CampRaincloud
Chirping
Hello! Camp Raincloud is a project we've been working on for some time now, and I'm pretty happy with how things are coming along! After spending at least the last 5 years intentionally diversifying our skill set, we've secured land in Virginia to begin building out our projects. Our paths crossed while working in Community Theater, and we've been drumming up projects ever since! Before we get too far into it, I'll shed a little light on the past.
Farming apparently runs thick in my family, but I wasn't aware of it until my sister recently started doing the whole ancestry.com thing. We would go to the family farm in Alabama until I was 5, but at that point it was just a few old horses hanging out with my great grandad while they all drifted to a better place together. I never got to see the farm in action.
Our dad raised fighting chickens for a few years, so I learned quite a lot about the birds during that time. The knives were terrifying but the little boxing gloves are pretty cute. It's a fascinating hobby, though I'm not sure how one even begins to acquire the taste. Things go sour way fast. the poultry yard was shared by the family and I was probably 14 when I saw my first bantams. I hadn't really considered raising my own birds till then and I've wanted them ever since! They were Blue Silkies, which.. while I have grown to dislike silkies for no other reason that they look funny, were quite the sight to behold when all I knew were beefy Old English.
sooo about that time in my life I was becoming a circus performer. It was such a wonderful experience and I wouldn't change it for the world. I met so many people who helped to open my mind, sometimes I wouldn't realize for years! I was 17 when I went to my first big festival, and I couldn't afford tickets. I signed up to work as a volunteer and got put on Stage Crew because I had a background working backstage for high school! I met members of IATSE Local-1 and was introduced to the life of a professional stagehand! Then and there I decided I wanted to work in special events.
My friends and I put together a few "extravaganzas" over the following years that would come to shape my life more than I could imagine. This event organization thing just kept coming back. I've always been as involved as possible, managing the event, booking acts, MCing, setup/teardown, acting sound man, Firebreather, Juggling unicycler, Musician, parking technician, ALL THAT! wow.. looking back, Its a wonder I didn't have more than the one heat stroke!
Around the time I was 21, I found myself living in a teepee I built with my hands from bamboo I harvested. I was enrolling at UNCG for BFA in Technical Theater and met an old friend from the Outdoor Theater I was a part of as a kid (I forgot to mention this earlier! I'm starting to really realize how important this whole thespian vibe is in my journey!) and they invited me out to help with some fallen limbs on their property. I was going to set up a tent and live in the woods for a whole WEEK! I stayed two extra nights and didn't leave for a year! Another crusty friend of mine joined me in the teepee and we had a pretty grand time helping around the farm and building our little slice of heaven. I have to throw some mad respect to the farmer who took us on. We were probably more trouble than we were helpful but she sure enjoyed watching us be crazy kids. I guess this is the part that really brought it all together for me. We were at home, and we built it. Our 'TV' was a few stumps piled up holding a goose decoy we found in the woods that would catch the fire just right... man what a good time..
I ended up landing a job in the local theater and dropped out due to an opportunity in miami with the festival that started it all! I spent the better part of four years working that lead until it was drained, and after living the life up and down the coast I found myself couch surfing back in hometown on construction gigs. I got down, and got into rough times. Things were shady for a while until I found a really neat gig at the local community theater in the town I settled in. Thus began The Enlightenment.
The next 7 years would bring all that madness together into something I could have only dreamed of. (enter list of stuff I did
I found myself being broadcast around the world for various gigs between my music and audio engineer projects. I worked with my childhood heroes as a lead tech and audio engineer, I played the Frankenstein monster and got painted up all green, I created living art! I learned more than I could have imagined about what really goes into a production. I had no Idea. I organized a tour for 5 bands after recording a full length album and played in two of the bands on tour and drove the van! I became a licensed drone pilot. I learned to code. I learned to program. I built robots and mad creations.
I found land to begin building the next version of my paradise. I made a BYC account.
That's lots of backstory on me, but there it is! As of today, we are running a pretty large aquaponics rig, breeding guppies, growing aquatic and non aquatic plants, raising bantams, and dealing with all the backend stuff to make it all go! I'm pleased to have the skills and resources to code and program our tools. This skill alone has been a huge catalyst in making everything happen for us so far.
I'll have to go into our chicken rigs more in another thread as I figure this all out, but I'll get everyone caught up. Our flock started with three birds who survived from the southern states straight run. I built a coop and run that will soon be updated, but it was pretty darn good at the time. The coop is a 40"X40" box built from an old theater prop, raised up about 16 inches. it has a small run attached that gave the birds about 32 sqft (4'X8'.) The birds hung out in this a couple weeks while I added another 4' tall half-covered run that brings them up to about 100sqft of run space all together. They seem to be pretty happy in this, but they quickly became bored with no height to speak of for exploration. The lack of permanent cover was soon a glaring issue.
We had our chickens for about 3 months and just received a set of assorted bantams from Cackle Hatchery. USPS missed some scans, so we were surprised 12 hours early with chickens at the post office. They are brooding in the new coop I am building. This one is a more complete design with actual framing and proper ventilation. I intend to add a few custom automations as well, but I digress. This box is 4'X4' with 2'wall on the back, sloping up to 3'. We currently have 20 birds in the flock, but the babies will stay apart from the main flock for quite some time, and we already have a couple potential customers when they are off the lamp. I HOPE to get us below 10 in the next three months.
I'm sure I've left out plenty of bits, but this is a good start into what goes on at Camp Raincloud! Feel free to ask questions and reach out for clarity! I'm always open to learn new things. Any wisdom from North Carolina and Virginia is more than valuable! I'm glad to finally be here. It's pretty great here at BYC.
