Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Chapter 8: Tales of Ruin and Restoration - The Back 40 Badlands

At the far end of the battle field, past the entrance to the swimming hole, a very narrow road appears in the form of a causeway. This was the barrier between Britannia Faire's Medieval Adventure and the portal entrance to Britannia Faire's land of destruction and ruin.

The Back 40 was site for the largest restoration project of the season. Efforts spanned over the entire 2013 season and into spring of '14, with still much more progress to be made before this area of land would be up for public use. Given the initial state of neglect the Back 40 was in, I personally accepted the challenge to do as much as I was physically able to restore bits of the Back 40 to a usable state for more things than wood storage and dragon parking.

Mid season, there was talk about individuals hosting paintball LARPs and I myself wanted to to design an agility course and set up a long firearm and bow range in the vast open area of the back field. Therefore, having the Back 40 usable, was a pertinent thing to spend time on. In the recesses of my mind, my long term goal was to shift this area into a Post Apocalyptic Set complete with ideas on how to alter the Tavern to host alternate games in that setting. 



In years prior the Back 40 would only have been used for wood harvesting, storage, and additional parking when required. As aforementioned in a previous post, the Back 40 is home to mounds and piles of wooded slates left over from a logging harvest that took place the year before Reddwyck bought the land. This is but one tiny hidden pile of wood. There were at least 4 more mounds, most of them at least 3 times the size of the one pictured here. When talk of the Post-Apocalyptic Paintball LARP were on the design table, there was thought to construct natural barriers, obstacles, and paths all over the back field out of the wood naturally provided from these piles. However, the people involved in hosting the event backed out, and these designs were never able to become reality.   


The Back 40 held an additional resource that I was to exploit throughout the season. In addition to the vast number of bramble patches in the Back 40, this centrally located saw dust pile of epic proportions is composed of remains left over from the logging company. Some of this deposit would be used to pad the feet of those who danced around the multiple fire rings in addition the base of many Bandit Camp trees, in attempt to deter weed growth.


Some of this deposit was laden heavy with oil residue from the mechanical components of the lumbering equipment. On wet days, one can see the plume of oil sludge that slowly makes its way downward towards the stream. When wet, the dark gray dust turns into a slick, saturated, sink hole for truck tires and feet alike. Beware. 


Initial State: After I was settled into the Tavern and first crossed the barrier to the Back 40 in June of 2013, I took my initial assessment of the back acreage from a land management perspective. What first struck my eye was the grass… well weeds at this point… past mid-calf, decorated with windblown garbage strewn all about the field. This included milk and oil jugs, plastic food bags, broken plastic bins, aluminum beer cans, tin foil, glass bottles, mason jars, horse tack, and metal scrap.

As I traversed the land, my eyes took note of additional areas that needed restoration. There was a fallen down shack of a house, an additional tool shed for storing the most obscure things, a crippled and buried with growth and sadly the remnants of an incinerator pile and the beginnings of a poorly managed landfill.


There is no picture of this state as the initial sight is something that I didn’t think there should be record of. 


This capture is of the Back 40 as I last saw her right before I left at the end of May 2014. I will forever see much potential and give her many thanks for the resources she provided during my stay at the Tavern Outpost.

Also buried among the tall grass, were downed trees, bits of scrap milled lumber, mounds of dirt, and hidden holes that would swallow your mower.


The above photo was taken at the very end of Britannia Faire's reach at the far end of the Back 40. In the image you can see the framing to Mac’s shack. (Remember the fire walker from Volume 2, at one point he had plans on living permanently at the Faire.) With the help of Roake McFeelgood, this structure would be erected. This assembly was raided for its siding materials and a few non-load-bearing posts, but the structure still stands, with sturdy cement poured footings. There was thought of using this as one of the bases for the paintball course we had in mind, after we fortified it a bit mind you. 


After the windblown plastic and paper products were removed from the grasses, the first mow job of the season was to commence. Anvil and I would take on this task. Near to Mac's shack the land was so disrupted and bumpy that we could not use the riding mower. Thus, the push mower had to be equipped for the area above in the far back. This was both a good and a bad thing. The pro: (+Improved Vision) scouting the downed trees, stumps, and PVC tubing buried in the field. This is also a defense bonus to Rider (the mower) as he avoids ramming or running (attack) them over while damage (-HP) to his deck may ensues. The con: the push mower required an unreasonable amount of effort to use because the self propelled feature had malfunctioned. (+Strength)/(-Strength)  


After an entire day of lawn care and a gallon and a half of water later, the Back 40 would go on to have its first hair cut of the season. After the initial mow job, we brought Princer (the character name of the truck) around the back field to collect all the spare objects found within the once overgrown grass.   


