by Jack Sunn
Claire then rose, and said, “Come here you two.” Her embrace was as ever warm and sincere, and ended with her saying, “Enough. I love you both, but as an executive officer of your company, I say it is time for you to go back to work. I am tired now, though thankfully now unburdened, and feel in need of a walk.”
She turned to Alf. “Alf, Ruth, would you be so kind as to escort me around the garden please? I would greatly enjoy your company.” She rose, and left arm in arm with Alf and Ruth.
For the remainder of the morning, Susan joined Jill and me in wide-ranging general discussions. Alf and Ruth took Claire down to the Wyatt for a light lunch with Bev. During the afternoon, Susan thought it best to leave Jill and myself alone to work undisturbed. I had doubts about many things, especially my own abilities, even though I had everybody’s support and reassurances. I knew that if I were to work to help others, then the first person to work on was myself. The training I had had from the TaSMAN Group years ago, was all well and good, but the demands up until now were less intense and the consequences of any mishap were less significant than in the current position. May be nothing new for incumbent CEOs, but for me not so. It was new ground.
Working the Wyatt Earp project was like a personal project, a hobby-thought made to happen. The result could have been different and it would not have mattered. Jill sensed my uncertainty, and I told her my thoughts. As always, she was there to support me, not dump on me.
“Jack,” she said. “You’ve got this in hand. If you are not a natural, who is to know? The resources to resolve this uncertainty of yours are right here. Remember it’s the old adage of a thousand-mile journey starting with the first step. Come on. Let’s get a pen, a large sheet of paper, and draw out who you are and what the world is around you. Let’s be playful, like in primary school with chalk and blackboard.”
It was not much longer before we were drawing pictures, mind maps infused with lots of verbs, nouns places and people, and lists of personal needs and wants, capabilities, supporting structures and people, and areas to work on. The whole process reinforced my belief in Jill’s capabilities, as well as my thoughts that I work better as a 2-I-C rather than the CEO. She dismissed these thoughts of mine as not being limitations, but valuable governors in our joint roles of shared CEO’s. It appeared to work well.
After about two hours we started redrawing to summarise in three major categories.
First category was the TaSMAN Group in whole, which Jill knew so much better than I, and gave me an up-to-date appreciation of the organisation’s capabilities.
Second was the current project made possible by Mr Factor, which we decided to code name Boomerang.
And the third was me, Jack Sunn. This last category was of course interesting to me, but also frightening. Jill did a great psychologist’s job in Socratic fashion by asking me all sorts of questions. It was a bit like being interviewed for the job at hand of being a CEO, and in a way we both knew at the end where each of us would work together as joint CEO’s. It was an area where we had to be totally honest with each other if we were to last the distance as a team. Important to me was she highlighted my need for personal time, time for my own projects and recharge, time with Susan and Ray, and other training needs.
By late afternoon we had agreed upon many issues and areas needing change. Of course, there were lots of potential interactions between the TaSMAN Group and Boomerang. Indeed, Boomerang was to become a TaSMAN Group project, but managed mostly from Brisbane and not Clunes.
Importantly the people element was not left out. On this matter, we assembled a rough list of Boomerang’s possible sub-project areas and matched up the main people in our lives with whom we work or would like to work with. People are more complex than simple vocational names or tags we assign them, and we could already see many sub-project areas appealing to our list of people, as well as overlaps. All very encouraging. Alf for example, clearly had an alignment to not only machine technology, but also with our proposed ‘spiritual portal.’ FJ was also a noted strong player as was the Lombardo family. One of many unknowns was could we group together people who usually work alone. One potential combination was that of Tom and Trevor. Definitely something to work on. And no, I most certainly would not call them Human Resources.
In the meantime, Jill was not going to tell me what to do, but was, I think, waiting for me to reveal myself. Certainly, we had identified general areas for me to embrace and others to shed, but it was for me to offer specifics. In my mind my biggest challenge was of timetabling, something I never particularly liked but could be worked on, as well as my moderate to occasionally excessive drinking that can be highly counterproductive. Was I to limit when I drink, or the quantity? I did not have an answer to this yet, but with a timetable of more work hours a day – hold on Jack, think Lee Iacocca here. If he could turn a major automobile manufacturer around from losing money to making a profit by only working a nine to five day, then there is a lesson to be learned in management.
Share the jobs. Timetable things. Manage the situation.
“Okay.” I said to Jill. “I want to finish writing the book I started by scheduling early morning time for it. In time the book writing will be replaced by recording the story of the Boomerang project and its findings.
Secondly, I’ll speak to Susan to see if she can be my go-between, not my personal assistant as I consider the term potentially demeaning, but someone who can second guess what I am thinking and act upon it. More my 2-I-C or something along those lines.
Thirdly, I want to talk to everybody on our people list to seek out their willingness to be involved, and if they have suggestions of who else we should invite in for discussions, followed by a group meeting.
