Insulating A Vaulted Ceiling- From Dropped R-15 to Raised R-30

I'll get to writing up a synopsis as soon as I get back on the blog and do some editing.....stay tuned!

Indestructable Shoe Review 2019

Here's my video shoe review for the Indestructible Shoe. I wore these for two months before I did the review to make sure they wouldn't fall apart. They have done fairly well, there are some job sites I would not wear them on but they are a great addition to my selection of safety toe shoes! They are nice and light which is ideal for the fast pace and movement of finish work, they slip on easy and quick making them ideal for finished spaces. They're non-marring so it's nice knowing your not the one scuffing up finished floors and stairs.



If you want to give them a try for yourself (or any of their other sneakers) try this code at checkout

JASOK72  if your interested in doing your own comparison scroll down to the bottom for the Cascadia GTX and Irish Setter Red Heads

Observation Beehive Part II

The Observation Beehive is coming together!!! Keep following the channel and the blog for more information, we are also taking orders for custom furniture

Observation Beehive Part I - Bringing Bees Indoors!

Check back soon, I'll get to writing this as soons as I can. I always add secrets in the blog for my fellow old school "readers" that can't stand videos starting every time they try to read a news article!

Observation Beehive Teaser Trailer

Friday the 13th Shop Cleanup, Observation Beehive Build and Channel Expe...

Design|Build - An Observation Bee Hive!!!

I've been charged with the task of designing and building an indoor apiary for a Seattle based clothing company!!! I'm pretty excited because I had wanted to do one of these for a while and this one is bigger than I could really find indoor space for. There are some really cool challenges to building an indoor bee hive, not having to mention bees getting loose in the store! This store has already been built out and the display floor is arranged so this build needs to mesh with the existing decor.

Since the store has a warm feeling of repurposed construction materials from salvaged wood and patina metal, I dug around for some matching materials. Since the specification for the beehive was three deep frames wide and three deep frames tall with optional space for six honey supers, I figured I'd need to use metal to get the strength and aesthetic I was after. I was able to get in the shop and spend a good day or two welding up the observation frame. It's great really getting into the groove of a project and not watching the clock and just enjoying the craft.

Stay tuned for the finished product and I hope to have enough media captured for a video on my YouTube channel!

Jason Michael Kotarski Observation Beehive 

Jason Michael Kotarski Observation Beehive

Jason Kotarski Bees Beekeeping Apiary Honey Permaculture Welding Ironworking Metal Fabrication Furniture Office Furniture Commercial Design Build Architecture Nature 

Daytime Trail Activity!!!!

We have been noticing there happens to be more rabbits than usual this year and I suspect that predators should soon follow. Checking the trail cam confirmed that suspicion. Recently I noticed for the first time we have a weasel. I managed to catch him on the camera but he was in chase mode and the photo wasn't very good as I didn't have a chance to adjust my settings. I did catch him and I have proof so it counts, it's not worth posting until I get a sniper shot of it in action or chilling. Next up was the bobcat, I've also caught the bobcat on camera but again, my camera was setup for still shots of products and not action. The trail camera picked her up again with a different angle from the previous bobcat post Bobcat . This time it appears she has something in her mouth and has stopped as someone at the top of the screen is checking the mail. The second video is a comparison of Reilly and I, Reilly is 50 pounds (ish). I came across a cougar a couple of years ago while walking Reilly and it was easily three times Riley's size, I'd say this bobcat was 30 pounds maybe?

And even though the post said Daytime, I thought I'd add this one as I think it was a coyote. We know almost every dog around here and at 2:30 in the morning I'm guessing it was a coyote. 

Carving a Square Bowl

Here's the latest bowl carving! This time around I decided to do a square platter from a chunk of Big Leaf Maple I've been saving in the corner of the shop. This time I went with a diamond embedded grinding disc on the grinder instead of the carbide tipped Graff Speedcutter that I used on the Root Bowl. The grinding disc isn't as aggressive so it takes a little longer but there is more control and less chance of accidental damage to the material.

Jason Michael Kotarski 
Jason Kotarski

Sprained Ankles

I had to go back and see when I posted this to remind myself how stupid I can be.

The sprain occurred on Memorial Day Weekend ( yes on Saturday, the start of the three day weekend) and I first entered a post week later. So that makes this week four and while I am able to walk without a significant limp, my ankle throbs morning, noon and night.

The bruising finally subsided last weekend and there is still remnants of the yellowing on the upper ankle. This is all normal and typically I'd probably be dumb enough to test it out on a short run ( real short, like maybe a mile, with the idea of turning back at any minute). Most times I check my repairs on a 3 or 6 miler, lightly and slowly with plenty of breaks and fluids.

