Life in Southeast Alaska

Winter Weather

Well, so much for global warming - at least in Southeast Alaska!  Our average temperature for December was 6.5 degrees lower than normal.  I'm glad it has warmed up over the last few days, but now we have snow - and lots of it!  Light and fluffy and not too heavy to shovel.  It has been snowing here at our house about steady since Friday, small flakes to large flakes.  I took a few pictures Saturday morning when Rod and I went out.  Here is the chicken coop - I shovel the snow around the base of the coop to try to keep the heat in for them.  Our wood pile is off the back of the coop so we have just one path to keep clear instead of two.

Here is a shot of the garden with the coop in the background - the twigs in the foreground are my red current bushes.

I shovelled the chicken yard, but they didn't venture out.

Here are a few chicken pictures - it is difficult to get good pictures because they are always on the move.  Here is one of the Buff Orpingtons with a Barred Rock on the left and a Wyandotte on the right.

Here is a Buff Orpington, Wyandotte, Light Brahma, Barred Rock and Aracauna in the back.  The Light Brahma is one of the younger chickens, but she is huge!  Rod thinks she is part goose  :o)

Here is one of the Rhode Island Reds in the nest box.  We have been getting around 6 eggs per day.

Here they are trying to clean the snow off my boots for me!

Canned Pumpkin on Sale at Costco

Christmas Weekend

We had a nice Chrismas and a relaxing few days off work.  We delivered some presents to friends on Christmas Eve, went out to dinner, and then drove around and looked at Christmas lights.  We slept in Christmas morning then watched some Christmas movies - everything I wanted to do!  :o) 

Last weekend was the last craft show of the year and it will be nice to have a break from them for awhile.  The next one will be right before Valentine's Day.  I will need to start making soap next week for that show.  I also need to start contacting store owners about wholesale.  I want to get some orders in and have a plan for making and delivering soap before the tourist season begins in May.  I will be making a supply order soon too, so I have some figuring to do.

I reviewed my finances this weekend and I have a good handle on what my next steps are.  I am going to continue keeping expenses to a minimum and will split the remainder of my income between savings and extra house payments.  With this plan, our house will be paid off in just two years and I will have my savings built up too.  Paying off the house early will save us over $30,000 in interest payments - wow!

We made progress on our food storage goals this weekend.  I packaged up 10 buckets of grains - soft and hard wheat, corn, rice & pinto beans - in buckets with mylar bags and oxygen absorbers.  It was the first time I had done that - found some videos on youtube that helped alot.  I ran short of buckets and mylar bags, so I'll finish up when more supplies come in.

I started another project - weeding through my cookbooks.  So far, I have 5 grocery bags full to donate to the used book store.  I am copying the recipes I want to keep and try and then getting rid of the book.  I still have lots to go through, but I want to make space in the hobby room for all my soap supplies and equipment.  Wish me luck - books are so hard for me to get rid of!

The chickens are doing well despite the cold weather we have had the past couple weeks.  Insulating the coop is high on the to do list this spring.  Right now we have hung some blankets over the windows and one of the walls - mexican blankets, so the interior is festive and colorful!  We are getting between 3 and 6 eggs per day at this point.  Yesterday I got the tiniest egg I've ever seen and today we got two huge ones - double yolkers for sure.  I shoveled their yard, but only one was adventurous to go outside.  They like to eat the snow, especially off my boots when I go into the coop - silly chickens!

Just Been Selling Soap

It's been a long time since I've made an entry!  Hopefully there are people out there who still check in once in awhile :o)

I've been occupied since August making and selling soap for my business:  Homesteaders Cache (www.homesteaderscache.com).  I have been doing very well - better than I had planned for.  Last weekend was a big show here in town called the Public Market.  Vendors come from all around to show their products at the market.  I was assigned a spot in the Hammond Room, which is not in the main hall, but worked out well.  The room had just 5 other vendors and I was right by the door, so everyone entering the room passed my table.  Most would pick up soap and start smelling and alot of them bought.  The market was 3 days - Fri, Sat & Sun.  I sold 395 bars of soap, lots of lotion bars and gift sets and took in the most money I have yet!  What a great feeling when people remember you from last year, look for your products, give great feedback, and enjoy what you make!  I only had 72 bars left at the end of the weekend - I could have sold more if I would have had it.  But like I said, the earlier shows did better than I expected, so I didn't have as much product as I had planned.  I had set a goal of taking 800 bars and selling 400, so I met the selling goal anyway, which I am thrilled with!

