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

BRK #264

We actually had a little rain this afternoon, which for me made gardening at Basecamp quite pleasant. Not sure why I enjoy the otherwise foul weather so much, though maybe it has something to do with wearing a big, ugly, orange hat while I do it.

Anyhow, I had a look at "Basecamp Too," one of the hugels I was solely responsible for last year. Wow, it's overgrown with all sorts of local plants. I wonder if that volunteer squash plant will make another appearance. At least the rhubarb and trees are vibrant.



These lovely pastel purple flowers happened to move in, throughout the lower half. This is one of my favourite colours.



Here's a surprise. I call this one "The Scarlet Annoyance." Thanks to its effect on my shins and later, fingertips.



Finally: here's a snapshot from the first half of the day. While Caleb filled in the trenches with the excavator, Wesley and I positioned this hydrant and attendant post near the "island" at the far side of the parking lot (AKA Arrakis).



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

BRK #265

What a Friday! It was a wonderful end to the week. The well project is coming closer and closer to the finish line. Trying and doing plenty of tasks for the first time, ever. Not too many mistakes are being made.

Caleb has some tricky work ahead, filling in the trench he had made these past couple weeks. Wes, Catherine, and I are doing our best to do the other tasks: adding in the hydrants, running and threading power lines, hauling gravel, and so on.

Here's a small trench I dug first thing in the morning. We'll eventually tie into the current, active water line behind the classroom. Here's the "before and after."



Here's a more-detailed look at the active water line underground. And hey, I didn't slice it with the shovel.



While digging, I uncovered this little artifact maybe a foot below the surface. It still works...!



This afternoon we were gardening at Allerton Abbey. At the foot of Cricket Hill (one of the hugel berms I was responsible for last year) I saw the telltale signs of sunchokes ready to spring up to another 12 feet or so. Looking forward to seeing them this year.



Finally: here's the best-smelling Guest Parking sign in all of western Montana.



Last word: big thanks to SEPPer Jeff for spending time with me this evening with dinner and excellent conversation. I am happy and grateful to be here, and I'm excited about the future.

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

BRK #266

A fun Saturday, ambling about town. Quite a few surprises, including a fantasy/sci-fi convention called MisCon. Saw a wizard I couldn't resist photographing (see below), as well as someone dressed as Kaneda from Akira: one of my favourite anime films. Looked like those folks were having a lot of fun. There was a zombie invasion or something while I was passing by.



The surfers were also in the river, queuing up to shoot the curl.



Practiced my knots while waiting for the donut shop's two-for-one Happy Hour to begin. This is my first attempt at a "Chain Sinnet," one method to shorten a length of rope by looping it together and then stopping both ends with a simple overhand knot. I've seen this used to decoratively store electric extension cords here at Basecamp.



The rainfall held off just long enough for me to fit in all my errands. Basecamp was thoroughly soaked by the time I returned. Here's the view to the south and west along the Higgins Street Bridge in the late afternoon.





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

BRK #267

I have a new Nest Labor project to do today. So I had created a cotton-fabric holder for plastic bags in the kitchen/laundry area. Bags are loaded in the top, the sleeve holds the bags together, and bags to-be-used are pulled out the cinched hole on the bottom. Though I stole the idea from Etsy, I felt I was mostly flying by the seat of my pants on this one.

I chose two fabric remnants with the same pattern. The colour I'm not so in love with, particularly the pea-green-with-mustard. But hey, at least a pattern is a pattern, and after all this isn't the roof of the Sistine Chapel.



Next, I pinned the ends to make a hem and/or drawstring loop. These are on the top and bottom edges of the sleeve.



I then did a straight pinning of the sides of the sleeve, making sure to have the inside-surfaces of the fabric currently facing outward. The long stitches went up each side of the sleeve, and I made sure not to close off the loops (though I may on a later iteration. more about that later).



Next, I added a contrasting loop of fabric to the top edge. For future iterations, it may be better to stitch this on before joining the two halves together, and/or attach it to only one of the fabric facings instead of crossing a side stitch, like I did here. It just seems easier to do it that way, though I did have a chance to practice with the sewing machine as if I was hemming a pair of pants or a shirt sleeve, which was nice.





Likely the most irritating part of this process was threading the string through the loops at the upper and lower edges of the sleeve. I used some aluminum wire we use for garden labeling to fish the string all the way through the loop.

Were I do do this in the future, I would likely stitch the string I used at one end of the loop, like during the hemming/loop stage, then just thread the string into the hem. I would still have two free edges of the string sticking out, and tying those together while the back two edges are stitched in place still creates the same desired end result.



Hang it in the laundry room, make a couple signs for the future of plastic bags in the future, and that's it! The first iteration is complete.





I'll collect feedback from the rest of the team, as well as SEPPer Jeff (as he and I share grocery-buying duties) on which bags to keep for our own use, and which ones to recycle.

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

BRK #268

Monday has threatened to wipe me out already.

The well project at Basecamp is coming to a close, with only a week or so before the well technicians wrap everything up. It's all about prep for them so we're out of their way when they show up and start the waterworks.

This photo may not look like much, but it's a big deal to be filling in this trench. Caleb dug it out two weeks ago with the excavator. Electrical cable and water pipe was laid down in it. We then put down a layer of softer, rock-free soil, eased the cable and pipe on it, and covered them all with more soft soil. Caleb's fashioned a ramp to scale the hill towards the new well and pump house, and is now filling the trench completely. Later in the year we'll add more soil on top of it all so the water pipe remains below the frost line.



The second half of the day was warmer, but less intense: gardening at Basecamp. I spent the afternoon clearing out a hugel bed of all the plants we won't eat, so that stuff we will want to eat could be added. Here's the "before" picture.



While clearing out the bed, I noticed this onion, maybe, that had been turned into an insect's breakfast buffet.  Maybe it was a daikon radish that hadn't been pulled? Didn't want to take a closer look, frankly speaking.



Want a tiny, tiny mushroom?



Finally: once it was all said and done: corn was added, sunflowers were added, potatoes were discovered and labeled, and last autumn's garlic was also discovered! Very pleased to see that they're growing strong and healthy, and am most definitely looking forward to many, many Taco Tuesdays with home-grown garlic involved.

(garlic circled in green)





That's all for now. All this talk of garlic is reminding me to not skip dinner. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!