Our rockety friends in a lovely video

Ernie and I laid low for this one, but you can see the heater we slept next to, and some of our goofball friends.

Well, that was an adventure ...

August 31, 2017: Call Bill Duguay of Methow River Wildfire, ask if he'd be interested in another crew member for the tail end of wild fire season.

September 4: Finish new hire paperwork for Methow River Wildfire

September 5: Dispatched with MRW engine 10 to Norse Peak Complex, Snoqualmie WA.  Serve 11 days under engine boss Clayton, mostly structure protection.  (Soundtrack: Reggae, hip-hop, and chainsaws...)

Clearing fuels back from structures

A charming bark-clad structure

Family cabin with Mom's garden and Swedish wood stack

Silver fox says, "This is poopy."

Morning briefing

Standing by for structure defence

Helicopters run water to steeper slope areas

Fire rolls down toward our previous location;
the structure-defence lines hold.

Sept. 18: Relief crew replaces us; caravan 6+ hours home to central WA.

Sept. 19: Sleep, wash socks, eat

Sept. 20: Dispatch calls regarding Umpqua North Complex, southern Oregon.  Proceed in the morning to Wenatchee, meet engine boss Judy and crewmate Damien.  Long, funny, 10-hour road trip down Route 97.  Last 4 miles to fire camp, we are passing by snow on the ground.  Boss suspects we may not work very long, if at all.  *My cell phone quits getting service for some reason.

Morning frost, flagged-off muddy road, and a chipper

Sept. 21: Staging/IA = wait out the rain, and sometimes snow, in a gravel lot near the temporary heli-spot.  On the third day, I become restless and collect some of the larger rocks into a stone chair. 

Crewmate Damien tries out the stone chair

Hiking into burn area

On the fourth day, they send us out to unwrap "cultural sites" and repair hand lines.  By day 6, we are working 8 to 12 hour days feeding wood chippers; along with another MRW engine and crew.  When most of the trails are repaired and the management team times out, they disband the camp and send us home.  Total of 10 days.

Needle fall covers charred ground

Masticator \ excavator

Nicknames earned:
"SuperNanny" (due to frequent provision of spare paper napkins, map/route details, snacks, and hot cocoa for mocha upgrades when the food tent ran out)...
"Stonewall" (from a charming equipment driver who enjoyed watching the armchair masonry).

Sept. 30: Another 10-hour road trip home: engine to Cashmere, convoy to Wenatchee, drive myself home from there.

Oct. 1: Sleep, wash socks, pack.

Shadow of deer in dust

Oct. 3: Load myself, Ernie, and Radar in the station wagon, head for Montana. *6:30 pm: stop in Colville to buy a pre-pay cell phone for travel safety.
8:05 pm: Large, white-tail buck emerges from the darkness - takes out 3 panels, driver side mirror, and windshield of station wagon. 

White tail hairs, dog leash

8:10 pm: Call insurance, lash rear door on with dog leash, limp back to Colville, find motel, call home.



Oct. 4: Phone calls, body shop, backtrack. 
Estimator warns it is likely totalled, describes the car as non-drivable despite apparently intact engine, wheels, and drive train.
Highlight: he explains to insurance claims agent,
"Technically, if zombies were coming and we had to get away, we could use her car ... but [describes damage] ... short of a zombie-level emergency, I would not recommend taking it on the road."

Load car contents into Ernie's dad's pickup, say goodbye at body shop. 
3 hour drive back home.

New car, as seen in daylight

Oct. 5: Phone calls, carry water, chop wood.   Discussion; Internet; more phone calls.  Get final numbers from insurance and bank, call dealer, pile back into pickup, drive 3 hours to Wenatchee.  Decide on a new car 5pm-6pm, load gear, paperwork.  Reserve hotel near Spokane, drive 3 hours, sleep.

Oct. 6: More paperwork until 1pm, finish drive to Montana.  Arrive 4:30 pm, prep, present our first session on schedule 6pm.  (Fire Science Theater).

Casserole-lid door:
thanks Uncle Mud!

