Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal!!!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 20 окт 2024
- FREE WEBINAR: “Find Your Dream Homestead Property” → freedomfarmers...
*************
Urban farmer Curtis Stone sheds light on the critical issue of government intervention in agriculture, aiming to raise awareness and spark meaningful discussion. In this thought-provoking video, Curtis shares his insightful thoughts, drawing from his own experiences and observations in the field.
*************
About Curtis Stone:
Curtis is one of the world’s most highly sought-after small farming educators. His book, The Urban Farmer, offers a new way to think about farming𑁋 one where quality of life and profitability coexist. Today, Curtis spends most of his time building his 40-acre off-grid homestead in British Columbia. He leverages his relationships with other experts to bring diverse content into the homes of gardeners and aspiring small farmers from around the world. Learn more at FromTheField.TV.
**************
▶️ Buy One Of My T-Shirts. You know you want one → curtis.freedomf...
▶️ Check out the new From The Field RUclips channel → bit.ly/3p8s1c4
▶️ All my livestreams are also up on Rumble: rumble.com/c/O...
*************
Music and Footage commonly used on this channel:
Sweeps - / sweepsbeats
Biocratic - birocratic.com
The Muse Maker - / themusemaker
David Cutter Music - davidcuttermus...
artlist.io/Cur...
Images - licensed via Envato.com
Video Footage - licensed via Envato.com
Music - licensed via artlist.io
Here's an update on what we've done with our program. We are no longer accepting any interns at all. It's too risky. But what we will be doing going forward is charging for apprenticeships. The silver lining with all of this is that the government forced us to be creative and think of a better way to form a win win arrangement. So, people will pay us to come and follow us around on the farm. We haven't set the price yet, but it maybe around $1000.
Urban Farmer Curtis Stone I was about to suggest doing Apprenticeships
Urban Farmer Curtis Stone I don't get it! I thought an "internship" was to teach and help the individual and in exchange you are getting their labor, etc. Why on earth would you charge $1000 for an "apprenticeship"? Are you then paying the apprentice and giving their $1000 back to them in exchange for their labor and time? The above method still unfortunately allows the bully to win in the form of taxation. Does a "barter system" no longer exist? if you're just going to host a "workshop" to get free labor and share your knowledge in exchange...why wouldn't you just charge $5 or $1? Hell, you could out of the goodness of your heart give them $1 and they could pay you $1 to work with you...and in exchange they learn from you and you get their labor and time...sounds fair to me!
Gibs 78 if he charged so little then it would be obvious he was doing it to circumvent the law. Also $1000 is nothing compared to student loans.
On a side note, traditional Apprenticeships were charged for by the master
did you actually look into this?
Apprenticeships normally aren't something you just make up. It's an actual legal thing. You have to have people normally they attend school part time and do the trade part time. You have people certified to train them. You document the training that occurred.
This is a teaching position and a position in which the student is normally eligible for student aid. I mean it's almost certainly not quite as easy as give me a grand and i'll let you follow me around. There are forms to filled, regulations to be followed, if someone is going to be paying you to learn a skill there is generally a public interest in ensuring that you are in fact actually providing people with a skill and not for example using it to dodge taxes.
If he charges for apprenticeship, he can then give out scholarships...
Joel Salatin's book, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal is a MUST read for farmers. LOVE that you're teaching about the political side of running your own business.
I'd recommend "Folks This Ain't Normal". Same general concept, but much more readable. "Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal" was written before he had a good editor and it suffers in readability because of it. Read both if you have the time, but I've known quite a few people that can't make it through "Everything..." because of its chunky nature.
pipbuster as a business student this reminds me of a S.W.O.T. Analysis. Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat. Government regulations is almost always labeled under a threat to your business.
The funny thing is a not insignificant amount of regulation is pushed by the leaders in business... so yea, your really not right there.
Once your on top regulation is an excellent way to drive out the competition.
Or the opposite, for instance, anti-monopoly regulations will give an opportunity to smaller competitors. It's almost as if 'regulation' is a non-qualitative word that can be bad or good or neutral.
@@konskift a vast majority of the time regulation will hurt your business.
Government - "It's not ok to have someone work for you for free, it's unfair"
You - "Ok, ill charge them to work for me"
Government - "That is fine"
Great work there government
Instead of calling them 'interns' he should offer training services and charge them $1 a day to attend his 'lectures' and 'demonstrations'. Then the 'intern' is merely buying a series of training sessions.
Government can't charge taxes on free labor
taxes my friend, is all government is about. They only care take your money to "redistribute"(arround themselves)
Yes, perfectly correct... Charge them and you are fine. Pay back in vegetables...
It's so refreshing to hear someone speak who understands how things work. Too many folks around here have lost that critical understanding. Keep up the good work, sir. I am subscribing.
