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

BRK #309

Just a brief update for today. Middle of Week 2 for the PTJ, and projects are coming to critical completion points. The heavy equipment is under a lot of stress. Here's Eliot (along with your friendly neighbourhood Rocky Mountain Hirsute Dipshit, in the second photo) addressing transmission issues in Rex (the excavator).





Finally: the first thing I saw this morning was one of the prototypes that Uncle Mud and Justin were working on. Maybe this is what the inside of the Rocket Forge will look like by the end of the week?



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

BRK #310

A few snapshots from a day that streaked by faster than a flaming arrow.

This was the start to my morning. We actually have a bit of darkness now at quarter past 5.



Fellow boot Shai and I were on Willow Feeder Patrol today. Here's an empty can, cleaned and ready to go in one of the Willow Feeders. The tube encourages moisture to evacuate from a sealed can, speeding the decomposition/life cycle of the bacteria, while still allowing the material to retain much of its carbon and nitrogen. Willow Candy: it's got what plants crave.



Here's a fire brick that became so hot - thanks to Justin's and Uncle Mud's experiments - that it split, failed, and charred. You don't see this very often.



Speaking of fire, it was Pizza Night again tonight. Thanks to Kim for being my timekeeper, and thanks to Samantha for churning out fantastic pizzas. I feel like I'm upping my pizza-baking game this summer, for sure.



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

BRK #311

Well lookie here... The final day of PTJ 2023 has come and gone. I had a chance to catch a few more glimpses of a handful of projects, and snapped photos for posterity. It's amazing what's been accomplished in two weeks. I wish I had time to document all of the projects, and I'm certain the Boot team and I will be revisiting them in the weeks and months ahead.

Here's the Rocket Forge and Rocket Hot Tub from Justin and Uncle Mud.







Here's the revamped, Swede-ified Sauna, courtesy of Katie and team.









Here's the build of the Sepp Holzer Root Cellar, with team led by JR.















Here's the Mycelium-Insulated Pump House, built by Beau and team up at the Lab.







Finally: saw this majestic flower when Shai and I visited the hugels up at Allerton Abbey today.



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

BRK #312

A fine Saturday to play "catch up" on personal time and errands. I have a few snapshots of PTJ projects in their current state.

Here's the Log Wood Picnic Table project, headed by Alis Yoder. Participant Sam put in a bit of work this past Friday before his departure as well.





Here's the Dry-Stack Moon Gate project in its current state. Originally headed by Tim Lanese, and assisted mostly by Lisa, Daniel, and Trent. I'm intimidated by this dry-stack wonder.





Finally: thanks to Daniel for suggesting some tabletop games for this evening! We fit in a session of Community Garden (pictured here) and Las Vegas: two distinctly-styled games, and both quite enjoyable. I think Community Garden is now my favourite all-purpose "Eurostyle" game. It's a smooth-playing, tactical, worker-placement game where you assign your gardeners to complete various actions throughout the community garden space, building your reputation, your resources, and most-importantly your own garden plot.



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

BRK #313

Kitty Interlude.



Thank you for watching, and enjoy your day...!