The downed trees were cut up by chainsaw and its 16" pieces brought back with us to the splitting station (+Surival BONUS)(+Woodcutting exp) while the already processed and rotting lumber, was to be burned in situ, center field (+firemaking exp). With so many other areas to harvest wood stock, there was no need to save these rotting pieces. Burning them while working on the Back 40 would reduced them to ash thus decreasing the space they once took up, and we could keep an eye on the flame pile while we were completing the remainder of our field clearing task. There was more than one burning session that took place in the Back 40. It was on days like these that Fire Jenga and was implemented for an afternoon of fun filled labor. (+fire bending)(+heat resistance)



Clearing the 40 field required perseverance, patience, and oh my goodness, So. Much. Gas. The weed eater, rider, push mower, chainsaw, and truck were all utilized in this project, each requiring a certain chemical to provide energy. The riding mower was a champ! It took on weeds up to its headlights with only a bit of protest, and successfully navigated around huge holes, mild bumps, and hidden obstructions. For the reason the mowing deck didn’t sit straight during this process, some of the lawn required two passes to fully rid the intended area of all its inhabitants. Ideally, the Faire just needs a commercial grade mower with a brush hog attachment, but one can keep dreamin' about that fantasy; as many more levels need to be unlocked for that to have been a thing. That's like a level 75 achievement prize for the Faire's character when so few people play with her and increase her exp.   


When the staff realized that the paintball LARPs were no longer in a rush to become a thing, the Back 40 got a more relaxed time table. There was no need to spend time and resources keeping play area no one else was going to see, looking as sharp as one would the medieval setting. Therefore the edges of piles and objects were allowed to grow wild once again. This is how things would be until the growth began to dwindle in Fall and die back during the beginning of November.



During the initial metal harvest from the field floor in early summer, Anvil and I came across two baby Copperhead snakes living underneath a piece of metal. Knowing that these Copperheads would grow to be poisonous adults, we made the joint decision to dispose of them. Given that both Anvil and I have adversities to the "killing just to kill mentality" we both vowed that we would harvest whatever meat we could from the snakes as to not have wasted their energy and consume them into our bodies. In addition, Anvil kept and tanned the snake skin to either use in future project or to barter off in trade; whichever came first.   


When seasoned with the correct spices, the Copperhead meat tasted surprisingly like chicken. That might have been influenced by the chicken wing eating style one had to adapt while stripping the meat from the bones. While cooking and even hours after death, the snake and many other reptile nervous systems are still intact. So don't be freaked out if the body tries to curl around your arm when your trying to skin it, in addition to attempting to standing erect and coiling around while searing in whatever pan you choose to fry it in, because that totally happens.  



As mentioned in my initial assessment, I noticed many piles of trash and ruin located around the 40 acreage, where the storage shed and two locations of fallen down buildings remained. Ideally, this area would have to be more contained and its trash properly dealt with if this area was ever to be presentable for public game. 


And with that thought I began picking and burning my way through the structures within the area.


As it turns out Drakus, the Woodsfield local, and Laura Delli would come out to the Faire and help me start containing this project. As we would sort through the downed material, we would begin to harvest beams and poles that were still usable with thoughts of reusing the resource further down the road. 



As we were sorting through the rubble, some metal artifacts struck our eye. On left we have a tool used for canning and to the right is part of a detailed metal hinge.    



Any additional random object that was found among the tall grass or within the confines of the ruin were taken off of the field of restorative play and placed in piles of similar objects. Sheet metal, mason jars, bricks, tires, and horse tack seemed to be the most common objects other than wood that was taken off the site. Any rotting or broken wood would be burned in a pile right at the end of the area in attempt to reduce the amount of wasted space. There is still a pretty decent foundation located under the ruin pile but, there much that needs to be done within that area to warrant building a new structure atop of it. The idea was that this area would host the second base of the Paintball course. 

One can see the groupings of unusable resources that was piling up quickly.

As the weather took a turn for the cold and events no longer took place, again there would be zero rush to complete progress on the medieval setting. By late fall the grass had stopped growing and the lawn was well maintained. The days grew frigged and I managed to stay warm naturally by layering up and moving to produce additional heat. The end of the season project was to harvest additional metal scrap that was scattered around most of the Back 40 that was too overgrown with foliage to seek in the summer months. 

