Robbie's Permaculture Bootcamp experience

Day 50
The weather varied today but I haven't experienced a windy day since I've been here. We sorted the roof sticks of various shapes and sizes for the berm shed. Threw some up there and decided to work from the corner out, instead of the ends in. The rain increased so we took cover in the shop to make more handles for the planters. The rain didn't last long so we got right back to the berm shed task.
Working with round wood is interesting. You can't expect everything to fit just right so you have to weigh your options with what you got for the best fit. This is a pre-existing project that we jumped into so i can't imagine what the drawings looked liked other than this being such a height, that goes there for support, and so forth. The wood is all sorts of diameters of difference between the single round getting skinnier one way, fatter the other, and bending here and there.
One thing that's cool is with the berm shed nothing just crashes down at once. Eventually the weak spots show and you have a chance to evaluate and repair the problem before any sudden collapse.

Day 51
We worked on the berm shed for the first half of the day. We found a groove and sorted the best sticks for the size to leave little waste.
After lunch we switched it up by planting cherries up the hill at plum plateau. The knot for the string carrying the bucket of cherries slipped through the drill hole and took a good spill. Was kind of like 52 card pick up. Instead of just the knot, we tied to the bucket to prevent that from happening again.
The weld for the handle on the planter broke off. We'll save the repair and other handle installation for a rainy day.
Tomorrow is Friday already and may be filled with adventure.

I'm pretty sure that's salmon roe.  Have you noticed any airborne salmon lately?  

I really enjoy your updates and your pics are great.

Seems early in the year for it but it could be "dog vomit slime mold" Fuligo septica.  

Day 52
The tractor is back and we're doin big things. Started planting fava beans on Fred's plot and he got a call from kubota saying the tractor is ready for delivery. So we made sure that we got back to base camp before 1030.
While Fred took care of that I checked some batteries around base camp.
We greased and fueled up her up.
After lunch I got to know the tractor by moving some sand around for some temporary earthworks to keep water from running into the berm shed. As soon as that was finished we drove up to the lab and continued planting favas. I also planted some wind sowing seeds (sickamore, ash, and catalpa).

Day 53
Spent the morning in Missoula harvesting cottonwood buds from the remains of what beavers cut down. When Fred and I got back we drove up to the lab and walked around ant village to find out which plot is a good fit. Getting close to making that final decision. Maybe tomorrow will be the day to pick an ant plot.

Day 54
Rainy Sunday, a good day to bake some bread. I posted a PEP BB and here's the link
PEP BB Food.Sand.Bread
Strained the willow water and diluted some on the side to root some cottonwoods. It will be neat to see some roots grow out from the exposed cambium layer.

Day 55
Monday was a beautiful day for sowing seed. We worked with seeds all day and there is something about that I love. Can't really explain it except the fact that it feels good.
Watch things grow, help them grow better. Notice the good and the bad, find the reasons why.

Day 56
It was raining fairly heavily today so we knocked a few tasks off the rainy day list.
-Weld handles on to planting pipes
-Check and fill batteries on the tractor and buggies in the shop
-de bur rebar cuts for the berm shed
-disassemble wiring from the old bottoms of recently installed shop lamps
-tool maintenance
along with a little organizing, then it stopped raining. So we planted willows and cottonwood.
We substituted taco Tuesday for a chili night and it really hit the spot. Perfect weather for chili and cornbread.

Day 57
Great day planting willows and cottonwoods near and around water sources. We had some trouble with the mud and had to figure how to get Judy up a hill. This involved two winches, a tow strap, shovel and a bunch of sticks (that were staged conveniently beside us).
Scattered red clover sand mix and a handful of plums, apricots and peach seeds. Later we stumbled across run off rushing into the lab.