Robbie's Permaculture Bootcamp experience

Day 43
We made it up to ant village this morning. Fred and Jeremy gave Logan and I a tour of the ant plots. We saw some neat structures and earthworks peeping out of the snow. I'll wait till I see a little more ground before I make a decision on where to experiment.
Fred mentioned about frost seeding this morning as we looked at the frozen ground. This is the time of year to scatter small seeds in the morning or night when the ground is frozen to fall in the cracks, so later in the day when it thaws the cracks seal the seeds in.
Paul explained the basics of junk pole fence that was called short from a rain delay. We ended up installing some natural hangers for the Fisher Price house. One of the hangers needed some planing so I got to use a hand planer for the first time.

Day 44
The rain tried to keep us inside but we still got some planting done. More cherries for now.
We replaced a light switch today that wasn't working. Turns out that it was the other light switch for the same light that wasn't working properly so we switched that out with the one that seemed to be broken.  Found the problem testing the wiring with a multimeter. Fred found a puffball mushroom out in the field and talked about it while spreading the spores around. Pretty cool stuff.
We ended the day burning signs with a torch for a black background so the lettering would pop out, then sealed them with grapeseed oil.
Tomorrow if the weather permits we should be repairing some junkpole fence.

Day 45
It was a beautiful Friday. Fred and I repaired a section of junkpole fence on the west side of submarine paddock. We filled in gaps of fence around that area until lunch. Then finished the day with a meeting with Paul and Jocelyn, going over a massive list of projects and goals to reach for the future of Wheaton Labs. The plans are diverse with so much to learn along the way and I'm happy to be a part of it for the time being. I use to wish that I knew more to exemplify a "better" helping hand, but that's why I'm a boot. The reason I'm hear is to learn. To be around this environment helps keep the mistakes small, grow from it and enjoy the process along the way.

You've made it to 45 days/posta! WOOT WOOT! You're halfway to getting a dragon and fairy/elf/miniature person from me via the Biological Reverse Kickstarter

Did you already get the rewards for "Any Boot to post a pic a day for 30 days"?

Nicole Alderman wrote:You've made it to 45 days/posta! WOOT WOOT! You're halfway to getting a dragon and fairy/elf/miniature person from me via the Biological Reverse Kickstarter

Did you already get the rewards for "Any Boot to post a pic a day for 30 days"?

I can't believe i'm at the halfway point already. Time is flying and I look forward to those awesome gifts, thank you for your support Nicole.
Bill sent me a messgae around that 30 day mark and I must have spaced sending him my paypal info. I checked my mooseges and sent him a meesage with the info. Thank you for the reminder.

Day 46
Had a town day with Jocelyn, Fred, and Jeremy. The Missoula public library held a seed swap and we enjoyed a lecture about mason bees from guest speaker John Holbrook. It was well done and interesting. I look forward to building different insect habitats and growing many pollinator attracting plants in the future. Jocelyn gave a lovely tour around the town as we knocked a couple errands along the way. Missoula's a neat place, it should be a fun summer as more events come about and the weather warms up for outdoor activity.
Also completed the microscope section of the Life in the Soil course. I should find out more information about continuing on to the next certification process sometime this week.

Nicole Alderman wrote:You've made it to 45 days/posta! WOOT WOOT! You're halfway to getting a dragon and fairy/elf/miniature person from me via the Biological Reverse Kickstarter

Did you already get the rewards for "Any Boot to post a pic a day for 30 days"?

If you go on like this you'll get the hand-knitted cap made out of hand-spun sheeps wool too!

Day 47
Beautiful Sunday with some wind to spread seed and occasional liquid sunshine. It's been nice getting to know everybody and I'm lucky to be a part of an opportunity like this. Such a great time to learn the process of design and development.
Here are some badges I posted earlier
PEP BB Food Cook Rice on Stove Top
PEP BB Food Salt Brine
PEP BB Tool Care Sharpen a Knife
I may have messed up on the knife post. I didn't show a pic of the sharp knife in the paper.
I worked on placing a timer on my phone for action shots sharpening a chainsaw today, it would have been good for the knife sharpening too.

Day 48
Monday flew by. Welded an attachment to a planting tool Fred made. Seemed to work well while we planted a couple thousand peas.
We fixed a section of junkpole fence and a rock jack. Then we drove up to the Lab for battery maintenance running the solar panels. We ran out of time and distilled water so we should continue where we left off tomorrow.

Day 49
Another beautiful spring day. Started with a frosty morning so we took the opportunity to frost seed. Mixed turnip seeds with sand and scattered them playfully.
Repaired junkpole fence and filled in gaps. Planted apple seeds on a section of hugel and scattered a sand mix of mustard and kale over every hugel at basecamp.
Cut some rebar to size for berm shed supports. Drilled the holes with a heavy duty power drill and auger bit then hammered the rebar in.
Had an awesome community taco Tuesday and still recovering from lethargy. Can't say you go hungry at bootcamp.