After the foliage dies back on can see the remnants of yet another downed structure and additional precut logs for harvesting.



This project became quite the scavenger hunt with hidden pieces of metal buried all over the overgrown land. It was quite the surprise what items were found within the overgrowth. There was a tractor bucket and heavy metal treads for the bobcat, metal barrels, additional metal drainage piping, multiple pieces of tin roofing scraps, and an engine block just to name a few.


Once a path of access to the area next to the storage shed, which just happened to hold the largest amount of buried metal, was forged, almost an entire fall day was utilized harvesting hidden metal from this area alone. 


At the very end of the season in late Fall, the idea was had to bring this area's restoration project to its completion. After the first snow had fallen and the foliage had shrunk back to manageable levels, this area began to be cleared of its overgrowth. Again everything that could be burned to reduce its its space was. This additionally provided heat for a cold day's work. 


By the end of two full days of laboring in this area, the once thick forest of vines, trees, and weeds, would be tamed and cleared to look like the capture below. Given that this area now had all of this additional space in which to store things, all tires, plastic tubing, in addition to the unpictured, 24 buckets of white sand that Elon brought in from the Upper Michigan lands, were stored in this location. For reason that the engine block was too heavy to lift with two individuals and the metal drainage pipe was too long to transport, they sadly kept residence exactly where we had discovered them.  


All scrap steel and any other random metal was taken to a scrap yard located 30mins west of the Faire. All plastic, glass, and aluminum was sorted and taken to the appropriate recycling facilities, while the 7 black bags of garbage that resulted from this Back 40 clean up were taken to the dump to be properly disposed of using the funds generated from the sites metal scrap proceeds. 


Taking the time to properly sort and recycle any metal one comes in contact with is fairly profitable, and typically pays for the gas required to drive the scrap to the nearest site with surplus. 

A capture of the local metal yard.

I had mentioned in my initial traverse around the back lands the findings of an incinerator pile and evidence of a landfill. My restoration efforts went on to include their areas too. I made sure to wear gloves and dig through the garbage of the landfill, recycling what I was able and then properly disposing the additional garbage within black garbage bags. It was from here that 6 out of 7 bags of Back 40 dumpster bound trash was generated. While the landfill pit was opened, it received the remainder of the incinerator pile's twisted glass and contaminated dirt. Since the fill had already done its damage to the land, I felt that by removing this exposed pile of matter to be relocated within the fill would be the lesser of two evils.


The burnt rubble was transferred and hauled by hand in buckets to the fill area. This was the last project of the 2013 season and the whole process felt a symbol of progress that had been made in the season that had passed. With the refilling of the landfill, it felt as though I was literally filling the hole the land of Britannia Faire was sinking into, and that next season we could start on level and flat ground. Sadly, the landfill never did get properly refilled with the dirt that was piled alongside the hole to deter future use. There just wasn't enough spare time at that point. 


With so much having been competed in this last season alone, I was excited to see what unplanned progress was to be made next season on this restoration project. If anything the ruin of the Back 40 felt more contained, and any rubbish that could be disposed of was taken off site. The land finally felt like it was beginning to heal.   


The following Spring would find the land growing well in areas that had been restored and maintained. The ground was mostly cleared of debris from our efforts last season and there was much less on the restoration to-do list. Once again gears began to turn on how the Faire was to use this land that was more up to public viewing than I had ever seen her in the entire time I have been associated with her. 


By the end of this season, there would be a gun and a long distance bow range that faced the far wall in the middle of the 40, the beginnings of an agility course made from recycled wood and tires harvested the previous year, and there were to be barriers constructed out of piles of wood placed in strategic locations about the open field. Yes, this would make the field a bit more difficult to maintain, mowing and trimming around all the piles, but it would be worth the additional area of game play. However, given portal closure, these plans will forever remain a fantasy trapped within my head. 


Even though this area of the Back 40 holds a lot of unfinished projects for me, I am still grateful for the time I was able to spend on restoring the land. If anything, the land seems to be in a much better place because of it. Nature is incredibly resilient, and will continue to carry on and adapt to whatever situation it finds itself in. However, being the Native American Half Elf that I am, it will forever remain a warming feeling trying to convert land back to the homeostatic relationship it possessed before humans began to alter its path.   

This is where the incinerator pile was located the previous season. It continues to recover slowly.

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