Friday December 28, 2018

Each year this is my space as Benevolent Dictator to reflect on the year that was in Black Rock City ala The Village of PolyParadise. To take a look at what we did right and what we did wrong; how the changes we instituted from the previous year worked out and what we might do to improve in 2019. This was the 20th year of PolyParadise; There is no doubt that it gets better & better each year.

You all should be very proud of the Community you created & nurtured all week long.

I thank you all for being part of the 20th ANNIVERSARY of the Village of PolyParadise.

I offer my own observations and as always welcome Comments, Praises, Bitches & Roses for areas of your concern as campers that I have not addressed. Please post to our Yahoo Group or to our Facebook Page - generate some chatter; let's get PSYCHED!!! 239 Days!!!

****Kitchen & Stuff****

In 2018 PolyParadise continued with the Community Kitchen related ‘Requirement’ upon registration; to be part of the daily cooking/feeding ritual - make one meal for 25 people and be able to enjoy a smorgasbord of food the rest of the week. The Community Kitchen was an awesome success! Thanks so much to Knotch, Shadow & Laura for stepping up as our returning KITCHEN BIATCHES and to all of their helpers that maintained the kitchen all week long.

The kitchen & serving areas encompassed a full 40'x40' - the layout was awesome for ingress & egress in and out of the kitchen area. This year we implemented a 10'x40' Cooler Cove at the back of the kitchen that allowed us get personal coolers out of the walkways in the kitchen; this was AMAZING! The Large Grill & Flattop Grill were also located in this area which seemed to work well. In the Kitchen Biatches report they ask to purchase a larger scale pump to macerate the food waste to make sure that the collector bin is free of large waste that may clog the hose to the gray water tanks - will do!

With the six (6) 3-Burner Cast Iron stoves, we had plenty of cooking surface area. The wind and keeping the stoves lit continues to be an issue - The additional wind shields created by Honest John to mitigate or reduce this issue work well. The VERY LARGE GRILL now in its 4th year is holding up fine and allows us to cook meat dishes far more effectively. We do need new regulators and there were comments from the Kitchen Biatches that work needs to be done on the V.3 of the grease catch device. Look forward to making the grill & flat top more effective.

We had plenty of snacks for everyone, and all seemed satisfied with the selections available. We did not come back home with very much - the purchase on Burning Man shopping day of types of snacks are at the mercy of what is available on that day @ Costco but what is evident that the Juice Packs are a big hit - Noted.

Thanks to everyone that took the time & effort to create some awesome meals all week long. There were so many great courses served each day. With so many international campers we are delighted to have such an out of country meal experience; thanks for sharing your unique cuisine with us. Thanks to everyone who assisted with Trash Can Pizza & Trash Can Turkey!!! Thanks to everyone who cleaned up, picked up, MOOPED up.

Dishwashing and keeping the Pots/Pans washed and available for the next person continues to improve year to year as we as a community become better washers and more aware that if we want clean pots & pans that the only way that is accomplished is by each of us doing some dishes during the week. The three standup kitchen sinks were raised up from their standard height by being placed on top of milk crates worked well so that no one had to bend over to wash dishes. Wrapping the sink gray water containment in a tarp to minimize leakage/spills to the playa worked well.

The Kitchen/Serving Area & Community Space were (4) 20'x40' structures oriented with the straight edges meeting instead of at the peak. With this arrangement we are able to use tarps to Wall Off 20' (10' on either side), having a 20' opening (in the middle) between the Kitchen area & the Community space to better manage wind thru the kitchen. The kitchen arrangement continues to work well with the two corner areas that housed the shelving with the snacks, pots & pans and the other side was the coffee tea area.

Coffee Maker

The 100-cup coffee maker was not found when we arrived on-playa. Thanks to Cactus Man for picking up 12-cup coffee makers on the way & to Haji for making sure that coffee was made each year. I hope that everybody enjoyed the Seattle's Best Coffee this year. For 2019 we are going to purchase a more industrial type coffee maker that has one brew station and two warmer stations. This way there will be coffee always available with one pot brewing. The large coffee pots are nice for bulk dispensing but take way to long to bring to boil that much water.

