EcoEcho Forest Cultivation update: All's Well that ends in a water well!!

So first thing I did when I got up north was to get out the Scythe and use my new handy hand-held knife sharpener on the scythe - I got this tool at the auto parts store when I picked up the acid - phosphoric acid sold as "rust shield or "rust mort" to convert the rust back into a black metal. So anyway I cut a big field of grass - and not sure where that new handy sharpener went. It should be somewhere up there. I didn't have time to find it. I don't think it's lost in the field but maybe that's a possibility. Probably in the tent - the "wilderness lodge."

So that was Wednesday night. photo?

Here's the infamous extendable post hole digger aka "auger" digger. So the water pitcher I made - the bucket - it got a couple out, so just half a gallon. But then the next day the water didn't recharge as much. Since it's clay and it's the end of the season - so the water table has dropped a bit. And so that hole had that iron rod busted off into too much pea gravel. oops. Time to dig out the 2nd hole that had gotten filled in.

Problem is it's all goobily gobbily goop! Aka run-off silt. It just slides right out of the auger when you try to pull it up! Go in deeper and the goop vacuum threatens to swallow up the post hole digger - making it barely able to pull up again. (Yes I did build some muscle on this trip).

You HAVE to use the biggest pipe wrenches sold at the local supply stories. I actually have two smaller wrenches. I was in denial. I started out with super small size and slowly bought more until I got to the largest size. Anything smaller and I didn't have enough force to wrench the pipes apart.

So here's a 2nd hole I started - and this is 20 feet of pipe. But I got a foot and half down already - so this hole is not even 16 feet yet. At about 13 feet I was hitting rock. This is about 15 and half feet. So I had to crank through a lot of rocks. The problem is the deeper you go, then the less force you can translate that far down into cranking free the rocks.

So then when the post hole digger is extended to 20 feet - you have to rest it in the tree. So that means these Tamarack trees are about 60 feet tall, based on how high up the post hole digger goes. I did one more extension on this to an even higher branch.

It's actually easier to rest it in the tree then to have to pick it up off the ground each time. Still this is a very slow process and 2 stories of post hole pipe (20 feet) - it's actually 24 feet with the final extension - so that means I need to rest my muscles a lot or just not over heat, so rest each stage.

Here's a different tree that the auger is resting in - for that 2nd hole filled with the goopily gobbily goop!

So instead of fasting this time - since I was doing very heavy muscle work - I went back into feast mode. I took a kind of bucket bath and put on clean clothes - and went to the local town grocery. I got some of their deli food - stocked up - since I literally had to rebuild muscle to keep going. Then I took a half day break on Friday. I watched Planet Earth, the BBC stunning series.

Here we are - end of the day on Friday - finally down to over 20 feet deep. So the next day I put on the final extension but guess what? I got some wet clay out - which I used to make a cob (horse manure) mix for doing the Hermit Hut walls - but then I hit more rock. And it was not budging! I got So close yet so far!! So I figured - I'll let that hole fill with water and hopefully it will soften the clay around the rock so I can then get that rock free to get another necessary three feet down, so I can get buckets of water out of the hole....

So then I went to meditate yesterday in the Tipi - so I have bare skin on Earth but with some sound proofing - it is dark and cool. I like the teepee - and I did a good long full lotus meditation. I felt better and realized that rather than risk break the auger on a rock, I needed to consider that I would have to just dig more holes. Then my relative recommended that I go back to that second silt hole.

That was the Goopily Gobbily Goop Adventure! Hours and hours of pulling up primordial ooze - most of it fell off the auger. So then I would use a stick to get the rest off the auger - the pitiful remains. It was like cleaning up fresh bad dog doo - or other similarly bad analogies. The stuff just appeared to slowly crawl away. I had to laugh a lot at this experience. After hours of painfully slow work then suddenly the auger stopped "sinking" into the hole - and I was able to pull out a full scoop of less water gunk.

No rocks!! That was the great relief. So I was able to now move onward at a faster pace taking out full scoops of sludge. Now it was more like clay and less like silt and I was beginning to get excited.

I got to the "end" of the 20 feet. I have one more extension left but I figured it was now getting dark - and so I should definitely have water in the morning. Sure enough I got two and half buckets of water out in the morning! SUCCESS!!!

So now if I do the final auger extension I should then get probably 4 buckets or even more a day - at least a gallon. That's enough for me. Plus I have the 3rd well - if I get that rock free - then I should get at least 2 buckets a day or more out of that hole, with the final auger extension.

In the mean time - I soaked a round of mushroom logs. First the aspen as they had not soaked for two weeks. Then the alder - as they dry out faster, as the logs are smaller. Also I inoculated them later than the birch - so I am not as concerned about an early fruiting. In fact I hope maybe they might fruit this fall but they needed more soaking first.

So I was going to build up that end wall using railroad ties - and I hauled the first one. These things way over 200 pounds. Let's see how much? Yep it says the majority weigh 200 pounds!! So I guessed correctly. So I went back to the 2nd - this time I was gonna use rollers from branches. I started turning over the railroad tie and oh no - a Bee Hive or Wasp Hive! I didn't take the time to find out. I ran screaming and threw my hat down on the way!! haha. I thought maybe they wouldn't recognize me without the "safety orange" hat. I kept running as I didn't want to risk one sting as that would attract the rest of the swarm. Luckily no bee sting. I went back in the middle of the night when it was too cold for the bees to be active - around 3 a.m. I then carefully put the log back. The following morning I saw a bee going back inside the hive. Later I saw more going back in and out - so they had recovered fine. It was the perfect place as the log was on top of another log for insulation but the center of the log was rotted out.

So that was the third bee hive or wasp hive that I've found on my land. Pretty awesome! I don't know what they are eating as they're not many flowers.

Aspen Boletes are still fruiting - and look yummy but I have not yet indulged. Some people have problems with these. I ate boletes one before - you have to make sure you cook them enough for sure. So I'm not really wanting to take the risk. Even "chicken of the woods" can give you problems if you don't cook it enough.

So here's a "proof of concept" on the horse manure cob - so I'll put another lay on and then cover it with lime wash. Then do that on the interior. Plus I'm putting a third tarp on the roof - that will be 16 feet wide, so that the eaves are extended way past the walls. But with the horse manure the crumbling of the clay VANISHES and you get a wonderful playdoh - type of glue texture. I use my bare hands to push the clay into the wattle cracks.

The hut building seems easy compared to working this super long auger - but I am using a ladder so that I can get the full extension up into the tree. This is not even the full extension.

This 2nd wall that is 12 feet long - it is very wide. So the insulation will be very warm. I should have enough straw.

So I just did a few wattle harvests - but the wall is coming along. I just needed water to soak the straw in the "clay slip" - and also I needed water to make the horse manure clay "cob." So without water then the construction was at a stand still. I couldn't really wattle much higher as then it is more difficult to pack the straw into the wall.

So also I was delightfully visited by the Flickers - the Flicker couple were calling at night. It sounds like some dinosaur bird. The Flicker then hops around the tent at night - my second tent collects rain water. So the birds go there for water. I actually did see the bird - in a flash - but I was not sure what kind of bird it was at first. It is a very plump bird - looks almost like a pheasant or grouse!

So the end of that "Planet Earth" series - - more later.