April 2024 Update
Eclipse Fest and longhorn
The biggest happening this month was Montanoso Eclipse Fest. On April 7-8 we hosted over 40 campers and day visitors to watch the total solar eclipse.
The Event
Campers arrived Sunday afternoon and evening. I grilled my famous burgers for dinner and then we had a campfire with s’mores and flips, in which I plunged a red hot iron into the drink. I’ve tried a few different variations on the flip and it never comes out as good as I expect, so I’ll likely retire that recipe.
Day visitors started arriving early the next morning. We had abundant pastries and coffee from Mazama while we waited for the eclipse. As the time approached people gathered in the fenced area near the pool to watch. People cheered when totality arrived, loud enough that the neighbors could hear. Alas we had medium cloud cover and so only got partial glimpses of totality and the corona.
After the eclipse I served chili with grass-fed beef and jalapeño cornbread muffins made with grains from Barton Springs Mill. We also grilled up hot dogs and sausages. The traffic wasn’t as bad as expected so people slowly trickled out.
All in all the event was a great success.
Lessons Learned
I used the event as a test run for some ideas for the future village. People entered through the gate off 3232 and parked on the front lawn where I've considered building a small covered parking lot. From there they walked to the hilltop for the festivities. It generally worked well but was a challenge for those who brought strollers.
I also encouraged people to set up tents in designated “lots” and use the marked streets for foot traffic. This didn’t work as well because the natural place to set up a tent (under a tree) isn’t the same as where you’d place a home or building.
This event was a great opportunity to LARP as a village and I think the experiment was productive. We learned some things that can be applied to future events.
New Residents
In late April we welcomed the first permanent residents of Montanoso: CAO and Vitalik Mooterin.
You may remember them from our rotational grazing program last summer. We’ve now adopted them and they live at Montanoso full time. I’m starting to research portable electric fencing so we can set up temporary paddocks to control where they graze and do rotational grazing within Montanoso. If this interests you please reach out!