Bread Labor: Stuff from the top of the "to do" list. These are things that build the infrastructure of
wheaton laboratories.
Soul Labor: Stuff from anywhere on the "to do" list.
Food Labor: wild harvesting, tending garden, seed balls, hunting, fishing, work dedicated to putting food on the table for the group.
Personal Labor: doing your laundry, working on PEP1 things that didn't fit into the other labors, getting in the
firewood for your own personal use. Food labor for your own use. Cleaning your personal space. Reading, internet, research, writing ...
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We're having a week of "Soul Labor" right now. And I keep hearing that this means the same thing as "week off" - no, it does not. This is all supposed to be stuff from "the list" (the same list that bread labor stuff comes from) - but it can be from anywhere on the list. Bread labor is about working on the highest priority stuff, like building a wofati for future gappers. Soul labor could be about building a bench, or chair, or creating some form of
art for the community. Maybe starting a new garden. But this is not a time to pretty up your personal space or do your laundry.
I hear things about cleaning one's personal space somehow being used for "Soul Labor" or getting one's private firewood as "Soul Labor". I don't think that is a fit either.
I remember my time growing up on a farm. We got up every day at 5am. We typically worked for an hour before breakfast (and in the winter, this meant that we were in the dark). After breakfast, we got to work. Then we came in for lunch and then we worked more. Then we came in for dinner and would usually not work in the evening. As part of the day we might get our
wood in, or we might do our laundry. And sometimes we would go hunting or fishing to put food on the table.
Tim has all of his firewood in for the next three years. I think we have
enough for the office for two months, and I think the firewood for the shop is almost gone. Tim and his crew work a hundred hours a week. Our crew works 35 hours per week, but takes time off from that to cook meals for everybody.
At the same time, some people have been frustrated that we are putting in too little time on projects, but they don't yet feel up to Tim's level of work.
People keep comparing the
gapper program (and wwoof stuff) to a 40 hour work week. But outside of the 40 hour work week, people would need to
feed themselves, pay their bills, shop for groceries, clean their space, etc.
So I am thinking that it might be time to evolve our system a bit. I'm not commanding that this be how we do things .... yet. I'm trying the idea on to see if I like it.
Rather than winter hours and summer hours for meals, I am now thinking that we need something that will be "the" hours year round. So, for monday through saturday, meals would be at 7am, 12:30 and 6pm.
Peace and quiet: 9:30pm to 5:30am. Every day.
Monday through Friday:
5:30am to 7:00: personal labor. I suspect that most people will choose to sleep, but people can run loud saws and crank up the music in the kitchen.
7:00 to 7:30: eat!
7:30 to 7:45: Cleaning the common areas. Clean the kitchen. Clean the bathroom. Clean the floors. Clean the utility room. Clean stuff that everybody has access to.
8:00 to 10:15: Food labor.
10:30 to 12:30: bread labor. Be where you need to be by 10:30.
12:30 to 1:00: lunch
1:00 to 5:45: bread labor
6:00 to 7:00: dinner
7:00 to 9:30: personal labor. Loud saws and music in the kictchen is fine.
Saturday:
5:30am to 7:00: personal labor
7:00 to 7:30: eat!
7:30 to 7:45: Cleaning the common areas. Clean the kitchen. Clean the bathroom. Clean the floors. Clean the utility room. Clean stuff that everybody has access to.
8:00 to 12:30: personal labor
12:30 to 1:00: lunch
1:00 to 5:45: personal labor
6:00 to 7:00: dinner
7:00 to 9:30: personal labor
Sunday:
5:30am to 9:30pm: personal labor
Periodically, we will have days of soul labor inserted in to days for bread labor. I hope that we will have about three days of soul labor for every seven days of bread labor. I also think that soul labor is for those that have been here for more than three months.
Note that 5:30am to 9:30pm, 7 days a week adds up to 112 hours per week.
This plan has about 23.5 hours of bread labor, about 10 hours of soul labor, 11.25 hours of food labor and 49.25 hours of personal labor.
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Here is another thought in this space. Tim has mentioned several times that if it doesn't put a roof over your head, or food on the table, then what is the point? I don't think that is absolutely true, but there is a lot of truth to it. Maybe it is time to improve our vocabulary. We've been saying "bread labor" and "soul labor" but now I wonder if "bread labor"
should be "shelter labor". After all, the stuff at the top of the list is mostly about building/repairing stuff.
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Of
course, bread labor and soul labor consist of natural building (
cob,
straw bale, log, green wood, etc.), alternative
energy (
solar,
rocket mass heaters, off grid stuff, electric vehicles and electric tractors, etc.). So, in a way, it is like a long course in this stuff at no charge. And we do have experts coming by to share their knowledge.
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So .... these are just some thoughts for now. I'm open to feedback and suggestions.
