Northern Vista

Here in Alaska, we are allowed to go dipnetting for salmon. Dipnetting is nothing more than putting a net into the water and waiting for a fish to swim in. While the odds of catching a fish might not seem terribly good at first glance, the salmon runs up here are such that one can “dip” dozens of fish in a day.

The mouth of the Kenai River, where we are allowed to dipnet.

Other Alaskans with their dipnets in the water, waiting for a salmon to swim in.

Last week, we went dipnetting on the Kenai River. All said and done, we caught about 75 sockeye salmon. Between halibut fishing, an earlier dipnetting trip, and butchering the chickens, or freezer is about full. We’re not sure how we’re going to fit a moose into it. (Methinks its about time for a bigger chest freezer).

We came home from the local 4th  of July parade to a peculiar sight: our large, bear-proof trash can was upside-down in the driveway. We took a look and sure enough, a bear was trying to get in. You can see the outline of its print on the can.

You can sort of see its paw and claw prints on the can.

It was no surprise that a bear was in the yard. After all, we live on Bear Mountain. But I was shocked it hadn’t gotten into the chicken pen. However, when I went to freshen their water, I saw this:

A worthy attempt...

Thankfully, he didn’t get in. Ironically, all he had to do was to flip the plywood roof up and he would have been in bear heaven…There are now heavy rocks on the roof. Thankfully, its the 4th of July and people are lighting off fireworks everywhere. They should keep the bear away for a day or two. In the meantime, it’s time to think about butchering.

Beyond gardening, I am raising chicken for the first time. In mid-May, I picked up 20 Cornish cross chicks from the local hatchery. One died a couple of weeks later, though I’m not sure why. I think it had internal issues, and seemed really lethargic.

Happy chicks in the crawlspace

We put the chicks in a whelping box in the utility room underneath the house. While those accommodations worked well for the first month, they quickly became way too stinky for the crawlspace.

My lovely pen.

At about 4 weeks, I built a pen for them out of some old wood we had hanging around. The pen isn’t pretty, but it’s cheap, keeps the rain out, and can easily be taken apart. When I put the chickens out, I was concerned they might be cold, as they hadn’t feathered out completely. However, they did fine, though I noticed that their food consumption went way up.

The chickens at 4 weeks

Dinner

A few days ago, I had a friend help me move the pen onto fresh ground, but in the process we accidentally crushed one of the chicken’s feet. We decided this would be a good time to try out first homegrown chicken. It was delicious! It was definitely leaner that the chicken you get at the store, but in a good way. Still very tender. Here’s the recipe I used to BBQ it.

The rest will be in the freezer soon. Butchering and plucking will be a new experience for me, so we’ll see how it goes!