Gots-Wants

Gots and Wants:

In-kind support from gifted friends is as good as gold.
Unless otherwise noted, the point of delivery would be our home base in Tonasket, WA, or a currently-scheduled event by arrangement.
The cost of logistics or shipping would weigh against the trade value of distant offers.

"Gots": Resources we can offer:

Professional Products and Services Available:

Our services and products are described throughout the rest of our site:

- Wisner Resources:
consulting, project support, train-the-trainer materials, professional services

- Shop: print and digital goods, for both general-audience and serious builders

- Custom Training/Education: can offer personal or small-group classes; help you develop your own business resources, manuals; or provide personal training or mentoring for select, high-potential candidates.

Unskilled / semi-skilled labor: Very limited/by arrangement
- Part-time substitute farmer / animal care / fire-wise landscaping help:
Erica often enjoys brief escapes from the home office to help Highland and Okanogan Valley neighbors. These arrangements are often repaid intrinsically (milk, fiber, fruits, sunshine, second-hand gear) instead of / in addition to cash.

Gift Economy:

The "Ernie and Erica" side of our work represents grassroots collaboration, volunteerism, pay-it-forward, and gifts without declared value (with or without strings attached).

Gifts:
The following items are available as gifts, no taxable cash value:
Training/Work-Party Intensives:
- Natural Plasters intensive training, on-site in Okanogan Highlands, early April 2017

- Highlands wintering-in / shelter-building projects, September 2017

- Boat building experience for select candidates

Physical Gifts:
- Bone regrowth stimulator - 2006 model, available to licensed physician

- Mens' large winter coat, pale grey/black. Well used and not pretty, but good warm work gear with years more service.

- Various art, craft, bead, and textile supplies to the right home (to be shared, not hoarded).

- National Geographics and calendars for collage art

Cooking, home-brewing:
- Special diet recipes for whole-food, health food, and nutrient-dense treats: allergen-free, gluten-free, sugar-free or naturally sweetened.

- Home brewing recipes for meads, fruit wines, dandelion wine

- Cider press, racking pump, other tools available (some need TLC)

Art:

- Custom paper snowflakes on themes - for children, friends, party tricks.

- Printable notecards, fire art, photos/images.

Mutual Benefit and Public Benefit Projects

A lot of what we have to give is happening at a weirdly high level right now - not from us, or by us, but through us, and through the connections we make between other people.
So we might talk ourselves out of a job with you, yet toss you a key contact or information resource that saves you years of heartache and unnecessary expense.

If you want to be part of this wild ride, for higher-level benefits like karmic cleansing or a tax write-off, please consider approaching one of the following organizations with an offer to donate or volunteer on "Wisner projects":

Seven Fires - Wisner Living Legacy Fund
This organization supports all our work, but their umbrella is particularly useful for our efforts to sustain traditional skills, and for fund-raising and insurance when needed for travel, cultural exchange, First Nations, and tribal collaborations. PayPal to [email protected], or see website for 501(c)3 tax ID and other details. www.7fires.org

Mt. Hull Fire Hall - [email protected] - please contact before donating.
Mt. Hull Fire District protects our home and family, serves as a lifeboat or resource center for our neighborhood and community, and is Erica's "home team" for disaster response and public service. Approaching commissioners this spring about whether we can designate a "Mt. Hull Lifeboat Fund" that can be used for our current leadership transition, and ongoing community-building and recruitment for long-term resilience.

Spirit of Grace - www.motaspirit.org - our home-away-from-home in Beaverton, Oregon. A good place for care packages and creative, all-colors-welcome spiritual community. Have not yet started a conversation about special projects/designated funds, but they are a beautiful place to work on creative, collaborative, volunteer-driven projects.

www.Permies.com - Always free to "lurk" or register, lots of great information in a carefully-moderated forum that encourages friendly conversation and discourages uncivil trolls.
If you're ready for the next level, go for a premium membership by buying "PIE" slices, then give surplus pie to Erica Wisner for care and feeding of online minions.

Wants:

Professional Goods and Services Wanted:

Online Services:

- Virtual assistant(s) for online updates, marketing, task management

Natural Building, Carpentry:
- Narrow book display for local store(s), about 9" to 10" wide, 2' to 4 feet tall (could be flat wall-hanger, or corner/whatnot style).
- Fold-out briefcase/suitcase sized display case/wooden rack for conferences, to hold standard DVD cases, larger books and binders up to 9" x 12".

