Preserving Greens for Winter Today is March 1st. The cusp of spring. The garden has been resting under a blanket of snow since October, but soon enough planting will begin. I’ve been doing a lot of daydreaming about the coming garden season, putting in those final seed orders, and taking inventory of the past year’s harvests. […]
Beasley Family Heart Recipe Happy Valentine’s Day! The first fall Morgan and I were dating, he went on a caribou hunt with friend Evan of Talkeetna 4×4 Adventures check them out. He is an awesome guide and all around great guy. That epic hunt is a story worth telling over and over again…. But that is […]
Apricity: The feeling of the warmth of the sun in winter It was April. Break-up season. The snow so rotten you couldn’t take a step without falling in up to your waist. We were home-bound, travel too difficult to make any progress on our projects. The lumber was milled and ready for construction and the […]
Seasons at the homestead contrast sharply from one another. This is not due solely to the weather swings of -55 to 90 degrees from winter to summer, but because of the nature of work and activity that each season brings. Most different are the times spent alone in the winter contrasted with the flurry of […]
After years of planning, a water pump was installed in our new addition during November. This marks a huge improvement in our year-round Water System. In Summer, water requires much less forethought and labor to access. We have a small, energy efficient, pump that draws water from our creek for drinking, wash water and into […]
Well-Fed: Food on the Homestead Where does it come from? How is it stored? To us, self-sufficiency means providing most of our own food. In most cases, food sourced by your own hand is affordable, healthy, and more delicious. Once you have tasted fresh lettuce out of the garden or a perfectly ripe strawberry, any […]
Life Dictated by Flyable Weather October. A month of weather. Ice fog blanketed the landscape for days. When it lifted, the snow fell. When the snow stopped and the clouds cleared, temperatures dropped, and the wind howled. October consistently dishes out the worst weather we see.
Water System, Final Harvests, Friends September 2018 September was a unique month for us at the homestead… and away from the homestead. During the beginning of the month, Morgan laid insulated pipe for our gray water system. We are increasingly closer to running water at the homestead! The pieces are all coming together. During […]
August 2018 Fall has hit. We are entering mid-October, and just now reviewing the final flash of summer. Before the snow flurries, we enter our own mad flurry of preparation for colder months. As with each summer season before, we kept busy with projects. We are consistently more ambitious than time allows. August kicked off […]
Ponies, Fencing… and Running Water?? July 2018 Summer in the North is a great blur. Folks say that the constant light is as beautiful as it is disorienting. Has it been one day punctuated by many naps, or has it been a month? It is hard to tell where the day starts and stops.