit for them.  Maybe for a few weeks, a summer or a couple of years.  If they choose to leave, then at the very least, they fed and housed themselves and helped to create a future for other gardeners.

We talked about a few things that might be a check list for "month 2".  and maybe some of those things will end up getting checked during the first month.  But I am thinking of opening it up to you all:  what would be good stuff to put on the second list?

Stephen is now offering to all boots ...  when you arrive, on the first day, you will receive a check list.  Stephen says that by the end of the first month, all of the things on this check list will be checked off.  

   - how to sharpen a chainsaw
   - how to safely fell a tree
   - put up firewood
   - start a rocket mass heater (or other rockety contraption)
   - harvest from the garden (yes, any month of the year)
   - make and use cob
   - build/maintain junkpole fence
   - cook meals using garden materials
   - operate a tractor
   - build with logs
   - plant seeds
   - food preservation


He also wants to remind folks that when a boot has been here for a month, they get their own acre to practice permaculture on, if they want.

Cata and Angela, thanks for coming to the sandpoint potluck!  It feels good to see so much interest!

Angela,

I think you have described another group

Group 5:  the empty nester

You have to stick to your current life.  Meet the obligations of your past self.  Go to work, pay the mortgage, take the kids to soccer practice ....     And dabble with a little gardening on a little urban lot with neighbors that are too close, and regulations about everything ...  

And then you have an empty nest.  

The house is way too big, and the gardening options are way too small.  And every day is brutally lonely.  

Heartbreak.


If the Group 5 people came here, I think they would also be in love with our community.  Their days would be filled with gardening, harvesting, preserving the harvest and eating from the garden.  Months or years of really doing it.  Without the size limitations or regulations.  With others that are also grooving on it. A life about building good things rather than a life of mortgages, bills, jobs, and constantly cleaning the dust bunnies from a huge house.

squeak.

Gina Jeffries wrote:If you'll be in Bellingham, I'm there! That's about as far away as I can get without hiring a goat milker/sitter.

I'm waiting to hear back from brian kerkvliet.

No pot, drugs or smoking.

In the last month I have visited with a lot of people that want more.  I may be just "projecting" but I think what they want is to be part of what we are doing.  


I visited serveral communities and heard two distinct stories.  And I think all of the people there would love their lives more if they were here.

Group 1:  the founder-ish gardener

Group 2:  the gardeners that joined the community because they are avid gardeners, but don't do any (or very little) gardening


I get the impression that the group 1 people are kinda heartbroken.  Almost all of the gardening they do is a solo effort.  They want to do gardening with others. They want to harvest with others.  They want to preserve the harvest with others.  They want to transform the harvest into meals and eat those meals with others.  But the others are always busy, tired or not in the mood.  The others work and play off site.  And when they are home, they have other things they would like to do.  So the group 1 people do this stuff alone.  The others shop at grocery stores and eat at restaurants.  Shopping at grocery stores and eating at restaurants is fine, but the group 1 folks thought they were gonna live in a community of gardeners.  

Heartbreak.

I get the impression that the group 2 people are kinda heartbroken.  They wanna do that gardening stuff, but they have to earn money to pay rent, pay for the car, pay for insurance, pay for food, phones, restaurants, etc.  After all the work and other stuff, they just don't feel like it.  Plus the group 1 people have sooooo much more experience.  The group 2 people would be embarrassed if the group 1 people found out how little they really know.  They are kinda getting into a weird, dark funk about it all.  They thought that gardening is the core of who they really are, but when it comes right down to it, they are not gardening.  They are finding cheap excuses to not garden.  If they are not a gardener, who are they?  Time for mountains of introspection and meditation.

Heartbreak.


If the Group 1 people came here, I think they would be in love with our community.  Gardening with people.  Harvesting with people.  Preserving the harvest with people.  Eating meals with people.


If the Group 2 people came here, I think they would also be in love with our community.  Their days would be filled with gardening, harvesting, preserving the harvest and eating from the garden.  Months or years of really doing it.  No need for a job, car, rent, restaurants or any of that stuff.  



Group 3:  I met people that were working hard to save up money to buy a homestead, or to buy into community.  It sounds like they have $40k saved up so far.  They have very little experience, but once they have enough saved, they can make the leap and learn as they go.  They would like to have a solid $200k saved up to buy-in and then cover their expenses for a couple of years as they get up to speed and then get some homestead based income models going.

Group 4:  I met people that saved, bought-in, are struggling and about to bail.  It is harder than they thought and they are almost out of coin.


If the Group 3 people came here, I think they would be in love with our community.  They can come now!  They don't have to toil away at some worky-job for several more years.  After six months of doing it, they can choose if they want to buy into an acre here, or continue with how they started.  And they get hands on experience with a group rather than trying to do it on their own.

If the Group 4 people came here, I think they would also be in love with our community.  All that they wanted without the contant expense after expense after expense.  And the food is already here. A lot of the infrastructure already exists.  Far less lonely and it is all easier with a group.  The cost is zero.  The stress of forcing things to work is erased.



Come by for a visit and get the lay of the land by renting a cabin for a bit.  Participate in the bootcamp as much or as little as you like.

https://wheaton-labs.com/cabins/



Come join the bootcamp and dig in.  One week minimum, but stay as long as you like

https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp/




see our ic.org listing https://www.ic.org/directory/wheaton-labs

My rig is all packed.  I should be rolling into sandpoint around noon or 1 tomorrow.