What are you doing this holiday season?
Consider renting a
cabin or a
wofati at Wheaton Labs for your holiday vacation!
Come warm yourself with a Rocket Mass Heater.
Bask in the abundance of life.
You can get a good dose of peace and quiet...
Fresh air and sunshine.
Exercise and healthy food!
Samantha Lewis wrote:When I was growing up, we went over the river and through the woods to my grandmother's house every holiday.
We indulged in the finest foods and drank in the happiness of being together.
Spending holidays at Wheaton labs gives me that same feeling of family.
Sitting around the table and everyone has contributed to the grandness of the day.
It is really the sweetest thing.
Beau M. Davidson wrote:The first time I visited Wheaton Labs, I drove through a massive blizzard and arrived to see a winter wonderland, alive with the sparkle and glow of the snow-laden Montana wilderness. Don't get me wrong, the Lab is incredible year-round, full of the verdant fecundity of nested hugel beds and cultivated woodland charm. But for my money, winter is the time when it really shines. The wofatis are in their element, emitting the heat of summer under their snowy blankets. The wildlife is alive with crisp vigor. You can work steadily, all the short day long, in the shining winter sun without overheating. And every day ends with a warm drink and community. Hard to beat!
Here's the calendar for this year. If you want a cozy place to overwinter, it's a perfect time to ease into the
bootcamp.
Half assed holiday schedule for the 2026-2027 winter season:
Fri October 30th - indoor gardening day
Wed November 4th - apple seed day
Wed November 11th - bun warmer day
Wed November 18th - chair repair day
Thu November 26th - Thanksgiving Day
Fri November 27th - wood box day (half day)
- try to replace plastic bins with wooden crates and boxes
- maybe try to make a box that will almost hold water
- maybe even try to make some dovetail joints
- some boxes will be quick and some will be very nice
- unlike wooden spoon day - wood boxes will remain with the bootcamp
Wed December 2nd - day of light - a half day of improving the lighting in and around our nest
- add mirrors
o on walls
o in window wells
o lots of creativity
- add lights that are more efficient by lighting people more than the room
- add solar night lights outside - find artistic themes
- different sorts of prisms in the windows
- add indoor night lights
- make full room lights that can be turned on at the source that add HUGE light to the room
- light experiments
- possible candle lit dinner
- an evening campfire (bun warmer or pavilion)
- maple foods
o maple meringue cookies
o maple rolls
o maple cookies
o spaghetti with each person adding about a tablespoon of maple syrup (tip of the hat to Elf)
o horchata sweetened with maple syrup
o fresh bread served with whipped maple butter
- hot spiced cider
Fri December 4th - wooden spoon day - half day
- we all carve wood kitchen utensils
- maybe one cutting board
- make lots of soup that people eat with wooden spoons!
o make bread bowls for soup
- ice cream to test the strength of wooden spoons
Tue December 8th -- Christmas decorating day - a half day of
- setting up a tree and all the decorating
- popcorn
o +maple syrup to make popcorn balls
- make a wreath
- convert a cubby into a "nativity" featuring wheaton labs stuff
- Christmas movie
Tue December 15th - christmas stocking day - a half day of
- making Christmas stockings (for current and future boots)
- baking
- further cool decorations
- Christmas movie
Fri December 18th - christmas baking day - a half day of baking
- and a Christmas movie
Thu December 24th - Christmas eve - half day of (i need ideas)
- I will go into Missoula and get Chinese take out for everybody
- egg nog
- fudge
- confections
- add an ornament to the tree
o must be something that can be used for many years
o says your name plus "Christmas 2022"
Fri December 25th - Christmas day - fancy foodening
Tue December 29th - day of fire - a half day of improving fire stuff
- build indoor and outdoor firewood racks
- do all rocket spots have
o a kindling cracker
o a poker
o an ash bucket
o ample fire starting paper and a propane torch
o a nearby fire extinguisher
o good firebricks for the wood feed
- find quick and easy ways to upgrade rocket mass heaters
- make improvements to the bun warmer space
- evening with the bun warmer
o plus a tiny camp fire in the middle (with our little camp fire contraption)
o smores
o hot dogs
o hot drinks (tea, spiced cider, etc.)
Fri January 1st putting away Christmas + movies day
- black eyed peas, greens and corn bread
- spaghetti
hot springs day - mixed in somewhere. Surprise half day
Tue January 5th - Proenneke day (half day)
- small roundwood projects all with hand tools
o coat hooks (cut forked branch style)
o coat hooks (dry pegs in green half-round of wood)
o a kitchen chair (probably pretty big and blocky)
o repair projects
o sawbuck
Fri January 8th - national houseplants day (half day)
- overhaul all of the houseplants
- modify stuff to be houseplant pots
- coleus seeds
- plant edible stuff, maybe herbs
- add plant shelves and grow lights
- experiment with self watering stuff
Tue January 12th - gadget mending day (half day)
Fri January 15th - quilt day
- collectively make one quilt for one thing
o maybe a window quilt
o maybe a curtain for something
o maybe a bed quilt
- each person has their own square or two to be added to the quilt
- they can add messages with laundry markers
- each boot can add their name
- somewhere it says "bootcamp 2022"
- ravioli served so it looks like a quilt
Tue January 19th -sauna day (half day)
Fri January 22nd - fermentation day (half day)
- water keifer
- kim chi
- miso
- kraut
- sourdough
- keifer
Fri January 29th - pina colada day (half day)
- blended drinks (with umbrellas), pizza and the house is 80 degrees
o beach music
o drink from pineapple cups
- improve the dock
o add tropical somethings
- improve the library
- movie featuring pina coladas or beaches
o shrek (plays the pina colada song)
o pirates of the caribbean
o lilo and stitch
o fantasy island
o swiss family robinson
o guardians of the galaxy
Tue February 2nd - Masanobu Fukuoka's birthday!
- make seed balls
- upgrade the free shelf stuff
- sushi
Fri February 5th art day
- signs and labels
- maybe tiny rock jacks to hold up outdoor signs
- food that would be served at an art gallery
o foods impaled with toothpicks
o foods served on a cracker
o grapes
Tue February 9th - pulley day
- projects with pulleys
o laundry racks
o window quilts
o food drying racks next to the ceiling that can be lowered
o pulley-based ceiling storage
o more things like
Bob.
o maybe some experiments with manual log skidding winches
o maybe some gravity lights in the pantry
Fri February 12th - cat house day
- build a cat house
- eat lasagna
- maybe a movie featuring a cat
Wed February 17th - roundwood furniture day
- making furniture out of roundwood, like the picnic table and the couch balcony.
o chairs
o stools
o tables
Wed February 24th - repair cafe day
Wed March 3rd - gate day
- projects with gates
o maintain existing gates
o build new gates
o make garden gates animal tight for spring
o update allerton abbey gate to be more beautiful
Wed March 10th - garden twig day
- making useful art out of twigs, like a cucumber, pea vine and clematis frame.
o tomato cages
o trellis
Wed March 17th - dog day
- we work on making something for dogs at the dog star
- wofati dog house
If you want to dive in deeper, consider joining the Wheaton Labs bootcamp for hands on Half Assed Holiday experience! : https://permies.com/link/hahbootcamp
