the animal's journal

[theanimal]

I spoke too soon with regards to my food forest. All ~25 of the apple trees survived the winter and have been growing like crazy. Some have grown nearly a foot in just the past month. I was also wrong about the hazelnuts; they were late to bloom but more than about a third (~ 7) survived. The Siberian pines that remain are mostly alive but don’t seem to be doing much growing.

I spent a few days digging up the swales and making them deeper. I wasn’t able to do it to the correct depth last year so this new depth should line up with my estimates about catching and storing maximum water events and reducing flooding.

None of the berry plants I planted late last fall survived. I planted them too late and it was too cold for them to germinate and survive. I still have some leftover seeds that I plan to plant but am facing the same dilemma that led to last year’s problem. It is very dry here, only one day of measurable rain since early May, and will likely remain so until late July. Then begins our rainy season and temperatures usually drop significantly with it. So I wonder whether it’s best to plant with warm temps and no rain or cool-cold temps and plenty of water. I tried the latter last year, so I reckon it’s best to just go ahead and plant now and see what happens.

I’m also planning on planting some asparagus, garlic, chives, and sunchokes somewhere in the field among the trees. There are also some wild raspberry plants from nearby vacant land and that I'm looking to replant them in the field.

Not much activity on the mushroom logs yet. I do notice some white fungal activity on the ends of the plugs and some of the logs. Here’s hoping they burst forth with mushrooms come wetter times.

I am in the process of putting a fence up around the garden. I cleared some trees to allow for more light and am using the same felled trees as fence posts. I peeled the bark off the bottom 2 ft, burned the ends and applied some wood preservative that I’m trying to get rid of to the exposed 2 ft sections of the poles. One of our friends upgraded her fence and wanted to get rid of her old fencing wire so we got essentially a brand-new fence for free (only 1 year of use). It is a little short, so I am thinking of putting an electrical wire a foot or two above it to further deter and keep out the moose. I’m waiting on some of the frozen ground in my post holes to thaw out before I can finish getting the last few posts in and finish things up.


Fencing in progress with plenty of smoke!

DW and I went dip netting for salmon a couple weeks ago on the Copper River. The state counts salmon at a certain spot further down river, so you can kind of estimate if there will be a good run around certain periods but ultimately it is more or less a crapshoot. There was supposed to be a very big run a few weekends ago so we timed our visit to align with when the salmon should theoretically arrive. After a long drive, we arrived late at night, to find people leaving with truck beds full of fish having hit their limit. So with high hopes, we slept in our car then biked down the trail a few miles to our usual spot the next morning thinking we timed it perfectly. But it was not to be. We spent a whole day fishing with our nets in the water and came away with only 9 (our limit/target is 35). Some friends went a few days after us and limited out. Oh well, it’s just the way it is and 9 is a whole lot better than 0. On the plus side in the fish department, we got about 10 lbs worth of halibut for free from some of the people DW supervises.



We caught roughly 225 lbs or so of salmon last year and have consumed or gifted ~90% of it in a 12 mo period. So we have about 85 lbs of fish right now between salmon and halibut for the next 12 mo period. At the moment, I don’t think I want to do anymore salmon fishing this year, but it’d be ideal to get over 200 lbs so maybe I will later next month. I am planning on taking my setnet to the Yukon to try and catch pike and whitefish when we go to berry camp in August.

Our friends/neighbors down the street built a semi above ground root cellar early last winter. The temperature stayed constant throughout the winter right around freezing but unfortunately filled with water once things melted out. DW and I are planning on doing the same thing within the next couple months but enveloping the structure with a pond liner to keep out water.

My pizza making ability has gotten very good. I have made 19 now and think I can now compete with all but the best pizza places. I think the difference lies within the dough and mine is still not as good as my favorite place. Theirs is a bit lighter and richer. If I make it back there, I’ll see if I can talk with one of the cooks about their process. I can now transfer the pizza from the tray to the stone with just cornmeal and a spatula, no problem. Now that the output is consistent, I’m going to start doing some more experimentation with the dough.