Oct. 7-17: Rocket Mass Heater Innovators' Jamboree.  Enjoy watching Donkey and Uncle Mud get to know Paul & co.  Build unique slider door with extensive bubble-gum welding; help it be upstaged by a thrift-store casserole lid.

Paperwork continues (taxes, notaries, etc).

Oct. 19: Field trip to Missoula Fire Science Lab, take colleagues to airport, shop for hardware and fire gear. 

Fire service quilt

Fire behaviour test bed

'Recorder tree' marks historic wild fires

Oct. 20: Pack, clean up, Spokane VA, then home.
(6.5 hrs road time + 2 hrs medical/food stops).

Oct. 21: Sleep, wash up, eat, finish book. 
Fire chief calls with update, next tasks for fall.

Oct. 22: Work on commission from Spirit of Grace.  Trap 6+ mice.  Take Ernie's dad shopping in new car, obtain mouse-resistant storage containers and enzyme cleaner.

Oct. 23: Formally declare War on Mice, first battle: the bathroom.

Oct. 24-25: Back to work: office, wintering in/repairs, meals, dishes. 
Catch up with all you lovely folks.


What's next?
- Remodel experimental rocket stove in northern CA
- Set up Portland visits with family, friends, colleagues, clients
- Catch up on fire hall business
- Line out winter work.

Smoke, Fall, and Fire

Where is that smoke coming from?

View looking west from Mt. Hull, 2pm Friday

View to our west, about 6pm Friday

That particular smoke is coming from the Diamond Creek fire, over a few mountains from ours.  
To geek out on smoke patterns, I love this site: earth.nullschool.net
Use the "earth" menu to see particulates, chemicals (CO shows wildfires very distinctly), hurricanes (wind speed/temperature), etc.
To get updates on specific fires, this is my go-to: inciweb.nwcg.gov


What's new with rocket mass heaters?

PermaEthos is starting to put out some videos, showing my wrap-up of our June Appropriate Tech course in Montana. 

Like batch boxes? You might enjoy this one. 
(It is an update on the first 8" batch box that Peter Van Den Berg ever built, the one that turned out to make less smoke emissions than a candle for most of its burn cycle.)

The Rocket Mass Heater innovators will be gathering in Montana again in early October, for what Paul Wheaton is calling the "Jamboree."  A lot of good folks are signed up already, but I believe there's still room if you want to come.
https://richsoil.com/rmh-workshop.jsp

...
I am trying out my wildland fire fighter chops:

And with the rest of my crew, learning structure fire-fighting tactics:

If you want a Mt. Hull Fire T-shirt, we're letting our crew send extras to family and friends for a $15-20 donation.  Let me know.

 

Back of 2017 T-shirt

Part of wildland chops is, of course, filling the woodshed for winter.

I prefer to do it a year ahead, but in these extremely dry conditions, I'll take having it done before the fall rains start.

Burn Season and No Burn Season

Stay safe this summer!

Back home in the Okanogan Highlands, we typically enter our seasonal Burn Ban between June 1 and June 30th each year.  (I'm writing this post just before our Montana trip, so I'm just guessing on this year's date.) 

The wet spring has been wonderful for us, overwhelming for some neighbors' culverts.  Yet summer's warm winds and intense sunshine will dry that lush grass out quicker than you think.

If you notice windy and sunny days starting to increase, consider ways to reduce fuel loads, or chop down easily-dried-out fuels like dry grass and pine branches to make a moisture-retaining mulch.


Ernie and his dad ran a burn pile this spring, for the first time in several years.
("We've had these dry springs" says Ron, "it's raining and too wet for anything to burn, and then it's too dry [and dangerous] to burn.")

It's amazing how fast pine needles will burn.  They are called "one-hour fuels" for a reason - it takes an hour or less, sometimes only minutes, for them to dry out in the sun.
We had very heavy rains earlier this week, then hauled wet brush out to the close-cropped part of the meadow near the pond.  This set of branches had been sitting in the sunshine, on green grass, for ... not even an hour.  It didn't even wait for the fire's heat to dry it out - flames popped up like there was turpentine in there.

...

As a tool-using fire ape, you are accustomed to riding around in literal chariots of fire.  (internal combustion powered vehicles).  Some of you probably breathe fire (smoke) on a regular basis.

