Pam's Boot Camp Experience (BRK)

Day 6, Post 1

I find it serendipitous that I started Boot Camp on Valentine’s Day. Last year was filled with heartache, heartbreak and disillusionment.   I left the relationship and the future I was literally building.  I lost my brother, Phillip, to suicide.  I was reconfronted with childhood traumas I thought I’d cleared.  I might label it the worst year of my life.  But it’s just a label.  What is good, what is bad?  It’s all perspective.  I am finally able to see that nothing is done to me, it’s all done for me…. an opportunity to grow to my highest potential and to release what no longer serves me.
The tailspin of last years events felt like my world was collapsing.   Sometimes you must tear things down to build back better. I’m still not sure I believe everything happens for a reason, but I am glad this series of events steered me to Wheaton labs.  Change has been the only constant in my life, so taking this leap of faith to join the boots at Wheaton labs- although a bit daunting- was also comfortable, somehow. I am one week in and couldn’t be happier I decided to embark on this adventure.  So far, I have been met with kindness, patience, and gratitude.  I have been exposed to so much knowledge.   I can only hope to return as much as I receive.  

This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it’s a feather bed.  —Terence McKenna

Week 1- Never a dull moment.  I helped Jeff wire the new lithium batter bank for the solar system named leviathan. We milled boards from a huge pine tree cut down on the property. We installed a new Rocket Mass Heater at the cabin called Dog Star. We cataloged our seed library on a spreadsheets so we could plan and prepare and order seeds for fast approaching growing season.   We built a cat box to keep the kitties warm in winter. We added on to the junk pole fence. We built a bee box.  We rotated and chopped fire wood. (If there was an award for how many times one can swing a Maul without actually splitting the wood, I would be world champion!) I got to partake in Taco Tuesday and a Half-ass Holiday!  

This is what I needed in my life right now… to get out of my own head and to be present and in service.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for this opportunity!  I am grateful.

Day 7 Post 2

I took full advantage of rest time after the busy first week of boot camp.  Lots of walks with my chocolate lab Toby this weekend reminds me to keep a Buddhist mindset.  No matter how many times Toby plays fetch he still acts like it the most fun he’s ever had… every single time.  I wish I could still approach things like that…. I think we do when we are kids by it leaves us at some point.  He’s finally settling in at Wheaton Labs after 2 weeks of traveling (from Clearwater, Fl) to get here.  We had a lot of fun but that much change can be stressful for a dog.  
   After a nice day of nest labor I cooked pumpkin curry for everyone with fresh pumpkin grown here this past season.
 Yesterday Grey showed me how to make these awesome fire starters to help start the RMS in the Red Cabin.  It’s so easy to get a fire started now! Thanks Grey!  I'll be happy to have these since we are supposed experience negative temperatures this week here.  I’d be surprised if there was not a thread about how to make these already but I’ll tell you anyways.  

Egg Carton Fire Starters
Items needed- Olive oil, lint, carboard egg carton, wood dust, wood chips, melted beeswax
-Soak lint in olive oil
- Put a little saw dust at the bottom of each egg holder
-Then add the oil soaked lint to fill each egg cup
- top off with more wood dust and stick 3-4 wood chips in each egg cup vertically
- pour melted beeswax over the whole concoction to keep it all together

Break off one to start a fire.  These will burn for 5 minuets and so far have started a fire every time!  Also, my dog ate one and he seems fine so there’s that.  Maybe keep them out of reach of pets though….

Pamela Sprecher wrote:Day 6, Post 1
........We rotated and chopped fire wood. (If there was an award for how many times one can swing a Maul without actually splitting the wood, I would be world champion!)

This is what I needed in my life right now… to get out of my own head and to be present and in service.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for........ this opportunity!  I am grateful.

What an incredibly encouraging and positive post, Pam!   It's funny when you ponder the typical advice that you might get from the mainstream culture about how you might recover from the year you describe navigating before arriving at Wheaton Labs.  I think Providence has, indeed, looked favorably upon you with this decision..... I can think of no more empowering lifestyle to lead  at this juncture than to get hands dirty and solve problems, not capitulating to "You can't do THAT!...." and instead embracing "Let's give it a go!....".  I included your splitting maul line because I'm glad to see that skill still being taught/learned even as there are gas/electric log splitters out there for high volume jobs.  Best to you in your experience and it looks like you've landed amongst a great crop of boots to provide support.

