two rocket mass heater workshops in October 2013

The first rocket mass heater workshop starts on the evening of Friday, October 18th and runs through mid afternoon on Sunday, October 20th. This workshop will focus on the pea gravel style of rocket mass heaters. We will build three of these. One in a double wide manufactured home, one in an office with a cement foundation, and a third in a large shop with a cement foundation. All three will probably go pretty quickly.



The second workshop starts on the evening of Friday, October 25th and runs through mid afternoon on Sunday, October 27th. This workshop will focus on a cob style of rocket mass heater. It will be constructed inside a tipi and will include a bench and a bed platform. After the workshop, a couple will live in the tipi through the winter and, come spring, report how comfortable or uncomfortable the experience was. Cob is a slow, but beautiful process.



Both of these workshops with be taught by Ernie and Erica Wisner. And I'll be around being my pushy self. The first workshop is at basecamp. The second workshop is at the laboratory. Near Missoula, Montana.

The price is $500 for either workshop. Capacity of 25 students.

Deep roots people do qualify to attend either or both of these workshops at no charge. But you must have your post in the ground and ask to have a spot saved for you.

On the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between these two workshops there will be a Farmstead Meatsmith workshop. This was done because we think most of the attendees will come from far away and can thus get a twofer (or threefer). On thursday night there is some sort of party planned. I suspect it will feature pork. And there is mention of the purpose being to celebrate the rocket mass heater dvds.

I should also mention that all of this stuff will be videoed by bart. Who knows what will come of that.

There will be some limited forms of housing on site for this. There is a room with four bunks in it, and a little red cabin. Tent spots and the like. We'll get a thread up about that in a coupla hours. Or, once you have paid for the workshop, we can help you find some nice B&B spots or a hotel.

To pay for this stuff send payment via paypal to paul at richsoil.com. When I get your payment, I will forward your info to Jocelyn - who is the official registrar.

The workshop does not include food, but Paul will invite you to join him at his table for meals.

Indoor housing at the project is limited - more details at the workshop & visitors housing thread.

Is the price $420 for each of the three workshops, or all three combined?

David Wright wrote:Is the price $420 for each of the three workshops, or all three combined?

$420 is the earlybird price for either of the rmh workshops.

I think my wife and I would both be interested in coming to the second workshop. Any possibility of a couples discount?

jc

Jc Carter wrote:I think my wife and I would both be interested in coming to the second workshop. Any possibility of a couples discount?

jc

Hi jc (nice initials btw ), no couples discount this time around. There is, however, a discount on camping if you've listened to half or more of the podcasts.

Please contact me if there's any spots still available. I want to come to this. Thank you.

Meg Keeney wrote:Please contact me if there's any spots still available. I want to come to this. Thank you.

Super- and glad to hear it! Yes, we do have spots still available though they are going fast. Paying the workshop fee is the way to reserve your spot.

paul wheaton wrote:To pay for this stuff send payment via paypal to paul at richsoil.com. When I get your payment, I will forward your info to Jocelyn - who is the official registrar.

If you do not use PayPal, send me a private message for other options.

Hi,
My name is Mike, I am located in Butte, Montana. I am highly interested in this workshop, as I am building a type of RMH in hopes to create biochar with it. I would love to attend this workshop, although, I am an intern at a non profit here, so I am not sure if I will be able to ask my organization directly for funding. Is there any way I can reserve a spot in hopes that I raise the money by the end of August? I am confident that I will be able to raise money through various fund raisers this month.

Mike Daniel wrote:Hi,
My name is Mike, I am located in Butte, Montana. I am highly interested in this workshop, as I am building a type of RMH in hopes to create biochar with it. I would love to attend this workshop, although, I am an intern at a non profit here, so I am not sure if I will be able to ask my organization directly for funding. Is there any way I can reserve a spot in hopes that I raise the money by the end of August? I am confident that I will be able to raise money through various fund raisers this month.

Hi Mike, it would be great to have you out and I'm sure folks would be curious to hear more about your internship. Reservations are going to those who pay, first. With two workshops in October, your chances are higher that there will still be a spot available in late August.

I'll be posting here if things go to wait-list status.

Jocelyn, I know that payment is the only way to reserve a spot however I will be waiting to verify my paypal account for a few days. Thought I would at least give you a heads up that I will be sending $1200 for the two RMH workshops and 4 days of Meatsmith observation soon. Thank you and please let me know if any of these workshops fills up. I should be sending payment Monday or Tues. Emily and I are very excited to get to the land and start helping!

Payment received - you're in Tony! Glad to have you!

Jocelyn,
Have you received my payment fpr the first workshop yet? And how much is the cost of the meatsmith workshop? I am interested in that as well. Thank you.

Meg Keeney wrote:Jocelyn,
Have you received my payment fpr the first workshop yet? And how much is the cost of the meatsmith workshop? I am interested in that as well. Thank you.

Hi Meg, yes, I/we have - thank you! I was out of town this last week and I keep remembering to call you when it's late in the evening and since I think you're 2 hours ahead of me, I've decided not to be rude and call when you might be asleep. So sorry! I will try tomorrow.

If for some reason you don't hear from me, send me a private message with your e-mail. (Private messages and e-mail don't tend to wake one up in the odd hours of the night. )

Farmstead Meatsmith prices are in that workshop thread.

Let me know if you have any questions for the RMH stuff here, and questions about the Farmstead stuff over in the Farmstead thread.

Sent payment for the cob style rmh workshop. Hope there's still space! I'll be flying in from California, and look forward to meeting everyone

Wonderful! Yes, there is still space. We're looking forward to meeting you, too, Rose!

paul wheaton wrote:To pay for this stuff send payment via paypal to paul at richsoil.com. When I get your payment, I will forward your info to Jocelyn - who is the official registrar.

