Homesteading and Permaculture by Paul Wheaton
Sep 19, 2026 · 47 min · 12 segments
Todd McDonald’s consultation on the subject of wofati construction continues into more general lessons learned from Paul’s experience with building them, such as paranoia about drainage being a…
Paul WheatonHost
Todd McDonaldGuest
And a big part of that is looking at what Mike Ehler has done, and his stuff is all great.
And someone commented on the thread that I made to start this off that Ehler didn't have – as much soil on his roof as what the WOD Foddy has or what I'm talking about.
But, you know, for sure Cooper Cabin is very similar to what I'm doing as far as the spacing of the posts and how much soil is on the roof.
And so that's kind of my model, looking at that, going, well, this building seems to be doing just fine.
I kind of feel like when we want to depend upon anecdotal evidence to understand what's a good path, I think we need a bigger knowledge set.
And the problem is that when you're doing something that's never been done before, there's a lot of room for miscommunications and boo-boos and also just shitty initial design on my part.
And so I kind of feel like the function is to build and then build the next one even better and build the next one even better and build the next one even better.
Currently, I would say, like, rather than looking at Allerton Abbey or Cooper Cabin, I would say look to the greenhouse, which is using all of our building techniques, but they're done well as opposed to – because the great thing is, and this is – I don't know if you listen to my podcast.
Well, I know that I've shared this a few times, but it's kind of like, in order to talk about building version 3, I need to have versions 1 and 2 there to look at.
Because if versions 1 and 2 are not there, you just end up building version 1 again.
And a big part of that is looking at what Mike Ehler has done, and his stuff is all great.
And someone commented on the thread that I made to start this off that Ehler didn't have – as much soil on his roof as what the WOD Foddy has or what I'm talking about.
But, you know, for sure Cooper Cabin is very similar to what I'm doing as far as the spacing of the posts and how much soil is on the roof.
And so that's kind of my model, looking at that, going, well, this building seems to be doing just fine.
I kind of feel like when we want to depend upon anecdotal evidence to understand what's a good path, I think we need a bigger knowledge set.
And the problem is that when you're doing something that's never been done before, there's a lot of room for miscommunications and boo-boos and also just shitty initial design on my part.
And so I kind of feel like the function is to build and then build the next one even better and build the next one even better and build the next one even better.
Currently, I would say, like, rather than looking at Allerton Abbey or Cooper Cabin, I would say look to the greenhouse, which is using all of our building techniques, but they're done well as opposed to – because the great thing is, and this is – I don't know if you listen to my podcast.
Well, I know that I've shared this a few times, but it's kind of like, in order to talk about building version 3, I need to have versions 1 and 2 there to look at.
Because if versions 1 and 2 are not there, you just end up building version 1 again.
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