KW-32 Preparing for The Lab
Our raison d'etre. Tickets available
Good morning, dear Pirates, from a very soggy Pirate Island, somewhere in the middle of a forest in Germany.
Winter last year was the second wettest that we have had in 60 years (the longest records I could find), and the numbers are not in for spring or summer yet, but if it turns out not to have been at least record breakingly pluvious, you may call me The Surprised Pirate Ben.
The rain is actually starting to be a problem for even the potatoes. Digging them up early won’t be too much of a problem - they have all put on a decent amount of weight (that would be all the rain) - but even the main crops are showing signs of distress.
For comparison - main crop potatoes come up at the very end of September, pushing into October. This is properly unprecedented.
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The wheat is also definitely starting to suffer. I’m going to have to bring it in before it is completely dry, and hope it finishes off the process indoors.
Pirate Gardening Tip of the Week
Pirate gardening is mostly old man gardening. It was old man gardening when I started with my first vegetable plot 30 years ago. So really, it’s just the ancient ways of doing things.
Spend some time with your fruit trees.
The spring pruning has been done, the early fruit drop has finished and been cleared away and fed to pigs, and the fruit trees are all mostly doing just fine.
This is a very good thing, as there is plenty in the rest of the garden to be getting on with, and all they have to do really is swell their apples and pears and provide them for us in a few weeks and months time. But the warmth and the rain of this time of year is also the perfect excuse for the wasps to move in, so do try to spend at least some time every week, just moving around your fruit trees, spending time in their space, and getting a feel for how they are doing.
Any fruits with wasp squatters, just knock them off.
This week’s “Week ahead” section is called:
Preparing for the Collapse Laboratory
The Barracks exists to be useful. This whole self sufficiency, off-grid thing is just there to defeat whataboutism. If you want to talk about collapse, rebuilding, the environment, it helps a lot. As all long term followers and supporters of our mission know, the centre piece at the heart of all of this is the Collapse Laboratory, where we ask people to imagine a situation that is probably impossible for the human mind to imagine. So we build structure around it to guide us there. For the next two weeks, on top of the standard barracksing around, we have to do quite a lot. This will include:
Paint the walls, scrub the floors, install lighting in the cellar
Make two big solar collectors for the hot showers (which are installed and working. Just not hot yet!)
Pot up 15 trees, one per attendee
Weed all the edges, mow all the grass
Dig up a literal tonne of clay and clad the pizza oven
Make the solar oven
Weed the firepit
Harvest all the potatoes and all the wheat
Each day of the Lab we get a short introduction to the Greek Word For Love of the Day (presented by a genuine scholar of Ancient Greek) to inspire discussion, an activity based on the GWFOLOTD lead by a master specialist in the field (playful yoga, wine tasting for the senses, forest DIY spa day, tree planting for eternity) and a meal inspired by the theme, created by a top vegan chef and cooked in a different way every day. All of this needs preparation. We have our worked cut out!
We can still take one or two more guests, and I would be super happy to have someone here for free if they want to help me with the washing up every day. There is a lot of washing up when you prepare three meals a day for 12 -15 people! Get in touch if that sounds like you!
4 Years Ago
The piggies went up to the vineyard. From where they kept escaping.
The poor snouters are a little bit miserable with all this rain. Their house is full of mud, and they are far too inquisitive to let me dig it out. We still have plenty of straw, though, so at least that makes them a little more comfortable.
I worry too much about them. They are 200 kilo furballs, completely at ease sleeping out under the cloudy skies for a few nights. But you know how it is.
I don’t worry about you lot. I know you are taking care of each other, and that is the way that it should be. Please continue to do that, and until next week, arrivederci my friends
Your loving Pirate Ben
xoxo
Currently Reading:
I know very little about this book, except that it will wreck you. So they say. I’m 200 pages in and I’ve already teared up twice. My understanding is that this does not get any better. Tell me honestly in the comments, should I quit now?
It's vegan zombies that like Graaaiiiiiinnnsss. Vegan vampires drink beetroot juice.
Yes!