November. 2021 was a beautiful month of transition of fall to winter. Levi & Shane were on-site, and contributed to getting things done, and enjoying crafting and meals in the Strawbale Studio by the woodstove.
Highlights of the Month included: Decommissioning the Compost Furnace, which created a very rich garden area! Several New Garden beds were created using local natural materials as “sheet mulch / lazagna gardening”.
It was a great time for fermenting, of all sorts, and researching ideas and technologies…with a focus on “sustainable & renewable” life.
Details below include projects, guests, donations, crafts and more.
NOVEMBER 2020 ACTIVITIES
CALENDAR:
11/30/2020 November Full MOON ZOOM & Blogpost. No Jack.
WORKTRADE:
- Angela – Worktrade: Clear New Biochar Area. Clearing & beauty – Cedar Cabin.
- Shane Norris & Levi: Trailer space & utilities rental, plus15 hours/week worktrade.
- Firewood splitting, refilling wood stations. Shane.
- Shopping for food. Planning Schedule with Deanne. Shane.
- Moss off of Strawbale Studio Roof ! Thanks Levi !!
- Clear area North of Strawbale Studio of bittersweet vines. Levi!
- Clear Compost Furnace area West of Strawbale Studio. BIG Thanks Shane!
- Decomission the Compost Furnace: take out piping ! Shane !!
- Patch Earth Oven cracks and Beauty around the Earth Oven. Levi & Shane.
- Repair garden hoses: buy parts, and install. Shane.
- Bonfire making, beauty in SBS. Levi.
GUESTS:
11/8-10/2020 Angela Holmes Overnight. Cleared BioChar area. Beauty Cedar Cabin.
11/9/2020 Emily Stardust Breczinski visit, walk to Bog Bench, talk. Spanish/Shane.
11/9//2020 Nancy Rossi & Kevin visit & Tour. Home school at SBS in 2007 NVC We connected around NVC /Youth/Nature
11/13-14/2020 Chad, Lexi & baby Earth Oven Pizza/Bonfire, overnight & bonfire breakfast. Connections between Shane, Levi and Chad/Lexi.Overnight -Cedar Cabin, Scrambled eggs/ foraged brunch bonfire11/14/2020 Patricia from Potluck gets her wooden spoons, bonfire. tour, walk.
11/16/2020 Gene Vilenni – visit and help design Cedar Cabin.
Previous month. Patricia picks up spoons from potluck, Tom creates Stone Kiva, and removes boulders for landscaping.
DONATIONS, CONTRIBUTIONS & SUPPORTERS 2020-11:
- Emily Stardust – help sort recycle along lane.
- Chad & Lexi – wine and Lemon Balm Tincture !
- Shane Norris – made & gifted a hand whisk broom he made at MI Folk School !
- Norma, Neighbor, donation of food she canned from her garden !!
- Gas Station Angel: A woman hands me $20 to pay for my gas.
- Emily Stardust – help sort recycle along lane.
- Chad & Lexi – wine and Lemon Balm Tincture 11/13/2020
Shane Norris – made & gifted a hand whisk broom he made at MI Folk School !
INCOME
RENTAL INCOME
11/1- 31/2020 $300. Shane & Levi Rental for Trailer & utilities + 60 hr Worktrade
11/13/2020 $40 Chad & Lexi Rental for overnight stay in the Cedar Cabin.
ART INCOME
11/15 & 29/2020 $165. Tiny House Van Conversion: Deanne did insulation & art tiles with Laurie on her project.
$100 for art work: Taiko Drum Logo Design for Ronna Fisher. Completed in December.
CONSULTATIONS by Deanne (Probono)
11/ 8/2020 Eric Detroit Greenhouse – response to photos of Earth Plastering. Photos.
11/3/2020 Laurie Pinkletons Tiny House Van Conversion, phone consultation 2 hrs.
11/15/2020 Sarah Addae Tiny Hut. 1 hr zoom consultation on SB Foundation & framing
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- Waldorf Teacher, who visited SBS with her class several years ago – is building a shed-roof, strawbale structure to collect water for a pond she will construct. Considerations: load bearing, cob cap, winter protection.
10-29/2020 Stephanie Henry – Earth Oven / Urban Sustainability Ed Center . Conversation.
