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

Mark Brunnr wrote:Is the new batch box that's in the workshop itself not performing as expected, that you still prefer to fire up the original batch box in the classroom?

No problems with it at all...! Both of them were lit up yesterday. We were working in the Classroom that day, plus Julia needed practice lighting up a RMH, and finally we're trying to dry lumber in there. For all those reasons, it made sense for us to use it.

The Classroom is a great work room for large-scale projects, and I imagine we'll be in there just as much as the Workshop throughout the Winter.

BRK #136

We all woke up under another four inches of snow. This was a surprise to nearly all of us, as the forecast predicted it for a day later, at the earliest...

Meanwhile: "You're not a bear. You're a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat."
(I was being snowed-on at the time this photo was taken)



Here was my view at the wheel of the Kubota tractor earlier today:



In lighter (that is, indoor) news: SEPPer Julia and I started work on a set of shelves. These don't look like much right now, but they'll soon be installed in the Berm Shed to assist in our storage and organization efforts.



Finally... After our Taco Tuesday meal was cleaned-up, Fred brought out an award-winning tabletop game for us to play: Alhambra. In the game you organize your own medieval town by purchasing building tiles with four different types of currency. Grey and I did our best as newbies, but seasoned veteran Fred won out. Congrats on your victory, man!



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

BRK #137

Lots of work down by the Classroom and the Berm Shed today. Pictures below to show some of it. There was constant snow today - maybe four inches fell through the day, after about three or four last night - so we stayed out of the weather most of the time. At least, the snow wasn't falling on our heads (with the exception of Caleb, who was assigned to plowing duties today. Sorry dude! I will take it tomorrow. ).

Here's a photo of both SEPPer Julia and boot Daniel practicing their sharpening skills on a couple hatchets in the Workshop. We've been out and about harvesting firewood these past several weeks, and these tools are useful for a variety of tasks, most often de-limbing trees we've felled.



Grey and I cleared-out a couple cells in the Berm Shed today, in preparation for some renovation. Here's a triptych of before-during-after to show the progress of one of the cells.







(yes, there's Choco... He must be loving life down there, camped in the Berm Shed. He's healthy and hale. In fact, he's so big that I continually compare him to a three-year old toddler, and Caleb has coined him as "Choco Norris," which I think is brilliant.)

Here's a photo of another of the cleared-out Berm cells. In this one, we're installing shelves, and here's a photo of them in-process. Everyone had a chance to chip in on this project today, and although the final result isn't shown here, it was more about seeing everyone work together as a team and keep it movin' until it was finished and ready for use. We all should be proud of what we were able to build with what we had on hand: essentially a bunch of scrap wood.



Finally: I've developed my own tea blend...! Never thought I'd say that in my life. But for months I've been drinking different teas and trying different combinations. My current blend is licorice, dandelion root, burdock root, and elderberries. For me, it's a definite winner.

I was snapping photos of my jar in the kitchen this evening, and Caleb commented, "You refuse to take pictures of cats..."

"Touche', sir," I replied. "A hit. A great and palpable hit."

I enjoy the taste of the tea: thoroughly, and regardless of his conspicuous envy.



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

BRK #138

Happy Day of Light to you...!

Today turned out to have some significant personal setbacks between the fun of Day of Light, so I don't feel I'm ending the day at 100%. Even so, there was still much to enjoy and to be grateful for.

For example, Grey set up lights underneath the dock worktable in the Library! They frickin' change colours...! It's quite novel and a nice touch.



Another thing the team was able to accomplish today was a fleet of portable, solar-powered, motion-activated pathway lights (we're still working on a name for these...). The story behind these is that we've received a lot of feedback from event attendees regarding the night lights. Not enough light, light beaming in peoples' faces when they turn on, light not lasting through the night, etc.

So this is our current solution. Each of these lights is mounted to a log at an angle that allows the mini solar panel to receive photo-energy, while the light will shine and illuminate the pathway and not blast someone in the eyes in the middle of the night. We'll see how these work and likely make adjustments to these prototypes as time goes on through the Garden Master course and definitely through event season.



Here are a couple photographs of the conditions today: snow, and lots of it!



Here's the view between the Classroom roof and the Berm Shed roof. Since we had the Classroom and Workshop heaters running today, periodically large masses of snowmelt would land below this spot with a loud FLUMPH!



It has snowed so much in the past couple days that I would need to visit the tent and smack the snow from the roof panels. Well, looks like I should have visited more frequently, since sometime between Tuesday evening and today at lunch, it collapsed. This was a minor nightmare come to life, were I to be frank.



I made my way inside and it was worse than I expected. The central pole had buckled. I was speechless at this point.



Fortunately, the camp stove seemed intact, as was the chimney.



Unfortunately, the rain fly was shredded, and I assume the canvas was damaged. The weak point was around the chimney.



I'll contact the tent manufacturer and see if they sell a tent pole separately. Otherwise, well, I'll look into lodge poles or something like that in town. This was quite a bummer, and I can't blame the tent for it. It's a magnificent structure - the best kind of tent I've ever slept in - and it would still be livable had I only visited it more frequently during the rough weather we had.

And while everyone was making the pathway lights, I must have been lost in thought because the angle grinder took a bite outta me and jumped from my hands. This finger's gonna be ugly for a while, but it's otherwise okay.



I wonder what else December has on the agenda for me...?

We wrapped up the day with some spaghetti with a dash of maple syrup (a nod to a specific scene in "Elf," for the Day of Light), plus a pasta-veggie dish Grey had prepared for us. Thanks to Daniel and SEPPer Julia for taking care of my dishes after our meal. My finger needed rest. In fact, typing this up has taken waaaaaaaaay too much time as it is.

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

Thank you Stephen for your post. It was very informative and inspirational...If I were 40 years younger and single, I'd be hopping this first bus out to Missoula. It sounds like the kind of lifestyle I could easily embrace...Best wishes for continued progress.