Lara's Bootcamp/Wheaton Labs Experience/BRKish

There was a shift at lunch today -- everyone was settling and feeling more comfortable together, and it was a lovely feeling in the house. Quiet, hungry lunchers, around the table together, smiling and laughing. Junk pole fencing moved forward today, as well as the Greenhouse project, and the Loveshack project. I cleaned out the garage, holy crap. Dump run tomorrow, lots of recycling in town this weekend. Made tons of space... I may just be able to picture the Solarium/new bunk room coming together at some point....

Dinner was absolutely delicious, we ate roasted sweet potatoes, lentil dahl, rice, preserved lemons... flavor party in my mouth. A bit spicy though, when I say a bit I mean a lot, the pressure in my head made it feel like it was going to explode. I'm not very good with spicy stuff. Now I'm settling in for a game of Catan with the homies and feeling sleepy and content.

Night y'all

We all got really sleepy after lunch today, just one of those days I suppose. But I've been so sleepy since I woke up this morning. You wanted to know all about this, right? ha

Well, today our magnificent bootcampers continued plowing through some projects that have seen awesome momentum this week, thanks to their willingness to do things like... fencing, and organizing, and wrapping up the Loveshack re-build... alllll week long.

Went to pick up Doug from the mechanic this morning, and then picked up some more farm fresh eggs from a lovely lady. We have officially transitioned to these farm fresh eggs here at Wheaton Labs! Before, we were buying eggs in town. But this feels more in line with our values and it makes me happy.

The library and garage have both now passed the Lara-Approved Level 1 Cleaning & Organization standards. Level 2 will be a bit more in-depth; it involves actually diving into boxes and determining whether or not the things inside are still relevant to us, or if they can find a better home elsewhere. These are the first two stages in a long chain of events which in my head I refer to as the general re-organization and mapping out of Wheaton Labs, and this (I believe) will have many great effects, such as... community members will join with less effort/confusion by having a significant foothold in where things are located, general standards, tips & tricks, standard operating procedure, etc... preparing the garage to be turned into the new bunk room and Solarium... having a known inventory of materials for bootcamp, events, etc... making everything better!! We have a lot of cool stuff. I want people to use it.

Tomorrow is Friday already?! Tonight we're having slow roasted meat... I'm practically jumping for joy. And it's culture night! Here we go people!

Once again the weekend has totally flown by much faster than anticipated but I managed to do a lot of things so it was lovely. Had a magic morning yesterday in town with Dez... we ate IHOP, an old favorite of mine, picked up some groceries, took the car in for service... picked up pies for Pi day. And then I engaged in self care Saturday... did a hair mask (coconut oil, olive oil, liquid vitamin E, lavender oil), face mask, had a shower, cut my nails, all really good stuff. Massage train! And then I hung out at the cabin in the woods for the afternoon, before returning to base camp for some dinner and an episode of Firefly.

I chose my plot! The Dragon Roost. More to come on that.

Lots of things to do this week so I gotta get some rest and start it off right!

Recap!

I'm staying in Allerton Abbey! So I'll be posting about the day before, which is when I have time to wind down and "blog"

Monday was full of office stuff, especially pertaining to the PTJ, and man I’m really getting excited to watch this event come to life! So many fun and innovative things being built and imagined this July at Wheaton Labs. It’s been fun reaching out to instructors and imagining the workshops. The lists of things to do are filling many digital notebooks. But I am happy and grateful to be a part of it all.

Tonight is my first night staying in Allerton Abbey, a wofati on the lab. The sun was shining while I moved in this afternoon, swept the floors, organized bits and bobs. I ate sticky rice with some raw eggs and seasonings and that food fills my soul so completely, and feels really good on my belly. I’ve been reminiscing so much about life in Japan recently. Especially last night, after Dez and I watched 君の名は。That movie is one of the highest grossing films in Japanese history and it came out during my last year living in Japan. It captured the essence of our Japanese experience perfectly: its themes seem loosely based on the prefecture I was fortunate enough to have called my home, and Japanese culture is a link which all of its people share. Can you imagine? I dream of going back to live for a while. But putting down some roots here in Montana sounds really good to me right now. It’s the first time I’ve felt that way... ever. I’ve wandered so much I was beginning to wonder if that would always be the case for me, or if I’d be able to find somewhere that feels like home.

Even though today has been a little melancholic, it is very much home.

This morning all of the boots went out to harvest junk pole trees, many of which are salvaged from burns in previous years. I stayed behind to do office-y things, and then the fam rolled in for lunch covered in black soot, which was hilarious (everyone except Dez who always remains miraculously, impeccably spotless?). Then I noticed my entire sweater was covered in the stuff from messing around with the RMH in the library. So none of us were immune.

Six boots planted peas into the berms at base camp straight through the afternoon, and every time I went outside to stretch, kitties were running and jumping all over the berms, or receiving belly rubs, delighted to have the diligent workers nearby. Planting is such a repetitive task that it makes you sort of goofy. Toward the end of the day the gardens were filled with jokes and laughter from Dez, Kyle, and Logan, who I caught planting in most interesting fashion (see video evidence).

I then gathered my belongings and headed off to the Abbey. The sun was so warm that I put on a skirt for the first time in a long time and felt like Cinderella making a home in this sweet little place.

Now I sit by the fire, eating pecans pan-roasted in butter and honey on the rocket cooktop, and typing out a few words for you all. It really makes me feel joyful to know some of you are following along. As the sun drops, so do my eyelids. Sweet dreams everyone.

Lara Bigotti wrote:Once again the weekend has totally flown by much faster than anticipated but I managed to do a lot of things so it was lovely. Had a magic morning yesterday in town with Dez... we ate IHOP, an old favorite of mine, picked up some groceries, took the car in for service... picked up pies for Pi day. And then I engaged in self care Saturday... did a hair mask (coconut oil, olive oil, liquid vitamin E, lavender oil), face mask, had a shower, cut my nails, all really good stuff. Massage train! And then I hung out at the cabin in the woods for the afternoon, before returning to base camp for some dinner and an episode of Firefly.

I chose my plot! The Dragon Roost. More to come on that.

Lots of things to do this week so I gotta get some rest and start it off right!

Recap!

The cats, they are so cute! And, I just gotta know, why'd Dez move the branch like 4 feet?

Nicole Alderman wrote:

The cats, they are so cute! And, I just gotta know, why'd Dez move the branch like 4 feet?

Lol! We were extending the footprint of my imaginary geodesic dome by 4 feet :)

NICE! Yay for a larger geodesic dome! Is it going to be a greenhouse dome, or a home dome?

Nicole Alderman wrote:NICE! Yay for a larger geodesic dome! Is it going to be a greenhouse dome, or a home dome?

I want to live in a dome Nicole!! I'm not attached to the idea but I love daydreaming about living in a dome!