A 12-day permie challenge

My challenge this year is top secret.
It's to complete a very large project that started in the summer.  

And alas, you won't be hearing more about it until March.  

What a great idea! I'm currently deep into two projects which would be lovely to continue to focus on for the next week and a half...first, we are moving onto a friend's land. This entails getting our living quarters finished up (24ft trailer and a 17ft retired bread van), and our remaining belongings sorted and packed, so the house canbe put on the market. So far, I've gone through the kitchen (except the fridge), the closets, and my clothing. After being settled in our current home for 20+ years, there's a LOT to go through!!
The second project is a quest to breed Black Soldier Fly larvae! I purchased my first lot; they grew up and crawled off to get ready to hatch into flies. At that point, I had the option of letting them hibernate until warmer spring weather came, or keep some of them indoors to see what happens...I chose the latter! Found a mesh clothes hamper to start them in, and gave them a 3" layer of leaf mulch to burrow into. After a day or two, I noticed them moving. Fed them bananas until they stopped eating (4 days or so), then kept the mulch damp and waited, and watched! A week later, I found 2 flies hatched! Then, like popcorn, they exploded! I currently have around 100 flies, and was able to see several pairs breeding. They're slowing down their movements now, so am waiting for them to die off, and see if the females laid eggs that grow into larvae. There are many yellow spots on the sides of the mesh, so they may be eggs. If no eggs were laid, I still have the rest of the batch to hatch out when it warms up.
I really like reading about the projects you others are immersed in! Brings me back to the reality that life is more than the current unrest...

Jay Angler wrote:Lisa Brunette wrote:

This second one was 4 miles with rugged elevation gain on a state park trail further afield for me. Next I try for 5-6 miles, and/or solo hike in the snow.

Your highly unofficial safety committee here. Wilderness etiquette/hiker responsibility strongly urges *all* hikers, but particularly solo hikers to make sure someone knows where your hike starts, ends, and approximate times. We almost lost a couple of young people recently in BC and in the spring almost lost a permie when they missed a few of the basic safety rules. Cell phones often don't work in wilderness areas, particularly if you're not on the trail because you slipped into a ravine when ground you thought was solid, wasn't.
Hiking is awesome, solo hiking is incredibly peaceful, but shit happens. My friend who's in Search and Rescue loves the work, but prefers it to be "rescue" - not "retrieval". That difference can be as simple as how prepared you are, and how quickly you're reported overdue.

This message is for everyone, please keep safe! I get all teary and upset when people get hurt or dead.

@Jay - no need for the PSA here. I let both my husband and brother know where I was... which was a fairly trafficked trail with cell reception, by the way. I always err on the side of caution, bringing my essentials on every trip, too, no matter how short. But I don't blame you for the reminder - when I lived in the PNW especially I frequently heard of tragedies resulting when people didn't take proper precautions.

Lisa Brunette wrote:

Here's what I still have to do:

4. Repair a seat cushion by hand for the first time.

5. Clean out the basement, setting up shelving for my growing collection of herbs, seeds, and preserved food. Since I've never lived in any one place longer than 3 years until now, this is the first time I've had to clean and reorganize without boxing things up to move. And the seedsaving, herb storing, and food preservation is all new.

Thanks for bringing up this great topic!

Just want to report back for accountability's sake that I've now completed #4 and #5 on the list. I also made elderberry muffins, a new recipe for me! These two weeks off work have been the best weeks of the year - a really good glimpse of what life could be like if I fully exited the hamster wheel.

Two years ago when I did this challenge, I started with the goal of a raised asparagus/strawberry bed and the weather was uncooperative to the point I switched to a sewing project. Last summer, I finally got two 4'x4' raised beds one of which got planted in strawberries and the other has berry plants awaiting transplant. I put some asparagus berries in among the strawberries in bed 1, but I've got some babies which should probably get transplanted if I get that far, but right now it's just tooooo... wet.

However, the 4'x4' beds were so pleasant to work in, I decided I'd like to make two 6ft beds, as we happened to score four 6 foot skids that are very sturdy and 30" wide, although they require a lot of infilling.

So Challenge A is to get the panels for one of those beds completely finished and ready for placing in the garden area.
Challenge B is to get the area where they need to go cleared up and ready and make up 4 brackets to hold the bed together.
And Challenge C is to get all the panels for the second one complete.

I'm confident I'll manage Challenge A unless the weather deteriorates further, as I made *really* good progress a couple of days ago and finished 1 1/2 of the long sides. Today the rain held off and I finished adding slats to the second long side and completely finished a 4' end panel. I was lucky as we had found a skid with very few gaps, so I just had to cut it to size and put 2x4's at what would be the new top edge and the gaps where the brackets will go. The next 4' panel will need a lot of infilling of wood slats and they all have to be cut to size unless I consider using more wood, but less cutting by putting the extra slats at 90 degrees to the originals. I need the dirt to stay in, and I want it to look pleasant, but I'm not following someone else's directions - I can make it up as I go along!  

I will do my best - the forecast isn't promising, but it doesn't need to be perfect.

Chris Kott wrote:Great idea. I am going to make beer for the first time. I am also going to try to make cheese.