How to protect yourself and do this.
Charge your interns, call it a hands on course. Pay them 100% of their money back as a stipend.
That's what we're doing.
People make your countries great again! Get into the community and make a change in laws and policies that hurt us the PEOPLE!
that's what I thought of at the beginning but the issue that popped in my mind is all of their payments has to be in the income and will be taxed unless this is a work around this. then I thought of charging the student $1.00 for the course if this is feasable.
I guess if you get the money even if you repay, you'd still be required to pay the income tax. Really stupid situation. :(
90% of all politicians are only good for creating divisions and taking money.
Well said! As a design engineer, I think requiring one year of internship at an engineering firm to replace the second year of university would be hugely beneficial. I can't believe how clueless new grads are and how many leave the profession after finding out what it is really like.
It warms my heart to know there are people like you on the northern side of the border. I didn't think they existed up there.
Frankly, there are very few of us up here. We're rooting for you from up here in your quest for freedom!
As a Canadian living in the US, I can tell you that Canadians have much more freedom than anyone in the US does!
jtcoquitlam lol
Actually last time I checked Canada ranked way higher than the US on the world list of economic freedoms. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_economic_freedom
6 weeks a beautiful vacation living and growing on a urban farm with Curtis Stone in BC , sounds like a vacation with benefits for future farming career
The core problem with the whole conversation here is that many people who claim to have an issue with interns fail to understand that value can be exchanged outside of a financial unit. If you only understand one kind of exchange, being labour for dollars, dollars for knowledge or goods, it is impossible to comprehend that two consenting adults can exchange labour for knowledge and skills, without the need for financial units, taxes, and or inflation. Let me try one more time to explain it to those who can't seem to understand this. If you get paid money to go to work, then you want to put that money towards education that will better yourself, you will be taking the money you made for your labour, then spending it in some kind of educational capacity, be it an institution or trade school. All this time, you paid income tax and sales tax on that money. Essentially, what we were offering, was to remove the middle man and taxes, and exchange pure value for value. Of course governments don't like it, because you can't tax or quantify a value exchange outside of financial means. So, again, for the 100th time, what we are now doing, is charging people money to come here and experience and learn from us on our farm. We have been forced into this by government regulation. So, what was at first a knowledge for labour trade, is now a dollars for knowledge trade. And, reluctantly, we will be paying tax on that money charged.
I agreed with you up until you decided to charge for apprenticeships. $1000 seems like alot of money, unless you're paying it back as a stipend. I suppose it depends how long the "apprenticeship" is, but most any job I perform there is learning and development involved yet I am getting paid for it. If you're doing a workshop where you walk around and explain processes, offer a lunch, etc... then I understand. But if people are learning through doing labour for you, then they shouldn't be paying anything. I think the other work around here is don't tell anyone who doesn't need to know that someone is doing a labour exchange with you. How would the government know? If they sent someone to come check you out, you could say the person is a neighbour or a friend lending a hand. I don't find it risky at all.
Sure, but you can't pay your taxes with lettuce.
so true they make farmers pay there children to help on the farms even though they get the education and room and board. join the convention of states !!!!
Charge gold or silver coins.
This exchange of knowledge has been around for centuries. It was called an Apprenticeship.
Although they were given food or shelter. It was usually 5 to 10 years. Also interns are allowed to train for a certain period of time unpaid. If the person and the company are a good fit further compensation can be arranged.
College students often do short term interships unpaid but we live in 2 different countries.
Perhaps there should be a class action lawsuit to settle this. Perhaps neglegence, coercion even theft of services could be claimed. An invasion of privacy if it's an agreed private arrangement.
All of this is a stretch and not knowing the Canadian constitution so to speak I dont know exactly what rights of your and theirs have been stomped on. But it sucks.
My 15 year old home school child is interning at not ONE BUT TWO local businesses plus helps me run the farm. She is learning how to deal with retail customers, run a register, wage and employment laws, tax laws, vendors, merchandising...the list goes on and on! I would never ask the business owners to them PAY her, as she is getting an education you just can't put a price on. So for an adult intern who probably doesn't work for you full time, they too are receiving an education FOR FREE along with knowing your planting schedules, vendors, customers etc. There is an inherent risk to exposing a stranger to that much information about your business and you are an awesome person for allowing people to train. I'm sure you don't let them go hungry and I'm sure they have time to get a paying part time job to supplement while they go to the "school of LIFE".
Thanks for that. That's how my wife and I are planning to raise our child as well. It's inspiring to know that people like you are out there teaching such good values to children. THANK YOU FOR BEING AWESOME!!!
