Life in Southeast Alaska

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:

Oh my goodness!

9:09 PM, Monday, August 4, 2008 .. Posted by Cousin Sarah

My husband's sister who lives in Alaska just went to one of those and loved it too. I love the pictures and look forward to seeing more! It looks like you had a great time and learned some very useful skills :)

(Mitch's sister's name is Angie Hickman, but I am not sure if she went to the same one you did...)

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4:05 AM, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 .. Posted by homesteadinthemaking

Oh, that bottom picture is so beautiful. You live in an amazing place. Anyway, that would be such a neat class to take. Our family does a lot of deer hunting in the winter. If you have anything to share, we would love to hear it!
Trixi

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5:30 AM, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 .. Posted by morningsunshine

that bottom picture does it. I am moving to Alaska!
now to convince my husband!

I need to find a BOW in utah - looks like a lot of good info!

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1:57 PM, Tuesday, August 5, 2008 .. Posted by hcorbin

What a GREAT experience!!!!! You learned some wonderful things! I am going to look into this class here!
HEather