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Summary
part 1 of a 2 part podcast
The topic is challenges of building a community.
Paul thinks only about 1% in the US want to live in an intentional community.
They talk about Paul's book Permaculture Thorns which is a common thing people want to talk about. It's basically an attempt at a recipe to get good people together in a community.
Also in the podcast is Ash Jackson who set out to do much of what Paul does, then found that Paul had already done it. He mentions that he's glad not to have experienced some of the negative aspects.
Paul says that Thorns, and everything he's written since, doesn't actually have the answer to building communities, but he feels that he's closer to solving it than he was when he wrote Thorns.
Paul says the average price of a homestead in Montana is now over 1½ million dollars; so it's extremely hard for anyone to get started in homesteading, as they have to service a million dollar mortgage. It's not possible to do that with income from a homestead. Paul asks Samantha about it; she says she doesn't even try to make money from the land, the value is in the quality of food and life she has.
When it comes to his community, sometimes there are still problems which means the recipe still needs work. He talks about the permies.com online community which although it's online, has many of the same issues, and may provide insight into how to make a successful physical community.
Ash asks if Paul feels that many people are so broken they can't fit into any community. Paul feels that programmed or conditioned are better terms than broken, and the community builders need to find a way to overcome that.
Paul says that having rules gives bad guys traction. This is why the only rule on permies.com is "be nice". Kay says when you have rules people become lawyers to work the rules in their favor and the worst people are often best at that.
Relevant Threads
permaculture thorns, A Book About Trying to Build Permaculture Community - draft eBook
community design philosophies for imperfect humans - permaculture thorns
Intentional community forum
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This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Aster
Sasquatch
Bill Crim
G Cooper
Mehron Kugler
Bill Erickson
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Brent Lawson
Song Zheng
Dana Martin
David Lucey
Janelle
thomas adams
Clay McGowan
Shay Riggs
Dr. Jackie
Keith Kuhnsman
Cindi Duehmig
Banter Couch
Eric Tolbert
Paul Tipper
Paul F
Gerald Bernard
