So I figured out the
Rocket Mass Heaters seemed like a pretty good thing, especially considering I have a piece of
land with lots of
trees, no buildings at the moment, and need a way to make it through this winter. Turns out there's this
Jamboree thing going on the next timezone over with lots of really smart people also interested in making better use of the fire element. I'm not one to normally spend money on something like this, but suppressed wanderlust from the pandemic impositions
led to rationalization of a need to edumacate myself at
Wheaton Labs. The likelyhood of collateral info and the promise of 9 days of good food made this decision a bit easier. So I loaded up the motorcycle and set off from Wisconsin for a place where the lack of trees makes the sky look big...
Once I got through Western Minnesota and Eastern North Dakota, the scenery started to get interesting. In central Montana it got downright stunning as big pointy rocks started sticking out of the ground. I literally hurt my neck by hurtling along the roads at ludicrous speeds and turning my head in wonder at the landscape, which tended to yank my neck in odd directions because aerodynamics.
I made it to Mr. Wheaton's neighborhood of make-it-real Friday afternoon, set up the hammock on the side of his semi private mountain, and woke the next day to look down on the clouds, an inspiring start to the event.
The first builds involved in the Jamboree were all experimental. The Rocket Mass Forge sounded the most interesting but was reserved for the second wave of projects, so I focused on the outdoor kitchen rockets with a side interest in the solarium
RMH as that was the most conventional. After a team hacked out the floor of the kitchen and space for a below grade J-tube, the base of a 'Lorena' cooker and adjacent stovetop was built by Shannon and Mark under the direction of Rodney.
As things progressed, this dude named Mud talked a lot and we were exposed to the basics of rocket technology and this stuff called
cob which got plopped all over the orderly bricks to make this thing look anti-authoritarian
enough to please most of the parties involved.
Toward the end of the week an instructor claiming to be a jackass showed up and turned out to be pretty cool. The attendees' self appointed lead artist Lisa insisted on having a
rocket kiln so many minds came together to construct something suitable outside the shop. Mud got baked without any violation of Paul's rules.
Rodney needed some ventilation for the RMStove in the outdoor kitchen and showed me how to make nice windows by cutting holes in plywood walls and dressing them up. Paul suggested the magic of magnets be applied to the situation and the kitchen now has something that looks and feels surprisingly professional (for at least a season or two).
The stove came together as the star of the week, able to boil a few gallons of
water in a canning pot in about 15 minutes on the first try. A subsequent modification with an
oven box on top of the heat riser succeeded in making edible (and even tasty) cookies.
I ended up moving my hammock from Sherwood Forest on the front of the mountain to the back of the volcano at the top to benefit from the heat of the lava. The view up there is excellent also.
On the last day the edge of a storm whipped into basecamp and destroyed the large event
canopy. It was supposed to be cold and rainy all day but the sun actually shone most of the time and the rain was pretty sparse. The pretty results failed to bring out anyone running in circles with excitement over the double rainbow...
The weather forecast for Self-deluded European Day looked like snow in the central Montana mountain passes, so I arranged with Paul to stay and try the boot-for-a-day program and cash in on the meal ticket. The morning opened up a bit like the first day, albeit a bit colder.
Sunday evening and Monday morning were full of farewells to recently made acquaintances, along with a little tussle with Uncle Mud over who could leave the worst joke lying like a large turd in the basecamp driveway before departure. Sadly no one else seemed eager to judge this contest.
I spent the day with a bit of cleanup on projects I had participated in, the whole shopatorium area, and finally a good half day experiencing the massive Wheaton hugels up close and personal along with the fantastic crew of
boots. Unless the weather turns horrible by morning I will see if I can barter this event journal for some breakfast grub, then pack up and reassemble the trip in the reverse of the order it was taken apart. My one regret is that I didn't sync up better with the spirit of Robert Pirsig over this whole venture...
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