It's easy to forget the power we hold, to cause or prevent fires.

But we also have phenomenal ability to communicate, in detail, and that gives us access to a wealth of expertise that other animals have to learn by instinct.  We can learn from others' experience without repeating the tragic consequences.
 
Places to get good information about the state of the weather, fire danger, and burn bans and Industrial Precautions:


What are Burn Bans?
Fire is fun and useful, but not always safe.  When seasonal conditions turn dry, windy, and fire-prone, fire-fighting and land management agencies may issue a partial or total "Burn Ban."  This may mean no fire works, no wood-fired smoker or barbecue, sing-alongs but no a campfire, and no more burn piles to dispose of yard or agricultural wastes.
Other times, fires may be restricted to designated (supervised or wetter-area) campgrounds, certain times of day, or certain areas in a larger park or landscape.

Find burn bans
State of Washington, here: https://waburnbans.net/
Anywhere in the USA, try this site:  https://firerestrictions.us/

What are Industrial Precautions?
Equipment with combustion engines, electrical discharges, or even just steel blades striking rocks can start a fire in dry conditions. Industrial Precautions tell you when it's legal to operate equipment in the woods (like chain saws, track hoes, harvesters, etc). Sometimes industrial forestry activities are fine in the morning (cooler hours) but not afternoons.

State of Washington: http://www.dnr.wa.gov/ifpl
For other local areas: regarding woodcutting in national forests: search the forest service site using your specific forest by name + "IFPL": https://www.fs.fed.us/
Or go to your local ranger station or forest service office.
(If you already know your geographic zone number, you can use a touch-tone phone to get Industrial Precaution updates: 1-800-527-3305.)

Why do I care?
Track current wildland fires here: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/

Sure, I'm a tree hugger.
I'd rather noodle around taking photos of wild flowers than drag hose through the smoke and ashes where they used to be.

My first year in training as a fire fighter, I made this T-shirt design to sum up most of the ways I heard of fires starting. 

(This does not include the trailer dragging chains that made sparks that caused multiple fires, or mysterious roadside fires well outside the range most people can flick a cigarette butt, or many of the other things that happened.  There were thousands of fire reports in our wild Highlands that year.

Maybe a third to a half were 'natural causes' - we had a lot of dry lightning that summer.  So rather than include more categories of human error, I felt it was only fair to mention the Excessive Smiting there at the end.)


If you would wear this T-shirt, or order a few to hang on the wall in your camp store / fire hall / school info center, please let me know!  (You are welcome to print a copy of this design and pin it somewhere to see what kind of responses you get.)

If you're interested, email questions@ErnieAndErica.info, or leave a message at 509-556-2054.  The prices will depend on how many we order at once.  Realistically we are looking at printing them mid-summer, not before the end of June.

Here's to a great summer! Green and gold, pleasant, breathable, with distant purple mountains visible all day and clear starry night skies.
And every time we hear thunder, showers of pouring rain.  :-)

Yours,
Erica Wisner

Mycology and Human Networking

While we're hip-deep in projects in Montana, I thought I'd share this essay that I started in late winter.  (What a gift this year's birthday inspiration has been!) 

Where we are weak or broken, 

there is our best chance to connect with a greater whole

I'm writing this post in March, but scheduling it for May. I hope you are smelling those intoxicating healthy-dirt smells as you work in your garden, hugel-kultur, or start hiking the back woods.

Paul Stamets has a lot to say about mycelial networks (the hidden webs and channels that support fungi and soil health, transporting nutrients long distances to feed mushrooms, trees, plants, and healthy soils).  See Mycelium Running if you want a truly geek-out version of that story.

Image credit: Wikipedia

The image from those lessons that's resonating for me this week is the weird, observable fact that individual mycelial cells, in those networks, are busted open.

Most plant cells, animal cells, and single-celled organisms are little sealed bags of carefully-portioned living matter, guarding their "guts" and nutrients from a presumably-hostile outside world.




