Forty Below

Alaska has dipped into her first cold spell of the winter season. Minus 40 has been the temp for a few days now and we have broken several cold day records this week here in the interior. The animals have been coming around our little cabin on the river. Today coyote was trolling the river bank looking for food, a cross fox and a silver fox have been frequenting the scrap pile we have seen them a few times and they are really looking fat and sassy. The bald eagle flew south towards Haines last week just before the cold weather arrived. The White Rabbit still is alive and kicking out there, which is good we didn't know if a tame bunny would make it. He seems to do well eating the sunflower seeds we put out for the birds and I throw him a couple of carrots and grapes everyday which is devours. So I guess life in the Alaska wilderness is going fine just chugging along. I got myself a treadmill for this winter and have been walking everyday. The weight loss has been wonderful for me and I am feeling spry..Should have bought one years ago. Happy Thanksgiving !

Our Eagles

Here is Jr eagle who had just caught the fish he is standing on and mama eagle who let Jr have about half of the salmon and then took the rest from him. She is a huge eagle! Jr. is now 4 years old.

Alone at Last?

 Could it be? Is our little cabin on the river that has been bursting at the seams with 8 folks 3 of them little ones, finally going to be just dad and I? Our quaint little cabin has been packed through the events in family life that sometimes you can't do anything about but protect your kids, or give them a leg up. I am not complaining at all, its has been wonderful every single day. Maybe a lot of projects were put on hold, but they were replaced by sweet little faces and warm hugs!
Today the daughter and her 3 girls made their move to a new apartment. I pray for her it isn't easy raising a large family alone.
Son and his girlfriend are moving out next week and starting college YEAH SON!  I hope it doesn't sound mean but I am already planning a total interior makeover. I will be making a big move on organizing and lightening the load of stuff that has magically appeared here and no one seems to know who's it is or where it came from. Believe me I will not have any problem donating it to someone else. I'm going to paint the wood floor cranberry zing, and buy some of those oval old fashioned braided rugs and a round table or two. Finally I will get the new appliances and the wing back chairs I have dreamed of for decades. Life is good. I see flowers popping up everywhere and I smell a wind of good fortune coming my way!! 

Getting Old

Woke up coughing, mentally I was thanking my 21 year old son for bringing home another virus from his work! Argh! I hate being sick! The older I get the more stuff goes wrong, first its the aching muscles, then the joints, the spine, the shingles(virus that causes chicken pox) arthritis and asthma. Wow really. WTF? I am not quite 50 and falling apart here. Time to get serious and fight back before my hubby gets to live the life I always wanted on my insurance money!

R.I.P. Chicken

 

It is with  a heavy heart that I impart to you the fact that the afore mentioned birdy has well went to Birdy heaven thanks to the Great Horned Owl  pictured above.

First Day of School

Miss Gabbie on her first day of kindergarten.

There was much excitement about the cabin this morning as  Gabbie and her mom ran about like two chickens looking for everything they needed to get miss Gabbie out the door for her first day of school.

One Crazy Chicken

If you have read my blog at all you will know that chicks were purchased with the dreams of one day eating some eggs we in a round about way GREW. Well the best plans of mice and men and women I guess. Here is the rest of the story.

I got the chicks and brought them home with the best of hopes. All was going well on the sunny little farm and we were all enjoying watching the chickens grow and hoped they would soon be as fat as the dogs. Well much to my dismay the dogs decided to eat the chickens. They have never killed before and I was in tears when I came outside that afternoon to find the chicks dead, dogs with feathers in their mouths and shaking with the thrill of killing.
 OH, I worried about what my precious granddaughter would think. After much worrying and talking with others we decided that our loved hounds would have to be put down and our hearts were broken. The deed done, and hearts sad we were trying to get back on track and my grand baby was playing outside. Grandma, grandpa she screamed.. come out here I hear  a chick she squealed. My hubby went out only to comfort the child he thought the chicks had all bit the dust. However to papa's surprise one little yellow chick had not only survived the dogs but two days outside alone as well. What a little survivor the chick was. Well now she is a little red hen, we call her Birdy and I am afraid she does not know she is a chicken. We are however hoping she will at least give us an egg one day soon.

