Nine's Bootcamp Experience (BRK)

Yup, the curved gouge on a stick looks traditional and like it would work well if you had the tool.  I made mine extra thick since it gets a bit chilly around here.  I wonder if you could cut a log in half with a chain saw and then carve out a half-square hollow from each half log with a bunch of passes on the sawmill.....

Mike Haasl wrote:Yup, the curved gouge on a stick looks traditional and like it would work well if you had the tool.  I made mine extra thick since it gets a bit chilly around here.  I wonder if you could cut a log in half with a chain saw and then carve out a half-square hollow from each half log with a bunch of passes on the sawmill.....

With how the sawmill's runnin' these days, I might just make a bunch of passes with a chainsaw instead... Could also use my circular saw in the same fashion, then knock those pieces out and carve the rest out manually.

I saw you're in Zone 4. I imagine 3-4" thickness would be about right for these parts as well (Zone 5b). I hadn't really seen any scientific evidence of zone = log hive thickness. Looks like our lat/long is about the same as S. Germany/N. France/Switz areas, so if I find any from that area their thicknesses might work for us as well, if for nothing else than a ballpark.

#39

Nest Labor got moved to Sunday now, so we all woke up and busted out our cleaning duds to whip our community buildings into shape. Paul had mentioned something about having plants on top of the dining table chandelier recently; I watered everyone then transferred a few up there to trail down. I think it looks quite nice, and a few others have commented positively about it as well. Paul seemed pleased also. If he's happy, I'm happy.

I woke up ridiculously early today for a weekend morning and couldn't get cross pollination out of my head, so I went on a journey looking for articles discussing veggies that will cross pollinate and cause issues. Issues if you're trying to keep all your varieties pure [read: inbred]. Then I happened upon a link that had compiled all of Joseph Lofthouse's blog posts/articles about landracing plants into one big PDF. I laid there reading that until I reached the end, then it was about time to get up for the day. But this collection struck me, especially as I had just gone through all the seeds yesterday. It's kinda inspired me to try to landrace a few varieties here as well.

In my seed stash I now have a few varieties of turnips, radishes, peppers (sweet and hot), cherry tomatoes, beans, broccoli, and squash that I think I'd like to try this with. I realize the peppers will have to be separated so I don't end up with sweet and spicy peppers. The broccoli will have to be separated from the brussels sprouts. Will the radishes and turnips be an issue next to each other? I haven't seen anything saying they will unless the turnips are 'wild'. Is there anyone else I should keep apart?

If you have any of these seeds and want to send them over to add to my pool for genetic diversity, I'd love it. We're in zone 5b, but who knows what will grow and help strengthen the rest of the pool!

I also need to gather more herb (both medicinal and culinary) seeds/plants at some point. I brought two rosemary starts I'd rooted, but one didn't make it. The other I'm babying. It also has some wild stinging nettle growing with it, which will make it fun to transplant when the time comes. I have two common sage cuttings that I've been trying to root in water for the last 2+(?) months, but still haven't started rooting. But their leaves are still going strong, so who the heck knows what they think they're doing. I also tried rooting some French lavender in water, but those two look like they might just give up any day now. Maybe they did already and I'm just in denial. Luckily, I brought their mother with me so I can try again at some point if need be. Might just need to get some rooting hormone...

On an entirely other random note, I'm contemplating making a log bee hive to hopefully attract more pollinators to the plot and maybe harvest some honey at the end of the year if they have any to spare. There are some rather tall stumps down in the lower paddock that might be the perfect size for making into a hive. I'll start that project when I have more time and energy.. hopefully in a week or two before swarm season starts.

What's the best address to send seeds for your project?

Jen Tuuli
c/o Paul Wheaton
2120 S Reserve ST #351
Missoula MT 59801

<3