2020 Permaculture Technology Jamboree Brainstorming

'Permaculture Mad Scientist Jamboree" seems more tangibly avant-garde, loosely edgy, and representative of capability to innovate on the fly.  And more fun, which adds a touch of levity to the hard work involved.  It also has a feel of lightheartedly illuminating the level of expertise and interest in developing appropriate permanent agriculture methods and practices.  Serious stuff being done by serious-minded individuals, who don't take themselves overly serious.  Efficacy over ego.

Catherine,

Have you done water keifer?

Are there any sand BBs that you have experience with?  Are there things on the lists above that you could lead?   I am thinking it would great to have more people from missoula playing a part in this event.

I have not yet done water kefir, but it's on the list with coconut water kefir and ginger beer kefir.  I'll look again through the list to see what else I might do well enough to instruct.

Personally, while I like how Mad Scientist Jamboree pulls together the Wheaton Labs concept, it doesn't really explain what it's about. When I think "Mad Scientist," I think of chemistry or biology. I think of Frankenstein and crazy, dangerous experiments that have gone wrong. It also sounds less professional.

My son actually has a class at his school named "Mad Science," and he's learning bits of all the sciences through experiments. Mad science to me is crazy, funny, and unprofessional. And probably dangerous.

First impressions of the different terms:

Appropriate Technology Course --doesn't explain to me what it's about. I have no idea what technology or what it's about.

Permaculture Technology Jamboree -- I have a pretty good idea what this is about. It's about ecofriendly technology. Not quite sure what Jamboree is, but I could look it up. It sounds festive. It sounds professional. It sounds like they'll be a lot going on. It sounds interesting.

Permaculture Mad Science Jamboree --- Huh? these things don't go together. Is it a bunch of Frankensteins dancing while planting things? What would even happen at this event?

I feel like Permaculture Technology Jamboree could be improved on. It's not quite perfect in explaining what's going on at the event. But, it's the best of the three options I'm seeing.

It is now official.  We will stick with "permaculture technology jamboree"

I agree with what Mike Haasl just said, but I also really feel that "Appropriate Technology Course" never really communicated to me what it was all about. "Jamboree" just sounds like a party to me, and I'd be suspicious that it wasn't about serious learning and experimenting. "Mad Scientist" implies to me a program that will be about thinking outside the box, and it *doesn't* imply "party" to me, so at the moment I feel it's the best choice of the three to attract the people you want there.

I wish I could come up with some more suggestions that people might like even better for the future, but so far, no inspiration has landed. Please let me assure you that I empathize with you - names are important - and I will keep thinking about it.

What fun. Names are important because they give first impressions, as well as a tiny glimpse into what the named thing is about.

"Appropriate Technology Course" sounds a bit formal and potentially stuffy, while "Permaculture Mad Scientist Jamboree" sounds like it could be wild and fun.

I reckon the question to ask is, what do folks think of when they hear or read these words?  When I think of "mad scientist" I picture someone with smoking, sputtering test tubes - a chemist. But that's just me.

A mad physicist, OTOH, might have a complicated setup of fulcrums and pulleys.

A mad inventor will have made an exquisitely complex mouse trap.

What kind of science is the course going to lean toward?

"Appropriate" is a really stodgy word.  Makes me think of Finishing School, good manners and conformance.  Its totally unfair to an otherwise useful word... I think its the problem of being in a title.

"Jamboree" is a fun word - but I don't associate it with learning, working hard.  As a Boy Scout (Eagle!) I still think of Jamborees as fun events that try to build bridges between otherwise isolated communities.

"Mad Scientist" is super fun - but its almost the opposite of "Appropriate" here.  Mad Scientist invokes a "I dunno. Let's see what happens" and do something without thinking about it. Randomness, etc.  A serious need for safety glasses, hearing protection and maybe body armor.  Basically its really hard to get away from the image of Doc Brown in Back to the Future.  But definitely "out of the box" and "unconventional thinking" and "not bothered by natterers of 'you can't do that'". So I'd be hesitant to sign up for a Mad Scientist Jamboree - but I'd think it clever if the instructors were "Instructors/Mad Scientists"

Since I was in a business school for a while I think its essential to come up with a new word so the meaning of the word can be defined!  PermaTech!  Crap, that's taken.  So ... PermaXyience!  (May cause side effects...)

*Framing note: I'm stodgy.  I don't want to be, yet I am. I kinda wish I had a lawn.  Paulisms as "moichendize" and "om nom nom" don't work for me.  Yet I'm here anyway... the point is I may not be the target audience and I offer up my opinion to help frame the event.  I hope I'm not akin to a Fouch effect though...

After much finagling, adjusting and tweaking, we have a schedule!!!  If you happen to be experienced with round wood timber framing, we have an instructor spot in the schedule for you!  

