Sockeye Fire - A Garden Holdup and a Community Challenge!

(Photo Courtesy of Trish Houser)  This is smoke from the Sockeye fire hovering around our homes.  Trish and Bob live about 1/2 mile away from Wicked Raven Farm.

June 15, 2015 a large wild fire started in our neck of the woods.  7200 acres burned and 55 homes!  (See facebook link here for more information) But the HHS Garden, ball fields and parking lots as well as our school became the staging ground for all of the firefighters and other personnel who were working on the fire.  We had over 400 "hot shots" who are special fire crews from all over the country!  We had local organizations providing supplies and support, as well as the Middle School being used as the evacuation shelter for more than 200 people who were displaced because of the fire!  It's no wonder we didn't get far in our planting and growing in the school garden!

This year we obtained two apple trees, three rhubarb plants, strawberries, raspberries and some chives that will be perennials in the garden for us and we had planned out where they were to be planted even!  The above photo shows some all terrain vehicles parked next to the Hugelkulture beds where the raspberries and strawberries will go.  We also have a tent that is the transportation headquarters for the fire teams.  It gives us a good scale to see where a greenhouse might fit nicely!  The blue round thing is a hand washing station and of course we all recognize a Port-a-Potty there peeking in the right hand side of the picture.

This photo was taken when the ATV's were out on the fire and the orange tent is actually where the apple trees will go!

In the trees behind the orange tent you can see some of the other tents.  Some of those folks are firefighters and some are evacuees.  Not all of the people evacuated were able to take their pets so they chose to have camp out here at the school so their pets could stay too!

Our potatoes have sprouted up nicely!  This is after a fresh watering.  Right now due to the fire and the staging of man power in our school yard and garden we have to carry water over to the garden from home to put on the plants.  Our garden hose is not designed for drinking water and the fire teams asked that we not attach our hoses to the water spigots and possibly contaminate the drinking water out of them.  Government regs!  The fire fighters felt sorry for us part of the time but there was nothing to be done for it - fighting the fire and keeping all those folks safe and sound is priority!  For Sure!

With the help of some firefighters from Fairbanks I was able to get the shed crate over against the fence and get it set up as tool storage.  We cant plant anything right in this space as it is a natural gas easement and we dont want any digging going on or have to have a tree or plant cut down eventually due to poor placement so it is a great location for our garden storage.

Here are those sweet sugar snap peas!  Up about 4 inches now and trying to grow great guns!  It has been so hot that nothing is really thriving as well as we would like!  But by September they will be prime and producing!  You cant see the Candy Onions very well but they are there and trying as hard as the peas!  We should have at least a few do well in this bin!

Here are some Kohlrabi that were donated for us to try!  Thank you Sammy Taylor for this wonderful addition (as well as for the Raspberry plants, strawberry plants and the mint)!

There is a Black Krim tomato in the tire set up and the rhubarb, chives, some cabbage plants, and a few of the raspberries are surrounding it waiting to be planted when it is cooler and there arent any fire fighters in the yard!

This is the squash bin and we had to put up some walls to shade them from the hot sun during the afternoon.  No matter how often we watered they were wilting from the heat!  92 degrees on this particular day - it's the hottest I remember it for years and years - since I was a kid!

This is the grassy area across the parking lot from the garden.  These are firefighter tents.

So now you know a little more about how  our garden is growing and why some of the things arent being done as we would like.  But we did get a lot of great PR for our community, our school, the garden and the people who live here!  Many of the people I talked to in the garden were there to rest and feel a little "normal", a touch of "home" or to know that things will grow again in the case of the gentleman who lost his house in the fire.  One of the firefighters said when I came to water one day that a rabbit pulled up some radishes and ate the tops so she had eaten the radishes and she hoped that was okay!  I said sure - did you eat the rabbit too?  They have been a problem for us this year as well - even going up on high porches to eat the flowers in planters there!  My neighbor lost a whole planter box of flowers that were on her porch to either a marauding moose or to a rampant rabbit or a little of each!

The fire is now 96% contained and most of the firefighters have moved on to one of the other 52 fires burning in Alaska right now!  The Fairbanks firefighters who helped me move the shed crate were headed back to Fairbanks and hoping that their houses were still intact!  

Below photo shows the baseball, softball and practice fields full of firefighters and their tents!

We had a little rain today but not nearly enough to keep the fires at bay, keep them from starting or even to help dampen the ones already burning. You know its too hot when an Alaskan gets angry when the sun comes out - but that is what happened today!  Here's hoping tomorrow brings wetter weather!

Stay tuned for some new up-cycles that I am working on as well as continued updates on the garden both here and at the school!

Houston High School and the New and Improved Garden!

I know you all have been waiting and waiting for this blog post!  Sorry about the hold up but it was out of my control!  We have been battling a wild fire here and the firefighter staging ground is at the High School and the transportation tent is actually IN the garden!  But let me give you some pre-fire information before we take a look at that!

This year we had the outer building envelope replaced with new siding at the school and the siding product came in these heavy duty crates made of wood.  They are wonderful and I coveted those crates!  I asked the company about maybe letting us have some of them and as they had to pay for them they said they were expected to keep them.  In the end though they dropped two or three of them in they garden for us to use.  Thank you Eklutna Services! See the blog here for more information on this company and links to their site!

