Life in Southeast Alaska

Homegrown Dinner

I made a yummy salad tonight from the garden.  It had green onions, red sails lettuce, swiss chard and beet greens.  I made up some ranch dressing from scratch and threw in some chives.  I had a few leftover cooked shrimp that Rod had caught and sent down for me.  Fresh shrimp are SO good!  This is the first time I've had swiss chard and I really like it!

Tonight I started moving dirt into the last two garden beds.  I filled up the skinny one first to satisfy that part of me that needs to have immediate gratification.  Then I hauled a few loads into the big bed - I have a ways to go on that one. 

Once the skinny bed was full, I planted eight of the red currant bushes that I rooted from thinnings this spring.  I just had them in water to see if they would get roots - which they did!  I have 18 more of them that I think I will plant in pots for now until I decide where they should go.

Last night I potted up some strawberry starts.  The runners take over the garden paths pretty quickly - I and just hate to pulll them up and throw them in the compost, seems like such a waste.  So I dig up the ones that really have roots and plant them in little 3" pots.  I also try to pot as many extra runners as I can.  I set out a bunch of little pots on a bench at the end of the strawberry bed.  I picked up some runners that had little plants starting and put one in each pot, using a rock to hold the runner down until the plant establishes some roots.  Once the plant is secure, I will cut it from the runner.  Then I will start again with more pots.  Strawberry plants make a good barter item  :o)

I've been thinking about trying to propagate some blueberry bushes.  There are some really productive ones over by one of the storage buildings.  I have some powdered rooting hormone that I could use, or I may trim some willow branches from the tree across the street and try that.  Maybe I should try both and see which one works best.  There are blueberry bushes everywhere along the side of the road, but it would be nice to have a good, productive patch of my own.  Then I won't have to worry about someone else finding my favorite picking spot  :o)

Things look pretty good in the garden.  The red currants are just starting to turn pink.  I have two baby zucchini.  The potato plants look good.  I pulled up some radishes and green onions and sent up to Rod in Skagway.  The strawberries are loaded with unripe berries and more blossoms.  The raspberry patch is buzzing - lots of bumble bees on the blossoms.  The new rhubarb patch looks great - I think the plants must have reached down into the layer of chicken manure I put in that bed - they have really taken off in the last week.  In the greenhouse, I have one little green pepper and a bunch more babies just starting to form.  Nothing on the cucumbers yet, but they are getting bigger - I need to put up a trellis for them.  The 3 tomato plants are getting huge - there are 6 little fruits forming now.  I notice though that some of the leaves are turning yellow, brown and dry on the ends.  I need to look that up and see what is going on with them - must be something about being too cold, too much water, or not enough ventilation is my guess.  I picked some mint leaves and calendula blossoms and dehydrated them to use in my soaps.  The chickens are doing good - getting only 3 or 4 eggs per day though.  If they don't pick up soon, we will be putting them in the freezer.

Soap Business

I spent some time this weekend working on my website for my soap business - Homesteaders Cache.  I redesigned the entire site and am pleased with how it turned out.  I reserved a few more names also and they all point to the same site - juneausoap.com, alaskahandmadesoap.com, and alaskansoaps.com.  My goal is to improve my listings with the search engines and hopefully attract more visitors - and buyers  :o)

I have added more soaps to my store.  They are all listed except the new one I made recently - White Ginger - that matches the solid lotion bar.

I reserved a spot July 11 & 12 at the Nugget Mall for the Christmas in July Arts & Crafts Fair.  Between now and then I'll make up some fresh lotion bars.  I also want to have a sign with my logo and business name - but that will depend on how much free time I have.

Cherry Pie Filling

My first canning project of the season was cherry pie filling.  I wish I could say the cherries were from my tree, but they weren't.  They were on a great sale though - only $1.28 per pound!

I used the recipe from The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest.  I made this recipe once before and my notes said I used 8 pounds to make 15 pints.  The original recipe is for 2 pints - I multiplied everything by 8. 

