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Monthly Archives: May 2023

Today in History

Exactly six months after the attack of Pearl Harbor, June 7, 1942 Japanese forces invaded American (territorial) soil, landing on the Island of Attu in the Aleutian Chain of Alaska. May 11, 1943 began the conflict to rid Attu of the Japanese occupiers. It lasted until May 29 and was horrific.

When the Japanese forces landed, they built fortifications and took captive the Alaskan Native villagers. 42 Unangax (Oo-nun-gahx) inhabitants of Attu Village were removed and imprisoned in Japan. Many died but those who survived faced another horror upon return, they found out that the US Military would not allow them back to their ancestral home and they were relocated.

The terrain is rocky and inhospitable, the land offered no place to hide outside of these machine gun nests. The weather was even worse, some say Nature took more casualties than the opposing army.

The Outdoor Boys have a video showing Dutch Harbor and some remaining military artifacts from this conflict. The National Park Service has some great information here. There’s actually a plethora of online sources regarding this “Lost War” including modern day remediation projects.

America lost 3,929 souls in total to brutal hand to hand combat, weather, disease and starvation. The Japanese Army lost at least 2,850 perhaps more, many committing suicide to avoid capture, including an entire hospital, staff and patients. Only 29 men were captured alive.

Go to the History Channel for more information.

Don’t let the abundance of winter snow fool you; Alaskans should prepare for wildfire season

Alaskans know we need to prevent and prepare for wildfires across the state and throughout the season – from the time the snow melts until it falls again. During Wildland Fire Prevention and Preparedness Week (May 7-13), it’s time to remind people of key ways to protect each other and our communities from wildfire dangers.

Don’t let the abundance of winter snow fool you; Alaskans should prepare for wildfire season

What happened to “New Car” fragrance?

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What happened to “New Car” fragrance?
For the fresh herbal smell everyone adores ... 🤪😂

Wholesome Entertainment, What’s That?

Do you or your kids watch YouTube or TikTok? Are you tired of being bombarded with culture de jour that perhaps doesn’t fit into your idea of “wholesome”?

Yeah, me too. So what do we do about it?

I’ve threatened many a time to just turn off the d@mned internet. I get very weary of all the junk I see on the two subscription channels that we have. And the free channels, well, I guess that’s to be expected. But we all know that modern life is difficult without connectivity, and getting moreso. I do long for a simpler existence. Off-grid and disconnected sounds better every day. Except for keeping in touch with loved ones part.

In the mean time, instead of mindlessly scrolling YT shorts I’m trying to focus more on subscribed channels that we know, and content creators that we trust, like The Outdoor Boys and Simple Living Alaska. Positive messages, useful how-to’s and interesting real life is what I aim for. Things that I like and want my kids to watch & learn from. I’ve also been posting more videos to my own channel. Which for now is pretty sparse but hopefully in time will be full of Alaska Life and our weird & wacky unique lifestyle (but not that sort of weird).

Besides my own channel, coming this fall, AB will be officially launching his own YT channel as part of his schooling. He is very excited about this to say the least.

You can sub to my channel here. Peruse a few Alaska videos and let me know what you’d like to see.

I’m also giving Rumble a try, check back in with me to see how that goes!

Flocking Nuts Around Here.

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Flocking Nuts Around Here.
Six baby Bronze Turkeys to add to the flock.

Garden Prep!

Last Friday we stayed home from work due to Dean being under the weather. So the kids and I used the opportunity to start on the garden plot, do a little barnyard clean up & to get some fresh air. The garden plot was quite the mess.

Before, tall grass, wadded up tarp.
The strawberry tipi, tire stacks and compost bin. And Panda Bear.
The old greenhouse frame. She’s a lean’n. And both doggos.
The two existing raised beds.
Before pics.

We enjoyed watching the goats and ducks being released from their winter quarters and go a little wacky on the barely there green grass blades

First thing we did was assess the old derelict greenhouse frame. It needs to be disassembled, repaired and re-sheeted with siding and greenhouse plastic. Lil Bit and I took stock of our materials so we could plan the new structure. As it is currently, about 15 feet long and 8 ish feet wide. We’d like to maintain that size, just move it over to the left about 2-3 feet.

Then we found a couple old pallets that we hauled up to the garden plot to add to our existing compost bin. The original bin was filled up over the winter with kitchen scraps and barn litter. We’ll let that side sit and work this summer to add to our beds next year.

Then we got started on the clean up part. Thing 2, AB and Lil Bit all pitched in. We cut down all the wild raspberry canes, some Willow shrubs and tall grasses down. We raked up dead grass and leaves to fill our new compost bin about half way. The kids hauled barn litter over and dumped into the old bin. I gave some of the raked up dried grass to the goats, they loved it.

I cleared out the strawberry patch of last year’s dead leaves & weeds, cut the runners loose and mulched with fresh straw. We topped off the two beds and all the tire stacks with more soil. And we stretched an old tarp (that we repurposed for ground cover & saved from going to the landfill) out over the area we just cleared to keep regrowth down to a minimum. We will eventually top this with sawdust and wood chips for pathway maintenance after we build the new beds.

