Esteban Ademovski

B.E.L. Post # 290

Slept in a little this morning, and once I got up, I took my little doggo for a walk.

Afterwards, I spent some time working on my boots' sit spot. It was nice seeing that the yellow clover I planted on the little mini berm is growing, looking nice and green and growy!

I continued leveling out the area where I'll be putting the roundwood bench. Once I had the area leveled, I headed down to the shop and made a couple of little boxes out of scrap wood. Each one is two feet long, a foot wide, and three and a half inches deep.

I measured out a four-foot span for the length of the bench and filled both boxes with gravel, leveling it out to make a nice, solid foundation. Tomorrow, I'll set the two supporting logs on top of the gravel after notching them to fit the bench piece that will sit across them.

Once that's taken care of, I'll plant some more seeds around the area and keep working on turning this little spot into a nice place to sit and enjoy the surroundings.

Afterwards, I did my usual reading and journaling and just took it easy for the rest of the day. It was nice having a slower day and seeing some of the little things I planted starting to grow.

Yesterday 2026/10/23

I was paired up with Sam, who was leading point, and we headed behind the house to the dead-standing tree that Stevie had felled a while back. We continued bucking it to length, and once we were done, we loaded the rounds onto the back of Trob and staged them in front of the classroom bay doors.

Shortly after that, the new suppers for the Abbey arrived. Sam greeted them and got them settled in until Stephen returned from the lab.

Once everything was taken care of, Sam and I headed over to my boot sit spot project and spent some time working on it before lunch.

After lunch, I took over as point person and had Dan paired up with me. I continued working on the boot sit spot while Dan worked on attaching a new round to the kindling cracker.

Around three o'clock, we headed over to the lab and continued harvesting trees for the fencing project back at basecamp. We bucked the trees to the lengths needed for the fencing at the house.

All in all, it was a good day of making progress on my sit spot while also getting more wood processed for the projects around basecamp.

B.E.L. Post # 289

This morning I started out working with Leo, Stevie, and Jesse on the house paddock. Leo has been running point on this project for quite a while, and both he and Stevie are pretty seasoned when it comes to building rock jacks and junk pole fencing. I was really interested in learning their methods and seeing how they do things.

They've pretty much got the whole process down to a science, from the right diameter for each piece to how everything gets fastened together. It was great getting to see how particular they are about each component and learning their standards for putting everything together.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew was over at the Abbey harvesting trees to the diameters and lengths needed for the project. Once they finished, they hauled everything back to base camp and staged the different pieces next to the house paddock.

After lunch, we switched roles. Our team headed over to the Abbey to harvest more trees, cutting them to the specifications needed for the rock jacks and junk pole fencing. Once we finished, we hauled everything back to base camp and staged it alongside the house paddock.

It was a good day of learning, and I'm looking forward to putting some of those techniques into practice as we continue working on the project.

B.E.L. Post # 288

I started out the morning paired with Stephen and Jules. We headed out to the lab to harvest some trees that we could buck to length for materials for the house paddock.

Once we harvested what we needed, we loaded everything onto Roy, strapped it down, and brought it back to basecamp. We then staged the material by the house paddock where the other crew was working.

After lunch, Jules and I went on a recycling run. Once we got back, I bucked a log to length that Stephen and I had brought over earlier in the week. I split it up for kindling and brought it inside to the solarium.

Afterwards, I did some chainsaw maintenance and irrigated the boot sit spot. Then Sam and I headed out to continue processing the dead-standing tree that Stevie had felled earlier last week

Another good day of getting things done ...

B.E.L. Post # 287

This morning I started the day on Stephen's team with Jesse. We headed to the shop to gather some tools and supplies for two tasks. The first was installing a curtain at the willow feeder at Cooper Cabin, and the second was working on the closing system for the ant village gate at the Abbey.

Once we had everything we needed, we headed over to Cooper Cabin. I got the fire going for the RMH while Stephen and Jesse worked on installing the curtain at the willow feeder.

After that, we made our way to the Abbey and got straight to work on the ant village gate. I grabbed a shovel and a hoe and started clearing away the soil outside the gate to make sure there was plenty of clearance underneath the frame so it wouldn't catch on anything when opening and closing. Meanwhile, Stephen and Jesse were up on the ladder installing a pulley system for the closing mechanism. We also swapped out the counterweight for a slightly heavier log.

Once we finished up, we headed back to basecamp, put our tools away, and had some lunch.

After lunch, I headed back out to Cooper Cabin, this time with Dan and Jesse. While Jesse cleaned the inside of the cabin, Dan and I continued working on chop and drop around the outside. We made some great progress, starting along the walkway by the little parking entrance and working our way down the trail leading up to the front of the cabin.