You have no idea really what your videos have meant to me! My husband is severely ill and his insurance now refuses to cover his $4000/mo Enbrel. We have about 200 acres and I have started growing microgreens along with everything else we do BECAUSE OF YOU so big hugs from Florida to you and your wife! I bought your book and love it too, but hope to thank you in person one day.
amazing. Thank you.
Your child could be earning money we're two jobs and learning how to save money and how to make your money grow. She would have more worth buy stuff for herself have higher self-esteem. If you can't afford to pay your workers and train them then you got a problem with your business.. if you're not making enough to pay a few employees you're on the brink of bankruptcy. Why should you accept people who have no experience if there are people with experience available. Hire people with experience the only time you hire people with no experience and train them yourself is because you can find anyone with experience. You can train them and expect them to have a certain level of proficiency in a year and if not you lay them off. In fact you should have a certain Proficiency in 3 months to do a certain job and if they gain more and more proficiency as time goes on you pay them more and more. That's why people who have more value get paid more. The union is stupid they say You're supposed to pay people more after years. Working at the same job for 20 years is supposed to pay more than working at the same job for 10 years according to the labor unions. That's the ultimate in stupidity. The reason I should get more after 20 years as they have learned more and do more in less time and aren't more valuable to the employer. Now there's a pay them twice as much because they do twice as much work as someone who's just starting up. But if after 10 years is still doing the same thing they were 10 years ago why would you pay them twice as much. You could hire two people and have twice as much work done. It's the law of supply and demand.
Apples and oranges....fifteen year olds don't have rent to pay.
Great video - thanks!! For those that disagree, what do you not understand about a mutual agreement between two adults? No one forced them to intern. They wanted to do it. My 11 year old granddaughter interns on a goat farm. Would you have her not do that? Child labor, you say. She loves this and does it on her own accord. She is proud to be asked to do this. I am proud of her in this and many other ways. She plays the violin, knits, has her own pocket knife (for years) has her own two goats, two chickens, and takes care of them herself. Her parents are poor by monetary standards, but they each work. They do not have TV or wiifi. She goes to the library to use her computer. BUT, some of you would forbid her from doing what she does. For those who would have the givernment control our lives, just leave us alone and mess up your own life. Thanks again for this great video.
John Herschelman I just want to thank you.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
OHHH!! AND HE'S A LIBERTARIAN!! Niice!! This channel gets better n better..
My main man!
i would say hes an induvidualist, rather than a lib, cuz the label libertarian has kinda been hijacked by neo-marxists.
This is why I refer to myself as a Voluntaryist now. Gets you away from the party "Libertarian" and also away from spooky-words like "Anarchist".
Honestly, he's a plain and simple capitalist. He only seems like a libertarian because he lives in the new democratic people's republic of Canada.
Friend of mine in Germany warned me 25 years ago that I live in a friendly dictatorship (Canada) In the past ten years that has been frighteningly true and now with the new laws the Libtards are trying to pass through it's hard to distinguish from what Harper tried to do. WTF!!!
Curtis, you hit it dead on. I wouldn't be surprised if laws are passed that will prohibit us to sharing our garden skills on websites free.
Blessings to you.
I've been watching you videos for a long time and I watched this video twice. I think this is your best video yet. I find it interesting that some people are commenting stick to farming. That's all we ever wanted was to "just farm" but the gov't wants to regulate every area of our lives.
Thank you.
As someone who got my foot in the door in a VERY competitive industry, I can confidently say that it was the unpaid internship I did that set me on a successful career path. It was a short internship, I learned a lot, and my "employer" helped me secure a full time position. It was a win-win, no question about it.
Well said. We got a similar problem on our farm, government man said it is illegal to have "underage" labor. If a 12-year-old wants to work the least I can do is give him a chance.
We read that book in business school! I am so stoked that you love the book too!!!
MIgardener your channel is fantastic!
Wow, I came here to learn about growing stuff and got a lesson in liberty. "Monoculture of the mind"...I love it!! In turn, we could say that a monoculture is a monopoly of the soil. Thank you for articulating these concepts that more people need to better understand.
well said buddy! to think that people wanting to be mentored to by an experienced craftsman would be illegal is the scary reality of the progressive trends prevalent especially in Canada but also most of the West. continue fighting for your liberty and broadcasting your knowledge, wisdom and passion to the world.
Title of your vid was a bit 'click bait', but glad I watched. Really appreciated how you explained the subject in a clear & succinct manner. You didn't rant, you used critical thinking to dissect and explain an important issue. You're a worthy public speaker, a great communicator of ideas and knowledge. Need way more people like you on this planet!
This is such a great video! You're my new best. "Government can't create value without coercion." PERFECT!
For friends of the Government anything is possible.
For everyone else there is the Rule of Law.
- Russian proverb
So there you go, don't call it an internship.