Cherry Pie Filling - makes about 15 pints

8 pounds cherries
Ascorbic acid
8 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups Clearjel (regular, not instant)
10 2/3 cups water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla (or almond extract)
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons lemon juice

1.  Wash and pit fresh cherries and use ascorbic acid dip to prevent darkening.

2.  Place cherries in boiling water.  Boil 1 minute after water returns to a boil.  Drain, but keep fruit hot and covered.

3.  Combine sugar and Clearjel in a large saucepan and add water.

4.  Add cinnamon and vanilla.  Stir over medium heat until mixture thickens.  (I had to turn to high to get it to thicken, but once it starts to thicken - watch out!  :o)  It happens really fast.)

5.  Add lemon juice and boil mixture 1 minute stirring constantly.

6.  Fold in the cherries.

7.  Fill jars with hot fruit mixture leaving 1/2 inch headspace.  Put on lids and rings.

8.  Process in a boiling water bath canner for 30 minutes.

Here are the jars after processing - the liquid changed color from light goopy pink to a nice red  :o)

I like to use a can or two in the bottom of a pie plate and top with a mixture of butter, flour and oatmeal to make a quick crisp - also good with peach pie filling or blueberry pie filling.

Cherries are on sale all week - while supplies last - so I may go back and get more and make something else...  :o)

Great Surprise

I had a great surprise Friday morning – Rod flew in for a couple days!  He wasn’t going to come until next week – so it was a great surprise.  Friday was his birthday.  I took the day off work and we spent the day together.  He got to see all the changes I’ve been working on over the last month – the new garden beds, the chicken fence, everything in the garden.  We went to some friends for BBQ chicken dinner – yummy.  I made a German chocolate cake and we made him blow out candles  :o)

Saturday we went garage sale-ing and found some good treasures – mostly at one sale!  Rod used to be big into collecting albums, but has them all back in Idaho.  He found a box of 60 albums – they were asking $2 each, but he got them for just $40 for all.  He is great when it comes to negotiating.  I found a Pendleton wool blanket for $3, a few canning jars and a gardening book.  We had a lot of fun.

Saturday afternoon we had dinner with friends – BBQ steak and shrimp, corn on the cob and potato salad – also yummy!  It was nice to just visit and relax. 

The 2 days went by very fast.  Rod had to fly back to Skagway to be to work Sunday morning.

I bought 2 wooden planters and filled them with a cherry tomato and a yellow pear tomato with marigolds.  I gave them to my dad for father’s day.  They have little tomatoes on them already, so I hope they make lots of fruits! 

I didn’t get enough sleep the past couple days, so I took a nap yesterday – woke up 3 hours later!  It was still early enough that I had time to make 2 batches of soap – Tee Harbor Breeze and a new one – White Ginger.  Not enough time to bake bread, so that will be on the list for tonight along with 2 more batches of soap – Oatmeal, Milk & Honey and either Alaskan Rainforest or Fisherman’s Soap (another new one).

Another Nice Day in Alaska

The weather we have been having is just phenomenal - definitely not our normal rainy summer so far.  We have had sun and warm weather for the past 5 weeks pretty much.  Today I worked out in the yard and soaked up the heat.  I didn't do any big project, just tried to clean up from my building project and make the yard look tidy.  Also, since the white chicken is now back with the rest of the flock, I cleaned out the storage side of the chicken coop.  I hung up a cabinet in there, moved all the non-chicken stuff to the regular storage shed and organized what was left.  Looks good and feels good to be done.  For dinner, I made some Potato Corn chowder and threw in some fresh green onions - yeah, something from the garden  :o)

Hey Rod - look how big your tomato plants are getting - two of the three have open blossoms now!  Time to fertilize. 

I didn't get a chance to try out the new cleaner on the siding today, but here is a picture of the test spot I did about a week ago.  It sure cleaned it up - not gray anymore!

Finished Chicken Fence

I worked yesterday and today on the chicken fence and gate and I'm happy to say it is DONE!  :o)  Well, except that I need a latch for the gate, thought I had one but don't.  So after a run to town tomorrow it will be done.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.

