Ashley Cottonwood

Braden Pickard wrote:

Mike Haasl wrote:I do love the idea.  It's like 9 families can outsource the homesteading work to you and reap the benefits.  

Which makes me wonder if you could avoid a bunch of regulations if there's a way to let them sort of "lease" the homestead and I'm just the caretaker.
I'd love to be able to offer them yogurt and cheese but that takes on a lot more regulations and expensive equipment.

Are you in the US? Canada? Other?

There are some "work arounds" but essentially if someone has a bone to pick with you they can come up with some reason to shut you down. Best to pick your customers wisely and just not advertise anything questionable. My experience with the health authorities where I live is that "they don't want to hear about". If they hear about it they have to intervene but really they don't care (or personally they love what your doing but their job demands they step in).

Again, if you happen to live in Canada, I can give more beta.

Cash is King. Happy customer's can be your best friends in sticky situations.

I like your videos Kevin!

Personally I don't mind ads in podcasts if the ad is for something the podcaster is truly passionate about.

Also ,Paul, your great at making things funny so if it was an ad about something you're bonkers about and it was over the top I would 100% not mind if not actually enjoy it.

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

Ashley Cottonwood wrote:Inge : I could just be missing it as this BB is like an I SPY book but ... could you point out the scissor sharpeners please?

Scissor sharpener? Is that required? I never sharpen my scissors. I don't need to, because I use my 'textile scissors' only for textiles. So it stays sharp (for years, probably even decades).

Hi Inge, according to the BB (or my interpretation) it is required:

It should contain at least these things:
scissors
scissor sharpener
black, white, and grey cotton thread
thimble
needles
straight pins
cloth measuring tape
safety pins
needle threader (optional)
seam ripper (optional)
little knife (optional)
sewing machine oil (optional)
beeswax for waxing thread (optional)

From my experience... giving options and doing half shares makes for extra headaches for yourself. If you can sell all your shares in full I would go with a simple program to make your life as easy as possible and your first year if possible. Again, just my opinion.  

I agree with Catie that split shares and options opens up the market, so if for some reason you aren't able to fill your program it creates greater access for people.

However, I think if you advertise that you can 'split' a share but have the customers organize among themselves how they will split it between two individuals/families. Collect one payment and deliver one share and leave the rest to them. One of my greatest headaches this year was dealing with split shares that I had to organize and solve other people's drama and poor organization.

I love the concept! If you blogged about it I would follow you 100%.

I run a small CSA program providing eggs, produce, and chicken for 10 families but not on the same scale! Sounds like you have way more experience than I do. I think you have more than enough space to pull it off, from my understanding.

I would ask the families to pay up front for the season. Worst case scenario, if you really can't fulfill part of the 'share" you can refund them, but this would prevent people from dropping out of the program the first opportunity or if they get cold feet. I found that it was my wealthiest clients that dropped out of my program at the slightest chance of economic instability, but hey that's just my little CSA.

Inge : I could just be missing it as this BB is like an I SPY book but ... could you point out the scissor sharpeners please?

Here is my BB attempt:

Before:


Getting Ready:


Half way:


Installed (with three way switch ready to install next beside):




Proof it works (3 way switch beside also installed now):

I run a CSA program. I deliver 10 food boxes every week. Customer's can pick small, medium, or big food boxes. I'm going to use the "big box" for this BB.

The big box is $350 for 4 deliveries. This includes composting and delivery but each box has at least $50 of produce and eggs.

Photos of my produce, garden, and greenhouses:










Here is what a day's worth of deliveries look like:



Here is me posing with some of the big boxes:



Here is me making a delivery:


Here is an e-transfer for a Big food box for 4 weeks:


I have my hubby help with the deliveries but I grow everything myself :)

So after a quick brainstorming session with Paul, Mike, and Ash the suggestion for the Straw level badge is that PEPpers are required to complete everything listed in the Sand level list (in Sand you only have to do a few).

I personally like this idea as I think the natural medicine list in Sand is excellent and has tinctures/herbs/treatments that cover a broad range of acute ailments and general wellness.

For the Wood and Iron level badges for natural medicine I would like the BBs to focus on two things:
- Treating specific ailments (Severe acute or mild long term)
- Treatments specific to the individual (addressing thing such as age, allergies, autoimmune responses, and history)

Some of the long term ailments I would like to see address are:|

- Lymes Disease
- Psoriasis
- Arthritis
- MS
- IBD
- Thyroid Disorders
- Anxiety and/or Depression
- Cancer care
- Stroke Care
- Allergies ("curing" allergies)
- Diabetes
- Alzheimer's disease
- Fibromyalgia
- Influenza
- Asthma
- Bronchitis
- Kidney Diseases
- Ear Infection
- UTI
- Skin Infection (Rashes in the various forms)
- Chronic Pain
- Dry cough
- Wet Cough


For Wood and Iron the focus would go beyond single treatments (tinctures/remedies) and expand into diet, exercise, a mental wellness practices.

Wood and Iron level badges would require some aspect of "proof" an illness has gone into remission/been managed/been "cured"

I hesitate to use the word "cure" as not to be accused of selling snake oils. I think these BBs should be to demonstrate a quantifiable improvement in health and wellbeing using a defined set of skills/resources.

Person could be treating themselves, a loved one, or demonstrating their professional practices.

What do ya'll think?