Jeremy's Ant Village Adventures

Hello Everyone! I'm the newest ant in town...errr...village. It was a long 5 day trip from Virginia, but I made it! I've been here for 6 days now. I've got things at least livable on my plot for now. I've already been designing a structure to be built before winter. Still pretty early in the design phase, so feedback would be awesome! Currently, this design is basically two bermsheds facing each other. I want to have stone plinths support the posts. I believe this to be better than digging a hole for the post to rest in. This method has been used in Asian wooden buildings that have lasted thousands of years. I also believe it possible to not even need a retaining wall. I was thinking that you can just have the dirt angled so that it won't collapse and just have a drain at the bottom to direct any water that may seep in. I have also always disliked the unnatural plastic moisture barrier that is in current use on most of the roofs of the structures around here. I know that traditional Scandinavian turf houses used birch bark as their moisture barrier. Sadly, there aren't many birch trees around here (Maybe I should plant some!). Another idea is to use clay/slate/metal tiles, however I'm not sure how well tiles work buried underground. I have a feeling that the moisture would just back up into the space between the tiles. Perhaps I'll build a small building to test this idea. Another idea is to cover the roof slats with pine tar. There are a lot of pine trees around here, but I have no idea how many trees you would need to make enough tar to cover a 30'x30' roof. The last idea I had was to not even put on a moisture barrier. Depending on the clay content of the soil on the roof, I believe the soil itself would act as a moisture barrier. It is also of note that it doesn't really rain that much here anyway. I also wonder if there is something that I could plant on the roof that would act as a natural moisture barrier. Lastly, I am working on finding traditional timber framing tools. Chisels, gouges, brace drills, auger bits, etc. Please let me know if you know where I could find some for a good price that won't require too much restoration work.

Hey Jeremy, looking forward to seeing what you have up your sleeves for the ant village. Have you seen this guy?



He has built all sorts of houses and all sorts of roofs. This video shows how he made a tile roof.

Maybe worth testing them underground?

I believe that a tiled roof under earth cover would wick back up, if the tiles make semi-decent contact. If they are spaced so that wicking is interrupted, it may work well. Another possibility is two layers of tiles, such that wicking from the top layer is caught by the (dry, non-earth-contacting) lower layer and conveyed out to the sides. This would also involve a thin layer of trapped air cells that would have some insulating value in a climate with real winter. Maybe you could use the kiln built under the bermshed at base camp to fire tiles? I haven't heard of any real use of it yet... would be happy to know that it has been used. Earth-built kilns are a wonderful thing, and a favorite area of research for me. The primitive technology guy is great, a semi-tropical area would make building so much easier in some ways.

Miles Flansburg wrote:Have you seen this guy?

Yeah! I love watching that guy's videos. He's got lots of good ideas. I was actually thinking about him while I was musing about clay tiles.

Glenn Herbert wrote:Another possibility is two layers of tiles, such that wicking from the top layer is caught by the (dry, non-earth-contacting) lower layer and conveyed out to the sides.

That's an idea I hadn't thought of yet... Now that I think about it, I think I could do half circle clay tiles like this:



As long as there is an air gap between the lip of the upper and lower tiles, that should prevent wicking. It would give a channel for the water to run down.

Now the only problem I see is the difficulty of replacing a broken tile, but that's going to be difficult no matter what you bury under dirt.

So long as the tiles are water proof, otherwise you run the risk they crack if they absorb moisture in winter and then get below freezing and the water expands. Plus the tiles are quite pricey/heavy and static load is a safety concern.

Have you considered Paul's idea of layering newspaper as a non-plastic option for water protection? You get stacks of newspapers, open them up and use say 1/2" thick chunks, and lay them like shingles with the ones above overlapping those below so water runs down and away.

