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

Esteban Ademovski wrote:Yeah, I’ve been harvesting fresh material for the posts and support pieces with coppicing in mind, and reusing the older junkpoles as pickets to fill in the panels wherever I can.

And yeah, you’re right — I must’ve harvested hundreds of trees by now. 😂 It’s definitely made me look at the woodland a little differently. I’ve gotten more mindful of what I’m cutting and what I’m leaving behind, trying to work with the regrowth and keep things healthy for the next round instead of just taking whatever I can get.

It looks like what's being harvested are the local conifers: Doug fir and Ponderosa pine, correct? Neither of these species are coppice friendly, because when you cut them down that's pretty much the end of the tree. So if you want to plan for a supply of pole wood, then I would suggest planting fast-growing coppice-ready varieties like willow, poplar, hazelnut, and similar trees. This could become an output of the willows that are fed by the willow feeders, for starters.

B.E.L. Post # 265

Today we started at the Abbey working on the fencing while Stephen was irrigating. I nearly knocked out a full panel, but just barely.

After lunch at Base Camp, I headed up to the Love Shack with Dan and Sam and added some woody bits to the berm. Then I laid out another layer of soil over it after they finished laying theirs.

After that, I cleared out and leveled some soil by the chicken road. I also did some irrigating, started filling the water turtle tanks for tomorrow, and added another layer of soil to the berm. To finish out the day, I did some chop-and-drop.

B.E.L. Post # 266

We started the morning heading out to the Abbey, but unfortunately one of the locks we use, which is daisy-chained together with a few other locks, decided it wasn’t going to cooperate. It had seized up on us. So we parked Roy out of the way and carried our gear down to the Abbey instead.

Once we got there, we continued working on the fencing and the Cooper Cabin gate repair. Stephen was able to get through with his gravel run, which made things a little easier and kept the work moving along.

After lunch, Sam and I put a protective cage around the Asian pear tree to give it a little extra protection. Then Jesse and I hauled five pails of gravel up to the section of Complexity Trail that she’ll be working on for trail maintenance.

I also made a recycling run before wrapping up the day with the tractor. I put another layer of soil on the east berm by the Love Shack, slowly building it up one layer at a time.

Not exactly the smoothest start to the morning thanks to the rebellious lock, but we still managed to get quite a bit done. Sometimes the boots just have to improvise and keep moving. 😄

B.E.L. Post # 267

We started our morning at the Abbey, and we're getting pretty close to wrapping up the fencing there for the season. We're down to just two panels left to fill in.

The only problem is my supply of junkpoles has gotten pretty low, and I don't have enough left to finish them. So I guess that means I'll be heading back out to harvest some more. 😂

After lunch, I worked on my little garden bed for a bit, then did some chop-and-drop and a little trail maintenance. I also put down another layer of dirt on the east berm by the Love Shack.

Then I had a little comedy show of my own with a junkpole paddock panel. 🤦🤦🤦

But at least something good came out of it. I'll be showing Sam how to build a rockjack and how to frame a junkpole panel, so I can turn my little 🤦 moment into a learning experience for both of us.

Just two more panels at the Abbey, a few more junkpoles to harvest, and we'll hopefully have the fencing wrapped up for the season

B.E.L. Post # 268

We started our morning at the Abbey as usual. Jesse went straight to work on filling in the last two panels, while Sam, Dan, and I headed out to harvest more junkpoles.

After we got a good supply gathered up, we switched off and went over to help Jesse with the last two panels. It’s nice seeing the fencing at the Abbey finally getting close to being wrapped up for the season.

After lunch, I was mainly on the tractor, continuing to build up the east berm by the Love Shack. I made a few more passes and added more material to keep building it up.

After that, we tested out the RMH for the shop after Dan replaced the glass. Everything went well with the test, so that was good to see.

I finished up the day doing some chop-and-drop before calling it a day. Another one of those days where a little bit of everything got done.

B.E.L. Post # 269

Started the morning over at the Abbey with Jesse. While I was there, I got some more junkpoles harvested, and I also took apart an old no-spray sign and post back in basecamp.

I processed the old sign and post down into kindling, then split some firewood and brought everything over to the Solarium. It’s always nice getting a little more firewood and kindling tucked away for later.

After lunch, I hopped on the tractor and put another layer of soil on the east berm. Once I was done with that, I spent some time doing irrigation and getting everything watered.

Not a bad way to spend the day—cats, junkpoles, firewood, tractor work, and a little irrigation thrown in for good measure. Just another day at Wheaton. 😁

B.E.L. Post # 270

Woke up to yet another beautiful morning and started the day with another cleaning blitz.

Afterwards, I headed over to the Love Shack and felled a tree approximately 20 feet away. This was the same tree Paul pointed at with his magical finger the day before, apparently volunteering itself for service in the construction of the east-facing berm. 😂

After felling the live tree, I left it where it landed to be processed tomorrow, when it’s a regular boot day and there will be plenty of hands around to help with it. It was a pretty good-sized tree too — about 17 inches in diameter.

After that, I headed over to the Lab and harvested another 10 junkpoles, then staged them by the fence panel we’ve been working on. That panel should be completed tomorrow.

Once the work was done, I spent some time just hiking around the Lab and taking in the scenery. I found myself doing a lot of reflecting on my time here at Wheaton Labs.

Next Sunday, October 4th, will mark one full year since I arrived here.

One year.

One year of hard work, learning new things, figuring things out as I go, meeting some pretty amazing people, getting to work with all kinds of tools and equipment, and having more than a few adventures along the way.

But more than anything, it’s been a year of experiences and personal growth. There have definitely been challenging days, but there have also been a whole lot of beautiful, blessed moments that I’ll carry with me wherever I go next.

It’s kind of hard to believe that a whole year has already passed.

I guess Chapito has been here long enough to officially become part of the scenery. 😂🌲

B.E.L. Post # 271

We started the morning off at the Abbey, where I tasked Sam with wrapping up the junkpole panel while Jesse, Dan, and I got to processing wood.

We had plenty of woody bits to deal with, coming from junkpoles that weren't suitable for the panels as well as leftover logs from trees I had been harvesting for the junkpole panels. Since we had so much material to process, we spent a good part of the morning stocking up the Abbey. By tomorrow, the Abbey should be fully stocked with kindling and other firewood. Then we'll start filling up the firewood racks at Cooper Cabin.

After lunch, I put the de-limbed tree branches that Stephen processed today from the tree I felled yesterday on top of the east berm. Once those were in place, I laid another layer of soil over the berm.

Then I switched gears and helped Jesse bring four buckets of sand up to Complexity Trail.

After that, I got in some chop-and-drop before moving on to the next task. I tasked Sam with processing some of the woody bits into crates to be left on top of the rocket mass heater at the Fisher Price house.

I wrapped up the day continuing to process the tree that Stephen had started working on earlier.