If he does training need license and be payed so will need qualification and student just learn excludes labor until end otherwise become for profit which includes all kind of back pay and so on....laws.
possession is 9/10ths of the law and intent is about 90% of your guilt.
if the court has reason to believe your intending to intern people, the lack of the magic word isn't that relevant unless you got A LOT of lawyers and money.
I mean literally the only difference between manslaughter a few years in jail and the death penalty is intent.
If the government believes your doing something with the intent of making an end run around the law, you'll find them not caring what word you used.
Exactly right.
+Joan Smith - I agree. Why not just say they are "volunteers"? Who can regulate or tax a volunteer or force someone to pay a volunteer? The word "volunteer" with a description of duties done while volunteering can still be put on a resume, just like the word "intern" can.
An alternative to educational courses, with far less red tape, might be minor shareholding. Offer minor 1 dollar shares of your business to the new non-interns. As a shareholder they can contribute to the business as they see fit, and maybe make a few cents on their 1 dollar investment.
Rabbit hole indeed! I've watched many of your gardening videos, but hadn't yet seen any of your soap-box videos until now. I used to be an interested observer; now I'm a fan. Keep doing what you do!
Curtis Stone you are an amazing free thinker ! Your efforts are very inspiring ! I hope the masses get this message and protect our way of life ! Thanks for sharing !
I came across your vid by accident, I am doing some research on aquaponics. I can appreciate the thought and the effort you've put into making this video and I don't say that lightly. .
I agree with pretty much everything you've said in your video and I think you really hit the nail on the head when you talk about a "one size fits all policy' at around 6:15. I am actually happy to see that someone still cares enought to gather thier thoughts, then make intelligent points and put it into a video. I really hope that people take notice and make changes for the better for everyone concerned.
I think that I'm in a unique position to understand what you are doing on your farm (to help educate people via unpaid internships) in that I had my own business in Montreal (I had a coral farm). To be very candid, my business suffered because I started on my own as a small business and found it very difficult as I had to do all the tasks myself. You are not in that position but I can remember at the time that I thought as you do, that working with me at my coral farm would have been a valuable opportunity for students or people simply looking to get hands on experience. My point is I get what you are saying.
Alternatively, I can also understand why protection for interns is really necessary. I now live in the Philippines. Quite honestly, coming from a western background, I'm really shocked and appalled at how businesses take advantage of people via "on the job training' requirements or just unpaid training which can be from several weeks to two months, as far as I've seen (and can be fired afterwards if they're found to be "unsuitable'). Private colleges here force students who have successfully completed all thier credits to do between 1000 and 1400 hours of unpaid work because there is an OJT requirement before they can get thier diploma or even get thier transcripts. Briefly put, that is accepted here because of the culture and the absolute need to find ANY work. Granted, Canada is a loooong way off from being the Philippines. Just saying that there really is a need to make sure people get paid when they are doing internships because the potential for abuse is very great.
The Canadian Intern Association needs to be more dynamic in the way they regulate. As you mentioned, the "one size fits all" policies that governments dictate and enforce don't really help and definitely needs to change. I suspect that it's done that way because it's just easier to do it that way. I think it woud probably be a lot more effort on the Association staff to look into each individual unpaid internship case that they come across. One solution might be for the people that would like to take part in an unpaid internship, contact the Association, express thier desire to do so and make the request with them. I wonder if there is any mechanism presently in place that faciilitates that kind of request. That way it might be much more clear that the business is not trying to take advantage of people via unpaid work.
Curtis this should be a Ted talk. great comments, appreciate your passion, good luck with it.
I'm not sure TED welcomes his point of view.
Wow! You sound like an American Patriot! SALUTE!
Mr. Stone, I've watched a few of your videos and I must say you have sparked my interest in growing food for many reasons. Upon watching this video and seeing your outlook on things, you have one more supporter and fan
Great to hear. Thank you and you're welcome!
Very well presented, Curtis! I am thoroughly impressed with your cogency, lucidity, and eloquence. Your ability to tie together some seemingly vague and unrelated concepts pertaining to civics, philosophy, economics, and ethics directly into farming is a gift. I'm happy to see you sharing that gift (one form of capital) with us. Thank you.
internship is not slavery, if the conditions are not beneficial the intern can simply choose not to participate
Rock on Curtis!
I used to be afraid to ask for volunteer help. A ways into asking for it, I still have trouble accepting it and believing that people just do things out of sheer enthusiasm. Then I remembered that my first 5 years learning about farming was entirely through offering my labor, happily, in exchange for whatever I could learn by exposure.
It's cute how it doesn't even enter this persons imagination that people (especially young people) might actually have a little free time not spent scrambling for money. It's hardly believable.
