Apricots! Fred, Curtis, and I took a road trip today to an undisclosed location that had loads of ripe juicy apricots just falling off the trees. We harvested lots of bags full of fresh ones from the trees, and I also filled up a big box full of overripe ones from the ground below.
Besides eating my fill and giving away as much as I could, I also added some to my poor man's solar dehydrator, (the huckleberries in there are definitely drier but seem like they could use a couple more days,) and put some in my xeer pot mini fridge to keep them cool. For those unfamiliar, a xeer pot fridge is just two clay pots, a smaller one inside a bigger one; the space between the pots is filled with wet sand, and a wet cloth laid across the top. This particular xeer pot setup was a gift from Heather from the PDC! Thanks Heather!
I experimented with using my solar oven to dehydrate huckleberries, but without proper air flow they just sort of cooked down to a delicious pie-filling-esque goo instead. Made good J for PB&J sandwiches though.
Sir Chops was not left out of the apricot fun. He ate his fill of the super juicy overripe ones and seemed to be quite energized by the experience, hyperly rooting around with increased vigor afterwards.
Also moved a ton of rocks over to Siesta and sourced a bit of clay and sand for my cob and stone walls. And even got a few fence posts in down just east of Hamelot. It's almost time for Sir Chops to move to a new paddock. This next paddock might be called Hwales, or maybe Hogwarts. Something like that.
20150729_120201.jpg
Fred in apricot heaven
20150729_192159.jpg
passively cooling apricots and passively heating huckleberries
The apricots are drying out between those screens, slowly but surely. But I've been thinking very strongly about building a proper solar dehydrator.
Built a little bench out of 3 logs, just for fun.
I've been pulling a lot of knapweed out by the roots, all over Ava. Trying to make a dent before it all goes to seed. Of course, just across the road and all over neighboring plots are huge fields of the stuff and it's all about to disperse.
I saw this wasp or maybe yellowjacket hanging out on some knapweed. It had some white fuzz growing out of it's back and it seemed pretty disoriented and lethargic.
Helped Josh get a few roof poles up on the berm shed down at basecamp, then ended up going with Curtis into Missoula to drop off the recycling and pick up a few things. It was wicked hot, and Ranger Doug kept threatening to overheat, so we had to run the heater most of the trip to cool off the engine. Suffice it to say, by the time we got back I was pretty wiped out.
After the sun dropped low enough in the sky and it started getting cooler I managed to get a few apricot, cherry, and rhubarb seeds in the ground. And I also limbed up a bunch of junkpoles for an experimental gate idea I have.
Once in a blue moon I might indulge in the more purple aspects of my being. I tend to be a pretty skeptical fellow, but I'd like to think I have an open mind, and the few Tarot readings I've had done have usually seemed pretty relevant, if not a bit spookily so. Carol-Anne brought her deck over and I pulled a spread which she helped me interpret. Thanks Carol-Anne! The cards seemed to answer my vague questioning with a profusion of positivity and an emphasis on the balancing and harmonizing of dualities. Whatever your position on the meaningfulness of the matter, you gotta admit those are some pretty pictures.
I've been thinking about winter, and really my focus should be on finishing my shelter, but I've been thinking about firewood. I have an idea for a small multi-purpose structure the walls of which would be composed of stacked firewood. But I've also been working on a junkpole gate. At some point it dawned on me that my junkpole fence is pretty much already serving the function of drying out firewood. Say I run out of firewood this winter, well I can just go and pull the loose junkpoles out of a section of my fence, cut 'em to length, and presto! instant rocket-stove-sized firewood. I think a better name for the junkpole fence might be something like firepole fence, or rocketwood fence, or something like that.
That said, the gate I'm working on would not be a part of the fence it would make sense to take apart for firewood. Instead of most of the poles being loose, (which wouldn't work very well for opening or closing the gate,) each pole has three holes drilled in it, (one in the middle, one near the top, and one near the bottom, though you might be able to get away with just two,) and wire is run through them, tying them all together and making a gate that you basically roll and unroll rather than swing. This method could also be used to build relatively easily movable sections of fence for temporary paddocks. It could be called wirepole fence, or wirewood fence maybe.
While a wirepole fence has the same local materials and woodsy aesthetic advantages as a rocketwood fence, it's easier to move around without taking the whole thing apart. That said, some downsides include: can't be as easily converted to firewood, more time-consuming to build, fence posts need to be a bit closer together since a 20ft+ roll of fencing is pretty heavy for one person to carry, and the cost for the amount of wire used might be slightly more expensive than the amount of screws used. Another consideration, the tiny drill bits used to drill holes in these thin poles tend to be pretty easy to break. In fact, I broke the one I was using and had to halt construction until I can get more bits. But even adding the cost of drill bits into the equation, I still think wirepole makes sense for gates and temporary paddocks, whereas rocketwood still definitely makes more sense for permanent paddock fencing.
I'm pretty sure that is a European paper wasp. They are very aggressive near their nest (bigger the nest the more aggressive) and can sting repeatedly. I've been studying sui many times that I've developed a serious allergy.
On the up side, they eat lots of caterpillars, beetle larvae, and flies. I think they and other wasps are the reason I don't have the winter moth damage on my trees and bushes that the rest of the people in my state have. Plus they're pollinators.
I've never seen one look moldy like that!
I love the updates and photos. And I hope you get some good shelter in time!
I think this wirepole gate is gonna work out real nice. It rolls and unrolls just like I was imagining it would.
My dad flew up here all the way from Austin to come visit for the next couple weeks! Fred and I drove way out to Spokane and picked him up. Then we spent the night at James' place near Coeur d'Alene. The plan is to hang out at the labs a bit but also to see some of the sites, like Glacier. Either way, I'll keep sharing our adventures here!
We went to James' permaculture property this morning and he gave us a sweet tour. He's got some awesome plans to dig ponds, build hugelkultur, and set up some tipi glamping. His property has some giant rocks, and lots of trees, and an old gold mine! There's probably some bats in there! But I didn't go down to check...
James let us drive his bulldozer! I pushed a stump out and James picked it up with his backhoe. Yeeeah!
Then we went swimming in Lake Coeur d'Alene! So refreshing and beautiful. Thanks for the hospitality and for showing us the sights, James!
7
-Art Donnelly
