Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

Canning Projects

I am canning more sockeye salmon tonight.  This brings us up to 33 pints.  I have enough fish to do another batch of 14 pints tomorrow night.

There are a few good sales at the stores this week.  I am trying to decide if the prices are low enough that I should buy some to preserve - can or freeze.  They have red or black plums for $1.79/lb, green or red grapes for $0.99/lb, zucchini for $0.99/lb, and green beans for $1.98/lb.  I would like to make Rod some plum jam.  Also, I have been wanting to try making some plum sauce - the kind at the chinese restaurant is so yummy!  I'm on the lookout for more good sales as they come up.  I would love to get pears again and can them.  We just finished up a couple jars from 2 years ago and they were GREAT!

The blueberries should be getting ripe now and this weekend I will have to go find some.  With those I will make jam, pie filling and maybe just can them by themselves.  I could freeze them too, but I'm trying to can more and free up the freezer space  :o)  My red currents are just starting to ripen, so I'll need to think about what I want to do with them.

What have you been canning?  Have you tried anything new this year?

4 Eggs!

Egg production in the flock is bouncing back now...

When Rod was home this weekend, we got 2 eggs on Saturday, 2 on Sunday, 2 on Monday and..... 4 yesterday!!

So it seems that the ladies are settling in - yeah!!

A Little Progress on the Chicken Fence

It is getting late, but I wanted to post some pictures of the progress I made last night and tonight on the chicken fence.  About half done now.  It is pretty messy, but most construction sites are  :o)  I'm looking forward to being able to just sit and enjoy the chickens when the project is done... 

I like how see-thru the chicken wire is.  Here is the view of the coop from the garden.

Juneau's First Farmers Market & Food Festival

...and I'm so excited!  I've always thought it would be so great to have a farmer's market here, mostly because fresh produce is hard to find.  Our first one will be on August 30 and I would love to participate.  I'm not sure that I really have produce that I could sell...maybe some raspberries.  But they also allow jams, jellies, syrups, and baked goods.  So I was thinking about things I could make from local foods - blueberry muffins with wild blueberries, fresh eggs, fresh ground wheat, etc.  I thought about selling my soap, but most of them aren't made with local ingredients - only my peppermint soap.  But maybe just selling the Gardener's soap...not sure.  I also have a bunch of strawberry plant starts, maybe I could sell those.

The Farmer's Market is being organized by the Juneau Commission on Sustainability.  Their job is to look into ways for Juneau to be more self-sufficient - with food, with utilities, etc.  I really just learned about them yesterday.  Here is a link to their site if you want to participate in the market:  www.sustainablejuneau.blogspot.com

Do you sell things at a farmer's market - what kinds of things do you sell?  If anyone sells jams or jellies, could you give me an idea of what price you sell them for?  Thanks for any comments!!

Chicken Fence, Roost, and Onion Pics

So, after I moved the chicks to their section of the coop, I had gone to check on them.  They decided that the roost I installed was not good enough and here is where they decided to sleep:

I have since fixed that dilemma and they stay in their section - mostly...  I also raised up their roost to about 18" off the floor and they like that much better.  It was quite cold and rainy yesterday, so I cooked them all some oatmeal and they gobbled it up - hope it warmed them up a bit!

The onion plants are doing fantastic.  No root maggots - yet - cross my fingers...  I have been using the thinnings for green onions and will try to finish thinning them all by this weekend.  I need to make sure the remaining plants have plenty of room to make us some big onions this year. 

The rain held off a bit tonight and I got a chance to work on the chicken fence.  I started cutting the posts to length and getting them all level/plumb and screwing them to the brackets in the pier blocks.  I really wanted to see how the fence would look, so I opened up a roll of chicken wire and started attaching it to the posts.  I actually only got it attached to the building and stretched to the other posts.  It is going to take two people to get that stuff good and tight.  So, just in time, Rod will be home for a couple days - he gets in tomorrow night and leaves Sunday!  I'm hoping he has some thoughts on what will make the fence look nice.  I have 2 x 6 boards that will go between the posts at the top and at the bottom, which should give it a finished look - I hope, cuz this is the first thing you see when you drive up to our house.  Here is the section I worked on - to the right of the coop.  It is about 10 feet from the coop and is 22 feet long.  The chickens were watching me intently, wondering what that lady is up to now!