It’s been very smoky here for the past few weeks, especially so in the last week. A 20k acre fire has been growing about 16 miles northwest of here and another of equal size about an hours drive south. Less than 1 mi visibility at times. I’ve only been able to do a few hours of intense work outside each day when the smoke is at lower levels and is less dense. Much more than that and I get a headache. A couple days ago the air quality index registered at a max of 528. Anything over 500 is so high that it is beyond the scale of the Air Quality Index and there are no official recommendations. For reference, over 200 is considered hazardous.

So I currently find myself somewhat unfortunately spending a lot of time inside mid-summer. Thankfully, I have a large stack of books that I haven’t been able to get to, plenty of songs to play on the uke and time with friends that keep me enjoying my time. We have bags, and gear packed in the car, ready to take off if conditions change. It is very unlikely that we will be affected but we are prepared to take action if so. AK follows a 3 stage: ready, set, go system. Right now we are at “ready”. If it changes to “set” we are taking off.

PFD Year: Month 6
Total Monthly Spending: $391.72
Monthly spending as percentage of monthly target: 124%
YTD: $2,413.43

[sky]

One thing you can do with pizza dough is to add a modest amount (5% to 10%) of instant mashed potatoes to the flour. Another method, if you are using yeast, is to let the dough sit overnight in a warm place (not over body temperature, though).

Your projects are very interesting, thank you for posting them. It looks like you chose a great place to live.

[Western Red Cedar]

Sorry to hear about the smoke. Do your best to avoid it as it probably has a lot of particulate matter. Is this your first experience with this type of air quality? Has it impacted your thinking about living in the area for the long-term?

After more than five years of these types of conditions it has me second guessing staying in the PNW for the long-term.

[theanimal]

@Sky- Thanks for the idea and kind words. I'll have to give that mashed potato dough a try. I always enjoy reading what you are up to as well.


@WRC- Yes, definitely not ideal. We have an air purifier inside so that definitely helps but outside has plenty of PM 10 and 2.5 It hasn't let up at all since I last posted (AQI of 250 as I write this) and likely won't until the rainy season arrives later this month. It's shaping up to be the 10th largest fire season on record (>3 million acres) and the 4th largest this century. I've had a few years of wildfires, my first year full time here in 2015 (3rd largest this century) as well as the summer of 2019. Winter doesn't offer much of a respite in town as local geography creates an inversion (similar to SLC) that traps PM 2.5 from woodstoves, car/plane exhaust and exhaust from the coal plants when its pretty cold out (below -20 F) leading to similar air quality numbers as now. We are one valley over from town, so we do not suffer from the poor air quality besides when we are doing errands and stuff in town. That's still not pleasant and ideal.

I have looked around at other areas within the state and have also perused other areas outside the state, mainly the PNW and briefly the upper Midwest. DW isn't as attached to the area we live now as much as I am but we both very much love Alaska. There aren't any states that I know of that offer the equivalent lack of regulation (in just about everything), large amount of wild public lands and low population density. We have considered moving back to the Arctic, but would like to purchase property there if that's the case which isn't available at the moment. DW would prefer to be closer to the ocean. So who knows, I enjoy the community I have here but it sure would nice to have better air quality and access to outdoor activities in very wild places from my doorstep like I did in the Arctic.

Where would you move if you left the PNW?

ETA: DW and I have found it very surprising that people continue to run, bike and go around outside for seemingly long periods outside as if the air is smoke free and there is no harm to their health. I don't know if it's lack of long term thinking, just not caring or what.

[Frugalchicos]

Hey,

Sorry to hear about the smoke. I hope it clears out soon and you don't have to run away.

In regards, to the pizza, I experimented with it for some time a few years ago and got to the point that I think the oven is what it makes the different between your pizza and those ones you can get out there at nice places. I read a few books about it and I especially liked The Elements of Pizza. Not sure if you can get at your public library or maybe download it from the internet.

All the best guys and stay safe.

[Western Red Cedar]

Where would you move if you left the PNW?

ETA: DW and I have found it very surprising that people continue to run, bike and go around outside for seemingly long periods outside as if the air is smoke free and there is no harm to their health. I don't know if it's lack of long term thinking, just not caring or what.

Ha - I've noticed people just hanging out on restaurant patios eating lunch and drinking beer in heavy smoke. Lots of people running, or walking around without too much concern.