My only concern is that when such a system eventually returns to the earth, you aren't going to find out during the dry season with time to decide what to do. Instead you'll be finding leaks coming through a foot of soil that's likely planted with things you hoped to harvest, and now you have to dig up literally tons of earth to find the leak, when it's wet and/or cold. That seems like a really rough lesson to learn the hard way.

I'm working on plans for a Wofati/Oehler/PAHS house for my own property up in Washington, and using recycled billboard plastic seems like a fair compromise: I'm not making new waste/plastic, but I will get the benefit of something that will resist leaking rather well. That billboard material has been used in the wofatis up there already, and I think they said it was free or nearly so. But if you can come up with an all-natural system that works just as well or well enough that would be even better for sure.

The viability of clay tiles depends partly on the character of the earth above them. If it is clay, water is likely to get locally trapped and flow through the crevices between tiles regardles of  wicking possibilities. If you have sandy soil or can put a layer of sand/gravel above the tiles, water can flow freely on top of the tiles and wicking is the only concern.

You would want to position the tiles where they would not freeze, which likely means at the bottom of the roof cross section, next to the warmed interior. Maybe you could get a layer of insulating earth between interior space and water-shedding tile layer(s), depending on climate.

Hi Jeremy, new 'ant'! Do you have photos? I like seeing how the Ant Village is doing. I followed some 'ants' last year, but it seems they left, or didn't return after winter

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Do you have photos?

Here's one of a weird fungus that I found oozing out of the side of one of my huglekulturs. When I first saw it, I thought someone had sprayed some of that Great Stuff foam or something, haha! Bonus points to anyone that can identify it!


Here's one where I was filling in a ditch right behind my hugles with a bunch of brush and logs to hopefully retain some more moisture. My trusty sidekick, Cloud, is supervising...and eating grass...


I hope to actually start making some videos of what I'm doing around here, but I need to first get a solar system set up so I can do some video editing on my desktop computer.

Another update!

Today I took a walk around the lab and lamented the fact that I could not find any deciduous trees! Coming from the east coast, I missed my hickory, oak, maple, tulip poplar, not to mention the various species of nut trees and fruit trees. All these softwood conifers are getting me down. I'm on the lookout for seeds of any non coniferous trees! If you want to send me some to plant, I'm sure the land (and me) will thank you!

As mentioned in my previous post, I'm looking to get a solar system set up. I'm thinking I won't need more than 500 watts. Please let me know if you have some old solar panels, inverters, charge controllers, etc. I want to see if I can get a good deal on some used stuff before I go and buy a brand new system.

I've also been thinking about getting some ducks. I'm a beginner at raising livestock. I figured ducks would be an easy first livestock animal to get into. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I found one guy on craigslist selling a Muscovy pair for $75 and ducklings for $10 each. There's also another guy selling buff orpington ducklings for $2 each. And then one other guy selling Khaki Campbell. $30 for adult female, $15 for adult male, $12 for duckling females, $8 for duckling males.

Random Projects

Here are some dry stack stone stairs that I made to help get into one of the hugle sun bowls.


Bushcraft camera holders!
Here's the first version I made. The top piece just kind of press fits onto the top of the stick.


I ended up thinking of a better and simpler version. This one just uses a small wedge to keep the phone secured in the notch of the stick.


And of course, gotta get in those cat snuggles!

I've been keeping ducks for about 3 years. I love them! I would definitely get adult or older ducklings so you don't have the extra learning curve and the difficulty of keeping them warm. When I got mine, some were already feathered in enough to be outside, and the others just needed two weeks under a heat lamp and weren't nearly as fragile as freshly hatched ducklings. The older they are, and the more feathers (not the fluffy ones, but the smooth adult-looking feathers) the colder the temps they can handle. Muscovies are good meat and broody ducks--i.e. they won't give you as many eggs as the "mallard" type like a Khaki Campbell.

