permaculture bootcamp - learn permaculture through a little hard work

Chrissy Smiley wrote:if you have room for one person from about Dec22 to about the 28th i am interested.
Here is some of my pertinent info: i got the podcasts and have listened to many but nowhere near 200
i am new to almost all of this in practice, though I have helped build a cob cottage. Let me know if you'd find value in my visit. I'm physically strong and I am a morning person. I live in Boulder. If you have room for me and want for my presence, can you tell me how long the drive is for a slow driver?
Tbank you,
Chrissy

So you wish to come for a week.  At christmas.   Can do - but we won't be working on christmas day.  

This will be especially easy for us, because several people will be out that week.

Go to https://permies.com/wiki/bootcamp and scroll down about half way to "How to become a Boot" where it has the stuff to part with coin and we will get this process started.

Thank you Paul. Okay since I wrote I figured out that you are near Missoula (I knew this but forgot---I've been getting your listserv for quite a while). I think it's too long of a drive for me for this window. I have a thing on the 21st and then on the 30th. Four days's driving and then a stay with you is doable in that window, but too tight. It's been on my list for a few years at least to reach out and go see you. I am self-employed and it's my slow time. so I hope to fit this in before my busy time commences end of March. Thanks for the quick reply and sorry for the tease.

A bit of bootcamp cooking

I just tried to merge another thread in here and it didn't work, so I am going to try to quote that whole post ...

I am quite interested (understatement) in your permaculture opportunity. I currently live in Huntington Beach CA, and have slowly watched my little surfing town be taken over by corporate greed and tourists (or tourerists as I call them). I really am looking for the opportunity to get away and live where there is actually trees that grow naturally, and not ones that a person has decided to place in the ground, but I do have some questions. I would really like to make an effort for the 2 years and make a living working for you guys and helping permaculture thrive.

Helping permaculture - YES!  I think our experiments are helping permaculture.  There will be some people that might have a different opinion, but I think this is the number one thing for helping permaculture, and, of course, my position is heavily biased.

make a living:  Not sure what you mean by that.   There are ways for boots to earn coin - but that is mostly side hustle stuff.  The bootcamp is not so much a job as a way to learn permaculture stuff.

Ideally I would like to do some smithing/forging if possible

As in metalworking, right?  We have an okay anvil.   Kinda wishing for an awesome anvil.

I have several items I would like to bring with me and simply donate to the work site. I used to work in construction so I have things like air compressors, nail guns, shovels, sledge hammer, hammers, tool/knife sharpener, hand saws, etc.  and some various other items that may be useful like canning and cooking supplies.

If you are going for the full two years to get a plot, then you might want to hang onto that stuff for when you are independent and on your plot.

Also I own a .308 rugger rifle (I only have the rifle no other guns except for a bb gun, I don't believe in guns as a means of self protection), I was wondering if hunting was a possibility if the correct tags were purchased?

No objection from me.   You can get PEP BBs for that.

My goal is to leave around March, the 100 dollars should more than affordable for me but I don't have a paypal. So maybe I could mail the money to you beforehand if possible or just bring it up with me?  

Do you have plastic?  Plastic works too.  Bitcoin?

The boots collaborated to make a pretty cool video ...

I'm going to do this bootcamp one day. Not today (I wish) as I am still working on physio and rehabilitation. I want to be in my strongest, finest and most reliable form when I finally make my way down to Montana to learn from you all (I'm in Alberta).

Been following the monthlyish newsletter and such for years now. Had a bad neck/head injury which got worse through office life and modern sloth. It's my dream to somehow learn about permaculture and be useful to others.

Can't wait to craft my hater post about how much I loathe working with Paul Wheaton. It's a little joke, I'm not honestly one to complain >

Hopefully this year I can lend a hand and learn! Thanks for leading the charge everyone.

Lucas

Lucas,

We have a serious problem with canadians.   First, wicked government insists that canadians must go back to canada.  Second, canadians come here for their short visit, fall in love with residents here and then go back to canada with our peeps.  Of course, on their way out they say "sorry" - they are canadians.  

So I am tempted to forbid people from falling in love here - but I'm sure that will only make the problem worse.  

So, of course, you are welcome to come and throw your shoulder in for a bit.   And in an effort to move everything forward there will, of course, be risks.  Damn.

