I am very interested in helping this Forest Across America Project (FAAP) become an active living entity. I have a strong background with plants, people, and business development. My personal work mirrors much of the work we wish to do in this group, and it is through my own dedication that I am here willing to help others as I try to develop as many sections of forest that I can.

  Currently I am working on a business plan for my own organization, a couple project proposals, and a few grant applications. I also have a digital library I maintain that is over 25,000 publications, and 20,000+ digital images that relate to botanical, economic, and cultural work we do. I am also trying to partnership up with an older project that is all about connecting people and places in an earth repair network.

  I am opening up this Virtual Office so that I can help this project and the members of this group better. I can see Bill's vision, and I feel the potential this group has.  I would like to use this thread to get some work done. I would like to know who wants to help develop a forest and where. I would like to know who has skills they would share (there is a vast amount of need from accounting, to graphic designs, to people who can keep others motivated). I will also use this space to update you about the effort as things progress.

 Looking forward to hear from and working with you.

Botanically Yours,

Ted Grishaber/Diversified Botanicals

Rare occasion here to get on the net.  Been cut off for a while when my friend John moved his business (my principal place of access) so I might continue to be in and out occasionally.

To update you and everyone where things stand at this time.

I still have not found anyone that is prepared to start a section of forest anywhere in the world.  This makes me quite sad.  Does it really have to come to an issue of money?

Some reasons I have come up with to motivate people to participate.

Love: There are thousands of people boldly promoting love,... yet many are single (which makes no sense to me at allllllllllll).  It seems to me that if they do LOVE (any description of love!) that they would have a natural inclination to plant forests, tend existing forests, live in a forest, or at least visit a forest.  Forests tend to ignite the love in me,... I just swoon and I can feel the stress just dropping out of my tense body.

General desire for long term survival.  The air is getting to be a mix that is generally fatal to seniors.  There is energy in the forest simply because there is more oxygen in the air.  Yet people prefer (so far) to feel tired and depressed living near a money source and the mall to spend it at.  We do have a few members here that live in rainforest areas,... where the forest develops on it's own,.... not much potential of planting new forests there,... yet they say they are willing to help others with their sections of forest.  Wish they would talk more about their experiences so that others would be willing to try it out.  I have 7 acres of Oregon rainforest myself,... trying to find anyone willing to live there and take care of it as I help others develop forests in barren areas.  Cannot find anyone willing to live there, what can I do?

Religion:  As far as I can tell the only task the Bible says God wanted us to do on Earth is to Tend The Garden.  To me, tending the Garden is an open expression to God of the love I have for God.  As far as I can tell,.... I might be the only one left on Earth that has a loving relationship with God (or what I call or refer to as God!?!?!?!?!)

Otherwise, there is not much need for forests when nobody cares!

So I continue to do petitions, register people to vote and hand out little papers that suggest that people check out Care2 and the 'Forest Across America Project' waiting for someone that is interested enough to participate.

In the self help books I have read and get rich tapes I have listened to,.....  there is usually mention of the one person or several persons that stood by the author as the author got up and got motivated. 

I am still convinced that the key to getting anything done is friendship (close, day to day friendship) or in many cases LOVE (physical or non,... someone worth doing it all for.

So I am still seeking friends,... and also looking for love.  Have a lot of both to share with anyone interested.

Times up,... gotta go,....

Welcome Ted

((((((((HUG)))))))))

Bill

Is there anything we can do to help you with your efforts.

FAAP is not about so much about US having you plant a forest for US,... it is more about us helping you plant YOUR forest.  Please tell us more about your present activities,... and perhaps we can help you move ahead with your projects.

Bill

What type of Artists are you looking for dear Ted? I do wire work, small flowers & jelwery (mainly)... As well as paint & do other mixed media type art forms...

 How can I help you with your needs ...

Please tell us more about, what it is you are looking for!

I know artist that are local here in PA.  I also thought you might get some inspiration from the Bridge Mural concept in Frederick, MD (where I attended college)  Not sure if you have a budget for this kind of project, but the idea was to survey people all over the world for images that represent community to them and incorporate their stories into the mural.  Here is the link and more about this amazing project in good ole Frederick, MD.

http://www.bridge.skyline.net/

Sometimes one just gets too busy to stop and celebrate our friends.