Day 8/ Post 3/ Date  2-21-2022

We never get bored here.  Every day brings new tasks and new surprises.  Today we received a new Boot- Meghan!  We began our day with 6 inches of snow, so plowing and shoveling were a priority.  After that it was imperative to find indoor activities to keep us from turning into snowmen. We used the highly refined technique of threshing rye which included doing the twist on a pillowcase full of rye heads to loosen the kernels.  This got us warmed up enough handle the artic temperature of the woodshop at least till we could get a fire going in the liberator rocket heater.   The rest of the day was like high school woodshop class... all of us making prototype boxes for different needs in the shop and the library.

There’s no end to the magic here…. Yesterday I heard Meghan express gratitude over a meal having been cooked for her, as she is the primary cook at her homestead.  I had cooked that meal.  Today, she offered to take Toby for a run after work.  This really made my day!  I want to make sure Toby gets plenty of outdoor time but sometimes I’m just exhausted after work.  I tend to be a pleaser and always want to make sure everything and everyone around me is taken care of, sometimes to my own detriment.  It meant so much to have help with Toby today so I could go take care of my needs (dinner/ shower) first without feeling guilty for neglecting his.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Day 9/ Post 4/ Date  2-22-2022

Today we made a thing!  Well… Technically we finished a thing that was already started.  That’s what is so neat about this place…so much has already been started.  We are either finishing up something that was already started, improving something that was already made, reaping the benefits and efforts made by previous boots or starting things to be finished and received by future participants to come.  It was a great day to complete a project that had been in the works for several months.

Meghan and I lengthened a window quilt that was started previously and installed it over the kitchen window.  Once we install window quilts over all the windows, they will preserve the heat from the RMS overnight and on super cold days.

It is currently 5° here.  Stary warm out there…..( unless you live in Florida.... you bastards… and by you… I mean me.... cause I left that 80 degrees and sunshine to come here!)

Welcome to the boot camp Pam! I'll be moving up to the lab permanently in a little under 3 weeks from southern California, so I'm hoping either the crew figures out how to warm everything back up to 68-70F there, or I SUPPOSE if that cottage rocket in Dog Star is working, I'll just use that instead (I'll be renting Dog Star for a few months as I build my wofati). It's always cool seeing new people join the group, there's so much a person can learn and fingers crossed you find it a great fit for longer term!

Pamela Sprecher wrote:Day 8/ Post 3/ Date  2-21-2022
We used the highly refined technique of threshing rye which included doing the twist on a pillowcase full of rye heads to loosen the kernels.

When I threshed my rye I used two bowls and a fan. A pillowcase sounds like a better way to get the kernels free.

  John, thanks for your response a couple days ago!  Its been a journey and this is a great place to heal!

 T- We use the fan method after the pillow case maneuver.  The pillow case is just to separate the kernels from the heads.    

Mark- I keep hearing about your arrival and look forward to meeting you! I think the Dog Star is all ready for you.  

Day 10/ Post 5/ Date  2-23-2022

Half-assed holiday #2 (since my arrival)

    Make signs and eat hors d'oeuvres

For those of you who are like what the hell is a half-assed holiday…. Good luck figuring it out…. I still can’t explain it.  If you wanna find out you will have to come experience it.  

 Signs were made using a wood burner and sealed with linseed oil.  

Day 11/ Post 6/ 2-24-2022

I wish life could be as easy as winnowing threshed rye.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could just blow away the discomfort, the pain, the sadness and keep the love, joy, and peace?  As easy as the winnowing may look, it took quite an effort to get to this stage that looks so easy.     Those seeds (of hope) did not come out easily… they had to be twisted, massaged, danced on and downright destroyed to get the good stuff to detach from what was no longer needed.  May you winnow away all your woes and allow the winds of change to release what no longer serves you.  

 

I'm glad you joined the boot camp Pam, it's great to have you!  A couple winnowing tips...