We live east of the Cascades, so we've talked about moving closer to the Puget Sound. They still get hit with smoke, but it usually clears out more quickly due to the proximity to the Ocean. The fires aren't generally as bad on that side of the mountains as well.

Spain would be pretty high on the list for a cultural fit, or possibly Mexico, which would allow much quicker access to the US. I've also thought of a strategy that includes living part time on my family's land or elsewhere in the PNW, and just leaving for a couple months of the year if/when the fires and smoke get really bad. The downside of this is that those are some of the best months to be in the PNW, it would limit the ability to develop a productive garden and have animals, and it is a carbon intensive lifestyle.

Perhaps the solution is just to develop a really tight house with a good air filtration system. I just know that it sucks living in heavy smoke and 100 degree heat for a month or more every summer.

[theanimal]

@Frugal chicos- Thank you and a belated happy birthday! Looked like you had a splendid time on the beach. That's a good point, I hadn't thought much about oven quality. Ours is definitely not on the high end, just a Magic Chef economy (?) sized gas stove/oven. I have recently been cooking the pizzas on the grill which has worked well, just taken slightly longer. Thanks for the book recommendation, my library has it and I'll get it next time I go.

@WRC- Upper 70s-Low 80s and smoke is hot enough for us here, I couldn't imagine smoke and the 100s! No wonder you'd like to leave. I've been toying with the idea of making a swamp cooler in a 5 gal bucket to offer some respite on the hotter days but still, being trapped inside mid summer is definitely not ideal. I'll be curious to see what you end up deciding. All of those sound like great adventures. Finding a place to just settle down in and stay for the most part would be very ideal. Unfortunately, it seems like most places now a days have some type of severe climate impact. I guess it's a matter of picking whatever poison you're most comfortable dealing with. Wildfires, drought, hurricanes, tornadoes, heat, flooding...

[RoamingFrancis]

Loving the journal. Thank you for the inspiration!

[guitarplayer]

(AQI of 250 as I write this)

Mindblowing. Care to share how it feels? DW and I recently went to travel in 'moderate' AQI places in Europe before returning to a (rather very) 'low' AQI Scotland (can be single digits on some days). DW observed allergic reaction that she kind of dragged back to Scotland, stuffed nose etc.

[zbigi]

Mindblowing. Care to share how it feels? DW and I recently went to travel in 'moderate' AQI places in Europe before returning to a (rather very) 'low' AQI Scotland (can be single digits on some days). DW observed allergic reaction that she kind of dragged back to Scotland, stuffed nose etc.

My city, like many cities in Poland, has severe air quality problem in winter, from coal burning at homes. The PM2.5 can reach 500-1000 microgram/m3 (i.e. much worse than around West Coast fires from what I'm seeing), with a 100 being a fairly normal winter day. Luckily, it's only for around 4-5 months a year (and even then it's intermittent, since a windy day can make air fairly clean for a while before the pollution concentrates again), so I guess our bodies have time to rest and regenerate between periods of breathing in poison. Having said that, I'm definitely not a paragon of health, which may be caused by the air I breathe.

[chenda]

Mindblowing. Care to share how it feels? DW and I recently went to travel in 'moderate' AQI places in Europe before returning to a (rather very) 'low' AQI Scotland (can be single digits on some days). DW observed allergic reaction that she kind of dragged back to Scotland, stuffed nose etc.

Maybe it was hayfever ? I used to get hayfever very badly in my early 20s, but I seemed to grow out of it. Though in the last few years I have got some mild symptoms return.

Interestingly hayfever does not seem to have existed in preindustrial times.

[theanimal]

Care to share how it feels?

At these levels I spend most of the time inside so not too bad physically. I've never had any eye problems, but get headaches from the smoke if doing physical labor for more than a few hours. On the worst days pre air filter, I would get headaches just sitting inside too. You know it's over 300 AQI when you walk outside and can taste the smoke. It sits like a dense fog and visibility is reduced to 1/4 mi or less. The worst it was here this summer was around 540.

-----
It started raining this week and the smoke slowly dropped off. Today we awoke to bright blue skies, no clouds and most importantly no smoke! It's completely gone! AQI of 7. Rejoice! DW and I are taking advantage and will be spending the afternoon hiking a nearby ridgetop.

