Tree roots.Looks like the perfect location for a little fairy village or a gnome home!Near Jackalof Bay.Tree creatures.Each one teach one session.Huge tree stump from selective logging.Forestry hike
This was the first part of the journey, a little forest ecology field trip. We learned that there are naturally hybridized Sitka-White spruce trees here in this temperate rain forest. And they grow huge!
Tree roots bleached from the salt water.The remains of an urchin, the test.A sea cucumber me thinks.Hermie the Crab.So many barnacles.Lil Bit walking in the deposits of broken shells. ASMR esq.A boy in the cleft of the rock.So many sea snails. AK Boy found a skeleton of a sea star with muscles and barnacles attached There’s a tiny little sea star right in the center, on the kelp. Tide pooling adventures.
Afterwards it was back to the bunkhouse for some much needed rest. Walking miles in mud boots is not advisable. But we were ready for the next adventure come morning!
AK Boy at the microscope 🔬Lil Bit zooming in.What type of creatures we might see.Alexa explaining how the plankton samples are taken.Lab time!
Lab time was quite eye opening. 🫤🔬🤢 Remember that time at fish camp when pulling nets and a bunch of sea water splashed on your face and some got on your lips and you licked them… Yeah, you ate plankton.
Big chunky sea star.Color stripes on this sea star.Lil Bit stuck to the net.This tank was full of sea stars that are in the stage 3 (super low) tides. Not usually seen but sometimes.He finally worked up the nerve to pick one up. The basic bish of sea stars. 🤩There was a large table of readily found beach combing treasures. Labeled neatly for identification purposes.A crusty crab! I think this one is a “decorator crab”.Touch Tank & interactive lab.
That’s it for our end-of-year field trip. Lots of learning and fun was
Ahoy mates! We’ve shoved off and we’re underway to the Kasitsna Bay Research Facility to explore our marine and forest ecology! This is an overnight trip across Kachemak Bay. Seas are mostly calm, overcast skies, it’s supposed to rain but so far it’s just cool and overcast.
Aboard the Discovery with Captain Victoria!
I’ll be sure to post more about our adventures when we return home! You can see our adventures here!
Two weeks ago Today we kicked off our new school year with a ride on the Chugach Express service to Grandview. This ride is always exciting and awe inspiring. This year is extra special as we get to share the experience with some special people. My nephews got to come along with us and Mo brought along her parents (Nana & Papa, honorary grandparents to my kiddos) as well as Mark & Laquita, our special friends! It was their first Alaska train ride experience too! Sharing Alaska’s beauty with those you love never gets old!!
In the marsh area before Spencer Whistle Stop we saw a swan family. The babies are almost fully grown. We also saw a perched bald eagle a couple trees down from a nest. The train travels through the remnants of Chugach nat’l Forest, an area 5.5 mil acres with only 90 Miles of road. Most being inaccessible by car. Then we move into the Kenai mountains.
At Spencer Glacier whistle stop, the glacier used to come down to the valley where the railroad camp was. This whole valley forest floor is only been exposed about 100 years old. The cottonwoods are apx 30-40 feet tall next to the train. The glacier has retreated about 2.5 miles but still about 6 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. *P
Copy of a 1914 photograph when the railroad was under construction. The glacier looked large over the camp.
A series of 5 tunnels cuts through the Kenai mountains. Its pretty cool going through them. Seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunel. Some inspiration for the tough days. The creek is about 100 ft below us. The weather has turned beautiful today. One of the driest days this historically wet August has offered us.
The tunnels are dark, the light is reflection from inside the train.
The RR crews have been doing maintenance alongside the tracks, cutting back foliage. Fireweed fuzz is floating along in the gentle breeze.
We saw a marmot climb up onto the tracks of a parked bulldozer.
According to our onboard USFS Ranger, here was snow up at Grandview until July 4th weekend this year. Grandview, sitting at just over 1000′ elevation, sure has a, wait for it, grand view (Blame it in Alaska Nellie, she said it first!). Photos do it no justice.
Grandview Whistle Stop
Alaska Nellie ran the roadhouse at Grandview back in it’s hey day. A true Sourdough in every sense. From walking into what became Grandview to manning the station on her own, Nellie was one tough cookie.
Trail Glacier
The sun is shining so brightly! What a glorious day! We traveled past Grandview Whistle stop for another breathtaking view, Trail glacier. Below the glacier is the remnants of an abandoned beaver lodge and the resulting lack of vegetation. This area would have been underwater due to the beaver dam on the creek, thus the lack of trees.
