!!!! SEPP to Boot: Stephen's Experience (BEL)

BRK #78

Happy Friday to everyone!

I awoke today to a positively Transylvanian sunrise. As in: the sun was hidden behind the fog, and a spooky crescent moon was in the sky.



For the first half of the day today, we did mostly handiwork. Cory and I completed a couple storage boxes to be used in Cooper Cabin, I delivered those when they were complete, and then visited the Tipi prior to lunch to finalize the position of a few interior tarps and skirts. Jeff will inspect those and either let me know everything looks okay for now, or (...more likely) let me know what's left to be improved. Now that I've spent more time there, I'm intrigued by the space and could definitely see myself staying in there for a while, even over the winter. I imagine it would definitely be cozy.

After lunch, the team visited the Lab and Allerton Abbey for some gardening. Things are looking up once again, thanks to the recent rain. We're still watering a lesser amount, plus wondering when some serious harvesting will start.

We heard from Fred today regarding the better time to harvest sunflowers: when the backs of the flower heads have turned brown, then the plant's totally done for the season. This massive flower head - atop a stalk over 8.5 feet tall - still has some time to generate some seeds. The face of it looks to be about 6 inches in diameter, and I'm curious how much it and its neighbor will produce. With this kind of performance, it may be a good idea to not eat them all, instead saving a number of the seeds for planting next season.



And Swamp Castle has its moat back...! I must admit I was missing this during the dry season. Visitors would frequently ask how the hugel earned its nickname, with only a drawbridge and no swampy moat visible. Hopefully this photo communicates Swamp Castle's origins.



Finally: to wrap up our time at the Lab today, the team felled a couple trees, then bucked, split, and stacked them back at Basecamp. Here's a photo of Cory and Caleb makin' it happen (Grey is actually behind Caleb, and he was the guy who originally felled the tree we were working on at that moment).



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and make the most of your weekend...!

BRK #78

Weekend Catch-Up Edition...!

Ever wonder what the oil filter from a 35HP tractor looks like? Well, when I was prepping for a weekend shopping trip I sated my curiosity. Turns out it looks just like the one in a typical car, but maybe twice the diameter.



Also something wrapped-up at the end of this past week: I completed the "stilts" for the second set of bunks over at Cooper Cabin. Here's the process, outlined in 6 simple steps.



1. Use the hole-making drill bit to outline your 2.5" hole, then clamp it in a shop vise.
2. Start prepping your removed material by creating a rosebud/spiderweb pattern on the part to be chiseled out. Start from the outside edge and work to the center.
3. Use the gouge (basically, a rounded chisel) to remove material a little at a time. Work from the center to the outside edge.
4. Clear out the hole periodically by removing it from the vise and dumping out the material.
5. Gradually work your way into the piece of wood until you've made it to the same depth as the hole-cutting drill bit, clearing as you go.
6. Flatten out the bottom of the recess you've made as best you can so there's no uneven leg supports for the bunk.

This was an oddly enjoyable and satisfying project, and I'm glad to see them put to use (and actually work).

Today, I continued sanding the surfaces of the rolly-shelves in the Solarium. Dusty work, but I kept the sliding doors open to encourage a fresh breeze in there whenever possible.



The rest of the boots and I had an enthusiastic discussion regarding the Solarium windows, and the possibility of mounting shelves in there for sprouting seedlings - and therefore gaining some ground on the growing season. Caleb has taken on the project, and I'm excited to see what he comes up with.

Finally: a little bird stopped by my workstation in the Library, and dropped off this box of potential tastiness...



I've seen these things working in the winter before, so I reckon I'll hang on to it for a couple more months before I start watering.

Speaking of hanging on... I've decided to push the button on the purchase of a larger, heavy-duty tent! I hope to use it to stay in a tent all winter long. It should be arriving by next weekend. I'll mount it as soon as possible, then after the RMH event in October I'll have more information on the kind of tent stove to install in there. I'm very excited about this development, and I'll be sure to share photos of any new tent-ish happenings.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BRK #79

I am currently settling in after my first-ever sauna experience. I only did it for science.

However, I have some photo evidence that things actually happened today, where I was present. For example: here's the team bucking, splitting, and stacking wood. I must have caught a sunbeam there, since the photo is so faded out or whatever. My apologies.



But that's not my only documented mistake for today...! I mentioned earlier that I was in a sauna for the first time ever in my life. This was the rocket mass heater sauna over at the Lab.



I was so proud of myself when I actually made it through an hour in that room, and that one of the thermometers reached in excess of 160 degrees F. I made it back to Basecamp, still coated in sweat, and crossed paths with Paul. Here's what I remember of that conversation.

///

ME: Hey Paul! I caught that video footage you wanted of the sauna.

PAUL: Oh, that's great!

ME: Yeah, I even made it up to 160 degrees in like an hour. What an experience!

PAUL: ...Oh.

ME: What's up?

PAUL: Well I heard that it's possible to reach 140 degrees in less than half an hour.

ME:



[Then there was the part where Paul instructed me on how to feed a RMH with "toothpicks" instead of full pieces of wood. It's possible to achieve extremely high temperatures this way, and I didn't know that.]

ME: Okay then. Maybe I can do this for you again Wednesday. ...I can't believe I just said that.

///

So we'll see if I'm up for flagellating myself with heat waves twice in one week, likely even hotter the second time around.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

PS: now it's time for a shower.

BRK #80

Another Taco Tuesday has wrapped...! Thanks to Fred, Cory, David, and Grey for sticking around to play Crab Cards.

Earlier in the day the team took on a number of projects. Here's my first for the day: finishing up two storage boxes for Cooper Cabin:



Based on some feedback, I added rudimentary handles on the back of each so that they could be removed from the shelf and then carried with both hands.



Allerton Abbey was our gardening location today, and though the days are cooler we're still seeing a lot of healthy plants. Here's the massive sunflower from the south end of Swamp Castle, still hangin' on. If you look closely, you'll see a couple paper wasps hangin' on, too...



Finally: I assisted Jeff today with a bit of inspection and prep for the Rocket Mass Heater Workshop coming up in mid-October. We removed the barrel from the rocket mass heater in the Library. I'd never seen one of these before face-to-face, so it was very interesting to take it apart and check out the inner-workings. Once the event begins, we'll have someone earn a BB for cleaning out and maintaining the RMH.



Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BRK #81

An excellent Wednesday, and did a lot of battening down the hatches before an evening - and likely, full day tomorrow - of rainy weather. It was a mix of indoor and outdoor activities today.

Woke up to a lovely sunrise, with all sorts of clouds and colours in the sky.



For the first half of the day, the four of us boots all worked on the Pump House project. Frost is coming soon, so we want to finish this up before too long. Here are a bunch of peeled logs we'll be using as walls and shoring-up the pump house.



In the afternoon, we tackled some gardening tasks at Basecamp, and then some event prep work. Out in the hugels, I noticed another fruit coming up on the volunteer squash.



And then there's Empress Mullein. At least 9.5 feet tall. 'Nuff said.



Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!