In 2018 we were required to apply for and adhere to the standards of a Nevada State Health Department Food Permit. This was the sixth year of this mandate for camps with a population over 125 serving community meals. The cost of the Food Permit was $50. With our Official Food Permit prominently displayed within the kitchen; we had a visit on Monday from the Nevada State Health Department to see that we were complying with the stated rules, which included: Food Handler Gloves, Hand Washing Station (Hand Soap, Towels, Continual Flow Water) Bleach cleaning supplies, clearly visible menu, separate food preparation/serving areas, food thermometers, and clearly marked Community/Personal Coolers.

In previous years of being inspected we had been cited in a few areas including: Gloves not being worn by food preparers, Food needs to be served to guests as opposed to guests severing themselves. With the prominent display of signage within the kitchen we were able to satisfy the inspectors and received a PASSING GRADE! We also received HIGH MARKS with the Foot Pump/Hand Washing Station 4.0 - Our hats OFF to Knotch for constructing three new hand washing stations. NOTED: WE NEED WAY MORE BUCKETS!!!

I believe that the only thing we were cited for was that our bleach was OLD - That was my fault who knew that one-year old bleach in its sealed container would loose its potency. We will make sure to purchase new bleach bottles each year. Our callout about Personal Coolers and the NEED to come to the Playa with ICE was met with great success - Thanks to you all for heeding that call out.

Here is the text from the Survival Guide 2018:

When you pack for your trip to BRC - your cooler should be ICED. When you are at the last stop on Rt. 80 (From the West (Sparks) - From the East (Fernley) before making the turn on HYW 447 heading towards Gerlach - YOUR COOLER SHOULD BE ICED!! When you arrive @ Burning Man your cooler should have ICE maybe somewhat melted but it should HAVE ICE!!

As a Village of 300 persons we are required to have a Health Permit by the Nevada Health Dept. The Health Dept will visit our camp and make sure that we are adhering to all prescribed food preparation - serving - cleanup requirements. In 2017 WE DID GREAT WITH THE PREPARATION - SERVING - CLEANUP aspects of the inspection in part to the efforts of our Kitchen Biatches >Knotch< & Shadow. BUT WHERE WE HAD ISSUES WAS WITH PERSONAL COOLERS THAT WERE PLACED IN THE KITCHEN THAT HAD NO ICE. The Health Dept will inspect all coolers and make sure that the contents of said cooler are at proper temperature. Obviously, coolers that have NO ICE or LIMITED ICE cannot possibly be at proper temperature. The contents of any cooler not cooled to proper temperature were DISCARDED! WE HIGHLY ENCOURAGE - NO WE REQUIRE that you ICE DOWN YOUR COOLERS as you start your trip to the Playa and KEEP ICE LEVEL IN COOLERS AS REQUIRED during your trip.

This will ensure that when you cook your meal that NO ONE EATING YOUR FOOD WILL GET SICK! We will also be more proactive and do an ICE RUN on Sunday (Day 1) that any camper can use to make sure that when you arrive On-Playa that your cooler can be RE-ICED and your food can be kept to temperature and KEPT SAFE FOR EATING!!

ULTIMATELY KEEPING YOUR COOLER ICED - YOUR FOOD SAFE ON THE WAY TO BRC IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.

I realize that using the paper plates and plastic silverware creates additional trash, but I am convinced that going the disposable route is better than having regular tableware - having to constantly clean dishes & silverware. Of course needing to continually wash your own dishes and silverware for each meal requires water - then disposal of additional waste water. We will continue to use paper plates and plastic silverware in 2019.

Having the Menu & Volunteer list printed in a 5'x5' poster size board displayed in the Kitchen was awesome, letting everyone know what was going to be cooked at each meal and who volunteered for what events.

With regards to Syrup - We had many campers volunteer to make pancakes/waffles or things that needed syrup. The food items were delicious & tasty but each person brought their own supply of syrup, which means we have lots & lots of syrup. We now have enough syrup for pancakes/waffles to feed several armies. So if you plan to cook Pancakes/Waffles for 2019 WE HAVE SYRUP, no need to bring anymore.

