Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

One Step Closer to Debt Free

Last Friday, I made the final payment on my credit card - PAID IN FULL! 

It has been less than two years since I really buckled down and started to focus on getting rid of my debt.  I started with nearly $20,000 in credit card debt, $10,000 owing on my truck - all of that is gone, plus I paid $4,000 to get the woodstove installed.  It is a great feeling to have that all gone, just the house left now.  I figure it will take 3 years to have the house paid off too.

I thought it would take forever to get the credit cards paid off, but once I got started, it just accelerated.  The biggest change I made was that I use cash.  Each payday, I take out spending money for food, gas, etc in cash.  This helps me from overspending - I don't use checks.  When I make a purchase, I use dollar bills, not my change.  I collect the change in a jar and when it builds up, I deposit it and make an extra credit card payment.  It is amazing how fast that can add up!  I pay bills on payday, so I don't have that money sitting there.  Any money left over went to the credit card.  Any extra money I got would go to the credit card.  Now I will save for purchases, not charge them.  I really think about buying stuff.  I've been motivated by other blogs here and use lots of money-saving tips I've learned here.  Thank you for that!!

If you've been thinking of getting rid of your debt - find a way to do it because it is such a great feeling to have it gone.  You can do it - where there is a will, there is a way!!

Potato Harvest

There was finally a little break in the weather this afternoon - I even saw the sun!  That has been a rare occurance this summer.  It was a great chance to dig up our potatoes - organic Yukon Gold.  The plants have all died and I was worried the potatoes might have rotted with all the rain we have been having.  But they were perfectly fine!  Yea!!  I dug half of the large raised bed and here is what I ended up with:

There are a few good sized ones in there, most are smaller ones.  I am hoping there is about 2 more bucket fulls left to harvest - the other half of the raised bed and the four potato bins.  We don't have a root cellar or a basement, so no real good spot to store them.  I'll save out some for the next month or so, but will try canning some and maybe drying some too.  I would like to be able to store some to use as next year's seed potatoes...  Anyone have any advice?

Craft Show with my Soaps

Saturday and Sunday I had a space at the Nugget Mall Arts & Crafts Fair with my handmade soaps.  It was a huge success!  I sold 235 bars!!!  I can hardly believe it.  That is better than I did last year at the Public Market by over 100 bars!  I'm just so happy with how it went.  I'm sure most of it was because everyone just received their Permanent Fund money, so they all had cash to spend.  Works for me!

Here is how I had my tables setup.  I had 15 varieties of soap at this show.

The best sellers this time were: Berry Patch, Lavender Dreams, and a 3-way tie between Oatmeal, Milk & Honey, Pioneer Peppermint, and Alaskan Rainforest.  This was the first time I was setup to accept credit cards.  I signed up with ProPay (www.propay.com), which allows me to call in to process, or use my laptop.  I had 4 credit card transactions, so I am glad I can offer that option to people.  It is on the expensive side if you do just small transactions like mine, but I still think it is worth it.  I'm working on finding a cheaper way to process credit cards though.

I have signed up for 7 more craft shows before Christmas...  I am going to have to get serious about making lots of soap now!  yeah!  I have this week to make everything for the next show, which is October 18 & 19.  I need to make sure I have enough supplies too since everything needs to be ordered and takes time to get it through the mail.  I use rain water in each recipe that I collect in buckets outside - nature has made sure I have plenty of that the past couple weeks!  I guess that is one good thing about all this rain  :o)

I sell my soaps on my website if you want to go take a peek:  www.homesteaderscache.com

Great Day at the Farmer's Market

Today turned out to be a wonderful day!  Rod helped me at my Farmer's Market table this morning.  We got there and got setup by 9am when it opened.  By 10am I was sold out - blueberry muffins $1, 12 oz jams & jellies $7, and wild strawberry plants $1.  I am so happy!  We packed up our table and had some time to look around at the other tables and demonstrations.  Then at noon I gave a talk on raising chickens for eggs.  I was quite nervous, since public speaking is NOT my favorite thing, but it worked out fine and I did alright.

Rod and I are already looking forward to next year and more market days.  Making plans to expand our garden area and how to get more berries to be able to make more jams than this year!  I wish I had remembered to grab my camera and take a picture of the table - it looked really cute!

Jam & Jelly for the Market

I have four batches made up for the Farmer's Market on Saturday.  I am using 12 oz quilted crystal jars since they are my favorite!  But the batches don't make as many of the bigger jars.  Oh well, I'll just make as many as I can and call it good.