I gave the girls a treat of yogurt and peach sauce - they make a mess with the yogurt, shaking their head to get it off their beak, so it gets all over everyone else!

When I checked on the plants in the greenhouse last night, I discovered aphids.  On the cucumbers, on the green peppers and on the cabbage plants.  None on the tomatoes I could find.  I got the watering can and poured water over them and rubbed them off the plants.  Today while I was at Fred Meyer I saw they had lady bugs for sale, so I bought a bag of them and released them in the greenhouse.  We will see how that goes - hopefully they get rid of all the aphids!

Not sure what my plan is for tomorrow.  I have one large garden bed still to fill with dirt and plant with carrots, and one skinny bed for the new currents.  I took cuttings from the other plants and stuck them in jars of water - I am happy to report that they now have roots!  Cool!

I also want to work more on cleaning the log siding - what a chore, I just need to figure what works - which solution, what kind of scrubber.  It will look so much better after I get it cleaned and sealed...  Then I can paint the trim red and order up some gutters!

A great thing about summer - I never get bored!  :o)

More Fence Building and Garden Pictures

I had to put the garden fence on hold for a bit as I found one of my garden beds has a board that is beginning to rot.  I'll need to replace it before I continue.

Rod will tell you how I always have a million projects started at any given time.  He tries to encourage me to finish some before starting new ones  :o)  This week I've been working on the unfinished chicken coop fence.  I have all the chicken wire stretched and stapled and tonight was working on putting the 2x6's across the top and bottom between the posts.  Have 3 to go on the bottom...  Then a gate to build. 

I planted some spirea bushes inside the fence so the chickens have a place to feel safe when they are in the yard - chicken habitat.

Here are updated photos of the garden.  First are the potatos that I planted about a month ago.

First blossom and tiny zucchini

Little Marvel bush peas

New strawberry bed with radishes in between - After I took the picture, I thinned them and gave the thinnings to the chickens.

Established strawberry bed with tons of blossoms

Onions look good - I could probably start harvesting some green onions anytime

And finally the raspberries are filling in nicely.  They have buds, but haven't opened just yet.

Building a Garden Fence

I would really like to let the chickens out to run around sometimes, but without a fence around the garden that would just not work.  So I've begun to build a fence to enclose the garden.  I bought some supplies yesterday and got right to painting the 2 x 4's, which dried quickly in the hot weather we are having.  Then this morning I started putting everything together.  I'm building it out of 2 x 4's and chicken wire.  The 2 x 4's are 4 feet long and attached to my garden beds since the digging around here is nearly impossible - took 1 hour per post for the chicken fence. 

I made great progress and completed one side today.  Here's some pics:

Garden Pics and My Potato Experiment

I finally finished filling the 3rd raised bed with dirt.  We have a large birm on the property that is great dirt - just needs to be sifted.  So I dig it out of the hill, throw against a screen so the dirt goes thru and the rocks slide down the screen.  I then transfer the sifted dirt to the wheelbarrow and haul to the garden and dump.  Then repeat, and repeat, and repeat...  :o)  Eventually the box is full!

Rod and I decided that this box would be for more potatoes since I had a bunch more that needed somewhere to be planted.  These are Yukon Gold potatoes I grew last year from organic seed potatoes.  I had kept them thru the winter just in the kitchen in 5 gallon buckets with a towel over the top to keep out the light.  We ate them all winter until they started sprouting in February.  In April the sprouts were quite tall!  I took one bucket and broke off all the long sprouts, but the other bucket I just left them long.  I planted them in one raised bed and 3 potato bins a few weeks ago.  I had the leftover ones just sitting on top of the dirt, while I figured out where to plant them.  Well, some of them decided it was a good spot and put out roots, leaves and a couple had little potatoes.

