Esteban Ademovski

Yesterday 2026/10/04

I woke up to a crisp, cool Sunday morning and started the day by taking my little doggo out for about a half-hour walk before joining everyone for the cleaning blitz.

After the cleaning blitz, I focused on getting the Solarium tour-ready for the arrival of the new boots. Once everything was looking good, I lit up the RMH in there and filled up the firewood rack so it would be nice and cozy for them.

I also made some time for journaling and reading, and spent a good part of the day hanging out with Dan and Jesse. Nothing too crazy or complicated today, just one of those simple, beautiful days that feels good to slow down and appreciate.

And today felt a little extra special because it marks one year here at Wheaton Labs.

Looking back over this past year, there have been so many experiences, lessons, challenges, laughs, hard-working days, and little moments that I’ll carry with me. It’s been a beautiful and delightful year filled with growth, learning, and plenty of unexpected adventures.

One year down… and I’m genuinely grateful for all of it. ❤️

B.E.L. Post # 276

I started my morning waking up to a very crisp, cool morning here at basecamp. There’s something I really enjoy about those quiet, chilly mornings—it makes it easy to slow down for a moment and appreciate where I am and what I’m doing out here. I took my little dog on a long walk and enjoyed some time together before getting started with the day.

Afterwards, I got up on top of the berm shed and continued spreading out the mulch piles that were left behind from yesterday. It was nice to finally get that finished and see everything coming together a little more.

Once that was done, I took some time for myself to do a little reading and journaling. I’ve really come to appreciate having those quiet moments during my days here. There’s always something to work on, but taking a little time to reflect helps me appreciate just how much I’ve learned and experienced since coming to Wheaton Labs.

Then I headed over to the shop, sharpened a chainsaw, and brought it up to the Love Shack area. I continued processing the dead-standing tree that was felled yesterday by delimbing it and getting it ready for the next stage.

Afterwards, I processed another wooden crate of woody bits and brought it inside the Fisher Price House, leaving it on top of the RMH. That brings the total to 11 crates of woody bits processed so far.  It’s kind of satisfying seeing those little piles of material slowly turn into something useful instead of just being waste.

Once I finished up, I hung out with my little dog for a while and walked around basecamp looking for other things that needed to be done. I also started making some mental notes for the upcoming boot week and thinking about what I can help with and what I can teach the new boots.

It was another simple but productive day. Lately, I’ve been finding myself appreciating these ordinary days more—the walks, the quiet mornings, the physical work, learning new things, and even just wandering around basecamp looking for the next thing to do. Looking back, it’s pretty amazing how much can change through a collection of ordinary days like these.

B.E.L. Post # 275

We started the morning out at Base Camp. Leo, Dan, and Stevie were busy getting the classroom and shop organized and tour ready, while Jesse and I headed over to work on the Red Cabin.

After spending some time there, we switched gears and went back to the berm shed to keep working on the mulch. We got a good bit of it laid and spread across the top before moving on to the tree that had been felled by the Love Shack. By the time we were done, we had the whole thing processed.

After lunch at Base Camp, I took a couple of the boots with me to work on an 18-inch-diameter dead standing tree. It had a pretty hard lean and was right along the property line. The ground was sloped and covered in ninebark, which made getting around it a little tricky.

We worked on it for a while, but eventually messaged Stephen to come give us a hand. He showed up and made pretty quick work of it, dropping that dead standing in just a few minutes.

It was another one of those full days where you start out doing one thing and somehow end up doing a little bit of everything—working on the cabin, moving mulch, processing a tree, and getting another one safely on the ground.

B.E.L. Post # 274

We started our day at the Abbey again, continuing to buck, split, and stack the logs that we’ve been processing.

Then Stephen arrived with T-Rob, so we loaded up the firewood in the back of T-Rob and hauled it over to Cooper Cabin. We packed out the exterior firewood rack and then proceeded to fill up the interior firewood rack.

After lunch, I processed a crate of woody bits and brought it inside the Fisher-Price House. Then I worked on my little garden boots sitting spot.

After that, I helped Sam spread mulch on top of the berm shed. Once that was done, I placed more woody bits on top of the east berm and then used the tractor to put another layer of soil over them.

And that wrapped up my day. Another productive day at Wheaton Labs.

B.E.L. Post # 273

We started our morning at the Abbey, continuing to process the woody logs outside the Abbey’s main entrance. We’re nearly finished clearing that area out, which will be nice to finally see completed.

While that was going on, Stephen was irrigating and laying down mulch donut rings around the baby trees.

After lunch, I laid more woody bits on top of the east berm, then laid another layer of soil over the top of them.

I also processed more woody bits to be put into a crate to be brought inside the Fisher-Price House for the RMH.

After that, Sam and I spent some time processing the tree I felled on Sunday even further.

Another productive day

Hans Quistorff wrote:The notice for your post got lost so I got 4 pages behind on your postings which means most of the pictures aren't  available because the site they are stored on rearranged the files so that link is no longer valid.  This has happened many times when boots have used links instead of uploading to permies. I just referenced a picture on a post from 10 years ago on permies no problem. So  if you want a permanent record upload.

It's very unfortunate that you're experiencing technical difficulties viewing my photos 📸  ... And I certainly can't speak for any past/current boots ... but as far as I am concerned, I've been uploading directly onto the permies website as illustrated from my screenshot ... but thank you for bringing this up, hopefully someone can chime in further on what may be the underlying issue ....

B.E.L. Post # 272

This morning we headed out to the Abbey and spent the morning cleaning up all the woody bits that had been staged outside the entrance.

I was bucking them to length while Dan, Leo, and Sam were splitting and stacking the wood onto the bed of Roy. Jesse was splitting wood too, processing kindling and stacking it into the smaller firewood rack to the right of the Abbey door.

Once we had the majority of the pile processed and the area cleaned up, we loaded up the firewood and hauled it over to Cooper Cabin. We started filling in the outside firewood racks there before heading back to Base Camp for lunch.

After lunch, I threw another layer of woody bits on top of the east berm and then added another layer of soil over it. After that I slowly worked my way through the tree I felled this past Sunday, bucking and processing it a bit at a time.

I eventually switched over to doing some chop and drop for the rest of the afternoon.

It was a pretty productive day. A lot of wood got processed, moved, and put to use, and I got a little more work done on the berm and the tree from Sunday. Just another one of those days where a bunch of little projects slowly start coming together.

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.

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 # 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. 😁