It was brought to my attention that it's not very clear how to register. I'm the registrar, and payments go to Paul. Private message me, or if that is beyond your permies.com ken, e-mail me directly at joce campbell at gmail dot com. (No spaces and replace with symbols as appropriate.)

Someone just asked if this workshop will be in the huspa area (or the super clean area as described in podcast 248 about Paul's Farm, also named and described in the names at the project, or in paul's post about the four sections).

This workshop - and most likely all workshops - will NOT be in the restricted, huspa area.

Parking for all workshops, even if located at the lab, will be at base camp. See this post about parking and shuttles between locations for more specifics.

paul wheaton wrote:
The earlybird price is $420 if paid by Aug 31. After that, the price is $500. Capacity of 25 students.

Early bird pricing ends soon - contact me to register!

Is there still room in the cob RMH workshop? If so, I would like to give Paul money and hopefully he won't charge me for being "crazy" (even if I am a bit strange).
Laura Miller

Laura Miller wrote:Is there still room in the cob RMH workshop? If so, I would like to give Paul money and hopefully he won't charge me for being "crazy" (even if I am a bit strange).
Laura Miller

Yes, still room!

Only a few more days for the early bird price.

Any love for a young/broke biochar/RMH enthusiast in the area? I would love to attend, and although the price seems very fair, I just do not have the means right now on my current living stipend.

I think if a person came and did a good job throwing their shoulder in here for a week (like in the next few weeks), we could probably work something out.

With my current internship I am able to spend 5% of my time doing volunteer work outside of my organization, I would be willing to do that. I am currently in Butte.

Mike Daniel wrote:With my current internship I am able to spend 5% of my time doing volunteer work outside of my organization, I would be willing to do that. I am currently in Butte.

For more information on volunteering, see the how to volunteer, visit or apply for a paid position thread.

What helps us is to have a concentration of volunteers/workers, such as during the current super weeks. There is less orienting, training, coordination and other types of time when working with a group instead of individuals.

Hi Paul,
Do you do workshops in Kalispell?

Thanks!
Julie

Julie Dockery wrote:Hi Paul,
Do you do workshops in Kalispell?

Thanks!
Julie

Hi Julie, right now, Paul is concentrating on getting the project here (base camp and the lab) up and running and paid for. Part of that is holding workshops here. Down the road he might have more time for workshops elsewhere. Especially if the price is right.

I am hopefully signed up for the Oct 25-27th workshop. If I am, I have an extra seat in my truck for car pooling from the Portland, OR area. I'm super excited about seeing the land and being part of the tipi project.

Joshua Smith wrote:I am hopefully signed up for the Oct 25-27th workshop. If I am, I have an extra seat in my truck for car pooling from the Portland, OR area. I'm super excited about seeing the land and being part of the tipi project.

Yes, you are signed up, Joshua - thank you for your payment! I will send an e-mail shortly.

We have some folks in the early stages of working out carpooling from the local/Missoula area. I don't have a lead on someone for you Portland area carpool offer, though I'll keep it in mind.

Sorry to bother everyone here, rather than through whatever means is popular for signing up for the workshops, but I'm a noob. Where is base camp, and how do I make payment? My email is nathanielread4536@gmail.com. For heat we went all wood-burning, here in Ogden, Utah, last year, and I'm way-interested to use a tenth of the wood. I want to come to one or both of these workshops if there is still space available. Thanks!

Okay, now I'm less of a noob. I just found the info above. Soon I'll know enough to be able to delete my stupid posts.

Nathaniel Read wrote:Sorry to bother everyone here, rather than through whatever means is popular for signing up for the workshops, but I'm a noob. Where is base camp, and how do I make payment? My email is nathanielread4536@gmail.com. For heat we went all wood-burning, here in Ogden, Utah, last year, and I'm way-interested to use a tenth of the wood. I want to come to one or both of these workshops if there is still space available. Thanks!

Okay, now I'm less of a noob. I just found the info above. Soon I'll know enough to be able to delete my stupid posts.

Hi Nathaniel - this is the place for questions, noob or otherwise. I'll send you an e-mail. We still have room!

Edited to add: base camp is near Missoula.

Today, I'll be picking up paper for barrel prep ala this video.



We still have room in both workshops!

Looking forward to it.
Thanks for re-posting that barrel prep video, I've had a few questions about that lately.

Don't forget you could also have them sand-blasted, I know you're looking at a lot of barrels for the 4 stoves in the 2 workshops.
If they don't burn completely, like with the setup in the video, then there's a lot of grinder work to make them pretty. Can just grind or sand off the remaining paint and repaint with hi-temp or oil, and not worry about pretty.


-Erica

There is a possibility that during the workshop, people will be able to build their own shippable core.

I've come up with a design that I hereby dub: the low tech shippable core. I've run it by E&E and Kit is working up some drawings. Kit will do some tests soon and I'm ordering in materials to build a few. I feel confident that this will work really well.

The question of the moment is: for those coming to the workshop, do you want to build one of these to take home? It is shippable - so whatever you make could be shipped home. Or, I suppose it could be checked baggage. Or if you drive, you could drive home with it.

If people want to do this, then we would need to figure out materials costs and folks would need to pony up. I suspect that materials costs would be about $150. This would include the wood feed, the burn tunnel and the manifold. It would have a place to put a barrel and a heat riser. Our early tests suggest that this would be something dry - no need for any adhesives. And if folks want the super high temp riser, we can try to do a bulk purchase.

But ..... are folks interested in this being part of a workshop?

I would definitely be interested in building one, maybe even two. Probably won't be room in my jeep to take even one home but, hey, they're shipable, right?

I am certainly interested.