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- Chicago area, here, Chris McC, Small Farm bill, Politics, Urban Homestead as Sustainability Center.! Phone conversation re helping with an earth oven at some point.
11/29/2020 Sam Wagner re Natural Building as a profession. (Took SBS classes) + Timberframing in Ireland, Boat Building in Maine +.
NATURAL BUILDING & SUSTAINABLE SKILLS (regularly Worktrade
- Cedar Cabin Air B & B project. WT
- Designing process: Deanne & Shane. Graph paper design. Moving furniture.
- Winter Greenhouse: More plants from East River Farm, sage, parsley, rosemary, plantain. DB
- Compost Furnace Strawbale Studio Garden – created by….
- Decommissioning the Compost Furnace Pile – now “compost”.
- Oxford Plumbing folks removed proply glycol antifreeze.
- Shane clears the area, removing brush and bushes.
- Shane temoves piping & takes Pex tubing / fences to field, (DB helps)
- North Garden Phase 3, add strawbale / urine, Maitake mushroom, more leaves and manure.
- Van Conversion to Tiny House – DB assists Laurie Pinkleton. Off-site.
- Mid Meadow Garden Completion:
- Horse Manure from local Horse ranch. Thanks Shane.
- Bagged Leaves harvested from Oxford. Thanks Shane !
- More Garlic planted in Mid Meadow DB
- Old Garden Garlic bed watered, weeded. 11/10/2020 DB
- Strawbale Studio Solar System restoration. By Thomas J Reinke – (refered by Norma Abbot) Phase 1 Evaluation, ordering parts, Organizational folder with solar diagram.
- Wood Processing for Firewood & Carving.
- Clear SBS Thatched A Frame woodshed & fill with wood.
- Harvest dead oak branches for hot wood stove fires.
- Black cherry harvested on N for carving.
- Beautify Strawbale Studio area: ( is this October or Nov) Oct I think.
- Open out North of Strawbale Studio – Levi cleared out Bittersweet + !
- Compost Furnace area: Bittersweet and other plants and trees. Shane cleared !
- Biomass from trimmings are carried to the new BioChar burning area.
- Biochar processing area. New area is cleared by Angela. Wood to site by Shane & Levi.
- Beautify the Earth Oven Area. Shane & Deanne
- Rake site, Dig out and save dirt. Remove all items and sort.
- Move and re-attach the staging table. Stack bricks to support the table.
- Move the future braces. Retie the Extension Roof tarp.
- Some wood goes to “firewood” pile to be cut and split. Move out all scrap wood.
- Reed Tipi – move reed bundles from Open Pole Barn to outside Tipi. DB & Shane/
PLANTS + FERMENTING
- Fruit Scrap Apple Vinegar continued & 2nd pressing also from Shane & Levi’s apple butter.
- Shiitake Log Processing ~ productivity marked on logs, & logs stored on a palette in the woods.
- Maitake Mushroom double Extraction with Shane. Tincture & Decoction. Drying and saute/ freeze.
- Fermented Hot Peppers From East River Farm hot peppers, carrots & garlic. DB/Shane.
- Fermented Kraut:-Chi Green Cabbage, Purple beets,+ salt, caroway and dill seeds DB
- Scoby Hotel is refreshed: strain out yeast and refeed with sugar water & previous Kombucha 11/27
- Previous Tinctures are labeled, recorded on a list, and stored in the hall pantry.
ENRICHMENT
- Fabulous Meals and crafts by the woodstove in the Strawbale Studio. Tamale, Egg Fu Young
- Earth Oven Pizza – Earth Oven fire, dough & sauce Shane. Lexi & Chad, baby & dog around bonfire !
- Crafting
- Woodcarving – Harvest black cherry trees. Make Spoon, Honey Wand and Spreader Knife.
- Spinning/ Knitting hats ~ Shane creates a hat for Levi and himself. Wool from Lake Orion Yarn Shop.
- Education/ Research
- Shane attends a 2-day Broom Class at the MI Folk School, Ann Arbor, MI. 11/14-15/2020
- Peaceful Ways Forward
- NVC Week 18 on Beliefs. With Shane.
- Compassion Course Webinar with Angela & Shane (last few minutes) 11/9/2020
- Politics & Polarity
- Inspiration and Hope
- Dalai Lamma – outline and some of the audio book.
