Mina

Friday, 8 May 2015

follow the money

The AK Climate Impact Assessment Commission met all day yesterday in Anchorage. A discussion of sorts came together in testimony from three separate invited speakers, including one of the commission members, who charged the Army Corps with funding ill-planned erosion control programs. The Army Corps sort of defended itself, but also explained that it simply didnt have the authority, which sounded like news to Sen. Gene Therriault, a studious state lawmaker.
The commission also heard some dramatic stuff about the impacts (real and potential) on salmon, as well as eloquent public testimony on how climate change was making impossible a way of life thats been developed over thousands of years in tune with the land and climate.
I wrote about the allegedly wasted money. Heres the story.
Sen. Ted Stevens stopped in and made the point that erosion is a larger problem now that villagers have fixed infrastructure like power plants and schools. Later in the day, he traveled to Shishmaref with Sen. Mary Landrieu. Hes holding a hearing on coastal erosion today in Anchorage. Check back later for an update.

a small chicken coop

a small chicken coop

When we made a decision to get chickens within our back yard, My spouse and i planned to acquire and not build a small chicken coop.
However when I went along to the home improvement store to buy one particular, I couldnt consider how much shiny things cost. Even after doing your research, I couldnt uncover a decent measured coop for lower than $500.
The designs appeared straightforward sufficient, and the coops just werent made of high-priced material. The particular lumber included was low-cost, as has been the chicken cable.
So I made a decision to build a small chicken coop. I didnt cash knowledge of such projects, therefore i went online to look for details.
I found a lot of useful goods about chicken survival and how to make the best quality ovum. There were several useful tips much like the kinds of items that chickens like to try to eat, and how numerous chickens to put in each and every coop. Nevertheless there was hardly any information about how to build a small chicken coop.
Some web sites talked about the work generally, with no giving certain instructions. For illustration, they talked about the importance of looking at how many chickens your own coop may house, what assortment and no matter whether enough bird feeders and waterers can be available.
Just about all very useful, yet what I desired to know has been how to lay out and build a small chicken coop. Soon after wading by way of lots of rubbish on the internet I came across a site that will sold plans which includes pictures of methods to construct the level of coop I had been looking for.
Up coming I needed to pick an appropriate place in my backyard to get the chicken coop. The spot had to receive complete sun in various parts through the day, and have a good amount of space around the idea so that I will access the particular hatch in which the eggs are generally collected coming from.I chose a design that let gentle and a small air in the coop, thats healthier for the particular chickens. I also desired to dig right down to bury the particular chicken wire, in order to avoid any potential predators or innovators from targeting my chickens.Looking at all about how you can build a small chicken coop was straightforward. What was this like to applied?Fortunately I needed chosen excellent plans. I adopted every step inside instructions generating sure that We measured every thing accurately. Also i made sure which i had every one of the tools along with materials required for the task at the start, to avoid the need to make a pointless trip to your hardware store.While Id done, I respected my function. Not only experienced I produced something sensible, functional and also pleasant hunting in our backyard, but I experienced also rescued my family hundreds of dollars.Looking at the decoration of the chicken coop My spouse and i realised that will Id additionally saved myself personally the cost and also hassle of getting the chicken coop home on top of the automobile. I dont know the way would have equipped on, i really might have was required to pay a supply charge added to that extortionate value.
The task has offered me true confidence. We have gone through being a DIY beginner to someone that knows how to build a small chicken coop. Pretty!
If I opt to expand our flock in the foreseeable future, Ill dont have any hesitation in enabling the plans out and about and producing another house.

a-frame small chicken coop

building a small chicken coop

making a small chicken coop

Thursday, 7 May 2015

DIY Homemade Antibacterial Liquid Hand Soap

Let's face it, life on a farm while often idyllic is messy. There's mud, dirt and dust, chicken and horse manure. I am in and out of the house all day long and most times my hands are dirty when I come in the house. And much as we love our furry and feathered friends, the reality is that germs and disease can be easily transmitted from them through poor hygiene, so I am always washing my hands.

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see ice

Scientists are expecting arctic sea ice to shrink more this year than in any year since they started recording nearly 30 years ago, according to a story today in the NY Times.

William L. Chapman, who monitors the region at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and posted a Web report on the ice retreat yesterday, said that only an abrupt change in conditions could prevent far more melting before the 24-hour sun of the boreal summer set in September. “The melting rate during June and July this year was simply incredible,” Mr. Chapman said. “And then you’ve got this exposed black ocean soaking up sunlight and you wonder what, if anything, could cause it to reverse course.”