So far I have made:
7 - Red Current Jelly
5 - Wild Strawberry Jam
4 - Wild Strawberry & Rhubarb Jelly
6 - Raspberry, Blueberry & Current Jelly

I have extracted juice for a batch of Blueberry Rhubarb Jelly.  They have all turned out very good so far I think.  I have small amounts of each for Rod to try when he gets here on Thursday - he is a great taste-tester and is always telling me I should sell my stuff, so we'll see what his opinion is!

I thought I had more blueberries than I do - one of the full gallon bags turned out to be blackberries.  I will save those for us since they are some we picked in Oregon and aren't local.  All the rest of the fruit is local.  I used all organic sugar in the recipes.  I will be decorating the jars with fabric tied with raffia and a hangtag describing the variety.  I will post pictures when I have some all done up.  Next, I need to settle on a price to charge.  Somewhere between $5 and $10...  There is a company in a nearby town that sells wild jams & jellies at $5 for a 4 oz jar. 

I picked some red huckleberries yesterday, but not quite enough for jelly.  I also need more blueberries, so I will get on my raingear and venture out into the rain today.  Hopefully Clover and I can find a good, productive patch!!

Juneau Farmer's Market

The first ever Juneau Farmer's Market is coming up on Saturday, August 30 from 9am to 2pm.  I have signed up for a table and will be selling jams and jellies, rhubarb bread, blueberry muffins and strawberry plants - all from local fruits.  I will be busy this weekend making the jams and jellies - hope I get it all done!  I will bake the bread and muffins on Friday.  I also volunteered to give a short talk about raising chickens for eggs.  I told them I was just a beginner myself, but would be willing to share what I've learned so far.  I will do that from 12:00 to 12:30.

There will be other speakers on topics such as growing garlic, flavoring with flowers, composting, free gardening resources, making cheese, greenhouse construction, and edible native plants.  The Dept of Fish and Game will have a tent setup and will present how to fillet salmon and tips on smoking and butchering a deer and how to take care of the meat.  Sounds to me like a wonderful day!!  I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to listen to all the presentations and still work my table  :o)

So if you live in Juneau, make sure to check it out!  It will be downtown at the old armory building, now the Juneau Arts & Culteral Center.  Oh, yeah, and come buy some homemade local jam!!

Red Current Harvest

I have 8 red current bushes that are 3 years old now (or 4, I can't remember).  The berries were so big and plentiful this year!  Our summer has been so cool and rainy, I'm suprised anything is producing.

It looked like all the berries were ripe, or very close, so I picked them to make jelly.  They are fun and quick to pick if you just take the whole string.  Since they will be used for jelly, I won't have to pick them off either, just boil as is to get the juice out.  I got two gallon size bags full and they weighed 7 1/2 pounds!!  I'm very pleased!  They are in the freezer waiting for me to make jelly.

Ginormous Egg

Here are the eggs that were laid today - one of the Aracaunas laid a huge one - it was a double yolker - but have you ever seen one that big?  It weighed nearly 4 ounces!

Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) Weekend Was Great!

This weekend I particiated in a BOW weekend which was FANTASTIC!  I just learned so much and gained alot of confidence in activities I was a bit nervous about before.

I left Friday morning on a boat up to Haines - about a 2 1/2 hour ride.  The weather was great - no rain and the sun came out for awhile, plus the water was calm.  The first day was spent getting to know the layout of the Rainbow Glacier Bible Camp, unpacking my HUGE backpack, and finding where we were supposed to go.  After getting settled and having lunch, my first class was Dutch Oven Gourmet.  There were just 8 students in the class - each pair prepared 4 dishes.  Our table made biscuits, a caribou roast, scalloped potatoes, and coconut cream cheese cake.  Wow!  Everything turned out great - nothing was burned and it tasted yummy!  I can't wait to show Rod's brother Jeff, who is very into dutch oven cooking, what I can cook now!

I had 2 classes on Saturday - Field Dressing and Salmon Fishing.  We cut up a deer in the field dressing class - 4 students in the class and it was all hands on.  They gave us each a buck knife to take home.  I learned what parts were what and how to take care of the meat so you have great tasting meat when you get it home.  The woman instructor hunts moose each year with another woman and she explained a bit about how you deal differently with a moose vs. a deer.  The other instructor was a guy and he was very patient with us and explained everything in detail - they were both great teachers.  Then in my Salmon Fishing I learned about trolling gear and what is needed, how to set it up.  Then we went out on boats and got some practice - wrong time of year at that spot for fishing for salmon, but at least we got some practice.  We saw some seals - and a bear on the beach.

