evan's ant village log

Someone donated several potted trees to Camp Sacred Stone. They'll provide some windbreak, mulch, shade, and increased biodiversity. I got to help get these spruce, ash, maple, willow, and elm trees into the ground after helping to come up with a site plan for where to put them that met the needs of the short-term campers around the site, the owner and relevant inhabitants that would live with them longer-term, and the trees themselves. We ended up running a contour-line with an a-frame level and planting most of the trees in a wide arc across the north and west of the Sacred Stone Community School. I also planted a few handfuls of acorns around the camp. If even a single oak tree grows there that alone will have made it worth it for me to have made the journey.

I built an l-tube rocket cook stove out of cans, (a design that I've used successfully for years,) hopefully helping to reduce campers' dependence on propane cooking stoves just a little. And I experimented with a j-tube rocket cook stove in the same style. The j-tube worked great but ended up falling apart when it was being moved around, but I learned a lot and hopefully so did the other folks who helped with and witnessed the stove-building. I think if I use a refractory-cement-and-perlite mix or even just a perlite-clay mix instead of just perlite, this j-tube out of cans could be a really awesome wicked-cheap portable cook stove. I definitely plan to further pursue this line of experimentation.

One of the nights I was at Standing Rock I witnessed police officers in riot gear assaulting peaceful protestors with rubber bullets, concussion grenades, pepper spray, tear gas, and a water cannon.

I'm so glad you went - I think it made a real difference.  I'm sure you've heard about the Army Corp of Engineers reconsidering the pipeline path by now. . .

I couldn't go, but I donated some medical supplies that went there a couple of weeks ago in a repurposed insulated school bus.

Oh, you guys and gals !!!  Talk about warming the cockles of a heart... starting a fire ;)   I've done my marching, protesting, etc. here at home for various anti-war, etc... but this is calling for sooo much more ... and getting so much more!   Lately, a convoy of veterans.  This is one of history's major inflection points, I think.  Hugs

Wow Even!  What an amazing log you've created

Just finished reading and posted this link and a pic to my Instagram @permaculture_life

Love what you and all the Ants are doing. I'm about to start reading up on all their threads next, thanks for the links

I have a feeling you'll be winning the Ant Challenge!  Thanks again for all the info and funny posts, it was a pleasure catching up with your progress.

Also want to thank the Duke and everyone involved for putting together amazing things

I'm always filled with awe every time I return to the mountains after being away for a while; that first glimpse of the earth rising up in the distance, those wind-battered, snow-covered peaks a testament to our planet's headlong barreling through frigid space...

And coming back to the village, the re-realization of having a bit of space-time here; having a piece of mountain on which to live and garden, is awe-inspiring too. Hopefully sharing these pictures will help to spread a little of that inspiration.

Kai developed a neat new way to build fence that's a lot like weaving a basket!

Oh,
when the weather outside is frozen,
sitting by the fire is so zen...

Beautiful!

Glad to see you're not frozen into a Popsicle, Evan.  That Kai is a bush-crafting madman!  I love his ingenuity.  How are the winter shelters working out (Janet, Kai, Ben, you, Jesse, Jim)?