Factor E Farm Blog

The official trifold brochure for Open Source Ecology is now available:

You can download this in GIMP or Photoshop and jpg format. There are 2 pages, front and back. If you are printing these, make sure that you use the Rockwell font, which is also included in the download.

As you may see in the trifold, we have now reached the 300 True Fan Mark:

As of today, our actual number is 311. So if you like to see this work continue exploding, you can commit to $10 or more per month by subscribing:

Standard : $10.00USD – monthly Gold : $20.00USD – monthly Gold Extra : $30.00USD – monthly Platinum : $50.00USD – monthly Angel : $100.00USD – monthly

Our numbers are showing explosive growth, and there are large numbers of technical contributors continuing to join the project, especially after my TED Talk. We are also joining efforts with Solar Fire – the open source solar concentrator project. Now this is just too much good news for one day, so I will dedicate tomorrow’s blog post to this exciting development. (more…)

The official trifold brochure for Open Source Ecology is now available: You can download this in GIMP or Photoshop and jpg format. There are 2 pages, front and back. If you are printing these, make sure that you use the Rockwell font, which is also included in the download. As you may see in the trifold, ...

[10] Comments

Factor e Farm, our land-based facility for Global Village Construction Set development, has now been alive for 4 years. We encountered the place as an empty soybean field abused by commercial agriculture. This video shows in 4 minutes what has happened in the last 4 years – and points to the plans for the next 2 years. These are exciting times indeed.

4 Years oif Factor e Farm in 4 Minutes from Open Source Ecology on Vimeo.

The current plan is 50/2/2 – the entire set of 50 Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) technologies to be completed in 2 years within a $2.4M budget in a scenario of rapid, parallel development. By year-end 2012, we want to be done with the basic GVCS shown above, so we can move on to applications – such as the infrastructure for a real community. This is a big, hairy, audacious goal. It requires that a large parallel development team is recruited, that a scalable development process is realized, and that the organizational infrastructure to support this task is established.

We have about 200 True Fans now – including two at the Angel level. Subscribe.

Standard : $10.00USD – monthly Gold : $20.00USD – monthly Gold Extra : $30.00USD – monthly Platinum : $50.00USD – monthly Angel : $100.00USD – monthly

Factor e Farm, our land-based facility for Global Village Construction Set development, has now been alive for 4 years. We encountered the place as an empty soybean field abused by commercial agriculture. This video shows in 4 minutes what has happened in the last 4 years - and points to the plans for the ...

[5] Comments

Meet Dave Garrett, who is an early adopter and a True Fan. He dropped in for a surprise visit from 350 miles away – so we could finally meet in person while we were doing our modular CEB construction. Dave is supporting our work by a purchase order for a complete package of The Liberator CEB Press (full product release), LifeTrac open source tractor prototype III, and Soil Pulverizer prototype III. Hear our discussion on other early adopters, such as Columbus and Edison.

Early Adopters from Marcin Jakubowski on Vimeo.

Meet Dave Garrett, who is an early adopter and a True Fan. He dropped in for a surprise visit from 350 miles away - so we could finally meet in person while we were doing our modular CEB construction. Dave is supporting our work by a purchase order for a complete package of The ...

[6] Comments

Continuing with Proposal 2011 for the rapid deployment of the remaining 39 GVCS technologies in a rapid, parallel fashion by year-end 2011 – here is an overview of the Technical Development Process, which is applicable to the development of each of the technologies. This template is a tactical simplification and further refinement of the Open Source Product Development Pipeline method. At best – after the required developments are made in our collaborative development infrastructure by mid 2011 – the remaining 38 projects can be approached in parallel according to this Technical Development Process. You can also download the source file in Dia and get involved in collaborative development of this Process.

We will climax Proposal 2011 with lucid explanation of our work via Explainer Videos, followed by a clear definition of tasks to be done for each project (as begun in the template above according to the general timeline and budget presented in a former post), together with an explicit procedure for accomplishing the same. (more…)

Continuing with Proposal 2011 for the rapid deployment of the remaining 39 GVCS technologies in a rapid, parallel fashion by year-end 2011 - here is an overview of the Technical Development Process, which is applicable to the development of each of the technologies. This template is a tactical simplification and further refinement of the ...

[3] Comments

This clip is a very concise and well-spoken discussion on technology for meeting true human needs. Its clarity blew me away. The video should be updated to the possibility of creating modern, small scale industrial economies that can be replicated inexpensively around the world – from local resources. That’s our proposed contribution to humanity.

In our Explainer Video, we should strive for a similar level of impact, in an even shorter presentation.

Kent – one of our True Fans, has passed on the clip above, plus this exciting email on possible speaking engagements.
(EDIT: see the full article for this video with subtitles in other languages)
(more…)

This clip is a very concise and well-spoken discussion on technology for meeting true human needs. Its clarity blew me away. The video should be updated to the possibility of creating modern, small scale industrial economies that can be replicated inexpensively around the world - from local resources. That's our proposed contribution to humanity. In ...