Are you wanting eggs or meat? If eggs, I would totally go for the malard type females. Good laying Mallard-type ducks are: Khaki Campbell, Indian Runner, Ancona, Golden 300, White Layers. Of the ducks you mentioned, I'd go for the adult Khaki Campbells. Buuuuut, it's hatching season right now. Most ducks are laying or hatching ducklings. If you wait a few weeks, you might be able to pick up some older ducklings that won't need a heat lamp and will likely be cheaper than adults. But, with ducklings it won't be until Late fall--or probably January--that they start laying. If you want eggs sooner, get adults.

You should have at least two--preferably three--ducks. You could get three females, or two females and a male. But, DON'T get two makes and a female. The males are horny and persistent, and they will actually gang up on the lady, both holding her down while the other does the deed. The ratio for females to males is 5 females to 1 male. Also, the more room they have to forage, the less the guys will harass the females, since they'll be more busy foraging.

Make sure whatever structure you give them for the night is predator-proof. Evan lost a few ducks up there at Wheaton Labs. Make sure there are no gaps in the structure wider than 1/8th inch. Hardware cloth was my friend in making my duck house.

Have the house built before you get ducks. When you get them, keep them in their house for a few days. It seems mean, but that's how they'll learn it's their home. Otherwise, you might not be able to get them to go home! When you feed them in their house, sing a song or clink a container or shake the feed so they know it's food time. The first day you let them out, DON'T feed them until you want to lure them back to their house. That way, when you want to put them away, they'll be motivated. If they're not hungry, they probably couldn't care less about going where you want them to. Feed them in their house at night for at least a month to get them in the habit of going home. It makes for a poopy house (deep litter method is great and the bedding is great berry bushes, building garden beds, mulch around trees, etc), but it will get them trained to go home. I wish I'd known this, because we had quite a few "adventures" of spending hours trying to wrangle up ducks to get them to go home!

As for water, if you have adults, a gallon or two gallon pail is a good watering source, especially in their house. Their water needs to be deep enough that they can dunk their bills in it--it helps them swallow. Never give them food unless you're also giving them water. For outside their house, a 2-4 inch deep tray (oil pan, old plastic drawer, bottom of a hamster cage, etc) that's at least 1 foot by 2 feet is enough for them to bath in. Dump it out every day and add fresh water--they get it dirty quickly (some ducks moreso than others). I like to put their watering trays near a tree or bush that needs extra water and fertilization. The ducks will visit the water  a lot, and so poop more in that area, and when you dump out the tray, you'll be wateirng the tree. You can roate between trees this way.

Ducks will eat spiders, slugs, bugs, woodlice and most insects (but not ants). They will eat seedlings and berries (protect any strawberry plants!) and kind of trample and poop on older plants, but don't do much damage to those older plants. They are a WHOLE LOT less destructive than chickens. My chicken would do more destruction to a garden in 10 minutes than my 15 ducks would do in an hour. I'm not kidding!

Anyway, I hope that answers some of your questions. If you have more, please ask!

Nicole Alderman wrote:Anyway, I hope that answers some of your questions. If you have more, please ask!

Awesome information Nicole! Thanks so much. I want meat AND eggs. Maybe I could get some ducks of various breeds? Maybe muscovies for meat and khaki campbells for the eggs. Would they get along together? Also, would it be smart to get a guard goose to ease predator pressure?

There's multiple ways to go about getting ducks for meat and eggs. The simplest might be to get a "dual purpose" breed.

Here's a spiffy chart comparing some of the different breeds: http://www.metzerfarms.com/DuckBreedComparison.cfm

Interestingly enough, it shows that the Pekins lay about as many eggs as a Khaki Campbell, and more than Runner ducks, and the Pekin's are twice as big. Larger birds also tend to lay larger eggs. If you had a flock of Pekin's, you would get meat (boy ducks=meat ducks. Keep the most gentlemanly of the males, and eat the rest). The problem with Pekin's is that they are WHITE. In other words, they are easy for predators to spot.