Ted,... I finally read your posts here.  I apologise for taking so long to get to it.

I had no idea you were so far ahead of me on this.

Reading what you have posted, discovering the new applications for membership here,.... you are amazing,...

May I suggest:

Writing a message to our members here that invites them to help you with invites, art, and what ever else you may need.

Send the message to each of our members,... and sending it out as a network message.  You should find many artists,...

You may be able to get the artists to agree to provide 50% of the purchase price of the art to go to your part of the FAAP project.

Use the money to buy what you need and to provide for your friends, and put everything in the name of your trust,... or what ever entity you choose to create.

When creating your entity consider that if you read law books on entities,... you will likely know more about entities then most lawyers.  If you go to other entities,.... or study the strongest entities,.... those that have lasted through the years,... especially after the death of the founder,... then you can use their articles of incorporation or other documents as a guide to prepare your documents so that they are as tight and protective as you are able to create.

There is great potential that in your learning experiences, that you will find others that are already managing entities that will mentor you,... and guide you as you develop your entity and plan your activities.

The best part about these mentors is that they have contacts beyond your wildest dreams.

There is potential that they can help you promote the better art that comes your way,....  and those artists that allow you and your  projects to represent their art might gain a lot of 'status' in the art world.  Especially if you use your forest and ecological endeavors as a place to promote the 'buyers' and admirers of your art and projects.

This is quite easy,....  just name the sections of forests,... the ponds and lakes you create,... after your top supporters.  Allow monuments to their contributions,.... and they will likely do the same.

You will find that the rich and wealthy get there by promoting those that help them get there.  If you manage to get the public eye on your ecosystems,.... they are in the spotlight,...  so they will buy the art and display it proudly,...

You get exposure from them,...  they get exposure from them,... and both will be able to point at their acheivements.

The wealthy will point out that they sponsored a forest, lake, flower garden,... or provided x number of tons of free food to a starving country,.... and they can point at a statue, painting, or whatever art they bought to  make that happen.

They will want bigger and bigger acheivements and will likely give  more and more reaources as the acheivements improve.  In exchange the art will become worth more and more.  

Eventually, nobody will want to be caught without some of the 'ART', that represents their contribution to make the world a better place. 

For the Artist,...  selling a piece of 'ART' for Five Million (two point five million goes to support another forest) really puts the artist on the list of must haves.

But, we need to start small.   Some will think that $50 is a large donation,... even though $25 going toward your project will not get much done,.... you are welcome to develop this the way some cities develop bricks and mortor.

In Portland Oregon,... they wanted to create a large, expensive China Gardens,... so they sold bricks....

Each brick was made with the name of the buyer and was set into the yard so that the buyer could come see 'their brick'.

You can fund raise by having people donate enough for a tree.  Plant a tree,... and next to it,... a sign thanking the doner.  A letter to the doner letting them know where their tree is planted,... and thanking them.

Larger donations,... and 'art' purchases can buy someone a section of forest,.... The largest purchases might get them better art and their name on a lake or pond.

It really does not take much effort to find information on articles of incorporations.  It may be worthy to have others look at the articles of incorporation of other agencies similar to the one you are to create,... and post what they learn here. 

Start creating your articles here,... have courage,... there will be some that have adverse opinions on the proper words and other items to be included.  Take the good and the bad,... and make up your own mind what should be included. 

As your articles develop,... good people should help with suggestions and help you design them.  Not to worry,... improvements can be added,... it is just better to make the the originals as complete as you can,... and that information is available by reading articles of organizations that are already withstanding the test of time.

Well,... enough for now.

Sorry to be so delayed in getting behind you.

Thank you for doing invites,... I will approve the applications of the new members when I have time,... unless Crystal gets it done first.  We like to post the new members so that others may meet them and make friends,... this takes more time than I have today.

Bill 

WOW!

UM,...

WOW!

Perhaps we could find a few members that have above average interest in this wealth of information,... have them read the information,... and the rest of us can then consult those people with specifics related to our independant efforts.   This is what makes a leader.  Knowing what others do not,.... and a willing spirit of sharing the information.

As in the real world, FAAP will have members that take interest in all issues individually,.... just as we will take interest in all members individually. 

