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

While out here back East, I've snapped together a brief video about what Paul and I have discussed as our big projects for 2025, and a direct ask to recruit more Boots:



If you're watching this and you are interested in trying Boot Life, then please visit the official Wheaton Labs Boot Camp page at this link.

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

Well, we know base camp is well-suited to turkeys, so perhaps chickens will do OK.  That should be an interesting design process considering the predator (aerial as well as land-based) protection that will need to be built in.  

Here's hoping you get more BOOTs on the ground and the projects completed.

BEL #719

Back on the BEL-wagon...! I've returned from my spectacular 4S journey and ready for another fantastic year at Wheaton Labs. Thanks to all the folks who stepped-in as interim high commander while I was out of town for a couple months. I met Alex and he seems like a great addition to the team. We have more Boots scheduled to begin before the end of March, and that's a good sign.

Meanwhile... to today's tasks.

To reacquaint myself with the Lab, Alex and I visited Allerton Abbey and a host of other locations in the first half of the day. The plants in the Truly Passive Greenhouse are still looking healthy. I think we'll be starting some pepper plants in there this year, so maybe all those grasses will be moved out. There are three impressive daikon radishes on the left side in this photo, and a walking onion in the back right.



While I was away, Eliot installed this creative wooden gutter at the back corner of the Solarium. Alex and I further secured it to the roof line, so it ought to stick around for a while. When we have some significant rain, we'll see how well this holds up (and holds water).



Most of the afternoon was set aside to address this far end of the Berm Shed, which has seen better days. There are a few roof jacks in there. For now, the plan is to install a "sister log" to the vertical support, the approximate location being the green rectangle in this photo.



Alex and I headed up the mountain at Basecamp and hauled down this section of log from a tree we felled this past Autumn.



The rain picked up a bit too much for our liking in the late afternoon, so we were unable to install the sister log. However, we did capture the angle of the beam it will be attached to with this T-bevel and a small level. Hope we can finish this tomorrow and buy a little more time to make significant improvements to the Berm Shed.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

Hello Stephen!  

I am so glad you are home!  I hope you had wonderful adventures.

Thanks for posting green house pictures.  It is neat to see plants thriving in there.

BEL #720

Someone had requested some diagrams to describe/depict how we addressed a landslide at Wheaton Labs last year, as they're trying to remediate the same type of issue. I posted a couple quick images this morning, and it inspired me to go visit the landslide site today.

Doesn't look like much, since nothing is growing there, but then again it's early March. The good news is the trees (apricot and black locust) made it through the winter and aren't brittle and dried-out. I'm thinking some kind of clinging, vine-rich plant out to be brought in. I don't want it to overtake anything else we'd like to plant (and eat). There's still time to consider seeds, and I'd prefer a perennial though I'm thinking some kind of squash may win out, regardless. Any suggestions?



In the Woodshop, Alex and I gathered up the parts of the unfinished round wood chair project that was started a couple weeks ago, when the stellar Matt Goto was on-site. We'll need some new green wood chair legs, but I think there's plenty to work with here...



Another useful thing that showed up while I was out of town: a person-powered, hydraulic log-splitter! Alex described it as "a bottle jack with two really long handles." That's an excellent description, in my mind.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!