!! In the quiet hours of the bootcamp grind, I found myself: Esteban's Bootcamp Experience

B.E.L. Post # 170

Today was another full and productive day around the lab.

This morning I led Jesse and Lorenzo with watering at Apricot Alley before heading up to Lightening Hill for some chop and drop work. We used the fresh mulch around the baby trees, giving them a little extra care and protection.

Afterwards, Jesse continued making progress on the trail work at the horseradish berm while Lorenzo assisted me with laying some larger hugel steps. Throughout the morning I also had sprinklers running on Lightening Hill, the horseradish berm, and the Optimus Prime berm section outside the fenced gate to keep things soaking in while we worked. Meanwhile, Melissa was sharpening chainsaws and processing aluminum cans, helping keep both tools and systems running smoothly.

After lunch, the same crew plus JR joined up at the Abbey. I had Jesse and Melissa working on watering the trees and berms while Lorenzo, JR, and I focused on the Abbey’s back door area. Later on I switched over to the Abbey entrance, where Melissa joined me in bucking my stack of harvested junkpoles down to 10-foot lengths and filling in junkpole panels.

Lots of different moving parts today, but it felt good keeping the crew moving and seeing steady progress across several projects.

Yesterday 05/21/2026, was a productive day with Melissa on my team. During the first half of the day we spent our time at the Abbey harvesting junkpoles so we can keep moving forward on the next junkpole fencing panel build. It was steady work, but good seeing more materials gathered and ready for the next stage of the project.

After lunch we switched gears and set more hugel steps at the Optimus Prime berm, sifted for additional gravel, and continued processing aluminum cans. Along the way we also jumped in to assist Seth’s team with a few of their tasks wherever an extra hand was needed.

Overall it was a solid day with a good mix of material harvesting, berm work, and teamwork around the lab.

B.E.L. Post # 171

Today had a bittersweet start. During this morning’s meeting, Lorenzo and Michelle sadly walked in and announced that they would be leaving and said their goodbyes. I hope the power of the sunchoke be with them wherever their next adventures lead.

After the meeting, Tracy joined my team and it was a very delightful day working together. For the first half of the day, we focused on irrigating the usual spots — Apricot Alley, Lightning Hill, and Raspberry Rock — keeping things happy and hydrated. Afterward, we planted some tomato and pepper seeds before heading off to our beautiful rock face where we shoveled and hauled 20 pails of dirt up onto the turtle berm.

After lunch, we made our way to the Abbey and focused on harvesting and stockpiling junkpoles in advance for future projects. We kept at that through the second half of the day while also jumping in to assist JR and Sean whenever needed.

A productive day mixed with some heartfelt goodbyes and good teamwork.

B.E.L. Post # 172

Today was a very delightful and productive day here at Wheaton Labs. I started the morning as usual tending to the hungry felines before heading over to the exposed rock face by the delivery sign. There I collected another bucket’s worth of dirt and followed it up with some pressure washing to help clean and expose more of the rock face.

Afterwards I processed some aluminum cans before making my way out to the Abbey. The afternoon was dedicated to harvesting junkpoles for the fencing project, and I managed to bring in 10 more poles to keep the momentum rolling. To cap things off, I set another vertical post in place, bringing us one step closer to the next fencing panel build.

B.E.L. Post # 173

Started the morning off by feeding the cats, then went over to clean out the ashes from the Solarium RMH. Nice simple reset to get things ready for the day.

After that I jumped into the cleaning blitz with the boots crew. It turned into a really productive flow, and we ended up rolling that momentum into organizing the free shelf in the Solarium with Seth and Melissa. We sorted through everything and got it looking a lot more functional and easy to use.

Once that was done I headed out to the Abbey and kept working on the front entrance until JR arrived. When he got there I switched over and helped him with the backdoor work instead, just pushing that area forward and getting things more dialed in.

Finished the day off with a pizza party, which was a really nice way to wrap everything up.

And big thanks again to Paul for his generosity—definitely appreciated and helps keep everything moving along.