July

Well here it is in the heat of July, my potatoes are growing well and my one little laying hen hasn't. There were 10 chicks in the beginning but thanks to some very bad dogs, well lets just say I am down to one chicken who has no clue that's what she is. Poor thing.
My best layed plans for a garden were stomped out by arthritis I hate it. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy if I had one. My poor body hurts so much of the time I cant even go shopping without much pain.
Then when I make it home I am pretty much laid up for a couple of days.

We have been getting stuff done though. The new lawn is in and about 1/2 acre in size. We've already mowed it a couple of times. The siding has been removed from the house and tyvek that wonderful invention now snugly wraps the little cabin.

Bunny rabbits enjoy the new lawn and so do the folks who come by on their way down river.
More later.

Adventures with Grandchild

My grandbaby has a wonderful imagination.  We were at a quarry for a cook out the other day and she was crawling around on the large rocks. We had a great time and collected a couple of small rocks and leaves to put in our memory books.  This is one of those pictures. In this one she is a snow leopard. She loves all animals no matter how ugly no matter how many legs or eyes she is just in love with all of them. She is very entertaining I love to listen to her share her wealth of animal wisdom!

Swans, Cranes, Ducks and Geese

They are back! A pair of swans flew over a couple of days ago and yesterday I saw my first flock of ducks. When you live here in Alaska that is a sure sign of the coming summer, one that is never wrong. The wildlife is not fooled by the weather, they know when to arrive. I laugh because every year around this time I see in the paper that spring is holding on and we can expect a late break up. Yet every year the fowl arrive right on time and so does break up. Break up is a time of pot holes, and wellie boots, each day you wonder outside to see what has thawed out of the snow, be it grass or some bit of trash you have to pick up. Day by day and inch by inch the snow withers and soon the grass and flowers are once again growing. Soon the bugs are out and rushing to complete their hurried life cycles. Like myself who will be bustling to get my garden going, with my head net as a crown.

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

They are so easy and so good everyone will love them. I was first given them in elementary school and they are just as good today.

In a sauce pan,  melt one stick of butter and 1 cup of sugar add 1 bag of white and one bag of semi sweet chocolate chips  and 1 cup peanut butter, heat until melted well. Turn off heat add 3 or 4 cups quick oats and cover with lid and let sit for 3 min, this allows the oats to suck up some moisture. Then quickly using an ice cream scoop make cookies let cool and they will become firm.

The NENANA ICE CLASSIC

IT is that time of year again in the quaint little village of Nenana, Alaska. The Nenana Ice Classic official clock has been connected to the watch tower and now mother nature is the final judge in the last Game of its kind. Started in Alaska's Territory Days back in 1917 when the boys of the Alaska Railroad rolled into town to what was then the end of the highway and the railway. The 5 year project was to build what would then be the longest single span railroad bridge in the United States over the raging Tanana River and finally connect the interior city of Fairbanks to the much needed flow of goods provided by the Alaska Railroad.  With the rail connection the interior of Alaska was officially open for business and started to boom.
The first Ice Classic was held in a rather unofficial way in 1917, when a group of Railroad Engineers met at Mike's, a local drinking establishment. They bet on when the ice of the Tanana River would go out, heralding the arrival of summer in the small town of Nenana. From then until today the prize has grown considerably now winners receive a prize of around 300,000 dollars by guessing the day, hour and minute that the famous black and white Tripod makes its way down river, breaking the official clock cord. Tickets are on sale until April 5th and the river usually makes an exit late April to early May.
Nenana Ice Classic

God's Greatest Gift

Grand kids..they are a gift! We are having a visit from three of our ten grand kids right now and I can tell you these three little ladies are little entertainers. We wake in the morning bright and early for coffee and before you know it out pitter patters one of the little twins. Papa, Meemaw they call down the hall. I know they have been laying in their bed quietly listening for a sound from our room. Knowing that when they do they can come on down the hall for a happy good morning hug and a little song. They cozy up with us in our chairs and sleepily blink at the morning news show and wake up with us.
The cutest little brown eyes look up at us in wonder of everything we do, from making dinner to writing my blog. Little voices ask curiously, what ya doing? We play games like office and restaurant and put on little plays like Little Miss Muffet and The Old Woman in the Shoe. They are our Little Women and we encourage open thought and creativity. This summer we are building Western Town for our  sweeties. It will be complete with a sheriff's office, saloon (which serves root beer) a theatre to put on plays, a general store and a livery stable/ petting zoo. One tepees and Indian encampment one trampoline and a large wooden fort and swing set. This is Alaska so it will all be fenced in for protection of the kids and too keep them away from that old river. There has been much talk about this all winter and the little one's are almost as excited as the big folks who will be building it.
Funny what a grandparent will do for their babies isn't it? I can see them playing there already and I cant wait to join in.