The schedule is firming up rapidly (next day or two) so if an instructor has a timing issue or if the time slot allocated is too long or too short, speak up quickly.  

Are we advertising a track without an instructor lined up?  I think that will turn out poorly?

Fred Tyler wrote:Are we advertising a track without an instructor lined up?  I think that will turn out poorly?

Not exactly.

There are some instructors we are still talking to.  

And there are some tracks where the intention is to have many instructors give it a try (like flegm).  

And, I suspect that within two weeks of the formal announcement of the event, three excellent instructors will present themselves.

We are putting on an ambitious event this year.   Combined with how putting on any event is riddled to the gills with risks.  

So far, the schedule is filling out nicely and we have a lot of instructors committed.

The PTJ page is looking really good. I like the overall look and feel. The tracks feel like a lot of really strong topics that should pull a lot of interest.

My only thought in terms of feedback is that the rather terse list of bullet points for each track are great for folks already pretty deep into permaculture systems, but would probably be difficult for someone a little newer to decipher without more explanation. Could there be a short paragraph describing each project and why it is so interesting/amazing? This would seem a little friendlier to the newcomers.

The early birds that are going to sign up immediately won't need this, but it might be helpful to add it later to  encourage sign-ups from folks that are plenty curious but maybe less conversant in terms like wofati, rocket mass heater, and spring terrace. A lot of terms like this with no explanation might imply to them that the jamboree is only for people with more experience and knowledge.

Hey, the FAQ about "Paul's Food" might need some tweaking. I think it was grabbed from an old web page and I'm not sure that's the food you're thinking about serving.

From the FAQ's here then the last one opens to say:

We mostly eat paleo-ish around here - very much organic or better and grassfed meats. Which means lots of veggies, meat, eggs, plenty of animal fats, naturally fermented foods and some fruits. We try to minimize starchy foods and sugar, and are not eating much in the way of dairy products at this time, though we imagine incorporating raw milk products from animals on the land. You can find out more about food at Wheaton Labs HERE. This year, our food will be prepared by Ryan Oeshger.

Having been screamed at (really, this guy screamed at me right in front of the red cabin) when someone thought we would serve paleo-ish food but then we served mostly vegetarian or vegan food with only occasional meat, I'm rather sensitive to this topic.

Plus, it would be good for Ryan to know what's expected as well.

Jocelyn, just tell me what you want to put in that spot, and I will happily put it there! I was wondering about that, too, as I know your guy's diets have changed a lot over the years, especially with Paul's health issues. Thank you!

So let's replace this:

We mostly eat paleo-ish around here - very much organic or better and grassfed meats. Which means lots of veggies, meat, eggs, plenty of animal fats, naturally fermented foods and some fruits. We try to minimize starchy foods and sugar, and are not eating much in the way of dairy products at this time, though we imagine incorporating raw milk products from animals on the land.  

with this:

Organic or better.  We are pretty insistant on organic.  

We're pricing this event pretty low, so we're a bit worried about the food budget.   Expect some fairly simple fair for breakfast and lunch.

Some of the tracks will be doing some foraging, so expect to eat some foraged food.   Probably some lamb's quarters and dandlion.  Maybe something with huckleberries.

Rhubarb should be on strong about this time.

Davin Hoyt attended in 2017 and took these pictures:

Alan Booker wrote:The PTJ page is looking really good. I like the overall look and feel. The tracks feel like a lot of really strong topics that should pull a lot of interest.

My only thought in terms of feedback is that the rather terse list of bullet points for each track are great for folks already pretty deep into permaculture systems, but would probably be difficult for someone a little newer to decipher without more explanation. Could there be a short paragraph describing each project and why it is so interesting/amazing? This would seem a little friendlier to the newcomers.

The early birds that are going to sign up immediately won't need this, but it might be helpful to add it later to  encourage sign-ups from folks that are plenty curious but maybe less conversant in terms like wofati, rocket mass heater, and spring terrace. A lot of terms like this with no explanation might imply to them that the jamboree is only for people with more experience and knowledge.

I wonder if there can be bits of hover blurbs.  

Part of the function of the new page is to improve CRO.  So we are supposed to minimize links that leave the page.  So if there are little hover blurbs, that might help a bit.

paul wheaton wrote:So let's replace this:

We mostly eat paleo-ish around here - very much organic or better and grassfed meats. Which means lots of veggies, meat, eggs, plenty of animal fats, naturally fermented foods and some fruits. We try to minimize starchy foods and sugar, and are not eating much in the way of dairy products at this time, though we imagine incorporating raw milk products from animals on the land.  

with this......

FYI and slightly OT, that quote above that was replaced for the PTJ FAQ page used to be in the opening of the food and drink at the project thread. If you look now, you can see that I replaced that section and generally updated that entire first post.

I am locking this thread.   Please direct further page improvement suggestions to

https://permies.com/t/134538/permaculture-projects/suggestions-improvements-event-pages