Spindoctors

Doctors are supposed to fix the broken bits.
 ya ever notice spin-doctors never  fix anything?
they just make it worse over time.

no wonder big business and politics love them.

Pirates in natural building

Erica went to our local natural building store yesterday to buy some supplies for this weekends work shop.
We dont normally buy stuff from this place for our work but some speciality items for work shops you just need top get. Mica, pigments, Etc. make a delightful additive to plasters and are hard to get unless you take a run to the mountains and find it.

any how the pigments dont cost much. However mica is running $15 dollars for about a cup and $99 dollars a bag and they sell cob mix in a 5 gal bucket for around $100.

 We can order a 50 lb bag of mica for $10 plus shipping and a gallon of milk paint costs around $7  a gallon for all the ingredients Cob cost almost nothing if you have clay in your subsoil. we got 3 yards of washed mason sand at $35 a yard and straw at $3 a bale.

I can understand making a living but those prices are bloody astronomical. this is the kind of thing that makes natural building look bad.  folks cant afford our work shops but will still pay this kind of price for a freeking gallon of paint! WTF is this some kind of joke. our damn work shops cost nothing in comparison to this boutique bull shit.... grrrr pisses me off when some jackass decides to make the cheap into a unreachable goal so some cash cow can feel superior cause he bought his cob mix in a bucket.

business stuff

I am surly not cut from the same mold as those businessmen of the past.
1. I dont know how much the information i have is worth.
2. I dont want to work with folks who are assholes.

in regards to number two I would go so far as to say i would rather not get money from them cause it to is tainted with the same assholyness  and i will have to handle it; perhaps catching the disease.

Erica is much better than I at dealing with these people, she talks to them kindly and calmly and tries to build bridges with them. I think we should leave the river between us and build fortifications to ensure those folks feel unwelcome and never visit us again.

All this non violence gets on my nerves. I figure some ass is being rude and boorish he should be heading home with his teeth in his hat. Thats unacceptable behavior on shore. these days folks seem to think they have the right to freely express themselves and not suffer the consequences.

the ultimate freedom is to take full responsibility for your actions this includes the consequences. Pity this country has forgotten that last bit. A few of these assholes among us might learn some manners after spending a few years eating hamburgers through a straw.
its a bit of a rant

lap boat

so we head up to seattle today to look at the lap boat and make a decision. time flies when your having fun i guess. the boats name is Terra Nova. its a fitting name for what we have been planning. a new land indeed.

how to find a business name

well your guess is as good as mine. how do we find a business name that encompasses what we do and love yet is still catchy enough that folks will remember it? since much of what we do is teach hands on skills, appropriate tech and permiculture; what words do we use to describe those things simply and catchy?  anyone have ideas? i would suggest looking at our web site for ideas but thats kinda self promotion to my mind and thats not the point.

A big idea and a big boat

Erica and I finally have a sort of plan for our build. Probably not to exciting to those of you building Wharram's cause after a year of noodeling we have decided on a richard woods design. 

here goes.

Since we are teachers of hands on skills we have decided to teach a (12 months) year of high school program in boat building. the program will fulfill all the criteria for a year of high school including all the academic requirements.

the build will be (hopefully if enrollment and grants/donations can be found) a 40 foot Rhea. 

The decision on the boat was made for safety, weather and space considerations. also the type of missions the boat will be used for after/between the use in our teaching with trackers NW.

the initial mission for the program is to teach kids hands on boat building and curriculum directly related to the task at hand. After the boat is built it will become our home, a platform for kids hands on education and the second part of its mission will begin. 

since we teach hands on all of the systems on the boat will be appropriate technology  with only a few exceptions. this means that the systems like hot water heaters, generators, cooking facilities, blocks, sails, davits, electric motors, Etc. will be made from parts available in the waste stream for most countries. the boat it's self is as efficient of materials as we can find in our local area. instead of holding tanks for black water we plan on an insinolet and we will try to setup a grey water system that can recycle the water (probably either a steam distillation system or a reverse osmosis system) at his point the project will change its name from the year of high school big boat build to the permiculture life boat project.

the mission from this point will be an aid boat for coast disasters like tsunamis, earthquakes, typhoons, and hurricanes.  We will concentrate on those areas largely ignored by traditional aid providers; the outlying areas where food and materials are produced. our aim is to have a mobile medical and rebuilding center. that can get into shallow water and provide appropriate tech for rebuilding destroyed infrastructure and housing as quickly as possible with the local materials. the cost to the communities that choose to take it on; will be to build another boat with the appropriate tech and help other communities in need.  since we cant be every where the boat will also be used as a ocean research platform in the off season. 

thanks go to Richard woods who gave permission for these pic's

this has been my dream thirty years in the making its gone through many revisions to pare it down to the essence of good design and care for the ocean's and coasts i love so much. thanks for reading and we will be keeping this page up dated as we go along.