paul wheaton

I like this idea that this can be the foundation for GAMCOD.

And GAMCOD is the foundation of permaculture.

In fact, by limiting it to "$5000 worth of groceries for $10, 10 hours and some dirt" we can plant apple seeds and harvest those groceries decades in the future.

But I think the core of all this needs to rest in what can be harvested the very first year.  What is the MOST forgiving to a brand new gardener.  Especially the new gardener that has an acre or more.  

Sunchokes can be harvested ten months out of the year (july through april).  Kale can be harvested ten months out of the year (not for the harshest winter months).   Walking onions can be harvested all year.    If these became staples, there would be a hundred ways to prepare them, and all of the other foods are simply nice to add in provided that you put in a little more time, and had the gumption on the time frame to harvest.



I have shared the story of how a guy grew a massive garden for his family, but 95% of it ended up rotting because nobody would cook for the family and his family all wanted to eat the food at restaurants.  I love this story.  It demonstrates the true challenges.  


The GAMCOD project is a collection of stories.  Different gardeners approaching all this stuff from a different direction.  Some people will start with a quarter of an acre - just a bit of back yard.  Others will section off a patch from a lot of acres.  Some people will have to buy seed and some people will have some left over.  Some people can do some trades or use a seed library.  


With the new staples and a patch of dirt ...   the dirt would, in time, become soil.  With zero irrigation or weeding.  And if people didn't feed like cooking, then it will all wait ... and spread ...  and when they got a pinch of gumption they could give it a try.  Maybe for a potluck or something.  Or thanksgiving.  

Jay Angler wrote:One of the "problems" not mentioned so far, is the tendency for everything to ripen at once.

Currently, american staples are corn, wheat and soy.

I wonder if the laziest and most forgetful gardener can shift their staples to sunchokes, walking onions and kale.  If you don't harvest, then you just get more.  And if you forget to harvest in, say, september, they wait for you until october ....   then november, december, january, february, march, april ...   so patient.  No rush.  

Then, if you add in some apples, and you forget to harvest the apples, then the birds and wildlife get those.  (or chickens, if you are that industrious)  Or maybe you can sell or trade your apples.  And if you do remember, you can harvest, eat, dry, can, etc.


Several times this year I threw a bunch of sunchokes, walking onions and kale into a crock pot.  Free and easy.

Once these three become staples, then any other bits of gardening are fun for when you have a bit more gumption.

I checked in with our dev guy and he says all of our automatic systems should have sorted this out.  He's taking a look and says in an hour or two it should all be sorted.

I got a kickstarter DM this morning from saffron - exact same name!  Helpful!

I see you have two different accounts here on permies.  Each with a different email address.

Hmmmm ....   your "II" account has a mataching email address.  That should work, but I don't see the "K" appearing ...   hmmm ...

So, yeah, the next question is what beau asked.  Can you get into that private support forum?

UPDATE!  more experimention, movies, and plans has led to a fancy page for all this


       click here


    for the new solar food dehydrator page





This movie compliments the plans for building this solar food dehydrator.

Although this design is based entirely on this slightly older design.

You can get a dealio on both designs here.  Note that the rest of this page is for the movie, not for the plans.




In this video you can follow along with the group as they discuss the merits of design elements, and then go on to the build the dehydrator. With this video and the plans that are available for purchase (see above), you'll get great insight into how to proceed when building your own.






This HD video is 1 hour and 21 minutes long and includes discussion over the general design that was decided on, and then some of the problems that were experienced during the build.

Any chance of taking a debit over the phone?

I have no way of processing that.

Our digital market stuff currently offers paypal, crypto or stripe.  For paypal, you should be able to use credit card stuff through there without having a paypal account, but sometimes paypal insists that you have a paypal account.

Once in a long while, somebody wants to buy a thing, but not use these options.  So we came up with this option a long time ago that we call "manual processing fee $10" - you pay via some other way, complete with an additional ten bucks, and I will manually get that to you.  

Here are ways that people have paid me:

  - amazon gift card (paul at richsoil.com)
  - zelle (paul at richsoil.com)
  - wise (paul at richsoil.com)

Some people have sent me cash:

  paul wheaton
  2120 s reserve #351
  missoula, mt 59801

Checks have been a problem.  I would really rather not try any more checks.  Half the time i can instant deposit, but the other half, i have to drive into town and do the whole thing of going through the drive-up teller line.  


Whichever way you choose, please add $10 for a manual processing fee!

My co-author, Mike, has, I think, european solutions.  

I can add an option for non-US sales, but the cost will be crazy.  Shipping alone will be something like $75.

I put a few hours into trying to set something up and flopped.

it looks like you are doing a soil test on the good stuff.  

The "dirt" looks pretty dark.  ??   Is it clay?  

I like the idea of showing that you are starting with dirt by saying "here is the good stuff, and here is the lame stuff." --  a side by side comparison.  I think it might be good to dig a little deeper to show the layers.  

Mason jar soil tests on both would be good.  And, of course, a bit of description of your ideas of soil v dirt.