 Armadillo Acres aka home Do you like feeling the gratification of putting in a hard day's work? Do you enjoy the outdoors and working with like-minded people to get a big job done? Have you heard about this cool thing called Work Weekends? LET'S TALK ABOUT IT! WHAT ARE WORK WEEKENDS? We all head out to Armadillo before the burn to get the land ready for the event. Work weekends are used to clear roads, move deadfall, mow trails, and carve out campsites. Sometimes we create new sections and sometimes we maintain what already exists. It mostly requires clearing dead branches and felled trees from established areas, moving the wood or using it to outline existing trails, and mowing down tall grass. WHEN ARE WORK WEEKENDS? Work weekends generally start in late August and go through the end of September. The specific dates change every year, so check out the Myschievia calendar for this year's dates (and integrate it with your own so you don't forget!). WHO CAN COME? You don't need a ticket, or even to intend to go to Mys this year. Several burners have attended work weekends who just wanted to volunteer for the community, but were taking a year off the actual burn. Many new burners decided to start their experience at work weekends, as well. Every work weekend will have at least one LLC member, a Land Ops lead or assistant lead, and the landowner onsite during the duration of the work. Kids that are old enough to help out are welcome. They need to be supervised by their parent/guardian at all times and minor waiver needs to be signed. No one under the age of 18 will be allowed to use power tools. Dogs that are supervised and behave are also okay but also need to be supervised the entire weekend. IS THIS A PARTY? Not really. We work. Most of Saturday and Sunday will involve lots of manual labor. After work ends on Saturday, we all relax and hang out, usually around a campfire (unless it's too hot). Libations are had, food is eaten, and stories are told. It's more like camping with friends. SO THERE WILL BE A BONFIRE? If there is no burn ban and it's not too hot, we will likely have a small firepit. But no, there won't be anything you could call a bonfire. WHEN CAN I SHOW UP? Each work weekend, the Land Ops lead or assistant lead is on land with the LLC member du jour by 8 pm Friday night. The landowner is usually onsite before that. If you want to show up Friday night, great! Just try to get there at a decent hour, understanding that we'll need to be up-and-at-em early the next day. You can burn in anytime Saturday before noon. We'll leave the gate open. WHAT'S THE SCHEDULE LOOK LIKE? Most of the crew rolls in Friday evening, the rest Saturday morning. Friday, we set up tents and cars, make a game plan and chill. Saturday we begin work by 9am at the latest. Work continues until 5-6 pm, or if the heat sucks, a little earlier. Then we all go off-shift, as it were, and chill out. Sunday, we wake and work by 9am, but only on small projects. Most people flee by noon Sunday, (with the exception being if there is a work weekend over Labor Day Weekend, which goes through Monday). You can leave whenever you're ready to head out but we'd love for volunteers to stay at least until the work is done on Saturday! CAN I DRINK WHILE WORKING? We're going to be using chainsaws and mowers and gators and vehicles. Own your experience and be responsible while the work happens. Stay baseline. Don't endanger yourself or others. There will be plenty of time for of-age participants to drink after work ends. But if you're 21+ and like a cold beer during the work, we won't stop you. On that note, you WILL BE REQUIRED TO SIGN A WAIVER UPON ARRIVAL and this waiver will basically say that you can't sue any of us if you do stupid shit. WILL THERE BE PORT-O-CANS? Yes. Same rules as the burn - nothing in the portos except human waste and toilet paper. IS CAR CAMPING ALLOWED? Absolutely. Find a shady spot to park and crash out in your ride! WHAT SHOULD I BRING? Everything you would bring for camping in the woods for two days while clearing detritus. Personal supply list
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DO YOU ALLOW PEOPLE TO LEAVE AND COME BACK? Unlike the burn, if you need to go into town to get something, it's totally cool. Hell, you can even stay overnight at the Wildflower Inn or a motel in Daingerfield overnight and come back, instead of camping. We won't judge. WHAT DO WE GET FOR THIS? First off, you get the knowledge that you helped make the burn itself happen. It seriously CANNOT happen without work weekends. The NTXB community is all about volunteering, and if you drive a few hours to spend a weekend or more to sweat and haul wood and make the hundreds of campsites available? That's something you can be proud of! Secondly, the LLC grants Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP) tickets to volunteers who attend work weekends. This means you'll have two tickets reserved for you for next year's burn. You still have to pay for them, but you don't have to worry about them selling out! Third? Work weekends are just a hell of a lot of fun. Hard work with friends and new faces fosters a level of camaraderie that you don't get in a lot of other situations. You also get sweet swag, like stickers, patches, or even tees! Because of the holiday, we can extend the work weekend over Labor day through Monday. That's right! You can come chainsaw, haul, chop, and hack with your friends for four whole days. And look! There's even a sweet and adorable puppy on land you can love up!  Head on over to the shift sign-up sheet, click that Pre-Event tab, and get your name on the list of bad asses who will be clearing the land for our temporary community September 1st through 4th. See you there! As many of you know, Myschievia's home was hit pretty hard by storms this year. Tons of fallen trees are blocking the auxiliary roads and are laid over where our campsites go. We need your help to move all of these trees and debris. The sooner, the better.
Bring your trucks and trailers to haul these big trees! Bring axes, chainsaws, and limb loppers to make them easier to handle! Not comfortable with motorized sharp things? Weed out underbrush and toss around fallen tree limbs with us! You have four weekends to choose from - 8/19, 9/2, 9/16, and 9/23 - or, hell, be there for all of 'em. Join the Land Ops Facebook group for more info or reach out to Snuggles, your land lead, here. Register to volunteer and sign up for shifts by following the instructions here. Do you like campsites you can set up tents in? Do you enjoy roads and trails? Did you know that Armadillo Acres, Myschievia's home, needs some attention every year?
These campsites don't clear themselves, buckaroos! The Land Ops volunteers will be out four weekends this year picking up deadfall, filling holes, removing small trees, clearing roads and trails, and making Armadillo Acres the hospitable location we know and love for our little community in the woods. Come swing axes, operate chainsaws, weed out underbrush, and toss around fallen tree limbs with us! You have four weekends to choose from - 8/19, 9/2, 9/16, and 9/23 - or, hell, be there for all of 'em. I can tell you from experience that it's a lot of work but a wonderful time and truly rewarding. Join the Land Ops Facebook group for more info or reach out to Snuggles, your land lead, here. |
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