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

B.E.L. Post # 46

After a solid cleaning blitz, little Chapito and I headed back out to the lab and took another long wander on the land. Lots of fresh air, slow steps, and noticing the quiet details along the way.

After the hike, we harvested a few more junk poles for the Abbey and then took down a dead standing tree near the tipi site using just a bow saw—another good bb earned through sweat and patience. Back at basecamp, we fell one more dead standing tree, keeping things simple and intentional.

We wrapped up the day in a much gentler way, settling in with some reading and writing holiday cards. A full day that balanced hard work, time on the land, and a little warmth for the heart at the end.

B.E.L. Post # 47

After the morning meeting, we headed to the shop and got right into it. While Molly was lighting up the rocket mass heater and Stephen was processing cardboard, I was splitting and stacking the logs from the dead standing trees I’d fallen earlier. As a team, we also made sure the shop area was clean, organized, and feeling good to work in.

Stephen then headed to the laboratory to check on the cats, walk the perimeter, harvest sunchokes, and add a few extra tweaks over at the sawmill site. Back at the shop, Molly and I teamed up on a small but mighty project — a door stopper for the Fisher Price bathroom door. You just never know when someone might come along and Hulk smash that door open 😆 better to prevent a hole in the drywall before it happens.

Once Stephen returned with the sunchokes, we washed, weighed, and prepped them for soup. To top it off, Stephen taught me how to make the polydough for tomorrow’s bowl soup dinner.

Post # 48

After the morning meeting, we headed to the laboratory where I felled a tree with a minimum 12" diameter. After delimbing, bucking, and transporting it to the sawmill site, we put one of the logs to good use as lumber.

Stephen did a great job re-notching the ramps, and everything went smoothly at the sawmill site. It was satisfying to see the whole process come together safely and efficiently.

Afterwards, we headed back to basecamp for some chainsaw maintenance, then wrapped up the day by planting sunchokes at the lemon tree site—ending the day with a little soil work and future harvests in mind.

B.E.L. Post # 49

Today we woke up to the aftermath of some very heavy winds that moved through the area overnight. Along with a loss of power, the storm left behind a fair amount of damage. Many trees were down, and whole sections of junk pole fencing were knocked over. This will definitely set us back for a bit.

At basecamp, large portions of the junk pole fencing were blown down. Over at the Abbey, the damage was even more evident—fencing was either completely blown over or crushed by fallen trees.

After assessing the damage at the laboratory, we headed back to basecamp. The rest of the day was spent on chainsaw maintenance and beginning the process of getting the junk pole fencing back in order. It’s slow, necessary work, but a solid first step toward recovery after the storm.

Oh my, that really sucks.  If you have large enough stretches that have fallen, you might consider the wavy deer fence.  I believe Paul's a fan of it and this might be a chance to attempt it.  I'd be happy to consult for best results.

Another philosophical parallel method I just thought of would be something called a Short Junky.  In my area, deer don't jump two 4' high fences that are 4' apart.  My wavy deer fence is 5' high with a 5 foot spread.  The theory is that deer won't jump two fences due to the 3 dimensionality of it.  The inner fence can just be a wire or branch and the outer fence has to prevent them from walking/sneaking through.

So imagine an outer junkpole fence that's 5' high.  Pretty darn easy to make and much less likely to blow over.  Then 5' inside of it have another junk pole that's 5' off the ground.  Like a hitching post.  The solid outer one keeps the deer (and chickens) from walking through and the inner one scares them from jumping.

They could maybe even be braced to each other to negate the need for rock jacks...