Storm Isha has brought down a few trees and Storm Jocelyn is on its way and will bring down a few more. You’d think this would mean some odd jobs for the casual arborist but it doesn’t seem to work like that. Anyway, I’m starting to question the wisdom of this route. My back is knackered at the moment and I have a recurrence of the trapped nerve in my shoulder. At my age people tend to throw in the towel / trowel / chainsaw, not get into the ring for the first time.
I sent Emma the story so far. She called, and seemed excited about what I am trying to do. It seems I have enough in place to get people interested.
As always, it’s about finding the money. There are several routes to explore:
- Finding existing landowners to work with
- Finding investors and buying the land
- Grants
I imagine it will be some combination of all of them. Emma talked about a cooperative, a group of founding members pooling their resources, but for me this introduces politics and complication. I am thinking more of a crowdfunding model. I will put in what I can, I’ll find a couple of wealthy angel investors who buy into the vision, we’ll top up the funds with some crowdfunding by selling future stays, and then leverage this with some grants.
Compared to all the high-tech, high-risk proposals I’ve been working on, this feels a lot more doable. I’d be a lot more comfortable pitching it, too.