[mountainFrugal]

Rain relief after a long period of smoke is so good! The rain clears out all the particulates, not just smoke. I noticed that I could start to smell it at ~120 AQI so would not exercise outside above that (I realize this is still not ideal). 300 is about the same level of "taste" for me too. Yuck.

[theanimal]

I cracked the pizza code! I made last night's batch with a sourdough dough and that made all the difference. The taste and texture were outstanding and the process was far easier than what I was doing before. No need to knead the dough and very easy to shape and form. Our pizza stone broke last week during my last round of pizzas so I cooked these in a cast iron this time which worked out very well. The improved taste was kind of surprising because DW and I thought the missing piece prior to last night was better sauce. But nope, sauce was just fine, it was the dough that needed improvement. I'm not going back to the old style and will continue to perfect this kind. I also just placed sliced mozzarella on each pie per @Seppia's recommendation instead of shredding it. That worked out great too. Same result as shredding with a whole lot less work before and less cleaning up after.

I started reading The Elements of Pizza per @FrugalChicos recommendation and in there they talk about how all dough prior to 1910 used "wild yeast" aka sourdough. There are still many top pizza restaurants throughout Italy that use the wild fermentation process today. It is clearly a winner for providing superior taste. I'm on the lookout for higher quality ingredients now. I'd like to get the whole tomatoes @Seppia suggested, the Stanislaus Alta Cucina, to use for the sauce. Otherwise I'm not sure how much experimenting I can do ingredient wise, I'm kind of limited by my location. Alaska isn't really known for their variety/quality of cheese. I'll see if the restaurant supply store has 00 flour, that would be worth trying. And I'm still experimenting with different toppings nearly every time.

[Viktor K]

lots of food progress! i love the idea of a garden that produces food, hope to have my own one day

[Frugalchicos]

That pizza looks amazing! I’m glad you are enjoying the pizza book. I might start making pizzas again once the summer is over. It is just too hot in Chicago to dare to turning the oven on

[shaz]

The pizza looks good!

You could try making your own mozzarella for the next iteration.

[theanimal]

Spanish
Still on the learning path. I’ve gotten into a good daily rhythm after setting up a more standard daily practice. Each day I:
-Go through 200 words of vocab flashcards from a couple decks that I use on Anki
-Read a short story (sometimes aloud). I found that my library has tons of options.
-Listen to podcast/watch a video for at least 30 min
-Talk with DW exclusively in Spanish for ~10 min.
The last one has been the hardest to implement. DW wants to practice but is more reluctant about making a dedicated time to do so. She has suggested we talk with her mom and one of her aunts a couple times a week to practice. I think that would really accelerate my/our progress. I’m going to keep doing lessons once a week for now. It’s a good check on what I’m doing and helps reinforce good habits.

Fasting
This year I started fasting once a quarter for ~72 hours. A couple of weeks ago I completed the fast for this quarter for my third of the year. The experience during each one has been different so far but each of them left me feeling outstanding the day following the breaking of the fast. I will be doing the next extended one in October. I have also become more militant about my daily IF regimen, still doing a 7-8 hr feeding window.

Pizza/Food Production
I now have not only DW, but also some friends that say they would pay for my pizza. That feels good. It’s still not where I want it though. I just obtained some 00 King Arthur Flour as well as the Stanislaus Alta Cucina tomatoes. Both of those should improve the taste further as well as the texture in terms of the flour. I was looking to making my own mozzarella based off @Shaz’s suggestion, but saw that the local milk that I buy just increased in price by 50% and I’m not really willing to pay that. I read The Elements of Pizza (h/t @FrugalChicos) and gleaned some insights there on more technical aspects, methods, types of different pizzas and ingredients. After I go through the King Arthur 00 flour, I think I’ll try the Caputo 00 flour next. That is the most widely used type by pizzaiolos in Italy. Ultimate goal would be to produce enough tomatoes for a year’s worth of sauce/salsa and any other uses. That’s likely at least a couple years off.

I had never really purchased milk before June but I started doing so from a local source because I began making my own yogurt. That was enjoyable and surprisingly incredibly easy, I ended up making a couple gallons worth over the past month and a half. That will likely come to a halt with the increased prices.

