Mushrooms!

Goal: Take a class at the community college.
Status: Complete!


KUC held a class this weekend called Mushrooms of Southwest Alaska. Dr. Laursen travels the world studying high latitude mushrooms. We learned a ton of technical stuff, including mushroom anatomy, reproduction, and taxonomy.

 We also went out to four different locations in Bethel to collect samples. Back in the classroom we identified them with help from Dr. L and his assistant Christen. It was amazing how many different types of mushrooms are right here, and how many of them are edible!

We made some spore prints of our specimens, which can be a huge help in identifying a mushroom. We also learned how to break down mushrooms into their genus and species. So much information to take in, but so much fun!

Dog Food

Goal: Get Yakko on homemade food diet

Status: Complete!

At one of the workaways in Australia, I was dog walking for a woman in Cairns. She had three large dogs (one being a puppy) and she mixed their food every night. It was rice and pet burger (which is way more popular there than here in the States). But it really made me consider what I was feeding my dog.

As soon as I can to Bethel, I started experimenting with some recipes online. I have used the Balance-It website a lot. You can enter in your pet’s details, choose the carb source you want to use, then select a protein. The site then generates recipes tailored to your pet. I have also used a few blog recipes from people who have tried formulas for a while. Yakko really liked a cottage cheese based recipe, but the cost is really not feasible to do very often. He liked the chicken and sweet potato mix as well. He didn’t like peas very much, but I am going to try mashing them in the food processor (like many suggest) before adding them again.

I was very lucky to collect several salmon from the free fish box in town last week. I cleaned them and have a full freezer of salmon for me, and I boiled all the extra cut pieces for the dog. He was really digging the rice and salmon mix, even though he had it for about a week straight. He hasn’t liked anything made with oatmeal yet.

I placed an order with US wellness, and tried out some of their pet burger. I mixed this with rice made with beef bullion and he hasn’t hesitated once. I also talked to a friend in town who’s had their dogs on homemade food for over a year now. They sent me the recipe and I tried it out. 

Bubba's Food Recipe

Yakko has been all over it! I make him do a trick before he gets to eat. Usually it's just 'stay' as I set the food down and walk away. But 'jump' seems more appropriate for his excitement at dinner time.

Mid flight excitement!

Pickling

Goal: Learn to Pickle food
Status: accomplished September 4!

The Cooperative Extension Service held a pickling class last Thursday for one night. We learned the basic steps and methods then broke into groups and each tried a recipe. We were able to sample pickles made by previous classes. Our group make Sweet Carrots. It was flavored with sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and mustard seeds. We tasted the sample and it was like eating Thanksgiving!

Team Carrot filling packed jars with brine.

The beautiful finished product.

Zombie Run

Former students doing so well in life.

Goal: Run a 5k race. 

Status: Complete

I got an offical number bib and everything. 

Book List

Goal: Endure an entire year without buying a book.
Status: Ongoing

There are so many free books on my book list, that I decided to spend a year not buying anything new that would sit on my shelf and collect dust until I could get to it. I am using the Free Books app, which also includes access to the entire Librivox collection of books on tape.

Goal: Keep a book list for the entire year
Status: Ongoing

From most recent to February:


Son
Messanger
Gathering Blue
Tracks
Cohesion
Ronniky Doone
Christmas Carol
Death Comes at the End
The Night Circus
Inferno
New Atlantis
Novuea Organum
Dialogues Concerning Two Sciences
The Land that Time Forgot
Crooked House

Cutting for Stone

Count of Monte Cristo

Lord of Chaos- Wheel of Time series

The Importance of Being Earnest

Paradise Lost

Tale of Two Cities

Angela’s Ashes

Captain Courageous

Life of Kit Carson

Leviathon

Great Expectations

Hound of Baskervilles

Luther’s 94 Thesises

Heavenly Spheres- Copernicus

Toleration- Locke

Ben Franklin’s Autobiography

Praise of Folly- Erasmus

Utopia- Moore

Around the World in 80 Days

The Prince- Machavelli

Tenth Circle

Two Years Before the Mast

The Secret Adversary

Bartleby the Scrivenor

Adventure of Daniel Boone

Anne of the Islands

Anne of Avonlea

Complete Sherlock Series

Thirty 2 by Thirty 1

My good friend Alisha has kept birthday lists before and has inspired me to create my own. I have created a list of 50 or so items that are basic bucket list items that could concievaibly be accomplished this year. This first post will be my list, then following posts will be updates on checking them off the list.

-try five new spices

-five new cultural dishes

-talk to family weekly

-use only natural beauty products

-plan a 2 week summer hike

-patent an idea- rubber boots and umbrella

-do nano

-learn to pickle or kraut: Kirk and Barb

-flying lessons

-self defense lessons

-scuba

-photography class

-publish short story

-overnight snow amp

-teach Yakko 5 new tricks

-subscribe to a new magazine

-finish year 3 reading of classic education 

-volunteer firefighter

-make every recipe in paleo book

-new tattoo

-challenge every month

-boat share

-break size ten

-keep year book list 

-5 or 10 k race

-make a podcast

-perpetual summer album

-community college class

-volunteer at homeless shelter

-bake for senior center

-research orphan prevention

-volunteer at libravox 

-Yakko on paleo diet

-revise resume

-make it to article circle

-exercise class

-monthly club?

-all handmade gifts for Christmas

-visit transition town/intentional community

-month long juice

-DNA group

-master chef competition

-volunteer babysit for church

-teachers pay teachers

-start land fund- 1000 a month

-research adoption agency

-host a balm party

-broom ball

-more community events -once a month?

-volunteer at Meyers 

-5 new people to diner

-3 types of Alaskan meat in freezer

-volunteer with dogsled

-join the church

-window herb garden

-endorsement in new area

-book club

-order and complete new teaching course

-read entire bible

-one year without buying a book
(the following are items I had made in my Back to Bethel list, so I'm counting them)
-Tone arms (-3 inches)
-Tone legs (-5 inches)
-Whole30 challenge
-update transcripts
-go to a conference
-new endorsement
-recertification
-no cable at the house
-no internet at the house
-join a workout class
-join a book club
-bible study
-attend a month of Sunday school
-finish two books on tape