Ernie Evan.wmv

Here is our uncle Ernie Evan.

Fire in Nenana

Here is a picture from a fire in our town tonight. It was pretty exciting, nothing much happens here so there were a lot of looky loo's. Looks like the building is pretty much a loss.

We heard it on the scanner and went to check it out. No one was hurt.

Radiation Realities

The front page of the Fairbanks Paper, (the Frontiersman you can read it at http://www.frontiersman.com/) had a rather scary headline yesterday. It was all about the terrible earthquake in Japan and the resulting nuclear plant damage. I know all the people of the world are watching close as the truth about the dangers of nuclear power are revealed. But when the paper runs a story about the possibilities of the people of Alaska may need to take Iodine pills in the event the radioactive cloud comes our way is a bit unsettling. I wonder if anyone in the lower 48 that is living near a Nuclear power plant realizes that once things go this wrong that people are pretty much helpless. Japan in all their glory were the worlds leader in Nuclear technologies and although they are sitting on the ring of fire and certainly no strangers to earthquakes they still thought that nuclear power was a good option. I have heard from time to time on the news that they expect the east coast of the United States to have a really big earthquake this century, and I have to ask myself if they are ready? Was BP ready for their disaster---No. Are the Nuclear plants--NO. They make it clear on the news that the levels of radiation are to dangerous for people to go near....so in the event of a major earthquake WHO is going to be able to fix these problems? Whoever they are they are going to die soon there after if not in the event itself. The 50 employees of the Japanese Power plant are being viewed as hero's and maybe they are in some respects. Maybe they are victims too. Victims of greed, money and big business. Just like the folks who suffer because of the BP spill. They knew it  was dangerous and they KNOW the oil is still out there in the ocean floating around the east coast of the US but as long as there is a dollar to be made from it ..nobody cares. How do you get around this stuff, in your head and heart? Don't invest in BP for one and don't buy their products. Do all you can to stop the creation of more Nuclear power plants whether its just signing a petition or starting one. Do what you can. If you can only PRAY then do that. We must work together to save our Earth from destruction, keep our children safe and our food safe. I'm not an activist in any way, but I do love our Earth Mother.

Welcome Spring

Well you can see it in the faces of the nice folks here in Nenana. (Neenana) Spring is on her way at last. There are smiles worn now where frowns once lived and there is a certain twinkle in the eye and sudden bursts of laughter the folks you run into on the street or at the local grocery store"Coghill's". Yes the sleeping bears are stirring in there dens and the spruce hens are practicing up on their courtship tunes. The odd rabbit is now wearing a coat of brown and white instead of the snowy white and the snow has begun to melt. See how chipper we get here with only a few days so far that have been a little above 30. Its hard to keep us down here in Nenana we will get excited about almost anything just give us the excuse. I love the folks here in our little burg, they are survivors. They somehow get through the most dreadful winters and still can manage a smile when spring finally decides to visit us again... This is the time to take a deep breath and get ready for the summer full of hard work that is coming. I have ordered my seeds, bulbs and have made some calls to ensure that I will get my baby goats this spring. All is in order and we are champing at the bit to start. HOORAY for Spring!

Lose It

Seems it is the time of year when all my friends and I are on a diet. All the long winter we have steadily packed on a little pudge and now in the time of recently forgotten New Years resolutions we are faced with the truth. Our clothes are too tight, we have low energy and maybe even a bit of a grumpy attitude. Who can blame us, all we accomplished this cold winter was to catch up on all the movies we couldn't afford to go to at the theatre and a caffeine addiction that I might need to get treatment for. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy all those tasty pots of bean coffee or the romantic movies like Eat, Pray, Love but now it is time to awake again and the first step is going to be losing a bit of weight. It always makes you feel better and maybe if you re lucky you will look better too.
I want to tell you about this really wonderful website that I found and just can not say enough about. http://www.loseit.com  this website will help you get on a caloric regimen and stick to it. I will also help you track your exercise and the calories you are burning along the way. It is totally free to use and you can get some friends to help you and in turn you can encourage each other along the way. The site will award you for good dieting behavior and it just makes dieting more hands on by providing you with the information you really need to make good nutritional choices. No matter the food, no matter the exercise they will have you covered. So don't wait go check them out today and get yourself ready for spring.