Another idea would be to get some super egg layers, like the Golden 300s, that are nice and brown. I've had some of mine go broody (one is currently insistent on adopting/stealing my other duck's ducklings). They also are a medium-sized duck, so have a bit of meat on them. A slightly larger duck, that lays a reasonable amount is a Rouen, which looks like a big wild mallard duck. And, as a bonus, about 35% of them lay eggs that are a lovely shade of green.

Another option would be to just have a miss-match of ducks! You could do mallad and muscovy, knowing that there will be some crossing probably, that will result in good-sized ducks that won't be able to breed. I've heard that these "Mullards" are usually bred for foie gras. But, if you end up with a bunch of mullards and no pure mallards or muscovies, your ducks won't be able to self-perpetuate.

Another way to do miss-matched ducks would be to do two or more breeds of mallards, maybe some Golden 300s and some Pekins. If they interbreed, you might just get some large ducks that lay lots of eggs! And you could then develope your own "landrace."

One really affordable way to get ducks is to pick up whatever ducks are affordable on craigslist/the local farm supply co-op. It's definitely and easier and more affordable way than getting purebreds or raising ducklings. You could even breed your own "landrace" of large, productive, brown ducks, or something. This is kind of the path that I am on. I started out with a flock of pure anconas, but I kept getting random mutts for free/cheap. I really love my ancona ducks and all their lovely colors, and am hoping to get some ancona-looking ducks that lay green eggs. One really productive cross that I ran across was a ancona x domestic mallard. They laid a LOT of beautiful, big, green eggs. I would love to get that trait into my ducks! I got some affordable fertile green mutt eggs and stuck them under my broody duck, and now I have a bunch of mutt ducks. We'll see how they all grow up!

Here's my mutt ducklings and their ancona mother:



A guardian goose could be a really good idea for you! I've been very tempted to get one myself, but the birds are so LOUD that I just can't bring myself to do it!

Oh boy... It's been a while and I have quite a few pictures to share with yall. Sorry for the long post.

I found some poop! I'm no expert tracker or hunter... I wonder what kind of animal it's from. Looks too big to be deer. Maybe elk?


I currently do not have refrigeration. So I'm trying out pickling things! Here's some pickled carrots! Just put carrots in a salt brine and let ferment. Easy peasy! Just make sure to let the CO2 escape.


One of the door locks on my truck broke, so I whittled a new one out of wood!



Installing a spout on a water jug. I thought the makeshift long pliers was a pretty neat idea.
Drilling the hole with a spade bit. (BTW, I love my new bit brace! Batteries not included!)

Clean the hole with a knife

Put the first rubber gasket on the spout then put it in the hole


Use bushcraft pliers (Patent Pending...) to put on second rubber gasket followed by the nut.







Brush clearing



Tree measuring contraption. To check the size of a tree at 10 feet.



How to carry a lot of saplings at once:
Lay down a strap

Lay saplings on strap, then tighten strap

Put saplings on your back!


Why was I carrying saplings? To weave some walls! You may be tempted to remove the branches, but it isn't really necessary unless you are wanting to plaster the wall later.


What are these walls for? A squat pooper! I recommend trying squat pooping. I prefer it over sit pooping. Everything just comes out nicer that way :)


I got some ducks! 3 Penciled Indian runners and 2 Saxony. I don't know their sexes yet. They are only 2 months old.

Here's a quick pen I threw up for them.

They have some mud puddles to play around in. These puddles used to be much higher. It collects the water from the creek that flows during the spring. I'm hoping that the ducks will help to seal the ground there so we can have a proper pond.


I made an edge guard for my big timber framing slick out of a piece of wood I had lying around. My other timber framing chisels already came with fancy guards. The slick was getting jealous.


