Dave Burton's Boot Adventures at Wheaton Labs and Basecamp

Good morning! I started the day off by burning a sign, which I think means I will now qualify for the Sand Badge in Dimensional Lumber Woodorking!

Day 90

I used the sign that I made to brand a location (The Library) at Basecamp!



I made a thread about The Library at Wheaton Labs' Basecamp to describe the significance of The Library.





I took some pictures of sites at Basecamp for the Make a Map Community BB, when I finish making a map of Basecamp.

This is the Fisher Price House and The Library.



This is Turtle Lot and the Red Cabin.



This is The Shop and Arakis.



This is Serviceberry Terrace and the Pee Palace.



This is teh Shower Shack and the Willow Bank.



This is the Love Shack and the Tent Pad sites.



This is Plum Plateau and Raspberry Rock.



This is a look at The Caldera at the top of the Volcano at Basecamp.



I went on an evening hike today after hanging out with my mom this afternoon.







I made a map of Basecamp myself for the make a map for a location BB!

Good morning!

Day 91

I started this morning by hiding what I believe to be the first geocache at the Basecamp of Wheaton Labs! I hid it up here at the top of the Volcano of Basecamp.



This is my BB submission for geocaching, which I think will qualify me for the Community Sand Badge!





I hanged out with the cats and kittens some this morning, too!





I did fix how I hid my geocache, because geocaches are not supposed to be buried. Geocaches are supposed to be hidden above ground. So, I dug up my geocache and hid it under a pile of rocks and sticks beneath the three log bench above the Caldera at the top of the Volcano at Basecamp.



I spent the rest fo the day out and about in Missoula with my mother! We had a lovely time walking around downtown Missoula! We visited Burns St. Bistro and the Thomas Meagher Bar, which both had delicious food! I especially enjoyed the Scotch Eggs and Beef Wellington Pasties at the Thomas Meagher Bar; those were yummy! At Burns St. Bistro, they had this tasty portobello mushroom burger, which I thought was awesome! We had a nice time walking around on Higgins St. (also known as the Hip Strip), and we had a great time at the book sale that happened at Fort Missoula!

Good morning!

Day 92

Here is a look at how recycling is currently organized in The Garage at the Basecamp of Wheaton Labs.



These are some of the sign for the bins that recycling is put in.





These are the shelves where the sorted recycling bins are in the Garage.



Last night, I knitted some more of the scarf that I am working on!



This morning, we started by planting sumac on the berms by the road at Basecamp.


I saw an interesting mushroom while I was planting sumac, and I liked how nice the dried rose hips on the stalks looked!



I collected some Lamb's Quarters seeds to be used on Fred's Plot. As for the seeds that I could not collect, I intentionally spread some about on the berm, so that there will hopefully be more Lamb's Quarters to harvest and eat next spring!



I split three somewhat more than full carries of wood for Jen at use at Allerton Abbey.





This is a view from Basecamp today! I thought that it was nicer that the temperature was a bit warmer today!



Here is another look at what the inside of Allerton Abbey currently looks like! I think it looks rather nice and homey!



These are pictures of the bunk room (has experimental dirt/linseed floor) and Jen's room (has second normal cobb floor we built)!



These are pictures of the living/social room (has first normal cobb floor we built and walls that I did most of the whitewashing for) and the entrance/stove room (which has our experimental cobb floor that is missing the plastic liner)!



We also spent a bit of this morning pkanting black walnuts further up the creek at Wheaton Labs.



I hauled a lot of bags of leaves up along one of Fred's hugelkultur berms on his plot and emptied most of the ones that I hauled up to mulch his berm!



Josiah and Austin spent the day working on the Bermshed, and Jen spent today working on keeping Allerton Abbey up to 85 degrees Fahrenheit for the Annualized Thermal Inertia (ATI) test.

I hanged out with Gert and her kittens for a little bit before I built some snake/lizard habitat! I wanted to also build a brush pile, too, tonight!



I had hoped to get at least two BB's done after Bootcamp today, but with less than an hour of sunlight after Bootcamp, I only had time to get the reptile habitat BB done! I want to do more animal care (especially predator, pollinator, and wildlife habitat) up at Plum Plateau, because I would like to have systems in place before spring, so that when my hugelkultur starts to hopefully grow there will be predators/pollinators/wildlife ready to manage my hugelkultur and help it flourish!

