Lara Bigotti

Hi Amelia, we do order from Azure. Those orders go in once a month - I believe the next one will happen toward the end of September. Would it be possible to email me with some more specific details about the sort of cooking experience you've had? Namely, the number of people you're used to cooking for, what sort of meals you like to make... Then I think it would be helpful to hop on a call; I could provide you with more specifics about what sort of tools are at your disposal, feedback from other event cooks, etc. Thanks so much for your interest, we really appreciate you!

Warmly,
Lara
lara (at) richsoil (dot) com

Hi Ajeet!
I’m currently in the process of situating our instructors for this event. Once this is complete I’ll have a better idea of what is available for guest rentals. That should be in the next week.

I believe we’ll have space in the Fisher Price House (that’s Paul’s house at Basecamp) bunkroom, or the bunkroom in Cooper Cabin on the Lab property. That’s the one that’s about 2 miles down the road; during events, a shuttle runs morning and evening to bring guests to Basecamp and back to the lab in the evening.

Does that make sense?
If you want to ask more questions you can definitely ask them here, as others might have the same questions, or email me at lara@richsoil.com if you prefer.

What a summer. It feels like I'm back in high school or college and I just hosted a party where everything in my house got broken and now this is the come down. I'm utterly exhausted. I've left my position as rental/event coordinator. And where to go from here?

After ten hours of cleaning the kitchen today, it is lovely to sit and be cooked for and to share a glass of wine with Magdalene. She is like a painting to me; beautiful and delicate, you love to look at it, but there is mystery in its appeal, strength in its timelessness. Magdalene has kept the bootcamp alive all summer with her steadfast resolve and I admire her for her dependability. We have shared some special moments this dreadfully hot summer and I feel grateful for this friend.

Losing Waldo this season was a big blow to my fragile heart. Such an incredible creature. Waldo was proud, he strutted; he never asked, he just told it like it was. He kept himself impeccably clean, even through his huntings. In the end, I remember he followed Gremlin around loyally, perhaps obsessively. Not long after he was gone, her three kittens were revealed to us. And what joy it was to see the rebirth of life, the endless cycle. Somewhere, Waldo's spirit circles around this land and it is imbibed with his endless energy. Golden eyes. You are missed & never forgotten.

There were many river swims. Indelible people with warmth in their very footsteps. Dirty jokes. Card games. Catan games. Laundry. Half a PDC. Mental breakdowns. Definitely not enough dancing. Talents upon talents. Conversation. Chatter. Controversy. Miscommunications. Sadnesses. Goodbyes.

I am less and I am more for it all. I am proud and ashamed. I am trying to learn violin this winter, does anyone have one sitting in their basement they'd like to send me? I can pay for shipping.

Big love x x

Hey Garry!
That's cool! I haven't been in touch with Daisy in a while but I'm glad to hear she's going strong on the CDT. It looks like it's about 12 hours from here and we are swamped with the summer events so I won't make it out this season, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting back on trail at some point in the future. :)

beautiful boy

Here is an updated schedule...

Michayla Deane wrote:Hello, young couple ready to pay our boot camp fee and get groovin (as soon as we make sure everything can work out). I’m a bit confused because I saw somewhere say it takes one month of boot camp to get land but somewhere else says 4 months. What are the sleeping arrangements before those 1-4 months? Commute? I ask because I have a (very well behaved farm) dog who gets nervous in a new situation. She has never barked at anyone but has more of a docile response to her anxiety. She lived on a farm for 4 years and has been camping many times near other people, she only gets anxious in closed quarters near people. Due to my own fears I never have her off leash and she is the definition of lazy farm dog so I know once we are on our own land she will find her lay spot and spend most of her hours in that spot.

Hi Michayla,

Thanks for reaching out about the bootcamp. After one month of bootcamp, you may choose a plot to play with. After 2 years of bootcamp, you achieve "deep roots" and get rent for life on your plot. Or, after 4 months of bootcamp, you can trade those 4 months of work for one year of rent on your plot and become an ant in ant village. You can read about Paul's policy for dogs in this post but essentially, while you are a boot, you live wherever the bootcamp needs boots (either at basecamp, or the lab) and basecamp is not currently fully fenced (nor is the lab). So the logistics of living at Wheaton Labs and working full time in the bootcamp with a dog might be tricky, unless you have a solution for the dog while you are working. We do not have any dog-friendly rentable structures, so camping might be your only option besides a home on wheels... If you came in a warmer month, it might be possible to put something of a structure up in your free time before winter. I hope this helps!

Marcia Everett wrote:I can not figure out where this place is located? As in what state?

Hi Marcia, we’re in Montana.

Thank you all so much for your responses, it was greatly appreciated. On Tuesday we did use the afternoon to inoculate mushrooms (they look other-worldly, right?) as well as build a fog harp.

The fog harp has thus far collected zilch but we're going to shift it around and try some different spots.

We also set up the patio for outdoor cooking and seating and enjoyed vegan cinnamon buns and virgin pina coladas. It was yum.

See pics below!

So Paul is a fan of "half-assed holidays" in which the boots get a half day of bootcamp time to work on a useful, hopefully fun or soul-building, but not necessarily high priority, project.

May the Fourth is tomorrow, and some of us have come up with the thought of setting up our outdoor kitchen area for the summer during a half-assed holiday tomorrow afternoon.
We'll then utilize the space as a cantina and drink virgin mai tais while we cultivate mushrooms.

But we need more useful things to fill this time.
Paul's half-assed holidays are really fleshed out with useful tasks and he wants the same for this one.
Another consideration is that in order to make this an annual event, the tasks should be something we can do every year on May the Fourth (rather than a one-off task such as building something we've been needing).

And it should be in line with the theme. I'm not a huge star wars person so I need your help coming up with more relevant ideas.

Thanks friends!