Here I'm breaking ground for the new duck shelter. I plan to use it as practice for my workshop build with proper timber frame joints and whatnot. By the way, there is a proper way to dig large holes with a shovel. I didn't know this until a year ago when I read Mike Oehler's "The Fifty Dollar and Up Underground House". You basically create a trench one shovel head deep. Breaking out shovel full chunks into the trench as you go. After you finish that trench, then you move over one shovel head width and dig another trench. After a few rows, you can shovel out the free dirt that got left from removing the main chunks. After you have created a shovel head deep hole the size that you want, then you can dig down another shovel head deep using the same method. This technique allows you to take advantage of the leverage of your shovel and creates a place for the chunks to break out which greatly reduces the force necessary to free that chunk.


Whew! That wasn't so bad was it?

Good stuff Jeremy ! I am going to go with elk droppings. I love your ingenuity and creativity ! Keep up the bush crafting.

Nice looking ducks!

You might be able to tell which/how many are girls by how load they are. Even female ducklings are louder than male ones (we got free hatchling ducklings once, and I told my husband to pick out the 5 loudest ducklings of the 20 or so ducklings there. We got 4 girls and 1 guy--much better than the normal 1-1 ratio!). You probably have at least one female that has moved beyond the "peeping" stage to make a loud "Uht-Uht!" sound. Picking up a duck is a good way to get them to "uht" if they're going to. The boys make more of a soft "wahck" sound, though at this stage, the boys are all still probably making more of a peep sound...it's just a quieter peep than the girls.

This update is about moving heavy things.

I took the front wheels off of my wagon and made a makeshift log arch with just a piece of wood, some c clamps, and a log carrier.




Lifting an old wood burning stove out of a hole. My first attempt failed because I didn't measure how far I could lift with my chain hoist. The problem was the hoist hung too low below the beam. What ended up working was throwing a strap over the beam and using a come along attached to a deadman with lots of rocks piled on top of it to make sure it didn't pull out. This gave me just enough space to push it out and lower it onto tho ground outside the pit.

Nicole Alderman wrote:Nice looking ducks!

You might be able to tell which/how many are girls by how load they are. Even female ducklings are louder than male ones (we got free hatchling ducklings once, and I told my husband to pick out the 5 loudest ducklings of the 20 or so ducklings there. We got 4 girls and 1 guy--much better than the normal 1-1 ratio!). You probably have at least one female that has moved beyond the "peeping" stage to make a loud "Uht-Uht!" sound. Picking up a duck is a good way to get them to "uht" if they're going to. The boys make more of a soft "wahck" sound, though at this stage, the boys are all still probably making more of a peep sound...it's just a quieter peep than the girls.

Good to know! One of the penciled indian runners makes more of a wheezing noise. Could that be a male? I think the two Saxony are female. They are both loud and have the female coloring. Maybe I should get a drake so I can continue the breed.

Kind of depends on the weezing sound. I've had some ducks that seemed to "cough" a bit, and it was kind of wheezy.

This guy's duck is definitely a drake (https://permies.com/t/88815/critters/Sex-rescued-duck)



When a female duck gets made, they make that UUUHT! sound, while the drakes never get very loud.

If you get a saxony drake, it'll be hard to make sure that you're only hatching out saxony ducklings. The runner duck will probably lay eggs in the same nest as the saxony ducks, so unless they're a different color egg or drastically different-sized egg, you won't know until they hatch out if they'll be pure saxony or saxony crossed with runner. And, even as they get older, it might be really hard to tell which are the runnerXsaxony, and which are the pure saxony, as the runnerXsaxony might just get traits from the father, but carry the runner traits and they might pop up in subsequent generations.

On a similar strain of thought, when you start getting eggs, you might wonder who is laying which eggs and who's the good layers. One way I found to determine who's laying on a given day, is to look at who is eating oyster shell. I've had a few ducks that laid blue eggs, and I realized that the days they laid were the days they'd eat oyster shell. The ducks that didn't lay, didn't eat much--or any--oyster shell.

