Chris' Bootcamp Experience Log

Tuesday, September 3, 2024: Morning

Tuesday started out as usual with setting up sprinklers at base camp.  There are some huge rhubarb here and lots of potatoes to harvest (hopefully)!

After that, we moved on to the lab for gardening and feeding the cats.  It's great to see all of the growies getting closer to harvest!

The GAMCOD hugel is seriously impressive with the height of the sunchokes and the proliferation of the pumpkins!  It's great to see.

I'm sad that the apple tree pictured below is looking really sad.  Anyone have any suggestions?  The leaves are really yellow and dying off.  It's a Prairie Spy variety according to the tag.

I have been watering it every day, but it still seems to not be doing well. I would appreciate any input to try to save this tree!!

Stay tuned for a packed afternoon!

Tuesday, September 3: Afternoon

The afternoon was packed with lots of new things!

We started by harvesting Sepp Holzer grain from the gulag above the house.  Unfortunately, it was not the most successful harvest.  We think it was because this area is not watered as often as the grain down on the berms near the classroom.

After we harvested the grain, we cut and removed the stalks from the gulag so that we could sow the seeds that we would get by processing the grain.

We took the grain into the library and used the pillowcase method to break the rye berries loose, then used a box and a box fan to winnow the seeds.  We ended up processing a few by hand, as not all of the berries broke loose.

After that, we broke the ground up inside the gulag so that we could sow the seeds that we just processed.  We used the stalks afterwards as a mulch and watered all of the seeds.

After we finished that, Ben and I processed some log rounds from near the library and dug out a place to put some steps into the side of the hugel in the paddock behind FPH.  I think we did a decent job for our first time doing it! I forgot to take a finished picture, but I have one from later in the week.

Wednesday, September 4, 2024: Morning

At the pre-work meeting this morning, Paul joined us to discuss some things.  The Sepp Holzer grain was one of the topics, and Paul shared a story with us from when he worked at a grain producer.  The fields would get depleted after a season or two, so they planted peas to help replenish nitrogen.  We plan to sow some wild pea seeds in the gulag this afternoon as a result.  Hopefully next year's harvest will be a bit more productive as a result.

After the meeting, we headed over to the lab where Ben and I worked on junk pole fences.

First, we came up with a working solution for a gate latch that was failing on the gate for the teepee from the lab.  It took us a bit, but we seemed to find an adequate solution.  It wasn't fancy, but it works!!

After that we came across the section of fence that was in serious need of repair.  As we were standing there discussing what we could do without taking the whole fence down, it came down of its own accord.  That solved our dilemma

So, Ben and I got to work and I think we left the repaired fence in much better condition and far more stable than before.

You can see all the photos below.  That's pretty much all the time we had after we finished that.  We were both covered in soot, as some of the junk poles had soot all over them.

Stay tuned for the afternoon hijinks!!

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, September 4, 2024: Afternoon

After lunch, Ben and I started work on some more steps for the hugel in the paddock.  

We first had to find some rounds that were a suitable diameter, and then use the chainsaw to cut them down to size.  Ben mostly worked the chainsaw for that part.

After that, we took some feedback from Paul to make the steps with a larger diameter round to ease coming back down.  We were grateful for the constructive criticism!

After we got a couple of the steps in, we switched out tasks.

I was tasked with sowing the wild peas in the gulag to get some nitrogen fixation to occur.  Afterwards, we learned a lesson that taking watering cans to the gulag was less labor-intensive than using three red hoses for a few minutes of watering.  Lesson learned!!

While I was down at the classroom, I decided to take a peek into the dehydrator and noticed that all of the apples we put in there, as well as the stuff Clay put in there are all ready!

Hopefully we can take care of that tomorrow.

After I came back up from the classroom, Ben and I worked on chopping mulch from the field behind the house to cover some of the bare ground on the hugels.

Thanks for reading, I'll be chugging ahead on the rest of the week coming up, so stay tuned!!

Thursday, September 5, 2024: Morning

Thursday started a bit out of the ordinary, and it continued to be that way for the rest of the day.

You will see what I mean when I get to the afternoon!

Ben and I started the day by working on the washing machine again.  If you have read about the washing machine in the past, then you know that Stephen and I have been struggling with it as of late.

Anyway, we decided to make sure that the wires weren't crossed on the drain pump.  We watched a video that showed an easier way to access the drain pump without disassembling the entire machine.

Ben and I got started, and succeeded in getting the drain pump out of the machine without totally taking it apart.  We discovered that the wires were not crossed, they just weren't attached at all!!  I guess we though they were plugged onto the terminals, but they just fit really snugly and only appeared to be attached!