Trailside waterfall.
We stop our journey south at Trail Glacier and begin the back-track to Grandview. There we disembarked and had about an hour to explore. I headed out to look for some berries! I hiked up the trail to the waterfall and just beyond it we found some huckleberries and salmon berries, just enough for a taste. And so many mushrooms for my shroom cam! The tree trunks are so magical with their twists & crooks and moss covered branches. Around every corner I expect to see a fairy fluttering away or a little troll hoping I didn’t see him. I wish we had more time to explore. This trip needs to be combined with a two day hiking & camping expedition next time! Back to the train for our return trip to Portage. Collect memories/experiences instead of things .
Thing 1 is taking botany this year for her science. She’s been wanting to try out tapping birch trees to harvest their sap for a while now. This past weekend she got her chance.
Our days are longer and warmer but our nights are still plenty cold. Perfect time to tap a birch. I bought some tree taps at the farm store last week and two new 2 gal buckets with lids. Once we got to the cabin she went out, drill and supplies in hand.
The “Slow drip” tree in the foreground.
She settled on two old trees, one next to the sauna, the other up by the smoker. Taps in place and smaller buckets hung catching the few drips that morning. As the day went on, the sauna tree seemed to be the better producer.
She went out and checked late afternoon and wow! Full bucket in the sauna tree! Holy smokes it works!
Overnight the temps fell and we froze up solid. The “slow drip” tree froze up but the sauna tree had overflowed it’s bucket!
Slow drip, froze solid.
We broke off those sapcicles and ate them. Nature’s “Otter pops”!
All in just over 24 hours she got two gallons of birch sap. Impressive for her first try!
Now begins the process of cooking down the sap for syrup. I’ll let you know how long that takes!
Sauna tree’s cup runneth over.
Time to go so she whittled some birch twigs to fit the drill holes to plug the trees. Covered that with duct tape of course. And thanked the trees for their donation to our diet.
Lil Bit and Lil Mister have been working on a Rainforest Lap Book lately. We’ve watched lots of YouTube videos about rainforest facts: animals, vegetation, and conservation.
Lil Mister’s cover.Inside
They’ve colored and pasted their bits and pieces together to create an informative little folder. And today we topped it off with making rainforest gum from scratch.
Wrapping gum pieces in waxed paper.
I like having them do lap books because they can take as little or as much time as they (or I) like creating and gathering information. It’s hands on so better for their learning style. Having something that they make to eat or drink is always fun. Experiential learning, tasting their lesson.
They also learned about medicine that comes from the rainforests of the world like quinine. So they got to sip some tonic water to taste it! Not exactly their next favorite beverage.
Lil Bit’s coverInsidePages under the flapLast page under the flapBackside of the flap, the info about the gum we made.Lil Bit’s lap book is more elaborate.
Next on the list is a desert lap book. Woo hoo, more fun times. And I think we’ll get some cactus to cook and eat.
Our homeschool group hosted the second annual holiday/winter party craft show today. Three of my kiddos were inspired to create goods to sell. A great learning opportunity.
The oldest had her stickers and digital art, of course. But this year she added some graphic acrylic charms and jewelry. The Alaska shaped keychains were popular!
All set up and ready to sell!
Lil Bit got in on the action by creating some jewelry too. She had an array of earrings, bracelets and zipper pulls. She made the first sale with a nice pair of earrings!
Some of Lil Bit’s earrings and bracelets.
Little Mister spent his time creating fridge magnet clips and snowmen magnets. They were very popular! He got very creative when designing these clips. I was quite impressed with his style.
Little Mister’s fridge magnets.
They two girls manned the booth and handled the transactions. They had to keep a record of who sold what so they could rightfully divide the profits up at the end of the day.
They each were pretty happy with their earnings. Thing 1 needs to get her shop going so she can sell her inventory!!
All of that learning plus they got to see some friends and celebrate our STUCO sponsored food drive for the local food bank. Raising 615 pounds of food in total! WTG IDEA!!
Thing 1 is a junior this year and we decided to try something a little different for her Language Arts. Instead of some boring composition program she wanted to try blogging. This way she gets to do a lot of composing and writing practice.
Plus she shares her creativity in art and her budding culinary skills. Go over and check in on her at Sketchbooks & Dandelion Jam.
Lil Mister was in charge of Panda Bear. She has a sweater because she gets cold.
Eating the fruits of her labor.
Alaska on my mind... 