For a long time, I had the oyster shell out of their house, so in the morning, I'd let the ducks out and watch them. The ones that ran over to get oyster shell where the ones laying. This year, though, I had to put oyster shell in their house because some of my ducks kept laying soft or shell-less eggs. Those ducks liked to eat their oyster shells all the time, or they'd get soft-shelled eggs. So, now the oyster shell is in their house. But, when I feed them, I can still sort of tell who's the layers by who runs off to get oyster shells after they eat. It's fun!

Miles Flansburg wrote:Good stuff Jeremy ! I am going to go with elk droppings. I love your ingenuity and creativity ! Keep up the bush crafting.

Agree with Miles that those are elk droppings. They could be moose as there are some in the area around the Lab.

Hey guys! It's been awhile again. Wanted to make you all aware of my youtube channel. I got a solar setup to be able to run my desktop computer for video editing. Here's some videos I've made so far. I should be breaking ground tomorrow for my winter building. I'll be taking video and documenting that process. Stay tuned!

Kick-ass, Jeremy!  Way to go, thanks for sharing your photos and videos.

Hope you're pacing yourself and taking good care.

Sorry about the ducks.  It seems like one possiblity is that they fled the pen to lay eggs? if so, are they likely to do that again? is there a way to provide them what they need closer? if it was just a coyote job, is there a way to give the coyotes a bribe of a dead turkey or two (I hear there are plenty of them at base camp, probably at the lab too or wherever seeds are sewn...?)  I'm no expert on any of this, just speculating.  

Coyotes play for our team in a lot of ways--and they regulate their populations so they won't overrun their food supply, they space themselves out by their howls, I've heard, so if they howl and don't hear a howl back then that stimulates their litter to increase, and if they do then their litter is smaller.  So, if you feed them you won't increase their population past a certain balance point, just decrease their need to eat yours.

But if it's bears, then you've just f---ed yourself.

On the other hand, if it's bears, wouldn't they have eaten all those serviceberries/Juneberries by now??

That's my two cents.  But ultiamtely it seems for now good junkpole fences make good neighbors.

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Sorry about the ducks.  It seems like one possiblity is that they fled the pen to lay eggs?

I'm pretty sure that they weren't old enough to lay eggs.

I've since moved the one last duck closer to my travel trailer and making sure she goes in the pen at night. She is really good about going in there when it gets dark. The shelter I have for her is still sub par. It wouldn't keep a coyote out if it was determined. I'm just kind of hoping that they are more scared to get close to the weird human thing. I think that the long term solution should be a more sturdy pen and a guard dog. I'm just too focused right now on getting a shelter built that I can't dedicate much time to ducks.

I understand that coyotes are an important part of the wildlife, but it is pretty disheartening to have them take your animals. I would especially feel sad if they got one of my pet cats. I've been keeping them inside at night now even though I know they want to be outside at night.

Hey there permies! Here's my latest video where I am working on my shelter again. I also have several more videos scheduled to go public the next few days so make sure to subscribe to my channel if you want to be notified.

Hi Jeremy. I am following your thread. Could be you're the one who'll get the hand-knitted woollen hat (cap, beany, or whatever head-wear) mentioned in the reverse kickstarted thread ...

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi Jeremy. I am following your thread. Could be you're the one who'll get the hand-knitted woollen hat (cap, beany, or whatever head-wear) mentioned in the reverse kickstarted thread ...

That would be lovely! I'm sure it would come in handy in a Montana winter!

Jeremy Butler wrote:make sure to subscribe to my channel if you want to be notified.

Great videos, Jeremy.  And congrats on the progress!  I found I'd missed a passed vid, and the layout of your project started making a lot more sense when I watched that one.

Say "hello" to the cats for me. :)

Things are coming along great here on my plot. The goal is to have my shelter winter ready by the end of October. I think I'm probably behind schedule though! Luckily I've been able to get a little bit of help this past week. I would super appreciate anyone that wanted to come out and help me move this structure along. There's gonna be a lot of cutting and debarking of trees, cutting mortises and tenons, raising the structure, doing roof work, then building some insulated walls.