With big chunks of chaff like that, I'd recommend grabbing handfuls of the chunks and slowly letting them drop out of your hand in front of the fan.  It's easier than getting them to fall out of the bucket smoothly.  Also, having a larger receiving bin makes things a bit easier too.

Good job!  It was cute how you cut off the video right before the "it"

Day 12/ Post 7/ 2-25-2022

Fixed the sand leak in the RMS today.....

Day 13/ Post 8/ 2-26-2022

In the summer of 2018, I took a grand leap of faith.  I sold my business and almost all of my possessions and I embarked on an indefinite solo road trip.  I wanted to see the north west.  I had been to 38 states already and wanted to see the rest of them.  I left from Florida and headed to Michigan, drove through the upper peninsula into Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.  I have now seen every state except Alaska and Hawaii.  I firmly believe Montana is the most beautiful of all the states I have visited.   On that trip I camped in St. Regis and took a dip in the Clark Fork River in Missoula.  Glacier National Park became my favorite national park.  I thought this place was so magical.  I wanted to live here….. but winter scared me.  Could I -a Floridian- handle a Montana winter?  So I kept going and ended up living in New Mexico for 3 years.  The locals say that New Mexico is the land of entrapment (a pun on ‘the land of enchantment’).  I didn’t believe them till it happened to me.  New Mexico sucked me up and then it spit me right back out 3 and a half years later.  Now I find myself back in Montana smack between 2 places I visited 4 years ago and absolute loved… this time in the dead of winter.  I am not only surviving this winter but thriving.  I love winter- a season I never got to experience as a child in the tropics.  I never know where life will take me, I’m just along for the ride.  I used to resist change, now I embrace it as I know the grand plan is far better then I could ever design for myself.  So today, my only full day off from Boot Camp, I drove to the St, Regis travel plaza and had the worlds best huckleberry milkshake… again…and reread my journal from when I was here 4 years ago.  I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to be back here and to be having this most wonderful experience.  Nothing lasts forever so just enjoy life while you can, no matter where it takes you. Remember to see the magic all around you, all the time...it is there.

Day 14/ Post 9/ 2-27-2022

On Sundays the boots do nest labor.  We take care of the nest.  For 1 hour we blitz clean the house.  Wipe down all surfaces, put dishes away, sweep, mop, vacuum, wash windows, clean bathroom and take care of laundry and trash.  It all gets done in 1 hour with 4 people.  Then for 2 hours we work on other nest maintenance or needs.  This could be grocery shopping, creating necessary documents, chopping firewood for the house or replacing rotting baseboards.  Me and the newest boot- Meghan- were tasked with the baseboard project.  At first, I was going to make it as simple as possible just plain boards with no bevel cuts and no routing.  But…that wouldn’t really be learning something new.  So we decided to use the router and make 45 degree edges with the chop saw.    The quick and unexciting video shows the board going through the router.  Our choice of router bit was the 5/16ths Roman Ogee (cause we are original ganstas).  We sealed the boards with linseed oil just in time for lunch.  I made Pad Thai and finally had the foresight to make extra so I have left overs for the next few days!  Yum!

Very cool, it's nice to learn new skills and/or use new tools and methods to accomplish tasks. Having spent too much recent time sitting on the floor, scootchin my butt along as I clean base boards and having to get into those little routed edges... I imagine any future routing will be with smooth/flush edges where I'd be cleaning again!

Day 15/ Post 10/ 2-28-2022

Dude, everyone here is so badass!  I know nothing last forever so just trying to stay present and enjoy every moment.  I’m so grateful to be here now.   We had a great day cutting down trees in the rain.

Day 16/ Post 11/ 3-1-2022

We've been organizing the recycling area.  We started with the cardboard.  Meghan and I have been working together as a team for over a week now and we get shit done!  We decided to give ourselves a team name….Team MEYHAM cause we’re killin it.

I love reading about your experience Pam.