I really hope I can get this fence done by winter!!  :o)

Nice Day Off Work

I took a vacation day from work today - so I got paid to work on my projects here at home - very cool!  Wish I could do that everyday...  oh well...  :o)

I made great progress on the chicken fence today.  I have all but one hole dug for the pier blocks that will be holding the posts.  That last one requires me to move the temporary fence.  I also finished painting the posts and lumber that I will use to build the fence - picked up a gallon of weatherproofing stain that was in the oops pile at Home Depot - great brown color and it was just $5!

This afternoon it started raining - real rain, not just sprinkles as it has been.  My poor holes are flooded right now!  I need to get the gutter on the chicken house and the rain barrel set up... one project at a time though!  I hope the rain lets up tomorrow morning so I can get out and work on the fence.

It was a little chilly in the house, so I built a fire and now it is all toasty warm.  I bought some Black Cherry Nectar at the store yesterday - organic and was about to expire, so it was on sale.  I used it to make two batches of jelly - got 8 12-oz jars.  They are on the counter right now cooling.  I really hope that they set up since the pectin I used said it is best by Nov 2006!  We will see...

Chicks Moved Out

The chicks are very happy in their new home.  Three of them are 7 weeks old and the other two are 5 weeks old.  I set them up a spot in the storage side of the chicken coop, separate from the adults.  They have about 20 square feet in there.  I hooked up a light for them with a 60 watt bulb - mostly for light, but the heat will help at night when it gets cooler.  The temperature outside today was about 64 degrees, so they didn't really need the extra heat during the day.  That side of the coop only gets light through the little window in the door, so the extra light will be good.

Making progress on the fence for the chickens.  Yesterday I dug two holes and today I dug 1 1/2 holes.  That leaves just 4 1/2 holes left.  I bought all the lumber for the fence and began staining it today too.  I will feel good when the fence is finished - see all those big rocks I've been digging out?!

Canning This Week

We bought 8 sockeye this week and I picked them up Thursday.  I filleted them that night and stuck them in the fridge.  Total filet weight was 44 pounds - average of 5.5 pounds per fish.  Yesterday, I canned up 14 pints (used just a bit more than 3 fish), vacuum sealed the other filets and froze them.  Aren't they pretty?!?  :o)

5 Days Off Work - In A Row!! :o)

I am taking a long weekend...will be off work until Wednesday!  Yeah!!  So, what am I going to do with all this time?  I started tonight by picking up another order of sockeye salmon from a local fisherman - got 8 this week.  Brought them home and filleted them...1.5 hours...not too bad.  The fish were bigger this week - averaged 5.5 pounds of fillets per fish.  So they are all in the fridge cuz I'm tired!  Tomorrow I will can 4 fish - or however many fill up 14 jars.  The rest will be vacuum packed and frozen.  These will be smoked later in the summer and canned - when Rod gets back from Skagway.

I will be working on the chicken fence...so many holes to dig, so little time  :o)   Home Depot is open tomorrow, so I think I will buy the rest of the materials I need. 

I need to move the chicks out to the coop - they will be living in the storage area, separate from the adults.  I will put a light out there for them and they should be just fine.  I'm sure they will appreciate the extra space!  They are getting so big now!  I had switched them from newspaper to pine shavings last weekend and they are doing well with that - scratching it everywhere, but not eating it like I thought they would.  It does get in the waterer though, so I have to keep cleaning that out.  I'll have to make them a play area outside so they can be out while I'm working on the fence!

I also hope to work in the garden a bit - always things to do there.  The chickens do like slugs - I have picked some out of the garden and thrown them in the pen and they get gobbled up - cool!  Need to get more dirt and mound up the potatoes more.  I need to thin the rest of the onions.  The beet greens are ready to eat too!!

I'd like to work on my recipe binder - need to add recipes that have been judged as "keepers".

Most importantly, I will be getting enough sleep!  I have been having troubled getting to bed at a decent time - mostly because it stays light so late - the chickens don't even want to go to bed before 10pm!  So I will try to get myself on a better schedule.  Home Depot opens in the morning at 7am - I figure there won't be too many people there at that time!

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July!!

