GAMCOD 2025: 200 square feet; Zero degrees F or colder; calories cheap and easy

Craig Lewis wrote:Maybe I'm not getting something or thinking too much again.
I was thinking a raw forest/cutover plot, or unclean roadside plot.
Here in Newfoundland we can get up to 0.4 acres Home Garden lot, for $25.

Hello Craig!
Thanks for bringing all this up.    
Sounds like you have an opportunity for super cheap land.  That is really great.

Craig Lewis wrote:A shovel will cost more than what anyone spent, above.
So I'm drastic missing something. 4.65hr to 49 and $1 to $59.41.
Seems like numbers are way too low or off

This does not have to be a contest for how cheap you can garden.  Some people may have tools laying around or friends they can borrow from.   Maybe you will have to go buy a few things.  That is ok.  It will not disqualify you.  Just do your best and keep track of your time and how much you spend.

Craig Lewis wrote:Seems like a dirt plot is ready to go, with birds dropping seed right into the grown lol
If the goal is to make it seem like Gardening is cheap and simple, better to be more realistic and practical, about starting out.

The goal is to take away the blocks that keep people from getting started.  We want to teach people how to garden in ways that are fun and easy.   If we can create a movie showing a variety of gardening techniques, people will find a path that works for them.  They will give it a try and every year after, it will get easier.

Craig Lewis wrote:How long is this movie overall?

We will make the best movie we can with the video submitted.  How long exactly really depends on what we can get for content.  This will be a teaching video to show folks who are just getting started how to grow their own food, right where they are.  

Craig Lewis wrote:If 5 are chosen and get 10 mins each $4k. Maybe 5 seconds of all that submit a start. And 10 seconds of all that completed. ( not over 1min, gets nothing??)

We will include as many gardeners in different environments and demonstrating different techniques as we get good video for.   We want to show that anybody can do this, anywhere.  Not all people who submit raw footage will be included in the final video.  We will only use gardens that meet the criteria.

The time is pro-rated.  If only a tiny bit of the content you submit is usable, you will still get paid for it.  The payout is $400 per min, that comes out to about $6.50 per second.
I would not worry about that part too much.  Just do your best to produce great veggies and quality video.

Craig Lewis wrote:I understand the overall goal and outcome.

Yet by placing limitations it can make it more difficult.

Hello Craig!
You are right.  Following all this specific criteria is making it more difficult in many ways.   I think almost anytime you are trying to help someone else it will be more difficult than just taking care of yourself.  

Craig Lewis wrote:For example. Not using cardboard. We can do a lot of things with cardboard. Ground cover, composting, seedpots, ...

I used to compost cardboard.  The master gardeners at my farmers market assured me that all the inks used now are non toxic and the worms break the material down to be perfectly safe.   I thought I was so clever to create worm breeding areas out of stacks of corrugated cardboard.   The worms would come and breed and lay tons of eggs.  Then one year, I got organic straw from a guy growing organic wheat.   I put a few bales of the straw out next to my cardboard composting area.  

When I opened up the bales in the spring, there were ten times more worms and eggs in the straw than I had ever seen in the cardboard.  I thought that was pretty cool but what really creeped me out was that the cardboard completely stopped breaking down.  It just laid there for a couple of years not breaking down and I eventually took it to the landfill.  I was so disgusted that I had been feeding my family garbage when I thought I was growing organic food.  
The animals have the wisdom and we can learn from them if we cannot see for ourselves.  When they have the choice they will eat the organic food rather than the chemical laden trash.  

Craig Lewis wrote:Not starting seedling. In the North, depending on the crops, we need to start seeds inside. Dame winters are too long lol.

You can grow your own starts.   Just keep track of your time.  

Craig Lewis wrote:Recycling plastic bottles, be it for seedlings and or micro greenhouses, slow water release units, hanging gardens. Many using to make gardening cheaper.

Yes I understand the micro plastic issue and being more down to Earth, about it. Yet being realistic about where most people are at or living. They have these items around them. As to those that do not.

