Up, Up, and a May!

5/31/2023

With more daylight than we know what to do with, this month has had us busy, busy, busy...

Seabirds taking a break on comfy rock. The birds are seagulls and common murres.

We kicked off the month with a week of family visiting. It was great having them here and showing them the amazing scenery we get to see every day. One of the things we did while they were here was a day trip to Seward where we took a boat tour of Resurrection Bay. It was a little early in the season for whale spotting, but we were able to see several otters, sea lions, various seabirds, bald eagles, puffins, and porpoises. Not to mention the stunning beauty of massive rock formations jutting up into the sky from the ocean floor with a backdrop of ancient glaciers spilling into the sea. On my last trip to Seward I didn't get to see otters so I was glad to cross it off my list this trip! They are much larger than I expected. I love our trips to Seward!

Spire Cove

Sea lions lying around waiting for the sun to start shining.

The gatekeeper of the marina in Seward was this perched bald eagle.

This island was called No Name Rock.

Tide is in on the Knik Arm.

Over Mother’s Day weekend, Wild North Design set up at a massive crafter’s market at the Alaska State Fairgrounds. This was our second year participating in this particular show and it is definitely one of our favorites! Everyone is so happy to be out enjoying the great weather and seeing all of the beautiful artwork, this show always has some awesome vibes. Not to mention it’s great to get feedback on all of the designs and pieces we’ve been working on over the winter while also seeing what everyone else has been up to. So. Many. Neat. Vendors! Including food trucks!

Wild North Design also participated in a pop-up show at the JBER Army/Air Force base near Anchorage on Memorial Day weekend. It’s always fun to meet and chat with people on the base and hear their stories from all over the world. I will be doing another pop-up this summer at the base Friday, June 30th & Saturday, July 1st. Hope to see you there!

One of the entrances at JBER has an impressive jet on display. Though they are loud, we enjoy seeing them fly over our house.

Meanwhile, back on the homestead, we have been busy planting, building, and occasionally re-building. Pete and his dad re-built the collapsed lean-to behind the first greenhouse, making sure it is spec’d for Alaska this time. This version is actually nicer with a higher ceiling and an enclosed space for storage.

Pete is installing the roof on the new outdoor kitchen/lean-to.

Opposite side of the outdoor kitchen has our first greenhouse in Alaska. Buried tubes with fans allow warm airflow late into the fall season.

Finished! Nice outdoor kitchen for processing garden veggies, salmon, and chickens. Features enclosed storage too!

Pete was also able to get the frame completed for the high tunnel, our third greenhouse. Now that weight restrictions have been lifted for our roads, we will get a truckload of topsoil delivered to spread out as the planting base in the tunnel before covering it with the greenhouse plastic. We are super excited to have this new enclosed growing space and plan to have it filled with delicious vegetables by this fall. Last year we planted things like beans and squash outside in July which did not produce anything at all due to the cold nighttime temperatures we start seeing in mid-August. We expect this new tunnel to give us at least another month or two of production on both ends of the growing season.

Building the new high tunnel frame, taking into account the possibility of more epic snowfalls.

Ready for some fresh, fertilized dirt then to be enclosed in plastic.

We did learn a lesson about not trying to jump the gun when planting things outside here. A late frost on May 21 caused us to lose about half of the pumpkins and squash and about 75% of the green beans we planted outside in the second half of May. The long sunny days were just too tempting to not have plants out soaking it up, but then we were reminded that the arctic circle is only a few hundred miles to the north and the right breeze can bring that icy chill back really quick. With our big new grow tunnel expected to be finished shortly, we’ve already got several more seed trays started which will find their new home in there. Overall, it wasn't a total loss! The benefits to planting extra.

Before the frost we had too many beans planted too close together.

Experimental wheat crop sprouting up.

Making soil blocks for another round of seedlings.

After the frost, we had just a handfull of bean plants left.

Repaired the snow damaged apple tree fence to keep the moose out. Though, if they really wanted, they could easily get to the apple trees.

Sowing seeds in the soil blocks.

The onions have been loving their own private greenhouse.

In another first, we’ve got our entire winter’s supply of firewood already split and stacked before June! Not to mention, I split it all! I’m not much for swinging an ax, but our hydraulic wood splitter makes it a job that I can easily do.

We procured all of the wood from some trees Pete cleared when making space for a new and improved pig pen and chicken coop combination. Now that we’ve raised a couple of pigs and had our chickens for a while, we’ve got a much better idea of what we want and how things should be set up and organized to make the daily chores easier and more efficient. It’s kind of hard to know all that without having raised the animals before. It’s also easy to spend a lot of time and money on things that aren’t really that important and overlook the things that are. The biggest challenges we’ve identified is providing a water supply in the cooler months when things start freezing at night and keeping their feed as close as possible without letting them get into it. So for our new setup we plan on basically having a shed where we can keep a tank of unfrozen water and store all of their feed. Then we’ll have the pig pen attached to one side of the shed and the chicken coop with a protected outdoor space on the opposite side of the shed. This will allow us to feed all the animals from one spot and only have to refill the water tank occasionally, rather than every day. We hope it works out as well as we plan. If not, we will continue to #Live&Learn.