Reviewing Long Term Homesteading Goals

I was looking back through my posts and found my list from September 2006 of my homesteading goals.  So I thought I would re-post and I actually get to cross a few things off!  :o)

Here is my list to work toward - not in order of importance:

1.  Pay off all debt (credit card, 401k loan, truck, house)

2.  Buy land from Dad - 5 acres

3.  Plant fruit trees - apples, cherries, plums - 20 total

4.  Plant berry bushes - raspberries, boysenberries, thornless blackberries

5.  Build second strawberry bed and plant runners in it

6.  Build greenhouse

7.  Build storage shed

8.  Build chicken coop with enclosed yard

9.  Raise chickens for eggs and meat

10.  Build root cellar

11.  Raise enough vegetables to enjoy fresh and stored through the year

12.  Fish and hunt for all our meat needs

13.  Build deck on front of house

14.  Install gutters on house (got a quote on these - $730)

15.  Solar panels/wind power for house

16.  Woodstove for heat (looking for a Fisher woodstove - Baby Bear model)

17.  Build fence around garden

18.  Construct cistern system for water collection and storage

19.  Build pond in backyard with bridge

20.  Have a year's supply of food, paper goods, medicines, etc.

21.  Develop home craft business to eventually support our cash needs

Canning Projects

Since Rod is not here and fishing for us this summer, we are buying our fish.  We get it directly from the fisherman, so it is as fresh as you can get!  Last week was our first batch of 4 sockeye.  I cooked one up fresh and it was fantastic!  The other three I filleted and canned - each fish was about 4 pounds of fillets and made 4 jars.  My plan is to get a few each week and can - to spread out the work.  The goal is 100 pint jars.  12 down, 88 to go...

We also plan to do up some more of the smoked salmon that we then can.  We tried it for the first time last year and it was so yummy and convenient!  We did those in half pint jars and that is the perfect amount to open up and snack on.  Somehow, we have a few jars left...  I think there are 5 jars left out of 33.  Rod has tried hard to spread out how many we use, so we may have to try to make more than that this year!

Garden Pictures

The garden is doing well, mostly...  The slugs ate most of my zucchini plants and today I see they attacked the rhubarb.  Chickens like slugs, right?!

Here is the main garden - peas, strawberries, potatoes, onions and beets.  I have reseeded the beets where some did not germinate.

These are a few more raised beds - pretty wild looking as I haven't been tending the garden as I should lately.  In the boxes are carrots, more carrots with radishes, cabbages and the far one was zucchini.  I saved the best three plants and repotted them and replaced them with more cabbage.  Those yellow flowers in between the boxes are my not so favorite buttercups - they take over everything!  To the left is rhubarb and raspberries.  There are so many new raspberries coming up, next year we should have lots of berries!!  May have to consider moving the rhubarb...

Next is the greenhouse.  The tomatoes look good so far.  A few small fruits are starting to form.  The cucumbers aren't doing so well, I think they have some sort of fungus or something - they are kinda just withering up and dying.  So I have about 3 small fruits on them - not quite enough to make a jar of pickles!  I was thinking of moving them to a better spot to see if that helped and replacing them with something else - I have some jalepeno plants that I could put there.  I also have more tomatos plants that need to be planted, just have to find a place.

Chicken Coop Yard

It is really hard work digging holes in the ground we have since it is so rocky!  My body is feeling it today.  Yesterday I marked where the fence will go with a string and stakes.  I marked out where the fence posts will go and where I will dig holes for the pier blocks.  I bought one fence post to see how sturdy it is in the bracket and it is pretty good.  It does move a bit, but nothing else is hooked to it yet.  I think once the top and bottom of the fence is attached it will be quite sturdy.  I dug (well, redug) two holes and decided that was enough for one day!  :o)

Here is the first fence post installed.  It will be cut down to the height of the fence, which I think will be 5 feet.  You can also see the string line marking where the fence will be and all the pier blocks waiting to be buried.  You also see the rocks I pulled out of the holes.

 Here is a shot on the other side of the coop.  The yard will be three times as large as the coop and should give them plenty of room to roam.

The little girls (still in the house) got new litter last night.  I have become tired of changing newspaper so often and they needed to get used to what will be in the coop, so I switched them to the pine shavings.  They were really scratching around and flinging it everywhere!  They also kept knocking the waterer over and the litter was all wet.  So I rigged up some chain so I could hang it - turned out pretty good!  Can't wait until they get to move out and I can clean my desk off!!  They are 4 weeks and 6 weeks as of yesterday and I want to wait until the littler ones are 6 weeks....so two more weeks and we will start the transition!!

Garage Sale Goodies

I love all the cool things you can find from garage sales!  Got some cool things last Saturday.  I had been thinking about getting one of those hand-crank blenders, but they cost around $65 new...well...I found a brand new one in the box for $5!  When I got home, I just had to try to crush up some ice.  This took about 30 seconds:

The other cool thing I found is a cheese press.  Actually it is labelled as a fruit and lard press, but it could probably be used for different things.  It just fits so well with my old-fashioned kitchen gadget collection that I had to buy it!  It needs some cleaning before it can be used.