This weekend I had a spot downtown in Miners Mercantile for the Gallery Walk on Friday night and a Saturday Market yesterday.  That show was not as good as I thought it would be.  The spot I was at did not get much traffic at all, so I only sold 23 bars of soap for both days.  I made enough to pay my booth fee, but not much more.  Oh well, live and learn, right?

The next two weekends I will be at Mendenhall Mall.  I have my most popular soaps well stocked - Lavender Dreams, Alaskan Rainforest, Berry Patch, Energizing Citrus, Little House Lemon, Pioneer Peppermint and Oatmeal, Milk & Honey.  I have a few things to do to get all ready - soap to label, gift sets to wrap, lotion bars to make.  The show is sold out of spaces, so it will be packed.  My selling goal is 100 bars of soap.  I'll let you know how I do.

At the public market and at Gallery Walk I had inquiries about selling in stores and wholesale and from a bed and breakfast.  I have been doing some searching to see what other soap companies do as far as minimums and their wholesale info.  I would love to have my products in some stores...  We'll see how that pans out too.  That would expand my selling season to the summer time when the tourists are in town, which would help grow my business.

I didn't have any show today (Sunday), so it was my first "day off" in a month.  It was very nice to just relax and catch up on things at home a bit.  Now it's time to get the clean sheets on the bed and go to sleep.  Hope you all have a great week!

Craft Show

I sold my soaps at a craft show over the weekend and did quite well.  My goal was to sell 100 bars and I sold 130 bars!  Not quite as great as the last show, but more than any show I did last year.  I had some repeat customers, even one that showed up and bought on Saturday, then came back and bought more on Sunday!  Very cool!

I planned out what kinds I need to make in the next two weeks to be prepared for the big show after Thanksgiving - the Public Market.  I made up three batches yesterday and want to make about 24 more.  Each batch makes 30 bars.  I have three mall shows before Thanksgiving and set a goal to sell 100 bars at each of those.  Then I have two mall shows in December, so I need to make sure I have enough for those as well.  I have alot of soap to make, and hopefully I can sell it all  :o)

One Step Closer to Debt Free

Last Friday, I made the final payment on my credit card - PAID IN FULL! 

It has been less than two years since I really buckled down and started to focus on getting rid of my debt.  I started with nearly $20,000 in credit card debt, $10,000 owing on my truck - all of that is gone, plus I paid $4,000 to get the woodstove installed.  It is a great feeling to have that all gone, just the house left now.  I figure it will take 3 years to have the house paid off too.

I thought it would take forever to get the credit cards paid off, but once I got started, it just accelerated.  The biggest change I made was that I use cash.  Each payday, I take out spending money for food, gas, etc in cash.  This helps me from overspending - I don't use checks.  When I make a purchase, I use dollar bills, not my change.  I collect the change in a jar and when it builds up, I deposit it and make an extra credit card payment.  It is amazing how fast that can add up!  I pay bills on payday, so I don't have that money sitting there.  Any money left over went to the credit card.  Any extra money I got would go to the credit card.  Now I will save for purchases, not charge them.  I really think about buying stuff.  I've been motivated by other blogs here and use lots of money-saving tips I've learned here.  Thank you for that!!

If you've been thinking of getting rid of your debt - find a way to do it because it is such a great feeling to have it gone.  You can do it - where there is a will, there is a way!!

Potato Harvest

There was finally a little break in the weather this afternoon - I even saw the sun!  That has been a rare occurance this summer.  It was a great chance to dig up our potatoes - organic Yukon Gold.  The plants have all died and I was worried the potatoes might have rotted with all the rain we have been having.  But they were perfectly fine!  Yea!!  I dug half of the large raised bed and here is what I ended up with:

There are a few good sized ones in there, most are smaller ones.  I am hoping there is about 2 more bucket fulls left to harvest - the other half of the raised bed and the four potato bins.  We don't have a root cellar or a basement, so no real good spot to store them.  I'll save out some for the next month or so, but will try canning some and maybe drying some too.  I would like to be able to store some to use as next year's seed potatoes...  Anyone have any advice?

