evan's ant village log

There's a cookstove in Siesta now. It's not fully complete, (still needs an exterior layer of bricks, some tinkering with the stovepipe, and eventually a mass bench,) but it seems to already be burning wood very efficiently in the first few test burns.

The core design and inspiration for this stove came from Matt Walker. His beautiful and thorough documentation of his Walker Riserless Core, and in particular its application in a cookstove, can be found in the build album on his website: walkerstoves.com. Between the hundreds of pictures Matt took of nearly every step of the process and his patient guidance via email, I felt confident enough to attempt to build this stove. Thanks Matt!

My dad Steve gifted and loaned me much of the money needed to purchase materials, (especially the pricier insulated firebricks and stovepipe,) and the plan is to build another walker cookstove, (with an oven,) as soon as next year in Steve's planned future house! Both my dad and my mom have been super supportive and encouraging! Thanks mom and dad!

Kai, in between finishing off his cob cottage with a rumford fireplace and lorena stove, and lending many a helping hand to ants and gappers alike, also sifted and mixed some fine batches of clay-sand mortar. And Sara, visiting from saskatchewan, helped me mortar together the core and manifold of the stove. Thanks Kai and Sara!

Jim, David, Josh, Syra, Ben, Sara, Kai, and Sean all joined me in Siesta for a stove-building and then stove-lighting party, sharing help, food, drink, music, poetry, laughter, and warmth! Thanks so much you guys!

The double ram's horn of flames was visible where the fire blasts into the middle of the back of the riser and spirals up to encounter the fireglass cooking surface. While the rest of the cooking surface darkened, the area right above the riser burned away clean, leaving an amazing view. The picture below doesn't do it justice; I'll have to try and get better ones.

Some of the mortaring still needs touching up, and it will all be much better sealed once the outer skin of bricks is on and I install a proper door with a gasket, but so far it seems to be exceptionally clean, fast, and hot with nothing visible but heat waves coming out of the chimney. Awesome!

Such beautiful weather this fine fall day. Josh and Sara and I all practiced some yoga and acro-yoga in the uphill patio of Siesta. Kai and I converted the old fire ring into a vertical raised garden bed. The ducks have been a-quacking, enjoying the filled ponds and many puddles from all the recent rains. A perfect time for making art and music with friends.

Stevantium, that resplendent fatherland to the south, is coming along nicely. The ponds in Téjas, both Upper and Lower Delta Lakes, are holding some water from the recent rains. The department of ducks has issued a statement in support of the mere annexation of Téjas. The clover, mustard, daikon, and other cover crops are sprouting, but everything could probably use more mulch!

The Hundred Year Hut, as Steve refers to his tiny house, is looking better every day. Some mulch on the roof sure went a long way!

Back in September when Ben, Josh, and I were leaving for a trip out east, Ben asked Steve if he wanted us to pick up anything for him. He jokingly replied, "a martin guitar." Ben happened to have one back at his house in pennsylvania, and so he brought it back a couple thousand miles and we painted on it and presented it to Steve. He was surprised and thrilled, and immediately plucked out a jam in gratitude.

Evan Stove looks like it is coming out to be pretty epic ! You are all killing it as usual . Stoked to see the sun a shinning again out there!  Thanks again for showing me around I'm working on a little montage but sadly 80 Clips and photos didn't get recorded . So bummed I didn't get any of Ben's jams or Kai's Jams . Im guessing the clip will just be a random sample of ant village, and wild mushrooms, some tinkering. Will Post very soon !

Shaun, it was awesome having you out here! Thanks for all your help and all the art you brought to the village! You're welcome out here any time!

Here's a couple pictures of the wicked wooden totems that Shaun hand-carved and gave to Kai and I.

And also a picture of the new door that Josh built for his Bear Den. Shaun took tons more pictures of the construction process of the Bear Den, and video! Check it out:

https://permies.com/t/60089/Weeks-ANT-Village-Wheaton-Labs

Loads of mushrooms have been popping up all over the lab since we've had such a wet autumn. Here's some pictures of some of the more stunning varieties.

Shaun even made a thread devoted to this flush of fungi:

https://permies.com/t/60117/Fungi-ANT-Village-Wheaton-Labs

Here's some relatively up-to-date pictures of progress on Siesta and the Walker cookstove/mass heater inside.

Fucking awesome.

Everything looks great, Evan!  I see you came up with a solution for those wing walls (no surprise there).  That house should keep you nice and toasty on the coldest of days, I would imagine.