[9] Comments

We were invited to present at the Bay Area Community Exchange (BACE) Roundtable on Tuesday, June 15, 7 PM, at Noisebridge. BACE focuses on the creation of alternative means of exchange in the San Francisco Bay Area. I will present a talk titled, Economy in a Box. We will discuss how real goods can serve as the backing of local currency. When we consider the economic potential of the  Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) – we think of it as a sufficient basis for an accounting system based on its productivity – or a means of exchange.

The presentation will discuss a subset of the Global Village Construction Set as it pertains to the creation of a prototypical, minimum but sufficient and robust economy based on ubiquitous, local resources. This includes resilience in the basics: food, fuel, energy, housing, and technology. We will propose an economic analysis of such a program, and point to its feasibility using proven and existing technologies. This subset therefore constitutes the substance of a means of exchange, or currency. The program is founded on replicability as the core of its principles.

If you are in the Bay Area, come to the talk, and I would also like to meet any other collaborators on the 15th or 16th. Contact me if you’d like to meet. Our thanks go to Anthony Di Franco from BACE for inviting us. We also recommend this video from The Guardian on the potential of economic swadeshi applied to the modern economy. If you would like to support our work, please consider subscribing to the True Fans.

We were invited to present at the Bay Area Community Exchange (BACE) Roundtable on Tuesday, June 15, 7 PM, at Noisebridge. BACE focuses on the creation of alternative means of exchange in the San Francisco Bay Area. I will present a talk titled, Economy in a Box. We will discuss how real goods can ...

1 Comment

We are currently in the phase of fabrication optimization for the high performance, open source, Compressed Earth Brick (CEB) press. This is our route to financial bootstrapping of the research and development efforts. We are looking for people interested in Dedicated Project Visits on flexible fabrication.

Flexible fabrication is a blend of a generally-equipped workshop with the hands of a multi-skilled fabricator. Flexible fabrication in the digital age implies the assist of digital fabrication. To take full advantage of available modern technology, the skilled digital craftsperson has to gain proficiency in the entire process chain from open source design and collaboration, CAD, build, electronics, programming, and other skills as needed.

From the standpoint of resilient communities and the neosubsistence lifestyle, the technology is not the end-all but merely a step to sustainable living. (more…)

We are currently in the phase of fabrication optimization for the high performance, open source, Compressed Earth Brick (CEB) press. This is our route to financial bootstrapping of the research and development efforts. We are looking for people interested in Dedicated Project Visits on flexible fabrication. Flexible fabrication is a blend of a generally-equipped workshop ...

[8] Comments

The open source induction furnace project discussed previously is moving forward. We are currently evaluating bids, as you can see at the induction furnace project management site. This marks a point in our organizational history where we are beginning to outsource work, consistent with the proposed open source development pipeline process. Outsourcing is an industry standard for mainstream enterprise, but it can also be useful for scaling open source economic development. In particular, it appears that we found bidders fully capable of handling the project, including possibility of building the actual system. Read the bidding negotiations at the project management site for details.

In its limit, this type of outsourcing process can be an effective route towards open-sourcing the entire economy. All it takes is an organized and funded effort. The technical skill is available, but conversion of technology into open source form requires the nurturing hand of many technologically-literate generalists.

The concept for the OS induction furnace is:

The concept embodies a universal power source for induction melting and heating. The founding principle is (more…)

The open source induction furnace project discussed previously is moving forward. We are currently evaluating bids, as you can see at the induction furnace project management site. This marks a point in our organizational history where we are beginning to outsource work, consistent with the proposed open source development pipeline process. Outsourcing is an ...

[4] Comments

One perk of life at Factor e Farm is that you run into some really interesting people. Liora and Andrew Langford, co-founders of Gaia University and also True Fans, visited yesterday.

We covered lots of ground on collaboration between OSE and Gaia U. First, I should explain what Gaia University is about, because its uniqueness is not evident from the website.

Gaia University is an international school-without-walls with about 100 students. This means that education occurs not on a physical campus, but wherever the student chooses. There are mentors and the school is accredited. Gaia offers Bachelor’s and Master’s programs, and it is also introducing their Ph.D. program this year. Gaia has the capacity to provide credit for applied work and studies. There are other low-residency programs, such as Goddard College and Union Institute in the USA.

The unique features are threefold. (more…)

One perk of life at Factor e Farm is that you run into some really interesting people. Liora and Andrew Langford, co-founders of Gaia University and also True Fans, visited yesterday. We covered lots of ground on collaboration between OSE and Gaia U. First, I should explain what Gaia University is about, because its uniqueness ...

[3] Comments

Dear True Fans,

The next major step to take for Factor e Farm is to put the land in a trust – for creating a permanent site of human heritage.  The goal of creating the world’s first, replicable, post-scarcity resilient community is more clear than ever. See the last presentation from the H+ Summit if you haven’t already.

The issue on land is practical and timely. Our goal is to establish a new model of land tenure based on a resource-based economy.  We’re giving our land away to a trust to protect the integrity of all that we stand for. What’s unique? Just the provisions for ensuring a resource-based economy model of operation in practice. What exactly does that mean? (more…)

Dear True Fans, The next major step to take for Factor e Farm is to put the land in a trust - for creating a permanent site of human heritage.  The goal of creating the world's first, replicable, post-scarcity resilient community is more clear than ever. See the last presentation from the H+ Summit if ...

[4] Comments