Craft Show with my Soaps

Saturday and Sunday I had a space at the Nugget Mall Arts & Crafts Fair with my handmade soaps.  It was a huge success!  I sold 235 bars!!!  I can hardly believe it.  That is better than I did last year at the Public Market by over 100 bars!  I'm just so happy with how it went.  I'm sure most of it was because everyone just received their Permanent Fund money, so they all had cash to spend.  Works for me!

Here is how I had my tables setup.  I had 15 varieties of soap at this show.

The best sellers this time were: Berry Patch, Lavender Dreams, and a 3-way tie between Oatmeal, Milk & Honey, Pioneer Peppermint, and Alaskan Rainforest.  This was the first time I was setup to accept credit cards.  I signed up with ProPay (www.propay.com), which allows me to call in to process, or use my laptop.  I had 4 credit card transactions, so I am glad I can offer that option to people.  It is on the expensive side if you do just small transactions like mine, but I still think it is worth it.  I'm working on finding a cheaper way to process credit cards though.

I have signed up for 7 more craft shows before Christmas...  I am going to have to get serious about making lots of soap now!  yeah!  I have this week to make everything for the next show, which is October 18 & 19.  I need to make sure I have enough supplies too since everything needs to be ordered and takes time to get it through the mail.  I use rain water in each recipe that I collect in buckets outside - nature has made sure I have plenty of that the past couple weeks!  I guess that is one good thing about all this rain  :o)

I sell my soaps on my website if you want to go take a peek:  www.homesteaderscache.com

Great Day at the Farmer's Market

Today turned out to be a wonderful day!  Rod helped me at my Farmer's Market table this morning.  We got there and got setup by 9am when it opened.  By 10am I was sold out - blueberry muffins $1, 12 oz jams & jellies $7, and wild strawberry plants $1.  I am so happy!  We packed up our table and had some time to look around at the other tables and demonstrations.  Then at noon I gave a talk on raising chickens for eggs.  I was quite nervous, since public speaking is NOT my favorite thing, but it worked out fine and I did alright.

Rod and I are already looking forward to next year and more market days.  Making plans to expand our garden area and how to get more berries to be able to make more jams than this year!  I wish I had remembered to grab my camera and take a picture of the table - it looked really cute!

Jam & Jelly for the Market

I have four batches made up for the Farmer's Market on Saturday.  I am using 12 oz quilted crystal jars since they are my favorite!  But the batches don't make as many of the bigger jars.  Oh well, I'll just make as many as I can and call it good.

So far I have made:
7 - Red Current Jelly
5 - Wild Strawberry Jam
4 - Wild Strawberry & Rhubarb Jelly
6 - Raspberry, Blueberry & Current Jelly

I have extracted juice for a batch of Blueberry Rhubarb Jelly.  They have all turned out very good so far I think.  I have small amounts of each for Rod to try when he gets here on Thursday - he is a great taste-tester and is always telling me I should sell my stuff, so we'll see what his opinion is!

I thought I had more blueberries than I do - one of the full gallon bags turned out to be blackberries.  I will save those for us since they are some we picked in Oregon and aren't local.  All the rest of the fruit is local.  I used all organic sugar in the recipes.  I will be decorating the jars with fabric tied with raffia and a hangtag describing the variety.  I will post pictures when I have some all done up.  Next, I need to settle on a price to charge.  Somewhere between $5 and $10...  There is a company in a nearby town that sells wild jams & jellies at $5 for a 4 oz jar. 

I picked some red huckleberries yesterday, but not quite enough for jelly.  I also need more blueberries, so I will get on my raingear and venture out into the rain today.  Hopefully Clover and I can find a good, productive patch!!

Juneau Farmer's Market

The first ever Juneau Farmer's Market is coming up on Saturday, August 30 from 9am to 2pm.  I have signed up for a table and will be selling jams and jellies, rhubarb bread, blueberry muffins and strawberry plants - all from local fruits.  I will be busy this weekend making the jams and jellies - hope I get it all done!  I will bake the bread and muffins on Friday.  I also volunteered to give a short talk about raising chickens for eggs.  I told them I was just a beginner myself, but would be willing to share what I've learned so far.  I will do that from 12:00 to 12:30.

There will be other speakers on topics such as growing garlic, flavoring with flowers, composting, free gardening resources, making cheese, greenhouse construction, and edible native plants.  The Dept of Fish and Game will have a tent setup and will present how to fillet salmon and tips on smoking and butchering a deer and how to take care of the meat.  Sounds to me like a wonderful day!!  I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to listen to all the presentations and still work my table  :o)

So if you live in Juneau, make sure to check it out!  It will be downtown at the old armory building, now the Juneau Arts & Culteral Center.  Oh, yeah, and come buy some homemade local jam!!

