!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seth's Lazer-Focused, Long-Winded, Lively List of Lab Lessons (BEL)

BEL #35 Friday May 30, 2025

This Friday the team split up in the morning for irrigation. Two at basecamp, running sprinklers, and the rest at the lab. With the lack of water up there it ended up being more planting and trail making than anything. But the afternoon brought three of us back to keep on with watering and trail making. We also got to get bone sauce on the new willow trees at the lemon tree site, and sunchokes at the tipi.  We’re slowly making progress on getting adequate moisture on the hugels to the point of no longer needing to water. And that was the whole day. SC

BEL #36 Weekend Jun 1, 2025

This weekend brought good vibrations, relaxation, and irrigation.

Highlights:
Sunday dinner (Outstanding oxtail by Catherine. Marvelous mac n cheese by Caroline. Radical rhubarb crumble by Stephenie.)
Found Red Wing boots (My size. $6.
Bone sauce pot (Improvement, commenced. Progress, slow. Quality, interesting…)
I think my sewing has improved since I've been here, must be all the patching and mending.

Waiting in the wings:
Wing walls on Bartel’s bunkhouse
Personal GAMCOD project
Floor for Bartel’s
Urine diverter…

Key accomplishment:
Matt and I began the second leg of library organization, the seed library and tool section is starting to show some the semblance of order.
-SC

BEL #37 Monday 2 June, 2025

Much trail was made this Monday while irrigating what we could at Allerton. Stephanie and I also started work on the irrigation trailer project. I’ll never grow tired of using an oxy-acetylene torch.

Hi Seth. In your video I saw you and Stephanie planting strawberries in a bale of straw. Is that a new method of growing strawberries, or is it an old one that I did not know about (maybe it's American, I'm in the Netherlands)
I have often seen growers of strawberries put a (thin) layer of straw on the soil under their plants, as a mulch. It's interesting to see something different. Of course I'll follow you to see the results. I don't think I can do the same, it's almost impossible to get organic straw here (the organic farmers who have it keep it for themselves).

I believe they're doing what is called "Straw Bale Gardening".  Typically you take a bale of straw, put a bunch of fertilizer or nitrogen in/on it for a few weeks to a month to start it composting, then plant your plants into it.  I haven't seen one prepared and planted in one go but I don't have much experience with it.  After a couple years the bales have broken down into something more like soil.  I think year one is suited to different crops than year two since the bales are pretty straw-like during year 1.  They make for some pretty raised bed arrangements.