The Devine Secrets of Moose Tips and Rice

Moose is a wonderful tasting meat. If you're lucky enough to get to hunt one or have a friend who did you are in for a special treat. One must approach moose with an open mind, the idea is to come out with a tender and delicious meal. We start with a moose roast or large moose steak, place it in a large pot and cover with water at least 2 inches above the meat. Boil this with 1 large tbsp of beef base for about 1 hour. Just a gentle boil. You can add spices here to the broth like pepper, bay leaf, cumin or whatever your favorite spices are, resist adding salt until the end . While the meat is boiling you need to start mincing green or red peppers and red or white onions and mushrooms. You will need about 1 cup of each minced.
When the meat has cooked for an hour about 1/2 of the water will have evaporated. The rest you will use for the gravy. So dont throw it out.
Next remove the meat from the water and let cool a bit then cut it up to small pieces about 1/2 inch thick square. Set aside.
Now bring the water to a boil. In a bowl mix 1 cup of flour and 2 cups of milk until smooth. Add mixture to boiling water  stirring this will thicken the water into a gravy. You can add 1 tsp of base more if you desire a browner gravy. Keep stirring this for a few minutes add meat and vegetables to the boiling hot gravy and reduce to low heat stirring often until served.

RICE
2 cups of rice in a fry pan with 2 tbs of butter melted. On medium high. Brown up the rice a little till it looks all glossy. Add 4 cups of water. Bring to boil then reduce heat to med and cover for 10 min, remove lid cook til done(water gone and small holes appear) DO NOT STIR RICE while cooking. For best results wash rice with cold water prior to frying.
Serve rice with moose tips and gravy on top.

Son of a Septic!

The septic is full, again. This is one of those subjects homeowners almost never talk about in friendly conversation but when you live in the frozen North it is a very important subject indeed. One unfortunate decision made wrong brought us a ton of septic worry!
When you put in your septic drain field, you must make sure to cover it with at least 4 foot of soil. This will keep your drain field from freezing! THIS CAN NOT BE PUT OFF! Don't try to wait till next year here, you will pay out the keyster if you do.
What happens if you screw this important step up is your drain field will freeze and then your septic does not leach off, then it backs up..smell the problem? The only solution is to wait for summer, then when everything thaws out cover it well!  If you have it pumped out its only gonna get full usually within a couple of days to a week, then the problems back with your frozen drain field. I wouldn't wish septic problems on anyone, especially me. LOL. 
I will give you this piece of advise, dig yourself an outhouse! That way your covered no matter what happens.
It certainly is true that the grass grows greener over the septic tank, and the sunflowers go crazy!!!

Space Invaders

Yikes, I'm looking around this cabin and I just don't see where I am going to put all these flats of seeds I want to start early. I have a very big list and quite a few things that need to start a bit early. So I'm going to have to either a. figure out where to stack stuff inside and then figure out how to get light to them which I just can;t see happening. or b. Build the greenhouse a little early and get a heat source for it and use that space....yep that sounds like the answer to me. In our zone which is F for freaking cold we are advised not to put a start in the garden until after June 1st and by the end of August its freezing at night so that gives me 75 days of growing time outside. If I add a greenhouse to this equation that adds another 40 days so it will make up for the loss in time. Not to mention we have those long Alaskan summers with 22 hours of daylight at the apex. This means I am going to be one busy little mother trucker getting the garden in, tended and finally harvested and in the freezer or canned. I'm going to be doing a whole lot of work and I figure I am going to need a hired hand or two at least in the beginning and ending stages.
Along about the time we are done harvesting and putting away the goodness of the garden it will be hunting season and also butchering time for the steers and pigs. The fowl will be harvested by the end of September.
By October I hope to be relaxing with a freezer full that will last most of the winter. As you can see gardening in Alaska offers one a few challenges but in the end if you perservere you will reap great rewards.

AS FOR THE SUPER BOWL

The Green Bay Packers-front guard, Darin Colledge
was raised in North Pole, Alaska. 
GO PACKERS!

Of Goats and Bees

My friend there is a wealth of information available to us on the Internet. No matter the subject it would seem, I for one am always looking up this or that and to be able to have information at your fingertips is a wonderful thing. The grand kids are visiting this week and I had time to sit at the computer and do some research on goats and beekeeping.