Parts 2 and 3 of the boots doing rocket mass heater surgery

Fred will be back on the 7th - and that's when we will be ready to kick it into high gear again.

Tomorrow we are all going out for a fancy-pants dinner at a hot springs place, so soak in the hot spring and dinner.   All on me.   A sort of big wrap up for finishing the berm shed and doing such an amazing job.  

Here is a quick video from josiah showing the bermshed is almost done:



And then near the end of the month, we are going to another fancy-pants restaurant for dinner - to meeting a big missoula celebrity.

Now that the berm shed is done, the biggest projects are food systems at allerton abbey.   We need fence!    Also, the sawmill is back on line, so lots and lots of lumber.   A quick project is to improve the chimney at the love shack.  

Jennifer and Josiah have been posting lots of pictures and videos, including Josiah getting video of a bobcat!



Jennifer's thread:
https://permies.com/t/120233/Jen-Boot-Camp-Allerton-Abbey

Josiah's thread:
https://permies.com/t/123050/Josiah-Bootcamp-Log

The love shack is getting a new chimney.




The sawmill was starting to crank out lumber, but a belt broke and now we are waiting for a new belt:




Jennifer has some designs for window quilts in allerton abbey.  These natural materials arrived:




Josiah tested out a new backup inverter for the solar leviathan:




Josiah learned that he can plow about a mile of road in an hour and 20 minutes

A winter bootcamp project

This year we are gonna be super focused on food systems.   So Jen and Josiah are gonna build a fence for a new garden space

I dropped coin for the bootcamp on paypal today (Receipt number 1697-0596-4051-1491).

Need to collect some tools to bring with; after that I'll be about 645 miles out.

Orin Raichart wrote:I dropped coin for the bootcamp on paypal today (Receipt number 1697-0596-4051-1491).

Need to collect some tools to bring with; after that I'll be about 645 miles out.

Smooth!

I sent you the questionnaire thing.  

It sounds like you are suggesting that you might be here in the next day or two?

Yep, answered the questionnaire....I believe you ask people to listen to ?240? podcast before coming: I've officially listened to 56.  Official as in I started keeping two directories of downloaded podcasts: /home/[user]/Download/podcast/new and .../fini

so I have 56 in the .../fini directory.

here's some things I've done on my own: STUFF similar to bootcamp

I'm thinking Friday or Saturday might be a realistic arrival time: cleaning, sorting, and storing is looking a little rigorous than expected....and I do have to return a tool to a mountain couple (and get one back).

I've waffled between showing up at your place flush with extra cash or coming this year.  What I'm seeing the corona outbreak doing in China tells me it'll be hard to earn cash with everything closed down in about 2.5 months. The way I see it, I might as well work 40 hrs per week doing the kinds of things I love and create passive income on the weekends. If I'm wrong about the impacts here in the US, no problem, I'll still get access to cool knowledge and will have developed the income streams I want.

I purchased a 100watt solar panel, a 30amp charger and 2000watt inverter: pretty sure these have plastic parts in them. Shall I leave them behind? Probably bring a laptop too. The rest would be a few tools, clothes. I have a plastic 5gallon bucket which I'm pretty sure I don't need to ask about cause it's the kind of thing you don't want.


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Edited at 16:55 pdst

Received the vistor's discretion email -thanks!

Right now seems a really good time to join bootcamp. It's way out in the boonies and away from coronavirus, and you get to learn skills and even get a chance to work on your own plot of land. Super cool opportunity!

Orin Raichart wrote:I believe you ask people to listen to ?240? podcast before coming: I've officially listened to 56.

Nope.  People don't have to listen to any before coming.   But to be a resident, they currently have to have listened to at least 200.

Orin Raichart wrote:
I purchased a 100watt solar panel, a 30amp charger and 2000watt inverter: pretty sure these have plastic parts in them. Shall I leave them behind? Probably bring a laptop too. The rest would be a few tools, clothes. I have a plastic 5gallon bucket which I'm pretty sure I don't need to ask about cause it's the kind of thing you don't want.

Go ahead and bring them.

We have solar panels and plastic.   We are just working on finding ways to reduce or eliminate plastic.  We're getting better at it all the time, but we still have quite a lot.

