Podcast 684 - State of the Jungle - Part 3

Sharing visions
The whole thing
Working better

I believe I could check those things off of a list.  What else??  Lots of construction background (building to code)  Can speed read,  high pain tolerance. low BS tolerance.  No putter skills nor any desire to gain any.  A number of things that I hope never to pass along, it just might make for a Better World if the things were to become lost from common knowledge.

I have no ties here in Virginia,  I'll need a soft seat on the bench of whatever you want to call the heater.  I enjoy living "under a rock".  I don't want or need much.  I like critters more than most folks.  Can grow stuff.

I'll only fly private, do I need a passport for MT?  I think mine has expired.  How many airports are in MT???  I still want to offer the online PDC classes again next month.

It was 48 degrees here today, and had the first frost at this location today.  I've been cold all day and my feet are not all that warm now!!

So what can I do to help?

Deane,

Do I understand correctly that you wanna come rent one of our cabins?  Or maybe you are thinking of joining the bootcamp?

I listened to all three parts today (2.5 while driving and finished the last one at home).  I find that Stephen is an excellent foil to Paul.  It's almost like Paul gets wound up and going, then Stephen reels him back in and rephrases what he thinks Paul is trying to say (correctly or incorrectly).

I do like Stephen's idea of a Boot helping to look after people (by heating the spaces as an example).  In some respects, that's an added bit of luxury to a guest.  Having been to Wheaton Labs when things were relatively quiet (7 humans I think), and considering that permaculture is somewhat about community, I'm happy we spent some time at Fisher Price in the evenings.  Otherwise, we'd have gone back to Cooper and been alone with our thoughts.  There's nothing wrong with that, but I'm less adept at having an exchange of ideas or thoughts with myself than with another human (or hobbit as the case may be).  Also, even more so in the winter months, depending on which location one is staying at, there isn't a lot of light available.  While sleeping longer in winter would probably be a good thing, I could also see it being more challenging if I were left just to twiddle my thumbs.

If there were a dozen or 20 boots, how would the 8:00 a.m. meeting go?  It could be very good, but might need to be managed more, as in being a bit more hierarchical to give direction.  That said, I think we were a good size of group to be able to balance between going over what was on the agenda and a bit of banter.

I don't know how to accomplish it, but it seems to me that perhaps Paul needs to be able to find someone with an aligned vision that he can trust and be able to offload some of the extra stuff, whether on a temporary or more permanent basis.  

For the record, I'm happy I got a stack of DVDs.  I could have dealt with VHS, but they would have taken a lot more space in the truck.  I'm not sure when I'll get that way again, but I wouldn't be upset about being able to take some more off your hands (yes, I'm too cheap to want to pay international shipping even though I'm closer than much of the US population).  I can certainly understand Paul's angst though if people insist he does things a certain way, but then they aren't stuck with the inventory.

I don't know if you've spoken to New Society Publishers, but they do a lot of work in the permaculture / regeneration space and may be a good fit if you decide to go that route.  Happily, much of their printing happens in our neck of the woods, so when I do order, it comes quickly from Altona, MB.

The answer to life, the universe, and everything may be more Boots.  How can you attract more Boots, especially long term ones?  I don't have a complete answer, but if it hasn't been done already, perhaps it's worth asking the long term ones over the years what attracted them to Wheaton Labs, and what kept them there.  There was a bit of a vibe from Stephen in that realm in the three parts - willow feeders, and now GAMCOD.  I can see that it takes a certain person to be attracted enough to commit to picking up and effectively moving - there needs to be a limit to how attached they are to their home life (i.e. career, family, etc).  Not everyone has easy access to a sabbatical.  Perhaps "Permaculture Sabbatical" may be a concept worth exploring, and it may prove more attractive than "Boot Camp" with the connotations of that phrase.  

Radical Masonry Heater?  Remarkable MH?  Ravishing MH?  Rich MH?  Roasting MH?

There had been some other thoughts that came to mind listening, but when driving it's tough to make notes...perhaps it will be worthwhile to listen again with the thought of providing some (hopefully) valuable feedback.

what brings boots here ...

Thanks for collecting those Paul.  Being newish to The Empire, at least as a portion of the time you've been doing this, it does help to clarify things.

How long do most Boots stay around?  I know a few have been longer term, but a couple of these interviews surprised me with the brevity of their stay.  The question comes from my brain attempting to do a compare and contrast between your desire for 12-20 Boots and Stephen's 3 but committed to stay for the growing season.  Having a dozen folks around could lead to a lot more stuff getting done, but if they are only there for a couple weeks, getting oriented and figuring out where things are can certainly lead to inefficiencies.  Of course, if the High Commander had some team leaders who'd been around for a while who were working with smaller teams of Boots, that could alleviate that.  There's also the logistical issues to consider like place to sleep, and physically fitting into Fisher Price House for Taco Tuesday.  Of course, those would be good problems to have, but if all the SEPPer spaces were occupied with Boots, that would negatively impact the SEPP program.  Of course, with more bodies around, more spaces could be built to accommodate them.

As for kittens and blossoms, I think some makes sense, but in moderation.  Beauty and well-being is an element of living a good life.  All work and no play makes people harder to be around, which makes community harder to build.

We get some really great people in the bootcamp that are here for several months, and could go several years.  And when the population drops low enough, they move to places with bigger populations.  

I think it is about critical mass.  You need 12 to get 20.