Dave Burton's Boot Adventures at Wheaton Labs and Basecamp

Good morning! We got some snow this morning, which I think is pretty nice! Ferd, the grey cat, came over to greet me!

Day 66







The power went out this morning. Lee made a Ducth Baby Pancake, and Bella made some bacon!



We did a little bit of Bermshed work.





I liked watching the snow fall!





I really enjoyed the nature views today with the snow!





I really like the blues in the sky during Fall and Winter!





We peeled some logs today!





Here's a view outside from around where we were peeling logs!



These are a couple snowy pictures from at Basecamp!



Here is a look by Allerton Abbey with the recent snow fall!





Jaqi and Josiah worked on repairing the rocket mass heater inside The Red Cabin today.

Good morning! Here's a dark early morning view at Basecamp!

Day 67







We used some log carriers that Ron made, and I think they worked awesome! We used them to put a beam into the Bermshed!







We checked that the beam we put in lined up with the other beams already in place on the Bermshed. Then, we added post treatment into the dirt that we packed around the post.



I think Jen and Ron did a good job cutting logs, and then, I split the logs that they brought into the Shop.



Josiah did some rockety work in the Shop this morning.



I liked how pretty the view at Basecamp was this afternoon!





We walked around Wheaton Labs hunting for already fallen over trees, and the ones that weren't punky and of the right size got cut and limbed.





For the last hour of the work day, we sharpened the chainsaws that we used. I put sharpie on a chainsaw that I sharpened so that i could keep track of the teeth I have sharpened. Since the pictures don't show dull and sharp well enough, I am not submitting these pictures for the sharpen chainsaw BB.







I also sharpened a couple mauls and a couple shovels.



I went on a hike this evening, and I thought it was nice.





Tonight, Jocelyn was super sweet and made a tasty dinner for us! She made a vegan chili, fruit salad, carrot salad, and meringues! Jen helped with shredding carrots, and I cleaned dishes to make things less overwhelming! Here's a picture of the yummy vegan chili and the fruit salad!



And here are pictures of the carrot salad and the meringues!

Good morning! Here is a look at my currently active ferments!

Day 68







We got to see some of Gert's baby kittens! There are six kittens, and some of them ventured close enough for photos!





I liked the misty morning that we had!



We cleaned up the Auditorium at Basecamp for most of the day!





These are some more auditorium cleanup pictures!





I burned a sign and oiled it with Tung Oil, and I was not expecting it to take as long as it did to make!







We visited the Boneyard to drop off some of the stuff from our cleanup of The Shop and The Auditorium.



At Wheaton Labs, we saw the cistern that was recently installed into place!



We saw some wild turkeys at Wheaton Labs.





I dug out a side of a post that we put in on a previous day, because we need to move the post over.



Jocelyn made a wonderful salad and vegan minestrone soup!



And I think it's super great that Jocelyn made salmon patties! And I helped with dishes in the kitchen!

Good morning! We're having a nice misty morning today!

Day 69

Here is a morning view from Basecamp!



Jocelyn made some delicious overnight oats for breakfast!



I finished crocheting my beanie hat!



I used the sweet potato cookie recipe from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, but it ended up being more like yummy cookies, because the substitution I made in the recipe to get the right batter consistency and make it vegan and gluten-free kind of diluted the squash I had originally put in. I used egg replacer to replace eggs. I used oat flour and soaked oats for the bulgur flour, and I added enough tapioca starch to thicken the batter up. I added additional baking soda, so that the cookies would puff up. I used coconut oil instead of butter. Since some people don't like overly sweet things here, I used leftover fruit salad, an apple, and a banana to make the cookies sweeter. This way I didn't need to add sugar or maple syrup to make it sweeter. Also, I used pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds instead of pecans. These are unfermented cookies.



This is me working on the making the batter.



These are the cookies before going into the oven.



These are the vegan and gluten-free cookies that I made, which actually retained their shape and taste pretty good!



Coco was super sweet to us and got some chocolate to share with us! I really like this yummy dark chocolate!



I played with Ferd, the Grey Cat, some this morning!





And I went on a little hike this morning, too!







I think today became a more wonderful day, because I got to play outside with some of Gert's kittens and watch them play! I captured a video that has all six of Gert's kittens (that we're aware exist)!





And I took a video of most of the kittens playing with each other!





These are some of Gert's kittens play fighting with each other in the rocks and in the grass!





Here are most of Gert's kittens hanging out with each other!





Jocelyn made a scrumptious dinner tonight of sticky fried rice and spaghetti sauce! She also made a tasty salad, roasted chickpeas, and roasted squash!



I made a kimchi based off of the Latin American Sauerkraut recipe from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. In my modification of this recipe, I used purple cauliflower and beets to replace carrots. As additions above and beyond this recipe, I added fermented jalapenos, fermented garlic, and fresh jalapenos. As my starters for this recipe, I used ferment juice from the fermented jalapenos and fermented garlic.



As for the jars that I made, the far left jar is to ferment for 3-7 days; the middle jar is to ferment 7-30 days, and the far right jar is to ferment for 30-180 days.

Good afternoon! Today's been a pretty good day, even with the little bit of comedy I've had with trying to get some other stuff done!

Day 70

I loved the delicious basted eggs and greens that Jocelyn made for breakfast!



I hanged out with Ferd and some of Gert's kittens, which made me happy!







A good majority of my comedy (or adventure) today was working on securing a clothes rod by adding wood supports. The comedy that I encountered was trying to locate the the stud without a stud finder. Through a few tests and trial and error, I was able to locate one stud in one wall to get one support in. I encountered complications with the second support, and I will be installing later that at a later time.



I went on a hike, and it was nice to be outside for simple fun!







Jocelyn made an awesome lunch spread for everyone today!



For dinner today, Jocelyn and Travis did some awesome work! And I helped out by cleaning dishes!

Travis made some biscuits!



Jocelyn made a couple salads and artichokes!



And Jocelyn made some tasty Greek Chicken!

Good morning! It's that time of the year when it's darker in the morning!

Day 71



Here's a look at the knitting project I am currently working on! Jocelyn made some overnight oats for us all this morning!



And here's a look inside the Fisher Price House!



I like how nice it looked outside today!



We did some logging, peeling, and limbing! Jaqi felled a tree today!







Austin felled a tree.





The tree that he felled had been eaten away by something in the core at the base of the tree.



I saw a mass of hardened sap on tree that I was peeling that I thought looked pretty neat!



This is some of our work peeling trees!





I played with a few of the kittens a bit at lunch time!





Here are a couple more views that I like from Basecamp during the day!



We spent the afternoon planting seeds, and these are a couple of the seeds I planted! I didn't feel like taking many pictures, because I just wanted to enjoy the peace, quiet, and alone time of walking around by myself in Nature!