Red Current Harvest

I have 8 red current bushes that are 3 years old now (or 4, I can't remember).  The berries were so big and plentiful this year!  Our summer has been so cool and rainy, I'm suprised anything is producing.

It looked like all the berries were ripe, or very close, so I picked them to make jelly.  They are fun and quick to pick if you just take the whole string.  Since they will be used for jelly, I won't have to pick them off either, just boil as is to get the juice out.  I got two gallon size bags full and they weighed 7 1/2 pounds!!  I'm very pleased!  They are in the freezer waiting for me to make jelly.

Ginormous Egg

Here are the eggs that were laid today - one of the Aracaunas laid a huge one - it was a double yolker - but have you ever seen one that big?  It weighed nearly 4 ounces!

Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) Weekend Was Great!

This weekend I particiated in a BOW weekend which was FANTASTIC!  I just learned so much and gained alot of confidence in activities I was a bit nervous about before.

I left Friday morning on a boat up to Haines - about a 2 1/2 hour ride.  The weather was great - no rain and the sun came out for awhile, plus the water was calm.  The first day was spent getting to know the layout of the Rainbow Glacier Bible Camp, unpacking my HUGE backpack, and finding where we were supposed to go.  After getting settled and having lunch, my first class was Dutch Oven Gourmet.  There were just 8 students in the class - each pair prepared 4 dishes.  Our table made biscuits, a caribou roast, scalloped potatoes, and coconut cream cheese cake.  Wow!  Everything turned out great - nothing was burned and it tasted yummy!  I can't wait to show Rod's brother Jeff, who is very into dutch oven cooking, what I can cook now!

I had 2 classes on Saturday - Field Dressing and Salmon Fishing.  We cut up a deer in the field dressing class - 4 students in the class and it was all hands on.  They gave us each a buck knife to take home.  I learned what parts were what and how to take care of the meat so you have great tasting meat when you get it home.  The woman instructor hunts moose each year with another woman and she explained a bit about how you deal differently with a moose vs. a deer.  The other instructor was a guy and he was very patient with us and explained everything in detail - they were both great teachers.  Then in my Salmon Fishing I learned about trolling gear and what is needed, how to set it up.  Then we went out on boats and got some practice - wrong time of year at that spot for fishing for salmon, but at least we got some practice.  We saw some seals - and a bear on the beach.

Yesterday was the last day - and the class I was most intimidated by - Chainsaw.  I was nervous because I've never handled a chainsaw, started one or really been around one being used.  So it was all new.  The instructors were a husband and wife who own the Saw Shop in Haines.  They were great teachers, which put us all at ease.  We were given safety gear - hat, safety glasses, ear protection, gloves and chaps - all to take home!  Cool!!  They went through how to start them, and we started them ourselves.  We practiced cutting slices off of logs - from top down and with an undercut.  Then we learned how to change the chain, how to sharpen the teeth, rotate the bar, etc.  The last thing we did was simulate cutting down a tree.  He stood up 6' sections and we made the face cut and back cut and made them fall down!  And mine even fell the right way  :o)

The Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) began in Wisconsin.  The program in Alaska is sponsored by the Department of Fish and Game and the Outdoor Heritage Foundation.  There are BOW workshops in 45 of our 50 states, Canada, and other countries too.  You should find out if there is one near you and participate.  It was a fantastic weekend and was great to meet a bunch of ladies who wanted to learn stuff just like me - and most of them were from Juneau.  I was so happy to see so many people volunteering their time and resources to make this weekend happen - they put ALOT of work into it.  I only took a few pictures because most of the time I was busy doing something, but they had people going around to take pictures and I will get a copy of all of them in a couple weeks...until then here are mine:

Carnival of Home Preserving

Jennifer at Quiverfull Family is hosting this week's Carnival of Home Preserving.  This is a really cool way to look around and see what other people have been preserving and get some great ideas!  Visit it at:  http://quiverfullfamily.com/blog/2008/07/28/the-carnival-of-home-preserving-july-28-2008

I submitted a link, so you will see how to can rhubarb.  What have you been canning - have you blogged about it?  You should submit it for next week's carnival - just click here:  http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_4663.html

Canning Rhubarb in Syrup

I decided it was time to harvest my rhubarb - I picked most of it!  It was starting to look more like a jungle than a garden - I probably should have harvested awhile ago.  I was able to get to the raspberry bushes and get them tied up before they start getting ripe - the bushes are pretty loaded!