Moved Chickens and Now They Aren't Laying...

It has been two weeks since we moved our friends chickens from their home to ours.  There are 9 chickens and they are 2 years old.  Eggs have been sporatic - about one per day for the first 4 days, then nothing, then one per day for the past three days (7 total).  They had been laying great before we moved them.

Has anyone moved a flock before and how long until they settled in and gave you eggs?  Could my nest boxes be not dark enough?  I was thinking if that was the case, they would just pick a darker spot to lay.  Any thoughts are welcome - thanks!!

All In a Row...

I thought this was so cute - the chickens all up on their roost (except the little baby girl). 

The little baby girl is snuggled up in the warm corner.  I changed the lightbulb down from 150 to 100 watts tonight.  Need to be saving more on the electric bill!

Inspiring Website - Path To Freedom

If you haven't been to this website and read this story, you should.  www.pathtofreedom.com

It is about a family in California who grow edibles on their urban lot - urban homesteading they call it.  They even have chickens and goats!  They are able to produce 80% of their food in the summer and about 55% in the winter - impressive!!  There is a video to watch that shows their place.

They are starting a challenge similar to the Victory Gardens of WWII - Freedom Gardens.  I think this is fantastic - everyone should have a closer connection to where their food comes from - and try to grow some of their own.  This is a valuable skill to have and to pass on to the next generation.  And hey it saves money!

Chicken Coop Project - Day 20

More painting today - done with that until the fencing is moved, then I can finish the front of the building.  I worked on digging holes for the fence posts - dug 2 more, so now there are 3.  10 to go...  It is really hard digging, very rocky, so it is taking me about an hour per hole.  Here are some more pictures...

I've been focusing on the coop and not tending the garden as I should be.  I have done some weeding, but there is always more to do.  The potatoes are getting big enough to start mounding with dirt, so I'll do that this week.  The onions are looking great and I will start harvesting some for green onions.  The beets are doing great also.  This nice weather sure helps.

The red current bushes are just loaded this year - I think I'll actually have enough to make jelly!!!

No eggs today - we had just 4 last week.  I guess they are still adjusting...  Heather said maybe the nest boxes are too light and they need them to be darker.  So I put some burlap in front of two of them.  Not sure what they will think of that...but it is worth a shot.

The little girls are doing well - they were all lined up on the roost last night, but I didn't have my camera handy.  It is so cute to see the little ones up there with the bigger ones!  Today I took the two bigger ones outside for an adventure.  We just sat in the backyard in the sun.  They had a good time - stayed close to me - pecked at the weeds and the bugs.  They weren't quick enough to catch the flying bugs, but found stuff on the ground to munch.

Chicken Coop Project - Day 19

I have finished up the trim work over the past few days and yesterday I decided to paint since the weather was sunny and warm.  So I got it all setup and painted the colors I had chosen...

I decided that I wasn't happy with the colors.  The main color turned out too light and the trim color was too purple.  So, today and went back and picked colors again.  It was raining this morning, but cleared up in the evening.  Out I went to paint again...

I am much happier with the colors.  I got three sides completed with the main color, and half of the front.  The other half will have to wait until I move the chain link fence.  I got just one side done of the trim, by then the sun had gone down and the little no-see-ums were eating me up!  So hopefully I can finish that tomorrow.  I also want to dig some more fence post holes.

Chicken Coop Project - Day 18

I finished rigging up the chicken door on a pulley so I can open and close it from the storage area.  Turned out pretty good I think.  It slides up and down in the channel I made.  The other end of the rope is secured to a cleat.

I added another branch right in front of the nesting boxes to help them get in and out of them easier.  They are really digging that already.

I have been feeling bad that their outside yard is so small, but a new larger fence is in the works, just takes a little time.  So in the meantime, we fashioned a cover over half of the yard and bird netting over the other half.  Tonight I also moved some bushes next to the fence and covered some with plywood so the dog wouldn't bother them so much.  Hopefully they will like that better. 

The ramp we built seemed like it may be too steep for them, so dad brought over a longer board and it seems to be working better.

I've been working on the trim on the building too. 

What's left to finish:
Trim work - around door, around windows, far side of building
Windows - finish scraping old paint, redo some of the glazing
Fencing - dig holes for pier blocks to hold posts, build fence...
Paint!!