Melissa Silverline

This draft reads a lot like the personal journal ramblings of a very intelligent, ambitious person who is bent on finding an answer. And as a person who loves a good autobiography, I couldn’t put it down. Paul pulls together “bits and bobs” of life experience and research in search of a solution to one of permaculture’s most important spokes: how to create and live in a community without being dicks to each other.

Every time I get a chance to learn more about Paul’s background and thinky-motivations I am more impressed with the guy. The ramblings in Thorns reveal – again – that the projects he takes on have the flavor of lifelong quests. I like to compare finding solutions to picking a path that goes through the woods – sometimes mapping all the trails that don’t lead to your destination end up being as useful to know about as finding the one that does. The experiences with community building documented in this book have value as examples of what doesn’t work; and it’s heartening to follow Paul along as he plots ways to evolve the human relationship aspect of sustainable living [together].

I hope to see this collection of thoughts, trials, and results grow with the real life work. Regardless of format or profit, the contribution this kind of searching brings to humankind is significant. And if by some miracle Paul’s determination results in finding a system that works… talk about a noble cause.

I think it makes a difference that there isn't a "rolling chat" type of option here, where it's somewhat encouraged to reply with a one-liner and/or emoji.
(Though I do wish I could chat with all the lovely permies from time to time.)

I suppose the subject matter makes a difference as well - I kind of assume a level of maturity present in people who want to do things involving labor, study, and betterment of community.

Wow. There were some really important definitions unpacked in this conversation. Glad I listened (thanks to the link in the daily). I will be recommending this to friends.

Please, please cut out the footage of the classroom showing a bunch of bored looking people. Your killing yourself with that.

This string made me laugh.

It's a perfectly great idea, as logical ideas go. Completely the opposite of what I was compelled to do when moving off-grid though, which was throw away all my calendars and clocks. I just kept a journal of weather and blooms and bug populations (etc) to track the yearly cycle.

The interesting bit - which would be the same for the 13 month format - was syncing up with other people.

Paul,
I think your amount of try is amazing.

I was 100% in on the off-grid trying to make a better life and be a good example, then a bunch of unexpected life happened and had to trade 40 acres of permaculture experiments for a 400 sqft cube in the sky surrounded by asphalt and so much toxic gick in the air I could barely breathe.

I still read the forums sometimes. I try to come up with ways to make cube life better - something good enough to share with other city folk as an example of the kind of "not angry" progress you have so generously infected my brain with. I'm passing out 24 books this week... fingers crossed that a few will get into the right hands.

In addition to heaps of praise for your relentless trying, please accept my thanks for providing a plan B: Bootcamp is my favorite backup plan in a scenario where my own (new) acreage does not manifest.

Please keep at it. Your trying inspires more people than you can guess.

The very first group of pictures are all of people's backs. Try moving some smiling faces up to the top.

Bios of people in the program are great, but reviews/ testimonials are better.

Attention grabbers up top:
"Ready for an immersive permaculture experience?
- Grow your own food
- Make your own power
- Build a sustainable life
- Other action verb bullet points

Appeal to hopes and fears- remember to include ACTION:
Stop dreaming about homesteading and start living it.
Jumpstart your ...
Risk-free opportunity to see if you have what it takes before committing to a new lifestyle.

And then of course is the question of how you are targeting your audience with ad placement. How are you handling that currently?

Yes, I want to see you try. There are some bits about this build that I cannot envision working out, and I would love to see either: 1) I am totally wrong and this will come together successfully, or 2) the questionable bits fail but are solved in future iterations. Let's experiment, document, and share!

Thanks, this is a great vid. Tyler is easy to hear and understand, good tempo, good camera work, good information, nothing extraneous. Big thumbs up.

First off, it took me two days to watch this video. I had to stop after "40,000 elephants" and mourn for the rest of the day.

Second,

Cristo Balete wrote:Greening the deserts seems to occur to people who think that deserts aren't doing the planet any good.  It couldn't be further from the truth.  The notion that if people can't live there, everything else that does live there, doesn't matter is not a very planet-healthy notion, is it?

Despite understanding this point entirely, it just doesn't work out for me in practice. When we bought our parcel in the desert my thoughts went immediately to stewardship. Basically, keep the ATV and dirtbike enthusiasts out, stay primarily on a few trails to contain damage, don't cut down trees or dig out "inconvienient" plants, enjoy the birds but don't put out feeders, etc.

After a couple years of observation though, my thoughts have changed. Open range grazing takes a massive toll without any doubt. We only saw up to 6 cows at a time, grazing through for 3 to 4 days before making it to the next property. Then another small group (or the same one) would come back through in a week. I didn't think this was such a burden to the land until the following year, when the rancher ended his lease and rounded up the heard. What a difference it's made! Grasses and flowers are growing all over the place. During the monsoon, it looks like a green municipal park. There are "new" plant species pushing up that we had no indication whould even grow here.

It would seem that the Sonoran desert to our south and the Mojave to the west have spread with the cattle to areas like ours that were never meant to be desert. (As "spreading desertification" is explained in the video.) My thoughts on land-care now align with restoration. This area is severely damaged by human hand, and will not heal on it's own.

I don't think that Savory or any other ecologist would table that the deserts are not of massive importance to Earth. But the unnatural spreading of them is a different topic altogether. I had a deep appreciation for this land even before realizing how deeply wounded it is, and certainly would not get it in my head to "re-green" it to make it more palatable to humans anymore than I would de-salt the ocean so I could farm on the beach. Walking the surface, meeting the animals, and learning the local cycles change one's perspective.