- Dian Killian NVC work.
- Parenting Compassion class – research.
- Karen Armstrong video re History of God
- Karen Armstrong – youtube video on Ways Forward.
- Renewable Energy Research
- Research Eneloop rechargeable batteries,
- Research Lithium Battery Chainsaw and Mower
- Activism
- Theives Oil Spray for Covid- call about wanting natural ingredients only.
- Solar Energy Cap by Michigan – contact Deb Rowe, send in a comment.
- Travel & Exploration
- Shane and Levi. Trip to Grand Rapids to visit family & vote. 11/2-4/2020
- Shane and Levi. Trip to Grand Rapids to visit family & vote. 11/2-4/2020
OFFICE work for Strawbale Studio
- Transfer & organize pictures from Iphone to desktop, and Sept or so to Google photo album.
- Listserve maintenance. Add requested names .Check back + add about 15 more. Delete bounces.
- Post October Blog to website.
- UNFI Food Buying Club order and pickup.
- DTE Electrical Service. Call re Online account irregularities. See Report gdoc.
- NEW REZ MORTGAGE set up 3 month Forbearance. Nov, Dec, Jan.
- Delete 100+ phone messages and pictures to allow new messages to be le
Ordered:
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- Slippers – sheepskin, and also sheepskin boot liners.
- UNFI rye, chocolate, salmon burgers, thieves oil, fish oil.
- Rechargeable Eneloop AAA batteries. Including research online.
Renew & Regeneration:
- Daily stretching in Bed & Recording of Dreams.
- Morning walks to the Meadow for sunrise.
- Morning singing & keyboard. Womans Peace song.
- Classical Music (Lois: The Lark Ascending, WKAR 9 am)
- Weekly Yoga class with Alan on Fridays
- Monthly Cyber Tipi with Robin Mallor
- Monthly Carolyn McDade Gaia Gathering. 11/14/2020 O Beautiful Gaia – Fluidity.
- DB O Beautiful Gaia art poster shown, accompanied with harp music.
Peeps:
- Baruch Simon email re election and family update. Db sends pics. 11/12/2020
- Bert Urbani – re Lincoln skit and harvesting fall stalks.
- Lois Robbins: Deck Visit with Verna. 11/8/2020
- Judy Kling I call 2x/week.
- Cousin Cathy 11/12/2020 contact re Thanksgiving. 11/14/2020
- Gene re Cedar Cabin. Update on Covid and Jacob.
- Robin Mallor – check in. bought a new thermometer.
- Sooz – health check in
- Lauri re mushrooms
- Nichole Bauman – check in
- Joel Atkinson – check in.
- Marge Glasser. Talk 2 x.
- Family on Thanksgiving
- Mike, Robin, Sunny, Dustin, Alex**, Rich* text
- Judy and Harold together. No hearing aid. Talk.
- Ronna, Gerry, Eileen, DB zoom
- Fay Hanson – Thanksgiving meal at her place and a walk ! 11/28/20
- Dawn Holtz – postcard received and sent
- Ianto Evans – postcard received and sent
- Norma Neighbor – recycle,canned good, solar & wind, quilts
- Sherry Vanderputty – Bohemia, family trauma, sweet potatoe, new apartment/woods.
- Sam Wagner – call, connect. He is growing into a natural builder. Support him. 🙂
- SBS call: Sandra Klark – discussion of elders, strawbale and community.
- Will attend Full Moon Potluck, listserve, and further conversation.
Nature Connection:
- Outside, Greenhouse, collect wood. Projects.
DB Health:
- Front abscess tooth. Using Plantain.
- 11/5/2020 start vitamins from Lauri Pinkelton for strong immune system.Vit D3, zinc p, NAC, + fish oil, womans 55+ multi vitamin,
- Beginning: Loose b. 11/14/2020 B: soft, formed, floating. ok.
Awareness:
- Reflection on “my husband”, kindness, “What are you doing?” D’et
- L: bonfire to s and group: “you’re misquoting”.
- Working on issue of “using x words to hurt people. Angry/x/ punish people.
- Kindness: small to large. In each interaction I value kindness.
- Peace Wave: at bonfire with Angela, Shane & Levi.
- What is this? (Attack: People who devote their life to protecting the natural environment. )
