Better Times Emergency Notes

Posted on 2025-11-04 15:31:00+01:00 in flyers • Written by Arno Peters

I found these flyers a while ago and filed their location away in my archive. I recently came across them again and discovered the original website had vanished. Its creator, Bob Waldrop, has passed away in 2019.

Because the information contained in the flyers is helpful and compact, I wanted …


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Attitudinal principles

Posted on 2025-10-27 14:57:00+01:00 in tools • Written by Arno Peters • Tagged with permaculture, attitudinal principles

This is a reformulation of the principles Bill Mollison used:

  • Multiple elements x multiple functions
  • Everything gardens
  • The problem is the solution
  • Yield is theoretically unlimited
  • Work with nature
  • Minimum effort, maximum effect

Multiple elements x multiple functions

This principle asks us to look at how every element of our …


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Dreaming Circle

Posted on 2025-10-15 14:10:00+02:00 in tools • Written by Arno Peters

The Dreaming Circle is a process for elucidating a vision. A vision puts a dot on the horizon of where you would like to end up. A vision can be for a project, for a company, for your life, for a partnership.

Creating a vision statement has a few aims …


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Vegetable Ferment

Posted on 2025-09-10 14:35:00+02:00 in recipes • Written by Arno Peters • Tagged with recipe

Ingredients:

  • 4 beetroot
  • 3 carrots
  • 1 pumpkin
  • water
  • kitchen salt
  • glass container with lid
  • old sock

Preparation:

  • Slice beetroot and carrots;
  • Cut pumpkin in pieces;
  • Weigh the empty container, this is to later deduce the weight of its contents;
  • Put the pieces into the container, make sure the larger pieces …

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Input-Output Analysis

Posted on 2025-09-09 20:30:00+02:00 in tools • Written by Arno Peters • Tagged with input output analysis, flow

This analysis is a way to track different flows across our systems and how the output flow of one element can be used as the input flow to another element in our system.

Every output stream that is not matched to an input is a waste stream and becomes pollution …


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Practical Haybox Usage

Posted on 2025-09-08 15:27:00+02:00 in tools • Written by Arno Peters • Tagged with haybox, implementation

I have designed our haybox in 2019. Over time I streamlined the use of our haybox. This page documents the current (2025) way we use the haybox.

First put rice and salted water to a boil. Take one part rice to two parts water. Put on the lid and let …


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Bookkeeping

Posted on 2025-08-29 20:00:00+02:00 in tools • Written by Arno Peters • Tagged with bookkeeping, ledger-cli, personal finance, flow

Knowing how to Keep the Books is a skill, I believe, everybody would benefit from.

Double-entry accounting

Double-entry accounting simply means that this method accounts for every transaction where the money came from and where it is going. It makes "two entries"!

I highly recommend reading Principles of Accounting with …


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Flow Survey

Posted on 2025-08-29 19:39:00+02:00 in tools • Written by Arno Peters • Tagged with flow

Flows manifest in systems in all sorts of ways. Here are some things that can flow:

  • wind — a gentil breeze or a fierce hurricane;
  • running water — streams, rivers, flooding;
  • sand — shifting dunes or mudslides;
  • oil/fuel — routes of oil tankers, within refineries, distribution across fueling stations;
  • electrons — within an electrical …

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Using Ledger-cli for joint finances

Posted on 2025-07-24 19:25:00+02:00 in blog • Written by Arno Peters • Tagged with ledger-cli, personal finance, bookkeeping

I have been using ledger-cli since 2015. At first only for my personal finances. To make it easier for myself, I use the CSV files I download from the bank and convert these into ledger-cli transaction files.

Later I incorporated my business records as well. This gave me a single …


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Sourdough Cracker

Posted on 2025-07-10 19:00:00+02:00 in recipes • Written by Arno Peters • Tagged with recipe

This is a very tasty recipe for making a cracker from sourdough. When stored in an airtight container, this cracker will probably keep good for a week if not longer.

Ingredients:

  • 200g sourdough starter
  • 100g flour
  • 80g olive oil
  • 50g seeds (sunflower, sesame)
  • 6g salt

Preparation:

  • mix all ingredients well …

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