!! In the quiet hours of the bootcamp grind, I found myself: Esteban's Bootcamp Experience

Coydon Wallham wrote:

Esteban Ademovski wrote:The soil is going to be hauled back and staged at Basecamp for an upcoming project.

Any idea how long soil like this can be staged and retain biological activity before it reverts to dirt?

From what I understand, it probably depends on moisture, temperature, compaction, and how much organic matter is mixed in. Since we'll be putting this soil back to use pretty soon for the new hugelberms by the Love Shack and Hanger Tree, and the other bobs and Ins coming up, I’d imagine it should retain a good amount of its biological activity during that short staging period. I’d be interested to hear what you’ve seen with soil like this, though.

Esteban Ademovski wrote:From what I understand, it probably depends on moisture, temperature, compaction, and how much organic matter is mixed in. Since we'll be putting this soil back to use pretty soon for the new hugelberms by the Love Shack and Hanger Tree, and the other bobs and Ins coming up, I’d imagine it should retain a good amount of its biological activity during that short staging period. I’d be interested to hear what you’ve seen with soil like this, though.

No clue here. I've been slowly building a hugel as I pull material from other projects, and I am noticing stuff that I don't get mulch over and keep watered soon enough looks to be deteriorating. I guess just encouraging weeds to go wild on it until I'm done building a section should keep it in good shape?

Coydon Wallham wrote:I guess just encouraging weeds to go wild on it until I'm done building a section should keep it in good shape?

I remember Paul mentioning that when the hugels in the backyard paddock were first established, like 12 years ago, they planted grass seed on it just to have something growing. Personally, had I the funds for it I'd opt for desirable cover crops instead of "weeds" or grass. If I were short on time or coin, I'd just let anything grow, then pluck out what I don't want when it's time to sow in a specific area. It's my personal opinion that it's better to have something growing than nothing at all.

Sometimes you'll luck-out and end up with desirable plants showing up in an otherwise neglected area. We've seen that on a handful of our newer hugel berms that we grew stuff on for a single season (the GAMCOD berms come to mind, here).

B.E.L. Post # 238

Today was another pleasant, delightful day at Wheaton Labs.

We started off with the cleaning blitz with my fellow boots, which was actually a lot of fun and a good way to get moving in the morning.

After that, Daniel held a workshop on rebuilding battery packs. It was really interesting getting to see how the packs are put together and learning more about the process.

Later on, I did some journaling and reading, and spent quite a bit of time working on putting Linux on my old tablet. It's been a fun little project, and I like the idea of taking an older piece of technology and giving it a new life instead of just letting it sit around unused.

I also got to spend a lot of quality time with my little dog, which is always one of my favorite parts of the day.

All in all, it was a really nice day—some work, some learning, some tinkering, some quiet time, and plenty of good dog time. Not a bad combination at all.

Yesterday 2026/08/10

With the anticipation of the new 32-ton CAT excavator arriving this week, we already had a bunch of projects lined up for it.

We started the morning up around the Love Shack area, laying out all the woody bits I had collected over the winter. We were getting the foundation started for the future hugel berms—woody bits, then soil, then woody bits, then soil. Basically building up the berms layer by layer.

Stevie and I also headed down to Far Arrakis in the Maverick, chainsaws in hand, and started bucking up the remaining pieces of the tree that the new boots and Steven had felled the week before. We hauled the wood back up to the job site, and while they were unloading it, I took the rav4 over to the Abbey to feed the cats.

When I got back, we started irrigation. Jesse and I irrigated Apricot Alley, giving each of the baby trees a full pail of water.

And then... the excavator arrived!

Paul got in it first down at Far Arrakis, knocking down and moving soil, then headed up to the job site. He was moving that big machine around like a pro.

After lunch, I spent some time training Leo and Andrew on the tractor, going over the controls and how to operate it safely. We were loading bucket after bucket of soil from Far Arrakis into the dump trailer for Steven to haul away. I got a solid hour of tractor time in myself.

Then, from 3:30 to 5:30, I finally got my turn in the new 32-ton excavator.

This was a pretty big step up for me. My previous excavator experience totaled about 37 minutes, and most of that was learning the controls and operating the bucket. This time I was actually moving the whole machine—forward, backward, and positioning it around the job site.

I was widening the road from the Love Shack in the direction of Stephen's tent. I didn't make it all the way there, though. The rocky incline was a new experience for me, and the road felt pretty narrow with an excavator that's about 10 feet 6 inches wide from track to track.

With my limited experience, I definitely felt a little uneasy about the combination of the incline, rocks, narrow road, and a machine that is, well... HUGE. So I went as far as I felt comfortable going and took my time figuring out how the machine wanted to move over that kind of terrain.

It was definitely a very different experience from operating at the Lab, where the ground is mostly flat.

But I had fun.

And I came away with a much better feel for operating the whole unit and a much better sense of how it moves and handles. I'm looking forward to getting more seat time and seeing what I can do with it as I get more comfortable.

Another good day of moving dirt, building things, learning new equipment, and getting a little more experience under my belt.