It is a partly cloudy, 40°F day, that I mostly spent inside a garage putting the last coat of finish on the first batch of pine boards for my daughter’s bedroom ceiling. It is the first day of spring! The vernal equinox occurred at 7:49 PM tonight in Alaska. The sun rose at 7:44 AM and set at 7:56 PM for a total of 12 hours and 12 minutes of sun above the horizon and the long dawn and dusk periods too. It might still be freezing every night but thaw is on the way and with all this sunlight it is not hard to feel antsy about spring.

I know where I was one year ago today…writing my first blog post! I meant to start writing again in February but did not manage to make the time till now. But I have been planning, ordering seeds, starting the first of the seeds and taking mad notes from all the gardening podcasts I listen to during the cold times.

The alliums are the first seeds I start and they are growing in their trays. Already we are using plastic folding tables to eat on as the plant trays utilize the window space.

I think I might have over seeded some blocks…I have some thinning to do in my future with these celery starts!

These seasonal chores stir to life the excitement of spring. The weather is so mild outside that it is already difficult to remember the bitter cold of January and February. But while so many things are the same as usual here, others are not. The State of Alaska has taken covid-19 very seriously. During spring break we learned that students were not to return to school until March 30. All restaurants and bars in the state have shut down and we have heard reports of long lines in stores while folks stock up on supplies in case they are quarantined. Stocking up is a way of life for us and we have many supplies on hand. But we make periodic town runs for necessary items and it has been interesting to consider our option of driving 250 miles just to find empty shelves in the stores.

Alaska’s lack of food security is a discussion I have had many times over the years. Due to the fact that most of the food consumed in state comes from Outside, it is estimated that at any point in time the state only has 3 days worth of food if shipping were to be interrupted. Anyone who has gone shopping in Alaska in the last two weeks has come face to face with our inability to easily restock when a large portion of the population unexpectedly buys a large amount of supplies.

I had the honor last year of being asked to participate in an interview about growing food for our family (and school fundraisers, and some sales) with Erin McKinstry for her podcast Out Here. Season 2 of her podcast is all about Alaskan agriculture specifically with a focus on food security and climate change. She could not have had better timing as so many more people than usual are thinking about that same thing now. Erin’s podcast is beautifully crafted and I recommend listening to season 1 and 2, as it comes out. It is a window into the unique lifestyle we live in this part of rural Alaska. Check it out at https://www.outherepodcast.com/

More now than ever, I am glad to live a life where trout swim in our lake, our garden provides vegetables, the wilds surrounding us provide meat, food and herb plants, and we know how to make do with very little. We have organized the kids into a schedule of chores, outside time, online academic stimulation, and journalling. We are listening to the news. We are trying hard to practice social distancing on a family homestead with 4 families. It is hard. We are talking about good hygiene every day.   We are trying not to be afraid of what the future might bring but instead take each day at a time. And we need to do our spring work of harvesting firewood for next winter and finishing the winter projects, especially the one taking over the greenhouse…

I am looking forward to the return of the salmon, the growing season in the garden, and spending everyday outside. I hope you are too.

Start some plants. Even the sight and smell of the sprouting wheat grass we grow for the guinea pig is therapeutic when life is still dormant outside. I have seen many posts on instagram about victory gardens. What a great idea! I am happy to help anyone who wants to get started on the path to better local food security.

Happy Spring!

Ten below zero on the winter solstice in a cozy house with the wood stove cranking and a farm raised chicken roasting in the oven. The tree is up, the presents are wrapped, and I only have a few more tasks to complete before starting to cook for the extended family Christmas Eve dinner. At the moment, life is good!

Even with the low light, our pullets have been laying 3 to 5 eggs a day.

It has been a hectic week. On Saturday, my daughter and I attended the annual Kenny Lake Christmas bazaar to man a table with KLS and PTO fundraiser items and our own Wood Frog Farm table with dried herbs, carrots, and cat toys. We had a great day visiting and making a little extra money too.

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My sister-in-law and I drove into Anchorage on frosty roads to spend two days shopping at box stores, malls, and small businesses to find the Christmas presents we wished to have for our loved ones. 6 hours of driving to immerse oneself in retail is NOT my favorite activity and this is the first year I have not had all my ducks in a row with presents before December rolled around. While a delicious sushi dinner and a wonderful home of a friend to stay in soothed the big town blues, we were happy to finish with our lists and make the long slog back home. However driving in the dark looking for caribou and moose is pretty stressful all on its own. We knew they were crossing the Glenn Highway as a road kill caribou had been donated to the Kenny Lake School Nutrition Program just the day before. 

Road kill?

Yup! There is a list that families can get on to collect road kill in Alaska. When an animal is killed by a vehicle, the next person on the list is called to come butcher the animal and bring home the meat. It feeds hungry families. A very generous donor drove to it and then skinned and quartered the caribou and delivered it in great shape to the school. On Thursday, we butchered the caribou taking the meat off the bone and turning it into burger to be used for spaghetti, sloppy joes, tacos, etc… It took 3 hours and it was a fun day to spend at the school as the staff and students completed salt dough projects and also prepared for the Christmas Program that night.

Our unfinished root cellar under the house hit 32°F this past week as well so I spent my spare free time bringing all the bins, crates, and totes up the ladder and trying to figure out what to do with all the food. Potatoes and carrots and a cooler full of cabbages went to a neighbors heated, but cool, garage. The rest we are eating or preparing to put in the freezer. Nothing like a little extra processing while getting ready for the holidays!

My goal this year was to write weekly from the Vernal Equinox to the Winter Solstice. Because I publicly stated I was going to do it, I actually followed through (mostly). I wrote 38 entries instead of 40 due to somehow missing two weeks. I am going to take some time off and start again with the new gardening season at the end of February. I am going to be helping build a new room in our house so our son and daughter can each have their own space. Sharing a room has lately become a battleground. So sandpaper and knotty pine will be my focus for a couple of months in the dark and cold months instead of the garden.

Solstice 2019 is at 7:19 PM in Alaska, so an hour and 20 minutes from now (as I write). And then, we will be gaining daylight! Solstice has been a day I have looked forward too all my life. From my childhood of attending Revels in Sanders theater in Cambridge MA, to barn parties with storytellers, to giant Alaskan bonfires and beer, I have always loved celebrating the time of the year when we in the north start turning back toward the sun. Today my daughter and I made beeswax candles. We did not have the right wick for tapers or a great set up. But we made it work and they turned out great. I thought making candles for our upcoming holiday celebration was a good way to celebrate the shortest day.

From Revels, there is a poem I have heard on stage, at our Solstice gatherings and read nearly every year of my life. I love it more than nearly any other poem.

THE SHORTEST DAY

So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen,
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year’s sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing, behind us — listen!
All the long echoes sing the same delight
This shortest day
As promise wakens in the sleeping land.
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends, and hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year, and every year.
Welcome Yule! By Susan Cooper
Copyright Susan Cooper 1974

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from our home to yours!

Until next year I hope you stay snug and warm and dreaming of your 2020 garden!!!!