This is a collection of insights from the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters.
Personal equipment
I (Leon) observed that many students didn't have useful things on their body. I believe that every person should have their own personal:
- work gloves
- head lamp
- multi tool with knife
- notebook and pen
It's sometimes hard to imagine for what one would need a multi tool or work gloves because we have a tool shed, and tools and equipment are all over the place. A multi tool, for instance, is only useful if you carry it around because there will always be a moment when you don't want to walk back to the house but simply need to twist a nut with pliers or cut a zip tie.
Onboarding
- safety instructions on how to operate high current power systems. for everyone, specifically about the batteries, how you can short yourself, not to short the batteries, where fire extinguishers are, etc...
- go through every part of the house together, show where every spice in the kitchen is, every tool, every pot. Show how compost and humanure is being done. Super detailed!!!
- show logins for this farm wiki, how it works, what it is useful for.
Project organization
- have checklists for large projects that are made upfront (e.g. for building walls, two nails every 12 inches)
Logistics around money
- have a folder and place for all receipts
Tools
- have (buy!!) at least one drill and one impact drill, same brand, one set of batteries for them. This should probably be Dewalt brand so we can expand with the same good battery system and other devices.
Tweaks with great potential
Share creative software with Aydan, Lisa, and Elizabeth like Adobe PDF Acrobat, Photoshop.
Keep a running to do list on your phone for things to mention next meeting.