Robbie's Permaculture Bootcamp experience

Day 75
Solid Friday. We installed one side of the corner section and layed out the other. We are a few sticks short so we have to cut those on Monday. Before lunch I planted Daikon Radish while Fred planted Lupine ahead of me.
After lunch Coco and I spent the rest of the day cleaning up the ant plots. we loaded and hauled materials containing mostly rocket mass heater supplies and windows to the boneyard.

Day 76
First full day on the plot and I didn't sow any seed. Although I did fill a couple buckets of sand to get ready.
Mostly worked on the bathroom area and set up a compost bin with pallets.
Had a wonderful lunch sitting and enjoying the scenery of birds and ground squirrels.
I should get some seeds in the ground tomorrow, maybe repair some fence too.

Hi Robbie. So you have an Ant Village plot now? You did become an Ant instead of a Boot? Or you are both Ant and Boot ... a booted ant maybe

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi Robbie. So you have an Ant Village plot now? You did become an Ant instead of a Boot? Or you are both Ant and Boot ... a booted ant maybe

I am not robbie, but ...

The bootcamp program sets each boot up with a plot after they have been here a month.  So robbie continues with the bootcamp program, but he has a plot to do his personal projects and maybe some PEP stuff, in the evenings and weekends.  

paul wheaton wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi Robbie. So you have an Ant Village plot now? You did become an Ant instead of a Boot? Or you are both Ant and Boot ... a booted ant maybe

I am not robbie, but ...

The bootcamp program sets each boot up with a plot after they have been here a month.  So robbie continues with the bootcamp program, but he has a plot to do his personal projects and maybe some PEP stuff, in the evenings and weekends.  

Thank you, Paul. I didn't know boots had plots too. Only knew about Ant Village plots.  

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi Robbie. So you have an Ant Village plot now? You did become an Ant instead of a Boot? Or you are both Ant and Boot ... a booted ant maybe

I am not robbie, but ...

The bootcamp program sets each boot up with a plot after they have been here a month.  So robbie continues with the bootcamp program, but he has a plot to do his personal projects and maybe some PEP stuff, in the evenings and weekends.  

Thank you, Paul. I didn't know boots had plots too. Only knew about Ant Village plots.  

If I remember correctly, part of the draw of being a Boot is that after 3 months they get an Ant plot, without having to pay rent for it that year. It makes sense, then, that'd Paul would let them work on the plot before they actually get it. In many ways, I like the Boot program better than the original Ant one, as it gives the people training in homesteading skills and time to tinker and think about their plot, before they actually are an Ant.

Day 77
Spent most of the day in ant village. Finally transplanted the cottonwoods and willows that went through a bit of shock from the abrupt temperature change with comfortable indoors to nights below freezing. They've been sitting in a bucket of water and mulch for about 10 days. It's been in the back of my mind the whole time but I finlly gave them a shot to spread their roots. Planted some seeds today. Prepped a bed and planted intensively with a mix of: Marigolds, Wild Thyme, Oregano, Poppies, beneficial bug mix, Rocky Mountain Beeplant, Cushion Buckwheat, Motherwort and Eggplant mixed together in sand. Followed by Bergamot, Buckwheat, Cabbage, Kale, Lettuce and squash.
Brought a vermiculture sample down to basecamp to look under the microscope. I examined a compost sample and one from the garden I use to play at in Spokane as well. There was more action in the worm castings, My guess is cause the sample was taken that same day. Can't seem to find a decent program for the camera attachment that came with the microscope. It could be a Mac thing but I'm sure I'll run into something soon.

Day 78
Beautiful Monday. We started the overcast morning dividing comfrey and transplanted them next to the willows by the willow bank, along with a few hollyhocks close by.
Fred ran me through documentation for all the batteries on the properties before we finished the battery maintenance for the month.
The sun burned the clouds away as we drove up to the lab to cut a few trees for the berm shed roof. On the way up we set up a charger for the batteries in the outdoor kitchen next to Cooper Cabin, checked the batteries in Rex and tinkered with the electric fence at the bee hut. There's a short somewhere and the repairs we attempted didn't seem to fix the problem. Paul was saying that the fence should only activte when there is contact to more than one wire, but it will shock you if you touch one so we didn't find it.
We drove up by Zack's pond to harvest the trees for the berm shed. They were killed from a wildfire that passed through for the best pick.
We drove down for lunch and spent the rest of the day working on the berm shed. We are a couple steps from finishing the roof phase of the section we've been working on and will stack up the wall so we can cover with tarps and dirt to finish.
Learned about mulch basins, slip tanks, and pipes for airflow to prevent anaerobic conditions.
I'd like to install a mulch basin for my mom's mango tree to keep the roots from creeping into their plumbing.

Day 79
Helped out with Fred's plot today. We hauled a few loads of brush to layer on the berm fence. After lunch we planted pintos, black beans and a variety of legume trees.
Today was a change up with Tiki Tuesday and it was a homerun. For desert we had tapioca pudding with a delicious apricot syrup Jocelyn whipped up from apricots that Fred harvested last year.

Day 80
Wednesday already and we threw a jab at the berm shed. Started off removing a couple sticks that were spiked in at the end of the roof. We tried to pry with a crowbar but it wouldn't budge so we ended up using a sledge hammer to hit it out. Took a few hits with some elbow grease but popped right out. Cut beams flush above the sidewall and drilled a new hole in one of them to replace a rebar that left with a cut. Moved logs around for the walls, cut to size and braced them with wire to keep from rolling away until the dirt does. With a few more logs the walls will be done and we should be talking about adding tarp once we touch up the roof.