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

BRK #495

Happy Fermentation Day to you...!

Didn't have enough time to be elaborate with my ferment today, however I wanted to share the process of making sauerkraut. This is a time-lapse GIF of me making fermented cabbage with carrots, with a poly-dough preparation interlude in the middle.



I'll always be grateful to my friend, Austin Durant, author and fermentation expert, for first teaching me how to make sauerkraut. It's been life-changing, man... THANK YOU!!!



Meanwhile... Poly dough. I mentioned to Paul this evening, "Poly dough is the most forgiving, most versatile recipe I've ever seen." Tonight, I made garlic-pepper focaccia as a last-minute variation on bread sticks, along with a traditional garlic loaf. The focaccia were absolutely perfect for Julia's cheeze-ey broccoli soup. And tomorrow morning I'll have a toasted slice or three of the garlic loaf, which I left cooling in the kitchen.





Finally: did another preparatory fire in the Red Cabin today. The weather was mild as well, which I think was helpful. The temperature increased a total of 24 degrees F in maybe an hour and fifteen minutes.



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

BRK #496

Middle of the week, and preparations for the Garden Master Course continue. I made a lot of headway in the Classroom today, not so much in Cooper Cabin (which still needs a lot of straightening-up). Tomorrow is another day.

I love batch box Rocket Mass Heaters. You can throw any ol' chunk of malformed wood in there, and it'll burn up, no problem, just like a conventional fireplace. But rocket-ey.



The batch box in the Classroom has this nifty glass top. I seem to recall that it's reused from a glass cooktop. Anyway, it allows some mesmerizing light to extend into the Classroom when things are burning nice and hot.



Finally: I think I've sorted out the indoor wash station for the Classroom. It took a little rearranging, and with this layout I can visualize people moving about the room: washing their hands, grabbing food for themselves, picking a dishwashing sink, and finally the ol' "wash, dry, stack" maneuver. This has dogged me for a while and I'm glad it's sorted.



That's all for now. I'm off to the Love Shack once again this evening. We're still trying to capture the proper scenario to highlight the Cob Hat that's installed in there. Third try's a charm, eh?

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!

BRK #497

Progress on straightening-up Cooper Cabin today, and finding little ways to make it comfortable. Tomorrow is the kitchen area, but for today I took care of most of the rest of the living space. Here's the main room, dominated by the impressive - and effective - Rocket Mass Heater. I used it for my first time ever today, and it seems to work wonderfully.



Cooper Cabin also has an indoor Willow Feeder. I changed-out the can today and spruced things up in there, knocking down cobwebs and the like. An indoor WF is pretty luxurious, not just because it doesn't stink, but because the rest of the WFs are literally out in the cold.



Finally: I brought up several sets of linens for the guests staying for the Garden Master Course. I may have gone a bit overboard with the blankets, but I don't think they'll mind.



Tonight I'll be doing a RMH test in the Red Cabin, this being a day or two prior to Helen's arrival. I was going to pre-heat the place anyway, so this works out well.

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

BRK #498

With all the preparations for the Garden Master Course happening, I was taken by surprise when we received a recent seed order in the post today...! This coming growing season we're looking for a more conventional garden, and this seed order represents that quite plainly:



Up at Allerton Abbey, SEPPer Julia and I put our heads together to find some temporary latch for the front door, which is somehow being kicked open by the cats. You wouldn't think that cats were capable of such a thing, but perhaps when they leap up to the windowsill on the door, they nudge it open (as it's held only by magnets).



So after a failed attempt at using a rope to fashion a workable "stay closed by pulling the rope taut every time you leave the Abbey" solution, I simply wedged a piece of wood between the door handle and the door jamb. This is what I do with a broom over at the Love Shack, so I figured it would work here. No news yet from Julia about cats barging in, so it'll work for now (and it requires no fiddling with a long rope).



Finally: it's a full moon. This explains so much right now.



That's all for now. Thanks for reading, and make the most of your weekend...!

BRK #499

Not a day off, but a day starting fires in rocket mass heaters all across the Lab and Basecamp. As I type, there's one happening in the Solarium. Tomorrow, I play shuttle for one departing SEPPer and several incoming guests for the Garden Master Course. Perhaps snagging a vegan donut or two is in order...

Meanwhile, I had my first use of the cast-iron cooktop stove at Cooper Cabin today. It burns nice and hot - but it's also curious to note that I think it uses more wood than the RMH in Cooper Cabin. It's an interesting setup: both units have their own exhaust, but they eventually intersect overhead and escape out a single chimney.



In-between firings, refuelings, and splitting more wood, I worked in a couple rounds of the solo version of Blitzkrieg, a WWII-themed tabletop game I found at Goodwill for $4. I'd say



Finally: with the help of chef Katt and her daughter Becca, I think the dish-washing station has been improved by several orders of magnitude. I don't think this photo does it justice. The lights and the backing of the dish station (I bet you'll never guess what it really is!) are quite a nice addition.



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