Farming is second nature to me. What I did not know I learned from reading and youtube videos. Anything that requires labor should be paid in wages. If it took you 5 year to learn farming,you were being lazy. One year is the max,but I say 6 months is the most it should take.
Farmville doesn't count, my video gaming instigator friend. I'm not just growing sorghum with a John deer either. I'm growing hundreds of species and they all need need different things. You'd probably just give them all trump and call it good. Or call them lazy. Don't be a dick, man, unless you get paid good money for it, k? Thx.
Keepskatin and if farming was indeed second nature to you, and not just your job that someone else pays you to do (thank you by the way), you'd know that you don't get paid cash for everything that takes work. May God give you a situation that without too much danger, that cements this in your mind. But that would require learning, which we all know takes a short time and then you know everything. So, Nevermind.
Absolutely correct! What you offer is far more affective in teaching a sustainable way of food production for any and all willing to learn. Your teachings have now reached Tasmania, Australia. Thank you for being a mentor for us young and willing farmers finding it hard to farm with little resource. Cheers legend! Stay true!
I'm on board with ya Chris!
After thousands of dollars paid out of pocket at a community college, I worked for a couple months within the hospital as an extern.. unpaid of course.. where I was treated like shit by the staff and essentially deprived of the information and experience I needed. After a disagreement with an employee I was basically black balled and never got a job within the company. The people that are supposed to help teach and train are safe within the company, therefore no better education and training is available for students.
My point is this:
I paid for the program, a legal program oversought by the gov't, got paid nothing and it ended my career before it began. People like you, Chris are a God send! Selfless people sharing their knowledge to help others better themselves. Mind you, I'm fully aware this is a whole different field but this kind of crap exists everywhere and the legal way doesn't always do as promised. Enough ranting.. thanks again and thanks for encouraging me to dive further into my gardening passion. Much love from Michigan!
Thank you for being a free thinker.
Here in the U.S.A. we cannot not use the word certified organic at all or grown organic up to $5000.00 in sales only. BECAUSE the government copyright the name and set a law to it. Now I have to pay a FEE which I do to be USDA Certified Organic.. Good and bad. What happens if they wish to double the FEE every Year. I cannot pay it. Thus Lose the title/name.
I AM ORGANIC GARDENING Wow!!! This really pissed me off. And what can the layman do? Absolutely nothing. It's really sad. last year I had someone tell me that my garden is illegal; to which I replied "let em come lock me up then!" I'd have to go to jail for my freedom to grow my own veggies.
I AM ORGANIC GARDENING
The whole certified organic makes no sense to me. You have to pay a government agency to prove that you didn't do anything to the product except let it grow, but you don't have to get any certification whatsoever if you do all kinds of stuff to your food production. This seems counterintuitive to me.
How about coming up and registering our own certification like Government Free Organic or Small Farm Organic. Its time to get creative
Label, "Not GMO," not, "Non-GMO."
Yo, we actually talked about this last week. It was recommended that growing associations actually copywriter a name like "regenerative farming - or something like it" then builds the brand and add it to there label.
Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. Milton Friedman
I am not a farmer. I own a music lessons studio and instrument store. I subbed to your channel when I saw this video 6 months ago and I always look forward to your uploads which don't pertain exclusively to farming. I just watched your new upload entitled, "Don't take the bait!" Love your work, man. Keep fighting the good fight (i.e. creating value and engaging in voluntarily exchange for mutual benefit).
From Noam Chomsky to good old fashion hard work and common sense, it seems you have come a long way :) Just bought your book and was a bit turned off by the first chapter, but this video cheered me right back up. Only a few chapters in right now.
I wish Adam Kokesh would meet you on the street😜
You're bang on brother keep up the great work👍
We are in the midst of a Libertarian revolution here in the states over similar issues discussed in this video. Unfortunately, It's a grind...liked!
If that makes you a criminal. I am proud to be a criminal.
Dear Urban Farmer,
I would like to take the time to say thank you for actually caring about people as people and not numbers on paper. I absolutely love your channel and I love the fact that you offer your experiences here. I am just about to start up a small section of land in my backyard and hope to get at least one crop maybe two before winter. Unfortunately I will have to start this up at the end of June but I have had the little guys in pots in the basement and now they are already sprouting buds and wanting to spread but the green house is not ready =). Thanks for the inspiration keep up the great work!
Wow we have free internships here in the US. I did several free internships throughout college, and they were required for completing my degree. I agree 100% with you on government extortion.
Regulations are choking the life and freedom out of living.
As they are designed to do.
I hate building safety codes and all worker protections.
LOL, sorry did not finish reading your post...........do you have any idea why we are using gasoline engines? What happened to mass transit? Why are billions spent on advertising? ...Try try and try again to be efficient, lol
Regulations are now bought by large companies. Not made for us, by us anymore.