Thanks so much to STAGGER for again heading up the Trash area and to everyone that assisted in bagging, tagging & tapping up trash. More importantly, thanks to all of you for taking some trash home. We generate this trash as a camp; we need to deal with its removal from the Playa as a Community. Because of your efforts and commitment and Love of Community Trash...We transported ZERO bags of trash off the Playa in the truck back to Phoenix. We did have 7 buckets of general slop, generator oil, left over food stuff slop, the remnants of many a thing on the Playa.

Thanks to all the PolyCampers that stayed till Tuesday and took any remaining trash bags Off-Playa.

Post-Playa there was some major discussion on our FB Group about kitchen issues with a few areas being called out. There was discussion about the long lines for food and that we might benefit from making the serving line on both sides of the table. In discussions with our kitchen staff we feel this would just not work and actually create additional bottlenecks in getting the masses the food. There are going to be long lines in serving a 297 person camp. I realize that some people cannot stand in line for as long as required - I call upon YOU the campers to assist others that might need assistance in getting a plate of food.

There was also discussion that at some meals not everyone got food that wanted/needed to eat and that maybe we needed to raise the minimum amount that each person cooks from 25 to 35 portions. Of course I want every camper to be able to get something to eat but what I do not want is that we actually have any leftovers in any meal as leftovers are difficult to store.

Please look over the notes provided by our Kitchen Biatches below.

****Kitchen Biatches Notes ala Knotch & Shadow****

PP Kitchen Lessons Learned 2018 - What went right and what went wrong observations in no particular order:

1. Need around 13 to 14 (5-gallon) buckets for kitchen: 6 for hand washing stations, 4 with lids for slop buckets, 3 or 4 available for people to fill with donated cooler water for dishwashing use.
2. Need a couple more of the quick read stem thermometers (only saw one this year). We have plenty of the large meat thermometers.
3. Need soap for dishwashing.
4. Need new chlorine test strips.
5. Need new Clorox bleach. Old bottles are weak.
6. Need to replace one collapsible garbage can for the kitchen. Only found two and normally have three.
7. Need bottles of hand soap for the three hand washing stations. We ran out. Someone donated an 8 oz bottle of Renew Hand Wash and I put it on one of the stations. It lasted the entire burn!!! It was used a lot. I used it every time and I washed a lot. One little 8 oz bottle. It is expensive but I think worth it. Melaleuca Renew Hand Wash 8 Oz.
8. 100 cup coffee pot.
9. Need plastic kitchen prep gloves. Ran out.
10. Plates, bowls, forks, spoons, knives, napkins were adequate. No shortages.
11. Having both rolls of paper towels and the folded packs of napkins were good.
12. Clorox wipes are still the best table cleaners I have found. Restock.
13. Can we get this knife sharpener - I brought my personal one like this and it works great. Rich said it was one of the best he has ever used also. Smith's adjustable manual knife sharpener.
14. Think about a heavy duty macerator pump for dish water sump. If we had this food waste solids could be macerated and pumped with dirty dishwashing water into gray tanks. Might also keep the garbage a little lighter and less juicy and messy.
15. Restock supply of table clothes.
16. More Gorilla tape and orange duck tape. Used for holding tablecloths onto tables and orange tape for labeling bins.
17. Maybe spend more time at the clean-up party inventorying, sorting and labeling kitchen supply stock. Spoons, forks, napkins etc. were found as onesies scattered in many many bins. Shadow, Laura and I will concentrate more on this at the March cleaning party.
18. The dish washing sink (soap wash) drain hose has a split and needs repair.
19. Have a couple lengths of drain pipe cut and ready as spares to replace leaking ones if needed.
20. Sinks on crates were a good height. No changes.
21. Dish drying used two of the metal racks and worked great. No changes.
22. Large grill needs reworked. Left side stopped working. Possibly regulators are bad.
23. Mods to griddle pans for allowing grease to drain worked good on both grills.
24. Wire racks were adequate even though all could not be completed with all shelves. The new couplers did not work - wrong threads I believe.
25. Kitchen/garbage/cooler storage layout was GREAT! Keep it this way if possible.
26. Single line of tables across serving line (as it has been for years) works good (regardless of complaints by a few). I vote to keep it the way it was.
27. As you can see this is a short report compared to year before last. Thank you for tending to notes from our 2017 Lessons Learned so this 2018 one is so short!
28. Kitchen Bitches combined opinions: Would not raise the meal serving request higher than the 25 it currently is. We still have leftover waste but it is minimal. Meals are a gift and not an entitlement granted by camp fee. Better to leave the requirement as is and not have a lot of waste than raising it and having a lot of food waste to dispose of.

