MAY I Say I'm Sorry? :(

WOW I think this is the longest I've gone between posts. We've been so crazy busy with so many unexpected challenges that taking the time to sit down and post has just been a no go. I will try to back up to were I left off in mid may and hit a few of the highlights month to month.

MAY 2015

The kids entered the Science fair at the Gladys Dart School in Manley with their smoke bomb experiment.

The won second place for their age group.

The school kids hatched some eggs from our flock that they had displayed at the science fair.

Heavy truck traffic from Eureka to Manley to haul gravel for the new road to Nome took a heavy toll on our road and made travel a huge pain.

We got our first ever wiener pigs to raise.

Ken gave the 4-H group a lesson on gun cleaning and safety.

One of our biggest projects was putting up our new 30'x96' high tunnel.

Lilly gave birth to a single doeling that we named Sitka Sue.

Dr. Watson and Rover investigate the new baby.

Piglets are growing so fast.

Putting the plastic on the high tunnel.

Incubating our first turkey eggs.

JUNE

Planting Begins

Iris gives birth to twin doelings Abby and Zeva. They are sooo tiny but very strong.

The cats Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson watched the birth from their perch.

Potatoes have started comming up!

Progress in the high tunnel.

First baby Turkey to hatch!

Everything is Growing

.

Enter the FIRE! The Beauty and Baker fires were burning just a couple of miles from our homes. After smoke jumpers landed in our front yard we were told to evacuate to the gravel pit across the road. Here are the animals during the evacuation. We were only evacuated for a few days but it wreaked havoc on the farm. The high tunnel got over grown out of control and we lost most of the baby turkeys that were still hatching in the incubator.

Fire Fighters set up camp on the runway in front of the house. The head people camped in our yard. They allowed us to move back home and used the pit to house additional groups of fire fighters.

My mini broody hen doing her part to help save the chicks that came out of the brooder during the evacuation. 

JULY

The fire gave us a small reprieve to enjoy our 4th of July. Oak won the bike parade with his Eagle Bike.

Then the fire blew back up again. The weather was HOT, WINDY and DRY.

Cooling off while the smoke was clear.

When the wind would calm the smoke settled in turning day to night and making it hard to breath. The light specks in the pictures are falling ash.

The kids became friends with some of the fire fighters that were camped by the house. Here they are trying on fire fighter Brian's gear.

They started a back burn from the fire break to the fire line.

You can see the flames through the trees.

To spite the fire things kept on growing.

Finally the threat of Fire was pretty much over.

AUGUST

We finally got to hatch some chicks.

Harvest Begins

potato patch

SEPTEMBER

Were September went I have no idea. I didn't even take any pictures. 

Too busy harvesting and preserving. 

OCTOBER

Temps are Dropping 

We started construction on our new Fodder and Bath House. 

Sherlock Holmes guarding the barn from voles.

Chicks are Growing up Fast and some handsome new roosters.

You think these goats know that there food will be grown in here?

Well that pretty much sums it up to were we are now. Hopefully I can do some better updating over these cooler months. Again I am very sorry for the lack of updates and hope that these pictures will help you to catch up.

Blessings to you all and special thanks to our friends and family who kept us lifted up in prayer during the fires.

Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

WWOOF

Hello All

I'm hoping to have a chance here soon to post a proper blog update but for now I wanted to get this out there.

Because we have had a lot of people interested in visiting us and because we are growing so fast we have decided to become WWOOF hosts. We plan to host our first wwoofers from Spring (April/May) through fall (Oct/Nov). They will be housed in our 5th wheel travel trailer until such time as we can get a small dry cabin built just for hosting. There is no pay involved this is a volunteer position were we provide room and board in exchange for a minimum of 5-6 hours per day 5 days a week or more as needed. Our guests will be expected to work with us on a variety of farm projects. For more information you can see our host profile at wwoof.usa.org. just click on the graphic above and we are listed under Sweet Homestead Alaska. You can also contact me directly through my blog or facebook page if you are interested in spending the season working and learning here at Sweet Homestead Alaska.

We look forward to bringing some one in that we can teach all of the things that we are learning by doing here on our little budding farmstead.

If Alaska isn't your cup of tea, there are Wwoofing opportunities all over the world.