Yes, love the libertarian/capitalist views. free markets and privately owned business is what grows the economy and helps consumers via price and quality "wars" to attract the customer, all transactions are voluntary, no coercion.
BRAVO. Move to the United States! We need more people like you!!!! We desperately need less government intervention!!!
Curtis is $
I respected Curtis and what he does before this video, but now that I see his love for philosophy and volunterism I can't really express my appreciation for his work. Thanks for the upload, and I'll definitely be looking more into the 8 forms of capital. Cheers!
Thanks Jonah. I did a video specifically on them.
Wow you are very informed. I'm just looking for information on how to garden, but am very passionate about ethics. You are clearly very passionate as well. Nicely done. Your words are precise. You don't miss a step!
Students of the health professions such as nursing and medical doctor go through clinical ie internships with no pay. In fact they pay for the benefit to learn. So I agree just relabel the internship to a name that no longer fits their so called law. They play games with people's lives and livelihoods, then play the game. It is a game of chess. My bets on you!
Love the reference to chess. For that is what life is.
noah berger My Dad was a quiet deep thinker and often used chess to make his point. He always said he was an uneducated man. I don't know too many people that could figure concrete order in their head.
dude, internships as nurses and doctors are paid....
Don Ziolkowski Not while you're in school. My brother has clinicals and he has to pay for them. Don't talk about things you aren't knowledgeable about.
so then your problem is you dont know what intern means. gotcha.
See this is the thing, that's part of his college classes. He's literally a student doing clinical hours, not a graduate doing internships. Don't talk using words you dont know the definition of.
Unfortunately, they achieve exactly what they intend. Laws created by lobbyists and lawmakers through back room deals, funded by universities, in order to limit the control and dissemination of knowledge, to effectively create a monopoly on said dissemination of knowledge. What good would universities be if people could come to those like you for real hands on knowledge and experience, at only the expense of their time and effort? This is a form of tyranny.
Yes sir! Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out! It's clear as day. I just don't understand why everyone else don't see this.
Curtis I totally agree with you...I have advocated for the undereducated to learn the skills necessary to provide for themselves for years now. I will be sharing this video to my facebook page. Freedom Farms Foundation facebook.com/freedomfarmsfoundation/
So bold, Curtis. I like what you had to say. I don't think that the person doesn't know anything about ethics. They probably just haven't thought of the same kind of societal awareness that you have.
Curtis I am just getting caught up on your videos. You are a wizard. I'm building an urban farm in Phoenix.
Much more freedom in rural areas.
*Note to self* From now on call farm helpers volunteers instead of interns. hmmm, consider offering "hands-on classes" doing what things I need done - consider charging a nominal fee for class time. Sorry, past interns that got free knowledge, room and board!
unpaid internships are in fact extremely immoral and shouldn't be in the job sections of job postings. because it costs money for gas and food to go some where and work for free.
This is why we're no longer calling it an internship and it was never posted in the job postings.
It's just an opportunity, not slavery Kyle Kelly. Relax dude and pick something else.
The points you make are SPOT ON!
Thank you for exposing the insanity our society had been brainwashed with.
Awesomely well said. Wow. Loved your rant on this one..... The nanny state can't stop its BS... totally stopping productivity of people who are ACTUALLY productive and add value to society.
A degree in basket weaving and economic destruction seems to be all the rage these days.
Sucks you're on the radar...
*civilizational destruction ftfy
Speak the truth Curtis! Thank you for sharing.
It's good to see a brother
This video made you my favorite human at the moment. It pleases me greatly. Thank you for breaking down the email and shine some light on the reality of life and things.
I subscribed to your channel because every time i listen to one of your videos, I learn something BIG!.... such as the idea of scarcity/ abundance mindset or the 8 forms of capital. Thank you very much.
Everything said in the letter itself is entirely logically and morally sound, though. Free internships does restrict access to those that don't actually need to work for money for that period of time (which is prohibitively restrictive), etc.
The real question is, why are you classifying your program as an "internship"? Your program is more about refining skillsets and practice for individuals to start their own urban farming business, which requires that they already have access to relatively significant capital to begin with. Treat it as a work sponsorship/contracting program or whatever, and/or figure out some framework of paying the "interns" a wage from a sum of capital that they invest to begin with (resulting in a net zero loss of capital on their end, after taking out the program's actual expenses/fees).
At the end of the day, labour laws are a significant advancement over, y'know, before there were labour laws. They're just not entirely relevant to the context of the labour/program that you're offering, so it's going to cause problems/confusion if you just try to label your program as an internship when it technically isn't/shouldn't be.
