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

BRK #548

This Saturday turned out to be a busy one. Preparing for some new Boot arrivals scheduled for tomorrow, and more trees showed up today. I'm excited about these 10 trees as they're apparently a little older, and definitely seem taller than the previous shipment from the same company (St. Lawrence Nurseries, in upstate NY).



While wandering around town today, I noticed that there was another community event. Apparently the YMCA was hosting their "Riverbank Run" along Clark Fork. I'd seen a few folks wearing shirts that indicated that it was the 52nd annual event, so it's been around a while.



I also noticed this bench on the north side of town, commemorating some "lifelong organic gardeners." It's nice to see they felt it wise to include "organic" on the bench, helping to spread the good word.



Trace and I have been checking in on our rhubarb down by the dehydrators. It's not quite done yet, but ought to be soon enough. Here's a view of the rocket-boosted dehydrator in action.



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

BRK #549

Big thanks to Samantha who took time out today to help identify some plants for me. Below are some photos and notes so I can keep track of them (...and eat snacks while we're working out there).

RED DEAD NETTLE
Edible, but not very palatable. Taking a big sniff of this stuff isn't recommended. Grows in large patches all over the hugels.



MACHE'
Also known as "lamb's lettuce." Edible and good additions to salads, even after flowering. Grows on the hill to the left of the rear door of the Fisher Price House.



LOVAGE
Tasty, perennial alternative to celery, especially for soups. Personally, I like the lingering flavour when eating it raw. Two large bushes at the base of the rear-most hugel berm behind the House, below where we had the landslide from over-watering.



VIOLET
Can eat the stems, leaves, and flowers. The perfume flavor was a bit too much for me, but some folks might like it. Large patch next to the front porch, inside the paddock fence.



CHOCOLATE MINT
Robust-flavoured mint with dark edges on the deep green leaves. Large patch at the bottom of the hugel just outside the gate to the Fisher Price House's rear paddock.



...Meanwhile, it looks as though Black Spark has had four kittens.

They're all staying safe in the Cattyshack, inside the Solarium.



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

Congratulations to Black Spark for having babies!

BRK #550

A Monday with two new Boots! Welcome, Brian and Ben!

Here we are today, along with fellow Boot Trace, improving the odds for the sweet potato slips planted in the Truly Passive Greenhouse not too long ago.



The growing box was improved with more water, some better-quality soil, some additional living plants, and mulch.



Also, thanks for the invite to your game of Carcassonne this evening...!

I also wanted to send thanks to Cedar for assisting with making sauerkraut over the weekend. Here's where we started:



Here's Cedar using his hands to "chew" the cabbage.



This batch has red and green cabbage, carrots, onions, and black pepper. Looking forward to it...!



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

BRK #551

Wheaton Labs now has a GAMCOD plot...! We started building a hugel berm at Allerton Abbey today for this express purpose. Video documentation has also started, though we'll need to complete a few more steps tomorrow for a proper beginning. But at least it's begun.



To wrap up the afternoon, we did some tree-felling. Ben felled his first-ever tree today. Maybe next time we'll dial back the depth of that notch, however everything else was looking great. The tree fell exactly where we needed it to, and all is well. Nicely done, man... Here's to many more!



Once it was down, the rest of the team and I started peeling the log. Looks like it was a bit too dead, however. I think we'll be using this for firewood instead. I wanted their first log-peeling experience to be something special (there's not much more satisfying than the sound of when that ribbon of bark nearly slides off with that --ssssssssssk! ssssssssssk!-- ) so we'll have to try again with another log, more suitable for building. This one was 98% dead-standing, unfortunately.



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