A diatom, amoeba, bacterium... in fact most living cells ... have a carefully-guarded perimeter.  Symmetrical shells, cell walls (sometimes multiple layers and armor, in the case of woody plants and diatoms), and/or additional defences like chemical-detecting cilia or toxic slime coatings.  Yet the amoeba can just about give us dysentery, and requires pretty cushy watery conditions for active survival.

Our own cells - muscle cells, blood cells, nerve cells - maintain a pretty good perimeter despite all the specialized ports and exchanges they make for vital nutrients and waste.  It's not a bad recipe for staying alive.  Much of life on earth goes with it.

But what about alternatives?

Mycelial cells have wide-open gaps at both ends, and their nuclei and organelles may flow back and forth along with nutrients and fluids.  One mycelial cell alone would be a blue-plate special, spilling its guts into the cannibalistic micro-ecological void.

But a mycelial cell is almost never alone.  The mycelial networks of underground fungi can support whole forests, overcoming mineral and water shortages that would kill a crop-farmer attempting to raise the same biomass on chemically-sterilized soils.  Some species can convert "dark, dank, and stinky" toxic petro-chemical dead zones into food for bugs, birds, and new life.  Other specialists can turn the most rot-resistant trees into long-lasting nurse logs for huckleberries, mushroom soup, and wild honey.

Mycelial Network, Electron Micrograph
Image Credit:
Fungi Perfecti blog, fungi.com

What you can do with a network of "broken" individual cells is pretty darn amazing.  The more selfless each cell, the more the whole network can speed the flow of goodness.  A mycelial network (or similar self-organizing networks like the Internet) is a pretty great way to combine limited organisms into a meta-structure.
We animals require specialized channels (veins and arteries) to carry blood and nutrients to individual cell areas, and when our oxygen and waste removal can't keep u with our activity we definitely feel the burn.  Worse, we are highly susceptible to arterial bleed-out or heart attacks when one area gets damaged or blocked.  With vast webs of cooperating cells, mycelial networks can bypass unproductive channels and grow new 'main routes'. 

It sounds like a pretty effective way to handle "drinking from the fire hose" rates of transfer - both of vital fluids, and of vital information.  The Internet functions in a similar way, with many self-developing channels of information instead of a single, centralized broadcast system.


I'm using the power of mycelial networks as a metaphor for dealing with my own weak points.  Where I have a weak point, like procrastinating my bookkeeping, or letting bedtime routines slide to finish "one more thing," it's not healthy to sit alone with it.

I've been more or less trying to hide those weak spots, or use "willpower" to overcome them.  Press that weak spot up against a wall, beat myself up about it, worry that all my business "guts" might spill out and show that I'm not perfect.

Instead, lately I'm learning to show my weak points to trusted friends.  To watch others' strengths and weaknesses, and to ask people for help in areas where they really shine.  Or even just to ask.

Barbara Greene recommended an excellent local accountant from Brewster, WA (a few hours south of us in the same county).  Skirko Business Services helped me learn the WA state sales tax system for destination-based sales.

Mariah recommended a helpful young lady as a potential virtual assistant.

Our new neighbor gave our Facebook page a makeover, with some edited graphics so you can see our whole logo:
https://www.facebook.com/ErnieAndErica/

During my February sleepless-euphoria experience, I even broke down on the "grownups go to sleep on their own" myth, and asked my sisters, mom, and favorite aunties to take turns calling me at 9pm and "put me to bed."
(See earlier posts from February 2017, such as "Erica Turns 40 and Levels Up.")

My wonderful sister Teresa reported feeling a series of emotional reactions when she saw that email:
"What?  You can't do that... grown-ups can do that?
"How come she gets to do that?
"Why can't I do that?"

Such personal coddling is NOT a long-term substitute for basic adulting.
After about 8 days of much-needed sisterly support and advice, I'm now back to a self-managed sleep cycle that is better than my old 'normal'.  Because when I need to, I'm using all my sisters' tricks: everything from mindfulness, physical activity, serotonin-boosters like Vitamin D3 and melotonin, and just plain regularizing my schedule with 9-6 office hours and a 10pm bedtime.

I notice that I didn't get here by toughing it out, or by making it Ernie's job to cover for me.  For a health or mental crisis, it's a pretty good practice to let trusted friends know what's going on.  It's part of the adult, responsibile communication skills package, you might say it's "reaching out instead of burning out."