This time, I'm not sure when I plan to run again and its causing me angst. I've been able to mow the lawn and do general yard work,(fully braced and wrapped with full lace logger boots AND beer) but I haven't been able to walk properly and it's taking its toll on my legs and back.

In short, perhaps a MRI would've been a good idea and my last post should be ignored. I'm beginning to think I may have slightly fractured something. This feels alot like when I fractured my Metatrasul.

Meh, this too shall pass.....but I'm really not digging the bad dreams I've been having of breaking my ankle gonna mountain trail, those better "too shall pass" pronto!

Healing a Sprained Ankle

One of my most dreaded fears on runs, hikes, and job sites reared it's ugly head again, the sprained ankle. We embarked on a regular Saturday morning trail race in a wonderful County park with rolling hills. Not much different from my "home trail" except no real elevation gain. Knowing the Memorial Day weekend was full of anticipated projects I was completely and utterly content at starting of somewhere mid pack, take it slow, pass when the opportunity presented itself and find a good pace pack to run with. My fear was starting to creep into the back of my mind as I got bunched up with a pack running at a conservative pace leaving me blind to the trail and staring at the heels of the runner in front of me instead of the trail. When the trail opened up on a downhill slant I was able to stretch out to a normal pace and find my stride. The race was a double loop and I took my time at the halfway point, a little hydration, shake some stones out of the shoes, breathe in the wooded air. The next two miles I found myself out on the trail alone as runners spread out along the course. At some point I lost focus and got too comfortable  enjoying the whoop-de-do's and mountain bike made banked turns. Somehwere around the 8 mile mark Pop, Face Meet Trail. That leaves 5 more miles of hobbled trail navigation to go.

 As I have noted in past injury related posts, I AM NOT A MEDICAL PHYSICIAN, but seeing as this sprain is somewhere between the 22nd or 25th on this ankle and one on the right ankle I have a pretty good amount of empirical evidence to feel comfortable in my recommendations.

If you have never sprained an ankle and you found this article, YOU WILL RUN AGAIN, promise. It's usually not as bad as you think the moment it happens and after the inital pain wears off. Basically there are 3 levels, if your hear a pop and you find yourself catching your balance on something or taking an awkward tumble, you see some stars and you get a little nauseous it's a level 1, you'll be just fine. If you hear a pop, face plant into the ground and scream in agony on the ground its probably a level 2, these ones really hurt and you'll probablly be out of commission for a day or two plus not running for at least 3 weeks. If you hear a snap, have no idea how you ended up laying on the ground rolling in your own vomit, feel like it's 200 degrees  and the world is ending it's likely a level 3 or you broke it. A level 3 is a complete tear and you will be out of commission for a week and not running for 6 weeks (at least), if you can't put any weight on it and you puke in your mouth when you take a step it's likely fractured. The shitty news? There's not a whole lot you can do about it and will likely have to immobilize it while it heals.  So what can we do if it falls in the not so bad news of level 1-3?

Everyone is likely aware at this point about RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) but for those who find themselves out on the trail somewhere Compression is about all your going to be able to do if you can't find a cold stream or snap pack in a medical kit. By the time I finished the 5 miles to the finish line my ankle was pretty much mush. An ice pack wouldn't do much but if you can find an ice bucket or ice bath I strongly suggest full immersion. You made need a heavy jacket or a heated blanket (or a flask)  to ward off the shock but full immersion is the only thing that is going to reduce swelling and pain. The next is Compression but you need to be careful here, after the damage has occurred and the trauma has passed you'll need those new red and white blood cells pumping through your veins to start the repairing process. In my backpack I carry two Mueller Ankle Braces rolled up small and tight and a knee brace plus an ace bandage or two (ok, the ace bandage had to be left behind due to shortages of TP during a mountain excursion) After all the sprains I have had I can tell you I can't stand the agony of sitting in a waiting room to have someone tell me its a sprain and we'll have to bandage it up, RICE, and "stay off of it for while", here's your bill. What I can tell you is that out of 2 or 3 of these instances I did have the availability of an acupuncturist and did sit until my butt went numb with needles sticking out of me like a pin cushion. These 2 or 3 times were the fastest helaing sprains I have EVER had and have to recommend that if you have suffered an injury like such, acupuncture IS part of the healing process. The next couple days are going to be painful, and this particular time around I am still getting pulsated throbbing throughout the day and night on Day 7 of this injury. So as far as pain relievers go I prefer Beer, but that has limited use do to work, driving and using equipment ( And I refuse to take anything stronger than Naproxen Sodium). Two natural remedies that I have had great results with have been Arnica and Bromelain. These combined with nightly hot soaks in Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salts) reduce the throbbing, help blood flow for repairing damaged tissue, aid in sleep, and reduce tightening. I can say that the biggest part I struggle with in RICE is the resting part. I did have some shock after the race and did sleep for a considerable amount but the following days I tried to resume "semi" normal activity. As I am realising that's not the greatest idea I should have written this article while soaking my ankle in hot epsom salt while drinking beer, Well, stay healthy and read up on your next training, watch some running videos, write some articles and fear not, the Mountains Are Calling, We Will Go Again. 

