Gabi LeBlanc Log
6.15.12
Rolling down towards Factor E, I got an overwhelming sense of affection towards the native plants, the smells in the air, the moisture and lush green surrounding the creeks and ponds, and overall felt like I was heading to a rightful place.
Pulled up to Factor E, gave myself a tour of the property, focused on not feeling daunted and instead inspired at all the potential here. Moved into the HabLab, meaning I took a couple egg crates out of my car and put them in a convenient corner.
Met my team mates, had a meeting with Marcin outlining a concrete work plan. Looks like the first focuses will be getting a dairy cow out here, surveying, getting the garden going, and
Did laundry in town, picked up mattress shells for straw stuffing. Attempted straw stuffing, realized we were not using the correct tool. Decided that a lawn mower is a better strategy. Tried to borrow one from a neighbor, but he didn't have one. Fortunately we didn't come back empty-handed, he gave us a bunch of beets, carrots, and onions. We'll be using Tim Gravlin's lawn mower when he comes in later this week.
Engaged in some community-building card games! I had to duck out eventually because I was nearly falling asleep at the table.
Slept the best sleep I've had in a while. Excited and rushing into many projects at once, but I've got excellent folks around to help me keep my head on straight.
6.16.12
Woke up early, did some sourcework for the cow, went to the Saint Joseph Farmer's Market with Aidan. Found it pretty limited in terms of organic produce, only one farmer there sold organic food and it was mostly greens. Also, more processed/canned foods than I was accustomed to seeing.
Met a guy named Joel who raises lamb, asked him what he does with his bummers, I'll probably be looking for some lambs to diversify our grazing polyculture in a couple seasons.
Found a couple more berries that I'd like to propagate here: aronia berry and gooseberry. Pretty sure I can find some gooseberries if I just rummage around in the native trees. Aronia berries we'd probably have to buy seed for, but it would be so worth it.
Came back, and after a quick meeting we started stuccoing one of the outer bedrooms at the HabLab.
Took a dip in Pony Express Lake and washed the stucco off my clothes. Found a roadkill deer coming back, brought a couple bones with me for the dog to chomp on later.
Had a meeting with Marcin about the cow, talked to a guy in King City who can sell us a first calf heifer, jersey-holstein cross, for $1100. He sounds personable, I can't wait to meet him.
6.17.12
Lots to do at once, I think I'll be working on my day off, since my energy is undiminished after only 2 days of being here.
Leaving to find our cow in about an hour, really excited to meet her for the first time. Teddy, too.
Set up buying our first piece of the fence, the polytape. Dwayne is selling it through craigslist, I'll be picking it up at 2:00 tomorrow.
8294 W 35TH 69 TO FORT SCOTT 7 MILE SOUTH OF LEWISBERG 69 AND 35TH
To do:
- garden plan
- survey sourcing
- os cartography software/sourcing
- review awesome books that chris lent me on surveying etc
- video log on my first few days here, so far I've only been doing videos based on outside initiation (Marcin, etc) and I should be doing them independently