So Glad The Son Arose!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday!

We went to a wonderful service at Manley Baptist Fellowship. Ate at the amazing potluck, I'm always so impressed by the amazing feeds put on by the folks in Manley Hot Springs. So many great cooks all in one place and plenty of great food to go around.

 This year we dyed Easter Eggs using different berries. We just poured hot water over the berries, added a plash of vinegar and squished the berries a little with a spoon. The colors came out great on the blue and brown shelled eggs. From the top Blue container down: Blue Berries, Highbush Cranberry, Black Current, Low Bush Cranberry, and Rose Hips.

The Sally Hudson Crafter's Guild put on their annual Easter Egg hunt followed by hot dogs at the Manley Hot Springs Community Hall. They did a kid's egg hunt with lots of candy filled eggs. There were also 3 eggs with pieces of paper that say $5.00 on them. At the Hall they can exchange the paper for a $5.00 bill. Lisa and Oak found 2 of the 3 $5.00 eggs. After the kids hunt was the adults hunt. There are candy filled eggs and also eggs with little strips of paper numbered from 1 to 11. The numbered strips are exchanged at the hall for extra large candy bars. I got #11 and got to bring Ken home a HUGE Cookies and Cream candy bar. They also raffled off three Easter baskets. The kids and I won one of them. We put most of the candy into Ken's Easter basket. 

Hay was left over from the Iditarod checkpoint on Twin Lakes.

Ken got to attend his first men's conference at Victory Bible Camp. He went with Pastor Earl Malpass and Darryl. They had a great time and Ken said that he really enjoyed the preaching and the fellowship.

Photo By Earl Malpass

Ken got to go for a helicopter ride and go help out a friend at his mine. He really enjoyed the views of the area from the chopper. 

We took Kitty and Tisha two of our sled dogs in for the ASAP spay neuter clinic. The people at the clinic were awesome! While we were there we met up with a lady from Kool Kat Rescue out of Anchorage who drove all the way up to bring us two barn cats from their barn cat rescue. How awesome is that!!! WE named the black and white one Dr. Watson and the tabby Sherlock Holmes. They are fitting in well and I love having them around. Both are turning out to be closet love bugs and will come to me now for loving.

We also picked up some Cornish cross meat chicks. We hadn't planned on getting any this year but finally decided to pick a few up while we were in town. So we took two dogs in to Fairbanks and brought home 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 10 chicks. 

My Dark Cornish broody hen was sitting on 8 eggs but some broke and gooed all over the others which ended up killing all the embryos. We swapped out her last 2 dead eggs for a couple of wooden eggs. The Manley Hot Springs school bought a dozen hatching eggs from us and we are hoping to get at least one chick from their hatch to put under her. After all she has gone over her 21 days and the poor girl deserves a baby of her own. 

Our Very first Turkey Egg Yippee!!!!

We put 40 eggs in the incubator. The incubator turner malfunctioned and broke 4 eggs so we were down to 36. We cleaned it up and fixed the problem. I candled the eggs and took out 3 that were not fertile so 33 out of 36 are developing well. 

Dr. Watson and Rover saying hello and getting to know each other.

Sherlock Holmes on top of his house in the barn.

Meat Chicks are growing so fast!

One of my 2 mini hens a blue bantim orpington is sitting on two huge blue Americana eggs. Her eggs are due to hatch the same day as the ones in the incubator. I'm hoping I can give her a couple extra babies when the time comes ;)

Dr. Watson has started comming to me when I call his name.

Future site of our 30' x 96' high tunnel. We're slowly digging the 100 post holes with those post hole diggers. We can only go a few inches at a time as the ground thaws out. Each hole has to be 3' deep.

Pieces ready to be added. Bee hives in the back ground.

Insulated bee hives are happy and active!

Notice the pollen on their legs. We're Praying for a good honey year. I saw a lot of fireweed sprouts popping up so I'm hopeful. 

John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

My THRIVE 8 Week Experience Update.

So far things are going great! Feeling good with more sustained energy, better digestion, better sleep, fewer aches and pains, my skin looks healthier and so far I have lost 8 lbs! I'm not even done with my first 8 weeks yet!!!

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