Wednesday, 6 May 2015

triathlon

Its a luxury of summer in Alaska to on a Friday mull plans for weekend adventures. Mark and I considered a hike/float trip off the Denali Highway, a hike from the seldom-visited Elliot. In the end, we planned a multi-leg adventure: drive to Nenana, bike back to Fairbanks, canoe to Nenana, drive home. Each was adventure enough for a day, but we decided to do both in one day.
To complete the triathlon, on Saturday we hiked the 16-mile Stiles Creek Trail -- nice enough, but best left to the 4-wheelers. Sunday we headed to Nenana.
The ride back was pleasant -- nice weather, little traffic, some good downhills -- and my knees handled the 60 miles with surprisingly little complaint given my complete lack of training.
We feasted at Lulus, then changed clothes and got in the boat. Its the fourth time Ive done the 50-mile float to Nenana. Once I did it in 9 hours; another time, we took three days. It can be an easy float, but its big water, with whirlpools and fast current and hard eddy lines, and I approach it with cautious respect. Around 8 at night, after an afternoon of patchy rain, the wind started to howl, kicking up waves as it blew upstream. The mid-July breeze turned an otherwise relaxed float into a wilderness trip. We pulled over, added layers, made a hot dinner. We were maybe 10 miles from the highway, 20 miles from the nearest village. After an hour or two from Fairbanks, wed seen no boats.
Recharged, we tried again, and later stretches of water proved less susceptible to the wind. We followed lee shores, took side channels when they appeared. Banks I remembered from three years before were radically reshaped by erosion. Birch with green leaves still on leaned at all angles from crumbing shores. Beaver had mowed down rows of thick cottonwoods.
I was surprised, I guess, by the number of active camps. We never saw people, but did see a handful of boats tied up, wall tents, even some teepees. On a rainy night, its still a wild place. Near Nenana, it was nice to see a big smokehouse going up, and a new fish wheel in the river with its spruce poles still golden yellow.

on polar bears and politics

Polar bears came through the capitol so fast last month I couldnt capture them. Now that Ive done a little bit of research, heres what happened, as far as I can tell.
On March 29, the head of the Senate minority -- a group of five Republicans -- said he was planning to introduce a resolution the next day opposing the US Fish and Wildlife proposal to list the polar bear as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. The listing would have serious consequences for the state, he said, and would clear the way for lawsuits against any project that would increase greenhouse gas emissions (which could be accused of melting the bears habitat), including the states coveted natural gas pipeline from the North Slope.
And not just projects in Alaska, said the senator, Gene Therriault, a Republican from a town near Fairbanks called North Pole. "It could be the beginning of a new front to all kinds of things across the nation."
Therriault accused the USFWS of selectively choosing scientific studies and said he wanted to get the states opposition on the record. A public comment period on the USFWS proposal ended April 9.
The next day, Therriault introduced the resolution, which spelled out his stance and claimed that polar bear populations were "healthy." (One Whereas claimed the listing would violate the intent of Alaskas Statehood Compact, which detailed how Alaska should take care of itself -- through development of natural resources -- if the US made it a state. That happened in 1959, a few years before the Rolling Stones got together.)
A resolution isnt law -- its just a statement of opinion -- but Therriaults idea was to send the resolution on to the governors and legislative heads of the other 49 states, as well as Alaskas two US senators and one congressman.
Another Republican state senator, a former Army Ranger and a member of the majority bipartisan coalition, suggested sending it to President Bush and the head of the USFWS instead of the other states, and the Senate went with that.
On the resolution, the vote was split down party lines, with Republicans voting for and Democrats against, except for Albert Kookesh, a Native Alaskan and Democrat from Angoon, a roadless village in Southeast Alaska. I didnt catch why, but all the Native lawmakers voted for the resolution or a similar version in the state House, where a representative from a town on the Chukchi Sea gave a floor speech that included a description of polar bear meat as "the other white meat."
A few days later, the House passed a resolution with feistier language. It claimed the USFWS proposal was based on "studies that are limited in scope, are speculative in nature, disregard the views of numerous other scientific studies, do not recognize the health of current polar bear populations, and, instead, favor worst-case predictions for future populations." All Republicans and some Democrats voted for it, and this version went to the governors, the president, and the Alaska delegation. (One Democrat who voted against it told me later he thought it was crazy that lawmakers would make a judgement on a body of scientific research after a few hours at most of debate.)
Alaskas past and current governor also want to keep the bears unlisted.
Former governor Frank Murkowski wrote to the USFWS last year to oppose listing the bears, which he said wasnt necessary. He added that its uncertain that ice conditions will continue to change in the future and noted -- without ever mentioning climate change -- that oil and gas developments in Alaska comprise only a small portion of worldwide emissions. (More on this later.)
Our new governor, Sarah Palin, continued along the same lines in a December follow-up to Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. She sent another letter Monday.
And when Therriault pitched his resolution, he included a statement by a special assistant at the states Department of Fish and Game that also challenged the science used by the USFWS and suggested that polar bears ability to adapt was underestimated. (Therriault also said he got information from a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Matt Cronin, with whom I have not spoken.)
The news Tuesday was that the USFWS got over a half million comments on the proposal, with thanks or blame going to e-mail campaigns.
My guess is that most comments support the listing, which puts the state in a funny position. The polar bear has become the poster child for climate change, the "charismatic megafauna" that embodies the loss people associate with global warming. But when theres an effort to protect the bears, the state and people that risk losing them come out swinging, arguing the bears are doing just fine.
Heres what Id like to know:
-What do scientists say about the health of and threats to polar bears in Alaska?
-What impact would listing polar bears have on development in Alaska and elsewhere?
-And would the USFWS really start regulating greenhouse gas emissions?

Tuesday, 5 May 2015

Mint Jelly from the Garden

Expecting a frost any night now, I already picked most of the herbs lingering in our garden and have them drying for use this winter, but I wanted to try making some mint jelly with the last of our mint.

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