Bee Keeping
Dad and I decided that honey was liquid gold the last time we purchased it from the store! I always wanted to keep bees but one of our daughters was terribly allergic to them so we didn't attempt it in earlier days, but since this is going to be a farmstead it might be a good idea to have some honey on the shelf as well. We decided to start off with one hive and 6 supers (what they make their honey and keep the little ones in). We have decided to get most of our beekeeping supplies, IE smoker and tools off eBay to avoid high prices. As the honey becomes a money maker we can replace old tools then.

Goats
Wow these guys are easy keepers, certain varieties make wonderful milk. They are great at helping you battle back weeds and small brush and wherever you pin them will be fertile in the future. What a wonderful animal to have on the farm. They are delicious meat animals as well if you start to have a population problem.
I find them as domesticated as a dog. The kiddies love to feed them and pet them and many have very good dispositions, of course it depends how you treat them.
With goat milk I have made, cottage cheese, provolone,American white,milk for drinking, cream cheese and sour cream. Children who cannot drink cows milk often have no trouble at all drinking goats milk.
We will replenish the goats this summer just after the barn is completed and we look forward to all the benefits of raising goats and to the wonderful sweet honey.

Let's Break Bread

There is nothing like the smell of homemade bread. It's one of those comfort food smells that just takes you back and makes you feel all warm inside. Now I guess I would have to consider myself a bread expert. I have baked bread professionally in my past and I bake twice a week here at home for as long as I can remember It's like breathing I just do it, I don't measure or worry about it really. Like all of those chores you do at home your always looking for the time saving way of doing things and I can say I am no different here.
I recommend a bread machine for the mixing steps. I just through my recipe in the machine and let it do all that mixing and kneading for me. When the dough rises I punch it down and take it out and shape it how I want and let it rise again and bake. The hour and a half that the machine is laboring away I am doing something else to save a little time.

The perfect bread recipe

12 oz of water
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soft butter
5 cups flour for bread (make sure its not out dated!)
1 tbsp yeast

Set it on the dough setting and start. Come back later at the beep and punch down on floured or buttered surface with flour or butter on your hands. Flatten and roll into french bread shape make sure to pinch the dough together where it meets. Place it on buttered cookie sheet and using scissors cut slits about 1/3 the depth of the loaf to allow room for rising and get that nice french bread look. Bake in 350 degree oven for 40 min. Remove and smother with butter. Let stand 30 minutes( if you can) before cutting. Enjoy!

Another Beautiful Day

Yeah here it is folks a look out our front door onto the frozen Tanana pronounced (Tan nan na) River. The low system that is moving in here is lit with a soft pink light just over the top of Denali. I spent the day organizing my seed and bulb list for the garden .

Vegetables for 2011

1. tomatoes
2. cucumbers
3. pickling cucumbers
4. small tomatoes
5. carrots
6. brussel Sprouts
7. cabbage
8. potatoes
9. onions yellow
10. onions green
11. celery
12. peas
13. beans
14. turnips
15. spinach
16. collards
17. lettuces
18. kale
19. zucchini
20. yellow squash
21. broccoli
22. cauliflower

Ornamental

1. egg plant
2. sunflowers
3. chili peppers
4. jalapeno peppers
5. misc peppers
6. green peppers
7. pumpkins
8. watermelon
9. okra

I will spend the next month gathering supplies to get the late maturing seeds started early. I will be using a green house to help with some of the vegetables.

Supplies 

• starting trays
• soil
• seeds
• 2 shop lites
• spray bottle

The Moon and Stars

Well it may not be for everyone but personally I love it when the seed catalogs start to appear in the mailbox! It is a positive reminder that no matter how bad this nasty cold weather is spring will come and it will get warmer. This year the garden is going to be bigger than ever and host a wealth of botanical and some very interesting heirloom plants. One of my favorite for the new variety in the garden is the Moon and Stars Watermelon. This little cutie is easy to grow, and so juicy and sweet that folks are going to fight over each piece. Now I will send you to the nice folks at http://www.greenpeople.org/ they have a huge variety of organic seeds, heirlooms and hard to finds. Stop by and browse their online catalog.

