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

BRK #578

A Happy Taco Tuesday to you...!!!

Event prep is now officially on our radar, so the first part of the day was spent preparing Cooper Cabin and the Swede-ified Sauna for guests. Lots of log-splitting and wood stacking.

It seems like after this weekend of heavy rains, everything has sprouted and is healthy. At the same time, today's high temperature was 89 degrees F...! I didn't expect that at all. Temperatures were climbing as soon as the sun crested the mountains, and we set up sprinklers at a few hugel berms. Here's one at the Corn Scoop, over at Allerton Abbey.



Sad to see it has gone to seed already... Here's a Stinging Nettle. I enjoy snacking on these while we're carrying out Boot tasks up at the Abbey.



Another native perennial plant, I think... Might this be lupines? Ben and I seem to think so.



Finally: speaking of Ben, here's a photo of his recent start at a Nest Labor project. He's building a stone pathway at the top of the Roundwood Steps over at Basecamp. Things are looking good...!



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

Yup, that's lupine!

BRK #579

It seems hard to believe it's already the middle of the Boot week. We're chipping away at about a dozen different tasks.

Here's a tiny red mushroom I found growing in the Boneyard, up at the Lab.



I was up at the Boneyard today, placing the tractor attachments into storage. See you this winter, Mr. Snow Plow! (also pictured, Ms. Box Blade).



After the team reconvened at Basecamp, we activated the outdoor Willow Feeder Sinks before lunch. Most of the amenities are online and ready to go for the summer events...!



Speaking of Basecamp, here's a rush of Sepp Holzer Grain growing on one of the berms down at the parking area. I don't recall seeding there, but maybe all the seeds blew over there from the Berm Shed roof...? Anyhow, they seem to love it over there.



Finally: we have some more volunteer potatoes...! I was wondering if we'd missed a few during last year's harvest. It's nice to see that there are several growing in a segment of a hugel berm where we have yet to plant a single seed. We'd just mulched over it and let it do it's thing, and there be taters.



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

BRK #580

Whew... What a day! Some demolition of an old, abandoned structure to apply the first layer of dirt. Then, when we checked on Allerton Abbey, we noticed that three entire sections of the fence were downed...! Upon closer examination, it turns out that the intense wind and storms we had last night broke three of the support posts, knocking them down permanently (as these were posts buried in the ground, and they were snapped-off). We resolved to pivot our plans and instead build rock jacks in the afternoon.

We're working on a video for rock jacks, as there's not a proper one finished yet. There's one rock jack done, and two to go. Hopefully we can secure everything behind a solid, well-supported fence before the weekend... We don't want deer and turkeys to eat all our vegetables.



This vertical post is roughly 8 feet tall. The legs are just about 8 feet in length as well.



It's funny, you'd think there were plenty of rocks around Allerton Abbey, it being on a mountain and everything... In reality, all nearby rocks have all been used for other projects...! We had to go on a hike to grab this paltry amount of rocks for the bare minimum of weight. At least we're confident that the construction is solid.



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

BRK #581

This week turned out to be a slobberknocker. The thing that really threw us, I think, was the sudden breaking of three consecutive fence panels over at Allerton Abbey. We spent about 10 hours total repairing and replacing them, spread over three shifts. It would have taken longer, had Paul not mentioned to us that, since digging in the ground is possible up at the Lab, we wouldn't need to build more rock jacks up there to finish the job. So we dug post holes instead for the final two vertical support posts.

Here's what they looked like earlier today.



We suffered one shovel casualty. The next step is to see if the "lifetime warranty" will still stand. I'm sure we've stowed the receipt for this purchase somewhere, right...?



Shortly after the beginning of our afternoon shift today, the three new posts were installed (including one rock jack), and the three busted fence panels were rebuilt. What a task...! But it was an important one and if we hadn't finished it, all our gardens at the Lab would be at risk of deer and turkey nibbling.



Earlier this week, we also did a number on Skeleton 2, one of the abandoned structures over at the Lab. Here's how things looked at the beginning of Thursday's shift:



A special challenge with this structure in particular was the removal of the plastic waterproof barrier. We didn't know how deeply it was buried under the bermed-up walls along three of the four exterior walls, so we had to dig underneath the edge a little at a time to sort it out.



We found these old gloves and the remains of a garden trowel buried underneath the waterproof barrier...



By the end of the shift, things were much more improved, plus we salvaged a lot of potentially usable materials and fasteners.



We were all grateful that today was a Friday, and are looking forward to the weekend and perhaps a little extra shut-eye.

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