I clipped off the rhubarb leaves and put them in the compost and brought the stalks in.

It took me awhile to wash and chop the stalks, sorting out the bad ones as I went.  I put them in a big bowl.

I measured 20 cups into one big pot with 5 cups of sugar and 16 cups into another big pot with 4 cups of sugar, stirring to combine well.  The directions said to set aside for 3 to 4 hours and let the juices come out.  It was already late, so I put them in the fridge overnight.  Tonight, this is what it looked like - lots of juice!

Next, I brought the mixture to a boil and got my canner ready for boiling water bath.  Got the jars, lids and rings ready too.  These kind of projects make me wish for a bigger stove, or bigger kitchen.

Then fill up the jars, wipe rims, fit with hot lid and ring.

Then lower into the hot water in the canner, making sure there is a couple inches of water above the jars.  Bring to boil (this took forever!) and boil for 15 minutes.  I put the lid on the canner to keep in the heat.

Let sit in the canner for 5 minutes after turning off the heat before you take out the jars.  Then I just put them on a towel on the counter.  I had extra to taste - it is very good, just the right amount of sweet for the tart I think.  I look forward to using it for rhubarb crisp, as a pie filling, over ice cream...  I ended up with 13 pints and 1 half-pint - hope they all seal!  I'm pleased that they kept their color, I worried about them looking like yucky mush  :o)

Canning More Salmon

I am working on another canner load of sockeye salmon tonight.  This will bring our total up to 56 pints.  All I can say is I'm getting tired of fish  :o)  But I know it will be so worth it every time I open a jar!  Here is a picture of my canning so far...

We also have 10 fish in the freezer to smoke and can up when Rod gets home.  Aren't you looking forward to that honey?  :o)

I picked a few blueberries yesterday and made some muffins today.  They were very good.  I used fresh eggs from the chickens.  They are in back in production now - they have blessed us with 2 dozen in the last 6 days!  Yeah!!

Only two weeks until my Becoming an Outdoors Woman weekend.  I will be flying to Haines and staying for 3 days and learning all sorts of cool stuff!  The classes I am taking are:  dutch oven gourment, field dressing, salmon fishing, and chainsaw.  I am looking forward to meeting ladies who share similar interests!  My dad has pointed out a bunch of trees for me to take down on the property after I take my chainsaw class, so I will get lots of practice right off the bat!  Can't wait!

Canning Projects

I am canning more sockeye salmon tonight.  This brings us up to 33 pints.  I have enough fish to do another batch of 14 pints tomorrow night.

There are a few good sales at the stores this week.  I am trying to decide if the prices are low enough that I should buy some to preserve - can or freeze.  They have red or black plums for $1.79/lb, green or red grapes for $0.99/lb, zucchini for $0.99/lb, and green beans for $1.98/lb.  I would like to make Rod some plum jam.  Also, I have been wanting to try making some plum sauce - the kind at the chinese restaurant is so yummy!  I'm on the lookout for more good sales as they come up.  I would love to get pears again and can them.  We just finished up a couple jars from 2 years ago and they were GREAT!

The blueberries should be getting ripe now and this weekend I will have to go find some.  With those I will make jam, pie filling and maybe just can them by themselves.  I could freeze them too, but I'm trying to can more and free up the freezer space  :o)  My red currents are just starting to ripen, so I'll need to think about what I want to do with them.

What have you been canning?  Have you tried anything new this year?

4 Eggs!

Egg production in the flock is bouncing back now...

When Rod was home this weekend, we got 2 eggs on Saturday, 2 on Sunday, 2 on Monday and..... 4 yesterday!!

So it seems that the ladies are settling in - yeah!!

A Little Progress on the Chicken Fence

It is getting late, but I wanted to post some pictures of the progress I made last night and tonight on the chicken fence.  About half done now.  It is pretty messy, but most construction sites are  :o)  I'm looking forward to being able to just sit and enjoy the chickens when the project is done... 

I like how see-thru the chicken wire is.  Here is the view of the coop from the garden.