And I think this sort of reaching out could be good for everyday business, too.  I'm watching for ways to build a team, where each person has good lines of communication, connection, and support at their weak points.

So is your main ambition in life to be an "I got mine" giardia cyst, or are you ready to open up and become part of something larger?
... one link in acres of mycelial soil networks..
... a sensitive eye with a whole glowing jellyfish to call upon for response
... a connected link in a larger community of co-creative intelligent life?

I should be clear that I'm using "you" very loosely there. 
Because this is probably not news to YOU, personally.

This feels like an insight that I'm finally articulating after experiencing it most of my life.  I have the good fortunate to have a LOT of inspiring collaborators - family, friends, and on-the-same-wavelength "strangers".

We have always been part of this larger collaboration. 
We just forget sometimes.

Hope your week brings you plenty of wonderful reminders!

Yours,
Erica

Getting our wild geese in a row

Ready... set... LAUNCH! 
(the lead gosling is already in over its head)

We are getting ready to head to Montana for most of a month.

Arranging for things to thrive during our trip - Ernie, me, Radar, and whatever else fits in the car; and the plants and homestead while we're away.

Taking a few more pictures of goslings before they outgrow the adorable fuzzball stage.

All lined up and taking care of business...

Flotilla in excellent formation

(Ernie is getting pretty good with that new-to-us camera, these are all his photos.)

 

Paul's Kickstarter for our Permaculture Design and Appropriate Tech courses has less than 48 hours to go.  They are installing a dedicated, separate internet link for streaming live video and chat from these courses to online supporters.

We have been warned that with over 40 people on site for these courses, the regular internet for other business may be slow.  So I likely won't be able to post in-person updates from Montana.  I've pre-loaded a couple of things for you while I'm gone.

If you'd like to follow along, now's the time to sign up for that Kickstarter before it closes.

Here's the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/live-stream-permaculture-design-course-and-app-tec?ref=ap8ze3


...

"Please form two lines as you exit the flotilla..."

Ernie's dad paddled the canoe out today, and measured the deeper part of the pond.  7'6" of water.
It's within a couple of feet of the highest he's ever seen it... and probably twice as deep as I've ever seen it, as it's been during the past 6 to 10 dry years.

Which means the gees actually have TWO islands, although the moat for the new one is a lot shallower than the old one. 

Yay!
Water in abundance, and a good place to put it.

One Week Left + More Friendly Rocketeers

Worth mentioning again, with one week to go:

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/live-stream-permaculture-design-course-and-app-tec?ref=ap8ze3

Only seven days left on this Kickstarter for virtual access to the Permaculture Design and Appropriate Tech courses. This is a pretty amazing team coming together in one place for several glorious weeks, it will be a LOT to take in, so I'm glad it will be recorded!

If you want a taste of all this, from the comfort of your own Internet connection, please click on the link above or below. (Full disclosure: We do get a small kickback if you use our link to pledge, so please do!)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/live-stream-permaculture-design-course-and-app-tec?ref=ap8ze3

...

Speaking of documentation:
More evidence that our book is working!
Fouch-O-Matic gave us a lovely plug in their Rocket Mass Heater Building episode (this link should take you to about where our book comes in):

Later episodes document how their project worked out.  Nice to see!
...

And this week also brought a friendly note from Jami Gaither, who also supported our 2016 Kickstarter (early and often, as I recall): 

"Here's a link to a radio show we were featured on last week.  Thought you'd like getting a shout out.  https://beta.prx.org/stories/203798  Milt was fascinated and entranced by our RMH."

Jami

www.jamig4.wordpress.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZcwdxIbsSbKuDKyAQuuG6g

We are excited to see Jami and Dan in Montana, not this trip but in early October, for the Rocket Jamboree. 
There is a super-early-bird deal going on for folks who register before they finish the official website for the event:
https://permies.com/wiki/63312/permaculture-projects/Rocket-Mass-Heater-Workshop-Jamboree

Hope your year offers as many fun people and projects as ours is doing!

Yours,
Erica