As Aly and I board the ferry to Juneau today for the next day’s flights to the Lower 48 (see Going Into Stall Mode) here are a few reasons you may want to keep an eye on the blog in the coming month, even if I can’t manage to update it regularly:
Michelle Attended a Garden Conference. Last weekend, she attended the Southeast Alaska Farmers’ Summit 2017 held in town. She came home completely inspired and energized, with a lot of new ideas for how to improve our homestead gardens. She may blog about it soon. If not, I’ll nag her to share with you in the weeks to come.
Strangers in a Strange Land. Let’s face it, Aly and I plan to leave our homestead in the temperate Alaskan rain forest to wander somewhat lost in an irrigated desert. We will definitely be fish out of water for a while, and if we write about the experience, you’ll hear what that’s like for us. If you like post-apocalyptic fiction, this may well appeal! “They’re visiting civilization, and intend to return with their health and insanity intact!”
Speaking of post-apocalyptic, we’ve brainstormed a few escape scenarios for the trip. Disaster Preparedness always gives us pause when we leave our home. We’ll be somewhat near a badly maintained nuclear facility, at least two volcanoes that have shown recent signs of activity, the Cascadia Slip Zone, and other potential hazards to getting back where we belong.
And, Cooking Adventures. A large part of our responsibilities at my parents’ house will be providing meals. This ought to be good, as we try to feed my meat-and-potatoes dad with homestead tried-and-true dishes.
Finally, as previously mentioned, there are the older, Non-Date Sensitive Essays that have languished in the Drafts file for a while. Those are my fall back, in case we don’t get a lot written in the coming weeks.
Either I won’t have any time to write while I’m down there, or I’ll be writing more than usual as a coping mechanism. I don’t know what’s going to happen; check back soon and find out!
Strangers in a Strange Land, indeed. I visited my parents in the northeast last year during an unusual November warm spell. I got off a bus, zonked from lack of sleep at the end of a 2-day trip, at a large shopping mall where my brother was picking me up. It was 60 degrees out, and there was a huge, gorgeous, healthy patch of chickweed in a crack in the tarmac around a utility pole. I came THIS CLOSE to kneeling down and harvesting it — it looked delicious!
Uh, Toto? You’re not in Kansas anymore. They use lawn chemicals you can’t pronounce and your brother will freak if he find you snacking on the weeds.
Angie, I feel for you. I honestly don’t know if I could have resisted that temptation.
I’m excited to see you again! Whenever I come home, I’m bringing a surprise I think you’ll appreciate!
Do your parents live in Washington?
Hi Jessie, yes, they live in Yakima.
I live in Western Washington.