Earthquakes at -40 below

Yeah, we just cant cram enough fun into this place daily and felt the need to double up on the excitement. So we threw a 5.9 earthquake in there just to shake things up a bit. LOL. Maybe earthquakes are scary in other places more populated but here they are just a free thrill. My pots and pans were swinging back and forth and a couple of hanging signs here and there but nobody gave it more than a minutes attention, which is a typical Alaskan response these days.
The 40 below well that's just another one of the cold hard facts of living in the interior of Alaska. But there are trade offs we get the equally hot summers here and those long summer days! Luckily the severely cold temps don't last more than a week and then its back to more reasonable temps. You just prepare yourself for the cold weather and then it is not so bad. In fact you can have a lot of fun bundled up together watching John Wayne movies and drinking hot cocoa. There are all those naps you wanted to take and never got a chance and there is always the top to bottom cleaning routine when it gets boring!  You get used to the weather cycles and after a few years, you look forward to them. Learning to schedule yourself and things you need to do when the weather presents itself is another great skill for Alaskans.

North to Our Future

My family came to Alaska in 1974. I still remember the phone call that November day all those years ago. The caller Tom Russell had left a message for my father to call him after work and when my father called back my life and that of my family changed forever. We were not experienced travelers, just simple farm folk all we knew was wrapped up in a honest and long days work, and time off was spent in a 7 acre garden or running our ski boat around a local lake. We knew nothing of cold, snow or the frozen north.
Come the 17th of December though my mom had sold everything we owned save clothing and pictures and a few odds and end, kissed our relations goodbye and hit I 75 with a station wagon full of girls and a ford truck full of dreams.......
When we reached the Yukon Territory the trip became perilous. Families were dying in their vehicles becoming stuck on the roads due to the heavy snow we were the last vehicles that made it through before that storm was through. Many people never made it to Alaska that year. After 1 long month on the road yes I said a month on the road we finally saw the sign that said Welcome to Anchorage at the corner of Glenn Highway and Airport Heights. We made it and the rest well are fond memories I will try and share as this blog goes on. We had many adventures those first years, there were many good people who helped us through some hard times, that's Alaska and her people...

Baking Day

Fridays baking went off without a hitch and Saturday finds me listening to the sounds of passing snow machines flying down the Tananas frozen body to their destinations. In the summer we trade the sound of the snow machines for the hoards river boats that occupy the river.  Many of them are locals and we know their boats by the hum of their motor.

There are the occasional greenhorn travelers that go by, sometimes we get to hear a couple of minutes of their story as they pass. One fellow floated by a few years ago he was following the ice down the river. I was out raking along the bank and said hello. Judging from his accent he was from Norway or somewhere near by. Where are you headed, I asked him nervously noticing only an ore and  a tent and sleeping bag rolled at his feet a canteen and a case of chicken noodle soup. Where ever the river takes me he replied, a white smile lit his face. The river is clogged ahead I told him, slowly he drifted out of hearing range.
Another family I met while watching a fish wheel being built on the bank. They pulled over for a potty stop. It was a little family and a very pregnant momma. They were on their way to Fairbanks to have their baby. The mother asked how far was it to Fairbanks by road? I can get you there in 40 minutes I told her. No, no she said I will make it by river. I am going to write a book about my adventure and I don't want to mess the story of going to the hospital via boat! She was laughing then cringed in pain from a labor contraction. I do know for a fact they made it to the hospital I made her call me!

Things are always changing on the river. This past year we saw a slew of Jet Ski's and Wave Runners which look to be so much fun. Until you fall off of course.Then you're dead. These kids just do not realize the power of the water in this river the churning muddy water the sticks and rocks and drags underneath the current is so strong that it can pull a normal float coat and person right under without any trouble at all. I don't think you even have to have a license to drive them so I am praying folks are very careful this coming summer.  Ok enough worrying for now just tell everyone you know double your floatation when on a churning river!

Winter Blues

Living in Alaska's Interior was quite a change for Mat-Su Valley gal. I had grown up south of Alaska's frigid interior and though I had visited a time or two I really never imagined living here. That all changed when I fell in love and married a native man from Nenana. All these many years later the thought of living somewhere else brings tears to my eyes. My husband mentioned the other day as I complained to him of my old aching joints and muscles, that maybe we should be snowbirds. What, I gasped and felt the sting of tears in my eyes leave our home are you crazy? To his defense he was only thinking of me and the physical challenges the intense cold of our homeland can bring. In my mind however I am choosing to find ways to make home better in the winter, instead of leaving it 5 months a year. Keeping active is a big part I know, but just as important for me and getting daylight into my peepers. Full Spectrum florescent bulbs are great for this and your house plants will love them too. Here are some more ideas to try.