Just as it would be difficult for any one of us to get to know 30,000 members by name,... get to know their families, habits, likes and dislikes,.... it becomes difficult to learn all there is to know about gardening. 

Yet you have found a wonderful web site where people that do have a specific interest in gardening have gotten together and shared their information,... so the information is available for those that want to know.

So, there's the information,... hmmm,... site has been there for a while I would suppose,... could make one wonder why there are so few noticable gardens developed based on this wealth of information.

Well,... toooooo much information has been known to slow down a good effort.

What could possibly get the typical Auto Mechanic to read this information and start a garden?  Not much that I can think of. 

However, I do know some mechanics that do plant gardens.  How can this happen?  Well,.... A mechanic gets up one morning,... tills some dirt,... plants some seeds,.... and goes and fixes some cars.  Each morning he waters 'his' garden,... and it grows.  Odd how that works.

When he runs into a problem,... he talks with his customers till he finds a potential solution,.... tries the solution,... and when the solution works,.... he shares the information with other customers while he fixes their cars.

The Mechanic is usually interested in nuts and bolts,.... uses the garden as a hobby and a way to get friends that have other interests other then having 'him' fix 'their' cars. 

So,... because people tend to have little interest in nuts and bolts,... he talks garden to them while he fixes their cars.

Now, Ted,.... I hope you understand that this is all make believe,... and that it is used for making a point,.... and if so,.... here's the point:

The mecanic does nuts and bolts for money and sometimes for personal interest,... 

Often the mechanic does nuts and bolts for personal attention,... I have found few lonely mechanics,.... very popular with the opposite sex,.... and sex happens a lot for them.

He talks garden because it is interesting to talk about something his customers like to talk about.  Most of his customers tend to avoid talk about nuts and bolts,... if they were interested,... they would likely fix their own cars,... and the mechanic would likely have fewer friends.

Ted, the mechanic needs someone that is interested in gardening so that when something goes wrong in his garden,... he has someone to call.  A darn good basis for friendship if you ask me!

The mechanic also needs to have several friends that are informed so that when a customer is argueing a gardening point,... he can make a quick call,... get up to date information from someone that is keeping up to date on the subject (and the variables) so that he may defend his gardening honor.  With several informed gardening friends,... he can get a lot of new auto repair jobs by helping people with their gardens.  See how friendship works?

Ted,... if you were to develop a team,... study gardening,.... make yourself available to the mechanics that are interested,... you should be able to get your car fixed for free or near free,... any time you have an automotive problem.

So,... Ted,.... You want a free house?

I would bet there are a lot of realtors out there that just cannot seem to get their gardens to grow.  Perhaps you could study the information in the sites you have recommended,... go out and meet some realtors,... ask them straight up,.... "do you have a garden",.... if they do, you can develop a friendship with someone that can find you a free home to live in.

Some of the homes will be just house sitting, you will have to move eventually,... but the rent is free,.... and if you work it out right,... you could actually get paid.

Consider the wealthy guy on the hill.  He has 40 acres and a mansion,.... he has spent hundreds of thousands sculpting his 40 acres into a garden wonderland,... and now his aging mother is dying in France.  He's got to go take care of mom.  He contacts his Real Estate friend,.... and asks, "Do you know anyone that can watch over my property while I am gone?"

If the realtor knows you,.... you are in so big,.... mom could take years to get better,... rich people seldom die fast,... you could live in absolute luxury for the rest of your life,... by simply helping a Realtor with their simple garden problems.  Simple garden problems for someone like yourself that has studied the information at those sites you have provided.

See how friendship works?

Otherwise,... most Realtors know of houses that are overpriced or for some reason are not selling quickly,... and most need someone to live there to watch over the place while waiting to sell.  It helps sell the house if there is a plush garden when the buyer looks over the property,.... and your Realtor friends will know you can make the garden look soooooo goood.

So,.... Ted,.... there you go,... free home,... get your cars fixed free,... anything else I can do for you today?

Develop a team,.... Realtors have more then one house sitting opportunity,... help your friends, and ask your friends to help me,... and I will ask them to help FAAP.

Remember to ask all you contact to check out Care2 and FAAP.

