Dave Burton's Boot Adventures at Wheaton Labs and Basecamp

Good morning!

Day 96

Here is an early morning look at part of the Fisher Price House.



I went outside to pet Ferd and Gert this morning! I could see them, but my camera couldn't really see them. So, it looks pretty dark in these photos.





I started the morning before Bootcamp by knitting more of the scarf I am working on.



I thought the early morning sky was quite nice today.



Josiah and Austin worked on the Bermshed this morning, and Jen, Fred, and I planted seeds on Fred's Plot at Wheaton Labs. I started by planting concord grapes under deadstanding trees and trees that are roughly twice my height.







I saw some mushrooms and lichen/moss that I thought looked pretty cool!



I also planted sugar maples!



During the afternoon, I built a sturdy firewood rack at Allerton Abbey!





At the end of Bootcamp, we unloaded from Doug a lot of construction stuff from Allerton Abbey, so, that the place would look nicer. Here is aa late afternoon view at Basecamp!



During the evening, I built a bee and insect watering station!





Jocelyn made a yummy vegan chili today, and Bella made tasty corn bread! Jocelyn also made a liver pate, which I forgot to take a picture of.

Good afternoon!

Day 97

I spent this morning working on finishing my brush pile, so that I can earn the Animal Care Sand Badge!

Here's a quick look at Plum Plateau midway through my work this morning to build my brush pile!



Since we have limbed so many trees at Wheaton Labs for the Bermshed, the future fence at Allerton Abbey, and other projects, I went around collecting some limbs with Ranger Doug to use for making my brush pile!



This is my completed brush pile that I built!



And here is a picture of my brush pile, in relationship to my hugelkultur that I made, to demonstrate that my brush pile is located near a garden!



I operated another batch box RMH for an hour! The rocket mass heater I chose to operate was the Cyclone rocket mass heater in the Red Cabin at Basecamp. It took me a few tries to get the fire started properly, because for some reason, the fire kept going out after I started it. Then, after really really slowly closing the lid , I got the fire going! I was a bit surprised by how slowly I had to close the lid for the fire to operate the way I think its supposed to function.







I spread some ash on a hugelkultur garden at Basecamp! I had tried to build a dakota fire stove on Plum Plateau at Basecamp, but I ran into issues trying to get down far enough to make a decent fire pit- due to hwo rocky Basecamp is. I also tried to use a GoSun solar oven to cook rice, but I had trouble getting it to heat up because of how cold and cloudy it was today (also I tried starting this later in the day, which may alsio have been a contributing factor).



Jen, Josiah, Bella, and Austin went out to visit Coco to slaughter a couple of sheep today and brought them back to Basecamp to butcher. When I last checked, after I took this photo, I saw the sheep hanging in the Auditorium. I wanted to work on trying to get more BB's today, which is why I did not join in on this activity.



I saw Gert nursing Like Bear and Willy today, and I think they look so cute and happy!



I also cleaned the bathroom in the Fisher Price House at Basecamp.

Good afternoon!

Day 98

I started the morning boiling water on a rocket j-tube! I think the fire in rocket devices is quite pretty!







Here is a look at the fire in the rocket j-tube!



I also made baked apples and pears with a rocket oven!







This is a little look at the rocket oven while I used it this morning!



These are some pictures I took of the misty morning we had today!





While the embers were dying out in the rocket j-tube and rocket oven, I tried to build and operate a dakota fire pit, but I had some trouble keeping the fire going. I would start the fire, and it would run for a bit, and then, it would die out. I'm not entirely sure why. It may have been that it was starting to rain a little. I can try again at another time!





This afternoon, I visited Allerton Abbey, and I sauteed spinach on the rocket cooktop! I took a quick video of melting the coconut oil before I started to sautee the spinach!







Here are some more pictures I took of the rocket cooktop!





I went on a hike this afternoon, and I thought it was pretty today!



Here's another look at Plum Plateau, with the structures that I build for animals and growies!

Good morning!

Day 99

Here is a look at part of the bunk room in the Fisher Price House at Basecamp.





Last night, I fried up basted eggs for myself for lunch this afternoon. Sometimes, I prepare a bowl for myself for the next so that I don't have to worry about trying to cook at the same time as other people during lunch.



Last night, I also knitted more of the scarf I am working on.



Yesterday, Jen, Josiah, Bella, and Austin continued processing the sheep. One of the things that they made with the sheep is bone broth from the sheep bones.



Recently, some of the retaining walls of the Bermshed at Basecamp collapsed, so, that;s what we worked on fixing today!



Here's a look at the walls that collapsed.





We did a lot of digging and wheelabrrowing, so that we could access and remove the logs that fell out of the wall.



I thought it was nice to watch the kittens playing a little bit after having lunch!



We sorted the logs that we removed into salvageable logs and logs that we will probably use for hugelkultur.



Here is a look at the retaining walls after some of our work today!





I got my dakota fire pit to work and cooked a salad on it! To make my dakota fire pti work, I had to make the exit chimney thinner, make the entrance bigger, and make the connecting hole larger!

Good morning!

Day 100

Here is a look at the cleaners that we use- baking soda, vinegar, and Hall Bath Vinegar Water.



This is teh book that I am currently reading- The Three Imposters by Arthur Machen.



These are some of the healed blisters and calluses I have gotten from the permaculture bootcamp.



Here is a look at the Bermshed before we began work this morning.





We did a bucket brigade to dig out the sand behind the retaining wall that we are replacing, and we brought that sand up to cover the roof of the completed and to-be-constructed cells.







Gert was huddling outside watching her kittens play around outside today!





Thsi afternoon, we went to Fred's plot at Wheaton Labs to plant seeds and spread out mulch. Josiah and Austin continued work on the Bermshed.







I think it's kind of pretty tossing out the leaf mulch!



One of the seeds we planted this afternoon on Fred's plot was acorns.

Dave Burton wrote: These are some of the healed blisters and calluses I have gotten from the permaculture bootcamp.

Dave, do you have the plant growing there named Sedum telephium? You can use the leaves of that plant on your blisters. In fact not the whole leaves, but there's a thin outer layer you can peel off and then put on the blisters, like a sort of band-aid. It's an old medicine to heal blisters and superficial wounds.
Wiki says about the name of that plant: "Hylotelephium telephium (synonym Sedum telephium), known as orpine, livelong, frog's-stomach, harping Johnny, life-everlasting, live-forever, midsummer-men, Orphan John and witch's moneybags"