So here is my experiment.  I decided to plant the potatoes with the long sprouts and all horizontally in the new bed.  I think that potatoes will form all along the sprout, similar to how they form up the stem when you hill them up normally.  I spread them in the bed, spaced pretty close together, then covered with 3 or 4 inches of dirt.  I was able to fit 70 potatoes in the bed.  The other potato bed, which is also 3' by 16', has 42 potatoes.  It will be interesting to see what happens come harvest time. Which bed will produce more potatoes?  Which bed will produce the biggest potatoes?  I think the new bed will have more potatoes, the old bed will have bigger potatoes, but not sure which one will have the most pounds of potatoes.  What do you think?

The green beans are popping out of the ground now.  I've only planted them once before and they didn't do very well.  This time I'm trying plastic, supposed to help keep the ground warmer for them.  We'll see...

I took the Wall O Waters off the tomato plants which look very healthy.

Here are the cucumbers - starting to get bigger.  Also some cabbage plants waiting for a new home.

This Week's Weigh In

Was a great one :o)  I'm down to 269.8, which is just over 30 pounds gone!!  It must have been all the physical labor I did while on vacation - moved alot of dirt!  My reward to myself will be a manual grain mill - decided on the Country Living mill - will be ordering it next week when I get paid.

The weather here in Southeast Alaska has been just amazing this week - upper 70's, low 80's - really hot for us - I'm about ready to go jump in the pond with the dog  :o)  Okay, maybe not quite, but close!

Garden Beds Pics

Today I finished building my raised beds - yea!  I also did some organizing and planted some flowers - was a very productive day - even did some weeding!  Only 3 more days left of my vacation :o(

Finished Planting Onions...Finally :o)

I finished up planting the onion bed today - 1600 onions - whew!  I put up hoops and covered the bed with the reemay.  The flies have hatched and are looking for the onions - they are all over the bed where they were last year!  I really hope the reemay keeps them out!  I also finished filling the second raised bed with dirt this afternoon.  Tomorrow I will build bed #3.

Planting Onions

I worked on filling the second bed with dirt, but got tired so I switched to planting my onions.  I ordered plants from Dixondale Farms and they arrived Monday and have been taking up space on my table since  :o)

Root maggots are the enemy around here and I will be doing everything I can to foil them this year!  Along with the fertilizer, I added wood ashes to the soil - I used up a coffee can full for the whole bed.  After the plants are all in, I will spread crushed egg shells over the top of the soil.  Then I will cover the whole thing with Reemay - I ordered mine from Gardens Alive.

I planted about a two foot section of Walla Walla and two feet of Ringmaster.  The rest of the bed will be Yellow Spanish.  They are all open pollinated varieties.  I have some reading to do on how to save seeds or sets so I have something to plant next year.

I spaced the plants two inches apart in all directions.  I pull every other plant for green onions and leave the rest to bulb into onions.  I lay out a tape measure along the edge.  I have a piece of lathe that I use as my planting stick.  I made marks every two inches along the lathe with permanent marker and it is the right length to fit inside the raised bed.  So I go along and mark a line with the edge of the stick each two inches.  I then go back and work one line at a time - make a hole with my finger at each mark on the stick and place an onion plant in and firm the dirt around it.  It takes awhile...but with the plants I have a head start on getting onions.

Here are the Walla Wallas done:

And here are the Ringmasters.  I figured there are 22 rows of 17 plants each - so 374 onions there.

I covered up the bed when I was done last night to keep the bugs out!  You can kinda see the onion plants through the fabric.  It is very lightweight and the directions say you can leave it right on the plants, but I think I'm going to put hoops up and attach it to them. 

Raised Bed #2

I filled the first bed with dirt today, demolished the other 3 small beds, levelled out the ground, and build raised bed #2.  Whew - that is hard work!  The weather this week has been great - around 60 degrees and sunny!  I've been very lucky  :o)

Here is one of Rod's tomatoes in the greenhouse - Early Girl.  I don't like tomatoes, so I just grow them for him.  Isn't that nice of me?  :o)  I have it in a Wall O Water - plastic thing with pockets that you fill with water.  Supposed to get them growing faster.  They are looking very good so far.