Bill

You might keep in mind that there are only so many free houses out there.   It is much easier to provide free anything else,.... but there is a shortage of housing,... so free homes can become rare once you learn how to find them.

So it is important to choose your friends wisely,... make the homes available to those that support you the most.  This will reward them for their loyalty to your cause.

If you find a mechanic that will give you a discount,... save the house for the mechanic that will fix your car and the cars of your friends for free,.... this is the real friend.

You will discover that as you begin to solve problems of others,... that your whole job in life will become resource development,... because there are a lot of people that will be offended when you provide a free house to one and only a room in a house to others.

Most people are takers,... and they are very good at taking.  Make sure that you provide for those that really like you. 

How do you know when someone really likes you.

Watch how they treat you.  More important, watch how they treat others.  When you are dealing with a taker,... they will do just what is required to get what they want to take from you,... then they dump you and go on to another victim.

Good friends will join your team.  Good friends will develop a team and help you have access to their resources.  Good friends will build you up,... through the help of their teams and you will become wealthy enough to help them and their teams. 

Focus your help to your friends and your team leaders.  If they take great care of you, (you should become wealthy in a sense) then share your wealth with those that help you directly,... and try not to take members of their team for your own wealth.

Help your team leaders to develop teams that make them wealthy too.  If you do not,... they will cut you off the resources you need to remain wealthy,.... and down you will go.

Develop several teams,.... so if one turns against you,.... you have the others to hold you up while you recover from your loses.  If you have several teams,.... expect one to turn several against you,.... focus on those that stand with you,.... you wont have time for the rest.

Provide the free houses to your best team leaders and be sure to establish the ownership of your resources to you,... or even the best friend will take the goodies you do not protect.

In other words,... if you get a free house, tractor, land,... whatever,... put it under your 'trust' or entity you create so that no individual can take the resources from you. 

Since this is the begining of a life long project,... it is important that you resist putting anything in your name,... as that could cause you to have an unfortunate accident,.... and your friends inherit the wealth you have gathered.

One tractor is a dangerous thing.  Several tractors is much more safe.  Be generous with your wealth,.... or it will be your teams that take it from you,... because each will think they should have been able to use the tractor first,... and only one can use it at a time.  Several tractors makes it difficult to tell who you favor,... and might help you live longer.

Remember John Lennon.

It was likely his mission of peace that brought on his violent end.

See why we need to do some serious planning?

Get your teams started,... plant your garden,... and lets talk a plan in your spare time.

Bill

I wanted to post some background about myself. I have not had much time online lately (bad service). I wanted to open up a little - let you know who I am and take a step forward to meet and build friendships.
   Born in South Bend, Indiana and frequently moving from state to state; my childhood was spent living in a military family, spending a lot of time on military bases and attending public school in culturally diverse regions of the United States. The end of the Vietnam Conflict brought an end to our military life, but not the end of the military influence. My parents adapted to the change in lifestyle and together we developed, managed and later sold a variety of small businesses. The first business was opened near Fort Campbell, KY and from then on a business was established wherever our family called home. Every project was a family business and even as a child I was required to learn about the business and find my role. When High school started, my life as an entrepreneur also began; a simple business of landscaping and lawn care in the summer, and sale of chemical ice remover in the winter. After high school, I became involved with community economic development and found the first direction of my career path. To this day, I thoroughly enjoy being involved with the development of small businesses.
   Forestry and farming have also been an active interest of mine since childhood. Working on tree planting projects, large-scale wildlife enhancements, and traveling the U.S. fighting forest fires are just a few of my accomplishments in these areas. I have also spent numerous seasons helping friends and family plant crops, tend trees, and plan future development of their lands. As a lifetime learner, I have intensely studied and researched sustainable community economic development, agroforestry, ecoagriculture, ethnoecology, and appropriate technology. Over the last few years, I have developed my own reference library. Forever growing, my collection now tops 30,000 digital items that relate to my fields of study. I am very dedicated to the concept of using plants to heal our environment, our communities, and our people. A large part of my education, my employment, and my life has been my experience working with developmentally disabled persons. Having been born with cerebral palsy gave us common ground. Luckily I am only mildly affected by my disability. I personally wanted to share my experiences with less fortunate disabled persons, sharing as much of the world and my knowledge as possible. Locally, I became an advocate for the rights and freedoms of the disabled, working a number of years for a privately owned assisted living company. Over the years I help this company develop some horticultural therapy programs and many in nature-centered activities. My most rewarding experience in this area was working with my wife helping the owner of a travel company. This company, assisted disabled adults explore and experience the world. For one year we managed an office in Orlando, Florida where we organized and led numerous tours across United States, Bahamas, and into Canada.
   The last couple of years I have dedicated myself to research and the creation of a network capable of completing community and environmental projects as well as conducting appropriate related research and providing platforms for interactive education. My personal motivation is to design a sustainable community based agroforestry model that can be adapted to a variety of biological regions and economic climates. Currently I have a few active projects and an International network willing to do much more. I am confident I have the skills, talent, and motivation to make a difference.
Botanically yours,
Theodore J. Grishaber Jr.