The fact that our labour laws don't include stipulations for syndicalism/mutualism and libertarian cooperatives is an obvious and archaic bias, true, but don't propose to throw the baby out with the bath water just because the bath water isn't the exact right temperature just yet.
Good question, and that is probably what got me red flagged in the first place. It shouldn't of been called that in the beginning.
maybe call it an apprenticeship or is that the same thing??
Here in Australia many businesses run unpaid "volunteer" programs (including some government subsidised businesses).
I know that you will figure out a new definition to allow this great learning opportunity to continue- I for one would love to take part in it.
Great video Curtis.
Yeah, you gotta admit those guys are well-intentioned, just unfortunately misinformed about your program. Oh well! You could probably treat it like a "Volunteer Hobby Course" or w/e without issue; avoid the implications of "unpaid work", in exchange for the implications of offering an "affordable community outreach/enrichment program".
yeah, there is nothing illegal about a volunteer position,
Another example of how legislation intended to help people can actually hurt them and limit their opportunities.
Lol they know what they're doing. Corruption/donations are legal.
Wasn't there a law recently in CA to 'help' gig economy workers by making it harder/more expensive to hire 'gig' workers for isolated days, events and projects. Instead of hiring a musician for 2 hours to play drums for you, you must now register him as an employee and pay taxes for him, healthcare and vacation pay etc. So stupid.
Thank you for pointing out the legislation is intended to help people rather than to oppress poor corporations. 🤣😂
We all know how DC treats interns.
POW
#ShotsFired
Hahaha! Someone had to say it. Kudos!
Just found you. I like how you go straight to the point in your vids. No junk fillings.
You are so thorough in explaining this. The more you talked, the more obvious this is not an accident, but by design from systematic economic pressures. Can you offer scholarships for your workshops? The employees are just following the rules... not thinking about the true implications for individual circumstances.
I'd still be an intern with you. just write up a contract stating you are paying me $10.75 an hour for my labor and I am paying you $10.75 an hour for your knowledge! lol #taxationistheft
Government is ok with it because they get income and sales tax on that deal
I always assumed an internship was an exchange of knowledge FOR labor. You are being paid, just not with something that can be taxed.
That's exactly my point. The fact that some think it is slave labour demonstrates how most people have any idea of what capital is outside of what they've been told about money.
Great information. I totally agree with you.
So well spoken!!! I worked for free in order to provide value to people who in turn gave me knowledge that was priceless and allowed me to become a better person and earn more income due to increased skill set. Keep up the good work. Love the philosophy.
To those who are attacking Curtis on this > You're missing the point. Its Open Source, not a Franchise! The internships, Curtis's book, in fact all the videos on this channel, are about how to be a successful entrepreneur farmer on a small land base. In other words: How to be your own boss. You define the metrics of success as a farmer (social, economic, ecological, personal) but its not about landing a job with Big Ag or some Urban Farming company (if that existed!) that will give you a nice 9 to 5, full benefits position.
beautiful.
If I were to be one of your interns, I would take the money you're forced to "pay" me but I would just invest or donate it back to you :)
Put your words into action,I highly doubt it would come to fruition. You would not make it pass one day,especially in Summer times,or muddy days. Anyone can talk the talk,but few walk the walk.
I think you are mistaken. I am talking about the issue of money and forced payment. Nothing else.
And for your information, my family has a long history of farming, in extreme heat, humidity, and typhoons as well. My home country was in the tropics. Do not assume you know someone when you do not, you only make a fool of yourself.
"Interns cannot sign away their right to a wage." Now they have taken our free will away. Good job government.
Curtis this is one of the best videos I've ever watched! Thank you for taking the time to put this video out there.
I am happy you took the time to explain this side. Very nicely and clearly articulated. Thank you for this video.
So sad that you got that letter it's a sad day in Canada.
Easy fix. charge $5 a day for education.
Charge 0.01 just a big F.U. to those who made him do it.
amen, just leave us alone already
NAILED IT. We aren't in Canada, but understand the problems in government intervention. Love your videos and your views on business and government. Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.
That's a great subject Curtis! Thanks for bringing it up. There are many things and programs out there, some training and volunteering programs are so overpriced that it doesn't make sense, but others do a great service that is appreciated on both parts. In Quebec, i believe that there is a minimum stipulation that interns are covered by CSST by the owner and then they work out the rest on their mutual agreement. Bottom line is: we are all working to make more and better local food so we need more young people getting into that, not less.
It is such a joke that the government thinks it can help an intern. How about the intern being able to think for themselves and maybe if they are lucky have a bit of common sense to know what they are getting into!!!! Good video ! I find myself tumbling into a political rabbit hole daily!! No more news gazing for this farmer.