And lastly, I would like to suggest we try incorporating a military model in the way we proceed. Specialisation is all very good, but I think shared skills add versatility add resilience to our organisation. It is my hope that gatekeeping is not going to be part of Boomerang’s culture. Of course, there is going to be friction, but hopefully for the best and not for the worse.
We continued on for a while, with Jill concluding, “You know Jack. And not in Claire’s best English. You done good.” A classic Australianism.
I felt elated and relaxed, and gave Jill a hug. “Come on. Let’s be done. I want to help in the kitchen, that is if I’m allowed. If not, I ‘ll make some jasmine tea in lieu of a chardy.”
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I called a meeting for Tuesday of all the people we had in Brisbane and close by, and gave them an overview of what we had in mind for Boomerang.
Of the resources we were to acquire, one stood out. A small-crops farm at Bundaberg had immediate appeal, and incredible potential for two major reasons.
In the first place, the dreams I experienced in Hawaii while in a coma gave me a sense of needing an ability to survive whatever the world might experience, such as the devastating effects of loss of electric power. Not only loss of electricity, but everything that is dependent on it, which pretty much was everything we use in society except the air we breathe. So, in short, if you are in a tight situation, be in a good place to survive. And what better place than Bundaberg situated on Queensland’s coast a few hours’ drive north of Brisbane.
The attraction of Bundaberg is the subtropical climate and rich volcanic soils that allow production of vast quantities of Australia’s vegetable supplies of sweet potatoes, chillies, beans, tomatoes, zucchini and more. Also, fruits in abundance like strawberries, melons, citrus, jackfruit, rambutans, passionfruit and the list goes on. And not forgetting sugar and rum.
Back to the meeting. What surprised me the most was that I had not expected a great deal of prepared in-depth thought from anybody in such a short time. It was only last Friday that Ben E. Factor’s proposal had reached us. But then again, I was working with a talented and excited group.
We set about listing numerous possible components to the Boomerang project, then organised them into generic categories to hopefully allow us t
o assess what gaps were present. We started with basic and absolute needs of a community. These were simply shelter, food and water, apparel, as well as health and safety. Supporting materials are needed for each of these, from raw materials to manufactured items that proffer convenience and comfort.
Having partially set the essential categories of human need, we branched out with layers of complexity, and this is where it became a simple task of matching project areas with people at hand. But I wanted more than expertise and passion. I wanted balance. With for example shelter, Tom was an obvious contender being a builder, but Alf and his monk friend would provide low-need low-cost perspectives. But even more was required. Tom was a builder in present day western design and construction with its many inherent flaws, particularly costly materials of relatively short lifespan that are not replaceable in the event of a major social hiatus, that is, collapse or some other calamity. I believe we also needed peasant perspectives where survival at its core can be extended over longer periods of time.
Given the four basic areas of shelter, food and water, apparel, and health and safety, we mapped out what was needed for a village - newly constructed - to exist in relative social and commercial isolation. This seemed like the equivalent of the American prepper situation, but differed from it by taking it from the family unit level in isolation, through to a community-village level.
I liked what I saw, but we could also see a major shortcoming in the lack of medical support or knowledge in our group. But then, if that was all that was missing of basic expertise or interest, we could work on it. After all, we were not limited to only those people presently assembled.
The next and more complex process was to try matching our village model with the properties and other resources we were shortly going to acquire from our benefactor. We assembled into groups to think about four things before closing our meeting. The four things each group had to consider were:
Of the properties available, what should be kept or sold and why?
What interests you the most if you wish to be involved further in the project?
What further information is needed for the Boomerang project overall?
And in answer to this last question, who or where do we source it from?
The responses were enlightening. No one suggested selling any of the properties, but some properties were of doubtful use for Boomerang’s current interests. Fair enough. Early days.
The second question resulted in all present having overlapping interests that completely covered the current project interests. Most certainly encouraging. The last two questions set the scene for further information gathering and perhaps as no surprise Asia figured heavily as the source. In particular metalworking, utensil manufacture and bamboo technology clearly pointed to China and India as centres of immense depth and value. I already knew Ningbo on the north coast of China had a long history with bamboo production and manufacturing industry. Other Asian countries also had similar industries, but if possible, I wanted old and original sources and those with the highest levels of development.
For some things, we presently had no idea where to go for information. Heavy duty textiles and body armour were in this category. Of course, we were not going to recreate Kevlar from new materials, but we saw a possible need for a scaled down equivalent of Japanese medieval armour for safe apparel or protective clothing in manufacturing industries. We did not yet know what manufacturing industries were possible, but increased personal protection was surely needed for some areas of production.
In finishing the meeting for the day, I said that I was also interested in another activity for Boomerang. Everything we had discussed thus far was fine provided everybody involved was ‘normal.’ But what happens when somebody, anybody, deviates from the norm? Be a person overweight, become an alcoholic or addict, do we ignore them, discard them, or fix things? We also needed to consider recruitment into Program Boomerang. We had many things left to work on. I thanked everyone for attending and suggested we reconvene on Thursday to set some plans in place.
