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

BEL #790

This year in particular, we've done a lot to increase the vegetation over at the Lemon Tree Site, which isn't too far away from the acre I'll be stewarding. We've gone aggressive with the sunchokes this year, as well as planted over a dozen willow trees. On this tier of the Site, we've marked-off all the sunchokes with rings of stone so it's easy for folks to see where watering needs to happen.

Since there are no hydrants over there, we haul in all the water we use. Maximizing our available water is important all the time, and even more so when the weather is as warm as it has been lately.



Another aspirational goal we have this year is to build our chicken paddocks. Before this year began I had the lofty goal of completing all of them, and then having chickens at Wheaton Labs in 2026. Now, back to earth, I have a strong feeling we'll be able to finish one of the first four we'll need to bring chickens to our land.

But today was a step in the right direction. Paul had a couple mulberry trees shipped here, and they were planted today in two separate prospective paddock locations.



Another symptom of the coming of the blazing-hot summer: sunshades...! This is the current view from the patio between the House and the Library. Maybe as soon as next week, we'll have sunshades installed on the roof of the Classroom/Woodshop.



Finally: I felt I must include a picture of this. Thursday night is our Game Night, where we play tabletop games for a couple hours in a big group. After last week, I wanted to come up with a game themed after Walking Onions, and this was version one. It was clunky and cludgy and with plenty of room for improvement. However there was a game for six people with plenty of laughs and a last throw of the dice to settle the victor of the game. Version two ought to be ready for next week...



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

BEL #791

Upon fellow Boot Catherine's advice, we're changing up how we irrigate during these hottest times of the year (yeah, the warm season began earlier than usual). So while the main Boot team headed off to the Lab, fellow Boot Shawn and I stuck around Basecamp to do some irrigation, sprinkler-setting, and trail-building.

There's an area on the southern-most border of the Basecamp property, which we're currently calling The Outer Rim. I've assigned Shawn to be the point person regarding the building and gardening that's happening in that area. Today, he and I began building trails along the berm that hugs that southern border/property line. After removing most of the foliage from the area, there's what one of them looked like:



I suggested that we make trails "like stripes on a candy cane." The idea is that the paths all slope gently upward along the berm, and ensure that all gardening areas remain within reach of someone on a nearby trail. All the trails will follow the contour of the berm going upward, and will be placed in such a way as to not interfere with baby trees and other plants that are already established on the berm. Here's how that same trail looks after I dug it out and did my best to level it.



There are a number of trees that are bearing fruit for the first time this year...! It's exciting. This is the first fruit I've seen on this tree yet: an Early Laxton/St. June variety. We celebrated this plum sighting by snacking on some of the dried plums left over from last year's harvest.



Finally, here's a rare, oddball haul I picked up from Goodwill not too long ago. The leather punch is nice, as is the assortment of turnbuckles and utility knives, and I think there are animal nail clippers in there...?



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

I fell in to a dampened ring of stone (in my best Johnny Cash voice).  That looks like a good idea...we definitely have an issue marking things here well enough that they can be seen over the weedy material that can get 4-5' tall.

Yes, definitely a set of dog clippers there.  I guess you have a few cats you could practice on, assuming you're in a mood to lose some blood....

It's nice to see plants maturing such that they bear fruit.  Keep at it.

BEL #792

New Boot Brian headed out today. Best of success on your future adventures and projects, man!

I coached fellow Boot Stephanie through sharpening a chainsaw today. Here she is at the shop vise, double-checking her filing angles.



Of course, you have to test the sharpness of your chainsaw once you're done. She's in front of the Classroom, looking for those tiny wood shavings in place of sawdust. Two thumbs up from me...!



Finally, she also sharpened a shovel in the shop, and finished it with linseed oil.



It's the end of an era... While clamping down pieces of roundwood on a sawhorse today, my favourite ever-ever-ever ratchet strap broke...! It's more of a clamping ratchet strap, and it seems to be the perfect length for every job. I wonder if I can find some replacement tow strap or something to stitch into the metal fixtures...



I'm experimenting with different - and hopefully more effective - ways to drill accurately into roundwood parts. I was working on another roundwood shelf for the tent today in these photos. Right now, I'm making "relative right angles" by stuffing a tool into a drilled hole (in this example, it's a round wood rasp, noted with the dotted green line) and comparing its position to where I drill into the wood or make marks for further work.



The "eyeball it" method works inconsistently. When it's good, it's all right. But when it's bad, it's just terrible.

It was only a matter of time before I succumbed to a visit to YouTube University. After a bit of research, I learned today about something called a "drill block," some of which have chamfered back-sides. This would allow me to ensure I was drilling my pilot holes as close to perpendicular as possible in one try, even into a roundwood timber.



To start with, on my next trip into down, I'll have a look for a drill block.

Roundwood - even small pieces, or perhaps because I'm using small pieces - presents challenges. For my shelf projects, I have numerous pieces I need to make as straight as possible:
- the mortises/holes I drill into the shelf legs,
- the tenons I carve into the ends of the various support pieces,
- even the starter lengths of wood, all of which typically include natural, imperceptible curves and various bits of "character"

I think I'm just rambling at this point. The whole, "Don't wish it were easier, wish you were better" maxim applies here.

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

I'm experimenting with different - and hopefully more effective - ways to drill accurately into roundwood parts.

Could you secure the piece of wood on the drill press instead of using a hand drill?