After a productive afternoon, we headed back to Basecamp and started getting things ready for Taco Tuesday!

B.E.L. Post # 286

This morning we split off into three teams. Eric and Sam were on tractor duty, working on building up the east berm, while Leo, Dan, Stevie, and Jules headed off to work on the house paddock. I was on Stephen's team with Jesse.

We started off by filling up seven drip jugs. Five of them were brought up to Raspberry Rock to set up and irrigate, while the other two came with us to Cooper Cabin, where Jesse watered two trees. Meanwhile, Stephen was working out in front of the Abbey, and I got the RMH going at Cooper Cabin.

After letting the RMH run for about an hour, we headed over to the Abbey to feed the cats. Once the kitties were taken care of, we made our way over to the Cooper Cabin gate to take measurements for building a new one. We also took some notes on what needed to be done to bring the other two gates back up to spec after some comedy had happened with them. 😆

After that, we loaded up the six pieces of logs from the two trees I felled yesterday and brought them back to Basecamp for the fencing crew to use.

After lunch, Jesse, Sam, Eric, and I headed back to Cooper Cabin. Jesse went inside to clean up the cabin while Eric, Sam, and I worked on some chop-and-drop around the entrance, cleaning things up and making the area look nice and delightful.

Around four o'clock, we headed back to Basecamp. I stopped by the shop to grab the sawdust bin and topped off the steel drum inside the house paddock, just to the right of the rear staircase entrance to the Fisher Price House.

Once that was done, I grabbed an empty wooden crate and started cutting up some scrappy wood to length before splitting it and filling the crate.

And that was pretty much my day! A little bit of everything, from watering trees and keeping the RMH going to helping out with the gates, hauling logs for the fencing crew, and making some more kindling. Always nice to keep things moving along and get a few different things taken care of throughout the day.

B.E.L. Post # 285

I slept in a bit this morning, but thankfully I was feeling much better. I took my little doggo for a walk before joining everyone for the cleaning blitz, which was actually quite pleasant and delightful.

After the cleaning blitz, Sam and I fueled up Roy and headed out to the Lab to feed the cats. While we were there, we felled two trees to harvest materials for the house paddock. Before heading back, I also loaded up some of the leftover big woody bits from the recent mulch pile at the Abbey.

Back at Basecamp, I spent some time cleaning up in front of the classroom/shop and spreading the woody organic matter over the bermshed. I also moved the odd bits and bobs of woody material from the firewood rack just to the left of the shop door and brought them inside the shop. They'll come in handy soon enough, since Dan runs the shop's RMH in the mornings and evenings.

After that, I took it easy for the rest of the evening. It was nice to be feeling better and get a few things done without pushing myself too hard.

B.E.L. Post # 284

Woke up to a beautiful morning, but I wasn't feeling all that great. I think I might have caught that little bug that's been going around with some of the boots. Dan, whom I'm bunking with in the solarium, was sick recently too, so I guess it's making its rounds.

I grabbed some breakfast and then went back to bed for a little while. After getting up again, Jesse and I headed over to the Abbey to feed the cats. We brought the empty cat food container back to basecamp, filled it up, and I spent a little time irrigating before calling it quits and going back to rest for a bit.

Around the time Stephen got back to basecamp, I got up again, loaded the cat food, and Jesse and I took it back over to the Abbey. Afterwards, we cleaned up the front of the classroom by bringing the picnic table and cob oven back inside.

That was pretty much it for me today. I took it easy for the rest of the day and spent some time relaxing with my dog. Hopefully this bug passes soon and I'll be back to my usual self tomorrow!

B.E.L. Post # 283

This morning at Base Camp, Stephen, Jesse and I spent some time bucking, splitting, and stacking a dead-standing tree that had been felled a couple of days ago. We managed to fill up the firewood racks at the Red Cabin and the ones behind the library a little farther down.

After lunch, I worked on another hand tool that needed a new handle, then did some chop and drop.

Later, Sam, Jules and I took care of the rest of the mulch pile that Paul was kind enough to point out to us. Once we got that cleaned up, Jules and I went back to working on the boot sit spot and kept at it until it was time to call it a day and switch over to the raddest pizza party ever!

Yesterday 2026/10/15

I was paired up with Eric and Sam again for the first half of the boot day. We headed over to the Abbey and took care of the last of the mulch pile. I also bucked two more 4-foot logs from the tree I felled for my boot sit spot and hauled them back to Base Camp.

Before leaving the Lab, we stopped by Cooper Cabin and got the RMH and stovetop going. We spent close to an hour there before heading out.

After lunch, Jules and I went over to the classroom and started debarking the logs I had brought over earlier. From there, we headed over to the little boot sit spot area and did some more clearing to get the space ready for the bench.

After that, we did some irrigation with the water pails.