Unpaid wanted education is beter then paid unwanted education ! ;-)
Signing an 18 year old up for a 40K per year tutition loan for 4 years - for a degree that isn't in demand is ok - but working for free to develop tangible skills is immoral. ProgressiveLogic.
Waa waa I employed people and didnt pay them. If you had 100s of emails asking to be able to work for you for free why not just make a clip inviting volunteers and offering free training
Goodness, how ridiculous!! My first reaction was rename the position "volunteer" or charge the participants a penny to participate in a learning experience. Then disgust at having to think that way. I love your channel, your work, and your professionalism. Keep up the good work!
you are being nice to say they are trying to help people...thanks for the educational and intelligent rant!!!
The way I look at it every time they put another law on the books we loose a little more freedom.
The word Government comes from two Latin phrases. Govern meaning "control"
ment meaning "mind".
Apprenticeship used to be how we created competence and experts in valuable trades. Now, BANNED! I didn't know you had such a libertarian streak. Awesome!
THIS MAKES ME SICK!!! I work in Healthcare IT and we use unpaid internships all the time! (Oregon). 4 of my coworkers on my team of 8 we're former interns. We willingly impart what would be a VERY expensive education for the work they provide. I am sorry the BC government has done this to the private sectors. Glad you foundation a solution Curtis.
you just became my new favorite agro RUclips! Thank you so much! I am so glad to find another volunteerist in the agro industry!
+Bjorn Ronaldson there's a lot of us!
Urban Farmer Curtis Stone it's good to hear. I live in a relatively conservative area which means I usually only see hyper right or hyper left. It's just nice to know that there are more people like me out there.
the next time you want to complain about taxation, just imagine that your house was on fire with no one to put it out, or there were no roads to drive on, or you had to pay 300 bucks a month for health insurance that would still bankrupt you if you got seriously ill. Taxes exist to pay for services that are either too expensive or just plain impossible for an individual to accomplish on their own. Yes, everyone has to pay taxes, but that is because everyone benefits from the services. If you can't operate your business by yourself and you can't extract surplus value out of an employee after paying them 10 dollars an hour, you have a failing business. Complaining that the government won't allow you to engage in what amounts to a modern form of indentured servitude doesn't change that fact.
Welcome to the Republican/Libertarian party. :)
Happy to be here and happy to know there are so many like minded people out there.
I don't agree Curtis. The clerk has a point. I remember my girlfriend who has a degree in anthropology trying to get a job at a museum, and all positions require experience. ALL. And when you ask them- Ok but how one can get experience of working in a museus if you need expierience of working in a museum to work in a museum. Answer? Volunteering. And that is some BULL. Because what they are saying is- you need to work slave labour to get wage labor. And you don't run a coop or community garden. You run a private enterprise. If someone work on your farm, he or she contributes to your income. You can say- well it's free education- well the public schools I studied at were not operation for profit.
***you need to work slave labour to get wage labor***
Slavery is using force to steal labor. Curtis is not forcing anyone to do anything. Your analogy is false.
I'm not suggesting that he intentionally uses force. I think Curtis has the best intentions, but i question his opinion on unpaid work. Because if you create a lot of unpaid positions other employers will exploit that. They will expect you to get experience in a way that will not require them to make any investments. How many entry-level position vacancies exist outside the minimum wage, low qualification sector? Like none. They require experience everywhere. And still- why should a person working for a private, for profit institution not receive hes or hers share of the profit that that persons labor created?
This is where you are missing the point. I have full time staff and they and myself do all the necessary work to run our farm. I do not depend on volunteers ever and nor do I intend to. I created this program because of the hundreds of emails I received requesting it. I am merely offering what people have asked, and not a single intern (no longer interns, but students) have complained. Only people who have nothing to do with my farm seem to be the ones so concerned.
***why should a person working for a private, for profit institution not receive hes or hers share of the profit***
They're getting a free education in exchange. What incentive would Curtis have if he had to pay for a persons labor, and then give them a free education on top of that? If that's the case, he'd be better off leaving the future of agriculture to the giant corporations. He's not responsible for what any other employers do, he's just trying to offer a stepping stone to other future-farmers.
Well where is the line than? Isn't all free labor free education? And again- I'm not questioning Curtis's motivations or good will. But I do understand the need to fight for a minimum wage for everybody doing work. If it's just education, why it's an internship? Why not a workshop? For instance I was WOOFing, and did farm labor- only for food and shelter (so as much as minimum wage gives you), but it was for a community that operated on a not-for-profit profile. Not an enterprise bringing in tens of thousands of bucks.
Totally enjoyable commentary and I found almost everything you said to be valid except you know and that other you know which I think you know came up again too. ;-) smile.
You're a much more eloquent speaker than I am. Keep up the good work!
This video is what made me subscribe. It's great to see someone be on right side of humanity.