Fred's photos from Wheaton Labs

Now that there's water flowing to the hydrant on my plot, I realized I needed to extend the system.

Hao assisted as I put in a T to the stub coming off of my hydrant.  The new piece of pipe extends the water by 300 feet nearly to the other end of the plot. Hopefully this will mean a lot less up an down the hill.

Stephen and Cory helped dig the shallow trench of the new line. Because of its depth, it will have to be drained for winter. But, as it is the line to the garden, I won't be needing it in the winter. As they dug we could see how disappointingly dry the ground was despite a few recent rains.

Fred Tyler wrote:A little update of the work on the skidable shed.

The first two photos are notches that Grey made in the skids for the sub-floor cross-bracing. He used a circular saw and chisels to make these pockets. We set the depth of cut on the saw to be the same as a 2x6 so the cross-brace will sit flush with the flat top of the skid.

The last photo is as Grey admires his work at the end of the day.  Here you can see how the braces fit in the skids. There will be two of these crosses to keep the skids from racking when the building is moved. They will also help add rigidity to the floor.

Thank you for showing all of us how you build this, Fred!  It all makes sense to me, except - can you explain the area in the middle of the structure's footprint, where the 2x6's cross each other?  Is one notched into the other?  Does that compromise the strength of the one in which the notch is cut into?  

Fred Tyler wrote:Now that there's water flowing to the hydrant on my plot, I realized I needed to extend the system.

Hao assisted as I put in a T to the stub coming off of my hydrant.  The new piece of pipe extends the water by 300 feet nearly to the other end of the plot. Hopefully this will mean a lot less up an down the hill.

Stephen and Cory helped dig the shallow trench of the new line. Because of its depth, it will have to be drained for winter. But, as it is the line to the garden, I won't be needing it in the winter. As they dug we could see how disappointingly dry the ground was despite a few recent rains.

This is very exciting!!!  I can't wait to see how your garden fares with more watering.  

Felicia Rain wrote: can you explain the area in the middle of the structure's footprint, where the 2x6's cross each other?  Is one notched into the other?  Does that compromise the strength of the one in which the notch is cut into?  

Felicia, I'll try to get a few pictures of that particular notch. Half of each board thickness is cut away for the two boards to fit together. It does weaken the boards but mostly in relation to supporting the floor from downward forces at that point. The floor boards will be tongue and groove, so they will be supporting each other, as well, and won't need that much from the cross-brace. I think the notch doesn't weaken the board that much in relation to racking of the skids. Even though half of its material is missing, that space is filled rather tightly with the board crossing it, and it can transmit those compressive forces through that.

I've got a couple pictures of the scaly sawgill mushroom (Neolentinus lepideus), also know as the train wrecker, for its ability to grow on creosote treated timbers. At first i was pretty sure that it was the giant sawgill mushroom (Neolentinus ponderosus), but everything says that one doesn't have a ring on the stipe. It is growing out of an old rotten stump, which was probably a ponderosa pine. This is one of the brown cubical rot mushrooms that paul says make something like biochar out of the wood. It is edible but as it gets bigger it gets tougher. Also, i wouldn't recommend ever eating it off of treated lumber.  It is one of the few mushrooms to fruit during the heat and dry of summer.

As a gross bonus, i found the remains of a "paper" cup in some rotten leaves on my plot. All of the paper has decomposed, and all that is left is the thin plastic liner.

Fred Tyler wrote:
As a gross bonus, i found the remains of a "paper" cup in some rotten leaves on my plot. All of the paper has decomposed, and all that is left is the thin plastic liner.

Fred, this is crazy interesting!

Here's some more photos of the cross-brace construction.

The first photo shows the 2x6 with the cuts to half the thickness in preparation for chiseling.

Second is Grey cleaning up the notch.

Third is the two boards being assembled.

Last is the skids with both cross-braces in place, ready for the posts and floor.

After working on the skidable shed, my back would often be sore. We were chainsawing and chiseling pieces resting on log cradles, near the ground. Thinking about how to improve the workspace, i remembered i had these old scavenged sawhorse pieces. Grey and i put them together with some leftover 2x4's i had from a different project.  The legs were too long, so we removed about a foot. Then we cut angles on those scraps so of they could become braces for the legs. Now we can work at a comfortable height.

First photo is the "new" sawhorses we will be working on.

Second is a close up of the angled scrap for the leg brace. These added a LOT of stability.

Third is with one of the shed posts attached (with dumpstered ratchet strap) and the tab i cut into the end of it. So much easier to see and mark the log, hold the tools, and cut to my marks at this height. This cut was faster and more accurate than the ones before.

Here's some more game cam pics. There has been many different deer passing through my plot. They have started to munch my garden stuff, so time for a quickie fence. There was a doe and her two fawns that visited a couple of times. One of them kept trying to nurse and she kept shaking him off. She was drinking water for 8 or 9 minutes. She must have been thirsty.

And no, these are not time traveling deer. Even after "fixing" the date and time, i somehow still managed to enter the wrong month, so everything is a little off.

I saw coyote tracks in the loose dirt of the trench we dug this morning, but didn't catch any on the camera.

Today i've got several pictures of the blanket flower (Gaillardia pulchella). These are native to the southwestern (mostly) US, and not the ones normally found in Montana. These are growing behind the teepee berm, so i'm guessing they were part of our wildflower plantings for the nearby bee hut. In these harsh conditions, these have spread and multiplied to a small degree over the last few years.

I read that this plant was made into a tea then bathed on the sore nipples of nursing mothers, and that it was also used for sore eyes.

The first photo shows the flower in full bloom. There are a couple of different species of bee visiting the flower. In the opposite corner of the photo is a blanket flower that has gone to seed.

The second photo shows the flower after pollination. The petals have dropped off. It has lost most of it's red color. It is ripening its seed.

The third photo is one of the leaves on the flowering plant. Earlier in the season it is more of a basal rosette.

The fourth photo shows some of the rather pokey seeds. I will take these to my plot, thank you.

The fifth photo shows the ground these flowers are growing in. Several years ago all of the topsoil was scraped away to form the adjacent sun-scoop berm for the teepee. Now you can see the smallest crust of topsoil forming. These are tough plants!

I've got three different minty plants growing on my plot. Not including catnip and lemon balm and the like. These all smell slightly different but very much like mint. These plants all came from other people's gardens and none came with a label. Do any look like a mint that you can give a definite name to?

The third one is the tallest (about 2' tall) and just about to bloom lavender flowers. This one reminds me of my grandmas house every time i smell it.