I have been advertising your art interest,... and there are quite a few new members joining.

I was thinking you might write a message and copy and paste it to most or all of the members,... as some may be very ready to participate in your efforts.

Once again I think you should discuss your plan in general just so that we all know where you are going with this.

One thing I think is important is to make the various artists 'recognized' for their work.

With that recognition,... comes the money,... although I would think that before we develop an artists work,... we should ask for some input and activity from them.  Helping them make money in an all volunteer project without getting some voluntary results,.... hmmm?

What do you think,.... at least they should do some invites,... or at least make some friends and help some of our more active members,...if they can do invites in exchange for promoting them,.... I would much rather see the artists posting about the gardens they are planting.

As I understand it,.... you are planning to do some planting soon?  Perhaps they could help you directly,... since you will be helping them directly.

What do you think?

Bill

Re-reading my post I am not sure you understood what I was getting at in the begining.

Since there are few posts from the other members, I would think that the other members are not reading the posts here.

So the only way most of them will know that you are promoting art is if you write them and tell them.

Some of the members could help you with that,.... there's near 300 members now,... and that would be a lot of letters being sent out by just you,.... but 30 people volunteering to promote you,... and you promoting their art,.... could be good all around.

If you ask them,... it becomes their choice,.... if you do not ask them to help you,.... you deprive them of their choice,... and you have a lot of work to do by yourself.

Bill

I sent out a little more then 500 invites in the Orange County California area in the past 24 hours,... so please help Crystal greet them in,..

With letters from you,... inviting them to share their art with FAAP.

I know you have not agreed to make the art activities into a fund raiser,.... so I leave it to you to decide.  Either way,.... it is good for our members for their art to be promoted.

Bill

I posted the invites to 25 pages out of 571 pages of Care2 members in the Orange County area,.... so far we have less then 20 new applications, however, tomorrow will be yet another day.

Bill

Think you could talk to some of your friends and get some invites out to the Orange County Area?

Bill

Most of the new applications were generated by Sharlene B,... Perhaps we have yet another active member.

Could you send her a green star?  I know I will.

Bill

I never doubted you,... you are a wonderful friend,... and if you are having trouble getting in,... it is more then ok,...

We have had some headway here,.... Lisa B did a wonderful set of posts here,... please take a moment and send her a star.

If you are having difficulty getting online,... please follow the links,... print them if you can,.... but this could lead to our first trust,... the topic is 'THE TRUST STARTS HERE'

http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=2417&pst=325600&archival=

Take your time,... there is a lot to learn before we make any major decisions.  Perhaps as you learn,... you can post your thoughts,... so we know where we are on this.

I appologise in advance, there are some gigantic concerns when picking an entity that are extremely negative,... and for the sake of having a positive discussion about incorporating or creating an entity,.... I will hold these thoughts till we discuss what you and other members discover.

So what you can expect is a normal discussion,... till we near decision making time,.... then I will likely chop up our information and we will start again with more information to work with.

I know this sounds near evil,... but we really need to talk the positives till we all understand what 'normally' happens,.... so that we all have good information as we work out the problems.

Just a hint.  I have been at this for 20 years,... there is a reason that this has not already been incorporated.  I have been part of non profits before,.... sometimes the wrong people get 'elected' and that brings on the ruin of the purpose.

More about that later.

Good to have you check in Ted.

Bill

I am doing some major posting about artists and promoting their art,...