New Raised Bed

I went to Home Depot today with my dad and we picked up the lumber for my new raised beds.  I got to use my new Skil Saw to cut the ends of the beds.  I screwed two brackets in each corner to connect the ends to the long sides.  It took a bit to get the new one into the right spot and going in the right direction.  Once in position I got right to work filling it up with dirt - that is going to take awhile!

Lots more lumber to move!

I am trying to root some cuttings from my red current bushes.  They are supposed to be pretty easy to get rooted, so I put them in some water and we will see what happens. 

My Vacation on My Homestead

I am taking two whole weeks off of work!  And not going anywhere, just staying home and working on the yard, doing all those things I wish I had more time for.  So far it has been great.  On Monday morning I had to go in for jury duty, but got dismissed by 9:30 - the case was settled and everyone got to go home.  The weather was great and I did all my errands and then came home and worked in the garden.  I am getting ready to build more raised beds that will double the size of the veggie garden.  I have 4 small beds that I've decided to get rid of and just make big beds like I already have.  So I got out the chainsaw and got to work!  The one I took apart had a cover on it that I cut off, then I just used a hammer and took the rest apart.  That bed I had built 10 years ago, my first summer here.  I then worked on getting the ground levelled out a bit - that was hard work!  One down, three to go... 

Here is the area behind the house where I am working.  The new beds will go where the dog is standing.  Can you see the 3 smaller raised beds - where the watering can is?  Those will be gone.  I also have some big rocks to move somewhere else.

Here is a closer picture of where the new beds will be.  There will be four of them - 16' long by 3' wide.  Then two skinnier beds on the left and right - about a foot wide. 

My onion plants arrived on Monday.  They will be planted in one of the new raised beds, so they are living on the kitchen table for now - spread out to dry.  I have Yellow Spanish, Ringmaster and Walla Walla.  They will be so good if I can beat the root maggots this year!  I will be adding wood ash and ground egg shells to the soil as well as covering them up with reemay - very light material that the bugs can't get thru, but lets the rain and light in.  I'll keep you updated.

Yesterday my cold got the best of me - I was in bed until 1pm.  I was so tired!  Which was really a bummer cuz it was just beautiful outside.  So finally around 4pm I felt good enough to get outside and I painted my greenhouse - I really wanted to get it done while the weather was so warm and it could be dry before it rained!  It is the same color as the trim on the chicken coop, which will eventually be the trim color on the house.

I am feeling so much better today and got alot done.  Trip to the dump.  Got a hose fitting at Home Depot so I could hook my garden hose up to a sink I got for the garden - it is really cool - just need to find a place for it to live now.  Planted more peas.  Planted green beans under clear plastic next to the greenhouse.  Finished transplanting the rhubarb.  Weeded under the current bushes - they are just loaded with blossoms right now, hope they all turn to berries!  Picked up my Azure Standard order.  Then decided to call it a day! 

Here is my garden helper, right there whatever I'm doing - especially if there are worms to be found in the newly turned soil!  I had to put bird netting over the zucchini plants today cuz she likes the taste of their leaves!

Look What I Found In the Yard...

I've been on a cleaning kick and was getting rid of some rotten wood in the back yard.  I was picking it up and piling it into the wheelbarrow and in between a couple pieces I saw something MOVE!  Bigger than a worm, or a spider, or bug or something that I would expect here in my part of the world...A SALAMANDER!  YIKES!  You should have heard me scream - or maybe you did!  :o)

So I scooped it up and put it in a bucket.  Course I had to take a few pictures...  Then I set it free in the pond.  We have some other ones in there - they look about the same, but have brighter undersides.  I will have to keep my eyes open from now on!

Working in the Garden

The weather has finally turned to Spring here in Southeast Alaska!  It is so nice to be outside enjoying the sun and warmer weather (60's is warm!).  Of course I have lots to do outside and big plans for the yard and things to improve and work on over the summer.  Rod is gone to work in Skagway for the summer, so I need lots to keep myself busy and occupied.