- Framing and roofing help on-site in Okanogan Highlands (pro or semi-professional skill levels preferred; may include compound curves, gables/dormers)

- Foundations, drainage, leveling for shop floors (mostly manual labor at this stage)

Task managers / creative teams:

- DVD printing and logistics

- Marketing/promotional work, value based on commission or effective results

- Video and audio recording team(s), editors, ongoing series of small projects

Office / Small Teams Managers:

- Housekeeping / ADL assistance (Okanogan Highlands)

- Office manager for Wisner Resources (virtual or physical office) - looking for 1 or 2 strong executive assistants/partners, or one good manager to supervise a small team of paid and volunteer helpers for specific office tasks including scheduling, reception/secretarial, bookkeeping, and marketing.

Office Gear
- Storage: Big clean tote bins (Rubbermaid or similar), a few tall tin cookie-jars, a couple more flat-file portfolios with mouse-resistant zips, a couple more bankers-box or portable file-boxes in sturdy materials (metal preferred).

- Clip boards, clear plastic document pouches/covers

- A big fat red paint marker (permanent, UV-resistant red paint for marking plastic/vinyl)

- One more 4-drawer filing cabinet
- Organizing and bookkeeping help

Home/Shop Gear

- Excellent-condition chest freezer,

- Excellent-condition double-door style kitchen fridge

- Rugged 4WD or AWD vehicle for off-grid work (good-size truck/suv/van for hauling 30' boat or camper, sleep-in-the-back road trips, & service-dog camping)

Clothing

- Natural silk thermal wear (we wear this to shreds when we can get it, size L or XL)

- XXXL gloves with extra-long fingers, for Ernie

- Fire Fighter Bras for Erica: A specialty or custom bra-maker (or corset-maker) who can work with Erica on all-natural fabric, all-day, sports-bra options for lady fire fighters.

Expert Trainers:

- Erica misses regular Aikido (Aikikai) and would like to find good dojos in north-central Washington.

- Dogs: Radar (our dog, born just before January 2015) is ready to start his "real" work. But Erica is not 100% clear on his career options. Service, therapy, or S&R dog trainers - we are looking for a high-caliber expert to evaluate Erica and Radar, and point us toward the best path for public service training.

(This may be an invitation-only position, we are networking with local S&R and SARDUS trainers for recommendations.)

Gift economy / not-for-profit wish list:

We may not be in a position to pay or promise payment on behalf of of those involved. But we could happily accept the following items as gifts to share:

Peer-to-Peer and Advisory Roles:
- Small Business Incubator - peer-to-peer services, short trainings for rural small business owners on topics like web design, mail and online business, tax preparation, bookkeeping marketing
- Farm, Garden, and Animal Care specialists - for free-to-the-public community courses, scope of work negotiable (could just send flyers / give a 15-minute speakerphone presentation with Q&A)

- Cooking / food preservation classes, work parties (prep for guests / fire crew/ crisis pantry)

On-Site Training/Labor:

- Simple carpentry for freestanding structures like new wood shed, cold smoker

- Pond remediation assistance (both skilled advice and unskilled labor)

Specialties:

- Family heirloom recipes for sausage, smoked meats & cheeses, non-sugared preserves

...

- Million-dollar liability insurance policy (through 7fires.org?)
- Fund-raising or sponsorship for international skill-swap missions, research projects.

- Accredited professor(s) interested in supervising intern projects with our business or not-for-profit work

Super Powers:

- A shiny new right leg for Ernie, pain-free and highly mobile

- A baby Wisner for Erica to raise

- An Ernie-accessible sailing catamaran (Ernie is 1.25 scale. 6'6" tall in bare feet, orthotics/crutches = 30" wide foot paths. Probably a 40 to 60 foot cargo-cat or livaboard.)

- A warm, clean-water, mossy-jungle or shallow-reef vacation for Ernie's 50th birthday in December 2018

Please note:
We reserve the right to evaluate the items or skills being offered. We will generally set rates based on skill/experience, with preference to those with more than 5 years' experience in their skill.
Please be clear if you are interested in learning a new skill by helping us, sometimes called "apprenticeship" or "internship". We can probably work something out, but it will not be at the same rates as for expert/skilled help.

Comments