TSP To Return Monday

First I won’t be restarting the show until Monday morning.  Partly because I was asked to extend my time off by the most wonderful woman on the planet.  Partly because we have company and relatives in town as well.  Additionally, today I am meeting for a bit with one of the best land attorneys in Texas along with Josiah to discuss PermaEthos.

PermaEthos Update

We have some good target property for PermaEathos, we know we have sufficient investor interest, now it is time to see if “the man” can actually be pacified for something like this to be done without a fight or doubling the cost.  It is very important for me before one penny of anyone’s money but my own goes into this thing, that we know exactly what we are getting into.  So I will take care of the ground work on that today, Friday I am with some family we almost never see and I will be back Monday.  If you are jonesing for some TSP, try the random episode feature to pick an old one.

The Guest Interview Form is Back

I have put the guest form back up on the Guests page so people who want on the show can once again apply.  Dorothy says we are booking at the end of February.  I will likely take it down again as soon as March is full, so if you or someone you know wants to get on the show, NOW is the time to act.

2014 Spring/Winter Workshops

We will be doing at least three, perhaps 4 in the next 5 months.  We will definitely be doing one on planting out food forest systems.  During that one we will plant the swales that were just installed, the urban garden area, the wood core beds installed last spring and several other small forest gardens.  This will likely be the most intensive and diverse hands on food forest planting workshop ever done.  Covering everything from tiny forest gardens, full on urban systems and large zone 4 food forestry all in one event.

We also will definitely be doing an everything bees workshop.  Michael Jordan of A Bee Friendly Company will be the instructor.  So far Michael has discussed this with me in a way that would have every student build their own hive, we would also build several hives for my property and install bees in those hives.  Michael knows more about bee keeping then any man I have ever met.  If you ask him a question, you get a classic permaculture answer, “it depends” but you then get all the ways it depends and what each choice means.  My only concern with this workshop is if we do it with everyone building a hive, we might end up pricing it out of the reach of many.  I’ll talk to Mike and see what we can do, but if you want bees this is the event to attend!

Battery back up systems and alternative energy with Steven Harris is something we just have to do.  Steve is chomping at the bit to get down here and do this one and I sure as hell want to get him down here.  The big question is simply when.  Dorothy and I are sitting down to figure out dates this weekend.  Likely there will be one or two more added to these.

We might do a mini workshop or two in the next few months on hugulkultur construction.  We have a lot of beds to build and Joe learned how to operate an excavator in the last event.  These mini events might be best for local people or those with a relatively short drive in.  They would be like a Friday and a Saturday, all hands on type of things.  We would likely only provide dinner, the cost would be like 100 bucks a day, so 200 dollars for two days.  If anyone would want to do that let me know, if there is interest we can schedule a machine rental a time or two in coming months.  Warning when I do workshops, it rains, it always rains.

TSP Workshops Come with Certification

When I did the first workshops I didn’t realize that because I hold a PDC myself and am a recognized instructor I can issue you guys certifications on classes I teach.  This includes classes I have already taught by the way.  The certification is via PermaCulture Global.  In the future we will have a PC set up to do them on site and I will issue printed certificates as well.  Those who have already been though and haven’t claimed your electronic certification, here is what you do, please ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE ATTENDED ONE OF THESE WORKSHOPS.  I won’t and can’t approve your certification if you didn’t.

First if you don’t have an account at Permaculture Global you need to set one up.  To set up an account at Permaculture global…

• Go to http://permacultureglobal.com/users/new
• Fill out the form and click Create Account
• Click on the link in the email you were sent from no-reply@permacultureglobal.com
• Login to your new account in http://permacultureglobal.com

To get certification for the earthworks workshop we did in November do the following

• Click My Profile
• Click Edit My Profile
• Fill in the information and click Update Profile at the bottom of the page
• In the right side bar click Add Course I’ve Taken
• Fill in the following
  • Course Title: Main Frame Earthworks Integrated with Zone One Urban Design
  • Course Type: Earthworks
  • Course Start Date: Nov 2013
  • Course Location: Fort Worth TX
  • Name of Verifying Teacher: Jack Spirko
• Under Other Teachers, add the following:
  • Teacher Name: Nicholas Ferguson
  • Teacher Name: Nicholas Burtner
  • Keep your profile updated by adding new course information and projects

For those that Came to the Wood Core Workshop, this is the info

• Click My Profile
• Click Edit My Profile
• Fill in the information and click Update Profile at the bottom of the page
• In the right side bar click Add Course I’ve Taken
• Fill in the following:
  • Course Title: Contour Based Wood Core System Installation
  • Course Type: Earthworks
  • Course Start Date: May 2013
  • Course Location: Fort Worth TX
  • Name of Verifying Teacher: Jack Spirko
  • Keep your profile updated by adding new course information and projects

Some of you may not really need or want the electronic certification but claiming it would be helpful to me as I establish my teaching profile with Permaculture Global.

In any event see all of you guys on Monday.  The scan and delete email at rapid speed protocol of my official vacation is now over, this would be a great time to send me emails for Monday’s feedback show, I am sitting on a pretty clean slate right now.  To all I hope you had a great holiday season and can’t wait to see what 2014 brings to the TSP community.