I finally finished painting the chicken coop front.  I also sealed in the windows and re-glazed them.  Looks nicer now.  Ran out of glazing compound, so I still have to finish the middle window.  Not bad for free garage sale windows though!

I bought some plants since I didn't have a chance to start any from seed.  I planted 3 early girl tomatoes, 3 Mr. Bell peppers, and 7 Centurian cucumbers in the greenhouse.  I also bought some lettuce and swiss chard to put in the small raised beds, but haven't planted those yet.

I planted a new rhubarb patch in front of the greenhouse.  Moved in some sifted dirt from out back and added some chicken manure from last year - still alot of shavings, but they have started to break down some.  I built up the border with some big timbers and rocks.  I dug up all the rhubarb plants from beside the greenhouse, separated the big clumps, and planted in the new area.  The side area will now just be raspberries.  Turned out pretty good - hope the weeds don't take over too fast.  That's always my problem, lots of weeds and I can't keep up!  I will get some sort of mulch to put around the rhubarb which should help with the weeds.  The white chicken has been helping, but she isn't much help when she is stepping all over the plants and breaking things!  She is good at finding the worms though :o)

I planted a new bed of strawberries from runners I had started in little pots last year.  I think I did that last week sometime and they are looking good.  I can see where the flowers are going to be popping out soon.  I have the original bed that needs rejuvenated, so I will dig everything up and replant just a few and see how it does.

Last night I planted out some potatoes.  I used potatoes from last year's garden.  I had them inside in a couple buckets because they started sprouting in February.  I didn't think they would stay good until planting time, but they did.  Alot of them have really long sprouts, but I just used the ones with little ones.  They were doing so good in the bucket that I actually had a couple new potatoes forming!  So we have potatoes in one of the large raised beds (3' x 16') and two of the potato bins.  I still have lots of potatoes that could be planted, just need to figure out how much space I want to take up with them.  I was planning on only one large bed, but I may decide to use two.

My onion plants should be here by Monday.  I want to build some new raised beds and that is where I plan to put the onions, so I have to get busy this weekend.  I have two weeks off from work and I plan to just spend it at home working around the yard and such.  So much to do, so little time.  I will try to focus first on the veggie garden so at least they can start growing, then I will move on to the side yard and perennial bed.  Lots to do there to get it looking kept up.  The primroses are blooming now and the shrubs are budding out - lilac, maple, dogwood and rose bushes.  The bleeding hearts and astilbe are just coming out of the ground.  The salmonberry bushes have their leaves and a few flowers here and there.  The current bushes got trimmed up and tied back and I can see where they will be full of flowers soon!  I kept the trimmings in hopes to get them to root so I can start another row of them.

Monday's Weigh In

Yesterday's Weigh In & PCOS

was a good one - down 1.6 pounds to 276.6.  Just 6.6 pounds from my next goal - reward is a Country Living Grain Mill!  I can't wait!!

I finally went back to my doctor who has diagnosed me with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS.  Right now we are treating it with supplements, diet and exercise.  I had an ultrasound just for my knowledge and that confirmed the diagnosis.  I will need to go back to the doctor soon to refill my supplements and talk more about what I can do to deal with PCOS.  I have alot of reading to do to find out more about it.  So far I know that it is a hormone imbalance caused by ovarian cysts.  For me it causes unwanted hair growth, headaches, weight gain around the abdomen (and hard to lose weight), and infertility.  We aren't trying to have children, so we are focusing other the other problems.  My headaches have already decreased - yeah!

She suggested I try to cut most dairy from my diet to improve how I am feeling - she explained that my body does not process it correctly.  I can now understand how hard that is  :o)  I have been using rice milk and Earth Balance spread instead of butter - both are good.  She said yogurt would be okay - which is good cuz I eat yogurt all the time!  I had some mac and cheese yesterday from the deli and today my sinuses are bothering me - so maybe she is right.

She did blood work as well and I am low in vitamin D - like most in this part of the country.  So I have been taking vitamin D for the past few weeks.  It may be the vitamins, or the great weather, but I finally have my energy back which I am very grateful for!