Stephen B. Thomas

pollinator
+ Follow
since Jul 05, 2017
Merit badge: bb list bbv list
Biography
Former vocational instructor, currently residing at Wheaton Labs to build things and grow things. I also make soap and games, watch classic movies, read anything, and ride my bicycle. DEVOlutionist. Fond of black licorice, b-horror films, metal and punk music, and cultural artifacts of dubious taste and utility. Ask, and I will send you a friendly physical letter, no matter where you are in the world.
For More
Wheaton Labs, Montana, USA
Apples and Likes
Apples
Total received
In last 30 days
16
Forums and Threads

Recent posts by Stephen B. Thomas

--Update 2--

Here are a few photos of James and Liz's place out in western North Carolina. Over the past 5 years, James has been building a sustainable homestead operation one piece at a time. Liz moved in a year ago and the two of them are working together to create their own sustainable slice of paradise.



Here are the chickens and Goose, currently residing on the east side of the road.



Several of the guests from the 2024 PTJ had a chance to sample honey from James' beehives, and some of them are included here.



Here's a shot of the outdoor work shed/garden tables. I'd like to see us build something like this up at Wheaton Labs.



The garlic and onions over-wintered well. Over 400 starts were planted here.



James is also experimenting with inoculating logs with shiitake mushrooms in a few different ways. There's the traditional "plugs sealed with wax" method and "log sandwich" method here...





...As well as this "mushroom caps" method, which isn't discussed much outside a handful of YouTube videos. Hopefully this other method works well, as it takes less time and is less labor-intensive in general than the other two methods. After a small autumn harvest, James is curious to see what a full season's growth will produce.



One of the big outdoor tasks I assisted with was some logging. These trees had been downed for close to a year, and we decided to buck them to splitting length.



A few hours later, the logs were bucked and some other backyard odds and ends were sorted out for splitting and hauling in the next few days.



In the afternoon, James showed me around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which was fantastic. I remember having gone there as a kid but remembered almost nothing about it. I'm grateful for the chance to be reacquainted with it.



We walked along the "Three Waterfalls Loop," which was close to a three mile walk with a variety of terrain and scenic views.





The park service staff had built a number of artful roundwood timber railings and bridges along this route, which blended seamlessly into the natural setting.









We later convened with Liz in downtown Bryson City to wrap up my visit with some local cuisine. Big thanks once again to James and Liz for their generosity and hospitality...!

I head out tomorrow morning to travel four days to New Mexico...! Looking forward to it!
16 hours ago

Jeremy VanGelder wrote:For your time in the Carolinas you might look into the Living Soil Foundation in Mars Hill, NC. They have been making biochar to remediate the soils that were polluted after the hurricane.


Jeremy, I'm following-up with these folks now with the hopes that I can assist them for a few days before heading out west. Thanks again for passing along this info!
1 day ago
--Update 1--

Currently in SW North Carolina, visiting James and Liz: two folks I met at this past summer's PTJ. Helping James with refitting and renovating a house while I'm here. They have two dogs and a cat, along with chickens and a guardian goose. A creek goes right by the front of their house...it's great here!

I'll have pictures of their lovely place soon, but I wanted to add some pictures of the area I drove through before I arrived at their place. To sum it up: I went along the western border of North Carolina, then cut through the Great Smoky Mountains. The path I took was called "Newfound Gap," and while the roads seemed way too steep for reasonable driving, I think the views were wonderful.









As an aside: I think I need to replace my camera lens. It must have become too scratched-up over the past couple years, since all the sunny photographs seem over-blown with light and fogged-out. Working on it.
1 day ago

Brigitte Melchert wrote:Not exactly what you might be looking for, but we are still dealing with people that are living in tents and warm weather rv's and could use help.


How did I miss this?!?!!? I will look into visiting there during my Week 2 on the road. I'll already be in the WNC area.

Thank you for posting this!
5 days ago
While out here back East, I've snapped together a brief video about what Paul and I have discussed as our big projects for 2025, and a direct ask to recruit more Boots:



If you're watching this and you are interested in trying Boot Life, then please visit the official Wheaton Labs Boot Camp page at this link.

Thanks for reading/watching, and enjoy your day...!
2 weeks ago
We want more Boots at Wheaton Labs! Come on out this year!

While I'm on the road visiting family way out East, I wanted to post a brief summary of what Paul and I have planned for this year. I'm excited about what we want to accomplish, and we need more hands to do it. If you want more information about what's coming up at least for 2025, this video (less than 4 minutes long) might help.



For more details on how to jump in on this, please visit the official Wheaton Labs Boot Camp info page.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day...!
2 weeks ago
I think those pumpkins were a good choice, among the others. Even if they don't have large fruits the vines ought to grow and sprawl, and any sense of progress is likely a good thing for brand-new gardeners.