Nearing mid-afternoon Edwin had prepared refreshments for all which we greatly appreciated. An hour later and perhaps not surprisingly nobody had left. The air was filled with excited chatter, with groups forming, breaking up and re-assembling, all the while with laptops being kept busy searching all manner of topics as the sun’s intensity eased into decline.
Tom and Alf were busy sketching structures – roofs, walls, mudrooms and cellars, yurts and domes. Ruth and Ray were slow-sparring various martial-art techniques with each other. The best I could do was to video the family ruckus, which I did and sent a copy off to Jill.
Rarely do I see a group of people so excited as a group. Last week was exciting with potential. Today was grasping that potential, moulding parts of it while also expanding its breadth. I quietly exited to the kitchen and again I was outflanked. Edwin and Alisha were at it again. They already had preparations in hand to feed twenty if necessary. For a risotto, asparagus and mushrooms had been sliced. Arborio rice was on the bench. Tomato, cucumber and a fetta-cheese vinegar-based pickle had been prepared and was maturing. Green leaves had been harvested. A beetroot and chickpea salad was in the making, as was a lemon-lime cooler. What amazing people. Already we had a small village in house.
Dinner was served in the garden. But realistically the afternoon’s meeting seemed to have not ended, and continued throughout dinner and on into the evening. Around ten-thirty Tom, as well as Alf and Ruth made to leave. Tom lived close by and would be home in five minutes. To Alf and Ruth, I suggested staying the night to avoid the bugs-in-your-face inevitability whilst riding at night to the Earp village. I won that one, and with Tom departed, we drifted on till around eleven-thirty.
The next morning, I took notes that were of personal interest, crops for the Boomerang project.
Source existing crop varieties, both here in Australia via Seed Savers and Diggers, also overseas.
Drought resistant sugar, bred by traditional means and not GM, as done in India, China and Mackay, Queensland.
Dryland rice. Thailand and the Middle East, Turkey.
Additional varieties of chilli, tomato, beans, sweet potato, possible sweet potato breeding.
In short, ramp up selection for home consumption and processing, not for mass consumption reliant upon transportability of product. As an example, some of the best tasting strawberry varieties are simply unsuitable for packaging and transport, but then again, they are beautiful to eat, and so soft on the palate.
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On Thursday we met again. We were moving as fast as possible while we still had the momentum of enthusiasm. It was nearly one week since receiving our benefactor’s letter.
I began “The Wyatt Earp project was, … I hesitated… it was originally planned as a home for veterans, coupled with a secondary purpose in mind, that of a possible retreat with high quality agricultural-small-crop resources nearby that could be readily accessed in the event of a collapse of society. But as things moved quickly the latter aspect of the project was not developed, though certainly not forgotten. The word retreat may not be the most descriptive or ideal choice for what I had in mind at Redlands, or what I have in mind for Bundaberg.
A refugium may be more appropriate. The refugium is a refuge, a remnant that can be the seed for growth after a disruptive influence has passed. A retreat I think is more akin to a gaol, though a well-stocked one. Installing refugia in our society is one aspect of development that has been ignored, intentionally maybe, but more likely because of society’s busyness, or ignorance – simply not knowing its importance, combined with rapid turnover of generations and technology. Take for example the Second World War. No one here in this room was alive at the time to have direct experience with it, but our parents certainly did and understood things that we can only imagine. How many of our youth know that credit cards were only introduced in Australia in the late 60’s or early 70’s? Or was it later? Slide rules were still in frequent
use in the 1970’s. Mobile phones were rare and expensive until well into the 1990’s, and the internet really only became moderately accessible in 1996, and Google in 1998. The last thirty years showered us folk with a high turnover in technology long distant from pencils and rulers, and dare I say slates. Though our youth has been brought up in a high-tech world is not of their doing, it leaves our society extremely vulnerable. Our possessions are taken care of by insurance companies that replace what we lose or damage, at least we hope they do, but they have no policies available to insure societal continuance. Our technology which has become seamlessly integrated into the running of society, requires electricity which itself requires burning coal and oil, which in turn requires electricity to make them available for electricity production. The image of Ouroboros, the serpent consuming its own tail comes to mind. At some stage, it can go on no more. For someone living in a remote area of south-east Asia, the Greek islands, or an African rural community, to be deprived of electricity is likely to be of little consequence. In the Greek Island fishing village, not having electricity would stop the flow of fuels used to power boats. But the wind still blows. Older alternative technology, admittedly less convenient, can be re-introduced. But not in this city. And not for a lot of the world.
The thing is, the technology we use is so new and has not been around long enough to have been tested by nature. In the 1850’s we had long lived without telegraph systems. The telegraph showed its worth and provided a taste of developments to come, but nature by way of solar flares tested the systems and found them wanting. But in those days a solar storm would have had little noticeable effect on the supply, or even transport of food. The same cannot be said of today. Nature will continue to test whatever we make, but we can never be sure when or how it will happen. We only know that nature throws us challenges in spite of our wants and needs, and it has no concept of our timetables or inconveniences to us.
That leaves us with how are we to use our newly acquired property holdings to best advantage.