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

BRK #573

I have several photos of the Caldera, which I took when the team went up the mountain path/road planting turnips. We'll see how many make it to harvest season.

Now is an excellent time to be up there. The arrowleaf balsam root flowers are all over. And the view of the horizon can't be beat.



Meanwhile...

Today was a "demo day," where the team dismantled some of the older, abandoned structures and cleaned-up the leftovers from previous Boots and guests.



Ben and I fitted the fixtures in the Shower Shack, and it's now ready for the summer events (and us, whenever we want to take an outdoor shower). Though we had decommissioned the Shower Shack last year well before the first frost came along, one of the check valves was cracked. A quick replacement addressed this, though the reason it cracked in the first place still remains a mystery.



We're finding all sorts of sunchokes popping up in unexpected places, which is just what makes sunchokes so remarkable. They'll show up after a year of neglect in an area, they'll appear in a place where I thought I planted everything other than sunchokes, they'll grow year after year in soil pretty much forgotten, on berms next to the road... They're a fantastic vegetable.



I also thanked Jim and Sofia, two WWOOFers who have been spending their time with us this week. It's been a pleasure having them on the team these past several days. Same with SEPPer Clay, who stepped up today to assist Paul with picking up our new pickup truck. More about Roy the Truck later.

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

BRK #574

I think this stuff is prickly lettuce. It's such a jerk, and it's a shame it has such a fantastic taproot. (a dirty foot of the Rocky Mountain Hirsute Dipshit included for reference)



Meanwhile... Everyone had a chance at the solar-powered sawmill today. WWOOFer Jim and I worked out the kinks, then we milled some lumber after Brian led the team in felling a large green tree.

Here's SEPPer Clay at the sawmill, with WWOOFer Jim looking like a rock-star in the background:



Here's Brian:



Here's WWOOFer Sofia:



Here's Ben:



After this week with the team (including two WWOOFers and a SEPPer, and two fantastic Boots), I kinda don't want to be anywhere else right now.



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

BRK #575

While in Missoula today, it seemed like another round of, "Fifteen minutes of sun, fifteen minutes of rain." Pretty sure if I looked at a radar projection map of the area today, it would have pinstripes of precipitation. So it goes.

The good news about so much rain - beyond the fact we don't have to frantically rush about, irrigating garden beds - is that there's plenty of flowing water these days. And look at the ducks...!



The Milwaukee Path Trail has all sorts of mini-canals and drainage paths, including this pastoral scene just beyond a culvert.



The Clark Fork is vibrant right now, as well.



Plenty of mushrooms are fruiting right now, as well. Here are some oyster mushrooms, growing on the berms down by Arrakis (our parking lot).



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

BRK #576

A Sunday, and a Nest Project day. I did two separate tasks and I'm pleased with the outcomes.

I revised our recycling guide, and it's now posted in the kitchen.



The second project I completed today was to update one of the "kitty cushions" found on the front porch of the Fisher Price House. Here's how things looked at the outset of the day. I haven't liked the look of the cat lounging shelves for a while now, so I started to take care of the look of this today.



Here's what I started with. I took this section of knit fibers. Looks to me like a bit of a sweater with the arms and neck removed.



I folded this in half, and it still looked like it was wide enough to be comfortable for the cats.



I then found some fabric long enough and wide enough to cover this sweater scrap on both sides.



I measured the width of the folded sweater, and then decided to extend the edges with the "sleeve" I wanted to make, so the sweater wouldn't be bunched-up inside.



I decided that there would be two parts to the sleeve, and then I would attach them together. Now that I've made one of these so far, for later cushions I may simply fold a larger piece in half. This depends heavily on the width of the fabric I start with, and in this case it wouldn't have worked as well.



I pinned the two sections of fabric face-to-face, then pinned them together on three of the edges. I then brought out the heavy-duty sewing machine so that I would have some solid stitches. This cushion's going to be outside, and likely manhandled (cat-handled?) so I didn't want to settle for hand-stitching when I didn't have to.



After the sewing was done, I flipped the sleeve inside-out. It was now stitched closed on three sides.



I tucked the folded sweater section inside the sleeve, pushing it down to the far end.



Next, I folded over the extra "tab" and then pinned it closed. This, I used both machine and hand-stitching to close the cushion sleeve once everything was inside.



Here's the finished cushion.



I brought it outside, then replaced one of the other clothing scraps with the finished cushion.



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

BRK #577

Monday and back at it. I sometimes see people mentioning something like, "back to the trenches," though they're being facetious. Well, today the team could legitimately mention "back to the trenches" and we would be literally correct... One of our tasks today was to dig out more of the trenches for the Bobra Line project. Nothing very interesting to show regarding that, as at this point it's simply some large holes in the ground (as in, six feet deep, give or take a few). More about that once we have something more interesting to show.

Meanwhile, the second part of the day was spent gardening at Basecamp. I have some interesting shots to show from this afternoon.

Found a random stalk of asparagus growing out on one of the berms in Far Arrakis, our sand pit.



I'd like to think this patch of sunchokes/Jerusalem Artichokes is also random. To be clear, it looks to me like a plant that hadn't been harvested, so all the tubers started growing their own stalks. Anyone whose ever forgotten one of the plants knows exactly what I'm talking about, here.



The blueberry bushes we planted earlier this year are alive and well. Here's the "Northcountry" variety.



This "Nova" red raspberry is still hanging in there. I remember when it showed up I was doubtful it would stick around. The pruned branch didn't have much to show just yet, but another one grew off the side, I think.



Finally: note to self. Be sure to leave ample head-space when working at the sawmill. The flexy supports for the far end of the frame work best as a holding place for the sawmill rack, and having to force the rack back onto the rest of the frame seems to cause alignment issues that plague you further down the line when you're making your reverse/vertical cuts.



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