The Civilization Starter Kit

Greetings and salutations,

The following link http://issuu.com/amakaruk/docs/civilization_starter_kit_-_v.0.01/33 is something that I've just now found, and am thrilled to have done so!  Before clicking on the link, give me a moment to explain what it is...

There is a young physicist by the name of Marcin (think Martian) Jakubowski, born in Poland and now residing in Missouri, near KC, who found that despite having completed a PhD, became aware that he was essentially useless because of it.  So, he bailed out and purchased a farm in Missouri, bought a tractor with which to farm his land, broke his tractor twice, and decided that he needed to build a better tractor.  All of this lead to a profound change in thinking, the creation of an open-source maker movement aimed at enabling locally-based abundance/post-scarcity mentality, and a plethora of open-sourced designs, which I am now presenting to you.

Here's another link - http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Power_Cube_Design_Rationale that will be of utmost importance to anyone diving into this idea.

The thinking is - take it and run with it!

Enjoy!

Ciao,

Panchito

Brilliant Older Farmer

I just watched this video by Kirsten Dirksen, and was really inspired to step it up.  This fellow shows that you can do all sorts of things if you set your mind to it.  It helps greatly to HAVE to do it, of course.

Enjoy!



Panchito

Raised Bed Production

This Spring I came up with a great new source of free lumber.  There is a company nearby that purchases glass in bulk, making windows and doors for industrial situations.  They set the crates and skids outside their building with a sign saying "Free Lumber".  I avail myself of their lumber as needed, and have been able to build several nice raised beds as a result!

There are surely similar situations near where you live as well.  I obtained some great lumber from a sign company last year for the building of three other raised beds.  My thinking is that if there is lumber and other building materials to be had for free, why o why would anyone spend money on new lumber?  Why would us "Greenies" not do all we can to reuse, re-purpose, and recycle existing materials, instead of adding to the problem, enabling the lumber companies to continue making huge profits at the expense of our environment?

Anyway, here are a few shots of our raised beds for your personal enjoyment...

Der Krameterhof

Sepp Holzer, an Austrian farmer, has become a source of inspiration to me of late.  30 years back he inherited his father's farm, which amounted to around 111 acres, or 45 hectares, of rugged, Austrian Alps land.  You'd think that something at that altitude would NOT be a good place to farm, but as they say, "Necessity is the mother of invention".  His is a radical departure from the norm, alternative farming, alternative agriculture, natural farming, and back-to-the-land, are all good descriptions of what he has been up to for most of his life.  These descriptions fall short however.

Take a look at this video about Sepp Holzer and his farm, the Krameterhof.  If this doesn't inspire you, you probably should look for some other blog to read.



I am planning on purchasing a hilly tract of land and creating something like the Krameterhof, only in the Cincinnati, Ohio area.  I am thinking of an intentional Christian community, with a common purse, and a good work ethic.  We will produce most of our own food, electricity, various products, music, and much more, while working toward fulfilling the Great Commission, to the extent that we can.  We'll see what my wife has to say about it????

At any rate, I hope you enjoyed the video.  Sepp Holzer and his Krameterhof are a great example of permaculture in a temperate climate, or even in an semi-arctic climate, since he actually has plantings above the natural tree-line on his mountain.  We stand to learn a great deal from innovative people like him.  America really needs this kind of thinking.  Here in the USA we have spent the last 30 years screwing everything up,, while teaching the rest of the world to do the same.  Let's undo what we've done!

Ciao,

Panchito