Scamp/Winter Plans
Well over a year later we have finally found some time to dedicate towards fixing it up. I put up some solar panels (200 w) on the roof and need to finish integrating the DC system to the already established A/C system. DW repainted the cabinets and did a couple other things to spruce up the interior aesthetics. I’ve been having trouble with the trailer lights so that has put a pause on things. The last 2 remaining big things after that are to fix some fiberglass cracking above the door, replace many of the missing/damaged rivets and upgrade the door handle to a more substantial RV one that has a lock with steel plungers.

It's unlikely we will rent it out to anyone this year but we will still be getting some use out of it. The plan now is to take it and head south after things settle down and stabilize with baby animal (ideally 4-6 weeks but we’ll see how things go). We are planning to travel south through Canada then through MT, ID, WY to Utah, then eventually over to family in Chicago for the holidays. We are loosely planning on spending just over 2 months on the road, with about half of that around southern Utah and northern Arizona. I will post more details as the time comes, we’d be happy to meet up with any forumites along the way.

It seems like we are going to be spending almost all, if not the entire winter, out of Alaska. I was accepted/put on the wait list for a 3-month intensive woodworking class at a woodworking school in Port Townsend, WA. That starts early 2023 and I am #1 on the waitlist so there’s a good chance I’ll get in. The program focuses on working with hand tools and the principles of woodworking, starting from the tree. As mentioned in this journal numerous times before, I have wanted to begin more extensive woodworking projects but have lacked the ability (? Or motivation?) to follow through on my own. I think this could be a good opportunity to provide structure as well as accelerated learning through constant feedback/mentorship. I’ll have to think about it further if I get bumped onto the roster but am leaning towards going as of now.

Berry camp/fishing/hunting
Hunting season opens for caribou and sheep on the 10th and with it, I suppose my favorite time of the year. I won’t be doing much hunting come September with baby animal due to arrive so I’m going to be looking to make the most of this month and maybe the first week of September. I have a permit for bowhunting moose within the city management area (including my property) but haven’t been practicing shooting. The permit lasts until late November so I do have some time but would have to start practicing seriously starting asap. As of now, I am planning on looking for caribou, then perhaps sheep later this month. Once moose season opens, there is an area a little ways north of town I’d like to check out with my rifle that I’ve never hunted before.

Around mid-month we will head north to our berry camp, shooting for 5 or so gallons of blueberries. I’m planning on set netting on that trip as well in hopes of catching pike and whitefish (salmon fishing is closed again this year on the Yukon, a depressing outcome of gross mismanagement and overfishing). If successful, I plan on pickling most of the pike again. The whitefish doesn’t keep well for long periods in the freezer so I would eat some of it fresh then can the rest for later. Whitefish may be my favorite fish taste wise, so here’s hoping for low waters and some good luck.

Hiking
We’ve done a lot of hiking over the past couple weeks, taking advantage of clean, smoke free air and the last days of summer. I went on a backpacking trip last week with some friends in the closest mountains to the north. On the first day we were hiking on an ATV trail into the alpine and came across some sheep in an alpine meadow. Usually dall sheep are found high but they occasionally come down to open valleys to feed during the summer. Ether way they are wary and hard to approach. Well, these sheep decided to keep coming towards us instead of running away. We stopped on the trail and marveled as a few came right up to us then went back to the group. The whole group of 20 then proceeded to walk up to us with some getting as close as 3 ft. This went on for 20 min or so until we decided to leave. It was wild, bizarre and really cool. The next day we saw a bull caribou up near a mountain top that approached within 50 yards to get a better look at us. Fun trip!

PFD Year: Month 7
Total Monthly Spending: $455.36
Monthly spending as percentage of monthly target: 144%
YTD: $2,936.98

[Frugalchicos]

Good luck with the Spanish! Making a habit of speaking it at home is hard. However, you guys can get used to it giving it some time to feel normal. Chica and I didn’t speak in Spanish to each until 4-5 years ago? And now, it feels natural and she is able to express herself really well.

[sky]

Port Townsend has a wooden boatbuilding school there too. Definitely a city I would like to visit and maybe spend some time at.