Sweet! I won't really believe it until I'm actually there....  now back to the clean, sort, select, and pack tasks at hand

Nichole, funny the outbreak would push me off the fence. I was torn between wanting more cash and really wanting to attend the ATC this year. With what is still happening in China right now, I just don't see that anyone's place of work is safe from being shut down.....so why should I wait?  for what exactly?  

Anyways, base camp here I come (in a few days)!

Good morning Paul Wheaton,
My name is Michael Yossa, I'm member of the global ecovillage network and active member and student of the Gaia University Community. I heard from your amazing program from Liora Adler and Andrew Langford. My wife Miriam Moufide in Canada told me great things about you and your experience. She was with you at the” caravan de la paix” many years ago in Latin America. I went through the permies.com 2020 work trades for PDC, PTJ and/or SKIP, I have to say that it’s very interesting and exciting to be part of the course and the boot camp. I’m very interested in learning all the modules of the course, especially the renewable alternative energy and permaculture courses. I would like to enroll and register for the 2020 boot camp which I would like to take as per available schedules. Also please I wish to know if you can offer assistance to facilitate and enable get a visa at the US embassy. Please can I have more advices and orientation? Thank you

Michael Yossa wrote: She was with you at the” caravan de la paix” many years ago in Latin America.

Then she must be thinking of somebody else because I have never been to latin america.

I went through the permies.com 2020 work trades for PDC, PTJ and/or SKIP, I have to say that it’s very interesting and exciting to be part of the course and the boot camp. I’m very interested in learning all the modules of the course, especially the renewable alternative energy and permaculture courses. I would like to enroll and register for the 2020 boot camp which I would like to take as per available schedules. Also please I wish to know if you can offer assistance to facilitate and enable get a visa at the US embassy. Please can I have more advices and orientation? Thank you

Just yesterday we canceled the PDC, PTJ and SKIP events due to coronavirus concerns.   But the bootcamp is still going strong!   Most of the stuff listed there is stuff we normally do in the bootcamp.

As for visa stuff, we don't get involved in that, and yet we still seem to have lots of people coming here from all over the world.

Going to be late. Leaving Lincoln City as soon as the laptop gets bagged.....

...if all goes well, the eta looks like late Saturday is what I'm thinking.

Lincoln City ...   Oregon?

yep, thought I was going to take the slow way but didnt....so instead of late Saturday, I'm 22 minutes out now.

I'll grab breakfast here cause you werent expecting me until tomorrow.....4' of white stuff otherwise known as flat frozen rain just over the pass -none on the road tho...and zero inches in this small town west of you.

see you all after breakfast!

Understood.  See you in a bit.

Hi,
Planning to pay my fee soon, but wanted to make sure you are still accepting people despite the virus issue. I believe you still have two spots open, correct?. I will be driving from Michigan and need a couple days to pack. Will the fee hold my spot until mid next week?
Also, I probably just missed this on the site, but will there be a space available I can park my car?
Thanks

There are still openings, and they are still accepting people despite the virus! The fee holds eternal, as long as there are openings, but I haven't heard of anyone coming out before you, so there should still be an opening at Wheaton Labs in a week.

I'm pretty sure there's room to park your car!

(I'm Paul's part-time assistant right now, so I help out with stuff like this, but I live a long way away!)

Come on out!  And, yes, there is a place to park.

Great, thanks for the help all! See you in a week or so, hopefully.
And yes I figured there would be with all that land, but would hate to be turned away at the door because I didn't have a parking space haha

Clayton,

I am going to share some information and you decide what to do with it.  

I feel like this is the best place to dodge coronavirus.  We are remote and it sounds like the best thing for fighting it is strong lungs - zero smoking and away from city with air pollution.   Plus, working in the sun apparently is powerful force in driving it off.  Further still, I have learned that for a lot of people it nothing more than a simple cold with a slight fever that goes away in about two days.  

12 days ago Fred came down with something.  Back then, coronavirus was only a handful of cases in washington state.  Fred had taken the bus from denver to here, but it wasn't in denver either.  A few days into it Fred thought he should get tested for it - just to be sure.   The local hospital ...  uh ...  said a bunch of silly things.   Fred felt like he wasn't all that sick anyway, so let it go.  It probably isn't coronavirus.  

