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

BRK #125

It was our first 0-degree day of the season.



As you might imagine, we took care of a number of indoor tasks for the first part of the day, plus most of the afternoon. First up, a bit of housekeeping: the "suggestions" list from the RMH Workshop from October. Finally took these down off the wall.





Both the batch-box RMHs in the workshop and the classroom kept us warm during our day. Here's the fire in the workshop:



We hung a decorative curtain on the mezzanine today, and I'm pleased with the assortment of hardware I used to cobble together a suitable "curtain stop" at the corners. A washer, a good knot, and an eye hook all cooperated to keep a curtain hanger in the proper place. Assembling it was an interesting logical puzzle, and I felt smarter after making it happen (not much of a leap, admittedly, when the bar for that is set so low.  )



Here's Grey working on another instructive/decorative sign for the workshop. This one is for PPE: Personal Protective Equipment.



In the afternoon, I stopped in at Allerton Abbey to provide new boot Daniel with a brief tour of the hugels and complete a handful of other tasks at the Lab. During our visit, I heard Fred: "So, are you picking up your sunflower today?" I had completely forgotten about it! Yet there she was, patiently waiting for me to come along and give her a rest. This is the 8-foot-plus specimen standing tall (but with head bowed) atop Swamp Castle. I hope to plant all these seeds next season and see a fine field of sunflowers in 2023.



Finally: one of our last tasks of the day was for the team to discuss the possible designs for a gate at Allerton Abbey: a project that's been wanted for a while, but never started. Hopefully 2023 will be the year. And might it look at least a little like this?



Thanks for reading, make the most of your weekend, and enjoy your day...!

BRK #126

Here's a little catch-up with a Saturday edition.

One of the nice things about the winter weather in an arid climate is that you can observe which areas of your garden - and here specifically: which part of the hugel berms - receive the most direct sunlight. This can help inform our efforts for the coming growing season. I'd like to map all the hugels we cultivate in an effort to add to our success in building soil and growing food. Here's a hugel berm out at Allerton Abbey, as an example.



Friday night, as per usual, was for electricity projects (a side-effect of my binge-drinking of black coffee at dinner). On this photo of a project from that evening, I marked the pathway of electricity through the circuit with a pink line. This one was fun to tinker with as I used a switch to trigger a bunch of different sounds. I also took it upon myself to add in a resistor, as it was just so darn loud.



Friday afternoon, we were wrapping-up with a discussion of the gardening for next year with the entire team present. We looked to the PFAF (Plants For A Future) website, and then gleaned some data on the plants tuned to our growing zone as a way to inform our efforts. We all came to an agreement on our first steps at the start of the growing season, and ended the day on a high note. We'll be referring back to documents like this as a guide for planting, seed selection, and irrigation.



Finally: on a visit to ye olde Goodwill today, I didn't find any more tabletop games, however I did bring home a couple useful books (and one that's just for fun). Three guesses as to which is which:



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

I like your Excel formatted USDA zones :)

BRK #127

Since the snowfall cleared out, so have the clouds. The view this morning was something else.



Sundays are our Cleaning Blitz and Nest Projects days. I started working on a storage solution for the preponderance of lids used on glass bowls. Personally, I think it leaves a lot to be desired (and secondly, there's a wooden box I've yet to make that will stack on top, holding the smaller bowl lids), but at least this is a start.



I already have a second design idea that seems to be a lot easier to make and to work with, and likely uses the space better than a rack and a box. We'll see how it turns out soon enough.

Finally: at the end of the day, here's the RMH in the Solarium, as we settle in for the night.



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

Mike Haasl wrote:I like your Excel formatted USDA zones :)

I can't take all the credit for that. PFAF makes it easy to sort the information they provide. :)