****Community Meals****

In 2018 PolyParadise had a Community related ‘Requirement’ upon registration, a choice of being part of cooking & sharing a meal for 25. The meals and the variety of all things cooked were amazing!!!! There was never a want for food, there were always choices.

Special callout to everyone that assisted in the creation of Trash Can Pizza on Tuesday, Of course to UncleBob for coming up with this crazy idea. Thanks to for everyone that assisted with Trash Can Turkey and a HUGE Thanks to the crew for jumping right in and carving up all that turkeys (90bs of BIRD) while an anxious crowd awaited food…Amazing!!

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to the planning, cooking, serving & cleanup of each and every meal. For when we share a meal and break bread together we grow from just being friends to being FAMILY!

Over the years campers have mentioned to me that they arrived for a meal and there was not enough food for them or that they saw some campers going back for seconds and when they had not gotten any food. I understand your complaints - meal times are set at two hour intervals 8:00a-10:00a 12:00p-2:00p 6:00p-8:00p - Policing who gets in line and how many times is not where we are headed. There are two possible solutions to make sure you get food - Get to meal times ON TIME or see that there is not enough food and STEP UP and be part of the solution which is to Cook an additional meal for the community. Remember meals are not included in the Camp Fee; they are a GIFT to the Community.

****Playa Events****

This was an amazing year for PolyParadise Playa Events. We had lots of amazing events that drew large crowds each day.

Our Playa Events - Poly High Tea - Human Carcass Wash - Mind Melt - Poly Friendly Social Mixer, Burning On Your Mind: An Open Mic About Burning Man, Hugging Meditation, Yoga Postures for 2, Mindful Hugging, Best sex living with STD's, SWOP (Sex Worker Outreach Program) Unite!, Slinky Manipulation 101: The World's Newest Flow Art, Pasties Making Workshop, Himalayan Singing Bowls and of course EVERY NIGHT @ THE TWISTED SWAN!!!

Major Kudos to the organizers of all of our Playa Events. You all are aces in my book!!! Thanks to everyone who assisted in each and every event. The events are as much for us as a camp as well as sharing with the Playa Citizenry.

The Human Carcass Wash encompassed a full 60’x40’ structure. Long gone are the days from circa 2001 when the HCW was a 5'x7' piece of Astroturf. With this additional space the HCW now serves well over 500 participants daily!!! Freakin INCREDIBLE!!!

****Gray Water Reclamation****

Our Gray Water disposal with the drain system for the sink and the shower that emptied into the holding tanks were provided by United Site Services. This system provides us as a camp a no-worry way to deal with the Gray Water issue.

In 2018 we contracted with United Site Services to provide Grey Water Reclamation Services. We rented (4) 250G tanks (The largest USS rents) - three were for PolyParadise & one was for the Twisted Swan. Our contract was for Servicing the tanks Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. Over course of the week I estimate we generated just about 1,500 Gallons of Gray Water. We are not the only camp that deals with issues in making sure we get the tanks emptied when we need them but of course USS is the only game in town so we are at thier mercy.

****Water – Water - Water****

In the desert water is a commodity – it is used to cook – clean posts/pans & dishes, starter for the Human Carcass Wash and of course for taking a shower. As a camp we require each vehicle in camp to donate 5 gallons of water to assist with our water supply as a camp. We obviously use a lot of water to do these tasks; even if we had 75 vehicles all bringing 5 Gallons of water that is only 375 gallons to add to the 100 that we bring in the U-Haul.

Some people have suggested that we get potable water delivered so that the amount of water is not an issue and do away with the requirement of the water donation and eliminate a lot of plastic waste. My opinion is that we need to remember that Burning Man is a desert camping trip and part of its ethos is we bring what we need to consume and take away what we use. Each camper manages their own water and as a Theme Camp we need to do the same.

