a couple of pics

Hi Jocelyn.  Montana (like BC, where I live) gets real four-phase annual seasons — that’s why we see snow in some pics from the Labs.  You folks down there are doers, not just thinkers.  Like those of us who’ve been 'on the land' for years and years, you use your backs, arms, hands…

I’ve been hoping to entice someone there at Wheaton Labs/Basecamp to show us how you deal with whatever need there may be for a sheltered, warmable space for building & maintaining things.  Workshop/garage space.

Even if the basecamp & Lab folks are sidestepping owning tractors, backhoes, or tillers, you probably need to maintain a truck, a car, etc.  Are those maintenance & repairing tasks accomplished in a shelter, or are they only a fair-weather thing?

I know, too, that devices like rocket heaters and ovens get built there.  Possibly this is only done in a hands-on teaching situation by visiting experts who bring with them the needed tools & equipment… and maybe you guys do these things exclusively out in the open air.  I can only guess.  Feel like telling us?


For what its worth, the workshops thread I started is here:  https://permies.com/t/62659/homestead-workshop-shed-situation

Joel Bercardin wrote:
I’ve been hoping to entice someone there at Wheaton Labs/Basecamp to show us how you deal with whatever need there may be for a sheltered, warmable space for building & maintaining things.  Workshop/garage space.

Hi Joel, we have threads for that!

First, however, it likely bears repeating that there are video tours and links to more (and more!) wheaton labs info here:  https://permies.com/labs.

Here is a picture of our shop, which is some times an auditorium, and some times a dining hall (from this post in the sound and projector for the auditorium thread):



And this map, from Davin's post in the maps of wheaton labs thread, shows where the auditorium is in relation to the Fisher Price House. (Read previously in that thread to a really terrible digital drawing of mine that labels what the buildings are in this image.)



And from this berm shed thread, you'll see exterior pictures of the shop/auditorium at base camp as we were building the berm shed for even more storage.



And here is a link to the 8" Batch Box RMH in the shop/auditorium. The wood shop side of the shop even has a cottage rocket in it built by Uncle Mud at the 2017 ATC. Maybe we'll get more photos of that through this year's 2018 ATC.

D'oh! That picture of the shop space set up for dining and movies, was BEFORE the couch balcony was built!

Check out this thread, https://permies.com/t/65315/permaculture-projects/couch-balcony-wood-timber-framing, for that being created. This picture shows a wall where we hang tools in the large side of the shop. The smaller side of the shop is walled off (not shown), and is what we call the wood shop, not the auditorium.

Jocelyn Campbell wrote:D'oh! That picture of the shop space set up for dining and movies, was BEFORE the couch balcony was built!

Check out this thread, https://permies.com/t/65315/permaculture-projects/couch-balcony-wood-timber-framing, for that being created. This picture shows a wall where we hang tools in the large side of the shop. The smaller side of the shop is walled off (not shown), and is what we call the wood shop, not the auditorium.

Thanks, Jocelyn.  Good pics, and I followed the link.

So easy to find the info, if you know where to look!  LOL  You knew — so thanks for sharing.

It seems I post plenty of winter pictures in this thread! I love the bright white of snow in the winter time! And the snow here is so manageable.

I know Paul will be posting more about his spoon carving in the pep / pex forum (what is pep and pex?), though these were too fun not to share here as well. He can copy them over as he likes.

For one of Paul's project times, we wandered down to the HUGE saskatoon bush the size of a small tree just outside of arrakis (arrakis is the name of our ultra-sandy, berm-surrounded parking lot behind the shop). Some folks call saskatoons by the names serviceberry or juneberry - otherwise known as Amelanchier alnifolia. We took out a large central branch/trunk that had most of its upper branches crossing with the other dense growth, so in theory, it should help the overall health of the plant.

After sawing it by hand (I only helped a little with the sawing down by arrakis), we drug the huge thing up our driveway and parked it on the picnic table by the Fisher Price House where Paul knew there was a bow saw nearby.

Then, Paul grabbed his favorite spoon that is also made of serviceberry wood (that's what he prefers to call it), to measure how long of a chunk might he'd need.

It was such a nice diameter that splitting the log in half would make two spoons!

Oops! It seems the wooden mallet split when trying to split the sasakatoon log! Time to make another mallet!

It's early January and there were buds all over the smaller stems of the huge saskatoon branch/trunk we harvested. I don't think they will bloom necessarily, because the leaves do come out first, though I thought it would be fun to force them and see what unfurls. A little taste of spring indoors.

There was a hitchhiker on one of the stems!

One of the smaller stems had dried berries still hanging on - more proof of the species!

The next day it snowed even more and looked really beautiful on that saskatoon branch. There is still a lot of usable wood there!

Fun pics! I like the idea of making spoons (and other things!) out of wood from the property like that

New shelves! These were designed to hold hotel pans we use to feed large groups here. Up and out of the way since they are less frequently used.

The new shelf was designed for our collection of hotel pans and solar oven pans. With room to grow and possibly with a dust guard curtain some day.

Sooooo happy!

We're still thawing here, but there are signs of spring!