Good morning!

Day 93

Here is a look at an early morning at Basecamp around this time of the year.



It's at least not pitch black when at this early morning; the sun is beginning to rise at this time, since we recently had the time change.





I started the morning off by knitting some.



Before starting Bootcamp, I said hello to Gert, Ferd, and their kittens! Gert is the adult calico cat, and Ferd is the adult grey cat. The kitten names are as follows: Like Bear (full black kitten), Willy (black kitten with white belly), Ernie (full orange kitten), Apollo (orange kitten with white belly), Gretel (orange, black, and white calico kitten), and Gremlin (black and white calico kitten).



It started off as a rather foggy morning!



We began by peeling logs this morning! Josiah and Austin worked on the Bermshed today!





For some of the bigger logs, I found it easier to kind of punt the logs down the mountain by heaving them up and pushing them as far back behind and between my legs as I could. I found that this decreased strain on my back when I was in a squatting position.



I felled a dead standing tree with a chainsaw this morning!





These are some of the logs we got off of the mountain and onto Doug. Some of the logs we took down were brought over to ALlerton Abbey to used as fence posts.



I think it got warmer and nicer this afternoon!



During the afternoon, we took the tractor and trailer up to the Lab to pick up a lot of the trees that we felled earlier!



This afternoon, Fred showed me a little wild raspberry plant that was starting to grow on the mountain!



I felled a dead standing tree with a bow saw this afternoon!



These are before and after photos of the tree before I felled it with a bow saw!



This is a picture of me making the hinge cut with the bowsaw and the timber tool in place!



I made some progress on building a brush pile upslope of my hugelkultur on Plum Plateau, after Bootcamp today! I am placing it upslope of my hugelkultur, because I would like manure from the wildelife and animals that eventually inhabit the brush pile I am building to build the soil upslope of and near my hugelkultur. I would also like to facilitate predator control of pests by making life easier for the animals that inhabit the brush pile; if I put their home upslope of the hugelkultur, then, I think they might be more inclined to chow down if food is downhill instead of uphill.



Tonight, we had Tiki Tuesday, and it was awesome! Everyone pitched in a bit! Since most roles were filled after I came back from working on my brush pile, I handled greywater to help facilitate the dish washing. There was wonderful baked garlic (which carmelized) and baked onions! There was a tasty raisin and carrot salad!



Jocelyn made some fantastic casseroles (left is vegan, and the right has chicken)!



And Jocelyn  made such a delicious cake, as well!

Good morning! I'm not normally up this early, but it might be because I started a project last night, and I want to get that done (and a couple projects or more started, as well)!

Day 94

Here's a look at the utility closet of the Fisher Price House at Basecamp of Wheaton Labs.







So, last night, I started woprking on building an insect hotel! And I want to start on a one-log solitary bee hotel by drilling holes in a log, too!



I built some of the housing for the insects in my insect hotel this morning. I built solitary bee habitat by drilling holes in wood, and I built habitat for grass-carrying wasps by piling a bunch of dried grass into another section.



This morning, I also worked some on my solitary bee habitat BB and finished it this evening!





This morning, we cut down more dead standing trees, limbed them, and took them down the mountain to use for junkpole fence construction at Allerton Abbey. I prepped junkpoles, which I thought was kinda nice!







These are some of the logs after hauling them down the mountain, and then, this is where we stacked some of the fence posts at Allerton Abbey.



We saw a coral mushroomgot on the mountain while we junkpoles and fence posts!



This afternoon. we planted some black walnuts and pecans at the Creek at the Lab!







I saw a bird's nest in ninebark while I planted black walnuts along the creek!



This is a picture of me planting pecans.



This is a cool mushroom that I saw not too far from the road, before leaving at the end of the day.

Good morning!

Day 95

As it typically is at this latitude and early morning, it's pretty dark outside.







Last night, I built a couple of holder for the sides of my insect hotel, so that I can hang it up on a tree.

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Jocelyn made some overnight oats for us!



We got logs for the fence posts at Allerton Abbey.







I thought the bark peeling off of this tree was pretty neat!



We planted cherry seeds this afternoon!







These are some things i thought were cool while I was walking back and forth 20-30 feet on both sides of the creek on the Lab planting cherries.











I finished making my insect hotel this evening!