Listen Online 
Download 
Get all of the Podcasts in convenient, giant zip files 
Subscribe on iTunes
Summary
part 1 of a 3 part podcast
It's christmas eve, Paul's talking with Samantha, Steven and Des about transitioning from normie to permie life.
Paul spent around 10 years looking for a community but found them all lame, so ended up making his own.
He asks the others about their
experience.
Steven lived in Baltimore, working for a non-profit helping people get work. He heard about permaculture in his 20s but in the
city he couldn't do much. He had a plot in a community garden but the city plowed it up every year. After the pandemic back at the office he thought the time was right to make a change in his life, so came to
Wheaton labs first as a
sepper then as a
boot. His favorite thing is that every day is like saturday.
Des arrives and so Paul wants his take: Des was living in Seattle with a girl but the relationship wasn't going anywhere and so he upped and left. He traveled around the US but ended up at the labs as a boot. He's been there over 2 years, has his acre and got the $10K bonus for making 700 BRK posts. Now he's moved from boot camp and become a sepper. Among the attractions for him are cats, the food, working with
wood and minimal hardware and no glue,
RMH, and the fact that you're positively encouraged to
pee more or less anywhere.
Steven comments about the willow feeder which to him is a good feature, treating human "waste" as a resource rather than treating it with chemicals and dumping it in the bay like they do in Baltimore.
Samantha also tried several communities, but found that they were mostly dirty. Paul chips in that many of them are just about people getting stoned constantly and are literally covered in crap. As she didn't find any community she liked Samantha, like Paul, bought
land and founded her own. She likes to grow or make just what she needs rather buying a bunch of stuff at the store, she likes and supports Paul and although she hasn't ever lived at the labs she visits often and attends events.
Paul winds up this part with a story of meeting Samantha in Couer d'Alene where he went to watch the Wonka movie, and how after a day there he was more than ready to come home.
Relevant Threads
Community forum
SEPPers Program: Seriously Excited About Permaculture Pampering!
Dez's Bootcamp Experience (BRK)
SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BRK)
Rocket Mass Heaters forum
What is a Willow Feeder?
Support the Empire
Help support the empire and get all of the podcasts in a bundle
here in the digital market at permies.
To support production of these podcasts, make a donation
here at Paul's Patreon page.
This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Kyle Neath
Bill Crim
anonymous
Chris Sugg
Kerry JustTooLazy
Jocelyn Campbell
Bill Erickson
Sasquatch
G Cooper
Dominic Crolius
Penny McLoughlin
Mehron Kugler
Pasquale DeAngelis
havokeachday
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Greg Martin
Mark
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Dana Martin
Candace Dahlk
Keith Kuhnsman
Leanne
Eric Tolbert
Nick DePuy
Nathan Hale
Opalyn
Rose
Polly Jayne Smyth
Todd Gerardot
Katie Young
Ivar Vasara
Brent Lawson
Weston prestage
Candice Crawford
Chris Holtslag
Song Zheng
3