So, we fixed that part and things were seemingly going well until we noticed water pouring out of the machine!

We ended up having to disassemble the machine to find out what went wrong.  Apparently the clamp was not secured on top of the drain pump, so water sprayed out all over the place!  

We got that all fixed and put back together, and voila!!!  The accursed "OE" error disappeared, and the washing machine is back in action with a hefty bit of money saved in the process!  Huzzah!!

My apologies for no pictures of this process, as my hands were full!

Stay tuned for the afternoon, where things got really crazy!

Thanks for reading!!

Thursday, September 5, 2024: Afternoon

So, this is when things got a bit wacky!

Right after lunch, Ben and I were tasked with gathering all the things in the dehydrator (apples, purple sweet potatoes, kale, daikon radish).

We walked down and consolidated all of the apples first, as they had been in the dehydrator longer and there were a lot more of them.

We made it back to the house and were about halfway through, when Stephen came in the house and asked if we had ever seen a mudslide before.  As expected, we all dropped what we were doing and made our way around to the side of the large hugel away from the house, where we saw what he was referring to!

A huge mudslide took out a chunkable size of the hugel, with a couple of trees as well.

Once we recovered from the shock, Ben and I were tasked with cutting up junk poles to be used as a lattice-like structure to eventually place soil into on Monday.  I am not the steadiest climber, and didn't want to risk becoming injured, so Ben and Stephen did almost all of that work.

Meanwhile, I spent my time finishing putting dried apples into jars and dating them.  After I finished that, I took the empty screens down to the library and collected all of the remaining items that SEPPer Clay had prepared over Labor Day weekend.  Some beautiful stuff!!

Using the foldable wagon, I was able to transport all of the screens to the house to put it all in jars as well.  I helped a little with distributing junk poles to Stephen and Ben, and then we all got the other sprinklers all put away.

What an afternoon!  I was convinced that the washing machine would stop working after that, but luckily it still worked!

Thanks for reading!  I'll be wrapping up the week in the next few posts, so stay tuned!!

Friday, September 6, 2024: Morning

Friday morning we started as usual, with watering being started at base camp with a sprinkler placed on the hugel in the rear paddock of the house.

We went over to the lab area to feed the kitties and garden.  The pumpkins that I have been focusing on have been doing well, and all of the trees are doing great (with the exception of the Prairie Spy ).

We tried to saturate the hugels as well as we could, as it has been very dry and hot lately.

I made sure that I generously watered all of the trees, and set up two sprinklers as well as hand watering.

I soaked the hugel with the pumpkins in front of Allerton Abbey.  The biggest reason we wanted to heavily water is that it is Friday, and we won't be there to water over the weekend.\\

I think there is rain forecast next week, but since I have been here I feel like the weather apps are not at all accurate haha.

The kittens were very active today as well, coming out to play and having wrestling matches on the porch of Allerton Abbey.

A pretty uneventful morning out at the lab.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned as I continue to wrap up the week!

Friday, September 6, 2024: Afternoon

After lunch, Ben and I were tasked with cleaning up some wood in front of the classroom while Stephen watered up towards the house.

We ended up breaking the pieces of wood down and storing them in buckets for kindling.  We used a kindling cracker to get most of it to a usable size.

After we swept up the mess, we headed up to the yurt where there was more wood waiting to be chopped up and stored properly.  We ended up having to get out the chainsaw to cut some of them down to a size that we could work with to either further dry outside or be stored in the library for kindling.

After that, we watered the wild peas in the yurt again.

Ben and I also finished harvesting Sepp Holzer grain from the roadside berms!

We finished off the afternoon by shelling some wild peas and mustard so we could store them in envelopes for later planting.

Stephen had to head out early to pick up some things from the post office, pick up an Azure order and some sulphur from Ace hardware.

Happy weekend to all!

Thanks for reading, and I'm all caught up for the week.

I'm going to attempt to keep these more current so I don't have to do so many at once.

I hope you all have a magnificent weekend!

I almost forgot!

I mentioned that Stephen went to pick up something at the post office.  Well, I have attached a picture below

Big thanks to Tina for sending these thoughtful gifts to the boots.

THANK YOU!

Saturday, September 7, 2024

It's been a lazy Saturday for me here at Wheaton Labs.  I spend most Saturdays catching up on posts to my BEL and finishing up a Google certification.

I just thought I would post about what it looks like for me since I flew here and don't have a car here haha.

I was thankful today that the washing machine is back in commission!!!  I already got my clothes from the week washed and hanging in the solarium.

I'll have to see what nest labor I can get into after the cleaning blitz tomorrow morning.

Thanks for reading!