We most certainly need water for making Coffee - we need water for washing dishes - I really do not want to have a water delivery and take us away from knowing we need to be self-sufficient - In that vein I highly encourage - if you have the means & space to bring additional water for camp use it would be appreciated.

Many Many thanks to STAGGER for again heading up all things Garbage Czar for stepping up and taking on the role of TRASH! We very much appreciate his dedication to the ART OF GARBAGE and doing quite a bit of travel to come to the Playa for the start - setup the garbage collection area - leave the playa - come back to PolyParadise at the end of the week and make the distribution of Community Garbage to all campers - I LOVE YOU MAN!!!
Since the Trash is generated by the community - our camp requirement is for each vehicle to take two bags of Trash Off-Playa...Thanks to Stagger for making it easy with double-bagged/tapped/labeled bags for each of us. Were you surprised to find your personal bag-o-trash at your vehicle:) Major kudos to anyone and everyone that transported more than one bag, you are aces in my book!!
We do generate quite a bit of 'Burnable Garbage' we compacted the Burnable bags / wrapping them up tightly with gorilla tape & transported off-playa like other plastic bag garbage. This appeared to work well. I hope that you are all depositing this garbage in the proper receptacles off-playa.
I encourage all campers to check in with Stagger and see how you might assist him in the managing of the garbage - Community Generated - Community Managed.
We are noticing that each year we are getting more campers that are entering Black Rock City via the Burner Express bus service. With this accommodation you receive a Clear Plastic MOOP BAG that you can bring back on your way home. We highly encourage all campers that use the Burner Express Bus Service to bring their MOOP BAG to STAGGER so he can properly fill them for you to transport off-playa.
*****2018 Garbage Czar Report****
I am so happy to report that Poly Paradise’s garbage situation this year went extremely well compared to some years past.
Due to medical issues with my wife I was not able to spend the entire week at PolyParadise. That said, folks stepped up and when I came back to the playa the garbage area was in great shape.
Filled bags were not overstuffed and stacked neatly in the back of the area. Cardboard was separated and ready to bundle.
Delivery was smooth and, though I had to leave earlier than normal, things were under control during breakdown.
Thanks everyone who took care of monitoring the trash while I was not there. 2018 was a garbage success.
****20th Anniversary Art Project****
Thanks to Atira, Armella, Rich, Uncle Bob, Tattletale & ALL CAMPERS that assisted in creating, erecting our 20th Anniversary Man/Heart/Infinity Symbol Art Project - Special callout to Ian Liljeblad for allowing us to utilize his talents and Plasma Cutter to create the Art Piece. SPECIAL CALLOUT to Master Twist who came up with the ingenious idea to use magnets to be able to secure the LED Light Strips to the Metal Man.

For 2019 we will make a few adjustments to the Art Piece: Extend the Heart/Infinity symbol on both sides of the man out approx. 8 Inches from the Man and secure that straight thru to the other side to give more stability to the Art Piece in general and give a neat depth effect. We will also purchase additional LED Lights to outline the Heart Infinity Symbol separate from the man as well as upgrade the the controller to give us additional modes/patterns of LED Light along the entire structure.
Think as well that maybe we do a 2^nd Art Project with the same type of lighting truss that spells out PolyParadise with 1Ft Wood Letters that we could light up and have as the entrance way that could be walked under/thru - though this is just a thought...What say you all -

****Early Arrival & Exodus****

Early Arrival - Many, Many thanks to all of our Early Arrival crew. Kudos go out to all of you for your tireless efforts to get the camp erected and all system connected. You guys ROCK!!!

The crew was awesome!!! We rocked the house and had the entire infrastructure up & functional by Sunday morning. I thank you all so much for doing what needed to be done, being out in the Sun & Dust; making PolyParadise happen On-Playa!!!

We set the camp up over several days, but we take it down in just a few hours, it is a massive undertaking that requires lots & lots of hands. You cannot be 'Required' to stay and assist with breakdown, but know that each and every one of you that did help is so very much appreciated. This year’s crew was incredible. Thank you all so much for doing the dirty work and being there to pack away our community for another year.

We again stayed until Tuesday morning; this allowed for a more cohesive teardown & truck packing and my. We had a great time with the folks that stayed and many thanks to everyone that did the last of the MOOP WALK. throughout our camp space.