Thanks!
*I'll come back in tomorrow with some more photos of our older birds, the current set up and all that. I'd love to hear from anyone who does aquaponics and/or is into robotics!*
Farming apparently runs thick in my family, but I wasn't aware of it until my sister recently started doing the whole ancestry.com thing. We would go to the family farm in Alabama until I was 5, but at that point it was just a few old horses hanging out with my great grandad while they all drifted to a better place together. I never got to see the farm in action.
Our dad raised fighting chickens for a few years, so I learned quite a lot about the birds during that time. The knives were terrifying but the little boxing gloves are pretty cute. It's a fascinating hobby, though I'm not sure how one even begins to acquire the taste. Things go sour way fast. the poultry yard was shared by the family and I was probably 14 when I saw my first bantams. I hadn't really considered raising my own birds till then and I've wanted them ever since! They were Blue Silkies, which.. while I have grown to dislike silkies for no other reason that they look funny, were quite the sight to behold when all I knew were beefy Old English.
sooo about that time in my life I was becoming a circus performer. It was such a wonderful experience and I wouldn't change it for the world. I met so many people who helped to open my mind, sometimes I wouldn't realize for years! I was 17 when I went to my first big festival, and I couldn't afford tickets. I signed up to work as a volunteer and got put on Stage Crew because I had a background working backstage for high school! I met members of IATSE Local-1 and was introduced to the life of a professional stagehand! Then and there I decided I wanted to work in special events.
My friends and I put together a few "extravaganzas" over the following years that would come to shape my life more than I could imagine. This event organization thing just kept coming back. I've always been as involved as possible, managing the event, booking acts, MCing, setup/teardown, acting sound man, Firebreather, Juggling unicycler, Musician, parking technician, ALL THAT! wow.. looking back, Its a wonder I didn't have more than the one heat stroke!
Around the time I was 21, I found myself living in a teepee I built with my hands from bamboo I harvested. I was enrolling at UNCG for BFA in Technical Theater and met an old friend from the Outdoor Theater I was a part of as a kid (I forgot to mention this earlier! I'm starting to really realize how important this whole thespian vibe is in my journey!) and they invited me out to help with some fallen limbs on their property. I was going to set up a tent and live in the woods for a whole WEEK! I stayed two extra nights and didn't leave for a year! Another crusty friend of mine joined me in the teepee and we had a pretty grand time helping around the farm and building our little slice of heaven. I have to throw some mad respect to the farmer who took us on. We were probably more trouble than we were helpful but she sure enjoyed watching us be crazy kids. I guess this is the part that really brought it all together for me. We were at home, and we built it. Our 'TV' was a few stumps piled up holding a goose decoy we found in the woods that would catch the fire just right... man what a good time..
I ended up landing a job in the local theater and dropped out due to an opportunity in miami with the festival that started it all! I spent the better part of four years working that lead until it was drained, and after living the life up and down the coast I found myself couch surfing back in hometown on construction gigs. I got down, and got into rough times. Things were shady for a while until I found a really neat gig at the local community theater in the town I settled in. Thus began The Enlightenment.
The next 7 years would bring all that madness together into something I could have only dreamed of. (enter list of stuff I did
I found myself being broadcast around the world for various gigs between my music and audio engineer projects. I worked with my childhood heroes as a lead tech and audio engineer, I played the Frankenstein monster and got painted up all green, I created living art! I learned more than I could have imagined about what really goes into a production. I had no Idea. I organized a tour for 5 bands after recording a full length album and played in two of the bands on tour and drove the van! I became a licensed drone pilot. I learned to code. I learned to program. I built robots and mad creations.
I found land to begin building the next version of my paradise. I made a BYC account.
That's lots of backstory on me, but there it is! As of today, we are running a pretty large aquaponics rig, breeding guppies, growing aquatic and non aquatic plants, raising bantams, and dealing with all the backend stuff to make it all go! I'm pleased to have the skills and resources to code and program our tools. This skill alone has been a huge catalyst in making everything happen for us so far.
I'll have to go into our chicken rigs more in another thread as I figure this all out, but I'll get everyone caught up. Our flock started with three birds who survived from the southern states straight run. I built a coop and run that will soon be updated, but it was pretty darn good at the time. The coop is a 40"X40" box built from an old theater prop, raised up about 16 inches. it has a small run attached that gave the birds about 32 sqft (4'X8'.) The birds hung out in this a couple weeks while I added another 4' tall half-covered run that brings them up to about 100sqft of run space all together. They seem to be pretty happy in this, but they quickly became bored with no height to speak of for exploration. The lack of permanent cover was soon a glaring issue.
We had our chickens for about 3 months and just received a set of assorted bantams from Cackle Hatchery. USPS missed some scans, so we were surprised 12 hours early with chickens at the post office. They are brooding in the new coop I am building. This one is a more complete design with actual framing and proper ventilation. I intend to add a few custom automations as well, but I digress. This box is 4'X4' with 2'wall on the back, sloping up to 3'. We currently have 20 birds in the flock, but the babies will stay apart from the main flock for quite some time, and we already have a couple potential customers when they are off the lamp. I HOPE to get us below 10 in the next three months.
I'm sure I've left out plenty of bits, but this is a good start into what goes on at Camp Raincloud! Feel free to ask questions and reach out for clarity! I'm always open to learn new things. Any wisdom from North Carolina and Virginia is more than valuable! I'm glad to finally be here. It's pretty great here at BYC.
Thanks!
*I'll come back in tomorrow with some more photos of our older birds, the current set up and all that. I'd love to hear from anyone who does aquaponics and/or is into robotics!*
It's nice to meet you! 