We started by having one of our life skills classes go out during that last two weeks of school (mid-May) and see what we had and what they might be able to build out of the crates - we were looking for some raised beds to do some of our produce in.

Above is Tristan - he was so happy to be able to be out in the garden and using power tools to build something for the garden!

Here is the class turning the beds to put potatoes in.

You can see in the above photo the awesome crates and wood pallets that they left for us.  And there is Tristan in the back cutting one of them in half to build a raised bed.

Here are two of the raised beds out of four that they build before school got out!  It was amazing and the kids were so proud when we said that these boxes are "Beautiful" because we think they are!

The box with the open face that you see here will be turned into a small storage shed for our tools during the summer and winter!  Stay tuned for more on that in another blog!

Here you see the kids planting the carrots and radishes.  We have had great radish production so far but I think it has been a little too hot and dry for the carrots.  We did not have the greatest germination for them.  When you see the photos of what we have going on here at the school you will understand a little better why we couldn't water the way we needed to!  Our hose is not potable water hoses if that gives you a hint!

Kashawn was so happy to be helping in the garden - even just raking the leaves and the dead stuff left from last year!  Look at that beautiful smile!

Here are some of the radishes up and getting growing! 

More radishes and some carrots that did OK in this bin.  This is actually just in late May so two weeks after the planting at most.  The rabbit food bags are actually full of rabbit poo that was donated by one of our teachers for the garden!  It is such good stuff and seems to be weed free!  Yay!

Here are all four of the newly built wood raised bins and they have been filled with dirt now!  Principal Johnson brought his tractor with loader attachment out to the school and filled them for us with the help of some of the kids - saved us so much time and work over doing it by hand!  Thank you Mr. Johnson!  The ones on the right hand of the photo will have squash and maybe some spuds in them.

Here is that open crate that will become the shed!

Here you can see the candy onions (they were sets) at the front of the bin and in the back of the bin against the fence are the sugar snap peas Actually what you can see is the row and the row marker - the peas arent up yet in this picture!!  Our first effort at growing peas!  And Onions!  In the other one we plan to have more peas, some Kohlrabi, and cabbage.  

While Principal Johnson had the tractor here he also put all the dirt on the Hugelkulture beds for us!  Again, such a time and labor saver over doing it by hand!  We havent been able to get them planted yet but we do have plants (Raspberry and Strawberry) that are all ready to go in them!  Again - when you see the garden pictures of what we have in there right now you will understand why!

Ultimate Upcycle - Too much tinfoil!

Hello folks!  So sorry it's been so long since you heard from me!  Been a super busy spring here at Wicked Raven Farm!  Lots going on and here is one of the things I have been trying to get done!

I told you earlier in a post about how when we added the eave to to greenhouse to keep the windows from leaking, it made my greenhouse shaded for a greater portion of the day.  So I am always looking for ways to brighten the space and make sure my plants are getting enough light.   Enter the Senior Prank!

 About a year ago - at graduation time- the senior class played a prank - its tradition for the senior class to prank the school - usually the office staff including the principal.  This particular year they recognized one of my OCD's as as dislike of massive quantities of bright shiny objects!  Thus, they wrapped my whole office in tinfoil!  The tin gift wrap included all of the computer screens, door and cabinet handles, telephone and hand set, and various other office items that I use on an everyday basis!  Those pictures have been misplaced somehow but not the large ball of tinfoil that they also left in my office as a gift!  It looked like one of those diaper cakes for baby showers made out of tinfoil!

So not being one to want to waste all that tinfoil- after I got if off of the chair, door and drawer handles and unwrapped my computer screen of it - I had some cool down time thinking of how I would use that foil to my advantage.  Right about that time - since we were getting ready for graduation, someone dragged these sign boards out of storage and was looking for a good home for them.  I volunteered them since I had so much tinfoil and a greenhouse that is a little too dark now!

They are a plastic corrugated product and they are 2'x2' square.  I unrolled three lengths of tinfoil off of my tinfoil baby cake and wrapped it around the sign board.

It was easy to wrap up around the sign but it wanted to fall off and the fan blew it up each time it went by with it's breeze.

So I got out my handy dandy hand stapler and put a little staple in the back at the spot where each piece of tinfoil meets.  Problem solved!

Then I took those foil covered boards and laid them on all of my growing tables.  It was amazing how bright it made the greenhouse.  I actually had to take some of the foil sheets off of my big table as it was blinding me trying to work in there with all of that shininess!  (The OCD kicks in once in a while when it's really sunny out)!

I have it on each end of the table and all along the back where it really reflects the light into the room.  It also throws it right up to the mirrors on the ceiling and seems to be working great! 

 Some great herbs waiting to be potted up into the herb pots.  Watch for a new post about those in a few days!

 The above shows the happy houseplants from the office at the school!  I keep them over the summer in the greenhouse so the break doesn't kill them. (not sure why that picture looks smoky).

Happy peppers in the window on top of the shiny tinfoil!  I still have about half of the baby cake left and I will be covering the actual benches that the tomatoes sit on with it  - easy.  I did use up all of the sign boards - it is nice to have those because they are easy to move to wherever I need a little extra light.  The only drawback I have encountered is that the foil rips so you have to lift the plants to move them at all when they are on the foil portions.  (the snow shovel is in the greenhouse to be used as an awesome dust pan)!

Stay tuned - my next post will be a new post on the HHS Garden!  I know you have all been waiting for that to start this year and we are bigger and better than ever!