Also, I wanted to let you guys know that I've uploaded several more videos since the last update on this thread.

Don't feel bad. These words...

Jeremy Butler wrote:The goal is to have my shelter winter ready

are almost always followed by these words...

Jeremy Butler wrote: I think I'm probably behind schedule

Progress is impressive regardless.

Plopping yourself in bum-fuck-nowhere Montana is a hard deal, you are doing great!

re: well / pumping (cuz' I'm supper keen on getting that at the lab)

4 inch pump in a 4 inch pipe.

I haven't been looking into well stuff for a while, my understanding was that a N inch pipe tends to use a  N-1 inch pump so the pump has plenty of space to draw water from.  If another pump is needed at some point, a 3 inch pump might be considered.


How deep is the well, and what is the non drawn depth of water?   It seems like the low water protection is different for different depths.


Rather than a 5 gallon bucket are there some space IBC totes around?   Need one donated to the cause?

Tom Rutledge wrote:re: well / pumping (cuz' I'm supper keen on getting that at the lab)

4 inch pump in a 4 inch pipe.

I haven't been looking into well stuff for a while, my understanding was that a N inch pipe tends to use a  N-1 inch pump so the pump has plenty of space to draw water from.  If another pump is needed at some point, a 3 inch pump might be considered.

How deep is the well, and what is the non drawn depth of water?   It seems like the low water protection is different for different depths.

Rather than a 5 gallon bucket are there some space IBC totes around?   Need one donated to the cause?

Yeah I agree the pump is too big for this well casing. It isn't a particularly high flow pump though, so it doesn't seem to be having issues. I mostly just got it because it was pretty cheap. This whole thing is mostly just an experiment and proof of concept.

The well is about 35' deep. It seems to consistently keep around 3.5 gallons of water in it, which came out to about 5' of water with a 4" casing. The pump I have can pump it dry though if it is going full blast. Thus the need for the float switch.

An IBC tote would be ideal. It would definitely get used if it was donated.

Hi Jeremy. How are things going? Are you very busy building your house before it gets too cold?

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi Jeremy. How are things going? Are you very busy building your house before it gets too cold?

Hey! Sorry I haven't posted here in a while. I've got a few more videos up on my youtube channel though. As for the building, I've pretty much given up on getting it winter ready this year. That's ok though. I'm going to finish it next year.

Jeremy Butler wrote:... I've got a few more videos up on my youtube channel though. As for the building, I've pretty much given up on getting it winter ready this year. That's ok though. I'm going to finish it next year.

Thanks. I'll go and watch your videos on youtube.

Hey there permies! Winter is closing in! It's getting in the teens at night now. I would say that I'm handling the cold pretty well for a southerner, haha! I stopped working on the shelter a while ago. I'll pick that back up in the spring. I've mostly been getting things winter ready and preparing to move out for the winter. I'm going to live with a friend for the winter. But I'll be back in the spring! I'm still going to try to get some videos posted on my youtube channel though, so you should subscribe if you haven't already :)

Here's some videos that I've uploaded since I last gave y'all an update.







My carrot harvest


Some kind of flying insect. I've noticed they clumsily fly into me a lot.


A northern flicker woodpecker that I found dead in the woods. Beautiful black and orange feathers!



That's all for now! Thanks for following along on my adventures :)

Jeremy, I'm sorry you didn't meet the criteria for getting the hand-knitted woolen hat. In fact nobody did. Maybe next year.

I'm loving your thread and youtubies. It's really got my intrigued, actually about a lot of things. For starters if you don't mind explaining what the ant village is, please. I assume this is something to do with Paul Wheaton's place in Montana?
Brian

Okay sorry for the bother, The excellent forum development The answer to my question came to me from a similar thread link Ant village I am reading that now also with great interest.
Thank you everyone
Brian