What do you all do there with glass ? I know there is a lot, but is there anything in particular you have learned  ? I am saving our glass bottles (mostly beer ) to make some sort of monument to the glass that beers so often drank out of, then thrown away , inn our soon to be earthship! Or maybe an outdoor kitchen made of a glass bar.. who knows

Its warming up ! Almost time to float the river

Day 17/ Post 12/ 3-2-2022

Its not all sunshine and rainbows.  How could it be?  Without the bleak and the dreary how would we be able to appreciate the sunshine and rainbows?  We have barely seen the sun in the past few days.  We’ve been trudging around in rain and mud.  It’s a very damp cold here.  We’ve been organizing garbage (well recycling) for days.  It’s hard to keep morale up in these conditions.  How do we get through these times in life when it feels like conditions are working against us?  Nothing lasts forever.  Don’t like the weather?  Seasons change, it will warm up, it will dry up and before we know it, it will be blazing hot and we might be pining for winter days again.   Find the peace with whatever life brings and try not to label it ‘good’ or ‘bad’.  It just is.  Everything is temporary.  And remember you must have rain in order to have a rainbow!  I actually saw 2 ...yes TWO rainbows yesterday.  Things can’t possibly be that bad when you see 2 rainbows in 1 day.

Tessa Dawn Nunlist wrote:I love reading about your experience Pam.

What do you all do there with glass ? I know there is a lot, but is there anything in particular you have learned?

Hey Tessa-  so cool to have 'met' you through Trina!  Thanks for reading about my experience!  Most of what I learned about using glass in building I learned at the Earthship academy.  They mostly use them for colorfully designed  bottle walls in the home but they can also can be used for privacy walls to surround your home.  My favorite wall was in the bathroom of the Phoenix in Taos.  Typically they take 2 bottles cut them in half tape them together to make a 'bottle brick' and then use concrete or cob as mortar.  In this bathroom wall they left a few of the bottles open so you could put soap, sponges or little decorations in the opening of the bottle.  If you don't want to do an entire wall you can just add a few to the top of the wall to let light in.  Your idea of making a bottle bar sounds really cool too!  I hope I can come visit while your earthship is in progress!  

Hmm, a bottle wall could be an option for my wofati on the lab as the bathroom will be in the southeast corner and I was thinking glass blocks. If there's a bunch of bottles there in recycling maybe I can put them to use?

Mark Brunnr wrote:Hmm, a bottle wall could be an option for my wofati on the lab as the bathroom will be in the southeast corner and I was thinking glass blocks. If there's a bunch of bottles there in recycling maybe I can put them to use?

Mark you may have to duke it out with Grey... He's been saving them up for a bottle project as well....  We could just start saving all the glass till you arrive and then maybe you can both see what your needs are when you get here?

Certainly Grey or anyone else can have first dibs, probably by the time I reach the point of installing windows I'll be so tired that I'll just want to put in the quick and easy option and take a nap, but maybe retrofitting something more artistic later on will work too.

Day 18/ Post 13/ 3-3-2022

Yesterday was Half-Assed Holiday # 3 since I arrived.  Holiday- Organize the free shelf and eat sushi.  
The free shelf is a huge shelf that consists mostly of donated stuff and things folks left behind to be repurposed by anyone who needs them.  Most interesting find was a couple of thongs- the underwear kind.  No thank you.  
As for sushi…yes please!  Not only did we get to make and eat sushi…I got to spearhead the cooking!  I have been making sushi for over 10 years thanks to my college sweetheart who happened to be Japanese and taught me how to make all kinds of Japanese food.  Although, in Japan, they don’t really eat sushi rolls in the way we have Americanized them.  
I also got a pair of rain boots from the free shelf which was awesome and sorely needed with all this rain and mud!  My feet are so happy today!  

This is how we roll........

Day 19/ Post 14/ 3-4-2022

Forest Thinning

Forget Wheaties… this is how fast you move when you only eat organic food!