Glass, ceramics and natural fibers will be nicer for GAMCOD.  They look a lot better and do not leach who knows what into your soil.

a bunch of us talking about 2025 gamcod

Hello my name is Ian and I’m a homesteader and content creator and I’d like to join the gamcod challenge 😁. I’ve been watching Paul’s videos for quite some time and this challenge seems like great fun and I can make some great content out of it. I recently watched the 3 hour video about hugelkultur so I’d like to try and make a BIG one for the challenge like was shown in the video. I have nearly a million followers between all social media platforms, so im not sure if you’d want to add me to the “big names” list but if you’d like to check out my videos here’s my Linktree. I’m glad to be joining you all on the Permies forum!

https://linktr.ee/JankLabsLinks

Ian Tucker wrote:Hello my name is Ian and I’m a homesteader and content creator and I’d like to join the gamcod challenge 😁. I’ve been watching Paul’s videos for quite some time and this challenge seems like great fun and I can make some great content out of it. I recently watched the 3 hour video about hugelkultur so I’d like to try and make a BIG one for the challenge like was shown in the video. I have nearly a million followers between all social media platforms, so im not sure if you’d want to add me to the “big names” list but if you’d like to check out my videos here’s my Linktree. I’m glad to be joining you all on the Permies forum!

Welcome to Permies, I love seeing more people participate!

I'd recommend checking out all sorts of threads in the GAMCOD forum to get up-to-snuff and maybe start a thread of your own to document your planning process?

Hi Ian, I checked out your youtube channel - it looks like you might have some interesting thoughts on tinyhouse living for us too? Check out the tiny house forum and welcome to permies!

Spring is getting closer and I'm going to have get starting some seeds in the next month or so.

My prior seed starting was using the standard plastic cell pots that a friend gave me. To try and stick to the "no plastic" and "cheap" aspects, I am planning on trying seed snails. ( fabric and growing medium jelly rolls)

I'm going to use salvaged cotton and linen fabric and have metal pans to keep them in. I was going to try some of the sandy dirt we have here and mix it with a bit of leaf mold for the growing medium.

I've started a thread, (Seed snail trial thread ) with the details of the process since I think it might be helpful for others to see if it works.

Just wanted to check that this is an acceptable option within the limits you want for the project.

Dian Green wrote:Just wanted to check that this is an acceptable option within the limits you want for the project.

Seems okay to me!

Is there a group or a list for potential GAMCOD gardeners?

Rebekah Harmon wrote:Is there a group or a list for potential GAMCOD gardeners?

Like a forum?

paul wheaton wrote:

Rebekah Harmon wrote:Is there a group or a list for potential GAMCOD gardeners?

Like a forum?

The video said you were looking for 10 more gardeners. Click the link! The link brought me to this forum, but I can't really tell how many people are participating from this thread. How do you know how many gardeners are committed? Or how would you like us to RSVP?

I'm still hoping to do this and am working on stuff but have a couple of questions.

Should I just start uploading video as I do them or do you prefer us to wait until we get through the whole thing?

Are there any issues with us sharing our videos, as we go, on other sites or do you want them kept exclusive? As part of that question, how do you want it referred to? Gamcod? Paul Wheaton project? Do you want any links to come here?  I'm on bluesky and tumblr and was thinking about sharing my attempt progress on both of those.
Thanks!

Dian Green wrote:I'm still hoping to do this and am working on stuff but have a couple of questions.

Should I just start uploading video as I do them or do you prefer us to wait until we get through the whole thing?

Are there any issues with us sharing our videos, as we go, on other sites or do you want them kept exclusive? As part of that question, how do you want it referred to? Gamcod? Paul Wheaton project? Do you want any links to come here?  I'm on bluesky and tumblr and was thinking about sharing my attempt progress on both of those.
Thanks!

Pls upload them as you go! No need to edit them but pls follow the naming instructions in the video submission thread.

You can use it wherever and can refer as you wish I like the idea that GAMCOD becomes a household word and concept.

Rebekah Harmon wrote:The video said you were looking for 10 more gardeners. Click the link! The link brought me to this forum, but I can't really tell how many people are participating from this thread. How do you know how many gardeners are committed? Or how would you like us to RSVP?

In 2024 I got the impression that more than a dozen people were gonna do it in the spring.  And maybe there were more than 20 that said something about thinking about it.  And in the end we had four people make complete submissions, and I think two of those didn't meet all of the criteria.

There is no RSVP.  There is only people doing it and submitting video ...   and then there is the finish line.

Well, I did up a mason jar to check the dirt in the area I'll be using.
Actually worse than I though. Sand and silt and nothing else.  
Im going to go ahead and start the serious prep and video recording and we'll see how it goes.