Please post something in a new topic to let the artists know what you have in mind,... so they can post their interest.

Bill

Laurie Spirit wants to promote art as a way to lead people toward makeing the world Clean and Green.  I think she may be able to help you with the art promotions.

Please initiate contact,... I think she might be able to help us a lot,... and right now,... we could use the help.

http://www.care2.com/c2c/people/profile.html?pid=402225633

Thank you Ted.

HI, AM BACK TO SAY I DO CARE FOR HAVING TREES PLANTED. HAVE BEEN DOING THIS IN THE AREA WERE I LIVE - WE HAVE A SMALL GROUP, LEADED BY A YOUNG FOREST ENGINEER TO HELP WHEN IT COMES TO WHAT TYPE OF TREE TO BE PLANTED. THE PORTION OF FOREST WHERE MY HOUSE IS IS ALMOST COMPLETELY PRESERVED WHEN WE MOVED TO HERE, ONLY THE EATABLE PALM TREES HAD BEEN TAKEN AWAY FOR THERE WAS NO ONE TO SAY "NO".  FROM THIS SMALL BIT OF HELP WITH GROUP MENTIONED, THERE IS NOT MUCH I CAN DO BECAUSE LOCAL LEGISLATION IS RESTRICTIVE. THAT IS, I WOULD HAVE TO BUY A LARGE PORTION OF LAND WITHOUT TREES, GET A FOREST ENGINEER CONTRACTED AND THEN I COULD PLANT THE TREES HE INDICATED. WELL, AM 66, HAVE NO CONDITIONS TO BY SUCH LARGE PORTION OF LAND NOR TO PAY FOR AN FOREST ENGINEER. SO KEEP ON HELPING WHERE AM STILL ACCEPTED TO, AND KEEP PLANTING THE EATABLE PALM TREES ALONG THE FOREST (IT IS A RESERVE AREA = PROTECTED BY LAW, NOONE CAN PUT TREES DOWN - BUT THEY DONT HAVE PEOPLE TO PROTECT THESE AREAS , A PROBLEM IN MY COUNTRY, FEW AGENTS NOT WELL PAID AND THAT CLOSE THEIR EYES FOR MONEY AND FORESTS KEEP ON BEING PUT DOWN. I SAY "NO" WHEN SOMEONE SAYS HE WANTS TO PUT DOWN A TREE.

WELL, DEAR FRIENDS, THIS IS WHAT I COULD SAY. IF WAS YOUNGER, WOULD LOVE TO GO TO AN AREA WHERE IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO LIVE (READ THIS AT THE END OF ONE POSTING) AND START FROM ZERO IF REQUIRED. I DO NOT FEAR BEING ISOLATED BUT I LIVE FAR FROM U.S. SO FIGHT HERE AS I CAN AND HELP WITH SIGNING PETITIONS TO SEE IF GOV´TS DO THEIR PART.

PLS LET ME HAVE YOUR COMMENTS, IF APPLICABLE.

THANKS FOR READING. AND MANY, MANY TREE HUGS TO YE ALL.

I am committed to help. I been helping out in our family owned woods for years planting trees, etc...

My problem is I do not have anywhere I can plant anymore other then family property.. and well my home is going for sale soon cause I am broke .. The family has four houses on 104 acres of marsh and woods. My Dad Pastures horses... and I been growing and planting trees and harvesting off the woods and marsh for years...

My Parents own two of the houses. I am still fighting hard for a job to beable to help out with payments hoping that can stall my grandpas old house from going on the market.....

I don't know I have a friend in town who will take me in if I do not find somewhere else to go..

But it does not matter where I go I still want to help!

- Dana C. L.

"DNatureofDTrain"

BACKGROUNDGROUND AND YOUR INTELLIGENCE IS AMAZING!!!

I CAN'T HELP YOU WITH THE ARTIST PART-I ONLY DO STICK PEOPLE, BUT AM HERE TO CHEER YOU ON!!!

GREAT ADVICE BILL, YOU HAVE MORE IDEAS THEN THE DICTIONARY!!!

KEEP UP THE WONDROUS WORK, AND GLAD TO KNOW MORE ABOUT YOU!!!

BLESSINGS EVERYONE...