Day 20/ Post 15/ 3-5-2022

Fixing the fence

Day 26/ Post 16/ 3-11-2022

This will be my last post as my time here at Wheaton Labs is coming to a close.  I had only planned to stay a month… and here we are 1 month later.  I had an amazing experience and will always cherish the time I spent here.  Early on, I did fantasize about possibly staying a little longer, maybe through summer.  A few factors have contributed to me sticking to the original plan of 1 month.  First, my dog Toby.  I feel I must make his needs a priority.  This has just not proven to be the right environment for him.  Long hours for me meant lots of alone time for him and very limited outdoor time.  He became stressed out.  I hate seeing him like that.  I decided to be a sepper my last week to spend more time with him which is why I haven’t been posting to the boot camp blog.  

Another pressing issue for me is…. I have a dream!  A big one!  And it is calling me.  I have avoided it, I have distracted myself from it, I have let others lead me astray from it.  I can no longer ignore the calling as it screams louder in my ear every day.  

If you do not have a plan, you will become part of someone else’s plan.  This is definitely not a bad place to end up if you do not have a plan, or if this fits your life plan.   However, if you have a different dream you will never feel fulfilled until you go for it.    

A shout out to the amazing characters I’ve encountered here…..

Dez-  One of the most welcoming and peaceful souls I have ever met. He leads by example and provides gentle guidance rather than preaching.  He truly cares about this place and it shows! Your dedication is very much appreciated even if you cannot always see it or feel it.  

Grey-  Such a hard worker who devotes more than his fair share of time to make this place great.  Very helpful and patient, it was always a pleasure working with him. Happy Birthday Buddy, sorry I'll miss it!

Jeff- I think he is the smartest person I’ve ever met.  There is literally not one thing that he did not know how to do.  Extremely gentle giant with a Zenlike demeanor.  I’m sure I’ll be reaching out to you for your expertise some day (hopefully soon)!

Caleb-  I had very little chance to get to know this guy as he’s been sequestered to the lab for an experiment so we had very little interaction with him… but even so you can tell he’s a stand up dude.

Magdalene- She gives no fucks, a trait I always admire in people.  She was the only female before I came and will again be the only one when I leave.  She is one tough chica with an awesome cat named Juniper.  I hope your 10 day silent retreat brought you clarity and peace.  Sorry I didn't get to say goodbye.  

Meghan- She was only here 2 weeks and became the star of my blog because we were a solid team.  She was the ‘Meh’ in our ‘Meyham’ (not a typo…a play on our names).  I look forward to visiting her amazing homestead someday soon.  You can see all the amazing stuff she is doing on Instagram- @RiverRamHomestead

Last but not least… Paul- Thank you very much for this opportunity.  Glad I could be a source of wholesome nostalgia by reminding you of your cousin Kelly. I look forward to seeing where all these experiments go.  It’s inspiring to see someone following their dream and persevering past other’s perceptions of you.

Thank you thank you thank you for this awesome opportunity!  Thank you for your time, your patience and your knowledge.  I will miss everyone here and hopefully I’ll be back for an event in the near future.  

Pam, I will sure miss seeing your posts.

Good luck on your next endeavors, and please, keep us posted. Some of us do love to hear about your next adventures…

Just a thought and shout out to Pam, Boots, and Paul.

While Paul continues to muse about how better to get Permies to gain 'traction' in the culture at large, it is posts like Pam's last one that gives me confidence that THIS....Bootcamp, et al.....will be the secret ingredient to Permies dissemination.  Not celebrities, not talk shows, not even videos, much as I use the latter in so many ways on my own farmstead to learn "how-to".  It is the nuts and bolts learning, shoulder to shoulder, with others who share a similar (not 'same', but similar) dream(s) of a kinder walk through this life.  I'm sure it's been noted before, but Wheaton Labs Bootcamp seems to me to follow much the Waldorf/Montessori idea of education with its hands-on approach.  Rather than chasing the next media opportunity for advertising the Permies way, even as that may pay some dividends, I'm hoping many of the ex-Boots and other like-minded might create similar bootcamps nation-wide (in US) and ultimately world-wide.  It seems to be the most grounded, enduring way to change a cultural mindset.

Pamela...when I read "an opportunity to grow to my highest potential and to release what no longer serves me." I instantly got a gut feeling that in spite of your trials and tribulations, you have the right mind-set and heart-set to triumph over your set backs...You are not only a survivor but, IMO a Thriver...Best wishes for you in Montana and going forward