Keith Johnson's Page

Hey, Keith:

 

Just a note to say that I wrote to David Parsons at May Creek Farms, and have not heard back yet.  I don't suppose you'd know if he was out of town or something...anyway, maybe I could contact someone else there.  They do list two more contacts other than David.

Meanwhile, I am trying to convince my wife that I need to take a trip to Bloomington.  I want to look around, and see what there is to see, and meet some people (as yourself) face to face.

 

I will let you know how that goes.

 

Talk to you,

Robert

Keith:

 

Thanks you for the contacts and info!  I wish I could drop everything and come take a look at the 6-acre spread.  I have been talking to my wife about planning trip to check out the area -- maybe I can make that happen soon.

 

I will check out the information you gave me tomorrow, as it's late here now (and even later there).

 

Do you know Don Titmus, by the way?

 

Thanks again, sir!

Robert

Hello, Keith!

I took the PDC with my wife here in Phoenix.  Our instructor was Don Titmus, who has been teaching the course forever.  He was assisted by a man named Ryan Wood.  However, I believe we attended the last PDC Don will teach, as he has had a falling out with the Phoenix PG, or maybe is just burned out -- I don't know.  In any event, I hear the Spring source will be taught by none other than Toby Hemminway, the Gaia's Garden author.

 

As I had mentioned before, my current plan is to look for work that would approximate what I make now, with insurance benefits, etc.

 

Truth be told, Keith, I would gladly skip the whole corporate work thing if I could find a way to sustain my family in Bloomington in relative comfort.  My vision for the future, if you'll indulge me, is to set up and maintain a power plant for a small community.  Wind turbine with maybe a biodiesel backup generator.  Nothing huge -- just would like to provide a source of clean, sustainable power to the community for food storage and night-time lighting.  Anything more than that would be icing on the cake.  I also have visions of a community workshop where people could come and build or repair items, and perhaps do some machining and or woodworking.  Maybe even a community business effort, or similar.

 

Are there any existing communites in B'ton, or forming communities?  Just askin...

:)

 

Thanks for the chat.

Robert

On OneStraw, I applaud that, it's great - I had seen the video and wondered how that would work in different climates, esp. in the midwest. 

Do you teach permaculture certification or is that an IU program? I'm very curious about how it differs from what I learned about Victory Gardening / aside from no chemicals, of course.

Hi Keith - I wondered if you were familiar with this site?

 

http://www.onestrawrevolution.net/  I ran across it a few months back and thought I'd share it.

Greetings, Keith - thank you for the links (I added to my Google feed)

I've been aiming to get to Bloomington for several months now - I suppose it's a matter of how which will lead to the when. Looking for work and a roof currently. It seems finding a tribe will be less difficult now. I can't tell you how pleased I am to find your site and so full of activity!

Gabrielle

as for theomendoza.com... I'm letting that website expire (as of yesterday). I'm planting info on my business website www.gengee.com.

Hi Keith,
Thanks for the notes. I'm sorry I missed your food get-together. 2 young toddlers at home does not bode for much free evening time, I'm afraid. I can barely get to BCOS each month! Anyway, you are free to join us at lunch today (11:30) to discuss the GNN. I believe Ann K. is coming. We are still very raw in our planning, so it is a good time for collab'ing. Bring your laptop, if you can. We'll be looking at different websites today.

Sounds good. But for now I will keep name as it is, although I like the way you are thinking! It is more of a kinship for sure. All are necessary components of the larger system at play through evolution. This 5 Kingdoms approach has panned out in over 50 countries from micro-projects to mega-developments so there is definitely something to understanding the relationships between the species and networks as it can lead more efficient designs than traditional ones. And while on efficiency, I am not much an advocate for increasing efficiency if we are doing the wrong thing to begin with! Or as my mentor, Gunter Pauli, would say if we are doing less bad, then we are doing just that-less bad! We need to organize our society in a way that values doing more good, not less bad. Thanks for comments!