Got a call from the Troopers, moose road kill, dropped in the driveway 2 hours later. We canned it in the pressure canner. Will use it in stew.

Global Warming my butt!

With temperatures in my area of south central Alaska at -24 degrees I'm having a hard time believing we are in the whole global warming thing. And then they tell us that we are not getting the snow we usually get because of climate change. Now we are on the verge of breaking the record for snowfall and its only January.

Big Government taking control of our food supply.

Apricot Jam

Put up 15 pints of apricot jam which is one of my favorites. Hope to get enough strawberries to do 

some jam. Will be working on getting the raspberries in this weekend.

 In Kenai for the weekend to do some dipnetting. The Reds were in heavy. It was insane. We got 36 fish in an hour and a half.

 Of coarse they all have to be cleaned but the reward is worth all the work.It took 2 evenings to get it all vacuum packed.




The freezer is getting full. Looks like I'll have to
build that smoker soon.

So far it looks like its going to be a good year.

 Lettuce bed is coming along great. So far this year is turning out much better than last year. Tomatoes in the greenhouse are doing great also.

 The strawberry patch survived the winter and is full of blossoms and it looks like we are going to have some great jam this winter.

Went a grafting clinic in April that was put on by the Alaska Pioneer Fruit Growers. Got two new apples that seem to have taken well. The cherrys didn't take but I'll save the rootstock for another try.

Some very busy bees.

Brush Fires of Freedom

Time to start thinking about next year. The seed catalogs are starting to show up in the mail.

The compost bins are filling up and should give some great compost for the beds in the spring.

My strawberry plants are hibernating under some hay and a blanket of snow.

Summer was a disappointment.

Record breaking rainfall means a severe lack of sunlight. Many plants in the garden didn't do so well. Oh well there is always next year.

Mustard Greens

Tried some mustard greens for the first time last night. Pretty tasty, kind of a peppery flavor. Sauteed in olive oil diced onions, minced garlic and some chicken broth.

AK Moose Birth 5-24-2010.MOV

Cool video. Taken in a backyard in Anchorage. Alaska is full of surprises.

Awesome weekend

We got a lot done this weekend. I finished the second bench in the green house and got the second raised bed going. My wife got all the flowers in the containers planted. It was a great weekend. The plastic barrels are doing a lot to maintain the temp inside during the night. Hauled in some of the garden soil from Susitna Organics.

Added benches to my greenhouse.

This weekend I got rid of the old folding tables that were my benches last summer and came up with a more permanent solution. I recycled some ceder fencing that had fallen down in the wind and cut it into 1"X2" strips and spaced it 1" apart to allow water to fall through. The ceder should last a long time and resist water damage. Got one done for one side and will get another for the other in a couple of weeks. Trying to get another couple of raised beds going and a strawberry patch.

We had salad last night.

Ate a salad last night with lettuce from our garden. The official beginning of summer is eating from the garden. Finally the end of eating salad that traveled thousands of miles and instead only traveled 50 feet. Also checked the bees this weekend and all seems well to my untrained eye, they are building up the brood and storing pollen. Picked up about 15 strawberry plants last night and hope to get them planted this weekend. The forecast for the weekend looks great.