This tarped area is where we plan to construct two more raised beds and put additional tire stacks around the fence perimeter.

Second compost bin.
Beds with fresh soil.
Huge tarp! This is about 1/3 of it doubled over. Have plenty left for the greenhouse floor
After pics.

Lil Bit’s 4H project is gardening so she has been busy tending her starts in the mini greenhouse in our bathroom. And getting more excited by the day to start her outdoors garden & greenhouse.

Lil Bit’s starter garden. She’s got bell peppers tomatoes, squash, cucumber and a big pumpkin on the right.

While raking and checking for signs of new growth we discovered the lilac Thing 1 planted last year has some buds on it!! It’s always a happy day to see your plants made it through the winter!!

Rhubarb patch coming to life!

Besides the greenhouse renewal & new raised beds to build, we have some fencing repairs to make. I’d also like to test our soil this year so we can make amendments based on need. We’ll see how that goes. 🤪So our work isn’t done but we feel good about getting it started.

May 7 – 13 is AK Wildland Fire Prevention and Preparedness Week

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has declared May 7-13 as “Wildland Fire Prevention and Preparedness Week” in Alaska to help raise awareness for the longer wildfire seasons and increased fire activity of recent years. The governor joins fire managers from the Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection, Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service, and the […]

May 7 – 13 is AK Wildland Fire Prevention and Preparedness Week

Sourdough Sunday: Birch Sap Harvest 2023

It was a short week, 6 days ago, that I tapped our Birch tree. I probably could have tapped it a few days earlier if not for just being too busy. But better some sap than none!

With the speed of the melting snow the Birch sap has slowed it’s flow.

Me
Checking my Sap Bucket.

Our first gallon I poured into individual collapsible water bottles for drinking later. I found these new at the thrift store, a great find! They came with mini carabineers to clip onto your pack or belt while hiking this summer. Into the freezers they went.

Hiking refreshers.

Next, I used 3.5 gallons to try our version of Birch Beer, similar to root beer, and made about 3/4 of a gallon of flavored concentrate. I slow-simmered the sap in my turkey roaster until about half with a few Birch twigs. Once done I turned off the heat, added a vanilla bean and cinnamon stick and 1/2 cup xylitol to sweeten it a bit more. To serve, pour concentrate into a glass, half full, add a squeeze of fresh lime, a little more sweetener (to individual taste) and top off with seltzer. It’s got an earthy taste, faintly reminiscent of a root beer but not as herbal. I like mine less sweet, the kids like it more sweet. But they like it, that’s good.

It’s nice to have a natural soda alternative that’s not 44 grams of sugar per serving or full of who knows what.

I also put about half a gallon into some reusable popsicles for a cold summer treat. I made 20 of these, Alaskan style Otter Pops, all natural, no artificial dyes, flavors or sweeteners.

Birch pops.

I did learn that we have another native tree here that can also be tapped: Alder. I experimented and tapped a couple larger trunks (they aren’t very big here, 3-5 inches in diameter). I wasn’t set-up properly for collecting the sap so missed a lot. I did get enough to taste it. It’s similar to the Birch water, less flavor tho. Overall good to know in an emergency but not likely to try it annually.

What remains of our harvest is apx 3.5 gallons, which I’ll turn into ice cubes and jugs of sap to freeze and use later. I’m going to try brining my salmon in Birch sap and salt this summer.

Overall we harvested about 9 gallons from a single Birch tree in 6 days, 1.5 gallons a day on average. This is important to know if we want to harvest enough for a larger batch of syrup or beverages. Since Birch water doesn’t keep for more than a couple days without spoiling, it has to be used or frozen quickly. So if we needed 5 gallons to process into wine we would need to tap 4-5 trees for a larger daily quantity.

I pulled the spile early Saturday morning. And another foraging season has come & gone.

Next up for wildcrafting is cottonwood buds, fiddleheads, fireweed shoots, spruce tips and morels. Oh boy, I can’t wait!! So much to do, so little time!

A New Name

My last kiddo, the artist formerly known as Lil Mister, has a new name. He has repeatedly informed me that he is Alaska Boy. Thus, he needs no coat, or shoes for that matter, to run amuck in the snow on a warm spring day.

But it’s warm out Mom! And the dogs don’t have shoes or shirts on.

So from now on, I’ll be referring to him as Alaska Boy or, AB for short. Or at least until he informs me that he’s reached Alaska Man status. 😂

Little Bitty.
Oh wait, that’s me.
Last year’s warm spring day.
He’s not the only one tho…
I asked him, he said he wasn’t cold. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Remember that Moose Shed?

Thing 2 found a single moose shed back in January, I posted about here.

Well, low & behold, he found the other one. Pretty much in the same spot, just deeper in the snow bank, which has started it’s spring retreat So now we’ve got a nice matched pair to do something with!

He said he wants to hang them in his room so I mounted them on a Birch slice. I added some removable vinyl wording and we used them for an interesting display at the Home Show. Now to get them mounted in his room!

The cool things you find in Alaska!