Raised Garden Beds- How to Make a Hugle Culture Lasagne Masterpiece!

In a post I made last year I added a video from my YouTube Channel Jason Michael Kotarski on a method to create a raised bed that would age in place, continuing to provide the garden with broken down organic matter. HugleCulture is the method of mounding wood debris including logs and branches, covering with more organic material and planting on top of it. Boiled down this is the farmhand style of cleaning up alot of storm debris, stacking in a pile and watching turn into dirt for later use. This is perfect if you have a lot of space but if you're confined and want to keep things tidy a raised garden bed is the perfect way to build up your soil in a natural way.

The previous raised beds have worked wonders already and as this is the fourth year for these beds we've had a full rotation of crops. Ideally I think I would've liked to do units of five instead of four. For instance, each area in our master plan is designed as a unit, scalable up or down in size, but repeatable by duplication. The four beds are typically, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Beans/Peas, and Tomatoes, each moving to the next bed the next year in a clockwise direction and they all over winter as salad greens. I think the fifth would have been a good way to add one fallow box to add to during cleanups, instead we're building a seperate space out the will be insulated with a glass top to increase temperature to kill off weeds and seeds.

Regular trimming, pruning and cleanup debris

Here's' a a quick photographic journey of the raised bed method. In these instances I combined both rotten logs with new logs to jump start the mycelium. Mycelium breaks down the material providing nutrients and minerals to the soil, it also creates a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the plants.

Big logs on the bottom, branches on top. These will help hold water like a natural sponge in the soil

On these raised beds, I used $3 cedar fence pickets. they're six foot so if I buy six boards I can build a 6' x 3' raised bed for $20. Notice I place my stakes on the inside of the boxes, feel free to do as you please as they are technically stronger on the outside but I like to be able to line trim quick and easy around these things. All the water entices grass to grow and grass growing intices slug growing! 

Yup, skip the bagging, these wonderful maple leafs are going to break down just nice! By adding a leaf layer, the leaves will be pushed down into the branch crevices and help keep our soil from washing to the bottom to quickly.

A good wheel barrow heaping should do the trick

Next comes the mulch layer, you can skip it if you only have leaves but the leaves break down very fast. The mulch acts as a bit of weight, and insulation blanket to keep the bed warm, and another sponge layer.

mmmmm......a Summer's worth of compost!!!!!

 This is the part I love! Mabe because its the dirtiest! The worm bin compost is added. Typically by this time of year there is a healthy mix of compost and worms working to break everything down. There is still moe work to be done so we add a layer of coffee grounds over the compost to reduce any smell ( it's not a foul smell, we just don't want the critters digging it up) and heap another layer of mulch on that.

ahhh......all year I keep these little things fed and wen it comes time to plant the soil is a beautiful rich black earth with plenty of aeration. The compost layer will be almost completely gone within two weeks of spreading. The worms will multiply and work it into the bed with ease. The warmth of the beds and the cracks and crevices of the branches allows the worms in the ground to work their way up. The wood chips will be decomposed after the next winter cycle at which time we will add store bought compost as a topping to bring the beds back up. They'll be half of the bed by the end of the Fall and the following year we add the commercial compost that we plant directly into and cover with mulch again after the sprouts are established.

Well that photo looks like shit

I'll leave this video at the bottom for the squeamish! Me personally? That's an amazing thing dans la jardin. Make sure you check out the YouTube page and follow what we're doing, we hope to spin off to ventures from what we've been working on. I'm working on WellHaus Winery and we have the Farming Prospectus (working title)

Sharpening Fiskar Pruners

I'll try to get a write up on this video posted. I have the step by step photos to go along with the written description, however, the amount of traffic this blog sees is dismal as people just don't like to read blog posts anymore. The youtube channel has grown exponentially more than the blog even though I tried to be more encompassing on the blog, ah weeeeellll, as sign of the times.