A starter seed set is a fun, useful idea...! Oh, and I second the suggestion for radishes. They're relatively easy and quick to grow, and are hard to ignore once they're ready to pick.
4 weeks ago

Andy Ze wrote:This website is a lot less interesting without any active Boot journals. This is not to guilt trip Stephen into posting again, at all. Just an observation.


I wish I had an easy response to your comment here. I am tired, and I have been sick (seriously, some kind of sinus thing has been dogging me for weeks), and then I've been bogged down with maintenance tasks for like the past month and a half while prepping for an extended trip out of town.

On-boarding two past Boots who haven't stuck around has been a personal drain. Beyond that, I'm just not convinced that people want to see me feeding cats and chopping firewood, yet again. The boring/typical stuff takes up a lot of time and energy, as everyone knows, and it can't be ignored. I don't think it makes good photo or video, either.

When the growing season is here again, there ought to be more to share. As it happens, right now I'm en route to visiting relatives and on a Wheaton Labs "ambassador trip" kind of thing until early March (I call it "Stephen's Snowbirding & Sustainability Sojourn"). I will do my best to post things for you all once I'm back in town. It's not that I wouldn't have a use for the BEL money, trust me on that one.
1 month ago
I've been sitting down with Roy's book The Order of Natural Necessity for the past few Saturday mornings to start my day, and here I'll compile the notes I've taken. I'd originally sent these to Paul, and he requested I post them here for everyone to review.

Part 3 of my Notes is in this post.
Check out Part 2 of my Notes at this link.
Start at Part 1 of my Notes by clicking here.

///

Notes for Chapter 2, continued. This is from the section entitled, Critical Naturalism.

TO SUM IT UP:
Critical Naturalism is to the social sciences as Critical Realism is to the physical sciences, or scientific practice in general. A major aspect of the social sciences Bhaskar points out is that it includes a number of dualisms: a pair of related concepts that coexist and conflict with one another. In this chapter Bhaskar spends time identifying a series of dualisms and describes them in the context of his theory of Critical Naturalism. Dualisms detailed here include:
Structure & Agency
Body & Mind
Facts & Values


Details of these examples are below.

STRUCTURE & AGENCY
This is a dualism with a cyclical relationship between its two aspects. Structure is required for Agency, while Agency reinforces current, or inspires change of, current Structure(s). Some examples of this include:
- Language. Language exists so that beings can communicate with one another. Language is the Structure, communication with that language is the Agency.
If a language is not used, it "dies." Maybe a new language is developed and adopted in its stead. In this case, Agency inspires a new Structure.
- Marriage. This is a social structure in which people participate. If people no longer married, the practice would eventually die out and fade away.

In both of these cases, history and culture reinforce the current status quo, and add constraints and resistance to social change. Those who attempt to resist or replace Structures will inevitably encounter this resistance.

When one successfully replaces a previous Structure with a new or different one, then that society is transformed. Bhaskar refers to this process as the Transformational Model of Social Activity (TMSA).

BODY & MIND
Body exists first, and the Mind is an emergent power of the Body. The Mind reinforces how the Body acts in the material world. See Part 2 of my notes for details on an emergent power and Emergence.

FACTS & VALUES
When you begin to learn new facts, you become implicitly critical of opposing views. For example:
Earth-centered versus Sun-centered models of our solar system.
Round Earth/"Glober" versus Flat-Earthers.
Witchcraft versus the non-superstitious.

When you internalize these facts you change your behaviour at a social/cultural level.

Stephen's editorial: I think this is the root of cognitive dissonance. When someone learns new facts, but does not change their behaviour, cognitive dissonance grows. History and culture can act as resistant forces that oppose someone trying to change their behaviour, when it wouldn't match up with the social structures and agents of their community. I see Bhaskar's TMSA as part of the process here, as well.

SOCIAL SCIENCE HAS SEVERAL DIFFERENT LEVELS TO STUDY
Bhaskar notes that social science isn't just about these relationships that occur between people. There's more to society and how people participate in them than just these dualities. He identifies "seven levels, at least" where social phenomena occur.
1. Sub-Individual: "My motives and my unconscious."
2. Individual: "I think, therefore I am. In fact, I am a separate being from others around me."
3. Micro-social world: "How can I communicate with and cooperate with other beings, while still being an individual?"
4. Meso-social world: "If I'm a manager, how do I relate with my subordinates? If I am a politician, how do I relate with my fellow citizens or with other politicians?" [To sum it up: this is the level of general sociology and ethnomethodology.]
5. Macro-social world: "How would I describe the economy of the town or country where I live?" "What is North America?"
6. Mega-social world: "How did Islam develop?" "What is feudalism, and how did it emerge?"
7. Planetary social world: "What is this planet? What is its connection to other planets and the solar system?"

To be continued...
1 month ago
Looks good, Sherry!

Question for you about your cob composition... How much straw would you say is mixed into your cob, compared to sand and clay?
1 month ago