-CK

I love your signature quote. Me, almost to a T. Off to learn how to write a sonnet ;)

Fantastic Idea! We did lots without knowing of the challenge. Cleaned up a downed pine tree, built six huegel mounds, cut up some firewood, moved a mushroom log, planted some seeds, prepped for and ordered chicks, ordered seeds, installed a vanity, repotted many plants, mixed bulk chicken food, spread compost on new annual beds, cleaned up gallon of spilled paint in our hall, started/growing barley sprouts, prepped yard for winter...we had a busy winter break. Today is technically no longer vacation as everyone is prepping for the 'normal' week ahead but I'll be buying and building a new 'canning' shelf we can easily earthquake proof and tomorrow plan to finish our shower install and get our toilet back in. Happy New Year!

r ranson wrote:My challenge this year is top secret.
It's to complete a very large project that started in the summer.  

And alas, you won't be hearing more about it until March.  

I did it!!!

my back hurts from too much computer time.

But I Did IT!

...

For the rest of the 12 days, I have plans to finish a few more projects.  

The good news is that I got all the panels done for raised bed #1.

Then Hubby decided the way I'd done the corners on the small bed of the same type is a bit wimpy, so he wants to order some aluminium architectural "L" for me to make the corners out of. That will take a week or so, but will make a sturdier angle. Considering this bed is 6' instead of just 4', something stronger makes sense.

In the meantime, I started working on clearing the spot the bed is to go. There were dead bean plants that needed to move to the compost so I could get their poles out of the way.

At least I got the panels made! Considering the rain we've had, that was a great accomplishment.

Yesterday I finished the second project.
It's been a good push to finish off big projects.  

Renovating the front room is planned for the holidays.  I've recruited someone to come move the furniture on the 26th although I'll probably have to feed them good food and wine as thank you.  

But I think this will take too long for the challenge.  I've got about 4 times the amount of wall as I did for my loom room including plastering and possibly a celing.  If I have enough paint, I may just paint the kitchen as well, so the goal is to finish this in 1 month.  

I need something smaller but still challenging for my 12-day challenge.  

Maybe learning to use my knitting machine?  
I have the yarn but have to dye it.  I'm too frugal to buy the colour yarn.
I want two sweaters and two pairs of arm warmers.

I think I could do that in 12 days.  Although I'll also be working on the renovations...I don't know.  It's pushing it, but winter is here and I want a sweater.  

Maybe if I sign up for craftsty now and watch the classes before time...

I like this idea! I try to plan something to look forward to on Dec 26 through at least Jan 1 to avoid the "Christmas letdown." There's so much build up to it, that I've often felt like "what now?" afterwards. Permies projects would be perfect.

One goal is to complete 2 PEP BBs during that time that don't involve cleaning...2 BBs that are more project-based like building a step stool.  

This year, I need to focus on self-care, especially eating well for my health. Today, I made a menu for the 12 days, so my other project will be to cook/prepare 3 meals per day. I tend to say at least 2 meals per day are "on your own" and then I snack through them, so planning and preparing 3 meals each day for 12 days will be a leap. My baby is ready for 3 meals, not just snacks, so for her sake and mine, I need to learn to meal plan and follow through.

I have been wanting to do an interesting 30-Day Challenge of some sort, and found this thread here at Permies. Now that the frosts are finally over here (I hope!), I am thinking...I could plant a different variety of seed each day for the next 30 days, which is easy and fun to do, but maybe not so photographable.

The Boots' daily photo threads are 365+--day Permie challenges, and they are so much fun to watch. I want to do something smaller-scale but really cool. When I think of something to do, I will probably document it here at Permies!

Rachel, why not do a 30 day Garden Challenge?  Take a picture of something in the garden each day.

A flower or a bug, ect.

Rachel Lindsay wrote:I have been wanting to do an interesting 30-Day Challenge of some sort, and found this thread here at Permies. Now that the frosts are finally over here (I hope!), I am thinking...I could plant a different variety of seed each day for the next 30 days, which is easy and fun to do, but maybe not so photographable.

I just told my husband, "If I can plant a seed and dig up a perennial weed every day for the next month, I might get somewhere with my garden." It's slow going at the moment, and that sounded nearly doable.

A 30-day challenge of it could be even more interesting if you tell about uncommon varieties or why you're planting in certain groups or spots. Just a thought.

It's been too long since I read it, but maybe there are several things in "Building a Better World" that would be perfect turn into 30-Day challenges?

I've got easy access to  at least 30 days of sticks , for example...

Rachel Lindsay wrote:It's been too long since I read it, but maybe there are several things in "Building a Better World" that would be perfect turn into 30-Day challenges?

I've got easy access to  at least 30 days of sticks , for example...

Okay, hold me to it y'all!~ https://permies.com/t/215118/Building-World-Day-Challenge

I could easily do a 30-day challenge, "pull up a weed every day".

I actually normally pull up several every day so this would not be much of a challenge.

Anne Miller wrote:I could easily do a 30-day challenge, "pull up a weed every day".

I actually normally pull up several every day so this would not be much of a challenge.

Anne, me too! Mine could even go to 90 days:)

Liv Smith wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:I could easily do a 30-day challenge, "pull up a weed every day".
I actually normally pull up several every day so this would not be much of a challenge.

Anne, me too! Mine could even go to 90 days:)

If I thought I had *any* hope of digging out 1 Himalayan blackberry root/day for 30 days it would be wonderful - but it would take 90 days to make a miniscule dent in the problem! Hubby wants to use big equipment, but I find in most situations that just breaks off all the medium roots which proceed to grow plants again...