300- Laboratory Update Part 2

Published 10 years ago in Permaculture , Podcasts - 0 Comments

Paul begins this podcast by talking about their rumford fireplace that one of the gapper built. They talk a little bit about other projects the gappers have been working on and what all they have built.

The next thing on the list they mention is the wofatis. Wofati 0.7 and wofati 0.8 still need to be fully buried. Paul mentions how he is kind of frustrated with how much time and money they ended up taking. There is talk of a 10×10 wofati that would be built for under 200 dollars in less than two days not including log prep.

They talk about how much storage they need and why they need to take care of that before anything. They need space for electric cars, firewood storage, a welding shed, and parking. After the Rocket Mass Heater event, they will build the 10×10 wofati and Berm shed, which will be an Oehler structure. He talks about how some decisions were made with the wofatis that went against his wishes so the berm and 10×10 wofati will be all his ideas.

The other thing they discuss is art and aesthetics. They are really going to be focusing on this now. They want to get more growies outside and start beautifying the inside as well. They want to bring in art and right now they are coming up with names and having gappers create artistic signs. They did build a terrace for the pooper and shower shack and another terrace-like thing for the bone yard. He also has built the submarine road where they can bring soil for gardens.

Paul and Jocelyn feel like they needed to make a few things clear. One of them being that their primary goal is not to be a market garden. If someone living on their land wants to make a market garden happen, they say go for it. They talk about how they like the idea of fiefdoms but no one here has business ideas yet.

Paul talks about he has been putting a lot of time into figuring out how amazon works. He’s been trying to infect brains through retail channels but it is super frustrating.

They talk about how they are now managing 300 acres. Another 238 acres is still up for sale that is technically 3 parcels of land. So maybe 3 different permies wanted to do that. 100,000 a chunk. If you are interested, send Jocelyn or Paul an email.

Paul talks a bit about his rolling shelves that are turning out to be great. Basically it is just 3 enormous shelves that have wheels on them so they can move them out of the way if need be. The hot water from the compost had some fails but they have fixed it. They talk about how they have a network of trails and 6 tent pads. They have sand in them. Each tent pad is getting a name. They have so much sand that they even want to make a volleyball court.

They harvested two gallons of honey from their bee hives in the bee hut. Then they go into details of the bee hut project and talk about how it resembles the innovation they want to happen at their place.

One of the things they have been struggling with is water. Their cistern ran dry a couple times and so they have spent an enormous amount of time trying to understand it and make it work better. They have mended leaks and now is full. But that has been a struggle.

Relevant Links

State of the Lab
Laboratory Update Part 1
Kristie’s Weekly-ish Pics

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