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

BRK #279

A fine end to a long week. Thanks to SEPPer Jeff and Ant Caleb for the dinner and (vegan!) dessert.

In the first half of the day, the Boot Labor consisted of some Willow Candy transport, followed by some heavy electrical cable installation. Here's Wes drilling holes in the ceiling of the Workshop prior to our threading.



In the afternoon, most of the time was spent over at Allerton Abbey, drinking in the sunshine and tending to the garden hugel beds. Thingsare growing quite well both there and at Basecamp, and I'm anticipating a pleasant surprise come harvest time. There are a lot more pumpkins, sunflowers, and pole beans going into the ground these days and I'm looking forward to what comes up.

We still have some construction happening at Basecamp prior to the events, including supports for the massive shade pole mounted at the rear of the Classroom. Here's a support beam that Wes and Catherine lashed to Doug (the blue pickup truck) before we returned to Basecamp at the close of the day.



Finally: I was watching bees crawling all over the comfrey flowers today. They were so busy I stopped to take snapshots of several of them (and several snapshots of the same ones, a few times). Please indulge me. (or maybe you like bees as much as I do)

















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

BRK #280

Running errands and having a generally-fantastic Saturday. Earlier in the morning, I started reading a short story - "Benito Cereno" by Herman Melville - that seemed so well-written and captivating that I felt it necessary to read out loud. Thankfully both Paul and Dez, who were within earshot, were gracious enough to allow me to continue. No other written story has captivated me as much as that one has, starting with the second paragraph. It's a first-time experience for me to be so enthralled by a book.

Meanwhile, here are some snapshots of the day. First, a kitten update. Little Puff AKA Batman has been an excellent mother to her four kittens. It's only a matter of time before she encourages them to explore outside the kitty-quarium and start stretching their legs. I don't know about you, but when it comes to names I'm picking up some serious "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" vibes in this picture.



I have a "large" batch of blueberries that have been in the rocket-boosted dehydrator this week. Things have been cloudy and even rainy, so the boosting has been essential. They have maybe one more day and then it's time to pack them in a jar. After that, it's more ginger for my tea blend.



Thanks to Dez for spying this satchel/bag for my gardening efforts. There ought to be room for some tools (my pruning shears and a hori hori knife), seeds, my camera, and my water bottle to carry around. No more wearing a vest in the hot summer sun...!



Finally: looks like the late-afternoon storm I was expecting skirted past us to the east. Well, there's still time for a late night thunderstorm... We'll see.



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

BRK #281

Two new Boots started today (hello Shai and Beth!). Lots of critters out and about today, as well. I have photos of the latter, and will eventually have photos of the former.

For instance: lots of these little worms are crawling around wherever I see corn plants. I find them, they curl up like this, then toss them down the hill.



Before I went to bed last night, I saw what I thought was a golf ball in my tent. Well, I don't play golf. It turned out to be a frickin' nest. Looks like they heard about my nest-tossing antics this past winter, and they weren't impressed. I was just too tired to deal with it that evening, so I'll settle this (AKA "kick them out") tonight.



Speaking of Moving Day, while picking up our dump trailer from the Boneyard today, we had to displace this family of ants. Unfortunate, but it's better than driving over them.



Here's the largest earthworm I've seen yet here at Wheaton Labs. Tried to catch an image of it to show it's size. Seemed like it was a good 8 to 9 inches long.



Finally: are these pears? Apples? Something else? In any case, we've a fruiting tree at Basecamp right now.



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

BRK #282

A warm day today, devoid of any precipitation. We took care of a lot of outdoor work this morning, then most of the team was gardening in the afternoon. We're gearing up for event season to begin, and the first guests arrive late Thursday night. Not much time left to finish up these projects and have the Classroom in presentable shape.

Woke up to this view just a bit before sunrise today. Didn't have a tripod for the camera, so it looks as though the man in the moon is showing his profile.



Here's where Dez and I were shoveling gravel for a deadman-support log project.



Here's the load I drove down to Basecamp with the tractor.



Finally: Here's a notch I cut out of the deadman-support. Initial cuts were with a chainsaw, then I whacked-out the wafers with that hatchet.



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

BRK #283

Took some photographs to assist fellow Boot Catherine with attaining a BB today. Her task was to strap down a load at least 10 feet long to a truck and then have it safely moved to another location. So here we go...!

Photo #1 includes a classy photobomb from fellow Boot Wes.















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