Yesterday was the last day - and the class I was most intimidated by - Chainsaw.  I was nervous because I've never handled a chainsaw, started one or really been around one being used.  So it was all new.  The instructors were a husband and wife who own the Saw Shop in Haines.  They were great teachers, which put us all at ease.  We were given safety gear - hat, safety glasses, ear protection, gloves and chaps - all to take home!  Cool!!  They went through how to start them, and we started them ourselves.  We practiced cutting slices off of logs - from top down and with an undercut.  Then we learned how to change the chain, how to sharpen the teeth, rotate the bar, etc.  The last thing we did was simulate cutting down a tree.  He stood up 6' sections and we made the face cut and back cut and made them fall down!  And mine even fell the right way  :o)

The Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) began in Wisconsin.  The program in Alaska is sponsored by the Department of Fish and Game and the Outdoor Heritage Foundation.  There are BOW workshops in 45 of our 50 states, Canada, and other countries too.  You should find out if there is one near you and participate.  It was a fantastic weekend and was great to meet a bunch of ladies who wanted to learn stuff just like me - and most of them were from Juneau.  I was so happy to see so many people volunteering their time and resources to make this weekend happen - they put ALOT of work into it.  I only took a few pictures because most of the time I was busy doing something, but they had people going around to take pictures and I will get a copy of all of them in a couple weeks...until then here are mine:

Carnival of Home Preserving

Jennifer at Quiverfull Family is hosting this week's Carnival of Home Preserving.  This is a really cool way to look around and see what other people have been preserving and get some great ideas!  Visit it at:  http://quiverfullfamily.com/blog/2008/07/28/the-carnival-of-home-preserving-july-28-2008

I submitted a link, so you will see how to can rhubarb.  What have you been canning - have you blogged about it?  You should submit it for next week's carnival - just click here:  http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_4663.html

Canning Rhubarb in Syrup

I decided it was time to harvest my rhubarb - I picked most of it!  It was starting to look more like a jungle than a garden - I probably should have harvested awhile ago.  I was able to get to the raspberry bushes and get them tied up before they start getting ripe - the bushes are pretty loaded!

I clipped off the rhubarb leaves and put them in the compost and brought the stalks in.

It took me awhile to wash and chop the stalks, sorting out the bad ones as I went.  I put them in a big bowl.

I measured 20 cups into one big pot with 5 cups of sugar and 16 cups into another big pot with 4 cups of sugar, stirring to combine well.  The directions said to set aside for 3 to 4 hours and let the juices come out.  It was already late, so I put them in the fridge overnight.  Tonight, this is what it looked like - lots of juice!

Next, I brought the mixture to a boil and got my canner ready for boiling water bath.  Got the jars, lids and rings ready too.  These kind of projects make me wish for a bigger stove, or bigger kitchen.

Then fill up the jars, wipe rims, fit with hot lid and ring.

Then lower into the hot water in the canner, making sure there is a couple inches of water above the jars.  Bring to boil (this took forever!) and boil for 15 minutes.  I put the lid on the canner to keep in the heat.

Let sit in the canner for 5 minutes after turning off the heat before you take out the jars.  Then I just put them on a towel on the counter.  I had extra to taste - it is very good, just the right amount of sweet for the tart I think.  I look forward to using it for rhubarb crisp, as a pie filling, over ice cream...  I ended up with 13 pints and 1 half-pint - hope they all seal!  I'm pleased that they kept their color, I worried about them looking like yucky mush  :o)

Canning More Salmon

I am working on another canner load of sockeye salmon tonight.  This will bring our total up to 56 pints.  All I can say is I'm getting tired of fish  :o)  But I know it will be so worth it every time I open a jar!  Here is a picture of my canning so far...

We also have 10 fish in the freezer to smoke and can up when Rod gets home.  Aren't you looking forward to that honey?  :o)

I picked a few blueberries yesterday and made some muffins today.  They were very good.  I used fresh eggs from the chickens.  They are in back in production now - they have blessed us with 2 dozen in the last 6 days!  Yeah!!

Only two weeks until my Becoming an Outdoors Woman weekend.  I will be flying to Haines and staying for 3 days and learning all sorts of cool stuff!  The classes I am taking are:  dutch oven gourment, field dressing, salmon fishing, and chainsaw.  I am looking forward to meeting ladies who share similar interests!  My dad has pointed out a bunch of trees for me to take down on the property after I take my chainsaw class, so I will get lots of practice right off the bat!  Can't wait!

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)