Fred is still sick.  He finally went in and got tested.  The results should be in in a few days.  Still kinda thinking that it can't be coronavirus, but now it seems that it is possible that millions of people all over the US had it two weeks ago and were merrily spreading it everywhere.  

So ...   I really have no idea.   My guess is that it is not coronavirus and people just get sick sometimes.   But it is possible that he has it.  

You must make your own choice.

Paul,

Thanks for letting me know.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't find that a bit concerning. I am not in a high risk group but still would prefer to avoid it for obvious reasons.
Was Fred just tested today? Here it takes 4-5 days to see results, is that the same for you guys?

Fred was tested two days ago.   And the information we get about when results come back is ...  wonky.

Alright. I hadn't been planning to leave until Monday, hopefully results will be in by then. If not, I will probably play it safe and stick here for a few more days.
An update whenever you get news would be greatly appreciated

Fred's test says he does not have coronavirus.  Google says that false positives are super rare, but false negatives are kinda common. So I guess we're still in the "maybe it is coronavirus" space.

Jennifer and Josiah seem to have fred's crud, but they don't seem to be suffering as much as fred.  Josiah has even gone out to work on stuff.  I seem to be on the edge, and twice a day I chase off symptoms with fire cider and the like.  Orin seems to be in tip top shape!  

Today is day 15 for fred.  So, if he did have coronavirus, WHO says:

Using available preliminary data, the median time from onset to clinical recovery for mild cases is approximately 2 weeks and is 3-6 weeks for patients with severe or critical disease.

 

Maybe by the time you get here, Fred will be all done with it and all the rest of us will be all done with it.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  

Orin says he would be glad to work with you.  I saw Orin take a bit of fire cider today.  And josiah made a half gallon of fire cider that should be ready in a few days.


So....

I think I have fully and thoroughly clarified all the things.   At the same time, the information still leaves everything very confusing.  It is probably just as difficult to make a decision now as before, so all of this information was really of zero help.  

My understanding is that coronavirus is a quick passing cold for most people.  Smokers, city dwellers and people with certain pre-existing conditions get hit really hard.   Fred is certainly miserable but is a normal, healthy guy.   But since he was told that he could not possibly have coronavirus, then he did not hit the fire cider when the symptoms started showing up.  

If you have the ability to hunker down and have zero contact with anybody for the next three months, that might be the smart thing to do.   But if your situation makes it so you cannot avoid contact with others, then there is a chance you will be healthier here.  And then there is the bit where you might have been infected and we have not - but that seems slight on both counts.

We have talked a lot about this and we are all reading all the info and then we talk about having two more boots come here.   And after lots and lots of back and forth, in the end we are saying "we are okay with it.  But you might not be."  


Other info:  spring is definitely here.  Most of us spent a fair bit of time in the sun yesterday.    A solid, sunny day is a powerful disinfectant.   And most of the stuff that the bootcamp works on is outdoors.  

There's also the question of if we all go into shelter-in-place and can't leave our places, what place do you want to be stuck in? I'd really hate to be stuck in an apartment for months. Be a lot nicer to be stuck out on acres and acres of wilderness.

Paul, you're right, the decision is just as difficult now, if not more. I do appreciate the information though. I'm doing my best to avoid contact here and it's mostly possible, but not easy. I would also hate to infect all of you: that does seem unlikely, but would certainly be tragic none the less. I will likely stick here for at least a few weeks and see where all this goes. Nicole's point is what really gives me pause. If a quarantine goes into effect, I would certainly rather be somewhere with outdoor space. Still, while I know you guys are open to it (which I must say, is very generous) I'm not sure I want to subject any of you to the extra risk, minimal as it may be (but who really knows).

Just throwing out another idea...   What if you came out and camped on the lab for 14 days (in relative isolation) or in the parking lot behind the shop until you felt safe enough to join the rest of the crew?

I made a post about what we are doing here now:

https://permies.com/t/120/134222/kitchen/Prevention-treatment-coronavirus-COVID#1075270

I think that it is possible that in three days, fred will be over it and jennifer and josiah and i will be over it too.  

Jennifer felt it was important to point out that fred rarely gets sick.  Apparently nothing more than a few hours for over ten years.  She thinks this is powerful evidence that this is, indeed, coronavirus.  And if we are all clear of it in three days then we won't be getting it from anybody - nor will we be passing it on.