Dave Burton's Boot Adventures at Wheaton Labs and Basecamp

Gosh, it looks like you guys and gals are having fun!  And the best thing a cook can have is a 'cleaner-upper' : )

Good morning, Nancy! This is a look inside of the Fisher Price House early morning!

Day 72



This is an example of the amount of dishes I sometimes put away right after waking up in the morning. It typically takes me about 5-10 minutes to put them all away.



Last night, I made sweet potato soda. This has to ferment for 72 hours. It has one regular potato in it, because I accidentally thought a regular potato looked very similar to a sweet potato.



We spent today planting seeds on Fred's plot at Wheaton Labs! I enjoyed walking around in the woods; it was quite nice! I do think being even deeper in the woods and even farther from people for a bit would be better. I kinda prefer to enjoy Nature by myself more than with others! I think there's something calm, gentle, and peaceful in being alone in Nature. I spent most of the morning planting horse chestnut seeds.





I used the shovel to make a crevice in the soil, and then, I slipped the horse chestnut into the hole and tried to make it look like I hadn't disturbed the soil.



I think I did a decent job of making it look like I hadn't been there.



We played a bit with the kittens around lunch time!





I saw a cool mushroom on Fred's plot!



I planted a bunch of apricots and bulbs in the afternoon! Here's a little bit of me planting bulbs!





I saw a squirrel on Fred's plot, and I decided I wanted to watch it for a little bit!





These are some views I liked on Fred's plot!



I liked these fungi, too!

Wow -- I think it's a good thing Jocelyn has you on the team!  Now I'm off to research 'sweet potato soda'... what does it taste like?  (If it went 'too long', would you be making sweet potato vodka?)

Good morning! I stirred my sweet potato soda this morning!

Day 73



If you can see in the pictures I took, at the top of the containers, there are bubbles, which I think indicates that the sweet potato soda is alive and actively fermenting. The sweet potato soda I have made is not exactly to recipe, because I did omit a few things to make the soda vegan. The recipe from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon calls for the use of eggs, egg shells, and whey. Although I eat omnivorously, I would still like to share some of my creations with people whom eat differently. I would describe the flavor of sweet potato soda as kind of a mildy sour mulled spice drink. It does use some of the typical winter holiday spices, like nutmeg, cinnamon, and lemon rind, which is why I say it has a winter holiday taste to it. I'm not sure if it would turn into a "vodka" if fermented for longer; I have not tried that yet. I could let one of my two batches go for longer than three days and see what happens.



I'm also soaking some beans for three days, and then, I am planning to cook them in a slow cooker for a day.



I do not know why my videos suddenly have a weird sound overtone to them; if I had to guess it is probably how old my phone is and the wear and tear its been through. Here's some views I like from the Lab and Basecamp.



These are a couple views from the Lab.



These are a couple views from Basecamp.



We did a lot of log peeling today.







Here are more pictures of log peeling.



This is Gert hanging out with some of her kittens!





We tried out some larger gin poles to see how they would work.





At the moment, this is not looking like a good idea, because of the leverage of trying to lift something heavy from so far away.

Good morning! I recently learned that the sound recording in my phone is a bit wonky. I'm not sure what's up with that, so, for the time being, my videos have a weird overlaid tone to them.

Day 74

Here is an early morning soundscape!



I finished winding a skein of yarn into a ball last night.



Here's a quick look at my ferments!



We spent most of the morning planting seeds on Fred's plot. We took Ranger Doug to get to the Lab.







I planted a bunch of hickory and apricots on Fred's plot.





Here's a clover at seed!



I saw a pretty little nest on Fred's plot!



Here's another view on Fred's plot.





This is a view from Basecamp.







We spent the afternoon planting seeds on Jaqi's plot. I planted cherries.









I saw Gert with some of her kittens!



I made some kimchi with beets and cauliflower!



The far left jar is to ferment 3-7 days; the middle jar is to ferment 7-30 days, and the far right jar is supposed to ferment for 30-180 days.

We tried out some larger gin poles to see how they would work.

Shorter poles with the end of the log being lifted under the bucket should be the way to do it.  After transporting the end under the bucket can be rotated out to lower it int the truck.