• Treadmill for walking which we do much less of in the winter
• Indoor vegetable garden or window sill garden
• Take a class at a community school or college
• Join a group or go to church do something weekly
• Eat summer food! BBQ in the oven, fruit salads, tea
• Listen to your favorite music a little louder
• Art Projects
• Home Projects
• Light up your house brighten your outlook
• Spring Cleaning and DE-cluttering
• Aromatherapy lavender, vanilla, peppermint, coconut
• make summer a state of mind

You may not be able to keep this up all winter but you really don't want to. Winter is nice and should be enjoyed, but when the winter blues start getting you down maybe you can try a couple of these ideas and cheer things up a bit. Good Luck.

Its the Great Pumpkin!

As I was carousing through the Alaska State Fair Website today I happened upon the veggie section and saw the picture of a Nikiski residents 1019 lb State Record Holder Pumpkin. I must say I am impressed it is a Goliath thing and beside it was a 122 lb watermelon. Well I decided to make this my new years resolution I want to grow a competition size Pumpkin or Watermelon! So I will start looking into how they grow these giants and do my best so wish me luck everyone. I have the long Alaskan summer to grow these guys in and a lot of determination.;) First prize is a great big blue ribbon and 80$.

Later...
PoohPooh tea humm...very interesting reading but pumpkins love it!

A Fine Day

Hi Friend,
Well it warmed up to almost zero today, that was encouraging. I spent the day baking bread which I do twice a week these days. Some I barter with other loaves go to folks who need some good home cooking. I was presented a bag of moose ribs last night and turned it into moose rib soup which is to die for! I shared the soup with several cabins and there are a bunch of happy little faces in Nenana tonight that had a belly full. I boiled the ribs to make the broth and added a little beef base. Garlic and Onion, Carrots, potatoes and celery and a shot of soy. When the veggies are cooking I take the ribs out of the pot, spinkle them with a little salt and broil them a little in the oven till they get a little crisp to them, remove and cool a little and debone them chop up the meat and add it back to the soup. These particular ribs were lightly smoked with cottonwood and they were delicious. Good deeds done for the day, I feel good like my day was not wasted!

A Good Morning

I woke up, it is a good morning!
That's what one old elder told me and I think its just a great attitude to have.

Where we are...Life here on the banks of the Tanana (thats pronounced Tan nan na River) is never boring. Located in Alaska's Interior less than 100 miles south of Fairbanks the tiny village of Nenana remains, at the confluence of the Nenana and the Tanana rivers. Im just north of the village of which my husband is a tribal member.
Whats the temp....Temperatures have dipped to 60 below and today Jan 19 we are sitting pretty at only 9 below. Summer temps get as high as 100 and the midnight sun is so hot and bright its hard to take for some. What we are doing...We are turning our land into a self sufficiant farmstead or attempting to. This is only the second year in a 5 year plan so your in near the start.You wont believe the veggies I grow in my garden, and the beautiful berries I pick and turn into jelly.
What the blogs about.....
I will attempt to share the true hardships and rewards and experience of starting and running a farmstead. Our goal is to provide all the meat, eggs, dairy and veggies we will need to sustain ourselves through out a year. We will attempt to grow fruit trees, all types of veggies, and include all you need to know about raising a beef steer, goats, pigs and chickens here in Alaska.
The Alaskan Way....
I will include stuff we do to help our community be it making soup or bread for elders or just helping in some other way. One thing you learn quick when living here is we need to all work together in some fashion. Whether it is just to bargin and barter for what a person needs for his grubstake or just to make life a little better.
If you have a question feel free to ask.

Hello Friend!

Alaska is My Home

Hello Friend,

Im middle aged, thick in the middle, middle of the road and usually in the middle of a project. LOL. I have lived here in Alaska since 74 and by now I think of Alaska as Home Sweet Home. This thought is soundly reinforced each time I get stupid enough to dare to leave her wonder and beauty and fresh air for a trip outside. It only takes a few hours to remind me how wonderful this state is. From her splendid mountains to her salmon filled rivers. From the tundra still unspoiled and hosting great herds of caribou and moose. This land has enthralled me, it owns my heart, my loyalty and I will do all I can to keep it this way. This blog is to be a place where I can share stories or just daily happenings and goings on, from my own point of view.